Sully's Spring Fever!

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!

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

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!

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

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!

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

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!