Growing

My big boy is growing so fast!  We just went in for his two month check-up (and shots!) and William is now a whopping 11 pounds (nearly double his birth weight!) and 23 1/2 inches!  I feel like every day he grows SO much bigger.  I love seeing all his fun changes, but it also kind of makes me sad that time is going so quickly.  Just the other day I was looking at his newborn clothes and not believing how tiny he used to be.  I have a feeling I'm going to have this happy/sad conflict a lot in motherhood :)

In other developing news, William is now sleeping for longer stretches at night!  (Although, I can't complain.  He has always been a good sleeper!)  But now he sleeps from around 11pm to 5 am.  Not bad for 9 weeks old!  We've been trying to get him to go even longer--5 am is still way too early for me to consider it sleeping through the night!  However, our tactics haven't panned out so well.  I've tried feeding him A LOT at night (6 pm, 8pm, 10 pm) in hopes that he would "fill up", but that only led to a 1 am, 3 am and 5 am wake up call.  :)  I've tried giving him a paci in hopes that it'll soothe him back to sleep while also satisfy his need to suck, but that only led to 30 minutes of holding the paci in his mouth, followed by a feeding anyway.  :)  SO... now our plan is to have no plan.  And for a planner like me, that is the hardest plan to follow!  Steven thinks we're over thinking it and just need to be patient.  (Easy for him to say!)  But no, I think he's right.  William will sleep through the night when he's good and ready.  I just hope it's sooner than later.

Another change that has quickly developed is that William is now a speed eater!  Hooray!  He used to eat for at least 60 minutes.  60 loooooooong minutes.  I remember wondering if he would ever eat faster, feeling depressed that all I would do for the rest of my life was sit on the couch and feed him.  (I've been slightly more dramatic than my usual dramatic-self lately.)  But seriously, it was just really hard for me to sit there for an hour and do nothing multiple times a day.  I was so bored and feeling so unengaged.  But now he eats for about 20 minutes and then he's done!  That means more playtime with smiles and giggles and more sleep time so I can get more things accomplished other than just eating and showering.  A win-win for everyone in the Sauder family.  :)

William baby, I'm so proud of you for all the ways you are growing and feel so blessed that I get a front row seat to it all.  I love you, my sweet boy!

Grandma and Grandpa Sauder are here! 

At Doi Inthanon with Grandma and Grandpa :)  Love this pic!

Little guy with big guy.  Love it.

First trip to the pool!

The water was a little too cold for William

So he slept under an umbrella instead.  Just like all the Thais do!

 Up in the mountains!  A little "cooler" up there!

Margie & Steve got on the mopeds and drove through the mountains with us on their second day here!

 William made it to the highest point in Thailand!

Hanging out with the elephants

Priceless.

Double priceless.

A cool pic Josh took of one of the many temples in Chiang Mai

Loved meeting and hanging out with Uncle Josh and Auntie Kara!

Cool kid in his Converse shoes!

Waiting patiently at the pediatrician's office

Ready for church in his Sunday best!

He loves APPLE just like his momma :)

Hanging out in his jumper!  He's such a smiley baby in the morning!

See? :)

HI MOM! I'm growing big!  :)

Meeting Uncle Joshie & Auntie Kara :)

Man, the weeks are just flying by!  How is it that my little baby boy is already 2 months old?  Even though to most people he is still a little squirt, I feel like he has grown soooo much!  How do I make the time stop?  When he's cuddled up on my chest, falling asleep, making cooing noises... I just want to freeze time.  Boy, my love for him just grows deeper and deeper with each passing day.

Well, before this post gets too mushy I'll move on to more exciting things.  William meeting his Uiencle Joshie and Auntie Kara!  So exciting!  They flew in last Saturday night and they've just been soaking up time with us and Dubya (lovingly named by Auntie Kara).  It's been such a breath of fresh air for Steven and I to have family here and it's so fun to see them interact with William.

**Insert funny Uncle/Auntie story:  The second night Josh and Kara were here, we threw them to the wolves and made them babysit William for a couple hours.  I had just fed William and we were only going to be gone a couple of hours, so none of us thought it would be a big deal.  We left a bottle just in case he woke up, but doubting that he would.  Well... of course, William woke up.  Screaming.  So, they tried to give him his bottle.  Still screaming.  They tried to carry him.  Still screaming.  All of a sudden, a random Thai lady walks in our house.  (It was actually our neighbor, but obviously Josh and Kara didn't know that...)  So, the random Thai lady swoops in and takes William from their arms.  She then starts doing a little "chant" to get him to calm down.  It worked for a little bit, so Josh and Kara let her do her thing.  But then William started crying again, so the random Thai lady starts pointing at her boob implying that she was going to breastfeed him!  Yes, you read that right.  A RANDOM THAI LADY ALMOST BREASTFED MY BABY.  Oh. my. goodness.  Thankfully, Uncle Joshie put his foot down, gave her a firm NO and took William from her.  That was when I got the call that I better come home.  "Uh... William's really crying and there's a random Thai lady in the house."  Hahaha... good times.

And now for the cute pictures... :)

We had to renew our visas one morning, so William and I had the privilege of waiting in the car for 4 hours while Steven did all the paperwork and such.  William was starting to get a little bored! 

Finding ways to entertain the kid... put him in the trunk! :)

Meeting Auntie & Uncle for the first time!

My cute little football :)

I love him in hats!

William has started responding to our obnoxious attempts to make him smile.  Horray!

And walks too? :)

He loves his Auntie Kara!

And loves to squirm on Uncle Josh!

Love his face in this one

This one's for you, Uncle Tony!

And this one's for you, Uncle Dougie!  Thanks for my BEARS onesie :)

Steven's been itching to put William in a jumper.  He's convinced he'll love it as much as he did as a kid.  He was also convinced that William was "ready" since he could mostly hold his head up.  I told him I thought we needed to wait a couple more months, but one day I came home to Steven putting it together!

A little premature, Dad... don't you think??? 

"What do I do in here?  It's a little overwhelming!"

"Ok, maybe I kinda like it."

On his play mat.  Love his expression!

Breaking in Josh and Kara so they're ready for their own :)  Kara looks a bit timid here, no?

Thanks Uncle Josh!

This is what usually happens after he's done eating.  Wow.  I think I have an overeater?  Thankfully it usually happens when Daddy's holding him! :)

Go SOX? (Only because the Sauder family is here...hehe)