We choose ROYAL names!

Well, it's been just a day since the engagement of the next King of England has been announced and already someone has asked me: "did you name your kids after the royal family?" No, believe it or not, we came up with the names on our own and because we love them but, really, it's not such a bad coincidence!! I'm sure we can look forward to hearing this question many more times before the royal nuptials occur!

A trip + 2 big birthdays!

Ryan, Kate, Will and I want to send HUGE birthday hugs to Grandpa Bob and Aunt Cyndi!! Today is Grandpa's day and yesterday was Aunt Cyndi's, but we were lucky enough to be down in Yreka last weekend to wish them happy birthday in person. Kate and I made some birthday brownies and Kate had her first taste of chocolate (well, without gagging, that is...) I have video evidence that she likes chocolate in the form of brownie batter! It may be a fluke, though, since we made chocolate chip muffins yesterday and she emphatically stated, "I DON'T LIKE THAT STUFF!" Aside from all things chocolate, we had a great time in Yreka and Will was a fantastic little traveler! He slept the entire way there and was his same mellow self while we were there. He got to meet a lot of the Singleton side of the family, and now we're even more excited to get to go back for Christmas. Christmas will be interesting this year, I think, because Kate will be excited about presents but I don't think she gets the whole Santa thing yet. She wants a tool bench like daddy has and when I told her "maybe Santa will bring it for you," she said, "no, daddy will just go buy it." We'll see!!

Our little linebacker!

Will just got back from his two-month check-up, and the doctor said he was on the "linebacker plan" in terms of growth! He weighs 14 pounds 1 ounce and is 24.25 inches long. Apparently those stats are enough to put him well into the high 90s percentile-wise. Kate was 2 pounds lighter at the same age! No wonder he is already in 6 month clothes (and eyeing the chocolate cake)! The doctor said he was a very healthy little (big?) boy. He had to have a shot, but he barely cried and seems to be fine now. I really love our doctor because he gave me the option of doing all the shots today or breaking them up over two times, two weeks apart. He said that it was his gut feeling that doing all the shots at once is just too many antigens to introduce to such a little body, plus it's a lot of pokes. I so appreciate his candor and being given the option. I love it when doctors are forthright and tell you what they did for their own kids. One of the luxuries of having the doctor literally down the street from us is that we can easily go back, and I feel much more comfortable with this plan. Got to love small towns sometimes--the receptionists came out to greet both Will and Kate and chat with them and they told us not to even make an appointment for his next shots, they'll just "fit him in" whenever we can make it! All around a pretty great experience for a first big check-up!

Our silly family...

...is headed for Yreka! It's Will's first road trip!! We love ourselves a road trip, so we're hoping Will joins in our excitement for traveling anywhere and everywhere. We can't wait for Grandma Star and Grandpa Bob(by) to see Will again and for Will to meet Uncle Jay, Aunt Cyndi and the Singleton clan. CAN'T WAIT!!

Shh, don't tell anyone....

...but Kate really DOES like Will! :) She may not show it too often, but Kate is really warming to Will now. I think it helped that she saw the 7-month-old sibling of a boy at her school trying to crawl. She was very curious as to "what she is doing" and "when Will will do that?" She also loves the book "Just Me and My Little Brother" where the two siblings get into all sorts of mischief together. I think it's dawning on her that he just might be fun to have around one day. Today she said, "momma, Will's a pretty cute baby." Now, I know she's just repeating a line from one of her Olivia books, but at least she's repeating a nice line!

Yep, he's a boy!

So, the other day, Will gave us evidence that he is truly male to the core. Kate, Will and I were in the living room, playing and watching Mickey Mouse. Kate wanted some milk, so she and I went to the kitchen. Will stayed behind, sitting in his Boppy on the couch. I came back in about 30 seconds later and stared at the TV, incredulous that they would show the commercial I was seeing on the Disney Channel. I watched for a second, only to realize that it wasn't a commercial and it wasn't the Disney Channel. In my short absence, Will, who was sitting on the remote, managed to change the channel to VH1, where they were showing some reality show with women running around in bikinis. I'm not sure how far he can see, but he seemed to be quite happily focused on the scantily clad ladies. It was quite a feat, too, since he had to move about 10 channels down to get to "his" show. Oh, what a future we may have!

I love these two!