I love being a mommy.

Tonight, I stood in a store and waited in line. I didn't have a chance to fix my hair again, so it was in pony tail. My sweet baby wrapped his little arms around my neck, squeezed tight, and patted me on the back of my shoulder. He moved to the other side, smiling, and did it again. And again. And again... When he would lean into me, my frizzy hair would tickle his cheek and neck, making him giggle. We came home, and I gave him a bath. He smiled as we went through our routine of washing his hair, lying down to wash the rest, rinsing his hair, and turning over to finish the other side. Giggling, he tried to drink the water, so I patted his mouth and told him "no." Of course, he did it again laughing louder and deeper each time. Dressing him, he giggles and sticks his piggies in my nose to sniff them. I tell him they are stinky. He giggles more when I pretend to eat them. He's almost dressed in his pajamas. He takes off as soon as he gets to his feet - smiling when I catch him. Now the footsies are on and zipped. He heads out of his room but turns around to stay with his mommy. We hold hands down the hall as he stumbles and leads with his right foot, left foot following behind. When it is time to go to sleep, I start to rock him, and he little head pops up. He sits on my lap holding my hands as we rock. We make silly faces at each other, and he gives me kisses - biting my lips and slobbering his little lips around mine. Then, he puts his little head on my chest and snuggles up before he lies down in my arms. He babbles at me and then sticks his fingers in my eyes, nose, and mouth before slowly closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep. Sometimes singing works, sometimes humming...Noise or no noise, nothing else matters. Tonight, I realized that the things I wish I could change about myself physically gave comfort or joy to William. He can wrap his little arms around my neck because I have it up in a boring pony tail; my frizzy hair tickles his cheek; my cushy arm provides a soft place to rest his head; and when he lays on my chest, I can feel his little heart beating next to mine.

I'm blessed to be a mommy. I never imagined I would have so many happy moments every day.

13.5 months: One year from William's Due Date

Mommy thought it would be neat to weigh William today (and wonderful if he was over 23lbs and could face forward in his car seat). Today, William was 22lbs, so we will have to remain patient. As of today, his vocabulary consists of...

• Da-Da
• Dog
• Book
• Ball
• Blueberry (what he calls both blueberries and grapes; it's not clear but it is what it is)
• Ba-Ba (bottle)
• Uh-Oh
• Up
• Down
• Bear
• I only get a "Mama" when he's upset, but he says, "Mmmm," from when we work on it.
• Of course, he barks because he loves Oliver and Ranger! He also sniffs when we ask what the Puppy Dog says and pokes out his tongue when he sees Ranger panting.

I hope I don't forget anything since I am using this blog to fill in his baby book :-)

Did I mention that he is amazing?!

Walking to Running

As of 8 am this morning, I think I can definitely say William has the running thing down. Now if I can only get to downloading all of the videos off the video camera to tape it.