Evenings with Will

I've stated many times how my son is an outside kind of boy. I thought I'd give you a glimpse of our evenings, because this has become our routine. Everyday we get home from school, it's out of the carseat and on the ground. Does mommy get to put her purse inside....NO....does mommy get to go turn the alarm off inside....NO!!!! Now if you want to see how loud this kid can scream...of course I could take him inside, but what's the point in hearing loss when the nights of playing outside are so limted???

Will got all new yard tools; lawn mower, leaf & stiff rake, shovel & broom, but of course he wants to push the big broom...why...because mommy said no!

This is what happens when mommy says no! Yes, I made him mad! It happens a lot lately; I'm starting to think because it's Halloween, some demon has possessed my precious baby boy and turned him into this temper tantrum screaming little monster. And it happens every night around 5:30 (right on time in the picture above!) All I can say is "Monster give me my sweet baby boy back"

Then after a little tantrum, what better to do than play some golf with Dad's clubs.

"Now how is it dad held this again????"

"Yeah, Yeah, something like this, where's a ball??" (Is it noticeable to everyone or just me that he's aiming directly for my car?) FORRRREEEE!!! Now, I'm not a golfer, but live in a pretty big golfing family and I'd have to say, that golf stance looks pretty natural to me.

"Oh and what's that you wanted to read mom?" Heaven for bid I have a moment to myself to look at the new One Step Ahead magazine. Yup, he shreaded it!

Then it was back to more yard work. Dad showed Will this perfect little box of dirt to dig, then got upset because he JUST powerwashed the sidewalk and Will got dirt all over it. DUHHH Dad! (love you honey!) We usually stay outside until Dad gets home, then I go in, put my stuff away & get comfy, then Michael does that same, all the while Will is still at it outside.

Then once we finally coax Will in the house, no doubt screaming all the way, we tried on his costume because school is having a Costume Parade friday and Will needed to be ready for the festivities.

So here's a sneak peak of what the Bear is for Halloween. Yup...original, a Bear!

ANDDDD, we'll be doing this all over again starting around 4:30 this afternoon. Only downfall tonight is Dad won't be home until later so I'm not quite sure how we'll get in the house tonight??? Bet our neighbors love us ; )

Farm Land Heaven

For the second part of our fun packed Sunday afternoon, we took Will out to a family friends farm land. In a year of Will's life, I've never seen him as happy as he was yesterday. All day he got to roam, run & play outside and there is nothing that makes him happier than being outside.

Will made a new friend; Sadie. Sadie is a Germam Wirehair and she's 1 years old too. They played all afternoon which surprised me, Will always freaks when a dog gets near him, but he loved this dog. This tub was the object of major fun for the two of them, Will would get it, then Sadie would take it and so on, very entertaining.

Here Sadie's giving Will a friendly nudge to climb right in.

Then the 2 of them were off.

Will is yelling at us saying "I don't ever want to leave" it really sounds like "BA BA BA BA" (him yelling) but I knew what he meant. With 8 acres of land, Will could go all day and we let him.

Then we hopped up on this huge wagon full of hay and pumpkins for some pictures.

Will's excitement over receiving a pumpkin.

Then he firmly let us know, "you don't take my pumpkin"

So to coax him down, we had to get the pumpkin down too. Then he and Sadie were off again. For a spur of the moment adventure, we had a wonderful day. You give Will a piece of land and permission to roam and he's on cloud nine! Add a friendly dog into the mix and we almost had to leave him there.

Pumpkin Farm

Sunday Will had such a fun packed afternoon that it's going to take 2 post to detail it all!

After nap time we headed out to Chester's Party Farm to check out pumpkins & pet some animals.

Will loved trying to move the pumpkins. Although he'd need a break from time to time, he would lift them up and toss them somewhere else.

Lift with your legs! Lift with your legs!

He loved it out here, he got to roam the land and watch all kinds of kids and animals.

Will tried to break the little pony free, but couldn't shake that gate open.

He pretend road a horsey;

Then really rode a horsey or pony in this case.

Then after an impromptu meltdown after mom took a shovel away that will kept trying to put in his mouth; one that fed all the animals, Grammy bought Will a wind spinny thing to replace the shovel. He was in heaven. Ever notice when your kids go into a screaming tantrum how all eyes dart your direction giving you looks like you're standing there abusing your child? Kind of embarrassing!

Afternoon adventures to be continued...

NEWS, NEWS, NEWS

A BABY IS COMING......
A BABY IS COMING!

This little Bear is getting another cousin! Aunt Traci & Uncle Jason are expecting their first baby in June 2010. Aunt Traci is my younger sister for those who don't know; she's been such a huge part of Will's life and we are beyond excited that they are going to be parents. Congrats Aunt Traci & Uncle Jason, you will be amazing parents!!!

Lawn Mower

It dawned on me last week, that I'm actually dreading the day Will learns the word "outside" because it's already a war....everyday, to get from his car seat into the house. And by war I'm not kidding; screaming with limp body trying to get to the ground...war! The awful rainy weather isn't helping because clear skies means fun times in the garage, but rainy days we're inside and he's not happy!

That being said, over the weekend we got Will's new lawn mower out that his pal Allison got him for his birthday so he'd have more age appropriate toys to play with in his new found favorite space....the garage! All he wants to play with are dad's "toys"; rakes, shovels, lawn mower, you name it, he's interested.

Case in point; Will loves this rake...this metal & wood childs rake (who does that!?! Makes a childs rake wood and metal???) Well, truth be told that rake was mine from college. Yes, I got a childs rake to maintain the ever flowing weed infested flower bed in front of my condo, but now it's become this childs favorite toy. We hide it...he finds it. We don't let him within a foot out of our reach while he plays with this, but it's still dangerous. (Anyone know where to find plastic yard toys, let me know...please, I've googled it, but no success)

Anyway, back to the new (along w/ rake) favorite toy. Will loves this mower, he mowed the driveway, garage & sidewalk.

I thought we'd wait until Spring to bring this fun little toy out, but no sir, we'll be mowing snow in the coming months, this thing rocks!

Helping Dad Out

One of Will's Favorite "I'm not supposed to be in there" cabinets finally had to be clipped shut.

Of course, it being his favorite cabinet, Dad couldn't do it alone.

Will showing us how it's supposed to work!

Then after they were finished, Will showed dad how to play with his new toy. Brooke, Chase & Allison got Will this for his birthday along with a very AWESOME bubble blowing lawn mower that will be very useful next spring! He loves this toy, it honks....REALLY LOUD...and has a flash light on it so Will can see in the dark. As you can see around him, Will has accumulated so much stuff it's time for a play room. Our family room just can't hold anymore toys! So, he's getting an entire room all for himself. Well, 2 rooms actually, his bedroom and a toy room. So YAY, more space to load with toys!

Trip Cut Short (read post below before this one)

After getting sick on our trip to Austin, it's been a rough week, but thankfully it's pretty much behind us now. Having never experienced croup before, it was a pretty scary couple of days. I'll give you a little run down of the past week; starting with last Friday, Will had tubes put in his ears for the second time. The procedure went perfect and quick, so we were on the road shortly after to Austin to celebrate Allison's Birthday. After the big celebration on Saturday we took Will back to the hotel to nap and when he woke up he was running a fever, so our time with our friends was over. Will was wheezy & coughing Saturday, but the worst came on Sunday when it sounded like he could barely breathe. We got home Sunday around 1:30 and stayed outside, stood in front of the freezer & over the cool mist humidifier trying to help his airways, but nothing was helping. Sunday night around 11 it got worse, so we took him up to Mercy After Hours to see if they could give him a breathing treatment or something, but they were closed, so we decided to go back home & keep him elevated because that seemed to help a little. I sat up in bed & on the couch all night letting him sleep on me; trying to will time by faster so we could get to the doctors the next morning. Let's just say that was the longest night I've ever had; we didn't know what was wrong, we were guessing we knew, but we aren't doctors so "what if's" were running thru my mind all night. We called the doctor at 8 the next morning and got him in at 8:45 (thank Heaven) to find out he did in fact have croup along w/ a viral infection. Thought it might be the flu, but the Doctor said it wasn't; thank Heaven again! So, after a prescription of steroids & amoxicillin we were back home. Monday afternoon his fever finally broke and he started acting more like himself. We kept him home Tuesday to make sure; didn't want to get other kids sick, so after 24 hours of normal Will, we decided he could go back to school Wednesday. Buuutttt, he woke up Wednesday morning running 102 degree temp so another day cooped up at home. By Wednesday afternoon, the fever broke again and he hasn't run one since. His first day back at school was yesterday and it about wore him out. I'm thankful that as scary as it seemed, it wasn't near as bad as some kids have it. If this is as bad as it gets this season, I'll take it, but that's not to say it didn't worry us sick!

Will towards the end of the party, I was worried having had him around Allison, but thankfully she hasn't gotten sick.

Saturday evening cooped up at the hotel.

Getting bored, Will decided to trash the place!

Then Monday at home, after a horrible night and a trip to the doctors, Will started feeling better. I gave him one of his new toys that he'd received on his birthday, but of course he'd rather play with the box!

Soo, that's how our life has been for the past few days, fortunately it's behind us and the weekend is here. Praying for no rain because Will might explode if he has to stay indoors another day.

Allison's 1st Birthday Party

Last weekend we loaded up and headed to Austin, Texas to celebrate Allison's 1st Birthday. Most of you know who that is, but those who don't, Allison's mom and I have been friends for about 15 years.

Last year, our trip to Austin was Will's first road trip, we went down when Allison was 3 weeks old. Brooke was insanely pregnant when Will was born so she couldn't come here, so we decided we'd go down once they were home from the hospital and settled in to meet Allison and so they could meet Will. That seems like yesterday.

Then back in June, Allison came to OKC and brought her parents to see family and spend time with us. These two had so much fun together, it was torture when it was time for them to head home.

So in honor of the year Anniversary of getting to meet precious Allison, the Martin's loaded up and headed to Austin to celebrate her 1st Birthday with the family. We had a blast starting friday night at dinner; we went to a new Mexican restaurant in Lakeway where they sang at our table and had the babies attention in full. It was priceless, I now enjoy people singing at our table where before it kind of embarrassed me. Watching Allison & Will totally changed my perspective. The restaurant was in a long shopping strip, so while we waited to be seated the kiddos exercised their parents walking up and down the walkway.

Then Saturday the party began! Allison loved playing with the balloons. So did Will, but you'd take quite a beating if they played with them at the same time, trust me I know, thank goodness balloons are soft.

After a delicious lunch of Rudy's BBQ (which I'd never had and didn't realize we had one in Norman) it was time to open presents. Allison dove right in....for the bows!

After a glance back to make sure we were watching....

It was back to playing with the bow. Allison thought her mom was taking it away just before this picture (she was trying to get a staple out) so she's celebrating the success of winning over Mom's pull. (Brooke did get the staple out, so she won too)

Then it was back to presents; Mimi got Allison this purse! Allison loves purses, like her Aunt Sissy (April); Brooke & Chase are in trouble I think...maybe! This was her first of many purses, she was so excited....

Now armed w/ her new purse and the bag it came in, Allison left the present opening to her mom for a minute.

Aunt April got Allison this fridge magnet toy. Allison being only 1; showed her Aunt April & Uncle Ryan how this toy worked. Apparently on the way from Houston, Uncle Ryan couldn't figure out where to mooing sound was coming from, he thought Aunt April was doing it!

Then Allison got a new phone from her Grandpa Winburn. Will has one of these too and on our way down to Austin he kept trying to call Brooke to tell her his whereabouts, but she wouldn't answer. So now that Allison has a phone too, they can call each other and leave the moms out of it.

This was after presents; not a new toy, just one of Allison's toys she keeps at Mimi's house. I just can't say anything more about this.

So, it was on to cake!

Now most parents hope their kid dives right into the cake. Will got cake all over him, but more from trying to get to the balloons, not from diving in. Not to say he didn't get the hang of cake to face smashing; but this is Allison's party we are talking about and boy, this little girl knows how to do it! Yes, at first it was a little at a time....

But very quickly after, the full hands to mouth began.
Then the cake to face smashing began....

Will's over there fully clothes w/ a plate of cake not getting it anywhere. But look at Allison, she is now rubbing it on her legs.

Get some here, get some there! It's safe to say a sink bath was in order to clean this little girl up. Her mom was so proud! I didn't get a picture, but she basically licked the tray clean; literally! She had a great birthday and we had so much fun being there with her. On a sad note, our trip was cut short, but I'll explain that in the next post. The time we got to spend with Allison was priceless and can't wait for our next trip.