Project 365 Week 2

Here are the pictures from this week:



May 19: Look Ma, no hands! Will plays with his new sippy lid. Love the fish lips.



May 20:My sleepy boy in his pirate pooch pj's. This is the day he decided to test out his teeth on a playmate at daycare. :-(


May 21: You want some of my sweet potatoes? I'll take care of the camera while you eat.


May 22: My little reader. This is Wake up, Sleepy Bear, a book my mom got him for Valentine's day last year (before he was born). The illustrations are just beautiful.


May 23: Ouch! 1-year vaccination time. Will was so upset at the pain that his face turned purple in a silent scream before he took a breath to let his second scream go. Then, on our way out of the office, he spit his yogurt melt at the nurse because she hurt him. Purple spit flew everywhere. I think it was really a half-sneeze, but with his temper (one trait he unfortunately inherited from me), who knows?


May 24: Worn out after a long day of play. After his day at the doctor and his vaccinations, the Academic Decathlon kids came to our house to throw my dad a surprise retirement party. The school isn't doing anything because he officially retired in 2002 and has been teaching part time ever since. Will, of course, had to provide the entertainment. Then Saturday, we went to Denton and tooled around, so that totally disrupted Will's nap schedule. We bought the neck pillow for long car trips, but he won't keep it on unless he's asleep when we put it on him.


May 25: It's a shame he looks nothing like his daddy, no? If I hadn't carried him, I'd swear he'd just spawned from Rolf's head. Here are my boys enjoying the Dallas World Aquarium (see previous post for more details). I love this picture.

Aquarium Trip (and post #100!)

We went to the Dallas World Aquarium this morning with friends of ours and their little boy. Here is the resulting scrapbook:

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Project 365 Week 1

I know I said I would post these on Sunday, and I know this is the first week and I'm already late! We went to a looong retirement celebration for our former English teacher (and my current department chair), and then we went to eat with one of our good friends we saw at the ceremony. So, without further ado, here are the pictures from my first week of Will: Project 365.

May 14 - a sleepy birthday boy

May 15 - I wanna play with the camera!


May 16 - Oooh...look...what's that on the TV?


May 17 - Lazy Saturday morning playing with the activity table.


May 18 - You have GOT to be kidding me...

Scary

A fairly severe storm rolled through the Metroplex last night, which is pretty common this time of year. Around 11:30, Rolf got up to check on Will, making sure the storm wasn't disturbing him. As he was getting back to bed, the windows lit up red and thunder shook the house simultaneously. It was the loudest thunder I have ever heard and the brightest lightning flash I've ever seen. It was even brighter and louder than when lightning struck the corner a block from my house when I was a kid. Convinced that one of our trees had been hit, Rolf and I leaped from the bed, grabbed the flashlight, and checked out our front and back yards. Amazingly, nothing was showing any signs of damage. More amazingly, our power was still on. Most amazingly, Will didn't cry. MY heart was pounding for a good half hour. I checked on Will before I climbed back into bed, and he was lying there, eyes wide open. I tried to leave the room, but he started crying. I gladly scooped him up and rocked him. It calmed both of us down enough to sleep.

I'm usually a big storm watcher. I guess I got that from my dad, who, when the tornado sirens went off, stepped outside to watch the sky. I love my covered patio because I can stand outside and watch the rain and the wind. I am like Mrs. Whatsit from A Wrinkle in Time...wild nights are my glory. However, that particular lightning strike? I could do without another of those for quite some time.

Time is a Cruel Prankster

Well, we've reached another marker. Today, at precisely 4:34 PM, Will turned one year old. It has now been longer than a year since I have been pregnant. What a weird thought, especially since it still seems surreal to me that I ever was, indeed, gravid. That's such an odd word. I never felt "laden" or "burdened." Pregnancy was the most joyful time in my life. Just anticipating the moment I'd ached for for over five years was bliss. Waiting those few seconds between the time the doctors and Rolf said, "He's here," to the first cry Will let seemed to last five minutes, but that little cry was the sweetest sound we'd ever heard. Rolf cried. I cried. Then Will didn't repeat that feat for a while. I was terrified. I couldn't see anything beyond the big blue surgical drape they had up between me and my incision. Rolf assured me that Will was fine. He was checking everything out in amazement. Even the nurses down in the nursery commented on how sweet he was and how he didn't put up a fight. He was too intrigued by what was going on around him. Rest assured, he has since learned to assert himself. Sometimes too well.

It doesn't seem like Will should be a year old already. Six months, sure, but a year? You have to be kidding. It has been a wonderful year. A year of little sleep, of a lot of messes, of tears, of laughter, of worry, of pride. I've watched my little man grow from a squinty, squishy face peeking out of a burrito-wrapped hospital blanket to a bright-eyed, inquisitive, silly, smart, walking, babbling little boy. Several weeks ago, I set the alarm on my cell phone for 4:34 this afternoon. When it went off a few minutes ago, I cried. Sometimes I look at Will and marvel at this little being, this miniature human, and I can't help but swell with pride and think, I helped make that. People stop us all the time to comment on how cute he is. The other night at the grocery store, a woman came to us from the other side of the produce department to tell us that Will had a perfectly shaped head.

I am going to start a Project 365 of Will so I can keep better track of this second year of his life. Don't get me wrong, the advent of digital technology has made it possible for us to have over 1000 pictures of his first year, but there were a few months that we didn't record as well as others. My goal is to take a picture each day from his first birthday (today) to his second. Then I'm going to upload them to Shutterfly or Snapfish and order a book that chronicles his progress. I will post Will's Week each Sunday night. That's my goal. If I don't, somebody get on me to do it. Please.

My Little Will Burrito

The Birthday Boy

Will's First Birthday Party

His birthday isn't until Wednesday, but the par-tay was this weekend. We had a lot of people show up. Everyone was so generous to our baby boy. Despite the hot and humid Texas weather (90+ degrees yesterday, but nice and cool today, of course!), I think people had a good time.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

My Handsome Little Man

He looks like a miniature version of his daddy.

I'm Walkin', Yes Indeed...

Okay, so he's not exactly truckin' across the room yet, but he's at least getting the courage to take a few steps at a time. I'm so proud of him. He's such a little perfectionist that I didn't know if he would be walking by his first birthday. He seems to wait until he has everything down just so before he tries a new skill.

He gets so excited and he kind of flings himself at me toward the end, but considering we were alone and I had to get him with the camera and catch him, it's not too bad.

On a personal note, both Rolf and I are wiped today because we stayed up past 1:30 this morning to see the Stars eliminate the San Jose Sharks from the playoffs. The Stars are defying their critics. Let's hope we see them perform well against their next opponent - the Detroit Red Wings. Go Stars!