5 Months

Will is 5 months old. He is growing so fast and is definitely not a little baby anymore. The first thing everyone says when they meet him is, "Wow! He's a big boy!" Yes, yes he is. I'm not sure what he weighs, but I'm sure that he has gained some weight since last month.

Will got sick for the first time. Around September 2, 2011 Will started getting sick. He had his shots several days prior, so I think it may be related. It started with a runny nose, then he was coughing a bit. He also sounded pretty hoarse when he cried. He was super fussy and cried constantly. I must have caught the same thing because I also had runny nose and really sore throat.

We also started "sleep training" with Will on September 5th. Basically its a method of letting your baby cry himself to sleep. The first thing that is stressed is establishing a bedtime routine and doing it at the same time every night. For example, at 8pm, I feed Will a bottle, then give him a bath, then read him a story. Then I swaddle him, top him off with food, then lay him down in crib. If you want more details on how the process works, feel free to ask me or visit this link to a great website: Cry-out Method . It helped SO much. It is so nice having Will be asleep by 9pm so I can have an hour or two to myself to do what I need/wish.

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When Will is laying down, he will try to pull himself up into a sitting position. He will pull his head up as far as possible like he is doing some crunches. If I grab his hand, he can pull himself up into a sitting position.

When we try to strap Will into his car seat, he will arch his back so that the straps wont fit. While it can be frustrating, it makes me laugh every time.

He is definitely getting more curious. He loves to grab things and study them. He'll hold it in one hand, then pass it to the other. Though eventually, everything ends up in his mouth, including his books.

Will went swinging at the park for the first time this month. I was a little hesitant because I figured he'd be way too small, but after padding him with a blanket, he loved it! He was so content and happy to just sit there and swing. Also notice in the picture that he enjoyed eating his blanket the entire time.

His hair seems to be coming in more and more. He fell asleep in my arms the other day, his head was sweaty, so I had a little fun with his hair.

While he still fits in his 3-6 month clothes, they are definitely getting pretty snug and I doubt that he will be able to wear them much longer.

He can touch the floor in his jumper, barely. But he still hasn't got the concept down of bouncing. He is getting more interested in the toys around him, but he still doesn't like sitting in it for very long.

He eats cereal 1-2 times per day and he loves it. He hardly spits any out or gets any on the bib. He just gobbles as much of it up as I'll give him.

He grew out of his personal bath, so I have started giving him baths in the big one. I'll just fill the tub up with 2-3 inches of water and lay him down in it. He LOVES it. The first time, he just kicked and laughed for about 15 minutes. Every night, he continues to love bath time and will enjoy the water until I pull him out.

No matter how good I swaddle him, he can somehow manage to slowly move his hands up to his mouth and out of the blanket.

Nap time is getting WAY better. When I can tell that he is tired, I will swaddle him, put him up in his crib, and leave him. Usually, he will cry for a few minutes then fall asleep. Occasionally, he'll scream hard enough that I will go back in there. Then after a few minutes of me rocking him, I can usually put him back down.

Will wants attention all the time. And you can't just hold him. He wants to be talked to, played with, etc. When you ignore him, he gets upset and starts to cry. If he sees you leave the room, he gets upset and cries. It makes it hard to get anything done.

Will hates tummy time. In fact, it is impossible to make him have tummy time because every time I put him on his stomach, he'll roll over as quickly as possible. I was trying to take some pictures of him on his stomach and I had to hold him down in order to prevent him from rolling. He didn't like it at all.

Notice the giant tear rolling down his nose.

Still upset that I forced him on his stomach

Will loves to "fake cough". He'll just sit there and do these wimpy little coughs. Cute and funny. At first, I wasn't sure if he was coughing, sick, or what. But eventually, I could tell he was faking it. It's funny cause he'll cough for a minute, then just start laughing.

Sometimes I swear Will must be telling a funny joke. He'll be jabbering and jabbering, then suddenly he will crack up at himself. I wish I knew what he was saying.

Will has almost read all of 1 and 2 Nephi. I started to read a chapter or two to him every night. He does really well and is content while I am reading. He also likes to look at picture books.

Will lights up every time he see's Lance. He gets the biggest smile on his face. He especially loves it when Lance makes weird noises at him.

I can't believe he will be half a year old next month. For some reason, that sounds so much older. He really is a good baby most of the time and we love him more every day.

Will Laughing

Will has the cutest laugh ever. It is so adorable and one of my favorite sounds in the world. And it is so easy to get him to laugh: making strange noises, sudden movements, acting like an idiot, etc. Unfortunately, he hasn't liked to preform in front of the camera. But I caught a little clip of him laughing. Maybe someday I'll get a decent one. Until then, enjoy this one!

This picture says it all.

It was our Stake Conference today and L. Tom Perry came to speak to us. Lance had heard a random rumor that maybe he was coming to dissolve the married student stake. Complete rumor, thank goodness. While we are excited to one day go to the family ward, we really enjoy the married student atmosphere at this stage in our lives.

About 2/3 of the way through his talk, a subsonic vibration was felt and a low rumbling was heard. We look down to find Will just a smiling in his car seat. Several people around us chuckled and all we could do was shake our heads and smile. He seemed perfectly content for a bit, so we just left him. But after a few minutes, we decided that we should probably go change him. Luckily for me, Lance volunteered. As he stood up, you could see the back of Will's shirt was green and poop was EVERYWHERE! I just kind of chuckled as Lance hurried off to the restroom to get him cleaned up.

Check out those belly rolls :)

After an entire package of wipes and quite a bit of time, Lance comes back. I see him out in the hallway holding a naked Will. Well, mostly naked. The socks and his tie were the only things that did not get soiled so Lance had decided to keep those on. Apparently the one thing we forgot to pack in the diaper bag was an extra change of clothes. Lance also had some poop on his sleeve from when he first picked him up. So Will went the last 15 minutes of stake conference wearing a diaper, socks, and a tie. Our little Chippendale. All he was missing was the cuffs! Oh the joys of children. We had all of our friends around us cracking up though. The one good thing was that it allowed us to leave during the closing hymn, beat all the crazy traffic, and not feel guilty or bad about it.

Will feeling guilty

And He Rolls!

I finally got a video of Will rolling over. This was taken Sept. 2, 2011.

Where were you?

Blue = Bobbi   Red = Lance

I've always loved the country song, "Have you forgotten?". It's been 10 years since the attacks on America, but I remember a lot of things about that day when the two towers were hit. My friend Toni, who lived a few houses down, and I walked to school together. I was in 7th grade. That morning, on our way to school, she told me that her mom said a plane had just flew into the World Trade Center. Honestly, I had no idea what the World Trade Center was and didn't see any significance in hearing about a plane crash so I just shrugged it off and we continued on to school. Then when we got to school, it seemed like every tv was on in every classroom. And suddenly, we watched in shock as the second plane hit the second tower. Suddenly everything stopped and all eyes were glued to the tv.

I remember watching the news in school for at least an hour or more before our principle said that we needed to turn the tv's off and try to resume class. But of course, there was only one thing on everyone's minds and only one topic of conversation. Even some of my teachers altered their lesson plans to include a discussion about it.

I rushed home as fast as I could so I could watch more news feeds.We sat there for hours over the next few days watching the videos repeated time and time again. I remember being SO convinced that if we went to war that it would be bad. I remember telling everyone that if we did, it would turn into World War III and that the world would be destroyed. Fortunately, that has not been the result. But I am so grateful for all of the firefighters who risked everything to save as many people as possible and for soldiers who have put their lives on the line for our freedoms and our country. Thank you!

When I first found out, I was in class at West Junior High School. I thought that people were joking when they told me, so I said "Sweet!" Saying that is honestly the biggest regret of my life. I didn't believe anyone until after the class I was in (gym) when I saw news about it and the reality of it all sank in. The rest of the day, our classes (besides band) were focused on the news, and discussions about what was happening. I remember that our football game was cancelled that day, and the next few days were almost entirely focused on those events and what they meant for the future.

Here are the lyrics to that song I mentioned above:
 
Have you Forgotten?Darryl Worley,

I hear people saying we don't need this war
But, I say there's some things worth fighting for
What about our freedom and this piece of ground
We didn't get to keep 'em by backing down
They say we don't realize the mess we're getting in
Before you start your preaching let me ask you this my friend

Have you forgotten how it felt that day?
To see your homeland under fire
And her people blown away
Have you forgotten when those towers fell?
We had neighbors still inside going thru a living hell
And you say we shouldn't worry 'bout bin Laden
Have you forgotten?

They took all the footage off my T.V.
Said it's too disturbing for you and me
It'll just breed anger that's what the experts say
If it was up to me I'd show it everyday
Some say this country's just out looking for a fight
Well, after 9/11 man I'd have to say that's right

Have you forgotten how it felt that day?
To see your homeland under fire
And her people blown away
Have you forgotten when those towers fell?
We had neighbors still inside going thru a living hell
And we vowed to get the one’s behind bin Laden
Have you forgotten?

I've been there with the soldiers
Who've gone away to war
And you can bet that they remember
Just what they're fighting for

Have you forgotten all the people killed?
Yeah, some went down like heroes in that Pennsylvania field
Have you forgotten about our Pentagon?
All the loved ones that we lost and those left to carry on
Don't you tell me not to worry about bin Laden
Have you forgotten?

Have you forgotten?
Have you forgotten?

No Fair

Look at those eyelashes!

Book of Mormon Challenge

A couple of weeks ago I received an event invitation on Facebook to join "Reading the Book of Mormon - Fall 2011". Lance and I have never been in a good habit of reading our scriptures together so I immediately decided that we would do this together. We started on September 1st, and will finish on December 31st. As of this moment on Facebook, there are 40,154 people committed to reading the Book of Mormon by the end of the year. Plus I am sure that there are many more out there that are also part of it but either don't have Facebook, or simply didn't accept the invitation.

It feels so good to be a part of something that is so great. Thousands of people around the world are reading this wonderful book together. It isn't the easiest challenge, but Lance and I are committed to succeed. We didn't start off the best; in face, we completely forgot about it and missed the first day. And even missing ONE day is quite a bit to catch up on! But we did. And as of now we are right on track, and we are planning on staying that way.

For those of you who haven't heard about this, it is not too late to start.I challenge anyone who has never read The Book of Mormon, or even those who read it daily to take part of this event and join us in finishing it by the end of the year. I know that it will bless your life. If anyone does not have a Book of Mormon, I can either lead you where you can get a copy, or I will personally give you one myself. Any questions regarding the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints can be answered at  http://mormon.org/

For a copy of the suggested reading schedule::
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=268337676515260
or
http://db.tt/HBEy8Rt

If you are unable to get it from those sites, I can e-mail a copy at your request.