Blogging is not in my blood

I'm not good at blogging publicly, but I am good at taking lots of pictures and throwing them up on www.flickr.com/photos/hwilloughby. If you'd like to see what we're up to - head over there and check it out.

New pictures

New pics at www.flickr.com/photos/hwilloughby

Enjoy!

Clark Carl Willoughby is born!

If you have not heard yet....

Clark Carl Willoughby was born last Thursday, September 18th at 12:34pm.

He was 10 lbs 5 oz ans 22 3/4 inches long.

Pics are up at http://www.flickr.com/photos/hwilloughby/

The date is set.....

My doctor and I decided today that the best plan of action to get this babe out would be a repeat c-section. I was hoping, wishing, and praying for a VBAC, but I am already measuring 3 weeks ahead of schedule and they think the baby is already about 8 pounds. So September 18th at 11:30am it is! 13 days to go!

Update from Jason.....

Stay at Home Dad Rap - Watch more free videos

The secret behind why yawning is contageous.

Jason has uncovered the mystery behind why yawning is contageous. Apparently it was created to help parents put their kids to bed. We have found that if we yawn alot (or fake yawn) at Lijah's bedtime he gets tired faster and goes to bed much easier. What a smart guy...answering the mysteries of the world.

I got a new job!!!!!

I have been interviewing for a different job (still at Capella University) and went through 8 interviews over the past few weeks for a Business Analyst position in our IT department. I just found out today that I got it and will be moving over on June 9th! In this new position I will act as a liasion between our HR/Finance systems and the IT developers. The two don't speak each other languages, so I will basically be making sure they both understand each others needs so things can get done. A great part of it is that I will not have to take a paycut - all of the other positions I looked at in the past would have been huge pay cuts so it is a good thing I waited for this perfect one to come along.....it was worth the 8 interviews!

Lijah = Rockstar?

Here's a cute video of Lijah singing into the microphone before our ward talent show:

Shameless self-promo

I finally got a website up and running for my photography. Check it out! Please, please, please share with anyone you know looking for a photographer. Please? :)

http://heathererae.uber.com/

We had our ultrasound.....

And we are having another boy!!!!! This is exactly what we were hoping for, so it is indeed great news! The other good news is that this little boy appears to have all of his right body parts in all of the right places according to the ultrasound. I'll put up the pictures once I get them scanned.

Big boy bed for Lijah

We got a little blue racecar toddler bed for Lijah last month and have been trying to transition him out of his crib well before baby #2 comes in September. Even though all of the advice out there says not to get in the habit of rocking your baby to sleep, we fell into that habit. And just like they all said, he would not fall asleep any other way because he was used to being rocked. This made for some long nights of having to walk around rocking an almost 30 pound limp little boy - and this was no fun for mommy. :(

When we first got the bed he wanted to push it around like one of his little Matchbox cars. He just wanted to play in it, not sleep in it. Since he had no interest in sleeping in his own bed - I decided to start letting him sleep with me for awhile so he could learn to fall asleep without being rocked, and that worked really well. Then it got to the point that every night he would turn sideways in the bed and start kicking me in the ribs, and he insisted that he use my arm as his own little pillow (yes, I had many nights of my arm falling asleep under the weight of his head). So then we decided to start to make the real transition.

The first few nights I would crawl into his bed with him, read some books, sing some songs, and stay until he fell asleep. He would sleep fine until he woke up, and then would need to come back into my bed. Then he caught on to what I was doing and refused to sleep at all, even with me laying in his bed next to him.

So I had to buckle down one day...and although I always told myself I would never do this....I put him in his bed, gave him a kiss, told him that I loved him, and quickly left the room and shut the door. Of course he cried, and he screamed, and he rattled the doorknob trying to get out. It broke my heart, but I knew it would be best for him in the long run. Finally after about a half hour of this he fell asleep.... Every night since then it has gotten better and better.

For the past few nights, we have read a few books, turned off the light, had some cuddles for a few minutes, and he was off to sleep - and slept through the night all by himself!

Lijah is thankful for birds!

Last week in the nursery at church they had a lesson on being thankful for birds. All week Lijah was flapping his arms around at us. Since I am in the other nursery class, I knew that they had just talked about birds and wondered if his teachers taught him this during the lesson. Sure enough...they flapped their wings when they talked about birds. I guess this should be noted as the first thing Lijah learned in his nursery class (or at least the first thing he has been able to show me that he has learned).

Random Lijah goings-ons....

1. Lijah has developed a fondness for snakes. We have a Jake the Slithering Snake remote control snake that he loves (but is a bit scared of) and some little plastic snakes - and plays with them all of the time. He also loved to point at snakes in books and hiss. He even hisses when I roll out Play-Doh and he pretends that it is slithering like a snake.
2. We got a ramp and some Matchbox cars a few weeks ago after watching the movie Cars and this is one of Lijah's new favorite toys. Before this, he was fascinated with the tires on cars, but this has helped him to appreciate the 'full car'. He gets excited and waves at cars when they drive by in the street and says 'vroom-vroom'.
3. Since everything is melting he has been jumping in every puddle he could find - so we went out to the thrift store and bought him some rain boots. He loves to be outside (with or without puddles) and lately throws a little tantrum everytime it is time to go back inside.
4. Jason's mom bought him a little train before he was born with his name spelled out - each piece is a letter of him name. Since he has stopped trying to eat all of his toys I thought it would be time to take it down off of the shelf and actually let him play with it. He immediately started copying me when I said 'Choo-Choo' and now choo-choos at every train he sees.
5. Lately he has been putting his squirrel stuffed animal on the foot pedal on the elliptical and pushes the arms to give the little squirrel a ride.
6. Lijah has also refined his picky eating habits. Amazingly he is not hungry unless there is some form of sugar being offered. One night I knew he was hungry and I offered him everything under the sun in the kitchen and he refunsed everything. Then he pointed up to the shelf....right where the sugar cones were. It was late, and it was time for bed, so I said sure....we'll have a sugar cone for dinner. I grabbed the box, grabbed Lijah, headed up to his room, got some books out, put him on my lap, and took out a cone. He looked disappointed.......and he would not eat the cone. I was baffled. But then he grabbed the box, and pointed his finger at the mint chocolate chip ice cream on top of the cone on the box. Of course....he wanted ice cream. Finally after explaining away that we didn't have any ice cream he reluctantly ate the cone and went to bed.....

Home Alone

Lijah and I got some quality bonding time this weekend since Jason went out of town to Duluth to see some family (Lijah and I had NO interest in going somewhere even colder than Minneapolis this time of year!). Now Lijah is pretty obsessed with me, likes to cuddle up alot and rub noses with me, and is doing a great job of actually listening to me (usually daddy is the one who he listens to). I think he might actually like me! :) I didn't do any homework, no errands, no nothing - just a whole weekend of my undivided attention. I think this bonding time was much needed for both of us.....

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I've been trying to get a picture like this, but couldn't capture it - but Jason had some luck one day when I was at work:

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Our house is so dry Lijah's hair looks like this alot lately.....

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Lijah can also proudly show you that he knows many of his body parts:

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And a few random shots.....for your viewing pleasure.....

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A few videos.....

We were going to do a puppet show to announce our pregnancy, but it didn't go too well so we scrapped that idea. Here's a blooper....


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Lijah loves to wear mommy's killer whale slippers. Not sure what Jason was doing in the middle of the video........


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As you will see in this video, this boy has some excess energy. What's that song about monkey's jumping on the bed......?

Lijah has some news.....

Lijah wanted me to announce to everyone who reads this......that he is scheduled to be a big brother on or around September 25th, 2008! Congratulations Lijah!

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www.flickr.com/photos/hwilloughby

On off on off on off

Lijah got a kid-sized chair from the Rawhousers a few weeks ago. Now he can reach the lightswitch...what fun!



More videos at: http://www.youtube.com/DustSaw

Some recent things Lijah likes to do.....

Some recent things Lijah likes to do.....

1. Pull the new chair he got from the Rawhousers over to the light switches and switching them on and off and on and off.
2. Put a Spongebob Squarepants metal bucket over his head, walking around bumping into things, and then crying when the bucket isn't on his head anymore because he wants it back on his head.
3. Put craft sticks in his mouth and clamping down with his teeth and making mommy pull them out. This looks a bit like pulling a toy from a dog's mouth....
4. Throw ALL of his toys over the gate and into the kitchen
5. Pick up Chop-Chop and carrying her, ok dragging her, around the house.
6. Saying uh-oh when he hears something fall, or if he drops something
7. Pull the heating vents out of where they belong in the floor (I can't wait until he starts dropping things in there too! That will be great.....).
8. Wipe lotion off of his body with his fingers and the licking his fingers (good eatin'!)
9. Tip another chair over, using it as a slide, screaming wheeeeee (it DOES look like a slide when it is upside down)
10. Hop on mom's back when she is laying down and having her pretend she is a horse and gallop around the living room.

At my wits end.....

Last night my sweet little boy just about drove me over the edge. Since he was born we have been so blessed to have him go to bed easily and sleep through the night, so I really am in no place to complain. But after being so spoiled for 18 months, nighttime issues drive me crazy.

I tried three times to put Lijah to sleep last night. Each time he would be asleep in my arms, and even snoring...but then as soon as I laid him down he would pop back up and start crying. So we kept him up for awhile longer since he was apparently not ready for bed. Finally at 10:30pm, daddy tried to work his magic, but with the same result. Finally we decided that Lijah would sleep next to me. He was sleepy in my arms and snuggled up with me. Then after about 3 minutes he popped up again, ran to the end of the bed, and started pulling all of the laundry out of the basket next to the bed and piled them on top of me. Then he saw the cat...and it was all over from there....

Daddy gave it a second try and finally, at almost midnight, Lijah went to sleep. Let's hope this does not become a regular occurance.......maybe it is just his teeth - he is getting a few more - I'm crossing my fingers that that is it.....

Random Lijah notes.....

Lijah has learned that the cats like it when he pulls strings and ribbon so he has been obsessed with getting the cats to play with him lately. Recently he has started kneeling on the floor to pick up the ribbon with his mouts and then pull it across the floor.

Lijah also loves being on the front porch. Too bad winter is coming and he won't be able to hang out there too much longer. Here's some funny views of Lijah looking in at me from the porch (don't worry, I don't lock him out there as it appears...)

The other day I was taking some pictures of Lijah and he wanted to bounce on my lap. Well, my lap was unavailable since I had my camera so Lijah got creative. He went and pulled out this pillow, plopped it down, and proceeded to bounce on it like it was my lap. It made for some good pictures at least.....

Another recent favorite is 'breaking' the chair Lijah got from his Aunt Mary in Duluth. Luckily it snapps back together easily. Notice the cute bed hair on this lovely morning!

More recent and old pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hwilloughby/