funny face monday

Will has learned how to make a new face:

We were strolling around the neighborhood in the wagon the other day, and I turned around to see what I thought was Will yawning. But I noticed that he wasn't stopping the yawn in a normal time...just making the "O" mouth, as if he was in awe of something. It totally cracked me up, but I couldn't get my phone out in time to get a picture. Never fear...he kept making the face all day, so I got some pictures before bed that night. Cracks me up!!

Happy funny face Monday!

we're back!

So last Monday, the hard drive on my laptop crashed and burned.

Luckily, Matt is a computer genius and was able to recover the pictures that I had not yet backed up {including Christmas...yikes!} and today we got a new laptop! I'm so glad to be connected to the world again {although my phone was a lifesaver for checking email this week}. I have learned my lesson....back up important files frequently!! At least last week was absolutely BEAUTIFUL weather. Who needs a computer when you can hang out at the arboretum on a 70 degree January day?!

{by the way, when did my baby turn into this little boy?!}

hootie hoot!!

Just a couple of footnotes to this photo:

1. OWL HATS!
2. I did not intend to make one for myself, but as always, the first one I made ended up way too big somehow. So now I have one, and I definitely wore it this evening to change the cat's litter box. Glamorous life here, folks.
3. Will is only wearing the pink-bordered hat with girly braids because I haven't made him a more gender-appropriate version yet. But it's on the list. Blue...no braids...you know, a manly owl.
4. When I searched on google images for pics of "baby owl hat," this was not really what I was expecting. But there it was:

crochet day

Soooo.....we all know that I can't leave well enough alone. Today I added to the hat craze by learning to crochet. I really just wanted to make bear ears for a brown hat I made yesterday. And I knew that those are really cute when crocheted. {is that how you spell that? totally not how you say it...} So anyway, went online to figure it out, and I learned 3 crochet stitches. Fun! So I made a hat. And I learned a few things:

1. I like to crochet.
2. There are so many things to learn! I ended up making a hat using just one kind of stitch, but there are lots!
3. Starting is sort of hard, because there's nothing to hold onto. I had lots of false starts that ended up with knotted balls of yarn.
4. When they suggest the size of crochet hook and thickness of yarn, it's not so much a suggestion, unless you want your hat to fit your baby like this:

Haha - oops! So my pattern called for normal skinny yarn {probably there is a technical term for that}, but since I'm new, I thought it would be easier to see what I was doing if I used fat yarn. And I do love fat yarn hats. No biggie, except that it made my "baby" sized hat into a big girl hat! It did seem big while I was chugging along with the crocheting, but hey, I'm new. So I kept going. And now I have a new hat!

There are some wonky spots, but not bad for a first attempt.

Crocheting....I'm in!

And don't worry - I did eventually get around to those bear ears. Definitely took less time than the hat I decided to start with! ;)

New hat = photo shoot time!

Will's favorite new expression. I love it.

And here are a few hats I've made recently:

Little hat, big flower...

or little flower!

Trying to make something similar to one of Will's newborn pics:

This is what I was going for.

{look closely...I think it's actually crochet!! Might have to try again!}

And a Texas Rangers hat:

Go Rangers!

{too bad baseball season isn't exactly hat wearing season in Texas...}

Stripes

And a teeny one with a knotted top. Looks like a little bell to me.

Thanks for bearing with me on all the hat posts...I just get excited! Who knew this was going to turn into a baby blog AND a hat blog?! Just think of how clean my house could be if I didn't spend all of my free time making hats...

vroom vroom!

I think this might be the first time Will has actually played with a friend:

Granted, Nolan was doing all of the work, but how cute are they? We had so much fun hanging out with the Whalens last night, and I know these guys are going to have a blast playing together as they get older.

fun friday

What do you bring to a playdate with 2 Cowboys fans and a girly girl?

Probably these:

On Friday, we got to play with Parker, baby Cole, and Madison, so I made some hats for them! I got to try a few new things on the hats, and after several versions of the Cowboys hat, I ended up deciding that I like doing outlines of designs rather than filling them in when I put logos on the hats. I feel like it looks cleaner and the design shows better.

So here are the Cowboys hats:

My hat model was a busy body that day.

And here's a pink & yellow flower hat for Miss Madison:

The flower can come off in case it starts to look too "Blossom"

Will didn't mind this at first...

And then he realized I had put him in another girly hat!

We had such a blast at our playdate. The kids had fun playing, and the mommas got to catch up, hold babies, and eat pizza. What could be better?

I love Baby Cole! He is such a sweet little guy.

Madison tried to put the moves on Parker. :)

And we tried to get some pictures of all four...

Very tricky to get 4 kids to look at the camera!

{I did get a couple of better ones but I snapped them before I fixed the settings on my camera, so they're blurry. Shoot! I am hoping Megan got a better one.}

After the playdate, we got to hang out with Brent, Tilly, and Carter on their way back through Dallas. It was great to see them again, plus we got to celebrate Mema's birthday. Very fun!

Carter + Will

Carter and his Aunt Kathy

Brent, Carter, Will, me

the birthday girl

Mema with Brent and Carter

Will and Mema

Mema with 2 of her grandkids and 2 of her great-grandkids.

What a special day!!

celebrating days of birth

Today we got to celebrate dual birthdays {sort of}. It's my dad's birthday and Will's 11 month birthday. {hence the "sort of." Not sure that 11 months specifically counts as a birthday.} It was a fun day!

We started by making Duke a card.

I wanted a cute picture of Will holding it. He had other ideas.

We also celebrated this afternoon by hanging out with Duke and Mimi, but I forgot to bring my camera. Although there is no photographic evidence, we had a very fun time. Happy birthday, Dad!! We love you!

Of course, we also did our monthly photo shoot with the bear. These photo shoots get more difficult each month as Will gets more curious and mobile.

Growing so fast!

Soooo happy!

However, Will was much more interested in playing here...

and here...

and at rock band...

And of course, he found some time for simultaneous reading/piano playing.

Here are a few things I want to remember about Will at 11 months:

• He is into everything! I find new cabinets and drawers to baby-proof all the time. His favorite "no no" items are the cat's bowls, the trash cans, and my stack of cookbooks.
• Favorite new activities this month: opening the drawers in his bedroom and pulling out all of his clothes, and putting them back in; and opening/closing any cabinets that aren't locked.

Exhibit A - opening

Closing. You get the picture.

• Will has gotten quite vocal in the last month, and his favorite thing to say is "da da." He has a very cute way of dropping the last "ah" and yelling something that sounds like a very well enunciated DAD. He says it at home, in the car, and anywhere we go. Sometimes it sounds like he's looking for his dad in Lowes, Target, etc. He also says several other syllables and will even combine them sometimes. A new development in the past couple of days - whenever Will is excited or happy, he says "da da." And when he is mad, sad, or distressed, he says wails "ma ma ma." Hmmm....

Here he is saying "DA DA DA" this afternoon:

• Sleeping has gotten back to normal for the most part {yay!}, although he was up a LOT last night. Maybe those top teeth are finally about to come in? And knock on wood, napping seems to be improving. Typically he takes a short nap in the morning and a longer one in the afternoon. Although he certainly keeps me on my toes by switching up when the long nap occurs, and of course, sometimes not ever taking a long one!
• This month, Will has started walking around by pushing his little musical push toy {actually Ben's toy - thanks Ben!}. He gets sooo excited when he realizes he's walking, and it's very cute. I need to get a video of this.
• Will is still a great eater. He seems to like pretty much everything he's had so far, and we found out on New Years that he LOVES black-eyed peas. I think he's going to be very lucky in 2011 considering the amount he ate.

Happy 11 month birthday, sweet boy.

I can't believe we are one month away from your REAL birthday!