A Belated Christmas Post

This year was a quiet Christmas for the Suttells.  It was just Will, Whitney and myself.  Well, and the new baby!!  Whitney is 16 1/2 weeks pregnant!  The Little Sprout is due in June!  I will post updates periodically.

Okay, so back to Christmas.  It was really nice to be just the three of us, although we missed being surrounded by our extended families.  We went to Christmas Eve Meeting for Worship.  We were very excited to read a passage during Meeting.  Will was champ through most of the service, and he looked adorable in the outfit Nana made for him!

And (finally) a family photo:

As mentioned in my last post, Will picked out our tree.  Here is a picture of the decorated tree:

And after Santa came. . .

Will was excited about Christmas this year, but took his time getting through all the presents.

He particularly enjoyed the electric Thomas the Tank Engine train set from Grandpa Bill, Sam and Summer.  Here is a picture of me making sure it would work first thing in the morning:

And here is Will - clearly in love!

Later in the morning, he was delightfully serving up some wonderful apple pie, compliments of Nana:

He also enjoyed cuddling with his baby snow leopard - although the cat's were a little wary!

And let's not forget about the Santa picture!  Will liked the idea of Santa, but was a little wary of sitting on his lap.  So Mommy was invited to join!

Of course after Christmas, there was New Year's and an illness (bronchitis) for Will.  All are well now though!  Will is happily back into his routine with Oak Lane, Whitney and I have started back at school and basketball season is in full swing! 

2012 is Here!

Happy New Year!  I cannot believe that I have posted something in six months!  Ack!  My New Year's resolution?  Post at least once a week on this blog - we'll see how well I do with that.

There have been happenings in the last six months, so I'll briefly state them here.

Will is now officially two and he is very two!  Here are two pictures of him enjoying his Thomas the Tank Engine birthday cake:

We then trekked half-way across the globe - literally to visit my Dad, Sam and Summer.  While the views were breath-taking:

Will only wanted to play in Grandpa's Jeep:

It was a wonderful trip and Will still discusses how "Grandpa make a noise blowing up mine pool."  When we arrived home, my Mom and step-dad, Russ, came for a quick visit.  "Gaga" and "Grandad," as Will calls them were very fun to play with.  Gaga even made some of her famous homemade bubbles!

And then there was the Hurricane, and then school started.  It has been a busy busy school year!  Will has been doing great in his "Busy Bees" classroom at Oak Lane.  He brings home some artwork or craft almost daily.  Some days, he doesn't even want to come home!

Whitney has been doing a great job teaching three different classes and as the costumer for the theatre department.  I am working at the law firm in the morning, teaching a class and coaching.  In the fall, coached JV Field Hockey, now it's JV basketball and in the spring it will be Softball.  Craziness!  But I love it!

Here are pictures from our Christmas adventures:

Will picked out our tree this year.

And enjoyed the Advent calendar that Auntie Ashley made last year!

This is WillWill at his holiday show at school.  He and best buddy, Max, freaked out and insisted their Mommies join them down front!  (They are the only boys in the class.)

Will helping Mama decorate the Christmas tree.

And enjoying the fabulous toys at Grandma Doris' house during her Christmas party.

Actual Christmas day pictures will follow in the next post!

A Quick Diaper Story

Yes, I know, I still need to post about our remaining days at the beach.  We have been home a whole week and no new beach stories.  I will post a synopsis with the highlights soon.  Maybe even with pictures!  In the meantime, here is a quick post to hopefully tide you over. . .

This morning Will was wandering around the house in just a diaper and smurf-blue crocs.  It was quite a site!  The diaper was also sagging quite a bit.  So, I told Will to bring Mommy a new diaper and I would change him.  He toddled off and a minute or so later brought me back a fresh diaper.  Well, really he kind of tossed it into my lap and then was off again.  I was sure that he was just avoiding the inevitable.

Several minutes passed and I waited patiently in our family room for him to return.  And return he did.  With his changing pad that is normally on top his bureau!  He very nicely laid it down in front of me, then proceeded to lie himself down on it!  All ready for his diaper change!

Beach - Day 1

Our first full day at the beach also happened to be Father's Day.  It was very nice that Brad was able to be here at the beach with his two kids.  What I enjoyed about it, was Brad took me for a nice spin in his Bahama Yellow 1968 Porsche 911 that he fully restored himself.  It was awesome!  Everytime I spend some time with Brad, I always wish that I knew more about cars.  Anyway, Brad and I went out for a nice spin, got a couple beers and some shrimp.  It was a good day for us to spend Father's Day!  (I've decided that while Mother's Day is nice, I tend to like the idea around Father's Day, it's just a little more my style!)

Of course, before my afternoon outing, we spent the morning on the beach.  Will was fearless (but we knew that!).  He headed straight for the water and plunged right in!  Walking all the way up to his chest!  Unfortunately, his feelings toward the water cooled a little after a wave knocked him off his balance.  But he happily played in the sand!  It was quite a nice morning!

To Lewes, DE by way of Woodbury, CT. . .

Every year Whitney's family plans a week-long trip to the beach.  This year the rental on the beach house was from a Saturday to Saturday.  About a month before the vacation, we found out that my Nana was coming out to Connecticutt the Friday before we were going to the beach.  Now this is the same "I don't fly anymore" Nana, so we decided that we needed to see her!

So Friday afternoon (as in three days ago), we drove up to Connecticutt.  Now, unfortunately, it was a terrible driving experience.  Will was a champ most of the time.  He sat in the back and watched Sesame Street and Elmo's World on the iPad.  The problem was the Garden State Parkway and thunderstorms.  Not fun.  It was bumper-to-bumper traffic and it took about 6 hours.  Ugh.  But we eventually made it, safe and sound to Aunt Jane and Uncle Gabe's lovely house in Kent.  Nana-Banana was there to greet us!  It was so nice to see her and spend time with her!

Saturday, we were having a surpirse luncheon celebration for my Great Uncle Greg's 85th birthday.  In addition to those of us who stayed at Aunt Jane's, my Great Uncle Wade and his wife, my Great Aunt Barb, cousins Shawnee and Dylan all showed up.  It was a great time.  (I would post pictures, but, according to Apple tech support, I bought a faulty digital camera connector for my iPad.)  Unfortunately, Will was not such a champ at lunch.  He was very fussy and ended up going for a car ride with Whitney about half-way through lunch.  He returned just in time for cake!  What impeccable timing he has!

After cake and several rounds of family pictures, Whitney, Will and I loaded up into the car and began our drive down to Delaware. . .

During this leg of our journey, I couldn't have asked for a more cooperative kidd-o.  He slept for the first 1 1/2 hours, then played nicely by himself for the next 1 1/2 hours and then hung out and watched Elmo and Sesame Street.  Whitney and I were both very impressed.

By the time we finally made it to Delaware (5 hours or so), it was way past time the kidd-o's bedtime.  After a brief visit with cousins Oliver and Vivian and Maisie and Uncle Brad and (Will's) Nana, Will went down.  Thus began our week at the beach!

Summer Begins!

Oh my!  I cannot believe it has been over a month since the last post.  It has been a busy month in the Suttell household.  The school year here at Westtown wound down and I went back to the law office part-time.

Will is continuing to grow.  But even more exciting is how much he is talking.  Every day he comes out with a new word.  He is even stringing some words together.  It is so much to hear him finally be able to say what he wants - even if we don't always understand him, or give him what he wants.

Last Sunday Will and I had a great day together.  We went out to the local diary farm to pick up some milk and visit the cows.  Will can both say and sign the word "cow."  Unfortunately, the cows were on the other side of the pasture.  That was okay though because we found some goats!

Well, it was okay until the Mama goat came over and bit Will's finger!  He was fine, a little startled.

And then for the next week, Will would randomly say (and sign) "cows" and then say "goat!"  Then he would hold out his finger and, in his little Will way, tell us that the goat bit his finger.  Apparently this made quite an impression!

The Legend Continues to Grow. . . (Part 2)

Will needs tubes.  That is the first part of today's story.  He had many ear infections over the past 12 months, including one that has been lingering since February.  Not so much fun.  On Monday, our pediatrician referred us to an ENT doctor down at A. I. DuPont.  We saw him yesterday.  He basically confirmed what we already knew was coming:  Will needs tubes.  We scheduled surgery for next Thursday, May 12th (Happy 5th Anniversary Mamas!).  


While that was important news to get out of the way, let's turn to the real topic:  The size of the punk.  As with every visit to DuPont, Will was weighed and measured.  He weighs in at just over 34 lbs.  This wasn't so surprising since he has been right around this weight for sometime.  What was more surprising is that this kid can grow vertically at an amazing pace.  Let's reflect. . . 


On March 9th he was 34 1/8 inches.


Yesterday, May 5th he was 3 ft even.  Seriously!  People keep saying that he will slow down, but it really hasn't happened yet.  So yes, the legend of Bigfoot Will continues to grow. .