A BUSY BUSY Saturday!!!

Last Wednesday my S-I-L Sarah, her husband, and two girls welcomed a healthy handsome baby boy into the world. William and I decided that we would head down to see her this past Saturday. Since it takes 4 hours to drive down to see her we asked William's daddy fly us down 1hour and 20 minutes is WAY better than 4 hours.

Here are some pics from our flying adventure!

The pilot and co-pilot

Getting ready to go...

Me trying NOT to look nervous.

The beautiful view out my window...

Pilot and co-pilot talking to people on the radio roger, 10-4, copy that....

The top of a cloud !!!!

Landing

The plane

I would be concerned if people did not fly friendly. I am sure air rage is WAY WORSE than road rage!

Landing back home.

Once we got out of the plane we headed to get Willie and get dressed for his cousin's wedding we knew would be late but still wanted to go. Below are some pictures from the festivities!

Mama & her boy!

Willie's #1 Nurse & May May

This little girl was fascinated with Willie, she kept saying, "baby". I figured it would be a cute pic if they danced!

Our Little Family

Bustin'-A- Move!

I know the video is dark but it is of Willie and his Nandy dancing. I thought it was TOO CUTE! Of course the video won't rotate so you will have to turn your head.

When we FINALLY got home we were all VERY exhausted! But ALL the FUN and EXCITEMENT was worth it! Congrats Sarah & Richard on Thomas and Congrats to Mary & B.J. on getting married!!!

Easter, Spring, & Everything in Between!

Easter Morning Willie was greeted by some wonderful things in his Easter Basket. He Got a new Swing, puffs , sippy cups, a baby tooth brush (for his new tooth coming in), juice, an Easter book, rubber ducks, and a praise baby DVD. Despite how excited William and I were Willie was for some reason very cranky ALL day due to the fact that he would NOT take a nap ALL DAY! So you can only imagine, how hard it was to take pictures of an over tired 6 almost 7 month old!

This month on the cover of Southern Living there was the most beautiful cake. I decided I would make it for Easter Lunch. As I read the ingredients I wondered if it would taste as good as it looked but decided that I still wanted to make purely because of how pretty it was. Below is a picture of my baking creation, I have to say it looked pretty after it was all done. BUT I am sad to say that I thought it tasted AWFUL! But some of my family thought it tasted delicious, it was just too tart for my taste buds.

After lunch at William's Mom & Dad's we headed outside to take some pictures in front of the Azaleas like we do every year.

About week before Easter we went to see the Easter Bunny at the mall. When we sat him down in Mr. Bunny's lap Willie looked up at him like, "Who are you, and why are you holding me." But he didn't cry so we were very happy and the picture came out pretty good.

Back in March William & I decided to fix up our front planters with some flowers for Spring. Below are some pictures from Willie helping mommy and daddy.Sometimes he helped a little too much. As I was taking the first picture he picked a flower off the plant and proceeded to try to eat it. Now a days with him if it is within reach he will grab it and try to CHEW on it! Very cute but at times somewhat frustrating.

I don't know if you remember but back in March the Whitehurst Family had a family Easter Egg Hunt. Well below are some pictures of the festivities. I know better late than never, but it does go with my theme of Easter and Spring.

The Hunt was set up into centers that the kids depending on their age rotated through. There was a petting zoo, a cute photo spot, and Easter egg hunt. The picture below is from the photo spot I think it turned out too cute. I could just eat him up in that driving hat! (I was really worried that he was going to fall off that chair. What you don't see in the picture is William standing very close by ready to grab him if he started to fall)

After we finished at the photo booth we headed to the swing set where Willie rode in a swing for the first time. As you can see he loved it . This was the inspiration to get him a swing for Easter.

They set up a little inflatable pool with Easter grass and bunches of eggs for the babies to hunt. Willie had too much fun sitting in there. His favorite part was the grass, of course we had to keep him from trying to eat it.

All in all I would say that we had a great start to Spring! William and I are so GLAD that the warm weather is finally here to stay. We were so sick of being cold! We HATE being COLD!!!! Our first Easter with Willie was great! Definitely one that I will remember forever! I can't believe that Easter is over and Willie is already 7 months old. I feel like these past 7 months have flown by. Someone said to me the other day that your life doesn't really start until you have children. I would have to say that William and I had an amazing life before Willie, but having him has made my life better and fuller in so many ways. I love him so much and thank God everyday for blessing us with him. Everyday brings something new and exciting and I look forward to the future that God has planned for my family and I. I leave you with a picture of all of us at the Easter egg hunt. Yes, we are matching, I love to coordinate outfits! Yes I know I am cheesy, but hey I waited so long to be able to do cheesy things like that. =)

Willie got a package!!!

Monday afternoon something exciting happened. Our post man came into the drive and beeped his horn for us to come out. He handed us a package addressed to Willie! Of course I couldn't hold back Willie's excitement we ran back in the house to open it. The package was from his Uncle Jackson and Aunt Trish who live in Idaho.

When I set Willie down to go get a pair of scissors to open the box he decided he would try to open it on his own. Without luck I opened it for him.

Inside was who else but Willie's favorite Disney character, Donald Duck, dressed as a bunny for Easter. Willie pulled him out of the box by his ears!

Seeing the card we opened it up and Willie read it immediately and then tried to see what it tasted like.

I soon found out that as cool and entertaining Donald was the box he came in was just as fun. Willie loved sitting in it pulling it at the sides. Too Cute!!

Once I got him out of the box I turned Donald on and we played with him.

Thank You so much for sending us Donald Uncle Jackson & Aunt Trish! We love you!

Wordless Wednesday!

New Tricks!

I have to say I LOVE all the BIG changes going on around here! I just wish I was around more to catch them ALL when they happen for the first time. It seems like everyday Willie is doing something new! It is so EXCITING!!! Among our new tricks since January we can roll over from our tummy. We can put our toes in our mouth. We can spit using our toungue in between our lips and make a noise (so technically not spitting THANK GOODNESS). We can move our hand back and forth over our mouth to make fun noises. As you can image our once somewhat quiet house has gotten louder or as I like to say a little more LIVELY! All the fun tricks I have listed above I have tried to get on camera but since our little star refuses to perform on command I have been unable to capture them yet, but as soon as I do I will post.

Below are some little tricks I have been able to capture.

With just a tiny bit of help from mommy or daddy. Willie can sit up on his own. Most definately in his boppy.

Since January Willie has come to really enjoy his JUMPER. It is definately something to watch as he jumps and squeals in delight!!

WARNING PICTURES BELOW ARE VERY CUTE!!!!!

During the last week in February William and I decided to introduce rice cereal to our little guy. Since then we had to change to oatmeal but here are some pictures from the very first experience with SOLIDS!

Before we actually started we first practiced just sitting in our big boy high chair to make sure that it wasn't going to be too traumatizing to sit in it while we ate big boy food for the first time.

When the BIG DAY arrived to sit in our high chair and actually eat food he was READY. William and I had no idea how ready. After each bite he reached out for the spoon. One time I gave it to him carefully watching to make sure he didn't choke himself. All he did was chew on the spoon. He was tooo CUTE throughout the entire process!

When we were all done with eating our food in the bowl Willie was NOT happy (as you can see from above) he wanted MORE of this scrumptious stuff that we had been keeping him from. So we fixed him up some more and the end result is too your left a full little man. I could just squeeze those cheeks!!!

Since then Willie has mastered rice and moved on to oatmeal. And then this week we introduced PEAS. And let me tell you THOSE DID NOT GO OVER WELL!!! After the second bite he acted as though he was choking and then threw up what he had ate. So needless to say we are holding off on reintroducing peas til later. The next night since he didn't actually eat the peas we tried carrots and they went over MUCH better. So we can check off carrots as AOK in Willie's food book.

Well today is our families Easter Egg hunt so we will be heading to that soon, but I will post as soon as I can with those pictures I know he is going to be too CUTE with his dinosaur easter basket!

Happy Valentine's Day

Hello Blog World Yes I know as many have told me it is NO LONGER Premature Awareness month! And I know it has been 4 MONTHS since I have posted. After that post Willie got double ear infections and then Christmas came and then I went back to work. And now I am trying to juggle house work, teaching work, and most importantly Willie. I would like to say that it has come to me so naturally, it is such a breeze! HA it makes me laugh just thinking that would be true for me. The reality for me is that it has been HARD!!!!!!! But I think that it is getting easier, but we will see. My goal is to post at least once a week.

Any Way, Happy Valentine's Day!! I hope that everyone is able to spend this day of love with the one's that they LOVE. I know I am. Willie is currently taking a nap and William has his fingers crossed in his recliner hoping Dale Jr. will be able to pull off a win at the Daytona 500.

William and I spent Friday night on a date we had dinner at Outback Steakhouse and then we went to a movie, we saw Valentine's Day!!! Yes my hubby is very sweet to see such a sappy movie. It was really funny. I won't ruin it for you in case you are going to see it, but it has some shockingly funny moments.

Willie sent out Valentine's to some of his cousins. As you can see he has grown A LOT in the last 4 months. William and I just can't believe how much he has changed in just 5 months.

On Martin Luther King Day my mom and I went up to the picture place to take some pics of our favorite little guy. The one of him dressed up as cupid was so cute they displayed it in the picture shop. Needless to say his daddy and I are very proud!!!!

Well I hope every one has a wonderful Valentine's Day!!!

#fight4preemies

Today is National Prematurity Awareness Day! This day is very important and it is probably overlooked by many, myself included. I believe that it goes overlooked because the tiny little sweet babies it is for cannot force people to recognize them. I wouldn't have known about this special day if it weren't for a fellow blogger reminding everyone. It was through her families blog that I heard a real story of premature babies and how much they go through. It is because of people like her and organizations like March of Dimes that this day is recognized! As my fellow blogger so eloqently stated, "Chances are you or someone you know has been affected by premature birth in one way or another." http://mcnultyquads.blogspot.com/ And that is so true!

As I said before I read her story and learned how very much premature babies go through in just the beginning of their lives. And then I saw first hand how very tiny they are and how wonderful the people are that help them and the results of all the wonderful things that the March of Dimes has done and is doing.

As you all know my son was NOT in any way premature, he was born 1 day before his due date! But we did spend about 3 days in the NICU. I felt like my baby was ginormous compared to the tiny little ones in there. But size not being important he needed help just like them, and because of the wonderful doctors and nurses he was able to get the help he needed. It was truly amazing how much these sweet babies have to go through and fight for in the wee beginnings of their lives.

Besides medical support these special people provide emotional support that parents need in such stressful time. Because I know first hand how heart breaking it is to see your baby attached to monitors. Most of the time many of the parents are not prepared to have a premature baby, but because of these wonderful people and the March of Dimes these parents and babies are given the support they need. So I would like to say Thank You to all of you who help these sweet babies, and I am not just talking about nurses and doctors, but the people that are a part of the March of Dimes and the people who support the March of Dimes. Thank You it is because of you that these sweet babies don't have to fight as hard for thier lives and that there will hopefully be less premature births in the future!

I know from my experience all I wanted to do was fight for my son and take his place, but I couldn't. But I have found another way; I decided while he was in the NICU that I was going to help and support the March of Dimes as much as I could. And I encourage everyone to try and help it only takes a little bit to make a difference. I know that a little bit doesn't sound like much but, just think how much we could help if everyone just helped a little bit. You can visit http://marchofdimes.com/prematurity/index.asp to find out how to help.