9 months...

Happy 9 months Will Baby! We love you and your happy self. 

i knew life was about to change when...

I get the looks in the grocery store and I know people are thinking, "bless her heart!" Translated from Southern to everyday, "Is she flipping nuts to have two that close together?" 

But really, having two only 19 months apart hasn't been that bad. Part of it is because we have spectacular children. But I think a lot of it is that we choose to proactively parent them. Before Will was born, we worked with CJ on things like:

1. "parking lot rules" - This means that when we are on a road or in a parking lot, it is nonnegotiable for CJ not to hold one of our hands. He even says "par lot rul mommy" or "par lot rul daddy" to let us know whose hand he wants to hold. He gets quite concerned going into school because there are so many kiddos not doing parking lot rules! Why we did it... Do you think I really wanted to chase CJ across a parking lot while holding Will? Nu-uh. No go. So he knows the rule, and we enforce it every. single. time.
2. "two hands on the car" When CJ gets out, he either crawls under Will's seat or walks around with me. He knows when he gets out of the car and I am getting Will, he has to have two hands on the car. It works like a charm. He stays right there, and I can unbuckle a wiggly little man. Why we did it... See the answer to #1 
3. CJ can eat in his booster chair or his chair in the living room. only. no exceptions. Why we did it... I didn't want food strewn about the house for Will to choke on.
4. CJ puts his cup on a table. Why we did it... Little boys get too excited playing and knock over cups, and little boys have too much fun to remember where they left said cup unless it is in a designated spot. I have two little ones y'all, do you think I have time to play hide-and-seek 95 times a day with CJ's juice?

Those are just a few of the things we tried to do BEFORE Will was born so our life, and CJ's life, and Will's life would be easier after he was born. It seem(ed)(s) silly to some people, but to us, on this side of two small men in our house, it was a great decision.

All that being said, it was easy to manage both of them. Really, I'm not joking. Going to the grocery store isn't that bad. The only time I leave them at home is when I need to get so much that there isn't room for all the groceries and them in the cart! Going out to dinner/lunch with them isn't bad. They are well-mannered because we have worked hard to teach them to be. At home, CJ loves to be with me. Given the choice of playing in the bathroom while I take a shower and get ready or watching Finding Nemo, CJ 100% of the time chooses me. And then will usually say, "Pay in bafroom firs, den watch fis mov." Translated, "Play in the bathroom first, then watch fish movie." And Will just stayed where you left him.

That was until about a month ago when I went to get him after a nap and I saw this for the first time. I knew our days were about to get a lot more active!

And then ON THE SAME DAY, he did this while I was changing CJ's diaper. I put him in baby jail because he has developed a love for the bathroom. He could scoot out of their room and around the corner to the bathroom faster than I could get CJ's diaper off. And there is just something about a baby crawling around on a bathroom floor that makes me want to vomit in my mouth a little bit.

The next day, Scott called me to see what Will was doing. He started over by Scott and cruised his way over to CJ's table.

Here's a view from Will's angle. Can you figure out what he wanted to get a better view of?

This man is determined to get what he wants. He loves the baseball bat on this toy and constantly pulls it off the shelf...

So no more just putting Will down and knowing he was going to stay there. He is still great in public. He is a great shopper... mostly because he likes to flirt with little old ladies. He is great at restaurants... because he gets to E.A.T. And at home, he is wonderful, but never still for more than a moment. He has a destination in mind, and he goes for it...

So when I saw him sitting up looking at me so cutely that first day, I knew we were in store for the explorer stage. I knew I was going to be moving hands away from light sockets. I knew he was going to pull up on the only semi-surviving plant in my house. I knew he was going to pull at CJ's art that is all over our lower kitchen cabinets. And inside, I'll admit, I wasn't ready for it.

But here's what I didn't expect. Now that he is semi-mobile and no longer just a lump sitting in his bouncy seat, he and CJ have a lot of fun playing together! It's worth it all when we get moments like these...

It's just a little glimpse into all the fun I know these two are going to have in the years to come. So yeah, life changed. But it is for the better. :)

why i love hardwood and my dyson...

First, I love my Dyson. If you know me, I'm pretty thrifty, and the though of paying the jaw-dropping price for a Dyson was too much for me. But then our friends who are just as thrifty as us sang the praises of their Dyson, and I was intrigued. If they though it was worth the money, there might be something more to this vacuum than just hype, I thought. 

But it was still too much. So when our old faithful vacuum died the death (literally in the middle of our house while I was using it), we had to do something. We tried a stick-vacuum. It didn't pick up everything. We tried a Shark that was supposed to have super suction power. It did. It was an intense  workout to push it on the carpet it had such great suction. But it's biggest drawback was that its exhaust was in the front of the unit so it just ended up blowing all the dust and dog hair everywhere. By this time last year we were into Black Friday weekend. So when we saw our Dyson 40% off with an additional 10% off military discount at Lowes (which is our favorite store according to our credit card), we jumped on it. And for the extra $50 or so, we even went for the ball, super-pet hair edition. I'm here to tell ya, it. was. worth. every. last. stinking. penny!

And just like I love my Dyson, I really love my hardwood floors. Growing up, we always had carpet. And while it was nice and plush, I don't think I can go back, and here's why...

Our house is roughly 1900 square feet. After a week of not vacuuming, it needed it. Badly. So here is what our super fabulous vacuum picked up on the hardwood part of our house.

The max fill line is about half way down the canister. So I would say it was about 1/4 full at this point.

In an effort to paint an honest picture, after I took the above pictures, I emptied the canister. Then I vacuumed the living room rug. It's a 10x12, so of the 1900 square feet in our house, it is only 120 of those square feet. Here is what I picked up...

Here is my little helper and a closer picture. It was above the max fill line. YUCK!

So that's my opinion. (1) The Dyson is worth it. (2) Carpet sucks every dust particle, bit of pet dander, hair into it and holds on. As long as we can afford the hardwood, we are sticking with it.

my day...

I don't know what you do all day, but I get to spend my day with these two. So really, no matter what you do, my day is better. Just saying...

this boy...

This boy...

LOVES

TO

EAT!!!

Seriously y'all! This little guy can kill some food. 

Even though he is almost 9 months old (let's not talk about that our I might cry), Will still doesn't have any teeth. It makes it hard to find things to feed him. But, as my mom pointed out, my granddaddy didn't have any teeth for many a year, and he ate just fine. :)

You name it, he'll try it. Don't tell my pediatrician, but Will has even had meat! Gasp, I know I'm not supposed to do that, but alas, such is the life of a second child. He's had chicken, hamburger, pulled pork, and turkey burgers. He loves it. He can also put away fruit and any carb you put in front of him. And just in case Scott ever wondered if Will was his, he loves cheese and hates veggies. A man after his daddy's (who takes his veggies every morning in pill form) own heart.

Now if I could just figure out why in the heck he's still in the 5th percentile for weight! 

eh-mo...

CJ has a new friend. He takes oh so good care of him. His name is Elmo. Or Eh-mo as CJ would say. While we were in Tennessee months ago, my mom showed CJ Elmo on his diaper. Since then, he loves him. In hopes that his new love of Elmo would spur him to use the potty, we even watched Elmo "Potty Time." Alas, CJ will tell you mommy, daddy and Elmo poop on the potty, but CJ and Will Baby poop in their diapers. Sigh... maybe someday. 

But I digress, here is our new buddy. My dad will recognize him as the Elmo he bought me while I was in high school. All good things come around again!

CJ likes to put Elmo in the high chair and feed him. And just in case you were worried about Elmo's safety, don't worry, he's safely buckled in his 5 point safely harness. CJ makes sure to get him in there good.

The other day, Elmo needed a nap. CJ got his pillow, blanket and nook from his bed and brought them into the living room. He giggled and said, "Eh-mo go seep. Night night Eh-mo. Luv ou." Then he said, "Eh-mo wate up. Have a good seep Eh-mo?" So stinking funny!

I just love how his (CJ not Elmo) little brain works!

will first trip to the beach...

Last year when we took CJ to the beach for the first time, he loved it. But even more, Scott loved taking him. I don't know who had more fun this last time, Scott, CJ or Will. I definitely have beach boys!

When we first got there, CJ was soooo funny. When we've been to the beach before, the water had been pretty calm. This time, there was a storm in the Gulf, so there were some decent waves. He was transfixed. People were laughing at him, because he couldn't stop staring at the waves. He was so distracted, he almost walked right onto a family's blanket. 

Will on the other-hand is our explorer. He wanted to get down and see what this sand business was all about. I'm not sure what he was thinking, but I'm pretty sure it went something like this...

"Oh this looks new and fun!" (We had lots of feet kicking at this point which is a good indicator of fun.)

"Whoa, what is this stuff?"

 "I don't really know what to think about this, but you guys all seem excited."

"I'm liking this a little more, but I'm not going to let go of my mom quite yet."

"I wonder if I can pick this sand stuff up."

"Dang it, it keeps getting stuck to my hands!"

"And my arms!"

"I wonder if this stuff tastes good."

"Nope."

"Oooohhhh look. That's fun."

By this point, CJ was over staring at the waves and was willing to take a few pictures with Will and PLAY!

I could go on and on about what a sweet brother he is, but these two pictures capture it pretty well. He's usually an excellent "sharer." He's giving Will sand, saying, "Here you go Will Baby." And I can't get over how he is always willing to give Will a good kiss. I'm one blessed mama.

Then we were off to play in the water. It was pretty cold due to the storm, Will didn't love the cold water, so he was content to play with Nannie and smile at people who walked by.

CJ and Daddy did get in for a little bit. The waves were pretty big, so CJ stayed about this close to daddy after one almost knocked him over.

Then CJ and Nannie played in the sand with their feet. They would wiggle their toesies down and then pop them back out. He would just giggle and giggle.

After a while, I had to take my littlest man under a pavilion to cool off. He (and I) were getting too hot. While we were gone, CJ had lots of fun playing with daddy and COUSINS  though.

And even though you've seen this before, I just couldn't not post it again! I see many, many more fun trip to the beach in our families future.