New Car Seat and a Haircut

Will playing on his new Zebra. Mom found this at a yard sale for $8. Will loves it!

This weekend our baby boy became a big boy! We are now riding in a forward facing car seat and he had his first hair cut. It is amazing how those two simple things make Will look so much older! My parents came in town to visit and to buy a car seat for Will for his birthday. We bought the car seat on Saturday afternoon and installed it in the car in the parking lot. Will has been in it ever since. He seems to like it...especially since he can now see out. It has to be better than looking at our backseat all the time!
Playing on toys at Babies R Us. We are not quite big enough for the little bike!

The biggest thing though was the haircut. Mike has been on me for awhile to cut his hair. He was afraid Will was getting a mullet. I don't think it was quite that bad, but it was getting long and a little unruly. So, last night Mike got out his clippers, we set Will in his Bumbo chair, and the next thing I knew...Will's hair was cut. It looks cleaner and he looks so much older. But he no longer has those sweet baby curls. Mike promised they would grow back. He better be right!:)
checking out the clippers
before
after...can you tell a difference?
Of course I kept the clippings for the baby book!

Play Date

After story-time this morning, my cousins Holly and Katie brought Jake down for a play date. We did go to lunch, and took a wagon ride, but mostly we let the boys play. And they had a good time...at one point toys covered my living room floor. I think that was a sign that they had fun!

Thanks Holly, Kate and Jake! Will and I had a great time!

Will Update

Let's see...since I posted last Will has been doing some new things. But, he has also been doing some subtle things that have taken us a little while to notice.
*He no longer eats baby food. We have no idea when this happened...he one day just started eating what we eat and it has gone from there.
*He waves and says bye-bye really well, he also says da-da and is clapping at the appropriate times.
*He loves to dance. It's like he can't help himself, when he hears music he has to move his little body!
*He loves cell phones, remotes, computers...pretty much anything that has to do with technology and that he should not touch. Because of this Mike calls him a "techie".
*He walks really well when we hold his hands and help him. This has just happened in the past few days. Maybe that is because he pushes everything that will move and walks behind it.
*He is starting to drink whole milk much better. I might have added a teeny bit of chocolate milk into it...but he is drinking it, so that is all that matters to me.
*He also has a funny laugh, grunt-type sound that he makes when other people laugh.

I'll finish with some new pictures of my sweet baby boy. He will be a year old on August 24...I don't know where this year has gone!
Will driving a golf cart at PGA superstore.
Here is his driving at the playground. Evidently he likes driving.
Why do we bother to buy all these wonderful toys when Will would rather play with boxes?
playing with a box
another box
He even likes to play with cards. This is the one that Molly and Neely Magouyrk gave him when he was born. It plays music...he loves it!
Will and Poppy...Will needed a new hat, so Poppy gave in!
Will, wearing his new hat, and Joy on our picnic.

Water Baby

Will LOVES water. We started putting him in the regular bathtub at 9 days old, and ever since he gets so excited to be close to water. He loved the ocean and he loves getting in the pool. He even loves getting a bath. Over the past few weeks I have noticed that he is starting to get excited over the sound of running water. All I have to do to get him to take a bath is to turn the water on and let it run. Wherever he is he comes crawling into the bathroom with a huge grin on his face. Anyways, I say all of this because yesterday Will found something new. The shower. I was cleaning the bathtub in the guest bathroom and ran the shower to clean out the tub. Will came crawling into the bathroom and stood up beside the bathtub. He could hear the water so he stuck his hand over the side of the tub. I positioned the shower head so that he could feel the water without it spilling onto the floor. Will stood there for honestly 20 minutes! He would stick both arms in so he could the water on his hands. He would then turn and look at me and smile. He got wet and the floor got wet, but it was worth it just to see how much fun he had!

Yesterday, Mike and I decided to put up Will's jumpy thing. He has too big for it and would fuss when we would put him in it. But he still enjoyed standing beside it playing with all of the stuff. So, Mike took off the poles and base and put them in the attic. We left the toy part on the floor so that he could still play with it. This morning, I found him crawling into the seat by himself like he wanted to sit in it. Evidently, it was ok to get into the toy on his own.

Lazy Summer Days

Will asleep in the wagon at our yard sale on Saturday.

What a great summer! Just the other day Mike and I talked about the fact that this has been our best summer yet. We have been blessed with a lot of quality family time this summer. Most everyday we have been able to sit down to breakfast, lunch and dinner together. We take walks together and go to the pool together and play together. Nice, no-hurry, almost lazy activities. We know this is a temporary situation, especially since I go back to work in 3 weeks and Mike is only working in the evenings, but it has been amazing. I know it has been good for Will as well to see his mommy and daddy all day long.
Happy baby and mommy!

Since I posted last, Will is cruising along the furniture in the living room. He has been doing this for a little while, but he gets better every day. He loves vanilla wafers and would eat an entire box if I let him. He even loves to share them with Gracie. He likes to take a bite and give it to Gracie for a bite. He is also starting to semi wave and say what sounds like bye-bye when someone leaves.
Will and his vanilla wafers.
Sharing with Gracie.

I am trying to switch him over to whole milk, but he hates it. Last week he started refusing formula, so I decided to try whole milk. When he tasted it for the first time he let it run out of his mouth with an awful look. He looked at me like I can't believe you gave me this stuff! I have tried it with formula, but he didn't like that either. Today he took a little out of a regular cup, but only after he thought we were taking sips out of the same cup. I'll keep trying, but I would love suggestions if anyone has one. :)

This year we hosted a cookout for the 4th. We had friends, neighbors and family over to eat and watch cheap fireworks from our backyard. While we waited for the fireworks the kids found ways to amuse themselves...
Abigail and Naomi sliding down the hill in our yard.
Abigail sliding down.
Jay pushing Naomi.
Will and Ellie. She must have taken him on 15 wagon rides. Good thing she lives across the street!

Story-time Sucess

This morning my sister-in-law Tammy and I took the boys to story-time at the West Cobb Library. This was the second time I have taken Will. He enjoyed it more today. He was able to clap along with the songs, even though he didn't do it in all the right places. He also enjoyed crawling around and interacting with the other kids. He might have even traded pacifiers with another little girl for a second or two. Anyways, they promote for your mobile child to move along with the songs and rhymes. Will sat in my lap for a little while, but then he wanted down so he could move, especially when they brought out the bubbles. Hmmm...maybe, that's how I need to read to Will, while he is crawling through the house and playing with his toys. Overall, it was a sucessful outing that resulted in a 2 1/2 hour nap when we got home. Wow! We should go to story-time every day!