Christmas

 Christmas was great this year. All of Lance's family gathered together at his parents house and we enjoyed a great holiday together. There was a lot of delicious food, good conversation, and plenty of presents. I could go into a lot more detail but that would probably take forever, not to mention that it would bore you to death. Instead, I'll just overload you with pictures. Yes, there are a TON, and I apologize that many are a little blurry. Other than that, enjoy!

 Not sure how much Will was helping Melissa and Julie with the puzzle.

 

 You thought this picture was taken AFTER Santa came, right? Believe it or not, there were this many gifts under the tree BEFORE Santa came.

 I told Rylee to smile for the camera and this was the result. Goofy kid.

 Spending some time with Melissa and her dog Izzy. There was a time Izzy got right up in Will's face and started barking. It scared the crap out of Will and he kind of freaked out. Haha.

 Chad and Rylee relaxing on the couch.

Will's cousin Gavin. They had fun playing together.

Christmas Eve right before we were going to open up our pj's.

 I thought Will would try ripping the paper off since he loves to shred paper, but he just looked at it.

 

 

 

 
Will in his new pj's.

 On Christmas Eve, all of the family gathers around for a special "program" of sorts. We read the Christmas story out of the bible, played the chimes, then listened to some musical numbers by family members.

 Alaya playing the chimes.

 Julie and dad doing an excellend job with their chimes.

 These girls are SO talented. I am constantly blown away with their abilities. Julie did a beautiful job singing to finish off our program.

 Will was tired and grumpy by the end and ready to get to bed so Santa could come!

 I wanted matching jammies for the three of us. I never realized, how expensive they were to buy, plus how hard it is to find cute Christmas ones. After some debate, I finally just decided to make them myself. I created my own pattern for Will's. I'm sure they weren't Lance's favorite, but I think they turned out cute.

 All of the family on the stairs Christmas morning.

 We get up at 6am sharp to open presents, so we were all a bit tired looking.

 Lance going through his stocking.

 Will playing with a toy that he got in his stocking.

 

 

 Hard to tell exactly, but there were so many presents under that tree. Normally we open presents one-by-one to see what everyone gets. But with 9am church, we were afraid we wouldn't get done in time so we went through opening presents pretty fast.

 

 Our first Christmas with Will.

 It was a bit early for Will. I don't think he quite knew what was going on. I think next year he'll be a lot more fun for the holidays.

 Lance enjoying the hat I made for him.

 Look at these adorable matching aprons that Julie made for the boys.

 As with everything, he had to give it a taste test.

 

 Isn't that apron so cute?! Guess Will's going to have to start helping in the kitchen. Amber also made me a super cute apron, but I never got a picture of it. Definitely excited to use it though.

 We intended on having a small Christmas this year, but somehow we ended up with all of this thanks to parents and family. Man did we get spoiled.

 

 We got season 1-2 of The Big Bang Theory, tons of clothes for me, tons of clothes and toys for Will, and a Batman game for Lance. Plus Lance got me a beautiful mirror. I absolutely love it! But it's pretty big and I don't think we have room for it. :( I think I'll exchange if for a smaller one, though I wish I didn't have to. Still considering storing in and saving it for later...we'll see.

 Lance and I with all of our stuff. (At this point, Will was back asleep.)

 

 Rylee trying out her new bike the day after Christmas.

 

 Julie and Gavin.

 

Trying out Melissa's glasses...can I pull them off?

Congratulations if you've made it this far. We hope everyone had a great Christmas!

And I'll end with one final picture. Last one, I promise. Another family picture on Christmas day right after church. 

8 Months

Around December 9th, Will suddenly decided he wanted to start rolling from his back to his stomach. This is a big deal because before Will HATED his stomach.

Will can move across the room by rolling. He's rolled to the presents under the tree several times, and he screams when we have to take the presents away. He's already tried unwrapping several and I've had to tape them back together.

Changing his diaper has become a bit more challenging now due to his rolling. When you try to put the new one on, he'll roll over making it nearly impossible to get the new one on straight.

When I turn the radio up really loud in the car, Will starts to jabber and sing along.

Will loves to talk with you. If he yells or jabbers and you do it back, he will continue doing it. He especially loves this game with Lance and will play forever.

He gets SO excited for everything. He has this cheesy little grin and sucks in, making this noise that is hard to describe. I'm going to try getting video of it, so you can understand what I mean.

When he wants to reach something far away, he will go on his hands and knees to reach it. I'm guessing he'll be crawling here within a month or so.

His hair sure is growing. I thought he had a lot of hair a few months ago, but that was nothing compared to now. I even had to trim it around his ears because it was just too long. Plus I think it was tickling his ears because he was clawing at his ears and making them bleed. I was amazed at how much of a difference just that little cut made.

 During Christmas weekend, Will was grumpier than usual and had trouble sleeping. I thought it was because of all the excitement and noise, but I found a new tooth this morning (December 26th). So apparently he's been teething the past few days. I'm glad there was a reason for the sudden sleep changes. As of now, I only see one new tooth. It's on the top, off to the side a bit. (Kind of silly, I know.)

Even though it is cold outside, we still go on frequent walks to get out of the house. I bundle him up really good, though he hates his hands under the blankets and always pulls them out on top. And he doesn't like when I try putting gloves on his hands.

We've been trying to cut down on the number of bottles that Will has a day (mostly because we don't have a ton of formula.) He now eats about 2-3 jars of baby food a day. He will eat pretty much anything, but he seems to prefer the vegetables, especially the carrots. I am also starting to give him little pieces of things I am eating.

I've also started trying to teach Will how to drink from a cup. He tries to chew the lip of the cup while I'm pouring, so it usually ends up down the front of his shirt. But he's learning and gets better each time.

He can now feed himself little pieces of cereal and any other bite size pieces of food. Today we cut up green beans and little bits of bread and he gobbled them up.

Don't mind his crazy hair. We'd just got back from the pool.

Will has also started holding his own bottle. It's so nice because he can be laying on the floor feeding himself while I'm cleaning or doing something else.

There was a strand of Christmas lights going up the wall by Will's jumper. He loved to grab it and bang it against the wall. Luckily he didn't hit them hard enough to break any.

Will's sleep has been different the past month. He used to go to bed around 9pm, wake up between 5-6am to eat, then sleep until 8am. But suddenly he isn't sleeping well anymore. Lately he's been waking up as early as 1-2am and having a hard time going back to sleep. Then he'll wake up several more times throughout the night. It's been a bit rough, and I'm hoping it'll improve soon.

Back when Will was a few weeks old, I was talking to someone in my ward about her little boy and trying to find ways to help Will sleep longer. She said that her little boy didn't start sleeping through the night until after 9 months. I couldn't believe she had survived that long. There was NO WAY I could handle it if my baby didn't sleep through the night for 9 months. Yet here we are going on 8 months and Will still wakes up 1-4 times a night...and I am still alive. It is honestly crazy how fast the time goes and how much your body can do, when pushed.

Within this past week, I've taught Will how to give me kisses. When I have him standing up in my lap, if I pucker up my lips, he will slowly lean forward and give me a kiss. Little bit slobbery, but we've got time to work on that.

Suddenly today (December 26th) he has started pulling himself up to things. Ex: If I'm sitting next to him on the floor, he will climb up my legs until he is on his knees, kneeling up next to me. Or we put him in his crib and he grabbed the top bar and pulled himself up until he was on his knees.

He's such a curious kid and can't sit still for more than a second. If he's in your lap, he is constantly trying to stand up or push away. If he's on the floor, he is rolling all over the place. If I'm holding him, his head is constantly moving, looking at new things.

He is such a cute little boy and so full of personality. It's exciting watching him develop and learn new things.