Will is 6 months!!

..or he will be on Saturday! He is just awesome, such a happy, sweet and loving baby! He can roll both ways, but still can't figure out how to get that arm out while going from back to front. He giggles a lot, which is the best sound in the world. He talks all the time, but hasn't started making "da, da" or "ma, ma" sounds. He has started on solids, but isn't crazy about them; he likes bananas, but HATES green beans...we tried to feed them to him the other night and he started screaming and would not swallow them, he just held his mouth open until they fell out, it was hilarious! He absolutely loves his walker, I think it makes him feel like he is part of everything :-). He is a VERY big flirt when it comes to the ladies we meet while out running errands, they just fall in love with him. He is my partner on office days, which is getting harder and harder every day (him eating the bills isn't an ideal situation :-), I think it will be time for day care once a week after the new year; I will probably be able get as much done in one day as I do in three right now! We had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday; he weighs 16.8 (35th percentile - I better push those solids), is 27.5" long (87th percentile) and his head is 17. 6" round (79th percentile). The doctor said in the next few months we should look forward to sitting up, crawling and more talking...can't wait!

Here is an adorable picture of Will and a very, very good family friend of mine, Julie Locke. I think this was her 4th trip out to Wisconsin. She does a lot of business back here, and makes it a point to visit us every time she comes back. It is SO nice, we absolutely love having her here!

Snow!...

On Saturday, we got our first snow fall! It was 2 weeks later than last year, which was fine by me. When we woke up in the morning and walked downstairs, it was the first thing Kennedy saw, "Look mom, snow!" So, of course, I called Paul, "When are you coming in? Kennedy wants to go out in the snow." He started joking with me, asking me if my legs were broken...I said no, but my desire to be out in the snow was! :-) Somehow, I was able to hold Kennedy off for a couple of hours until Paul got home to take her out. They were out there for hours, her hands were frozen, but she did NOT want to come in. Paul pulled her all over the dairy in the sled, she tried pulling him, they made snowballs and she loved following his tracks...too cute!

AND, that is the only snow we have gotten this year, I can't believe it! It has been SO nice, feels like a California winter. All of the locals are complaining because it doesn't feel like Christmas with no snow; they think it's so weird that this is how Christmas is for us. I can guarantee you haven't heard one complaint from Paul and I about the weather this winter; however, we are VERY excited to be heading home tomorrow. See you soon California!

Riddles & Rhymes' Holiday Party

Riddles & Rhymes (where Kennedy goes to day care) had a Christmas party! Kennedy had a ball! She got to eat, watch a slideshow of the year, make a goody bag of candy, decorate cookies, make an ornament and meet Santa and Mrs. Claus. As I said before, Kennedy didn't really like Santa, but she LOVES Mrs. Claus...she kept going back and sitting on her lap all night, it was very cute!

Christmas on the Square

At the beginning of December, we brought the kids to Christmas on the Square in Brodhead. It was really fun! We got to meet Santa, eat kettle corn, decorate cookies and take a carriage ride through town. Just as I expected, Kennedy didn't really like Santa, but Will loved his lap. Kennedy saw that Santa had a huge teddy bear in his sack, now she keeps telling us that he is bringing her a teddy bear for Christmas...we'll see if she's right?! :-)

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star!!

A great performance by Kennedy! A mix of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and Inside Voice by Yo Gabba Gabba :-).

Thanksgiving (and a few before/after house pictures)

Last year we spent Thanksgiving by ourselves, just the 3 of us: Paul, Kennedy and myself. It was our first holiday away from home and it was VERY quiet and pretty sad. This year my mom, dad and sister Caitlin came out to Wisconsin and made it a MUCH happier holiday for us!! We had a wonderful time shopping, celebrating Thanksgiving and getting ready for Christmas! Since we are leaving for 10 days beginning December 23rd, I wanted to get our tree and decorations up as soon as possible. My mom and Caitlin helped make this happen...we went out into the trenches the day after Thanksgiving, fought the masses and bought a Christmas tree, some decorations and got to work. My mom has such a talent when it comes to decorating, I am so lucky that I had her help this year.

Thank you to my family for coming out this year! I want to make it an annual thing...Thanksgiving in Wisconsin, but Caitlin is not down :-).

While writing this post, I realized I haven't posted the "after" pictures of our Wisconsin house...I will post a few "before" pictures along with the ones from Thanksgiving, so you can at least see how the kitchen and living room have changed.

The kitchen before...April '09

The kitchen after...preparing the meal...

The table is set...

The living room before...April '09

The living room after...

Kennedy LOVED Thanksgiving and her big-girl place setting

Me & Will

Kennedy liked the butter by itself too...I can still remember doing that as a kid :-)

Opa & Will

Only got one shot of the Christmas tree (more to come...).

Will's 1st Rice Cereal

Will has been MORE than interested in what we have been eating, but I have been putting off starting him on solids for two reasons; one, nursing is so much easier and two, rice cereal is very messy! Will really seemed to enjoy his first rice cereal, but man, he is messy!!

Will's Baptism

While we were home in November, we also had Will baptized in Tulare. We were so happy everyone could celebrate this special day with us. Here are few pictures from the day.

Our little sailor :-)

Will with his family, Msgr. Rick and Godparents, Mark Sanchietti and Jillian Murray

The Zimmermans

The Kasbergens

The entire crew...Will-Will is very loved!

The Lindbergs - Est. 11.12.11

I know I have a TON of catching up to do, but while I am on the computer I want to at least post one thing :-). Last month we flew back to California for Robin (a great friend of mine from Cal Poly) and Dan's wedding. It was an absolute blast!! We had an awesome time spending the weekend catching up and celebrating with everyone. Thank to all of our friends for a great weekend...we miss partying with you SO much!

BOTH of my cameras were broken that weekend, so I have to send you to our friend Sam's blog for some pictures (he does a better job than I do anyway). Here it is, http://valtenbergs.com/archives/3891.