Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Love, The Whatleys

8 Months

In all the Christmas festivities, Andrew's 8 month-day did not get put onto the blog. Oops! So, better late than never...
Andrew is growing up so quickly and the months are flying by like weeks. He is sitting up solid as a rock now. He does not show signs of crawling yet, but he is getting interested in things out his reach, so I know that mobility is right around the corner...look out! Last week, I took him to the doctor for his ear infections (the never ending infections that have seemed to plague our family over the last few weeks) and while there, he weighed in at 20 lbs even! What a big boy!
Oh yeah, and he has two front teeth on top now to go along with the two on the bottom.
Happy day, Andrew!

The Dentist

Will's awful ear infection has finally cleared up and he is feeling much, much better and acting like old Will again! YEA!!
And in other news, Will had his first dentist visit on Thursday. Dan and I also had appointments and so we all four showed up in the office for a big ole family event. :) Will watched Dan get his teeth cleaned and was very interested and in awe of the whole process.
So when it came time for him to get in the chair, he was actually kind of excited. (I know...only Will would be excited about the dentist chair!) Needless to say, he did great. He was so patient and let the hygienist "count" and clean every tooth! The best part was the sunglasses he got to wear when she shined the light on his face! He felt so important and cool! :)
I really like Dr. Balzli and his office a lot. They are a very kid friendly staff and were so sweet with Will.
At the end, he got a prize out of the drawer and out of all the fun little toys, he picked a small blue ball of course! (This is what he has consistently said he wants Santa to bring him.)
In all the hustle and bustle of getting out of the house, I forgot my camera. So, here is a picture of Will this morning showing off his clean teeth and new toothbrush.

Thanksgiving

We had a really fun and really busy Thanksgiving week.
We started the week off by meeting Gigi and Jabo so that Will could go back to their house for a couple of days by himself before we traveled there on Wednesday. He was thrilled to say the least and I know that he had the BEST time with Gigi, Jabo, and Patrick. What a special treat for a little boy! And what a wonderful break for us here! I got to spend some time cleaning the house as well as spend some one on one time with baby Andrew! I, of course, missed my Will more than you can imagine and could not wait to see him on Wednesday. I think he was pretty happy to see us too. He did not leave Dan's or my side the entire day! :) We then spent the rest of the holidays with family and eating and eating!! It was so great to see everyone and especially getting to spend some time with Dan's cousin, Jason, who will be leaving for Iraq soon.
We returned home on Friday to get ready for the Egg Bowl. My parents and the Kirks came to stay with us for the weekend. We had a great time tailgating one last time this year and really enjoyed the game! GO DAWGS!!!
And because it is Thanksgiving, I just wanted to let everyone know how thankful we are for our amazing family. Dan and I are truly blessed to have this wonderful support system around us. I believe that it takes a village to raise a child and we feel like our village makes us better people and better parents. We are very thankful for all of you and we love you sooo much!

Pictures of our family gatherings:

Our beautiful baby (I know he's mine, but take a look at those eyes...they will melt your heart!):

Our silly boy:

Breakfast with Santa

On Saturday, we went to the Festival of Trees on campus for a breakfast with Santa. I was not really sure how Will would react to Santa because we have had some serious meltdowns in the past with dressed up characters. But, I guess a year can do a lot for a little guy and this year he was totally fine with Ole St. Nick! I had been practicing with him all morning asking him what he wanted to ask Santa to bring him for Christmas. He was cracking me up with the things he would say. Then, he asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I told him that I wanted a rug for our living room. He proceeded to tell me that we had a rug in his room so we didn't need another rug. If only we all thought as simply as a child! :) He ended up telling Santa that he wanted a blue ball for Christmas... that's easy enough! :) And Andrew seemed to enjoy his first visit with Santa too! He was a little sleepy and wanted his paci, but, in true Andrew form, he held it together and smiled long enough to get some cute pictures. Kate really liked Santa too...especially his beard which she curiously pulled and played with! Anyway, here are the pictures that Kelly took of all the kiddies with Santa!

7 Months Old!!

Wow! This little guy is 7 months old! So much has happened in the last 7 months and yet it feels like only yesterday I was still walking around with him in my belly. Here are a few of Andrew's newest things:
1.He is eating lots of baby food now. We recently introduced him to yogurt which he loves.
2.He has two little teeth on the bottom! :)
3.He is sitting up now. Still a little shaky, but he can do it.
4.And the biggest achievement, he is sleeping in Will's room now. We tried him in there on Monday night, and we had success. I lay him in the bed while he is still awake and he puts himself to sleep. He fusses for a little bit, but I am shocked at how easily he is adjusting. This is the same baby that had not gone to sleep once since birth without being rocked! We are now on night 3 and so far so good. Amazing!!Also, big brother Will really likes having Andrew in there with him. I think it is a good distraction for them both and they can fall asleep easier having companionship. I can already tell that these two boys are going to be inseparable!
Here are some funny poses of the "monthday" boy:

What a face!

"Gimme more of that avocado, mom!!"

Halloween

We had a crazy, fun day on Halloween. After Dan and I finshed the race in the morning, we came home, showered, and headed out again for the whole day. We went to Oktoberfest at our church and enjoyed some yummy German food and fun games for Will.
Then, we went to the exhibition game for the Bulldogs basketball team. We met up with Adrienne and Davis. Will always has so much fun with Davis!
After that, we met Kelly, Brett, and Kate and Melissa, Kris, and Isabel at our church's Trunk or Treat. Will had already had just about as much fun as he could handle with no nap at this point and had fallen asleep in the car on the way to the church. But, in true Griswold fashion, we woke him up because we were determined to fit as much into the day as possible and have fun doing it! ;) Poor kid! He ended up having a great time and of course loved getting all of the candy! The college kids who put on the Trunk or Treat did such a great job. Each car was decorated to the max and they were all dressed in character. There were Mario Bros, the Sesame Street gang, and even Superman. So cute! After all of that, it was back to our house to watch the MSU game and hand out candy to trick or treaters. What a great day!
Here are the pictures from Trunk or Treat:

Will aka Thomas the Train

Andrew the skeleton

Will arm wrestled superman for some candy.

Will, showing his loot to Andrew

Izzie (5 1/2 months), Kate (4 1/2 months), and Andrew (6 1/2 months)

This little baby loooooves his mommy!

Will played some games inside. Here he is giving the cake walk thumbs up!

We were runnin'

On Saturday, Dan and I ran in a 5K. Yes me, Amy Whatley, running! :) It was my first time to ever run in any sort of race and I had a great time. Molly was the one who inspired to start training for a 5k because she has done them in the past and wants to do one together someday. So, about 5 weeks ago, I started running a little bit every other day or so to work up to 3.1 miles. Dan has been running with me whenever he can and with our new stroller, we can even make it a whole family event. It has been very rewarding and I am enjoying my new hobby.
Here are the pictures from the race:
Dan is the best hubby ever and ran right next to me during the whole thing! Thanks coach! :)We finished in 32:39...nothing to brag about, but I was pleased completing my first race.

A BIG thank you to Kelly and Brett who stood with the boys and cheered us on!
Now, I can't wait to do another one! Kelly helped Will make the cute sign too!

Country Pumpkins

On Sunday afternoon, we drove out to Country Pumpkins in Caledonia to visit the pumpkin patch. It is such a great little farm with tons to do for the little ones.
Will rode the John Deere pedal tractors first thing! He was all into it and we had to revisit the tractors after every activity we did.

Then, we all rode on a hayride around the farm.


After that, Will jumped in this trailer filled with cotton. This was probably his second favorite to the tractors.

Then, he dug arond in the corn filled sand boxes and he and I went through a small hay bale maze. Will did great in the maze, but I, on the other hand, was a little freaked out. Imagine small spaces, low ceilings, and warm, stuffy air! Claustrophobic!!

Finally, we picked out a pumpkin for us and one for the Aldridges. I can't wait for them to join us next year at Country Pumpkins!



On Monday night, we got together with Kelly, Brett, Kate, and Brett's brother, Jason, to carve pumpkins. It was a blast. I think that October has become my new favorite time of year. There are so many fun things going on like festivals and football games, the weather is starting to turn cool, and I love all the yummy treats like caramel apples and roasted pumpkin seeds.
Will helped me pull all of the seeds out of the pumpkin goo!


Dan did all the carving. He's pretty crafty! He drew this ghost on the pumpkin from looking at a picture online. Not too shabby!


Kinda scary looking with the lights off!

Just like Daddy

On Saturday morning, Clay came over to our house to use Dan's tools to work on his truck. Needless to say, Will was fascinated watching them out front. He decided that he needed to work on his trucks too. So, he got out his "Bob the Builder" tools and went to work. Will loves to be "just like Daddy!" :)

Beach Pictures

Here are the pictures from our beach trip with the Whatleys a couple of weeks ago. We had such a great time! The weather was perfect! We got to relax by the pool and get some sun! We spent some fun time with family! What else could you ask for? Thank you so much for having us, Gigi and Jabo!
And now for the pictures...Warning-there are a TON of pictures!! Sorry if it is system overload, but I had the hardest time picking my favorites. :)
The House

Every morning we would bring all of the kids into Gigi and Jabo's room. They called it "Christmas" and we called it vacation! :) What a cute bunch of babies! (Click on the collages to see them larger)

Family pictures at the beach:




And a few of my other favorites:

And more...

And even more...

At the pool:





And other pictures from the week that I couldn't resist posting: