Week in Review

This week was quite momentous with President Obama being elected into office. We watched the innauguration as a family and told Willem about the political process and who the political leaders are. Willem doesn't know this yet, but he actually caucused in Iowa with me last Winter, so he was fairly involved in the election.

Also new this week, Willem tried fish for the first time and loved it. Jason prepared Char for us last weekend it was delicious. Our family has taken to Saturday trips at Whole Foods to taste the samples and were inspired by how easy they made Char sound. It turned out so well, we may just have it again this week. Willem is an adventurous eater and will eat about anything as long as he is able to feed it to himself.

Willem also continues to love music. We've been singing more songs like Old MacDonald's Farm and he seems to really enjoy them. He also loves playing the drums and dancing with Mom or Grandma.

His two bottom teeth can be seen when he's laughing but if you blink you'll miss them. They are still pretty low but at least they don't seem to be causing him pain anymore. He's been sleeping well this week and is happy as can be.

Teeth emerging

Willem's teeth are coming in. We could feel the top of his bottom left front tooth on Sunday. Yesterday, we could also feel the bottom right front tooth. Today both teeth have raised up a little more. We still can not see the teeth in his smile though. How long will it take for them to pop all the way out?

Willem Swims Like a Fish

This week Willem started swim lessons. He enjoys watching the other kids and hasn't fussed at all about being in the water. He's the second youngest in the class but has taken to swimming like a natural. He especially liked Thursday's class when Mr. Ducky made an appearance. After his lesson he was famished, so we went out to a local Mexican food restaurant. Willem loves beans and enjoyed the tortillas as well. Also this week Willem has started holding his own cup. Getting it to his mouth and then getting water out of it is still a challenge but he's gaining ground each day. He's also very into toppling over blocks that Jason stacks up. He's a pro at knocking them down! He's showing more and more of his likes and dislikes. He likes everything so far but at times is craving one thing or another. At lunch today we gave him fruit and carrots on his tray and he ate all the fruite bites. After they were gone he kept pointing at the pantry where we keep them and making noises until we gave him more.

9 Month Checkup

Willem had his 9 month check up today. He is 29.5 inches long, 18 pounds and his head circumference is 17 1/8 inches. We thought he had gained more weight because he eats so much. Willem is probably burning calories crawling around everywhere. However he is still tall and skinny. Willem also got a shot today and did not flinch. No crying or fussing, just acted like nothing happened. Dr. Arter says Willem looks great.

Willem's 1st Snow

Last week, we traveled to Billings, Montana for work. It is a beautiful town and we arrived to 70 degree weather. The next day the temperature dropped and it began snowing at night. Willem bundled up to head out to dinner. We pointed out the snow but he paid no attention to it.

Willem is 6 months old!

Last Friday Willem had his 6 month birthday! We can't believe how time is flying by. Willem is loving eating his solid foods, especially applesauce. He sits up very well now in his tripod position. If he is on his back he usually rolls right over to his stomach.

The latest development is that he's getting into the crawling position. He'll get up on his knees, especially if he's frustrated and is just starting to scoot in the last day or so.

We went to his 6 month well check appointment on Thursday and passed with flying colors. He's up to 27.25" and 15lbs 6oz.

Willem's hand, eye coordination is also improving, he can now bring the pacifier to his mouth and everytime he gets it in he glows with pride:)

Besides that, we are settling into our new life in St. Louis. Willem and Jason went to the Parkway South Homecoming Parade today, it was Willem's first parade. He enjoys people watching. Whenever he sees something new he studies it before engaging, so he was rather pensive.

Pumpkin Picking

This weekend was filled with new experiences for Willem. He is so active now and wants to move, move, move. He loves joining us at the dinner table and tried oatmeal, applesauce, bananas and carrots. He didn't love the carrots but he likes everything else so far.

Willem is sitting up pretty well now so he was able to sit in the grocery cart for the first time. He loved looking around and watching us do the shopping.

Then on Sunday we went to the Kirkwood Farmer's Market with Grandma to pick out our pumpkins. He enjoyed playing with the hay and tolerated posing for some pictures.

(Jason stayed home while we went to the market so he'd like to comment that we found the ugliest pumpkins to pose Willem with)

Willem is eating bananas!!

On Tuesday, Willem tried bananas for the first time! He was so excited, for weeks he's been showing interest in the food we are eating and has been grabbing at silverware and this week he's joined us at the dinner table.

The first day we gave him banana he made funny faces but ate quite a bit and kept asking for more. Today there were no funny faces and he ate twice as much and was grabbing for other food. Tomorrow we're onto oatmeal:)

We have settled into our new home

This past weekend, our family relocated to St. Louis! Our friends in Iowa helped us load up the Uhaul and away we went down to St. Louis. Willem has settled in very well and is loving his time with his grandma. His new home is like a giant playhouse for him as there are so many new things for him to look at.

Pilot's License

I obtained my pilot's license yesterday. I flew down to Burlington, IA to meet up with C.D. "Tom" Tomkins. Tom is a FAA Pilot Examiner and used to fly P-38s in the South Pacific in World War II. Tom asked me some questions about flying and then we went for the checkride. About an hour later we landed and Tom told me I passed and gave me a temporary pilot's license.
This is a picture taken at Green Castle Airfield. Terry, left, was my flight instructor. Don, right, is the owner of the airfield. Behind them is the Cessna 150 (5219Q) that I used for my checkride.
Today, Seth was brave enough to be my first passenger as a licensed pilot.
I took a picture of our neighborhood from the air.

Willem's 1st Ear Infection

Willem went to the doctor yesterday to get his 5 month shots, he took them like a trooper. While we were there the doctor discovered he has his 1st ear infection. Luckily he seems to only be irritated by it at night, so hopefully the medicine will help. He doesn't yet value the bubble gum flavor of amoxicilin though and gives us a disgusted look as we feed it to him.

Our growing boy...

Willem is such a little character, he keeps us laughing all day long. Whether he's sleeping in one of his funny poses or giving us his googly eyes in the bath, we have been having a lot of fun. These pictures aer from the week of 8-24th, we'll get some more pics posted soon.

Catching Up

The Weiss family has had an exciting past few weeks. Grandma Watkins visited for a couple of weeks and whoa were we spoiled. During that time Willem began to tolerate his baths much better due to his daily bathing routine. He also decided to start rolling over which is a huge milestone! And he began sporting a faux hawk. Grandma had a big influence on him. Since he began rolling over, sleeping has been more challenging as his body doesn't stay still any longer. He's found some interesting positions to sleep in but ultimately he likes to be right up against the railing in his crib. Yes, we know he isn't supposed to sleep on his stomach and he doesn't do this regularly, but on this day it was the only way he could nap. Willem has also gone on a few road trips lately. His Tia Julie started medical school so we all attended her White Coat Ceremony which was very nice. During that weekend he got to catch up with Paw Paw Torry which he greatly enjoyed. The following weekend we drove over to Des Moines to check out the Iowa State Fair. It's supposed to be the biggest State Fair and it was quite a sight to see. Willem was a bit young to take in all the sights, but we had a great time. The highlight for Willem was going to Babies R Us and getting to check out the exersaucers Grandma had researched. After trying out a few, we took one home that has entertained him greatly for the last week. Then last weekend we drove down to Columbia for a Girls Weekend. Willem was the only boy attending, so as you can imagine, he received quite a bit of love. The weekend was a blast and definitely something to make an annual event out of. We were sad to leave Grandma in Columbia as our two weeks had flown by, but we will be seeing a lot more of her shortly when we relocate to St. Louis. This weekend, we took it easy. Willem got plenty of floor time to show off his rolling over skills. He's also into scooting around but his arms just won't coordinate with his legs. (Jason and I are not ready for him to be any more mobile so we are just fine with this). That's what's been going on with us lately. We really enjoyed having this summer together to introduce Willem to some of our favorite things and spend lots of time with the family.

Catching Up

The Weiss family has had an exciting past few weeks. Grandma Watkins visited for a couple of weeks and whoa were we spoiled. During that time Willem began to tolerate his baths much better due to his daily bathing routine. He also decided to start rolling over which is a huge milestone! And he began sporting a faux hawk. Grandma had a big influence on him.

Since he began rolling over, sleeping has been more challenging as his body doesn't stay still any longer. He's found some interesting positions to sleep in but ultimately he likes to be right up against the railing in his crib. Yes, we know he isn't supposed to sleep on his stomach and he doesn't do this regularly, but on this day it was the only way he could nap.

Willem has also gone on a few road trips lately. His Tia Julie started medical school so we all attended her White Coat Ceremony which was very nice. During that weekend he got to catch up with Paw Paw Torry which he greatly enjoyed.

The following weekend we drove over to Des Moines to check out the Iowa State Fair. It's supposed to be the biggest State Fair and it was quite a sight to see. Willem was a bit young to take in all the sights, but we had a great time. The highlight for Willem was going to Babies R Us and getting to check out the exersaucers Grandma had researched. After trying out a few, we took one home that has entertained him greatly for the last week.

Then last weekend we drove down to Columbia for a Girls Weekend. Willem was the only boy attending, so as you can imagine, he received quite a bit of love. The weekend was a blast and definitely something to make an annual event out of. We were sad to leave Grandma in Columbia as our two weeks had flown by, but we will be seeing a lot more of her shortly when we relocate to St. Louis.

This weekend, we took it easy. Willem got plenty of floor time to show off his rolling over skills. He's also into scooting around but his arms just won't coordinate with his legs. (Jason and I are not ready for him to be any more mobile so we are just fine with this).

That's what's been going on with us lately. We really enjoyed having this summer together to introduce Willem to some of our favorite things and spend lots of time with the family.

Rolling Over

Last week Willem started rolling over. He doesn't like to lay on his back anymore and immediately starts rolling over when put down. He is very good at going from back to stomach, but seems to have some trouble getting from stomach to back. Video evidence will be posted soon.

Willem's first county fair

On July 22nd we went to the Johnson County Fair and met up with our friends. Willem was a trooper in the Baby Bjorn. He loved the food (check out the picture) and loved checking out his surroundings. We even checked out all of the animals and Willem seemed intrigued at times but mostly ignored them. By the end of the fair he was wiped out. Willem doesn't have a problem sleeping out and about!

Overall we had a good time, Julie loved the animals, I tolerated them and Jason chowed down on the fair food. We had such a good time that we're planning on checking out the Iowa State Fair this coming weekend.

The week of July 23rd

The last few weeks has been a whirlwind. Willem got his last week with Julie full time and now his Grandma is here with him. He has changed a lot in the last few weeks. The next few posts will show you what all we've been up to.

Here are a couple of good pictures Julie took while she was here. Willem's new thing this week was sucking on his bottom lip. We don't know why, but he seems to enjoy it. We think he's found a way to not be dependent on the pacifier.

Willem also loves to read but isn't into being dressed as you see in the pictures. So instead of playing dress up, Julie posed Willem with different props, he seemed to have a good time.

While Julie was here she would come and visit me for lunch on occasion which was a nice treat. Willem loves going out and was pretty good on the car rides to Cedar Rapids. He is definitely missing his Tia Julie!