4 Months Old

No adorable smiley pictures of William to celebrate his 4 month old birthday! I took at least 20 pictures this morning, and they were all versions of this. I considered trying again after work, but I think this series accurately reflects him right now! Maybe next month I'll dress him in a shirt that says "Cutie Pie" instead of one that says "Catch Me If You Can!"

I've got you in a bear hug, Froggy! Ha! A bear hug!

Mommy looks surprised to see that I can pick you up!

That's nothing! I can throw you down, too!

The Windy (and Cold) City

Winter has arrived! Well, at least fall -- at least for a few days. We had torrential rains last night and it turned cold. The high today was in the 60s but a gusting wind made it seem colder. Here we are after work/daycare, dressed to take Rachel out to play in the backyard for a few minutes. She loves this sort of weather! Thanks Grandma Joni and Grandpa Roger for the Wildcat hat, and thanks Nikki and Lindsay for the jacket!

Mommy actually did a good job getting us centered in this one!

Am I missing something? Gloves and shoes maybe?

Just a Cute Picture

Ryan gave Will this cute onesie that says Bless this Mess. Amazingly, he hasn't messed in it yet! :-)

Yes, another picture with his fingers in his mouth. I'm surprised his fingers aren't pruney considering how often they're getting wet. I still can't feel any teeth budding, but they're in there somewhere!

I'll Take a Side of Toes With That

Apparently Will wasn't satisfied with just milk for dinner. . . .he decided to eat his toes as well!

Da Bears

We're not devout enough to buy Will a real Chicago Bears outfit yet, but we have been dressing him in this orange and white onesie and navy pants on Sundays. It doesn't seem to have helped. We'll see how the rest of the season goes. . .

Whoa! This season has been a nail biter!

He's out for the whole season? Not cool, man. Not cool.

Garage Sale Fun

Will and I spent the weekend hanging out together while Jason was traveling for business. So, of course we had to do a little shopping! Look how excited he was when we got home with all of our goodies!

Our subdivision was having its annual fall kids clothing and toy sale on Saturday morning in the parish hall of the neighborhood Catholic church, and since we had already been up for hours, we pushed the stroller over to be one of the first in the door at 8 a.m. to snatch up all the good deals!

For $19.50 total we got a farm-themed exersaucer, a Fisher-Price table to stack blocks on (blocks included), a Mega Blocks race track, a Jumping Jack (or whatever they call these things now - it's a jumper that hangs in the doorway) and 5 books! And, I'm guessing I can put them all back in the sale next year and get at least $10 back! Ha!

I now know why moms drive minivans: exersaucers don't fit in a sports sedan! Oh, yes, we had to go back with the car to collect all of our goodies. And then we had to drive the 3 blocks home with the trunk open!

Practice Practice Practice

Are you getting this?

Ok, just making sure you're getting this. . .

Ready? Here I go. . . .

Yes!!!!

And so it went. Over and over and over all day! And each time we were both equally excited! :-)

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

We've got a mover! Will is now rolling - and surpringly (at least to me) - he rolls both from tummy to back and from back to tummy. I figured one would come before the other instead of both at once.

No pictures of the rolling yet, since I just witnessed it tonight for the first time, but I wanted to share the picture I finally downloaded from our walk in the Baby Bjorn. This was after we got home. I dressed him in his pajamas before we went just in case he fell asleep on the walk. But, he was still happy and awake when we got home. He was zonked out within about 10 minutes of this picture though!

I think all this movin' and groovin' is wearing the little guy out! He's been taking a three hour nap (plus some little naps) at daycare every day and sleeping at least 10 hours at night (about 8 in a row before needing a little nourishment).

{Saturday update: I found Will on his tummy this morning in his crib. Looks like he's going to be practicing the rolling a lot!}

Fall Fashions

Mornings and evenings have been very fall-like here the past few weeks. Daytime continues to be summery warm. But, since we have put away all of the 0-3 month clothes now, Will has been breaking out his fall 3-6 month wardrobe. Here he is wearing jeans to "school" for the first time. Not the best picture (he's laying on our bed), but you get the idea! Stay tuned for his first day wearing his Baby Gap jean jacket!! (Thanks Kelli!)

You'll be seeing lots of fall colors in our upcoming photos. Most of his 3-6 month clothes are browns with a few darks blues and reds. Very little baby blue left in this baby's closet. . . .

September 16th

Another September 15th has come and gone, but this one didn't have much impact on me. For all you non-CPA readers (yes, I believe I have a few), this taxdeadline is just as - or more - challenging than the well known April 15th.

But, I made it through the deadline without opening a single tax return file or punching in a number into tax software. I did, however, have my Codes and Regulations open and spread out over my desk for three straight week. And I did have dozens of conference calls to consult on the tax issues that I am now an "expert" in. A very different sort of busy season for me, but a good one. The best part was not a single weekend in the office. However, last night was one of the first nights since I've been back to work that didn't require me to pull the laptop back out after Will's bedtime.

Instead, we let Will stay up an extra 30 minutes to squeeze in a walk around the neighborhood. We're practicing with our Baby Bjorn for our first trip to the airport! He seemed to love the view!

Power Nap

Look what I found after a quick, afternoon baby nap! He fell asleep after his bath and before clothes, so he got to sleep with his soft blanket. You'll notice his geometry skills: he has rotated almost 90 degrees from where I laid him. . .

Will's newest skills:

• Pulling Mommy's hair - hard!
• Slobbering profusely thanks to constantly having his fist in his mouth (teething??)
• Rolling from back to side to almost front
• Sitting up well with something to lean on for assistance
• Riding facing forward in his new (hand me down) Baby Bjorn
• Purposefully playing with toys. (He had a huge conversation with his striped frog "sock monkey" today.)
• Recognizing Mommy with huge happy faces like this one in the picture!
• Transitioning to 6 month clothes as his 3 month sizes are getting too short
• Watching football!

Welcome Maggie!

Lucy and her new baby sister, Maggie

A Dog and His Boy

A few pictures to show that Rachel likes to keep Will nearby:

Having an important conversationMy diaper changing assistant

Obviously I wouldn't normally stand across the room with Will on the changing table, but he had been playing with his feet for several minutes when I looked back and noticed Rachel sitting with us. I couldn't resist picking up the camera from the table and stepping back for a photo while he was preoccupied.

We expect that Will's bedroom furniture will arrive this month. . . there's a real crib and a dresser out there somewhere. . . .hopefully he gets them by 4 months old. Thankfully we ordered with the intent of him using them into childhood. He may be well into childhood by the time they arrive!

Toes

When his fingers aren't in his mouth, they're grasping onto his toes. Which will come first: a tooth in the mouth or a toe in the mouth?! Time will tell!

Working Girl

Although I've always been working, I've never before combined working, commuting, nursing and motherhood! It's a challenge to (attempt to) balance, but all of them are important to me - even the commuting, because I love our neighborhood.

Working: I'm really enjoying the projects and people. I have high expectations for my career here in Chicago.

Commuting: Being tied to the suburban (express) train schedule is a completely different experience than driving a car or taking the Metrorail. The clock is my friend and my enemy. However, I must say that once I am on the train, it's comfortable and productive - thanks to my smartphone.

Nursing: It's both a burden and joy to be your child's sole source of nutrition. Luckily we haven't had any "confusion" issues with Will's back-and-forth between bottles and me. He just likes to eat! Pumping is a big time constraint during the workday, but happily this office is well-equipped with nursing mom facilities and subsidizes the purchase of the best pump.

Motherhood: I got lucky and have an easy baby. He's happy and healthy (except for that persistent stuffy nose!) and sleeps well. And I've got a great husband who is also a great dad. No room for complaints here!

But, I'm always short on time and heavy on bags (the kind I carry - not the ones under my eyes)! A few helpful tricks that keep me going:

• Have two laptop power cords, cell phone chargers, pump accessories, snack supplies, etc, so you don't have to haul as many things back and forth each day (or worry if you forget something at home).


• Pack the night before. When we race out the door in the morning, I have two bags plus lunch and/or coffee, Will's "lunch bag," and Will. Today we also had an extra sack of daycare supplies to restock. Forgetting any of those things could be trouble.


• Know what you're going to wear before you go to bed. I have about 4 minutes of personal time in the mornings to put on my make-up and clothes before we walk out the door. There's no time for decisions then.


• Be flexible and keep a good attitude. Even though I pre-packed leftovers for lunch, they didn't get in the bag today. Even though I made it onto my train, I had to run for it. Even though I got to work in time, I twisted my ankle when I stepped in a pothole on the sidewalk. And that was all by 8 a.m.! Who knows what the rest of the day will bring! :-)

The Many Faces of Will

Penguin Pal

Grandma and Grandpa Lohrman came to visit this weekend and brought Will a fun new toy! He had fun showing off his big boy dancing skills.

Grandpa and Daddy enjoyed a fun day of golf. Grandma and Mommy took Will out for a day of shopping. Mommy needed some new shoes and decided that Will needed some socks and pants. . .and some shirts. . .and also some swim trunks for next summer! And Grandma decided Will needed some long sleeved shirts and a snow suit for the Chicago winter! Luckily between great deals at Nordstrom's Rack and Babies R Us, we found everything we needed!

I'm Watching You

This picture from last weekend makes me laugh. Will has his eye on Rachel. . .he seems to be saying, "You know this one is my toy, right?"

Rachel has been great about playing only with "her" toys and not Will's toys. So far we've only had one baby toy sacrificed to dog destruction: Will's first toy, the little stuffed cow, was devoured by my parents' dog, Lucy. To be fair, it was left on the floor to tempt her when we were out, and she does have similar toys at her house.

Will's cold seems improved. It never escalated beyond a stuffy nose and sniffles thankfully.

We're looking forward to the long weekend coming up!