Merry Christmas to all....

So...we started this blog when we found out we were pregnant - as a way to keep everyone up-to-date and not have to make a gazillion calls after each doctors appointment and baby kick…since then, we have discovered it is a wonderful way to share the daily joy of having Will in our lives. For those of you that we have been able to keep up with throughout this past year – you know first hand just how happy we are that we were blessed with this little man. For those of you that we have been out of contact with – we hope that the New Year brings us back together in some way and you get to meet Will really soon! We obviously love him to death...I mean, how could you not love this face??



If you are like us and always on the go – you probably love email as much as we do so we have added a link to this blog so you can reach us easier! Drop us a note anytime – we love hearing from friends near and far!

We are SO SO SO looking forward to Santa’s first visit to our house! We know Christmas eve we’ll be busy preparing for his arrival and we can’t wait! (I got warning this past weekend that he was putting in a special request for Oatmeal Raisin cookies – who knew Santa was so demanding! - I guess I need to get cooking!)

Doing a quick recap of this past year….here we go – the highlights from each month….if you are just tuning into our blog – feel free to revisit some of our fun times – all our entries are archived…along with some comical pictures!

January – we were busy preparing for Will’s arrival – with two baby showers this month and lots of baby kicks!

February – Will arrived ON his due date – he was perfect in everyway!

March – Will began showing us his strength lifting his head up and propping himself up on his arms. A great sleeper he adjusted to life on the outside quite nicely and loved the warm spring days when he got put in the stroller for long walks.

April – the doctor officially diagnose Will with reflux – which for those of you that have had a reflux baby (Emily thank you so much for the words of encouragement!) you know that we gave our washing machine a daily workout! He and I traveled to CT and experienced his first plane ride – he did great – slept the entire time both up and back! Will began ‘talking’ this month…and found his hands by the month end.

May – He rolled over from his belly to his back at the beginning of the month and by the end of the month was going from his back to his belly. We took our first trip “family of three” vacation to the beach – Bald Head Island! He loved the pool and the ocean and participated in his first race – a 1 mile fun run.

June – Mommy went back to work and Will started at All Starz – he loves his school – all his little buddies and the teachers. Mastered blowing bubbles and giggling – he would crack himself up!

July – celebrated July 4th with fireworks on Linville Ridge – didn’t cry at all and seemed to love them! Started moving – doing the inchworm and figured out how to wave and say “bye-bye”.

August – had a birthday party for Daddy, started eating solid food and getting teeth! Thankfully our first experience with teeth was a gentle one – he didn’t seem to mind at all!

September – we really got him on a good schedule, he started crawling and we had his Christening – he also played toss and catch with daddy! Practicing pulling up and moving – he loved getting up in a push-up position and playing with his books and toys (or rather putting his books and toys in his mouth and trying to eat them but hey - it's progress!).

October – mastered pulling-up and standing on his own (while holding onto things), was a spider for his first Halloween and practiced pulling/climbing into things like the laundry basket.

November – He is completely on the move – into everything and very, very curious. Free standing occasionally and with this new movement comes a big appetite! Loved his first Thanksgiving and sadly has outgrown his first pair of shoes already….

December – Getting ready for Santa…our little man has six teeth – seven and eight are visible and nine and ten keep shifting into sight and then out of sight….is cruising everywhere and does what we call the ‘spiderman’ – can go along a wall or cabinet with out grasping anything, just using it for stability. Trying more table food…hopefully for Christmas morning breakfast we’ll be able to try pancakes (hold the maple syrup - that's a sugar high we'll wait to experience!)

We’ll end with this….

The Christmas season fills our hearts with joy;
Bright, happy days bring special kinds of pleasure.
We're wrapped in the excitement of it all,
the sights, the sounds, the smells, the tastes we treasure.
Yet when we have some quiet time to think
about our finest blessings all year through,
We focus on our family and our friends,
and appreciate the gift of knowing you!

Merry Christmas!!!

Wishing you and your family a safe and happy holiday season!

Lots of Love –
Chris, Abbie and Will
(Can’t forget our “fur-baby” Piper)

A few pictures from this past weekend, Will's first visit with Santa...

...waiting patiently with his godmother Mary Beth for Santa to arrive....



...checking out the big guy...

It's Turkey Time!

In the nine months Will has been in our lives he has managed to grow 7 inches and gain over 12 lbs – both which, when you look at the clothes he used to fit in, and try carry him for any extended amount of time, you witness first hand. It’s funny to get him dressed and pull up his pants and realize that they are right below his knees rather than right at his ankles! It’s amazing how fast kids grow…I have memories of my mom dragging us shopping because my brother had outgrown another pair of pants….it seemed like all his pants hit about mid shin…the poor kid didn’t seem to ever stop growing!

We had a family photo shoot with an amazing photographer – she posted a sneak peak of some of our shots on her blog – you can check it out on her blog:

http://sabrinawhitephotography.blogspot.com



You may have to scroll down to see it as she has done other shoots since ours - but it's on there. Will did great and by the end of the two hours we spent with her he was worn out! The pictures she took really seemed to capture the funny faces and personality that Chris and I have the pleasure of seeing each day in our little man!

He experienced his first Thanksgiving which went over really well! With my parents and brother visiting for the holiday, thankfully he didn’t have any serious melt downs and had a great time with them which was wonderful! He patiently watched the turkey while it cooked, and as Chris carved my Dad coerced him into trying some and low and behold – he liked it!



He even joined us at the table for what would be his second lunch of the day – mashed potatoes and squash and then crashed for the afternoon.



Mom brought a bunch of my books from when I was little and then my toy horse which Will took to right away – so far he has enjoyed being pushed around the house on this 30+ year old piece of plastic – I’m amazed it’s still in great condition!!



He had so much fun with Gram & Gramps and Uncle Josh…started to play peek-a-boo on his own and when Gramps would ask him “where’s the moon??” - he would throw his arms (like he was pointing the sky!). He also tried to show off his water bottle drinking skills and ended up soaking himself!



We got our Christmas tree while my parents were here – from Chris’s cousins that have a tree lot down the street from our house. I’m not sure Will knew what to think of the tree…he is probably thinking back to the large one Chris helped put up a few weeks ago and wondering - “Why isn’t mine that big???” He has done really good and we loaded the bottom of the tree with biter friendly items! Ever so often he makes a beeline for it but since the coffee table is great for him to cruise around - it helps distract him from the tree.





He is starting to free stand more and more and twice this past weekend we caught him trying to take a step but then just collapsing and settling on his crawl to get where he wanted to go. We are trying more ‘table food’ and so far he has done great with cut up green beans, wheat toast and last night we even tried cream cheese on his toast and he was OK with that. We are going to do one more night of toast and then try some Semolina and some more lumpy food which last week we was none to thrilled with. He has mastered chewing the puffs (and can down about 20-25 in the blink of an eye) and does a really good job chewing with his six teeth - soon to be eight! We spotted two more on the top coming in this weekend and credit them to why he woke up in the middle of the night on Saturday. He went right back to sleep – in mommy’s arms of course - but was not going for being put back in his crib – since nothing else was visibly wrong Sunday we tried some Tylenol and it seemed to do the trick.

Pointing is the name of the game right now along with his ‘UH’ that every object/person/creature gets with the point. He for sure recognizes the words ‘kitty’ and ‘Piper’ – if you ask him “Where is kitty/Piper?” he immediately looks around and tries to find the cat. To Piper’s credit he has really warmed up to Will and seems to somewhat like the attention – he has his limits and deals with about three or four of Will’s attempts to touch him – then he takes off and hunkers down somewhere out of sight for an undisturbed nap.

Last but not least - his first school picture...it's amazing how much he has changed since this picture was taken just about a month ago...



We are hopefully heading out to see Santa this weekend…stay tuned for pictures!

Daily life

A busy but somewhat uneventful week (and then some) has passed since my last post....Monday, November 2nd marked Will’s first day in Infant Room C – he is now under the watch of Miss Kristi and Miss Barbara who are just wonderful. Last week I brought my camera to school in the morning to document just how much fun he has with the ‘cube’ they have. I got this cute shot of Will with his new teacher – Kristi – checking out a turkey that was brought in for the kids – he wasn’t too sure what to make of it.












We had a football game last weekend and Will once again did great. We had him bundled up even though the sun was out (I managed to get a slight sunburn on my face and neck!) the breeze was a bit chilly. He slept through most of the first half and was quite the attraction to many people walking by. One woman held up the line trying to take a picture of him sleeping because she thought he was just too cute!




Sunday we got out and enjoyed the beautiful 70+ degree day and walked down to a fall festival that was being held near our house. Will got to see his first fire truck although I think Chris was more excited than Will was to sit up in it! He also practiced drinking from a water bottle - he's ok with sippy cups - likes to slobber on them more than drink from them - but water bottles - he loves! If it was up to him he would just dump the entire thing all over himself! He zonked out on the walk home and then tried his first “solid solid” foods that afternoon – besides the puff’s we have given him – banana. We got this great little mesh type holder thing that you put the food in and he can chew/suck on it to pull it out – he attacked it and since then I’ve given him some small pieces of banana which he has done really well with.











We had a follow up appointment with his doctor last week to make sure that the ear infections he had were GONE – and thankfully we got the all clear. Other than a runny nose - which seems to be part of the deal when you have a child in daycare this time of year – he’s was deemed healthy. We ended up being able to get him the first of the two H1N1 flu shots – fingers crossed we’ll be able to get him the second one also in a month! Chris and I were also both able to get our flu shots taken care of also – both regular and H1N1 – so hopefully we’ll be able to avoid that mess and all that comes with it!

Another first…Will got to see his first Christmas tree go up – thankfully it’s not up in our house!! I draw the line of doing anything Christmas before December 1st! Needless to say – he got to see an ENORMOUS tree get put up – a 20+ foot tree!!! It was amazing and he really didn’t know what to think of it….he was so excited watching the guys put it up – he would clap and his eyes would get really big as they lifted it…and when it fell (as it took about 2 hours to get it fully upright) he would just let out a big breath like “OH! What’s going on??!!!” Here’s a picture of me holding him that Chris took of us standing in front of it once it was up - note the amount of tree ABOVE the balcony!!! The guy on the upper level in the white t-shirt is one of Chris’s cousins that has the tree lot near our house – we are so excited to bring Will down to see the trees this year. We are hoping that the tree we put up in the house isn’t a let down to him after seeing this monster! We have his Santa hat all ready….



He is starting to learn the word NO – not saying it himself, but learning that when he hears us saying it – he stops whatever he is doing. Usually it has to do with when he gets too close to Piper – but thankfully Piper seems to love him. He will rub up against Will and lay down right near him – he lets Will pet him and grab his tail…it’s like he knows that Will is just a baby….Will loves watching Piper…it will be fun to see their relationship evolve as Will gets bigger. We think he is trying to say KITTY and I think it would be great if that ended up being his first REAL word – one he has down for sure – DaDa – it’s DaDa for everything….except when he’s crying – then it’s MAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

He loves pulling up on everything and although he hasn’t really started to cruise – he has master the concept of using anything that he can easily push/move as a walker – laundry basket, kitchen stools, etc. We will find him holding onto things and then just letting go – when he realizes that he is free standing he just drops…sometimes he gets so frustrated standing and not moving, I half expect him to just take off walking and know that is going to happen in the near future. We have an early Christmas present coming from Chris’s dad this week – a Radio Flyer walker wagon – which we know will be immediately put to use….we all agreed waiting till Christmas for this item would be a bit past prime. It will be interesting to see how much having something that is made to help him walk helps advance his “walking” skills. Stay tuned for pictures!

Last but not least – a noteworthy item – his first BOO-BOO report from school. He somehow managed to cut his gum – so sad :( He has at least four more teeth trying to push through so everything is going in his mouth – EVERYTHING – shoes, my necklaces, he even tries to pull the collars of my shirt and chew on the edging. He was chewing on a toy phone and then all of a sudden – FREAK OUT and a bit of blood! A cold chew toy stopped the tears (and the bleeding) and by the time I picked him up – no sign of anything wrong.

Every day we are amazed at how much Will is growing and changing and MOVING – and how quickly all of these things happen. He loves to talk and some nights just seems to babble on and on and on…he has a smile that just lights up our hearts and his giggle we both love - so every day we try to find something new to amuse him. We both are so excited for the holidays – he is at such a fun age…opening presents should be quite exciting….I have a feeling we could wrap up empty boxes and he would still have fun!!!

Smiling Spiders

Last week at school they had a ‘theme’ every day – Monday was PJ day, Tuesday was Favorite Sports Team Day, Wednesday as Wacky Tacky day – of course this was the day that Will went with me to get my flu shot and then had his doctors appointment – I took him out dressed like I was color blind and clueless. He was in striped pants and a dinocamo shirt (Chris did a great job picking out the tackiest combination ever!) – I caught a few people ‘admiring’ his outfit and I quickly explained to them that it was “Wacky Tacky day at his school” which immediately resulted in their face showing complete relief that I was not dressing him like that intentionally – or rather un-intentionally.



Friday he had his Halloween parade at school – they got him all dressed up and Chris got there just in time to see a bit of the festivities. He said Will was grinning from ear to ear –




So Will’s first Halloween was a blast. He seemed to like his costume - he would start smiling as soon as he got in it, and he could still crawl around so it didn’t seem to faze him when it was on. Personally, I think he smiled when he was in it because everyone who was looking at him was smiling and laughing because he was just too darn cute! He had to be the happiest spider I’ve ever seen! However, in all these pictures he just looks stunned...





He made it one full street (half in Chris’s arms, half in mine) before he started getting the glossy eyed look that means “I’m sleeping with my eyes open.”







We took him out of the spider suit and he snuggled into my arms as we proceeded to walk one more street with our friends. It was fun to watch all the parents getting dragged around by their kids - knowing that next year - that would be us. Chris made the comment after seeing some of the other parents dressed up that he wanted to dress up so stayed tuned to Halloween 2010 - I'm sure that one will be quite entertaining with both Will and Chris getting dressed up!

Will was amazed by all the kids (and by the few adults who were dressed up handing out candy) and overall seemed to have a blast. In an attempt to fight off the effects of DLST we kept him up about 45 minutes later and he did great - even humored me when we got home and got pictures in front of our pumpkins which meant he had to get back in his costume...he got a second wind and lost the glassy eyed look then went right to bed when we put him down.



Last but not least - his teeth - yeah! I got a picture of them - at least two of the four that are coming through - one has popped out - the other three are racing to do the same...thankfully he hasn't seemed to mind (knock on wood!)any of his teeth that have come in - he just likes to chew on EVERYTHING (blocks, burp rags, his thumb, Chris's sandles YUCK!)

The start of the Halloween pictures...

Here's one from the parade they are having at his school today...Chris managed to get down there for a few minutes!

He's such a happy spider!!

Monumental day

A monumental day in Will's life...this one is going in the baby book for sure! The first time he heard - THRILLER! Usually I subject him to fun "kids music" in the morning on our way to school...today however - I changed it up. Considering it's his first Halloween...and Halloween is not Halloween without that song. He seemed to like it - smiling and kicking his feet in his car seat! I think we'll wait to let him see the video...even though he might be able to master the dance - the costumes they are wearing might give him nightmares!

Fallin' into fall

Busy, busy, busy – seems that as we get closer to day light savings time we also get in fast forward mode – I know that has nothing to due with the fact that retailers would like to skip Thanksgiving all together and go straight to Christmas! Since I haven’t had a chance to post in a while…this one might end up being a bit long but I have so many great pictures to get in – hope you enjoy them!

We have been enjoying our first fall with Will – his school had their annual Fall Festival and after walking him around and watching him as he was amazed by all the bouncy houses and slides, we headed home to feed him dinner both in agreement that next year would be a lot more fun for sure! With that experience in mind and the fact that he turns into freak out baby when he’s not eating dinner promptly at 6:00 each night (right when we would head to the fair if we went), we skipped the NC State Fair – something we haven’t done in the eleven years that we have been together….no corn dipped in butter, no deep fried Oreo’s or Mt Olive pickles or fudge (last year being pregnant it was heaven!!!) and it dawned on me this morning – NO maple syrup cotton candy! I love that stuff – it’s even from the booth that has all VT products! UH!!! This year they were busy promoting the deep fried butter – yeah I can’t even imagine – and the chocolate covered bacon – I just can’t put the two things together no matter how hard I try…oh well…the fair has passed so I’m already looking forward to next fall when we can take Will and have a blast!





Meanwhile…we have at least two, possibly four new teeth coming in…the two front top ones and maybe even the two on either side of those…if Will even suspects you are trying to look, he clamps his mouth shut fast and freaks when you try and open it. Thus, we have no good pictures of the impending arrivals yet….soon hopefully! We have also discovered that he is VERY ticklish under his arms – I mean you get him so he’s laughing so hard he can barely breathe! I remember when I was little and adults used to torture me with tickles, I hated it! So I’m trying hard not to do it to him, but oh – it’s just so funny when he cracks up – he’s actually to the point that you don’t even have to tickle him and he looses it! He is also figuring out books – learning they are not just good as chew toys and will actually look through the pages when you read them to him…Chris is having fun with this – he tried to read through one of the ‘history’ books that we have – a cute story about where the state flag of SC came from…I know we live in NC – it was cute so I bought it! – Will wanted nothing to do with the story….I caught Chris later on that day quizzing Will about it all sad that he didn’t listen to the story! He had much better luck with Will’s farm book that he LOVES -




This past weekend marked another first (it feels like we have at least four firsts each week!) his first birthday party. He was almost the youngest there and had more fun just watching the kids than actually participating in any of the activities. The sack race – yep – he camped out in Chris’s arms and while the other kids were busy eating the cupcakes he decided to check out all the toys they had been playing with. There was one little boy there who was about 18 months and Will was in complete amazement – he just followed him everywhere!








While at the party we really just let him roam where ever he wanted and when we got home, rather than play in the area we have set up with all his toys – we did the same – just let him go. He loved it! Got him a pot and a spoon and he and Chris played in the kitchen while I carved his pumpkins….then he managed to get to the back door and watch it rain for a while….here’s a few shots I got of him by the back door – the lighting was so great – his ‘fuzzy hair’ is really noticeable!










We have been lighting the pumpkins each night on the front porch - besides the fact that for some reason he loves when you open a door – he thinks it’s just hilarious for some reason we can’t figure out – he seems to be mesmerized by the pumpkins and loves going out each night and watching us light them.




Last week at school they moved this thing they have for them to pull up on into the center of the room and he was all over it – he loved it! Once he learned out how to get down after he pulled himself up – there was no stopping him! The biggest thing we have to watch for now is WHAT he is pulling up on – the laundry baskets flipped over (great new use for it!) – very sturdy and he has figured out it makes for a great walker – he pushes it and then takes a few steps to catch up.



The laundry baskets full of clothes – not so sturdy! He managed to get himself up and in and even sitting upright – but when he tried to get out – WHACK! Cheek meet hardwood floor! Very, very unhappy boy! The tears started flowing and all I could do was hold him because I knew it had to hurt – there was no talking him out of that one!











His pack-n-play he still loves – when you put him in it – when he’s not completely into his toys – he stands up at the edge and you just hear him giggling – he loves chewing on the edge – if you forget about it and touch it – YUCK! Slobber everywhere – as he is ‘climbing’ to get up to standing he slobbers all over the screen siding…some days it seems like we live with a St Bernard dog!





We tried some teething biscuits…he still has NO desire to try anything other than soft food – I tried puffs and he freaked! I even tried putting the puffs into some yogurt – BIG mistake!!! So…the teething biscuits – he slobbered till he got a chunk off and then when I fished it out of his mouth – he was none too thrilled! The frozen wheat bagel – good idea but when I put it in front of him – he looked at it like it was an alien! No desire to try gumming it.





His appetite is definitely back from when he had his ear infections – we have had to increase his morning cereal and his lunch yogurt and veggies and even his dinner portions. He loves to eat and eats just about everything – the green veggies I’ve figured out that if you mix in some summer squash – he’s loves it - he'll eat it without the squash - but with it - he inhales it!

So the plan is to go trick-or-treating with our friends who have a 2 year old and a 4 year old Saturday night…so far each time we have tested out his costume he has loved it – just sits there and giggles. I know we’ll get some great pictures and have at least one funny story! Stay tuned…..