Christmas-Lots of Pictures to catch up

Sorry for the overload of pictures, but I figured this was the easiest way to do a quick update. 

11 months old!

Christmas Eve!

We got to spend Christmas and New Year's in California with Jason's family. It was lots of fun!

Despite having never opened a present before,
William seemed to know exactly what to do.

Cousins! These boys are just 3 weeks apart.

Best present ever!

Christmas Day!

Cousins waiting on the stairs to go down and see their presents

I have to open more presents?

Enjoying the warm California Christmas

I got to talk to my sister Rebekah who was actually about 45 minutes away from where we were.

William's 1st Birthday!

Poor kid was sick, so he felt pretty miserable all day.

Trying to enjoy the beach, but still feeling sick

I think he just wanted to sleep

Attempt at a family picture. William wasn't happy about stopping.

Happy Birthday song!

He did feel a little better that night after a long afternoon nap

New Year's!

We got to see some of the floats for the Rose Parade

I think this is a funny picture. William was trying to climb up me to look at the float behind us.

Fall Update

Well, here's a quick update with lots of pictures. We had a great summer filled with trips to Arizona, California, and Texas as well as family reunions and lots of fun. Fall brought us back to real life with busy schedules. Jason got a job as an autism aide at a preschool, so he gets to help autistic 3-5 year olds learn behavioral training and lots of other fun stuff. He also got another job working with BYU catering again which means he is super busy now. Sometimes several days go by that he doesn't even see William awake because he leaves early and comes home late. But we feel very blessed that he is able to work and save up some money for the dearth ahead that will be medical school.

Here are some picture updates on William:

3 months! William loves to smile and laugh. If you catch his eye and smile and laugh, he will too.
He does this cute sleep laugh where he smiles and his body shakes from sleep giggles.
When he sees you smiling at him he puts his hands to his face like he is being shy.

4 months! William is a very happy and content baby. He loves to smile!

5 months! Forgot the shirt though. Oops! At 5 months, William learned to sit up by himself!

6 months!
During this month William started army crawling! He also got his first tooth!

7 months!
William started pulling himself up to a standing position.
He learned how to crawl on his hands and knees and how to go from crawling to sitting.

8 Months!
At month 8, William had his other bottom front tooth pop through.
He also started sleeping for 12 straight hours most nights, which I loved!

9 months! He pulls himself up to a standing position and cruises all over holding onto the edge of the couch or whatever else is close. He has also become quite a speedy crawler. When he hears loud noises (vacuum, blender, hair dryer), he starts to cry and crawls quickly to me. He has never been a very cuddly baby, so I love that he comes to me for comfort.

In September, we went to Chalk the Block at the Riverwoods. It was really neat to see how talented people are. I was very impressed especially since I have no skills in the art department.

My friend who is 7 months pregnant did this one with her husband!

A few weeks ago we drove the Alpine Loop for Family Home Evening. Jason and I have wanted to do that for a while since he had never done it and it had been a while for me. It was so beautiful.

That's us for now! Happy Fall!

Lately...

William was blessed on February 3rd. We had it at my parents' house and lots of family and friends came. It was a beautiful blessing and made me realize even more what a responsibility and blessing it is to have this little guy in our lives. 

With his Anderson grandparents and cousins

William is just 3 weeks younger than Jake

The one decent family picture from the day. Still not my favorite though. Should have taken more. Oh well.

Sleeping on Grandma Andelin's lap

Grandma Andelin got him to crack a smile.

A few weeks later we said goodbye to Rebekah as she headed off on her mission to Long Beach, CA. I will definitely miss talking and having fun with her, but she will be a great missionary. 

William also got to meet his great grandparents on my dad's side.
Cousin Jonathan was there too.

We got to go to Karen, Kathy, and Jennis' last basketball game for the tournament championship. They had a slow first half, but ran away with it in the second half. Jason had fun taking action shots with our camera. 

William hung out with Aunt Anna 

He was a little upset about all the loud clapping and cheering.

Jason has been busy with school and work, so William and I hang out here at home or go visit my family during the days. I've also started tutoring a student from Korea, so that has been nice to give me something to do and also earn a few dollars a week. William definitely keeps me busy though. It's so fun to see him grow and learn new things. A few milestones...

He smiled and laughed in his sleep since he was a few days old, but around 4 weeks he started smiling back and at 2 months he started laughing when we would laugh. It's so fun to talk to him and see his face just light up with a cute little smile. He also babbles a lot now, so that is fun to hear all the sounds he makes. 

We're always being surprised with how strong he is. He's been holding his head up while we hold him since he was about 1 month and he can also support his own weight on his legs. He has rolled over from his tummy to his back twice and when I lay him down he will squirm and rotate himself around a bit just by kicking his legs back and forth.

He is still learning to control his muscles and sometimes moves his arms up and down in these jerky movements that actually become quite violent when he accidentally hits himself in the face. I have to be careful to keep his hands in mittens and keep his nails trimmed or else he scratches himself. He got quite a rude awakening last night when he scratched his face while sleeping. 

For a week or two he was completely fascinated with his left hand. He would hold it out in front of him and just stare and stare at it. 

He is getting better at entertaining himself, so that has been nice not to have to hold him all day. He will lay on the floor and kick his legs, rock a little, try to stuff both hands in his mouth, and make some noises. He does seem to be very attracted to the TV though. When it is on he will just stare at it. It sort of worries me that he likes it so much, but hopefully it is just the colors and lights that fascinate him. :) 

Anyway, that's us for now!