Relaxing

I always tell myself I am going to do a better job at keeping up this photo blog, but the weeks just fly by too fast!  So, here we are... already past William's 4 month mark and he's getting bigger and stronger every day.

Things over here have been a bit stressful lately, so Steven decided to take us on a little family getaway.  A perk of living in Thailand is 1) the weather is nice all year round and 2) there are hundreds of beautiful, cheap hotels right at your fingertips... especially during low season!  So, this family of 3 happily took a few days to relax, regroup and rejuvenate our souls.

Ahh...

My cutie.

William really taking this relaxing thing seriously.

My little guy loves to say his prayers!  Even by the pool after a long swim :)

Hi mom.

William's favorite activity... swimming with daddy!

Weeeeeee!

What a stud!

 Haha, I love this picture.  Baby William lost in Thailand!

More pool time with dad

Wiliam in our suitcase... always movin'!

Once we got back to Chiang Mai, the fun continued when my good friend, Bonnie, came up to visit us!  Her and her husband, Jon, (along with their two kids) lived in Chiang Mai for a year before moving down to Central Thailand to do church planting.  While they were here learning language, we grew really close with them and quickly developed a deep friendship.  I miss them a lot.  They moved to Central Thailand right before William was born, so Bonnie came to meet William and to hang out with me!  I loved it.  Thanks, Bon, for taking the time to spend such sweet time with me.  Come back soon!

Auntie Bonnie & Marek!

Friends.  God is good.

William looks so Asian next to Marek!

March is usually when the awful heat takes over Chiang Mai... but it hasn't come yet and we're grateful!

Silly boy.

 4 month old pic :)

He's getting so loooooong!

More relaxing :)

Playing with baby William!

Thai school is out for summer break, so Pawn has been bringing her daughter and niece to work.  They loooove playing with William and are actually really great babysitters!  It's nice to have someone to entertain William if I need to get some things done.  HOWEVER, the above picture was taken just 2 hours before Maai (Pawn's daughter) came down with a 102 fever AND red spots all over her body.  Yep, you guessed it.  Maai has chicken pox.  And had been playing with William every day for the last two weeks.  Awesome!  That night William had a 101 temp, so we went to the doctor the next day.  He said William was a little too young to be getting chicken pox, so to watch him closely for the next couple of weeks.  He didn't think the fever was from chicken pox (you usually aren't symptomatic until 10 days after catching it...), so he gave us some baby Tylenol and sent us on our way.  We have an appointment to check in next week... here's hoping our next blog won't be filled of pics of William with the chicken pox!

The relaxing continues.  Poor guy must've been trying to fight off his sickness with sleep.  He slept almost all day for 2 days straight!

Loves to suck his thumb now as he's falling asleep.  Gosh I love him!

Speaking of sleep, here's a video of us trying to keep William asleep last night after we came home from Brett & Liv's house.  It may just be me, but I think it's so funny :)

A lot of firsts!

In the past three weeks, we've been experiencing a lot of "firsts" around here!  How exciting!!  (Well, at least for me... probably not very exciting for the rest of the world out there.)  Just this morning, William rolled over for the first time! Woohoo!  He's been really close for awhile now, but as I put him down for his morning nap, he surprised me and did it right then and there!  I, of course, overreacted with a loud gasp as I clapped my hands together and praised him for like 5 minutes.  He just looked at me like I was crazy, clearly not impressed with his new skill.  He almost had the look of, "What's the big deal, mom?"  (I have a feeling I'll be seeing that look a lot...)  But, I allowed myself to savor the moment and even ran down the stairs to share the news with Pawn since Steven wasn't home.  Who knew that seeing your son roll over for the first time would be so rewarding?!?  Crazy how life changes so quickly.

Today was also the first day I've seen William suck his thumb :)

The other day was the first time I've seen him "acknowledge" his feet :)  

Now he loves playing with them!

He also grabs toys now and "plays" with them!

First time meeting the Steffen family!!  

We're so excited they are here...even though William isn't showing it in this pic.  

(He must take after his father!?)

First time swimming at the pool!  

This kid loooooves the water (especially showers with daddy!) and he cried every time we tried to take him out of the pool!  What a cute lil fish :)

First time on a raft :)

(Yes grandparents... he has LOTS of sunscreen on!)

The sun was bothering his eyes, so we thought we'd try out some shades :)

First time picking up a girl at the pool?!?!?  :)

A typical William pose.

Swimming is hard work!

First time playing with his tools!  

Shirt off with his hammer.  Daddy loves this pic!

Another daddy favorite.  Watching the ILLINI together.  

William seriously loves it and will sit there STILL for almost an hour with Steven!

Even though William has always been a good sleeper (he now sleeps from 8:30 pm- 7am!!!!), he has started wanting to sleep in places other than his swing or crib.  Most of the time it's fine, but sometimes he only wants to sleep in my arms.  Again, I absolutely love it and I'm definitely cherishing this time, but it can get a little tiring to hold him for so long :)

Fast asleep holding on to momma!

Love how his cheeks get all squished :)

Seriously, it's really hard to hold still for an hour like that!

Same story, different day :)

He also likes falling asleep like this :)

He especially likes this position at parties, so he can see all the action until he's just too tired to party anymore!

 We've also tried to encourage him to sleep on his side since his head is getting kind of flat!

It really shows off his chunky legs :)

I came home one day and Pawn had made this fort for William.  She's the best.

Speaking of Pawn... :)

He was practicing standing with Steven when all of a sudden he got tired, sat down, "fell" to his tummy and fell fast asleep!

Evidence of a good nap.  Sleep lines on the face!

It's crazy how just 3 weeks ago William wasn't doing any of this stuff... and now, here we are!  I know I say this every time, but time is really going so fast and I just wish I could just freeze time.  But alas, I know I can't and so I'm just cherishing each and every moment.  And with each passing day, I fall more and more in love with my little guy.  Even during the roughest of days, all I need to do is see his bright smile and my world is instantly better.  

So, in case you're having a hard day today, here's hoping William's cute face can make it just a little bit brighter!