Thirteen months old

This past Saturday Will turned 13 months old.  So far this month you have had a few milestones.  You have completely stopped breastfeeding.  You are drinking whole milk and water out of you sippy cups (we finally found 1 type you would take--so I bought about 6 of them at Wal Mart).  You still eat baby food but we have introduced quite a few 3rd foods and a lot of table food over the past month.  Your favorite food to eat right now is probably "square" cheese (American). You get so excited whenever you see it and are very impatient for me to get into small enough bites for you to eat.  You also are really enjoying whole bananas.  Another favorite food of your this month has been pumpkin muffins--you can eat a whole one on your own:-)  You are wearing 12-18 month clothing--some of the pants are a little long but most everything else fits you.  You have moved up to a size 4 diaper and are wearing overnight diapers at night. You are still not sleeping through the night--but now you wake up and want to get into bed with daddy and I and then you go right back to sleep. However if we try to move you back to your bed, you immediately wake up and are very unhappy. SO needless to say, mommy is very ready for this phase to stop:-)
Another first for you the past week is that you are standing on your own.  You were so proud of yourself the first time you did it you started clapping and that threw off your balance and you sat back down:-)  You also started going to a Mother's Day Out program last week--and you had such a good time.  There are only 5-6 other kids in the class and there are 3 teachers.  It is at one of the Methodist churches here and you did so well--no crying either day I left you. The school is from 9 until 1. Both days you did not take a nap but fell asleep in the car and stayed asleep--for 2 1/2 hours the first day and for 3 hours the second. 

You still love to play with balls--we bought you a toy that looks like a gumball machine that came with about 8 balls--you LOVE it.  You will play with it on your own for quite a while. You also like to bring the balls into the kitchen and roll them around and chase after them. You are cruising around on all the furniture and think it is really fun to fall into mom or dad when they are at your level.
You are also saying ball, mama, dada, and making motor noises with your mouth. 
We love you Will and can't wait to see what the next month brings!

September 11,2001

Ten years ago I was working as a pediatric nurse in Fort Smith, AR.  I had arrived at work around 7:45 and remember doing my normal morning routine to get ready for the day ahead.  Dr. Whitaker had a tv in his office and we were in there watching the news and they were showing the first tower smoking.  We were speculating that an airplane must have been way off course when the 2nd tower was hit.  I remember being shocked and upset--I wanted to run and get Caleb from daycare and just head home. He was only 4 months old at that time.  Shon and I talked about whether or not we needed to get gas and keep things stocked up at home--we remember a lot of lines at the gas stations that day, even in our small town of Lavaca outside Fort Smith.  We kept watching tv and saw the towers collapse--such disbelief.  I don't remember much else about that day--I think we were all in a daze.  I can hardly believe that it has been 10 years--every image of that day brings tears to my eyes. I am thankful they have completed the memorial in New York and really want to go and visit that someday.  I hope we never take our freedom for granted--I can remember thinking that I would really like to go and help somehow in New York but that I couldn't leave Caleb.  I just wanted to post my memories as hazy as they are about that awful day.

Quick update

I just wanted to mark this occasion--Will has decided he is done breast-feeding:-) I am mostly relieved and a little sad as this is definitely the last baby I will do this with:-( He is doing pretty well with a sippy cup of whole milk. He also started school on Wednesday this week--can I even tell you how nice it was to run errands ALL BY MYSELF? He goes from 9am until 1pm Wednesday and Friday--I think it will be great for both of us--he came home and took a 2 1/2 hour nap afterwards:-) We are in the busy season with football practice 3 nights a week and ballet twice a week (and they are on the same days of course). There is also school and doctor's appointments and I have started a Bible study at church on Thursday mornings. It is a good but busy time for us--more later!