4 Months

4 Month Stats

Height: 25.5 inches - 69%

Head Circumference: 43.5 cm - 80%

Weight: 17 lbs 12 oz - 92%

Here are some new things that Will has done within the past month.

As you can tell by the stats, Will is quite the chunker. He sure loves to eat. And when he is ready to eat, he wants it now. Don't try to make him wait or he'll throw a fit.

About a month ago, Will was sleeping between 7-9 hours straight and it was heaven. Then a few weeks ago, instead of sleeping until six or seven, he'd wake up between 4am-5am. If that wasn't bad enough, within the past week he's started getting up between 2am-3am. And while he goes back to sleep, its usually for less than 2 hours then he's up again. I'm hoping its just linked to the scorching heat and will improve once it cools down. But I've also been trying a few other things as well.

If Will is on the floor and Lance or I walk by within his vision, his eyes will follow us across the room.

One of those things I'm trying is feeding him cereal. His first time was August 28th. I'm hoping that by getting a few more calories during the day will help sustain him a little bit more at night. He sits in his bumbo and eats it off of a spoon. I am surprised at how well he does. It makes a bit of a mess, but he really doesn't spit out very much.

 

Will rolled over for his first time just within the last two weeks. At first I had him on his tummy and I positioned his arm in a way that would make it easier, then I helped him a few times. Then a few days later (August 20th) he rolled from front to back completely on his own. And I missed it! I put him on his tummy while I went to do dishes, and when I came back in he was on his back. So I rolled him over again, determined to watch. And of course he wouldn't move. I turned for about 5 seconds to see what time it was, and suddenly he was on his back again! The next time I actually saw it and caught the last half of it on video. He did it four times in one day, but has only done it once since. Still working on that one. And I'm completely fine with him not rolling yet. It's nice to be able to set him on the couch and not have to worry about him rolling off.

When Will is laying down, he will pull his head and shoulders up and try to sit up. He is getting stronger and stronger, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's sitting up within the next month of two.

Suddenly one day after he was done eating, he started sucking on upper lip. I wish I had a picture because it's hard to explain, but he will suck his upper lip in, making a smacking noise. And he usually does it off to one side so it looks quite goofy.

Will and Lance looking very handsome right before church.

Will is drooling and blowing bubbles constantly. A couple of weeks ago he was suddenly much fussier than normal. He was drooling, fussing, and always wanted something in his mouth. I was worried he might be teething already, but luckily is not yet. Not excited for that milestone.

Will never liked sitting more than about 30 seconds in his bumbo. He'll now sit in it for longer periods of time, though it really depends on the moment. He does much better if you're sitting there playing with him or reading to him.

He still really loves his baths. Sometimes when he is fussy and I can't seem to calm him down, I'll just stick him in the bath tub. Then he'll be content for as long as he's in there.

Can see his hair a little better in this one.

 

His hair started coming in a lot more, but it is fairly light so it's not always easy to see unless close.


I have really noticed an improvement in his hand coordination. Will is really getting good at grabbing and playing with toys or burp clothes. One of his favorite toys is this cool ladybug that my mom bought him.

He is definitely a little jabber box. He will take a deep breath, then just yell for as long as he can until he is out of air.Then he will take another breath and scream it all out.

Will is SUPER ticklish...under his arm pits, upper thighs, belly, chin, back...pretty much everywhere. When he is in the right mood, he will squeal with laughter.

I can get him to laugh at least once a day, and it is those moments that I live for.

We got him a jumper-ooo toy. He can't touch the ground and doesn't quite know how to bounce just yet, but he likes to look at all of the bright toys. I think it is something that he will like more and more as he gets a little bit bigger.

 

I took Will jogging for the first time this week in our new jogging stroller. My mom found a jogging stroller at a yard sale for a great deal and got it for us. I just lay Will on a blanket and strap him in and we're ready to go. He is never more content that when he is in the stroller. He just lays back, relaxes, and enjoys the ride. While jogging with the stroller is harder, I find I can push myself a little bit further. I think this is because I'm focusing on pushing the stroller and making sure I don't crash than paying attention to how tired I am. But even "pushing myself further" really isn't far at all. I probably only run about 1/2 a mile. I suppose it's a good start.

Will is growing so fast and is constantly learning new things. He definitely keeps Lance and I on our toes. It amazes me how much they change and grow in such a short amount of time.

Will vs. Lance

A few weeks ago I did a post illustrating that Will does indeed look like me...at least when I was a baby. (See http://blhinton.blogspot.com/2011/08/yea-or-nay.html ) I thought it was only fair that I also do the same for Lance.

Lance's mom found this outfit that Lance wore when he was a baby and I just had to try it on Will. This was a few weeks ago, so Will was only about 3 1/2 months. The tag on the outfit says 24 months and it really wasn't terribly big on him. I'm assuming the sizes must have changed a bit in the past 20 years because even though Will is chunky, I don't think he is quite that big.

Anyways, so here is the comparison.

(Click on the picture to see it larger.)
Lance was probably 3-6 months older than Will in these pictures so it may not be the ideal comparison, but at least it gives you a little bit of an idea. Plus it is fun to see Will in some of Lance's old clothes.

I have two very handsome boys!

Hogle Zoo

We have had some visitors this past weekend and it was awesome! My mom came down on Wednesday night to come see Will and spend some time with us. She was super helpful and was willing to take him anytime, even if it was at three in the morning, She even watched him for a bit so Lance and I could go out on a much needed date. Thanks mom!

Yesterday, all of my sisters decided to go to the zoo. It was pretty fun to get out with all of the girls and our kids, of course. I was sad that Lance had to work and couldn't go with us. That also happened to be the day Will turned 4 months. Luckily we got there while the dinosaur exhibits were still there. Those were definitely the most popular with the kids. Even Will now giggles if I roar like a dinosaur.

I tried to sacrifice Will to the dino.

Will's first horse ride. Though it may not count since its a wooden horse.

My sister Kim and Will.

Will was SO good for the entire day. Oh sure, there were a few cranky moments, but otherwise he was just as content as could be (which was surprising for how hot it was). We sure walked around a  lot and by the end, I think the adults were as exhausted as the kids, if not more!

My mom.

Will's first time seeing giraffes.

Will's first train ride. Though this picture doesn't show it, he actually quite liked it.

 It was so cute to see all my little nephews get so excited to see everything. It will be lots of fun to take Will when he is that age.

Snow Days

Snow in August? Thank goodness the answer is no. I am simply referring to the Snow family reunion that we went to last weekend. (Lance's mom's side.) We went down to Salt Lake on Friday afternoon. There was a "cousins party" Friday night then the rest of the family got together on Saturday. I was too lazy to take any pictures of the fun on Saturday so all of these pictures are from the activity Friday night.

All of the first cousins went to Lance's uncle's house in Lehi for some really good food and fun. All of the kids were left at home, except for the really small ones (like Will). After our bellies were hurting from so much food, we attempted to play a bit of volleyball. I say attempted because our stomachs were full and it often wasn't the prettiest game. It was still a lot of fun though.

We stayed with our friends, Joey and Emily for the night. They were house-sitting her sister's house so there was plenty of room for us to stay. I was a little bit worried about how Will would sleep, but he did amazing. Actually, he slept even better there than he usually does at home. But it was so nice just to hang out with them and we stayed up talking until I was practically falling asleep.

On Saturday, the whole family gathered at Brent and Carol's house in the Salt Lake area. They have a very large and beautiful home with a pool and tennis court. There were a lot of activities going on throughout the day and it was fun just to hang out with everyone. There were two bounce houses, slack-lining, swimming, basketball, car races, etc. and of course food.

    It was fun, and we enjoyed it.

Two Years

Things have been busier than usual around the Hinton household and I am doing my best to catch up on everything that has been going on. I am currently in the process of about 2-4 different blog posts, and hope to have them all finished and posted by the end of the week.

In the meantime, Will is currently asleep so I'm going to do my best to hurry and get at least this post started and finished. A few days ago as I was just thinking, I suddenly realized that I never did a post about our anniversary. So here's how it all went down. I took my camera with me on our date, but I never got around to pulling it out and actually taking some pictures. Now I'm definitely regretting that. So beware for a long post with no pictures. I know that is boring sometimes, but I really want to have the little details recorded for my sake.

I had debated long and hard about what we should do for our anniversary. I really wanted to do something nice like a trip to Hawaii or a vacation of that caliber, but at the same time I recognized our need to save our money. Then I considered just doing an overnight stay somewhere close, like Park City, Bear Lake, or Salt Lake. At one point, I was thinking of surprising Lance with a sunrise Hot Air Balloon ride over Park City. It sounded like a lot of fun to me, but again, it was a pricy adventure.

We finally decided to just stay home and pretty much relax and spend the day together. We spent the morning doing our usual activities while we waited for our friend to get off work so she could babysit while we went out to dinner and possibly a movie. Little did Lance know that I had a little surprise planned for him.

As far as Lance knew, we would be dropping Will off at my friend Ashli's for a few hours while we went to dinner then either a movie or some other activity. And for the most part, that is what happened...well except for the elaborate plan Ashli and I had come up with. You see, while Lance and I were out to dinner, Ashli was preparing a romantic evening on the roof of her apartment. Her apartment has access to her roof which has a great view of the valley. She was great enough to get it all set-up and ready. There were about 100 small candles lining a pathway toward the blanket. Unfortunately it was too windy to light them, but it still looked cool. Then on the blanket, there was a thing of brownies surrounded by flowers and some ice cream to go on top.

Meanwhile, Lance and I were out to dinner at Happy Sushi. We would highly recommend it to anyone that enjoys sushi. We tried about 4 different types and we enjoyed them all. I think our favorite was the Mexican Crunch. I don't remember the type of fish, but it was deep fried and very yummy. Once we were done with dinner, I got a text from Ashli saying that Will had a blow-out, and we had forgotten to pack some extra clothes so we needed to bring some as soon as possible. (This of course wasn't true but part of the plan to get him up to the surprise.) When we got to her apartment, there was a note on her door that said, "Dear Bobbi and Lance, Because this is such a special occasion, I have a surprise waiting for you on the roof. Walk on in and help yourself up to the roof." I tried to act all surprised and I think I did a pretty good job.

It was SO nice up there and very romantic. Lance was completely surprised and couldn't believe how sneaky I was. He kept shaking his head and saying "Nicely played". Suddenly so many things started to make sense. Like why I asked if he liked brownies or cookies better the night before. Or why I needed to run an errand that morning. Or why Ashli kept texting me.

It all came together so nicely and I am so grateful to Ashli for helping out so much. She set everything up and watched Will for us. Talk about an amazing friend! Lance and I stayed up there until it got dark, eating our dessert and just relaxing and enjoying the view. I had suggested the day before that maybe we could write vows to each other, since that is something we never did on our wedding day. So we both wrote vows (which were more like letters) to each other, talking about the good in the past two years, things we each promised to work on, and excitement for the future. It was actually a really great moment to sit and read those letters to each other, and if they weren't so personal, I would share with everyone because Lance's letter was so sweet.

The past 2 years have gone by so quickly. There are times where I feel like we were just barely married, but most of the time it feels like I have known Lance forever. Those single days feel like so long ago. If someone would have told me then that we would have a child before our 2 year anniversary, I would have said they were nuts. But I definitely don't regret our decision to bring Will into the world when we did. I am so blessed to have such a sweet little boy and an amazing husband to help me raise him.

Love you Lance!

Happy Two Year Anniversary!

Boating

A couple in our ward invited us to go boating yesterday. I debated on whether to try finding a babysitter or not, but just decided to take Will with us. And he actually seemed to really enjoy it. The Hamilton's have awesome parents who let them borrow their boat, so thanks to both of them for letting us get out of the house for some fun. Friends + boat + tube = Super Fun Time. A few other couples bailed so it ended up just being the four of us, plus Will. And Beka is pregnant so that left 3 of us to ride the tube.

Lance did the most riding and looked like a little 5 year old having the time of his life. You couldn't wipe the grin off his face if you tried...well except for the few seconds when he was doing cartwheels across the water like a rag doll. When I rode the tube with Lance, I ended up backflipping over him while he somehow managed to stay on. Fortunately, neither one of us were hurt...too bad. Mostly we're both just really sore and tired.

 Took some pictures of Will in his silly hat right before we headed out to the lake.

Will loved the boat. He was so content and didn't cry once during the 2+ hours we were out. He would sometimes jabber when the boat was going and would sit content as can be. When we stopped, then he would start to get upset. He just wanted to go, go, go. We had a great time and we really want to thank the Hamilton's for inviting us along.

I decided not to take my camera because I figured I probably wouldn't really use it, but I regretted it once I saw Lance's face on the tube. Definitely picture worthy

Yea or Nay?

Nearly everyone says that Will looks just like Lance. There have been a few people that say he is a good combination of the both of us, but no one ever says that he looks like me. I'm not sure what it is exactly, but it's exciting when someone says how much he looks like you. Makes you proud in a way. Anyways, I am constantly being told how much Will looks like Lance. Then one day I pulled out a picture of me in my blessing outfit, and Lance said it looked like Will in a dress. So it gave me the slightest bit of hope that maybe he does look like me a bit after all. What do you all think?