Christmas....One Month Later

I realize an entire month has passed and I haven't said one word about our Christmas.  I guess I was too busy with two kids to take the time out to blog about it, but I told myself...If I don't do it today, I will never do it!  So, I'm taking the time (while Lily sleeps) to record the best Christmas Ever!  I say that it's the best because the Lord blessed us with Lily just ten days before.  Our little family is complete!  We had the best time celebrating with our extended families and had an even better time when we could steal away a few minutes to just be a family of four!  How blessed we truly are.


We started of the holidays with a trip to Cullman 5 days before Lily to spend some time with my mom's family.

The next night we opened presents from my dad's sister,Hilda, and took Will to see the Galaxy of Lights.  No pictures from the lights, but Will loved it!

We spent Christmas Eve at my mom and dad's house.  It's so nice to have all of our family in town.  Pat's family also joins us for Christmas Eve.  I love that my kids get to have all of their grandparents and aunts and uncles together, under one roof, on Christmas Eve!  

We got up bright and early Christmas morning to see what Santa brought Will!  He got a tent, some books, and a tricycle.   He's still a little small for the tricycle, but loved the tent.  My parents came over to enjoy a yummy breakfast, Pat read the story of Jesus' birth, and we opened presents.  It was a great morning, but I was exhausted!  Needless to say, Lily wasn't sleeping through the night at 10 days old so it was a long day!

Around lunch time, we headed over to Pat's dad's house to celebrate Christmas with them and open MORE presents!  We got a ton of stuff this year!  We must have been good!  Will was more interested in the bows than in what he actually got.  I think he pulled them off of every package and handed them to me saying, "hee ya go." By now, I am extremely tired and I just didn't get a ton of pictures.  I will do better next year!

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and were able to spend it with those you love!  By the way...Lily is 6 weeks old today and slept through the night last night!  Yay Lily!  I haven't slept through the night in at least  6 months and it was GLORIOUS!

The WORST Kid

Let me start by saying that even though this post is entitled "The WORST Kid" (Pat's words not mine), Will can not possibly be the "worst" kid....right?

We go to church every Sunday.  We sit in the big auditorium, with my parents, and always hope that Will will somehow behave long enough to make it until the congregation sings "Jesus Loves Me" (indicating that it's time for children's church, or in Will's case, the nursery).  This occurs about 20 minutes into the service.

Last Sunday I worked the baby nursery and my parents weren't at church, so Pat took Will to sit in the "training room"  (a room behind the auditorium with a glass pane so that you can see into the auditorium and hear the worship service, but your kids are allowed to be kids and won't be a disturbance to anyone else).  Neat idea, we just never use it because we sit with my parents and want Will to understand he has to be quiet during church.  By the way, he rarely, if ever, makes it to "Jesus Loves Me" and has to be taken to the nursery earlier than we'd like.

Anyway...back to last Sunday and Pat's training room experience with Will.  This training room has pews (like the auditorium) and rockers so parents can rock their kids.  According to Pat, he chose to sit in the pew because he wanted Will to feel like he was at Church.  Right before "Jesus Loves Me"  Pat brings Will to the nursery and tells me Will is the WORST kid.  He can't even sit still and be quiet in the TRAINING room and is most definitely the loudest/worst kid in there.  He read all of his books, played with all of his toys, and screamed because he wanted some bunnies (a snack) and wouldn't give up until he got them.  Will then proceeded to throw one of those hand held fans that you use in the summer over the pew and the people sitting in front of him.  At this point, Pat had enough and took him out of the training room!  Pat indicated that Will needed a spanking, but he was at church so Will was saved from the spanking. :)  Ah, the joys of parenting a boy!  The day he sits through an entire church service will truly be a MIRACLE

Lily's Homecoming

Lily was able to come home on Saturday, Dec 17.  We were so glad to get out of the hospital and start our daily life with two kids, two dogs, and a cat!  Lily fit right in and we haven't looked back.   What a blessing she has been to us all. 

22 Months

     Will is a whopping 22 and a half months old now and boy is he changing!  He talks and talks all the time.  His current favorite words are Mine, No, and Roll Tide (all three of which  absolutely make my skin crawl)!  Will loves his baby sister and wants to make sure she is well taken care of.  He is constantly bringing her things he thinks she needs.  He won't call her Lily, he calls her baby.  When you ask him what the baby's name is, he says "Sissy".  It sounds so sweet.   Around the first of December, Will said  his first sentence:  "It's a ball."  Yay Will! Another favorite sentence is "Here you go"  (he's so helpful :) ) and "It's funny."
      He got his first  haircut (by a professional) right after Christmas.  If you remember, Pat and I attempted to cut his hair a while back.  We did an okay job, but it definitely needed some professional attention.  Will did okay with this "adventure."  He sat in my lap and ate fruit snacks (his favorite) and fed me the sucker our hair lady gave him.  Thankfully it was an orange and not green or yellow or some other gross flavor since I was the one eating it.  Will thought it was hilarious to feed me that sucker.  His only meltdown came at the end of the haircut when he realized the fruit snacks were all gone!
     He loves the outside and would spend every second of his life out there if we let him.  School is another favorite of Will's.  He loves his teacher Brittney and calls her Nitny.  He asks about her constantly:  "Where's Nitny?"
     Will has a weird thing about his shoes, he always has to have them on.  He does not like to take them off to nap, but will.  His favorite foods are (he's a very picky eater) are oranges, strawberries, cheese, coooookies (that's how he says it), hot dogs, fruit snacks, eggs, and yogurt.  He will eat chicken nuggets and applesauce (I hide veggies in the applesauce).  He has learned how to open doors and will not stay out of Lily's room!  We've had to put a doggy gate up to keep him out.
     That about sums up Will at 22 months.  He is in to everything and keeps us on our toes, but we love it and wouldn't have it any other way.  

Will, 22 mo, not smiling, but best I could do.

after the haircut

What A Month!

I am so behind with blogging.  I am just now getting my Christmas pictures off of my camera and archived.  I also realized that I haven't blogged at all about Lily's homecoming or subsequent days with us.  I guess with two kiddos under two, I'm allowed to be a little behind.  Not to mention, Will has been pretty sick with HFM the first week of January and was home with Lily and me.  I got nothing done that week and Will is lucky to be alive :)!  Most importantly, Pat and I got Lily through her first month of life!  She is one month old today and growing like a weed.  I took her in for her 2 week appointment on Dec 31 and she weighed 8 lbs. 2oz. and was 21 in long.  She left the hospital weighing 7 lbs. 1oz, so she gained over a pound in two weeks and grew an inch.

At one month:

• Probably weighs close to 9 lbs.
• Hardly ever cries (just when she's hungry and we haven't gotten to her soon enough)
• For the last week has consistently gotten up between 2 and 3 and then again around 6. Last night she got up at 3:15 and we had to wake her up at 7:30 this morning.   I hope that's a trend.
• Has been to church twice and is very well behaved (she sleeps the entire time)
• Has a little dimple on her right cheek (like her Daddy) and still has lots of dark hair.

Lily's first time to church, 3 weeks old.

Big Brother has come around and LOVES Lily!

Lily Ryan, 1 mo. January 15, 2012

Lily fits right in with our family!  I can't even remember what it was like not having her.  She is such an easy baby and has totally stolen our hearts!  We love you Little Lil'