C'est la Vie

Not much has been going on at the Butler house as of late. The majority of our time is consumed by work, playing with the baby and sleeping. Could be worse "ruts" to be stuck in :)

I was recently introduced to this amazing blog - you are my wild. The blog is simply weekly portraits of the children of 14 different photographers. The portraits are so lovely and really capture the essence of just being a kid. It's such a nice way to document a short period in a child's life. This blog makes me wish I was still passionate about taking photos and had stuck with my pursuit in teaching myself how to wield a camera - I still have time though. Maybe I'll actually follow through on a goal for once. 

I recently finished reading Silver Linings Playbook. Um... ok. So I haven't seen the movie, nor do I know anything about it other than everyone is all in love with it, but this book was so weird  There were far too many Eagles football chants and references to Kenny G. This was not the feel-good book of my year, or a feel-good book at all. Enough about that.

I also recently read The Journal of Best Practices (reading is clearly what I do instead of going out, now). This book was amazing and absolutely worth a read. The book is written by David Finch, who was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome as an adult in his early 30's. His marriage had been falling apart due to his un-diagnosed condition and he wasn't the father he wanted to be. This book is the year plus journey after his diagnoses to improve most aspects of his life. This book is hilarious, a bit of a tear-jerker and has sound advice for pretty much any marriage. I'm glad I added this one to my collection!













William was invited to his first friend birthday party... how cute is that!

Happy Passover to all my Jewish friends! Today I found out there is a real live burning bush. During parts of the year it emits a sticky, methane like gas. When you expose the bush to fire it ignites, but the gas burns off leaving the plant unharmed. During parts of the summer when it gets very hot the plant is known to spontaneously ignite! This video below is pretty neat. Not quite the show stopper I thought it would be, but still cool.




Let's finish off with some pics of that little baby. You know you want to.

                                              ^^William in his onesie = the best part of my day!
                

Giggle Pants!

Will is a little giggling fool, now! I'm sad to catch another one of his firsts on video... but this is too adorable. :)

I'm also so glad Dave and William have so much fun during their time together!

Four Months

William is still a little under the weather and wasn't really feeling pictures tonight. Such is the life of a baby. (Also, he's wearing the same outfit as last month! Guess we really like it!)

 Today William is a third of a year old... wowie zowie! What to Expect says that William is entering the "golden age of infancy", and boy are they right! William is such a fun, happy, kid and his personality is really starting to shine. (and he still stays wherever you put him... nice!).

At four months, William: 
*Wears size two diapers
*Sleeps 9 - 12 hours a night, and has a very strict, self-imposed bedtime of 7pm. 
*Wears size six month clothes (What!?! When I had William and people were giving me size six month winter clothes I would think, "Don't they know he'll be six months in the spring???" I guess all those moms who had babies before me knew what they were doing :)
*Wants everything in his mouth, but once he gets things in his mouth he usually doesn't know what to do with them
*Passes objects from one hand to the other

*Loves his ball

          














*Loves his wooden, teething ring

          


















*Loves looking at that cute baby who is always in the mirror!

          



















*Looooves his baby gym! (There's that outfit again. Hmmm... maybe we need to have a discussion with daddy about wardrobe)



We're so lucky and blessed to have such a wonderful baby!

Sunday Funday

Sunday was a super excellent day. Plenty of fun things occurred, but the best part was it was almost 70* outside! Honestly, that fact alone made the whole day fun. (of course as I type this post it's snowing.... oh, Michigan).

I went to my cousin Marie's wedding shower (I still can't believe she's getting married... in my mind she is forever 4 years old :)
I managed to get zero good pictures at her shower, but look at these cute favors! Her wedding is cherry blossom themed, love it!

While I was at the shower, my dad watched William and sent me adorable  pictures the whole time, looks like they had fun :)

After the shower my mom and I sucked up the last bit of sunlight for the day by taking a stroll in downtown Plymouth, it was the longest amount of time Will has been outside without being bundled. I'm pretty sure he enjoyed it, but he seems to like pretty much everything.

While we were downtown we stopped by Candy Trail to snag some delish malt balls. They were technically closed, but they let us sneak in for a quick chat and to get some candy - I love that place! I had ordered the candy for the candy buffet at my wedding from Candy Trail, and became hooked on the pumpkin spice malt balls, I don't even like malt balls and I could eat these little gems all day long. While I was there this time I tried out the mint malt balls, I'm adding those to my list of things I'm addicted to :)

Poor little Will has caught his first real cold. He has a gross cough and a super stuffy nose. I think my poor baby is going to have his first day "playing hooky" tomorrow so he can get some extra rest. Hopefully he'll be back to his normal self soon, and the beautiful weather will be back so we can get some more time out of doors!

Pleased to Make Your Acquaintance

This week Will and I went to our first Mommy & Me group. We met some very nice babies and some very nice mommies, as well! A lot of the other moms there had super young babies, I was so impressed they were able to get themselves and their babies all ready and out of the house and be somewhere on time! Will was one of the oldest babies there and we totally showed up a few minutes late. :)

You can't see it in this pic, but Will is smiling at that cute baby he met, love it!

I think Will has also been adjusting pretty well to childcare. The days I visit him and he's happily playing on the floor make me feel so good! Here are some pictures of Will doing water play with some of his friends at school! So cute! (His teachers put him in that t-shirt so he didn't get his clothes messy during water play; I do not dress my kid like that. Just had to put it out there :)

I love that my baby is "making friends" :)

Speaking of clothes... this morning I had Will all dressed for school and decided to snap a few pics because he was trying to put his shirt in his mouth and it was so darn cute. Of course, while I was taking these pics Will hard core spit up all over himself. I then had to go through three outfits before I found something that fit him! I'm talking clothes that fit him last week, and this morning I couldn't even zip or snap them. I feel like I'm mothering the Jolly Green Giant or something!

Life is Good