Crazy Days of Summer

Will has had a very busy 3rd month. He had almost a weeks vacation away from mom and dad, a big party, a photo shoot and lots of field trips! As mentioned in my last post, Zach and I prepared to be away from him as we went on our annual House Boat trip with our friends. Will spent 6 days with my mom and half of that time spent up in Remer at my Grandma's as they prepared for her auction and move to Oakdale. I was anticipating a heart wrenching separation with a few nights of crying myself to sleep...not kidding. I surprised myself, and everyone on the boat I think as I had no problems at all. We had such a good time on our trip and I knew that my mom was really enjoying her extended visit with Will. Plus I took a few photos of him when I dropped him off and looked at his cute face on my camera while we were gone.

At the end of July just 2 days before Will was 3 months old we had him baptized. It was a beautiful day! Will wore an outfit that was made by his 2 Grandma's and he looked so adorable! Nancy did the hardanger embroidery and my mom made the outfit. Will wore socks that were my dad's when he was a baby and we used water that I had collected from the Jordan River on my trip to Israel in 1999. It was very special that we used living water from the place Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist; where the skies opened and God said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17). It was a very special moment for me to see this water used on my son as he was welcomed into the family of God by my friends at Trinity Lutheran and all of our family members and friends who came to church with us.

I scheduled Will's first portrait sitting the week after his baptism so I could have them done with his outfit on. He was adorable even though he wouldn't give the camera one single smile. He didn't like to be changed and had one little tantrum before we could continue with another outfit. Next time, dad will come with and we will be relentlessly goofy to get him to grin! I will wear a shirt that won't flash the photographer every time I have to bend down to pick up Will and we will go first thing in the morning, not at the end of the day when the 23 year old wants to just go out with his friends and not take pics of another crying baby! Ugh, not a job for me, however with no smiles ordered I did attempt to do my own photo shoot at home so I could use my Elmo voice and get a giggle or two.

These are just a couple of the 8 billion pictures I took...there are too many CUTE ones to show and oh so many bad ones where I was trying to get his attention and cutting his head off in the picture that I won't show! We had fun and Will thoroughly enjoys watching his mommy make a complete fool of herself!! Of course we have to wait 2 weeks to get the real portraits back, but I am excited to see some professional pictures of Will. We'll have some very nice pictures to scrapbook, smiles or not! And really for mommy, the effort for a portrait sitting is worth it if that means I get some fun scrapbook layouts!

We have continued to have a busy schedule with trips to the cities to visit friends and family. My dad made it back to MN last week for a visit. We also went on a bowling outing with my coworkers in St. Paul. Will, who is always my 'Chill Baby' was not so relaxed at the bowling alley. He at first didn't mind being passed around, but when the bowling balls started heading down the lanes and pins started falling, Will was suddenly aware that he was a quiet country kid in the loud city! What a quiet life we must lead because I think he was scared to death! Poor baby! He cried and cried and screamed and screamed. So much for being my laid back baby! By the end of the day he cried himself to sleep. Thanks to Carol and all of the other moms who had the power to sooth!

This last weekend we headed to Eau Claire for a party at Zach's cousin's house. We drove with Zach's cousin Chad, his wife Stacey and their 4 year old and 9 month old. You would have never known you were in a minivan with 1 kid and 2 babies. They all traveled so well and we got there and back with no problems. Of course a year ago Zach and I could have traveled that same route in well under 3 hours, this time we set a record taking us about 6 hours!! We did have to make a few stops and add in time for diaper changes and food stops. No matter, we had a lot of fun!

We have a couple more weekends of camping scheduled including Will's first trip to the White Pine Show over Labor Day weekend. We are anxiously awaiting this fun annual event even though it means the end of summer is near. Daddy will get to take Will in the tractor parades and Mommy will take lots of pictures!

We are completely in awe of him and are enjoying every moment. He is getting so big so fast and it makes me just a teensy bit sad that he is going through all of these infant stages so quickly. In a couple of weeks he will have his 4 month check up and it won't be long after that that he will start eating food! He is still eating 6 oz per bottle every 2-3 hours. He is still sleeping through the night and taking nice long naps in the morning and afternoon. He has gradually changed his bedtime on his own and never stays up past 9:30 unless we are out. Just this last week he let out a full blown giggle for the first time and it made us laugh along with him. He loves bath time and I am tempted to see if he would like the pool. I think he is too small and the water too cold...but maybe we'll try it for a couple of minutes this weekend. He is so strong and most of the bobble-head-baby is gone. I don't have an accurate weight and height but he is pretty solid. My girlfriend just had a baby boy this week weighing in at Will's exact birth weight, so it will be interesting to compare.

Here's a picture just from today with his ever ready bib as he is now drooling buckets! Teeth must be on the way! Stay tuned!