To Will on your 1st birthday (5-29-14)

Sidenote: I am posting this one day prior to your birthday because I plan to spend the day with you and not on the computer! Love you little man!

To my sweet baby Will, today you are 1 year old. It’s a bittersweet day because I am sad that you are entering the toddler years but happy you are growing and thriving. I don’t know if you will be my last baby or not but it makes me sad to think that you are. This past year has been both wonderful and tiring. Two kids is no joke and daddy has been out of town some. Working full time and taking care of two little boys has been rough on momma! Yet; I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

 Let me back up to this day one year ago. Me and daddy were so excited! Your due date was actually May 26^th which fell on Memorial Day 2014. You weren’t budging. I knew you were a big baby so I went ahead and told the dr to schedule for induction. You were to be born May 29^th. So the morning of, we checked into the hospital and the nurses started all the stuff to help move things along for you to come out haha! I felt way more contractions with you than your brother. Also, the medicine to help me not feel anything, didn’t work completely on one side. It HURT. You were so big that the dr’s had to use the suction cup to help you out. I was terrified you would have a cone head but you didn’t. You were born after 1:00 pm (I don’t remember the exact minute, sorry). You were 9.2 lbs. The first thing I asked was how much you weighed haha! You were soooo beautiful and looked JUST LIKE JAKE when you were born. You started to change within days though and we couldn’t figure out who you looked like, it was obvious very soon though, it was your daddy! You latched on to me and have been a momma’s boy ever since. I breastfed you for 6 months with no problems. You switched to formula and have loved it just as much. You were slow to eating cereal and baby food compared to Jake. You also crawled a little later but when you figured that out, you were on the GO! Started pulling up and walking around 10-11 months old. Now you are eating real food and basically running after Jake. You love your brother sooooo much and it makes my heart so happy. You have caught your first real bad cold within the past week. Just in time for your birthday. :/ You are on antibiotics and we are hoping you feel better soon! You also just started daycare last week and had to miss your second week. You stayed with sweet Taryn for 10 months, she was such a blessing for us.

 Some of your favorite things are; mom, dad, Jake, and Lola, mac n cheese, snacks of any kind, socks to chew on, paci, music, clapping, and dancing, books with music buttons, walking and climbing on things, Jake’s room, getting into any cabinet that we say no to (and you grin real big), playing with my makeup while I put it on, you LOVE to drive things like the remote, cellphones, and any trucks (it’s so cute). You love to be happy and laugh. You laugh with your big brown eyes and it melts my heart. You are such a cuddler and lover. You love to give big slobbery kisses.

 We are so blessed to have you in our life Will. We can’t imagine life without you. You have completed our family and we can’t wait to watch you grow and learn.

Here are some pictures of the day you were born and your monthly pictures. I hope you enjoy them one day when you look back on this blog. ;)

 

We plan on partying with Blues Clues next weekend when Kikki gets back home! Can't wait!

When you were growing in my belly, I couldn't wait to see you!

 

Minutes after you were born, love this pic!

 

1 Month

2

3

4

5

6

another 6 month I took ;)

7

8 (you were starting to get wild)

9

10

11

 

Let me also add - you have a real real real bad temper. :)

 

 

At the hospital - the day you were born:

I wanted to add this picture to show you how much I love your daddy for all his support. He is a good husband and an excellent father.

Meeting you for the first time

I was and still am so in love :)

Will Garrett with mom and dad

Daddy loving you...

 

The second night in the hospital was extremely emotional. It was around midnight or so when a nurse came in and checked your vitals. Your heart rate was low and she wanted to take you to the nursery to have others nurses listen to it. They decided they wanted to take you to the NICU to have you monitored. It was 16 hours to be exact that you were in there. 16 hours of confusion, stress, and a lot of tears and prayers. Your heart rate would drop so low that the red alarms would go off constantly. We would pat you or almost lightly shake you and it would come back up. It was so scary. This is the first time in 9 years that I've ever seen your daddy cry. So after a lot of tests and blood work, everything came back normal and good. Praise the Lord. But why was your heart rate dropping? Your dr said that you just had a low resting heart rate and that it wasn't an abnormal thing. He said you should be an excellent athlete ;) Scariest time we've ever had in our lives to date - but thank the Lord it was nothing to be majorly concerned with. We love you more than you could ever fathom!

 

 

So after a few days at home, we had Ms Wendy White take some pictures. We love her and her work.

Love :)

My precious baby boy

You are wrapped around your daddy's finger too

This was Jake meeting you for the first time in the hospital.. he sure is a wonderful and loving big brother. I pray you two always have a special bond!

:)

 

We hope your birthday is very special! Happy 1st Will Garrett!

 

Love,

Momma and Daddy

Jake & Brock

 

These two stinkers got to hang out all day this past weekend! They've been BFF's since birth lol! I'm glad they got to spend some time together. Here are some cute pictures.... one day I will post them to their high school videos haha! :)

 

 

Picnic time

Having a race

Stopping for a drink

Checking out the turtles at Lake Fort Smith

Cuties

This may be my favorite

:)

Then we stopped at the dinosaur park

Hams

Got to see a train go by

I think Josh enjoyed himself lol

Jake wasn't sure how a teeter-totter worked, he tried to bail off of this and got slammed down face first in the mud.... it hurt pretty bad. Then poor Brock got slammed to the ground, he said only his booty hurt LOL ... only accident of the day!

Which is why Jake is shirtless here - it was covered in mud

 

Love these boys and their friendship! I can't wait for Jake to look back on this blog one day :)

 

 

May Flowers? Ehhh showers???

 

Isn't the saying "April showers bring May flowers" .. uhhh it's just been May showers er'day! Seriously, it's Memorial weekend coming up and I'll be getting in Kikki's hottub instead of pool! BRRRR!!!!!

 

So the only thing new in our world is that Mr. Will started daycare. I was extremely stressed about the change and how WE both would adjust. He hasn't cried one time. Thank the Lord. He started Compass Academy on Monday and by Wednesday they said he was clapping, dancing, and having a big time. My heart is so happy. Jake will be going there this summer and I am praying he does well too. We will miss our babysitter, Miss Taryn. I'll be calling her some this summer to watch the boys for me :)

 

Both boys got a haircut this past weekend, it was Will's first trim. I wouldn't let Heather cut too much of it, he still has baby curls in the back. I can't believe Will is going to be ONE next week. *tears*

 

 

 

My big, handsome boy :)

Look at that little FACE! The cutest!

big boy hair lol - really just a bang trim haha

@ Arnold's picking strawberries

Our sweet little cousin Jamie graduated!

This was on Mother's Day 2015. My whole world right here folks! Love them beyond measure!

 

Happy Memorial Weekend! :)