Show off...

To say Will likes dinosaurs right now is like saying it gets warm in Houston in the summer. Here he is educating me with some new dinosaur "pictures" I found in a Target dollar bin. I had just opened them for him right before I took this video.

Adult weekend

Alert! This is a child-free post!

Last weekend Todd and I went with our good friends, Chris and Melissa, to Cozumel and it was wonderful! We went for a long weekend with the only goal being some relaxation and time to enjoy friends. Mission definitely accomplished.

This picture pretty much sums things up. As Melissa said, "it definitely doesn't suck right now." Couldn't have said it better. :)


We were at an all-inclusive resort, but one day we ventured down the beach and found a fun little beach bar that we ended up visiting in the evenings to watch the sunset and enjoy the atmosphere away from the resort for a while. We loved Albertos!


When we first got there they really tried to convince us that we needed to do "activities." Apparently it was a great place for diving and snorkeling, but that all sounded a little too strenuous for our group on this trip. I think this is about as close as we got to the dock and the "activities." :)


This is Charlie, the 32 year old iguana that lives at the resort. He pretty much hung out at the pool all day and we thought that he obviously has been around a while and knows what he's doing, so we gladly followed his lead and lounged around for 3 days.


Not that we lead stressful lives or anything, but it was still so awesome to get away and relax for a few days. It was made even better because we were there with great friends. Thank goodness for Nanas that made it all possible by babysitting!

Ahhhh...summer

The cast is off, the rain is gone -- look out! We have fully enjoyed the last few days and getting back to summer as summer should be. Will is doing great post cast this time...he definitely still has a little limp that is more pronounced after he is either really active or really sedentary (which is basically only when he's sleeping!) but other than that, it hasn't seemed to slow him down at all. We have ventured back to the pool and park with no incident, so I think we're back on the road to life as we know it.

For those of you who don't know, Will is obsessed with dinosaurs right now. It started with a dinosaur-themed birthday party of a friend, then the PBS show Dinosaur Train, and now is a full blown obsession complete with a membership to the Museum of Natural Science and weekly visits to the "dinosaurs that live in the orange house." Also know as the brick building that is the museum. Here we are at this week's trip to the dinosaur house...

Last night we went with some friends to a farmers market to enjoy the nice summer night and the fact that it had finally stopped raining. There was some great vendors, homemade marshmallows, chocolate goat milk, and all kinds of fruits and veggies. Will's favorite? The peach guy! The guy offered him a peach and he literally bit it right out of his hand and proceeded to eat 2 of them before we even left. I think he made the guy's night -- he just laughed and said "that's what it's all about!" I swear, you would never know that this kid is growing up in the city...



Another big hit around here right now? Gardening. Will is convinced that the plants need watering all the time -- never mind the rain that we've had for 11 straight days -- must water! The good thing is that his version of watering really just involves holding a watering can over the water and then walking it to the flowers....and it's usually empty by the time he makes it, so there's not a lot of actually hydration happening. Now we've started taking it up another notch, and thanks to the gardening set from Aunt Corky, he is "helping mommy" in the flower bed. Very helpful...

What? Doesn't everyone use a tractor while they garden? Will informed me that "Johnny is helping Will" with the gardening. Admit it -- Every Bellamy reading this is smiling right now.

And then there's Georgia; doing her part by enjoying the sun and staying out of the way.


Ahhh...summer.

Summer -- Take two

Let's try this again...hi summer, how are you? We would LOVE to come out and play, whatcha been doing?

Will is cast free...again. And we're hoping to keep it that way this time. The Dr. said he should be good to go now -- but to try and slow him down a little for a few more weeks to be safe. Of course right after he told us that Will said "I'm going to play soccer!" Todd and I figure that Dr. Epps is probably thinking he has just found the funding for his lake house...:)

First, a few pics of what we were doing to pass the time the last couple weeks. Not to be slowed down, Will discovered that he could get mom and dad to push him around on his bike in the house. Considering our recent history at the ER, we still made him wear his helmet. :)



Thanks to a great birthday present from his cousins, Will has (what seems like) a lifetime supply of sidewalk chalk. He loves to get it all out and pick out the different colors and ask us to draw stuff for him. This past weekend we were all pretty stir crazy so we spent a while in the morning sitting on the driveway drawing with his "sidewalk" and watching the mowers cut the grass in the neighborhood. Good thing he has an artist for a dad -- some of his requests were out of mommy's range of ability. :)



Working hard on his artwork...



But enough of the cast pics...let's look at this new and improved leg! Of course as soon as Will got his cast off Hurricane Alex came into the Gulf, so although we aren't being hit by the hurricane, we are getting tons of rain all week -- and not a lot of opportunities to get outside. We did get to squeeze in one night of backyard fun before the rain hit though and finally got to try out one of the water toys he got for his birthday. It was so fun to finally see him laughing and playing outside again -- and it was the first night that it has truly felt like summer around here!



He was determined to water the plants -- something he did with my dad in those short days in between casts. He has been asking about it and wanting to go out to water plants forever -- so it was the first thing on the to do list while we played in the sprinklers. He really didn't get any water in the can, but he must of walked back and forth between the sprinkler and the flowers a hundred times!



And then the rain came. And came. And is still coming. So we brought the outside in. We moved the furniture off our rug and it was Will's "grass" to play golf. We've got a long way to go before he's tour ready I think...



But it's not for a lack of concentration...



And then, the necessary skill in golf of "riding the horsey." Todd taught him that when you make a putt, you "ride the horsey." Great.



Thank you again to all who have been so supportive as we have gone through this challenging time. The gifts, the visits, the phone calls, they are all reminders of what wonderful people we have in our life. We love you all!

A taste of freedom...and the Grover leg

Well, June 8th came. And it was a great day. Will got his cast off - yay! We spent the rest of the week chasing him around on his "park" in the backyard, his bike down the sidewalk, and riding/climbing/running pretty much all waking moments. We were all SO excited to get the summer started. Apparently a little tooooo excited.

On Saturday dad was here and we decided to take Will to the park and pool for the morning. He played all morning...loving his freedom. But then, all of the sudden, while playing at the pool he fell. It was like his leg just got tired of holding up his weight and he collapsed. When I went to help him up, his leg was back in the same position it was when he broke it. My heart sank...

We took him home and eventually to the emergency room again. Long story short, we're back in a cast for two more weeks. The good news -- after many xrays and opinions the final decision was that he didn't break it again or cause any more damage, they just think that he jostled the still healing bone and it needs a little more protection for a while.

So, now the cast is blue! This one is not a spica cast, so he has full use of his hip, which makes life a lot easier. The new magic day is June 29th -- and we know it will be here before we know it. In the meantime, it's back to movie watching and couch playing for a little longer...oh well, it's really hot outside anyway. :)

And a couple of pictures from the week...they aren't great, but they give you an idea of all the fun we're having. :)

Here he is on June 8th -- doesn't that look like a great leg?


And here we are this weekend. Grandpa was in town, so when it came time to pick the splint color it of course had to be Husker red.



And here's the Grover leg. I know this picture is blurry (camera phone shot) but I still like it, so I had to share it. Even in the middle of all this he still has a smile on his face. Todd told him his leg was blue like Grover's, so now he has been telling us that he has a "Grover leg."



A couple more shots sporting the new leg...





And a few words from the star...again, not a great video, but I have to sneak them in when I can. Our usual camera star has not been very willing to be photographed lately.



That's our story for now...not quite the summer we were hoping for, but hopefully we'll still get to enjoy some of it in another couple of weeks. In the meantime, thanks for all the prayers and well wishes -- we have needed them!

One week to go!

Is it June 8th yet? That's the magic day that Will (and more importantly, his parents) will get his freedom back and cast off! I honestly think Todd, Wanda, and I are way more ready than Will is. He has adapted remarkably well -- he crawls around, pulls up on furniture, and even walks around as long as he has something or someone to hold on to. With the exception of not being able to go outside, it really hasn't seemed to slow him down much at all. It's really a testament to his spirit -- he's always been a pretty laid back little guy with a nice mix of independence thrown in, but it is even more evident now.

It's definitely been an interesting experience -- kind of like fast forwarding through the first year of life all over again. We came home from the hospital with a helpless child that depended on us for everything. Then before we knew it, he was scooting around. Then crawling. Next thing we know, he's pulling up on furniture and using it to walk around and get from place to place. Now you can get him to try a few steps completely on his own, but his mommy is quick to jump in when he starts to fall!

All that being said, we are SO ready to get our summer started cast free! Here's a quick peek at our little man getting around -- my normally very cheesy picture loving guy is very shy in the cast -- no pictures mom!

Will's 2!

This may be a little belated, but we have to have a birthday celebration post, right? Follow me back in time....about two and a half weeks ago...before the green cast entered our lives...:)

Will had a great birthday! On his actual birthday he got the long anticipated present to end all presents -- a bike with handlebars! He had been talking about wanting one for months and I really was a little worried that it wouldn't live up to the hype. I guess technically the jury is still out on that one since we haven't really been able to ride it much yet. :( But for the three days of bike ownership pre-cast, he loved it! He immediately wanted to ride it -- even if that meant in the house.



As has become the tradition in our short birthday celebration history, Will's godparents came over for hot dogs, mac and cheese, and cupcakes on Will's birthday. It's a fun low-key way to kick off a weekend of fun and the kids love each other so it was a perfect night. This year we had a fun addition in that Jess was here too -- yea! When he wasn't showing everyone his "bike with handlebars" he was showing off his other favorite birthday present, which was his John Deere hat from Grandpa! He wore it all night -- and looked pretty cute if I do say so myself. :) The boy loves some tractors, that's for sure! It must be a genetic trait...



Reading his card from Grandpa...



Yum! Soccer cupcakes!



One celebration down, and one to go! Saturday was a great day of friends, family, and fun for the official birthday party. The highlight of the morning was Will's present from Nana and Grandpa -- his very own "park" in the backyard! We kept him inside all morning so that he wouldn't see it until they got here, which was no easy task as Uncle Eric and Daddy kept going in the back to put things together and get the yard ready. But finally the moment was here and Will was so excited!



Let me at it! My park!!



The theme of the party was Will's favorite things -- which recently have included Handy Manny, anything involving sports, and the TV show WordWorld. Unless it's a toddler favorite in your house, the decor is not nearly as exciting...:) But basically everything in "WordWorld" is spelled out and created out of letters. I don't know how much of it Will noticed, but I had a great time with it! :)

Cheese...


Sandwiches...


And CAKE!


One thing we definitely discovered during the birthday celebrating is that Will is not a huge fan of being the center of attention. Throughout the week when it was time to sing to him and everyone was looking at him he got incredibly shy. It was so sweet.

Is this all for me???



Really, you shouldn't have.



No, really, stop.



It was a wonderful celebration that resulted in a very spoiled (but blessed) little boy. And the fun thing is that it will be like his birthday all over again when the cast comes off -- because all the fun presents have had to be put away while we try to stay a little more couch bound! :) Thanks to all who were a part of the celebration -- through presents, phone calls, cards, and your presence. We love you!