Just Doing Laundry

Will and I are visiting family, and while exploring my parent's house he became fascinated with their front-loading washer and dryer.  He watched my sister unload laundry one time and figured that he needed to do some laundry as well.  He took a couple of fleece diaper strips and "did" his laundry.  I thought it was pretty cute, so had to share.  :)  Sorry I've been neglectful on my updates...we had family visiting and now are visiting family, so I have been a bit distracted.  :)

Prior to "doing the laundry", he was sitting in it.  He loves playing with clean laundry.

Taking the laundry into the laundry room.

Into the dryer.

OK, they're done!  Out they come!

Out of the laundry room, and shortly after he turned around and repeated the whole process over and over again.  Those pieces of fleece are VERY dry now!  ;)

It's Official

Will is a walker.  Although he has been walking a bit here and there for a while now, but we hesitated to say he was officially "walking" until he started to use it as an actual means of getting around, rather than just hesitatingly making his way from one point to the next.  There was a sneak peak of him walking a bit in the last post, but here he as a full-fledged walker.  The beginning of the video is a bit dizzying as he is holding on to my skirt and turns a half-circle before taking off.  Please excuse the laundry explosion on the floor.  Will LOVES to whip around socks and towels, so he has a few clean strays for play.  : )

Will's Many Skills

It seems like in the past couple weeks, Will has acquired many skills.  It is amazing to see all that he has learned through observation.  I uploaded a few videos to showcase his tricks for loving family who cannot see him in person, and for any loving friends who care to watch, too.  : )

Will has started chattering to himself.  He has always been a noise maker, but lately has picked up a more "talkative" sounding chatter, and he even does it as if he is "reading" books and cards.  Here's a short glimpse of that chatter in action.

Here's Will and Daddy "tossing the ball around".  Daddy taught Will to "roll" the ball back and forth.  You can see Will doesn't really have the rolling thing down yet, and though his throws are sometimes erratic, he does pretty good at getting it back to Daddy.  Before this he would simply hand us the ball back, instead of throw it.  As you will see, the last toss went a little haywire.  ; )

Carl taught Will how to make truck noises, so now whenever he pushes his cars, trucks, or even a Cheerio across his breakfast tray, he makes his vehicle noises.  Pretty fun.  He also learned how to clap and "say" Yay! together, which he does at the end of this video.  He has learned to associate this with us saying "Good job Will" or something similar, or just when he apparently feels he deserves it.  ;)

And finally, Will has started walking more and more lately.  He has gotten pretty good, but it is hard to actually catch him on video.   Finally I was able to get him and though it is not his most balanced effort, it at least catches him taking a few steps.  :)  He of course does his best when Mommy and Daddy don't get him excited and he can concentrate on walking alone.

Will turned 1!!

Our baby boy turned 1 this past week.  What a year it has been!  He is such a beautiful, precious blessing and we are daily thankful for the love and joy he brings to our lives.  Since we were on vacation on his actual birthday, we celebrated there and then when we got home we opened waiting cards and gifts.  So, no big party, but small family celebrations.  As a warning...this is a little pic heavy.  : )

Daddy reading Great Grandpa and Grandma's card.  Apparently it was funny.  ; )

Love the look on his face in this shot...like "Good riddens!  Get rid of that silly paper that only blocks the present!"

Finally!  The present!

Good job, Great Gpa and Gma!  He loves his gifts!

Here's Mommy and Daddy's gift to Will on his very first bday.  We are thrilled to report that he loves it!

Reading all the sweet bday cards that were waiting when we got home.

Gma DeeDee and Pops got Will a winter jacket, hats, and mittens.  Here's one of the hats!  Love it!  :)

This picture and the next are his gifts from Gpa and Gma H.  They arrived early, and since we weren't home on his bday, they said it was OK to open them early, so we did!

Will loves puzzles!  He tries and tries to get those pieces back in the right spots.

Thank you so much to everyone who sent Will a gift and/or a card!  He loves all his gifts and cards, and we actually reread his cards over and over again, much to his delight!

Want to work from home, mom?

Hey mamas!  I found a great resource for those of you that may be looking for a way to make a few extra bucks while still being able to stay home with your kiddos.  About a month ago, I discovered the website: http://www.wahm.com/.  It is a great forum that lists a ton of resources for working out of the home.  You just have to join the forum (free), and peruse the opportunities, finding the one(s) that fit your strengths.  There are jobs listed from marketing, daycare, and party planning, to name just a few.  Personally I did some research under the "WAHMs who write" forum, applied to some online writing companies, and now have been making a decent little extra cash flow with my writing.  I chose writing because it has always been something I enjoy, have been okay at, and because I am not a people person.  There are many other opportunities that favor many different types of strengths.  I encourage you to check it out, even if you don't end up or want to do anything, it's still a great resource.  : ) 

Spaghetti!!

Will had spaghetti for the first time tonight.  He did enjoy it, and here are the pictures to prove it!  As a side note...that is not acne on his head, but rather mosquito bites, we just got back from vacation during which we camped (pictures of that will be up soon).

Will has started doing this adorable cheesy laugh and here I caught him in the middle of it.  Below is a video of him doing his cheesy laugh with his spaghetti face.

Searching for Baby Snacks

Our two biggest struggles with Will right now are keeping him out of the dog food bowl and from climbing the stairs.  It seems that he just loves dog food and desperately wants to eat some.  He also loves to splash in the dog food water, of course.  We keep the dog food in it's big bag on top of a bench, but the other morning it was practically empty, and a little boy pulled it down and decided to try to search out some of his favorite snacks. 

Here he decided it was time to come explore the camera instead.  I tried to fix his red-eye, but it just stayed reflective.  My photo program isn't that sophisticated.