Day out with Thomas the Train

Took William to ride Thomas the Train. He really had a blast and has not taken his conductors hat off yet. As i am writing this,he is taking a nap and wearing the hat!

Be sure to check out my youtube channel for new videos (stephdonnell)

Williams 2nd bday party!

Will had a blast. All the little ones played on his swingset and ran around the backyard. The heat let up a bit yesterday; it was overcast and 91 degrees so it felt like fall to us here! William got lots of goodies and racked up on the gifts. The party was great fun and a huge thank you to everyone who made it out for the celebration.

Shirt says it all

let me call my agent

I came home to this last week. Hilarious! William officially l-o-v-e-s Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and of course, hats! He will sit and watch an entire episode of Mickey (sometimes two) which is pretty amazing considering his normal attention span is about 3 seconds!

Hook em baby

We came back sunday to make the UT Spring Game. William did awesome ass usual! Sat and watched the game, played and ate for 3 hours! He seemed to really like it. We'll see how tailgating goes this year.

Going mobile

I just discovered the Blogger app for my phone so maybe now I can post more often. Too bad I can't sync posts with my facebook account! Maybe one day. We have really been on the go lately. We have a busy month and looks like a busy summer ass well. Last weedend we went to San Antonio for Eugene's housewarming party. TJ and Eugene played golf friday so I took william to the riverwalk. We had a great time. We had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe, went to the Alamo and had ice cream. Can't wait to go back! Here are a few pics from friday.

The weather was awesome this weekend and William enjoyed getting to play outside Saturday and Sunday. Saturday we went to his cousin, Addison’s b-day party except the party was not Sat; it was Sunday and I had input it incorrect in my calendar. All was not lost though because William got to enjoy the playground with Mommy and Daddy. We went to Chuy’s and had lunch afterwards and then home to soak up the sun in the backyard. We all just hung outside for several hours while William and Cru played. William got to Skype for the first time with his Grandpa Steve and Grandma Cindy. Skype is really cool it’s going to be great to use! Later that evening, Aunt Dynee and Uncle Lonn came over to grill.

William had several bad diapers starting Saturday. Looks like his two top incisors have broken through and the two bottom incisors are puffy. Poor guy. I am thinking the 3 days of liquid diapers are from teething but I am not sure if teething causes 3 days worth of this stuff. Other than the diapers, he is happy and playing. A little needy and cranky sometimes but mostly in the evening (bedtime!!!) J I can tell he must not feel up to par because he is ASLEEP by 8pm and he slept until 9am Sunday morning!!! He might have a little stomach bug that just needs to run its course but unless he starts to run a high fever or throw up then I will just wait for it to pass. Sounds like most stomach bugs last about 7-10 days so we are 3 days down!

Yesterday we opened all the doors and windows again and TJ and I did more spring cleaning. We have really knocked some stuff out over the last three weekends and it feels great! We have not done to much that could be noticed by the naked eye but have been getting the house reorganized and have been able to toss a bunch of junk so very beneficial! Kind of working on the nook and cranny list. I’ve been having fun doing all the homey stuff with TJ. We make a good team!

Resolution Revolution

2011 has been a good year to us so far. Our big focus of the year to is to become credit card debt free. We are already seeing serious progress for this goal and it is a really exciting feeling to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It has not been as smooth sailing as hoped (like us having to get an new air conditioner unit for the house for example) but I am proud that we are able to have obstacles and still stay on track. It can be very easy to get distracted, especially from something as NOT fun as putting all of your extra income to debt, but the idea of reaching our ultimate goal of becoming completely debt free (except the house) over the next five years is keeping my eye on the prize!

This goal is very important to me for many reasons. The first was just to never feel as stressed out and scared as we were over a year ago. With TJ and I being in the same industry, downturns effect us both and it can really hurt in the old pocketbook when these turns do happen. Second, and most importantly, we are doing this for the future of our family and our future family. Children can be expensive and we do not want to be limited on growing our family because of our financial situation. There is nothing more important in life than your family and I know that I have a lot of love to go around! I hope by the end of the year we can tell you that we made it happen and maybe have a little more good news but you will have to stay tuned to find out! :)

I'm Back!

Well, after about a 6 month lapse I am back!! Notice how the posts came to a halt as soon as William was able to walk/run/get into everything?! Yes, I have been running around after him for all of this time. TJ and I have been posting videos of William on YouTube and be sure to check them out!! We are both completely ate up with him! He has been doing wonderful! Sleeps all night in his bed, I got him weaned off of his bedtime bottle (which was not easy but only took him about a week and half to get over it) and now he goes to bed with no bottle or sippy cup. Such a big boy I tell ya!

So what else has been going on?

In October, my Mom, Aunt Cinda, William and I all drove to Kansas to visit the family. William did NOT want to sleep for the entire 9 hr drive to and from but he never cried or threw a fit. He was so happy to have people in the back seat with him I guess. My Dad and Cindy threw a birthday party for him and it was a really great party! William got to play with all of his cousins, eat pizza and just run around like a crazy man! William seemed to have picked up the cake thing by then and tore into it! I could not have imagined a more perfect party!!! I think the best part for me was seeing both sides of my family together celebrating! Not sure that has happened since the mid-80’s. It will be a wonderful memory I will have forever!

William also got his first haircut from his Aunt Stacy and it was loooooong overdue! Of course, I cried and got it all on video so enjoy:

William was Superman for Halloween! So CUTE! We went out to trick-or-treat with his Aunt Deborah, Uncle David, Aunt Dynee and all his cousins! We went to Granger and joined their annual Halloween hayride. We had a blast! William got his first candy, a Dum-Dum! I didn’t take him up to any doorsteps because he wasn’t going to be eating the candy and TJ and I definitely do not need to be eating the candy so Will and I just were along for the ride! Next year, Lookout!!!

Nothing to eventful in November. Had a Gumbo Thanksgiving at our place with Aunt Shiny and Uncle Slate in town. Just enjoyed everyone’s company and keeping it low key for a change.

December was Christmas, Christmas, Christmas! TJ and I decided not to go to Beaumont this year so my family came in the weekend before Christmas. My grandparents, Aunt Cinda and Mom were in town and William got spoiled with toys, more specifically, ELMO! J I think he ended up scoring 3 Elmo’s (or Mo-mo as he calls him). He also got a potty from his Grandma which he instantly took too! He LOVES to sit on the potty! It was soooo funny watching him trying to back up into it so he could sit down. He eventually caught on but he just kept backing up, sitting down, missing, getting back up and doing over and over and over!!! We were all cracking up!!

The next weekend was actual Christmas weekend and we really had an overall relaxing holiday. Had a small get together at our place on Christmas Eve and then went out to Deborah’s for Christmas. They made a traditional Christmas feast and it was delicious!!!! Everyone exchanged their gifts and then the little ones played outside (for as long as they could because it was FRRREEEEZZZING). I opted to take William on a QUICK walk to see the roosters (eeewwww – as he calls them), chickens and the cows (mmmmmm- will’s way of saying cow). Then we went inside and him and Colt wrestled around the living room for a bit.

We’re almost caught up! J Can’t think of too much that has gone on in January. New Years we had some friend’s and their little ones over (super cute again!!!!) and the babies played while we had some adult beverages. I managed to make it to midnight but it was a struggle! I weaned him off of the bed bottle this month and that’s really about it! He is literally into EVERYTHING and he is such a toddler it makes me want to cry! I thought he would be a baby longer! Such a big man wanting to feed himself, go up and down the stairs, talking up a storm (still mostly baby talk though). He will look right at you and say “ jaksde hrfa hjsk jhfn khsd fhahsf haj” and then waits for you to answer him. I mean, he is saying sentences and just looks at you like “so did you get that”? TJ and I know his set of baby words for real words so we have a general idea of what he is talking about. He’ll be talking our ear off soon enough.

Be sure to keep checking out TJ’s YouTube siteby clicking HERE!!! for video updates. We can upload from our phone which is great because trying to upload videos to this site takes forever! J

We have BIG family plans in all aspects for 2011 so it should be interesting! I will try to make some time in my schedule to update this site so check back every once and a while!

1st Bday!!

Birthday surprise from Grandpa and Grandma Henderson (Dad and Cindy)

Birthday banner courtesy of Aunt Dynee and Mama- turned out so freaking cute!

William's birthday party went great! There were little ones everywhere and I loved seeing all the babies playing together. Like a typical first time mom, I had scheduled William's one year well check and vaccinations the afternoon before his birthday party and wouldn't it figure that he had a little reaction to the flu shot. The day of his birthday party he was running a slight fever and was pretty needy throughout the day. He had spurts where he perked up and I think he had a good time regardless.

It was a really funny experience because I had all of these grand ideas of decor and food I wanted to do but the closer it got; the less I worried about it. I started making William's smash cake and cupcakes for the party Friday. I was wanting to start on the icing and fillings Friday night but ended up running around with Mom and Aunt Cinda instead. Then I thought I would just get up and finish it all Saturday morning. Well, the morning came and I had no interest in doing any of it so I just finished up the smash cake and then ran to the grocery store and bought the generic birthday cupcakes. The icing didn't even match my color scheme but for some reason I really didn't give a $hit. I think Will has chilled me out quite a bit. It is what it is- my new philosophy.

I was super excited to watch him tear into his first time with sweets but not so much on the devouring of the birthday cake. Even after Daddy pushed his face into it! he just sort of pinched the icing off one little, bitty lick at a time! Oh well, it's for the best anyway. I don't need a 12 mo. old all hopped up on sugar to begin with.

I wish everyone could have been here to join in on the fun but we will be heading to Kansas next month so William will get to spend some time with the Henderson clan then!

I cannot get over the fact that William is already a year old. They really do grow up sooo fast. He is walking all over the place and being independent (as independent as a 12 mo old can be). Where did my tiny baby go that I held and held for hours while I watched him sleep? He discovers new things everyday and loves it! He gets excited to do something on his own and when he figures things out for himself. I love him more than words could describe.