Baby's First Christmas!

Whew! What a whirlwind this week has been - between Christmas at Nanny's, Christmas at home, Christmas at Grandma & Grandpa's and a birthday - Wow! Sharing Christmas with your child is beyond amazing and wonderful ... and also beyond exhausting. I have a new appreciation for all the effort my parents put into Christmas year after year, and why they always seemed so tired by Christmas night. :-)

I must say that I wish Santa had only brought him clothes for Christmas because our house is no longer a home - its a freakin' playground! :-) Will had so much fun though, which makes it all so very worth it.

Below are some pictures from all of his "Christmases." Of course, he turned ONE on Thursday ... so I'll have the birthday post coming this weekend too. He had a little celebration on his actual birthday, but unfortunately, we had to postpone his "official" party he was going to have on Saturday. Little guy came down with a virus and had a high temperature today. Doctor said rest and tylenol/motrin was what he needed, so we'll give him that this weekend. I guess all the celebration just wore him down! But at least he stayed healthy to enjoy Christmas!!

CHRISTMAS AT NANNY'S

We went to see everyone in the upstate on Monday morning to spend Christmas Eve day with them. Will had tons of fun playing with Kate and Anna and loved seeing his Nanny! Luckily, we brought some baby gates with us to reel him in though - that boy has taken off walking! Not a lot of crawling coming from him anymore!

Showing the ropes to his cousin, Anna.

Will liked to sit on top of all the presents....
His favorite gift has been the Elmo chair from Nanny. He loved it as soon as he saw it. He likes to sit in it and watch his morning cartoons. Its so cute!!

CHRISTMAS AT HOME

What was Santa thinking? I mean really ... there is not one box of clothes under that tree. What was he THINKING!?? When Will woke up Christmas morning, Ellis and I got him out of bed yelling "Merry Christmas!" Then, we brought him downstairs to see what Santa brought him. He immediately lit up when he saw everything under the tree and quickly walked over to it. We were delighted that he recognized all the "new" toys that were awaiting him! The first thing he went to was the little train Santa got him.

Will loves to push buttons and is very, very good at it. Mom & Dad have all kind of sing-songs in their head these days.

Will knew what to do on his new rocking horse the minute we put him on it. Just went to town rocking and jumping on the horse!

CHRISTMAS AT GRANDMA & GRANDPA'S

Uncle Steve and Aunt Mary (my brother and sister-in-law) from Texas arrived Christmas afternoon, so we all gathered for a really fun Christmas atGrandma & Grandpa's. My Uncle Paul, Will's great uncle, also was able to visit from Ohio. By this time, Will had the whole gift-unwrapping, toy-playing mayhem down pat. He was certainly a handful at G&G's house. He walked everywhere, played with everything, particularly those things he shouldn't play with, and just had a ball!!

No, his grandparents did not give him a beer mug for Christmas, but did I mention that he liked to play with everybody else's gifts and not really his own??....

He just loves this qucking toy. Hard to explain what it does, except that you roll it on the ground and it sounds like a quacking duck, slapping its feet on the floor. Will hasn't quite mastered how to get it to work, but loves to carry it around or watch others roll it!

Will & his Grandma.

Will and his Grandpa. Will adores his Grandpa. He stuck to him like glue at Christmas more than he did to his Mommy (much to her relief but probably not to the relief of poor Grandpa's back!!)

It really was a fabulous Christmas, and I hope your's was as merry and chaotic as our's! :)