let the crafting begin

I have a feeling Christmas will sneak up on us this year with the new baby coming in September, so I am getting started now on my holiday craft projects!  I found a super cute pattern for a quilted tree skirt online, so I am trying my hand at quilting for the first time.  I threw our old tree skirt in the trash after Christmas last December since it was COVERED in cat hair, not machine washable, and not my favorite anyway :)  My goal is to have this project done before the baby is born because I still need to make him a stocking too. 

Here are the 12 "fat quarters" of fabric I picked out at JoAnn's.  I'll update more soon with pics of the project in progress!

take my socks off, mom

Palmer is walking!

THE chair

watchin Sesame Street in his brand new chair, fresh out of the box

yummy goldfish

sometimes you need some help from your foot

sinking further and further down

oops!  mommy was caught red-handed with the camera

park play

Palmer loves the park! He also loves the front yard, back yard, driveway, porch. . . he just likes to be outside. You get an earful when it's time to come inside if the proper distractions aren't provided. Here are some pictures from Finch Park in our neighborhood. It's huge with a splash pad and lots of other stuff to do.

eggs, food, & one cute bunny

We had a lot of fun celebrating Easter with Palmer this year! And the grandparents who came too, of course :) We went to church in downtown McKinney where Palmer enjoyed the hymns, but not so much the sermon. Afterwards, we came home and had a little photo shoot/egg hunt for Palmer in the front yard. He got the idea pretty quick about putting the eggs in the basket, but wasn't a big fan of the damp grass. . . or the bunny ears. He did cooperate a little for his mommy, though.
Once we got inside he gobbled up his bounty of teddy grahams and yogurt melts from inside his eggs, and played with all his fun Easter presents from Kay Kay, Grammy, & Grandpa. We ate a big lunch while Palmer napped, consisting of hot dogs (pregnant lady's idea), homemade mac n cheese, cowboy beans, deviled eggs, potato salad, and carrot cake for desert. If you didn't have enough food after that, there were plenty of cadbury creme eggs and other goodies scattered about.
After Palmer's nap he enjoyed his own lunch and his first Peep chick. Still hungry? We headed over to my parents' house in Lewisville to celebrate my brother's birthday with a big lasagna dinner and apple pie. Palmer had a great time playing with Cary and his uncle Nathan, as well as generally making a big mess out of the Willi home. The little booger was pooped after the big day and slept wonderfully last night! Hallelujah, indeed.

precious moments

I had to get a few of these down while they were fresh on my mind- enjoy!

There are moments every day that I sit back and just marvel at what Palmer can do and how precious he is! The other day he sat in his room, methodically taking each board book out of the basket. He would "read" it, briefly, then set it in a stack to his left and take out another book. He did this for probably 15 minutes! Nevermind that the book was often read upside down :) What a big boy! It's neat to see him playing independently and see those tiny wheels turning in his mind.

He knows what a lot of words and phrases mean now, and it's so neat when he responds to something I say! If in the right mood, he'll cooperate with "let's put it back" and "shut the door", and he's more than happy to show you where his toes are if asked! Palmer is imitating me more and more lately. Yesterday, I laid down on my side on the floor where he was playing with his blocks and he immediately flopped himself down on his belly and rested his little head. He also loves to try and put sheet music and books up on the piano for me to play.

Ever since he started sitting up, Palmer has always crossed his feet at the ankles. It makes him look so innocent no matter what sort of trouble he's getting into! I like that he's still doing it since there are some cute little habits he's dropped along the way. He used to twirl his wrists around in circles whenever he was holding a toy, blanket, or anything else! It was like a test to see if the object was satisfactory. I hope we have it on video somewhere :)

always something new

This little toot never ceases to surprise me or make me laugh with random things he does. Washcloths on the head = very amusing for Palmer. He has started doing this in the car too with his taggies blanket and watching himself in the mirror on the headrest. (If you are pregnant or have a baby and don't have one of these car mirrors, I think they are great! I can just look in my rear view mirror to see what he's up to even though he's rear facing.)

He turned 14 months yesterday and seems to be turning into a little boy more every day! Palmer loves to zoom his cars around on the couch, table, your leg, any surface really. . . and make a blubbering sound with his lips. He got an upper molar on each side and is cruising around the furniture like crazy! He is still very picky about what finger foods/solids he will eat, but likes turkey, quesadillas, and PB&J sandwiches. (Of course all crunchy snacks like cereal, cookies, and crackers are still his favorite). We are trying to offer him lots of different foods and he ate some fried catfish and crabcake the other night! No progress on the veggie front. . . working on it! He'll still eat his baby food veggies so I know he's getting good nutrition.

Our big boy has only one bottle of milk a day now, right before bed. The rest of the day, his cows milk is in a sippy! It's going to be hard (FOR ME) to get rid of that last bottle since it's such a comfort for him and makes him perfectly sleepy.