16 Months Old

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year! Not much has changed with turning 16 months. Will officially walks 24/7. He is almost running sometimes too which is just crazy to me. I feel like this kid grows up over night sometimes! He loves to stack blocks when he plays. He also got a really cool teepee for Christmas and just loves playing in there. He has always enjoyed reading books before bed too and he just gets more and more excited about that as he gets older. His current favorite books are "The Monster at the End of This Book" and his baby Bible. His former favorites were "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" and "Goodnight Moon". I think he still likes those books but we read them sooo much that he probably needed a break. He is down to 1 nap a day and will typically sleep anywhere between 1-2 and 1/2 hours depending on how late he sleeps in. He still goes to bed between 6-7 and wakes between 6-7. He LOVES going outside to play and would just be happy walking around holding a stick or two from a tree. His godmother, Nicole, brought over some outside toys for him to play with. He Just LOVES going down the slide of one of the toys she brought over but still prefers just holding a stick and hanging out. He is still eating the same and has actually opened up to trying some new foods. He never liked pizza before and now he does (I make him homemade pizza with pita bread) and he will try anything that we are eating...probably because he just wants what we are eating. He even tried blue cheese dressing the other day and he tried these homemade energy muffins I made. He liked them both...go figure! He is starting to also climb on things...which scares me a bit since we have a brick fireplace. He thinks its fun to climb on that but I am NOT a fan and tell him no. Of course he cries and throws a little fit but gets over it rather quickly. He is wearing 18-24 months still but is starting to fit into some 2T clothes as well. The only thing I do NOT like that he started doing is this screaming thing. High pitched and for no reason...Oh my gosh, can't wait for THAT to be over with!

Since I had today off we had a little mommy and son date. We first met my mom for breakfast and he just loved that. He ate some cereal, watermelon, mandarin oranges and pancakes. And watched Oswald on my phone of course. After breakfast we stopped at Barnes and Noble on the way home and he picked out 2 new books "Another Monster at the End of This Book" and "Brown Bear Brown Bear". Of course he would want the first one! Then later in the afternoon, after his lunch, we went to Santan Mall, which is an outdoors mall, and played at the kid play area. He had never been there before but really enjoyed it and he just loved seeing all the other kids there...I think he made a friend or too!  After that we went to get a cupcake, but of course once we got it he was ready for a nap, so we took it to go and home we went! He is out cold while I write this blog post! Nothing beats mommy and son days...except for maybe mommy, daddy and son days :)



15 Months Old

And we are walking!! Will has finally started walking more consistently. In fact when we are downstairs in the playroom he mostly will walk all over the entire room. And if he loses his balance and falls he gets back up and continues instead of just crawling to where he's trying to go. I would say he is at about 80/20 with walking and crawling. Whatever gets him there faster!! He also has 3 new teeth! He can now say "hi" and wave. He can also say "eye" and point to your eye. He says "bite" if he wants what you are eating. I will ask him questions like "do you want a snack?", "are you all done?", etc and he will respond with hand gestures and excitement to let you know yes, that's what he wants. He is still eating the same and sleeping the same. He is also wearing the same size clothes (18-24 months) and diapers (4). He has shown us he can dance too. Although he doesn't move his legs too much while he does it he mostly moves his arms. I also packed up all the bottles, sippy cups, bottle sanitizer and warmer. He finally gave up the bottle right before he turned 14 months. It made me a little sad cause he is not a baby anymore but I am glad to be done with that.

He saw Santa this year and surprisingly did not cry. He did give the lip and kept looking at Santa like "what is going on??" but he did pretty good considering. I also took a couple of Christmas pics this year of him, much easier this year than last!

On a side note, Chris and I have decided that we are ready for baby #2 and are hoping to become pregnant in 2014. Hopefully we will have no troubles and if we are fortunate enough to become pregnant again I will be quitting my job and staying home with the kids in addition to my growing photography business. And if God decides that we are only supposed to be parents to just Will we are also happy with that decision and I still hope to be done with work by the end of 2014 if not sooner. Wish us luck and of course I will be blogging all about it!

Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!



 

 

 

Christmas Photo Session

When Will was just about 3 months old I thought it would be so cute to do a Christmas tree lot photo session. So I called up my friend at Sophia Brown Photography and we set it up. Of course they came out so adorable and I have decided that it needs to be done every year in December until Will says "Mom, no more Christmas tree lot!". This year was so cute and so fun. We did a different lot but the results were just as cute if not cuter. Here are a few of the sneak peeks she emailed me.

14 Months Old

We have a jealous little boy on our hands! This kid needs all the attention and if he is not getting it you will start to hear a little whine. He got so angry at me the other day for holding my niece Kennedy. He also gets really upset if I'm giving one of the dogs attention instead of him. It will be interesting to see how he reacts to another baby...whenever we have one.

Halloween was exactly what I expected it to be. Will napped later in the afternoon so he was well rested for the outing. Once we finally got over to the area we were trick-or-treating in he lasted about 30 min before he ripped off his dinosaur head and was done.

Not much new to report this month. He is getting better and better at walking and very very soon he will be off! Part of me can't wait till that happens and the other part of me knows exactly what the reality of it will be. He is starting to mimic the sounds of sentences or phrases when Chris and I are talking. The other day Will and I were heading out to Target and I said to the dogs, "Be right back boys!" and Will says "BAT BAT BOY!". He also says "Ber" for Bert and "Baa" for Baxter. Its pretty cute to hear him trying to talk all the time. He also says "bye-bye" and waves, can say mom, dad, and can do patty-cake as well. You can tell he wants to talk so bad! He has always been a talker and will speak his own baby language all the time, but now you start to hear words. Chris and I just laugh cause it's so cute.

This year we are having Thanksgiving at our house. It should be fun and we are excited to be the host. I am working on ideas for Christmas photos for Will this year. Some super cute stuff coming your way! Also can't wait to see the pouty lip face he's going to give right before he busts out crying with Santa this year. it's gonna be classic :)

 

 

Halloween 2013



1 Year photo session

Here are a few pictures from Will's 1 year session with Sofia Brown Photography. She always does such a great job capturing my boy :)

 



13 Months Old

I just can't bring myself to give up the monthly posts and pictures of this growing child of mine. I enjoy looking back on this last year and seeing the changes in him through these photos. Having said that I have decided to continue doing this for at least another year...maybe longer. It must be the photographer in me :)

13 months. Wow. Still can't get over it. Not much has changed in the last month. From what my pediatrician says their weight and height does not change much in their 2nd year. He is still wearing the same clothing and diaper size. He was not a fan of long sleeve shirts or long sleeve pajamas but has since come around to the idea. It is starting to get a bit cooler here in AZ so it's nice that his is starting to like wearing those things. Plus that is pretty much all they sell for kids his age at the clothing stores. I was a little scared that he wasn't going to want to wear all the cute fall/winter clothing in his closet! We have started to put shoes on him as well. He wore them for his 1 year photo session and didn't mind them so much but has since changed his mind. Every time he is wearing them he tries to pull them off and throw them to the ground. He is also starting to "Frankenstein" walk. He takes the unbalanced, shaky steps toward me or Chris and sometimes even the dogs. He is getting better at it each day but still not to the point where it is more than 5-6 steps before falling. He will get there. We don't rush him and we let him do things at his own pace. He also started clapping. He doesn't do it on command or when you are "suppose to" (saying yay, etc) but more on when he feels like it. He very much enjoys the company of the dogs and gets very VERY excited when he sees them or plays with them.

His sleep schedule is still the same, 1-2 naps during the day and 12hrs straight at night. His eating has become more of a 3 big meal 2 snacks sort of routine. He still only drinks milk at night before bed and nothing but water all day long. The Doctor says its ok that he isn't a big milk drinker, he gets his dairy in cheese and yogurt.

We are excited for his first real Halloween in a few more days. We plan to take him trick-or-treating with his cousins, Leighan and Kennedy. I'm sure it won't last long but should still be fun.

I have decided to change up this years monthly photos with a different vintage chair and a chalkboard. His photos his first year where on fabric pieces with monthly stickers on his onesie as well as a monthly chair picture of him in a vintage yellow chair and mustache pillow. He was much more interested in the pumpkin, laughing and playing with it. Of course once I finally get him to look at me and sit still he gives me the serious "board meeting" face. Ahh...my child. I love him :)

 



Happy 1st Birthday William!!

Will's first birthday has come and gone. All the weeks of prep work and stress the night before was gone once the party started. It was such a great birthday weekend for him, I couldn't have asked for it to go any better. His grandparents from ND came for the weekend and brought one of his great grandmother's with for the celebration. We spent his actual birthday hangout at home with both of his grandparents and great grandmother. We had a nice big dinner and he finished his day off with a cup cake. After he went to bed the party prep start. I had decorated the entire house for the party that night. I knew there was so much to do the next morning before the party, I had to get as much as I could done the night before.

The next morning he woke up on time, 6am, and we were off to a great start! Since we did most of the baking the day before all that was left to do was put food out. and clean up the back yard. We ended up having about 40-50 people here for the celebration. I know it sounds like a lot but it turned out to be just right. He didn't cry or get overwhelmed by everyone. When it came time to sing happy birthday and eat his cake he just stared at everyone. He didn't eat his cake because everyone was watching him, but the second I took him back inside and he was not the center of attention, he went to town on it! Shortly after he finished his cake he was ready for a nap. And with that came the end of the party. He slept for about 2 hours after that and when he work up he was ready to play with all of his new toys!

We had a great first birthday and of course, I am already thinking of what the theme will be for birthday number 2 :)