1/2 Year Old!

In February, Will turned 6 months old - yes, that's right - half a year!!!  The last few months have really flown by and I can't believe he's half way to one year old! He's finally over his respiratory troubles from January and has turned into a happy, content baby - most of the time!

Will - 6 months

At his 6 month check up he weighed in at 17 lbs 8 oz (46th percentile) and was 27.5 inches (80th percentile).  He's gained back the weight he's lost and is going the right way on the charts again!  I can understand why he's gained just about 1.5 pounds since he was sick in January - he's a GREAT eater!!!  He'll eat 8 ounces in a bottle at a time and will eat at least 5 bottles per day.  So that's 40 ounces of formula he is eating per day.  Plus he is now eating cereal twice a day plus and entire container of baby food at supper.  At suppertime he gets quite upset with me when I can't get the spoon to his mouth fast enough!

He's also finally sleeping well again at night.  He's asleep by 7:30 pm and will wake up between 5:30 or 6 am.  He usually wakes up once per night, but will put himself back to sleep.  I don't even really count it as "waking up" because I don't have to get out of bed, which is AWE-SOME!!!   It's been a long time coming... after he was sick, he was waking up several times a night so I was getting pretty sleep deprived.  But, I'm slowly catching up!  He's still not the best napper; he'll usually only sleep for an hour or less twice a day.

His fine motor skills are definitively working well.  He's a grabber - he grabs everything!  When holding him, I can't walk to close to the fridge, or he'll pull the papers off that are on with magnets.  We have to make sure that our dinner plates are pushed way to the middle of the table or he will grab them if he's sitting on my lap and Jules better make sure she has a ponytail in when she goes in to give him a smooch because he'll surely grab onto her hair!  He's starting to love his Jumperoo and is rolling and scooting all over the place - it won't be long before he's crawling!

And he LOVES his big sister.  It just melts my heart when I hear them giggling in the living room together or the look in his eyes when he's smiling at her.  And Julianne loves her little brother.  She has to give him a goodnight hug and goodnight kiss every night and is so proud of him.

Ok - so maybe this picture doesn't prove it - but he really does love his sister!

Fishing!

Last weekend, Nick's parents, his sister and her boyfriend and Nick and I all took a little (LOOOOOOONG) drive up to Lake of the Woods for some ice fishing!!! We stayed at Ballard's Resort in Baudette, MN.  They set up our fish house, drilled our holes, provided us with bait and brought us to and from the house.  All we had to do was bring our poles!  We had a 3 bedroom cabin complete with a kitchen and a living room.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but I actually had fun!  I wish the fishing would have been a little better, but you couldn't beat the company!

Our theme for the weekend...

We drove in these rigs 9 miles out on the lake!  Ashley and I sooo excited for fishing!

 Nick caught the first fish of the trip! A walleye

An hour or so later, Nick also caught the biggest fish of the weekend - a 25" walleye 

 

Even I caught a walleye - he was little, but he sure tasted good! 

The view outside our fish house - nothing but snow and fish houses

The crew in our fish house - it was cozy but all 6 of us were in one house.  We got there at about 8:30 am and they picked us up between 4 and 4:30 pm.  It got to be a long day, but the hours passed quickly - we had beer, sandwiches and LOTS of laughs!

Nick "the fish-slayer" Frank - another monster - 23" walleye.

Ashley got to drive the bombadier!

 Fishy, Fishy in the lake, come and bite on my bait!

Our fish house - and our potty.  Hey -we're girls - we needed some place to go, so they brought us a pail with a garbage bag inside a house.  It worked! 

Dan, Ashley, Nick and me - on the way back from our first day of fishing 

Pretty sunrise from our cabin front door

 Fishing - Day 2.  Dan showed us how it was done on Saturday!!

Dan's walleye - 24" 

Sheri and Ashley - "fishing is so fun!" 

The crew - not the best picture - but it's the only one I had of all of us! 

 And when the fishing was done - it was time to have some fun!!!  One of the neighboring resorts had a live band so we headed over there to celebrate our catches!

Much, much later in the night - how do you know this?? Nick is on the dance floor!  That would NEVER  happen early in the night!

It was a really fun trip and a great vacation.  Although next time we decided we are going to find someone to fly us there in a plane - 7 hours in a car is just too long!