I wish I could have video cameras on at all times just so that I don't ever miss the funny things William says/does. For instance...
Yesterday on the way home William started whining about the buckle of his car seat being in his neck. He got this phrase a few weeks ago when somehow the straps were tightened all the way and I couldn't buckle it at all because the buckle was literally in his neck. I said "oh no, the buckle is in your neck!" and ever since he seems to think his buckle is in his neck and therefore needs to be undone. Wish I could take that back - but that's not the funny part. So he was complaining about it and I said
"William, the buckle is not in your neck it is on your chest right where it should be. I can't undo it because then I'd get in trouble from the police officer for not keeping you safe. It's my job to keep you safe"'
He had no reply but I knew the wheels were turning. About 10 minutes later he broke the silence:
Mommy, I need to see the police officer.
Why William?
My bottom doesn't feel better, you maybe get in trouble.
WHAT?!?! I have no idea what was wrong with his bottom but apparently the authorities needed to be notified.
He also must be tired of me telling him that his clothing choices don't match because this morning when I was picking out his clothes he said "mommy your shirt doesn't match your dress". Annnnd now I'm self concious all day! Thanks sweet boy.
He just comes up with these random ideas all the time and they keep me laughing. I need to find a way to remember them all.
Did I share the night he grabbed our hands at dinner and told us we were eating as a family and it was time to pray? Talk about melt a mama's heart!
He and Nancy have gotten even closer the past couple of weeks, if that was even possible. She started sleeping in bed with him which he loves. One night last week I climbed into his bed after he was settled and he said "Watch out for Nancy mommy". I must have bumped her a little and she made a little squeak and he patted her head saying, "It's ok Nancy, I'm sorry Nancy". Now that he better understands how to be gentle with her and how to understand her cues she loves him more than before. Having pets is a big cleaning-hassle but I wouldn't trade it for anything when I see how much he loves her!
Over the weekend we counted all of the money in William's piggie banks (he has 4...) and he had $150. We set $20 aside and the rest is for his college fund. We told him he could buy whatever he wanted with his $20. We offered to go to Ross (you know, every 2 year old's favorite store, right? or is it just mine?)Target, the book store, the blue man store (best buy, i.e. the place you buy movies) and he said "no mommy, the BIIIIIG toy store". Well, I don't know of a BIIIIG one but I know of one at the mall where Uncle Brandon bought him a motorcycle and, sure enough, that's where he wanted to go. He had fun playing with different toys and going back and forth on which to buy. In the end it was a $7 car that caught his attention and he proudly gave his $20 to the cashier and took his car. I almost felt like a cheap parent by only offering $20 to him out of the entire $150, and I was a little self concious that we don't let him have enough...but he was just as happy with that $7 car as he would have been with anything else. He loves it! So, I'll let his college fund flourish while $7 is still enough to please him. Cause not too far down the road I hear, "mommy I maybe need an iPad". Yikes.
We've spent the last 2 Sunday afternoons at a neighbor's house watching football while William and their son play. It is interesting to watch them learn how to interact with each other. William, who has been surrounded by kids his entire life and is very accustomed to having toys taken from him, had to learn what it was like to be around a kid who doesn't understand yet that he can't take EVERY toy away. He's so used to kids who know the particualr rules his school has set, he isn't used to any other form of interaction. And their son hasn't spent much time with other kids at all so he has had to learn about sharing and interactive play and so forth. It was a struggle on both sides but at the end of our time there this week they had a BLAST tearing apart the train tracks together. It was the first stretch of 10 mintues when they played together, one common goal, without fighting over toys. (with just a LITTLE parental help along the way)
And - last but not least - I think I'd say he's about 90% potty trained! Most nights he keeps his pull up dry, I'd say maybe 2 nights a week it's wet. Most days his only accidents are dirty which I am proud of but also hate the most (duh!). But he's almost there 100% and it was definitely a pretty painless process.
I guess that's about all. No more "new words of the week" or specific details of development. Now it's the sentences and conversations he comes up with that provide my amazement and those are a lot harder to document! I'm trying though. He's just an amazing little boy all around. I'll take very little credit for that, but with the little credit I do give myself I'll feel free to boast endlessly. He's the best!
Sep 26, 2012
Sep 21, 2012
William's room
Sigh...
Here we go.
From 2000-2007 I moved 6 times. And in all of the moves it took very little time to set up, nest, decorate, and sit back happily calling my new abode 'home'.
But then I lived in a home for 5 years (a brief stint in Houston aside) and in 2010 the house became more of a home than I ever could have imagined. Walking away from the best kitchen I've ever seen in a 'starter' home, walking away from my Aggie office which I meticulously painted, walking away from the bathroom Austin transformed from disgusting to almost like able (he did a great job it was just so tiny!!) - all of that was easy. Sure, I miss those things but they are just parts of our house. It was the little blue room in the front which broke my heart.
In my 100% biased opinion, William had the best nursery ever. Why? Because love was poured into it from the moment I found out I was pregnant. It had been our catch-all room and the only room in our house which we hadn't touched. It housed boxes and odds and ends and the door was opened MAYBE 10 times in 3 years. But the day we found out we were pregnant we started clearing it out. We bought furniture before our first OB appointment! We bought his first boy clothes when I was 12 weeks and the ultrasound technician thought she saw a Peter (yup! She used that word! I couldn't believe it!) we spent an entire weekend painting stripes perfectly around the room after we confirmed it was a boy. I fed my container store addiction as I mapped out and redesigned his closet. I was 6 months pregnant sitting in his room mentally going through a day with an infant to determine what would need to be in the closet, the flow of the room, etc. I poured every ounce of love in my heart into that room.
And then on February 4, 2010 we brought our greatest blessing home and instantly took him to his room to read his bible and sing him songs. We had no idea what we were even supposed to do at that point, but whatever it was it was in his room.
I loved everything about his little room: the paint, the theme, the wall decal, family pictures, closet - I loved it all and took such pride in keeping it organized and clean. His room was the best-kept in the house!
Needless to say, leaving it was hard for me. But I thought that once we got here and I could create a new, big boy room my heart would be full again. I didn't realize I was going to have unattainable expectations.
I have stalled on sharing much of our house on here because it took a long time to feel like home and I have found I'm really not good (some may say bad) at decorating. I want to be able to share pictures of our beautiful decorated, meticulously organized home - but that's not what we have. It's just what I want. And as for william's room, I apparently wanted to transplant his room from Colorado. But - I can't, and when I realized people don't know we had moved him to a big boy bed I decided it was time to put on my big girl panties and get over this childish complex.
So here's his room! I snapped fast pictures this morning while he was asleep, lights still off, so I couldn't back out of my mental notion to get over myself. So, I apologize for the poor quality, messy floor, messy bed, etc. After all, a 2 year old boy lives here!
First: his bed. We bought this bed from a friend of Brian's last fall and it stayed there until we moved. So anytime we slept at Brian's William got this bed and loved it! It was painted white and had lots of little stains/chips/dirty spots from decades of use, so we painted it since we can't paint his walls. I should have gotten a closer picture of the footboard - the spindles and knobs are blue, the rest is red. And his favorite books are rotated on the shelve above for bed time stories.
I still have a small curtain to hem for this little window, and we changed his name that used to hang long ways. The letters were all connected with ribbon and I cut them apart to go above his closet.
I like this roman shade type of curtain (there's probably a better name for it) but Austin rarely ties it up so it just looks like a long curtain :)
And he loves when his artwork is displayed so we framed this caterpillar that he made at Goddard.
His books are constantly being moved and when I ask him to put them away they end up in stacks instead of standing up. I have a bad, bad habit of going behind people and redoing things my way (folding sheets, folding clothes, loading the dish washer) so I'm trying my best to allow William to do things HIS way and let him figure out what he prefers. (as long as he doesn't prefer them on the floor!)
He LOVES his room. Loves. So regardless of how bland and disappointing it is to me, that's what matters. He loves it, white walls and all.
- manda
Here we go.
From 2000-2007 I moved 6 times. And in all of the moves it took very little time to set up, nest, decorate, and sit back happily calling my new abode 'home'.
But then I lived in a home for 5 years (a brief stint in Houston aside) and in 2010 the house became more of a home than I ever could have imagined. Walking away from the best kitchen I've ever seen in a 'starter' home, walking away from my Aggie office which I meticulously painted, walking away from the bathroom Austin transformed from disgusting to almost like able (he did a great job it was just so tiny!!) - all of that was easy. Sure, I miss those things but they are just parts of our house. It was the little blue room in the front which broke my heart.
In my 100% biased opinion, William had the best nursery ever. Why? Because love was poured into it from the moment I found out I was pregnant. It had been our catch-all room and the only room in our house which we hadn't touched. It housed boxes and odds and ends and the door was opened MAYBE 10 times in 3 years. But the day we found out we were pregnant we started clearing it out. We bought furniture before our first OB appointment! We bought his first boy clothes when I was 12 weeks and the ultrasound technician thought she saw a Peter (yup! She used that word! I couldn't believe it!) we spent an entire weekend painting stripes perfectly around the room after we confirmed it was a boy. I fed my container store addiction as I mapped out and redesigned his closet. I was 6 months pregnant sitting in his room mentally going through a day with an infant to determine what would need to be in the closet, the flow of the room, etc. I poured every ounce of love in my heart into that room.
And then on February 4, 2010 we brought our greatest blessing home and instantly took him to his room to read his bible and sing him songs. We had no idea what we were even supposed to do at that point, but whatever it was it was in his room.
I loved everything about his little room: the paint, the theme, the wall decal, family pictures, closet - I loved it all and took such pride in keeping it organized and clean. His room was the best-kept in the house!
Needless to say, leaving it was hard for me. But I thought that once we got here and I could create a new, big boy room my heart would be full again. I didn't realize I was going to have unattainable expectations.
I have stalled on sharing much of our house on here because it took a long time to feel like home and I have found I'm really not good (some may say bad) at decorating. I want to be able to share pictures of our beautiful decorated, meticulously organized home - but that's not what we have. It's just what I want. And as for william's room, I apparently wanted to transplant his room from Colorado. But - I can't, and when I realized people don't know we had moved him to a big boy bed I decided it was time to put on my big girl panties and get over this childish complex.
So here's his room! I snapped fast pictures this morning while he was asleep, lights still off, so I couldn't back out of my mental notion to get over myself. So, I apologize for the poor quality, messy floor, messy bed, etc. After all, a 2 year old boy lives here!
First: his bed. We bought this bed from a friend of Brian's last fall and it stayed there until we moved. So anytime we slept at Brian's William got this bed and loved it! It was painted white and had lots of little stains/chips/dirty spots from decades of use, so we painted it since we can't paint his walls. I should have gotten a closer picture of the footboard - the spindles and knobs are blue, the rest is red. And his favorite books are rotated on the shelve above for bed time stories.
I still have a small curtain to hem for this little window, and we changed his name that used to hang long ways. The letters were all connected with ribbon and I cut them apart to go above his closet.
I like this roman shade type of curtain (there's probably a better name for it) but Austin rarely ties it up so it just looks like a long curtain :)
And he loves when his artwork is displayed so we framed this caterpillar that he made at Goddard.
His books are constantly being moved and when I ask him to put them away they end up in stacks instead of standing up. I have a bad, bad habit of going behind people and redoing things my way (folding sheets, folding clothes, loading the dish washer) so I'm trying my best to allow William to do things HIS way and let him figure out what he prefers. (as long as he doesn't prefer them on the floor!)
He LOVES his room. Loves. So regardless of how bland and disappointing it is to me, that's what matters. He loves it, white walls and all.
- manda
Sep 18, 2012
Miscues
There is a lot of controversy surrounding the 'replacement' officials in the NFL right now. For any non-football fans, the NFL referees are on a lockout due to contract negotiations and the league has pulled officials in from who even knows where to fill in for the time being. In some cases it's ok, but it's a hot topic on sports center and other sports related media - they have had some disastrous miscues.
I guess miscues during football time are expected.
Last week I shared this conversation in Facebook:
Me: Austin, when you come upstairs can you bring me the bag that's on top of the laundry dresser?
Austin: sure where is it?
Hmm, clearly listening to me during Monday night football is not going to be very successful. (I really should have known better)
So today when I opened the dryer to pull out our sheets and noticed they were still damp, i shouldn't have been surprised. But I was! How are the sheets still wet?
Then I remembered this conversation:
Me: hey austin can you put the sheets that are in the washer into the dryer?
Austin: sure.
Apparently turning ON the dryer needed to be a second request. One thing at a time when football is on please.
Stay tuned to see how the rest of the season turns out. Either I'll learn to wait until after the games are over, or I'll have lots more fun little miscues for your entertainment!
- manda
I guess miscues during football time are expected.
Last week I shared this conversation in Facebook:
Me: Austin, when you come upstairs can you bring me the bag that's on top of the laundry dresser?
Austin: sure where is it?
Hmm, clearly listening to me during Monday night football is not going to be very successful. (I really should have known better)
So today when I opened the dryer to pull out our sheets and noticed they were still damp, i shouldn't have been surprised. But I was! How are the sheets still wet?
Then I remembered this conversation:
Me: hey austin can you put the sheets that are in the washer into the dryer?
Austin: sure.
Apparently turning ON the dryer needed to be a second request. One thing at a time when football is on please.
Stay tuned to see how the rest of the season turns out. Either I'll learn to wait until after the games are over, or I'll have lots more fun little miscues for your entertainment!
- manda
Sep 17, 2012
Genealogy
Besides being MIA due to the 9/15 tax deadline (or 9/17 thanks or no thanks to the extra weekend) I have also been busy working with Aunt Joy on the Blair family genealogy. What a project! Joy has a large "blue print" of the family that was done in 1964 that she's made notes on over the years. I'm not sure who made it back then or how they made it, but it is on a piece of paper about 16X22 inches and has information from my great, great grandparents on down through parts of my generation. Then Joy penciled in what she could beyond that, but ran out of room and probably ran out of energy over the years!
She's now wanting to create an updated one and fill in all the holes, plus document little stories and facts about the family members that would be fun to share. We haven't nailed down our plan for how to present it all, but our hope is to give a copy to all of the family units from her father down - which is a lot! Joy was oneof 6 kids, and they all had kids who have kids...you get the idea. It's a lot. But it's fun!
I went up and spent a few hours with her on Saturday going through what she has on the blue paper plus other odds and ends that she's kept in her "Blair tree" folder. I created an account on ancestry.com and we sat in the library at her retirement home entering half of the family in the website. I finished the rest at home that night and then when I went to print it I realize it's horrible! I don't like the format it prints in or how it looks, and I don't know how to make it any better. I looked for other options and I found one called iFamily made for Macs that I think is pretty nice. Rather than a website it's software you can download. I have a trial version now and I've entered Joy, her siblings and below and I think the printout is much easier to follow. It is a data base system so it has a lot of different views, different data entry screens for notes on each family member, pictures, etc - it is much more thorough than the free version of ancestry.com. But now I get to re-enter everyone! It's much faster in this program though so I should have it all done pretty soon. I'm hoping to print it off soon and mail it to Joy so she can see where our holes are (birthdays, children, etc) and we can contact the people we need so that we can get it all entered. Then we have to figure out how we want to document the stories, history, biographies, etc. I'm SO excited to be doing this!
My great grandparents left Canada I believe just before the depression, but I'm not 100% sure on that timeline yet, and moved to Texas with their 6 children. At some point during their time in Texas they got divorced and the kids were asked, each one separately, which parent they'd prefer to live with. In the end my great grandfather took one of the kids back to Canada and the other 5 remained in Texas. That was the base of my knowledge before I started spending more time talking to Joy, and I'm finding the history to be rich and fascinating.
It's fun to learn about my family's history, and it's even more fun to hear the stories straight from Joy. To see her face as she recants a story of her and her siblings 80 years ago is incredible. Her MEMORY is incredible, and the way the stories still touch her. She also talked a lot about my grandfather who I never met. He passed away suddenly when my dad was 17 so I've never known much about him other than his name, how he died, and that Mimi still loved him as much the day she died as the day he did. Joy told me about how beautiful their marriage was and how incredible it was to witness a love like that. So many of the traits she mentioned - having a wild, mischievous streak, having a heart the size of Texas and a love that filled a room, knowing every person in a room, a deep booming voice, and being the most supportive and loving husband she'd ever seen - sounded like she was talking about my dad. The apple doesn't fall far, and it's fun for me to know those things which I had never heard. I love the country song, "I wanna love like Johnny and June" and apparently that's how my grandparents were. It warms my heart to think of it.
She told me so many little stories here and there that I've written down to share with our family, but I can't help but feel like I really struck gold in being able to hear it from her. The stories won't come to life when I re-tell them as they did when she spoke. Or maybe I'm wrong, but I do feel like I got the better end of all of this.
If anyone knows of a good way to wrap all of this up into a pretty bow I'd love to hear it. I have different thoughts and ideas on how to do it but I can't seem to nail exactly what I think I want in my head. And after we finish the Blair family Joy wants me to help on the MacLaren side (my great grandmother who stayed in Texas with her 5 kids) THEN maybe I could do the Loving family? Mimi's family. What an idea. I could be a genealogy pro. And to think...history was always my least favorite subject. I guess it makes a difference when it's my own!
She's now wanting to create an updated one and fill in all the holes, plus document little stories and facts about the family members that would be fun to share. We haven't nailed down our plan for how to present it all, but our hope is to give a copy to all of the family units from her father down - which is a lot! Joy was oneof 6 kids, and they all had kids who have kids...you get the idea. It's a lot. But it's fun!
I went up and spent a few hours with her on Saturday going through what she has on the blue paper plus other odds and ends that she's kept in her "Blair tree" folder. I created an account on ancestry.com and we sat in the library at her retirement home entering half of the family in the website. I finished the rest at home that night and then when I went to print it I realize it's horrible! I don't like the format it prints in or how it looks, and I don't know how to make it any better. I looked for other options and I found one called iFamily made for Macs that I think is pretty nice. Rather than a website it's software you can download. I have a trial version now and I've entered Joy, her siblings and below and I think the printout is much easier to follow. It is a data base system so it has a lot of different views, different data entry screens for notes on each family member, pictures, etc - it is much more thorough than the free version of ancestry.com. But now I get to re-enter everyone! It's much faster in this program though so I should have it all done pretty soon. I'm hoping to print it off soon and mail it to Joy so she can see where our holes are (birthdays, children, etc) and we can contact the people we need so that we can get it all entered. Then we have to figure out how we want to document the stories, history, biographies, etc. I'm SO excited to be doing this!
My great grandparents left Canada I believe just before the depression, but I'm not 100% sure on that timeline yet, and moved to Texas with their 6 children. At some point during their time in Texas they got divorced and the kids were asked, each one separately, which parent they'd prefer to live with. In the end my great grandfather took one of the kids back to Canada and the other 5 remained in Texas. That was the base of my knowledge before I started spending more time talking to Joy, and I'm finding the history to be rich and fascinating.
It's fun to learn about my family's history, and it's even more fun to hear the stories straight from Joy. To see her face as she recants a story of her and her siblings 80 years ago is incredible. Her MEMORY is incredible, and the way the stories still touch her. She also talked a lot about my grandfather who I never met. He passed away suddenly when my dad was 17 so I've never known much about him other than his name, how he died, and that Mimi still loved him as much the day she died as the day he did. Joy told me about how beautiful their marriage was and how incredible it was to witness a love like that. So many of the traits she mentioned - having a wild, mischievous streak, having a heart the size of Texas and a love that filled a room, knowing every person in a room, a deep booming voice, and being the most supportive and loving husband she'd ever seen - sounded like she was talking about my dad. The apple doesn't fall far, and it's fun for me to know those things which I had never heard. I love the country song, "I wanna love like Johnny and June" and apparently that's how my grandparents were. It warms my heart to think of it.
She told me so many little stories here and there that I've written down to share with our family, but I can't help but feel like I really struck gold in being able to hear it from her. The stories won't come to life when I re-tell them as they did when she spoke. Or maybe I'm wrong, but I do feel like I got the better end of all of this.
If anyone knows of a good way to wrap all of this up into a pretty bow I'd love to hear it. I have different thoughts and ideas on how to do it but I can't seem to nail exactly what I think I want in my head. And after we finish the Blair family Joy wants me to help on the MacLaren side (my great grandmother who stayed in Texas with her 5 kids) THEN maybe I could do the Loving family? Mimi's family. What an idea. I could be a genealogy pro. And to think...history was always my least favorite subject. I guess it makes a difference when it's my own!
Sep 11, 2012
Do we have friends???
It is a possibility!
Remember when I took lasagna to our neighbors who had just had a baby? Or maybe I never told you. In any case, their daughter was born on my birthday (yay) and I took them a dinner they could heat up on a night when cooking seemed outlandish. They were appreciative and, noticing my aTm shirt, said 'oh, another SEC fan. We'll have to get together for some football this fall'
Fast forward almost 2 months and we spent Saturday watching the aggies play the gators. Well, we saw that for one half, then saw the gators play against posers. In any case. We had a nice time! There were a few families from the street congregated in the driveway across the street watching the game on a TV they had brought outside. Yup - September 8 and we comfortably sat outside for an afternoon of football. Even needed a blanket when the sun went down! Bliss.
Sunday after the texans game we went back over for the rest of the afternoon. We couldn't watch our game there because they were all watching the Jacksonville game, but we joined in once the texans sealed our victory.
There Are 2 families with kids William's age, one girl and one boy, and the family with the newborn. Then we met new neighbors Sunday who just moved in and have a 1 year old I believe.
I'm so excited! Now time for me to forcefully insert myself in their lives like I've successfully done with so many of my friends.
How do you think I've been blessed with such great friends? I really just give them no choice. Works like a charm!
- manda
Remember when I took lasagna to our neighbors who had just had a baby? Or maybe I never told you. In any case, their daughter was born on my birthday (yay) and I took them a dinner they could heat up on a night when cooking seemed outlandish. They were appreciative and, noticing my aTm shirt, said 'oh, another SEC fan. We'll have to get together for some football this fall'
Fast forward almost 2 months and we spent Saturday watching the aggies play the gators. Well, we saw that for one half, then saw the gators play against posers. In any case. We had a nice time! There were a few families from the street congregated in the driveway across the street watching the game on a TV they had brought outside. Yup - September 8 and we comfortably sat outside for an afternoon of football. Even needed a blanket when the sun went down! Bliss.
Sunday after the texans game we went back over for the rest of the afternoon. We couldn't watch our game there because they were all watching the Jacksonville game, but we joined in once the texans sealed our victory.
There Are 2 families with kids William's age, one girl and one boy, and the family with the newborn. Then we met new neighbors Sunday who just moved in and have a 1 year old I believe.
I'm so excited! Now time for me to forcefully insert myself in their lives like I've successfully done with so many of my friends.
How do you think I've been blessed with such great friends? I really just give them no choice. Works like a charm!
- manda
Sep 5, 2012
William Wednesday
You pretty much know all about William's week already, but I'll see what else I can come up with.
He LOOOOOOVED having his family in town. Some of my favorite parts:
-he ran up to Dana one night, out of nowhere, and said 'I love you aunt Dana!' and gave her a hug
-he held conversations with Kelli in baby talk
-he bossed Katy (Brian's dog) around like no one's business
-when he found out Oh Gosh was sleeping in his bed he made sure I never touched oh gosh's spot!
-he and Kelli took 2 baths together and splashed half the water out of the tub
In addition to the key moments I picked out (and there are plenty more!) he was really on his best behavior. Nothing makes you look better as a parent than a well behaved child, so I was pretty thankful he turned it up a notch. Only 2 fits/tantrums the entire time. That's a win for a mommy of a 2 year old! And aunt joy even told me, 'he doesn't even know he's in his terrible two's!'
GO WILLIAM!
And as for the potty - still no more wet accidents! Only dirty. Still waiting for helpful tips...
A few pics before I go...
- manda
He LOOOOOOVED having his family in town. Some of my favorite parts:
-he ran up to Dana one night, out of nowhere, and said 'I love you aunt Dana!' and gave her a hug
-he held conversations with Kelli in baby talk
-he bossed Katy (Brian's dog) around like no one's business
-when he found out Oh Gosh was sleeping in his bed he made sure I never touched oh gosh's spot!
-he and Kelli took 2 baths together and splashed half the water out of the tub
In addition to the key moments I picked out (and there are plenty more!) he was really on his best behavior. Nothing makes you look better as a parent than a well behaved child, so I was pretty thankful he turned it up a notch. Only 2 fits/tantrums the entire time. That's a win for a mommy of a 2 year old! And aunt joy even told me, 'he doesn't even know he's in his terrible two's!'
GO WILLIAM!
And as for the potty - still no more wet accidents! Only dirty. Still waiting for helpful tips...
A few pics before I go...
- manda
Sep 4, 2012
As promised
As I promised in my labor day post, here are some pictures to finish it off
Her shirt says 'I love my aunt' - in case you were wondering.
Not afraid of ice cold water anymore
Brian saved William from all the waves. Too bad his boots couldn't be saved.
Carmel by the sea, pebble beach in the background
Adoration
Oh yeah - and he did AWESOME with the potty, despite the hectic weekend. His only accidents were dirty ones. Any suggestions for that, by the way???
- manda
Her shirt says 'I love my aunt' - in case you were wondering.
Not afraid of ice cold water anymore
Brian saved William from all the waves. Too bad his boots couldn't be saved.
Carmel by the sea, pebble beach in the background
Adoration
Oh yeah - and he did AWESOME with the potty, despite the hectic weekend. His only accidents were dirty ones. Any suggestions for that, by the way???
- manda
Labor Day Amazingness
I just wrote an awesome blog. On my phone. And it's gone. I just thought you should know that so that if this post is less than stellar, you can feel better knowing the intent was there.
But, basically, we had the best labor day weekend. Ever. In the history of labor day weekends. Well, maybe that's a slight exaggeration but it sure beats last labor day weekend when I sent Austin back to Afghanistan that's for sure!
Before we were even in Monterey it was determined that Brandon, Dana and Kelli would fly in from Houston and Brian would drive in from Colorado for Labor Day. But I had no idea how awesome the weekend would be! First of all, someone up above must have had a hand in lifting the fog because we had the most beautiful 72 hours I've seen here on the Monterey Peninsula -and the fog returned today, right on cue.
We spent the weekend at the aquarium, walking around Fisherman's Wharf, feeding sea lions off the dock, driving to Big Sur, and finished it off with a Labor Day bbq at Aunt Joy's house. It was fantastic.
William was particularly smitten from the minute Brian arrived until his head hit the pillow last night. Brian got to our house Friday around lunch and, because I was at work, he, Austin and William came and met me for lunch. The story goes that the entire 20 minute ride consisted of William showing him EVERYTHING. "look, it's a bird oh gosh" "oh, that's a sprinkler oh gosh" "oh gosh, look, it's a car" and so on. He was in heaven with his best buddy around, and he fell back into suit as Oh Gosh's shadow in about .5 seconds. He needed to know where Oh Gosh was at all times, and generally wanted to be doing the exact same thing.
He was equally excited that baby Kelli was in town. I was a little worried about his sharing - he's actually never had to share his own toys, and the one time he had to share Oh Gosh's attention with Kelli didn't go very well. But he was awesome! He actually LOVES sharing his toys with Kelli and he seems to think anytime she's crying it's because she needs Mater (or any other Cars character) He also loved to feed her goldfish, we just had to make sure he knew she can't have 10 in her mouth at once. (we had to help HER understand that as well!)
I'd love to have a "favorite" memory or moment from the weekend but I don't. It was just great all around! There were lots of comical moments like when Brandon thought the sea lions in the bay were statues, or how Brian managed to be the nicest person at our table at every restaurant yet managed to have terrible service every time, or how William at some point decided he needs to replace "mommy can I please have ____" with "i NEED ___" and because his uncles laughed, it continued. All weekend. But there were just too many to note, and they probably aren't nearly as funny when you weren't involved. I'll just reiterate that it was the best weekend and I am so thankful that we could host our family in our house.
Aunt Joy was just over the moon to have us all, and we also got the treat of meeting her granddaughter, our 33 year old cousin who we've never known! It was really special for me. Joy was just as sharp as ever and had prepared envelopes of pictures for Brandon and Brian, and a card for me. My card was actually a card Mimi had sent Joy in the summer of 2009 for her birthday. Mimi had just found out I was pregnant and told Joy she was full of excitement and had something "special" to live for. Sweetest card, and I'll keep it forever. It's not very often that anyone gets to see Brandon, Brian and me all together - and Joy was very aware how special it was. She was so thrilled and we loved being able to spend the day with her.
And, because I'm on my work computer I better cut this short. Or shorter than I otherwise could, I should say. I'll add a picture or two, or 10, from my phone in a bit - but just know that no matter how awesome our weekend looks in pictures, they pale in comparison.
Did I mention I had a wonderful time?
But, basically, we had the best labor day weekend. Ever. In the history of labor day weekends. Well, maybe that's a slight exaggeration but it sure beats last labor day weekend when I sent Austin back to Afghanistan that's for sure!
Before we were even in Monterey it was determined that Brandon, Dana and Kelli would fly in from Houston and Brian would drive in from Colorado for Labor Day. But I had no idea how awesome the weekend would be! First of all, someone up above must have had a hand in lifting the fog because we had the most beautiful 72 hours I've seen here on the Monterey Peninsula -and the fog returned today, right on cue.
We spent the weekend at the aquarium, walking around Fisherman's Wharf, feeding sea lions off the dock, driving to Big Sur, and finished it off with a Labor Day bbq at Aunt Joy's house. It was fantastic.
William was particularly smitten from the minute Brian arrived until his head hit the pillow last night. Brian got to our house Friday around lunch and, because I was at work, he, Austin and William came and met me for lunch. The story goes that the entire 20 minute ride consisted of William showing him EVERYTHING. "look, it's a bird oh gosh" "oh, that's a sprinkler oh gosh" "oh gosh, look, it's a car" and so on. He was in heaven with his best buddy around, and he fell back into suit as Oh Gosh's shadow in about .5 seconds. He needed to know where Oh Gosh was at all times, and generally wanted to be doing the exact same thing.
He was equally excited that baby Kelli was in town. I was a little worried about his sharing - he's actually never had to share his own toys, and the one time he had to share Oh Gosh's attention with Kelli didn't go very well. But he was awesome! He actually LOVES sharing his toys with Kelli and he seems to think anytime she's crying it's because she needs Mater (or any other Cars character) He also loved to feed her goldfish, we just had to make sure he knew she can't have 10 in her mouth at once. (we had to help HER understand that as well!)
I'd love to have a "favorite" memory or moment from the weekend but I don't. It was just great all around! There were lots of comical moments like when Brandon thought the sea lions in the bay were statues, or how Brian managed to be the nicest person at our table at every restaurant yet managed to have terrible service every time, or how William at some point decided he needs to replace "mommy can I please have ____" with "i NEED ___" and because his uncles laughed, it continued. All weekend. But there were just too many to note, and they probably aren't nearly as funny when you weren't involved. I'll just reiterate that it was the best weekend and I am so thankful that we could host our family in our house.
Aunt Joy was just over the moon to have us all, and we also got the treat of meeting her granddaughter, our 33 year old cousin who we've never known! It was really special for me. Joy was just as sharp as ever and had prepared envelopes of pictures for Brandon and Brian, and a card for me. My card was actually a card Mimi had sent Joy in the summer of 2009 for her birthday. Mimi had just found out I was pregnant and told Joy she was full of excitement and had something "special" to live for. Sweetest card, and I'll keep it forever. It's not very often that anyone gets to see Brandon, Brian and me all together - and Joy was very aware how special it was. She was so thrilled and we loved being able to spend the day with her.
And, because I'm on my work computer I better cut this short. Or shorter than I otherwise could, I should say. I'll add a picture or two, or 10, from my phone in a bit - but just know that no matter how awesome our weekend looks in pictures, they pale in comparison.
Did I mention I had a wonderful time?
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