The Wilson's

Happy Valentines Day!

2012-02-14T11:33:00.001-06:00

Love is in the air, last night Will was eating up his momma's sweet snuggles after bath time, and Luke and I started brainstorming our perfect date night for Saturday. I couldn't be more excited for a day/night with my sweetie...only to find out today he has to work Saturday. Its okay, we will make do.... always do.

I love Valentines day, just an excuse to wear pink, eat chocolate for breakfast, give extra kisses and tell your loved ones how much you care!

I hope everyone has a great day and gets to spend some extra time with the little lovers in their life!

Last night my wondering got the best of me for what we did last year both me and Luke and for Will's first Valentine's so onto the ol' blog I went.... and wow what did I find out? A reality check, that's what!

Last year we didn't do anything. nothing. I was going through all of Will's trial and error testing to try and figure out what was wrong with him, I had just lost my grandmother, and it was one bad snow fall after another. I had also JUST started a new sitter with Will, and was contemplating breastfeeding. I cant believe everything I went through last February, looking back at myself a year ago I wish I could go tell myself it will all be okay. Which I totally remember thinking during that time, this too shall pass, and one day I will look back on this and breath a sigh of relief. I am so happy that all of that is behind us AND so happy that this year I will be celebrating with my son with pizza dinner and Mickey snuggles, and my hunni with massages and a steak dinner! I prefer this year!

Wills valentines lunch at mama michelles, {shes good!}

sweet snuggles after bath

our crown candy desert

Will wondering why woman are so damn crazy! LOL

Dog, Dog, Dog, Dog....

2012-02-13T12:57:00.001-06:00

I am a bad mom and let Will watch tv every once in a while. 1. he loves it 2. it helps me get dinner together clean up etc whenever I need a little break 3. it helps him unwind after a crazy day.
I know it is bad but with working full time the way I see it, he is going to watch tv every once in a while and that's okay.
I digress....
His favorite show is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse usually he'll just try to put it on with the remote or reach his little fingers up to the dvr box and start pressing, until it magically ~~mommy~~ turns on. Will is obsessed with dogs, he loves them and he thinks Boomer is his best friend ever. {little does he know Boomer dreams of the pre-baby days} so lately he has just been walking around saying dog dog dog dog dog, he says it pretty good but really pronounces the "g" which is kinda funny. If you've ever seen Mickey, at the end of each episode they do the "hot dog dance" so I finally figured out the other day that was his new way to say he wanted to watch mickey!
My mom has Will today so he went to spend the night over there last night, I called to check on him this morning and of course he slept in over there, still NO idea why he gets up at 6 am at our house and 8 or 9 there, I need to figure it out though so I can try to get him to sleep later at home! My mom said she heard him through the monitor this morning when he woke up saying, dog, dog dog, because he also has a slight obsession with her dog.... that is a little more his size!

Watching Mickey while being silly, the usual.

Luke, Will and I were all sick, all weekend. I have not been this sick in a long, long time. To the point that you feel like if you talk or move your head might explode! I am finally starting to feel somewhat human again today, but there was some definite dog watching in our house over the weekend, and needless to say no valentines day celebrating. Hoping the mr and I can go do something fun together soon! So many times we get sitters its for a party, a wedding, etc, it'd be nice to get to just relax the two of us!

VOTE!

2012-02-04T15:33:00.000-06:00

Hello loves! I was going to see if you could do me a quick favor and go vote for my little stinkers photo over on JACKIES BLOG.
Jackie is an old friend and amazing photographer, she took my maternity photos and I'd love to win this free shoot!
Voting is open till next Saturday so I'm sure I'll be reminding you again!

Will is #3!

Q&A

2012-01-30T12:53:00.000-06:00

Jamie a new fellow blogger and pinner started a fun Q&A, so I thought I'd join! Feel free to copy and paste and play along!

My 11 Random Things:
1. I have faith they CAN find love on the bachelor
2. I try to be super healthy and work out everyday, 99% of the time I end up mad at myself for not, I'm about to stop trying.
3. I have a slight obsession with craigslist and ebay, I hate having things sit around we dont need.
4. My life has gotten a lot easier since we decided to hire a house cleaner to come once a month.
5. I hate my hands, they are horrible and ugly, especially my nails. I've come to accept this.
6. I love animals especially our dog Boomer but he gets on my nerves more than anything I know.
7. I sometimes wish I had my masters
8. With everyone I know and their brother having babies right now, it kinda makes me want to wait, is that weird?
9. I love the smell of Will, not his diapers sometimes, but just his yummy baby smell.
10. I want to travel, like really travel... I want to go somewhere crazy!
11. My sister told me Will may lose his baby chubs this summer, I DREAD this.

11 Tagged Questions Combined :)1. City girl or country girl? Both! I can honestly say both!
2. What made you fall in love with your husband? We had "the spark" I care about him and he cares about me undeniably more than I have ever seen or felt before. We love each other, we hate each other, but we are a team and we would do anything and everything for one another.
3. Do blondes or brunettes have more fun? depends who has more booze in them.
4. If you had to live in one place for the rest of your life, where would it be? If I could get everyone to move, it would either be the beach, or the mountains, but it will never happen so.... I guess St Louis.
5. What super power would you like to have? to be able to read minds.
6. If you could only wear one thing/outfit everyday what would it be? jeans and a fitted tee
7. What is your favorite pair of shoes you own? my new nude pumps, my friend Lauren calls them my "sex shoes" because they make me feel sexy.
8. Sweet or Salty? A combo
9. Favorite holiday & why? I love Christmas time, everything is just so magical
10. Where is your dream vacation? Fiji or bora bora
11. What is your favorite pass time? playing with will or watching a show with him.

So fun... remember if you want to answer the questions... GO FOR IT! Consider yourself, tagged!

16 months, randomness, lazy, and babies!

2012-01-27T10:12:00.001-06:00

Not much has been going on, and when were not working, or running around chasing Will we've just been one thing... lazy. Were almost through the worst of winter, knock on wood, so I guess its justified. I cant wait to be able to go on a walk outside again, or just go run errands and not freeze! Maybe that is why I have been playing travel agent and lining up some trips for the spring, I cant wait!

I cant believe Will is going to be 16 months old next week, AND that my nephew will be 3 years old next month, where did the time go? My little ham ball can now CHEESE at the camera, has been refusing to eat dinner, loves loves loves putting lids on and off things and filling things up and dumping them out. He is just my sweet as pie little baby still, but this little baby is turning into more of a toddler day by day. {insert tears} Most days tears are shed as we have to put our jacket on and little tasks like this, apparently there are much more important things he needs to be doing. I am trying to remember that I am the boss, but sometimes its hard... because really I'm not.
Independence must be the next thing on the brain at this age, which leads us to Will's first chore; he has learned when we let Boomer inside we go straight to the pantry and give him a treat... now getting Mr. Independent to let go of the treat is a different story.... Poor dog.
16 months and things to remember: ~I washed and dried an entire deck of cards, thanks for the help with the laundry William!   ~He's learned to throw Boomers toys for him, this can be good and bad, he has also learned to say and repeat repeat repeat: MOOOOMER   ~Says, GO GO GO and waves his hands at dogs.
~ Current favorite song: head, shoulders... loves to point to his head, eyes, ears etc.    ~After bath time we turn music on and dance, right when it comes on he gets so excited! ~Went to see baby Cohan at home, he was peacefully sleeping in his swing and the first thing Will does is picks up two toys and ~~throws~~ gives them to the baby, apparently he thought that baby was bored and needed some toys :) ~ Current bedtime: 7:30 wake around 6:30 still taking two naps but thinking we need to switch to one, not looking forward to the transition.

I am still ~~obsessed~~ in love with pintrest, and I have tried lots of new recipes on there lately! We have been doing great at cooking at home, taking leftovers for work and pinching some extra pennies.We treated ourselves to a new couch with some Christmas money and next up may be a master bath or laundry room mini remodel. Pintrest.... said money saver, turned upside down!
Does anyone else ever look on there and then feel like they have sooo much they should be doing?
After an hour on pintrest I feel like I need to: 1. get my a*# up and work out 2. dress much better 3. be a better mom and plan better things for kids to do 4. remodel every room in our home 5. make every gift I give from coffee filters, and spray paint 6. cook more, cook more, cook more 7. take better and more photographs.......   ohh well ;)

It seems like lately everyone I know is either pregnant or just had a baby! Its awesome, and a little overwhelming all at the same time, lots of gifts to buy and babies to see! My friend Jessie just welcomed baby Cohan on December 27th, Brian and Natalie welcomed their baby girl Emerson, 5 pounds! And some other friends just welcomed baby Madison. I think the cats out now that my lovely mama Michelle will welcome a baby end of June, and there's lots more! Must of been a busy 2011, {wink wink}

stacking cups in the tubby

watching mickey mouse before bed, our routine.

my crazy little man, love this guy!

He ran around with this bowl on his head for at least 30 minutes....

before deciding to use it as some sort of rocking device, good idea!

Welcome Sweet Baby Cohen, one day old.

CHEESE!

2012-01-27T09:22:00.000-06:00

Need your opinion!

2012-01-24T10:53:00.001-06:00

Were having our pictures taken on Saturday.... Haven t had good ones of us three taken since Will's newborns. Were thinking of going to old town st charles and I am thinking of dressing casual instead of the normal boring black sweater, I was thinking about doing long sleeve tee and my puffy vest and jeans.
Thoughts?
Just wanted to do someting a little different, other suggestions?

If I go this route, what would Mr.Will wear?

Thanks so much in advance, the nerves of a 16 month old cooperating for a photo shoot are already getting the best of me! ;)

Great deal on diapers!

2012-01-20T14:16:00.000-06:00

Look at this awesome diaper deal! * Buy 1 Babies R Us Baby Blues – 96 Ct Diapers – Size 3 ~~$16.99~~ now only $15!
OR Buy 1 Babies R Us Baby Blues – 82 Ct Diapers – Size 4 ~~$16.99~~ now only $15!
* Plus, buy 1 Babies R Us Unscented Club Wipes 432 ct. Box $9.99
OR buy 1 Babies R Us Scented Club Wipes 432 ct. Box $9.99
* Minus automatic $10 discount (basically making the value box of wipes FREE)!
* Final cost only $15 for both items! WOW!

…And this deal gets even better if you have a ShopRunner membership since these items ship for free within 2 days with ShopRunner (and if you don’t yet have a membership, you can sign up for a FREE 30 day trial here).

You can also go through EBATES here for 5% cash back

Our days...

2012-01-17T14:40:00.001-06:00

I feel like this is normal, at least I hope it is... does every mom feel like this? The enormous amount of guilt as your baby cries as you walk away, the clinging to your leg, not to mention the drop your heart makes to your legs when you, the mom, the one that gave birth gets the least amount of time with the most important person in your life on a daily basis....
I think Will and I have both been feeling like there's just not enough time for each other lately, not enough time for all the kisses, all the playing, and all the snuggles we want to get in after a long day.
Most days Will is at Mama Michelle's I rush in to pick him up, he runs to me and gives me a big bear hug, usually we exchange a peck or two before he ~~writes me off~~ goes back to playing. I don't know if its the other kids, the fun toys, or what but he is never ready to leave. Which is a good thing, a GREAT thing.
Once we get settled in the car with our clothes and art projects we talk about the day, sing and jibber jabber to the highway to make the haul home. Then is one excitement after the next as we greet Moomer (Boomer), get the mail, and bring in our treasures from the day. By this time lil man is usually hungry, if I'm lucky we can fit in a quick workout or throw in the occasianal load of laundry but then its dinner, bath, play for a bit and bed. All in the 2 hours we have together in the evening.
With Will in an all time Mamamamama phase it has started to weigh on my heart. Does he need me more? I know he certainly wants me more, but does he NEED me more. Along with Wills age telling him he needs to have mamamama all the time, I wonder if I am harming him by coming to his rescue every time he thinks he needs me... maybe if I didn't cater to this and let it go more it wouldn't be an issue. But how do you say no after not seeing them all day? You need me Will? SURE You want 3 mananas (bananas) for dinner Will? SURE You want to just snuggle and watch cartoons with mamama all night? SURE

Hugging Julius good bye

one day last week we actually got to go outside after work, 60 in January, yay, back to the teens now :(

He loves to snuggle, always has

I could snuggle all night, my little booboo.


Will had his 15 month appointment, all is well! Weight 75% height 50% brains...doc was quite impressed.				Her quote I will always remember: "Ashley, he's such a good little baby." As will is terrorizing the room I smirk "No, do you remember... he was a very sick little baby, and every time I've seen him he's been in such a great mood, even on his worst of days, and so smart. Keep doing whatever your doing."	Thanks doc.

Isn't this what everyone's purse looks like in the morning?

Eating his favorite, Mananans

I just signed Will up for swim classes, and I'm trying to plan some more fun little dates for us. I know it doesn't help that it is winter and we are stuck inside and bored....and along with the busy weeks we have had a lot of things on the weekends as well. Mainly I am trying to find some balance but when I look in those sweet sweet eyes and know all they want is me, it sure is hard to have any balance in this crazy life.

2011 vs. 2012

2012-01-10T13:51:00.000-06:00

So happy to be snuggled with my little boy last year NYE

This year however, I've become much more accustomed to grabbing a sitter and being out on the town!

Yup that's the hubs... getting low!

Happy New years everyone!

2011 was a great year, with some minor set backs... I lost my amazing grandmother and I have never known a hurt so deep. But knowing she is watching down on me as a momma and helping me to make some good choices helps to ease the pain. I have loved all of Will's stages but I LOVE LOVE LOVE like the past 3 months, he can really play, interact, talk, and communicate so much! Its like all the sudden one day he woke up and said, "ok I'm a big boy now momma, start treating me like one." Makes me so excited for all the stages to come.
Okay... I know I've said it before but I am pumped for 2012, and I really hope I am not shooting myself in the foot... Just hoping for some big changes for it, to better our life a little and ease some of the everyday life woes.

I hope everyone had a fantastic new year and is starting off the year well. I had a hard time getting back into my groove after the lil break, but were back.in.action!

Back to reality and goal setting!

2012-01-04T13:40:00.001-06:00

We normally get Christmas eve and day off and then new years day, sometimes new years eve. This year was awesome, if only every year could be like this year! Last weekend I was off for 4 days, and new years weekend I was off 5 days! 5 days! Luke on the other hand, he's lucky if he gets Christmas day off, seriously... and that is the only day we had off with him last weekend. With non teaching jobs it RARELY happens that you get a day off and get to stay at home and do whatever you want. Usually we are out of town, on vacation, tending to a sick baby or our sick selves, if were so lucky to leave work while sick. But these past 5 days were awesome and I could not have asked for anything more.

We had Luke's moms Christmas celebration, Luke got to golf with his brothers, His brother and new sister in law stayed with us so we got to see them, got to go see Jim and Leslie's new house, shop, clean the house, organize the house complete with two new organizing pieces from target, cleaned all baseboards in the house, ordered us brand new couches with my Christmas bonus {yahooo!} cleaned out fridge, freezer, and pantry, went to a wedding, hung out with my mom/meemaw, and theres tons more I'm sure!

I took an extra day off {Thursday} and I'm thinking I may have to prolong the holidays a little longer every year. Luke's mom had Will yesterday, and she said she could totally tell he was just with me for 5 days straight, she said shes never gotten so many kisses, hugs, snuggles and he even said his first Gigi!

Monday I made us a YUMMY, crock pot white chicken chili that we've been eating on for a few days, love meals like that. Easy peasey and just created 6 + meals!

Saturday Boomer started limping really bad, like to the point that we were carrying him down stairs, it has gotten better but not completely gone, we have no idea what he did, and with being 8 years old it is always a little scary :(

I wanted to share some goals I have for myself for 2012....You know get them out there into the universe.

{in no particular order}

- Try to spend more QUALITY time with Will, not playing while folding laundry or while cooking, JUST PLAYING.

- WORK OUT, no excuses just do it. Attend work out classes, work out in the morning, or evening. Just do it.

- Eat healthy most of the time, and really try to watch the portion control. {I am hoping these specifics will be better than just saying, lose weight, get in shape}

- Cut back on the caffeine in take, its not bad, but it could be better... and in case I ever need to eliminate this will help.

- Cut back on the Vino intake.... again its not bad but it could definitely be better!! And it will help the waistline too!

- Less time "staying in touch" this one may sound weird, but I am TOO good at keeping in touch with people sometimes, and as Will gets older he is going to start noticing it. I need to start putting down the phone, stop answering emails and just be present more often.

- And Lastly, just be a better, happier, more well rounded person, {that is what all the things above are supposed to help me do}

Like I said I am very, very excited for 2012 and all that God has in store for my little sweet family and I!


Lil Will and Henley; Will loves Henley to pieces especially the tags on his bottom!

Our Christmas entertainment

2012-01-04T11:45:00.000-06:00

4 more Christmas's...

2012-01-04T11:30:00.001-06:00

While we do have a few Christmas's it is nice because they are spread out, gives a chance to clean up and re-boot before the next one! We had so much fun at all of them and of course a certain little guy got way way spoiled at all of them!

Peyton and William, sweet cousins.

Will got his Cozy Coupe! This thing is great I remember having one when I was little and I know Will is going to be the hot rod in the neighborhood this summer. Peyton was so nice and pushed Will around all night.

Happy boy.

Gift opening: this year: practice, next year: its on!

And a tunnel, Will loves crawling through stuff so this is perfect!

We had a slumber party at this Christmas which was a lot of fun, kids could play and momma and dada enjoyed some cocktails! Don't the kids looked pooped the next morning, lol

My mom opening some gifts with Will, some is an understatement already had the dreaded talk that next year we've GOT to tone.it.down.

Christmas at papa Jims

Will would lift his hands up and everyone would CHEER he thought he ruled the world!

A new decoration for the basement, score!

And last but not least my "friend" Christmas party!

Will, Annabelle, and Dom

A magical Christmas celebration

2012-01-03T16:01:00.001-06:00

I just never knew, I never even fathomed how incredibly magical and special Christmas time would be once I had children to celebrate it with! Last year Will blessed us with his first laugh on Christmas and I thought we would never be able to beat that amazing gift, boy was I wrong. I had such a great time this year, playing santa, making food, and trying to grab hold tight of all of these memories.

No matter what I ever say, no matter how much I kick and scream....this I know this: we.are.blessed.

I loved creating some new family traditions for Luke, Will, and I and I hope things that we can keep adding to each year. We kept up with our tradition of gathering an ornament each year, and thanks to Michelle Will made us an awesome hand print ornament, momma double wrapped this thing with bubble wrap and will treasure it always. With Will still on meds and not 100% we skipped Christmas service this year and relaxed as a family. We built a fire, opened some presents and ate dinner. After Will went to bed Luke and I attempted to watch Its a wonderful life we lasted about 20 minutes. I tried a crock pot breakfast casserole from pintrest so our breakfast was all ready for us in the morning, I'd like to make something ahead every year and spend every minute I can soaking up all the memories instead of being in the kitchen. It was pretty yummy too!

The awesome thing about loving this year so much was knowing that each year I'm sure to love it more and more... the excitement, the magic, and the memories. I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas with all their family and friends.

Building a fire with dada

momma got some new shoes! And get this Luke looked on pintrest to see exactly what nude pumps I have been wanting! It took the boy just about 10 years to go pick me out something I can wear, but he did it! And I love them! And he was pretty happy with his ipad 2 also! We've had some set backs but hoping 2012 is AMAZING and what better way to kick it off than with a new gadget. Luke was so surprised and excited!

Santa brought Will two new Christmas books, hoping to stock up his collection to start THIS new tradition

Checking on their fire...

I would love to do a cute picture in our Christmas jammies each year, this year Will had other plans.

Elmo tool set

New toys for the "beach" this summer

And rock and roll elmo! Love this thing!

Ohh and an elmo chair for the basement

Christmas eve wouldn't be complete without our own lil reindeer

Chowing on breakfast casserole

Gifts from Santa for being SUCH a good boy....

Sick baby....

2011-12-28T12:05:00.000-06:00

Well friends I hate to report that yet again we have been dealing with a pretty sick little William. He caught a cold we've been fighting but came home sick last Monday with some sort of stomach bug, lets just say it was not the kinda that makes you throw up.... the brat diet begun and he was home with his Gigi on Tuesday. On Wednesday with plans to go back to school and work he woke up with a 101/102 fever, He was very lethargic and had lost a lot of energy from this bug. I made the call stayed home and went to the doctor. Ear infection, again, bad. Right ear, again. After a failed trip to Walgreen's and a helpful hubby meds were started.

I got to work Thursday and things were looking up, I was worried because sometimes the antibiotics also give him the same effect the flu was but we were on brat diet day 4 and things were looking up, Poor baby's butt had never been so red. Friday night my grandpa came in town to wish us a merry Christmas, after we got home Will woke up around 9 pm (which he never does) and cried, screamed and suffered on and off all night. I finally called the doc again at 10 am {in an effort to minimize the crazy mommy} and she called him in numbing drops for his ears. His ear infection moved to both ears and I believe he was cutting a back tooth on the right side. Needless to say last week was very rough, even with everything I have been through with Will it was one of the hardest weeks. He was just in so much pain it and it was very hard to try and comfort and watch him go through that. He was able to enjoy Christmas and is feeling much better now!

Though... we may be talking about tubes sooner rather than later if this keeps up....

I don't know what it is about a sick baby, while I HATE it, I love that he snuggles me so sweet on the couch. Sorry for all the annoying pictures, I couldn't resist.... thank god for phones ;)

Home from school Monday.

Wednesday morning... fever

Wednesday afternoon, poor kid was so sick of bananas, bread etc we resorted to yogurt with probiotic

Michelle got some smiles from him Thursday

And I got more sweet snuggles

All better for Christmas eve

Santa baby....

2011-12-16T09:52:00.000-06:00

Had to post some pictures of my little Santa baby, he wasnt quite sure what to think of santa and was mostly wondering why momma handed him off to an old hairy man, ;)
But man does he love the fishies!

I'm playing elf today at work and getting my presents out to customers, Happy Holidays everyone!

Give them what they really want!!!

2011-12-13T08:52:00.001-06:00

Hey Loves! Let me help you knock out the rest of your Christmas shopping! Everyone loves receiving some special high quality jewelry {at a great price for you!} whether its a great bold standout statement necklace, a personalized charm set necklace, or something for the adorable little girls in your life, this stuff is awesome! {www.stelladot.com}

Offering a special for my amazing blog readers from now till the new year, free shipping on ANY order and orders over 50 will receive free shipping PLUS 10% off your most expensive piece! Its a great time to get a deal on this stuff!

ALSO, take a look at our spread the love promo below, pick one of this adorable pieces and we will personally send another one to a little girl in need, what is better!?!?

Comment email, or call me today and lets get you done shopping! ashdawnn@hotmail.com

Tis the season to help SPREAD THE LOVE!

This awesome soiree ring was just featured in the Real Simple, gift guide!

Weve got handbags now, and also these cute little clutches, perfect for holiday parties

Our charm collection cant be beat, who doesn't love something personal. What a great gift!

Thanksgiving Memories 2011

2011-12-12T14:58:00.000-06:00

I love Thanksgiving, seems like it is always the time of the year I am starting to miss family and crave good home cooking! I cant believe this was my little turkey ONE year ago! Boy ohh boy does time fly!

We had a great thanksgiving with my family as usual, my sister even started some new fun family traditions, glad she is on top of things my brain may have been in Mexico.

Will wants to play like a big boy so bad, but lately I think all he is doing is getting on Bennetts nerves.

So sweet.

But Bennett did decide to give a big hug.... or he was moving him away from the toys, however you want to look at it ;)

And of course thanksgiving is not complete without some whip cream squirted in the mouth!

Lil will keep signing and saying... "more... Please!"

My sweet boy in his monogrammed thanksgiving outfit, love.

OK, momma you got two pictures and two pictures is ALL you get!

We actually got a family photo this year, that is unheard of in our family!

Will eating his Turkey dinner, after his awesome nap that allowed momma and dada to enjoy THEIR turkey dinner! What a generous little boy.

Yummmmm!!!

OK, it is December 12th and I finally updated from Thanksgiving, I should be all caught up now!

Our Mexican fiesta!

2011-12-09T10:43:00.000-06:00

Mexico was great, up at 4 am made all the plans happen, and a 2.5 hour direct flight and we were outta dodge...footloose and fancy free, carefree parents for the next five days! It was great, we ate TOO much, laughed a lot, slept in and I even took a nap or two. Our friends from Texas met us down there which was great since we don't get to see them a lot. We missed Will, especially at the end, even though it was only a five day trip we were both ready to come home and get some sweet snuggles from our lil sweetheart.

I know I for one will not be going on a trip with our him for a long time, it was very nice but I definitely felt like a peice of me was missing the entire time. Now its home and back to reality, I hope Luke enjoyed his birthday trip, he got lots of cards and I got him a new cardinals pullover for something to open and tomorrow we are having all of our friends over.... Is his birthday over yet? ;)

Parents as Teachers visit 14 months old

2011-12-08T08:56:00.000-06:00

I know I am a biased mom, my mom is a biased grandma... this I know. But Will is a bright kid, he is walking, talking, understanding, signing, and communicating very well for a 14 month old. I don't think too much about this just thank God everyday for my amazing son and of course give most the credit to our amazing sitter.

Tuesday night we had our parents as teachers visit, I am so grateful our community still does this and I've put off and rescheduled this visit 3 times now! It really made me sit and think of how much Will knows and has learned in just 14 months. I want to keep track of some of it and I know I will want to look back at this if we are ever lucky enough to have another child.

Words Will says: mama, dada, all done, bye bye, more, dog, boomer, no, baby {animal sounds}

Signs Will does: please, more, drink, all done

Animal noises Will does: dog, sheep, cow, owl, duck, lion/tiger, bird, monkey

She did his evaluation which he scored the best in each category and observed him playing for a while. He loved two of the containers she brought over and trying to figure out how to transfer items between the two. She got out a book to see his language {because they cant just go off what you say} and she was blown away. Every time she turned the page he would point to the animal and make the noise, she tried to stump him with the owl and in full showing off mode he hooted his best WHOOOO.

Sometimes it gets difficult because I feel like he gets bored easily and gets bored with the same toys so she gave us some new activities to try with him which is great.

One of the things that he is loving is trying to get lids on and off of things, it gets frustrating but he loves doing it and how great for his fine motor skills. Will continues to love Einstein and we usually save it for right before bed, a lil show watching and a sippy of milk made the transition to no bottles super easy, seamless!

One of my favorite things to do is to watch Will think, if you show him something he usually sits there for a minute and looks at you and thinks before trying it on his own. It's so cool kinda like you can hear/feel him learning. I'm absolutely loving this stage everything about it. He's still a chunky monkey baby boy, but he can play, learn, and interact. He is mischievous and into everything, but not on purpose he is just a little explorer. If I ask Will if he is hungry or wants to eat he walks over to his highchair, and if I ask if he is tired or ready for a nap he walks to the stairs. Ohh the stairs.... we have mastered up and down now but still have a house full of gates: 4 gates and 3 doors that stay shut, I long for the day when Boomer, Luke and I are not living in an obstacle course. It's just amazing that in 14 short months Will went from a tiny little newborn completely dependent upon me for everything to this walking, talking little man.

Will got his second haircut last week, we went to the hairy elephant. He got to watch mickey mouse and sit in a lil golf cart while he got pampered :)

It's December!

2011-12-07T10:55:00.000-06:00

We'll its December and that can only mean one thing, busy, busy, and.more.busy!!! We did thanksgiving, went on our trip, and now were home and back to reality. My friend Ashley was in town this weekend and now this week I have something going on every single night after work. The weekends are all fully booked until after the new year so whats a momma to do? Well online shop of course! Get groceries during lunch, multitask and do the best we can!

My parents had Will for a few days while we were gone and named him: The Genius! They were so impressed with how much he knows and how advanced he is... tooting our horn of course, but why not ;)

Started the week of wonderfully with a crib full of puke! Hoping it was a fluke I took him to the sitters and wouldn't you know it an hour later I got a call to come get him, he had the pukes all morning but then was fine. It was pretty weird, but I sure am glad my little snuggle bug is feeling better!

Michelle is doing a Christmas theme every week this month, last week gingerbread man, this week snowmen, I love all of the fun christmasy characters!

After much contemplation we've decided to forego the tree this year, reasons being: 1. Will, he WILL get into it and we will have like 10 ornaments up. 2. We are exhausted and putting up and pulling down when we could catch a cat nap or clean up the house seems silly 3. I don't remember being 13 months old and looking at a tree 4. for the rest of my life basically I will HAVE to put it up so this is the only year I can get away with it. and lastly 5. we are not hosting anything this year, I really hope one of the families will let me host something next year and you know the house will be decked out!

Lots of posts and pictures to come! Happy Holidays everyone!

Will's St. Nick gift... I love this tradition kicks off the season!

Will has been obsessed with his bunny "Henley" lately, even inststed he eat snack with him.

We went from wake up around 6:30-7 normal, to about 5:30 UGH it is so hard to get up and it still be dark for about an hour and a half, we are some TIRED Wilson's lately!

Gobble, Gobble... Senoritas!

2011-11-23T13:41:00.001-06:00

Well Senoritas (I doubt any senors' ready my blog) Its almost Thanksgiving and that can only mean one thing, We leave for Mexico Friday morning! To say were excited would be a HUGE understatement, this is just the vacation we need.

Will had a Turkey day celebration over at Michelle's and it will be fun to have Thanksgiving with him tomorrow, I was remembering last year eating my dinner as he was well, attached to me for a lack of better words. I loved that, but this year will be fun to have him interact and eat with us!

Since as long as I can remember my favorite thing to do in the morning is watch the parade, I just love it. Me and my dad used to watch it when I was little and now I drink some baileys and coffee {just like he used to} look through the black Friday ads, and watch the parade. Its just one of those little things that I look forward to all year. I am excited to this with Will as the years go on.

It is easy to be negative, so I wanted to take a minute and note my top 10 thankfuls {in 2011}

As I sit here and think my mind is flooded with thankfuls, I am blessed.

10. our getaway this week to Mexico, we are both stressed to the max and this is great timing

9. a warm and cozy house for a chilly winter

8. 2 jobs, while neither of us love them every.day, they are jobs.

7. technology, having a smart phone makes my life so much easier in so many ways

6. butt warmers in my car

5. a nana that cooks a whole thanksgiving meal from scratch every year.

4. the best babysitter in the world and the very best for will {next to his momma} Michelle.

3. A husband who comes home crabby and complains about work, at least he is home and not at a bar, and talking to me, I love him so much.

2. Of course the best son in the entire world, I don't know what I did to deserve him but I will spend the rest of my life being thankful for him.

1. Our health, after so many scares we've seen and been through lately, this is really just the most important thing.

I love you all very much and hope you have a wonderful, warm, full, turkey day with your friends and family.

My walking talking... yikes TODDLER!

2011-11-15T11:24:00.001-06:00

Dah Dah.... These are the little noises that I hear when my ~~baby~~ toddler wakes up in the morning, sometimes he is talking to his dada, but mostly he is looking for his dog. Little William is chatting up a storm these days, his favorite is "dah dah" this means dog. He loves when Boomer comes in his room when he gets up in the morning, or to see him when we get home in the evenings. He's said Boom a few times but mostly its dah/dog. When Will was watching the opening festivites of the world series with dada he kept looking at the clydsdales and saying dah. Also him and I were looking through pottery barns christmas catalog, ahh for the day when I can afford everything in here, on one page there was a dog sitting by the family and tree and he immedatly said dah, dah.
Will now knows how to sign and uses, "all done, please, and more." It definitly makes things easier when we know he wants something and he is getting pretty good at pointing to what it is. Its pretty darn hard to resist that little boy walking around signing please, he'll sign please and bring me his einstein dvd and stand at the pantry and sign please. The other day we were at walmart and I was picking up some of the gerber graduate meals for him, because lets face it sometimes we need something easy so since we were in the aisle with puffs and snacks all around him he sat in the cart and just started "pleasing" like crazy! Its polite and cute, but I'm going to have an obese, einstien watching toddler if this keeps up.
I feel like Will does and learns something new everyday. He loves to eat with a fork and he is actually pretty good at it, now the spoon is a different story but practice makes perfect right!

Another favorite thing to do right now is talk to dada on the phone, yes dada is who he talks to and ONLY dada. He probably has about 10-20 conversations with dada using anything for a phone from his hand, to a measuring cup, to a bath toy, or on rare occasions a real or toy phone. Now these little dada-william convo's are not short and sweet, hello/goodbye, sometimes I hear Will hashing out all of lifes problems, planning vacations, and all sorts of things with dada. Hopefully soon he will realize he can call other people, acchem momma... but for now just his one and only dada!

Will still LOVES bathtime, he now starts to climb in right when we go in his bathroom, which also means he knows how to try and climb out if he wants as well. As soon as he gets in and his tubby is filling up he likes to help with the assistance of his big QT cup he fills it up, takes a big gulp and dumps it out over.and.over again. The rest of the time in the bath is spend playing with toys, reading books, blowing bubbles, and swimming on his belly/splashing. I read about doing food colored ice cubes for a learning/bath activity, still need to get around to that.

Here are a few pictures and updates.....

My poor lil nephew Bennett broke his leg last week, he will wear this big cast for two weeks and then get a smaller one. He is doing great and is in awesome spirits!

Will has started to "ride" things, like skateboards and like a horse {pic above}

Will and Jack had a bath/ slumber party Saturday, they are getting so big and so stinkin cute, love these boys!

Dada had just gotten home from a bachelor party.... the next morning, my boys were happy to see each other!

And lastly.... last night was NIGHT 3 of no baba before bed, that was the last one we were trying to give up, the lil mr. has done very well with a warm sippy, some einstien, and some extra snuggles before bed!

We leave next week for our little getaway, while I am sad to leave my baby boy I am excited for a little time with my sweet husband!

A Full FUN Weekend!

2011-11-08T10:11:00.001-06:00

I had to do a post about the fun weekend ALL of us Wilson's had, by far the best weekend in a long time! My dear friend Meghan decided to go back to school and become a nurse, with two little ones in the house she is one momma who really needed a break, well who doesn't! So we packed it up and met her down in St. Genvieve at Crown Valley Winery. I have never been but I loved it there! It was beautiful, big, open, and of course fabulous wine! After that we headed to the local brewery, and after that dinner at the Tiger Sanchuary. We met some new friends, and I found a new boyfriend, as we girls sometimes do on girls weekend. It was all in good fun even watching the boys out the peep hole of our room, I felt like a 12 year old girl giggling with my friends all night and it was just the medicine the doctor ordered for all of us over worked mommas!

Meghan, me, Leslie and Julia, bffs!

I'll never forget either Megs.... when we became best friends freshman year of college!

breaking it down on the dance floor

Were here, CHEERS!

Before I headed out I had one pit stop to make, the shower for a very special momma to be! Cant wait for baby P to get here!

When Momma's away the boys will play!!! My dad got Will his very own mini horse this week!!!! How cool is that! So Luke and Will took a lil day trip out to the ranch so Will could meet his mini horsey!

I cant wait for him to grow up and help take care of and learn to ride his little horse, too freaking cute!!!

Then of course the boys went home and Julia and Meghan's husbands and kiddos came over for a daddy night, perfect end to a perfect weekend!

I cant believe it is already November, time is moving at the speed of light these days!

Kids = check!

2011-11-04T11:34:00.000-05:00

I'm making a list and checking it twice.... that's right this momma's got shopping on the brain! I was feeling a little behind, last year I got some shopping out of the way before Will made him appearance and then him and I did the rest online and on a few trips to the mall. But this year is a different story, with a walking, talking, busy one year old, a more than full time working momma and dada it leaves little time to worry about much else.
I did manage somehow to get all the kids I shop for done already! That's seven kiddos, including one very special little man who gets some extra goodies from Santa! My real problem comes with the adults! I never have any good gift ideas for them, and they are the hardest to buy for. I don't know if it is because most of the adults on my list buy what they want when they want it, or if I am just creatively gift challenged.
So anyone have any good gift ideas for me, have at it!
What about everyone else, have you started knocking names off your lists?

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T13:32:00.000-05:00

Hope everyone had a great Halloween! I am sorry to report Mr Will and I were home sick, poor guy wasn't really acting himself Sunday and then by bedtime he just screamed all night I knew right away...ear infection. The good thing was we had already celebrated over at Michelle's house Saturday, they had a big Fall festival with all their friends with games for the kids and boys, pumpkin painting, lots of food and of course lots of fun! Will was originally going to be a lion, we had his "roarrrr" down pat, but when momma took him to get his pictures taken as a lion we realized my little lion is growing by the minute, he didn't quite fit too good in his costume anymore. So in came the turkey! One of my moms friends had given me a turkey costume and I was going to surprise everyone and have him show up to Thanksgiving in it, well good thing we had a backup... my last plan was for him to get in Cardinals gear, carry around a sports car and go as Freese, ha!

All in all we had a good Halloween, we spent in together as a family. :) It felt like Will's first Halloween to me because last year he was such a new baby. I cant wait to see him next year!

Will painted two pumpkins this year for Halloween, so precious!

Win or Lose I love St Louis!

2011-10-28T10:41:00.000-05:00

Well we did it again, we made it through the play offs and into the WORLD SERIES! Here in St. Louis we call that "Red October!" I love red October, everyone searches around for their long sleeved red Cardinals gear (since 90% of the games it is 95+ degrees!) And I'm sure a lot of people love their baseball team but there is just something special about it here in St. Louis, there is something in the air when you pull in downtown St.Louis, and I love it. I love our baseball town! It totally adds to the excitement that one of Luke's buddies is playing for the Cardinals in the World Series! Luke is already asking me if we can go to Spring Training again this year...Achhemm I didn't just buy him a trip or anything you know ;)

My dad has had season tickets, but not just any tickets, 12 rows behind home plate for over 30 years! We give them to customers, Luke and I attend some games, but this year my dad took me! We had a super fun night at Game 2 even though we lost. He took my sister to Game 1 and said he didn't know if he would ever get the opportunity to take us to a World Series game in our hometown again, tear.

My sister and Luke were born the year we won in 82, and Luke and I were downtown for almost every game in 06 (ahh to be that age again, going out every night) I wanted Will to remember all this hoopla when we win our 11th World Series in 2011 so I tried to snap some pics to remember... Anyone else have a hard time getting pictures of the little ones once they learned to walk, a new challenge for me!

Pre game 1 excitment!

You'll rarley find my big boy crawling these days!

Ahhh, all in a days hard work

My boys <3

Game 2 with my pops

Loving the new self picture taking capabilites of the new phone, dont have it down quite yet tho.

Clydsdales, Will looked at this on the tv the other night and said, Dog. ha! :)

Go Freese!

And just for fun: After we won on 06'

A playoff game in 06

Yahooo!!!

William's baby dedication

2011-10-25T11:27:00.001-05:00

Last Friday night William was dedication into Harvester Christian Church, it was such a very special night and a time I will always hold very dear to my heart. We started attending this church, I like the service and the kids program is GREAT! Will just moved rooms in Sunday school, he was a Cozy Cuddler and is now a Little Ladybug! I really liked the way they set up the baby celebration, instead of working it into a regular Sunday service and having your family come to your church they do a special intimate celebration just for the babies and their families. Will was one of fifteen baby's celebrated that evening, prior to this Luke and I had some online homework to do through the church. The lectures were really good and made you think, at the end it gave us a chance to reflect on what we wanted for Will; out of his spirituality and his life.

I hope he continues to grow into the amazing little boy he is becoming and keeps his heart of gold, I hope God gives him the guidance when he needs it and continues to amaze me with his greatness with the gift of children he has given me.

Dada and Willman

Everytable was even personalized for each family, I had to document!

My sweet sweet sugar bear!

My mom being silly with Will, playing the forehead bump game, I've GOT to get this on video!

Gigi and her little lovebug Will

Proud papa Jim and Will

Going "through" some stuff...

2011-10-21T09:23:00.000-05:00

We've been a little busy, somewhat outta touch, we've been going through some stuff....

And then there was one....

2011-10-13T11:44:00.000-05:00

Well, its official, 3 of the four Wilson brothers are now hitched! We had a fun weekend in Raleigh celebrating Jake's nuptials. Anne's family is from a very small town which is where the rehearsal and ceremony was held, there was a lot of traveling, but I got to try some new southern things including shrimp and grits, yum! It was really hard to be away from Will but he had a fun weekend, went to the park, pumpkin patch and played lots with his cousin Brennan. I always need a day to recover after being gone and boy ohh boy do you ever need that one more day when you have a baby to come home to. Will and I both got sick this week so we have been trying really hard to get better.

Congrats Jake and Anne, what a fun wedding!

Now who has a gal for Ben? :)

Peyton was the flower girl, precious!

1 year old stats

2011-10-11T11:05:00.001-05:00

I wanted to take a second to record Will's one year stats from the doctor.
23 lbs 10 ounces: 68%
30.75" tall: 82%

Everything is right on track and he exceeding his scorings for all his skills, even showed off to his doctor his new found walking skills. We recently gave up the first morning bottle with no problems at all and soon we will give up his nighttime (only) bottle, I am already dreading this as it is such a sweet time to share with him at the end of the day. Will loves to play and loves to eat, eats just about everything.

His favorite books right now are the busy little spider, loves when I make all the animal noises, and wheres baby's belly button loves to lift all the flaps and almost has down some of the sounds I make out in this one. We have been working hard on signing "more" and "please" when there are things he wants instead of getting upset about it. And I'm trying to get him in the habit of cleaning up his toys before bedtime. Things have been moving right along, and I'm happy to report there are lots of exciting things coming up!

Getting into the party leftovers.... it WAS beer-thirty!

Obsessed with the balloon held onto it all night!

His big birthday day and the yummy pumpkin cake mama Michelle made for him.

His night away at Michelles

Lord help me....

2011-10-05T13:27:00.000-05:00

We leave tomorrow morning, Ive known this day was coming for a long time and yet I am having a really hard time with it... Ive never left Will before in a year I have seen him everyday. Of course Ive had nights here and there off, but he was 20 minutes away at my sisters or moms not a plane ride and states away. I know he will be fine, but its me that's not doing so hot.... I think its the anticipation of leaving him and worrying, hopefully once were there I'll be fine. I keep going back and forth on I should of brought him, and its still not even too late since he flys free.
Should I stick him in my arms and never let go? I never know I would be "that" crazy mom I'm being.... Whats wrong with me, Ive been up in the middle of the night the past 3-4 nights thinking of "what ifs"

I'm leaving work soon to go say good bye to my buhhba, he's spending the night at mama Michelle's since we leave so early tomorrow.
I'm slammed with work and my jewelry venture is taking off so I've got tons to do tonight, hoping to keep myself busy and ...... breathe.

Dear ohh my dear William, {a note}

2011-10-05T13:21:00.001-05:00

Dear William,

You have brought so much unimaginable joy into my life, every smile, point, and chuckle makes my heart warm. As I sit with you on the chair in your nursery and hold you close I remember the times when my big belly would rest on my thighs and I would sit in the same spot and imagine what life would be like with you, I created a sweet room, bought adorable clothing, and all the necessities yet I never knew how much you would change me. Everyone tells you how much your life will change, no more sleep, no more clean house, and yes it does, but nothing compares to the change that took place in my heart once you entered my life, noting matters anymore, nothing except you. I've watched you grow and learn so much William and I feel so lucky and blessed that God picked me to get to keep watching and teaching you. You are a very adventurous little boy, there is not much you are afraid of, and if you are; a close hug with mommy calms all fears. I wake up excited each morning to see what the new day with you will bring, I love you my sweetheart, I love you so very very much. You are mommys little sunshine, now a one year old, I hope you had a wonderful first birthday, I cant wait to see what life has in store for you next!

Williams actual first birthday fell on a Monday, I normally would of taken the day off work to spend with him but were only working three days this week due to Luke's brothers wedding so in we went. It was really hard dropping him off but I knew mama Michelle had a fun day planned for him, with smiley fruit pancakes, a special crown, and I even stopped by to sing an extra round of happy birthday to him on my lunch break. After work we played for a while at home then met daddy out for a hibachi dinner, Will loved the food and gobbled it all up, even the Japanese soup!

Doing the happy dance about his smiley pancake, he loved it!

He held onto this balloon all night, I literally thought we were going to put him to bed with it!

Loving the balloons

Everybody needs a brewsky on their birthday right? Someone got caught getting into the party leftovers!

Will's first hibachi experience

Happy birthday William!

William's First Birthday Party!

2011-10-03T15:20:00.000-05:00

Covered in cake and icing,

Your smile stretched ear to ear.

A single candle celebrates,

The joy of your first year.

We sing Happy Birthday,

You play midst wrap and bows.

We marvel at how you touched our lives,

Just one year ago.

I remember the first time I held you,

Kissed your head, whispered your name.

You've changed our lives forever,

Our hearts will never be the same.

As a child you'll love this day,

For all the sweets and presents too.

As parents we'll love your day,

For the gift we got was you.

Each year we'll add another candle,

So proud to see you grow.

But always with the memory,

Of your first day long ago.

Saturday was my sweet Will's first birthday party, I ended up doing the open house from 12-5 with the cake smash around 2. Lots of our guests arrived around 1 but I think it ended up working out great and hopefully convenient for everyone! My lil mr took an hour nap then fell back asleep for another hour, perfect time for me to get ready and finish the final touches! He got up about 12:30 and was ready to party! At first I wasn't going to do a theme but it actually ended up being animal themed, it was cute. For food we had mac & cheese, mostcoli, subway subs, pb&j's, homemade chex mix, apple sauce, animal crackers, teddy ghrams, animal fruit snacks, gummy bears, cupcakes, cookies, brownies, choc m&m pretzels, and of course a lion smash cake. We borrowed a bounce house because the weather was gorgeous out, and I think a fun time was had by all! With the help of a friend that had some extra time all the decorations were made by me, and all the food except the subs was made fresh as well.

Whew these parties are a lot of work, but well worth it, I captured some precious memories of my little family this day and my favorite one was once everyone was gone... somehow a certain momma ended up in a crib with a almost one year old..... such a bittersweet day.

Our monthly photos displayed

favor bags full of animal themed treats of course

food room

food table

birthday sign

Lion smash cake, glad I got a "before" pic!

Will's birthday plate we made, now every year this is what he will eat his special dinner and cake on.

the poem that makes me cry every.single.time. {see top of post}

sneeking a looksie at his presents

mama michelle and Eliza

my sweet sweet family.

cake time!

he.... LOVED IT!

mr popular kept getting "phone calls" during cake time, it was adorable as usual, but this kid is going to have icing in his ear for a week!

lovse to feed momma

my crazy kid

trying to feed meemaw

such a happy boy, who's gonna break it to him were not doing this at every meal?

my favorite pic of all time, this picture just sums up my little Will in a nutshelll, soft and sweet with a side of craziness just like momma.

bounce house fun!

Will got so many new books I love it!

A date night and a surprise!

2011-10-03T10:48:00.000-05:00

Last Friday night my mom offered to watch Will so Luke and I could go out on a date, it had been a while, we had a gift card to a nice restaurant by my moms and, I had a special early birthday surprise to share with my hubs. I cannot, repeat, cannot keep a secret, but I did good for the past month or so but it was time to tell Luke what I had in store for the big 3-0!

I had tossed around the idea of Vegas for a long time and it seemed like really good idea till I took into consideration the piles of crap Luke and I feel like after a night out in Saint Louis! Were getting older, were tired parents and spending all.that.money to feel like crap in Vegas was starting to get me wondering. After much research I booked us a small getaway to Rivera Maya Mexico!

Who cant use a little getaway, especially two overworked, under rested first time parents!

I printed a packed telling Luke the things he would need to take with him on his 30th birthday present some of the things were: golf clubs, cell phone, cash, some days off work, some booze, I was trying to throw him off, then went on to say swim trunks, flip flops, and on the last page... passport!

I wrote a little letter telling Luke how excited I was to have a trip with him, he is such a good husband and daddy and deserves this so much! We leave the day after thanksgiving to go to the new NOW Sapphire resort and I cant wait!

Reading... reading...

Then, getting to the good part!

and then there were 3: one year anniversary of becoming mama and dada

2011-09-29T15:41:00.000-05:00

....to continue his amazing story, he is just like his mom right on time, yet a tad fashionably late. Will didn't want to get evicted at 41 weeks so a day before, he made his grand appearance, just in time for grandpa and Gigi who were driving back in town to see him, he's thoughtful like that. From a middle of the night start of labor and admittance to the hospital, from getting a whole new closeness of this marriage thing as Luke had to help me go to the bathroom about ever 15 minutes during labor, holding iv's monitors and all. Then we went home and the reality set in, we were real live parents, William's every thought and well being from here on out depended on us and if we were "good" parents. From Luke sleeping on Will's floor the first night, to nursing trials and triumphs, and four plane rides with a newbie we have mastered one of the hardest titles out there: parents.

A first birthday not only celebrates our royal highness becoming one but it also marks a big milestone for Luke and I, we made it, one whole year, we didn't screw up too bad, and now I'd consider us pros. We've ate with one arm countless times, rocked and sang who knows what at 3 am, debated all the debateables, quit nursing or keep going, let him cry it out or pick him up, our trial and error in judgement of babysitters, and I don't think I could ever even begin to try and count for you the number of doctor visits we have been through in this first year.

A clean house, the new fashion styles, flat tummys, and just being caught up, things I used to loathe are just on the back burner of my mind these days because of my new title and one I carry proudly, mama.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-09-28T12:35:00.000-05:00

September 27, 2010

2011-09-27T08:39:00.000-05:00

One year ago today I looked like this:

And it was my due date with my first baby boy, after 9 months of a {mostly} wonderful pregnancy my due date finally came.... and went. It was a typical Monday and with no signs of baby Wilson other than lots of braxton hicks, I went to work like normal, went home, and put up my hugely swollen feet, after one of the hottest summers known in St. Louis I was ready to meet my baby boy. After a non stress test the end was in sight and I was scheduled to be induced the following Monday at 41 weeks pregnant.

Trying to ignore the signs of a cold that had begun, the next morning I woke up full on sick. I decided that Monday would be my last day of work for a while as I spent the next week relaxing, trying to get better, and tying up my loose ends from home. I just kept worrying what if I am sick and I have the baby, will they let me kiss all over his sweet little face, will I give him my cold, will I be able to puuuuush when I cant even breathe?

To be continued.

It's almost time....

2011-09-26T10:33:00.000-05:00

...for Will's first birthday! Here is a little "memory picture" I made to display at his party. With crazy schedules I have been working on his party, buying things etc for the past two months {crazy I know} but I just have to do things when I have time, which is few and far between. I think the first birthday is a big milestone and I really wanted to make it a special occasion for our little man, I am excited to see it all come together this weekend!

I cant believe it has been a year since he was in my belly...but we'll get into that later.
This morning I went in like any other morning to get Will, I had to wake him up because he was still sleeping. He had pee'd out of his overnight diaper so we were changing clothes on the changing table, daddy was standing by Will giving his medicine and I sat him up to put on his new shirt... then it happened. He leaned over, put both his arms around my neck, and squeezed me really tight for a few seconds then let go. He looked up at me to see my reaction and of course tears were rolling down my cheeks. It was the most unspoken pure sign of love I had ever felt. With babies and kids you don't always know how they feel or what they are thinking, but at that moment I knew my baby loved me very much.

Current Obsessions: Trucks

2011-09-23T13:24:00.000-05:00

I continue you keep my blog for many reasons, one of the main being that it is a great lil online scrapbook of many memories, milestones, photos etc for our family. I thought one thing that would be fun to try and update once in a while is Will's favorite toys he's into. I think it'd be fun to look back at.

Right now Will is obsessed with cars and trucks, maybe he'll be a race car driver, or a dump truck guy... what would you call that? Right now I am looking around for a dump truck that the contents do not spill out too easily. He likes to put things in them and push it around. {see video} it gets frustrating when they fall out easily.

The other day it was really nice out and Will and I spent some time hanging out in the backyard for a while.

Other love he has now and all the time is still books.

Momma gets kisses

2011-09-23T13:10:00.000-05:00

Recently Will has started to hug and kiss, melt.my.heart. Just when you think it cant get any better....

A tip for "shoping at home!"

2011-09-23T10:06:00.000-05:00

With the way of the season it really helps to pick up some gifts and other shopping items online when you can!
I wanted to share one online shopping tip with you SHOP AT HOME is a website that literally pays you to use them. Anytime you want to make an online purchase first go to their site, find the store and it will have a % back they will pay you, then click shop now and it will automatically take you to the site and log your % back in your account. I have already got over 75 dollars back, and the best part is they just send a check to your home. No gift card/reward programs.
Today they are offering 8% cash back for purchases at Walgreen's
4% back at Kohls
3% at Children's Place, and those are just some that I've looked up today!

Use this link and get started!!!!!
Get 150,000+ free online coupon codes, printable grocery coupons, restaurant coupons and more at ShopAtHome.com!

They're hitched!!!

2011-09-20T14:50:00.000-05:00

Our beautiful bride!

My handsome hubby and I

Us being silly as usual

One of my all time favorite people Julia, CHEERS

I got to be the proud jewelry stylist for the wedding!

Such a fun wedding party!

Mimosas!

Even took pictures at Fontbonne and Luke got to be in this alumni pic!

Rehearsal dinner at Milos

Well ladies and gentleman, Mr. Jimbo T finally did it and him and his beautiful bride Leslie are husband and wife. Their day couldn't of been any better and I am head over heels in love with these two love birds. I am such great friends with the both of them and truly honored I got to be a big part of their special day. Guys, I wish you all the happiness in the world, you deserve the very best that life has to offer <3
Read more about our wonderful vacation with them and their fun St. Louis engagement.

Williams First Hair Cut!

2011-09-20T11:42:00.000-05:00

Well friends it was time, my little boy was looking a little well... ~~hoosier~~ unkept. So in we went to get his first haircut, for this one we just went to my salon my hairdresser is young and super nice, William sat on my lap, held some combs, looked at himself in the mirror, looked at all the other ladies who ohhhed and ahhhhed at him of course, and in less than 5 minutes he was done!

Having a snack BEFORE

BEFORE

Flirting and waiting for our turn, BEFORE

AFTER!

The next morning on the way to Miss Michelle's, he usually looks crazy in the morning from his hair going ever which way! :-)

First Ranch visit and Dads 60th!

2011-09-15T16:02:00.000-05:00

August 27th my dad turned 60 whopping years old! My dad means a lot to me, he is the hardest working person I know and has completely devoted his life to making sure my mom, sister, and I are very well taken care of. He would do anything for us girls, and now he has two little boys he can spoil, take to sporting events and rough house with at the ranch. I cant wait till Will is a little older and I can send him off for the weekend with Papa! My mom put together a little surprise get together for my dad at the ranch labor day weekend, he was surprised as he saw all of us, family and friends, from st Louis, Illinois, and Indianapolis.

This was also Will's first visit to the ranch (my dads haven) He loved it, the fresh air and excitement must of taken it out of him too (well he was also recovering from a nasty stomach bug) But he took at 3 hour nap while we were there! Which meant momma got to enjoy some cold brewskys and relax for a while!

The weather was gorgeous and it couldn't of been a better day... Boomer even got to join in the family fun at his all time favorite place!

First four wheeler ride

I'm gonna have TROUBLE on my hands with these two....

Tire horsey... only at the ranch

Two of my favorite ya mamas

Obsessed with hats

Got it!

Bennet found a frog, this poor frog was put through the ringer!

My uncle thinking it'd be funny to scare the kids with an old cow skull

Papa with the boys

Mocktails

2011-09-15T13:38:00.000-05:00

Its no secret I enjoy a good glass of wine.... ok.ok, it doesn't have to be good, and it doesn't have to be wine, but there is just something about a cocktail after a long day that gets my mouth a waterin... SO when I was pregnant whats a momma to do? Why invent mocktails of course!
I just got the 3rd request for some of my infamous mocktail ideas so I thought I'd share... and save for my future needs.
Note: Non alcholic wine sucks! NA beer, ok in a pinch, I favored the O'douls amber

I hope some of this helps you out! I am a big vodka/soda water girl, but I think with variations you can find something you love!

I found flavored/sparkling water to be uber helpful! You know the cheap, 60 cent a bottle flavored water, you can get black berry and all sorts of yummy ones, if you are hot a lot (which a lot of preggos tend to be) Put in the freezer for like 30 min and you will have a good lil slush drink. So, you know when you go to a fancy restaurant (you know how we get to go like once a year!;) and they have like pellegrino and the fancy water, well I always thought it was stupid to pay for this water but picked some up at wal-mart once, and ohh my yummyness, This was my go to mocktail, chilled, drink in a wine glass with a wedge of lime and lemon, you could also do 1/2 this and 1/2 cranberry juice to sweeten it up. Since I was pregs during summer and everyone was out drinking their drinks I even bought the lil 6 pack of these and just stuck them in the cooler with Luke's beers, for me I liked to have SOMETHING it was better than feeling "left out"

I also really like crystal light, the raspberry ice flavor is my favorite... again, in a wine glass with a lime wedge just makes it feel so fancy! IF your liking the flavored water thing, there is also a brand, cant think of the name of it right now, but its sold in cans in a 12 back (cheaper) and it is pretty good too.
I am a dork and would literally put ice water in a wine glass and feel better at the end of the day... better than nothing at least!

Ohhh I also love bloody marys so I bought the spicy hot v8 in cans and would drink that sometimes. Also single serve Orange Juices... with extra calcium of course! I just got sick of water and I'm not a big soda drinker, so any way I could switch it up a little really helped! Its the one time you can literally eat and drink just about whatever you want, so go thru the drive thru at steak and shake and get that chocolate shake, Get a large slushy at 7-11, Whatever that little baby wants!!! :)

Don't forget, you can have a lil wine from time to time, I did.... and well... my kids a freggin genius. ;) Cheers!

a good NA beer I had from Lywellns, nice day on the patio over looking river sometimes a beer is a must!

Pumpkin Spice Latte' from Starbucks..... my weakness

11 months old and clapping!

2011-09-15T10:34:00.000-05:00

Better late than never, out little bug turned 11 months old on the 3rd!

I know he is but I feel more than ever that Will has taken on a rare sponge form! He is literally soaking up EVERYTHING he sees and doing something new every.single.day!

Here are some 11 month updates....

- Will took his FIRST STEPS!!!!! His first steps were towards me when I picked him up from Michelle's house closer to 3-4 weeks ago, then not much for a while, but in the past week or two he takes 2,3,4 steps almost everywhere before plopping down and bee lining it with his one legged crawl. I almost have a walker and a one year old and I can hardly believe it. Tears....

- Will got his first hair cut yesterday, didn't think he could get any cuter/more handsome, I was wrong...

- He is talking so much and his new favorite word is DOG. Awwwww!!!!! It is pretty much just a "DO" sound but it is DOG! He says it every time he sees Boomer or any dog, he even say a dog on TV and said it! SO he says, mama, dada, all done, and dog. I think that's it... well all we can understand at least

- He CLAPS!!! I thought he was close, but when I got home from work Tuesday right away Luke's mom said Will clap, patty cake for mommy... and he waved hi to me, but followed it with a big clap, now he claps at everything! Playing, putting his shapes in the shape sorter he claps for himself (or me) when we get one in, even clapped for the checker at the grocery store yesterday, she must of been doing a good job! :)

That's it for now, just working and gearing up for the big birthday soon! It's JUNGLE day at Michelle's house today and she decorated like a jungle everwhere, we have the best sitter/friend EVER!!!

Kisses for lamb

Just woke up, and pre haircut....

Happy 11 months mr will, you are my sweet sweet sunshine

Ohh yeah, Will is pretty much giving kisses and hugs on command, melt.my.heart.

On the go momma breakfast

2011-09-12T13:15:00.000-05:00

Had to do another post of another great idea I got off pintrest! I like to make smoothies in the morning, with the help of my magic bullet in under 5 minutes I have a pretty healthy breakfast of an on the go momma! The magic bullet uses the same cup to blend as you use to drink from, so only one dirty dish!
You see in the mornings Will gets up with us so he is with us while we both get ready and under out feet in the kitchen while we get coffee and our lunches together. Then he gets in the car with me and we have a 20-30 minute commute to Miss Michelle's so if I have time and the ingredients I'll whip up a quick smoothie for the road. I usually do: 3-4 ice cubes a few strawberries, 1/2 banana, raspberries or blueberries fresh or frozen, a couple leaves of spinach if we have it and about a cup of OJ, I've done other things as well, added yogurt etc but this is my basic one I usually have most the ingredients for. Wellllll getting to the point..... On Pintrest I saw this idea to freeze some of the ingredients you wouldn't normally have on hand so you don't have to buy them all the time so I wanted to try it out. I thought it was going to take a while, but really I was done in under 5-10 minutes! I used fresh baby spinach leaves, celery, honey, oj, and water... I think that's it, this was like 2-3 weeks ago ;) SO some of you may thing this is gross, but REALLY you cant taste the spinach at all, all I taste is the yummy berries and banana!

Photo of my experiment:

First feed your baby lunch so he is not whining.... This is Will's first tastes of hamburger and he loved it, not going to mention where the burger came from, maybe in my coming posts you will figure it out.

Then you send him off to play with his cars, Will has a new noise he does I've GOT to get it on camera

My green smoothie cups all ready to go in the freezer, say it with me.... steeeeeeady!

Then you go play with your baby and make the car noise with him, which he thinks is hilarious......

And Ta Da, Green Smoothie cups! So now in the mornings I'll plop one of these in my cup and strawberry and banana, maybe a dollop of peanut butter for protein and I'm off to go!

Now that that's done time to fold some laundry...

Such a good lil helper!

Top Ten

2011-09-08T14:31:00.000-05:00

Taking a minute to point out my top ten this and thats of this favorite time of the year!

1. Pumpkin Spice Latte' from Starbucks

2. Old familiar hoodies

3. Pumpkin Patches, and all the yummy stuff there {homemade apple butter!}

4. Apple, Pumpkin, Fall Yankee candles, love all the fall scents, and our house smelling all yummy!

5. Hearing the leaves crunching under your feet

6. Fire pit and Bon fire nights

7. Finally Chili, Soup, Crock pot season

8. Boots.Jeans.Top. Done!

9. Boomer laying out in the backyard because he knows it is nice out!

10. I get to experience all of this with Will for the first time, he was too little a bubba last year to do anything.

Happy Fall Y'all!

Wordless Wednesday

2011-09-07T14:19:00.000-05:00

Life latley {in pictures}

2011-09-02T12:31:00.000-05:00

If you take a look at the months of my blog posting to the right, it seems I am at a downward slope lately. So I wanted to do a quick update with some of our " lifes latleys" of our end of summer.

Will's first time coloring at Michelle's house, she helped a little but this arts and crafts lover knew just what to do!

Green pepper, don't mind if I do! This is a new game called: take something/anything out of the fridge and eat it! He now knows how to puncture the top of the apple sauce lid with his teeth to get whats inside!

happy boy singing in the car

MR. Piggy! A fun tactile craft at Michelle's, don't worry, it was edible pudding, which he LOVED!

Lately, Momma, Daddy, and Will have all brought work home with us....check out Will getting his work done in the new basement!

Swinging! We found one of our new favorite parks and have met some other mommas here for workouts.

{how come some pics from my phone upload the incorrect way?}

I have wanted to redo Will's bathroom (which used to be the guest bathroom) for a while now, we didn't do much to it when we moved in; kept the cream walls and just put up some of my old palm tree bathroom decor'. I brainstormed for a while and thought for sure we were going to do the hungry caterpillar theme but decided to go with a yellow, grey, and white color scheme with a "you are my sunshine" theme. One of my favorites. I ordered some cute stuff on etsy and will have pictures for you soon!

We did some family pictures with Crystal in hopes of getting a good pictures of Bennett and Will, well.... were still trying! Maybe at the ranch this weekend we'll get one! Here is one of my favorite family pictures of us 3.

With the way the months have been whipping by and the weeks are gone if you blink I've been thinking a lot about what to do for Luke's 30th birthday (this December!) I keep going back and forth on Vegas, but don't know if we can take the time off, and spend all that money. We'll see!

Two of my best friends are getting married next weekend 9.10.11 SO excited for their big day!

Still LOVING pintrest, finding some great inspiration for Will's bathroom, now... need.more.walls. ;)

If I can ever get organized enough I want to keep track of this! All the foods, fruits, veggies, and spices your baby should have before they turn one, we have a lot to do in a month mr. will.

Will has really been loving to help out around the house! I bought some space saver bags and packed up all of his baby clothes, so sad to see them go... but hopeful we will need them again someday. Casual chat with Luke the other night... you know my husband, mr. done having kids hubby... "Will is going to make a really great big brother, he'd love to have a little brother!" Whoa! Slow down hun!

Wordless Wednesday....a day late.

2011-09-01T13:48:00.000-05:00

Farmily Day: Grant's Farm

2011-08-26T10:25:00.000-05:00

Between now and mid October we have 2 weddings we are in, one of which we will travel to North Carolina for, one baby shower, one 60th birthday party, one couples shower, a 6th birthday, Will's first birthday and party, Will's baby dedication, a bachelor and batchlorette party, a reunion dinner, alumni baseball game.... I'm sure I could keep going but you get the picture. With all of these things coming up we needed to have a fun family day last Sunday when we were free. It was between the festival of the little hills by our house or Grants Farm. This day was all about Will and we figured he would have more fun at the later. Grants Farm is a local place where you can pet, feed, and see many different animals. It is owned by the Busch family and just a really neat little place, Luke and I have both not been since we were very young, we all had a great day! I cant believe summers coming to an end and were gearing up for these Fall weddings, I love summer but I for one cannot wait for... pumpkin spice lattes, boots, big comfy sweaters and sweatshirts, taking Will to the pumpkin patch, pumpkin beer, and fall nights around a bonfire! I cant think of anything that would of made this first summer with Will ANY better and I think I will always look back on it and smile. :)

Momma and Will on the train... also, Will's first train ride!

feeding/petting the baby goats actually I'm not sure if they were babies....

So first I went to go in with Will, there were these kids in front of me (being ~~obnoxious~~ sweet) and it made me really scared. I'm holding my baby boy, I have shorts on, these things are acting like they are starving even though there are tons of people all around us with food for them, and they.have.horns.

After me standing there contemplating for a minute and looking like an idiot I'm sure, Luke looks at me with his "what in the hell are you doing" look so I handed off Will and let him take the reigns on this one! Whew, didn't know I had that weird fear of goats, I'll try again next time.

Luke telling me that one is sucking on his arm, HA!

HI Will

documenting our trip,

Will's first trip to Grants Farm: 10.5 months

Watching a show, see the bald eagle

a super sweet donkey named: Budweiser :)

and what makes a fun family date complete? Two free samples per person.... Gotta love me some bud light!

Stella discount for my blog readers!!!

2011-08-25T10:24:00.000-05:00

The response to this fabulous jewelry line has been very well received and Its no secret I adore my lovely blog readers, so I wanted to pass on a lil discount for ya'll!

10% off ALL ORDERS! note this is off your entire order, not just one item!!!!

And orders 80.00 and over get 10% off PLUS Free Shipping!

This is a gerat deal on quality jewelry!!!!!

Shop the amazing fall line and get those pieces you've had your eye on with my blog reader discount!

To place order either leave me a comment with what you would like and your email address or send me an email at: ashdawnn@hotmail.com

If you are local and interested in hosting a party to receive FREE jewelry and 1/2 priced items, email me for more information on this. Lets book up for fall so your guests can get a head start on their Christmas shopping and you can too!

Wordless Wednesday: in honor of the upcoming nuptials!!!

2011-08-24T11:28:00.000-05:00

I is for itty bitty, k is for kisses, p is for papa's

2011-08-16T14:37:00.000-05:00

I was excited to make Williams little book of ABC's and even more excited when it came in the mail yesterday!!! I am very pleased with the quality, the thick sheets, and the printing! I hope this is something he will treasure for years to come, what a special little first birthday gift for my lil mr. Love you Will! XO

Our lil family getaway

2011-08-15T16:06:00.000-05:00

Last Friday morning Luke, Will and I piled ourselves and all of our ~~crap~~ endless amount of baby supplies in the car. It is amazing how much stuff you need for a 4 1/2 hour car ride and one and a half days away! I hadn't been to my grandparents in Kankee Illinois since Will's been born and since my grandma passed. It was a hard trip to make, hard to see their house without her, hard to not hear her in the kitchen cooking, hard to see all the beautiful flowers she had planted, hard BUT good to see her pictures everywhere, hard to see plants from her services I could not make it to, and hard to see the extreme amount of hurt in my sweet grandfathers eyes. They were soul mates, whether or not you believe in that sort of thing, that is what they were. They never spent a day apart, nope not in their 60 years of marriage. They made each other laugh and loved each other the amazing way a couple should. Ive learned so much from them, and now I am learning how to grieve and keep calm and carry.on... a lesson that is taking me a while to get used to.

Will did great on his first road trip, he slept a little then I climbed in the back and we read books and made each other laugh for the remainder of the trip, till we got lost then we got restless, those country roads with no street names can be hard to navigate! We got in and settled and then met most of the family out at a local pizza place in town, we have went back and forth on the idea of going to see where grandma ad is. Since we missed her services and things like that I have had a very hard time accepting that she is gone, and just realizing it in general. Her not being at home was a good realization for me and seeing the emptiness in grandpas eyes but I still needed that closure. Crystal was not sure if she wanted to go. After talking with one of our cousins she told us that grandpa goes there all the time to see her, so we decided after dinner to go with him. I thought I would be a wreck, commercials get me choked up... but it was calm. It was peaceful. And it needed to be done. I am not going to go into detail about our visit there because it was very personal, but putting one foot in front of the other when we got out of the car, was one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life. But I left there knowing something I didn't before...

Grandma Ad is happy now, she is safe, and she is watching down on all of us.

Afterwards we went back to grandpas house to play a game of dominos, something we all always love to do together! So the kids went to bed and we stayed up laughing and playing.

The next day my grandpa had everyone over to visit, there was a TON of food and fun. I loved seeing all the kids play together, the way I used to when we would go visit in the summers. That morning we even went and picked our own corn for our cookout. It couldn't of been a more perfect weekend, and I vow to do that every year, no matter who is there...we will be there visiting I felt Grandma Ad smiling at me that weekend and there is just no better feeling.

Some pictures of our weekend:

Grandpa Bill picking flowers with Bennett and Kate

Will

Next year he will be running away from me!

Corn.Corn.Corn as far as the eye can see!

Riverdale Farm

Will's first ride on a john deere!

my big boy driving

Bennett picking "popcorn" he ate it right off the cob, 2 ears!

some slip and slide fun

Pierce

All the Nottke Great Grandkids

Drew, Kate, Kira, Pierce, Bennett, Addison, and William

William and cousin Chad

Lovin from Kate and Leslie

Tired boy tuckered out after a super fun weekend with an awesome family!

My William is 10 months old

2011-08-05T06:34:00.000-05:00

10 months.... seriously, where did the last 10 months go? As I order the invites for your first birthday and reflect on the past year you turn 10 months old right under my nose... I love this age, he is the biggest mamas boy right now and I would be lying if I said I didn't like it a little! ;) I miss him like crazy, so we are hitting the road this morning to go visit my grandpa and family out of town, looking forward to spending the next three whole days with this boy. Your personality mirrors mine Will, we are truly one in the same. Love you bugger, happy 10 months baby boy Will!

still obsessed with the sticker

Friends

such a happy sweet boy

need to make the scrunchie elmo for the camera I saw on pintrest, he would love that!

THIS looks like a great seat..... sorry lamb

And lastly, Will's "i didnt do it!" face

Zucchini Pizza Casserole

2011-08-02T11:10:00.001-05:00

Last night I tried a new recipe that looked yummy, made in your 13 x 9" baking pan Luke and I gobbled up 3/4 of it leaving one portion for one of our lunches the next day! I had to share because anything that is a yummy staple for us, I know others might enjoy! While some ppl might not want to have their ovens on in the summer time I don't really mind and with zucchini being a summer veggie and in season your sure to find a good deal on it! I am a cheese lover so of course I way over added what was called for. I meant to take an actual picture of my final project but we were hungry by the time it was done and it was the season finale of batchlorette so I was a bit preoccupied! ;) So what do we think, everyone happy with the outcome of JP? I am but I did end up feeling sorry for Ben... ohh the saga, cant wait for bachelor pad to start, love my trashy tv Mondays!

Zucchini Pizza Casserole
6-8 ServingsPrep: 20 min. Bake: 40 min.

Ingredients
4 cups shredded unpeeled zucchini
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese, divided
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 can (15 ounces) Italian tomato sauce
1 medium green pepper, chopped

Directions
•Place zucchini in strainer; sprinkle with salt. Let stand for 10
minutes. Squeeze out moisture.
•Combine zucchini with the eggs, Parmesan and half of the mozzarella
and cheddar cheeses. Press into greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish.
•Bake, uncovered, at 400° for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, cook beef and
onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain. Add
tomato sauce; spoon over zucchini mixture.
•Sprinkle with remaining cheeses; add green pepper. Bake 20 minutes
longer or until heated through.

Recipe courtesy of Taste of Home

William's book of ABC's

2011-07-28T09:39:00.004-05:00

I love making photo books, and I knew I wanted to make something to display at Will's birthday party with some shots from his first year. My sister makes a book for Bennett after every year and it is so cute! I still may do this but after his party so we can include those pictures too. I found out that artscow.com has board books you can make, you know the hard kind so your kid doesn't destroy it! So I was on a mission....Will has a ton of toys, he gets a lot of great handmedowns from his generous cousins and with more getting presents Luke and I really don't need to get him a big toy this year so I created a very special board book of ABC's with some shots from things we've done in this first year. I started messing around with it for a minute then made it a really neat little book. The site wouldn't let me copy or save my actual pages images so when it comes in the mail I'll take some pictures and post, but here is the cover and a couple of the images I used. It was a lot of work but I think it will turn out really cool and something he will treasure for a long time. I love that there are people he knows in the book and things he likes, I cant wait for it to get here!

K is for Kisses

L is for Laughter

My new venture: Stella & Dot

2011-07-26T11:08:00.007-05:00

Well friends, I did it! I signed up, my starter package {plus some great pieces I couldn't resist} is on its way, and I am your newest independent Stella & Dot rep! My friend Lauren sells and loves it, and since I sell plain ol' brown boxes all day long I figured I'd try my luck out with this. It is so much fun when we get together with my friends everyone laughs, chats, and trys on jewelry...and of course there are usually a few sparkly cocktails to sip on. I have been wearing my "w" charm necklace all the time, I love it! Now I need to add with Will's birthstone and a few other fun pieces. This is one I'll have in my collection for shows that I think I may wear to a wedding coming up. A lot of the pieces are worn by celebs and now that I sell Ive noticed on the shows Weeds and Batchlorette recently! Featured in Instyle, O, Lucky, the list goes on and on... Such a fun way to keep up to date with a huge style trend and catch up with girlfriends at the same time! Let me know if anyone would ever like to place any orders, have any questions, or local girls are ever interested in hosting a party!

I am having two launch parties coming up to help me get things going, so if your local let me know if you would like more info on these too!

Here are some of my favorites:

Tidbit Tuesday

2011-07-26T05:00:00.001-05:00

Hi Friends, I think I have a little catching up to do! I feel like Mr. William does something new each and every day, when people tell you that it gets better each day you don't believe them but seeing light bulbs go off and new words spoken is pure bliss for me lately!
We are making the most of our summer and filling up our days and nights, I have been busy at work and Luke just got back from a week long business trip to DC! I hope I never have to experience being a single mommy again. Will and I got in some great quality time but being a one man show is a lot of work! We took out first trip to the library which he LOVED! There is a train set there that I think he would of played with all day if I let him and we found out about some kids programs unfortunately I have to work during all of them but maybe Gigi can take him. We have a relative from Luxembourg (where my grandmother is from) in town visiting she is here for just over two weeks and we are gearing up for a very busy August, September, and October.

Will waves at anything he can get attention from. Yesterday we all went on a walk early in the morning before it got TOO hot out and as Boomer and Will were "walking" next to each other Will just kept waving at him, too cute! Moments like these just make me melt.

Will has 7-8 teeth now and we only had a couple bad days, he is such a tough little guy!

We decided to start with a few of the sign language words to help him communicate and I am happy to report that Will now signs: hi/bye, all done, and more. The only one we do he doesn't is drink, guess its time for momma to learn some more!

I am almost done reading Sippy cups are not for Chardonnay and I LOVED it! I highly recommend it to any and every momma out there, it had me laughing out loud and reading blurbs to Luke, good read.

Those that have read my blog for a while know about the trachealmalesia that we have dealt with and I am happy to report that the cough, cough, cough that ruled my life for months has shown MUCH improvement, praise the Lord! It is not completely gone and we are supposed to go back and meet with his specialist in August. But for now I (dr.mommy ha!) changed his reflux meds from twice a day to once. Once in the morning, then we are still supposed to take the bethanochol four times a day which sometimes we only take twice. The paragraph I just typed makes me more happy that words can say after months of typing blog posts about how I hoped I would look back on that time. :-)

Ok onto some pics of my cutie patotie for you!

Last Friday I took a 1/2 day off work and me, Michelle, Meghan, Leslie and all the kids went up to the pool. Michelle belongs to a country club and their pool had all these water sprout things shooting, of course my kid loved to go stick his face/head in these, over.and.over again. He is SUCH a little fish and I love it!
Time to stop wearing my kate spade perscription sunglasses?
Notice the duck in my boys mouth... thinking about re'doing his bathroom "will style"

Things are still going GREAT with Michelle watching Will, I mean things really couldn't be any better! Here is his "thumbkin" picture he made. We now have a special spot in his room for all his beautiful artwork he makes with Aunt Michelle. She said he signed "more" last week and she taught him twinkle twinkle his favorite song.

My sweet boy {in his new adorable jammies Gigi got him} picking out some bedtime stories, loves to read and turn pages.

crazy hair, crazy kid

catching a snooze while he can during a busy weekend

new favorite: cars and trucks! He loves them so much and cousin Bennett gave him some great ones he was done playing with! Will scoots and rolls them all over the house. We definitely have a boy, boy on our hands!

Cousin love.

2011-07-19T12:57:00.003-05:00

After we went swimming with Bennett the cousins needed a bath so in they went, then it was naked time on mommies bed! They were "boys being boys" exactly that, Crazy, rambucous, lil monsters. Will had SO much fun and I don't know if I've heard him laugh that much or that hard before! Stole these pictures from Crystals blog. Does anyone else think baby Will looks like a gangster in this pic? just me?
my boy loves his pillows, if people ask me what to get him for his birthday I have one and one only idea, pillows.

Look at Bennett's little scared face! Baby Will holds his ground well playing with a big kid!

also loves books!

they only look innocent

3rd in four months

2011-07-18T14:34:00.006-05:00

That's right friends, my buggaboo perfect baby has gotten his third ear infection in the past four months. Last week Will popped through 3 NEW TEETH! Two more on top and one on bottom total of 7 teeth, so of course when he was a bit fussy and then turned downright angry Wednesday when I was home with him, we tried everything frozen waffles, Einstein, puffs, frozen wash cloths, all the little tricks that usually work... Well they just plain did not.

When Luke got home and informed me after seeing how frazzled I was that he was leaving for softball soon I about lost it. Till I looked at my sweet miserable Will again and thought, "something just isn't right!" I'm sure my dear husband thought I had fallen off my rocker when the tears started to come, but it just wasn't adding up.We headed upstairs and I took his temperature. 103! 103 in the first ear and 99.9 in the second?!?! What! That is NOT a low grade teething fever. One reason I like the practice we go to is because they have one late night, Thank God this night is Wednesday. I called.we rushed.we made it.

Come to find out all the frozen things in the world were not going to help this boy because he had a full blown ear infection in his left ear, so much so that the doc looked at me and said right away, "he's in a lot of pain mom." The word "bulging" was also used. :(

I love Will to death, and he is the best baby in the WORLD, but dear lord this boy just does not show it when he is sick or in pain. I think that is why this got bad, if he would of been grumpy sooner or something.... anyway. That's neither here nor there.

If this almost once a month keeps up we will talk about tubes, I hate to talk about it when he is so young so I really hope they go away. But we are already looking closely at what antibiotics he has been on so we don't get him immune to any of them so if that is what we need to do to make these go away than we will. We will do whatever we have to for this little guy.

So of course I rushed to get his prescription and held him till bedtime, after that it was time for some mommy juice. I used to think there was nothing a good dinner and a glass of wine couldn't fix, boy are those days over! I sat and sank in my mommy guilt... I blamed, and thought, and cried. Luke felt like a piece of s*#% when he got home, and I'm sorry but I think he should of went to the doctor with me, where a bag was put on Will's private parts to collect urine and check it for an infection, then leaked all over lil man and the diaper bag Luke put in my car did not have an extra outfit in it and I looked like a horrible mommy. Why is it these things always happen with the mommy?

But Will is on meds and doing better, this ear infection took by far the longest to stop hurting I can tell. And the meds are once again strong and causing bad diarrhea. {insert, all over mommy crib, sheets, blankies this morning.} But, this too shall pass.... all in all we had a great weekend...

And HEY, at least I'm not THIS bad of a failure!:

breathe.read.repeat.breathe {how to really love motherhood}

2011-07-15T20:52:00.002-05:00

How to really love motherhood

remember to breathe. Breathe deeply and often. Name those feelings as they fly through your heart. When your children are beastly and scream I HATE YOU (& they will) think of the warm sweetness of their tiny bodies when they were just new. THIS TOO SHALL PASS & far too quickly. Let the dishes pile up and have a party instead. Laugh, A LOT. Go puddle jumping & cloud bursting. Build forts and climb trees. Spend rainy days in bed snuggling and sunny days outside adventuring. Sing loudly and off key. Dance like MANIACS! butterfly kisses and bear hugs cure broken hearts. Tell them they can be ANYTHING. Tell yourself too. Now believe it. And don't forget to breath......

TA DA! Our finished basement

2011-07-13T10:02:00.009-05:00

Well friends our completely finished basement is d.o.n.e... ok ok it was a BIG project so it is 97% done! After much basement clean out, plans, construction and dust dust everywhere and what I ~~thought~~ was promised was a 4-5 month project turned into a 9 month project it is finally done!
Luke and I saved up and moved in our house the summer we got married, this is where we conceived our first child and we brought him home from the hospital to this house. I look forward to many more great years in our wonderful house we have made our home. We knew we would love it and it could grow with us, and while it is nice there were still little projects we had in mind when we bought it. The basement gives us so much extra living space (while taking away so much storage space!) it is a great playroom for Will, good place for extra toys and being carpeted is nice since our whole main floor is hardwood. But we also finished the basement for re-sell purposes, no we are not thinking of moving anytime soon, though we do like to look at our dream homes/locations with the market we will not sell for a while, and this will hopefully be the home we bring both of our children home to!

If I could do it over I am not sure we would start construction on the basement when Will was only weeks old. And tip for anyone doing work with a dog, doggie day camp at kennelwood is awesome, Boomer could not handle some of the noises the tools made of course when they were almost done with this is when I learned of doggie day camp, money well spent! There were definite mommy tears shed over this, noise, men in and out while bfeeding, dust with baby etc... but it is done and we love it! Enjoy the pics and if you live here you better come over for a drink soon! :-) Before
Before: Beginning of framing in

before: poles, furnace, water heater

Finished!!!!

Stairs, room to the left is current work out room, to the right is the bathroom

Coming down the stairs looking into bathroom

bathroom - still need to do baseboards in this room, had to wait for toilet and vanity to get installed and now need a special saw.

the only room that is completely done being decorated!

Bar area!

Still deciding what to do with these three little shelves and the shelving behind the bar, prewired for a small tv but were not there yet ;)

view from the bar to the tv area/play area/siting room

view of the bar, and my cork "W" that I made from an idea on pintrest

Under the shelf is a built in area that goes into the storage area for our mini fridge and wine fridge and under the bar there are cabinets for storage.

tv/toy area

And that's it!!! :)

SO what do you think?

Would love to get one of these for toy and book storage down there, and maybe one of these but for now were happy!!!

"All Done"

2011-07-12T13:32:00.002-05:00

Will says mama, Will says dada, and Will says "All Done!" AND, not to brag or anything, but he signs it too! Yup, my kid is a genius! Hee hee, just kiddin...
We thought we heard it last weekend but quickly figured we were mistaken but over the week with Michelle he started doing it and signing and since then it is done at about every meal! It is so fun to know that we are beginning to be able to communicate with him!

Mama and Dada on the other hand are "All Done!" with this weather! With a heat index of 115 the past two days were doing all we can to stay afloat... and not melt! And wouldn't you know it, good timing for our air to go out at work ugh! We had a great weekend and saw lots of friends and looking at the calendar for the next few months things are going to start getting pretty crazy again soon, cant wait! Lots of parties, weddings, babies, and fun coming up! Will with one of his many future girlfriends Audrey.

And playing with his cool big boy friend Dominick, I love it and hate it all at the same time that Will is now so big he just goes in the other room with the kids and plays. He is such a social butterfly and is never scared just goes along and play.play.plays!!!

9 months and a note for William

2011-07-07T15:39:00.009-05:00

William- I carried you for nine months and now you are nine months old, funny how the past 18 months of my life have went by in the blink of an eye! You are a little firecracker these days, you know what you like and what you don't and your little personality get stronger each day. Your favorite words and mama and dada, favoring dada. You love to eat and now that you feed yourself meal time has become so much fun. You love to splash in the bath and lately you think getting dried off is just about the most hilarious thing ever, its these moments after working all day that makes coming home to you the best thing ever.

Your friends are popping up all over, with new babies and baby news coming each week!
William with his new friend Mason, Jenny's son.

Your getting so much hair and its still very blonde, just like mommy and daddys were when they were younger. You did great at your 9 month check up (no shots!) and everything is right on track. We will continue to work with you on your fine motor skills and mommy has noticed some temper spurts we are trying to work through. You love people and are obsessed with kids, I know you are going to be quite the social butterfly just like mommy was/is. You still LOVE dogs and cats, they literally light up your day. Our life has always been full, busy, and fast paced and still is but since you have came into my life these past nine months there are now so many moments I don't care if our house is dirty, I don't care if we are late, and I take deep breaths and squeeze you tight. I try to soak it all in as much as I can, I never knew I could love someone this much, William my dear you are literally the sunshine of my life.

At his 9 month check up William weighed 21.5 pounds, 68% and was 28 1.2 inches long, 63%

So mr. nine months did NOT want to do a photo shoot this month... at.all.
This is him making his "noise" he makes it with his mouth and his hand going back and forth

lamb... ahhh we meet again

ribbon...looking everywhere BUT the camera

And TAGS!!!! {obsessed} I don't get it, what is this fascination?

Playing with Benny, my childhood bear.

Our little good luck charm

2011-07-07T12:45:00.008-05:00

Tuesday night we took Will to his first Cardinals baseball game! One of the reasons I love St Louis is because of Cardinals baseball, we are such a fun town when it comes to this and what most st louisians would call... "a drinking down with a baseball problem"

I grew up with my dad always having tickets and I cant wait till Will is running around the stadium like a madman! For now he decided to chill and take it all in, we weren't sure how the night was going to go... we went with Jim and Leslie and they were warned of possible meltdowns and leaving early. I am proud to say we did great and made it to the 7th inning! Our little teether is budding 3 maybe 4 NEW teeth so he was pretty squirmy, but loved watching everything, fireworks for home runs, ate yummy food, and his favorite thing was the beer men passing us by yelling. Who knew that would be a kiddie favorite!

Game stats: Tuesday July 5, 2011 6:09 PM St Louis Cardinals vs. Cincinnati Reds 3 home runs! Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman homered on consecutive at bats in the first inning. Holliday hit another home run later in the game. Got to see David Freese (Luke's buddy) play also. That's a winner: final score 8-1

Mommy and Will got home from work and dressed and ready in record time!

Will's first visit to a bar (had to be documented!) Paddy O's one of our favorite baseball bars.

In awe as everyone sprung to their feet at the first home run.

WINNING!

Enjoying a game day favorite, ballpark pretzels

Fireworks! He loved watching all the cheering and didn't even flinch!

Are puffs not the biggest lifesaver ever? Seriously what did people do before puffs??!

Our first stadium family photo

A first fourth of July

2011-07-05T12:19:00.005-05:00

William had a great first fourth of July weekend.... and so did mommy and daddy! Friday night Will spent the night at my moms and Luke and I got to go out on a date, just us two! So many times when we finally get a date night we invite friends along, so it was nice having some time alone. After we rented a movie and went home to relax. It was so nice and just what we needed! The next morning we got some errands done (we got a new mattress, yay!) and went to get Will. Then it was time to go to cousin Bennett's house for some swim time! When Crystal was Bennett's age I was a month old I don't know how she did it!
Sunday we went over to a friend of Luke's family's house that has a big celebration every year, we haven't seen so many of them in a while we got to meet some new kids, see a new (2 week old baby) and learn of some more fun baby news!
Then we stopped by the Denny's so they could get a quick "baby fill" in! It was a late night for Will and he did a great job with it, and slept in a little!

On Monday the fourth we had a great day relaxing as a family of three, got some stuff done around the house and took some naps. It was a perfect celebration and since we skipped it this year, next year we will make sure to do some fireworks! I remember this weekend last year, in my bikini with my beautiful belly, enjoying the holiday. Crazy to think that William was not here yet, hard to imagine what life was like before him! Will hanging with Mr. Denny, this family loves the babies!
Brian and Greg, bring crazy

William and Laura, Laura was born the day after Will and we were at the same hospital so they stayed in the nursery together for a day!

Daddy and Will on fourth of July

Food and routine updates

2011-07-05T11:08:00.004-05:00

Will feeding himself his red white and blue fourth of July breakfast mommy made for him
Will at aunt Michelle's house eating with his new best friend Gusgus

exploring the stairs

At about the 8 month mark things really started changing so I think its time to take note. Will really started to get interested in feeding himself so with puffs, graduates, and fruit we started to make the transition. He still gets four 8 oz bottles and three meals with baby food a day but along with this he gets food he can feed himself. Fruit, strawberry's blueberries, raspberry's, banana's, Mandarin oranges. Veggies, peas, corn, green beans, carrots (all cooked) pasta, there are all kinds of things and as the weeks went on he got better and better at his new found skills. He loves to feed himself and when it is a food he really likes {mac and cheese, cheesy puffs} he will definitely let you know when it is all gone and he wants more. I am trying to ignore these new screams so that they don't become rewarded but sometimes it is hard.

Will has been taking three naps a day since I can remember, lately he has started to cut out his third nap and make it on two. This has also cut out one bottle on some days and with a bigger dinner he really doesn't seem to miss it too much. With Jackie still in the healing process Will started to head north with me to work and go to my friend Michelle's house during the day. She is a teacher and is thinking about staying home with her three month old daughter Eliza. So far it is going great, she does art projects with him, talks about numbers, sings songs and lots of other great things! Michelle is one of the nicest people I know on.this.earth. and I am so honored she is taking such terrific care of my baby.

Will waved for the first time this weekend (on his nine month birthday) and it was just one of those moments where you think your heart might burst open from the sheer excitement. His first wave was to his mommy, and I will forever be in the stands waving and cheering back at him.

Party Plans...

2011-06-28T12:46:00.004-05:00

Okay.Okay. I know he's not even nine months yet (omg this weekend I am going to have a nine month old!) But with Luke's brother getting married out of state just five days after Will's first birthday and mommy and daddy leaving Will for the first time just two days after his first birthday mommy did what she does best when she gets a little stressed... planning! I have been a bit under the weather so what do I do when I'm up in the middle of the night for hours? Start punching away at my phone and creating lists of things for Will's first birthday!
At first I thought I wanted to do a theme, prince or maybe elmo or something but the more I thought about it I think that is more work and will be better for when he is older and has his favorites! So I think I'm going to keep it simple with a color theme, green, blue and brown, and a few favorite jungle friends. We decided an open house type party will be best for the occasion, with some favorite foods, drinks and treats. Whew, don't we all feel better when there is a plan? No. Just me? Ohh okay :)
I know we'll need some of these yummies and of course Will will need a handsome birthday suit or maybe just a themed tee
I would love to be able to create a banner like this but not sure how it will turn out. Going to try and make some things myself to save money on the decorations. And I would love to incorporate this poem I found:
Covered in cake and icing, your smile stretched ear to ear. A single candle celebrates the joy of your first year. We sing Happy Birthday You play midst wrap and bows. We marvel at how you touched our lives, just one year ago. I remember the first time I held you, Kissed your head, whispered your name. You've changed our lives forever, our hearts will never be the same. As a child you'll love this day, for all the sweets and presents too. As parents well love your day, for the gift we got was you. Each year well add another candle, so proud to see you grow. But always with the memory, of your first day long ago.

Okay now I'm crying, Pull it together sister!
I cant believe my baby will be one year old in three months, so so bittersweet.
Here is one creation I have in mind, maybe for the favor bags or a sign for the door. Anyone have any easy crafts I can recreate, or good fun ideas for this little celebration, feel free to send em my way!!!

The Brothers

2011-06-27T19:29:00.003-05:00

The Wilson brothers are becoming more and more alike these days. Will giggles and squeals in delight when Boomer passes him by and his favorite thing to grab is his fluffy tail. I'm sure in no time they are going to be quite the "team trouble" for now they are still learning.
Boomer is teaching Will how to ~~sit patiently~~ beg for food, they both love to help fill and empty the dishwasher, and the trash can is becoming a frequent interest as well. Both Boomer and Will love to lay on the guest bed, it is their favorite spot to play and be silly, and of course they both enjoy the occasional walk, or what we call at our house "W" Boomer gets so excited at the word we had to change it.
Sometimes it is hard being the only girl in a house full of men but I love my boys more than words can say, and were having so much fun watching the lil brothers together.

I'm PINNED!

2011-06-24T14:15:00.003-05:00

.... or HOOKED! To the new WEBSITE PINTREST I often search online for inspiration and find things I want so save, remember, or come back to look at another time. This site allows you to save all your favorite things together on a personal pin page. You can also find your facebook (and other) friends on here and see their pins leave comments etc!

This is just one of mine that I added because I think it would be a good picture if I can ever get all of our hands to stay open! Will tends to clench his fists.

Will beats me up

2011-06-23T12:34:00.000-05:00

This kid can really hurt, punch, kick, or bite you if he wants to/you let him... sometimes it is fun to let him. And he thinks it is the funniest thing in the world. Were having so much fun together at this age, I just love him so much!

Wednesday night

2011-06-23T12:30:00.000-05:00

Just a typical Wednesday night at the Wilsons

Will spins

2011-06-23T12:29:00.000-05:00

Lukes dad thinks it is the funniest thing in the world to spin the kids on his lazy susan... my poor lil will got all dizied! hee hee!

Fathers Day weekend

2011-06-23T11:30:00.007-05:00

Big boy William in his new car seat!
Will's FAVORITE FOOD to date: Mac & Cheese, insert: meltdown once it was all gone!

Spinning with papa Jim

Hanging with Daddy on Fathers Day

Showing Grandma Betty how we get mad

I figured I better post about Fathers Day and weekend before another weekend passes! I haven't had time to upload pics from our camera yet so any of these are from my phone. Luke only has one set of grandparents left and they haven't met Will yet, They live in Hutchinson KS where Luke lived when he was young and it is about 8 hours away. They were in town and we got to spend a lot of time with them which was great. I still am not accepting of what happened to my grandma ad this year, I mean I know it happened but I guess since I didn't make it to the services my heart is having a very hard time letting go. I think she is still there at her house cooking and thinking of us, which I guess is not so bad... I am just going to have a hard time going there and realizing I'm wrong.

Anywho... It just melted my heart to see Luke's grandparents interact and get to know lil William. Grandma Betty had ten children. Yes ten! Luke's dad is the oldest = LOTS of grandchildren and great grandchildren. You'd never know it by the way they were excited and fascinated with their sweet lil William. Thursday night they came over to our house to meet him and have pizza, Friday night we went to Luke's brothers Tim's for dinner. We left there about 9 so Will was in bed at 9:30, normal bed time is 7:30 or 8. This was the test to see if this would help him sleep later... if you call later 6:30 am. Not ready for that yet I guess. And then Sunday we went to Luke's dad's house for Fathers day. I am so glad we got to spend so much time with them, it was a great visit!

Monday we went to my mom and dads with my sister, Greg, Bennett, and my grandparents. We had homemade lasagna from Nana (YUM!) and the boys are getting SO cute and playing and interacting together more and more everyday!

I hope Luke had a good first Fathers Day, we made him a card complete with some pictures of William of course and a got him a new travel golf bag to use for when we go our of town. He is so excited and thinks this means he needs to plan some golf trips... ut ohh!

Saturday we took babysitter Jackie's two children Faith and Evan and went to the pool then back to our house to play, it is exhausting having three children, and two so close in age! But we were glad to be able to help them out! Will being silly with his great grandparents.

Peyton counting her "tip" grandpa gave her for being our waitress

and reading a book with grandma.

New bath toy

2011-06-20T14:19:00.001-05:00

Ok, this is the coolest bath toy! After reading about it on Mommy Blakelys blog I knew I had to get one for William. He loves bath time and this makes it even more fun... And hopefully will help with SITTING in the bath! :)

Roads to recovery!

2011-06-17T09:09:00.001-05:00

Video of my busy little 8 month old playing hard...

So Saturday Will starting showing signs of a cold by Monday is nose was running like a river and cough was even worse so daddy took off work and took him to the doc. She said to wait and it should get better soon. By Wednesday not only was Will worse worse worse, momma was not feeling so hot either. Gigi came over to help us get better and after contemplating all day that afternoon I took Will back to the doc. His one ear was getting worse than it was Monday and since he was not getting ANY better on his own she got us some antibiotics and advised us to begin the breathing treatments to help him get over this awful cough. He takes the meds twice a day like normal and has only had 3 rounds and I can already see a HUGE improvement. Thank goodness. It was literally breaking my heart watching this little boy cough so hard. I am trying to keep a log of when Will has gotten sick and his medicines, when I have time I am going to go through the blog and document all of this. I think this is his third time on antibiotics.

While Gigi was helping Wednesday I whipped up a double batch of homemade lasagna and took that, bread, and brownies over to Jackie and her family. I love helping people out and even more so when they are so appreciative. I cant tell you how many "thank yous" I have gotten from them. I cant imagine what she is going through with two kiddos around so anything we can do I know is a huge help to them!

Torn with decisions

2011-06-14T10:10:00.003-05:00

Mr. Will has begun the fun task of feeding himself! So far, bananas, strawberry's, raspberry's, avocado, peas, corn, wheat noodles, and pork and beans, he loves it all!
sorry for the lousy phone pics

Last weekend we went to the park and walked and swang.

And we visited with some friends at the pool....

Will LOVES the pool!

Times like these I just hate being a grown up! So many choices and decisions to make that can affect your life, and not only yours but every decision you make seems to have affect on your spouse and children as well. I am facing myself with some decisions lately that have us at a crossroads. I know God will show me the path to take through the next several weeks. I miss my little boobear so much all day and I have been pretty upset leaving him lately. It doesn't help matters at all that he is not with his usual sitter right now, we have some great girls helping us out, but you know, no one is as good as dear ol mom.

William also came down with a snotty cold, and now momma's got it too. Luke took off yesterday and took him to the doctor but we were advised to wait it out. My pedi has been irritating me lately with her "by the BOOK" procedure of medicine, debating on if it is worth it to switch. Today I am running on about four hours of sleep, tomorrow I will work from home but volunteered to take Jackie's two sweet kids for the day, I am kinda looking forward to a house full of kids. Sorry for the random sporadic post, that is the way my brain has been lately!

Our dear sweet Jackie

2011-06-13T09:03:00.000-05:00

From my posts I'm sure you can all tell I adore and love our babysitter. We have became friends over the past months and I think I speak for both of us when I say we consider each other and our children family. Jackie makes a little extra money watching William and another little girl and has been saving to throw her husband an awesome surprise for his 30th birthday, she rented them a fun party bus and got all of his friends together for a night of fun. Last weekend she left her wallet on the top of her car with all the cash she had saved in it and it went flying all over highway K. After many tears her hubby made a secret trip to the atm came home and handed her the money, he said not to worry about a thing and all would be alright. They are such a great couple.
Luke and I did not make it to the party Friday, but Saturday morning I got one of the worst phone calls. Chris Jackie's husband called to tell me they were in the hospital and Jackie had fell on the bus and broken her arm... compound fracture and it was really bad. Since then it seems things have went from bad to worse, she was soon transferred to Barnes hospital downtown and as the risk for infection in her body grew so did her fear and anxiety. Who would take care of her own two children, what do you do when the momma who runs it all is out of commission, and Jackie calls and tells me she was worried about Will. God bless her heart. I told her Will would be just fine and to take care of herself and get better. She had her first surgery Saturday afternoon and will be going into her second one this morning where they will make the repair.
She broke the same bone I did (humerus, upper bone in your arm) and same as my mom did. She is young, it will heal and she will get better.
Please help me pray for a speedy and full recovery for our dear sweet miss Jackie. We love her so much and don't know what we would do without her in our family, we are going to do everything we can to help her family get through this.
If you are in the area and would like to help, I've set up a care calendar please email me ashdawnn@hotmail.com if you are interested in helping so I can get you the proper information.
Thanks and God bless.