And He's Off....

Will started taking steps about 2 weeks ago. I never had the video camera around. Over the past few days, he is walking non-stop! He does not crawl anymore. If he falls, he normally will pick himself back up and start walking again. If he wants to get somewhere really fast he will drop to a knee and do a one leg scoot-it is hysterical.



This one cracks me up. He looks like a drunk man with a cane...

Will Who??

Never heard of him...

Snow, Snow, and More Snow!

I cannot believe all of this snow in Alabama!! After reading all of my friend's blogs, it makes me very sad that I took ZERO pictures of the "big" snow on Friday. We got out of school at 11:30 so I was able to play with Will most of the day, but we did not snap one picture of all the beautiful snow!! So what do you do when it unexpectantly starts to snow last night around bedtime...throw on Will's coat and Robeez, of course, so I can snap some pictures to at least document the fact that it has snown 3 times in his short little lifetime.

Will was 13 months on Saturday...

-He has 8 teeth...4 on top, 3 on bottom, and we just got a molar in the back!

-He can do touchdown, show you where his ears are, wave bye bye, say Dada and an occasional Mama
-If you tell him to love on something, he puts his cheek right up to it and squeezes (adorable)

-He LOVES books

-He walks...sometimes. I need to get it on video. He can now walk across the room but it is still not his preferred mode of transportation.

-He eats like a pig. He cannot get enough of lunch and dinner-his favorites are cheese, peaches, pineapple, hot dogs, pasta, peas, carrots, the list could go on forever.

-Still loves the bath

-He has a mean right arm with any ball...or book, or truck, or block......

-He can empty out a cabinet full of tupperware in 2 seconds flat!

FUN

is what we are having lately. A whole lot of it!! Will has become so entertaining. He is learning new things each day and you can tell his mind is just turning as he explores new things. He obviously watches every move we are making. On Sunday I had lit a candle with one of those lighter wand things. I left it laying on the table. An hour or so later Will went over and picked up the lighter and held it over the candle like he was going to light it. We were amazed that he knew what to do with it! He still only says Dada. He will say Mama but usually it is only if he is sad or ready to eat! He is pointing at everything. And can point to things when you say it (dog, water, nose, etc.) He also just started throwing his hands up when you yell "Touchdown!" Better late than never. He is almost walking. He can take 5 steps or so before falling forward or sitting down. We think in his mind he sees no need to walk-he can crawl extremely fast and it gets him where he wants to go. He is a WILD man at night. He has a new way of going down his slide which is hysterical. He loves going down after his bath when he is in his pajamas-he flies down! His new way of sliding is on one knee. And if John or I sit on the slide and wait, he cracks up, crawls around and pushes on our back, like we used to do for him to go down!! His other favorite toy is the Bat and Wobble Penguin that Aunt Steph gave him for his birthday. When he first got it and it moved and made noise he was scared and would crawl away. Now as you will see below, there is NO fear! Here are a few very short videos I captured of him playing the other night.

And I have a confession....we cancelled our trip. This trip. I still can't believe it. John and I were so excited last July when we booked it. Little did we both know that BOTH of us were having some reservations about it around Christmas time. I asked the pediatrician at Will's one year check up about leaving him for that long-she of course told us to go and have a great time, but that we would pay for it for about 3 weeks when we returned. She also said that it would probably be best for him to stay in the same place for all 12 days instead of going back and forth between the grandparents, which was our plan. John and I talked and talked about it and finally decided this probably wasn't the best time for us to go. When will be a good time...probably not for at least 10 years, but we promised ourselves that someday we would go on this trip. I think John put it best when he said that Will was just a baby when we planned that trip-now he is a precious person to us with personality that would be extremely hard to leave. We just felt kind of selfish leaving him for that long. So I guess parenthood is a trade off-you may have to cancel extravagant trips that you looked forward to, and for that matter may not travel nearly as much as you'd like, but you get to have Mickey Mouse shaped cheese in your fridge...you get to have the biggest bear hugs in the morning...you get to play with Mega Blocks every day...and you get to have this little person so very dependent on you. We are blessed by this stage of life and wouldn't have it any other way!

Will's First Haircut!

Yesterday Pops was going to get his hair cut at Mr. Clay's Barber Shop and John and I decided it was time Will get a trim. The hair on top had gotten really long and he looked like he just had a bad comb over sometimes :) My dad has gone to Mr. Clay for as long as I can remember and he has teased Will about taking him there for about 6 months. So we only thought it appropriate for Pops to accompany Will for his first hair cut.

Mr. Clay was super patient with Will and talked to him about the whole process before he actually brought out the scissors...Once the pep talk was over, Will got suited up...

And then the cutting began...Will was not a fan of the squirt bottle, but he held it together...because this is what he was more interested in...
His sucker! The kid has never had one. I think we can add Dum Dums (particularly the blue raspberry to his favorites list).
Pops even helped out holding the sucker so Will would stay still. As long as that sucker was in his mouth, he was good to go!
This is what he did when we told him how handsome he looked. I think he just wanted his sucker back (look at that blue mouth)!Thank you Mr. Clay for making Will's first haircut such a pleasant experience (and thank you for having Dum Dums!!!!)

THE PARTY

We had a GREAT time throwing Will a monkey themed first birthday party. Obviously it took a lot out of all of us-Will is now sick with what we think is a fever virus (puny/congested on Sunday, very high fever Monday, still fever off and on/congested/cannot sleep anywhere but on me today) and my mom has walking pneumonia and bronchitus. Thus the delay on getting pictures posted.

My mom added this little touch to the "1" to greet Will's guests...

The food table...minus the chocolate covered bananas (you have to have some sort of banana at a monkey party)...I made them myself in about 20 min and they were so yummy and super easy!Seriously...I get to do this again!?!

Wednesday was good practice for me! No worries...I know exactly what to do!

SO good!

I clap when I am proud of myself!

Cousins

Does it have to be over yet?

I think there is room for a little more icing on my face...

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to!

Opening presents with Kate

Cake and Presents??!! This day is awesome!

Can't we just read the cards later, mom?

I love balloons! Check out my hair

Cousin Emma partied too hard! I love her

Best shot of the kids we could get. Will was thrilled. We are just missing Emma and Lane.

The Damage...done entirely by Will!

Big Day Ahead!