Happy Halloween!! 2009 Edition

This year for Halloween the Rings were in Wisconsin for Aunt Julie's wedding. The wedding was on November 1st and the day before was a full day of preparations, spending time with family, and (for the kids and me) adjusting to being in a different environment. Because it was such a full day we didn't have time to take the kids out to go Trick or Treating. But that didn't stop us from getting dressed up and posing for pictures.

This year Lyla dressed up a Winnie the Pooh (dressed up as a 'Hunny' pot). And lil' Will dressed up as Pooh's buddy Piglet. You'll recognize the Piglet costume from last Halloween. Unfortunately this year we didn't get to carve pumpkins or go out in our neighbor's scary grave yard... but we did get over-stimulated and over-tired... so that was fun.

Enjoy the pictures!

Little Willy Is Growin' Up

Little Will is not so little anymore. In the past month he's learned to crawl and has gotten a lot more interactive. He's personality has really developed and, well, the kid is loud. Seems like he is always making noise, hollering or whining or crying if you leave the room or grunting or laughing. He even whistles (which is pretty neat).

The best is definitely the laughing. He does it so much more now and we don't even have to instigate. Sometimes he'll just look over and see Lyla and start cracking up. It's the best.

That's my boy, good ol' Will.

Beautiful beautiful beautiful. Beautiful girl.

Our dear, dear friend Jessica (aka Aunt Jessie, owner of "Aunt Jessie's White Car" as Lyla so fondly and frequently pointed out as we drove in said car while in San Diego) snapped these lovely pictures of Lyla during Jenny and Shane's wedding reception.

Thank you Jessie for taking such beautiful pictures of our daughter.

Random videos

Facebook friends, you can see the videos at http://ringworld.blogspot.com

Buddies for Life

Wanted to get this up before we head off tomorrow for our 9 day adventure to Missouri. First, I love Lyla as a big sister. She's so good at. She very clearly loves Will and is always looking out for him. At the same time, it's funny how kind of rough she is around him. It's like she's only 18 months old and doesn't fully comprehend the nuances of Will's fragility. That being said, she has never done anything that has given us any concern... except maybe that time she bit his finger... but if I remember correctly Katherine was egging her on...

Anyway, I digress. The o9ther neat thing is that Will is beginning to recognize us. He's all smiles all the time when he sees us. And I just love the looks he gets on his face when he sees Lyla or she's all up in his grill. Sometimes it's a huge, beaming smile. Other times it's a look of serious "oh my, this isn't good" concern.

They're great together and both Katherine and I are looking forward to watching them grow together. Having two kids 15 months apart has definitely been hard but one thing we told ourselves going into it was that our kids would be good friends. It's such a blessing to see that coming true this early. See for yourselves:

Clownin' Around (Will edition)

Clownin' Around (Lyla edition)

Lyla's fascination with technology

This started a few weeks ago when I decided to make Lyla's bed-time routine a little more engaging so that 1) she'd "know" better when the routine was starting and 2) she'd "like" the process better and thus would be more likely to go to be no problem.

So how did I achieve it? Letting her watch as we heat up her bottle (we still give her a bottle of milk before bed to ensure she gets enough dairy and to help soothe her). She really likes the whole process: pushing the numbers, running away from the microwave to watch from a safe distance (radiation!!!), counting down with the microwave, yelling "beep beep beep". It's all fun. It even is helping her counting because she hears the numbers counting down from ten. Anyway, here's the video.

This next video is a video of Lyla and me watching the first video. This is our third time watching it in a row. She loves looking at pictures and videos on the computer (which she affectionately calls "Pooter"). She usually signifies that she wants to look by pointing at the computer and saying "Will" (her favorite person to see pictures/videos of, Emily and Ally - her cousins - are her second favorite). Anyway, I love how big her smile gets watching and how she recognizes people in the videos. It kind of freaks me out that she's quickly become as (if not more) tech-savvy than I am, but it is inevitable so I might was well enjoy it... and take advantage of it by having her do all the tech stuff for my business. Anyway, enjoy the video.

Buddies For Life, Version 2.0

I am LOVING having two kids. And it's only going to get better as Will starts to interact. Hurray Buddies for Life!!!


Lyla saw Will and she also wanted to be swaddled like a baby. It made for some cute pictures! My little burritos.

The Unbearable Cuteness of Will

Not saying his ABCs... yet. But still unbearably cute nonetheless.

The Unbearable Cuteness of Lyla

Lyla waking up from her afternoon nap.

Lyla being super cute.

More sisterly love.

I am overjoyed to see how much Lyla loves her little brother. We weren't sure how she would react to the new addition, so to have this response is another wonderful blessing on top of all the other blessings we have been blessed with. Bless.

Not sure what inspired this other than Lyla sitting in Will's chair and a desire to see her holding him. I think it's hilarious that she laughed everytime his arm jerk hit her in the face. We're still working on teaching her to be gentle and, well, as you'll see at the end of the video there are a number of other things we're going to be on guard for as well.

Yes, she bit his finger.

Last weekend

Last weekend, Katherine's mom (who had been in Grand Rapids since Will had been born) went home to Marion, IN and took Lyla with her. When she asked if Katherine and Iwanted her to take Lyla for the weekend, we were conflicted and had mixed feelings. Katherine's never been away from Lyla for multiple days, while I have had to be away for days at time before for work. So we both didn't want her to go because we knew we'd miss her. On the other hand, Katherine was still recovering and the idea of taking care of Katherine, Will and Lyla was daunting. So in the end, we decided to let our little bird fly and spent Thursday through Monday just me, Katherine and Will.

While we did miss Lyla a lot (I mean A LOT!), it was a relief to have some low-energy, quiet time. In fact, one day at lunch Will was sleeping and I said to Katherine, "The lack of noise is almost deafening. What did we used to do before Lyla?" Her answer: talk to each other... seems vaguely familiar.

The weather was somewhat nice a few of the days so we did get outside for a short walk up to the corner and back. Here we are at the apex of our walk:
Here's Katherine and Will getting ready.

Here's Will in the awesome hoodie that Mandy loaned us (Ian sure is a stylish kiddo).

Another shot of cute Will.

And here's our first thought as to what Will could wear if we took him outside. Unfortunately it was bigger than we needed. Which is too bad because he sure is cute in it. It reminds me of another cute kid I know...