Bed Head...

Exhausted...

To say this last week and a half has been challenging would be the understatement of the month. Will has been teething, which translates in our home to a fussy, clingy, paci needing little man. By night that transpires in wake up calls ALL throughout the night. The past few nights Will has been up screaming from 4-6am. I was a sweet Momma for a week and got up, gave him some ib profin and even fed him a bottle before putting him back to bed. Now that teething seems to be over, I think he's going through a growth spurt.

All that aside, we have had to implement some tough love. The last three nights when the screaming begins, I have just turned off the monitor and let him cry it out until it is time to start the day. Any time after 7am is acceptable in our home, but prior to that Mommy and Daddy are NOT coming! I'm not saying that it has been easy, because it is not easy for any Mom to hear their child crying, but I will tell you that after just a few nights of screaming for two hours Will begins to get the message that we aren't coming. In our home, we firmly believe  that the most loving thing we can do for him is to teach him how to self soothe and put himself back to sleep. It is so easy to let our home become child-centered but we know that is NOT what is best for Will or our family, so for now, we press on!

....Dear Lord, please let us see some progress tonight because I am one tired momma!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween Friends! This was what I would call our first real Halloween since last year Will had just been born and we were still in quite the fog. This year we decided to do the first annual Felton/Shipman Trick or Treating and we had a fabulous time. We ate a yummy super over at Shaina (my bf) and Gerry's house and then hits the streets!

Just a few pre-trick or treating pic's of my little pumpkin!

 The excitement is building!

All bundled up and ready to roll!

 

By this point, we had used up all our excitement and Mr. Will was ready to call it a night!

All in all, we had a super fun evening and the little kids and the big kids had more than their fair share of treats! I think next year will be even better! I may even head out tomorrow to see about getting a cheap costume and stocking up on stocking stuffer candy for Christmas! 

A Horse or a Dog?

Will's Birthday Party!

Let me start off by saying that I absolutely loved every part of Will's first birthday. I wanted it to be about WILL and keep it simple- good food, good friends and a lot of fun! We had just over 40 of our closest friends and family over to our home for a picnic style birthday lunch. I decided early on to go with a bright color theme (really rainbow theme, but for obvious reasons Zak would not allow me to call it that.) 

This was a super easy balloon wreath that I wish I could leave up year round as it was just so bright and cheerful!

I didn't go overboard on decorating, but did want to give the food table a nice color splash, so I used my 5 rainbow colored nesting bowls from crate and barrel and hung some tissue balls from the ceiling.

Mr. Will's birthday invite!

The yummy food!

For party favors I decided to go with all different color bouncy balls which were a big hit with the kids!

Momma and Dada with the Birthday Boy!

My sweet Niece Lucy playing corn hole with Pop (my Dad)!

Two of Will's best buddies, Jack attack and little Gerry

My sweet little birthday boy trying to tell Momma something!

Sweet little Miss Annie!

 

Double Trouble!

My Momma (CeeCee) and Aunt Connie (GiGi)



The Barnhill's!

 

I have to interject here to say that Will was not too wild about the oh so thick Harris Teeter icing...next year I will resort to making him a slightly less thickly iced birthday cake. After two seconds he wanted that Crisco off his hands!

 

I know the amount of pictures I am posting is obnoxious, but I LOVE this one!

My new 4 in 1 tricycle from CeeCee and Pop!

Well... all in all I think he loved every bit of his very first birthday party! Thanks to all of you who gave up your Saturday to spend some quality time with our little family to celebrate that greatest earthly gift I have every received! Happy BIG #1 William Zachary!