Success!

We did it! I spent my first-ever night away from William this weekend. It was VERY hard to leave, but I went to NYC Saturday-Sunday to see my girlfriends. WW was a lucky boy and had a great day/night with his Dad, and I had so much fun with the gals. A perfect reunion! It was also fun to be back in the city. I can't wait to go with Esch and take WW with us.

There were babies everywhere in the city, and it was torture, but I had fun and survived. It was very, very strange to go to sleep without putting William to bed, and to wake up without the sound of the monitor and his little voice. I almost pushed people out of the way when I got off the bus; I could see our SUV with William in the back seat waiting in the parking lot(of course, I didn't really).

Here are a few pictures from the past week; I've been playing with the camera in manual mode, but now in black & white. It's a blast. I could (and sometimes do) take pictures all day every day. These are from my first day delving into B&W.

We're leaving Friday for a very big weekend in State College: first PSU game / William's first tailgate, AND Uncle Tib's wedding! Disclaimer in advance: William will be wearing seersucker. Be prepared for pictures.

Hope everyone has a nice week, and a great Labor Day weekend!

No words

C-L-A-R-I-O-N!

WW got to spend a wonderfully fun long weekend in the Land of C-Town, his Daddy's childhood home. Not only did he have a great playdate with some of his Daddy's friends' babies(see pictures!), but he got to see his Gula and Grandpa's house for the first time, AND spent a night with Aunt Erika as his babysitter while we went to Gretchen and Randy's beautiful wedding! (Side note: first non-grandparent babysitter... great job, Aunt E! This crazy Mommy felt good knowing he was with you!)

He also had a party introducing him to Clarion society! What fun to meet Grandpa and Gula's great friends, AND Aunt Betty and Uncle Wally, Aunt Barb, Uncle John, Aunt Mike and Uncle Dan. It was such a nice time for us all. Another reminder that it is SO GOOD to be back, closer to our friends and family.

W enjoyed motoring around the house, playing with his grandparents and Aunt, and even got to go to the river house. A successful weekend all around! Can't wait to come back. Perhaps for William's first Autumn Leaf Festival?


At the river with Gula.


Loving Grandpa.


Babies, babies everywhere!


With Aunt Betty, meeting Baby Sarah for the first time. They are only about a week apart!


Eating in the beautiful high chair that Gula refinished for him... it was Esch's as a baby!

P.S...

PSU that is!

While we were in State College this weekend we made a trip to the Lion shrine to get William ready for his first full PSU season. He was only around for the Michigan State game and the bowl game last year, so he told us he's very excited for 2010.

Unfortunately it was Summer graduation, so there were 30-person lines at the statue with grads and their families. I would have liked to have taken my time and used another camera lens/played around with better shots, but we had to take our (quick) turn.

In any case, here are W's debut pictures as a true Nittany Lion fan!

William's Baptism

This Sunday, William was baptized at Grace Lutheran Church in State College, almost exactly 3 years after Esch & I were married there.

Uncle David, Uncle Andrew, and Aunt Erika stood up there with us as W's Sponsors. It meant a lot to us! Thanks to you three.

He was so good during the service, and looked adorable in his little outfit (if a proud Mom says so herself). Nanna was so generous and hosted an incredible brunch afterwards. Thank you so much to our families for sharing this day with us!







More photos online (click here).

9 month pictures

Here's a 2 minute slideshow:



Most of his days are spent crawling around at 100 mph, so it's hard to capture any good pictures... it's a rare moment when he holds still (and of course we wouldn't have it any other way)!

Below are a few examples of W in action, early in the morning of his 9 month birthday. The last one is the view that is now most often seen around here!








Bye bye!

9 months old (sniff, sniff!)

We've had a fun past week. On Wednesday the 4th, we celebrated our 3rd Anniversary by going out to dinner. William came with us and was a VERY good boy. Instead of worrying about him crying and disturbing other diners, we actually have the opposite problem - he's SO happy and excited to be sitting up in a high chair in a new place that he SCREAMS in delight the entire time. We had a nice time but were quietly "Shhh"ing him for a good portion of our meal. Luckily while it was a nice restaurant, there were other families with kids there and we tried to get in and out quickly!

That same day happened to be the exact one which marked William's "in and out" day. He was born at 38 weeks and 2 days, and on our Anniversary, he was 38 weeks and 2 days old. When asked what he thought about his two different experiences - "baking" and then being out in the big world, William said that he's getting used to it "out here," and that he can't wait to continue exploring. (Actually, he said "Gah, gah, gah. BA!")

This weekend was Musikfest in Bethlehem, which neither Esch nor I had heard of, but is actually a huge festival - we missed buying tickets for the bigger names' concerts (Norah Jones, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Heart, Doobie Brothers, Styx, Blue Oyster Cult, and my favorite band of late -thanks to Johanna- The Avett Brothers). However, we went over to walk around on Saturday and had a great time. There are plenty of free concerts on 10+ stages. We found a fun cover band playing everything from The Stones to Van Morrison.

I decided this past week that it is high time I venture off of "Auto" mode on our nice camera, and begin learning how to shoot in "Manual." So off I went, with nice lenses in hand, trying my best to figure out f-stops and shutter speeds. I think I got a few decent shots for my first try (can you tell the difference?).

Here are W and his Daddy enjoying Musikfest. William was really singing (i.e. screaming) in the first one! Apparently he likes Tom Petty very much. It was hilarious!









The next day, we made two big purchases - one much more fun than the other. A BIKE for me (we are also in the market for a baby trailer for the bikes, so we can go on family rides on some of the many trails in the area), which I am very excited about, and a baby gate for William. Poor little man. He looks like a little jailbird looking longingly into the kitchen/stairway area where he is NOT allowed.

I plan on doing William's monthly photo shoot today, so I will post a few pictures of our 9 MONTH OLD boy tomorrow.

No, no!

When my brother David was little, he thought for a period of time that our dog Carly's name was actually "NO." Poor Carly was a bit... special, and was always getting into trouble. All we ever told her was "no."

I keep thinking of Carly lately, as suddenly (An overnight phenomenon! It happened when W started crawling really well) I find myself using this word a lot. But not with the dog - she is an angel. William Wesley is getting into EVERYTHING!

I probably could have posted these photos alone to speak for themselves. Without further ado, here we have WW in several "No no!" locations, all within a 2 minute (no joke) timespan. Ohhhh, dear.


"Oooooh!" Says William. "NO NO," says Mommy.


This area, fondly referred to as the batcave, is a big draw. We make a beeline for this spot time and time again.


There are FIVE windows with blinds to pull on in this room! Who knew that blinds were literally the most fascinating thing in the world to an 8.5 month old.


Blinds, shminds! DOG BOWLS! Glorious!

"Oh, Canada!"

We had such a nice time at the lake! We were there Monday-Friday, and we had so much fun with everyone. We really missed Daddy, though! There are lots of photos on Facebook, but here are a few (click to enlarge):



It was hard to leave and the weather was gorgeous, but William was ready to come home to see his Daddy, and show him something very important. He's now crawling! He'd been taking one or two steps for WEEKS and we kept thinking that surely any day he would take off. Finally he did... and he's now all over the place! It's adorable, and he's very proud of himself. Video to come soon.

When we got back home, Grandpa(McCombie) arrived, and Aunt Erika and Gula came the next morning! They all babysat W for EIGHT hours while Mommy and Daddy went to Harrisburg to visit friends. He had a great time playing and visiting. What a lucky boy to see both sets of his grandparents in one week! We're so happy to be back in PA, and we can't wait to see everyone again in 2 weeks for his Baptism.



Off to babyproof this place!