At The Beach

Be back next week. . . we're on vacation!

Sunday Brunch

Decisions. . .decisions. . .

http://www.annsather.com/Restaraunts%20Pages/Broadway_Bkfst.html

Getting There

Today for the most part we had more laughs and smiles than moans and cries. Well, except at medicine time; those are screams (note to self: always, always, always confirm there's flavoring for the antibiotic. . . )

My mom spent the evening in the city with Ryan, so we went to go pick her up after we dropped Jason off at the airport. (Yes, I drove in the city again! I'm a pro now. Ha ha.)

We had brunch at the always delicious Ann Sather's then spent a few minutes playing at Ryan's apartment with Ernest Hemingway. Will seemed quite intrigued on this second meeting of the kitty, but not as thrilled as playing with Rachel. The smile above is from watching Rachel tonight.

So, Will seems to be getting a little better. Apparently he gave away his cold; my mom has a nasty cough and I'm super congested. Geesh!

TGFG

Thank Goodness for Grandmas! We like Grandpas around here, too, but my mom and mother-in-law have been real lifesavers to me these past nearly 8 months. They've been such a huge help when Jason is out of town for work and I am in town but working my year-round busy schedule.

Who but a Grandma would. . . .

• hold your 5 day old baby so you can sleep for 2 hours between nursings, while your husband is away closing on your new house?
• hold your 2 week old baby so you can get a nap. . .and a haircut?
• baby-sit your 7 week old baby so you can have your first date since the baby was born?
• baby-sit your 5 1/2 month old baby so you can have your second date since the baby was born?
• baby-sit your 7 month old baby so you can have your third date since the baby was born?
• sit up all night with your sick baby, so you (and he) can sleep. . . that's where we are as of last night. Will has an ear infection that got him sent home from daycare on Monday, and is now only sleeping when he has a human pillow; the second you put him in his crib he's sitting or standing up wailing. Let's hope she can get him to eat food and take his medicine today, since I wasn't successful yesterday when I stayed home with him.

• unpack your entire house in 100 degree temperatures while you sit on the couch with a 3 1/2 week old baby?
• drive in a snow storm to help with your 6 1/2 month old baby while you work at the office until 6 and at home until midnight every night?
• shovel your driveway multiple times per day during above mentioned snow storm?
• make you delicious and nutritious dinners so you have a little more energy to work until midnight?

I know there are even more examples to share, but I'm too tired from my day home with Will yesterday to think of anymore. Luckily, the trip that Jason is taking (and why my mom was already scheduled to visit) has been deferred until Saturday, so hopefully we can get a little normalcy over the next two days and the weekend. And hopefully we finally all kick these bugs!

Sick Day, Part 3

Do you recognize the telltale signs of baby's cold? The glassy eyes, the red cheeks, the snotty upper lip? Jason got "the call" at 5 o'clock tonight that Will had a fever. That means he can't go back until Wednesday. Urgh!! Although, he did feel warm as I was holding him tonight, and he had a cough overnight. The runny nose was new tonight. Hopefully this one passes quickly. . . .we just finished the 10 day course of antibiotics from when he got sent home two weeks ago today.

Weekend Work

I had to work at the office all weekend, so Jason and Will were left to their own devices all day, both days. I was thrilled to get home last night and see the Baby Bjorn on the couch and a well-cleaned house! Looks like Will was Daddy's Little Helper. Of course, since I wasn't there, I didn't get a picture of Jason wearing Will in the carrier, but here's a recent picture of him helping me.

I'm proud of Jason for making it two full days alone. I had the easy job of going to the office!

I'm at work again today - technically a firm holiday, but it's quiet and hopefully I make it through my to do list.

Since I had to be at work both days this weekend, I finally drove myself to the city. Every other time we've ventured downtown in the car, Jason has driven us, and I commute during the week via train. I'm fine driving on the highways; it's the off/on and the city traffic driving that has always worried me. Happily, the exit and entrance ramps from/to the highway for my office are pretty generous, and I only have to drive a few blocks through the city to get to my building. Oh, and there isn't much traffic in the business district at 8:30 on a Saturday morning! :-)

Trivial Thursday Post

I always love seeing these comparisons, so figure other people do, too. I actually have an entire "carseat photos" file that's pretty fun to flip through. Once Will outgrows this seat, I'll have to post a slide show of all of the pictures. We bought his new seat over New Year's weekend since Babies R Us had it on super sale, but we're keeping it in the basement until he's too long for the carrier. It's just still easier to get him in and out with that seat. We aren't ready for the learning curve of a new chair/buckles when it's cold outside!

1 1/2 Months Old

7 1/2 Months Old

Will and I did our own thing last night, since Jason is in D.C. on business. If any of you have read Lost Symbol, he was meeting with the Capitol Architect! He had dinner at one of our favorite Penn Quarter restaurants, which made me realize how much I miss D.C.!!! Not to mention it's Restaurant Week, which was always blog worthy.

My post seems trivial, though, as just before I logged onto my blog, I read my friend Mandi's blog where she posted about a good friend of hers (our age, with a 2 1/2 year old son) who lost her battle to breast cancer. Give your friends and family extra hugs and kisses today -- and everyday.

Self-Feeding

Mr. Independent likes to stick his fingers in his dinner bowl and grab the spoon. When I'm in a hurry, I try to keep the bowl out of reach or offer him a different spoon to hold. Tonight, I let him use the spoon with the food. He was very frustrated when I tried to help him too much, so eventually I just put food on the spoon and set it on his tray for him to grab and carry to his mouth. You can see the result was MESSY - and this was when we first started! But, everything's washable, and it was bath night!

Health update: Jason is still coughing, and my nose is pretty stuffy but not constantly running (unlike Friday at work. . .). But, Will seems mostly recovered. Hopefully we're all on the road to recovery.

Wisconsin Roadtrip

We went to southwest Wisconsin on Sunday and Monday for the BAPI holiday party at Boscobel Bowling & Banquet. It was Will's first trip to Wisconsin since we had to miss Apple Fest at the end of September. Everyone LOVED the little guy.

Two members of the Will's Wisconsin Fan Club: Lindsey and Bailey
Right before Will's introduction at the banquet as the newest member of the BAPI family.

Buck was a fan, too. Will was not a fan of Buck. . .

We had to move the pack 'n play shortly after this picture.
Starting the 4 hour ride home. There were only 3 1/2 hours of distractions.

Hello, fans!

As soon as we got home, he crawled right for the exersaucer and got to work.

The town where Jason's company is located is very tiny (pop: 625), and I really enjoy all of the small town fun of it! Of course, I love my trip to the neighboring town's Dairy Queen when I'm there, too! We'd go to Culver's for custard, too, if I had my way, but Jason isn't a fan. We did get lunch at A&W, though. I was actually really impressed with their food - especially the french fries and diet root beer!!

So. Very. Tired.

Everyone in our house is sick. And tired. But somebody got to take an hour morning nap, a 2-hour afternoon nap, and a 90 minute evening nap before going to bed for the evening. . . . .

His Mommy still has a few more hours of work to do before bed though.

And, I think Daddy is just playing video games; although he needs to try to sleep, too.

I'm glad Will slept well today, though, because he tossed and turned all night, and could barely keep his head up this morning while I was dressing him for daycare. Oh, he was a pitiful sight!

This picture is from last weekend when Grandma Hilary and Grandpa Ed were visiting. I think this was his second day of this bigger, badder cold. I'm guessing Grandma Hilary is going to pack cough syrup for her next visit, since she and Will have now spent both of her recent visits coughing together! Hopefully every one of us gets well soon. Be gone colds!!

Loaner Pants

You've heard of a loaner car, I'm sure. But, have you ever heard of loaner pants? This is the outfit that Will came home from daycare in today. . .

Jason told Ms. Rita, the closer, that he didn't think they were ours, but she said they must be if he was wearing them. After seeing three Wet/BM notations on Will's daily log, we checked the sealed bag and found TWO pair of Will's pants. I'm sending two back-up outfits starting tomorrow!

I put him in his boppy for this picture to contain him for a few seconds. He's crawling everywhere, and he also likes to pull himself up to stand next to toys/couch/car seat/coffee table while he's playing. My unattended laptop even motivated him to do a quick cruise along the length of the couch on Tuesday!

Time for School

Will has spent the past three days at home catching up on his sleep and playing with his toys, his dog, and his mommy and daddy. We hope, hope, hope that he gets to go back to school tomorrow. Well, we know he's going to school; whether he comes back home is the question! ;-)

His fever is down, and he's been enjoying his strawberry flavored antibiotics (although, as a side note, not sure why they make baby medicine strawberry flavored when babies aren't supposed to eat strawberries. . .).

Yes, he's playing with a stack of diapers in his closet; no, it isn't because we hid all of his real toys. Although, if he looked hard enough in his closet he'd find several new (or at least new to him) toys that he hasn't seen yet. I think I've got at least the rest of the year to hide toys in plain sight, right?

Cold Outside and Cold Inside

Now that the holidays are over, the chill in the air doesn't feel so festive; it just feels cold! Even the 60 foot tall Christmas tree inside the Willis (Sears) Tower just seemed ho-hum this morning. Maybe it was because there was no sleep in the Shields house last night thanks to the nasty turn to Will's respiratory system. Last month's cold came back on strong starting Friday and by last night, he was a big snotty mess with a nonstop cough. Poor baby! But, he didn't have a fever, so we sent him to daycare. They sent him back at lunchtime. Jason spent the afternoon with him at the doctor and then at home. Tomorrow is my turn. While Jason was out shopping for a humidifier for his bedroom, I gave him a bath to cool him off. He enjoyed the bath and the nakedness.

Uh, okay, Mommy, here's a little smile.

It's the only one I'm giving out today.

Wish me a speedy recovery. I'm too precious to be sick.

Breaking in the New Sled

I'm not sure you can say we really broke in the new sled yet, since we only made it 20 yards before calling it a day, but look at this great picture I got during minute 2 of our 3 minute adventure to the forest preserve:

My favorite boys
I can't feel my nose (or move my arms or toes)!

We decided to get out of the house yesterday for a little while instead of sitting around staring at Will's runny nose. He didn't agree that sledding was the right choice, so we quit. We ended up scoping out Costco and Sam's Club instead. We've decided on Sam's Club; they carry Pampers. Wow, this is suburbia.

More Christmas Fun

New Year's morning was Christmas morning, part two. Jason and I gave him his leftover Christmas stocking while we waited for Grandma and Grandpa to wake up. He wasn't as interested in the content (plastic squeaky blocks) as Rachel was, although he did think Rachel's empty stocking was tasty. I guess they should have switched!

Hummmmm. . . .(Will's new habit is to bite his bottom lip and say this. A lot.)

Hey, here's Rachel's stocking. I think I'll stick it in my mouth next!
Look! A mountain of presents to stand on!

Kaboom!

Then, the unwrapping started and Will got this. . . . .

The L.L. Bean sled!

We've already taken the sled for a very successful test drive through the house, but will try the snow tomorrow if it's a little warmer. Grandma Hilary and L.L. Bean were good friends this holiday season. I got a deluxe L.L. Bean Scrabble set complete with spinner board. Once I opened it, I understood why the tag said "Lisa & family." My mom and brother and I LOVE Scrabble. Can't wait to play!

Christmas rocks!

Happy New Year!

One last picture for 2009! We made late dinner reservations but still didn't manage to stay out until midnight. . . .we heard the ball drop in Times Square in the radio on the way home; does that count?! :-)

Jason's parents are in town to celebrate Christmas, and we were thrilled that they volunteered to babysit Will while we were out. We ate at Catch 35 again. Yes, there are dozens (or hundreds) of restaurants here, but that restaurant really suits us. It reminds us of dining in DC, which is definitely what Jason misses most! (I miss the Metro and all the sights of downtown!)