Happy Things

You could say that I'm... a little bit stressed with trying to sell our house in a crazily short amount of time.

However, the fact that 2 weeks from tomorrow I will be on a plane with my baby and my Mom to Pennsylvania is getting me through.

We are so lucky - Esch's parents are looking at houses for us right now, and both the McCombies and Grims are making trips to Austin to help. My Dad will be driving with Esch, all the way from TX to PA. It's a trip we've done before (last time from NYC to TX!) and it is not fun! We are so, so thankful for our families all the time, and feel an extra surge of thankfulness right now!

To keep things positive, check out this happy little boy. These are just some "day in the life" shots of William from this weekend. Playing, eating, posing, generally just being a little lovie.


Action shot!


When W finishes a meal, we make the sign language sign for "all done" and clap... he loves it. So proud.


What's Daddy doin' over there?


He isn't pulling up on his own yet, but LOVES to "stand." This is a great lookout spot for a bird's eye view of Georgia.


Happily talking to Daddy.


Look at my crazy feet!


Bathtime used to be a calm, quiet time... now it's a crazy, fun splashfest. Love it!


He still loves his Jumperoo and gets lots of exercise in here each day. Love his little profile here.

And finally... THIS face.


Hope everyone has a great week. Please send us any spare Speedy House-Selling Vibes you may have.

We have news!

Wow.

No, William is not going to be a big brother any time soon.

No, we didn't win the lottery (but I sort of feel like it)...

WE ARE MOVING BACK TO PENNSYLVANIA!

Esch JUST interviewed on Friday, and a few days later, he has a job offer and a start date!

We will be leaving TX very suddenly, and while we'll both miss Austin, and more importantly the friends we've made here, it's time.

We want William to get to see his family, and we want them to get to see and to enjoy him! I can't believe that in less than a month, we'll be there.

Back to hills, mountains, the changing of the seasons... I can't wait!

This really is all happening very fast. We're putting our house on the market (if you're in Austin and know someone on the lookout for a 3 bed, 2.5 bath in Wells Branch, please let us know!), and I've given my last day at the office as July 9th. I proposed to continue telecommuting, so we'll wait to see what the answer on that is.

In the meantime, yikes! We have a house to clean. And show. AND PACK.

We have to find a place in PA.

We have to GET to PA!

Please bear with us if we're a bit scattered in the coming weeks. It's going to be crazy, but worth it!

It's a sad day...

One of the baby items that got the most use was his Little Lamb swing (thank you to his "Aunts" - Mommy's friends!)... now that he's 7.5 months old, I think it's time to retire it.

We have loved this thing. I recommend it to everyone.

Sadly, though, he is too big. He likes being active now, but when he needs to chill out for a bit, we sometimes still put him in the swing to play with the mobile and relax. WELL, this "relaxing" time now includes all kinds of gymnastic feats of squirming, reaching up and pulling on the mobile so hard that it stops the motor, leaning over to look for dropped items (where IS that frozen teether?), and almost tipping the thing right over.

We took a few action shots of the swing's swan song... looks like it will spend a few years in a closet until #2 comes to play.



And finally, one last parting shot: brand-new William in his brand-new swing.



I can't look at this too long, or I will cry!

Happy Father's Day

Both Esch and I have the best possible role models in our parents. Our Moms and Dads were (and are!) loving, patient, smart, fun... we are so lucky. I love watching Esch and William together, and today, of course, was especially sweet. I have already seen that Esch is going to be the best Daddy to William.

I could go on and on thinking about how "warm & fuzzy" it makes me feel to picture them on future Father's Days - fishing, playing catch, maybe a game or two of mini golf, bike rides. Yesterday, we had a simple, beautiful Sunday together.

William was excited to begin Father's Day, so he woke up with the sun at 5:00 a.m. Luckily after eating, he went back to sleep for a bit, so we all got to sleep in until 7:00 or so = a treat!

We made Daddy coffee, an omelet, and bacon - and couldn't wait much longer to give him his presents. As the two boys (who are starting to remind me of eachother more and more every day - I keep catching William in moments when he really looks like Esch. I can't decide if it's the eyes, the smile... or just certain expressions, but it's happening!) cuddled together in their PJs on the couch, I couldn't help snapping a few pictures. The first is of a spontaneous shadow-puppet show which took place in the (early) morning sun.





Daddy got two books for he and William to share, Daddy Loves Me and I Love My Daddy, which are both adorable. They read them together immediately.

We then gave Dad a gift that William worked really hard on: a triple frame with Baby holding the letters D-A-D for Esch's desk at work. (This literally was hard work for William... poor guy was teething and it took probably 100 shots to get 3 in which the letters were being held up visibly, with interruptions to curb the endless chewing). We think they turned out to be cute.



We spent the rest of the morning relaxing and watching golf and the World Cup - and thought many times of Father's Day last year. We were sitting on the couch watching this very same golf tournament, when a pregnant Me suggested that Esch try to see if he could feel the baby's kicks. They were just starting to be strong and noticeable, but I wasn't sure if he could. Sure enough, as soon as he put his hand on my belly, KICK! His first time feeling his son. A great Father's Day gift.

After W's afternoon nap, we went out for a Tex-Mex dinner, and later out for ice cream. It was cute - seemingly every other young Dad and his family in Austin had the same idea. Despite the heat causing lots of dripdripdrips, we enjoyed our treats outside in the sun with a VERY interested William.

We played outside at home for a few minutes before bedtime. Almost officially the first day of Summer, and a pretty evening in Austin.

















Tonight's books before bed were, of course, the new "Daddy" stories, which made for a very sweet end to Esch's first real Father's Day.

Take me Out to the Ballgame

After I finished working this afternoon, William and I went grocery shopping. He loves sitting in the cart. I think we could stay there for hours and he'd be happy - so much to look at.



He is always a hit - everyone stops to say hi to the little man. Once when we went, someone thought he was a girl, and he was very offended. Today he was looking especially handsome and manly in his little baseball outfit.

He wanted to practice his baserunning skills, so when we got home from the grocery store he practiced sliding into home:



SAFE!



I'm excited that we have decided on a date for William's baptism - it will be on Sunday, August 15th when we are visiting PA. It will be in the church that Esch and I were married in. I can't wait! Already picked out an adorable outfit (thanks, Nanna!) for him to wear.

We're planning on a week-long visit (his first!) to PA to spend some time both in Clarion and in State College. We're already halfway through June (how did that happen?) so it won't be too long. CANNOT WAIT to see everyone!

Seven month slideshow

Wow. It really seems as if I just posted his 6-month photos. This past month FLEW!

Took these pictures yesterday, on his 7-month "birthday." I went a little crazy and took a lot of them, so I have tried my best to edit... there are only 20 here, I promise.



He was having fun just playing happily by himself; I could have watched him all day.

Click for Slideshow

Sunday at the Zoo

Sunday morning found us without any plans (besides cleaning, cooking, mowing the lawn, etc... and who wants to do that?!), so we decided on the spur of the moment to go to the zoo!

Obviously Mom and Dad were more excited about this than William, but he actually did end up loving it! Georgia is his favorite thing on earth, so the huge animals at the zoo were equally amazing to him. He STARED at the tigers and bears especially.



This picture is a preview, but I couldn't share just one... the rest are viewable here (click the link): ZOO PICS!

Baby's first day at the zoo seems like a special milestone - I tried not to build it up in my mind too much, in case he didn't like it, cried the whole time, etc., but it really was adorable. He seemed to have a great time. It was pretty quiet at the zoo when we were there, and we had some of the exhibits to ourselves. Mommy and Daddy had fun, too, and capped the afternoon off with lunch at the Salt Lick (famous BBQ joint outside of town).

Since it's been so hot (100) lately, I thought we could try to teach W to use his first sippy cup with a little water in it. He barely gets anything out yet, but he loves to try. Dad showed him how...

Little Maniac

Lauren Luxton was visiting (this is almost a month old now, I think) and took this video of William warming up his vocal chords... get your earplugs ready!

Hot, hot, hot!

We had a nice long Memorial Day weekend - did some outlet shopping, went to the pool, and had a BBQ at our house on Monday. It was almost 100 degrees... yikes! William loved the new raft his Daddy got him (and Mommy likes it because it has a place for parents to hold on to so the little one is right there with you).





W was in "holiday" mode, as you can see here. He sat at the head of the picnic table and was relaxed, legs crossed casually and all. Ha!



This last picture isn't a very good one, but it makes me laugh. William was being very helpful and trying to show me his new teeth (yes, plural, the other front bottom one is about to come through, as you can see here)! You can enlarge the picture by clicking on it.