W.K. DeLong

Will is officially walking

Phew - boy has this little boy grown up. In just about two months he's gone from half-crawling to full-on walking and standing on his own. I'll save the details for later.

• Video clip of Will walking - (AVI - 13MB)
• Video clip of Will walking, DivX format - (AVI - 13MB)

He says this video is a birthday present to his Godmother Auntie Meg and that he can't wait to see the res of his Aunties the next few months.

(NOTE: There's a Linux version of the DivX codec as well.)

And now walking. Sort of.

He's been walking so much with us behind him and his hands grasping our index fingers as we follow behind him. For the first time today, we stuck him on his little FisherPrice push cart and he walked all over the room by himself.

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• Picture 14

Guess who's standing?

William's Nana took pictures today of him standing in his crib. Apparently he pulled himself up by himself and started jumping on the bed. Time to lower the crib! She also caught some pics of him with his first snowball.

• Look Nana! I'm standing! (03/03/2004)
• Hehehehe - watch out! Walking's next! (03/03/2004)
• What? You want me to eat it? (03/03/2004)
• Ahhhh. I don't think so. (03/03/2004)

He's Crawling!

Well, long time no update. I think I'm going to start adding back-entries for all the pictures we've taken in the past 9 months. I have a lot - I just need to find something that will automatically make an image gallery for me and will work with MovableType.

Enough technical stuff - Will is growing up so fast! He's no longer a baby - definitely a little boy. He started crawling about two weeks ago and has gone from laboriously pulling himself along the carpet to wiggling all over the place. He likes to walk too. Granted he's holding onto our index fingers but he's doubled his speed over the past week.

Melissa was up this weekend and took some amazing photos which she will post. Here's a cute preview of "Winter Will". However, Melissa is letting me post some of the videos we took which mostly consisted of Will being cute. We have a big one of him crawling but we need to shrink it first.

• Will Playing with Melissa's Camera Bag - He's just a little overfocused. AVI - (16.8MB)
• Will trying to catch a turtle. AVI - (10.2MB)
• Bathtime! AVI - (3.4MB)
• Camera play. AVI - (11.1MB)
• Bedtime story - Goodnight Moon. AVI - (11.1MB)
• Watching Baby Mozart & Singing Along. AVI - (10.6MB)
• Crawling!! AVI - (40.4MB)
• More Turtle Play. AVI - (9.8MB)

Happy Holidays

For the coming year, Will has indicated he wants a warm bed, plenty of mushy, yummy food, & other things he can stick in his mouth - as well as lots of loving people to hold & play with him.

We've made an attempt to get a tad more specific on his Amazon Wishlist for those who have asked.

Happy Halloween!!

Things are crazy at Chez DeLong but I couldn't resist posting this picture the week of Halloween. This is just one of his adorable costumes.

The 4 Month Mark

My, my - how time flies. Will is growing like a weed. His face is "chubbing" out, as I like to call it and according to several people, (including his mother and Nana), he is beginning to look like me. I'll let you decide.

Let's see - he's almost sitting on his own, now. As you'll see he spends a lot of time in his saucer, which requires him to sit-stand. He's got this incredibly infectious giggle-screech that I try my hardest to ellicit on a regular basis - mostly exploiting the fact that he's now ticklish. He's begun to "talk" in that baby "I like to hear the modulations of my own voice dragged out as long as possible" which he's also started doing at random times between 2am and 4am. At least he's happy when he's doing this kind of talking.

His reasons for getting fussy, (or frankly ripped, as it sometimes happens), are still mostly the same but unfortunately the only cries I can identify are "tired-fussy" and "pissed-angry". I haven't grasped the intricacies of the "hungry" or "bored-in-this-position" cries yet.

He's still eating on average every three hours, which is a bit frustrating. Though a coworker whose child just hit the 6 month mark said his boy slept through the night for the first time last night - after a jar of baby food.

He's VERY close to rolling over on his own. If he'll just lift his arm on the side he's rolling over onto so he can do a clean roll, he'd be fine. Almost there.

And now, the goodies:

• Will Supposedly Smiling Like his Dad (09/23/2004)
• Will Showing How He Can Stand in his Saucer (09/23/2004)
• Will Enjoying his Saucer, Post-Shower (09/22/2004)
• Will Grinning at his New Catepillar Toy. (09/16/2004)
• Will Chilling Out with Tigger. (09/08/2004)

More Pictures - Smiles Galore!

Well gosh....another month. Will is filling out fast. Cute cheeks, great smile - and he's standing. Well, not entirely - let go and goes all stiff and leans all over the place. Still - he's making remarkable progress. His reflexes are strong - everything is going to the mouth these days. All in all he's a great kid. He only gets cranky when he's REALLY hungry, overtired, (i.e. we missed his "Sleep signs"), or in pain (*sigh*.....gas). Other than that, he's happy ALL THE TIME as the below pictures attest:

• "All Your Changing Tables Is Are Belong To Us!" - The cats take over the changing area. (08/02/2004)
• "Woah - Fuzzy!" Will begins to notice Sierra the Aussie more. (08/05/2004)
• Will happy in the Bouncer. (08/05/2004)
• Yup - still smiling. (08/05/2004)
• Will on his "Circus" mat. He loves the contrasts in color. (08/06/2004)
• Same Smile, Same Bouncer - Different Day. (08/09/2004)
• Will practicing his leaning. (08/09/2004)
• Will and his Bubba (Grandpa) Jim - so who is mimicking who? (08/15/2004)
• Will and his Grandparents DeLong - they came up to visit him from Maryland for a weekend. (08/22/2004)
• Will in his psychedelic onesie. (08/28/2004)
• *sigh* Cuteness doesn't even begin to describe our Mr. Man. (08/28/2004)
• Will spent most of the weekend with his Grandma Kirk while Mom & Dad helped Uncle Nate with painting and sheetrocking. (09/05/2004)
• Uncle Nate was tired after working all day and partying all night. Will does his best to talk him into waking up. (09/06/2004)
• And finally, Will with his Great Grandmother Kirk and Grandmother Kirk at Labor Day festivities. Byebye Summer! (09/06/2004)

3 Months!

Wow. Where has the time gone? I found myself thinking this morning what the 5 years of being married to Kirky has been like and how fast they went by. Before I know it, my boy will be 5 years old. But he's still got a ways to go. So today we celebrate the 3 month mark, (it was yesterday, actually), with some new pictures of my "Mr. Man", as I lovingly call him.

He's started babbling more animatedly and has discovered how much better than a pacifier his hand is. He's grabbing onto things tightly now - including my shirt when I try to lay him down and he's partially unconscious - as well as his wet naps when I'm trying to change a dirty diaper if I don't move them far enough away. Yuck!

So here's some new pictures from last month, newest to oldest:

• A picture of Will napping in Nana's lap, evening (08/23)
• Will and his dad hanging out. Dad's tired. (08/22)
• Will getting a bath at his Aunt and Uncle's house (07/24)
• Will napping in the bed he's sharing with Mumma (07/23)
• Will chilling on the couch with his new hat (07/20)
• Will taking some 'tummy time' on a boppy (07/18)
• Happy-boy Will on his blanky (07/18)
• Happy in a Crib - I swear, he really does cry! (07/15)
• Fast Asleep - Our Little Angel (07/12)
• Still....fast asleep. (07/07)
• One Cool Cat. (07/04)

Chattering Happy Boy

Kirky & Will are back from their trip to California and I am quite happy. I took Will this morning so Kirky could get a few more hours sleep. We played for a little while and now he's passed out in his swing. Earlier this morning he was chatting up a storm so I had Meg give me a call so I could share the experience. Then I came up with the idea to record this session using my microphone/headphone unit and came up with this. Enjoy it as much as I have.

Will's First Plane Trip

I was absolutely thrilled this morning to see a new slew of pics of Will emailed to me by Kirky from CA last night. He looks like he's having a great time and his facial expressions continue to get more and more.....active.

• Will and his "Bubba" or Grandfather on the plane
• Big Playtime Yawn from Will
• Will Exercising his Tongue on the Plane
• Will Exercising his Tongue during Playtime - (do we sense a theme here?)
• Will Enjoying being Held by Nana on the Plane
• Will Watching his Big Pal Romeo Take a Nap
• Will Finally Succumbs to Sleep on the Plane
• Will looking Adorable in his Cousin's Swing
• Will is not Quite Sure What to Think as he is Dwarfed in his Cousin's Bouncy

William Speaks.....

Well, not quite. But Kirky left me a fantastic present while she and Will are in CA for the week that I'm addicted to .

Ch-ch-ch-changes

One of the most wonderful things about having a child is watching them grow before your eyes - and at this age every day brings something new with Will. He's starting to smile here and there - and not from being tickled from passing gas! He's concentrating on objects & patterns more - his daddy especially likes it when he looks into his eyes. He's starting to grasp things - he accidently kicked his Whoosit up into his hands and caught it the other day.

One of the more cute things is when he's having "tummy time" and he flails his legs like a frog on his belly. Yet put your hand behind them and he slides across said belly like a seal on a waterslide. Turtles - frogs - seals....quite the menagerie.

He's growing stronger every day too. For the last month he's been able to hold up his head - he's even doing assisted standing now. Not bad for a 7 week old.

Last weekend was his first long car trip - we got back from his second late last night where we were showing him off to his Great-Grandmother & friends. Friday he takes his first plane flight as he and his mom visit family on the Left Coast.

I haven't done much with our video camera but as soon as I figure out how to "dump" the video, I'll stick some clips online.

The Giggling Wiggler

So it seems you all have way too much time on your hands if you visit Will's site more than you visit mine. At least mine it updated more often, despite the fact that I'm not nearly as entertaining and not remotely as cute as my little boy.

Anyway, I've heard your plea for more updates so I'll start with pictures from July 4th weekend which we spent in Toms River, NJ with our friend Melissa. She took these two gorgeous pictures of our son in accompanying tutle hat, (thanks go to his cousin Christopher), and adorable "Mind the Gap" onesie, (many thanks go to Auntie Mellie, Auntie Meg, and Auntie Kristin for bringing it back from London for him.)

A Growing Boy

Hard to believe this kid is only just over one month old. Well, he had his checkup today and is doing well. He's now 8lbs, 9oz - almost a pound more than what he was a month ago. He's still as good as ever and is (mostly) letting his mom sleep through the night. (That last post, BTW, was Kirky's first blog post ever).

Anniversary & Father's day

It has been a great weekend with lots to celbrate! It was our fifth anniversary, William is a month old, and it was Ben's first father's day! Thanks to my parents, William's first baby sitter, Ben and I had a wonderful afternoon at the movies, seeing what else but "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban".

Will is growing and changing very fast. He now has the cutiest smile and is beginning to look at items and reach for them. He still gets the hiccups and sneezes often. It is amazing how stong he has gotten; Will hold his head up and looks around alot and with help he can "scootch" forward on his stomach.

Getting Settled

All is going well here at Chez DeLong - I thought I'd post an update while we're waiting for Kirky's home laptop to get back up and running. Will is trying to figure out his feeding/sleeping schedule - on Monday he was fussy for most of Monday night - Tuesday morning though he slept off-and-on throughout the day. Last night, we tried to keep him awake through baby-play from 5-9 just keeping his tummy satisfied and then gave him a big feeding just before bed. That seemed to do the trick and we got a lot more sleep than normal.

His attention span is expectedly short - he can only be in a particular position for a short amount of time. For instance, during last night's play session we had him on his tummy on a blanket on the floor for about 5 minutes, then into my arms, then in his crib, then in his swing, and finally his bouncer before going back to Kirky. This is when he's awake and alert, of course.

I'm really surprised at how active he is for only being 2wks, 4 days. He's lifting his head up, staring at objects, moving around like a wiggle worm and even grabbing at things like his pacifier.

He's back up to his birth weight and is a health, happy kid. We're very, very lucky.

Latest Pictures:

• Will using his Boppy as a bed.
• Will asleep on Kirky with cat Cheslie looking on.
• Dad and Will.

Nessa, Nessa, Little Nessa

Our dog Sierra has been spending the last few weeks at my in-laws with Savannah - their Golden Retriever where she has 300 acres to run and play in. We're nervous about how she will handle it when she comes back as she can sometimes be high maintenence.

Anyway, with her gone - our cats have been INCREDIBLY curious - specifically our most skiddish one. The "miniature Maine Coon" we've nicknames Nessa because of her likeness of a lion, has been taking several peeks into the crib and sitting next to Kirky while she nurses.

She's up for a rude awakening once the dog gets back but for now it's quite cute.

But What About Dad?

I've gotten a few comments and emails for pictures of me with my son. I haven't really felt them necessary since I wasn't the one who did the work to bring him into this world - I daresay what little I contributed was fun though those of you who have "tried to have kids" know that the part I'm talking about can often be anything but.

I changed my first diaper today solo- just a little bit wet so I was confident I could do it. When he's a real mess sometimes it takes one person comforting him, one holding his wiggle-wormy feet and legs and the other cleaning him to successfully change him. I've also been able to do some bottle feeding in addition to my usual task of burping. Makes me feel more involved.

Many of you who love babies are probably familiar with artist Anne Geddes. We've been taking the advice of our nurse practitioner to give Will some close-time in nothing but his diaper against our bare skin. There is NOTHING that beats a soft, smooth sleeping baby curled up on your chest. Nothing. I can't explain the supreme comfort and tranquility that comes from that.

Anyway, here's a few shots of me. Don't mind the hair -I've been in my jammies for 6 days now:

• Dad proudly holding his son the day after birth.
• Dad doing one of the only feedings he can do.
• Will curious after having his first bath.
• Will is not happy during changing for his bath.
• Will and Dad enjoying each other.
• Will, Mom and Dad being goofy.
• Tired Dad with sleeping Will .

More Pictures of Will

I promised Will's "Aunt Mellie" that I would post some pictures in exchange for her ability to finish some work today. Nothing like bribery.

• Kirky chatting on the phone as William sleeps.
• Will in his car seat, ready to head home.
• William and his Mother.
• More William and his Mother.
• Another picture of William with his Mother.

We're Home

Actually, we've been home for a little less than 24hrs. The first night went well and I even think I'm finally caught up on sleep. We had a feeding from 10pm - 11pm, another from 1am - 2am and another from 6am - 7am. He's doing relatively well for only being 3 days old but still is having some problems with feeding. We're working on that.

He doesn't cry much at all so far, (knock on wood), except during changing - he HATES to be cold - and when he's getting frustrated trying to get properly positioned during eating time. Other than that he's quiet and sleeps great - especially on a full tummy. When he's ready to wake up he starts chirping and puckering for about 30min before so we can all wake up gradually. Feeding is definitely a tag-team experience with all involved.

Kirky's mother has continued to be a life-saver by picking up around the house as we nap and bringing fully-ready meals up to her.

So far so good - I don't think I can sleep off and on every day until 1pm but hopefully he'll figure out feeding a little better two weeks out.

Welcome: William Kirk DeLong

The short story: welcome William "Will" Kirk DeLong born 5/22/2004, 6:13am ET, 7lbs, 14.8oz.

The longer story: later....I'm tired. Seriously, we were incredibly surprised when Kirky woke me up at 3am saying it was time. Contractions had been building up and got very strong as of midnight. We got to the hospital and 2hrs and 15min later, Will was born- Kirky was told she would be pushing for 1-3 hrs. It was 15min. She was extremely far along by the time we got there.

Will is very healthy and Kirky is doing very well too. I'm very surprised and happy at how well and quickly things moved along.

(Random quote from Brother Nate at 4am - "Don't speed- use tactical driving techniques.....*ssnnnnoooore*)

Now for the goodies:

• Will drying off from his first bath.
• Will realizing he can now stretch.
• Peaceful, sleeping Will.

Send your welcomes here: will@wkdelong.org.

IT IS TIME

Headed to the Hospital. It is time. That is all.,

The FINAL Countdown

We THINK Will will be born this weekend.

Contractions or "cramps" as Kirky calls them, are becomming more intense. They're frequent during natural induction techniques - between 5-8min apart. Then after about 30min or so they drop off to 15-20min if not more.

But the rise in intensity is a good thing, though with Kirky's pain tolerance is very. very high. So we're relying on measurements and physiological signs. :)

We're going to try to do a schedule through the night and see what happens. We're hoping for Sunday!

Disappointing day but looking up

Today's visit to the Dr. was a bit disappointing. All the while Kirky's doctor said that if the baby didn't arrive by today (the due date), she'd induce her tomorrow. Well, in 2 days Kirky was 1cm to 1.5cm so the doctor said she'd wait. Unfortunately, the doctor is not on until next SAT - a week and a day from tomorrow!

Kirky had always figured that we'd have the baby by this weekend regardless so she was crushed. We had been trying several natural means to induce her but nothing was working as fast. So we decided to do a bit more research and try something new.

I'm happy to say that, for the moment, Kirky's cramps (read: predromal contractions), are about 8min apart. My mother, (an OBGYN herself), says that we don't have to worry until they get about 5min apart and "a little more intense". Well, Kirky has an INCREDIBLE pain tolerance so we're going with time measurements. Once they're 5min apart, it could last like this for another 12 - 18hrs. So the key is about 2-3min apart and pretty intense, labor has started.

So we could have another whole day of this at least and things could slow down. We'll keep you all posted.

Almost Time: Hiccuping and Squirming

It's almost time.

Last night I got to feel my son hiccuping for several minutes. This means he's drinking the amniotic fluid and its filling up his tummy, which hits his diaphragm and causes hiccups. Very cute - it feels like Kirky has a very strong heartbeat in her tummy.

This morning we packed up the car. All of our bags and snacks and pillows are now ready in case it should be time. I took a picture of the carseat which I will post later, as well as Kirky in her maternity shirt looking lovely.

We found out that Kirky is 1cm dialated - this is pre-pre-labor. She also had a non-stress test which she passed with flying colors. She basically is monitored for the baby's movements. I'll spare you the details but basically it means that her body is in the beginning stages of labor which could last until the contractions start getting noticable tonight, tommorow to Thursday - the due date. I will post regular updates but suffice it to say we're well on our way and with any luck, we'll have a bright, beautful, brand-new baby boy by sometime Thursday!

The Baby's Room

Kirky and her mother have been doing a wonderful job setting up the room for Will's arrival. Truth be told, he will be sleeping in our room in the bassinet until we feel comfortable putting him in his cute, new crib.

I've taken some pictures of their design results:

• Baby Bag.
• Baby Shoes.
• Side View of Bassinet.
• Blue Rocker.
• Bookshelves.
• Baby Bouncer.
• Changing Table.
• Side View of Crib.
• Diaper Setup.
• The Fouton.
• Sitting Area.
• Top View of Bassinet.
• Top View of Bookshelves.
• Top View of Crib.
• Will's Closet.
• Changing Area.

Money, Money, Money

So we're nesting today. Kirky's mother is up and she is truly a gift to us. She has an incredible amount of energy and runs circles around us. I dont know what we'd do without her help around our house - it's cleaner than it's ever been.

Earlier Kirky was "folding" plastic bags that we use for the dogs and we just finished sorting our cups and containers of loose change - $127.50 in silver and a heck of a lot of pennies which we didn't roll. We're going to use them to open up Will's first bank account once we get his SSN. The container we have it in must weigh 50lbs.

No changes at the moment. The baby has dropped a little more but Kirky is still bending over, cleaning, bustling around and busy. We're off to get some ice cream on this hot, hot 80 degree day with some of the money we just found.

39 Weeks

As the wife likes to say - it's not 9 months - it's 40 weeks!

So we had our last ultrasound today and were told that fluid levels are good and the estimated weight is 6.8lbs - quite nice. Not overly small and not too big. We've been worried about how my wife's artificial hip would handle the stress of a pregnancy so a weight under 8lbs is good. We both really hope for a natural delivery as a C-Section can be pretty invasive.

I'll let Kirky tell her story but she's had a wonderful pregnancy. Minor nausea for one or two days in the beginning and other than a bout of gestational diabetes, (which we determined was wholly skewed by the sugar test), she's only started getting tired these past few days. Really wonderful.

Last week's minor cramps were isolated and only lasted for about 30min. Nothing since.

So below is the ultrasound. If you look closely, you can make out an eye, nose and mouth with some handage showing up. Clicking on different regions of the image should popup labeled close-ups.

A Bit o Cramping

Wife just got back from a meeting and informed me that she's feeling a little bit of cramping. Too soon to say whether it's pre-labor or not but her abdomen is feeling much more solid than normal and the baby looks like he's dropped down significantly.

Prenatal Pics

I decided to move Will's ultrasound pictures from my personal site to here, as where they should be. So here is where you'll find:

• 16 Weeks- in color with labels: 11/06/2003
• 16 Weeks- in color: 11/06/2003
• 12 Weeks: 11/06/2003
• 12 Weeks - with Heartbeat: 11/06/2003
• First Sonogram: 10/09/03

We have another ultrasound coming up so stay tuned!

Will Kirk DeLong: To Be Born

I've created this Web site to celebrate the forthcoming birth of my first child - son, William "Will" Kirk DeLong. He is due to be born on May 20th, 2004 and we're very much looking forward to his arrival. My wife has had a wonderful pregancy with very little to no discomfort.

I'm a bit nervous about over-anthropomorphizing him as he is still in utero for fear of "jinxing" something. However this will be the place to find his birth anouncement and forthcoming milestones as well as a place for close friends and family to see all the pictures of him. For the most part, these pictures will be password-protected but for the sake of the community-at-large we will let some of the good ones trickle out from time to time.