2 month appointment

We reached the time for the two month appointment. Hard to believe that Will's been with us that long. Also hard to believe that it's gotten so cool here in Seattle. We've had to break out the hoodie for Will... in August.



Back to the doctor's appointment. After a little wait, we finally got the answer to the question we had been asking for the past week or so: exactly how big is Will? We had done a rough measurement with us standing on the scale and figured he was at least 12 pounds. We were also amazed at the Sounders game over the weekend by a baby sitting just next to us who was only a week and a half younger than Will who looked tiny in comparison.

So, the tale of the tape? 13 pounds, 7 ounces (and Catherine argues he could have been more had she fed him before feeding instead of waiting until after the appointment). That's somewhere around the 75th percentile. He was also 25 inches long (95th percentile) with a 41 cm head circumference (also upper end). He even handled the vaccinations quite well.

To give you an idea as to how big he is getting, I used to be able to fit him on the entire length of my upper leg. Now, the legs have to go on my chest.

A toast to our growing boy.

A week of visitors

The past week we've seen a lot of Grandma and Grandpa and other visitors. The ISME meeting was taking place in Seattle, so while Grandpa and I were attending the meeting during the day, Grandma over spending time with Catherine and Will.

When the meeting wasn't taking place, Grandpa got his time with Will. He especially enjoyed taking Will for walks around our neighborhood.

We also got to see our friends Paut and Jacco who were visiting the USA from the Netherlands for the conference and vacation.

My cousin Jeff also stopped by for the weekend to visit and go to a Sounders game (we left Will with Grandma while we went to the game, and Catherine did pretty well in her first extended time away from Will, but was happy to get home to see him). It was great to see everybody and spend time with them. I'm sure that Grandma and Grandpa are going through grandchild withdrawal right now after a week with Will.

Last few days in the Midwest

I left on Sunday the 15th to head home to Seattle. It was sad to leave Will and Catherine, but I had to get back to work. I did get a treat from the airline as the flight to Houston was overbooked, so they paid me $250 in airline credits to change flights, which ended up putting me back in Seattle an hour earlier. Sweet.

I thought I was going to escape the 90 degree temps of the Midwest when getting back to Seattle, but it was 90 there as well. At least it wasn't humid, so it felt better

Catherine and Will got some cooler weather though in Indiana and spent more time visiting family. A few pictures from their time there...

Catherine and Will got back to Seattle late on the 18th and we were all very happy to see each other. Will did pretty well on the flight back, although it was quite late for him when he got back which made for a very tired baby.

We really enjoyed our trip to see family in the Midwest. In summary, we saw Nana and Poppa, all 6 great-grandparents, 2 pairs of aunts and uncles, 3 cousins, and countless other extended family. He's now getting his fist to his mouth and started holding his head up for more extended periods of tummy time. Oh, and no longer swaddling at night and 4-5 hour periods where he'll stay asleep at night.

Schowe Reunion/Great-Grandpa Schowe 90th B-day

We left Elkhart after breakfast on Saturday morning for a short drive to Pokagon State Park to celebrate Great-Grandpa Schowe's 90th birthday party (along with his twin brother's). It was also a chance to see more family members.

In case there was any confusion... Birthday-boy Bill and recently born Will.




Nana has Will's attention.




Poppa, Madelyn and Will




Both Birthday Boys.




Working on that head strength and point out someone.




Anne with a Will on her shoulder.

Visiting family in Elkhart

After several wonderful days visiting Sharon, Rob, Taye and Jadyn, it was time to leave for Elkhart to see Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Kreps. Before taking off though we needed to make sure to get a few more pictures of the three grandkids for Grandma.





The drive wasn't that far and was fairly easy. It took us through some of the "backroads" which saw us pass a number of roadside vegetable stands. By that we mean a table in the front yard with vegetables laid out and a coffee can to put your payment. We got to Elkhart and Will was ready to be fed, which promptly put him in a milk coma.

When Will woke up it gave Great-Grandpa a chance to hold him.

Great Aunt Vicki was also in town and got to see Will again, here at the lunch table.





After lunch Great-Grandma held Will as he drifted off to sleep.





Over the course of the trip Will has started hitting several "landmarks" including finding his fist and bringing it to his mouth. We finally caught it on camera.

Of course that brought a smile to his face, which is also happening regularly now.

One feature of the house that Will loved was the ceiling fans. He couldn't keep his eyes off them and would watch them for hours if we would let him, I think. It's good to know that his eyesight is getting the range as they were on the ceiling basically two stories up.

And if you didn't believe that he enjoyed them, another shot of him watching the ceiling fans.

Still focusing on them...

Visiting the Bradfords in Kalamazoo

We enjoyed a wonderful couple of days at the Bradford's in Kalamazoo. On Wednesday we had planned to go out to a farm/activity area where Will's cousins Taye and Jadyn were going to have some time riding animals, but a terrific midwest Thunderstorm came and put a halt to those plans. Will didn't quite know what to think of the thunder and heavy rain. We don't get that in Seattle.

Instead we ended up going to the Kalamazoo Museum where Taye and Jadyn played while Will took a healthy nap.

When Will was awake, his cousins did a good job of watching him. Whether is be in the swing or on a floormat.

Will enjoyed both the swing and the playmat a lot. In fact, he had such a great time in the side swinging swing that we may have to get on of those for at home. All the kids had their own swings they could spend time in, just that Will's was the only one that was battery powered.

Still, sometimes nothing is a substitute for Daddy's arms.

The whole visit Sharon made some wonderful meals, and Taye and Jadyn helped when they could. Here they were making some fresh pasta.

On Thursday we went to the air conditioned bowling alley to escape some of the hot and humid weather (that us Seattilites aren't really used to).

Will spent most of the time in spectator mode.

Jadyn with one of her better efforts.

Which brought out a cheer from Will.

Taye will likes to dance as the ball is on it's way to the pins.

It all can be quite tiring though.

But being held by cousin Jadyn is enough to be awake and alert.

On the road again

We were sad to have to leave Babcia's house, but we knew that there was other family to visit. However, before moving on to to Kalamazoo to see Aunt Sharon, Uncle Rob, and cousins Taye and Jadyn, we stopped at Berghoff's (I didn't even know it had reopened- shows you how long it's been since I've been in downtown Chicago) for lunch and to see our friends Richardo and Allison. (Other indication I hadn't been to downtown Chicago in a while was that I forgot how expensive parking was.) I had promised them that Will was great in restaurants... he always slept, but he was proving me wrong the first part of lunch. I'll content it's because the restaurant was mostly empty and not noisy enough. By the time the lunch crowd came in, he was out like a light.

He continued to sleep once we got on the road to Michigan. On crossing the border, that made state number 4 for Will (Washington, Indiana, and Illinois being the others). We should get a map and fill in the states he visits. He didn't see it though, as he continued to sleep, well, like a baby.

He would wake up just outside of Kalamazoo hungry. Luckily we had learned our lesson and had a bottle ready. We finished the feeding just before getting to Aunt Sharon's place. Jadyn and Taye were very excited to meet their new cousin. They shared their old bouncy chair with him.

Will liked looking at Jadyn. I don't know if we should be worried that he's going to be a ladies man since he spend so much time looking at Jadyn and Madelyn. Then again, I don't think he was used to somebody moving around so much and so quickly like Taye did. Will would look at Taye and before he knew it, Taye would be off doing something else. Still plenty of time though to play together.

Spending time with Babcia in Chicago

Sure we got to do some of the things that we enjoy to do in Chicago, like going out to dinner at Agostino's or grabbing an Italian Beef from Luke's, but the special time was being with Babcia and her spending time with Will. Before our trip to the Midwest, Will had been starting to smile, but now he is smiling a lot.

He's smiling so much that he's even trying to do so through his hiccup episodes.

Lots of fun times can be had on the floor playing with people. Will has been spending more time focusing on whoever is playing with him.

He can be very active. Babcia asked if she could keep him, although pulling him away from his Mom and Dad would be very difficult. We understand though... how could you not love something so adorable?

Will's head strength has really been improving whenever we've done belly time. We this up in part to the fact that he does not like to be put into the "traditional" burping position. He'll try to push himself away from your body and as a results has to hold his head up. In this case we get a full minute of him holding his head up, although the last 20 seconds he is protesting a little.

We do understand that this can be quite tiring (for both baby and mother).

Trip to Chicago

Sunday morning was an even earlier morning than expected. We knew there was the 7 AM mass we planned on going to, but the expectation was that Will was going to be up at 6 AM (based on his 3 hour sleep schedule and when we put him down). Well, now he throws in a 5+ hour sleep period after we first put him down, so Catherine is up with him to feed at 5 AM. She ended up staying up and playing with him until we went to mass. It’s not that we’re complaining about the longer sleep period, just that we are still coming to terms with the fact that we really don’t control much of anything. He’s in charge; we are working off his schedule.

After mass and breakfast, we loaded up the car and took off for Chicago. That went pretty well, as Will slept like he normally does on car rides. However, this was a longer car ride than he’s ever done. The plan was for Catherine to pump on the way, so that we could feed him a bottle while he was in his carseat and not have to stop for a feeding. Good plan, except if five minutes after you start pumping and he’s hungry then. Lesson learned: pump and make a bottle before leaving on the drive.

Other lesson learned: don’t complain about Seattle traffic. I forgot how awful at a seemingly random time (noon on a Sunday) Chicago traffic can be. Coming up the Dan Ryan we crawled to a standstill just past Comisky Park (yeah, I know, old name, but I have no idea what the Sponsor/Field name is now). No problem. It’s clear to exit on the Stevenson and head to Lake Shore Drive. I know Chicago, just take Lake Shore Drive to the Eisenhower and we are home free. Except that Lollapalooza was taking place downtown. Oops. That and more random traffic on the Eisenhower put us 1 hour late. We made it though. It worked out fine though as Great-Grandma (Babcia) Konopka was at a bridal shower and didn’t get home for a couple more hours. It gave us a time to relax a little, allowed Grace to leave, and Catherine and Will to take a nap.

Bubcia, Auntie Alice, and Auntie Frances all arrived and got to meet Will. Our friends John and Brooke also stopped by on their way through Chicago. It was good to see them again. We last saw them about a year ago when they were visiting the Pacific NW. They had just been in Wisconsin, so they brought us some Spotted Cow from the New Glarus Brewery. Yum. We can't get it in Seattle, so that was nice to get to have one of our favorites again. Unfortunately, through all the visits we were so busy talking and adoring Will that we didn’t get any pictures at that time. Plenty to come though…

Party Time

On Saturday we celebrated Madelyn’s 5^th birthday. It also was a great opportunity for the great grandparent’s on Catherine’s side of the family to meet Will. They had to wait in line though as Madelyn wanted to spend any moment that she could with Will. Once again she did a great job holding him and helping to keep him content.

Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma Schowe drove down from Muncie for the party. That gave Will a wonderful time on the sunroom swing. So much so that he was ready to box anybody that tried to take him away.

Great-Grandma Fieber drove over from her farmhouse in Pittsboro and had Will contemplating how wonderful it is to have some many willing family members to hold him.

Overall, a very wonderful day.

Visiting Nana and Poppa

We've made the trip to visit Catherine's parents and other family. It was chance to introduce Will to Poppa for the first time and he received a warm welcome.



Nana visited Will in Seattle already, but that doesn't mean she didn't enjoy getting a chance to hold him again and take a nap together.



Will also met one of his cousins for the first time. Madelyn really enjoyed spending time with Will and would follow him wherever we took him. She was very gentle and did a good job holding him on the couch.



She even helped me feed Will from the bottle for a little bit.



The real fun came though when we went for a walk around the neighborhood. Madelyn really enjoyed pushing the stroller and holding on to Will's pacifier.

Will loved the trip and stayed content the whole time. Perhaps it was Madelyn's driving (both on- and off-road), perhaps the buzz of cicadas in trees that calmed him, or a combination of both. All I know is a content baby is a happy baby and that makes for happy parents.