Halloween!

We had a great Halloween! Friday night, we went to the "Boo at the Zoo" event. The only thing that really impressed Will was the Llama in the barn, but it was a fun, family-friendly environment. It'll definitely have to become a tradition. Will's daddy is camera shy, so here's a picture he took of us at the zoo (below). It was a warm night, so we put Will in his skeleton pjs instead of his very heavy fleece costume. It worked out for the best though - we put him straight to bed anyway once we got home (which, by the way, was 7:30 - late night for Mr. Will, who is usually in bed by 7!).

My neighborhood had a little party in the cul-de-sac Saturday. The adults mostly dressed up too, so I was a good sport and pulled out pieces of an old "Dark Fairy" costume. I figured it complimented the fantasy creature motif, as Will was a magical dragon. Here we are, smiling it up for the camera.

Then we went outside - no more smiles! This wasn't the worst face he made. He literally scowled for awhile. He was not a fan of being outside in his costume. He cheered up a little when I let him play with my fairy wand.

I knew he might cheer up when we went to visit to Baw-baw and Pock - the sweet couple that kept Will for the 9 weeks I was back at work in the spring. They loved seeing Will in his costume, and he was happy again - for AWHILE at least. He was in such a good mood, I thought we'd pop in and see our honorary grandparents, Pawpaw Bill and MawMaw Pat (Pawpaw Bill is the one who handmade Will's rocking horse and is Brian's brother, Eric's grandfather). Unfortunately, by the time we got there, Will was tuckered out and ready to call it a night. We said quick hellos, then I got the little man back home so he could have a bottle and hit the sack.

Overall, it was a great Halloween. Holidays are so much fun with children, and I'm looking forward to the next ones to come - Thanksgiving, Will's Birthday, then Christmas!

More "firsts"

Will has had a busy week. We went to his Aunt Maury's for the weekend, and she generously volunteered to keep him overnight so I could join my mom, aunt, and Fairman-family cousins in Gulf Shores for the annual "Cousin Condo" trip. This trip started decades ago with my Gram and her sisters, and although they have all passed on, their daughters and granddaughters carry on the tradition. It's a fun no-kids-allowed trip, so Will stayed with his Aunt Maury, Uncle Doug, and cousins Raylee and Darby. It was the first time he's stayed overnight with someone other than me or Brian, and it was only the second night I've been away from him ever! It went smoothly, and I had fun even though I missed him. It was also the first time anyone other than Brian or I drove him anywhere! They went to Darby's soccer game and to run a few errands, and he was content to be out and about. Of course, Will loved being the center of attention. He even got to see his Grandmonty for a day before we headed back to Birmingham. Brian was eager to have us back and spent the afternoon playing with his little buddy. I have to say, although I like traveling and love seeing my dear family, there's no place like home.

I'd love to post pictures of our weekend, but I forgot to pull out my camera. Maury was focused on making sure she had what she needed for Will for the day, so she forgot to bring her camera out Saturday. I think she got some photos back at the house, but until I get those, these recent pictures will have to do.

He's turning the t.v. on and off, on and off ... - his new hobby!

I almost feel bad posting this one, just because I don't have a picture of Will and Darby. Here is Will and Raylee playing in the washing machine box. Who needs toys when you can have a plain ole' box? Equally entertaining! Both Raylee and Darby love their little cousin and are soooo sweet with him. They're also a huge help! Thanks girls! We love y'all! I'll update this with more pictures if I can get them from Maury's camera.

Check out is crazy hair. I am sentimental about his puppy dog onesie shirt in this picture. A friend gave me some great hand-me-downs (Thanks MaryAnn!), and I found this top in 18 month size. Will had the exact same one in newborn size, and it was part of the outfit he wore home from the NICU after his jaundice ordeal. Seeing him all big and healthy wearing it now makes me nostalgic and proud of how far he's come. It's hard to believe he was a little 5 lb. 13 ounce baby at one time, and it's even harder to believe that was nearly a YEAR ago!

Playtime

Crawling non-stop

Will prefers electronics over toys, especially ones his daddy uses often

I never get tired of his cute little profile!

Now for a quick video - low quality but listen to that little laugh!  He's laughing at a water bottle!  

If you want a laugh ...

Check out this hilarious video my friend Christy made.  It stars both of our little boys and some other cute kiddos she knows.  Will makes a grand entrance.  First, look at Will's "Before" picture here: 


Now watch the video to see his spooky transformation! Thanks for the laughs Christy!

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What's Will doing at ten months?

Pj pictures never get old, at least to me!

Will at 10 Months

            This month is going by so fast.  Before it passes me by, I want to document some of what Will is doing these days.  It is an amazing time – active – but amazing. 

·          Food: Will is eating pretty much anything we give him.  I’m still paranoid and chop up most of his finger foods into tiny pieces, but he often puts multiple pieces in his mouth at once.  He still loves his bananas, but he also likes peas, mac n’ cheese, pancakes, potatoes, scrambled eggs, and pretty much any other table food.  He’ll still eat baby food sometimes, although it’s becoming more infrequent since he’s eating a bigger variety of table foods.  Cereal mixed with applesauce or another fruit is still a breakfast staple, and so is yogurt mixed with oatmeal.  Three times a day, Will still takes an 8 ounce bottle.  I can’t believe that he’ll be on cow’s milk in two months (hopefully).  Most pediatricians want babies off the bottle around a year, but I’m not sure that’ll happen 100% as he still plays with the sippy more than he actually drinks out if it.  He knows how and can do it, but I really don’t know if he’s ever thirsty enough to gulp down much. 

·          Sleeping: Besides a brief period when he was under the weather and woke up frequently, Will is still sleeping about 12 hours at night with two naps of about an hour to an hour and a half each.  I look forward to when he’s only taking one nap, as it will free up our schedule a lot.  He does ok with only one nap if we’re out and about, but if we’re at home, he has to nap twice.  Otherwise, he’s Mr. Cranky!  Sometimes, he wakes up at night around 10 p.m. for a diaper change, but he’s good about going straight back to sleep.  I have to admit that I never mind the brief wakeups if I’m still awake.  Sometimes I rock him for awhile before I put him back in the crib.  It’s one of the most precious moments of my day.  I know that when he’s older, I’ll remember rocking him cheek to cheek.  I appreciate it even more now than I did when he was a little baby.  Now, he’s so skwirmy and active when awake.  During our late night rocking sessions, he just nestles his head on my shoulder and hugs me.  Any mom, or parent, for that matter, knows that feeling, and that you just can’t describe it.   When I go to get him in the mornings, he's always standing up in the crib with a big grin.  As long as he gets his sleep, he's a happy camper!

·          Talking: His words, in order of “appearance,” are Dada, Mama, and yum.  It’s funny to see him eating and mumble, “Yum!”.  Also, Brian and I both swear he said, “Elm” when we were playing with his Elmo puppet the other night.  We said Elmo a ton of times while playing since Elmo talks in 3^rd period (like, “Elmo loves Baby Will …”)Well Will very clearly said, “Elm.”  Brian and I froze and stared at each other in disbelief, then agreed that he definitely said Elm for Elmo.  Like I said, I doubt it’ll happen again soon, but it was pretty funny!  Will says Mama more and more now, and it’s not just when he’s mad or wants something like it used to be.  It’s music to my ears, especially when he crawls over to me, then says it as he lifts his arms for me to pick him up.

·          Playing: Will is finally starting to really enjoy his toys that encourage standing and cruising. He’ll stand for more than ten minutes at one if he’s really into it at the moment.  Of course, he’d rather stand at the t.v. and push buttons if we let him, but we’ve try to barricade the area so he can’t do that.  Will loves anything with buttons, and he definitely knows his play cell and remote aren’t nearly as cool as the real things.  Peek-a-boo and making silly faces in the mirror are popular in our household.  Will loves sticking his tongue out, and he thinks he’s hilarious when we do it and he does it back. 

·          Other: Let’s see what else I can cram into this update.  Will is between 12-18 months in most of his clothes, except for pjs, which he wears 18-24 months.  Instead of waving when we wave, he'll now wave on his own when we ask him to.  He’s a good traveler and doesn’t mind the car seat or long rides as long as he’s well fed and changed.  Giving kisses is a new trick of his.  They're slobbery, but oh so sweet!  He still uses the potty and goes in it at least several times a day, sometimes more.  I finally gave up using the baby tub and let him take a bath in the regular one.  His first b-day party is going to be a party for three – just Brian, Will and me.  I debated on what to do and who to invite, and with it falling right in the middle of finals (which if you know Brian and how he studies, you understand that law finals are a full-time ordeal), we decided that we would keep it simple.  I plan on making and decorating the cake myself, and we’ll buy some cheesy hats and take video and pictures. That’s all I have for now, besides a few cute pictures of course!  

Standing all the time now - only crawls to get to where he wants to stand.

This last one reminds me just how much our boy looks like his daddy!  He has blueberry pancake all over him, but look at that face.  Mini-Brian all the way.

The Dog's New Workout Program

The dog's new workout program is .... running from Will!  Here is a demonstration featuring our faithful pup Mick.  We have another dog, Rocky, but he's a bit more selfish and tends to ignore Will's existence whenever possible.  Mick, though, is always wanting to be in Will's room.  He's not always allowed, but he stays right outside of the door where he can keep tabs on what's going on.  Although he's learned to run away from Will, I can tell that Mick likes the little guy.  In a year or two, I think they'll be best buds.  I even picture Mick sleeping at the foot of Will's big boy bed when he's older.  For now, Mick loves Will from a distance.  This video also shows how Will is full speed ahead with the crawling.  It's amazing how fast the milestones come, and once they arrive, there's no turning back.  It's as if he's been crawling for his whole life!  Thankfully for the dogs, they've had over 9 months of being able to easily avoid Will and his fur pulling.

  

Conversations over peas & mac n' cheese

Mealtime is usually a hit, especially when it involves peas and mac n' cheese (a new favorite). 

Will takes a break from eating to say his favorite word ... :-)  See video below.

The Great Pumpkin!

One of the most fun things about having a child is that it gives you an excuse to do fun kid-stuff.  Sure, Will won't remember his first pumpkin patch trip, but it'll be fun to do every year and show him the pictures one day.  I want to start traditions when he's young - things he'll look forward to year after year.  Today, we joined up with friends Christy and her Dec. '08 baby Elias for a pumpkin patch trip.  There's a nearby farm that has a hayride to their pumpkin patch.  I'm not sure what I was envisioning, but I didn't picture it being so muddy!  It was authentic to say the least.  We had fun seeing the farm animals and riding the bumpy trail to the patch.  Here are some pictures of Will and his friend Elias.  The top one is of Will hamming it up for the camera on a horse tire swing.  

Yes, we dressed them in matching shirts!  The similar brown shoes are totally coincidental though.  

Posing with one of the giant pumpkins.  The ones we picked out are MUCH smaller.  Who'd want to lug that big ole' thing back to the car?

Will decided to try to climb the pumpkin, but he lost his balance and fell into the mud.  He wasn't too happy about it, but I assured him that a little dirt just made him a tough little man.  

I looooove this one - how cute is this?  

We never got a shot where we were both looking at the same time, so I picked one where at least he's looking at the camera

I love this one - captures a totally sweet and spontaneous moment.  Will decides to give me kisses - very slobbery ones - hence my face!  

Happy 10 months!

Mr. William, who is ten months old today (WOW!), is a bit under the weather.  Whether it's a byproduct of teething or a true cold, I'm not sure.  Hopefully it's not the flu, since his fever has gone away.  His little runny facet nose is pitiful, and it's really messing up our wonderful sleep routine.  He wants the comfort of his mama, which is sweet, but I think he's milking it for all it's worth.  Oh well, he's only little once.  I'm spoiling him a bit and letting him snuggle more with me when he's usually in his crib, and I'm hoping that he'll return to his normal 12-hour sleeping self once he feels better.  He's been fighting sleep a lot lately, and he'll sit up in his crib and fuss.  Here is a picture from a few days ago, when he was so tired that he fell asleep awhile sitting up in his crib.  

 

He felt much better later on that day, so I let him crawl around his room and play while I folded and put away his clean clothes.  I looked up from my laundry-folding to see this.  He opened a drawer and stood on up using it for leverage.  Luckily my camera was handy, so I snapped a few before he resumed to crawling.

He's actually napping right now, and I'm hoping he'll continue to sleep for awhile so I can do a few things around the house.  Mandy gave us a huge collection of hand-me-down toys that have been sitting on our dining room table for days now, so I'm going to clean and sort those into different bins.  Yay for great free toys!  

If Will continues to feel better, I look forward to getting back into our normal routine of stroller class and playdates.  Hopefully that includes a trip to the pumpkin patch soon, with lots of pictures!