17 Months Old

William is 17 months old today! It's hard to believe he's one month shy from being one and a half! He's becoming quite the spunky, opinionated, super loving little boy. Over the past month, we've seen the first of the toddler tantrums/meltdowns. Those little moments of terror come out of nowhere and there's not much we can do to stop them. They usually begin by William going limp and hitting the ground like a sack of potatoes. It's practically impossible to pick him up and remove him from the situation when he goes limp like that ;) All of these pictures are from my phone over the past month! The layout is kinda funky but I don't have the time or energy to fix it!!

When we ask him "where's {Dada, Mama, the dog, your shoes, etc...} we get that expression on the left. William and I go to the library every Tuesday morning for story time {picture on the right}. I've really enjoyed taking him! It's a great outing and we always go a little early to play with puzzles, and "read" books.

With the occasional tantrums has also come LOTS of hugs and kisses from William. He loves to hug necks and give kisses when we drop him off at school, say good-night, or even leave to run an errand. Our bedtime routine involves me singing "Jesus Loves Me" to him while rubbing his back in the crib. Each night after that song I say "night night William," and he stands up, puckers his lips for a kiss, and hugs my neck. Then he plops down and immediately goes to sleep. MELT.MY.HEART. It's by far my favorite part of every single day. He goes to bed every night at 7pm and usually wakes up between 6-6:30.

He's had a ball playing on his car and motorcycle from Granny and Juju! If you mention the word car he goes and stands at the door until we take him outside. He takes driving very seriously :)

This past month he got the small tube removed from his tear duct procedure that he had back in July. He did great while the opthamologist pulled the tube with tweezers. I, on the other hand, almost fainted!! It was a little more intense than I expected and I didn't have Grant there for back up. In true William fashion he found a little girl to become friends with while we waited for the eye doctor to have the tube removed. William LOVES girls. Anytime he sees a little girl, he'll get right up in their face (like 2 inches from their lips) and then hug them. He's obsessed with our 4 y/o neighbor and goes ballistic if he sees her playing outside. It's really quite precious. William is extremely social and loves being around other children.

We've spent a LOT of time at Overton Park over the past month. We go several times a week! William LOVES it.

Favorite things: bubbles (buh-buh's), taco meat, nutri-grain bars (he eats 2 every single morning), girls, wheat thins, MILK, bugs (buh's), dogs, balls, cups, yogurt.

HA 2003 Class Reunion

A couple of weekends ago, I had my TEN year high-school reunion. I still can't believe it's been TEN years. In some ways high school seems like yesterday and in others it seems so long ago. I was in charge of the slideshow that we played Saturday night at the dinner, so it was fun going through old pictures and reminiscing on old times. We all looked like such babies in high school!

The weekend started with a family cook-out for lunch on Saturday at my classmate Rachel's family farm. Go check out Rachel's blog ilikewhatimherring.blogspot.com, she is very talented. William didn't get the memo that I REALLY wanted him to behave and act remotely human in front of old friends that I hadn't seen in a very long time. He quickly gave me a dose of "mommy reality" when he acted like a complete lunatic until I had enough and we decided to leave. Phew!!! As silly as it sounds, I think my patience was tested more that day than it has been throughout my entire mommyhood. I felt completely helpless and totally out of control. Annnnyyyyway...the rest of the weekend was wonderful. Here are some pictures from Saturday night at Maria's Vineyard where the reunion was held!

 There wouldn't have been a reunion without these two ladies!

 I think we had a pretty good 10 year showing for graduating with only 48 ;)

The most fun part of the night was getting to open our letters that we wrote to ourselves on the last day of high school! I VIVIDLY remember writing mine after I finished my last exam. I remember sitting there wondering where I'd be in ten years. Would I be married? Would I have children? Would I live in Alabama? What type of job would I have? Would I still keep in touch with my childhood friends? My letter was pretty much what I would've expected my 18 year old self to write :)

Labor Day Weekend in Highlands

William finally got to experience one of my very favorite childhood places - the mountains! I grew up visiting my grandparents' mountain home at least once a year from age 10 onwards. We usually went with my mom's entire side of the family, which included 16 of us total. I have such sweet memories of hiking, picnicking, going to "sliding rock" and landing in the frigid cold water, waterfalls, watching the boys golf, swimming, playing tennis, boat riding on Lake Glenville, family dinners, late night runs to Sweet Treats, playing cards/spoons with the cousins, putting on plays for the grown ups, shopping in the town, and the list could go on and on...William is a little young to experience the adventurous side of Highlands, but he still had a ball exploring his new surroundings and visiting with family. He not only got some quality time with his great-grandparents but also my Aunt Lane and Uncle Ned were there too!

We got in town late Friday night just in time for a delicious dinner and a late birthday celebration for Grant and me.

Of course Juleann whipped up a gorgeous flower arrangement for the weekend. 

 Ready for a day of shopping with the women...haha!

Who needs toys when you can throw fake fruit and vegetables all day long?!

 The crisp, cool fall weather meant a chance to dive into William's fall clothes made by his Juju. 

 William loved running up and down the steep driveway!

 He drug Juju down the driveway with him several times. He knew Mommy wasn't about to hike back up that steep hill :)

 Sitting on a mossy rock just his size. 

 The leaves hadn't quite turned into the beautiful fall colors but my grandmother's garden was in full bloom. I hope we can make it back sometime this fall. When I was in 8th grade I did some sort of science project for extra credit (nerd alert) on leaves, and I've been hooked on my leaves since then ;) I remember driving all over Highlands with my parents trying to find a certain type of leaf for that project. 

 View of the "gorilla face" aka "Whiteside Mtn" from the porch. I can't wait to take William to hike that like we did so many times growing up. It's not nearly as treacherous as it looks.

 We spent quite a bit of time loungin' on the porch and watching football. 

On Saturday, William went shopping with me, Juju, Jan Jan, and Aunt Lane while the guys played golf. That afternoon my Uncle Ned convinced me that William needed a chance to play with the big boys, so he joined them for a couple of holes. Apparently, he had a BLAST and enjoyed chasing their balls and riding in the golf cart. They sent me a couple of iphone pics while they were out there. 

 As much as I often plead for breaks from my boy, I felt like I was missing out on a "first" while he was on the golf course with the men. I was so glad when they got home! He was pretty excited to see his Mommy (terrible pic of me).

 William stayed up at least an hour past his bedtime every night. There was way too much excitement for him to settle down at the usual 7pm. He enjoyed sitting on the porch with the adults and being our entertainment :)

 Even if he could barely hold his eyes open :)

Hangin' with Daddy Steve

 His new "thing" is to turn his body completely sideways when looking for someone or something and YELL "bot, bot, bot." Maybe he's trying to say "what"...who knows?! It's hilarious. 

 On Sunday morning, he went for a dip in the pool with Grant and my dad. His audience included me, my mom, Juleann and Sam, and William LOVES an audience - spoiled rotten. 

Sunday evening, we went to a labor day barbecue dinner and William had a ball running around and flirting with all the women. We've got to do some high chair boot camp soon! He refuses to stay put and pitches a fit when we strap him in. We are such push over parents!

 He became quite fond of his great-grandparents Sam and Jan Jan over this trip. He loved watching Sam's every move. Each night before bed, he would go around the room and give everyone a hug and a kiss good night. This was probably his way of stalling bedtime but we all enjoyed it ;)

When William got too antsy at dinner, Grant and I took turns watching him run around the putting green with lots of older children. He tried to jump right in, while I nervously waited for him to get tackled.

 He face planted on the green several times but that didn't slow down our wild boy!

 Mr. Independent

 Best I could do for a mommy/William pic!

 Grant snapped this one as I literally drug him away from the older children. No easy task.

Juleann and Sam, we had SUCH a wonderful time and can't thank y'all enough for a fabulous weekend!