Will's Second Month! 3/11 - 4/10

2 MONTHS OLD!!! • my mom calls me an easy baby! •
I give mom and dad more sleep then they deserve •
I had my 2 month check up and I weigh 12# 9oz and am 24in long •
my head is in the 97th percentile, which obviously
means I have lots of brains and I am really smart •
my favorite song is Winnie the Pooh and all the
funny songs my dad makes up for me •
my favorite place in the house is my changing table
where I can look out my window • my favorite food is milk •
I love when soft things are rubbed against my skin •
I am a morning person, much to my moms dismay •
I nap best with the TV on • I love laying in my boppy
and being covered with a swaddle blanket just so I can kick it off •
I love being outside • I am starting to really enjoy
bath time and the way my legs make splashes
when I kick them • I love cuddling! •
my mom tells me all the time that her heart is gonna burst for love of me!

This kid spoiled us this month! He was so chill and easy going! Most of the day we just relaxed and chilled around the house and went for walks in the lovely fresh air. When you live in Phoenix in the spring, summer can destroy your lovely weather at a moments notice, so we try to take advantage for as long as we can. I can't say enough what an easy baby Will was/is! If he wasn't in his rock n play or sleeping propped up in the boppy on the couch, he was chilling on his activity mat, playing with his animal friends. He also fell in love with his changing table this month! He noticed that if he turned his head he was able to see out of his window into the front yard. It was mesmerizing for him and calmed him down instantly if he was fussy. We spent a lot of time in this spot in the house enjoying little baby coos and kicks and wiggles while watching the world outside the window.

A few days after he turned a year old, we were ready to transition him into his own room. As much as I loved having him close to me in the night, it started getting old being awake from 4-5am during his nightly gas fest! Seriously this kid's grunts and toots were so loud. Poor Aaron had a hard time getting back to sleep after his "witching hour", so we decided it was best for everyone if we slept in our own rooms. I suspected that Will might sleep better being a part from us as well. Sure enough, after his first night in his own

room, Will gave us a 6 hour stretch and then a 4 hour stretch! It felt like heaven. Then within a week he upped the stakes and slept a FULL 10 HOURS uninterrupted! The first morning I woke up before him, I of course freaked out and had to go check and make sure he was ok. Then on the second morning... I still had to go check on him. By the 3rd morning, Aaron and I had to start trying really hard to not get use to this blissful sleeping arrangement. We knew that at any moment, he would switch everything up on us and start sleeping terribly again, but we kept right on giving us incredible sleep. When people would ask how he was sleeping or if we were surviving sleep deprivation, Aaron and I felt super guilty! 

While Will improved in sleep, he also started liking his baths! We had stopped with the sink
baths and started bathing him in his baby tub on the kitchen counter. It helped that he had a warm washcloth on his tummy and kept him comfy and warm in the water. He still cried, but it was much less than before. By the time his second month was done, we were able to transition him to the baby tub part without the hammock, which he LOVED! He really enjoyed being propped up by one of us, while the other one soaped him up and poured water over his shoulders and arms. It was also Aaron and my favorite things because he just looked like the cutest little fat man sitting in a hot tub! And then who could resist a clean, fresh, sweet little baby all wrapped in a ducky towel!

Will's first big holiday was St Patrick's day! Of course when you have a tiny red headed Irish baby, it was imperative to make it a big deal! Laurie (Grandma) had gotten him a onesie that said "Kiss me I'm Irish" so a photo shoot was in order! People tell me all the time how expressive Will is and he showed it in full force for our mini session. Seriously by the time this kid is a year old, he's gonna be a photo shoot pro!

I wish I could say that major Holidays were the only occasion to have a photo shoot, but who am I kidding. When you have an adorable baby with boundless expressions, you have to take advantage of the cuteness and take a gazillion pictures!

Just a couple weeks after St Patricks Day it was Easter! Cue more photo shoots!

I can't begin to express how much I love having a sweet little baby to dress up for major holidays!

I thought long and hard about what I wanted him to wear for Easter. It was, after all, his first time to church, so he had to look sharp for everyone. Emolyn was getting baptised, so we couldn't miss it. I had planned on wearing him in his wrap so no one would ask to hold him, but his outfit needed to be seen, so instead Aaron and I just held him close the whole service. He did great and everyone was so distracted with the Easter festivities that no one really noticed us much, so we got to fly under the radar.

We split the day between our two families having lunch after church with my mom and dad and then the evening with Aaron's family. It was a whirlwind exhausting day, considering we weren't use to being out of the house for very long. Our stamina for full days of people just isn't what it use to be, but it was still so sweet to be with everyone! Will was a champ and slept like normal.

Over at my parents house, we brought the yellow blanket with us and finally got a photo with my dad and I and the yellow blanket. It isn't exactly my dad holding Will (he still wasn't interested in that), but all 3 of use were in the picture with it. We also got some sweet photos with my mom and my mom and dad with Will.

Then we also had to get some photos of Pat and Laurie with Will too that evening!

I had so many day dreams throughout the day of future Easter Egg hunts and egg decorating and tell Will about the true meaning behind Easter and how monumental it is the history of time and space. I just can't wait to watch Will take in each of his first holidays and then do it all again next year when he's even older and can participate more in all our little traditions!

Just a few days after Easter, we decided to do our first day trip! Will loved his car seat and stroller on our short trips around town, so we decided to test it for a longer duration. We headed north to Prescott. This was the place where Aaron and I did our first day trip while dating. We are big day trip people and were excited to introduce Will to long car rides and new towns. The weather was nice and cool up there too, which was very welcome for us since Phoenix was already starting to get hot. We ate lunch at the Raven and then walked around the town square for the afternoon. Will was a champ, except on our way home. We hadn't even made it out of Prescott town square when he lost it and I had to move to sit in the back the whole drive home because he was just very lonely. I would still consider it a successful trip and a great practice for trips to come!

We started trying to get out of the house a lot more this month. I wouldn't say I was suffering from cabin fever, because I loved being at home, but Aaron definitely was antsy to get out of the house more and I agreed that I didn't want to be so much of a home body that Will didn't know how to be out in public. He needed to get use to the flexibility out being out and

about. We went on a lot more mini dates as a family. I was particularly excited when we were able to get out in the right time frame where I was able to have an adult drink! We went to visit my friend Jeannette at SunUp Brewery in Phoenix. They have a Vanilla Porter on draft as well as a house made Root Beer and Jeannette mixes them together and it tastes like a delicious root beer float! Can you tell it is one of my favorite drinks? 

Will took to eating out like a boss and made everything so easy for Aaron and I. I of course was a nervous wreck know what possibly COULD go wrong, but never did. Looking back, I feel like maybe I was the one that needed to practice to learn the flexibility of being out and about. Either way, we both learned and adjusted to everything slowly but surely.

Will also got to meet more family this month! We had a visit from both Great Grandmas on Aaron's side of the family and even had a mini introduction party with more of my side of the family - my Aunt Etna (she had actually come to visit us at home right after Will was born) and a few of my cousins (Evan and his wife Myra and their son Timothy)!

Will also got to meet his Uncle Tyler, who came to visit all the way from Wisconsin! I loved having my brother meet his littlest nephew and be our first house guest after having a baby! I was definitely worried that Will's occasional wake ups (every so often he would wake up a couple times at night, but mostly he slept straight through) would keep Tyler from sleeping very well. Fortunately, Tyler is a heavy sleeper and it didn't bother him at all!

Will and I got to be the ones to pick Tyler up from the airport and welcome him back to the Phoenix heat! And then we brought him back to the house where he got to have proper Will snuggles! 

It was such a fun weekend with the siblings! Tyler didn't tell my mom he was coming into town, so he got to head over to her house before she got home from work and be sitting in the living room when she walked in the door. She of course freaked out and screamed with delight. Tyler caught it all on video, so we got to see it. The whole weekend was a blast! We even got a night out with the 5 of us siblings (and Will) going to different bars in Scottsdale. Now I have no problem taking Will into a bar. Especially since Phoenix doesn't allow smoking inside and even the patios are nice and open, so it is never a problem. However, taking a baby to a bar can be a bit of a buzz kill for the other patrons as it is probably an unwelcome reminder about responsibility. I didn't actually care though and we still had an excellent time!

The weekend was over too quickly and we were sad to see Tyler go! 

Will just loved him and they were so sweet together! It made me extra excited to someday bring Will up to Wisconsin for a visit to the farm and to see Tyler up there!

That almost brings up to the end of month #2! Some other fun pieces about this month were all the special moments Will got with his daddy. Aaron introduced him to Soccer on the computer and they continued to play lots of video game soccer together! 

We even got to head down to meet Aaron downtown during the week to have lunch all together as a family. As much as Aaron had been ready to return to work, after a week or so, he admitted that it got harder and harder every day to be away from Will and to not be able to see and cuddle him whenever he wanted. So we had to make sure to give daddy extra love when he got home and allow for lots of boy time.

Will's second month was full of lots of new adventures and experiences and a continuation of growing big and strong!