did you know...

...that Will is a huge Rangers fan?

So excited that they're in the playoffs! Go Rangers!

oh hey there, fall

It was so cool this morning that we just had to break out the pumpkin hat:

Happy fall to all!

if my name was bubba...

...then I could feel confident that Will knows my name:

Will is so cute with the babbling this week! He mostly says "buh buh" and "ba ba," but he does throw out a "ma ma" or "muh muh" every once in awhile. So fun!

I also got a short video of Will crawling this morning:

And here's a picture of his new favorite activity, pulling himself up on his favorite toy. It's a ball popper toy that I lovingly refer to as the "chaos machine" because instead of staying contained in the toy, the balls usually explode all over the place. Will's favorite way to play with it is to turn it sideways and let the balls hit him in the face. Ah, sweet boy. And now he has started pulling himself up to a half-standing position on it, like this:

Yes, this is lots of fun for Will, but I have to watch him constantly because clearly the wobbly plastic toy isn't the safest thing for him to balance his sweet little self on. In case you're curious about how this toy is SUPPOSED to be used, here's Will making his way over to the chaos machine and enjoying it. When I filmed this, I was really just trying to get the crawling, so unfortunately the video stops before he gets to show off how he tips it over and plays with it Will-style.

play date

Matt was very busy yesterday - he worked on rebuilding a bathroom at his mom's house and helped a friend move a giant GoldenTee arcade game into his house. (Yep, that happened.) So Will and I were left without our weekend playtime friend all day, and we got bored! So we decided to go on a playdate to the elementary school playground. I took the camera because I've been wanting to take some cute pics of Will on the colorful equipment, but there were some kids playing on it, and I didn't want to be in their way (or have anyone see the antics I usually perform to get good smiles for pictures). But we still had a great time playing in the grass. Playing in the grass is one of Will's favorite activities, but at our house the mosquitoes swarm us whenever we step outside. Magically, the playground has no mosquitoes! Hooray! Here are a few pics of our day:

Hurry, Mom! I'm ready!!

Will is a happy boy when he's outside!

Total glee at rolling around in the grass. SUCH a boy!

Love this one:

It was a fun Saturday, although still pretty steamy outside. Come on, fall...we are ready for you!!

hey mom...

...this new toy you got me is weird!

but fun...

wait...i'm supposed to do what with it?

oh, i get it! there's water inside!

YUM!

seven months old and in constant motion!

William turned 7 months old yesterday! I feel like month 7 flew by faster than any month yet. Will is so much fun at this age - he plays, sits, crawls, giggles, and makes us feel so blessed to be his parents. Here is a little bit about William at 7 months (and by "little bit," I mean A LOT, so don't feel obligated to read all of this - I just write everything I can think of so we won't forget!):

• Literally in constant motion! Whether he's scooting, rolling, reaching, jumping, wiggling, or crawling, this guy never stops. I have a feeling that he's going to be quite the handful as he becomes more mobile.
• Eating like a champ. Will has tried sweet potatoes, avocado (overwhelming favorite!), squash, green beans, applesauce, pears, prunes, peas, bananas, and carrots. His least favorites so far seem to be applesauce and bananas, and his favorites are avocado, sweet potatoes, and squash. Mealtimes are lots of fun!
• Sleeping from 8pm until 7 or 8am, and just this week he has started moving from 3 naps a day to 2. He is still a short napper (usually about 45 minutes to an hour), but he has had a couple of longer afternoon naps this week. I'm hoping he will settle into longer naps as we get rid of the 3rd one.
• He is so interested in his toys now, and I love watching him play. He really prefers to have someone with him at all times, but he can now sit with a toy for a few minutes and entertain himself. This is a very helpful development for mom! Although I have become quite good at doing most tasks with one hand (making coffee, preparing meals for myself and Will, loading and unloading the dishwasher, etc), it is nice to have both hands every once in awhile! :)
• Will still loves being outside. He is such a boy, and wants to crawl around in the dirt already! I tried to take a few pictures of him outside today, and I couldn't keep him upright long enough to get any good ones. He was waaay too interested in the grass to sit and smile for the camera. I can't wait for cooler weather (and fewer mosquitoes) so we can spend more time outside.
• He seems to have quite a sense of humor. He has always been a smiley guy who is quick to laugh. This week, however, he has started to crack himself up! It's hilarious - he will be playing or moving around and will just start laughing. I love it.
• Even though I am a terrible singer, I have always subjected poor Will to my constant singing. I guess he has become used to it, and he actually seems to enjoy it. When he gets fussy, I can usually calm him down with the alphabet song, "if you're happy and you know it," or "the itsy bitsy spider." One of these days he is going to realize how off-key I am and ask me to stop singing, but for now, I'll just enjoy my captive audience. ;)
• He loves hanging out with his daddy. I have a feeling Will and Matt are going to have so much fun doing boy things together as Will grows up. He is so lucky to have such a great dad!!
• He is growing so fast! We are about to need to purchase the bigger size carseat, and I hate packing up his cute outfits as he outgrows them. I'm also getting sad just thinking that Will is going to inevitably outgrow the baby bjorn. We used the shopping cart seat cover for the first time at the grocery store last week, and he did OK with it, but the bjorn is still such a great way to run errands and take walks. I will admit - carrying 18 pounds of baby this way can lead to a bit of a backache, but Will loves it so much and is so good during errands that I don't complain! He gets excited just seeing me put it on - so cute! I'm going to use that thing until I literally can't buckle it around his chubby little body anymore. (I promise I am not getting kickbacks from the baby bjorn company for my constant praise of their product!)
• Will loves to hear himself talk, and we love it too! He makes the cutest noises, and it makes me excited for those first words to come out.

Here are Will's 7 month pictures. I may re-shoot some of these, as Matt informed me that I had the settings messed up on the camera, and several of my favorites ended up sort of blurry. But we did get a few good ones:

Monthly bear pic:

Shout out to Parker for letting Will borrow his little man sweater vest outfit - so cute!

Football season begins:

Having fun outside:

Today, Matt took us on a fun field trip. We got TC Shaved Ice (yum!) and went to the playground to enjoy our treats and play. Will had a great time. His favorite activity was swinging with dad on the big kid swingset. He was cracking up the whole time!

Will & mommy

Cute boys!

Such fun!

on the move!

this guy:

...is officially mobile! William made some legitimate crawling strides yesterday and again today. He still prefers the army crawl, as it is much faster, but every once in awhile he lunges into a real crawl for a few steps. (steps? not sure that's the right word there...)

I haven't been able to get a great video of this accomplishment yet. Will tends to get distracted by the camera, plus the crawling is still very sporadic. I'll post a video as soon as I get a good one. :) Way to go, Will!