Second Haircut For Will

His first official haircut was VERY minimal, more just trimming around his ears and face. We decided to do an even shorter cut for summer as this one is SUPER sweaty all the time. Yes, he looks super handsome but momma sure does miss those sweet curls!

1st Official Haircut

I've attempted to trim over the ears and keep the mullet from growing, but it was time to get Drew's 1st "official" haircut. I absolutely love his hair and can't keep my hands off of it so parting ways with a good chunk did make me a bit sad. That being said, it was getting out of hand and really needed to be trimmed up. See for yourself.

We went to Snip Its last weekend as their specialty is children's cuts and we figured they probably have worked with thousands of babies. Unsure of how Drew would do, we brought some of his favorite toys and items that really distract him along with some snacks.

I think these pictures can speak for themselves as far as a glimpse into how he did:

Despite another boy near his age screaming bloody murder in the next chair, our angel just sat there like a little prince. He didn't mind a stranger clipping his hair at all as long as he was getting snacks and could play with a bell that she had on hand.

Most comments so far is that he looks older. To me, he is just even more handsome than he was before.

Ady's First Haircut

It was so fun looking back on Drew's first haircut at such a young age and here we are with Ady being 2.5 and just now getting her first one. I considered doing hers when she turned 2 but it was just still not too long and I hated chopping her baby hairs off. Lately, though, it's became hard to brush and I knew it was time. But first, some Mimi and Grandpa snuggles during a movie...

Here's what she looked like before...

She was pretty tentative about the wash so holding Grandpa's hand made her feel better.

Love her grumpy face here...

And then after with just 2ish inches cut off and curled up a bit!

Then we said goodbye to Mimi and Grandpa as they headed to the airport to fly back to KC.

Hand, Foot and Mouth

Somehow we escaped this virus with our older 2 but we weren't able to avoid it with Will. His school has been hit pretty hard with it and he for sure got it. Thankfully it seems to be fairly mild as he only had spots on his mouth and bum but the poor guy was fairly grumpy for a few days, most likely when it was hitting his body! Thankfully having big brother read to you makes you feel better...

Also he got a haircut and for the first time ever didn't scream bloody murder. It seems everyone in our town goes to Ms. Tumeaka for their haircuts and we love her too. She's great with the babies and always does a fab job making him look like a stud muffin!

Summer Start With A Bang

We always enjoy visiting Gramma and Poppa's pool to mix things up!

Celebrated a friends birthday with some pickleball!

So many hot runs with Drew this summer...

Mimi and Grandpa came into town and we had to grab some delicious Bahama Buck's!

Ady celebrating a dance friends birthday at hibachi...

Baseball moms night out...

Home Depot kids workshop with this cutie...

Lunch with some dance buddies before Hawaiian Falls...

Fresh haircut and style for this stud muffin...

DREW IS ONE YEAR OLD!!

I have been thinking about this blog for weeks now. Do I want to write a letter to my baby? Do I want to just give his stats and pictures and leave it at that? Whenever I would sit down to start working on it, I was flooded with emotion. I simply can't write all my feelings down in a blog and feel some of them are quite personal anyway. So instead, Derek and I chose to write letters to Drew, tuck them away and do this again every year until later in life when we give all of them to him.

So to keep it short, I'll sum up this last year in one word; MAGNIFICENT. I could not have imagined how wonderful it would be to become a mother and love someone this much. From the moment I set my eyes on him, he stole my heart.

(5 minutes old)

I have loved getting to know him and watching his personality develop and have made a promise that I will do whatever it takes throughout life to make him happy. He is worth it.

(4 months old)

Drew is exactly what Derek and I waited for and we really feel extremely blessed to have this angel in our life. He has changed us both for the better and brings so much joy to our world.

(11.5 months old)

So Happy One Year Birthday to my little man! 

Stats:
- Weight: 24 lbs, 8 oz
- Height: 31 inches

Changes:
- Drew had the other two 1st molars break through (bottom set) this month as well as his two lower incisors. We had a couple nights of some painful crying, but other than that, he's been a great teether!
- Drew is cruising around on all furniture and loves to walk with his Fisher Price Walker to Wagon or his Stride to Ride Dino. He has become very confident, even letting go and standing on his own for a few seconds. We think we're about 6-8 weeks away from walking!
- Drew took his third round trip flight since birth to Kansas City for Christmas. This was the first flight where he did not get sick or develop and ear infection and we felt very blessed. If he is healthy, he is a GREAT traveler!
- At night he is still sleeping about 11-12 hours and generally only naps for a total of 1-2 hours a day. We're struggling with a new 'standing issue' lately where he just pops right up when we lay him down and stands there and cries. It's slowly getting better, but it's hard to hear him cry.
- He had his first haircut this month and did AWESOME with it.
- Drew has become obsessed with stairs. The gates are up, but we do let go up and down the basement stairs a lot to keep him moving. He LOVES climbing up them as fast as he can.
- Somehow, somewhere, Drew learned how to play talk on a phone. He has one in the basement and at about 11.5 months, he picked it up and put it to his ear several times. Maybe that means he sees us on our phones too much?!?  :)
- He also has been repeating words. He loves saying 'Bye' to his teachers at the end of the day and some other words he has repeated are: Dog, Hi, Good and Bottle (or 'Ba' as he says). He also says 'Uh Oh' when he knocks a toy over or hears a loud noise.
- Drew has become very picky with his eating and it's hard to get anything down. His teachers report that he is a good eater at school, but during dinner time he prefers to donate his bites to the girls. We're trying different foods all the time to figure out his likes and dislikes, but it's sure a learning process.

And what better way to end the year than reflect on the monthly pictures all together?

Will's 1st Haircut

This little dude has been suffering from some major hair in the eyes lately but I am NOT ready to chop those locks off. I took him to my hairdresser for her to just trim his bangs and that's about it. He did pretty great getting a little pissy at one point but because it was so quick it didn't end up being that bad! I knew she wouldn't make him look like Lloyd from Dumb and Dumber and now he can see clearly. I'm guessing within a couple of months we'll have to do an actual cut, but for his first 'official' one, a trim was fine. :)

Drew's New Do

There are several rites of passages with childhood and often a "personalized haircut" is one you'll see with toddlers. Well last week Drew took full advantage of the 10 minutes I had to put Ady down for a nap to give himself a new do. I left him downstairs to cut with his lefty toddler scissors and some colored paper. As I was exiting Ady's room I was greeted with 'mom, there is a pile of hair by the table'. I was SUPER confused and came down to find this.

Then I looked down and saw this, which then led to me saying "oh no, what did you do?" and him getting upset! (And yes, I grab my camera in a lot of situations... I don't want to just document the sunshine and rainbow days, I want it all!) Don't worry. He stopped crying pretty quickly, especially because I let out a little laugh. I think he got upset more because I gasped when I saw it as I really didn't even reprimand him. We did have a talk about how we can't do that again and scissors aren't for hair, but it was too funny not to snap some pictures.

Derek REALLY wanted to buzz it, but I just couldn't do it. It's shorter now, and you can still see the trimmed areas, but overall it's not too bad. And yes, I still crack up every time I see it. 

I'm just glad he didn't chop off his ear in the process!

Catching Up

Snapped some pictures of the boys doing Kinetic Sand together. Their minds are identical and it's fun to watch them concentrate together... 

Will has also been SUPER into puzzles and can knock most of them out within a few minutes! 

Our girl and her beauty in the sunlight...

Haircut time...

More puzzles....