Christmas Day

This is my last Christmas post! Christmas Day was ALL.ABOUT.WILLIAM. I don't think any of us even realized we hadn't opened a single present 2 hrs. into watching William bounce from one toy to another. Santa was very good to William, and his facial expressions and squeals and sighs of delight made it such a special day!

 In the Santa loot were gifts from ALL family members too. 

 He immediately hopped on his "bike" from Granny. He vroomed all day long.

 Grant was excited to see him show some interest in a basketball!

 Aunt Birdie taught him how to steer. He kept running into the walls ;)

This was the look on his face for most of the morning...pure awe. 

 He loves his picnic table from Juju and Stee! He eats all meals at it now that we're home. 

 Finally the rest of us opened gifts. 

After the Christmas morning chaos, we all got dressed for brunch and round #2 at Jan Jan and Sam's. 

 Best we could do for a mommy/son pic.

 "Any more gifts for me?!" Needless to say, he came back to Birmingham ROTTEN. I think we're just now getting back in the swing of things. 

 Jan Jan and Sam gave him a dancing Elmo, which was a HUGE hit. He's going through a big Elmo phase and we hadn't even thought to get him anything Elmo related. 

 Our child was in RARE form by this point and refused to join us for a family picture :)

 Dad and his girls.

 My favorite picture of all time. I will treasure these forever.

 And that's a wrap!!! Phew, I'm tired just typing it!

Christmas Eve

We had a very low-key Christmas Eve day. We all took naps and sat by the fire most of the day. William went on a walk with Juju. It was COLD, so we got him all bundled up.

I edited most of these pics with a Vintage setting because it makes the pics look more Christmasy :)

 Christmas Eve night we went to the 6pm church service. William wouldn't stay in the nursery (stuck his fingers down his throat to gag himself aka his dramatic stunt when he has separation anxiety) so he sat with me in the narthex during the service. He barely made a peep the entire hour because I told him he'd go back to the nursery if he didn't sit still. I guess he somewhat understood me?!!

 Laying it on thick with his Juju. He's in love.

Jan Jan and Sam looking fabulous as usual.

For as many years as I can remember, we've done Christmas Eve dinner at our house and Christmas Eve lunch/brunch at Juleann and Sam's. We had chicken tetrazzini and a delicious salad for Christmas Eve dinner. I did nothing to help prepare except clean up. 

 Trying to stall bedtime.

Santa got to work after William went to sleep ;)

Shaw Family Christmas Party

We went to the annual Shaw Family Christmas Party at my Dad's 1st cousin, Kelly Gage's, house. It's always one of my favorite holiday traditions. There's always lots of laughing, eating, and reminiscing of past times! The highlight of the night was seeing these two lovebirds reunite. I'll go ahead and apologize for the excessive amount of pictures of these two angels.

I can barely handle the hand holding. 

 We all about died when we caught this action going on. They did this unprompted.

 Then they decided to rotate. Sweet Sarah Jane could barely get her arms around William ;)

 After William finished hanging out with this little beauty, he joined in on some big boy action. 

 Those three boys were SO sweet to their baby distant cousin, not to mention CUTE!

 They had no idea I was taking these pics from afar. William thinks he's part of the crew.

 I'd love to know what they were talking about - probably trying to decipher William's cave man talk.

 Of course William went in for a hug before he moved on to the next activity.

Meanwhile, these guys were cracking up about something. Wish I would've taken more pics of the dirty santa game hilariousness and adults singing Christmas carols. 

O Christmas Tree

20 Months Old

William turned 20 months old 2 days ago (Christmas Day)! These monthly posts are beginning to seem realllly repetitive. I might as well keep going until he's 2 though! As usual, it doesn't seem like a ton has changed since last month. He now calls me "Mommy" and Grant "Daddy" after only saying "mama" and "dada" up until this point. He talks to himself in complete gibberish all.the.time. He's not saying any short phrases besides "here you go" when he hands us his sippy cup, a toy he's no longer interested in, etc... He says "no" to pretty much every question but if his response is yes he nods his head.

I'm pretty sure his 2 year molars have come through but I can't get a good look back there. He's been drooling a ton and his hands have constantly been in his mouth.

He can identify all of the primary colors and some shapes. He says the number 2 over and over, especially when we go up and down the stairs because I usually count as we go.

 These pics are from our flight to TX over Thanksgiving. He loved reading about the latest hot items in Sky Mall magazine.  I soaked up some very rare snuggles the remainder of the flight. I didn't care that my arm was completely numb for 2 straight hours ;)

           

This is how one entertains a toddler in an airport: give child massive amounts of sugar, let them play in wheelchairs, allow them to lick anything in sight, and allow to take off shoes.

Christmas tree shopping on the most freezing day of the year!

I took him to the pediatrician after 2 straight weeks of a runny nose and not eating great. He was put on an antibiotic for a sinus infection. It quickly cleared everything up!

I couldn't help myself.

Shockingly, he was only interested in the tree and ornaments the first couple of days and after that never touched it :) I think he only broke 3 cheap ornaments the entire time it was up!

I did some Christmas shopping at World Market one day and he immediately eyed this massive rubber ducky. I thought we'd have to leave with a $15 duck. Thankfully, he lost interest right before we left.

He's really taken an interest in coloring/scribbling. I love that little focused face!!