The day to day

Here are a bunch of pictures of the day to day happenings around here. 

Ben has been extremely busy, so William and I have become great buddies.  

We like to watch football together on Saturdays.

We do a lot of smiling at each other.

On Thanksgiving the weather warmed up significantly.  We took a walk with dad and soaked in all the Vitamin D we could!

Ben was so busy he didn't have time to shave... or he grew it out on purpose because of no-shave November (I'm still not quite sure).  

But here is Ben, or shall I say Kip from Napoleon Dynamite?!

William has found his hands and often enjoys sucking on his fist more than a binkie.

William is a regular at church nowadays, and even gets dressed up like the big boys.

 I got my holidays mixed up and dressed him in Halloween attire around Thanksgiving.  But Will is finally out of newborn clothes and into 0-3 months.  I guess that is a good thing considering he is almost 3 months!

William has taken interest in his "play gym" lately.  He is starting to grab the links and learn how to hit the toys.  It sure is fun watching him develop, even in little ways.

Oh yeah, and Ben decided to try all sorts of new looks.  The full beard, goatee, and the mustache as displayed earlier.  It was quite the scary process and I'm happy that it's back to normal now!

 

Finally, here is a video of William displaying his babbling skills.  Don't mind me, my pajamas, or how close up he is to the camera.

November- 2 months

These pictures pretty much sum up my life as of late, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  My two boys sure love each other.  Ben and William love spending time together and Ben makes sure to read him a book once a day.  William enjoys laying on his back in this corner of our family room.  He is more aware of his surroundings recently and is always looking around for the light. 

This was the fifth year Ben played Cornell intramural football.  It was the second time his team played on Cornell's real football field.  

It was freezing outside but William wanted to watch his dad play.  Luckily we invested in a warm car seat blanket that made it possible to be there.

Although they ended up loosing Ben came away with some pretty cool battle wounds.  

The stalwart, supportive wives freezing on the sideline.

Their team hadn't lost a game until that night so it was a pretty good season overall.

Mommy's little guy is not so little anymore.  William is now growing out of newborn clothes and weighing in at almost 11 pounds, close to doubling his birth weight!

We celebrated his two month birthday with a lot of pictures and having some family time.

William is basically in the 25% for height and weight.  

He does a lot of babbling and gives us sweet smiles.  

Will is a great eater and even better sleeper, especially at night.  

He went 8 hours between feedings a couple times but averages about 6-7 hours normally.

We sure love this little boy and are very lucky parents!  

Halloween + William

 Ben and I had so many great memories this fall, it is definitely one we will never forget.

It is crazy to think this is our last year in Ithaca, New York! 

Ben came home from school on a Friday, three days before William was born, and told me that his committee members now think he should go on the job market.  

Prior to that day they told him he should stay an extra year.  

This news was a huge deal and changed everything! 

We started re-looking at what schools were hiring and then on Monday morning, William was born. 

Life has been a little out of whack since then, but it's finally now getting back to "normal."

I am re-realizing what it means to only be here until next summer.  I have one more year and chance to enjoy Ithaca for all it's worth.  Now Will is here to help me enjoy it! 

Here are a few things that happened recently.

William learned to "social smile."  I sure do love my boys. 

Since William has reflux, it helps to tilt his crib so he is not laying totally flat on his back.  It looks hilarious though.

William is usually such a happy baby.  He is definitely his dad's namesake.

 

We took advantage of a sunny afternoon and went for a walk with little Will

This was at Hollenbeck's Cider Press with three week old William.  It was a big deal getting out this morning for us, but William did great as you can see!

He has already started being very dramatic with his facial expressions.

We are also glad he has gained weight very well.  He's in the 25% for weight and height.  Pretty good for a baby starting so small at 6 lbs. 7 oz.!

 

 

 

It was fun to have William's first Halloween at such a young age.  He is still wearing newborn size clothes, so all the costumes were going to be huge on him.  We went with an easy fireman costume instead. 

Ben really wanted to do matching costumes so we used our resources and came up with firemen costumes as well.  Thanks to some yellow duct tape, hats and some print outs, we looked the part!

Fall 2012

These pictures jump ahead to one month old William.  We were lucky to have Ben's mom come and visit us for a week.  She got some great pictures of our new little family. 

She captured beautiful Ithaca in the fall and watched the clock tower chimes concert with Ben

This is Ben in the fall of 2008 right before he started his PhD as a single man.

There is another story behind this picture as well.  Thanks to Facebook, mutual friends and Mae, we met because of this pic.

A lot has changed since then as he is now married and has a newborn son in the fall of 2012. 

Ben is on the job market this year, so we will see where our next adventure takes us!

Our sweet William is growing and starting to interact with us on a small scale.  

He still loves his dad and loves to smile for him. 

We're so happy to have him in our family!

A Working Student

I thought I might be bored as a mom, staying home all day with not much on my agenda.  

Let's just say I was definitely wrong.  

I feel as though I have been working and in school.  I guess in some ways I actually have been.

Motherhood 101.  It has seemed more like a 300 level course than a beginners class.  

And then working all day at attempting to feed, keep happy, and take care of a newborn baby. 

I was used to getting up at 5 a.m. for work before, so I thought a baby's schedule might not throw me for a loop too bad.  Wrong again.  I can't even imagine getting up and going at 5 a.m. let alone 8.  

Needless to say it has been quite the learning experience this past month with my sweet William, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  

Here are some things that have happened in the first month of Will's life.

I did finally leave the hospital, with baby in arms. 

 We got our first family pictures and made it home to our apartment!

Will had a hard time breastfeeding at first because he had a "tongue tie."  We got his tongue clipped on his fourth day of life.  

In the meantime he fed from a bottle, a cup, 

a syringe, and other fun devices. 

Three weeks later he finally figured out how to use his tongue and life got a lot less stressful.  

He had his first sponge bath and loved it.

He had a photo shoot.  Check out his pictures on my friend's blog here

He had his first real bath with Grammy.  

William's first real outing, besides doctor visits, was to Ithaca's Apple Festival.  

It was quite crowded this year and it was difficult with a stroller, but it was a fun experience!

We enjoyed some fresh apple topping over fry bread.  Yum. 

Thank goodness Grammy came to visit for two weeks to help out and keep me sane.  

Here's William on his one month birthday.  He's grown so much in four weeks!  

He gained two pounds and really started to fill out his little body.

One thing is for certain, he LOVES his dad.  

Somehow Ben always manages to calm him down and make him happy.  

I love my sweet boys!

It seems like William has been in our lives for a long time.  

We cannot wait to see what lies ahead, but hope to love every moment until then!