Colors

color
Originally uploaded by karalynlund.

William has discovered crayons. He's known of their existance for a while, but it's been just recently that he's figured out that they're for coloring pictures on paper and not for walls or TV's. Since this discovery, he's been coloring up a storm with his "colors" as he calls them. Anyway, here are a couple of examples of his artwork.

colors
Originally uploaded by karalynlund.

Baby Parade

Yesterday I went walking with a group of other moms from church. It was nice to get out and exercise and socialize a little at the same time. It must have been quite a sight to see six moms with their babies and toddlers parading around the neighborhood. We passed a construction crew, and one of the guys yelled out, "Baby Boom!" That was kind of funny, especially since the people there yesterday didn't even represent half of the babies that have been showing up at church lately. Anyway, I enjoyed the chance to get out, and I think William did too. He was pretty excited to be around all those babies! They ranged in age from not quite one month to just over a year. He's fasinated with babies, which is nice, but I wish he knew to be more careful around them. Hopefully his interest will last long enough for him to be excited when another baby shows up at our house, and hopefully by then he will have learned how to be more gentle.

Something...

Well, it's been a while since I wrote anything, so I thought I should write something. So here it is, a big SOMETHING. :) Things are going pretty well here. I don't really know what to write to you all about... so, I guess that's all for now. I'll let you know when I have something exciting to talk about.

Big Spider

Big Spider
Originally uploaded by karalynlund.

This is a big spider that crawled up on my back porch this morning. There's a penny there for size reference. William was really excited about it and sat there saying "ber!" (his version of "spider"). It stayed in that spot for about ten minutes. I think it was having a staring contest with that little pebble. Apparently the pebble won.

box boy

box boy
Originally uploaded by karalynlund.

These pictures were taken a while ago, but I've been a little slow to upload pics lately. William loves climbing in boxes, so we gave him a couple and cut doors and windows in them. Here he's playing peek-a-boo with me.

Ah-ha!

Ah-ha!
Originally uploaded by karalynlund.

Make a Wish...

Photo 13
Originally uploaded by karalynlund.

It was a little breezy, so we had to protect our little flames with the back pack. If you notice, William got a bit of a head start with the cupcakes, and he's still holding the evidence!

Presents

Photo 18
Originally uploaded by karalynlund.

Here's a picture of William openning one of his gifts. Notice the two little people standing next to him ready to give a hand if needed? Aren't they helpful!

William's Party

Wednesday we had a birthday party for William. I did take some pictures, but for some reason my computer and camera are not feeling very compatible this morning. So no pics for now! Hopefully it won't take long for this issue to be resolved and I can post some pictures later.

As for the party... Well, some things went very well, and some not, but all in all, it turned out pretty good. I had been worried about the weather since it had been raining a lot and we were planning to have his party at a park, but the sun came out and it was really nice weather for the party. Everyone was late, but that was okay since we were running a little behind anyway. The kids had a lot of fun chasing each other around the park, and they all wanted to "help" William open his presents. William on the other hand opened his first present and was suddenly not very interested in the others. I had to hide all the opened presents until he was done. He's been haveing a lot of fun with his new toys and books. Personally I'm glad he only has one birthday per year. :)

Happy Birthday William

Two years ago today my son William was born. That's amazing. He's gotten so big, but it really doesn't seem that long ago since he was born. As I remember all the emotions and thoughts that I had at that time, I think of what a big thing it is to be a parent. There are of course the resposibilities of caring for a child and ultimatly teaching him right and wrong and how to get along in this world... but the thing I think of most is the incredible joy I feel at watching this little piece of me and my husband grow and develop. Who knows where he will go or what he will do with his future... I only hope that I can help him to have a good life and that he will always know he has a mom and dad who love him.

On a lighter note... He doesn't seem to know or care what it means when I tell him happy birthday or ask him how old he is. We'll be having a party for him on Wednesday... hopefully he'll get into it a little more then. I'll post about the party later this week.

Enjoying Jamba Juice

Enjoying Jamba Juice
Originally uploaded by karalynlund.

William and I went to Jamba Juice with our friends Julie, Nathen, and little Ella. As you can see, William particularly enjoyed this outing. I think he got as much of his smoothy outside of him as inside of him. Nathen, who is about 9 months older than William looked about the same.

Note to self: Bring something to clean up with next time we take a toddler to get smoothies.

Ooooum, Aw oooo.

My son loves to talk on the phone. Today Daddy called from work to say hi, and William got to talk for a few minutes. They discussed some very serious business such as the sounds that cows, ducks, dogs, and cats make, and where his ears, nose, and head are. He recently has also started to tell us where William is if we ask him:

Daddy: "Where's Mommy?"
William: (pointing to Mommy) "Mmmmaaaa!"
Daddy: "Where's Daddy?"
William: (pointing to Daddy) "Gaaa!" (for some reason he won't say D's anymore.)
Daddy: "Where's William?"
William: (pointing to himself) "Ooooum!"

We as parents get a huge kick out of this, so we ask him several times a day where he is. Of course it was a critical part of the phone call. Then, at the end of their conversation, Daddy said, "Bye, bye! I love you!" And William responded, "Buh, bye! Aw ooo!" This caught me by surprise because he has never said "I love you" or anything that might pass for it before! It was so sweet! I love my little boy! :)

Endless Chores Part One

I don't like dishes. I have a pile of dishes-most of them from the dinner we just finished-sitting on my kitchen counter and a load of clean dishes in the dishwasher. I don't like that much. I know it's not that big of a deal, and that I can have the dishwasher emptied and loaded again in 15 minutes. The pile of dishes is just getting to me tonight.

Okay... Now that I've gotten that off my chest, I'm feeling a little better... Just a couple more deep breaths... okay, I think I'm going to go do the dishes. Thanks for being here for me! :)

Wish me luck!

10 Minutes Later...

Okay, so it didn't even take 10 minutes, and I must say that I feel better now. So, until tomorrow...

Cal or icint ake

My husband recently started a (much needed) diet and exercise program. I'm not officially on the diet, but we eat the same evening meals, and I've been exercising with him. I've also found that having someone in the house who is very excited about low caloric intake influences the way I look at food. Did you know that a slice of wheat bread, two Tablespoons of PB, one Tablespoon of honey, and a one-cup serving of 2% milk comes to about 500 calories? To most people, that would be considered a snack, but if you are eating 3 meals a day with snacks (as we all should be) 500 calories is a meal. These elightening facts recently brought my mid-day meal to a grinding halt, and I've started looking for foods that I can eat more of without feeling guilty.

So, why do you have a bed?

emptybed81005
Originally uploaded by karalynlund.

Last night I was out in the evening and my dear husband put our son to bed. Later in the evening, my husband went in to get William's sippy cup, and he came back out chuckling. "You need to go look at William," he says. The picture pretty much tells the rest of the story. William had been laid down in his bed with his pillow and blanket, but for some reason, he decided the floor would be a better place for him! I decided to take the risk of waking him and take a couple of photos. To see this and other pics, click on the "My photos" link to the right.

Catch Them While They're Young

I was sitting here thinking of what I could babble to you all about, when I heard a sound. It was the sound of chiming music. It sounds so nice, but in reality it's a wolf in sheep's clothing! It's the ice cream van. Our appartments get several visits a day from various ice cream vendors, and they always pause at the children's playground, which happens to be just 25 feet out our back door. These guys are like the Pied Piper-you know, the one that led all the rats from the village, and when he wasn't paid as agreed, led all the children away from the town with promises of a blissful land. The kids all go running for their change or (like the kid who lives above us) yelling through the window for money from their mothers, so they can get their treat. As for me, I know that I really shouldn't eat that stuff, and if I were to eat it, I wouldn't buy it from them at their high prices. However, I've been trained like Pavlov's dogs, and I suddenly start craving something cool and sweet. All I can say is that obviously this type of marketing is extremely effective; train them when they're young, and they'll never forget it.

What was that?

What was that?
Originally uploaded by karalynlund.

I thought that the easiest way to get started with this blog thing would be to show and tell about my cute kid. This is the expression he gets on his face whenever he hears the phone ring and I just happened to capture it. William is in training to be two, and he's getting to be very good at it, but he still has some rather adorable moments!

Very First Blog

Well, this should be interesting... I thought I'd start a blog to have somewhere to put down all my loose thoughts, and lucky you! You get to read about them! :) Hopefully some of them will make sense.