Thanksgiving Recap

Thanksgiving was great this year. We hosted at our house and we felt like full on grown-ups! It was a good feeling to have our family over at our house. This year it was me, Kevin, Will, mom, Dustin, Tricia, Dylan, Justin, Charles, Addison, Ian, Jeff, Daneille, and Kayse at our Thanksgiving lunch. The ladies went shopping on Friday morning and had a successful trip. The guys got in lots of football watching. Oh and I redeemed myself by winning Rummy! I never ever win games. I actually won. (Just making sure that was on record). :) Unfortunately, I didn't take a single picture of Thanksgiving.

I wanted to stop and make sure I journaled what I am thankful for this year. I am so very blessed and there are times (regrettably) that I seem to forget that. Here are just a few things I want to stop and remember.

- Will. It goes without saying that I am beyond thankful for him. He is happy and healthy and the sweetest little guy in the world. He is a joy to watch grow and develop. He is funny and he has the cutest smile. He is now saying Hiiiii and Da-dee quite a bit. He walks everywhere all the time and is pretty quick when you're chasing him through a store. He's simply amazing. I am more than proud to be his mommy.

- Kevin. I have a wonderful husband who treats me way better than I deserve. He is more than patient with me when I'm certifiably insane and loves me for some unknown reason. He is my partner in life forever and doesn't give up on us when things are tough. I am so thankful for him.

- My family. We are close and I am so thankful for that. I am so thankful that one of my brothers lives just over 2 miles away and that my other brother might be moving here in a few years. I have a mom that has been more than helpful with Will and loves on him so much. We're all crazy but we love each other and are each other's biggest fans.

- Our house. We have a great house. It isn't exactly decorated but it is home. I love it. I appreciate it so much. It is in a great neighborhood with a great school and we have some great neighbors. I want Will and any future siblings to grow up here and always know it as their home.

- My flexible job schedule. I never thought I'd be so thankful for my job. There are times that it seems to downright stink. But I have been able to do a flexible arrangement in a reduced capacity and it is something I don't take for granted. I get to both work and spend time with Will. For that, I am very thankful.

- Health. It is simple and obvious, but so many people have so many struggles in this area.

There are so many, many things I have to be thankful for. My life is good and I hope I stop more often to realize that. There are so many people out there that have huge burdens to bear. I am so thankful for my life.

Wedding Weekend

This past weekend, Kevin’s mom, Allyson (Ally to Will) got married! As with any wedding, that meant we got to see lots of out-of-town family. (Which really meant Will got spoiled rotten!).

Here he is bonding with Papa. And of course bonding with Mimie.

He always loves play time with Aunt Kayse.

Everyone looked so pretty at the wedding. Nick & Kellie were in from Nashville and we loved spending time with them. Pretty, pretty sisters at the event. Kellie & Kayse Kevin’s cousin, Harmony, was also in town from Cali. We had a great time chatting with her! Mimie & Papa Mr. Will all dressed up. Here is a pic with his finger bandaged after the said hair cut trauma. :( The Tooker’s – so thankful for these two men! And of course – the happy couple! Congrats Bobby & Allyson! Kayse turned the big 2-1 on Sunday! We of course had to celebrate the big day! Kellie made sure to get some fabulous decorations and Daneille got an awesome ice cream cake and cupcakes. Yummy. Happy Birthday Kayse!! Hope it was special.

Hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving!

The Haircut...Part Deux

Funny that I just blogged about how great Will's first haircut went. I had mentioned that I was way behind blogging and that we were headed for another one. His hair had grown quite a bit and we wanted him to be snazzy for Ally's wedding (pics to come).

Let's just say that the 2nd haircut was a traumatic experience...for all of us! The minute Kevin tried to put Will down in the chair he freaked. He would not let go of Kevin and was not happy. Yikes. So after awhile of trying to convince him (including using a sucker that didn't work) we decided Kevin would just have to hold him. The only adult sized chair was taken by a mother and her young baby. So, we waited a bit. Then the lady decided she would just cut it where Kevin was sitting on this bench thing. Ok, let's try this.

She was cutting and Will was just not feeling it. He was just being very clingy and wouldn't sit still. I tried giving him toys, etc. to get him to relax. Nothing was working. The poor hairdresser was doing the best she could. Then...we see blood! Where was it coming from?!? I thought it was his ear, but it was his finger. He had thrown his hands up to his head and knicked his finger on the scissors! It took the lady a minute to realize what had happened and he was bleeding all over the place. Who knew the finger bled so much? If someone new had walked in they would have wondered what in the world happened. They didn't have any bandaids in the first aid kit (of course) so we were trying to rig it with some gauze that he of course didn't want to keep on it. Seriously, huge drops of blood were everywhere - all over Kevin's shirt and all over the floor.

We finally said - let's just get out of here and go get some bandaids. We got a free haircut - yay. Ha. Afterwards, I felt so bad for the lady that cut it. It really wasn't her fault. I mean he was not sitting still and she was trying her best. She actually even called to check on us a little while later. She said she was so shaken up by it. Poor lady.

Needless to say...We will probably not be back to get our haircut for a very long time. You might see Will looking really, really shaggy. We'll just have to embrace it. Whew.

Back blog – The Haircut

So this is a post way out of date. We got Will’s 1st haircut on October 3rd – two weeks after his first birthday. I had a hard time convincing myself to cut it. But it was looking rough and it looked so much cuter once it was cut. But it was a little hard to accept that he’s no longer a baby, but now a toddler. Sad.

We took him to a place geared just for kids. They know how to get in and get it done quick.

The before: Overall, he did really well. He was a little unsure of what was going on, but sat there pretty quietly. He was checking himself out in the mirror! He got a little restless and starting trying to pull off the cape – so we swept in with his 1st sucker! It seemed to do the trick. He really, really didn’t like it when she used the trimmer thing to clean up around his neck. Since he dropped the first one, we had to give him another one to calm him. Poor little guy with tears in his eyes – but how cute is his big boy cut?!?

A fun memory for a big turning point. Funny that I’m so far behind – I am taking him to get his 2nd cut this week! Hopefully it will go as well as the first time did! Love you big boy!

Am I wrong?

So I know that it is normal for every mother to think her child is abnormally cute. I realize I am biased. But sometimes, I think I'm right. Do you agree? :)

Man I love this kid so stinkin' much. I had no idea how much joy a child could bring to my life. I am truly blessed.

Monkey Business

Halloween was Sunday, of course, and we dressed our little guy up, of course! We seem to love monkeys around here, so dressing him up as one only seemed appropriate. Unfortunately, he wanted nothing…absolutely nothing to do with the head piece. New mom mistake. Of course he didn’t – it was a hot day and a very strange head piece for a little guy. Oh well. All I wanted was one good pic of him in it. Just one. Well, here was my attempt before we left the house…

He made it pretty clear how he felt, so we tortured him no longer!

Then we loaded up the wagon and headed down the street to the neighborhood block party! I love our neighborhood! They closed off the street and had a bounce house and hot dogs and a great chance to meet some lovely neighbors. I was shocked at how many young kids are in our neighborhood near Will’s age. Will is going to have lots of kids his age to run around with as he gets older! We met some nice people and are so thankful to live in our house in this area!

When we got back, it was getting dark and time for trick or treaters! And, I thought I’d try again at getting just a pic or two of the costume. His cute little tail.

Daddy trying to warm him up to the idea of taking just one picture for mommy.

We put some candy in his hands in hopes of cleverly distracting him! And it sort of worked for about 3 seconds. Long enough for me to snap these. You get the idea, right? Cute little monkey! Ok Will – you win. No monkey head!

I hope you enjoyed your Halloween as much as we did with our little monkey! Next year we might do some trick or treating of our own!