Christmas 2009

It's been a happy holidays - despite the weather! Our plans changed quite a bit due to The Storm. We had been planning heading to South Dakota to see the Rehfuss family - but those plans were edited once the storm started playing out. I doubt we would have made it all the way to Yankton in one piece...so we stayed a little closer to home and spent Christmas eve and day in Glencoe. I took a few videos of Will and merged them all together into one longer one (about 5 minutes) showing what his week has looked like...some present wrapping, cookie eating, holiday coloring and present opening...He's been loving it all - except for the large stuffed dinosaur my mom gave him. It's the one he' s opening in the video. You can see him start to cry - but you don't see that after the crying it only gets worse (screaming, running away, looking all over the house for the hidden dinosaur). Maybe she can wrap it again next year...I hope everyone in South Dakota had a good Christmas wherever you may have celebrated and we missed you all. Although the storm wasn't as fierce here as predicted it still left quite a bit of snow so we took some pictures on Christmas morning of us in the very pretty snow. Happy Holidays everyone.

Will REALLY likes to brush his teeth - I think its more about the training toothpaste (tastes like bubblegum) than actually brushing his teeth. Over Thanksgiving he would want to do it constantly and get a bit ornry when he didn't get to do it. We're working on making him sit down when he's brushing so he doesn't trip and fall with the toothbrush in his mouth. Last night Dad and Jr. were doing some group brushing and it was too cute not to take a picture.

He has also started to become very fond of dinosaurs and roaring like one. Although if you ask him what a kitty says, he'll roar too...

A couple of videos

Will got a balloon this weekend - his first. (I'll let you guess who picked it out once you see it...). He thought it was FANTASTIC.

He's also become a big fan of sitting at the dining room table and "working". Today, he also insisted on wearing his sunglasses while he did it....

An evening cocktail

I found this robe at the used baby store the other day and couldn't resist. If only they sold baby cigars with it...we'd have a little Hugh Hefner on our hands...

We also realized it was about time to start taking belly shots of me...I tried to hold up a sign that had the date (11/4) and 18 weeks on it...but of course, Will needed to chew on it...The picture still gives a pretty good idea of how big I already am - I know women tend to be bigger on the second time around. I'm hoping its just that and not that this baby is going to be bigger than Will was....

Yankton Pool Time

Just a couple of short clips from the time in the pool in Yankton...

Finally, something new

I've finally gotten around to posting something new. A couple of old pictures from our trip to the State Fair and a few from our trip last weekend to Yankton to see the family...

Will, slightly under-impressed with the cattle barn at the state fair.

Dad and Will at the fair...

Fast forward to Yankton....Who wants hold Phoebe?

The girls in their matching dresses!

Sunday fun and chores

We decided it was time Will started pulling his weight around here - so it was his job to mop the floors yesterday. He spent about 20 minutes hard at work. I got a little bit of it on video...


After the chores were done it was time for some fun....Will drove his truck around the house for a while.

Then he sat down and thought about what else he would like to do (he seems to like to just sit on the stairs and hang out).

Finally, it was decided that swinging at the park sounded like a good idea. It was a good day. Bill and I are heading into our last week of summer vacation this week. Next week we both go back to school.

A little off the top.

Will got his first haircut today. His curls were getting a little out of control (almost looked like he had a start on some dreadlocks in the back). So I got out the scissors and cheerios. He handled it pretty well and the haircut doesn't look too bad. I'm sure he won't think that if I'm still cutting his hair a decade from now...

His latest fascination is with buses and trucks. We have lots on the street outside our house. He points to every single one he sees. If he's on the front porch and can hear the truck or bus, but can't see it, he'll still stop what he's doing and point towards the street.

Two more molars are starting to come in on the top of his mouth - but he seems to be handling it better than the previous two. He had one crabby day but that's been about it.

Steadier than the economy...

Seems like Will has maybe joined the ranks of the walking! I'd guess he spends about half of his time upright and wants to walk more than crawl. Here are a couple of videos highlighting his feats of balance...

One step closer

Will seems to be over the worst of this teething episode - however he had a small reaction to his chicken pox vaccine and for a few days looked like he'd been attacked by a swarm of mosquitos. The spots didn't seem to bother him - he just looked a little rough. Most have cleared by now and no new ones seem to be showing up.

He's making big progress on the walking front. We've seen a couple of full room crossing feats - although mostly he's consistently doing 6-8 steps at a time. I've posted two videos below....

I think the saying goes "What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger"...maybe that's laying it on a little thick but in the height of blackfly season, we spent a week with a teething one-year old in a one room cabin...and we're better people because of it....We actually had a fun vacation (but RELAXING is not an adjective that can be used for this vacation). "Will don't chew on rocks" "Will no playing with the ax" "Will, if the Nuk has mouse poop on it, lets rinse it off first" are some of the many phrases we used this week. We were able to get a couple of nice hikes in, feasted on fresh walleye that Bill caught, went swimming at one of the local beaches (video below) and we took lots of naps when Will did (since there was only one room, he wanted to stay part of the action far later than he should have - we ate dinner laying down on our bed pretending to be asleep more than once...baked beans are hard to eat laying down).

Before this trip we had visions of taking him camping this summer - HA! We've become much wiser....we'll go camping and leave him with Grandma ;). We were all glad to be home today - I think Will played with every single toy today that he didn't bring on vacation. He missed his usual routine as much as we did.

Maybe it was spending a week in a cabin where you literally couldn't stick your arm out without touching something that made Will realize he's close to walking. When we got home today, he was READY to go...okay, he's not quite running laps around the block but he'll happily walk behind his red truck (video below) and even go about four steps on his own before he blows over...I think in a week or so he'll be there....

Birthday Boy

Hard to believe but Will turned 1 on friday! We've discovered he's a big fan of cupcakes and ice cream (no surprise there). He got this fantastic motorcycle from Grandpa Mike - he was trying to pop a wheelie already....

Bear Crawl

Will has taken crawling to a new level...he's way into bear crawling...Still not a fan of trying to walk on his own with us holding his hands, but he's making progress. He has figured out how to dance - and does it often. I'll try to get that one on video because its pretty entertaining (at least to us!)...

April 26, 2009

Will has mastered climbing all the way up the stairs (much to the cat's dismay). He'll get to the top, sit down on the landing and look around waiting for the cheering to start. The fantastic hat in the video was a present from James, a student in Bill's class, who made the hat just for Will. It's adorable!

Spring Break!

Bill and I are both on spring break and couldn't be happier. We both felt it was time for a break. Took a couple of Will videos today and actually have time to post them on the day they were filmed...crazy concept...Will discovered a creative way to push around his favorite toy - will probably result in a trip to the dentist, but we'll wait until that happens to put an end to this funny trick. The other video is Will watching Bill playing with Pete. Something apparently caught his funny bone. He'd been laughing super hard for a few minutes before I got the camera on - so I just caught the tail end of it....

New video camera

So I got a new video camera for my birthday (thank you!!) and thought I'd share the results....here is the "raw" version and then edited version (that the software on the camera did)....

Will has discovered some new favorites in his life....the swing at the park across the street and the pots and pan cupboard...just waiting for him to smack the cat with one of the frypans....

3/15/09

Will has quickly mastered the art of pulling himself up to standing! He happily uses any handhold he can find to make his way onto his feet. Here are a couple of videos showing off his new skill - and another video of him involved in one of his favorite pastimes, pushing the cart around the kitchen....

Will goes from crawling to sitting - his latest trick. He looks a little wobbly in the video but he's gotten to be quite an ace at this - hardly any knocks on the head anymore :).

Will Crawling Upadate - and eating cheerios!

Will starts crawling!

January 18, 2009

Will has figured it out! He is more scooching than crawling, but he gets where he wants to go - and fast. Here's a quick video showing his new skills - and a couple more just showing him goofing around. The sounds gets a little loud in some of them when I talk (sorry, I'm right by the camera so it picks up the sound a little too well). Enjoy.

Happy New Year! We had a great Christmas - saw lots of family (some brand new members - Welcome baby Phoebe, born Dec. 28th!) and spent lots of time relaxing and playing with Will. Here's a short video of him opening presents on Christmas day at Grandma Pat's. He was really more interested in eating the paper - but loves all of his new toys, books and clothes.