William is a Funnyman

You are going to have to bear with me on this one - I have lots of index cards and notes scribbled on pieces of paper to remind me of the interesting things that have happened.  

The Saturday after the WaterPark Extravaganza (more than a week ago) was also a big day in the Rumer Household.  We sold the Fire Truck toddler bed that William loved with all his heart.  We purposely sent William to play with Bill & Becky because we were afraid that seeing the bed leaving the house would traumatize him and we had been careful to avoid that by taking apart the bed during our lunch break.  Oh - I suppose this would be a good moment to mention that he is sleeping in a twin bed.  Did I mention that before?  I can't even remember.  Well, he is.  And the transition went as easily from toddler bed to twin bed as it did when he moved from crib to toddler bed.  I really think the key is completing the transition early.  That's just our take on the whole thing.  And I'm not afraid to say it out loud that I am incredibly proud of our little boy, who at only 21 months was sleeping all alone in a twin big boy bed.  He's a cool kid.

Armed and Dangerous.... with a bug zapper  :)

The funny part was that we were going to go pick him up as soon as the people picking up the bed had left, but silly boy went and fell asleep at 11:30 in the car with BeBe - and then proceeded to sleep for THREE HOURS. Guess between the Water Park and the outdoor Concert he was really beat.  Sam and I piddled around town for a little while, bought some things for the nursery that the Fire Truck paid for, and then went to B&B's to wait for William to wake up.  Yeah - we were waiting awhile.  

I'm sure there are bugs back there hiding behind all the doors we've taken down...

Saturday night we headed to a friend's house in Harris County for a yummy cookout with a lot of friends (and kids) that we never hang out with.  William had a ball playing outside and watching all the bigger kids goof around.  He was pretty content to play by himself - he wasn't quite big enough to run with the big boys - but they were so busy playing that they didn't notice the snacks on the table....  William didn't miss that one!  He gobbled up all kinds of yumminess.  And we brought 20 pounds of potato salad - and came home with 19.5 pounds.  Hilarious.  Good thing Sam likes squishy salads....

William's consolation prize for losing the fire truck bed (which he didn't even notice was missing) was getting a "birthday gift" early - the classic red Cozy Coupe Cruiser.  If we weren't eating or running errands he was in the car.  He watched cartoons in the car, he drove the car around the house, chilled and drank juice in the car.  And that was how it went for almost four days straight.  He immediately got in the car in the morning and as soon as we got home before we were really in the house - he was already in.  Funniest thing was when he would open the door and prop his feet up on top of the door so he could really lean back and relax.  

Watching Dirt Girl in the Cozy Coupe

We did manage to get him out of the car for a moment and went to the park in the morning.  But instead of swinging or playing on the slides, he chased birds for an hour.  He just ran back and forth across the playground chasing them.  He was absolutely convinced that he was going to be able to catch one.  

Totally chilled out.  He's got Hilbert, juice, and goldfish in there - he's set!

After nap, we went to the club for swimming with B&B.  (Goodness this was a busy weekend)  This year he is big enough to play in the baby pool all by himself....  Well by himself - meaning that we are all sitting on the edge and dive for him every time he loses his balance because he is JUST barely tall enough to breathe when sitting.  But he had a great time splashing and running all around in the water.  Several games involved him throwing toys in and out of the pool and climbing out to retrieve them.   I have no idea.  He did convince Grandaddy R to get in the big pool with him.  BILL. DOES. NOT. GET. IN. THE. WATER.  So that was a big huge deal.  Guess cute grandchildren inspire all kinds of things.  (slash - Bill can't say no to William..teehee)

Alert the Press!!  Judge Rumer is IN the pool!!!

And let me take this opportunity to give a big shout out to my very smart husband who suggested I check out KMart for a cheap swimsuit.  The pool was a bit spur of the moment - and this belly was not going fit into any swimsuit I owned - so I was in a bit of panic.  But I ended up with a really cute (plus size) swimsuit that covers the boobs, belly, and thighs and (I think) looks good doing it for much less than a maternity swimsuit would've cost us anywhere else.  So - Sam is brilliant.  Thankyou honey!!!

Playing Clinging to Momma!!

Back to the regularly scheduled program of cute little boy:  his newest way to entertain himself is to literally run circles around things.  I suppose it gets some of the energy out of him, plus, he probably noticed that we smiled a little bit more and laughed when he does it, so he just kept going.  But it's adorable.  And hilarious.  My kid is a comedian.  Or super hyper.  Who knows....

He "borrowed" the boat - he loved it so much - we bought him some mini boats at Target

He doesn't like them as much....

Well, after this very busy weekend, he asked us to go to bed at 6:40.  We just kind of looked at each other and then hugged & kissed him, and put him in bed with Hilbert.  Such a sweet boy.  A sweet TIRED boy.

In nursery news, we found the perfect stripe fabric for the nursery draperies, and I, being the super sewing rockstar - haha!, got both BLACKOUT lined panels sewn by bedtime on Sunday.  They are adorable.  Green, blue, and yellow stripe - absolutely perfect.  It's starting to feel like there are going to be two little boys in the room now.  (or I'm just really pumped that the room isn't a mismatched disaster...)  Either way - I'm so excited!!  Three more months - we can't wait!

Oh how I love his mess of curly red hair.  I really hate that he NEEDS a haircut.

Next up:  Memorial Day!!

Loves.

The official opening of summer

William's school has it's very own waterpark.  Which I am pretty sure is reason enough to pay outrageous tuition and to never, ever leave this place.  (the tuition is actually right on par with daycare every where else in Columbus, but gosh, it just feels high)  There are MANY awesome aspects to William's school, but we JUST missed the waterpark when he started school - so this was our first experience - and it far exceeded any expectations I might have had.  And William thought it was the greatest thing ever.  

AAANNNNNDDDD....he's off and running!

My favorite part was that Beach Day started at 3:30 and I could use some "Family/Education Time" to leave work early and go play with my kid.  I dropped off the cantaloupe with Ms Dot and then picked up my sunscreen & hat wearing little red head in his oh-so-cute octopus swim shorts and rash guard and out we went.  Sam couldn't get off as early as me - work is blowing up on him - but he came later.  And good thing - because otherwise we wouldn't have any pictures!!

Lots of water to stomp through!

There was lots of splashing and stomping in the little "stream" and eventually there was some running through the sprinkler spouts.  Of course, he kept grabbing my hand and saying Momma for me to go with him.  He was so funny sloshing his feet in the three inch deep stream and really wanted me to do happy feet with him. Good thing Sam had to run home to grab some shorts - so I had him grab me basically an extra outfit since we were headed to dinner downtown and the outdoor concert right after.  

The bigger the splash - the better it is!!!

He was also completely fascinated by the little "fishing pond" they had set up as an activity.  I think he might've even run off a couple times with a fish or two to let them fill up in the sprinkler spouts.  I would keep leading him to play with the water fun and he would keep leading me back to the fishing pool.  I bet neither one us understood what was so special about the other's activity.  ha!  

Playing in the little "sprinkler" with mommy

And he was loving getting to play on the playground with out a bunch of other kids getting in the way.  He slid down the slide and "drove" the wheel.  He ran and ran.  He was also really good about sharing and putting things back where they belong without being told sternly.  I was so proud when I told him a little girl behind wanted a turn and asked him to share - and he turned around and handed her the fishing pole.  Such a good boy.  I can't believe that he is learning how to share - when did he get so big?!

We LOVE William's giggles!!!

We could have played all afternoon I am sure.  I am actually going to speak to the director about the possibility of opening it on the weekends, either as a fundraiser for the teachers or the PPG, because I would totally pay $5 to come play in a clean, only TSYS children waterpark.  There is a waterpark up on the northside of Columbus, but I'm a little hesitant to try it out because I know it is going to be overrun with all sizes of children.  Most of which probably have not been taught to be gentle and watch out for little kids and will have parents that don't pay attention to them at all (just like at Lakebottom park).  And this new baby I'm growing is taking all the patience for putting up with that kind of shenanigans out of me....  we will see though.  What can it hurt to try it out once.....?  And there is a swimming pool - so at the very least, we can just float and splash in a corner.

Deciding whether to run through the "big sprinkler" or not - he did eventually go for it...

It was a wonderfully fun afternoon - many many thanks to the wonderful teachers and staff at the TLC - we appreciate everything you do for our little crazy button!

Loves!

Do you like it random?

I'm going to apologize in advance for this post - it's probably going to be all over the place.  Both my boys are taking naps and I'm thinking I might be able to squeeze some time out - but already I'm feeling random.  So - bear with me...

How can you not fall in love with this little boy every single day?!

Nothing amazingly adorable comes to mind when I think about the past week, but everything William does is so entertaining and cute and I want to smush his cheeks and hold and kiss on him all day.  Of course, this would be much easier to feel constantly if he would stop with the tantrums, but that's fine.  I know I've said this before, and I probably tell Sam atleast once a week, but I don't know how we got so lucky with such a sweet funny little boy.  He is an absolute doll.  And he has such a sweet tender heart.  He reminds me a lot of my brother Kalin.  Sweetest little brother ever, even now that he's all grown up....though - he will always be my little.  Anyhow - I'm already getting tangent-y...sorry.

William has developed a little shy streak.  When approached by other, slightly older, children (especially girls) he will put his chin to his chest and just stand there.  We were running around up at the big shopping area on Saturday, and he wouldn't look up until I told him it was ok and held his arm.  He still wouldn't play with her, but he did blow her a kiss while we walked away.  I really thought we were going to have to have a very serious 'stranger danger' conversation with him because of all his hugging of strange children, but maybe we can shorten that lecture a little bit now.

Waving to Mommy on his way back up the hill - this game is one of the few constants when we go to B&B's

He warms up to adults a little faster though.  We went to B&B's for dinner last night.  One of Becky's cousins is in Atlanta for train conductor training (seriously - how cool is that job?!!) and he came to Columbus to say hi.  Becky's sister Laura and her family (Big Charlie and son Ben) came over too.  William was caught off guard when he first saw Terry in the house, he knew he "didn't belong" so to speak, but after about 15 minutes - he was all giggles and playing with him just fine.  Same with Uncle Charlie.  We don't see them often, but he thought Big Charlie was hilarious.  And they happened to volunteer for free babysitting - so William might soon see more of them.

He was very excited (or outdone) with something about these flowers

We survived the week at school with no biting - big relief.  Wait - did I mention on here that he got bit two days in a row by the same girl while Sam was in Switzerland?  I can't remember.  Anyhow - short story just in case it's a repeat - we are pretty laid back parents in general - but two days in a row.  I had the Infant/Toddler director make an action plan by the following morning.  And I will say, that I know for a fact that there are parents at the school (to children in William's class) that would not have handled the situation the same way I did - Ms Toya and I can still look each other in the eye, be friends, and the situation wasn't a HUMONGOUS deal that needed lots of talking and aggressive conversations.  Just putting that out there for my own version of therapy.  Just saying.

apparently he's feeling a little devious as well...

We received the best compliment from Becky yesterday.  I'm not sure what brought it on, but when Sam and I stopped to think about what she said after dinner, we realized how nice it was for her to say to us out loud.  I don't remember verbatim what she said but basically that we are doing William a great service by the way that we dote on him, and laugh with him, and let him know that he can 100% trust us.  That his happiness and sweetness is a credit to our parenting.  Sam's sister Laura teaches PreK in a less fortunate school system and I guess has passed on entirely too many stories where children are not loved as much as we love William.  Which I just find sad.  When Becky said it to us last night we were on the way to putting on William's pj's, and as we walked up the stairs I told Sam - I didn't realize there was any other way to parent.  Aren't you supposed to love and dote on your children - aren't you supposed to think they hung the moon?  I guess too many parents don't.  I will never understand.

I'm pretty sure he wishes he could survive on spinach/artichoke dip alone.

The new baby I'm growing (haha - funny way to say that...but the whole thing is kinda amazing to me) is making me have terrible awful incredibly vivid dreams that interrupt my sleep.  It's not ok.  I sorta expected it because the same thing happened with William, but it is going to be bad news bears when the heartburn kicks in with it, not looking forward to heartburn again - ick.  I'll never get any sleep.  I was awake at 2:30 Saturday morning.  I did catch up on some awesome DVR and sewing the new baby a blanket (so cute by the way!).  I even made William pancakes for breakfast, which he gobbled up - and he doesn't do a whole lot of gobbling these days - so that was AWESOME!! haha!  Sam flat turned down pancakes in honor of ChickFilA breakfast later, and I'm not going to pretend that my feelings weren't hurt, but...........whatever.............haha!!

dancing with Grandaddy - he's got the spins down - he's good!

I'm starting to feel new baby Rumer a lot more during the day and that is fun but I'm pretty sure I've mentioned that a gbillion times already... sorry.  I did just realize this week that he will be here in 3.5 months.  September seems a long ways away until you say something like "Three and a Half Months" out loud.  Just so you know.  So I'm starting to get in freak out mode a little that the boys' room isn't even close to being done.  Yes, it is blue, and I accidentally ruined that surprise for Sam by forwarding him an email...(ugh, that made me mad) but almost nothing else in the room is done.  Yesterday, we got the twin bed that was Sam's set up (and cross fingers - William is napping peacefully in it right this very second - I hope that it sticks).  I think we might not even paint it.  It is a natural pine right now, which I usually CAN'T STAND, but I think it might look good au natural.  Sam keeps vetoing all of my creative mobile ideas for over the crib - so I don't know what to do about that.... and I can't find a lamp shade I like for the lamp I painted YELLOW.....

But we are going to make a large elephant picture for over the crib.  We definitely agree that we are in LOVE with elephants for the second baby.  I don't know why - but 1. they are cute 2. they make me happy and smile  3.  they are everywhere.  Seriously - I've talked myself out of buying the really cute knit elephant sleepers from Carter's about a dozen times in the past month.  I'm waiting until they are atleast 60% off.  haha.  - hopefully it will happen soon.  And I already bought some elephant ones from Target.  They were much cheaper (and had less available)  Oh - and a clearance Carter's elephant cardigan.  It's like a sickness.  Really.  And quite frankly - just animals in general are adorable.  It's really really good that the baby is a boy, and we already have a ridiculous amount of boy clothes, because otherwise there would not be a single valid reason for me to leave any store without all of the cute clothes.  Though, I have no idea if the cute animal and elephant stuff is even on the girls' side of the stores...oh well.  I'm really starting to believe that boy's clothes are cuter anyway.  Bet you never thought I'd say that!!! :)

Trying to convince him that his new big boy bed is every bit as good as the firetruck - and when I saw this picture - my only response was "WOW - I look pregnant!!"  To which Bill replied "well, yeah, you are!!"  23 weeks 2 days preggers and feeling every week of it - haha!

I'm thinking I've rambled enough for the day without talking a whole lot about little boys - I apologize for that as well.  I know that you don't really care what's going on in my head - you just come here to see the pictures of the cute redheaded boy and hear about all the funny things he says.  Oh, one more thing and on that note,  "All Gone" means what you think it means OR 'all done'.  He uses it interchangeably and usually when there is still food on his plate.  But also when he wants to get out of the swing.  Silly boy.

Loves.

Three is most certainly better than Two

Let me preface by saying - I am SOOO glad Sam is home.  Life is much better with my best friend.  And it goes without saying that it is a lot easier to keep up with tiny tornado when he is outnumbered.  Love you babe!

So the second week of Sam being a Swiss-man was a lot better than the first week.  I think William started to get the hang of it a little more and we survived with flying colors.  I'm sure that I still cooked dinner while holding him and that there were plenty of tears - but I remember it being better.  And I am going to stick with that story. It helps that Saturday was super busy with Chick-fil-a breakfast, Attic Sale rummage drop off, and a birthday party at My Gym for his favorite girl at school.  Chase all that with a late nap and you get me waking him up after 2+ hours to go pick up Daddy.  He was none too happy at being woken up from nap - but he got over it when he saw Daddy get out of the car.  There was no slow motion run across the parking lot, he didn't want to be put down, but it was like no one existed in the world besides his Daddy.  And from last post's picture - I'm sure you already knew that.  

The picture taken immediately before the "infamous" Mother's Day picture with Mommy - he wanted to stay with Daddy.....and Hilbert....and his blanket - we've created a Lovey Monster  :)

Sam was a bit in awe of how much he had changed in two weeks.  I didn't notice any of it until he starting pointing out things.  Like how much more he is talking AND is able to be understood.  Granted "omen et" equals "open it" and "dis" equals "Hilbert" (most of the time) but we are getting pretty good at understanding his secret language now.  He also says Dada and Momma with a lot more conviction now - which is perfectly adorable.  There is nothing better than "Hi Momma!!!" in the morning or picking him up from school.  I love it.  And he'll run to Sam when we get home saying Dada Dada Dada and gives him a big hug.  Thank goodness for this blog - so I can hopefully remember all of these priceless tiny moments.

Semi-ok Mother's Day picture - atleast William is sitting still

 Mother's Day was wonderfully lowkey.  William got up early - pre 7 o'clock - so Sam got up with him and I slept until 7:45.  Which is a feat in itself because William was so excited and screaming and laughing all morning. Apparently our walls aren't very thick... or he was doing it right outside our bedroom door.  Either way - I felt good to get to 7:45.  We went to Burger King for breakfast, with the idea of letting him run off some energy in the playground, but it was geared to older bigger kids - so that didn't work - and we ended up at the park to play.  Always fun.  (and we didn't have to run off any thugs, so that was even better)  

By this point, the curls have fallen out of my hair and it was too hot to keep the cardigan on, but I think it's a cute family picture - including the humongo 22.5 week belly... haha!

Then it was home for the boys to bathe and then off to Bill & Becky's house for some running around time and an easy lunch.  I made enough fruit salad to feed a medium sized army and William ran until he could run no more.  He refused to eat basically all day.  Which is neither here nor there - but I remember it - so there is is.  Even at Bill & Becky's he had very little interest in me.  He was still way too excited to have his Daddy home - so there are not any super awesome "I love my mommy" pictures.  Oh well.  I'll survive.   Smiling baby pictures are overrated.... right?! ha... yeah - I don't believe it either.  One day.

William insisted we take a walk up the road and he LOVED blowing the dandelions

I knew I should've made a list of all the wonderfully funny things he does.... OH! Yesterday, we needed to go grocery shopping and being the brilliant parents we are, decided to go at 5:45 to WalMart.  He was obviously hungry and singled in on the lunchable in the cart.  Of course, the only thing he saw was the super mini butterfinger.  We tried to get him to eat the turkey, cheese, and crackers first, but he was not buying it.  Finally, after about 10 minutes of solid tantruming - we give in.  Awesome parenting moment...I know.  So, we unwrap and give him the butterfinger.  He then decides that he must eat every last piece of turkey, while holding the butterfinger in the other hand.  All Sam and I could do was laugh in disbelief.  He was taking a bite into three pieces of turkey at one point - so apparently he did believe that he had to eat the turkey first - he just didn't believe that we would give him the butterfinger in the end.  Such a silly kid.  And - he put no less than 6 packages of freshly baked baguettes in our cart.  Kid is going to make us broke if we left the shopping up to his whim.

I love this little boy.  I'm calling dibs on all kisses!! ha!

And it's finally time for him to get another haircut.  It's been about 3.5-4 months since his last real one - and the curls are precious - but it's getting a little 'fro like on the top - so some of the length needs to go.  Or someone needs to show us how to deal with super curly hair!  We both have perfectly straight, easy to style, straight hair - it's been a learning process.  I am constantly reminding Sam not to touch his hair because the more you touch it, the frizzier it gets!  Anyhow - so that is on the agenda for this weekend.  I have every plan to keep as much of the curls as possible - I'm terrified that he's only going to have them for his wee-man years.  

You too Momma!!

In new baby news - I am good.  I am getting large but I am not yet miserable.  I did make the mistake of deciding to wear heels to work this morning.  I think I might just need to cut my toenails...but my toes were none to happy to be in 4"+ platform heels.  So, at lunch, it was back to basic black flats.  Which I think my back appreciated as well.  I can no longer slump without my back hurting - so atleast my posture is slightly improving.  And the new baby loves it when I eat lunch and dinner.  He goes all crazy flipping and kicking.  Wonderfully amusing.  Absolutely my most favorite part of being pregnant.  And I'm very happy that he is now participating in the daylight hours and not just the hours in the middle of the night.  My friend at work can't wait until the moving isn't so sporatic and is very pronounced - she's a belly toucher.   Apparently - this pregnancy - I am pro-belly touching...  We'll see how that goes... ha!

Driving his favorite blue car in the front yard - he even makes a fun Vroom sound to go with it!

I have the one hour glucose test next Friday - so everyone think good thoughts for me.  I would make a terrible gestational diabetic person.  I had a chocolate bunny for breakfast.  And before you judge - it was from Switzerland and it was the best chocolate bunny I've ever had.  Even better than the Swiss Chocolate Bear I ate for breakfast on Monday.  ha!

(I'm 23 weeks pregnant tomorrow - but this is the last belly shot we took - at this point it's still cute...teehee)

Loves.

Happy Mother's Day indeed...

I promise that this will not be the only thing you see/hear from Mother's Day 2011...

William did not get the memo that Mother's Day meant that he had to sit still, smile, and pretend to be happy in any and all pictures that his Momma wanted taken.

Loves.

Single mom for two weeks

Disclaimer - there are no pictures because the camera is dead and I don't have enough time to remember to plug it in.  I will go do that now....

Sam has been in Switzerland since Monday.  I know - I feel awful for him too.  I went into the week with a good attitude and a smile on my face.  And I think I've managed to keep them around for the most part despite the nightly tantrums, having to hold a 27lb toddler constantly, and extremely early wake up calls.

It's kind of pitiful really.  William is obviously much more aware that his Daddy is not around than the last time Sam had to travel.  (which I really can't even remember when that was it was so long ago...)  And he is responding with extreme clingyness.  I've had to do all the cooking, brush my teeth, and clean up the house with him on my hip.  Oh - and grocery shop.  That was fun, especially since I couldn't locate the pocket size kleenex tissues that I desperately needed for his teacher appreciation gifts.  I swear, we wandered the store for an hour before giving up, throwing in the towel, and going to Target.  Probably should've just started there but I needed bagels and other food type items and hate paying for it at Target.  anyhow.  I really don't mind holding him, it's just that he's so heavy.  My left arm gets tired.  And it's my strong arm from holding him for almost two years.  Oh well.  Guess I'll be even stronger after the two weeks are up.  Atleast on the left.

Monday night was especially rough for him.  He woke up at 3:00ish and absolutely refused to go back to bed unless I was holding him.  I tried three separate times to rock him and then put him down and as soon as I would lay him down he would freak out.  So he ended up sleeping in the bed on top of me.  He has NEVER EVER slept in our bed, but I had no idea what else to do.  And honestly, once he finally let me lay on my side holding him with his head on a pillow, I *might have* enjoyed it.  I didn't get a whole lot of sleep but when he woke up he looked at me, gave a big smile and a humongo hug.  What a great way to wake up!  And then on Friday night he got in bed with me at about 5:30 and at 6:00 gave me two big kisses on the mouth.  Such a sweet sweet affectionate boy.  I hope he never changes.

A fun part of being a single mom for two weeks, is I get to drop him off in the morning.  I'm pretty sure Sam doesn't have to go through a fifteen minute ordeal to get him settled and happy but I don't mind.  I was ridiculously early every day - so I had the time.  First, he wants to play with the blue car that apparently all the kids fight over.  Then he wants to go see Ms Carolyn, his old teacher.  They moved the room and it's now right across from his new room - he's loving it - and so are they! ;)   And assuming I get him to his correct room, we have to put his juice in the frig, Hilbert in his cubby, and he's usually off and playing with the trucks or fake food. A couple times he said bye and waved like it was no big deal, but twice he was upset a little.  Poor guy.

The most fun - is seeing him when Jude and his baby brother Noah come in.  William is ridiculously excited to see the baby and pats his head and talks to him and gives him hugs.  He's so sweet and tender.  I can't wait to see him as a big brother.  I anticipate he'll be insanely jealous but I'm also 100% sure we are going to have to tear him away from constantly hugging the baby.  I think he might be starting to slowly figure out that I'm pregnant.  If asked where's the baby? - he will pull up my shirt to touch by belly.  And he'll pat the belly and sometimes give it a hug.  So cute.  Or he's confusing the words baby & belly and has no idea what I'm talking about.  I like to believe that he's loving on his baby brother -so I'm sticking with that.

I did get Friday night off to have dinner with two girl friends while William went to B&B's to spend the night.  And I even let him stay over there until after nap.  I really missed my good morning wake up kiss and hug - but I got a lot done and even found fabric at a steal at JoAnn's for drapery panels and crib bedskirt.  Three dollars a yard!!!!!!!!!  I probably spent a gloriously quiet hour in there.  It was magical and oh so rare.

He was in a great mood when he got home and we played all afternoon.  He must have ran himself silly though, because he was getting fussy and clingy as early as 6:00ish, and was asleep with his head on my chest sitting in the rocker at 6:45.  He did scream when I put him in the bed, but that stopped in under 30 seconds.  And I guess if I had a choice, I'd rather sleep on mommy too - so I'll understand for another week.  I do kinda miss how easy bedtime was though but I'm sure when Sam is home things will go back to normal.

The funny part is that with Sam gone, I am being way too productive.  It'll be 9:00 before I've even had a chance to slow down and watch the DVR.  When Sam is home - the evening usually drags on - which is good for quality time - I just wasn't expecting it to be the opposite.  Though, I guess it makes sense.  50% less hands to do the normal work and I don't particularly want to sit too still because then I'll notice how quiet the house is.

I have a great surprise for Sam when he gets home - but on the off chance that he reads this post while in Switzerland I'm not spilling the beans.   But he's going to be excited.  And he's really good at guessing surprises so I'm not even giving a hint.  I bet he still figures it out.  Stinker.

Loves.

Easter

Easter was a super lot of fun this year.  William did actually notice that there were things in his Easter basket.  it took a little coaxing for him to not be so focused on breakfast, but once he saw it, he was all about it.  And lucky for us, he woke up early.  We were headed to early church, so it was in everyone's best interest for the basket to not go past 7:30 at the absolute latest.  And we made it.  Easy cheesey.  We were even early for church.  ha!

William was a pretty big fan of the chickie eggs - but I'm 100% certain it had everything to do with the gummie treats inside.  No idea why they needed to be lined up for him to eat them.  Candy at 7:15am. Brilliant.

Hmmm...what to play with next?

I've been trying to teach him how to puff his cheeks and then hit them with his hands to force the air out.

He thinks it's hilarious when I do it - but he hasn't quite figured out the part about blowing up his cheeks with air...  one day  

After church, we picked up William from the nursery.  He had insisted on wearing his "sun shades" into church, and apparently never took them off - because he was still way too cool when we picked him up.  I think he was a little traumatized from being dropped off to nursery, he didn't want to go in B&B's Sunday school room but he'll be fine.  He's just playing possum anyway I think, because he was playing happily by himself when I walked in the room.  After he charmed everyone in the hall with his curly hair, slick sun shades, and plain silliness - we went down to the garden for family pictures, like we do every year.  The garden is broken up with brick pathways and William thought they were made just for him.  He loves to "stay on the path" and he just ran up and down.  It was more than a little difficult to get him to stand or sit still to take a picture.  I think we eeked out some good ones though.... It was so much easier last year though...

I can't believe he's actually looking at the camera!

Could his eyes be any bluer?  I swear I didn't edit them.  I added some shadows because the picture was a little flat - but I didn't touch those baby blues!!  Such a beautiful boy!

Out of three tries, this is the best one.  And we've now decided that William looking at the camera, and god forbid smiling, is just a happy bonus - otherwise, we'd have no good pictures!

This type picture gets me every time.  So sweet.

We then headed home, so Sam and I could change clothes and William could hunt eggs!  At some point during the week, Lola had discovered that the plastic eggs held Reece's pieces and devoured about a third of what I had put together.  There were still PLENTY left for William to hunt in our tiny yard with his tiny basket - so no harm no foul.  We tried to get William to use a larger basket, but he insists on this one that my mom made.  Fine with me - just means that we have to follow after him because he wants to fill it up and then try and walk around holding it by one side...  He did pretty good hunting eggs - until he discovered there were candy inside of them.  And then it was over.  He just wanted to open them, spill the candies into the grass, search for them, and then he *might* have eaten them when mommy and daddy *weren't looking*.  Because who lets their kid eat candy off the ground?! ha!!  Anyhow - by the time he was done and we were changed and a bag full of toys, Hilbert, and snacks was packed - it was time to go to B&B's for lunch and playing.

10-12 eggs in and he discovers that there is something inside of the eggs

All egg hunting came to an abrupt halt at this point.  It wouldn't be Easter without a serious sugar high I suppose.

As soon as he got out of the car at B&B's he was off and running.  Bill and Tasha had literally just finished hiding the eggs - so immediately we handed him his basket and off he went.  He had the cutest habit of seeing an egg - pointing at it - and then running in the opposite direction to pick up another different egg.  It was hilarious.  Sam's uncle seemed to think that William had no idea what he was doing - I think he knew exactly what was going on and he likes to make people laugh.  Plus, he always came back and picked it up - it was just too exciting to pause for the moment to pick the egg up and who can blame him?! ha!  So he ran and ran and ran.  I swear, the kid doesn't know how to walk, he just runs.  We didn't even make it inside the house for the better part of an hour because he was so intent on playing.  And then he remembered that there was a riding firetruck - so we played outside some more.  He's getting really efficient at propelling himself on it too.  Guess he was just waiting on his legs to grow a bit.

Rumer Family Picture.  William smiled!!

Mini Rumer Family Picture.  William wouldn't even look at the camera.

It was a gorgeous wonderful weekend and a great Easter Sunday.  Couldn't have asked for more.

On a quick baby note - I got very seriously "punched" by the new baby late Saturday night.  Could not possibly be mistaken for anything else.  I was hanging out with a friend, much much much too late, and then out of nowhere got hit from the inside and it caught me super surprise.  She thought something was wrong by my reaction but I was just caught off-guard and a little shocked.  I don't remember so distinctly feeling William this early.  It was fun.  Kinda can't wait until it's a daily occurrence.  But by that point, I'll probably be whining about it a little... haha.

Loves!