I'm back! (I think...)

Here I sit, the day after Christmas, with a little something on my hands I seem to no longer have: time. I'd exhausted my regular computer routine and was just about to pick up a book, when it dawned on me that this could finally be that opportunity I'd been looking for to hunker down and tell you every little last thing I've been doing over the past five months. In abbreviated form, of course; you don't have time for the long version.

To state the obvious, yesterday we celebrated Will's first Christmas (outside the womb, that is). Although semi-interested in his toys, as expected he was a bit more fascinated by the wrapping paper. We had to open his gifts in groups since it seemed whenever we would start the process, he would just decide it was naptime. We did eventually get the job done once Mommy and Daddy finished off the dewrapping of the gifts ourselves; I never thought I'd see the day I would open a gift I had wrapped myself. All in all, he made out like a bandit thanks to the numerous doting grandmas, grandpas, aunts and uncles that he has. His dad and I will likely now be experts (again) at the ABCs, If You're Happy and You Know It, and various other children's songs, so if you ever find yourselves in need in that area you know where to go.

And now for Will the 7 1/2-month-old. It's so hard to believe he's already surpassed the 6-month milestone and is that much closer to completing his first year. I know there are a million things I should have been blogging about all this time regarding his development, but I am glad that rather than run to the computer to document it I simply sat and watched it all unfold. To sum him up as of this minute, he is a very vocal, happy, animated, mobile little boy. He went from an infant almost always laying still in your arms, to a bubbly, active baby in what feels like the blink of an eye. Not only does he have the most wonderful laugh, he has a variety of "favorite noises" including panting, grunting and shrieking a shriek that if I had the means for comparision, has got to closely resemble the sound of a pterodactyl. Hilarious - yes, long-term, we hope not. He quickly learned that if he pulls out a cough, typically very fake in nature, someone will come running. And I cannot leave out my most favorite of sounds, the ever-so-heartwarming "Mamamamamamamamamamaaaaaaaaaa". Take it as you will, but to me it's the early days of the new name I took on on May 11.

His two bottom center teeth have broken through and though painful on arrival, they are adorable. With them came the biggest sh*t eating grin ever - one he had never offered up before. It's a riot, and I know if I look deep enough into it I can see the ornery teenager he's destined to become (the child has no chance with two formerly rebellious teenagers as parents). He's got a head full of blonde hair and the biggest blue eyes, complete with three-inch lashes (no, we do not have him on a permanent Latisse prescription). He rolls all over the floor like a pro and occasionally finds himself on his tummy, where he'll try to prop himself up on his hands. We know the big leap to crawling will be here in just a matter of time, but I have to admit I'm in no hurry. With full mobility comes an independence I'm not entirely sure I'm prepared for. So, although I do like to watch him prop up and rock, I'm admittedly not rushing to reposition him after he's collapsed to the floor and assumed an attempt at learning how to swim on dry land.

He holds a bottle with ease and nowadays eats almost every one on his own, albeit laying on the floor for good positioning. He still hasn't mastered the upright bottle feeding and I think that's still a ways down the road. We started him on baby food at almost exactly six months, and so far he's been ok with everything except prunes and peas. One of these days I'll post a fairly recent video of him being fed peas by his dad - I'm not sure there's anything that could cause me to gag and make faces as much as peas do to Will. Apparently the apple falls far from the Mommy tree on that one - I love all things vegetable.

In the slumber department Will is a champ. He has been sleeping through the night since he was two months old, and other than the occasional "Let's party, Guys!" night, still does. He takes 2-3 naps daily, and is very good at letting you know when it's time to rest by whining and rubbing his eyes. We wonder if he doesn't almost sleep too much, but part of me thinks that once he attends daycare this will change. I know I should be thankful for it, but now that I'm officially a mom I pretty much worry about every.single.thing.on.earth. Don't get me started on my array of invisible ailments or you'll never read this blog again.

Let's see, otherwise...the rest of us. (I feel like I'm writing a Christmas letter, only a few weeks late. Sorry about that - apparently I should have so that I wouldn't be boring you like this right now!) As you know we decided to make the move back to Keosauqua, and did so this past August. I have been working at the bank since then and really love it. It's amazing how going from an isolating entry-level job to one full of challenges and interaction with the public can be good for the soul (it's good for mine, at least). Other than the people, what I do and will probably always miss is being in a college environment. There is nothing more exciting than working for the good of higher education. Josh is staying home with Will and trying to job search despite the list of factors working against him, like the economy and the fact that we now live in a small, rural farm community. I don't doubt that something will happen soon, so I don't worry too much about it and just remind myself to be thankful that he's been given an opportunity that most fathers could only dream of having.

We are renting the home of an older gentleman that passed away this past May; he was a native of Keosauqua and had moved away for most of his adult life, but came back after he was widowed and ready to retire. He had made a career as an architect, so ten or fifteen years ago he built the home for himself and according to his son, to his liking. You can imagine then that it is not much of a family-friendly place to live despite the appeal of the fact that it was so recently built. We are making do but look forward to spring when we either hope to purchase an existing home or begin the building process.

As far as the adjustment to small town living (again), it's been, well, an adjustment. I didn't think we'd been away long enough for the transition not to go smoothly, but apparently we had. Once you subject yourself to the ways of the world via small, medium or large city living, it is very, very hard to get used to "going without". We are working on it day by day, but even figuring out how to get to the nearest 24-hour grocery store has been hard (for me at least). I know that we will get there, but it won't be without its share of panic moments and (additional) meltdowns. However although the daycare we had found in North Liberty was amazing, the blessing of being able to come home from work at lunch and see my son far outweighs it. Not to mention Keosauqua has and will always hold a special place in our hearts, so once we've had a chance to really take in what it has to offer I'm sure we'll be fine.

I of course cannot leave out our first-born...rambunctious monster-dog Rocky. Things in his world are pretty much business as usual - eat, sleep, poop, play, beg for treats, jump on visitors. He turned two in August and that's another life we can't believe seems to be speeding by, considering we got him at a mere six weeks old. He's had a few foster brothers over the months which we have helped to find loving, permanent homes through RAGOM (www.ragom.org), and we hope to give him a canine brother or sister after we're all settled in our own home.

As for the future of this blog - now that I have somewhat successfully completed the ginormous post I've been wanting to write forever, I hope to keep up on it on a fairly regular basis. With nothing less than pictures and videos of course...the whole bit! Obviously what I write will be a fraction of the length of this one, but I figured this was a good lead-in to brief weekly, or if I'm lucky, daily blurbs. Expect it to lean more towards weekly, but hey it's better than nothing. I can say with a smidge of confidence that I am starting to adjust to the plethora of changes that we have made in the last 8 months - had a baby, quit jobs, moved to a "new" town, started new jobs, worked at adjusting to new baby - so there just might be hope for this little news feed after all.

I'll sign off now and go back to enjoying the beautiful winter day we're having - snow has been falling literally all day long and is really leaving us with quite the blanket of powder. There is no better way to spend Christmas weekend than by cozying up inside with family and friends.

May you all have a happy and healthy 2010! Talk to you later. Promise. :-)