Friday Five

1. Will has learned to crawl out of his crib. This has been the big drama of last week. I thought my life was coming to a crashing halt. Sweet, good sleeper William was coming into our bedroom at 4:30am every morning and happily announcing, "mama! I awake!" 😱 "This is it", I thought. The end of my life as I know it. HOWEVER with the help of a few ingenious mama's, we have successfully curbed the climber...for now. We've implemented 3 things I'm hoping will help us transition to a toddler bed sometime. 1. I found these nifty jammies on Etsy. They are just normal pj's with a piece of fabric sewn in-between his legs. Will can run, but he can't climb--score! They were a little pricey, but my sleep is priceless to me. It would also be a super easy DIY project.  2. We also lowered his crib to the floor (doesn't look very classy, but it gets the job done) 3. I bought this toddler clock from amazon.  It lights up when it is time to wake up and okay to go get mommy and daddy. Before Will goes to sleep we tell him that he has to stay in his bed until his special clock turns green (it also has an alarm for kids who don't know colors yet). We set it for 7am and go get him when it goes off. I'm hoping when he transitions to a toddler bed he still gets the idea that he has to wait until his clock says it's okay to wake up--so far he has accepted it really well!

 My new favorite shirt from GAP--naptime..huge fan

next obstacle....banning the binkies. He is only allowed to have them when he sleeps but he LOVES them. Which is hilarious because he didn't use them as a baby

2. Mike turned 28 last weekend. It was so fun to celebrate our favorite person. Mike has a way of making every day better and we tried to make his birthday special. It's crazy to think that I met Mike when he was 21, freshly home from his mission and now he is nearing his 30's😳 (a fact he doesn't like me to remind him of haha). He is such an awesome husband and dad. We feel lucky every day that he is ours. He is my very best friend. 

For his birthday we celebrated on Friday by going to the symphony, Saturday with a dinner at Little America with his side of the family, and Sunday with a surprise party with my side of the family at our house. The last year has been so great and I can't wait to see what adventures lie ahead! 

chic fil-a and the symphony. a great combo

Will is practically a teenager

3. Earlier this week William and I made and decorated halloween sugar cookies. I have tried to do more fun things with Will even though he is small and sometimes it is more work than it is worth😅. I know he will never remember this experience, but I hope he always remembers the sweet bond we share and the fun we have when we play together. To be honest, my kitchen looked like a war zone after we were done...but I was 100% okay with it. I find so often I shy away from things because of the work involved, but you know what? It was totally worth it. It was fun! I have also decided that baking is the single best way to help your kiddos develop patience. It takes a looooong time to bake he cookies, cook the cookies, let the cookies cool, and frost the cookies before you can finally have the reward of eating the cookies. I think baking will become a regular occurrence at our house (as long as we have people who will help me eat them). I'm going to try to continue making the EFFORT to do fun things.

4. Speaking of which....winter is coming. Okay, not really but fall is certainly here! In the last week the weather has changed drastically and I am coming to grips with it. I have never loved summer more than when I had a toddler. Every day Will and I went on little adventures to the pool, splash pad, parks, nature walks, etc. It was so easy to find fun things to do outside! Now that it is getting colder I am having a harder time thinking of things to do. It is definitely going to be a long winter if we don't find some fun activities to keep this little monkey busy. I'm thinking we might have to invest in passes to local museums and other indoor activity centers. As nervous as I am about the prospect of winter, I am loving the idea of fall. Will asks every day if we can pick a pumpkin from the patch--patience young grasshopper. 

It is getting colder these days! Little Will had HAD it during grocery shopping 😂

fall festival. Such a great community event--Will loved it!!

snippets of our home. I'm super proud of my fall wreath!

5. CHANGE. Change and I have a complicated relationship. I really would like to embrace it....but every time it comes to visit I would rather it not. Even when I seek out change I have a hard time accepting it. Why is change so hard...Even when the change might be good? I suppose for me it's because I know things will never be the same. Not exactly. 

It's the same with TIME...that sneaky fellow, robbing me of my precious moments and dragging out those I wish to skip. Such is the ride of life I suppose. Might as well let go of the wheel, throw my hands in the air and shout-"come what may and love it"

praise the heavens for the dermatologist. Seeyanever adult acne.