Home Sweet Home

Christmas was wonderful, as always, except for the fact that Colin & I got a nasty stomach virus (originally thought to be food poisoning) and proceeded to pass it on to a friend, my parents, my brother, & 4 grandparents. Not the ideal way for anyone to spend the holidays. We're sorry, everyone! I know that wasn't the gift you expected from us. Hopefully you will still want to see us again sometime?!

We didn't take a single picture while away, but we did enjoy playing with our brand new video camera...Those things sure have come a long ways! Will must have been exhausted from all the excitement and people from the past week, & he actually took a 2 hour nap this afternoon. Amazing. It gave me enough time to take down all the Christmas decorations and attempt to organize all of Will's new loot. I think I'm going to need some large, ugly, brightly-colored plastic contraption to hold all his stuff, otherwise it's going to take over our home.

It was fabulous to see so many friends & family--we loved it!--but it always feels so good to be home again. Hope you all had marvelous celebrations of Jesus' birthday too.

Merry, Merry Christmas!

We're headed off tonight to begin the Christmas festivities...First to Richmond for a few days, then to Colonial Beach for the rest of Colin's vacation week. We can't wait to see family & friends in both places, & wish the rest of you a very joyous Christmas!

Chug, Chug, Chug

Now, Colin & I are not big drinkers. In fact, this can of beer has been in our fridge for over a year, and I recently threw out a bottle of champagne we received on our wedding day (almost 3 years ago). However for some reason, every time Will gets into our refrigerator he locates and pretends to drink this Bud Light. It's very strange...There might be several Diet Cokes and Dr. Peppers on the same shelf, but he will search out his beer. Let's stick with milk & juice for another 20 years, Will.

He's ONE, & He's off...

Friday was Will's first birthday--It's amazing how much he's changed over this past year! I know every parent says it, but they do grow up fast. He's truly becoming his own little person now... He looks like a boy--not a baby--and he's got a definite personality and mind of his own too. He interacts with the world now, which makes parenting so much more fun :) He claps to music, waves at anything (especially inflatable snowmen, Santa, & his daddy), has passionate conversations with himself of mamamama dadaada hehehee, reads his books out loud (in his own language, of course), and plays with enthusiasm. He also has graduated from those first cautious steps to full-fledged walking all over the house. He may look inebriated at times with a sometimes unsteady balance, but that boy can move. He especially likes carrying objects--masking tape, nail polish, daddy's pager--as he jets from room to room.

Though he still refuses non-baby food veggies, we've learned Will likes pizza & chicken nuggets. Colin & I ordered pizza Friday night, and Will couldn't keep his mouth off my slice. I think he just prefers food with flavor...seasoned beans, chili, greasy cheese...But he still mainly lives on yogurt, crackers, goldfish, fruit, and his Gerber vegetables. I'm beginning to wean him, now that he can drink whole milk, & thankfully he seems to be doing ok with non-mommy milk. FYI--He's 23.5 lbs & doing great, according to the doctor.

I think back on those first SIX months of interrupted sleep and wonder how we survived. I'm a girl who loves her sleep, & I was not a happy camper some days after getting 2 hours of sleep at a time. Maybe Colin is tougher than me, since he's used to staying up all night at work, but that was not pleasant for moi. Thank God that Will sleeps now!! What a difference that makes. And we put him down early--by 6:30pm--so that we have a few hours of non-Will time each night.

I have an amusing picture I'll upload later today, but for now my words will have to suffice. Happy birthday to our little munchkin, William Christopher.

What will he do next?

Apparently Will wasn't satisfied with the yogurt & fruit he had for lunch. While I was raking up leaves & Will was playing next to me, the boy decided to eat dog poop. I kid you not--the child was enjoying the remains of a neighborhood dog's droppings. I watch him carefully in the yard, lest he consume a poisonous berry or some toxic leaf, but I never expected this one. He often chews on sticks, and that doesn't bother me. I thought he was gnawing on a piece of bark until I found otherwise... I'm sad to say I even forgot to brush his little teeth before he went to bed.

Boys will be boys

Yep, it's cold outside, but that doesn't stop Will from wanting to play with leaves, dirt, & sticks. He does have several layers on (& normally a hat)--don't worry!



Here he is practicing his "downward dog" yoga pose. He does this often.


Will has also begun to throw tantrums--major ones. I naively thought this didn't start until the "terrible twos," but when Will doesn't get his way, he goes crazy. He flings his body to the floor, bangs his head, and of course screams. He's very strong-willed, so I've got to figure out how to best deal with that... Being a stay at home mom with only one child, it's obvious why he's so spoiled, but he can't have my undivided attention all the time. After all, a girl's got to use the restroom now and then, ideally without a child either in the room or angrily banging on the door!