Billy Went to New Jersey

In mid-September, Billy went on his first road trip to meet his Great Grandmother and his Aunt, Uncle and cousins. The trip had several firsts in it for Billy - his first long road trip, first night spent in a hotel, and he started on Rice Cereal! His first solids!













Billy was really excited about the food, and kept grabbing the spoon and shoving it as far as he could into his mouth. Most of it ended up on his chin, but what he got in his mouth he really enjoyed.

Billy stayed for several days in New Jersey. He got to meet his Aunt Deanna, Uncle Richard, cousins Cristopher, Alexis and Elizabeth, as well as Paula, John and Baba (aka Nicky!). Here he is with his aunt and Uncle, and Elizabeth.










Alexis caught a cold, so we just got a picture of her alone, giving us the all-thumbs-up!

On Tuesday, John took Daddy, Uncle Richard, and Nicky to see the Yankees play the Orioles at Yankees Stadium. Jeremy was so excited to go, because it's the third oldest MLB ballpark (built in 1921), and he wanted to see the Yankees play there before it's torn down (The Yankees are building a new ballpark that will open in 2009). Above you can see Jeremy standing next to a plaque dedicated to Babe Ruth that is on display out in center field with all the other Yankees greats. Billy was too little to go, but hopes that he'll get to go to the ballpark next year!











On Wednesday, Uncle Richard took Mommy, Jeremy and Billy to the Jersey Shore. It was Billy's first time at the beach! Here you can see him in his Point Pleasant hat that we bought on the boardwalk. He also got to go to the aquarium - he'd never seen such big fishies before! Billy really liked the seahorses, but by the time he got to the penguins, he was really hungry. The penguins were getting fed, and Billy was a little jealous, I think. He was certainly telling anyone who'd listen about it!




















But best of all, Billy like spending time with Nan, his Great Gran. She made the funniest faces and smiled at her whenever she paid any attention to him. He certainly told her lots of stories!















Billy's now 5 months old. This weekend he's going back to Ohio to hang out with Grandma Peggy and his Bonfiglio cousins! He also just got his Halloween costume in the mail - he's going to be a monkey for his first Halloween.

We'll be adding more photos then, and possibly even a video of Billy eating. Until next time,

Hugs!

Mommy, Daddy & Billy

Labor Day Visit!

Hey, gang!

Billy's now 4.5 months old. He had his 4 month pediatrician's visit, and he weighed 16 pounds, 11 ounces! That puts him in the 90th percentile for his weight. And he's now shot up to the 95th percentile for his height! He's quickly outgrowing his 3 to 6 month clothing, and will probably be in 6 months in a couple weeks.

Billy had his second round of vaccinations, and was a little trooper. He only cried when the shots were going in and stopped crying quickly as soon as it was over. Billy lost a lot of the hair he was born with, and what is growing in is a lighter brown color. Some days it looks red, somedays blonde. Daddy and Mommy are really curious to see what color it ends up.

Over the Labor Day weekend, Billy's Auntie Kris and Elm came to the Bend for a quick visit! Billy really enjoyed the company, and smiled and squealed a lot. He really liked being held by Auntie Kris, and thought Elm was a pretty funny guy. Here you can see how big Billy looks next to his "wee" Auntie:













On Labor Day we all went to the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend. The museum traces the Studebaker legacy, from the company's earliest days as a blacksmith shop (which opened in 1852 in downtown South Bend) to the 1960's, when the company was making the famous Avanti sports cars. Elm in particular enjoyed the museum; especially when he got to check out the Studebaker Hawk - a car he thought was really cool when he was a little boy collecting car magazines in the fifties.













Billy enjoyed looking around, but got hungry halfway through the first gallery. While Auntie Kris and Elm looked at the cars from the 1930s - 1940s, Mommy and Daddy ducked into the museum's coat closet for a quick nursing! Luckily it was summer time, and no one needed to wear a coat that day. Billy slept through the rest of the museum.











Here's some more touristy shots:











Finally, Billy has discovered his toes! He loves to play with them, and now, every time Mommy changes him, he tries to stuff them in his mouth and suck on them. He takes this whole business of sucking his toes very seriously.












That's it for this blog update!

All our love,

Karyn, Jeremy and Billy

Billy's Therapy Has Begun!

Hey, Gang! Just a quick update. Billy turned 16 weeks old on Thursday, and he's already starting to show a stubborn little personality! He's discovered how to roll over onto his tummy, and now we can't keep him off of it! Every time we lay him down on his back, he rolls right over. He even sleeps on his tummy at night now, even though we put him to sleep on his back - he flips right over. You can see in the pictures below how strong he's getting and how well he can hold up his head now. He still can't roll over from his belly onto his back. Billy is very frustrated by this, and usually starts fussing and crying when he wants to roll back over and can't figure it out!











The other big news is that Billy's therapy to correct his Torticollis has started. Torticollis is defined as: "A contracted state of the neck muscles that causes the neck to rotate and tilt sideways, forwards, or backwards." In Billy's case, he has trouble turning his head to the right, and prefers to look to his left. His condition is very mild, and his physical therapist, Ray, thinks that Billy's case can be corrected in a few weeks. Below, you can see the photos from Billy's first visit. Ray does the work in Billy's room, which is really convenient for Mommy!

Here Ray is loosing up Billy's shoulders. He's not too sure if he likes it or not, but he's a pretty good kid and didn't cry once!











Here Ray is stretching out Billy's neck in the first photo. He repeated it on both sides... The second cradle position stretches Billy's entire spine. Mommy is supposed to do these exercises with Billy every day! But it's not as easy for Mommy to do it as it is for Ray...












Here, Billy lays on the exercise ball and Ray tilts him from side to side. The goal is to get his neck muscles to strengthen as he tries to instinctively keep his head centered as his body tilts.










And here Billy does the same thing, but from a sitting position. You can see how much more he enjoys it when he he's face-to-face with someone. He's a little charmer!

Billy will see Ray once a week for a couple of months. And now, we've got to go because Billy is yelling for Mommy to stop typing and FEED HIM!

Love,
Karyn, Jeremy and Billy.

PS:

Billy wants to wish Auntie Kris a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

:-)

Billy Rolled Over...and Other News

Hey, gang! Today was an important day in Billy's milestones... He rolled over onto his tummy for the very first time this morning! Good Job Billy!

Although I missed the 'moment' with the camera, you can see him trying by viewing the video below or see it directly at YouTube...



Billy has been been pretty serious about rolling onto his stomach ever since we moved him from his bassinet into his crib (another important milestone!) on Sunday night. Over the weekend, we'd gone down to Ohio to visit Grandma Peggy and to meet the rest of his aunts & uncles - Jer's family was having a mini-reunion. It was completely fun, and completely chaotic with all the Bonfiglio siblings and their kids in one place! Billy seemed to enjoy every minute of it, too.

He got to meet his Uncle Joel and cousins Nicole and Jana for the first time, as well as Aunt Jill, Uncle Dave, and cousins Jordan and Dustin. He also watched as Uncle Joel took Grandma Peggy 4-wheeling!











While at Grandma's, Billy slept in a crib, so we thought that when we got home it would be the perfect opportunity to get him out of his bassinet. Although Mommy was terrified and teary-eyed about letting him sleep all by himself in his own room, Billy settled down for bed like he'd been sleeping in his crib for years... but, unbeknownst to to him, Mommy sat up for a long time listening to every peep he made on the baby monitor! And Billy made a lot of noise as he rolled around and fussed in his sleep, as well as his more concerted efforts of turning over. Usually whenever Mommy or Daddy came in to check on him or pick him up, he was sprawled out in all kinds of crazy positions on the mattress.

Billy's also learning to play on his own, thanks to an Exersaucer Grandma Peggy had! Billy's technically too little for the Exersaucer, but he took to it immediately! He stretched out his legs and spun round and round, rubbing his little hands on the yellow tray top and trying to pick up the toys we put in front of him.

He enjoyed it so much, we went out and bought him his own Exersaucer as soon as we got back home. The one we bought is for babies 4 months or older, so, at 3 months, Billy's a little bit too small for it yet. He couldn't sit in it properly. But when we sat him backwards in it, so he was standing and leaning on the backrest to support himself, he had a great time! Of course, he gets tired after about 5 minutes or so, but while he's in the Exersaucer, he learns valuable skills, like bearing weight on his legs, and hand-eye coordination as he tries to grasp and play with all the toys on the tray top!











That's all for this blog update - We hope everyone is having a great summer so far!

Love,

Karyn, Jeremy & Billy

Hey, gang! A couple of things in this week's blog: First, another too-dark-but-still-cute-video of Billy (Can we say, mommy needs a Camcorder, anyone??). Mommy shot this after Billy's diaper change this morning - he LOVES to have his diaper changed now, and loves watching his mobile when he's done.

Following the video are photos from our most recent jaunt down to Ohio to visit Grandma Peggy the last weekend in June. Click here to view the video directly from YouTube...

Billy's stylin' in his cute little Hippie Tie-Dye t-shirt and jeans shorts! Daddy coaxed Fancy up on Grandma Peggy's lounger next to Billy, and the two eyed each other for a moment... But Fancy vamoosed when Billy started flexing his legs in what looks suspiciously like a kick...

Billy got to meet his Aunt Gina for the first time...














...and everyone went outside to watch Uncle Kevin try and cut down a broken tree branch in Grandma Peggy's back yard...






...Luckily Uncle Kevin was just playing around, and wasn't hurt.


Lastly, a couple more photos of Billy, who's now11 weeks old. Here he is talking to his Fredbirds, and sucking on his fist while he sleeps. He's learning new skills every day. He's discovered that he can grab things with his hands and try to bring them to his mouth, but he's not very coordinated yet. His favorite thing to bring up to his mouth (other than his own fist) is Mommy's hand. He LOVES to slobber all over it.













Finally, Billy got his photos professionally taken by JC Penny this past weekend. He was ADORABLE. The photos will be available to order online in a few days...

Love,
Mommy, Daddy & Billy

Billy: 8 week video

Hey, gang. Here's a little glimpse of Billy at 8 weeks... I still can't get my camera's video function to record properly. Boo. And the editing software I have makes it poor quality. But Billy is still cute in the video - hope you enjoy it!

Billy gets his first round of vaccinations tomorrow. Hopefully he wont hate it too badly!



Love,

Karyn, Jeremy & Billy

Silly Billy Smiles