Walking baby!

See below!

Busy busy busy

Life is way too busy right now. I'm (Mike) in 3 courses so I can be done done done by Feb this winter. It's so nice to have that destination in sight. We've got lots of scheduled boating, along with a Payne family reunion coming up. Then in just 3 short weeks - Arkansas!

Krista and I are making the trip a bit more interesting by going down 12 hours early, drive at night so Will sleeps through the trip, so that will be interesting. Plus I'll have the pleasure of doing homework while in Arkansas.

So - if you've not been boating yet this year, get on the phone with me ASAP!

Running

Legs....filled.....with.....jello....

I haven't intentionally run (for exercise) in at least 5 years now. Krista bought a treadmill with her birthday money (thanks mom+dad, nugents, etc) and it's great. I'm excited to get in the habit of running (regardless of the weather) and maybe even be healthier! But for now, we hurt. Krista tells me the third day is the worst (that would be today of course!) so let's hope it get easier!

Will at Work

I (Krista) thought I would give you all a glimpse of my job. I love it and have so much fun with Will and the other boys. Will has a blast playing with all the other boys. Jack is 6, Ryan is 4, Conor is 20 months old, and Will is almost 9 months.

They all looked so cute sitting together. Jack and Conor are very much alike and Ryan and Will are very much alike. It's funny how they have paired off. Whenever Will and I walk through the door, Ryan always runs up to us to give Will a kiss and a hug and Conor calls out Will's name and points to him with a big smile.

Ryan has figured out how to help Will walk around the house. Will loves it...I love it too because then my back doesn't get so achy.


Will's 2nd favorite activity besides walking is climbing stairs. I have to pull him off these stairs 20 times a day. He just can't stay away from them. He has become a master stair climber in the last month and now he has figured out how to go back down backwards. Thank goodness!

And here's our little water baby happily playing in the pool. Conor and Will are so cute together. They get easily bored if the other one isn't around to play with. They give each other hugs and kisses before nap times and Conor calls for Will if he hears him crying. It's really sweet.

All the boys really have so much fun together. I love watching how they all interact with each other. I feel so blessed to have this experience and the joy of shaping these four awesome boys!

Boating with Baby

We did it. We've successfully made it to the lake once this year. Will did very well despite me (Mike) having a ton of little things to do once we got there. Some highlights...

He can't really sit in his life jacket yet, so he loves just standing.

He was just so pleasant to be somewhere new and able to get around.


We found a way to get him to nap and it worked fairly well.

After his nap he was ready to go for a drive.


Mommy and Will having a nice day.


That's more than enough for now. More stuff soon!

The boy

The boy has learned to climb. Observe:



Next week's video: Our trip to the ER...

Climber (by Krista)

So Will has become a little climber. Lately he has been pulling himself up on just about everything including his crib which is all the way lowered (Mike edit: The crib bed surface gets lowered, effectively raising the crib rails). He is a little monkey!

I was doing laundry one day and he decided to join me.



We bought a walker toy for him and he soon discovered a new use for it!



Don't you like the weights at the bottom?

Last night he was so desperate to get into the tub.



I love how much of a monkey he is but at the same time, in Mike's words, "Little boy, your going to give your mom a heart attack!"