Gerber Generation

I submitted Wiley in the Gerber Generation Photo Search contest...YAY!! He would make the perfect Gerber baby with his bright blue eyes and cunning smile =) So far after one day of voting he's up to 15 votes. The hard part is going to be getting family and friends to keep voting all month long. The pictures are up for voting in their own groups depending upon which milestone your baby is at, Wiley is in the crawler group! So if you happen to stumble on my blog and you still have time PLEASE GO VOTE FOR WILEY! All you have to is to go Gerber.com and search the photos for Wiley or 74040! Thank you for helping Wiley possibly win a $25,000 schlarship!! That would put our minds at ease for when...gulp, Wiley graduates High School and heads to college! Shew, it took a lot to even write that sentence. Thank Goodness I have a long time before he gets that big =) PRETTY PLEASE GO VOTE!!

Bald River Falls

We took Wiley for his first trip to the mountains and we made a stop at Bald River Falls! It was so HOT outside so we found a little nook off the road where there was calm waters for Wiley to take a dip. He absolutely LOVES the water and definitely enjoyed splashing around in the creek, which by the way is named Turkey Creek. He was smiling and "talking" away the whole time we were there just having the best time! Before we stopped there we were at the actual falls and people there were kayaking off the rocks and waterfalls into the pool of water below...it was crazy!! That would take some serious guts to do something like that. It was neat getting to watch though and there were lots of on lookers there wading around too. That was my first time visiting Bald River Falls but Justin went some as kid so it was neat for him to go back with his little boy and make some good memories. He was in heaven getting to spend quality time with us because he works so hard at his labor of love during the week! So we had a great weekend and hope to make some more road trips together before summer is up.

Lucky Lady

Yep...that's me! I can't believe I'm Wiley's momma and that I get to stay home with him everyday. I never thought I would ever be a stay at home mom but now that I am I wouldn't have it any other way. My baby boy is such a joy to be around and I love him more than words can explain. I was hoping that once warm weather came around that he and I could start doing more things outside but good grief it's a thousand degrees out there. We do things on the weekends when Justin is off work, like last weekend we went to the Farmers Market in Market Square and the weekend before that we went to pick blackberries...yum! Justin works so hard everyday to provide for his little family and a lot of the time I feel guilty for not contributing financially but I do think being a momma is a very important job even if I don't get paid. I do get to bond more and more all the time with my son and I can tell that he enjoys spending time with me too so to me that's worth it's weight in gold! Next Friday Mr. Wiley is going to be 8 months old...holy cow! He's growing everyday and doing new things all the time. He does the belly crawl right now but has started getting into the crawling stance and rocks back and forth. I think that once he realizes he can support his own weight, although he's loved to just stand since 3 months, that he is going to take off walking!

Half way to 1 already...

Wy was 6 months old Sunday and I can't believe he's growing so fast! It's even harder to believe that just 6 short months ago I was still pregnant and now I'm a momma and loving every minute of it!! Wiley had his check up today and he's healthy as can be and right on track. I was a little worried about his weight considering it feels like I'm carrying around a 20lb baby but he's just 18lbs right now. I was really shocked and had fully anticipated stopping on the way home and buying him a new carseat, I guess that will have to wait a while. As long as he's growing and healthy that's all I can ask for. Here's what he's up to now:

* Loves to play with his toes, that is when he will stay still long enough

* Trying to learn to sit up on his own, again he's too busy to sit for more than 5 seconds

* Eating 4 meals a day and starting now we get to introduce pureed meats

* Starting to reach when picked up

* Surprisingly loves the water, he gets that from his daddy

* Still in size 3 diapers and 6-9 month clothes

* Pinches everyones face but just trying to show some love

* Flips and flops around everywhere ALL the time, his nickname is Wiggles

* Sleeps in his own bed and gets about 12 hours of sleep at night

* Drools like a maniac but still isn't teething just yet
* Smiles all the time at everyone mainly b/c everyone smiles at him b/c he's so CUTE

I guess that's all I can think of off the top of my head! We have truely been blessed by the Lord. Every night I say a prayer while saying good night to Wiley and I thank Him for sending us our precious baby boy. I pray for patience and understanding and for Him to help me be the best mother I can be! I'm forever indebted to God even more so, indebted triple b/c He gave me Life, my husband and now my son. THE LORD IS AWESOME XOXO

Croup and Hernia

Since my last post Wiley had his first sickness, Croup, and turned 5 months old!! The croup wasn't too bad, he just had a mild cough! I think the steroids they put him on was the worst part out of the whole sickness. It made him extremely irritable. We even had to take him for a car ride just to get him to settle down enough to take a nap, we never had to that before or since! We also put him on acid reflux medicine because he is something else to try and feed a bottle to, it's exhausting! He fights the bottle a lot and arches his back like he's trying to get away but at the same time you can tell he's hungry and wants to eat. I gave him the meds for about 2 weeks but I think they started to mess with his sleeping habits. He normally falls alseep at nap time and is out for atleast a couple hours but on the meds he tossed and turned and wouldn't sleep longer than an hour or so. He's still doing better about eating so I'm just going to see how things go before I get his pedi to prescribe another form of the meds that won't distrurb his sleep. Like I mentioned he also turned 5 months old on the 23rd!!! I can't believe my little baby is already 5 months old...time is already flying by being a momma! So here is what he's doing now:

• Sleeping about 9 hours or so at night and in his crib


• Takes 2 naps during the day


• Rolls over belly to back and back to belly


• Still wearing size 3 diaper and 6-9 month clothes


• Could possibly be teething- sometimes I call him Hooch b/c of the drool


• Eats 3 meals a day with a couple bottles in between


• Loves to smile and "talk"


• Uses hands like a pro- can put paci in/out by himself...thank goodness


• Likes to be bounced


• Found his toes and likes to play with them


• And best of all he absolutely LOVES his momma...lucky me!

During my pregnancy I recieved a lovely Umbilical Hernia and I finally got it repaired! Summer's coming and I might actually get in a bathing suit so I had to make sure I didn't scare anyone with my pooked out belly button!! I guess carrying around a 9lb baby there is bound to be some consequences but all better now!

Solids

I'm so glad Wiley has started having solids for breakfast, lunch and dinner! It has made a huge difference in his feedings. He went from 4oz of formula every 2hrs to 4-5 feedings a day and the last two nights he has slept through the night, which means more sleep for me...knock on wood! I hope that he feels better now too because before I felt like he never got full from just having formula. Everything still goes right to his mouth if it's within reach. I have to keep a bib on him constantly because of the drool and he chews on it all the time. I will say that feeding him solids is a messy job...food ends up everywhere!

Sunday will be Wiley's first Easter and I'm so excited! I'm still thinking of how we're going to spend the day but I know we will have fun whatever we decide to do. This is going to be such a great year with our little boy...I love experiencing all of his "firsts" and there are so many to come!

Growing Up Tall

Wy had his 4 month check up yesterday! He's going to be tall and thin just like his daddy. He's finally able to "officially" have solids now even though I've been giving them to him for a few weeks now trying to fill him up. Here's what he's doing at four months:

• 16lbs 8oz and 26" long
• Eating 4oz every 2hrs but I'm trying to strech it out to 5oz every 3hrs
• Loves oatmeal with banana for breakfast and dinner
• Smiles, talks and makes noises constantly
• Still rolling over on his back during tummy time and is so close to rolling from back to belly...any day now
• Can bare all his weight on his legs and loves to stand up
• Beginning to love his exersaucer
• Hands are always in his mouth along everything he can fit in there
• Sleeping pretty well at night atleast 4-5 hours straight but pedi says he wakes up more out of habbit but I think he's doing grea
• Wearing size 3 diapers and 3-6 month clothes
• Loves to cuddle

Wiley's Growing Up...

Wiley was 8 weeks old Monday!! I can't believe how fast he is growing. He's just so adorable and I love him more than any word could ever explain. He's beginning to find his hands and drooling everywhere which somehow drool is so cute when it's on the face of such a precious baby!! At his last dr visit about 4 weeks ago he weighed 12lbs 3oz and was 22 1/2". I weighed him today after I weighed myself (back to my prepregnancy weight btw) and he's up to 14lbs now...holy cow!! I'm still battling the sleeping situation. I don't know whether to keep letting him sleep with me, put him in a pack n' play or try to put him in his crib? He's doing so well sleeping with us but I really don't want him to be 1 years old and still in our bed. And I'm also wondering about feeding him some cereal in his bottle? He eats so much during the day like every 2 hours and only 3oz sometimes. There is just so much to learn being a first time mom! Anyway, here are some recent pictures of my boy...love him!!!