Happy Halloween from Bumblebee Will!

Go Tribe!

Will & I had intended to be at William & Mary's Homecoming this weekend to celebrate my 5 year reunion, but plans are always changing around here! I think we'll hit Williamsburg later on this fall/winter, but I'm sorry I missed seeing those of you who were there. Please send me pictures of what I missed--I'd LOVE to see them. Looks like Will will have to continue wearing his UVA t-shirt until I can get down there to buy him one from my alma mater. Even after being out 5 years, I still can't stop saying wonderful things about that school. What a beautiful, unique, stimulating, amazing place! Colin claims that I think any W&M grad must be a great person, and I tend to agree. I loved my time there...I adored the surroundings and history (nothing like Food Lion shoppers in colonial garb), the professors and classes (though generally not easy...), the sense of community, the Theta girls & all those crazy parties & dances (back when I could stay awake past 9 pm), the Christian fellowship on campus, the Sunken Gardens & Barksdale (though I hear it is no longer?), the Wren building, having a meal plan all 4 years, the Cheese Shop & Sno to Go, my friends, all of it! And if you are a W&M friend, know that I'm thinking of you & am grateful for you! Even if you are far away. Enough nostalgia for now.

Anyhow, my parents visited yesterday and got to view Wild Willie in action once again. They marvelled at his astounding abilities--to push his car uphill & all over our yard, to consume large amounts of beans, and (consequently) to pass a great deal of gas. And then he chuckles, every time. Is he his father's son or what?

Here's the flatulent dude in his Sunday attire...

Pumpkin Patch

Play group today was at the local pumpkin patch, so we had a good time playing in the hay, going for a hay ride, & checking out the farm animals. Well, we generally had a good time. Will screamed for a good portion of it, as is the case in most of our outings. Anytime he had to be confined--to a stroller or my arms--he got mad. He'd much rather roll around in the mud or push his own stroller from behind. He LOVED playing in the actual pumpkin patch, as you can see in the photos!

Our Happy Clan

Another fun weekend behind us! Omi & Opi (Colin's parents) visited us on Saturday, and we got to enjoy lots of time outside, in our yard & at the park. Yesterday we braved the nasty rain to go to church. Will looked very handsome (see below!), though he screamed like a maniac in his nursery room until we retrieved him. I know there will come a time when he won't want anything to do with us, so I suppose we should appreciate the clinginess while we've got it :) And of course, the Redskins were on TV last night. Not a good outcome, but at least they were on the tube down here. Now it's really back to the grind for Colin... No more weekends off for awhile, & every few nights on call. We've certainly enjoyed the past couple of months though!

Shoes II

Here's the happy munchkin with his new kicks. He wouldn't be quite so pleased if he knew he was headed to the mall... It was pouring all day--I HAD to get out of the house :)

New Shoes

Since Colin has actually had weekends off for the past month—such a treat for us!—we’ve been trying to take advantage of them. This past weekend my football-loving hubby decided to cheer on both UVA & the Skins in person, so he dropped Will & me off in Richmond while he got his football fix.

Will had a marvelous time in Richmond with his grandparents. He even got his first pair of “real” shoes! He’s gotten so adept at pushing his little car across the lawn, and I was starting to feel like a bad mother watching my baby walk around outdoors in his “Robeez” soft-soled shoes. They are great little slipper-type shoes, but they’re not so appropriate when it’s 30 some degrees outside and the grass is wet. Anyhow, my parents also took pity on him and sprung for the Extra-Wide Stride Rite shoes. (Yep, not regular, not wide, but extra wide.) He looks like such a big boy now! But why do baby shoes cost more than a lot of adult shoes? And they outgrow them in 3 months? Good thing they’re cute. I’ll take pictures of the little man tomorrow with his new sneaks.

Other than that fun-filled excursion to Saxon Shoes, what else? My mom and I went to a women’s conference at church Saturday morning…We saw both sets of my grandparents & my sister…Will slid down the slide in the neighborhood playground almost by himself!... We didn’t get back to Durham until midnight Sunday night—way too late for me nowadays (I continue to marvel that I could once stay up & actually be social till the wee hours. Now I can barely converse intelligently about the weather after 8pm.) It was a fun weekend. But I’m once again glad to be home.

Incidentally, Will is 10 months old now. How time flies…More pictures to come…

Anyone have a clever (cheap) idea on how to dress Will up for his playgroup's Halloween party?

Winston

I'm trying (a little) not to be quite so Type A about our plans, but that's ambitious with a baby & a nap schedule. Saturday morning, I told Colin we should skip swim lessons & head to Winston Salem for the day, seeing as how we would be moving there in less than a year. I hadn't been there since my high school college search days, and the only thing I could recall was Wake's football field (odd memory for a non-avid sports fan)--it was time to return. So we did, and we located the mall (to my excitement, the largest in the Carolinas), the hospital (huge!), a number of neighborhoods where we might house hunt in another few months, and the Golden Corral (yes, we did eat dinner there). We didn't intend to dine on GC's famed buffet, but there was nowhere else to eat without a long wait, and we had a kid on our hands who'd had a long day. Colin & I enjoyed eating a little of every food known to man, & Will threw crackers & other sundry items all over the floor. Good times. Will held up remarkably well throughout the day, taking his morning nap on the drive there & his afternoon nap while Colin & I drove around town looking at houses. We spent some time playing at a local park, where Will happily frolicked in the mud, & we also wandered around the mall for awhile to stretch our legs. Winston seems like a nice place--more attractive than Durham & a good size. It'll be a pain to resettle, make new friends, find a new church & new barbeque joints, learn our way around a new town...but all those "new" things can be great fun too. And then we get to do it again in another 3-4 years...back to Virginia?

Will's Wheels

Will's new favorite sport is pushing his car up and down our yard--I just have to make sure to catch the speed demon before he runs right into a tree!

Update

We're hanging in there, though going through lots of tissues and tylenol. Will caught a cold somewhere & passed it on to me (& to Colin too a little bit). He's been screaming a great deal, and I have no energy. I know it'll pass--hopefully soon!--but in the meantime, we're just sticking around the house and watching a little Baby Einstein (Unfortunately for me, Will can tolerate only 15 minutes of it). Yesterday we did make it out to Chik-fil-a and shared an ice cream cone. Will didn't really want to eat yesterday, so I was trying to get something into his body...Ice cream always makes everything better.

This past weekend was fun around here. Saturday morning Colin got to enjoy swimming lessons with us, & Will continues to chuckle every time he gets in the water. Colin got to see UVA beat Duke in football, & we had friends over for dinner that night. Sunday morning, Will lasted the whole service in the nursery, though I've noticed he's either pant-less or his diaper's not quite on every time we pick him up. I guess they've discovered how challenging it can be to change little William Christopher's diaper--he's a strong one! I spent some quality time on my own in Old Navy that afternoon picking up a few "essentials," Colin played football with work friends, & I even got out to see "The Illusionist" with my friend Annie. Quite the weekend! For us, that's a lot of excitement in two days :)

One more story--Will loves his daddy a lot, but this morning was precious. As Colin was leaving, the little guy started wailing and booked it toward the door as fast as he could crawl. He pulled himself up on Colin's leg and begged him (in baby language) not to leave him alone with no-fun sicky mommy. Maybe I should've been offended :) but I was touched by how much our son loves his dad.

Happy beginning of October to you all!