My Littlest Lad

Wesley is ten months old now, and I have to say...this baby is a JOY. He's sweet and cute and funny, and has an impeccable sense of comedic timing. For example, nearly every time I ask him for some kisses and put my cheek up close to his face, he burps. I know, it's a coincidence. But it happens all the time!

There was a time when I thought I'd never have a third child, but Wesley was worth the wait. He's very much the family pet. Gabe adores him. Timothy is finally showing some interest after months of ignoring. And pretty much the worst crime you can commit in this household is making Wesley cry. We're trying hard not to spoil him, but it's an uphill battle, I assure you.

Some Wesley fun facts:

• Wesley has many nicknames. Wesley Woo, Wesley Wiggles and Mr. Wigglesworth are the main three, and Gabe generally just calls him "Wiggle". The other day in the car, we had Veggie Tales "Oh, Veggie, Where Art Thou?" blasting, and Wesley was "singing" along with the music. I said, "Sing it, Wesley Woo!" and he immediately launched into falsetto. Gabe turned to the backseat and said, "A little pitchy, Wiggle, a little pitchy!"
• If it wasn't obvious from the nicknames, this baby is constant motion. When he sees something he wants, he reaches out both hands and clasps and unclasps them quickly. We call it "Want, want hands".
• We're struggling a bit with food allergies with this short person of ours. He's definitely allergic to bananas, and probably several other fruits, milk and possibly eggs. He's due for some allergy testing next month.
• After not being mobile and showing little interest in it, Wesley learned to pull up, roll over and crawl in that order, within about a three week period. Now he's into everything. This morning he got into my knitting bag and unwound my yarn.
• Outdoorsy baby is outdoorsy. He adores the wind, loves the feel of the grass, and is generally happiest if we play outside.
• Up until recently, Wesley was a johnny jump-up fanatic. He didn't just jump, either. He'd back up down the hall, launch himself forward, and pick up both feet so he could swing. The first day he could crawl, he refused to go in the johnny jump-up and hasn't allowed us to put him anywhere near it since!
• He's getting great at cruising along with a little help from the furniture. He walks on tiptoe a lot, which is unbearably cute.
• Meanie absolutely adores Wesley. He'll let Wesley manhandle him and purr blissfully the entire time. As a result, Wesley learned to say "kitty" before he said "Mama". I see where I am on the list of priorities! Right under "blah", "dada" and "kitty", apparently. He also says "stinky" and "Gabe".
  

This is how we handle laundry day.

You could have knocked me over with a feather when he learned to pull up before he could roll over.

Bath time is always a hit. We've just transitioned to the big tub, and the occasional bubble bath with Timothy.

My handsome little strawberry blond baby! Tell me he isn't the cutest thing you've ever seen! Go on, I dare you!

A happy little story

Once upon a time, there was a precious substance. This substance was known as "free time". There wasn't much of it, especially not around here. Then one day, we had Wesley. He was a good baby. Neigh, a GREAT baby. He was sweet and smiley and happy. But there was one drawback. He didn't sleep during the day. Ever. He was awake 14 hours a day pretty much every day. He slept all night, and that was nice. But at night, I needed to sleep, too. He also liked to be held. A lot. And since he was sweet and smiley and happy...I held him. A lot. This made doing anything else challenging. Free time was nowhere to be found.

Days went by, and then weeks. Wesley grew...

And grew...

And grew some more!

And he was cute. And sweet and smiley and happy. But he still didn't sleep much.

The house grew filthier and filthier, and I despaired. I forgot important things, like sending the kindergarten snack and combing my hair. I looked frazzled. More than usual, even.

And then one day, Wesley started crawling. And then he was sweet and smiley and happy...and MOBILE. The house got cleaned, because it had to be. (Well, and because I threatened the rest of the family within an inch of their lives and forced them to help.) And Wesley was slightly more willing to be on the floor and not be held all the time. And he even occasionally took a nap. Tiny little bits of free time started appearing here and there. I combed my hair and remembered to send the kindergarten snack. And there was much rejoicing.

The end.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-CHANGES!

Every fall brings new and exciting times, and lots of changes. Maybe because I have an infant, or maybe just because, the changes seem to be coming fast and thick this fall. So, in no particular order...

Wesley is loving his johnny jump up. He's a good little bouncer.Both boys are playing soccer. Gabe is on Team Tsunami.

Wesley is a big fan of soccer. Except when he isn't. Here he is, wearing a hat I made for him.

Timothy got glasses for reading. He jumped about a grade level when he got them. This means that he's reading on about a third grade level. Smarty pants. Over-achiever.

Cute baby is cute. I mean, he's always been cute, but I think he's getting cuter.

Our annual picture outside the Grissom playground. This year I have three boys and two of them are Grissom students.

Wesley is growing and changing faster than you can even imagine. He doesn't quite have sitting up down yet, but he's getting there.

A week ago, Gabe graduated from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. Where does the time go?

Here he is with the ceremony team and his Arrow of Light.

Yes, he's almost as tall as me. Don't remind me!

Also new and different, Gabe got contacts.

Yes, he still looks a lot like his Popple.

More soccer. Timothy is on the Comets.

As you can see, he's making new friends!

Here's another cute one of Wesley. Just because.

Wesley's eyes...

...are a deep, beautiful blue, and they gaze with wonder at the world around him. However, after this week we finally have an answer regarding whether or not he has ocular albinism like Timothy, and it wasn't the answer we wanted to hear.

At almost eight weeks, he developed significant nystagmus (wiggly eyes, for lack of a better explanation) and we were pretty sure he did indeed have the disorder. A trip to the pediatric ophthalmologist confirmed our fears.

So what does this mean for our family, and especially for Wesley? Those of you who know Timothy will agree with me that he hardly "suffers" from ocular albinism. He's a very normal 5-year-old boy in many ways, and well above average in terms of intelligence. I know I'm his mom and I would say that if he were a dull-witted little twit, but trust me, he isn't. He's a sharp-witted little twit, in fact! When we compare Timothy's babyhood with Wesley's, there are a lot of significant differences. For one thing, Wesley's eyes are responsive to light. His pupils dilate and contract normally, and he flinches at bright lights. Timothy had extremely slow and reduced dilation and contraction of his pupils, and did not respond at all to bright lights when he was an infant. For another thing, the nystagmus developed much later in Wesley than it did in Timothy. Finally, Wesley smiles. Timothy didn't smile until he was much older because babies who don't see don't know to mirror their parents' smiles.

We think, and our doctors agree, that Wesley is seeing objects, if only roughly. He can follow toys or people with his eyes somewhat, and his smiles tell us that he does see us. We're hoping this means that he will be even less affected by his abnormal genes than Timothy is, and may have near-normal vision in time. And really, it is only time that will tell. We are full of hope for his future, full of joy at being given such a sweet, wonderful baby, and full of thankfulness for every single smile.

Introducing...

My newest little savage, Wesley Joseph. OK, I know he's not very savage-looking at the moment, but I seem to recall both his brothers looking this sweet and innocent at one point and you see how they've turned out! I'm a little behind in posting...he was born June 29th at 10:01pm. He weighed 6lbs. 13 oz. and was 21 in. long. He'll be four weeks old tomorrow and he's still a little shrimp. He's up to about 7.5lbs. This makes him a few ounces under what Timothy was when he was born, and more than two pounds less than Gabe's birth weight. Yes, that's pounds. I keep telling him he'd better get to growing if he's going to keep up with the big boys!

Spring pictures and new hair

I have to publicly admit something. My sister was right. She's been urging me to cut my hair. I didn't really want to cut my hair. But I did it anyway because I listen to my sister. Sometimes. Occasionally. Once every ten years or so. Anyway, today I went and got a drastic haircut.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to like it. It's very light, it'll still go up in a very small ponytail, and I've been told it makes me look younger. Also, Chris can no longer roll over on it and pin me to the bed in the middle of the night. I'm also pretty sure that for the next week or so, I'm going to use WAY too much shampoo when I wash it.

In case anyone wondered, this is also doubling as a belly shot. Here's the Dread Bump Wesley at 31 weeks and some change. Eight months. Gah!! I should be working on his room. Or his quilt! Or his...

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw, cute dog! Now I will take some deep breaths and calm down. Yes, this is Buster, resident Sheep. Oops, I mean dog. But doesn't he look like sheep? And the back yard definitely looks like a pasture!

Finally, my peonies bloomed today! I promised my dear friend, Wendy, who lives in Texas in a land of no peonies, that I'd post some pictures since they are her favorite flower!

Now, if only I could put the smell on my blog! Mmmmmm!

Introducing...

The Dread Bump Wesley! Yes, as most of you probably already know, we're having another boy. And yes, his first name is Wesley, my paternal grandmother's maiden name. Middle name is yet undecided, but the Princess Bride jokes already abound. These ultrasound pictures are from today, at 21 weeks and 2 days. He's around 14 oz and looks healthy. He also looks an awful lot like Timothy, but maybe that's just me. Chris is pretty sure you can't see family resemblance in ultrasound pictures.

I've hesitated to post, but I'm going to go ahead and address the elephant in the room. Yes, because he's a boy, he has a 50% chance of having the same genetic disorder that affects Timothy's vision. We had a few hard days after we found out we're having another boy (we've known for about three weeks now) but I'm choosing not to worry about what I can't control. I hope that doesn't sound flippant. To put it in perspective, sometimes I have to choose this 8 or 10 times an hour. The good news is that the baseline vision for boys with ocular albinism tends to run in families. We have one high-functioning boy with the disorder. If Wesley has it, he'll probably have about the same amount of vision that Timothy has. For those of you who know Timothy, you'll realize this is great news. For those who haven't met him...well, let's just say that you probably wouldn't know he has a vision issue if we hadn't told you. And we also have another son with perfectly normal vision. That could happen, too. For today, I'm choosing to be happy about how much fun I had watching our healthy 3rd son wiggle around and give the ultrasound tech fits as she tried to get a clear picture of him. I'm choosing to giggle over Timothy telling her that it's a brother and that he gets to boss the baby around because he's the BIG brother. I'm choosing to stick to my firm belief that he looks like Timothy.

I'm also choosing to be absolutely in love with these little feet. Aren't baby feet the very best? I've already completed a pair of booties and a pair of tiny socks for this pair, and now I'm off to dig for yarn to start another pair. Every baby needs a pair of hand-knit socks for every month of the year, right?