July 4th Weekend

Grandma Caroline and all the cousins swoon over me. (Bobby, Chrisi, and Kara)
Aunt Trish and Aunt Cindy are just as goofy as Mommy & Daddy!
Daddy sailing. This is one of the times you see the boat upright (it wasn't always like that).

Me Chillin in my private pool.

DOGPILE!

I'm one cool dude in my new shades. All the chics at the pool will totally dig me!

Aunt Kathy & I.

Growing Family

Not much new to report this week. We're still trying to get the milk flowin' and William seems to be OK that. He's getting some, and I'm enjoying our time together, but I'm still nowhere near what I was producing.

We're looking forward to going NORTH this weekend as all of Dave's family will be there, and it will be great to see everyone. We're also looking forward to seeing how Grandpa Don is doing on that new knee of his. See you next week, there should be LOTS to share then!

OUR WEEK IN PICTURES

I entered the pictures backwards so I guess we'll explain our week backwards.

The biggest change and news (depending on if you ask Dave or I) is that William and I started to nurse again. I had several complications (including infections) while previously nursing and really disliked pumping, so I quit. But I found that I really missed it the longer I went without it. So this weekend I decided to start back up. I'm pretty excited for it, and as you can see in the picture from this morning, William is pretty happy about it. What a "boob man"...huh? :-) Just keep your fingers crossed for us that this will go smoother this time around. The other big event is William coming into a very large acquisition of toys and books from a very, very generous uncle. I'm not sure who enjoys them more...William or Daddy? Daddy reads to him everyday when they get home from the sitter's. Daddy is happy to have more reading material, but I think William would enjoy it even if Daddy read from his Backpacker magazines. Just not his Maxim magazine - WD's too young for that ...but then again - judging from the above picture, he might like all the bikini shots.
Uncle Rob and Grandma Karyn visited Sunday and took turns trying to see who could make WD laugh harder and louder. Here Uncle Rob blew kisses on William's neck, chest & tummy.
Below - I'm not sure who was laughing harder, William or Grandma Karyn!

And weekend before last I got a play-chair for William and he LOVES it, can't you tell???
And no that's not sweat he's worked up (although he can really get going), that's drool.

Final thoughts - please say a prayer for Seriyah (our niece - Autumn Neumann's Cousin's daughter), who was mauled by a pitbull. Seriyah, who's 1 year-old, had extensive facial injuries. She's certainly in our thoughts and prayers.

WD's Updated Stats

William went for his 4month checkup and immunizations yesterday and here's the info:

4 mos. 2 mos.

WEIGHT
16# 11oz 12# 12oz
HEIGHT
26.0" 23.25"
HEAD CIR.
16.5" 15.5"

Father's Day & Mom turns 31

We were in Albia this weekend for Fathers' Day and my birthday. We had a wonderful lunch mom & I made (tenderloins, potatoes, pasta salad, and birthday cake and ice cream).

William had a great time being entertained by Sutton (10) & Rowan (6) as they caught toads (and showed them to William) and built a fort for their army guys (with the handy skills of their Dad [Rob] and Uncle Dave).

William got to see Great Grandma Frances and Great Aunt Lue again. Lue enjoyed meeting us again (as she does every time) and by the time we left everyone in the building should know William's name, birth weight, and age as we had to repeat it so many times for her. The sad thing is she is more coherent than Grandma anymore. Grandma doesn't speak much and when she does, she doesn't make much sense, like she's talking gibberish most of the time. She's such a blessing to us, and she's had a wonderful 95 years, but I think time has definitely caught up with her.

When we got home William passed out, he would barely wake to eat. I guess he had lots of fun!

Up coming age increase

Going to Albia this weekend for my birthday (31) and just haven't been there for about 2 months. I'm looking forward to it. Get to see my brother's house since he has re-claimed it. I'm sure it will be a more peaceful place since it's just he and the boys, not that there still won't be caios - but such is life. I have lots of plans for things to do when we get to Albia - I wonder how many of them will actually get accomplished? William hasn't seen Great Grandma Frances in a long time, so we'll have to go there for sure! Although with all the rain - I'd like to stay home and work on the yard - we need to mow so bad! And the weeds in my yard and garden are going to take over soon! Our strawberries are really producing this year, but they don't seem to last once we pick them. By the end of the day many had mold on them and were soft, if not most of them. Please leave a comment if you can offer any suggestions on this. Thanks!

Our Memorial Day Weekend

We got our sidewalk in and it took ALL DAY Saturday, right up to 10pm when we were smoothing out the spots where Buddy Too walked into it, then when we called him - bless his little-four-legged-heart - he came to us back through it. Then we were up at midnight covering it with tarps to protect it from all the rain. Doesn't look like a pro did it - but it's pretty darn nice in my book. We'll plan on taking the forms down this weekend (if Dave isn't doing it as we speak). William sat in his bouncy chair in the yard and supervised us part of the time (when he wasn't sleeping).

Sunday we went to Betsy & Nick's for a cook-out but after WD threw-up for the 3rd time we decided that it was time to go home as something was going on. We still aren't sure what happened but think it may have been a combo of WD getting a little soy formula that maybe his system didn't agree with in conjunction with how disgustingly HOT and muggy it was Sunday. Regardless of what it was - he'd better now.

Monday Mom, Dad, Rob, Sutton & Rowan came up for lunch and Dave smoked a pork roast and we had a picnic lunch and played w/ Dave's PlayMobile toys from when he was little (Sut & Row enjoyed that). It was very nice to have them all up.

Last - but not least - I'd like for all my readers to take a moment to reflect on all the freedoms and rights that we have and may take for granted. Take time to pray for and thank all the Servicemen & Servicewomen who gave us those freedoms and stand here and abroad to continue to protect those for us. Regardless of how you may feel about the Iraq War - SUPPORT OUR TROOPS! They are doing things that neither you nor I could/would want to....THANK YOU ALL! GOD BLESS!!!