How old is this kid???

Will and I share a quick smile with each other.

Will hoping that mom doesn't let go!

Here is Will after church on Sunday. This outfit is a 6-9 month outfit from Gma Price. His eyes are often open this wide. He is always trying to see as much as possible.

Will had his 2 month checkup recently. The doctor determined that he is...big. He weighed in at 16lbs and was 25 inches long. My friends Tyler and Seth have babies that are 4 months old. Will is the same weight as Tyler's and bigger than Seth's. How did Jen and I end up with a big baby? If he keeps this up he will be bigger than me by the first grade or he'll be like me and stop growing when he's 12.

Jen has started running again. She doesn't even look like she just had a baby! I have opted out of the marathon this weekend and plan to do the half marathon instead. But I did just register for the Xiamen marathon which is on January 2nd. This is the biggest marathon in China and rated as one of the prettiest marathon courses in world. The whole course runs along the ocean and they have bronze statues of runners lining the course. Pretty cool. Jen tells me that she plans to race the DesNews 10k this summer. It is great to have a training parner again. Last night we took turns running on the treadmill and working on the computer. For us this was a great date!

Wild Will

2 Months Old

William is two months old. He keeps us laughing all the time. I don’t think I’ve bounced, swayed, or rocked more than I have these past two months. Here are some things about him:

*He has a big personality that matches his big size. He is Mr. Squirrly. He is our little squirrel because if he’s awake he’s squirreling around. He won’t hold still. His legs are always kicking. When we first met him on the ultrasound screen at 8 weeks all you could see was a bean with two legs kicking. We called him our little rabbit. He likes to move his arms too, sweaty tight fists, punching anything in his way, including his own face. That makes him mad. When he’s happy he’ll throw out happy punches. He doesn’t allow these ones to hit his face. He is our busy wild Will. Yesterday I put him in the front carrier to go out and he did not like that. His arms and legs were kicking and punching while his head was turning as he was screaming in my face. I had to laugh at how silly he looked.

*He can only take naps, or fall asleep at night by listening to the white noise of the oven fan, car rides, or long walks (And the blow dryer worked wonders for us this past weekend. Since winter is coming, and we don’t always have places to go, I’m hoping he’ll continue to like the oven fan. His faze of falling asleep to running water didn’t last long, which was okay with me since I’m not really into wasting water. When he does sleep he likes to arch his head way back and throw his arms up by the side of his head like a football goal. This is his favorite sleeping position.

*He likes taking naps in his chair just outside the kitchen door while the oven fan hums.

*When we swaddle him he’ll usually fight hard for his hands to be free.

*He is wearing clothing for a 3 month old, and sometimes clothing for a 6 month old. Last night I pulled out a warm long pajama (size 3 months) for him since the weather is getting chilly, and couldn’t believe it when I couldn’t zip it up. His legs were too long.

*He talks to us using different tones of ‘oohs’ and ‘aahhs’.

*He likes getting baths in the bathroom sink. He loves the freedom of shedding the diaper.

*He sleeps well at night but is big into fussing during the evening hours.

*He is starting to smile at us and respond to our facial expressions.

*He has very expressive eyebrows.

For Halloween he was Santa Clause. We were his Elves. Taylor and my costume didn’t work out quite as planned, but Santa sure was cute.


I’ll have to get back with the height and weight stats once we visit the doc. Did we mention that at his 2 week appt. he was off the charts for height and weight? My big boy.

William is super sensitive to the foods I eat. I really have to watch it. It seems like I have cut out everything. The other day TP says, “Well, it looks like you’ll have to go on the BRATs diet.” After inquiring he replied, “You know where you can only eat Bread, Rice, Apples… Toast…” (Ha ha. I had to chuckle to myself) “…so I guess that would be under Bread.”

Layover

Well I made it out of Africa just fine. This morning I got up real early and did an hour run along the Cape Town coastline, very cool. My 12 hour flight fro SA to Singapore was nice and uneventful and I watched 3 movies and read a new Lance Armstrong book.

I was originally going to stay in Singapore for a day but when I landed at 5:30am and saw that there was a 7:30am flight to Shanghai I got homesick for Jen and Will and switched my flight to 7:30. I board in 30 minutes. Just a side note, if you ever do have a long layover the Singapore airport is the place to do it. They have a gyms, showers, movie theatre, shopping mall, go kart racing track, SPA, and a large pool. Certainly a step up from some of the other airports I've been in. I never thought I'd see so many stinking airports. In the past year or so I've been to 14 different countries. It is neat to see all these places and understand their unique cultures but it also really makes me grateful for my home country and the freedoms we enjoy there.

Well, the 12 hr flight is down, now just another 5.5 hr flight to go and I'll be home!

South Africa

All of my meetings here have come to an end and I will be flying out tomorrow morning. Currently I'm in Cape Town South Africa. Cape Town is a great city and the sea food is great. I spent two nights here and two nighs up in Johannesburg - didn't much care for Joburg though. Never thought I would ever end up in Africa, but here I am. The country is busy getting ready for the World Cup next year. They have a huge stadium right next to the beach that will be 'fantastic!' I think 'fantastic' is the most commonly used word in South Africa. The first day here I had trouble with the accent but I'm doing well with it now, it's fantastic.

On these trips I never really get to see very much other than fitness stores and offices but they did take me for a drive around the Cape today and it truley was fantastic. Table Mountain overlooks the coast and the city and the view is incredible. In most Asian cities I usually go for a walk at night and have a look around the city but I don't do that here for safety reasons. It has been a long week away from Jen and Wild Will. Can't wait to get home to them. I leave tomorrow morning on a 12.5 hr flight to Singapore. I'll stay in Singapore for one day of quick meetings and then another 5.5 hr flight home to SH. Can't wait to get home. South Africa is a long ways away from anything, except Zimbabwe.

Long Time

When we can't blog at home it really slows down the process. And with Big Willy taking up so much of Jen's time she hasn't been able to download pictures and send them off. But I wanted to get a few pictures posted because he is growing so fast. He's six weeks old and wearing clothes for 3-6 month old babies and the feet on the 3 month old pj's are too small. He really isn't that chunky, he's just big. Things here always seem to be busy. Jen recently learned how to do her grocery shopping online and have it delivered to the house. In this city that is a big deal. Grocery shopping here takes careful planning and a long time.

This entry didn't end up like I planned but at least we got a few pictures up!

quick update

I thought I would just do a quick update since I'm in blogging territory. Jen and Will are home right now having fun together. Jen's mom came and stayed with us for about 10 days in Shanghai. It was great to have her there. Jen was so glad she could come and be there. I'm in Nagoya, Japan right now. I love Japan. It is such an amazing place. I got here Sunday afternoon and will head back in a few days. Japan has it's own cell phone network so even if you have a global phone it still won't work here...annoying.

Will is growing so fast. He will be two weeks tomorrow. These pictures that I just posted are old but I thought I'd post them anyway. When I get back in town we will post new updated ones. He is changing everyday. He actually looks a little more like me than he did early on :) He loves to eat and sleep. Some of his newborn clothes are already too small. The other day we put him in some 3 month clothes. Big Willy!