Joel graduated from the Police Academy last night. He won four awards- Top Gun (marksmanship), Honor Award (honor and integrity), Scholastic Achievement (highest GPA), and the Praetorian Award (defensive tactics). Everyone was amazed, and talked about how they couldn't remember one person winning so many awards before. He won four out of the five that they give out. I'm so proud of him! William made it through the whole ceremony, too. Though he did cry momentarily during the National Anthem (the lady that sang it hit some pretty high notes, I was scared too). He also decided to babble for a while toward the end. A little "bababababababa..." But overall he did great!

We were with my family (the Kolbers) for Thanksgiving and an early celebration of Christmas. We had a great time! I took this video of William because he was so fascinated with this brown paper bag that Grandpa gave him. He played with it longer than any of the toys he got!

One of Will's favorite things to do right now is bang the floor with these plastic rings. And he tries so hard to get them when they roll out of reach!

We just bought a Christmas tree and couldn't wait until after Thanksgiving to put it up... William is totally in awe of it. He just keeps looking at it and saying "Oh..." It cracks us up! So, here's a short video (If you can hear Will over the creaks in the floor).

Now that William is rolling all over the house, I've found him in some unusual places! Once he realized that he can get around, he's been exploring everything!

Joel put a (clean) diaper on Will's head the other night. It totally cracked us up - we couldn't stop laughing. And he looked so cute! He went to the doctor today for his 6 month check up. He's doing well, and is quite a big boy. He is at the 90th% for length and 95th% for weight. He weighs 21 pounds!! Not that we're surprised... :)

This is a short video of William in his new exersaucer that my parents bought him as an early Christmas present. He loves it!

Oh my goodness, I love this picture so much - what a sweetie! He's so chubby and cute! :)

William in a couple of cute outfits from Grandma Barb... And, in the third picture, doing his favorite new trick - holding both feet. He does it non-stop! :)

Here are some new photos of Will. His cousin Darcy kissing him in the first two, and some of his favorite toys in the last two. Oh, and yes - those are the two balls that Joel bought William at Petsmart. The blue one squeaks. :)

This is a video that I took of William laughing at his cousin Darcy. She was eating corn on the cob, and Will thought it was hilarious!

Just hangin' out with Daddy

Three months old!

Look at those cheeks!

I'm back to work this week, and missing our little one like crazy. I want to kiss those cheeks! It's going well, though, and it makes me cherish my time with Will even more.

Some more pictures of our smiley boy. Also, a photo with great-grandmother Smith. Four generations!

Brendan and Aundi visited over Memorial Day weekend, which was really fun. We really appreciated them driving all the way out to see William, especially since they had to brave tornados and severe weather to get here! It was so good to see them. In the last couple of photos, Will is wearing a Royals t-shirt that Joel's mom gave us. It used to be Joel's!

William is a month old!

Will is a month old! He's starting to smile, which is very fun. He's also getting pretty good at holding his head up. William got to meet his cousin Darcy this week when Joel's sister Jennie was visiting from Houston. We have a feeling that these two are going to have a lot of fun together (and get into trouble!) when they're older.

It's hard to believe that Will is already three weeks old! We're doing well. Not getting much sleep, but that's to be expected, right? Joel and I are sure in love with our little guy. He's getting bigger every day, and he has the cutest chubby cheeks!

First walk

We took William for a walk last night since the weather was nice. He fell asleep right away, but seemed to enjoy it!

Two weeks old!