Like Mother, Like Son

Apparently, William likes horses as much as I do :)

Easter Sunday

Family Photo

Cute Little Kiddos :)

After church, we drove 2 hours to Amy's and my grandparents house. This was the first time Memere and Pepere have met William. It was such a great treat and wonderful food made by all! 

 

I'm sorry that I didn't get more pictures of my cousins and aunts holding him. :(

Cheerios

I can't tell you how many times Bella stole William's Cheerios. :)

He isn't aggressive enough to protect them or he doesn't notice her taking them.

La-De-Dah!

Really? She's taking them away again? Really?

Ok. Thats it! I've had it! 

6 and 7 Months Old

My Growing 6 Month Old,

You won't remember this, but we have been so busy this last month with transitioning out of the NAVY, packing our house, saying goodbye to so many friends and we have been looking for work. I haven't had a chance to sit and write to you, so I am including two months in this letter. I know I sound like a broken record when I tell you that you have grown so much in the last two months. You can roll so easily in which ever direction you want. You roll all over to reach toys. I know you will be army crawling soon. :) You sit up perfectly, but are usually reaching for things so far away that it makes you fall over. Your most recent thing to do is to shake or bang things. You try it on everything new to see what it does. :) Unfortunately, you are VERY clingy right now. You always want me to pick you up or stay very close to you, but when I hold you you strain every muscle to reach for things all around you and it often seems like you want me to put you down. The books all say this is normal, but Daddy and I laugh at you cause it is so funny to have you fling yourself around. 

My Darling 7 Month Old,

OMG! You have only been 7 months old for 1 week and you are doing so many crazy things you never did before. You CRAWL!!!  ... Both on your hands and knees and you do the army crawl. You also can go from laying down to sitting up. I'm so proud of you. I think you are talking alot more now, you put things in our mouths and you figured out how to work a pull toy. You look inside of things and we try to hide things from you to see if you notice them. You are so much fun to play with. I have to tell you, last month wasn't that much fun. You were very clingy! And you only wanted me, not even Isaac would do. We read a book called the Wonder Weeks and it says that every fussy stage is followed by great developments. You are living proof of that. :) You were so fussy and clingy and now that you have stopped that, you are growing with leaps and bounds.

Last month Mommy and Daddy met with someone who talked to us about being your parents. It was great to hear about what you will learn from each of us. I will teach you that you are always loved ... no matter what. And your Daddy will teach you about who you are in the world. He will teach you strength and purpose. It is good that Mommy and Daddy teach you different things. You need us both ... both the softness and the hardness. We are going to try to raise you to best of our abilities. But we also have to trust that God will fill all your needs too, but especially the ones we can't fill. Just remember, when Mommy and Daddy fail you, God will never leave you or fail you. He loves you more than we do ... and that is saying alot.

I love you so much, Little Guy,

Mommy

The only way I could get him to stay still ... CHEERIOS!

 Rock, Paper, Scissors! ;)

LOVE this face! Looks like he is posing for me. :)

What do you do on Saturday Nights?

So last night we did a tissue testing. William is on his 3rd cold this season and I feel so bad rubbing his nose raw with tissues. So I bought 4 kinds of tissues that promised to be the SOFTEST there is!!! The 4 I found were Kleenex Ultra Soft, Puffs Ultra Soft and Strong, Puffs Plus Lotion, and Kleenex Cool Touch. Isaac had me leave the room and he set out each tissue with a note under which he wrote the name of each tissue. I then tried each one and decided on the one I liked best. I also rearranged the notes and tissues and Isaac tried each one. Here were our findings:

Kleenex Ultra Soft - This brand is SUPER strong! Isaac pulled them all apart and this one almost didn't tear!
Puffs Ultra Strong and Soft - This was Isaac's least favorite and I thought it felt similar to the 1st one (sort of lotiony and ok-ish)
Kleenex Cool Touch - This was the 2nd strongest and fulfills its promise to cool your skin on first contact.
Puffs Plus Lotion - This one was my least favorite and we have no comments on it.

AND THE WINNER IS ............. KLEENEX Cool Touch!!! Isaac and I agreed on this one hands down. :)

Next week we will be racing marshmallows across the floor with our breath :) Stay tuned! LOL

The Last Month or So ...

I'm very sorry that I haven't written in a month or more. If you took a look at my house, you would know why. Most of our house is in boxes. We shuffle to get anywhere in each room. Toys and food are everywhere because William is eating us out of house and home and he refuses to be away from me every waking moment. I realized the other day that I am "that" mom. You know ... the one who lives in chaos, hair in a messy ponytail, baby food stains on her pants, baby snot on her shirt, tripping on toys, just trying to manage each day, but at night when her baby lays on her for 5 seconds before bedtime she thinks it is all worth it and only wants to talk about her precious little boy. :) Yep, I'm living right there.

Just to update you all. We are currently unemployed. Isaac has been on Terminal Leave for 2 weeks and has been home and looking for jobs. We thought we had the perfect one lined up (and it still might come through) but then the sequester happened and now we are back to hunting again. Everyone in our church keeps asking us why we are still here. Apparently, they announced that we were moving to Maryland 2 weeks ago. I'm so tired of telling people what kind of silly predicament we are in currently. :)

I barely get to use this computer these days. Between Isaac being home all the time and William going though a terribly clingy stage (he only wants me), I feel like I'm not really myself and all my regular habits are no where to be found. Surprisingly, I've been ok with all of the chaos. I thought I would be a mess emotionally, but Isaac and I have a lot of time to talk about stuff, we communicate when we each need space from each other, and Isaac has the energy to really help me with William and give me a break from him. I'm not saying I like unemployment, but we are managing.

Our prayers right now are that we can make good choices about which job to accept and which ones to refuse. And also that our friends and family will understand if we have to take a job far from them.

Here are some pics taken in the last month or so ...

Isaac's last day in his uniform!!!

 Playing with a Froggie

William holding his own bottle 

 We took a road trip lately and William discovered that we were just behind him in the car. So he spent most of his time trying to twist around and find us. It was a lot of fun! :)

Trying to reach the camera

Look at those precious eyes

 BATH TIME!!!!

Eating Spaghetti and Meatballs for the first time :)

We are trying to get him to stand up with help :) It doesn't work for very long, but we caught a funny shot of his face one time.

Play Date

This post is for Nora's mommy. I watched Jenny's kids the other week and had fun taking pics of our babies together. They were born 2 weeks apart from each other. Jenny and I were pregnant buddies and now we exchange advice on what we are learning with our little guys. :)

I LOVE this face!!!