The boy

The boy has learned to climb. Observe:



Next week's video: Our trip to the ER...

Much to Say

Will is growing in leaps and bounds now. I (Mike) can barely keep up. We're starting to baby-proof the house since he's army crawling so well now, we had to lower his crib since he started standing up against things and holding himself up. As if those two things weren't enough, he's decided he has a lot to say now too. I put together a short clip of just a few minutes at our house last night. I guess everyone said it would be noisy and until now I just associated that with crying, but the squeaking and other noises make things interesting too.

Other stuff that's going on with him... He's taking a bottle from both Krista and I without a problem now and that makes both our lives easier. I can help out with the morning/evening feedings and Krista gets more flexibility without having to find a place to breastfeed when they go out during the day.

Mad makes me laugh!

So I (Krista) decided to take Will's 5 month old photo shoot. I cannot believe what a busy month it has been for Will. The day he turned 5 months he got his first tooth. A week later his second tooth came in and he began to army crawl. A week later he decided it was time to sleep through the night...for 11 hours! That was my favorite milestone. Will is such a busy and determined little guy. He is constantly on the move and does not cuddle despite the fact that he does like to be held.


At the end of the photo shoot I wanted to try to get a picture of Will army crawling. It didn't happen the way I wanted it to. He just decided he was done and got mad at me.


This picture makes me laugh every time I see it. What a cute baby boy!

Getting Time

Everyone always tells you that having a kid will change your life. What nobody ever told me is that not only do you have this huge sense of responsibility and commitment to this helpless little person that you got to name, but you also completely surrender your right to make spontaneous decisions.

Krista and I haven't been in a small group for a while now. Our old one fell apart, people moved and simply didn't have time for it anymore. It's been on our list to get back in one and with the lack of sleep and everything else in life we simply haven't made time for it. Today at church I had a friend ask if Krista and I wanted to join their group and my initial reaction was 'absolutely.'

Moments later all the potential questions flooded my mind. What night of the week is it? Wednesday - great! I don't have class on Wednesdays....this semester. Can I honestly commit to a small group and then potentially have a class next semester and miss group for four months? I don't know. What time is the group? 7:30 - great! Plenty of time to get home from work and eat before we go there. But wait - Will goes to bed around 7:00 right now. We could just let him crash in the car seat while we meet or we could get a babysitter. But what if he has a tough time sleeping? Do I sacrifice Krista's night-time sleep with a fussy baby before a long day of work for her? Can we afford a babysitter every week for the foreseeable future?

These problems and questions are addressable and I hope we will decide to join the group but the simple quantity of questions that have to be answered is daunting and is proving to be frustrating at times. As Will gets older I guess this will get easier and as we get used to scheduling babysitters and time with people we'll adapt but what a shock to my/our system and schedules.

So what's the point of writing this? Simply to share my experience to you - our friends and family that may be considering kids in the near future. The change to your life and what you do is so drastic that no one can tell you honestly what to expect, except to say that it's huge. It's huge but it's worth it. I wouldn't trade the experiences and the joy that I get from Will for anything.

Solid Food

So lately, Krista and I have been having some rough nights. Will had been sleeping through the night (about seven hour stretches) a few weeks ago, but for the last week or so he has been up at least every three hours. The lack of sleep has been incredibly difficult for Krista and something had to change.
Everything we read says that you should not start solid food until the four month mark. Will's four month date isn't until next Friday (the 18th) so Krista was a little hesitant to start it. After another really tough night she was all for it. I guess the solid food has more calories than just breast milk alone and he needs to eat less often. All that to say - we did it and he slept over seven hours once again. It was really entertaining and he actually seemed to really like the food.
The new food along with him taking a pacifier has made our time much more productive and him a much happier baby to live with. I'm looking forward to him starting to crawl but have settled for just seeing him roll around on the floor for now.