Sick, sick, sick....

All of us!
Will has officially had his first real illness, and sadly it was a stomach bug (that he passed on to EVERYONE). He woke up sick last Thursday, but we thought maybe the spaghetti and meatballs from Wednesday night dinner did not agree with him. Unfortunately he continued to throw up over the next 2 days. So, YaYa stayed with him Friday at our house. On my way home from a meeting Friday afternoon Patrick tells me he is now sick .... and about 5 hours later it hit me. Will spent Saturday night with my parents, and what do you know? Everyone there got sick Sunday night/Monday morning! This thing was BAD NEWS!
Luckily, we are all on the road to recovery and maybe now I can find some time to sit down and put some new pictures on here!

Family News

Well, Patrick & I have officially put our house on the market ... we really thought we would stay in Cypress another year, but have decided it is time to be closer to family! We love where we live, and I have a great job close, but raising a little one with no one in close proximity is HARD!!!

Please pray for us that our house sells quickly, that I get a new job in Montgomery for next school year and that this move goes well for us. This was a big decision for us to make, but one that we are very excited about! We cannot wait to have family close; for so many reasons!!

We will keep you all updated on everything ... thanks for the prayers!

P.S. Video of Will walking is coming soon!!

1 Year Portraits

These are a few of the shots from Will's 1 Year portraits ... such a handsome boy!

Our little scholar!

Will LOVES books! He takes each and every one on his bookshelf off every day when we play in his room. Then he actually sits down and pretends to read (for about 5 seconds!) We have now started reading a book in place of the night time bottle (which he dropped as of Friday - we are BOTTLE FREE!) and he sits in Patrick's lap and tries to help me turn pages. He will actually sit through almost an entire book (only in Daddy's lap) ... pretty impressive!

He's Walking!!

I think it can be considered official! Yesterday as I was working on dinner, I turned my back at the stove and the next thing I know Will is walking over to me! I promise video soon!

New toys ... EVERYWHERE!! Scroll down, we finally have video!

We got to spend a relaxing weekend playing with Will's new toys ... from birthday, Christmas and just because :-) He definitely has plenty to keep himself entertained, HOWEVER he wants to stick his hand in Riley's water bowl, open up cabinets (which were child-proofed this weekend, too), take moss out of the ficus tree, etc...you get it! We finally got him to sit still for a little while this evening and I got some good pictures! Patrick & I got him the Swing and Slide Castle from Little Tikes and it actually stopped raining long enough to play on it this weekend!!

In his swing....


Playing with the steering wheel


Digging for blocks and balls


Imitating me, and the sound I just made...

VIDEO FINALLY!

If this actually works you will be seeing many more videos of Will!! This is him playing with one of his new toys (from Uncle Curtis, Aunt Lori, Colton & Jessica)
He LOVES this toy!!! Enjoy ... we have been trying to get a video on here forever!!

Lotion, Mom?

Every morning before I put Will's clothes on him for the day I put lotion on him (just because it smells so good!). This morning was no different, but Will did the CUTEST thing ... After I got him lotioned and dressed, he sat up and pretended to rub lotion on my leg, then looked at me and just grinned. Patrick & I both looked at each other and laughed ~ he is officially imitating, so I guess it is time to start being careful about what we say and do in front of him!

1 Year Check Up

Will's 1 year check up went wonderfully! He is in the 50%tile for everything ... he weighs just under 22 lbs, and is almost 30 inches! It is hard to believe how much he has grown in just a year! Developmentally he is also right on track. Dr. Taylor is very proud of the fact he is drinking from a sippy cup only during the day ... we are going to start working on doing away with the nighttime bottle (pray for us, this one might be tough!)

Some milestones he has reached include:
*saying many words (mama, dada, uh-oh, yeah!, woof-woof, YaYa {what he calls my Mother}, balloon {in his language, of course ... it sounds more like boon!}, more, and BOO {for peek-a-boo}
*Taking independent steps (up to 6 or 7 at a time now!)
*Eating all kinds of table food
*Drinking whole milk from a sippy cup
*pointing at things he wants

It is hard to believe how quickly it all has happened! He is doing new things every day, and really trying to start walking. He takes several steps and then sits and takes off in his speed-crawl mode ... I think he knows right now he can get where he wants to go MUCH quicker by crawling!!!

BIRTHDAY BOY!!!

Our Little Prince is 1!!! We had a family gathering (and a few close friends) Saturday afternoon to celebrate Will's birthday. Thank you to EVERYONE who came ... great-grandparents especially! Thanks for making the drive! We really do appreciate all of you who came all the way out to Cypress ... since NO ONE lives close. Will got lots & lots of wonderful gifts (toys, clothes, books .. you name it, he got it!) and has had the time of his life playing with them today. His favorite gift seems to be the card that sings from Nonnie & Poppy - he opens it, then closes it real quick and turns and smiles at us to make sure we are watching him. He is such a ham! We have spent today putting together new toys, playing with ALL of them, and unwinding from a very busy, and tiring day yesterday!


Here are some pictures from his party!!

The cake that matched his "Prince" theme invitations.


Will's little cake


Trying to let him blow out the candles ... he just wanted to touch the lit candle!


Playing in the icing...


I had to actually give him a piece to taste before he would put anything in his mouth!




The "singing" card from Nonnie & Poppy

Opening his little trike from Brandon, Jennifer, & Malley! This is about the longest he sat still!

Going to show YaYa & Nama his presents! (And of course both grandmas have their cameras out ready to go!)


BACK to the singing card...

He LOVED his Winnie the Pooh ball from MawMaw and Papaw ... he would not stop trying to chew on it (Rocco liked it too).




The birthday boy unwinding at the end of his big day! Thank goodness he is finally 1 ... now we can cut off that shaggy hair!




Thanks again to everyone who came! We have had such an amazing, fast year with Will. He is such a blessing to us, and everyone whose life he is a part of!!

Sleepyhead!!

Our little boy is such a good sleeper ... and here is the evidence to prove it! This was a little before 7:00 on Wednesday morning. How sweet is this?

Quick Update...

Sorry I have not posted lately, things have been busy, busy!! Will is doing wonderfully ... we enjoyed my time off but are also now enjoying getting back into our daily routine. He was happy, as always, to get back to Mary's and see her and all the kids. He is also working on walking (taking 3 and 4 steps here and there) and talking LIKE CRAZY! This morning as we were getting dressed he pointed at his jacket (which has a dog on it) ans said "Woof woof! Patrick & I were both in shock, like did he really just say that?!?!? He is also really into pointing at everything right now.
We have a first birthday coming up very soon, so check back for pictures soon!!

Play Date with Malley

My best friend Jennifer has a daughter who is about 7 months younger than Will. We went over to visit them on Friday for a play date...unfortunately they are in completely different stages right now! Will really wanted to play with Malley (and by play I mean touch her face, grab her arm) and Will is not the most gentle child around! Anyway, Jennifer and I are really looking forward to when they are able to actually play together, but for now they just played side by side ... well Malley just sat in her Bumbo while Will went through ALL of her toys!
Thanks for the fun afternoon, girls! We will have to do it again soon!






As you can see, he wanted to give Malley a kiss on the head, but Jennifer had to intervene because as I mentioned, Will is not so gentle! We are really working on that!

Oh No!

Will can now open cabinets AND found our food containers & lids ... as I was working on the laptop at the kitchen table, Will found something to "work" on too! He took every piece of rubbermaid, tuppeware, etc.. out of the kitchen cabinet and played with each and every lid and container. I am having so much fun being home with Will on my short break watching him explore and learn so many new things every day. We have a VERY BUSY litle boy!

Christmas...

We had such a wonderful first Christmas with Will! He was not sure about the whole present opening thing, but he has had lots of fun playing with his new toys!
He definitely cleaned up this Christmas! One whole side of his closet is almost full of NEW CLOTHES! Needless to say, with the busy few days we have had, and all of the new things, our son has a been a bit overstimulated! Even with all of the excitement, and the traveling (all across the Houston area from Baytown to Montgomery) he was so good, and only had a few fussy moments...we are so blessed! Below are some pictures from the very eventful 2 days we had!

Patrick & I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones. Happy Early New Year!

Early Christmas

We had our first of THREE Christmas celebrations today ... so Will got to open his first round of presents! He had fun, but the paper and the silver bow from Grandma's present were much more appealing! He does love his Sing-Along Stage (which I am sure will have many pictures posted very soon of him playing with!) and his Up-Up Elmo. There was so much going on and he was very active today! I am sure he will get more into the present opening thing later, but for now the bows are enough to keep his attention!

11 Months

Well, our sweet boy is growing every day. He is changing and turning into a not-so-baby-anymore....and it makes us sad! But, he is also communicating like crazy, which is so much fun. He hands you things when ask for them, he says "uh-oh" when he drops something, and also says Mama & Dada ALL the time! He is also standing on his own and walking while holding onto things. I cannot believe in less than a month we will have a 1 year old!!


Getting ready for our walk to the swings ~ all bundled up!



Swinging...he loves it!


LOTS of uh-ohs! This is his new favorite thing to do.


He loves being pushed around on his dump truck