one trick pony

okay, so he took a few steps. he's done. no more. Nana brought him home last nite and though we didn't really try to get him to walk, he sure as heck wasn't doing it on his own!

at one point, right before dinner, he was standing in front of the island and i was by the sink. i asked him to come to me but he clung to Daddy's legs instead. his safe zone of sorts. any time we play peek-a-boo in the kitchen, it's Daddy's legs he hides behind.

i'm sure he doesn't understand the concept of "hiding" just yet. it's so cute, though. he thinks if you can't see his eyes, he's hidden. his whole body is gone. like, "poof", it's magic. you can't see me. when in all actuality, he's just right inside the doorway, blocking my way to the restroom.

communication breakdown

so we're now into the "eh eh EHHHHHH" stage. he won't sign and he refuses to talk. i can't help him. KIDDING! i'm still working on the signing (AND the talking, S1) but he's really just content to scream and throw a fit if he doesn't get what he wants. lucky me, right?

in other baby news, he took his first steps last night! did i see them? NO! he was at his Nana's. i was so upset i missed it. she did get it on video, though, and sent it to me promptly.

i'm not gonna mention any names... but somebody needs a new phone that takes better quality video. just sayin.

how charming of you to say

so i had my charm party. two mommies showed up. S1, Princess, and Mom were there also. though i expected more people, it was perfect. it was still fun and i learned more about another mommy, J. apparently, we went to the same high school (11 years apart, but whatever) , i know her cousins, her cousins were living in my hometown for a while (weird).

i think it was fun. and it was cool watching Princess help S1 and her Nana with jewelry making techniques i had taught her. i think mine came out the cutest, of course. but you wouldn't know this because i forgot to take pictures of everyone else's! i had my camera out and forgot. DOH! i really wish i had remembered. they were all so cute. and the charms were all really cute. they all brought some really cute ones. we had:

• hot red lips
• engagement rings
• various metal hearts
• red "be mine" and "kiss me" hearts
• lock and key charms
• album cover charms
• shrinky dink ipod charms
  
• red/pink/blue heart beads
• and monkey faces (those were mine)

though many people didn't show, i'll do it again. maybe for Halloween. that would be cool! just think of all the charms for Halloween!! next time i'll do an evite, though. invite friends outside the mommy group just so there's a good mix. nothing against the mommy group... i just didn't know that kind of thing was allowed. i know better now.

update - the shack

we just got another update from PapaTom and Mamalane. we now have walls.


hey, Princess, looks like that birthday beach weekend is looking like it's gonna be do-able, after all. you may start worshiping me, now. i know i have nothing to do with it getting to the actual point of being live-able, but if you wanna use it, you'll have to go through me... so, you're gonna have to do some serious sucking up between now and your birthday. maybe some baby-sitting services... hmmm???

charmed, i'm sure

so last nite i was up later than i would have liked. 9:45, but still. i like to go to bed with the chickens now a days. since Monkey had a sleepover at his Nana's, i had some time to get things together for the charm party i'm having on Monday. i got all the bracelets put together with heart toggles. sidenote: i really need to start taking more pictures again. because they were really cute with nothing on them. imagine how cute they're going to be AFTER we put all the charms on them! anyhoo, all bracelets ready. all my "bought" charms have jump rings on them. almost everything is ready. almost.

i wanted to do something "special" for the women coming on Monday so i still have a bunch of charms to make. it shouldn't take too too long. but you know how it is when you have a kid under foot and a husband with a list of chores he wants to accomplish... i'm hoping i can do some stuff after he goes down tonight. crossing fingers

i want to make this fun and i think the charms i'm making will help add to that. i imagine, when they see them, they'll say, "ohmigod, how cute! these are SOOOO perfect." at least, that's how it's going down, in my head, right now. so wish me luck tonite and over the weekend, praying i'll be done with everything by Monday, 7pm.

i'm so excited!

and i just can't fight it!

i'm getting ready for my charm party this weekend. YAY!

i'm so ghey.

weekend update/recap

so this weekend was pretty uneventful until Sunday. we didn't do much of anything at all, Friday. i picked up a pretty sleepy and cranky baby, but that's about it. always fun.

saturday - we were supposed to have a play date with a few of the mommies. cancelled. not because of me or my kid, but cancelled none the less. it worked out for us anyway. we went to Hobby Lobby for last minute "charm party" stuff then headed up to meet Woz at Berryhill.

it was good catching up and planning out the events that would unfold on Sunday. of course, now that we have a kid, there's really no use in "planning out" anything because (A.) you will never be there on time or (B.) you do not have enough energy to try to be there on time. my kid slept late and i wasn't waking him up. more on that later.

saturday evening - i headed out to Babies-R-Us for a new car seat. my Monkey is getting VERY uncomfortable in his seat... all stuffed into it. poor thing. so i got him the My Ride 65 convertible, because he still has to face backwards. i didn't get him the one i wanted, because we would have to order it and i don't think he would last another day in his old one. i didn't wanna wait. the My Ride is nice. it looks like a mini lazy boy for the back seat. plus, it has cup holders! not that he cares. he's cool with throwing his bottle across the back seat or shoving his snacks under his pants. not that he does that on purpose (the snacks that is. i think he totally knows what he's doing with that bottle), but that's where they all seem to end up. we have a car with a kid in it... and it shows!

sunday - marathon day! we're going to see "Uncle Monkey" aka BA run the Houston Marathon. the marathon start was at 7am.... pa-shuh! right??? Monkey slept late and momma slept right along with him. when we got up, i really didn't want to rush him. i thot we could wing it until nap time then he'd sleep on the way.

so i made my boys some pancakes and strawberries for breakfast. Monkey loves him some strawberries! we ate, got ready and got on the road. nap time. damn, i'm good. =)

we got to the finish line about an hour early so we walked around for a bit. checked out everything going on. Monkey was having a blast. you wouldn't know it by looking at that always serious face, but he was. trust me. plus, he was on Daddy's shoulders and he LOVES that!

we got to see BA cross the finish line! YAY!

afterwards, we met Frisky and Albert & Shannon out for lunch. that was fun and a whole 'nother story. man, i love my friends!

until next time, i'm sweet t and you're not.

if at first you don't succeed...

might as well give up 'cause he's never gonna sit and watch the damn thing!

i tried sitting with Monkey last nite to play with his little vtech toy he got for Christmas. it says "9mos+" but, COME ON. who are they even kidding with that?? my kid would not sit still for more than two seconds. it doesn't help, the toy has this bright blue on/off button that he'd rather be playing with. or the fact there are new wires coming out of the tv and "ohmigod, where did THOSE wires come from? i haven't seen THOSE wires. i wanna play with THOSE wires!". because partially pulling the dvd player out with the other wires isn't enough for him.

i'm not a bad mom. i'm not a bad mom.

i keep thinking if i repeat it enough, i might actually start believing it.

i feel awful. it's time to look at daycare. i don't want to. i really don't. but he's needing more attention than i'm able to give him, while at work. i would love for him to stay here with me and play all day, but that's just it. he wants to play all day, but he wants me to play with him. which i do, sometimes, but it's not enough. i knew we should have had twins! at least they'd be able to entertain each other. am i right??

so we need options. options that aren't going to bankrupt us, preferably. i've been doing searches in our area, on the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services website, but when i call they're either "not doing child care anymore" or i just don't like the way they sound. there is a neighbor down the street who watches kids, but she keeps "teacher's hours" and i would need to change my hours to make sure i pick him up on time. which, i don't think would be a problem but i'm not sure she has any openings. i'm still waiting for a call back.

wish us luck on this endeavor and ya know, just kinda tell me i'm not a bad mommy when you talk to me next. that'd be great!

one step beyond

he took a step! okay, he took two steps with the same foot and he was kinda going in a circle... does that count?

my Monkey wants to walk really bad. he's standing for longer periods of time now. he's even squatting and getting back up without holding on to anything. he'll be walking by next month, i'm sure. for a while there, i wasn't so sure. he was cruising along like he wanted to walk but then decided he would get there faster if he crawled. my kid's smart like that.

he's still not signing, but then again we're not being real diligent about teaching him. we really need to be. i'm going to see if he'll sit with me after dinner and watch the little "learn and sign" thing Uncle Psycho and Aunt F gave him. because now it's just pissing me off, reading other "mommy" blogs and their kids are signing at 10.5 months. that should be my kid! =)

new year, new site

Happy New Year to you all. All two of you who regularly read this, that is. we have a new site. you can now find all our info in one place - http://flavors.me/mwh. it'll change up a bit, here and there. i'll add some more stuff, but for now, you can see our flickr pics, my tumblr, yourdailywill, videos, and sunburn alley on facebook all in one place. the videos may be a bit wonky, until i can get them all crossed over.

this blog (islebehere.com) will not be linked from the new site, however. it was started for my dad and will stay for my dad.

in other news, i know i haven't posted since before Thanksgiving. there's been a lot going on. we lost the family matriarch when Granna passed away. it is very upsetting to me that Will will never know her. she was a strong woman with a lot of spirit. sure, he'll know her from pictures, but she was so much more than a picture could ever convey. a force to be reckoned with is what i liked to think of her as. and always spoke her mind.

i will definitely put more effort into posting more. i have so many stories. so many pictures. so many milestones Will has hit. this little boy who has brought so much sunshine to my life. how ghey am i? lol

we're right now at the edge of walking. he's standing for more than 10 seconds at a time, but he's still afraid to take that first step. and at this point, he's figured out he can get there faster if he crawls! more on Will, later. for now, i'm going to bed. it's 10:00pm and already two hours past my bedtime.

until next time, i'm sweet t and you're not.

first haircut