18 months!

Guess who is 18 months old today?!

Once again - getting a picture of Will and the bear was next to impossible.  He doesn't love sharing his chair with anyone, but definitely not with Mr. Bear!

Still pretty cute, huh?

This month has been lots of fun, although it is SO HOT here that we're getting a bit bored with our indoor toys and activities.  At 1 1/2 years old, Will is hilarious, precocious, strong-willed, smart, and determined.  The doctor best described him on our little notes page from Will's 18 month check up:

You can almost see his stats on the page.  Here they are:

Weight:  25 lbs, 7 oz - 48%
Height: 32 3/4 inches - 70%
Head: 19 1/4 inches - 75%

This month, Will has added lots and lots of words to his vocabulary {gotta watch it - he will repeat anything!}, and he's getting very good and letting me know what he wants by telling me.  We have also worked really hard at helping him understand that "please" is the magic word when you want something.  He's great at it now, probably most especially when requesting his absolute favorite food of the moment, peaches.  It's been a tough balance to reinforce "please" when he uses it, while not allowing him to eat peaches 24/7!!   This morning, Matt prompted him to say "bite please" when he wanted some of Matt's breakfast, and it was so cute to come in and hear him saying a little phrase like that!  Sweet boy!

We've been working on colors this month, and he can identify several.  However, even if he knows the color, he will almost always guess orange first, and then when asked again, he'll give the correct answer.  :) Silly boy!  If he doesn't know the answer, he usually guesses in this order {his favorites}: orange, green, and then purple.

One of my FAVORITE new developments of the month is that I get a hug and kisses before nap and bedtime!  LOVE LOVE this.  Will also has gotten really good at blowing kisses to people, which is just about the most adorable thing ever.  {He is still pretty slow to warm up to new people, but he loves giving them a high-five or blowing a kiss once he decides they are OK!}

Will still loves his books, and he also LOVES puzzles!  His favorite puzzle right now is one that has lots of little vehicles.  He loves to take them out, and then tell me what they are {and make the corresponding noise if there is one} as he puts them back in.

reading next to the puzzle...his favorites!

Will had his third haircut the other day.  Thanks to Mimi for saving us trips to the kid haircut place!  I'm not going to say that Will LOVED it, but he hung in there!  :)

I'm sure I've mentioned this previously, but when Will is tired, shy, bored, or nervous, he still does his signature "thumb suck/ear pull" move.  I thought I should document it with a picture:

Will is super duper active {and has no fear of things like climbing, falling, running into the street, etc}, which can be exhausting at times, but he really couldn't be more fun!!  I just love that I get to play with him all day!   Happy 18 months, Will!!

ehhhhh-neeeeee!!!

Super find at Target today!  Many of you may be aware that Will LOVES Ernie right now.  You might have also noticed that most Sesame Street stuff is geared towards Elmo.  And I don't blame them.  Elmo was always my favorite too.  However, lately I've been on the search for an Ernie toy of some kind for Will, and until today, I hadn't found anything great.  And now, thanks to the best store ever {Target, duh}, we are the proud owners of a talking, singing, counting EHHHHH-NEEEE doll!  

Checking him out for the first time out of the box:

It's really him!

 {please don't judge the diaper on the floor.  it's clean. and it has Ernie on it.}

Kisses for Ernie!

Happy boy!

night night

Just had to share a little tidbit from our day today.  Sometimes lately, when we're playing on our big bed, Will will put his little head down and say "night night."  So cute - although he then pops right back up and gets back to playing.  Today during his nap, he woke up about an hour and a half in {which I initially was not excited about} and rolled around for a few minutes, and then laid back down, said "night night," and went back to sleep!!  

Love it!!!

comment away! maybe?

OK, so clearly I should be sleeping right now.  I just got back from a busy weekend of late nights and whatnot.  But I am instead messing around with the blog.  And I have found so many awesome updates that make things like adding pictures so much easier - how long has this stuff been on here and I didn't know?!

And also...some people have mentioned to me that they can't comment on the posts, but some can.  And I didn't get it.  Usually I would just respond with a shrug something explicit about blogger.  Ah, ahem, er...maybe it was my fault?  As I was clicking away to see what I could customize on the layout, I found a comments tab {second one, clearly marked, very visible, but whatev...} and I was able to change a setting that maybe will fix the comment problem!  So if you've had trouble in the past, will you try now?  See if it works?!

Oh, and also, I wish I could go back and make all of my previously uploaded pictures wider now that my updated settings let me put in larger pics.  Just sayin'.  So to give you an idea of the kind of fun huge pics you'll see in the future, here you go:

oh NOLA - we miss you!!

love a girls weekend!

What fun - I have just had two girls weekends in a row!! Although I missed my boys both times I was gone, I definitely enjoyed hanging out, relaxing, and celebrating with the girls this month!

First up - the annual girls weekend with my college girlfriends. We have done this for several years in a row now, and I look forward to it each summer. This year we opted for a little more luxury and a bit less lakewater, and stayed at the fabulous casa de Jackson {aka Megan's in-law's fabulous house in Allen}. We layed out in the pool, played some games, enjoyed dinner out, and had a great time catching up. I love my girls! And apparently I was too busy relaxing to take ANY pictures. So I swiped the only two we ended up with from Beth Ann's facebook page. Here we are at Mi Cocina!

Next up was Blair's Bachelorette Bash in New Orleans!! We just got home last night, and although I think we're all a little bit sleepy, we had A BLAST!! {and i did waaay better at taking pictures this time!} We had such a super fun group of girls!! Here are a few of the pics.

just arrived in NOLA!

opening our fun gift bags in the house - Kristen made us matching shirts!

getting the weekend started for our beautiful bachelorette with a shot

first attempt at a bridesmaids picture - not so successful

there we are!

BRIDE!

bourbon street

trying to take a pic with the human hand grenade without having to give him money :)

testing out the new Chi O hand sign. we were not fans...

matching shirts!

mmmm...cafe du monde

loved hanging out with Kristen!

Blair's lingerie shower

with the beautiful bride!

Blair playing the uncomfortable game with her spectators while opening her gifts ;)

Brennans!

James, the bachelor at the next table

Blair helped Alfredo make the bananas foster

dancing and playing instruments with the band at Maison

just a little dance party on the street. really, we will dance anywhere.

ending the night with lucky dogs!

What a fun two weekends!! And for those of you who are concerned that Matt is missing out on all the fun, don't lose any sleep over it. He will be partying in Vegas with Blair's soon-to-be-husband next weekend. I have a feeling we won't have as many pictures from that trip, ha!

Love you girls!! Can't wait for our next adventures!

look what made a comeback!

the surprised face!!

I sure do love this little boy!

17 months!

17 months!

If you notice Will's hand on the back of Mr. Bear's head in the first picture, you might already be guessing his goal.

It was this:

and ultimately, this:

It's almost impossible to get a 17 month old to sit next to a bear, look at the camera, and smile! Letting him eat a book helps...

Uh-oh...learning new moves.

Our sweet boy is 17 months old! He is 100% keeping me on my toes these days. He runs around all day, looking for "no-nos," and picking up toys and household items and moving them into new, usually inappropriate, places. :) However, we are now working on the concept of putting things back into their places, and he loves it! {for a little while} Will really responds well to praise, loves hand clapping {his or ours}, and saying "yay!" He actually woke us up this morning by yelling "YAY! YAY! YAY" from his crib. Not a bad way to wake up! {although I wasn't feeling quite as perky}

Will is quite a little parrot these days. I'd say one of the most notable differences this month is that he will often repeat an unfamiliar word after the first time he hears it instead of needing to hear it several times. He is also getting better at pronouncing things, although he still throws out a lot of gibberish.

After our trip to Miami, we had a few days of what I like to call the "terrible twos preview." I'm not sure if it was because we abandoned him for a few days, or because of the FOUR molars coming in, or just a little fussy phase, but we had quite a handful! This week has been much much better, so I'm hoping it was the teeth. I'm not ready for misbehaving yet!

This month, Will has really developed a love for all of the Sesame Street characters. He isn't all that interested in watching the show {doesn't really get into any tv shows yet}, but he knows all the characters from his books and his diapers. He's actually a little displeased with Pampers right now because in our newest box, the designs have changed, and Ernie is no longer featured. Ernie is his favorite...so he repeats "EEEEhhhh NEEEEEE" over and over as he pulls every diaper out of the diaper caddy in hopes of finding his friend on one.

Peek-a-boo is still probably Will's favorite activity, but now we can make it more of an active game. He loves to run around the house chasing or being chased, and yelling "BOOOOO!" So cute! He also loves playing with daddy after work. They have so much fun together, and since he is in a bit of a mommy phase right now, it gives me a much needed break at the end of the day!

And finally, this month, we have welcomed a new look. It's this one:

Most of you have probably already seen this in person, as he gives it to anyone and everyone these days! Ha!

Thanks for keeping us entertained, Will. We love you!!