I'm Letting Go....

I really really wanted to catch up and document all the wonderful things I have missed posting about Wil Franklin. BUT...that obviously isn't happening...so...I'm letting go. I'm letting go of all my OCDness. I'm letting go of perfectionism.  I'm letting go of the past and I am once again becoming a consistent blogger. 

I realized that not having the time to catch up and waiting until I did meant that I was missing posting all these new and so fun things my sweet (read WILD) 2 and a half year old is doing.  So here goes...

Wil Franklin you are just too fun to be around right now. 

You wake up ready to go and you go until your eyes close for good at night. 

You LOVE LOVE LOVE anything that has to do with baseball or golf.  Your daddy says we might have to skip t-ball and go straight to coach pitch because you can't stand to hit a ball off a tee.  You want DaDa to pitch it to you and you hit it so far! Dada walks in from work and goes straight to the backyard so you can hit the ball. 

You are fantastic on an Iphone and your little kid computer the iXL. You amaze anyone that watches you and your focus/attention is incredible.

You have an obsession with gloves - winter ones, athletic ones, yard ones...you would wear "guubbs" all day every day.

You talk talk talk talk talk.  Sometimes you have so much to say that you get frustrated because you can't get it all out fast enough.  You sometimes repeat yourself several times trying to process all that you want to say. 

Your new phrases are, "Mama, who dat?" (You ask me when the phone rings, when we see someone at church you don't know, when I talk to a stranger) "Mama, I do it."(You are sooooo independent)  "Mama, I go outside." (You would live outside if you could...hot or cold)

You're obsessed with knowing names for things...like our neighborhood name, Gigi's neighborhood's name, our church name, people's names, movie names, etc. 

You still won't eat any meat EXCEPT a small bite out of one Wendy's "chicky nuggin".  Dada and Papa are so proud.  You love veggies, fruit, yogurt, pickles, and anything gummy. 

You are just like your mommy when you want what you want, when you want it and that is typically 3 seconds ago.  I'm sorry, Love, patience will be something you always have to work on. 

You LOVE to sing.  Your favorite songs right now are Oh God you are my God, The Days of the Week Song, The "Freeze" Song, and the "Firework Song" (the Star Spangled Banner), and the Super Why theme song.

You know all the Bible stories in your Bible and can tell them back to us.  Your "version" of Adam and Eve is the best!

Your favorite thing in the WORLD to do, though, is mow the grass with Dada.  You pray at night so that you can "mow da gas" and help use "da beeyoer (blower)".  You push your little mower right beside Dad's and stay with him the WHOLE time (front & back yard).  It's hysterical.

Your mommy and daddy are so proud of you and love you more than you will ever know. 

Life is so so good! We are so so blessed!

WELL HERE'S THE DEAL....

I LOVE to blog!! And during Wil Franklin's first few months and up to his first year...it was so easy to get some time to blog.  Wil Franklin slept twice a day for long periods of time and then when he was awake he would sit quietly on a blanket and just play.  I had so much time to BLOG!! 

THEN...

He got mobile!!  We hit 1 and life went into a whirlwind.  We go 90 to nothing, non stop, 24-7.  AND I LOVE IT!! My sweet Wil Franklin is ALL BOY!  He is so funny and so smart...the things that come out of his mouth now will CRACK me up!  But...I digress...

Bottom line is my blogging has suffered. Majorly.  My brother-in-law, Hays, was so kind to call attention to my last post in July that was about Christmas.  Yeah, I know. Pretty sad.

So I got busy and then I got behind.  See I am quite the perfectionist.  I am OCD and organized and structured and almost to a fault can't do things out of order.  So I couldn't just pick up where I left off and start blogging again, I felt like I needed to catch up. 

Then I had this fight with blogger...couldn't figure it out with the new picture uploading thing and I don't like to do anything that I can't understand. 

I know I know...excuses, excuses.  So I am going to try to, no, I am going to pick back up with my blogging.  I'll do some quick updates of 2010 and then get crackin on 2011. 

Love yall...

DECEMBER 2009

December was a great month...we were preparing for Christmas just like everyone else.  We were also getting ready for our new little cousin, Olivia to be born.  Brooke was having several showers and getting so excited. 

Also I got to be a part of BEST GIFT at Pinelake for the first time.  It was wonderful. Every other year, Pinelake does their Christmas program for around 15,000 folks.  It was AMAZING!  I had so much fun.

Here was our Christmas Card photo this year...

Wil Franklin is the CUTEST!  HA! We also had a lot of fun with decorations this year, because he was INTO all of them!  So we really had to pair down from our norm.  BUT Wil Franklin did get his own Christmas tree again with the ornaments that my friends made for him at one of my showers...

Then came Christmas Eve with the Collins Family...

We decided to spend the night at our home for the first time and have Christmas morning/Santa by ourselves since this was the first Christmas Wil Franklin would somewhat understand.  It was really sad for me and happy for me all at the same time.  Here's our Christmas Eve traditional photo before bedtime...

 

Matt and I did have fun settin up all Wil Franklin's loot, though...for Santa that is...=) (notice the Mt Dew)

We woke him up really early so we could get to Mimi and Dadaddy's house in Ecru.  He was still kinda asleep but I think he was liking what he was seeing...

After playing with our toys for a little bit, then we got in the car and headed North.  We were so excited to see Aunt WhitWhit and Uncle D and Mimi and DaDaddy...

Christmas PJs in front of the Tree...classic!

December was a blast and we had a GREAT time saying goodbye to 2009...

Next up HAPPY NEW YEAR, OLE MISS IN DALLAS?, AND WHAT?? I TURNED 30??? AND OLIVIA WAS BORN...JANUARY WAS A BUSY MONTH!

UM..WELL HERE WE GO...

Wil Franklin's First Birthday PARTY!!!

It was Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 2009 and the family was going to get together anyway, so we just made it into his family birthday party.  He was a little on the sick side, recovering from RSV so it was perfect that it was just family.  We had a great day! I could NOT believe I had a one year old!

I had Dream Cakes make his birthday cakes.  His smash cake (big bird) was a replica of Matt's First Birthday Cake.  It was made from a picture of Matt's party. His mom and Gran loved it.  It was too funny to watch him with that cake.  He LOVED playing in it, then Gigi gave him a bite and it was all over!  He tore into it..so fun!

THEN...we had a meltdown...sugar rush I guess...

He had to tell DaDaddy all about it...

Then we had to have a breathing treatment...

Then the big cake came out for all the adults.  The giraffe has kinda been our signature so we stuck with that for our cake theme...

Here are all the people that came to our party...

Mimi and DaDaddy

Gigi and Papa

WhitWhit and Uncle D

Aunt Brookie and Uncle Hays (and Olivia)

And my Great Grandmother, Gran

Our family shot..

It was such a great day and we had so much celebrating the wonderful year that God gave us with Wil Franklin.  He has made all of our lives so much more wonderful. 

November Catch Up

I have definitely been researching this whole blog thing and figuring out how to make it easier, better, cooler, whatever.  I’ve started using Windows Live Writer to see if that makes it easier to post…any comments/tips would be greatly appreciated!

So November was wonderful.  It was Wil Franklin’s birthday month, the beginning of the holidays, lots of fun!

Here was a “photo shoot” that Wil Franklin and I had one day.  He is 11 months, almost 12 months old here.  He can walk, but he was LOVING crawling in the grass.  He had so much fun.

Notice the gash on his nose…that was just one of the many bobos we’ve gotten so far…this one was from the corner of a table.  It scared mommy to death!  Wil Franklin only cried for a minute, but mommy cried for 30 minutes.

   A couple of days later we had another “photo shoot” while we were eating some corn…totally trips me out to watch him eat!  I love it!

 

So here’s this post. 

Next up Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Birthday!!!!

OCTOBER CATCHUP

October was a HUGE month!  We had so many wonderful things happen in October.  Hold on tight because here we go...(WARNING: LOTS OF PICTURES!)

We started October with a trip to the Pumpkin Patch (well the Farmer's Market) and let Wil Franklin help pick out some pumpkins and mums for our house.  We had a BLAST! I mean look at that baby!

We also had a playdate with one of my best friends Amanda's little boy Holden. Holden is like 3 weeks younger than Wil Franklin and we are just sure they are going to be best of buds. Can't you tell from this photo? Heehee!

Also in October we had Wil Franklin's Dedication at my dad's church.  All the families were there and it was a WONDERFUL day! It was perfect and Wil Franklin was the cutest thing ever.  We had the dedication then lunch at Castle Hill in Oxford, a gorgeous bed and breakfast. 

Wil Franklin at church waiting for his "turn"...

Opening his sweet gifts...

Jumping with Gigi...

This is my second outfit today since I couldn't walk around in my beautiful gown...

We are so proud of our sweet boy and so happy to publically dedicate him to our Lord...

With Dadaddy and Mimi...

The whole Collins Fam...

Uncle Haysie and Aunt Brookie...

Uncle D and Whit Whit...

Mommy and Daddy...

I mean have you seen anything cuter???

With Great Grandmother, Gran and Great Godmother, Jessie...

And then there was Halloween.  This was our first Halloween.  Now let me just stop right here and give you my thoughts on Halloween.  I have no problem dressing up in "fun" costumes, getting together with friends, and letting children walk around to houses and get some free candy.  However, I do have issues with scary costumes, dark costumes, ugly decorations, and the term "trick or treat".  So that's my deal...

Our first costume was, what else? A Giraffe...

The night before Halloween, the Country Club had a little ditty where they had a buffet and a few games set out for the kids.  We went and had a great time. Wil Franklin really loved the bucket of water that was supposed to be used for bobbing...we just splashed in it.  He did not, however, love the lady that was dressed up like a witch.  It was the first time that something has scared him like that where he was afraid to leave my arms.  I don't blame him, she was pretty scary looking! Sweet baby...

Then on Halloween we went to get candy from Gigi and Papa and Mr. and Mrs. Herring...

Gigi had me some Animal Crackers that I LOVE!

Then we went to MaeMae's house (my friend Mamie and Zach and Grant).  Lots of folks were there including Kristi and Keller and Lily Kathryn.  We all walked the kids around to get candy. Lily Kathryn is 2 and Grant is a few months younger than Wil Franklin.  We had a great time...

Walking up to a door...

Mommy, Wil Franklin, Grant (a precious alligator), and MaeMae (Mamie)...

Wil Franklin LOVES baby Grant.

Me and KK (Kristi)...

The cutest poodle ever, Lily Kathryn...

We also took Wil Franklin to his first Ole Miss game.  It was too much fun and he loved every minute of it.  I thought he might get scared of the noise and all the people, but he didn't.  He was jumping up and down and smiling from ear to ear.  I'll have to do a post on that by itself.  I have some GREAT pics.

Here is just a cute shot of Wil Franklin from October...He is 10 months old in this photo.  He is about to touch the tv stuff which is a big no no and he KNOWS it.  But he is about to do it anyway.

Trying Mommy out in my Sunday duds...

November is a big month...I turn ONE!!! Stay tuned for some Thanksgiving/Birthday FUN!!!