1/2 birthday top 5

i love the 1/2 birthday. i insist on acknowledging mine and have even told complete strangers that the day was upon us. i celebrate mine on march 22 (no gifts required - emails are welcome.)

anyway...enough about me. yesterday was wil's 1/2 birthday. his 1st 1/2 birthday, in fact, and neither of us can believe it. we love him more every day and remain in awe that he came from us.

the top 5 things fun facts about 6 month old wil

1) he eats everything...literally. if he is sitting with us as we begin dinner (or breakfast, or lunch) he will reach for the food on our plates and, on occassion, take it from us for himself. he loves fruit, vegetables, chicken, cheerios, pizza crust and buns from chick-fil-a. we are glad he has a healthy appetite...that leaves no doubt that he came from us. ha!

2) he can sit up by himself. fun!

3) he scoots backward all over the house.

4) he flirts incessantly with women...in the neighborhood, in the grocery store, in the gap...old, young, attractive, not so much, everywhere and anywhere. and they love it.

5) he loves, absolutely loves, snapping. and, evidence that he's sure to be brilliant, he has started trying to snap himself. it's hilarious and remarkable but that little thumb and middle finger go together as he watches us and, although he doesn't attempt the motion, we think it's pretty cool that he gets those chubby little fingers together.

he's fantastic. i won't apologize for thinking so. we are thrilled with our 19 lb, 12 oz baby who grew an inch and a half last month and looks more and more like his dad every single day.

happy 1/2 birthday wil! here's to many, many more.

22.

the doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.
~flora whittemore

ah...the list. supposedly slow and steady wins the race. that is how i am going about this...slowly, deliberately and with thought behind each of these items. i am not just going to fly through willy-nilly. the truth is this: i am a procrastinator and the majority of the 34 things will probably be done in the week before my 35th birthday. but let's hope not. in that spirit, i happily check another one (my second) off the list.

this is what our front door used to look like:


and this is what it looks like today:

a vast improvement even if i do say so myself. don't for a second think that this was easy. this is one of those projects that feels like it should take about 2 hours and ends up taking a week and almost all of wil's naptime minutes during that week. whew. so, 5 coats of black on the door, 3 on each of the sides and 5 coats of white on the trim later and we're in business. i even treated myself to a new knocker, doorbell and doormat to set the whole thing off. i have a little touch up to do but nothing that won't take, oh, 5 hours or so. ha!

i love the finished result and am moving on to refinish the porch and railings next. that was not on my list but maybe i'll give myself bonus points for doing extra credit.

**muchas gracias to mi madre for suggesting the color. see mom...i bet you thought i'd take all the credit.

welcome home lucy!

we brought lucy home yesterday and our house feels whole again. the surgeons were thrilled with the outcome of her operation and were glad to send her home a day early. she looks a lot different than she did when we saw her on monday - brighter eyed, less pain, tail wagging again. she hates her cone but will have to wear it until her bandage comes off because the nurses caught her trying to remove the bandage herself. oops. she walks well despite the cast and we were assured that she would experience a full recovery in about 8 weeks.

thanks for all the well wishes! we are so happy that she's home!

lucy

sunday night while visiting friends in PA lucy was hit by a horse and buggy. she came out of nowhere in what we assume was an attempt to chase the horse and, having no real experience with horse and buggies, misjudged her target and was struck by the rear wheel of the buggy. her right front leg is broken, her left paw is wounded and swollen but not broken and her chest and body are bruised and sore. she was treated sunday night in PA and we brought her home yesterday to our vet in NJ which is one of the best in the northeast. she is currently in intensive care and will undergo surgery today to repair her leg. it is important to note that she will fully recover and should suffer no long term side effects.

it goes without saying that we love lucy so much and that this is difficult for us. we feel very lucky that her injuries, while serious, are minor. it could have been much worse and we are so grateful that it wasn't. we pray for her speedy recovery and hope that she'll be back making friends with squirrels and licking us all to death in no time.

we love you lucy!!!!

cookin'

woo hoo! david cook won american idol. way to go to the 13 of us that voted for him. it's about time someone totally different won.

as for the 4 of you that don't watch...there's always january 2009! be there*.

and for my mom...the ONLY vote for david a...who admitted that she'd never seen either sing (true or false mom???!!!???)....WHATEVER.

YIPPEE!

*yes, i am 33 and i love this show even though it's as queer as a 3 dollar bill. i will not apologize for it. and yes, mom, part of me wishes i was the new american idol.

no(ah) way...it's raining again

as i spend yet another "spring" day inside and watch it rain i thought you'd like to know that the total rainfall for shrewsbury, new jersey may 1-19 is 4.03 inches and counting. oh...and it's about 55 degrees.

get in line by twos...we're about to launch.

"view" from our front window

wanted: comments

family, friends, foes, strangers...

i love doing this blog. it has become a real source of pride for me and i love hearing (via phone and email) from all of you that love it. perhaps this request is a bit needy and so be it, but i would love it if you'd comment more. (this does not apply to regular commentators - you know who you are.) sure, you may not always have something to say, but those times that you do, i'd love to hear it.

my blogging girlfriends and i discuss this all the time. the comments are fun and let us know that you are enjoying (or not enjoying) our hard work. so, just a suggestion...next time you read a post and have a thought like "that was really neat" or "what a cute kid!"...let us know! we'd love to hear it!

and i promise you this...if you ever start a blog, i'll comment my heart out. :)

wascally wabbit

the cutest bunny rabbit makes it's home sitting on top of wil's bed. it was a gift from my friend courtney smotherman and her boys. last night ryan and i spent some time playing with wil before putting him to bed and somehow the rabbit got in on the action. i guess wil had never noticed the rabbit sitting on top of his bed before last night. either that or he'd never seen it up close. at any rate, when he saw it he thought it was hilarious. we never know what is going to set him off on one of these laughing fits and we never tire of them.

the pauses in the laughter are a result of my taking the rabbit away from view. in our opinion, the looks on his face in those moments are just as funny as him laughing! enjoy!