Little feet

I keep lamenting William's getting sooo big - he's growing out of so many cute clothes and my back hurts from heaving him around. Seeing him next to my shoe reminds me that he is still sooo small.

New frontiers

Bailey was crated upstairs for conduct unbecoming this morning, and William took the opportunity to explore the forbidden downstairs crate. He may think that it is the entry into the kitchen because each time I walked into the kitchen, he made a beeline for the crate.

TO DO: 1) Buy and install gates for stairs

They have been discovered

Crawling progress

Starting to crawl unleashed an avalanche of physical milestones in William. The next day he launched himself from a sitting position to his stomach to start crawling. He began pulling up on everything within a couple of days of crawling - our legs, furniture, the laundry hamper (hope he learns quickly that it flips on him), and his crib. I'll try to get some video of him in the crib because he looks like a chimp in a cage rattling the bars. He also started sitting up from his stomach and from his back in a round about method using his elbows.

Ouch!

I ran across this picture, and it reminded me of when Mimi showed William how to use the sewing machine to make his crib bedding at the end of June. He got a little too enthusiastic about the lesson, swan dived towards the sewing project, and cracked his head on the machine. Don't worry, Mimi knew just what to do.

Bottle progress

This is the life!

Baby food

We're trying to feed William a new food each week. This is supposed to get him accustomed to the act of eating and different flavors through repeated exposures and pinpoint possible food allergies. He's gone through pears, bananas, and sweet potatoes. Avocados are this week. I made a batch of green beans to freeze last night, and they looked so happy in the little ice cube tray....then the refrigerator broke, and all of my hard work may be for naught.

Avocado face

Mmmmmm...green beans!

Busy weekend: zoo

Alisa invited us to the Houston Zoo for the next day - Will's first time! We woke him up from a nap to go, so he spent a few minutes adjusting to being awake on Nang's tailgate before we changed him. We looked at fish, seals, meerkats, elephants (there's a new baby that everyone was excited about), big cats, giraffes, goats, llamas, cows, pigs, and ducks. Will LOVED the zoo - he loved the glass in the aquarium, the wooden fences around the exhibits, and all of the vegetation within grabbing distance....the animals? That cow was interesting, but the fence was enthralling!

Doubtful

Bull elephant

Look, Ma! No hands!

Jaguars, lion, tiger, goat, guinea hog piglets, llama

Oh, my!

Too tired to fend off Kim's squished carrots

Loving the cow and its corral

Hop in. I'll drive.

Busy weekend: baby shower

William made some new friends, played with old friends, watched the UT game, and showed off the crawling skills at Doan's and Andy's baby shower.

Wooing Andy's mom

Showing Paige the Sophie ropes

Professional model or chip eater

"Watching" the UT-Nebraska game

On his way to pull a little girl's hair

Busy weekend: sweet potatoes

We decided to take a different approach to feeding William because the straightforward method was not working. Our original plan involved making a mountain of mashed sweet potatoes, dumping it on a big plastic bag outside, taking off his clothes, and letting him at it in the hope that some of it would end up in his mouth. We slightly altered the plan, and it worked fairly well.

Will squished around in the little bowl for a bit

Then took control of the situation

Contemplating the situation

Evaluating the equipment

The spoon distraction allowed me to push potatoes into his mouth with a finger

It was a little messy (he somehow got it INSIDE his diaper), but Bailey didn't seem to mind

Neither did Will

Busy weekend: the park

A typical Ngo weekend is relaxed, but last weekend burst at the seams with activities. William played at the park for the first time, swung in a baby swing, tried to eat the ground-up tires from the playground floor, and hung out with his bud, Nico.

Higher, Dad!

Where do you think you're going?

Nico rocking his new shoes

Powering through naptime

Fizzling. Nap, please!

Poor puppy

With the scare Bailey-dog gave us earlier this week and the swollen lymph nodes she's swinging around from her neck, we know it is just a matter of time before we have to make the tough decision to put her down.

Tonight she surprised us with energy like she used to have before she got sick, and I could hear her hucklebutting downstairs with Nang while I put William to sleep upstairs. I think that all bull terriers hucklebutt...just one of the reasons we love her!

Someone is crawling!

Bailey took a turn for the worse this morning, so I spent the day tending to William as well as worrying about Bailey, cleaning up eight vomiting episodes (and running out of towels), and making a trip to the oncologist where they tested to find out that her white cells were low low low (she's home overnight, no food or water until tomorrow, a 3 a.m. antibiotic dose, and if she is not back to "normal" by tomorrow, back to the oncologist she goes). When Nang came home from work, he took William upstairs to give me a break while I cooked dinner. He came down a little while later and casually said, "Did you know that he's crawling for real now?"

And suddenly, the day didn't seem so bad after all.

Giddy-up!

Smocking isn't typically considered to be the most masculine addition to clothing, but Mimi went all out to make this one tough smocked pair of overalls.

Mimi Made...with love (and a little cursing, probably)

Wearing these little overalls without a shirt is much more manly

Leather buttons are so much tougher than plastic

Yee-haw!! Horses AND cowboy boots...can't get more manly than that!

Busting out

William's been growing out of his pajamas for awhile, and he woke up this morning with one VERY cold toe. I'm wondering if I should buy new pajamas, or just let the rest of the toes make their way out for a "custom" fit.

R.I.P. bath chair

Bath time at 1 month

Bath time at 7 months

We have the best bath chair for William. Bathing with it is a no-brainer - there's no struggling, slipping, or getting cold. He can play with a toy without toppling into the water, and we don't have to keep a hand on him to steady him, so bathing is efficient. Unfortunately, he long ago passed the official weight and height limits for the chair, so it is time to pass it on to Baby Paige who is still tiny and dirty (hee, hee).

Ladies who lunch

Meg invited William and me to lunch, so I dressed William in an outfit Mimi smocked for Uncle Robbie around thirty years ago, and off we went! Lunch wore out William, and on the walk home from the restaurant, it was all he could do to keep his eyes open. Little boys cannot handle ladies who lunch!

Meet the newest Ngo...

El Raton

The first time I saw this little guy, he ran in front of our back door a couple of weeks ago, and I thought I was seeing things. Then this morning, I saw him out for another run, and saw him perched atop this diverter. I got a quick picture, and when I looked up from the camera, he was gone. This makes me think he may have taken up residence underneath the little deck off our back door.

El Gato

Bailey's eyesight is poor at best, so she'll be useless in The Great Rat Hunt of 2010. The only cat we have is this really freaky one from Taima (William's great-grandmother). I can't look too closely at this stuffed animal, his eyes give me the willies.

On Guard

Hope he has the same effect on El Raton...

August/September review

Hi everyone, it's been a busy couple of months. A quick recap of all the fun things I did in August and September...

Went to Midland, hung out with Uncle Robbie, and met some of grandparents' friends (they thought I was cute). Duh.

Met a horse.

Pet a horse.

Rocked a mohawk. I looked like a bad, bad man.

Took my first boat ride.

Not sure what I thought about it, gonna have to try that one again.

Grew 2 teeth! Used it to bite anything that comes near me.

Drooled. Alot.

Ok, back to working on crawling. See you all soon! -WKMN