Christmas 2011

WARNING- very long post with lots of pictures...you may want to get a snack.

First of all, wow- Christmas with a toddler is completely different! And by 'different', I mean: exhausting, stressful, incredibly fun, hilarious, messy, etc. but I wouldn't want it any other way. We are so blessed to have amazing families and the opportunity to spend time together. 

Our Christmas festivities began on Christmas Eve. I took Will to communion at the church where I grew up. I knelt with Will at the altar and took communion while the pastor prayed for our family, calling us by name. Such a special experience. I look forward to doing this each year. 

After church, we went to Jeff's parents' house, aka Mimi and PawPaw's. The immediate family gets together every year for dinner and presents. I have several pictures from that night:

Will was pretty excited to see everyone 

(and yes, not only is he walking now, he is running- Lord help us)

 The first gift of the night

Isn't that rocking horse adorable?? I know one little guy that thought it was pretty amazing :)

I got a quick video of him riding- he caught on pretty quickly

And more running, in new Christmas PJ's by the way

While he wasn't running or opening gifts, he decided to do a little rearranging of the furniture

And then the picture with all the grandkids. 

Attempt #1:

"Let's see if he'll sit on the rocking horse"

 Nope.

Attempt #2:

"Ok, we'll just let him sit on the floor"

Nope.

 Attempt #3:

"Aha! One of those chairs!"

Priceless.

When you look away for just a minute, he disappears. Never good.

Little stinker snuck into the bathroom to play the game "How many things can I throw in there?"

Luckily, he only got 1 before he got busted.

Tried to get a picture with PawPaw, a little blurry

The boys playing with their remote control trucks (which Will found pretty interesting, too)

One of the cousins got a Wrestle Mania ring and a couple wrestling men...Will threw a Ninja Turtle in there for good measure. He wasn't quite sure what to do at first, but.....

...daddy swoops in and saves the day! He is teaching Will the proper way to use those guys.

I see lots of these moments in our future. This makes my heart happy :)

You may not be able to tell from the above pictures, but our little man has been one sick baby the past few days. We finally went to the dr today (Rapid Care because pediatrician was not open....NOT 'rapid' at all, by the way). Double ear infection and a cold. Bless him :(

And now, moving on to Christmas Day. He did sleep in those adorable pajamas, but vomited all over them first thing Christmas morning. So we had to settle for snowmen pj's- still pretty cute :)

Jeff and I are calling to him "Will, come in here! Look! Oh boy!"

And he's thinking, "What is going on in here?"

New books and a puzzle (this teacher sure is happy...haha)

giving the puzzle kisses :)

He also got several other things, one being one of those expandable tunnel things that he can crawl through. I thought it was a brilliant idea. However, when I took it out of the bag, it flew open and scared him to death. It took until tonight before he would go near it. He crawled through it though, finally, and discovered that it was pretty cool.

After eating breakfast at Mimi and PawPaw's we then went to my parents' house for brunch around 11. 

Will got a cute puzzle

and this tricycle. He hopped right on! 

He hasn't quite figured out that it has wheels, so he just walks with it for now. But either way, he had a blast :)

Then he remembered one of his favorite things to do while at Nana and Grandpa's house:

We tried to get a family photo by the tree....semi-successful, considering we had a sick, over-tired baby on our hands

We went back to Jeff's parents' house that afternoon for the big family dinner. I didn't get any pictures. Will was either asleep, or not a happy camper. He then proceeded to sleep for 12 hours last night.  Much needed sleep for our little buddy. 

Merry Christmas!