Beautiful Fall afternoon with Grandpa Jim

One of the best parts of home is getting to spend time with my Grandpa. He is the most amazing man and is always filled with fun little projects. He came over in the afternoon one day with a airplane in tow ready for some flights!

Handcrafted by Grandpa Jim - to scale to the actual airplane. It is amazing!!!

Swimming at the Y

Will and I were at my parents house for 7 days and we probably swam 6 times :) - ok not that many but when Will woke up every morning at 5am - by 7:30am when the doors at the Y opened we were ready to go!!! We had the whole pool to ourselves every day and it was so much fun!! I wish we had a warm pool like that near us in the city - we would be there every day. Not to mention the amazing 2.5 hour naps Will would take after his swim workouts.

Checking it all out!

Crawling up the ramp - I think he did this for 30 minutes

Learning to jump in with Grandma

Pure Bliss!

Two little buds

Will had the best time watching his crazy cousin Jamesy run all over at my parents house. It was so cute to watch how excited Will was every time he caught a glimpse of James. Here are a couple pictures of the two buds together. Can't wait to see you soon Jamesy so you can baby sit Will again for me.

"Hey James we are best friends right?"

"You bet buddy - get right up here on my lap!"

Rubba dub dub two dudes in a tub

To cute if I do say so myself!! (Just missing our third little bud Deccie)

"Jamesy what ya doing...I am coming over to play!"

Sharing a hotdog at Shady Glen - well at least Jamesy was trying to share with Baby Will

Facing backwards is the cool thing to do

Fall Days at Johnny Appleseed

It has been the most beautiful fall in Chicago - the day before we left for Ellington we went for a run and I just loved running over the fallen orange leaves:

But we packed our bags and headed to Ellington for the best week ever filled with fun fall activities. First up was apple picking with Em, Jamesy and my mom.

One apple for Mommy, one leaf for Will

Jamesy picking the perfect apple

Best view in Ellington

Will's first trip to the orchard

Will and Justus - playing at the park

It has been so fun watching Will and Justus becoming more and more curious in each others existence and the other day at the park they were really play with each other. Lots of toy snatching but luckily they still don't care that much. Someday boys Jenny and I will be breaking up the fights but until then steal away!

Snip snip goes Will's hair...spike spike goes his hawk!

At 8 Months old (10/8/2011)- Will got his first hair cut at Snippets on Southport. We walked down to the salon and I was debating if I was actually going to go through with it until we walked into the door and there was no turning back. The women who cut Will's hair was super nice and a little scared of me because every time she brought the scissors to his hair I would say "NOT THAT MUCH." So needless to say we only had a trim - but it made huge difference and it came out so cute!

A little off the front...

...ok thats enough!

Brave boys sit in their mom's lap during haircuts

Final Product! So Handsome

MoMo (Grandma) and BobBob (Grandpa) come to town!

Finally we had awesome weather when my parents came to visit! Without fail every time I had a visitor the weather would be awful and all those plans Will and I had would go out the window - but not this visit we did everything!! Walks to starbucks, swings and more swings, trip down to Michigan Ave, Dora birthday party, tailgate at Northwestern and finally a trip to Home Depot!!

During the trip Will learned all kinds of new tricks - crawling everywhere, eating lots of finger food and crawling everywhere!!

"Great Job Will - jump jump jump"

Give me a V!

The whole family (minus mom, including the twins) on our way to the Northwestern Tailgate

Best Dora Birthday Party Ever!!! Thanks Tessa

"Listen here Brody - if you don't shape up they are going to make you go to the farm"

"I think I will take this diamond...thank you"

Thanks MoMo for feeding me this green mush!

Ready Set Go -- now Sit!!

Will is not only crawling but SITTING!! I thought it would never happen but once Will figured out how to crawl he finally decided that sitting was not that bad. Everyday he gets faster and faster on all fours and its only a matter of time before he is pulling himself up on everything. I need to get some better video's of Will in action but for now here are two of his latest accomplishments. I am still amazing how much these little guys can change in just a few days!

New playmat and music table for crawling and sitting...

...And off the new playmat in about 2 minutes

"Give me that camera"

"What up!"

Pretty cool to attack that truck head on!

Moira and Mike meet Will's World

I don't have many people looking at this blog - which is totally fine as it is more a keepsake for me (the over emotional mom that never wants her little boy to grow up and relives the past over and over). HOWEVER - the fans I do have are SUPER FANS of Will's World - which is so sweet. Moira and Mike came to Chicago for a wedding over Oct 2nd weekend and Will was so excited to goof around with them both. Will and I were able to meet Moira in the big city on Friday, have a fun girls dinner and then a Sunday walk in the beautiful sun. There is nothing that warms my heart more then walking your friends gush over your little boy - and did they ever. Thank you Moira and Mike for being so sweet to Will and following our blog - WE LOVE YOU!

Moira being silly with Will!

Will taking a load off with Mike and Moira - "oh my - this is tough work"

HAHA - this is just a funny picture

Fall/Winter 2011 Hats By MoMo Collection

Although the past week as been the most beautiful 75 and sunny fall days - the week before was cold and crisp and little Will took the opportunity to break out his Fall/Winter 2011 collection of hats! My mom has officially become out of control with making hats. She is unreal - the craftsmanship is amazing and I love love love putting together winter outfits! Thanks MoMo for all our hats - that will get lots of use this winter. XO

8 Months Old - October 5, 2011

In the past month I feel like my little baby is turning into such a big boy!! Here are some of his updates:

Likes: Crawling on all fours, sitting up (Finally!!!), toys with sounds and lights, throwing things off the exersaucer and watching them fall and hit the ground, baby mum mum crackers, swinging (still his favorite thing ever), all kinds of baby food, front facing in the Baby Bjorn (still and he is getting having at 18.5 lbs), napping (YIPPY) any activity outdoors

Dislikes: Sleeping through the night (not sure what happened in the last couple weeks but we took a step back, its ok we will get back on track soon), getting his diaper changed, getting his face wiped after meals, getting put back in the stroller after the park