Amazing

"Who is the happiest of men? He who values the merits of others, and in their pleasure takes joy, even as though t'were his own." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

My nephew is here again. He's a handful. Nonstop and full of giggles. I take such delight, such joy and feel so much love around him. I was amazed at how much I loved him before he was born, how much I enjoy him and how much more I love him now.*

He's starting to talk and each day we've tried to teach him a new word: "Tree", "Door", "Keys", etc. I'm working on bulldozer right now... he loves trucks, cars, and airplanes so one of his new toys is a bulldozer so I'm trying to teach him to say it as well, it comes out sounding, "ull -oze". We'll keep at it.

He's leaving tomorrow which is no fun but I'll see him in about 6 weeks - it's just enough to note the changes which happen in between the visits. This was the first visit that he recognized me... when he saw me, he ran to me and hugged me. It's a great feeling to have that unconditional and simple love directed at you.

*However, this does NOT mean I won't my own... if anything, it's confirmed that I'm not cut out to be a mom.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILLIAM!!!

Today, October 15, 2008 my nephew William turns one. We celebrated this past weekend with "William's 1st Tailgate" as UGA beat UT. (I actually missed the party because of a wedding but that's another story). He clapped as he finished his cake and stood up in his highchair to show everyone how he was covered head to toe in red & black icing.

I can't believe that it was just a year ago that I had flown to Mississippi to be there when my sister was induced. She had been in the first stages of labor for about 3 weeks, dialated to 4 centimeters and just generally miserable.





We went out for seafood dinner at a great open bar down on the bay at an open air restaurant and then home to be ready for our 5AM wake up call to head to the hospital. My parents' were in the guest room and I was sleeping in the office between the guest room and the master bedroom. Sitting up, reading a book, I heard someone come down the hall and then a knock at the door.

"Wanda, Leah's water just broke, do you want to go to the hospital with us?" I opened my door to find Will, my BIL, speaking through the guest room door to my mom. And the madness started. Will went to get their bags, my mom started getting dressed and we all started talking at once.



After a few moments, I went back to Leah's room to check on her. She was standing there, a tight funny look on her face, holding her pants. She looked at me and held them out to me.

"I can't get these on," I took them from her and dressed her as she stood, looking more pale with each moment.


"Where's Will?" She asked after a moment.


"He's putting your bags in the truck and Mom's getting dressed. You need anything else?" She shook her head and literally waddled down the hallway towards the garage. I followed, stopping at the guest room to hurry my mom along.











"Leah's ready to go, you've got to come on," I stage-whispered to my mom, aware of my dad sleeping in the bed. I walked back to the den and grabbed my phone to call my younger sister. Her phone went straight to voicemail. I left a message and went out to the garage to see about Leah. She and Will were sitting in the truck, cranked and ready to go.

"Where's Mom?" I shrugged and pointed back to the house.


"Go tell her we're leaving NOW." I turned back to the house and met my mom in the kitchen. She hurried to the truck and I waved them off.










I went back to my bed and began to read again - I knew I wasn't going back to sleep. The phone would never wake up my dad so I need to stay awake in case they needed us.


About an hour later, my phone rang. Startled and anxious, I grabbed for it.


"Hello?"


"Lindsey, are you awake?" My mom's excited voice came through the phone.


"I answered the phone, didn't I?" The smartass in me couldn't resist.


"He's coming... she's progressed really quickly, they think he'll be here any minute. You and your Dad should probably come if you want to be here. I gotta get back in there but ya'll come on," Click. My mom hung up and I was left with the task of convincing my father to get up and go to the hospital in the middle of the night.

"Dad..." I whispered as I knocked on the guest room door. "Dad, wake up... Mom just called and Leah's about to have the baby. Do you want to go? We need to go..."

"HUH?"



"Dad, wake up, Leah's having a baby, we've got to go. Do you want to go?"


"Yeah, yeah, we should go. I'm up."


I turned around and quickly put back on my clothes from the day before. I combed my hair and went out into the living room. My bleary eyed dad showed up a minute later.

Then we were in the car and on our way, I was so excited. No way was I missing this!



3 hours later, shifting in an extremely uncomfortable waiting room chair, I was wishing for my bed, any bed, or just a pillow.



"Seriously, she called us because it was happening 'right then' and now it's 3 hours later... Can we go home and come back when it actually happens? Or afterwards? I'm dying here..."


My dad looked at me with tired eyes, raised his eyebrows and went back to watching the crazy movie on cable for the second time that night. I shifted again and got up to stretch. If I ever win the lottery, the 2nd thing* I'm going to do is donate decent chairs for the maternity ward at the Gulfport hospital.


"He's here, he's got a head full of hair and he looks just like Will!!!" My mom's voice comes down the hallway. She comes into the waiting room, crying and smiling. "Come see, he's here!!!"




We follow her back to the Labor and Delivery area, it's a little after 4AM and we meet William Gregory Ferguson for the first time. A bright, blue eyed baby with a head full of blonde hair, he snuggled in his swaddling blankets. We watched as the nurses bathed and clothed him and tested him and we ooed over his every breath and movement.





Watching William grow and change this year has been so exciting and overwhelming - I never knew I could instantly love as I have with him. He's all boy - moves at full speed and crashes through anything that stands in his way. With his four front teeth and 3 more on the way, he's toddling full time now - well, unless he's tired and then he'll crawl because it's easier. He's learned where his nose and his toes are, he'll clap when he's done something 'good' (like finishing his meal), he stomps his feet and turns around when you sing the song, and he giggles at everything. I chase after him in slow motion, saying "I'm going to get you" and he runs away, laughing, and then stopping when he's ready to be 'caught' and tossed in the air. It's an amazing process to watch and it happens everyday.







Happy Birthday William!!!












*First things first: NYC Shopping Spree!

Simple Pleasures

As you all know very well, I love my nephew - should Leah have more children or Lauren have any children, I will love them just as much, if not more. I'd love the chaos. I've always thought having kids the same ages as my sisters' kids and all of them running around together would be so much fun. I guess that comes from growing up in a rural community where everyone seemed to be related to everyone else except for my family. We were stand alones.

Leah and William came to Georgia last night and we ate dinner at my parent's house. I took Sandy over because William loves Sandy. He's terrified of her but he loves her too. He squeals and gets all excited but he's been knocked by her tail a couple of times so he's getting cautious of the back half of her body. His latest thing is paper towels so he was wiping Sandy down last night in between eating the paper towel. Actually they were taking turns wiping each other down, he was using the paper towel and she would use her tongue. It was pretty funny to watch him and I'm sorry the shutter speed on my camera isn't fast enough to capture the full event. Especially when Sandy got him backed into the corner and was licking him all over. I stopped to help him but looking back I should have gotten a picture first.

Flattery

will get you everywhere with me...


Yesterday was Sunday and I was basically been hanging out around the house. I made some brownies, done some laundry, answered emails, etc. Nothing really.


I am about to move so I started going through my room to start packing the small things - things I can have packed for a couple of weeks and not miss. Pictures are a part of this category for me. I love having pictures of my family, friends and animals around me - reminding me of good times and special events. I've gotten in the habit of taking special pictures and getting them enlarged to an 8x10 prints. As I was going through a stack of pictures, I found 2 old pictures of my sisters and I on different family trips. I had wanted to blow them up and I needed to get it done before my mom noticed the pictures missing. Plus I had a picture of my nephew from his baptism last week that I wanted to print as well.

So I head to Wally World - not my favorite place - to get my prints made. (In a few months, our store will have the machines which produce prints and I am so excited!) I stand and wait forever... (WARNING: rant to follow: People, come on! If there are three people waiting for the machines, and you have over 350 pictures from your trip to Italy, offer to wait!!! You're going to be there forever anyway and I am not a patient lady.) So, once it was my turn, I made prints from our pictures and then pulled out my camera for my memory card to print the picture of William. I do my thing and then go to the counter to pay.

I hand over my prints for the Wallygirl to ring up and put in a folder. She stops at the picture I took of William - she studies it for a few moments. Here's the picture in question.





It's a good picture (if I may say so myself), and I had zoomed in on William, enlarged it, and changed it to print in sepia. It had turned out really well. The people waiting to use the machine after me had also seen it and ooed and awed over it. I was super excited.


So I'm waiting on the Wallygirl to finish packaging up my pictures and after studying my picture of William, she looks up at me and says, "Is this a professional shot?"


I shake my head and say "no". She looks back at me meeting my eye and says, "You took this?"

"Yeah, it's my nephew" I answer her, thinking she's just going gaga over a cute baby picture.


"You sure? 'Cause it looks like a professional pic," Now I'm beginning to hear the edge in her voice and I look back at her.


"Yes." I say firmly, opening my purse. "I have one on my camera if you need to verify it."


"Oh, no. I just have to ask." She turns away, packages my prints and rings me up. I pay and leave the store, smarting from her implication that I was 'stealing' my picture.

I get home, frame the pictures and place them around my room. I was still a little prickly in mind to what the Wallygirl had said until I really look at the picture - it looks great and could be mistaken for a professional picture. So, I'm going to take it as a compliment. It's the first time any of my pictures have been mistaken for "professional" shots. Which makes me one step closer to the job of my dreams.

So, if any of you need a photographer - I am available!

Babies, Baptisms, and Birthdays

We got back last night after a whirl-wind trip to southern Mississippi to see my sister and nephew baptised. It was a small, intimate ceremony with just our family, my grandparents and Will's mom in the chapel at their new church. But it was a fun excuse to see Leah, Will and William. Plus they had moved into their new house last Friday so we were able to check that out as well. Here are some pictures of the family and festivities.




























































These last two are him somewhat walking... he can do it, he's just at that stage where he's figured out that he's faster on his knees, crawling. So he always has this moment of hesitation, where he's deciding which to do... it's kind of funny, especially when he drops down and takes off. The look of satisfaction on his face is priceless.












It was also Joel's birthday... He turned 26 so we had cake (yes!) and sang "Happy Birthday" to him. He and Lauren have known each other for 6 years so he's an unofficial member of our family.

And yes, I do have the cutest nephew ever... Don't believe me? Check out this last picture - Lauren and Joel are tag teaming him, trying to button his britches... He's laughing and wiggling, it was funny to watch. So I grabbed my camera to get a picture of them and he sees me and starts hamming it up. Laughing and posing for the camera. He's a mess.

Bon Voyage!!!

After seven days of blissful weather and family togetherness, I'm back from celebrating my grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary in the Carribbean. I took over 200 pictures on this vacation so be prepared. I'm making a photo book from Snapfish for my grandparents as a present so I was really into documenting the vacation. It was fun and I got a lot of great pictures. So it was worth being a little annoying to everyone else.








But first the obligatory cute picture of my nephew... he discovered his tongue this week and was constantly sticking it out and making faces with it much to our delight.







And now, my grandparents. We suprised them with a cake and a song from the crew one night at dinner. Aren't they cute? So fun. And the rest of the dining room joined in the celebration. There was a lot of love going around the boat, 3 different couples were married while on board and we witnessed an engagement one night. Instead of the "Triumph", it should have been called the "Love Boat" (cue theme song here).

Our boat made four stops:

1. Moon Cay, Bahamas
2. St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands
3. San Juan, Puerto Rico
4. Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos

I'll have a post for each destination and include pictures but please be patient with me. I've decided to uproot my life and move it back to Georgia now so between packing, moving, saying goodbyes, and driving south, I may be a little busy.

Baby Willum!!

My sister sends me pictures of my nephew on a weekly basis. Keeps me up to date and I love it. Here he is at my grandparent's house - Leah and William are at my parent's house in Georgia to get his 3 month pictures made tomorrow. He's a cutie and he looks like he's gotten bigger. He has started smiling and he grins at everyone, even though he's not smiling at this picture. How cute is he in his overalls? I love it.

We've been calling him Baby Willum because our little friend Sara who is almost 3 calls him and every other baby, "BABY WILLUM!"

This is Sara kissing William during Christmas - she was aggressive about making sure he got a big kiss from her!