The Wacky Willhites

This is for Wendy :)

2011-11-01T13:52:00.009-05:00

I realized that I didn't put up any Halloween pictures of just Cecilia, so I thought I better make it even. (She's definitely going to have that second child syndrome where she wonders why her baby book has only 2 pages filled out and there are only 2 blog entries about her...) Plus Wendy requested I post more often and I don't like to disappoint her!

I didn't put these up yesterday because I had taken them with my new camera when we went to the business trick or treat on Saturday. Cecilia proceeded to pull the camera out of my hand while the lens was open so now it won't close. :( I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get the pictures off, but at least the play function still works so I was able to retrieve the pictures and thus post them for your viewing pleasure. Next on my list: find out how to get the camera fixed...and hopefully with the warranty since we just got it in May. Grr.

Here's our little cowgirl:

Finally - a new picture!

2011-10-31T23:34:00.004-05:00

So I've become the world's worst blogger. It just has become too much work. But I wanted to share our Halloween photos because I think we are pretty darn cute...and so wacky!

Maybe this will inspire me to do more posts now that I'm finally done spending all my spare moments making costumes. Totally worth it, though!

FYI - though Sully may seem incongruous as the Octopus, he is in fact part of the Toy Story theme. He chose to be Stretch from Toy Story 3 so that he could be one of the "bad" toys. And there are no pictures of Drogo because Mark wouldn't let me dress him up as Slinky Dog. He thinks I'm mean to put Drogo through the horror of costumes on top of the torture of trick or treaters attacking his house all night. (Plus I ran out of time to figure out how to do the costume. Drogo lucked out I guess.)

Family Photo!

2011-06-22T21:03:00.003-05:00

I'm avoiding doing an official update because it will just take SO long, but I wanted the blog to at least LOOK updated, so here's a recent picture of us Wacky Willhites from our adventure to the Chicago Botanic Garden. We met my mom and her sisters and my grandma there and had a very lovely "Sunday Surprise" with the Gerrity girls. Sully is still talking about those fun Gerrity girls. (That's what he calls them, too - it's cute!)

It's Summer...Finally!

2011-06-18T23:06:00.003-05:00

I know it's been ages since I've updated and there is so much to report on, but I just had to share these pictures because I am so excited to be able to take my crazies outside to run around and splash and burn off energy because we finally have our:

FENCE!!!!

Our yard is now fully fenced in so Drogo can go out to pee whenever he wants because I won't have to worry about him running down the street or biting the mailman. And Sully can run around and I don't have to chase him so that he doesn't go into the street! It just got done this morning, but already it's made my life so much easier - we were outside almost all day. The kids loved the pool and I love that they actually went to sleep without a fight tonight! So hopefully now that life will be a little less stressful I will be able to do some more catch-up posts - St. Patty's, Easter, baptism, birthday, etc. Yikes...I'm pretty behind. I blame Cecilia.

Catch Up #5 - February

2011-03-19T15:21:00.010-05:00

Here's what February looked like at our house:

What a blizzard we had to start out the month! Although it was Cecilia's first blizzard, she didn't have the chance to go out in the snow. But the boys seemed to enjoy themselves!

Once the road's were finally clear, we did some more visiting. We spent the night with my parents and Cecilia went to her first annual Lion's Club spaghetti dinner in Lockport. She was really good at the dinner but she got tired and a bit cranky at Uncle Sean and Aunt Lin's afterward. Luckily, Grammy found just the trick to soothe her!

For our next visit, we spent my birthday weekend in Sherrard and Cecilia got all dolled up to celebrate! So even though it was my birthday, she was star of the weekend!

Along with being as cute as ever, Cecilia also started crawling this month. Really it's more of a creep or a drag, since she prefers the army crawl (even now), but she's pretty good at getting where she wants to go. (Much to her big brother's chagrin...) She also learned how to wave and got 2 more teeth at the top, so now she has 4 teeth total. They came in for my birthday - that was a stinky present since she didn't sleep at all and was super clingy! But she's growing well and is healthy and happy, so I guess I shouldn't complain. She weighed 20 pounds and 13 ounces at her 9 month appointment and was 29 1/4 inches tall. She's still toward the top of the curve for height (95%) but she's thinned out a little and is down to the 80 percentile for weight. She's still got the chubby cheeks going, though!

And even though it was very low-key, I suppose Cecilia's first Valentine's Day deserves a mention. (Plus this way I can get at least one picture of Sully into this post.) We celebrated with a candlelight dinner of heart shaped chicken nuggets and heart jello, but we couldn't do it until the day after Valentine's Day because I was teaching on the actual day. The kids didn't seem to mind, and Sully actually ate the chicken nuggets! YEAH!

That's pretty much it, and now I am almost caught up! Hopefully I will do a March post next week before March is over - what a shock that will be, right? So until then, here's a video that I think is hilarious. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that my daughter has such powerful lungs...

Catch Up #4 - January

2011-03-19T15:05:00.006-05:00

Compared to our crazy holiday season, January seems like a relatively uneventful month. We went to a few open gyms, but mostly we hung around the house and I tried to keep my crazy children entertained so they wouldn't hurt each other. (Hence the laundry basket ride.) The biggest change for Cecilia was graduating from the pack and play in our room to the crib in Sully's room. She seemed to enjoy having more space to roll around, but it was difficult to adjust our bedtime routine to get them both to go to sleep. Cecilia really liked that she could watch Sully so she would just lay there and stare at him - which of course encouraged him to show off and go crazy. They figured it out though and are now sleeping pretty well in there together. Plus Mark and I are both very happy to have our room to ourselves again! Cecilia also started eating meat and using a tasting spoon this month, but the best thing was that she started laughing and playing peekaboo! It's so fun when they want to play with you! That's pretty much all the important stuff, so here's some pictures!

We spent the second weekend of January at my parents' house and went to Winterfest in downtown Frankfort to see the ice sculptures. Back at Grammy's, Cecilia rocked a new look - the puff goatee!

Hey - is this my new bed or a prison??

Looking groovy in his leg warmers!

We had lots of indoor snowball fights with these snowballs I made - I think they are pretty ingenious so I took some pictures so I can send the idea to Family Fun magazine. Doesn't he look like a sweet boy? Oh, how photos can be deceiving....

And finally, here's a video of Cecilia knocking down some blocks, which she thought was hilarious. She has a pretty cute baby laugh, but it's a little understated compared to her brother's!

Catch Up #3 - Christmas!!

2011-03-03T15:00:00.021-06:00

We had a very enjoyable (but long) holiday season for Miss Cecilia's first Christmas! We also managed to get through the whole thing without the tree falling over or Mark crashing the truck into the garage like the debacle that was Sully's first Christmas, so I was very excited about that! I was also very excited to be able to buy Cecilia a pretty Christmas dress (I couldn't decide, so she actually got 2 dresses and a cute little I Love Santa outfit!) and her first pair of patent leather shoes. Isn't she just darling? She was a good sport about getting dressed up and she did really well at all the events and gatherings. Sully had a great time too - especially since he got to open not just his gifts, but Cecilia's too. The hardest part was convincing him that she could play with her gifts and that just because he opened them didn't mean he could hog them! But all in all, it was a wonderful holiday and we made lots of good memories for Cecilia's first Christmas!

Despite it being SUPER cold, the whole family went over to the tree lot to pick out our tree, then we took 3 days to decorate it. But Sully was really interested in hanging up ornaments, and he did a nice job of putting them on. Plus he actually left them on the tree this year and since Cecilia wasn't mobile yet, once the tree was decorated, it stayed that way!

Our traditional picnic in front of the tree was also very successful this year. And although neither of my children ate the delicious Chicken Noodle Soup I made, my husband ate at least 4 bowls, so it wasn't a wasted effort!

Our first official event to celebrate Christmas was the Griffith Christmas Eve gathering at Bill and Bobbie's.

Mark was on call so I had to take the kids there solo, and it was of course snowing, but we made it there and back without too much trouble. Plus both kids slept the whole way home since they were exhausted from so much partying. As you can see below, Cecilia was exhausted from the partying well before we left. Even the shiny wrapping paper and naked time couldn't distract her for long...

Both kids slept pretty well when we got home though, so we actually got to sleep in a little bit on Christmas morning. Sully was more interested in the concept of Santa this year, and seemed really excited to see what he had under the tree.

He also got more into gift giving this year, so I was very happy about that. I wasn't planning on having him give Mark a gift, but when we went shopping, (I took both my kids to the mall for Christmas shopping by myself...CRAZY!) Sully really wanted to buy Mark a Hexbug, and I wanted to encourage his giving spirit, so we bought it and Sully helped me wrap it. He also got 2 weird finger puppets from Hot Topic for Uncle Rory, which he couldn't wait to give him. (I presume he picked both gifts because he wanted to play with them himself, but he was being generous - a rarity for him - so I went with it!)

We spent Christmas day with my family at our house since Mark was on call and mostly just lounged around. We had our delicious traditional Sausage En Croute as Christmas Dinner (which my wonderful mother pre-made and did all the work for so I didn't even have to cook!) and did lots of playing with all the new toys.

My folks spent the night and hung around with us the next day...longer than they wanted to, but I had to pull some only daughter tricks ("Please, Daddy?") to get them to stay because when I let Drogo out, this was in our backyard:

You can't see it in the picture, but there was a lot of drool hanging from the raccoon's mouth and it was only about 15 feet away from the back door. Needless to say, Drogo did not get to go outside. I called Animal Control who directed me to the Police Department (because we're in the village and not unincorporated) and told me the raccoon probably had distemper. Mark was at work (luckily - had he been home I think he would've tried to get the thing himself!) so I begged my parents to stay until the police came to pick it up because it freaked me out that it was so close to the house. Thankfully, even at 31 my Daddy still wants to protect me! The cops did finally come and take the poor thing, but it made for a strange day after Christmas!

The rest of the celebrating was thankfully free of wildlife...unless you count Sully. We weren't able to go to Gerrity Christmas this year because we were in Sherrard with the Willhites, so we went to visit Grandma Gerrity the Monday after Christmas. My mom met us there so it was nice to see her so many days in a row and Cecilia and Sully enjoyed having their Great Grandma all to themselves!

Then we were off to Sherrard for a week long celebration of Christmas, New Years, Mark's Birthday, and lots of crazy Willhite antics! It was extra special because Darrin and Miranda were able to come in for the week too (although Miranda had to go back early...boo!) so the whole family was together. As you can imagine, when all 3 boys and their father are together there is lots of laughing (along with some wrestling, lots of crude jokes, and more bodily function discussion and demonstration than I ever thought humanly possible - and that was just the first day we were there!) It was a lot of fun though, and Cecilia was very excited to finally meet and spend some time with her only aunt! Sully was excited too and kept asking Auntie Miranda to get nakey...he had obviously spent too much time with the Willhite males!

We had a delicious lasagna dinner and Sully was excited to open even more presents! (But he also gave some good ones, too!)

We had lots of time to just hang around, so the kids got to spend lots of quality time with Grandma and Grandpa. It was also unseasonably warm on New Year's Eve, so we even got to go out and enjoy the farm a little bit.

We had our bi-annual celebration with the Nelson's for New Year's Eve, although we had to leave around 9 so we could put the kids to bed. But Cecilia did get to wear her other party dress and Sully had a lot of fun with Ty, so it was a nice visit. (I did miss the olden days when we dragged out the Boone's Farm and plastic forks, though!)

We were also able to get together on New Year's Day with some of Mark's HS buddies and families, which seems to be becoming a tradition. It was fun to see how much all the kids have grown, and we're excited for more on the way!

We celebrated Mark's birthday with an outing to the John Deere Pavillon, where Sully had a blast sitting in all the big tractors. We had a nice lunch at Johnny's Steak House then headed home to rest up so we could gorge on Pizza Joynt for Mark's Birthday dinner.

We had a lovely time in the QC and it was really nice that we didn't have to rush the visit.

It was the perfect end to a very wonderful Christmas!

Catch Up #2 - December

2011-02-24T10:14:00.012-06:00

December was a big month for our little miss! She mastered the skill of sitting unsupported - which made her so happy because she could finally see everything around her. (Her favorite thing to see, of course, is her crazy big brother! She doesn't need toys to play with because she has constant entertainment!) She also fell in love with her jumper as soon as we put her in it. She loves to bounce in it and can really get some height! Sometimes when you hold her, she bounces like she's in it - that's how much she loves it!

Cecilia's other accomplishments from December include learning to drink out of a sippy cup, holding her bottle, feeding herself puffs, and graduating to the pack and play for sleeping. She got too big for the co-sleeper, but we weren't ready to put her in the crib yet (since she'd have to share a room with Sully) so we put the pack and play in our room.

December also brought Seesa's first ear infection (and luckily her only one so far), which also coincided with her decision that she was no longer going to be a good sleeper. The continual waking and desire to be held nonstop started before the ear infection, but the ear infection definitely made it worse. And even more upsetting was the fact that she had previously been an extraordinarly sleeper and been sleeping through the night for months! Switching to the pack and play did help a little because it gave her more room to roll around, but I definitely miss the early days when she would sleep through anything and for very long stretches!

Obviously, she also had her first Christmas, but that warrants its own post, so now we're on to pictures!

Cecilia - 6 months and 3 weeks

Sully - 5 months and 3 weeks

Nothing beats matching Mommy/Baby pjs- especially unisex ones so I can enjoy them with both kiddos! (Thanks Ginger!) Check out the comparison - Cecilia is starting to look less like Sully's twin. And I dare say, she may even look a little bit like me!

Here are two pretty hilarious videos that I have been wanting to share since I took them. You'll get a good glimpse of Cecilia jumping away, and you can hear Sully's beautiful rock serenade to his little sister. I had to include both because Sully's guitar moves are pretty sweet and I couldn't pick just one. ROCK ON!

And finally, here are some pictures from our visit to Holiday Magic at Brookfield Zoo. Last year when we took Sully, Mark was pretty adamant that this wouldn't be a yearly tradition (it was very rainy and gross last year), but I convinced him that we had to go, and it turned out to be a wonderful way to kick off the holiday season! It was pretty rainy again this year, but we went for the whole day instead of just at night time, so it was nice because there was practically no one else there! We also spent a long time in the Hamill Family Play Zoo where it was nice and dry, and both kids had a lot of fun!

In addition to visiting the animals, we partook in a lot of the "Holiday Magic," like posing for Christmasy pictures and singing Christmas carols to the animals.

But the best part was meeting Santa and Mrs. Claus..for Mark anyway. Cecilia and Sully weren't so sure! But the pictures are funny and Sully was happy because he got a goody bag. I can't wait to take them back next year!

Stay tuned for Christmas pictures! I'm on a roll so hopefully it will be soon!

Catch Up #1 - November

2011-02-23T22:17:00.009-06:00

Obviously, I have fallen behind in my blogging...way behind. No judgement is necessary, however, as I heard it all from my father-in-law while we were visiting this past weekend. So in his honor, I am going to do my very best to catch up this week. So here's the first of a few catch up posts! I do have some very cute reasons for being so behind, so hopefully you will all cut me some slack:

At the close of my last post (a very long time ago...) I promised some pictures of Sully's third birthday, so here they are!

Sully's favorite parts of his birthday celebrations this year were definitely the presents and the cake! And lucky for him he got plenty of both! Grammy and Grandpa came up to celebrate with us on Sully's actual birthday and we had a beautiful round "purple pudding cake" per Sully's request - that was a fun one to figure out! He also had his first kid party - superhero themed, of course! - with his friends from playgroup and the neighborhood where there were more presents and cupcakes. And there was one more round of presents and cake at Grandma and Grandpa's when we visited after Thanksgiving. I'd say Sully is one lucky three year old!

Cecilia celebrated her 6 month birthday in November and learned some new tricks, too. Here's Daddy's favorite baby trick....

She started eating vegetables, but was not a fan at first. We gave her carrots first and she wasn't sure if she liked them, but the peas she knew she disliked right away! But when we gave her carrots again after she had eaten peas, she liked them much more than the first time. Bananas were a hit the first time out, though, and she has loved almost all the fruits since then. She has since warmed up to her veggies, so I hope she will grow up to be a more adventurous eater than her picky big brother!

Cecilia also started enjoying playtime, even on her tummy! She became interested in her toys (and Sully's toys, of course!). Can you tell from her slightly psychotic smile how much fun she's having??

The other big highlight of November was Cecilia's first Thanksgiving! We enjoyed a delicious feast with the Gerrity clan at Sean and Lin's house (our first Thanksgiving there since before Mark and I were married!), then drove out to Sherrard to spend the weekend with the Willhites. Lots of good food and lots of fun with family! Plus it was a great excuse to put Cecilia in some really cute outfits!

Here's Thanksgiving Day:

Boys and beer - what else is there to be thankful for?

Being cute with Great Grandma and Uncle Rory

Our first family photo since Cecilia was born! And it turned out pretty good, too!

And here are the kiddos at Grandma and Grandpa's (somewhat empty) house:

We had a very nice weekend in Sherrard - even though Cecilia was a terrible sleeper the entire time we were there. Yeah for teething, which she conveniently started just before Thanksgiving. But by the end of the month she had her first tooth on the bottom left of her mouth, and the right one popped out only a few days into December.

Other than being up all night rocking and soothing the baby, we had some nice family quality time and even got to help put up and decorate Grandma's new Christmas tree. Sully was pretty good at it and his attention span surprised us all!

And that was our November. So I will leave you with this adorable picture of Sully and Uncle Todd posing in front of the tree. Nice segue way into December, don't you think??

Halloween Hi Jinks

2010-11-17T22:10:00.009-06:00

Happy Halloween from the cutest pumpkin around....only 2 and a half weeks later! (You can scroll down to the post titled Five Months, Fall & Feces if you want to see what has been keeping me too busy to update....) Since these pictures are pretty self explanatory, I am going to keep the words to a minimum. We hope you enjoy our Halloween Hi jinks as much as we enjoyed celebrating the holiday!

Our cute little ladybug!

Superheroes Unite! (Even if you are a canine and hate costumes!)

You're not a real superhero unless you know how to pose!

It wouldn't be Halloween without some pumpkin carving and painting.

A Wacky Willhite Halloween is also incomplete without our traditional Spooky Halloween Dinner! (Mark's a good sport and has been spooky dining with me since we got married, but this year it was extra exciting because Grammy and Grandpa joined us and Sully was actually excited to eat Monster Fingers and Eyes of Newt. I thought he'd love the Halloweenies, but I wrong.)

So there you go - a Willhite Halloween! Next up (and hopefully before another 2 weeks has passed...) is Sully's third birthday! How on earth can he be THREE?!?!?

Superheroes!

2010-11-02T23:19:00.002-05:00

There are more pictures to come - including spooky Halloween dinner and Drogo as Bat Dog - but before too much more time passed I wanted to share our super hero costumes with the world! (Cecilia is dressed as the little known, but very powerful baby heroine - The Ladybug!)

Five months, Fall, and Feces

2010-10-31T22:45:00.018-05:00

Did that title get your attention? I figured I had to make this post flashy, since you are probably looking for pictures of the Wacky Willhites in costume. That's not what you're getting, though. I do have a bunch of trick or treating pictures - and we looked pretty great, if I do say so myself - but I still have to upload them from the camera. I've been meaning to put these pictures up for about a week and a half, so I figured I would do a quick update post now so Halloween weekend can have the spotlight all to itself!

Since the last update, Cecilia has grown and changed quite a bit! She is now eating cereal twice a day, and really seems to be interested in having more food.

Every time someone around her is eating anything, she stares at the food and will occasionally try to grab for it. (Although she grabs paper and napkins out of my hands, too, so maybe she's not hungry and she's just a clepto.) If I can get around to making some baby food, I will probably start her on vegetables in the next few days. I have some carrots in the house, so we'll see if she'll be a beta carotene lover like her brother was. There's nothing quite as cute as an orange baby!

She's also rolling over on her own more frequently. She's been able to do it since three months, but she's never really wanted to. Now she's rolling a bit in her sleep, and she'll roll onto her tummy to play for a while. She's pretty strong, too. She cranes her neck all around while on her tummy so that she can follow the action. She's pretty close to being able to sit on her own, so we'll have to keep practicing that skill. She'll do it for a split second, but she's totally obsessed with her toes, so as soon as she reaches out to grab them she loses her balance and tips over!

She's still a big girl - nice chunky baby thighs and big ol' chubby cheeks! At her last appointment (4 months) she was 16 lbs and 10 oz which put her in the 95th percentile, but she was only in the 85th percentile for height at 25 and a quarter inches. But since that was already over a month ago, I'm sure she's much bigger than that.

Big brother is also growing and changing so fast. I can't believe that in 2 weeks he will be 3 years old! He's a pro at sleeping in the toddler bed now, and although he was on a brief nap strike a few weeks ago, he's back to taking a nap in the afternoon. (THANK GOODNESS!) He just finished a sports class at the park district, and he seemed to enjoy it. It was only 6 weeks long, but he seemed to get better behavior wise as the weeks progressed, so that was a relief!

The biggest change in Sully's life (he might prefer to call it an upheaval...) is that we started round 2 of potty training this week. (Our first attempt back in March came to an abrubt stop when Sully turned it into a battle of wills. It's still a battle of wills, but this time I refuse to surrender.) We ran out of diapers on Monday, and he had been told that it was his last package of diapers. So come Tuesday we went cold turkey. He's gotten really great at pulling down and pulling up both his pants and underwear, but that's pretty much the only skill he's mastered thus far. Yesterday we had some success with peeing in the potty, but today he all out refused. And don't even ask him about the poop... (Although in his defense it must be a pretty difficult transition to pooping in a seated position when you are used to being on your hands and knees with your butt in the air. He's a weird kid, I know.) Long story short, since he won't go poop in the potty, he waits until he's in a pull-up for bed. He poops in it, then takes it off of himself. It's really fun to clean up. So we're just going to keep plugging along while I try to keep as calm as possible. But it's so hard since this is probably the most frustrating (and possibly the most disgusting!) thing we've done as parents so far!

Okay - on to what you've all been waiting for! More PICTURES!

Here's my two cuties playing dress up. (Ok, I'll admit...I play dress up with Cecilia like she's a paper doll, but Sully picked out his outfit on his own - then willingly posed for the picture!)

We spent the first weekend in October at Grandma and Grandpa's and did lots of fall activities like picking gourds on the farm and going to the pumpkin patch.

We also checked out a corn maze near our house on one of Mark's few days off.

And we topped off our fall fun with lunch at one of our favorite restaurants, Sweet Tomatoes!

So there are our fall adventures. I will try to get our Halloween pictures up this week, but it is me we're talking about, so I wouldn't hold your breath. So in case it's a while before I can get them up, here's one last picture of our cute little ghoul all decked out in her Halloween clothes. Happy Haunting!

Summer Pictorial

2010-09-25T15:56:00.011-05:00

It feels like it is officially fall! And while I usually enjoy the cooler weather and beautiful colors, right now I'm longing for summer to come back because I feel like we didn't take advantage of it while it lasted. I had all these grand plans since it was my first summer off in almost forever, but I guess I didn't remember how much a newborn throws the plans off! But hopefully now that it's not as humid and the mosquitoes are FINALLY dying, we'll get outside and have some fall adventures to help ease the summer regret. I also thought it might help to put up pictures of the things we did actually do this summer. I'm sure as I sit here for what will seem like hours and wait for everything to upload it will seem like we did tons of stuff! So here you go - a look at summer, Wacky Willhite style!

Taste of Grayslake and Fourth of July Fireworks

Riding the tractor with Grandpa

Swimming and Sunbathing at Gray's Lake

Lake County Fair

Shedd Aquarium with Grammy, Grandpa & Uncle Rory

Sixth (maybe 7th?) Annual Zoo Trip with the Nelsons

Learning to sit on the big swing at the "Little Park"

Labor Day at Grandma & Grandpa's with a semi-surprise visit from Uncle Darrin and a successful surprise from Aunt Sue & Uncle Guy

Sweet Baby Girl

2010-08-23T15:13:00.008-05:00

Today this beautiful baby is three months old - can you believe it?? She has changed so much in the last two months, so I figured I better do a full update. We are really enjoying having Cecilia in our lives - she is so easy-going and happy. Plus, she is a GREAT sleeper! She takes a long afternoon nap that coincides with Sully's nap and she has been consistently sleeping through the night for the last 2 to 3 weeks. I am so grateful! I never expected to have uninterrupted sleep, and it is so nice to have a few hours to myself each afternoon! (When Sully actually sleeps that is...today was his first day in the big boy bed so there was absolutely no sleeping. However, he hasn't gotten out of bed yet, and I think he may even be sleeping! Cross your fingers!!)

Some of Seesa's new tricks include smiling and cooing, putting weight on her legs (see above), sucking her thumb (which allows her to put herself to sleep, so I'm okay with her total refusal of the pacifier), and rolling over from tummy to back! She's actually only rolled over twice, but she keeps trying to go from back to tummy, so I am thinking she'll be an expert soon. I guess that means I have to keep a better eye on her! Here's some quick little videos of a few of those tricks:

She doesn't go to the doctor again until 4 months, but everything looked on target at her 2 month appointment. She weighed 13 pounds and 9 ounces which put her in the 96th percentile, and she was in the 90th percentile for height at 23 1/2 inches. And I know she's grown a bunch since then. We're not used to having such a big baby! I've already had to retire some of her clothes, and when we compare her to Sully's baby pictures she's already as big as he was at 4 months! But she is losing her hair just like he did, so we'll still have a bald baby! Good thing lots of people have sent her some really adorable hair bands! (Take a second to scroll back up and look at the yellow flower one - it has a rhinestone center and you can mix and match what's on the band! My talented friend Anna made her that one. I'm so excited we have a girl so I can dress her up and accessorize!!!)

I think that's all the major news about our little love bug. She has definitely won over all of hearts - even her big brother! I think he's smitten now - so much so that he wants her to wake up when she is sleeping so she will look at him! He delights in making her smile and he is always speaking gibberish baby talk to her. Thank goodness she's so adorable (and tough!)because he wasn't so sure about her in the beginning. But now....

AWWWW!! Well, that's all for now. It sounds like Cecilia is waking up, and she needs a bath tonight. Stay tuned for another posting sometime soon with pictures of all our summertime adventures! (Oh and give a cheer because it's now 9:22 and I still haven't heard or seen any movement from young Master Sullivan since we put him down almost an hour ago, so I think we may have just had our first successful sleep in the toddler bed! Hooray!)

Our Little Performer!

2010-08-20T16:10:00.003-05:00

I know I am way behind on posting (honestly - are you surprised??), so you are probably checking in to see how little Miss Cecilia is doing. But since there is so much to say about her and all the adventures we have had this summer, a full update is not in the cards for today. But you are in luck because the other night while Grammy and Grandpa watched Sully and Cecilia while I was at a visitation, this is what Sully spent the evening doing:

For those unfortunate few among you who have not seen The Princess Bride (good thing that's no longer you, my favorite mother-in-law! This makes you want to watch it again, right?), first let me say that I pity you because you are missing out on the best movie ever, and second - go watch it so you can truly appreciate how hilarious my son is!

I must admit, it may not have been the best idea to teach an already aggressive toddler words like "killed my father" and "prepare to die," but he delivers the line with such conviction and enthusiasm that he gives Mandy Patinkin himself a run for his money. What else could his theatrical mother ask for?

One month old!

2010-06-23T23:36:00.012-05:00

It's hard to believe little Miss Cecilia is already one month (and one week!) old! Today is her 5 week birthday (I started this post on Wednesday, but now it's actually Sunday), and aside from having her first cold she is doing very well!

She's still eating and sleeping way better than I expected, whichI definitely appreciate because it means I am sleeping pretty well too! On Tuesday (the eve of her one month birthday) she actually slept from 11 pm to 6 am, so I was amazed! I woke up about 5:30 and couldn't believe she was still asleep! She hasn't repeated the miracle, but she is consistently sleeping for at least 4 hour stretches at night. Since I go to bed late anyway, I really only have to wake up with her once in the middle of the night and once in the morning around 6:00. Thankfully, Sully has also been sleeping in lately so I can usually go back to sleep for a little bit after the 6am feeding. I'm very lucky to have such a good little girl who lets me sleep!

She had her one-month check up on Wednesday and seems to be in good health as well. She's already weights 10 pounds and 5 ounces and is 23 inches long, which puts her in the 95% for height! She was very well behaved at the appointment (surprisingly, so was big brother who came with) and only cried briefly after she got her vaccination shot.

Here's a picture of her from her one-month birthday, post-shot. I guess she didn't enjoy the shot all that much!

In addition to the typical baby activities of eating, sleeping and pooping, Cecilia has been keeping busy. She's already been to 3 graduation parties in her short life and has spent the night away from home at Grammy and Grandpa's house. We're also trying to get her out into the fresh air as much as possible so that big brother can run around and expend some of his energy! We've been walking around the neighborhood and we've already had 2 picnics! Cecilia has also made some good friends and spent some time with some other cute babies. Katie visited on Monday with Nolan and her twin girls - they are 6 months old and Sully totally loved them. I was worried he would treat them like he does most other kids - by asserting his dominance with hitting and pushing - but he did a great job with them. He didn't touch them except to gently tickle their feet and loved trying to make them laugh by running around or dancing. And since he met them he's been much better with Cecilia! He had been hitting her pretty consistently, but now he opts for tickling or smelling her hair or even just looking at her. It's been a big relief!

The other cute baby Cecilia finally got to meet was her future best friend Claire. There's only a 6 week age difference in the girls, but Claire seemed so much bigger and more developed than Cecilia. She's smiling and laughing and has the most adorable baby rolls - I can't wait until they are both interacting with others because it will be so fun to see them play together.

Here's BFFs Claire and Cecilia followed by a picture of their mommies. Can you tell which baby belongs to each mom?

Well I think Seesa Marie is getting hungry, so it's time to wrap this post up. Hopefully we'll get some pictures of her summer adventures to post in the next few weeks. I think we're starting to get back into the swing of things so I want to get her out to do more stuff. I'd like to try to go to the beach this week, and we may go visit camp at Metropolis since it's my first summer away from there in a long time! I miss it a bit, but it's nice to just have 2 kids to take care of instead of 43! Hooray for summer vacation!

We have a baby!

2010-05-31T21:52:00.008-05:00

Cecilia Marie Willhite made her grand entrance into the world a week ago on Sunday, May 23 at 12:32 am. She weighed exactly 8 pounds and was 20 1/2 inches long. My labor and delivery went just as I hoped they would with no drugs and minimal interventions (just a bit of baby monitoring and a port for the IV, but I didn't have to have the fluid drip!). The process took a bit longer than I had hoped....but that just meant there was enough time for Grammy to get here to be with Sully before we had to go the hospital. Mark was an amazing support and all the nurses were so encouraging! It was an exhausting and difficult process, but we couldn't be happier with the result! Baby Cecilia is so sweet and easy going and I just want to spend all day cuddling with her!

Big brother Sully seems to be adjusting to the new addition fairly well. He is learning to be soft with her and is genuinely interested in her. He always asks, "What's baby Cecilia doing?" or "Where's baby Cecilia?" right before he runs over to the co-sleeper to grab at her head. Cecilia is also starting to be more alert and awake during the day, and when she is up, she likes to watch Sully and his crazy antics. (He definitely shows off for her!)

My mom was able to stay until Wednesday afternoon, but Mark and I have been flying solo for the last 5 days. Surprisingly, I feel like we have a handle on things and have already sort of fallen into a routine. However, Mark goes back to work tomorrow so I will be on my own, and I have a feeling things will be a lot more difficult when there is only one adult around to run interference. I'm not sure how I will get food on the table for the toddler while also making sure the infant gets her breast milk...we may not eat until Daddy comes home from work!

So there's the scoop on the newest Wacky Willhite! We are so grateful she has entered our lives and I can't wait to introduce her to you all! I'm sure she will steal your hearts as she has stolen ours. I apologize for taking so long to put the pictures up, but isn't a newborn baby the best excuse? She's definitely the cutest excuse I have....

Already Daddy's girl:

She had her first bath on Saturday, and didn't even cry!

Story time!

That's all for now! Hopefully we'll be able to survive our first day without Daddy tomorrow and I will be able to post more soon!

Something might be happening....

2010-05-21T22:49:00.002-05:00

I was at the doctor yesterday and there was no change in my cervix since last week (or the last 3 weeks really), so I was a little discouraged, but now I think the end of my pregnancy may be in sight!

I have been able to move more easily in the last few days, so I actually went to Curves tonight for a workout in hopes that the baby would drop. I made it through the whole workout without much trouble, but Bodo stayed contently right in the middle of my belly. However, when I got home, I was pretty sure I felt a real contraction in my back!

They've kept up since about 7:00 tonight, so I'm thinking we may be having a baby this weekend after all! (Although Bodo is still floating up nice and high so maybe this is all just a trick...) Nothing is too consistent yet, but the contractions do seem to be increasing in intensity. They are definitely still manageable, so I am going to try to get some sleep now while I can. Hopefully we'll have some good news for you tomorrow!

Still pregnant...39 weeks and counting!

2010-05-18T21:11:00.007-05:00

So there is no baby news yet...much to my chagrin! I'm not technically due until this Saturday, but I'm hoping this kiddo will come a little early. Tomorrow or Thursday would be ideal since that will work out best for Mark's work schedule. Plus I am really waddling like crazy and pretty much every movement hurts, so I am starting to be anxious to have a normalish body again. As my wise friend Kathy pointed out, I've never been this pregnant before, and I'm not sure I like it!

Bodo also seems to be stubborn like big brother Sully was and hasn't dropped an inch. In fact the last few days I keep feeling movement way at the top of my belly and I think this kid is trying to get as far away from engagement as possible. But hopefully maybe he or she is just waiting until after Daddy's softball game tonight to put things into motion. (Mark didn't get to play at all last week because he hurt his rib when he was at bat 2 weeks ago. Thank goodness he is healed now because we were a sorry pair when we were both gimping around trying to chase down our 2 1/2 year old. Isn't that crazy? Sully is officially 2 and a half!)

So other than playing the waiting game, things are going well. The heartbeat has sounded strong at all my appointments, and I'm a little bit dilated and about 50% effaced. I go back on Thursday for another check-up, and then if the baby doesn't come I start going twice a week on the 24th. We have a non-stress test scheduled for Monday the 24th, but I am hoping we won't make it to that appointment.

It's been hard trying not to think about the baby every second, but I've been able to find a few distractions. The boys took me out for Mother's Day dinner and ice cream:

and I got to have a fun Girl's Night Out with Katie and Rose. (A surprise Mother's Day gift for Katie from her very thoughtful husband. He planned the whole evening for us and even sprung for dinner! What a guy!) We had quite an adventure!

Other than that, we've been to the library, to Target, and had a few playdates with friends. Tomorrow we're planning on going to Metropolis for Wiggle, Giggle & Grow - I'm officially done teaching the class, but since Sully is one of the students, I thought it might be good for him to have one more class before we just stop going. Plus it will get us out of the house and be a good distraction! Hopefully I won't have to distract myself too much longer and we'll have some baby news to report this week! Keep your fingers crossed!

Here's our baby...still in utero!

2010-05-03T14:21:00.003-05:00

So we've officially made it to 37 weeks and Bodo is still in the womb! (That's about 3 days longer than big brother Sully stayed in, so I feel good about that!) The 37 week check up on Thursday went well and all seems to be going along as it should. Bodo was snuggled up in there all nice and cozy - I think he or she may be a thumb sucker if in utero behavior is any indication! The measurements of the baby and my fluid levels were all within the normal range, although my belly was still measuring small. I'm in the 37th percentile, apparently. Bodo's estimated weight was 6 pounds 4 ounces, which I thought was weird since that's only 4 ounces less than Sully was at birth. So it looks like I will be pushing out a much bigger child this time! I go back again this Thursday where they will check my cervix to see if anything is going on down there. The weird thing is, I think I am actually hoping that they will tell me it looks like it will be soon! But that's probably just because my sciatica has been killing me since Thursday night, and I am hobbling around like a pirate with a peg leg. I've been propping up my leg, using heat, stretching every 10 minutes, and nothing seems to ease the pain. So if the only cure is going to be getting this baby out, I think I might be begging for that to happen in the next few days! (Mark is probably hoping that too because he's been having to wait on me a lot more in the last few days!) Although, this afternoon the pain does seem to be more bearable, so either I'm just used to it now or my nerve is finally deciding to give me a break. Other than the sciatica, I feel pretty good. Still sleeping ok and no other major issues, so Iguess that's good.

I will post another update after my next appointment, unless of course Bodo decides to show up before that. Either way, I am hoping my body will actually decide it's ready to go into labor on it's own this time. I'd love to deliver without pitocin! Cross your fingers for me!

It's a Girl!!!!

2010-04-28T21:57:00.006-05:00

But she's not ours. Nope, this beauty is the lucky daughter of Julie and Gordon - the first of the many of my pregnant friends to give birth. Claire Elizabeth was born on April 6 and is totally sweet and adorable. I may perhaps be a little jealous, but at least I know that if Bodo turns out to be a boy I will still have Claire as my namesake. Claire was my French name in High School and Julie was my very first French partner, so obviously she chose the name because of me- it's especially obvious because we have the same middle name, too!

Don't you think we look good with a girl baby, though? I guess we'll find out soon enough. I'm currently at 36 1/2 weeks, and since Sully showed up one day shy of 37 weeks, I keep wondering if Bodo will be coming in the next few days. I am hoping that will not be the case, though. But I am trying to be more prepared ahead of time, just in case. My bag is mostly packed, the baby clothes are down from the attic, washed and put away, and I've been reading lots of books on natural childbirth and easing labor pain. So even though I don't really want the baby to come just yet, I think we're probably ready.

I go to the doctor for my 37 week check up tomorrow, so we'll see if they have any predictions. I was almost 1 cm dilated last week, but they said that was common in 2nd pregnancies. I'm on an iron supplement now, though, because I am anemic (I guess now I know who to blame for Sully's anemia!). I also measured a little small last week, so they are going to do an ultrasound tomorrow to check on Bodo's growth. Other than that, I am feeling pretty good - a little sluggish and ungainly, but that's sort of normal for me even when I'm not pregnant!

That's it for now! I'll keep you posted on Bodo's development and impending arrival and promise not to post anymore pictures of other people's babies until ours comes.

Some Easter Pictures

2010-04-28T21:38:00.004-05:00

I realized recently that another month has passed since my last post. (And I thought I was being so on top of things....) Where on earth does the time go? So I thought I would do just a quick update with some cute pictures from our visit to Sherrard for Easter. Sully had his first farm egg hunt, but was more interested in looking at Grandma's hose and chasing the cat than finding the eggs. It also took about 2 hours before I could get him away from his toys to look for the eggs in the house. But he loved decorating bunny cookies with Grandma and Aunt Sue and he seemed to enjoy coloring eggs. Mostly, though, he had the most fun playing toys and screaming with Uncle Todd. It was a really nice weekend, and we enjoyed being able to spend the holiday with the Willhites and Williamsons.

Here's some of my favorite pictures from the weekend:

Sully's Spring Fever!

2010-03-27T16:02:00.010-05:00

The Wacky Willhites are desperately awaiting the arrival of spring and warm weather, and we've been trying to get out to enjoy the sunshine whenever it graces us with our presence. Sully loved the snow while it was here (especially throwing snowballs) but he has been very excited to be able to run around in the yard again and is always in a better mood when it's sunny. So I thought I would post some pictures of what we've been up to this month in hopes of hurrying spring along!

Here's Sully at the KidsWorks Museum in Frankfort where we spent a sunny and enjoyable day with Great Grandma Griffith. They had some new exhibits since we were there last winter and both Sully and Great Grandma had a lot of fun playing with everything.

After Mark cleaned up a winter's worth of Drogo poop (and all day project...good thing I could use my pregnancy and sore muscles as an excuse...I didn't have to help!), he and Sully went out to test out Sully's new golf clubs. He got a fancy set for Christmas from Grandpa Griffith, and Mark is anxious to teach him how to play so he can get on a tour, make lots of money, and help Mark retire early!

Here are some silly photos from St. Patrick's Day. I tried to get Sully to pose with me, but he was more interested in reading Traveling Tom and the Leprechaun. We did get him to smooch Baby Bodo, though, and I think I have more than enough cheese for the both of us in all these pictures!

And lastly, here are some pictures that should shout out spring, but instead are a little chilly. Sully and I went to Brookfield Zoo yesterday with Kathy and Piper. The sun was shining, but the wind was out and it was a bit nippy! We had a fun time nonetheless, and spent a large part of the day in the Family Play Zoo (which is indoors) where Sully and Piper could water the plants, work in the animal hospital treating sick stuffed animals (Piper's favorite!), and see some small creatures up close. Sully got to pet a guinea pig! We also rode the tram throughout the entire zoo, but as you can see, we needed to be bundled up with blankets so we didn't freeze. So much for spring weather! But hooray for the zoo, indoor exhibits, and spending some quality time with good friends!

That's all the pictures I have for now, but I do have some other Sully news to share. We officially began the journey that is potty training last week. It has been quite an adventure so far, let me tell you! The first day everything went amazingly well so I had high hopes. But as the days progressed, Sully got increasingly more adamant that he was not going to sit on the potty and even got to the point where he was telling his body, "No pee! Don't come out pee!" so that he wouldn't even be asked to sit on the potty. So we've had lots of peeing on the floor, countless pairs of soaked pants and underwear, and two very frustrated parents. We've taken a step back in the last 2 days, though, and it has seemed to relieve some of the power struggle. He was in his underwear all day today (which is progress since for a long time he screamed and freaked out whenever I even showed him the underwear) and I just let him do his thing - which consisted of him wetting his pants, then taking everything off from the waist down and telling me he was wet. But since I knew that would happen and had no expectations of him even going near the potty, it was much less stressful for me. Sully even surprised me by being willing to sit on the potty for a bit, so I guess we'll just keep plugging along. Keep your fingers crossed we all survive this milestone! And until I can post again, keep thinking spring!!!

Here's Baby Bodo!

2010-03-27T15:37:00.004-05:00

It's hard to believe, but Baby Bodo is due to enter this world in just 8 weeks! YIKES! Two weeks ago (at 30 weeks) I had an ultrasound and checkup, and I had my 32 week checkup on Thursday. Both appointments were full of good news - I'm measuring right where I should be, the baby's heartbeat is strong and easy to find, plus everything looked normal on the ultrasound! There were 10 toes and the baby has a nose and lips (quite voluptuous ones I thought), which were some of the features they were unable to see at my Level 2 ultrasound at 18 weeks. Bodo was actually fairly cooperative during the process as well (surprising for a Willhite, right?), but we were only ever able to see about half of the face because of Bodo's preferred position (shoved between my uterine wall and placenta). It was very cute though because we were able to see Bodo yawn a few times and I'm pretty sure there was some thumb-sucking going on. Mark and Sully were both at the ultrasound, and Sully was really well behaved. He liked looking at Baby Bodo's heartbeat on the "TV" and he kept asking, "What's she doing?" Yes - he did say she. That day Sully decided that Bodo was a girl. Other days he says boy, though. And sorry - I can't tell him if he's right or wrong because we all turned our heads when the technician examined Bodo's "parts." (And in case you were worried - which surprisingly enough, I haven't been this time considering how irrationally I worried about it during my pregnancy with Sully! - she did mention that she only saw one set of parts, not both, so that is always a relief.)

So there's the pregnancy update. While I am feeling pretty good overall, I am having some sciatic pain that I wish would go away and Bodo is definitely getting bigger in there. So much so that he or she has pushed out my belly button. :( I feel movement almost all day, but it's no longer the swimmy kind of little baby stuff - now it's the pushing and shoving of body parts into my internal organs. Thanks, kid.

We're trying to get a head start on preparations for this baby, as well, but please cross your fingers for me that Bodo stays in as long as she/he is supposed to. I've already got some clothes out of the attic and washed and the cosleeper is in our room, so I guess we're at least as prepared as we were when Sully showed up 3 weeks early. Hopefully we'll be able to get some more prep work done in the next few weeks (including getting big brother peeing in the potty consistently...more to come on that lovely subject in the next post!).

Until next time, here's a really dorky picture of Baby Bodo's first St. Patrick's Day!

Baby Bodo and Mommy's Belly

2010-02-28T21:52:00.005-06:00

I am currently 28 weeks pregnant - third trimester here we come! - and I realized I hadn't posted a single picture of my belly! Poor baby Bodo may end up with a complex since Sully had a whole pregnancy blog (which I have since printed and scrapbooked), and I kept a Belly Book with weekly belly pictures. I figured Bodo should at least get one designated blog post - so here's my belly!

We spent last weekend in Sherrard at Grandma and Grandpa Willhite's house, and on Saturday night, Mark and I got to go out on a date in honor of my birthday. So this is us all decked out for dinner and bowling. (I did pretty well for a pregnant lady! Although we did end up on bumper bowling lane, so maybe that was part of the reason for my decent scores....)

And in three days with Mark's family, no hints were dropped and no slips were made, so Baby Bodo's gender is still a secret (to Mark and me anyway...). For those who might not have heard this story, Grandma Willhite's Christmas present was finding out the sex of her newest grandchild - provided she didn't tell me what it was. (Which also meant Mark has to be in the dark or he would just lord it over me and pester me until I went crazy.) And as long as she could keep his mouth in check, she could tell Grandpa Willhite too. So Grandma, Grandpa, and Uncle Todd all know Baby Bodo's secret, and I have to give them credit - they have done a very good job keeping it all hush hush so far. (Even if Dale and Todd think I'm illogical and don't understand why I don't want to know....they have at least honored my wishes and I am appreciative.)

Bodo seems to be doing well, though. Moving and grooving all the time - much more so than Sully did. I had a doctor's appointment on Thursday and they were able to find the heartbeat immediately. It sounded strong and was loud, so that was reassuring. I also had my glucose test, but they won't have the results back on that until sometime next week. They checked my hemoglobin, though, and I'm not anemic, so that's good. Now that I'm in the third trimester I have to start going every 2 weeks, so I go back at 30 weeks and will have another ultrasound. (Where I will still ask that they do not tell me the gender. I know...it's weird, but the mystery is important to me.)

So there's the Bodo update. I am sure there will be more news to post as I continue to grow. I will also try to take some more pictures so my poor little baby doesn't feel unloved. Until then, here's hoping the third trimester isn't too uncomfortable. Farewell Golden Age!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-16T15:18:00.006-06:00

We had a fairly uneventful Valentine's Day, but Sully did craft a Valentine and we ate heart shaped burgers for dinner followed by fancy layered heart jello for dessert. And Sully wore red and posed for some pictures, so that was the best part of the day!

We hope you all enjoyed your Valentine's Day and that you were showered with love and affection!

One more note on the videos: So apparently they still don't always work, which is extremely frustrating. But one way I discovered to make them work was to go back to the earliest video post (November 2008) and watch Sully with his car walker, then come back to 2010 and watch the videos from January. So far that method has worked for me, and it provides an interesting look at how much Sully has grown and changed! Good luck and sorry for the difficulties!

Technical Difficulties

2010-02-12T22:34:00.004-06:00

Hi gang!

I just wanted to apologize for any frustration you may have had trying to view the videos in my last post. I don't know exactly what the deal was, but I know there were a bunch of folks who kept getting the "This Video is Unavailable" message. (Including me!) But the good news is that I think I fixed it. I re-uploaded the first video and now they all seem to be working, so hopefully they will work for you too. The only weird thing is that the first video just has a black screen instead of a preview, but if you hit play it should go right to Sully eating cake batter. Let me know if you are still having problems and I will mess around with it and see if I can find a better solution.

I'm going to go download the pictures from my camera now, so I hope to get some new pictures up this weekend. In the meantime, here's a silly one of my boys celebrating the beginning of 2010. (Which was now a month and half ago....sheesh.)

Some Videos!

2010-01-19T08:40:00.004-06:00

So the last time I posted (which was now over a month ago...oops!) my mother gave me a hard time that the only video I put up was of Mark and Jon-Mychel and not of Sully. So I thought I would give the public what it wants and put up some fairly recent Sully videos. There are 2 from around his birthday and 2 from Christmas. Happy viewing!

This was on Sully's actual birthday - he helped me measure ingredients and mix the batter to make his turtle cake, but obviously, eating the batter was more enjoyable than mixing it!

I like this video because you can see how focused Sully is when he is working on something. And when he is really focused, he always sticks his tongue out. What a silly boy!

One of Sully's favorite Christmas pastimes this year was listening to Christmas carols. He especially loves this version of "Jingle Bells" by the Barenaked Ladies.

Isn't his Christmas morning enthusiasm just over-the-top? See what I meant in the last post about orange juice obsessed?

Hope you enjoyed your Sully fix. I have a bunch of pictures and some updates, so I am going to try to do a full post sometime this week. (But don't hold me to it!)

Catch Up Post: November

2009-12-12T14:53:00.011-06:00

Here are a few notable things that happened to the Willhites in November:

1) Megan's chicken pox finally crusted over and she was able to leave the house again. Hallelujah! (The pox have not disappeared completely yet, though, so that is a disappointment.)

2) The sweet, compliant boy who lived at our house magically and suddenly turned into an opinionated, obstinate, loud, and very frustrating 2 year old. His favorite phrases are, "No, Mommy, no!" and "Sully want that!" Lucky for him he's still pretty darned cute. See?

3) We had a very fun birthday party for said obstinate 2 year old at Grandma and Grandpa Willhite's house with superhero decorations, snacks, and games. Grandma and I also made the coolest cake ever. He was a pretty difficult cake to make, so lots of oohing and aahing now would be appropriate.

4) Sully had his 2 year check-up and we found out that he's growing well, but that he is anemic. So we've been spending the last month pushing iron-rich foods, trying to limit his milk intake (Vitamin D inhibits iron absorption), and loading up on the Vitamin C, which assists in iron absorption. Unfortunately, our child is now addicted to orange juice and hardly wants any milk. But I think he's been eating more lately and he has been eating meat and whole grains without too much fighting, so hopefully his iron has gone up enough that we won't have to do a supplement. We go back to the doctor on Tuesday to find out, so keep your fingers crossed for us!

5) We had our first solo Thanksgiving at this house - just the three of us and Drogo (Mark was on call). I cooked a turkey all by myself (albeit a frozen-in-a-bag-put-straight-in-the-oven-turkey breast, but it was a turkey nonetheless!) and even did all the side dishes. The obstinate 2 year old ate only cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie, but he did put one piece of turkey in his mouth. (It promptly came back out.) Sully did however do a Thanksgiving craft with me, and we got to snuggle on the couch and watch the parade in our pajamas, so all in all it was a nice Thanksgiving.

6) We finally got our digital camera back! Canon fixed it for free and it works great now, so hopefully I will get my act in gear and start posting pictures again! And they won't be grainy or fuzzy because they were taken with a video camera or scanned into the computer! YEAH!

7) Sully named baby #2 for us, so our new child-to-be is currently referred to as Baby Bodo. All seems to be going well with Bodo so far - the heartbeat is strong and I have been feeling some movement in there. I have to get a Level 2 ultrasound because of the chicken pox, so they'll be able to look more closely and see if there were any pox related complications. The ultrasound is scheduled for Dec 23, so we'll let you know what they find out. (And I am leaning toward not finding out the gender, so it's good that Bodo can be a girl's name or a boy's name!)

8) Mark continued to grow his goatee, which according to my mother makes him look Amish. I disagree.

So there you go - a brief look at November....a busy month at our house! (That's why I haven't gotten around to updating until now. That and the fact that my first trimester was very draining - thank goodness for "the golden age of pregnancy" as the second trimester is called. It's way better so far!)

Hope you all are enjoying this wintry December weather! We are off to see the Holiday Magic lights at the zoo tonight, so hopefully I can get some new pictures up soon!

Happy Halloween from the Wonder Willhites!

2009-11-01T15:38:00.006-06:00

It has been a crazy week at the Willhite house! I found out on Tuesday that I have the chicken pox and have been quarantined since. Sully was vaccinated and Mark had it as a kid (although I did too, so I guess I am just in a weakened immune state because of the pregnancy?) so luckily for them, they were both able to enjoy Halloween to the fullest. Mark carved his pumpkin and I helped Sully paint his yesterday afternoon, but the highlight of the day was when the boys went trick-or-treating as the most adorable superheroes in Grayslake. While Danger Dad and Super Sully were out patrolling the neighborhood, I did answer the door for trick-or -treaters, but I did so dressed as a surgeon so I could wear the mask they sent me home from the doctor in. (Chicken pox is passed respiratorialy, and I didn't want to scare the children with my bumpy crusty chin!) I guess Mega Mommy will have to make her Halloween appearance next year. (But at least I didn't have to finish my costume - which meant I got Mark's done.....9 minutes before trick-or-treating started!) Sully had so much fun, and we were very amazed because he never tried to take off his costume! He loved trick-or-treating so much he wasn't content to do just the neighbors' houses - Mark had to take him all the way down the block. They were out for about an hour and a half and Sully still cried when Mark made him come in the house! We of course took lots of pictures - although Mark had to go out and buy a disposable camera because our digital one is busted, and we've been a little preoccupied and haven't replaced it yet. So I apologize that the pictures aren't of the highest quality, but when we developed them today they gave us a free photo cd, so at least I didn't have to scan them all. I also forgot to get the video camera out last night, so Mark and Sully put their costumes back on today and went outside to run around. Sully actually played in the yard in his entire costume for about an hour! It was the most adorable thing ever!

Despite the chicken pox, we had an enjoyable Halloween and Sully really seemed to enjoy the whole process. I think he'll be sad when we put the decorations away and he can't say "Hi pumpkin" or "See skeleton's bone" as we walks around the house. But as there is no reason he can't be Super Sully everyday, I am going to put him in that costume as much as possible while he still fits in it - he looks so cute! See?

Here are a few photos of our pumpkin decorating - but don't look too closely at the one of me and Sully....the pox are yucky!

And here are some of of Danger Dad and Super Sully being the cutest boys I have ever seen!

And finally, here are the Wonder Willhites in action! You may be able to see Danger Dad without his costume, so please don't reveal his true identity to anyone - it could put his family at risk! (Or his manhood - isn't he a good daddy to walk around the neighborhood in gold lame and shiny boots? At least I didn't make him wear tights!) Happy Halloween!

Wacky Willhite News

2009-10-22T11:20:00.003-05:00

Yes, you heard correctly! There is another Wacky Willhite on the way! We had our first prenatal appointment and ultrasound yesterday and all is going well. The baby is healthy with a strong heartbeat and we were measuring right on schedule. I'm 9 and a half weeks now and due on May 22. Things are mostly going smoothly, but I am much sicker with this kid than I was with Sully. I've already thrown up 3 times today. Woo hoo!

Here's a picture of our little peanut (or perhaps it is a baby doll I accidentally swallowed):

So that's our news! We are all excited and Mark and I are incredibly relieved - it's been a rough 9 weeks wondering if everything was okay this time. I go back to the doctor in three weeks (right before our big boy turns 2 - YIKES!) so I should have more news to post then. But for now I need to go lay on the couch while Sully is in the crib. I'm realizing I need all the rest I can get now before it's too late!

Which kid is which?

2009-09-21T20:49:00.003-05:00

I've always known Sully looks just like his daddy, but who could have guessed they were IDENTICAL toddlers?

We're Still Here!

2009-09-16T10:53:00.012-05:00

So it has been an incredibly long time since our last post, and Sully has grown and changed so much that I am not even sure where to begin. He's talking up a storm and learns new words and concepts almost every day. To illustrate what I mean, here is a video of Sully's Uncle Rory teaching him a new trick.

It has been a lot of fun being able to communicate with Sully, and he is definitely willing to tell you what he wants or how he feels. Some of his favorite phrases include, "No way!," "Nope," and "Daddy/Mommy sit/play/read, etc." He's doing better on his manners, though, and usually remembers to say please when he is asking for more of something. We're working on thank you and he's doing pretty well.

Since it's been so long since my last post, I figured I'd just jump right into some pictures so you can see how much he's grown. I'll try to post again soon with some more details of Sully's brilliance!

Here's a few shots from our camping trip at Devil's Lake this weekend.

Even though I worked all summer, we did try to squeeze in some outdoor fun at the splash park, Illinois State Beach park and in the backyard.

And finally, here is my favorite Sully face:

The Cheesy Grin! Enjoy! Happy September!

My Baby is Gone....

2009-05-27T22:53:00.006-05:00

and all of a sudden I have a boy running around the house. Sully is talking up a storm, weighs 26 pounds, and LOVES to play in the dirt. He's true boy all the way, and while I am sad that his baby days are over, it's been a lot of fun playing with our big boy! Here's a quick list of some of his new tricks:

-He can identify all his facial features and some body parts (feet, toes, hands)

-He likes to put various objects on his head and say, "Hat!" (Today it was the rubber ring that he pulled off of Drogo's food dish and also his dinner plate.)

-He can throw a ball and chase it (or chase Drogo once Drogo grabs it and runs away!)

-He's started playing imaginatively! He has battles with his action figures, cooks things and sometimes talks to his stuffed animals

-He knows lots of animal sounds

-He can scribble with markers and pens, but his scribbles are works of art!

I'm sure there are more fun things he is doing, but that's all I can think of at the moment and I know you've been waiting for new pictures, so here they are without further adieu!

By no means have we begun potty training, but Sully now has a potty chair which he is in the process of investigating. He says, "Sit" then puts a book on the potty and tries to sit on the book. Here is after I helped him move the book, then sit. (I know you're jealous that his potty is green!)

We went to an outdoor wedding this weekend at this amazing house in Grayslake. Kevin and Lori have the most beautiful home and yard you have ever seen! Kevin built an entire gypsy wagon - which Sully LOVED - and they have a neat little play house with a kitchen that Sully could not get enough of. He also could not get enough of the cupcakes, which of course had to be red velvet....

And for the coup d'etat of this post - here is a wonderful video of Sully in the playhouse talking on the phone. I was sitting in there with him and I could not stop laughing! The lighting is really bad, but as long as you have volume you will enjoy it! (And once you watch the video the photo above of Mark and Sully will make more sense.)

That's all for now! Thanks for your patience with the Wacky Slacky Willhites! And until we post again, Sully says, "Helloooo!"

Sully in Action!

2009-04-02T15:28:00.008-05:00

I thought I would post some video so you could see our busy boy doing some of his favorite activities. This first one is Sully playing with Daddy's (it used to be Daddy's but Sully commandeered it and ripped off one of the arms!) Boba Fett figurine on the window sill in our bedroom. Make sure you have your volume up because the sound effects are hysterical!

The next two are from our recent visit to Grammy and Grandpa's house in Frankfort. It was the one weekend that it was actually nice outside, so Sully got to play in the yard and use sidewalk chalk and blow bubbles. But none of those things really captured his attention, and his favorite activity ended up being a little strange. See for yourself...

And finally, since Sully is at the age his Grammy likes to call the "age of servitude" we have definitely been putting him to work! But since it feels like a game to him it's not like we are breaking any child labor laws. Let's just hope he continues to like these cleaning activities as he gets older!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2009-03-17T22:21:00.010-05:00

The O'Willhites got all decked out today for my favorite holiday! Although it looks like I photoshopped the green onto Mark's face, he's actually wearing hairy face stickers. Cool, huh? And isn't it great how my husband will do goofy things like wearing hairy face stickers just for me?? Now that's love! But I guess my son doesn't love me enough, because he did not wear the hairy face stickers. I'm not even sure he liked them on Mark's face, since he kept trying to peel them off. At least we got him to sit still for a few pictures. Hope you had a shamrockin' day!

(Look closely and you might notice something special in that last picture. That's right - it's our new couch! And the ugly pillows that came with it - I need to recover them.)

And just because he really is the cutest boy I know, here are two final pictures of our little leprechaun reading his St. Patrick's Day card.

Where does the time go?

2009-03-15T22:18:00.005-05:00

So as anyone who has looked at my blog more than once has probably noticed, I have a very hard time posting updates in a timely manner. I thought I would get better as Sully got older, but for some reason I am getting worse. The good news is that I get more sleep at night, but I honestly have no idea where my time is going during the day. (Not to mention the fact that somehow I am now 30 years old, have been with Mark for almost 10 years, have owned a house for 5 years, and have a child who is now 16 months old. So let's not even talk about where that time went...yikes!!) I guess most of my time is spent either cleaning up after Sully (his favorite activity is taking all the toys out of the toy box then going and playing in the other room where he can pull out more toys), telling Sully not to touch things or open things or get behind things or pull on things (like Drogo's tail), preparing meals and snacks for Sully (he's in a picky phase so mealtime always starts with, "So what will you actually eat today?"), or attempting to translate the jibber jabber that is Sully's language. I guess the overall message is that there isn't any more down time now that Sully is a toddler. He may be more independent, but he is much, much busier! So even when he gives me a spare moment to myself, I usually choose to do something unproductive (like sit on our brand new couch or play Diner Dash - I'm totally addicted!) because my brain just needs a break.

But although life with a toddler is busy, it's also very rewarding. Sully has gotten so entertaining and has learned so much since my last post. I don't even know where to begin! He just learned to point out some body parts, and he can find them on his own body or someone else's. So far he's figured out nose, eyes, mouth, hair and belly button. He had also figured out how to climb up onto the couch, but then we went and got a new couch which is much higher - and way more comfortable and presentable. Thank goodness! He's walking like a pro and has even started trying to run a bit. He loves music and we constantly have Here Come the 1,2,3s by They Might Be Giants playing at our house (Thanks Kath!). Sully dances and spins and if we forget to turn the music on he points at the cd player and jabbers until we turn it on. He also likes to push the Swiffer around and he loves to take a bath! He comes running as soon as he hears the water running. He has even started accessorizing - he likes to wear a gold Mardi Gras bead necklace that I call his "bling." He puts it on and then opens the hall closet where the full length mirror is and laughs at himself. The mirror is one of his favorite toys - he looks in it at least 3 times a day and just grins at himself. But who can blame him? He is pretty darn cute!

And to prove it, here is a collection of pictures from the last two and a half months of Sully just being Sully. Enjoy!

What? Christmas is really OVER?

2009-01-13T14:06:00.000-06:00

After two weeks of non-stop Christmas celebrations, our life is just finally getting back to normal. Although it ended up being a bit crazy and hectic, our holiday season was very joyous and lots of fun! Sully did really well and really seemed to enjoy himself, even though he partied to the point of exhaustion! We spent Christmas Eve with the Griffiths at my Uncle Bill's house then hosted my parents and Rory for a pizza dinner on Christmas Day. We drove down to Frankfort the following evening, spent the night, then had Christmas at Stately Griffith Manor in the beautiful new room on Saturday morning. We went to Grandma Gerrity's Saturday afternoon for Christmas with the Gerritys, then headed out to Sherrard on Sunday for Christmas with the Willhites. We stayed in the Quad Cities until New Year's Day, and when we came home, the parties continued. Sully and I went to Therese's house to spend some time with my Girl Scout Camp gals on Friday, then went to Aunt Gail's on Saturday because Geny and Faisal and Aman were in from Colorado. On Sunday we had lunch with Priya, Melissa, and Julie (who lives in Illinois again, so we're going to get to see her a lot more! HOORAY!) then our celebrations came to an end. See - I wasn't kidding about the non-stop part!! So last week we did as little as possible in an attempt to get back to some semblance of every day life. Sully only left the house on 2 occasions all week- and that was to go the funeral home so Mark could watch him while I went to teach! He didn't even get out of his pajamas for 3 of the 7 days! (I'll admit it - I didn't get out of mine a few days too!) But as I said, he was a trooper and we had a really fun Christmas with him. He didn't sleep in his own bed for a week straight and was up way past his bedtime almost every night, but he kept on smiling, partying, and being just darn cute! And here are some pictures to prove it!

After six Christmas celebrations, Sully got really good at opening presents. And man, did the kid get a lot of presents. He was quite spoiled! In fact, our living room could be mistaken for Toys 'R Us at this point!

He was also really interested in the tree. He "helped" us put some ornaments up before he went to bed and the next day once the tree was completely decorated, he just sat in awe of it for awhile. He even started pointing at it after a few days to let me know I should turn the lights on. His favorite part, though, was the ornaments. He did well at first with "Don't touch," but after about a week, he spent most of the day just taking off ornaments and carrying them around the house. He loved Mark's boxing hippo - I swear I hung that thing back on the tree 35o times!

Sully also had to pose for many family photos, and although that wasn't his favorite holiday activity, we managed to get at least a few where he's looking at the camera! And we even had all of Mark's family in one place and got to take a Willhite family photo. We were overdue, since we hadn't taken one since Darrin and Miranda got married three and a half years ago!

Speaking of Darrin and Miranda, Christmas was a big deal for them because it meant they finally go to meet their perfect nephew! Sully pretty much spent our entire visit to Sherrard being the center of attention (much to his Uncle Todd's chagrin), and it didn't take long for him to win the heart of Auntie Miranda. (And Uncle Darrin's too - but since he is a Willhite so he had to be a little more nonchalant about how much he loved Sully...)

While we were in the Quad Cities, we also had a chance to see all of Mark's high school friends. We spent New Year's Eve with Sarah and Jon-Mychel and the boys (don't our dudes look so cute in their jammies?), and on New Year's Day the gang came over with wives and kids in tow. Claire is the only girl offspring among the bunch, and although she arrived in a really cute girly purple dress, she ended up in Riley and Connor's hand-me-down overalls after a very messy diaper change. So she fit right in with all the rough and tumble boys. And I enjoyed hearing the big boys discuss things like whether cloth diapers are worth it and the best way to get a baby to go back to sleep in the middle of the night instead of which girl in high school had the biggest boobs or reminiscing about the ridiculous things Mark used to do when he was drunk and single! (Next time you see him ask him about the jumping jacks....)

That's the overview of our Christmas craziness! I have to admit, I am a bit relieved that it's over. But thanks to the creative gift giving skills of Uncle Rory, Sully will be able to help me remember his second Christmas every time he strikes a chord. He's already working on a modern arrangement of a traditional song - check out his skills in this video!

It's Winter!

2008-12-01T22:32:00.000-06:00

To commemorate the start of December, the weather gods apparently decided we needed about 4 inches of snow. It started yesterday afternoon and didn't really stop until early afternoon today. Sully just kept looking out the window and saying, "ooohh..." So since I had to scrape my car off (rather, I had to shovel the heaps of snow off of it), I bundled Sully up in his warm winter clothes, plunked him into his new wagon, and pulled him into the driveway where he sat and watched me clean off the car. I didn't get as many "oooohs" as the window, but he was still pretty captivated by the whole winter wonderland around him. He also had a good time watching Drogo jump and dig in the snow. So even though I am not ready for it to be winter (although it's looking like I don't have much of a choice), I think there will be some fun times ahead with my little snow bunny!

I also wanted to show off how handsome my boys were on Thanksgiving. They sort of had matching outfits - unintentional, I swear! We had fun at my aunt and uncle's house in Crown Point, IN and Sully was a good boy all day. Although he needs to work on pacing himself - he kept asking for more bread and snacks before dinner (he has gotten really good at the sign language for more) so by the time we all sat down for turkey he wasn't hungry and refused to eat anything! Mysteriously, once the pie came out he was ready for "more" again!

In this picture Sully was watching Uncle Dave carve the turkey. Every time the electric knife was going Sully got that goofy look on his face like he was trying to figure out what the heck was happening! He's a funny little man!

That's about it - although hopefully there will be news on the walking front soon. On Saturday Sully took 2 independent steps before lunging toward Mark, and he stood alone for a good 10 seconds today. But he is still pretty lazy - or maybe just scared. He'd still rather just crawl everywhere than even attempt to walk. We'll keep you posted!

One year olds are difficult!

2008-11-20T13:56:00.000-06:00

So we took Sully to get his 12 month portraits taken yesterday and we thought, "Let's get some family portraits, too." Bad idea. The whole thing was a debacle, as Sully refused to sit in one spot, didn't want to look at the camera, and kept putting his hand in his mouth. There were only 2 decent shots of him solo, and there was one ok family shot (and it was only ok after the salesgirl cropped it and shifted it to hide my muffin top!). Of course, after we left the portrait studio and took our little stinker to the Olive Garden for dinner, he was happy to say "Cheese" and even smiled for the camera. Here's some funny shots from the restaurant, all of which are better than his portraits. Boo. And the family self-portrait I took is so much better than any of the ones from the photo studio. Figures, huh?

My first video posting!

2008-11-16T22:05:00.000-06:00

Here's a video of Sully taking his first steps on "his own"! He's got the car walker to keep him up, but this is the very first time he walked with it. He did great, but then he got bored and did some light reading. Enjoy!

Now that we've finally loaded the software to import videos from our camera, I will hopefully be able to put more videos up. There are some funny ones from Sully's birthday party and since he's growing and changing so much I've been trying to take lots of video so I won't forget how cute and funny he is at this stage. Of course, I can't promise to post videos in a timely manner, but at least I am now capable of doing it and that's the first step!

Someone is a year old!

2008-11-14T21:28:00.000-06:00

Since I last posted, (which has been two months - oops!) Sully has gone on a lot of fun adventures, learned many new skills, and most notably - he had his first birthday! I still am not sure how it is possible that my little baby is one year old and is now a toddler. I was just looking at pictures of the day he was born and it really does seem like it was just yesterday! But at the same time it's hard to remember him being so tiny! Here's a photo comparison of Sully from birth to one year - what a difference!

So here's what the little man has been up to:

He went on his first museum trip to Science and Industry with Kathy and Piper. Those girls just love him! (Do you blame them?)

He went to the pumpkin patch with Grammy and Uncle Rory where we checked out the petting zoo, explored the corn maze, and picked some pumpkins.

He went to Bloomington to spend some time with his godparents and Sidney. The babes were so cute crawling around in their Halloween costumes!

He had his first spooky Halloween dinner, went trick-or-treating, and was so good about wearing his costume. He never tried to pull off the dog hat. Now the socks....that's a different story!

And of course, he had a birthday party and ate lots of cake!

He also took a Kindermusik class, got some more teeth, got really good at feeding himself finger foods and drinking from a sippy cup, started cruising on the furniture, and even learned how to give a belly foof! (Some of you may call it a raspberry - either way it's hilarious!) He's also pretty close to walking - he's started taking some steps on his own while holding on to his car walker. Hopefully I can post a video of that soon! But until then, enjoy this new collection of photos of the cutest one year old I know. He's especially cute when he's covered in frosting and being a ham.

I wonder who he gets that from??

A professional picture - courtesy of JCPenney

2008-09-18T15:30:00.000-05:00

We had Sully's 9 month portraits taken last week (ironically on the day he turned 10 months old), and they unfortunately didn't turn out as well as his adorable 6 month shots, but there were some cute ones. He was a little tired and cranky, and now that he's so mobile it was hard to keep him in one spot. He also really liked the photographer's camera and got mad every time he tried to touch it and she wouldn't let him. But for the first time we had three different backgrounds and we even did an outfit change - he managed all that pretty well. It was kind of a bummer though because his smile has changed - he now has my squinty eye/squishy nose smile which is still cute, but it's not as charming as his leprechaun grin. So there you go, more on Sully...and it hasn't even been a week since my last update! GO ME!

Summer of Sully

2008-09-12T21:21:00.001-05:00

Ta Da! I've finally caught up! I apologize for taking so long, but it was daunting to try to sum up Sully's entire summer in one sitting. Plus, it was difficult to decide which pictures to include because he's just so darn cute all the time! Before we get on to the pictures, let me tell you a little bit about all the tricks our boy can do. He's 10 months old now and he seems like such a big boy! (I just took this one of him in the rocking chair today - doesn't he look more like a boy than a baby? How did that happen?) Sully has definitely mastered crawling and he's so quick. I can hardly keep up with him! He's also figured out how to pull up to standing and he's gotten good at that too. He can even let go with one hand and stay supported! He's done a bit of cruising, but he's more interested in the up and down game at this point. He's pretty good at taking steps when someone is holding on to his hands, though, so I'm thinking it won't be long before he's walking like a pro. YIKES! He also has 3 teeth and is chewing bigger food - he loves cheerios and sweet potato chunks. I'm trying to expand his finger food repertoire, but I'm slow to move on because I'm so scared he's going to choke! He's pretty vocal, too, although he mostly babbles and makes sounds rather than words. He can say da and ohh, and he's even started saying uh oh a bit, but none of the sounds ever come with a corresponding meaning. He's got a great laugh, though, and he's really happy most of the time, so we've been having fun playing games with him like peekaboo, pattycake, How Big is Sully? and lots of tickling! The best is watching him play with Drogo - they kind of chase each other a little bit, although it seems Drogo would prefer just to lick Sully. Every time Sully sees Drogo he smiles, and we're working on how to pet him gently rather than pulling out his fur and tugging on his tail. I think that's most of Sully's recent accomplishments, so let's get on to oohing and ahhing over how cute he is! I decided to go back and start with pictures from June and work my way up to August. You'll have to check back later for September (mark your calendars to visit sometime in December - it should be up by then!), but hopefully this will tide you over for a bit!

Sully became a budding artist this summer and made a few different works of art. All were finger paintings, but we experimented with color schemes and as he got better at his crinkle the paper technique he was actually able to cover more surface area. He created his first masterpieces for Father's Day then made a birthday piece and get well piece for his favorite babysitter Emily and her dad. I'm looking forward to expanding our art projects - I think we'll tackle coloring next!

Kathy gave us a bath seat to use in the bathtub, and Sully likes it (see the next picture) but he had more fun sitting in the box it came in. I of course took tons of pictures - he was in the box for at least 15 minutes - but this was by far the cutest.

Here's Sully during his first bath in the big bathtub. He loves to splash and kick his feet, and I love the seat because he's stationary and it's less likely that he'll drown. It does make it hard to clean his boy parts, though.

We signed Sully up for swim lessons this summer, and while he didn't really learn much technique, he seemed to enjoy being in the water, splashing, and kicking on the kick board. He wasn't a fan of being on his back or being underwater (as we inadvertently discovered when he slipped out of Mom's hands...oops.) but overall he enjoyed his experience, so it was worth it.

Here's some shots of our big eater! He's pretty much a bottomless pit. I've heard from a few other mommies with boys around the same age that Sully eats way more than their sons. But yet he stays so skinny - he must have gotten that from his dad...

Once camp ended in early August we were actually able to do some fun stuff outside as a family. These are some pictures from Sully's first picnic in the grass. There's a really great forest preserve near us so we ate and walked around and had a delightful afternoon. (The new family photo in the profile is also from this picnic.)

Shortly after our picnic at the forest preserve we took Sully on another picnic to the small beach on Gray's Lake. We wanted to go swimming and take him in the lake, but it ended up being too cold and rainy, so instead Mark did baby tricks and Sully ate sand.

This is just a cute picture of our little man in his Exersaucer. He likes it lot and I realized I didn't have any pictures of him in it - so here he is playing and drooling away.

He can't quite climb stairs yet, but he gave it a good try last time we were at Grammy and Grandpa's. I snapped this picture right after he fell back on his butt. The look says, "Hey, Mom - I'm going to learn to do a bunch of stuff you're not ready for me to do yet. Isn't that funny??"

Well, there you have it. A brief look at Sully's summer. We did a bunch of other stuff too like go to the zoo with Grandma and Grandpa W and the Williamson family, attend some graduation and birthday parties, play at the splash park, explore Grammy and Grandpa G's new addition, and spend a few days on Grandma and Grandpa's farm, but I didn't put all those pictures in because then I never would've got this posting done. Thanks for your patience with me - I will try my darndest to update more regularly now that I am back to teaching only 3 evenings a week. I'm sure there will be lots of news since our little peanut is almost a year old!

A shirt from Uncle Todd

2008-09-05T23:06:00.000-05:00

Sully received this shirt from Mark's brother Todd before he was born. He finally wore it for the first time at the annual Fall Fest/Labor Day party at my parent's house, and yes - Mommy did drink. But luckily, Sully didn't cry...too much. He is a happy boy who smiles and laughs more often than not. He also drools more than I thought was humanly possible, as you can see from the large wet spot on his shirt. (He's working on cutting his fourth tooth.) I know you were expecting a bigger update, but I'm low on time and I thought something new would be a welcome sight. (How many of you are as sick of "The Month of May" as my mother is?!) I hope to do a full scale update sometime this weekend in between coats of paint on the front windows. You'll probably need to cozy up with a beverage and snack - it will be a long one! Thanks for checking in and have a great weekend!

The Month of May

2008-06-03T23:10:00.000-05:00

May was a big month for the Wacky Willhites! We went to a wedding in the QC and Grandma and Grandpa Willhite babysat while Mark and I went to the reception. (We're obviously parents now because by 9:15 we were out the door and on our way home!) That same weekend, we squeezed in a quick visit with Julie while she was in town from Phoenix. She had only met Sully once in December, so this time he showed off and flirted with Julie, gave her lots of smiles, and actually stayed awake the whole time! Sully and I learned CPR and basic first aid, so now if he stops breathing or chokes I will know what to do. We had our annual trip to Brookfield Zoo with the Nelson family and Sully seemed to enjoy his first visit to the zoo. We also hosted our first ever large-scale family party to celebrate Sully's baptism. He did really well at the ceremony, and the party was successful even though we had way too much food! Sully also got to meet his godparents, Wendy and Matt, and we got to meet their new baby girl Sidney for the first time. And in between all those events, Sully started eating 3 meals a day of solid food (sweet potatoes and bananas are his favorites), sitting up unsupported for a few minutes at a time, and babbling non stop! He also had a yucky cold and stopped sleeping at night, but now he seems to be over that and has been sleeping until 4:30am pretty much every night. He's also extending his naps - today is the second day in a row that he took a 2 1/2 hour nap! Hooray for sleep! So that's a quick update of what's been going on in our neck of the woods.

Now on to the fun part - pictures!! Here's Julie and Sully being cute together.
Here's me and Sully being cute together at Grandma and Grandpa's - in the matching pjs Ginger gave me for my birthday!

Did I tell you Sully is eating solid foods now?

These are some of my favorite shots from the zoo. Sully was more interested in Connor and Riley than in the animals. The boys would be standing at an exhibit, and Sully would reach down and try to touch them. At one point he petted Connor's hair - it was funny! (And so was Mark, as usual!)

This is Sully and his girlfriend Sidney. She is a month younger than Sully and she is a very sweet little lady!

And finally - here are some shots of the baptism. Sully looked very handsome in his sweater vest and he didn't cry when the Deacon poured the water on his head. It was a nice ceremony.

So there you go - that was May. I can't promise that I'll be on top of updates in June, though. I start camp on the 16th which means I'm back to work 5 days a week for 8 weeks! Plus I'm assistant camp director AND the director of the show for first session, so I have a feeling I won't be blogging until July...or maybe even August! I'll try my best though. I don't want to deprive the world of the adorableness that is Sullivan James!

In the last two months...

2008-05-16T21:55:00.000-05:00

So although Sully is no longer sleeping through the night (he has a cold and it's thrown him off big time!) he's still pretty cute, so I wanted to share some pictures of him! There's also been a lot of firsts and accomplishments since my last posting so I thought I'd brag on my boy a little, too. (He's six months old now...can you believe it?!?)

Sully had his first St. Patrick's Day and his first Easter and got dolled up for both. He enjoyed some corned beef and cabbage (a la breast milk) and got his first chocolate bunny from the Easter Bunny (it was plastic). He even helped Grandpa Griffith dye some eggs (and it's rare that Grandpa ever dyes eggs, so it really was a first!)

He also started sitting up with minimal support, spending more time outside, eating baby food, and using his Johnny Jump -Up, which he loves.

And oh yeah - he learned to read!

So that's a quick look at what Sully's has been doing since March. We're going to the zoo for the first time tomorrow and his baptism in on Sunday, so I'm sure I'll have many more adorable pictures to put up soon. Until then, cross your fingers that he'll sleep tonight!!

Hallelujah!

2008-05-07T19:56:00.001-05:00

So it's been almost two months since my last posting, and Sully has lots of new tricks. I've been wanting to put up some new pictures, but we got a new computer and it's really a pain to upload pictures from the camera. So I've been putting off posting because it's just not as fun without pictures.

However...something very exciting happened last night that I just had to share. And you won't need a picture to appreciate it!

Sully FINALLY slept through the night last night! And it only took 6 months! He didn't fall asleep until a little after 9pm (even though I put him down at 7:30). We've started letting him cry until he is asleep and it's hard, but last night it seemed to do the trick because Sully didn't wake up until 5:30am! That's 8 hours of consecutive sleep, people! I, of course, didn't go to bed until 11:30, so I only got 5 1/2 hours of consecutive sleep (I woke up at 5:00, rushed in the nursery to make sure Sully was still breathing, and was too hyped up to go back to sleep since this was the first night in his whole life he slept that long!), but man, was it heaven!

I'm trying not to get my hopes up because I know this won't be an every day occurence, but at least now I know it's possible! It's also getting easier to put him to bed at night, which is really nice. Usually he goes right to sleep after we go through the bedtime routine. (Last night was funky though because he was in Arlington Heights with me and took a nap in the car right before we started the bedtime routine.) And naps are coming together, too. Today I put him in his crib expecting him to fuss, but he was asleep in like 30 seconds. Mark asked me, "Where's the baby?" And when I said, "In his crib," he didn't believe me because Sully was so quiet!

There you go - the best news ever! I think Sully was just practicing for Mother's Day and on Saturday he's going to sleep until 7! Cross your fingers for me!

There's so much more to share about our little peanut, so I will try to get some pictures put up before the end of the week. He's getting so big so fast! He'll be 6 months old on Mother's Day and he's up to 15lbs 12 oz. It's hard to believe - I can hardly keep up! (Which is obvious by my lack of posting....)

Almost Four Months!

2008-03-09T22:25:00.000-05:00

Sully will officially be 4 months old on Tuesday (technically he is 17 weeks old today) so I figured it was time to get an update on here! Sullivan continues to amaze us with how much he grows and changes each day. He is super smiley and chatty most of the time - although he didn't smile when he took him to get his 3 month portraits (as you can see above). He has started grabbing for his toys and can hold a rattle. He can stand pretty well (with assistance of course) and he's gotten really good at holding his head up! He's pretty strong for a little punk! He is FINALLY starting to consolidate some of his sleeping, so I am so excited about that! He took an hour and a half nap this afternoon and has slept for 7 hours at a time the last 3 or 4 nights. HALLELUJAH! I actually woke up at 1:30 last night thinking it was much later, and I was worried because Sully hadn't woken up yet. But then I realized it was only 1:30 so I went back to sleep, and Sully didn't wake me up until 4:00. I am really hoping this pattern will continue!

I think that's all of his biggest accomplishments. But he can drool with the best of them, and in case you were wondering or worried since the last update - he has pooped 3 times this week. He even went 2 days in a row, so I think he's on his way to being regular again! So I guess that's all I have for now. I have some cute videos, but I have to figure out how to get the videos to work, so hopefully I will get those up this week. Check back soon! In the meantime, here's some pics of Sully doing his new tricks!

Our Little Heartbreaker

2008-02-14T13:37:00.000-06:00

Sully has had an eventful week! He turned 3 months old on Monday and today he is celebrating his first Valentine's Day! Unfortunately, he's not enjoying it that much (and neither am I) because his tummy is upset and he's got some bad gas. (He definitely takes after his father in that respect! Who knew someone so little could make such stinky farts?!?) Luckily for us, though, Sully is a happy baby and doesn't have days like this too often. In fact, we just spent the weekend with Grandma & Grandpa Willhite and they just raved about how happy and smiley Sully was! He was a very good boy. He practiced his boxing with Grandpa, took two really good poops, and melted Grandma's heart even more. See??

Mark and I also went for our first night out sans Sully while Grandma babysat. We had a nice dinner and saw a movie (Juno - cute and funny) but we talked a lot about our son and even discussed his poop over dinner! I guess we're officially parents now!

Happy Valentine's Day from the Willhites! Cross your fingers that Sully passes some gas!

Winter Fun!

2008-02-01T18:25:00.000-06:00

This past weekend Sully and I went to Stoughton, Wisconsin for the annual winter gathering with my Girl Scout camp friends. We stayed with Kathy's parents who have a house on the lake and we had lots of outdoor fun! The big kids went sledding and ice skating and we all spent time by the roaring fire! Sully sat in his first snow bank and did a little sledding (on my lap). He slept through most of it and only woke up to cry when the sun was in his eyes or mom accidentally brushed snow is his face. He definitely preferred laying on the El Paca blanket in front of the fire to playing in the snow. He was a good boy, though, and all the girls loved cuddling with him!

Sullivan James is 2 months old!

2008-01-18T18:50:00.000-06:00

Sully just had his 2 month check-up this week and the doctor said he was "perfect!" He weighs 11 lbs and 14 oz and is 22 and 1/4 inches long. He had to get a bunch of shots, but he did pretty well. He's been smiling a lot lately and he's started babbling a little bit. But right now he's fussy and probably hungry, so my first post has come to an end!