Recent Happenings

I’ve been really bad lately at blogging and taking pictures. I need to step it up. For now, here are a few random pics. Kevin and I went to an event recently that allowed us to wear our boots. It was quite fun! Here’s a cute pic of this crazy little fellow! He is a hoot and a half! I believe here is his hiding in the hall then popping out saying Boo! And we have to pretend he scared us or he gets very frustrated. But if we act scared, he thinks it is the funniest thing he’s ever seen! Little tooter! He’s very up and down these days. He’s either the cutest, sweetest, most loving little boy you’ve ever met – or he’s throwing the most impressive melt-down you’ve ever seen. And you want to run for the hills. He’s intense at times. And that is challenging. But – he’s passionate. Like his father. :) His teacher says he’s “strong-willed.” She said this in my response to calling him hard-headed. She said no, no – here we call that strong-willed. Well at least he’s living up to his name! He’s 2. So some of it is just what it is. He’s testing boundaries and while intelligent enough to know what he wants, he’s not mature enough to rationalize why he’s sometimes told no. It is tough being 2. And tough figuring out how to parent a 2 year old. Especially the sharing thing. He’s aggressive when he wants something and dramatic when he doesn’t get it. That can be embarrassing when you’re on a play date! But everything I read says it is normal. Some kids are just more aggressive. I was not. Still am not. So I have a hard time understanding this temperament. I’m a people pleaser and always have been. As I’ve been told by his teachers – he’ll be a leader someday. That part makes me happy. I don’t want him to be a passive softie like me. I don’t want him to be too fearful to try things or do things. So, some of this will serve him well. Though it may cause some grey hairs for his mommy. The scariest part of all of this – every woman I have ever met says that three years are so much more challenging than 2 year olds. Seriously?!?I do love this boy to the moon and back! Here he is playing with daddy. They are too fun together. He’s so fun right now (when not melting down). And he his now counting up to 15. I seriously think the absolutely sweetest part of being a mom is driving in the car and hearing him sing his little 2 year old heart out. This kid loves to sing. And thankfully, it seems he got his music talent from Kevin’s side of the family. This girl can’t sing. He can and it is sweet, sweet music. He also LOVES a good dance party! He frequently asks us to put the music on because he needs to dance! So we bust out the toddler tunes – and dance away. He’s got some impressive moves, too! He got a ton of books for his birthday thanks to his cousin Zach. We got a new bookshelf to hold them all and he loves picking out books. He now sometimes likes to “read” them himself. I love that. (Not sure where his pants are – but who needs pants anyway, right?)

Fall = Football!

In this house when fall rolls around that means lots of football watching! And luckily right now – also baseball watching! Here are some fun pics of one of the first FSU game days. I gotta get this kid some more Red Raider attire!! We are the ones that beat OU!! :)

Grandparents Day

Today was Grandparent’s Day at Will’s school! Can I tell you how much I love Will’s school? Love it! They put on a little program for everyone and had snacks in their room afterwards. Will, of course invited all his grandparents! He is one special boy because he was well represented at grandparents day! The kids did several songs. Here is Will’s group of the 2’s. His class is on the very bottom row and you can see him 4th from the left. How did he do? Welll…he started off okay. See below. Then he spotted his family! First he started crying…G.J. and then the whole rest of the songs he cried….Daddy!! Oh geez. It was sad. It was sort of cute, too. I mean he’s barely 2 and to expect that he would march up in front of a room full of people and sing is probably a little much to ask. But he did stay put. He did not leave his spot (like one of the other girls did!). So – all in all – it wasn’t so bad. It could have been worse! And at least he wasn’t the only one crying! Here are all of Will’s peeps! His fan club! I am so thankful to Mimi, Ally, G.J., and Neille for taking the time to come to Will’s program. It meant the world to Kevin and me. And someday it will mean the world to Will. He is loved. I have no doubt and it makes me so happy to know that. He doesn’t understand it, but I do. Thank you, thank you, thank you for being such awesome grandparents! Checking out his room and having some post performance snacks. Spoiled much?

Below are the grandmas supporting their little guy! What a fun experience! It makes me so happy to be a mom. Even though it is extremely trying (more on that in a separate post) it is incredibly rewarding. I am so proud of Will. He’s such a smart boy and is just learning so much. Though he didn’t sing them on stage, he can sing every word to so many songs! He can sing his abc’s, itsy bitsy spider, muffin man, baa baa black sheep, etc.,etc.! He knows so many! He can count to 12 on his own. He knows who is a girl and who is a boy. He knows his colors. He knows his last name. He knows about money and where to find it (in mommy’s wallet!). He’s just been thriving. Yes, I’m one proud momma!

Happy Birthday Mom/Mimi!

Happy Birthday mom! Thank you for being such a good mom and Mimi! We have loved having you in Dallas! I hope you had a wonderful day and know how much we love you! Hoping this year is extra special!

P.S. This pic was taken about 5 min before sweet Dylan got sick.

:( Aaaaand...Mimi stepped in and did her awesome mom/Mimi duty. She's soooo much better at it than I am. Here's hoping the crazy stomach bug died along with the insane amounts of lysol I sprayed! It hit the rest of the family...are we lucky enough to escape it? We shall see!

We love you Mom!!!

Two Year Stats

On Wednesday, we took Will to his 2 year well-check. Everything checked out great! (Except for the minor ear infection he had). Our little boy has surpassed all of his 2 year milestones with flying colors! We had a long chat with the doctor about discipline techniques and he made us feel a lot better about Will's picky eating habits. I can't believe he's 2! Here are the stats:

Height: 35 1/2" (80%)

Weight: 23.4 lbs (5%)

Head: 47" (15%)

So, he has grown taller! I knew he had. I had noticed it most in his shirts - they all got short very quickly. So he continues to be long and lean. Can't believe he's now 80th percentile for height. Goodness. And he's a little lighter than when we weighed a few weeks ago. I guess he's just stretching.

So glad to have a healthy little boy!

Two Two!

Last Saturday (the 17th) was Will’s 2nd birthday! For various reasons, we decided to celebrate on Friday. Kevin and I both took the day off from work and started out with a trip to the zoo! It was such a fun time for the 3 of us. Will loved it! He’s at such a fun age where you can take him to the zoo and he gets very excited to see the animals. We also rode the monorail (which looked like a train to him) and he was a happy boy! This makes me laugh – monkey see, monkey do? Will and the monkey are doing similar things. Ha!

Can’t believe I got this picture! He is so hard to photograph and I rarely get a smile photographed (even though he’s a vey happy boy!)! I was thrilled to get this one!

This cougar came right up to him and he totally missed it. It was cool! He tried to skip his nap on Friday – not cool. He’s never skipped one before! We had to take drastic measures (daddy napping with him) in order to get him to nap. After he napped, we unveiled his birthday present! We borrowed this train table from Dylan and we bought him the train set! He loves it! Worth every single penny and then some! Here is he with awesome nap hair checking it out. I think he’s in shock! What'? This is for me? He’s so obsessed with trains right now. It was the perfect gift! Then it was party time! All Aboard the choo choo train! Here’s the train cake – super cute! (notice the “2” clouds) Sweet Miles came dressed for the party!

It is birthdays where you stop and reflect on how many people really love your sweet boy. Thanks to everyone that came to celebrate with us!

While this is not a good pic, it is about the best I have. I wanted one of his shirt and somehow (when I was running around wildly setting up for the party) I forgot to take a good pic of him before things got started. So, a few things didn’t go exactly as planned for Will’s 2nd birthday. The first one was that it rained. But hey – we’ve been in a drought, no one was complaining. Bring on the rain! But that meant we couldn’t do the piñata outside. Luckily Betty was quick thinking and suggested the garage. It worked just fine (though it is not a pretty picture! Garages just aren’t cute!). The rain was the least of our worries! The craziest thing happened. So we’re running a little late and decide to do cake before presents. I get Will up there and we start singing Happy Birthday. He’s sitting there like a big boy and then… the lights go out. (See the before above and the during below). It was odd. I was actually a little annoyed. I was thinking – who in the world turned off ALL the lights?? There was just a small glow from the one candle (and the occasional flash of the camera). But we continue singing and Will even blows out the candle by himself! (we had practiced – I was so proud!). Then I am pretty sure I and everyone else says – turn on the lights. Then someone makes the realization that – the power is out! What?!? Oh yes. The whole neighborhood was dark. This lasted for at least an hour. Maybe more. Wow. Wasn’t planning for that little turn of events! So one thing we learned was that we’re not really prepared for a power outage. We didn’t have a single usable flashlight. Ha. We found every candle we could (it was very fragrant!) and the neighbors went and grabbed some flashlights. We had cake in the dark and we opened presents…in the dark! Will was a champ. He handled it all very well. He enjoyed opening presents and he would thank whoever gave it to him. He was a very sweet two year old. And – look below. He had food on his face, but it was dark! We didn’t know! :) I like this one – Kevin shining a light on the present! Everyone was extremely generous and Will got so many new fun things. Our sweet boy had a blast! Thank you Will for coming into our lives and making everything just that much sweeter! We love you to pieces! You are so funny, so sweet, so smart, so loving, and just the best little boy anyone could ever imagine! You challenge us and make us better people and we are thankful for that. We only hope to be the best parents we can be. We have had a blast with you these last 2 years and can only imagine how much fun is ahead of us! Please know mommy and daddy love you more than we can possibly express.

Happy Birthday Beautiful Wife!

I realize that I’m a good two weeks late in getting a blog posted about my wife’s birthday, but better late than never, right? Plus, I haven’t actually posted a blog since Will was born nearly two years ago, so it has taken me a little time to figure out what I’m doing.

With that said, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRANDI!! Brandi and I celebrated her birthday this year (which is August 29th for those who may not know) on the Saturday before by going out just the two of us to dinner and a movie. On her actual birthday, Brandi’s family came over to celebrate with us in a small get-together.

Here’s a cute picture of Brandi and two of the three boys (Miles is not quite old enough to help open presents yet).

Will and Dylan wasted no time in getting Brandi’s presents opened.

It ended up being good practice for Will, as his second birthday is right around the corner. Here is Brandi with her new Texas Tech cup, which Will and I got her to coincide with the arrival of fall and a new football season!!

Will was clearly not as thrilled about the first season of the original 90210, as his Mommy was. That’s my boy!!

Instead of getting a cake for her birthday, I stopped by Sprinkles on my way home from work and picked up a dozen gourmet cupcakes, which ended up being a big hit with everyone. Clearly Will was pleased with my choice of birthday desserts. Brandi, you are such an amazing wife, mother, sister, daughter and friend, and we are all so fortunate to have you in our lives. Will and I are very thankful that you take such good care of us. We love you so much and celebrate the special event that was your birth!

Happy Birthday from your two boys!!