Lilypie Kids Birthday tickers

Lilypie Kids Birthday tickers

Lilypie Fifth Birthday tickers

Lilypie Fifth Birthday tickers

Lilypie First Birthday tickers

Lilypie First Birthday tickers

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Feel the Love

The other night, Will was having a hard time, so I asked him if he wanted a family hug. When he said yes, Zach and I swooped him up and hugged and kissed him. He was laughing and enjoying it, but then suddenly looked at me and said, "Baby Julia in the family hug?" This made my heart melt! I thought it was so cute that he realized that she was part of our family, and that he actually WANTED her to be a part of this little ritual that we were really trying to do just for him. Of course, baby Julia was asleep during this time, so she couldn't participate in the family hug, but it was still a sweet idea.

Overall, Will has been a very sweet big brother and hasn't seemed to struggle with the idea of Julia joining our family and living in our home. I think it helps that his routine hasn't changed much, so she hasn't really inconvenienced him. However, the other night, Zach was holding Julia, but Will wanted Zach to do something with him. So he said, "Daddy! Put baby Julia in her swing!!" This is the only "negative" comment he's made about her. Usually, he wants to give her a kiss when he wakes up, before he leaves for school, when he comes home from school, and before he goes to bed (and various other random times). He also loves to "hold" her, but doesn't seem to realize that he can't just sling her around like the baby dolls at school (or just drop her when he's finished holding her...luckily, no accidents yet!). He also likes to help give her a bottle, but he's a bit too, um, aggressive in this endeavor!

Will has also been funny in the sense that he seems to want to impress baby Julia. She is his new audience, and when he's doing anything, he wants to make sure she's "watching". We constantly hear his refrain of "Watch, baby Julia! Watch dis!" We've started to use this to our advantage in things like, "Show baby Julia what a big bite you can take!" or "Teach baby Julia how to take a really fast bath!" I know this is probably wrong, but at this point...whatever works!

We feel so lucky to have both of these sweet children in our family and in our lives. It is hard sometimes (ok, a lot of the time right now), but it's all worth it.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Two Weeks

Julia turned two weeks old yesterday! So far, so good. I'm already learning little things about her and her personality. Here's what I know so far about this precious little girl:
  • She has long, skinny chicken legs and long, skinny fingers and toes.
  • She likes to sleep on her side and has already figured out how to roll to accomplish this. (These first two bullets could also be titled, "Ways She is Like Her Mama".)
  • She is a little chowhound and will eat anything put in front of her in any form. (Hmm...also strangely similar to her mama.) I guess she is trying to keep up and compete with her big brother.
  • If she has to sneeze, she usually sneezes twice in a row. (This trait comes from her daddy.)
  • She has already perfected a little smirk that we see on occasion.
  • She gets the hiccoughs a lot. She also makes lots of little cute squeaking noises. Although, one of them kind of scares me because it sounds like she is gasping for breath.
  • She is curious, and when she is awake (pretty rare), she likes to try to move her head to look around at everything nearby.
  • She has a wonderful, sweet big brother.
  • She has got both of her parents wrapped around her little finger.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

She's Here!

As most readers already know, Julia Mitchell Mather was born last Monday, September 8th at 12:16 pm. She weighed 8 pounds, 10 ounces (a weenie baby compared to her brother!) and was 21 and a half inches long. So far, she has been a really good, easy-going baby, and Will has been very sweet with her. We are thrilled to have her in our family!

The blog name is going to stay the same because, although the pun is not as appropriate with two children, I do anticipate that both will be quite "willful". I will have to update with more stories from the hospital and coming home soon.

Friday, September 5, 2008

The Birthday Party


I am not a big believer in huge, extravagant birthday parties for little kids, particularly kids who are at an age where they won't remember the huge, extravagant party. That being said, we decided to keep things (relatively) simple for Will's second birthday and have a "Splash" party that consisted of baby pools, sprinklers, bubbles, and cupcakes and ice cream in our backyard. It would be easy, the kids could run wild (which is all they want to do anyway), and I wouldn't make myself too crazy while I was hugely pregnant. There was only one problem: we didn't have a rain plan.

The Thursday before the party, the rain began--I think from tropical storm/hurricane Fay--and it did not stop. It was probably the most rain Alabama had had at one time in over two years. I was convinced we were going to have to either cancel the party--not really an option because Will was so excited to "have party"--or have thirty people eating cupcakes in our house that is WAY too small for that many people. But miraculously, luckily, come Sunday afternoon, the rain cleared up! Zach put up a tent in the driveway, lots of friends and family came, we had snacks and cupcakes, and we watched the kids run around...it was really great and really simple. Will, as usual, took a little time to warm up to the situation and at one point insisted on changing out of his bathing suit into his play clothes only to then get in the water in those clothes, but overall, he had a blast! I'm not sure he realized it was all for him, but he certainly liked the end result. The other kids seemed to have fun too--from Billy smearing icing all over his body, to Coleman ferrying ice into the pools, to Allen playing basketball, and baby Rob and baby Davis enjoying the pools. The rain held off at our house save for one brief shower, even though we heard from friends in different parts of town that it was pouring at their houses. Once the party was over, the rain began again and lasted for several more days. We are very, very thankful that we were able to have such fun and avoid the rain!

We didn't let Will open all of his presents at once because we thought it would be too overwhelming. He doesn't really understand this concept anyway...he'd rather open one present and then immediately play with it. So, he opened one or two each day, which was a great plan except for the fact that he now seems to believe that this ritual has become part of the daily routine. Of course, we have really been celebrating his birthday all month--partying and presents when Carol and Bill were here, this b'day party with friends on the 24th, cupcakes and ice cream at school, Chuck E. Cheese on his actual big day--so it's really no surprise that he believes that there should be some sort of treat each day. I guess he should enjoy it while he can, since baby girl is arriving soon!