Wes Wild: 18 Months Old

Wes! You are a year and a half old! This is such a cute stage and you are doing so many fun things now! Here are some highlights:

On Oct 11, you graduated from your helmet! It was such an emotional day for me. We went in for your checkup, did your measurements and they said you were looking fantastic and that you could be done wearing your helmet. They let you ring the little bell in the hallway, and we all took a group pic. I cried when I got in the car, just because your helmet had been such a big part of you for so long, and it was also something that you and I handled mostly by ourselves while your dad was deployed. And plus, you just looked so cute with it on! Everywhere we went, people wanted to talk about it because you were so cute. We came home and put your helmet in your memory box. I'll always remember you in it!

For Halloween this year, we dressed you up as a baby shark. There was a popular song called "Baby Shark" for kids, so we thought that was pretty funny. Daddy got a daddy shark costume - a big onesie - that he wore so you guys were twins! We pushed you in your toy car while your sisters trick-or-treated and you LOVED it. You seemed very excited to be out with everyone.

For Thanksgiving, we traveled to Didi and Pops' house in Beaumont. We spent the week there hanging out with family, then went to Crystal Beach for Thanksgiving. You loved riding on the golf cart down the beach and fell asleep almost every time. You also loved your Thanksgiving dinner and ate so much! On our last day there, we went to Galveston to see an ice castle. We had to bundle up in giant jackets to go in. You didn't like being so cold in there, so me and you left early and went to the gift shop where you pulled all the stuffed animals off the shelves for 45 mins while we waiting on everyone else.

For Christmas, Didi and Pops came to visit us. We decorated cookies and wore ugly Christmas sweaters and your favorite gift was a giant tunnel that you can crawl through like the one they have at daycare.

In Feb, you started becoming more expressive with your emotions. You learned how to crinkle your eyebrows like you were confused and you did it all the time - it was the cutest! Daddy gave you your first at-home haircut in Feb, too. He did a pretty good job! We had a few snow days in Feb so that was fun! You loved bundling up and going out to play in the snow with your sisters. In Feb, you also learned how to crawl up into the dining room chairs and get to stuff on the table. This is the worst! Because whatever is on the table, you make a giant mess of. If sisters leave their crayons on the table, you throw them everywhere!

In March, we roadtripped to Disneyland and Didi and Pops met us there. You really liked Disneyland! You pretty much fell asleep on every dark, slow ride we went on (Small World, Little Mermaid, Pirates of the Caribbean, etc) and it was really cute. When we went to meet some princesses, you didn't want to go over to see them, so you stood by me and daddy. Your sisters went over and were talking to the princesses and Ariel said "Oh, who's that little Flounder over there? I bet he's silly. Is he silly?" and Elle said no and Ariel said "Oh, so he's more serious - more like a Sebastian??" The girls thought that was hilarious!

One of you favorite things to do that we tell you not to do is to play with the cats' food and water. You love to take cat food out, put it in the water bowl, put it on the floor, put it in little toy cups that you have. You like dunking things in the cat water bowl. You do it all the time even though we always tell you not to!

You also love to "sing" into microphones. Your sisters have a couple microphones and you love to carry them around the house singing. You basically open your mouth wide, shove the microphone almost inside then go "aaaaaahhhhhhhh" over and over again. :)

You also really love to play in the toilets - so gross! We put child locks on all the bathroom doors and we have to keep the doors closed so that you don't go in there, take the toilet brushes and make a giant mess by splashing water everywhere!

You really like to eat and you get pretty fussy around dinner time every day because once someone starts preparing food in the kitchen, you want to eat right then so you just follow them around and wine at their feet. You know so many signs from baby sign language videos daddy shows you. You can say water and cracker and so when you're hungry you point at your mouth and then hit one arm with the other hand, the sign for cracker. You also learned how to say "poop" in sign language, which is pretty funny.

You are still so cute that your dad and I say it a million times a day - "why are you so cute??" We call you "bub," "bubby" and "brother" for nicknames. You are still a very happy baby and you have the best laugh. You love to be chased and to play hide and seek.

You've learned a lot more words lately. I think your first word was either "hot" or "bo-bo." Our grass outside gets hot in the sun, so we taught you that it was hot and now you say "hhh" for "hot." (Sounds like just the first part of the word - like an "h" sound.) You do say "mama" and "dada" sometimes, but not to us really, more like just walking around saying it. You know how to say "flower" but it sounds more like "flala." One time I swear you pointed to a picture of a cat and say "kii caa" - but you've never said it again so I'm not sure. When you do your "poop" sign, sometimes you say "poooo" at the same time.

We know you understand a lot of words because if we ask you to find something, you can do it. Or if we ask you to throw something away, you can do that, too. One time the TV remote was missing so we asked you where it was and you opened up a drawer where you keep your toys and got the remote out - haha!

You also really love to dig in the trash can. We put something in, you take it out. You are ALWAYS over there opening the trash and sticking your head in to see what's in there.

You love to be outside and you love to play in water, whether it's outside or the bath tub. Water always makes you happy. You can play in the bathtub for hours, especially if we keep the water running for you, even just a trickle, because you like to be able to fill up cups and pitchers with water and then dump them out. You also like to stand up close to the faucet and stick your belly out so that the water runs down your belly.

We still give you a bottle every night before bed because we just love snuggling you up close so much. We put you in your pjs and your sleep sack and snuggle you up - your dad and I take turns every other night. You don't usually fall asleep on us, so we usually put you in your bed still awake. Lately you've been standing up in your bed and pointing at your rocking chair, so we rock you for a few minutes then lay you back down.

You love riding in your toy car that we push around. You sit in it and hold the steering wheel with your two little hands and just look at everything while we push you around. You love to hold a rock in one hand when you ride, so if you don't have one, you point at the rocks until we give you one. (In El Paso, everyone has rocks in their yards.) The front of your car lifts up for a little trunk and you love to put rocks in there and routinely stand up while we're riding to open your trunk and check out what's in there.

You are very good at climbing. We had to take some steps off the swingset outside so that you can't climb up into the top part. You climb on the garbage cans in the bathrooms to get into the bathtubs. If there's a stool, you'll climb on it! You can finally climb onto the couch by yourself, which makes us nervous because we don't want you to fall off. You love to climb onto the benches of the picnic table on the patio - that makes us nervous, too.

You don't like getting in trouble, so when we do get you in trouble for doing something wrong, you really cry about it - like loud wails and run all over the house like you are just heartbroken. You have a very sweet personality and really are such a lover. You know how to blow kisses, you always want to be picked up and really are just happy if someone carries you on their hip around the house all day. You always give hugs and kisses if asked.

We just love you SO MUCH, and feel so lucky that you are in our family! Love you, little bub!

Happy Birthday, Wes!

All footage captured by Jon. Music by Dave Matthews. Full birth story here. 

Happy first birthday, sweet Wes! You have completed our family! And what a fantastic grand finale you are! You are the sweetest, best baby in the whole world. You bring so much joy to our family every day with your smiles and your snuggles and you bright blonde hair. We love you more than words can say, and we are so, so happy that you are ours! 

Wes Wild: 1 Year Old

You are one year old, baby Wes!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

The last month of your first year was an exciting one because you were trying so hard to walk! You learned to cruise with your walker. The only problem is you don't know how to turn corners so you walk straight until you run into something, then whine until we come and help you around the obstacle. :)

You walked for the first time on Oct 18 - so just a few weeks after your first birthday! It was so fun and we got it on video, even though they said you'd been walking a few steps here and there at school before we saw it for the first time.

Speaking of school, your favorite toy at daycare is a blue doctor dress up shirt that you can pull on yourself over your helmet. Your teachers say you wear it all day long, and they even took a photo of you in it and made it your cubby photo. You are smiling so big and I can tell you really love that shirt. HAHA! So cute!

For your first birthday, we decided to go with the "Wild One" theme since you are our Wes Wild. We decorated with play animals and greenery and got you a carrot cake to smash. You loved it, especially the icing! We invited the Brenneman's over and we all watched you smash your cake. Then we ate chili (and you loved that, too). For your big gift, we got you a car that you can ride in that we can push and you LOVE that. Months later, you still absolutely love taking walks around the neighborhood in your car. You stay in even though you aren't buckled and just sit and hold onto the steering wheel like you're really driving. It's the absolutely cutest. Your car has a front compartment like a trunk that you can put stuff in, and you like to put toys in it and then routinely open it to check on them throughout our walks. :)

We are so thankful that we get to be the ones to watch you learn and grow, baby boy! You are the best baby we could have ever asked for to complete our family. I love you x 100 million!!

Wes Wild: 11 Months Old

Wes! You are almost 1 year old!! I can't believe you are 11 months old now!

You continue to grow like a weed and you are so smart. We put up a baby gate between the living room and the kitchen when you started crawling, and the gate has a pet door in it for the cats. Well, this month you learned how to crawl through the pet door - haha!! So we had to zip tie it closed! You were so sad when you saw it was stuck closed and you couldn't sneak through anymore.

You are now eating all solid foods at school and at home. You are a great eater and like everything. With your sisters, I did baby food for much longer, but you are ready to start eating actual food so that's what we're doing. You never really liked being fed with a spoon - you'd rather do it yourself. One of your favorite places to eat at is Chipotle because you love the rice and beans!

Another difference between you and your sisters is in how you play. You are very easily occupied playing by yourself with your toys. Sometimes, you'll wander down the hallway into your room and just play with your toys by yourself. We love that you can be self entertained sometimes! You like to study your toys and really seem curious about how they work. You also do this with things around the house like the baby gate or knobs on a cabinet - you can see your brain working trying to figure everything out!

You hate it when your sisters go in their room to play without you and close the door. You bang on their door until they finally let you in.

We just love you so much, little man! Now it's time to start planning your first birthday party! :)

Wes Wild: 10 Months Old

You are ten months old, baby boy! You continue to be on the move and this month, we got you a brand new walker so that you can really get around the house! 

You had been using a wagon that your sisters have but we'd have to load it up with stuff to make it heavy enough that it wouldn't fall over while you were trying to stand with it, so finally I just ordered you a legit walker and you love it! You can't walk with it yet, but you love pulling up to stand on it and I can tell it won't be long before you're cruising with it!

You are still pulling up on everything like crazy. You've also started babbling lots of sounds - "lala," "mama" and "dada" are some of them, but you don't know what the words mean. It's still really cute to hear you say "mama," though! 

You really love to eat and your daycare teachers have started giving you more solid foods because if everyone is eating except you, you start to yell really loud - HAHA! So they put you at the table with everyone else and give you the stuff that you can eat. 

This month has been so fun with daddy being back. You continue to warm up to him, but I'm still you're go-to if you need to be comforted, especially in the night. 

I wish I could say you are a good sleeper, but you are not! It's probably the only bad thing about you! You continue to wake up multiple times a night and have since you were born. You are still sleeping in our room in the Pack 'N Play, but we've started talking about sleep training you and moving you to your crib. Now that daddy's back, I'm ready to do that, but I wasn't before. I've loved having you so close all these months. 

Love you more than anything, baby boy! Keep growing! 

Wes Wild: 9 Months Old

Happy nine months, baby boy! This was a BIG MONTH for you (and for our whole family) because daddy came home!!

Daddy was SO EXCITED to see you! We went to the welcome home ceremony and it took FOREVER and we didn't end up seeing daddy until almost 11pm. You were so tired, probably wondering what in the world we were doing up so late and who in the world was this man we were so excited to see. You did not warm up to daddy right away - you still preferred me for a while - and daddy would joke that you thought of him as "man that lives with mom." HAHA! But daddy is just so happy to be home with us to watch you learn and grow and get to know your fun personality!

You also got your first tooth this month and started eating more solid foods. I still stay away from vegetables because I'm worried about making you sick so you get a lot of fruits, eggs and breads right now. You're also able to drink out of a straw now, so we got you your own water bottle to keep in the fridge - you love it!

You've become a super fast crawler and can jet all over the house to get whatever or wherever you want!

We went on a little trip this month to celebrate daddy being home. We loaded up and drove to Scottsdale, AZ. We stayed at a couple really fun hotels, which was both fun and challenging with you. Challenging because you crawled all over the hotel room and we'd find you digging in the carpet trying to find things to put in your mouth - SO GROSS! But so fun because you LOVED the hotel pool! (And we spent a ton of time in the pool because it was so hot in AZ.) You loved us holding you in the pool and were so relaxed. That shouldn't have been a surprise because you also love love love bath time - you are just a water baby! We had a floaty for you and you would float in it but you didn't love it - more preferred us to hold you in the water.

We also spent a lot of time at splashpads this month. I would just plop you down by a water spout and you'd sit and fill up, then dump out your buckets for hours. Your swim suit bod is my FAVORITE! Love you, little man!

Wes Wild: 8 Months Old

You are 8 months old, baby Wes! This month had some pretty big developments!

You are still sleeping in a Pack 'N Play in my room by my bed, and one night I heard a knocking sound. Turns out it was your helmet knocking against the wall as you figured out how to go from laying to sitting. Now every time I come get you in the morning, you're sitting up, smiling at me. Ohmygosh, it's the cutest thing ever!

You also learned how to crawl this month!! The first time you crawled it was because you were trying to get your sisters' shoes. This was your first time legit crawling - not Army crawling or scooting like you had been doing. I got it on video. Me and your sisters were so proud of you! We kept moving the shoes farther back so you would keep crawling to them - you did not like that! :)

It's a good thing your dad comes home next month because it's time to do some baby proofing!

You also started pulling up shortly after you learned to crawl. When you get to a standing position, you look SO PROUD! It's so fun to watch you learn and grow, love bug!

Wes Wild: 7 Months Old

I can't believe you are seven months old, Wes Wild!

You had one REALLY big development in your seventh month - you got a helmet! We've been seeing a specialist since you were two months old, and finally decided this month to go ahead and get a helmet. This was a big adjustment for you and for me! We had to slowly transition you into the helmet - wearing it for a few hours at first and then building up until you wear it everyday, 23 hours a day, with only an hour break in the afternoons to clean it. Weirdly, I cried when you got your glasses, but did not cry when you got your helmet - I think because you just looked SO AMAZINGLY CUTE in it!! :) 

You adjusted to the helmet very well, and I am so glad. At first it was kind of big on your head and twisted a bit to bother your ears. We went in and had it adjusted a bit and it was much better after that. The more your head grew, the more comfy it seemed for you. You don't mind one bit when I put it on you - you just sit still so I can do it. 

We have to clean it every day by spraying it down with rubbing alcohol. It helps keep it from getting stinky from your head sweat. It had affected the kind of clothes I can put you in. Because I don't want to be taking the helmet on and off all day and I don't want your daycare to, either, I now dress you shirts that can stretch over the helmet or unbutton completely like the kimono style onesies. 

Everyone that sees you has to comment on how cute you are. Your helmet is quite the conversation starter! So many people ask about why you have it or tell me about their baby that had a helmet. Little kids LOVE to ask questions about it. I always answer by telling them that your helmet is helping to make your head nice and round. One little girl in Elle's class at school asked me if you were wearing it because you ride a motorcycle. BEST comment ever! :) 

You can't wear your helmet when you're bathing or swimming because it can't get wet so we always take it off for that. Also, if it's a really hot day and we're outside, I will take it off to let you cool down a bit. We got you a special clip on fan for your stroller to help keep you cool in the El Paso heat!

You also had a terrible visit to the emergency room this month. I had noticed you were acting funny with one of your legs when I would pick you up. You were holding it close to your body and whining like it hurt. I went ahead and took you into the emergency room, and they were worried that your leg joint might have an infection in it so they had to run some tests. It was CRAZY hard to get blood out of your little veins. They poked you so many times. It was terrible. I usually do not do well with needles but I was there with you every step of the way. I held you and watched everything they did. I willed them to find a vein that worked. Finally they ended up pricking your heel and squeezing the blood out drop by drop. It was the WORST! You were so hungry but they didn't want you to eat in case you ended up needed a treatment that required an empty stomach. You cried and cried and I walked and bounced you and we were there for so long. It really was a terrible, terrible night. Finally, all of the tests came back negative and we got to go home at 11pm. Wren and Elle were with us and the nurses gave them peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and juice because we were there for so long. On the way home, I went through the McDonald's drive thru and we all got midnight snacks.

The next day when you woke up, your little body was covered in tiny red dots. I texted a photo of it to your Aunt Kelli (because she's a nurse), and she said it looked like Fifth or Sixth Disease, a common infection that babies can get. It can also cause joint pain, which is most likely why you were holding your leg funny. I was relieved to know what it was but also hated that I had put you through all of that terribleness the night before for nothing. But I guess better safe than sorry. That was such a terrible experience!!

I started trying out some solid foods with you this month, and it did not go so well. Every time I would feed you a vegetable puree, you would get really really sick a few hours later. (Fruits were fine, though!) Usually, I was feeding it to you for dinner, so a few hours into sleep, you'd wake up projectile vomiting all over your bed. It scared me to death! I'd have to clean you and your bed up, then I'd cover myself in towels and let you sleep on me. You'd puke until there was nothing in your stomach and then you would just dry heave. I felt so bad for you! It took me a few times to figure out the pattern, so I did some internet research and there is a condition where you can be allergic to the proteins in vegetables. I asked your doc about it but he wasn't concerned, just said to stay away from anything that's made you sick before and try other foods. Not going to lie, it kind of scared me away from solid foods for a bit. I decided to try new foods earlier in the day on the weekend days moving forward - that way if you got sick, at least it wasn't during the night when we needed to be sleeping. 

This month it got hot enough to introduce you to some of El Paso's splash pads - our favorite thing to do in the summer months! You love splashing in the water! We also celebrated Mother's Day this month - so happy I get to be your mom and that you joined (and completed!) our family, baby boy! 

Wes Wild: 6 Months Old

Baby boy! You've been a part of our lives for HALF A YEAR! And we feel the luckiest!

During your sixth month, you mastered rolling both ways (so you were no longer stuck on your belly!) and you learned to scoot. The scooting phase is always one of my favorites - I never know where you'll end up around the house. Once I found you stuck between the TV stand and the lamp. And usually, you'll scoot until you scoot yourself into a corner, then you get mad that you can't scoot anymore and start to cry. I rescue you, put you back in the middle of the room and you start scooting again! :)

In your last update, I wrote that you got glasses, but you hated them on your face. During your sixth month, we went back to the eye doctor and talked to her about how you'd rather eat your glasses than wear them. She suggested we start patching your good eye for two hours a day to make your weak eye do more work. She said we could do that instead of the glasses and see what happens, so we are! Every day when you get home from daycare, we put on your patch. You don't seem to mind it, thankfully. And you are the cutest little pirate baby I've ever seen!

You celebrated your first Easter this month! Didi and Pops came to visit for Easter, and you got your own Easter basket filled with bath toys and cool eye patches and fun diapers - all the things a baby needs!

The weather started to warm up this month, so we were able to play outside more, which you love.

You light up our lives, baby boy! We love you!

Wes Wild: 5 Months Old

Wes! You are a big five month old now! There were two really big things that happened during your fifth month...

One of the biggest things that happened for you this month was that you learned to roll from back to belly! Then every time I put you down on your back, you immediately rolled onto your belly. However, you were not usually happy to be on your belly and then would get mad until someone put you back on your back, but then you would immediately flip again to your belly! HAHA! Babies are silly!

Another pretty big thing during your fifth month - you got glasses! You absolutely hate them and never wear them, though. But you look SO CUTE during the five seconds a day you keep them on your face. :) Your pediatrician saw something with one of your eyes and referred us to an eye specialist. At our first appointment, they dilated your eyes and did an eye exam. She said you have an astigmatism in one of your eyes and the glasses will help correct it so that you don't need surgery down the road. I cried in the hallway after she told us that. Then I called your dad and told him that I just felt so sorry for you - no baby wants to wear glasses! But if it means no surgery, then we will definitely do what we have to do to make your eyes better! 

You continue to be the happiest baby on the block. I really don't know what I did before I had such a big hunk of love in my life. You're always smiling and making everyone around you smile. SO happy that you are ours, baby boy! SO HAPPY! 

Wes Wild: 4 Months Old

Little brother! You are four months old now! That seems so old, and you are growing like a weed! You celebrated your first New Year's Eve and New Year's Day during your fourth month. You also outgrew your 0-3 month clothes, and I broke out the 3-6 month clothes, even though they are still a tad bit too big on you.

You started daycare this month, and the transition went pretty good except that you've pretty much been sick ever since your first week. You are happy when you are there and you nap good and you seem to be fine with being there. But being around all those kiddos with all their germs has done a number on your immune system. You caught a cold after your first week, which then turned out to be the flu and double ear infections! You got a terrible cough that sounded like a barking seal and made me very nervous. Then once I thought you were getting better, you started running a fever, which thankfully only lasted a couple days. Then Wren got sick and you got sick AGAIN - sneezing and coughing all day.

I really hope you will get over all of it soon! The good news is that it doesn't seem to phase you. You continue to be the happiest baby on the block! Smiling and laughing, kicking your legs and sucking your hands all day long!

This month you definitely found your hands and realized you love to eat them. You're also getting better at grabbing toys and bringing them to your mouth. You get REALLY excited when we show you a toy and immediately bring your arms together in the middle to try to grab it.

You've gotten a lot better at tummy time this month, mostly because they do it with you multiple times a day at daycare, which I am thankful for. We've been putting you in your Bumbo seat for short periods of time and you do like that, until you get too tired of holding your big head up. :)

At your four month check up, you weren't able to get your four month shots because you had just been running a fever. The doctor still does not feel good about the shape of your head, so they are recommending we put you in a helmet when you turn 5 months. I ordered some head shaping pillows to use for this month to see if we can get some improvement. Also, your doctor wants us to get your eyes checked out. He thinks one of them turns in toward your nose, which might mean you need baby glasses. :( We will see what the specialist says.

You started sleeping for longer chunks of time during your fourth month - 5-6 hours at a time! Except when you were sick, then you went back to waking up every 2 hours, which was not fun. Our nightly routine is for me to put the girls to bed at 8pm. Then I put you in the bath, which you love, and I pour water all over you and show you your bath book and you smile and kick your legs and wiggle your body until you're almost falling off your bath seat. Then I get you all lotioned up and in a clean onesie, zip you into your swaddle and feed you one last bottle. You usually fall alseep during your bottle and I can transfer you to your Rock 'N Play, but sometimes you are awake after your bottle. When that happens, I'll put you in your bouncer and bounce you until you fall asleep. Usually I'll watch TV or work on my computer while I bounce you, and you just stare at my face the whole time and when I look over at you, a slow sweet smile spreads across your face and it is my favorite thing EVER!

You are the happiest baby I've ever known, and I am just so happy that you are ours. You are such a fun addition to our family, and I can't imagine our lives without you in it!

Wes Wild: 3 Months Old

Wes Wild! Happy 3 months old! Your third month was a fun one because you got to celebrate your first Christmas with your aunt, uncle, Didi and Pops! Everyone came to El Paso for Christmas and we all had fun celebrating together. Even though you weren't too interested in them, you did get a few gifts for your first Christmas. You got a Bumbo seat with a tray for your toys, you got a cool toy car with a surfboard on top and you got a super soft blanket to snuggle with in your car seat.

On Christmas Eve, we all wore ugly Christmas sweaters, and you even had one! It was tiny and had the Grinch on it. You looked super cute!

I was still on maternity leave during your third month, so we did a lot of snuggling while your sisters were at school. I wrapped a lot of Christmas presents while you watched me from your bouncy chair.

You learned how to grab things this month, starting with your burp rag. If it was on your lap, you would grab it and bring it up to snuggle by your face.

You also let out your first real laugh this month, and it is the best sound ever - super squeaky! You continue to be so smiley and happy all the time. The only time you really get upset is when you are hungry or when you're sleepy and want someone to cozy you up for sleep.

We love you so much! So happy you are part of our family, Wes!

Wes Wild: 2 Months Old

Little Wes, I love this photo of you so much! Your little face just looked like it was made out of clay! Like I could mold it with my hands! :)

Your second month continued to be just as sweet as your first. We dressed you up as Batman for your first Halloween, but it turned out to be a super cold, rainy night so you couldn't go trick or treating with your sisters. You went out for a sec, and then headed back home with your dad to hand out candy.

The biggest milestone for our family during your second month happened on Nov 8 when your dad deployed to Korea. He was so sad to leave you. He'll be back when you are 9 months old this summer. It was really hard for me to adjust to not having him there to help with you, and the first couple weeks he was gone were hard, but I'm happy to say that we got in a good groove eventually and all is good now.

At the end of your second month, we took a road trip to the other side of Texas to spend Thanksgiving with your Dengler side of the family. You got to meet your Didi and Pops, Aunt Brianne and Uncle Andy and all your other extended family! Your pops flew to El Paso to make the drive with us. We thought it would be an easy trip because you loved your carseat and slept in it really well, but it turned out to be pretty stressful. You would wake up ready to eat and sometimes there was no where to stop and you would just cry and get so upset that you would have these terrible coughing fits. Then once we got to Houston, we hit some horrible traffic and you were so upset and it was all just bad. But we made it to Beaumont and had a great week with family and friends, and I'm thankful for those memories. I think we'll just hold on another major road trip for a while. ;)

You transitioned from sleeping on your Boppy pillow to sleeping in your Rock 'n Play during your second month, but you continued waking up every 3 hours at night to eat. By this time, I was used to it and operating pretty well on 5-6 hours of sleep a night. I realized this month that you didn't sleep as good when your arms were tucked down by your sides, so I found a swaddle that lets you keep your arms up by your face and you started sleeping much better with that.

During your second month, you started having some scary reflux issues. You would sometimes vomit after eating and then choke on the vomit. It was terrifying to watch. You would vomit, then I would immediately have to suck your mouth out with a bulb syringe so that you could breath. The scariest part was when it happened at night. At your two month check up, I told the doctor about it and they sent us to a specialist to do a barium test. You had to lay on this xray table and drink barium (a thick white liquid) out of a bottle while they took xrays. The test showed that you did have pretty bad reflux. I did some research and learned that ready to feed formula worked better for babies with reflux than powder formula so we switched to that and you stopped vomiting immediately. One day, I only had powder formula with me so I fed it to you and you vomited twice after that. That's when I knew for sure that the powder formula was not working, so I stopped feeding it to you. Since that day, we've only used ready to feed formula and you haven't vomited since!

Also at your two month check up, your doctor referred you to a specialist to get your flat head checked out, so we did and you were diagnosed with Torticollis just like your sister, Elle, had. So we started head positioning and stretching exercises with you to work your neck muscles and even out your head.

But aside from all that not so fun stuff, my favorite thing about your second month was when you started smiling! And you have the sweetest smile that just lights up your face. I took a photo of you every time you smiled and sent it to your dad so he could see the cuteness.

We love you so much, Wes Wild, and are having a blast watching you grow!

Wes Wild: 1 Month Old

Oh, Wes! Our first month with you was so snuggly, so cuddly, and sooooo sleepy. I forgot how tiring it is to have a newborn! The first few weeks, you mostly slept and ate. Your dad and I took turns holding you allllll day and night long. We really didn't put you down much! You were born with just the sweetest disposition. I could tell that you were calm and so loving, and that has 100% continued to be true.

I feel like I called the doctor a lot more with you during those first few weeks than I did with your sisters. I didn't know anything about healing a circumcision so we called a couple times for that, and we also called about you looking a little yellow in the eyes one day. Everything turned out perfectly fine, but I felt like I was acting like a brand new mom! You definitely brought some new things into our life!

During your first month, you slept best either being held or on your Boppy lounger. You liked to sleep at an incline, not flat on your back, even though we tried that. You woke up every 2-3 hours to eat, all day and all night, and your dad and I took turns feeding you. Even though those middle of the night feedings were so tiring, they were also so sweet. I tried to soak in that feeling of snuggling you in the night when the rest of the world was asleep.

You were our first baby that didn't HAVE to be swaddled to sleep. Sometimes when you just couldn't settle, we would swaddle you and you would calm down, but you didn't have crazy arms (again - you were so calm!) and you could easily fall asleep without being swaddled. You were also our first baby that really liked the pacifier and used it for longer than your sisters did.

Before you were born, everyone warned us that we would get peed on a lot, and that did happen a few times (and was always such a surprise!), but thankfully not as often as people warned. By the end of your first month, we were able to get through diaper changes without any accidents, which was good!

Your very first outing was to your 1 week doctor's appointment. Then after that, we did quite a few things during your first month. We took you to the zoo twice, the pumpkin patch another day and Chalk the Block in downtown El Paso. We also took new family photos during your first month - you slept through the whole thing. And your Grandma and Grandpa Klock and Uncle Seth came to meet you right at the end of your first month, which was super fun.

We just love you so much, Wes Wild, and look forward to watching you grow!

Wes Wild: A Birth Story

Wes' birth story starts really early on the morning of September 28, 2018 - Like 3am early! We had scheduled Wes to be induced on his due date, which was September 28 - also our wedding anniversary! (Awwww!) We were all packed and ready to check in to the hospital at 6am, but during the 3am hour, I woke up to contractions. I started timing them and they were pretty regular! I couldn't go back to sleep, so I stayed laying in bed, timing contractions and wondering if I should wake Jon up.

Around 4am, Jon woke up and asked what I was doing awake. I told him I was having contractions, they were 4 to 5 minutes apart, lasting about 1 minute, and getting increasingly more painful. We both got up and got ready to head to the hospital. At 5:30, we got ourselves in the car and started driving. Since there is a Starbucks across the street from the hospital, Jon decided to stop off and grab a coffee in the drive thru. This Starbucks always has a long line in the morning, and sure enough, even at 5:30am, there was a line. I remember sitting behind a car that must've ordered the whole menu while I was having a painful contraction. I joked that they needed to hurry up because I was having a baby!!!

We got to the hospital and up to the labor and delivery floor at 6am. They took us to the room where we would deliver the baby and got us settled. I put on my hospital gown and they hooked everything up to my belly. They asked me if I was having any contractions, and I let them know that I was. At 7am, when they checked me for the first time, I was 4-5 centimeters dilated! All on my own! Without an induction! I was super excited about that.

They held off on the Pitocin to see if I would continue to progress on my own. Also, once I was hooked up to the machines, they noticed that Wes' heart rate would slow down whenever I had a contraction. That was another reason they did not want to start the Pitocin. At first, it didn't seem like that big of a deal, but as my contractions progressed, the nurses started to act more worried about his dropping heart rate. They had me shift positions, onto my side, to see if that would help - it didn't. His heart rate would slow down so much during each contraction that sometimes it almost seemed to stop. We could hear it on the monitors and it was a scary sound when it got very slow. The nurses said it was most likely just his position as he was traveling down the birth canal, but I started to panic. I didn't want anything to happen to him and I also didn't want an emergency C-section. I got very nervous and started crying a few times. In general, I felt very nervous on the day of Wes' birth. I had previously had two completely smooth birth experiences, and I was just really nervous about having something go wrong with this third one. I had a lot of anxiety leading up to the day and on the day of.

Time flew by as I labored, and they told me I could have my epidural at any time. I felt like I was ok for a bit - the contractions weren't unbearable - so I held off for a couple hours. Around 8am, I requested my epidural, but it took the anesthesiologist an hour to make it to my room. By that time, I was in a lot of pain and wishing I would have requested it earlier! The epidural went totally fine, and I was pain free in no time, around 9am.

At 10:45am, I felt something wet between my legs and thought my water had broke. I asked Jon to come take a look. He didn't tell me what he saw, just told me to call the nurse. When the nurse came in, she took a look and said, "Oh, that's blood!" I panicked a bit. Was that normal? She told me it was and said that probably meant it was baby time. She checked me and sure enough, I was fully dilated and it was time to push!

The nurse paged my doctor who works in the building next door and she came right over. By 11am, I was ready to push! I pushed a few times and time seemed to slow down. It felt like nothing was happening. I remembered how fast the pushing had gone with Elle, and I started to get nervous that this would take longer, but I was wrong! Only 12 minutes later, our little Wes Wild was here!



As soon as he came out, Jon cut the cord, they cleaned him off a tiny bit, wrapped him up and put him on my chest. He curled up against me with his little hands on the side of his face and stayed like that for a while! I immediately fell in love with him. I could just tell his sweet, loving spirit in that first moment! It was literally love at first site. I was so nervous about having a boy after having two girls and didn't know how I would feel, but I fell in love with that little boy the second I saw his face and have only fallen more and more in love with him every day since. It was such a calming thing to immediately know that yes, this was the person that was supposed to complete our family. He was perfect for us. I knew that immediately.



The fun thing is, my body did this one all on its own! They never gave me Pitocin before the birth! (They did give it to me after he was born to help everything contract back down.) So induction or no induction, this little boy was coming out right on time on his due date! Now every year, we will celebrate his birthday and our anniversary on September 28, and we'll always remember what a perfect anniversary gift he was. :)



After he was born, I just held him for an hour or so, snuggled against my chest, while my epidural wore off. I will always remember that time of us snuggling, me eating a sandwich from the cafeteria and drinking a Sprite, Jon taking photos, us talking about his little face and hands and his light hair. Once it was time for us to move to our recovery room, Jon took him and held him for the first time while I got ready to relocate. They started me on my Pitocin drip at that time, and that's when the after birth contractions started. These were so painful for me after Elle's birth and even more painful after Wes' birth. I experienced them for days after we got home and sometimes I would just cry through them because they hurt so bad. It was like labor contractions all over again, but for days!

Jon's mom came to El Paso for Wes' birth to help us with the girls, so Jon was able to stay with me at the hospital that first night. No one got much sleep, though! Wes would not sleep in the bassinet, and I was terrified for someone to fall asleep while holding him. So we alternated being awake all night and taking turns holding him and changing diapers, and I just remember how exhausted my body was. I was so thankful when the sun started to come up. At this hospital, there was no nursery that could take him for a few hours to let us sleep. That was rough! But we made it through!

The next morning, Wes got to meet his sisters for the first time! I had bought presents for the girls from Wes and I gave them to the girls when they got to the hospital. I remember Elle kept asking how they were from Wes, like how did he get them?? I told her he drove to the store and picked them out himself - they thought that was hilarious.

Wes also got his first sponge bath that morning, and he was circumcised. We were very nervous about the procedure and had done a lot of research before about if we even wanted to do it or not. We decided in the end that we would do it, but we chose our own doctor to do it and he came to the hospital and performed the procedure. Jon's mom cried when they took Wes back for it - we all anxiously awaited his return. He came back sleeping, completely peaceful, all bundled up nice and tight. We were so relieved that it went well and that he was ok!



We were cleared to go home later that day, so we only spent one night in the hospital! We headed home as a family of five, and our arms and hearts have been SO FULL ever since.

Naming our Wes Wild

Below are a few words about the inspiration behind our little Wes Wild's name if you'd like to know how we chose it -

Wes: Jon's middle name is Wesley and we've always loved that name, but all of our kids have one syllable first names, so we decided to shorten it to Wes. I love that Wes is named after his dad - how special is that?! I also just love, love the name Wes and it seems to fit him so well so far! 

Wild: When choosing a middle name, we wanted a nature inspired name that started with the same letter as his first name. Since we knew we were leaning toward the name Wes, we started looking for nature inspired words that started with "W." When we landed on Wild, we loved the way the two names sounded together! 

Wes was our easiest baby to name. We started out with a list of names but right from the start, we loved Wes Wild. We thought about playing with the spelling of Wild, but ended up keeping it simple. I'm so glad we did!

Introducing...

Wes Wild Klock

Born September 28, 2018 at 11:12 am

7lbs 3oz, 17 3/4 inches long

Wes Wild Klock joined our family on his due date AND on Jon and I's wedding anniversary - 9/28/18. He came into the world with the sweetest disposition, and we are so excited to get to know him and watch him grow. 💙