No More High Chair

Lately at Grammy's house, Will puts up quite a fight when it's dinner time. Everytime we say "Will ready for bites?" he yells "NO!" (yes, No! & Mine! are the it words right now.)

So, giving in we tried his big boy table...and what do ya know, little turkey ate like a champ. Which of course would make sense, this is how he eats at school everyday.

Kept insisting his feet be on the table but whatever, as long as he eats.

Quickly into the picture session he got up and tried to take the camera...."NO PICS MOM!!!" So, the camera went away and he finished dinner. All this constant changing makes my brain spin, though I love watching him grow up, it truly makes me sad how quickly that's happening.

18 Month Pictures

Will got his 18 Month pictures taken last week. We've been working on getting these done since late January, but the weather kept holding us up.

All I can say is our dear friend and photographer Becky did an amazing job again!

Will was hard to capture this time, but what 18 month old isn't. I was worried we wouldn't get any good shots; he insisted on holding either a ball, his screw driver or sippy cup and ziplock w/ cookies most of the time. Of course the ball made for great pics. The others were just silly.

But Becky captured shots I didn't even know she was taking,

As well as shots I'll hold dear to my heart always. (they were even walking the exact same)

And what I thought was a "maybe we'll get a shot or two" photo session, turned into 42 pictures that I'd like displayed all over my house. Man, I love this kid.

Weekend Away

We haven't been to the lake since Labor Day and for us that's not normal. We love winter at the lake, fireplace going, watch movies, cozy up on the patio. It's like summer...but cold!

This was Duke's first trip down and he did pretty well; for the most part. He thinks he's a circus dog which was entertaining.

Yes, you are seeing this! He was scaling the porch rail. Silly dog would weave in and out of the post getting himself so tied up that we'd have to unhook his chain and start over.

Ah, Mr. Innocent!

Will had a blast...mainly because we spent 90% of the weekend outside.

He and Duke played so hard that by 8:00 Saturday night they were both passed out!

Will was fascinated w/ the faucet.

This tore me up....I am down on the beach patio w/ the zoom all the way up to take this picture. Will took the path up to the house ALL BY HIMSELF! That makes him a big boy.

Then to make me even sadder..and freaked out, he took the stairs to the patio ALL BY HIMSELF.

Then sat down and scooted down the steps.

Duke LOVED the water. Of course most Labs do.

Then when playtime outside was done, Will spent most of the evening "fixing" his car. He loves tools, especially grown up tools. Why play w/ a kids hammer when the real thing is in Daddy's tool box. Of course it's with constant supervision when he plays w/ these tools and we've drawn the line with the real vs. play chain saw. I mean, you have to put your foot down somewhere; right!?!

Although the weather was a bit chilly, we had a great weekend and CAN'T wait for summer to get here so we can ditch the coats and warm clothes and hang in bathing suits all weekend.

Week from....BEEEP!!!

The last two weeks have been extra rough in the Martin household. Last tuesday Will caught a viral infection and with it came 5 nights of no sleep, 5 days of a cranky, miserable & clingy little boy and one very very strung out mommy who spent all of those days awake.

What was this awful viral infection I speak of....well, to be completely blunt, Will broke out with a gazillion little blisters all over his throat, was throwing up, had butt burning diarrhea and ran a temp close to 103. Saturaday morning the blisters decided they should pop up all over his face as well, so he's got about 6 blisters on his cheek and 1 on his lip. We lived in quarantine for 5 days for fear of passing this awful infection to any one else. All I could get Will to eat was yogurt and pancakes, it's the only thing that didn't hurt his mouth. He cried and cried and there was nothing we could do to make it go away. On top of all this, poor Bear was cutting a molar so his gums were so tender he screamed if you touched them. The only thing that gave any kind of relief was origel (but only for a short time) and teething tablets (and only once he was in such hysterics that they'd literally wipe him out) He was worst at night, he couldn't sleep and if he did get an hour or so rest it was propped up on me.

Needless to say, by Sunday I was so strung out I couldn't speak without crying. And to add to it, I had to spend Sunday sanitizing the house and Will's toys because of all the drooling, to make sure this didn't come back. There is nothing more awful than your child in pain and you can't do anything to make it better. It broke my heart to see him so miserable and no amount of climbing further into a ball on my chest would make it hurt less.

Michael travels with his job and most times we handle it just fine, but he took off Sunday afternoon for a week long trip and it was the first time I literally didn't think I could handle him being gone. Of course now things are getting better and Will's mouth has cleared up inside and the outside blisters are healing AND we get to see Michael tomorrow, but this has definitely been a long grueling week without him.

I don't have any new pictures to post, the camera has been the last thing on my mind but we'll get some over the weekend and catch everyone up on Will's adventures. He and gigantic Duke are headed to the lake to play.

Play Room

At Grandparents houses, there is always that play space that kids cherish. Growing up at my grandparents we loved the garage and the gigantic golf cart. (seriously it was a car sized golf cart!) At Nana and Grandpa Mike's house Will and Grace have the TV room that is put together for them to go completely nuts in. The gates up at the door to keep them out of the rest of the house and they get unrestricted play time without constantly being told "No, don't touch that". As a parent, we cherish these spaces because it's space for kids to use their imagination w/out us having to worry about them breaking something AND we get to actually sit down and chat instead of running after them constantly.

At Grammy and Grandpa's house, that space is under the stairs. Prior to this weekend that space was filled with house plans, stereo equipment, wrapping paper...you get the picture; stuff Will couldn't play with, but wanted too and a space he loved going in. But not anymore!

This room is the Grandbaby room! Set up just for kids. Adults have to duck to get in the space, so it's definitely a kids club! I can't say who was more excited; me or Will?

All his toys and books are in here and the stereo equipment is gated off so no restriction. He can come and go as he pleases. The back wall is getting a marker board so they can color. I say they because in a few short months, Mr. Will's new cousin will be here, so this space is for both of them. And I don't know that I've posted this yet, but Will's new cousin is a BOY! I'm so beyond excited for a little nephew. He doesn't have a name yet, so we call him Baby D. And Baby D and Will are going to have so much fun in this space. I can't promise the walls won't get colored on at some point, but I did promise to come repaint when it's all said and done! (sorry the pictures are so weak, I took them with my phone. Camera was dead!)

So now at both grandparents house, Will can spread his wings and explore without rules. (or too many rules anyway!)