6 whole months

Can you believe Will is going to be 6 months old tomorrow? That's half a year!
His new thing lately is playing with toys WITHOUT putting them in his mouth. This is a big step to me, I love it.

Oh and solids?! Coming soon. I'm nervous and excited at the same time.

I guess it's normal for a baby's growth to slow down at some point. This is the first time that Will hasn't been ready for the next size clothes right at the age that they're for. Well, not that there's been many size changes so far. He was never really in newborn clothes, but at 3 months he had outgrown most of his 0-3s and was in 3-6s. Now he's still fitting into a lot of 3-6s, and just a some 6-9 onesies and some 6-12 pjs. He has yet to double his birth weight, but we have to cut the kid a break since his birth weight was 8lbs 14oz. I think the whole doubling birth weight by 4 months thing is ridiculous, sure a baby that weighed 6lbs could gain 6lbs in 4 months, that' 1.5lbs a month on average, but Will would have had to gain over 2lbs each month. It's more of the percentiles I'm concerned with, but I probably shouldn't be. At birth, I think he was 75th% now he's 25th%. His doctor says he's doing good, especially since both I and Shawn are on the small side. I was a big baby though.
His weight gain (and decrease in the amount of gain) has been steady though, and I should probably be reassured by that. Probably.

Here's how it's gone so far:
Birth 8lbs 14.4oz, went home (12 days later) at 9lbs 6oz.
1 month: 10lbs
2 months: 12lbs 5oz
3 months: 13lbs 13oz
4 months: 14lbs 13oz (with cloth diaper on, previous weights were without)
5 months: 15lbs 2.5oz (with diaper on)

Today, weighing him at home he was 16lbs with diaper on.
This is normal, right?

Tomorrow we're headed to Panama City for a half-birthday celebration, not that Will is actually going to understand that.
I can't believe I've been a mommy for 6 months, well, longer than that really, being a mommy to a baby in your belly definitely counts.

It's exhausting and I love it.

Weekend: a story of poop, napping, and crying.

(Will has developed a penchant for holding and chewing burp cloths.)

Let's start with Friday, shall we? Friday Oliver dog was supposed to go to the vet and since I dare not attempt an outing alone with crazy dog and unpredictable baby, sister-in-law Becky took the morning off to go with us.

For some reason I felt the need to check to make sure husband had left us the car. He had not. I even reminded him the night before, even though this is one of few things that doesn't usually require reminding, something told me to remind him.

Husband decided to postpone Oliver dog's appointment and Becky and I decided to watch Gilmore Girls. Will decided to not take a good nap.

Here's something fun. So I'm finishing feeding Will and sit him on my lap to burp him and he feels this is a great time to poop. His diaper, however didn't have the same idea. I started to feel something warm on my lap. Lap is the polite way to say I got poop on my thinly yoga-panted crotch.

Thankfully Becky was there and I was able to yell for her to bring me some paper towels and remove poopy baby from me.

Decided to wash dirty dog stuff. Later decided to do that at a laundry mat from now on in order to leave the cleaning of ridiculous amounts of dog hair out of the washer and dryer to someone else.

Washed fur rug, now have a fairly clean dreadlocked rug.

Cute baby break

Saturday.
Saturday Will took a short nap before headed to Wakulla with friends to stake out the area for a wedding husband is helping Ashlyn shoot (as in camera, not gun).

I'm becoming a pro at nursing in the car by the way.

Husband climbed a tree.

I thought about what family vacations were like before amusement parks and before the interstate. Wished I lived back then. Tweeted about wishing I lived back then. Husband agreed to take quaint vacations to places like the springs.

We ate overpriced, terrible-for-you food while Will stared at Russ playing guitar and refused nap #2. Marveled at how Roslyn just falls asleep without assistance.

Nursed in the car again, baby fell asleep. Husband and I decided a diaper change was in order, baby woke up. Mistake? Baby fell asleep on the way home, made up for missed naps. We fell asleep too and were late for dinner.

Rapture did not happen.

Sunday.
More nursing in the car, this time with a very difficult dress. For which a safety pin had to be procured before church to avoid flashing more than the usual number of people. Ate at Mellow Mushroom. Husband decided it was the best pizza place we had been to, I said we hadn't been to many.

Went to Kohl's to try and solve the Sunday wardrobe issue. Was overwhelmed by the amount of stuff. Bought one dress for $18.

I decided I am the only one not amused by Will's ability to distinguish that I am not the one holding him, start crying, and then stop once he's given back to me. He also does this when laying in his crib, it's not amusing then either. Faker.

End with my view whilst writing this post on my phone.

Fortunate Accidents

I took a wrong turn today on my way back home (after signing a lease in Tally!). I knew the road I was on would still take me where I needed to go so I didn't turn around and I was glad. Traveling down this road was so serene and beautiful; it was through one of those few hilly areas of Florida that make you forget you're in Florida as the road goes up and down and all you can see is trees. It was also at that perfect time of day where the winter sun is in just the right place to give everything an amber glow. On one part of the road where there's a small bridge over a creek there was a group of people off to the side of the bridge around a bonfire that appeared to be roasting marshmallows; very peaceful.

Many people would be annoyed that they took a wrong turn and let it ruin their whole day through their attitude. Months ago I may have been the same way, but it's so much easier to not let things like that be a big deal. This turned out to be a good thing. I was being annoyed by a car on the interstate who kept going faster, slower, faster, slower (cruise control is there for a reason, use it!) which is how I ended up distracted and took an exit that looked similar to mine, but was one too early. Because I didn't let taking a wrong turn upset me it ended up being a fortunate accident. Not only did I get away from a bad driver, I also go to see another beautiful part of God's creation.

Fill 'er up

World of Coke from Reese on Vimeo.

I'm not feeling well, so I haven't made the post I planned on. I did upload some pics of The World of Coke to my flickr though, and a few short videos like this one on Vimeo.

I like how some people add music to their videos. I don't know how to do that, so you get ambient noise and people talking. If anyone knows a video editor to add music good and free let me know!

My Absence

Sorry for the week-long absence. But do expect a post later today about my adventures in Atlanta over the weekend. The only thing I dislike about film photography is that you have to wait to take up the whole roll before you can see your pictures. I did take some digital though, so I'll post a few later.

Summer Plans

I've been thinking about what I'm going to do this summer. I know I need to find a summer job so I can save some money that will be much needed once I'm off at a university in the fall. I've also thought about taking a couple summer classes, creative writing or something possibly. When I really think about what I want to do though I know I would love to just travel throughout the summer.

I would absolutely love to go somewhere overseas, Italy or Paris, or anywhere else I haven't been, but those are my top 2. Unfortunately I don't know anyone else who would go and I don't want to go alone to a country I've never been in.

It would be nice to see some places in the states I've never been to before, so I could settle for that. Right now I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Anyone care to share their summer plans or dreams? I know you're out there, I can hear you breathing.

I'm Back

Half fun, half stressful, and now I'm sick. I think I'll blame the sickness on someone who will remain unnamed thinking it was a good idea to set the air on 70 causing me to freeze in my sleep; strange since that same someone was sharing the bed next to the a/c with me.

Saw some old friends, met some new ones, had a good time with God.

Best part of coming home: my own coffee, my own bed, oh and taking my contacts out! I forgot to bring my contact case or my glasses so I had to sleep with them in for 2 nights.

The Christmas Post

I hope everyone had a great Christmas, and at least took some time to remember why we really celebrate it.
Sure, you constantly hear people say "Jesus is the reason for the season," and see plenty of church signs with the same statement, but is that really at the forefront of our minds this time of year. I admit I haven't spent as much time focused on Christ or in the celebration of His birth as I should. It's so easy to get caught up in earthly celebrations of gifts, food, and even that of family. Not that there's anything wrong with celebrating family (or food, or how blessed we are to be able to give and receive gifts), but let us not forget what it's all about. Celebrate and have joy in our Savior!



Tomorrow I will be leaving for Ocala to go to Holiday Youth Convention. I made a sort-of last minute decision to go; I'm getting to old for it and I figured if I didn't go this year, I would definitely feel too old to go next year—not that there won't be other older than I there, there definitely will be.
I'm bringing my laptop along in hopes that there will be free wireless in the hotel, but with the expectation that I won't have much time to use it anyway.

Cornerstone

This weekend I was at Cornerstone Florida, it was awesome. I got to meet Ward finally and some new people too. I also got to see a couple people I hadn't seen in years, like David Green and Jason somethingorother that used to be in Tears Run Black, so that was really cool. Jason let me listen to the band he's in now, The Love Affair, I think. It was hard to hear in there but it sounded pretty good, I like it.
One major disappointment though was that I got there too late to see Showbread, and it was their last official show with Ivory. I also had to drive through pouring rain and hail, not to mention the smoke, on the way home, everyone was going about 35mph on I-75, it was crazy.
I had never seen any of these band live before so that was really awesome, even though I didn't get to see everyone I wanted to. Family Force 5 put on a great show, it was just fun and crazy. There was this cute little boy in the audience, maybe about 3 years old. I was right beside him, he had a toy guitar with a FF5 sticker on it and had a faux hawk; he knew all of their songs and was dancing/playing along with them. Everyone around was taking pictures of him, and I wish I would have. Maylene and the Sons of Disaster was also really good. And I was glad to see Copeland, even though their performance wasn't anything special really. I also got to see The Dark Romantics who are one of my new favorites, and they are the only band I bought merch from.



More pics on my flickr or VIRB°.

Oh and MxPx was really cool, I wasn't even planning on watching them, but I was glad I did. They played mostly old stuff, there was only 2 songs I didn't know and I haven't listened to them in years. The best part was when they let some kid come up and play bass on one song, I think it was "Chick Magnet" or it could have been "Party My House, Be There." And the pit was huge, it just kept growing, I kind wanted to jump in!

I also got to stay with Haylee and see her new teeth!


In other news, I went to the doctor last week to see if I could try something else for my allergies because the Singulair just wasn't doing the trick. So now I'm trying some sample to see what works, I tried Zyrtec, which my mom thinks is great, but in the 5 days I used it it didn't do anything for me. Today I started Allegra D, I don't want to jump the gun, but my sinuses feel pretty good right now, the best the have felt for a while, without the help of nasal spray. I also have a new nasal spray to try, Astelin, I tried it once the other day, it made me want to puke every time I inhaled for hours after I used it.

Um, yea for long entries?!?!

What is a Mofro anyway?

So I have one final left, then school's out for summer. I decided not to take any classes during the summer it's just too crazy to have the same class Monday through Thursday for 2 hours a day. It just means that I'll have to have a full schedule in the fall and spring. I can already tell I'm going to be bored this summer, maybe I really should get a second job (my current job is less than 15 hours a week).

Anyway, this weekend I went with a guy from school, Adam, to a Widespread Panic concert in Orange Beach, Alabama. I had heard of them before but never actually heard the music, it was pretty cool though. Definitely the most interesting crowd I've ever seen at a concert. While Adam made fun of them, I think I actually liked the opening act better than Panic. It was a band from Jacksonville called JJ Grey & Mofro.

We were also going to go to the annual interstate mullet toss (yeah I never heard of it before either), but decided not to because of how far you'd have to walk from where you park. I was a bit disapointed not to get to watch people throw fish from Alabama into Florida (no sarcasm), but who knows maybe I'll check it out next year.

By the way, my blog is also now syndicated on my VIRB° page.