Takin' A Stand!

Lately, Whit has been able to stand up while holding onto furniture, and it is so cute! He doesn't actually pull himself up yet to stand, but when I place him on the couch, for example, in the standing position, he is able to hold on for a fairly long time before plopping back down again. As far as crawling goes, this week, he seems SO close!! He is scooting around so much to get where he needs to go, and he is finally getting his butt in the air and rocking back and forth on his knees. Before, he would always stay on his stomach and scoot around on the floor. All of the moms at his Gymboree classes have babies a little older than Whit, and they assure me that once Whit is officially mobile, he will be everywhere and getting into everything, but I can't help it. I can't wait to watch my baby crawl for the first time! Scott has the video camera all powered up for such an occasion!

This weekend is Labor Day weekend, and I am so excited about having Scott home for an extra day! He now leaves our house at about 5:30am each morning, and with his tutoring schedule, he often doesn't get home until late, so I have really missed him!! We have a lot going on this weekend, so it should be a fun time. Tomorrow, we are going to our friends, Bob and Tiffany's football party to cheer on GA Southern as they battle it out against UGA. On Sunday, my parents are having our whole extended family over to go to the pool and have dinner. On Monday, we are going to Scott's parents' house for a picnic. Monday is also when the DirecTV guy is coming to hook up our HD, and Scott is beyond excited about being able to watch all of his college football in high def this year! We recently purchased a new flat screen TV, so maybe I will even watch some games with him this year! We are definitely ready to take Whit to his first GA Tech game. He already has several Tech polo shirts and even a GA Tech baby tailgating chair! My dad would cry if he knew this because he is the biggest UGA alumni supporter in the world, but Scott is a Tech grad, so Whit is destined to be a Tech fan, I guess!

Fun with the W Boys!

Yesterday, my friend, Michele, and I met up at the Roswell Rec for a nice long walk with our boys. Her son, Wills, will be four months old at the beginning of September, and he is such a sweetheart! I love seeing his big toothy smiles when he sees his mommy or interacts with Whit. Michele and I were quite proud of ourselves because we walked for an entire hour, and that included some challenging hills and very warm weather! After our walk, we went back to my house for lunch and a play date. Wills and Whit enjoyed some play time on Whit's activity mat, and Wills watched Whit play with some of his "noisy" toys-his xylophone, his rockin' piano, and his drums. Wills can now roll over on his own, so that was neat to watch. Whit, unfortunately, kept wanting to poke Wills and pull his hair, but I think that was his way of welcoming Wills to his house! I had such a great time with Michele while the boys "played." I am so lucky to have a friend with a son close to Whit's age! Michele and I have been friends since 9th grade, but after high school, we lost touch a bit, so it is wonderful to see her on a regular basis again! 26 is pretty young these days to have a baby, so I don't have that many friends who have children yet, but I always love to get together with my few who do so we can compare notes. It is so helpful and fun! Today, Whit and I are meeting my dear friend, Erin, for lunch and some QT. Erin and her husband, Robby, have been married for a little over a year, and they are moving into their beautiful new house this weekend. Needless to say, I am always trying to convince her to get pregnant so our babies can be friends, too! I feel like I am making a little bit of headway, so we'll see! :)

A Weighty Issue...

Seven months after having Whit, I still have 15 pounds to lose until I am back at my pre-pregnancy weight, and it is driving me CRAZY!!! Long before I got pregnant, I always knew that I wanted to breastfeed my children. My mother breastfed me during a time when it wasn't really "in" to do such a thing, and I really respected that. So, I read all sorts of literature about breastfeeding while I was pregnant, and Scott and I even took a "Breastfeeding Couples" class together a few weeks before Whit arrived in hopes that I would be as prepared as possible to nurse my child. (By the way, I'm still not really sure why they had a breastfeeding couples class at Northside. The guys didn't really do anything for the entire 4 hour long class, but I digress!) Even though I had already made the decision to breastfeed, I was even more excited about it when I read that nursing mothers often lose their pregnancy pounds more quickly than non-nursing moms because of the 500 or so calories burned during breastfeeding sessions. I decided that packing on 45 lbs. would be no problem because surely, I would be able to lose the weight in no time. Well, none of my trusty books said anything about how hungry I would feel while nursing!! To this day, it astonishes me how much I can eat. I thought I ate a lot during my second and third trimester, but that was nothing compared to the last seven months! (I ate very little during my first trimester because I threw up almost every day...terrible morning sickness for 3 solid months!!) Anyway, fast forward to today. I still cannot fit into most of my pre-pregnancy clothes, and as I gaze into my closet, I long to be able to put on my beloved Banana Republic jeans and my White House/Black Market tops, but alas, they are just too tight. I know part of it is completely my fault...I do not exercise nearly as much as I should, but it is so challenging when you are caring for an infant all day. I also know that I should eat more healthfully, but when you are often starving, it is hard to think clearly and rationally. So, here I am. I plan to nurse Whit until he turns one year old, and then, HOPEFULLY, I will be able to shed the last of my pregnancy weight probably just in time to get pregnant again with my luck! In all seriousness, I know that this is nothing compared to what many people in the world are dealing with right now. Part of me feels guilty for even allowing myself to rant about such an insignificant subject, but now that I have, I must admit, I do feel a bit better. I am going on a long walk tomorrow at the Roswell Rec, so maybe, just maybe, I will be able to fit into those old clothes before January 11th hits after all. We shall see!

Tilly Time!

For the first few months of Whit's existence, he and our almost 3 year old shih-tzu, Tilly, didn't really have any kind of interaction with one another. Whit seemed completely oblivious to her, and Tilly would sometimes try to sniff or lick him, but she didn't show all that much interest in him. Lately, though, they have almost become playmates, and it is so cute!! Whit just loves to "pet" Tilly, which, unfortunately for Tilly, means he grabs handfuls of her hair and pulls! However, when he isn't "torturing" her, Tilly seems to really like him. Since Whit can sit up on his own now, Tilly will sometimes bring her toy over to Whit, expecting him to throw it to her like Scott and I do, and Whit will pick it up, examine it, and try to put it in his mouth before I intervene! Today, Whit actually threw Tilly's toy to her, and Tilly was so excited to have a new playmate! I think it might have been an accident on Whit's part because he didn't throw the toy to her any more times after that one occasion, but it sure was fun for me to watch! Hopefully, they will grow to be big buddies when Whit gets even older and can play with Tilly more.

We went to visit Grammy, aka my mom, today, and we had a blast together. My mom just loves Whit to pieces, and Whit always gives her the biggest smiles and seems to really light up when he sees her. He is that way with both sets of grandparents, and it is incredibly sweet. He seems to understand that they are special people, so he saves some of his best smiles and squeals for them. Hooray for having two sets of grandparents who live close by!! We are so blessed to have Scott's parents about 5 minutes away from our house, and my parents live about 35 minutes away. Plus, my sister is living with my parents for right now, so she is close, and Scott's brother and his wife only live about 10-15 minutes from us as well. Scott's younger brother has one more year at GA Tech, and then I think he will probably move closer, too. Two sets of my aunts and uncles and my grandmother also live in the Atlanta area. We are VERY fortunate to have so many family members around us!

The New Vasey Van!!

Before I had Whit, I swore up and down to myself that I would never own a minivan because I had no desire to have the title of "Soccer Mom." I always envisioned myself crusining around town in a cool SUV of some sort. Since Whit was born, I have been driving a Honda Accord sedan, and it just hasn't been large enough for all the "stuff" you need to cart around with you when you have a baby. I also have a mild form of scoliosis, so it was absolutely killing my back to lean over into the backseat every day to get Whit out of his carseat. It was also almost impossible to fit his strollers, toys, and groceries all into the trunk, plus the Pack-N-Play we carry around for when we visit my parents. It was even worse when we took our trips to Lake Oconee and Hilton Head this summer; we felt like we could hardly take anything with us! Scott and I first looked at roomy SUVs, but with the gas prices the way they are these days, it just wasn't practical for us. Then we realized that since we are probably going to have another child in the near future, it made more sense to get a car that seats a lot of people and has a lot of additional storage space. Hence, the 2008 Honda Odyssey purchase. At first, I wasn't sure how I would feel tooling around in it, but I actually LOVE it!!! It seats 8 people, which we don't need right now, of course, but it will be great for when we are carpooling with other parents and such. Plus, now both of Whit's strollers, all of his car toys, his Pack-N-Play, and our huge Costco groceries fit inside perfectly!! There are so many nice safety features to it for kids such as built in sun shades for the windows, automatic locking of the doors after a few seconds (this is great for Scott because he never remembers to lock the car doors!), and you can just push a button to open both sliding doors. I could go on, but I'm pretty sure I would bore everyone to tears! Anyway, if you have a child and plan to have more, I would highly recommend the Odyssey. It is SUCH a good deal, Consumer Reports has ranked it #1 for the past five years, and Clark Howard highly recommends the vehicle as well. Some of my friends who don't have kids and my sister are calling me a huge dork already, but I don't care! I love my van, and I'm not ashamed to admit it! :)

Busy Play Date Week!

This past week was quite a busy one for Whit and me! On Monday, we met my dear friend, Michele, and her three month old son, Wills, at the Roswell Rec and walked for 45 minutes. I am still trying to take off these last 18 pregnancy pounds, despite the fact that Whit was born 7 months ago. Oh, well...that's another rant for another time! Anyway, the babies seemed to enjoy the walk for the most part, but towards the end, they got hungry, so we took them to Atlanta Bread Company and fed them there while we enjoyed yummy salads and sandwiches. Michele and I were really close friends in high school, and it is so nice to reconnect with her now that we are both mommies! Whit and Wills have taken a liking to each other already, so I think they will become best buddies soon. On Tuesday, we had Whit's Gymboree Music class at 11:45am, and we got to meet two new babies and two new moms, so that was fun. Whit just loves his music class! His teacher, Miss Leigh, is so sweet, and Whit loves banging on new instruments each week. His favorites are the xylophone and the drums. On Wednesday, we went to his 12:00pm Gymboree Play & Learn class, and then we went over to Scott's mom's house for lunch and to visit with her. Pam then watched Whit for about an hour and a half while I went home and did some much needed cleaning around the house. I have found that it is quite difficult to get any real cleaning done when you have a baby, especially one who only takes 30 minute naps at a time! We also had dinner over at Pam and Wes's when Scott got there, and Pam's low country boil was delicious! On Thursday, we had a play date with Alexia, Whit's cousin, and then went shopping for some new books at The Forum. I love reading stories to Whit; it is one of my most cherished activities. On Friday, my mom was watching my 5 and 7 year old cousins for the day, so we went over to their house for lunch and playtime. Mariette is the 7 year old, and she is the most helpful little girl on the planet! She is always asking if I need her to get me anything for the baby, and she has the vocabulary of a 15 year old already! Michelle is the 5 year old, and she is just so sweet and fun. They both adore Whit, and it is so cute to watch them all interact with one another. We took them to Burger King for lunch because that is the girls' absolute favorite eatery. They had a big time playing on the BK jungle gym outside while Mom, Whit, and I watched. All in all, it was quite a busy week, but we really enjoyed ourselves!!

Fun with New Toys!

Over the weekend, Whit received two new toys, and he just loves them already. One is a Winnie-the-Pooh rocker, and the other is a Fisher-Price "Corn Popper" that he loves to ride on. He is not old enough to play on these by himself without toppling over, but Scott and I have had a blast riding him around the house in his Corn Popper toy and letting him rock on his Winnie the Pooh. Many thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for the riding toy, and thanks to Uncle Chip, Aunt Barbette, Mariette, and Michelle for the rocking toy!

I Am So Thankful

When I first became pregnant with Whit, I didn't think there was any way I would be able to stay at home with him. Scott and I are both teachers, and everyone knows teachers don't get paid nearly what they should for the immensely important job they do. However, a few months into my pregnancy, Scott announced to me that he would do whatever it took for me to be able to stay home with Whit for as long as possible, preferably until he starts kindergarten. In order to make that a reality, he is now teaching 7, that's right, 7 classes at Northview High School. In case you are unaware, the regular class load of a high school teacher is 5 classes. Scott chose to teach zero period SAT Math prep, a class that meets each day at 7:30am, as well as an extra Honors Algebra II class that meets during his planning period. For each additional class you teach, you get 20% more of your income. Because Scott is now teaching two extra classes, he gets 40% more than he would just teaching 5 classes. But he is not stopping there. He is also continuing to tutor in the afternoons and evenings after work and some on Sunday afternoons. We are fortunate enough to live in Alpharetta, where many, many parents deem it necessary for their children to have math tutors. Scott plans to tutor about 10-12 hours a week. This kind of schedule would make me go crazy very quickly, but if anyone can do it, Scott can. Words simply cannot express the gratitude I feel that Scott is making these sacrifices for us. Staying at home with Whit is the greatest gift in the world, and I am so blessed to have a husband who is so hard working and willing to go the extra mile to make it happen. So, Scott, this post is dedicated to you. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for all you do for us. Whit and I love you "to infinity and back!" You are the best husband and father anyone could ever hope for, and I truly do thank God every day for putting you in my life.

Playing with Daddy and Braving Teething Time

Ever since Scott went back to work last week, as soon as he walks through the door in the afternoons, Whit's face just lights up, and he always gives huge smiles to his daddy. Their latest fun time routine has consisted of Whit sitting up on Scott's chest while Scott sings silly songs to him and moves Whit's arms and legs all around. It is hilarious!!! For those of you who don't know this already, strangely enough, Whit's absolute favorite song is "Like A Rock" by Bob Seger. If you aren't familiar with Seger's music, this song is also on some old Chevy truck commercials. One night when we were trying to calm Whit down when he was a few weeks old, Scott turned on the Ipod and started singing along to "Like a Rock," and Whit instantly calmed down. Now, whenever he starts to become a bit fussy, we sing that song, and I swear he instantly calms down! Whatever works, right?! Anyway, that song and a few others are Whit's favorites to "dance" to these days. It is always so great to watch my two boys together. They have so much fun, and the love on Scott's face just melts my heart.

As I mentioned before, Whit now has two teeth on the bottom, but we think there might be one more about to make an appearance because he has been teething a lot these past couple of days. The one thing that really seems to help him is a cold water bottle! He loves knawing on it, so yesterday, we just had to capture it on camera while he was playing in his activity center. Too cute!

We Love Bathtime

Every night after dinner, I always get excited because I know what's coming...bathtime!!! Ever since Whit was a newborn, he has just loved his baths, and they have only gotten more fun as he has gotten older. Now, he is able to sit up during his bath, and he adores splashing around and playing with his tub toys, especially his Finding Nemo bath cups. He has become so much more verbal lately, and whenever he is in the tub, he just talks and talks the entire time! I love it! Here are some pics we took last night of Mr. Whitster enjoying his bathtime routine.

Hilton Head Island Trip

From July 26-August 2, Scott, Whit, and I went to Hilton Head with Scott's parents, his older brother, Tom, Tom's wife, Megan, their 8 month old daughter, Alexia, and Scott's younger brother, Rob. We stayed in a condo right across from the beach, and we had a WONDERFUL time! Whit had never been to the beach before, and he LOVED it! I had hoped he would love the ocean because he absolutely loves his baths and being in the pool, and this was no exception. Right away, he loved the water and the waves, and he especially loved the saltwater! He kept sticking his hand in the water and sucking on it. It was so cute! He was also a big fan of sand, as in he kept trying to eat it! Apparently, he found it quite appetizing! We had a huge tent so that the babies could stay out for longer periods of time without being in the actual sun, so that worked out nicely. The boys built an awesome sand castle, and all these little kids kept coming up to it and just standing there in awe. Only one boy actually asked to help work on the masterpiece, though. We got some cute pics of Whit and Alexia in the sand castle, but they weren't too interested in it as a whole. The weather in the mornings was beautiful, but it rained almost every afternoon, which was kind of a bummer. The guys did get to play golf one day, while the girls and the babies went shopping and out to dinner. Scott and I even got to have one romantic night out-we went to this wonderful seafood restaurant and had a yummy candlelit dinner, and then we took a long stroll on the beach. Walking on the beach reminded us of our honeymoon in Kauai, Hawaii, so we had a blast reminiscing about that amazing trip. I hadn't been to Hilton Head since college, and Scott had never been, so it was a great vacation. Having the whole Vasey clan together was a lot of fun as well, so I think this will become an annual tradition!

7 Months Old

Today, my precious baby boy, Whit, is 7 months old! How could that be?! In some ways, I can't believe I have been a mommy for that long of a time, and in other ways, I really can't remember life without him! He has been such an amazing blessing, and I thank God everyday for putting this miracle into our lives. He is SUCH a sweet, fun, affectionate baby! He smiles all the time, and his laughs and squeals just make my day!

What is Whit up to at 7 months, you might ask? Well, he can sit up on his own for long periods of time, he rolls over both ways like a champ, he desperately wants to crawl, especially after seeing all of the older babies crawl around at our Gymboree classes, but those chubby little legs are just too heavy at this point, I guess! Whit also has two teeth on the bottom, and they are SO cute! Unfortunately, he has bitten my nipple a couple of times, but we're working to discourage that! He reaches out and tries to grab everything these days, and he just loves his toys. He has so much fun in his activity center and playing on his belly on his activity mat. He still nurses all the time, but he is also eating two solid meals a day-4 tablespoons of rice cereal mixed with applesauce, and then one fruit and one veggie at each meal. Unsurprisingly, he is a great eater! He is not a huge fan of green beans or green peas (like mother, like son!) but he still eats them reluctantly. He loves all of the fruits I have introduced to him, and as far as vegetables go, he really likes sweet potatoes, corn casserole, butternut squash, and carrots. He also loves when I read to him, especially the Touch and Feel books. He gets a kick out of touching all of the "animal" fur in the books. Whit also LOVES to dance! Every time I swing him around or lift him up in the air, he starts laughing and squealing with joy. He also seems to really enjoy being around other babies. I have several friends with babies around his age, and he loves to touch their faces, and whenever he and his cousin, Alexia, get together, their interactions are hysterical. Alexia is exactly one month older than Whit, so family functions are so much fun these days! Here are a few pictures of Whit at 7 months. He loves playing with his daddy and being silly!

Ever since I was five years old, I have always gone back to school in August as either a student or a teacher. Now that I am staying home with Whit this year, it feels very strange not to be getting my classroom ready for Sneak Peek and writing lesson plans. I have had lunch with several of my dear friends from Autrey Mill this week, and I have definitely had pangs of nostalgia, but I am beyond excited about being able to stay home with my little guy. He changes so much, and I don't want to miss a minute of it!

Scott went back to work on Monday, and Whit and I sure have missed him! I got very used to having him around these last two months. I especially miss my morning naps, I must admit! Every morning since the beginning of June, whenever Whit wakes up (usually about 6:45am), I change him, nurse him, and hand him over to Scott for some "daddy and baby" time while I go back to sleep for another two hours. Oh, well. Whit is always in such a great mood in the mornings and so much fun to play with, so I am really enjoying my early morning time with him.

Today, Whit and I are going to lunch with two of my friends, Robin and Amy, and then we are going to my sister, Hillary's classroom to visit her and help her put the finishing touches on her classroom. It feels so weird to be talking about my baby sister's classroom! I can't believe she is now 22 and about to start teaching 4th grade. It seems like just yesterday we were arguing about who took whose clothes without asking! I know Hillary is going to make a wonderful teacher, and I am super excited for her. Teaching is the best job in the world, besides being a mother, and I can't wait to hear all the crazy stories she is sure to have!