So obviously, I have not updated my blog for over 6 months. I'm lame! Anyway, I am wanting to write down some of the things Will has been up to.
To follow up on the last post, we were able to fix the whole bad behavior thing. It took a good week of Will being super stubborn but Mommy won the battle! He since has loved his bottle and I'm really not looking forward to taking them away! I love our Mommy and Will time, just the two of us. He is SUPER active and that is the only time he is still and snuggly, so I love it.
This summer we made our first attempt to camp with a baby. Neal's family love to go camping every year so we thought we would give it a go. We ended up driving home every night so we could keep Will on his schedule. At that point he was still waking up at 3:00am for a quick feed and back to sleep, we we didn't really want to do all that in a tent! We went to Twin Lakes in Idaho and had a really good time. Will took his naps on the boat and had so much fun with all his cousins.
Will is a total water baby! This summer we went swimming with a new friend from the ward and her son who is a month younger than Will. We went to the Aquatic Center and oh my did Will love it! He just splashed and splashed, his little buddy however, did not love it as much as he!
Neal went out on two wild-land fire deployments this summer so he was home a total of 2 days the month of August. It was a really difficult time for me to be honest. I can totally empathize with single mothers. Neal was in an area that did not receive any cell phone service so I only spoke to him a handful of times. Little William is so wonderful and I am completely in love with him, but day in and day out of being together just the two of you is very trying. I learned so much patience that month because I couldn't just say, "I can't handle this anymore, you take over". But we got through it and Will was so excited to see his daddy, it was a beautiful reunion!
Toward the end of September, Will was starting to get pretty brave and try his hand at walking. He was doing well and taking a step here and there and then got a little nervous and gave it a break for a bit! He was the super crawler and looked kind of like a spider monkey! It was sweet! In October he decided he was ready to walk like the big kids and took off and literally has been running ever since!
October was filled with fun and excitement for Halloween. Will was a dragon and really loved wearing his costume! We got to go trunk or treating in Lewiston with Neal's family and then back to Grandma and Grandpa's house for dinner and more candy, then we met up with my family at Stu and Janae's house where my mom put on Neal's mask and scared all their trick or treat-ers!
I do have to mention the bad along with the good, I guess. We were at Stu's house watching their children with my mom and dad. Stu and Janae got home and all the adults were talking and hearing about what Stu and Janae had done while out. I had Will right with me and turned to clean up his things and put his bottle in my bag when I heard this soft thud like sound. I turned and will was barrel rolling down the stairs. I just saw his panicked little face as he flew half way down. I was in pure shock as I raced to catch up to him. I started screaming, "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh" until I grabbed him and just clung to my baby. I reached the top of the stairs to find the rest of my family running to meet us and I just broke down sobbing. How could I have been so careless to let my baby just fly down the stairs? Luckily he was not hurt and went right on playing minutes after it all happened. Me, on the other hand, I was a wreck the rest of the night. My dad had to give me a blessing to calm me down and to top it off Neal was at work that night so I had the whole house to myself to worry about my Will. I think I went in his room 10 times to make sure he was okay and breathing. The image of his little face still pops up in my head every now and then, it was horrible. You never want to be so helpless when it comes to your little baby.
November brought joy to us. William Aaron Gibbons turned 1! What a wonderful day it was! We started it off with opening presents. He got a new birthday shirt that went along with the theme of his party which was a car theme (not the movie Cars, just race cars and such). He also got some tractors, cars, and transformers from Mom and Dad. Then the rest of the day was spent with Will and Daddy hanging out and having some manly times while Mommy baked her bum off making probably the best cupcakes anyone could ever eat! I made approximately 110 cupcakes! I know, I'm a bit crazy. So as I mentioned it was like a race car theme, so we had a birthday banner that was on black and white checkered pennant flags, checkered flag plates, a round cake with a gum paste race track with gum paste race cars, and some party favors in the shape of the orange driving cones filled with cars fruit snacks! Oh and we made the sidewalk leading up to our house like a road with a "finish" sign at the foot of our front door so everyone could race to the party.
Will had a blast at his party. All of Neal's family made it over including his Grandma and Grandpa Bullen who hadn't seen our house before so that was nice, and all of my family came as well. Needless to say, Will was super spoiled by all his Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and cousins. He got cars that moved, he got an Elmo guitar, an actual Lighting McQueen that he can sit on and scoot with, clothes, blocks and the list goes on! He ate a bit of his cake but didn't really care too much for it! And with all the excitement and stress of it all, I managed to not take a single picture! Haha, good Mom huh?!
Thanksgiving was an okay one this year. I had a 24 hour stomach flu so I wasn't really engaged in much that day, but I think everyone else had a lovely time. I sure did enjoy the leftovers though!
That brings us to now. Will is the smartest little man! He is just learning so much and I love to watch him figure things out! Right now he can say: Woof, Moo, Neigh (which is very accurate!), Quack, Ritbit, and Meow. When asked, "Will, what does Santa say?" he will reply with a deep low voice, "Ho, ho, ho"! He knows how to say "light" and says it every time a light is turned on. He can say "socks" and "shoes", also "breakfast" and "uh oh"! He is so great at following directions and gets very proud of himself when he does just what you've asked him to do. Right now his favorite thing to do is make mazes out of the kitchen chairs and weave his way through them and pop out on the other side. His favorite foods are yogurt, bread, dried apples, mac and cheese, toast with Marmite, bananas, and pretty much whatever is on Mommy's plate! He eats most things, but will not eat a green bean to save his life!!
I love my sweet little boy and my wonderful husband. Life always has its challenges, but the love for my great little family makes it all seem okay and doable. I can't think of a more wonderful little boy and I am so happy to be able to experience everything with him.
