Let's Start With Utah...

About a month ago, Will and I flew to Utah. The purpose of this trip was to say goodbye to my class and take care of my classroom. It was strange to be back in Utah as a "visitor" after living there for 8 years. 

The trip was many things:
-Good: Good to see my class. Good to show them Will again. Good to remind them that their teacher had not forgotten them. Good to tie up the loose ends there.
-Horrible: Horrible to listen to my baby cry while I had to move stuff out of my classroom. Horrible to see my very happy baby as unhappy as he had ever been in his two months of life. Horrible to know that all he wanted was for his mama to hold him. Horrible to feel like I was neglecting him. 
-Exhausting: Exhausting moving a million things while my stomach muscles are still recovering from growing a baby. Exhausting working on very little sleep (Will did not sleep well in Utah).
-Wonderful: Wonderful to be back at Spanish Oaks. Wonderful to catch up with friends and family.

Thank you to the Roberts Family and the Gregory Family for letting me stay with them! Thank you to everyone else who helped and fed me. We have great friends and family that we miss so much!

Okay, a few pictures from the trip:

Us with the Bretzing Grandparents

Some Great-Grandpa and Great-Uncle love.

Brooke, Ryan, and the dog that found my baby fascinating.

It turns out that I took pictures for about a three hour block of time and then never got out the camera again. Oops. But don't worry - I have a billion pictures for the next post!

Summertime!

Summer has been great so far. Unfortunately, we are now grown-ups and Daniel actually has a real job, so this will be a different kind of summer for us. Still, I know it will be lots of fun. So far, here is what we have been up to...

I got a haircut last week! Shorter hair is going to be good now that Will loves to grab hair. There were a few too many times that I had to pull pieces of hair out of his hands (or mouth! Yuck!). So far, I really like it. You can see how much I cut off by our recent picture at the top of the blog. It was enough hair that I could donate it. I even added some side bangs - I know, CRAZY.

Will and I have gone to playgroup with some moms from church. While we were there, this happened... It was a lot messier than it looks.

On a related note, here is a video...

That video was one of Kylie's favorites. My sister, Kylie came to visit and help for about a week. It was fun to have her. Will loved her. She even got a laugh out of him before I did.

Kylie helped me give Will lots of baths (with his cute frog towel from Auntie Ashley).

She also helped me remember to give Will tummy time, because I NEVER remember. So far, that has definitely been my biggest failure as a mom. We'll see if he develops normally. :)

Will has been sleeping a lot, and he loves to sleep with his hands above his head.

                                  

We have been exploring beautiful Washington. It is crazy how many lakes, ponds, parks, etc. are everywhere!

Hopefully I will get around to posting about our Utah and California trip soon.

Surprise! We Moved!

Back in April, we moved to Everett, Washington (which is about 25 minutes north of Seattle). Hooray!

Daniel was offered a job with Boeing, and thankfully, they were willing to wait until after we had our baby.

We based our moving date on a few important pieces of information:
1) Some airlines won't let you fly with a baby that is less than 10 days old.
2) My doctor said that he would induce me if I was a week late.
3) You spend 2 days in the hospital for a normal delivery.
4) SO, the due date + 7 days to be induced + 2 days in the hospital + 10 days until the baby can fly = our moving date of April 9th!

That was our plan, and kindly, baby Will came a day before his due date, so he actually ended up being 2 1/2 weeks old when we moved.

I wish I had taken more pictures of the moving process in Utah, but I had just had a baby and so we were either nursing or sleeping most of the time. Also, Boeing packed us and moved us, so we didn't actually do all that much. It was pretty great. Okay, it was REALLY great.

Here is Will's very first airplane ride at 2 1/2 weeks old. I was super nervous, but he did fantastic!

This is one of the only pictures I have of us in the hotel while we waited the few days for our stuff to arrive. Our cars didn't arrive until a week or so after that.

This is what our dining room looked like in our new apartment (after quite a few boxes had already been unpacked or put into other rooms).

This is Daniel putting together Will's crib. I would like to add that I LOVE having him in his own room.

This is a picture of Will's very first nap in his crib (which we had had for months, but never set up in Utah). Don't worry - I immediately tucked the blanket far away from his face so there was no suffocation hazard!

We are LOVING Washington for many reasons:
-I actually like the clouds. My sensitive eyes are very happy here.
-I love not having to coat myself with sunblock every day.
-We came at a good time of year, so there have been a surprising amount of sunny days.
-The air smells good and there are trees everywhere.
-Everyone is very friendly. We really love our new ward at church.
-We have friends who moved here with us, friends that have family here (so they will be visiting), and I have family here.
-Although we miss the big house that we were house-sitting in for the last 18 months, I love being able to clean my entire apartment so quickly.
-There are all kinds of new places to eat at! I love food!
-Daniel is really enjoying his job.
-Boeing has been wonderful during the whole moving/settling in process.
-I love staying home. Teaching 1st Grade was a wonderful job, and I miss the great people I worked with, but staying home with Will has been the best thing ever!!

Father's Day, of course!

Happy 1st Father's Day to Daniel. Will sure loves his daddy. Daniel is MUCH more fun than I am. Daniel got the first smile and the first laugh from our baby boy. I love to see how much they love each other. Here are some cute pictures of the two of them:

Will loves to look out the window. And Daniel likes to look at Will.

They love to be outside together and chat about random things.

Daniel has become very good at doing things on the computer and even playing video games while holding Will. This is back when he was only a week or two old. So tiny!

Will has no trouble taking whatever kind of bottle we throw at him, although he definitely prefers nursing.

Look at that love!

We also love the new grandpas!

 Papa Pete (my dad)

 Grandpa Larsen (who we will come up with a cuter name for...)

Will is just so excited about all of the wonderful men in his life!

He laughs!

Will laughed for the first time yesterday! He laughed for so long that we were able to get it on video. He thinks his daddy is sooo funny! I especially like the quick sad face at 0:27.

I still haven't managed to get a laugh out of him, but I'm not bitter or anything...

New Pictures

We just got back from a wonderful trip to California (and a semi-wonderful Utah trip), but I will blog all about that later. For now, here are a few family photos. One of our main reasons for the trip home was to introduce Will to both families. We were lucky enough to get a five generation picture with my family.

Thanks Michelle Deakin for these beautiful pictures. Five generations:

***EDIT: Sorry, my mother has requested that I remove the five generation picture. I guess that will be our Christmas card picture. Sorry if you already saw it and the surprise was ruined!***

Will, his Great-Grandma, and his Great-Great-Grandma

He was not thrilled with being woken up or the chilly morning, so there were no smiles that day. He is still pretty cute though.

We sure love this baby!

He has brought so much joy to us.