Friday, December 21, 2012

Our 1 year old!


Can't believe it's been a year since our sweet boy joined us!  It has been such an amazing, crazy, wild and fun ride :)  We have learned so much together as a couple, and hard to imagine I could love Patrick anymore---until I have seen what a great Dad he is, and such a supportive spouse.  Everyday I count my blessings and do my best not to take for granted how blessed we have been. 

Will continues to be such a sweet, and loving little boy.  He has started repeating a few words that we say- mostly 'uh-oh', 'yeah', and 'whoops'.  It's so funny to hear him reply 'yep' after ANY question we ask him!

His 1-year appointment with Dr. Espe went well---Will is growing right on track he is 24 lbs and 30" - both in the 75%. The biggest change is NO MORE BOTTLES!  They recommend cold-turkey, going straight to all sippy cups, and reducing the amount of milk he drinks.  (still on lactose-free milk, but we have been adding in dairy in his diet and he has done well, so we will try the whole milk soon)  Anyway, at first I thought it would be so hard on me (I have always loved that snuggle time in the morning and during his bottles...but we still snuggle, it's just him drinking out of his sippy cup, and actually is somewhat nice to have a little extra time in the morning, and way less running of the dishwasher to clean up bottles!)  So, we have all adjusted well :)

For Will's 1st birthday party- we just had our immediate families over--and it was a great day!! We did a football theme, and everyone in attendance was to wear their favorite sports team appearal.  It was fun to see, and it was close NU vs .KU---but with the kiddos, KU was the winner!  Will was a great birthday boy---he tore into his presents, and with some encouragement dug into his cake (he was more concerned with why everyone was staring at him around his high chair with cameras, but then once we helped him, he kept going!)

Patrick and I also made a slideshow of Will's first year, it was so fun to make and of course I got sentimental through it all, and know I will love looking back at it over the years and giving to him someday!  Here's to your first year Bubba, and can't wait to see what the next year has in store for you! :)







Halloween pics

This is slightly overdue, but wanted to post the pictures of our little lion from Halloween:



Tuesday, November 6, 2012

My favorite things...

Some of my favorite things about being a mom and about Will at this point in time:

1) My absolute, hands-down, favorite sound in the world-- is the sound of Will's laugh.  It is the most genuinely happy, sincerely innocent and sweet sound, and I can't get enough of hearing it.  We are lucky he is really happy, laughs easy and we get to hear it often!

2) I love walking into Will's room in the morning when he wakes up---he is usually patiently waiting in his crib, either playing or standing up, and when he sees Patrick or I walk in, he is so excited and usually squeals with delight! I love our morning bottle, when he is still waking up (I think he wakes up slowly like his mama... dad wakes up and pops right out of bed and is ready to go), he plays with/ rubs his ears as he drinks his bottle.

3) Will gets so excited when we walk him around, or when he pulls himself up to stand, which is pretty much all the time now.  He is getting more and more steady--- I know those first steps are just around the corner.

4) I love when Will sneezes....he sneezes hard (like his mom and dad both!!) and then smiles really big, like it felt so good to get that out (doesn't it always feel so good to sneeze?!)  Anyway, I giggle everytime along with him!

5) Will is starting to imitate us!! He was a lion for Hallowen (shoot, I'll post pics seperately soon), and we worked on him 'roaring', and he really would do it after we did!  He will say 'Hi' and wave quite a bit, and lately when he hears us asking a question, he will sometimes say 'yeah'---it's so funny when he says it so clearly, but then of course it's not consistent and can't ever seem to be done on command.  He will also give Mama kisses too at times...he leans forward and basically opens his mouth (it's ok, i'll take open-mouthed wet kisses from him anytime!)

6) Will loves people!! I have said it in several posts, but no matter if we are at the grocery store, going on a walk, at church, and even at daycare, all we hear is that we have such a sweet boy and how cute he is.  The ladies at Daycare: Melita, Cathy and Emily always tell us that he is just so sweet---that they let him get away with more because he is just so cute.  Emily told us that she really likes Will b/c he will always laugh at her and thinks she is really funny :) 

7) Will is getting more comfortable sleeping other places and staying overnight ---FINALLY!  He did great when we were at the lake, and actually this past weekend, he had his first overnight slumber party, and he stayed with Renae, Lily, and Ava---they gave him lots of attention and he did great!! He had so much fun and we were so grateful to trust that he was in great hands, and as we have said for awhile now... Lily is going to be a great babysitter someday, we can't wait until we can steal her more often :)

8) I love driving home from work, or the gym, or wherever I am coming from, knowing that I will get to see my Bubba when I walk in the door.  It's the best, and I can't ever seem to get home fast enough.  Seeing that sweet smile again when I walk in the house, after being away from him all day, is the best feeling ever.  (We have been working it out that I generally always drop Will off in the morning, and P picks up)

9) Will LOVES playing with his trucks.  When we get home from work- we 'play'--which typically is emptying all of our toys out of the bag, but Will always goes right for his trucks....he has about 3 now that he loves.  He 'drives' and scoots them all over the house, and could keep him entertained for hours!  He is all boy....(I don't think I owned one truck growing up---so different, all I had were dolls and books! ha!)  I love watching him grow into being a little boy.

10)  Everynight (close to it), I still get to rock Will to sleep at night (P usually gets dinner ready--thanks babe!)  We put his Pj's on in his room, turn on the sound machine, turn out the light, Will drinks his bottle, and once he is done, he gets his pacifer and he snuggles into Mama to go to sleep.  Ahhhh--- such a sweet time that it almost is making me tear up when I write this.  I give him lots of kisses (I don't think I can ever kiss him enough) and I know this time is so precious and he will grow up so fast.  So I enjoy every single moment, and kiss and squeeze him all I want now! 

I truly love being a Mom... It's so funny that all my friends told me how amazing it is, but really you have no idea until you experience it yourself.  And that's what makes me so very, very excited for all my friends now that are just having babies or expecting their first.  I just know how much love it'll bring in their lives and can't wait for them to experience it all too!!  Being a Mom has definitely made me a better person, it's taught me even more how to manage my time, manage my priorities, to know an unconditional love that only a mom can have for her child.  I love you Bubba Bear.  You are the best thing that ever happened to me.

11 months old!





Sunday, October 21, 2012

Fun in the fall




The past few weeks have been pretty busy around our house---and our baby boy is growing up so fast!  We have both been busy with work--and I am SO proud of Patrick--he got a promotion at work that is much deserved! He works so hard and has done such a great job at St. Lukes--so excited for him and for his new role as an Operational Consultant for the entire health system!! Whoo-hoo!!

Will has been doing great overall.  The past several weeks, we have been trying to figure out what the cause of his bad diaper rash was.  He was having lots of diarrhea, so those frequent dirty diapers were giving him constant diaper rash--and it got really bad a few weeks ago.  At that point, the doctor suggested Neutromagin (sp?) formula that basically broke down the formula to leave out the cow's milk allergens - and to leave out dairy in his diet.  (Side note--that stuff smells so nasty--going down AND on the way out!)  After getting used to that taste, and noticing that his diaper rash cleared up and less loose stools---we were doing a lot better.  Also side note--that stuff is WAY expensive!  So, Dr. Espe called and said after we are done with our free samples, since Will is close to 1 year, we can start him on cow's milk.  Before we even started him on milk, we added in some lasagna we had made that had some cottage cheese in it---and that night, Will woke up at midnight and his poor stomach was hurting SO bad.  He was having such bad gas pains, and would be farting now and then, and we could just tell he needed to get it out.  He would get so uncomfortable though, he just couldn't fall asleep, and stay asleep.  So, after 2 shifts each, and about 1 1/2 later, he slept just fine.  Patrick researched on his phone at that time, and we decided since that next morning we were supposed to start regular milk---we decided to get a lactose-intolerent milk, and so far Will has had that for 2 days now and is getting along fine.  So, we'll keep our fingers crossed, and hopefully it was just a sensitivity and something he'll get over.  (*My Mom was telling me this weekend how whenever I was sick, they would take milk out of my diet and I would feel better...I've always had somewhat of an upset stomach, so hopefully Bubba didn't get my sensitive stomach)

Lastly, we got to go down to the Lake this weekend and help Mom and Don move into their new house!!!  It was so fun--and it's going to be so nice to have our own place!  It's a perfect place for them, and it's very wide open, and we can now envision where we will make lots of fun memories!  Cheers to that :)



Happy boy

Standing up almost all by myself


Helping G&G Johnsen move in to the new lakehouse--and playing with my first pumpkin!




Sunday, September 30, 2012

10 Month Update


Over the past month, our big boy keeps growing and getting more and more independent. 

- He has mastered holding his own bottle, and knows how to pick up his food on his tray and put it in his mouth.

- Teething-- this is probably the most significant event over the past month.  Will has his 2nd tooth in on the bottom, but it's been pretty rough on him.  It's so crazy how much he poops, and because of that, he has gotten a really bad diaper rash :(  Poor guy.  Hasn't broken the skin yet, but looks like it could anytime.  It's been VERY red, so we called the doctor last week and they prescribed an antibiotic, which helped a lot over night, but seems like every time he poos, and we don't catch it right away, it'll flare up.  So, we are really hoping our sweet boy gets over this, although from what I hear, it can last quite a while.  The good news is, it really hasn't changed his mood too much, only when we change him and/or have to try not to wipe much, since that irritate the skin even more.  Hope  next month we can say it's much better!

- Daycare- we are feeling more comfortable with the people at daycare and Will fitting in there.  He seems to enjoy it, and has days that he takes 1 1/2 hr naps at least...so it's not as much as he does at home, but it's better than when we started!  Will has also started eating the meals they provide at daycare, and they say he's done really well with the table food.  Good job buddy! 

- September has been a fun month of nice, relaxing weekends at home.  Patrick finished putting in the flagstone patio in our backyard, so we have gotten to enjoy that (now on to the next project for him...he doesn't stop! I think he gets it from Bill :))  We have been able to get out and enjoy this awesome fall weather, catch some good football games (mostly on TV, maybe we'll get to a game or two at some point), and spend some time with good friends and family.  It's what it's all about :)  Both Patrick and I are getting more and more busy with work, but it's all good, and I guess comes along with getting more responsibilities.  We are both pretty lucky our work is flexible with schedules and we can take off early if needed, etc.

Hope you all have a great week!

My handsome Bubba - 10 months old

Celebrating Emma's 1st bday by driving her around (I love his face!!)

Ha!  This picture is good for a laugh everytime I see it!!

Hanging with my buddy Daniel

Happy boy

Go Huskers!!




Wednesday, September 5, 2012

9 months- From Baby to Little boy

Oh my gosh---I seriously feel like Will has grown up SO much in the past month.  I may say it every month, but this has been the most changes for sure this time---no longer my baby and more a little boy.

- All of a sudden, he went from sitting up to pulling himself up on things and wanting to stand ALL the time now!  He is SO curious about everything and will crawl (usually an army-like crawl) to get where he wants. Dr. Espe says usually once he starts pulling himself up to stand and walking around things, it could be about 4-6 weeks before walking on his own!  Ah---I don't know if I'm ready for that already! (I'm so sentimental---but seriously, this is such a fun stage right now!)

- He is eating table food now--he can have pretty much anything, and we can incorporate meat.  Basically anything except something highly allergic, like eggs, nuts, peanut butter, shellfish.  So far, he has still loved pretty much everything..although the spaghetti texture was something new, some days he likes, some days not.  Loves his yogurt, bananas, applesauce, he will pick up the cheerios but doesn't yet realize he is supposed to put in his mouth!  Lots of fun with food and trying new things!

- He can drink out of a sippy cup and is starting to hold his own bottle (kind of---mostly he still lets us do it!)

- He started Daycare at St. Luke's last week... Will is going to go there for 2 days out of the week, to give Mimi a break and it'll be nice he's close to Patrick and they allow us to be flexible with his schedule if needed.  Anyway, it was SO hard to leave him that first day, and not feel completely confident in what we were doing, but we just have to trust we are doing the right thing.  So far, nap time has been tough there, and after being there now his 4th time, I am hoping he will continue to adjust and get more sleep there.  But otherwise, he has gotten good reports that he is playing well, he likes his new friends, and just at times is a little needy :)

9 mo. old - 22 lbs (75%) and 28" tall (50%)

Spending Labor Day at the Condo (last time before Mom and Don sell!)

Standing at my activity table is my favorite right now!

Honestly, I feel so blessed every single day to have such a fun, healthy, happy, active little boy.  He is so, so much fun--I really do look forward to getting up in the morning just to hang out with him! (for anyone that knows me, I'm NOT a morning person, but am much more of one now!)  It helps that Will is always especially happy in the morning too, and will usually just smile and smile.  It melts my heart every time I see that sweet smile.  This weekend, Will also said 'Ma-ma' several times!!!  Between hearing that and hearing him giggle, it's the best sounds ever---by far!!  I know it sounds crazy, but everytime he said Mama, was when he was trying to get my attention or when he was right next to me... I think he knows!! 

Will is also such a charmer.  Whenever we are in church or in a restaurant or out somewhere, he always seems to charm the ladies or smile so big at someone and we get comments a lot on our cute baby.  We definietly think so--but fun to hear from others too! :)  In fact, this weekend we were eating at a Mexican restaurant with Mom and Don---and for some reason Will started getting the giggles.  He was laughing so hard, and had us all laughing back at him at our table---which made the 3 tables around us all look over and were laughing too!!  It was such a sweet moment.  Patrick actually mentioned this weekend, that he never knew how much he would laugh when he became a Dad---it's so true!  You know things will change, but never in our wildest dreams could we imagine how much fun it would be. 

Oh!  And lastly, Will is going to have a baby cousin!! My sister and Cody are expecting Baby Lew 2 on March 9th 2013!!  So excited and can't wait to see if we will have a little niece or nephew :) 

Friday, August 17, 2012

60th Wedding Anniversary - Great Grandma and Grandpa Altenhofen

Such a great picture

Bubba Bear

Celebrating 60 years!!

On our way to Seneca - makes it seem that he is a happy traveller :)

My sister-in-laws---at a shower for Michelle

This week with Grandma Johnsen...


Such strong legs---still loves jumping!

We discovered Will loves holding the garage opener on walks!  So funny!

Fun with cousin Daniel in the wagon!

Grandma chasing around the boys!

Our Meghan


Will was so lucky to have Meghan Connelley come down 2 days (sometimes more!) a week this summer to watch him at our house.  Ok, WE ALL loved having Meghan down.  Meghan actually started watching Will since he was 3 months old, when I went to back to work---she watched him once a week, while Marilee taught her younger brothers art lessons.  Marilee spoke so highly of her, and when we talked about someone coming to watch Will some this summer, and after a neighbor girl of ours didn't work out, we called Meghan right up and asked if she was interested.  It was definitely in God's plan. 

Meghan is a breathe of fresh air---super positive, spunky, and even though she is little---she has lots of energy and I can tell she cares about Will---and he always lit up when she came over.  I hope someday I can teach my children the importance of being dependable and timely---these were two things that we always grew to appreciate so much with Meghan.  We always knew she would be there on the days we had deceided and she was always about 5-10 minutes early, so Patrick and I could still get to work on time--even with a long drive from up north. 

Anyway, last week was Meghan's last one with us scheduled, as she has to start up her junior year of high school--but I"m sure she'll see Will at Marilee's still, and I'm sure she'll get calls from us to babysit from time to time.  Thanks for taking such good care of our sweet boy Meghan!

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

8 month update

Another month gone by??  Seriously---summer is flying by--now it's almost time for school to start!  It's definitely been a really hot summer, almost every day over 100+ (which makes it not fun to do anything outside, so we stay inside a lot on the really hot days/nights)  and the Olympics are on!  I love watching the Olympics (especially gymnastics, swimming, beach volleyball), and the crazy thing is that the last time the Olympics were on, Patrick and I were just dating, our first summer together.  Crazy how much has changed in just 4 years!

Anyway, our baby boy is already over 8 months old....updates on what is new with Will:

- He started crawling!  He definitely is moving around, mostly scooting, but since he scoots across the room, it counts :)  Not quite up on all fours crawling, but he's deifnitely moving!

- He always wants to stand!  When we hold him, he will push up with his strong legs and walk up our stomachs to stand up--you can tell he feels so proud of himself when he's standing up like a big boy! 

- He loves grabbing our faces--especially when he's eating.  For some reason it's really fun to grab our noses really hard, or trying to stick his hands in our mouths---hope that phase ends soon ;)

- He has his first little tooth on the bottom!  This just happened a day or so ago, we can see a little white cap---and he is definitely acting like it hurts---poor guy.  A little Ibuprofen, oragel ,and teething rings---and hope this phase ends soon too!  Hate seeing him hurting... but he has still been sleeping well and through the night, so knock on wood, that that continues. 

- he laughs SO hard when Patrick starts dancing around....this usually happens in the evening as he is in his highchair, we are getting his dinner ready and to entertain him, Patrick will dance and sing around.  Will laughs so hard, it's seriously the best sound in the world.  I keep saying I need to record it, so I won't ever forget that sound (and I'm so sentimental, I know every year as he grows up, I'll want to remember these sweet moments)  But, Patrick made me promise that I can't post/share that video anywhere!  Ha!  Maybe if I can just get Will's laughs :)

- Car trips--- we have always struggled with knowing how/when to put Will in for road trips, b/c in the past, we would assume he would sleep in the car during his normal nap time, but he would end up not sleeping at all and then just miss the nap, be overtired, and it just gets back to worse from there.  So, we went to NE again this weekend (this time for my 10 year class reunion, my step-cousin's wedding, and my cousin Amber's baby shower)....and I think we FINALLY figured out that if we just have a really big bottle of milk ready to give him....we can reach back and feed him that, and he gets so full, he's kind of in a milk coma. :)  Worked on the way up (after hearing him cry 1/2 way up) and then started it on the way back, and worked like a charm! 

- He loves the pool!  He kicks around and could stay in the water all day!

We really are so blessed to have such a happy baby!  He brings us so much joy---and I could just eat him up!  We are having a blast with him at this age and we know it'll just keep getting better.  Some pictures from recent events and 8 month shots:

Happy boy

I love standing up like a big boy

Hanging with Amy, Cody and Daniel--we love these times!

Getting his 2nd haircut---this time at a real salon with a fun firetruck to sit in!

Hey there blue eyes

Couple of my girlfriends at my 10 year class reunion!

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Mama's first nights away...

This month has been FLYING by!  July always goes by quickly with so much going on.  A few major things that have happened since the last post:

 - Will's first 4th of July- since it was in the middle of the week, and since Grandma and Grandpa Johnsen were in Hawaii this year, it was the first time in 8 years I didn't spend a 4th of July at the lake! :)   But instead, we took it easy here at the house, and went up to Mimi and Gigi's, played in the pool, and had a nice meal.  Since Will's bedtime is 8:00, he didn't make it to fireworks, and I was hoping I would get to see a few from our house, but this is the one time I didn't appreciate all the lovely Prairie Village trees :)  Oh well---next year!

- I had to leave my baby for the first time over-night.  This past week, I had to go help out at some demos in New Jersey--and it was my first time away from Will for a night--and this was two!  I knew that he would be just fine with Patrick--but it was just so hard even thinking about not getting to see his sweet face and pick him up at the end of the day.  Mama did good (of course Will and Patrick did too) and good thing our days are SO busy at demos, that it didn't give me too much time to sit around and dwell on it.  Will got lots of good snuggles and kisses the entire day when I got home Thursday!

- We have gotten to enjoy a few weekends at home, and it's been so nice!  I love just the little things---waking up with my boys... snuggling in bed.... doing things around the house... and getting in lots of good playtime (vs. running around all over the place the entire weekend!) 

- Will has started putting together some words---we have heard a few 'da-da-da'....amongst other blabberings, but Patrick really loves to hear that of course!  He thinks it's really funny when we say 'ba-ba-ba" to him though, and I'm excited to hear him start talking more. 

- He loves eating still---but sometimes thinks it's playtime :)  Lately he really likes to blow out his food once he feed him, and can make quite a bit of a mess.  I have to remember that it's ok to be messy, we can clean him up, even if he gets carrots/squash/green beans in his hair, ears, nose, etc :)

- He hasn't started crawling yet, but is getting SO close!  He wants to get there, and he'll get up a little bit and kind of scoot a little, or mostly just go down on his side and roll around.  But, he is definitely moving and we need to start baby proofing the house, as all my baby emails keep reminding me :)


Fun at Michael and Mallory's wedding

Family pic

Fun with Grandpa D

Sunday, July 1, 2012

7 months

We couldn't believe that it was already time to take Will's 7 month pictures---time went by REALLY fast in between 6 and 7 months for sure.  Maybe it's because the last few weekends we have been travelling back to NE--- last weekend for my step-sister Erin's baby shower, and my other step-sister Erica's wedding reception.  So, we had fun seeing family---but unfortunately, our little guy just doesn't like to sleep well when we travel--- he was up most of the night Saturday night crying on and off...which then just leads to somewhat of a tired/more fussy than normal day.  Anyway, he usually isn't too bad during the day, but then when we try to put him in his carseat, it's like he just can't get comfortable in there and just fusses when he's already tired.  So, I ended up getting in the back seat, and once he got over the fussy, we just played in the backseat together for the rest of the trip.  We were both relieved to finally get home and get Bubba into his own crib and a good nights sleep!

This past Friday, we both took the day off work---was so nice to be home and get lots done around the house, and all hang out together.  We left around 2:30pm for Lincoln, to celebrate my cousin Michael's wedding.  It was SO fun to see all my Mack family and Will was a trooper and stayed up partying with everyone until about 10:45 when we left Lincoln!  Good job Bubba!  We also got to stop in to see Great-Grandma Meyer and lots of Meyer cousin's---my aunt/uncle/cousins from Alaska were in town, so was nice to visit with them, it had been a long time!  And then we caught a little time with Sadie, Lindsay and Chad at the Harris' before both of our babies needed naps---so, was an eventful weekend, and so nice though.  We will be VERY grateful though to just stay in town the next couple weekends though :)  Life/being on the go is just so different with a little one :) 

Otherwise, we are so blessed to have such a happy baby.  It's so fun when we go to church, or just running errands, that people will stop us and tell us what a happy little baby we have---and Will usually smiles up at them really big :)  Even Grandma Johnsen got to spend a few days last week with Will --and she couldn't stop saying what a happy baby he is!  We always love to hear that---but for the most part he really is a happy guy---and we couldn't be more proud.

Here are some of the 7 month photo shoot pics:


Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Daniel and Will

Pictures from Moments and Memories
Daniel - 1 year
Will - 6 months