Disclaimer: In this post you’re going to find some pretty crappy photography. Some horrible color casts, blown out spots, and some plain out of focus images. But they’re my boy. And I promised to take pictures of him every day this week and share them…I failed miserably at that yesterday, so I’m making up for it today. Embrace the horribleness of the photos. They may be bad, but they’re him and this is what we did today. And for that, I love them.

Disclaimer II: In this post you’re also going to see a whole lot of my unorganized garage. Yep, we’ve lived in this house for nearly a year and the garage is still unorganized. The guest bedroom closet, master bedroom closet, and the office aren’t as organized as I’d like either. I guess that’s what happens when you’re a full time mommy, small business owner, and wife. I could care less how organized my house is anymore as long as it LOOKS clean. Oh, and the green stuff on my kid’s face? It’s definitely not snot. It’s a green highlighter I gave him to draw with to keep him occupied so I could package up an order since he woke up from his nap early. Just keepin’ it real.

Today was a rather ordinary day. The boys I watch came over. Everyone ate breakfast, everyone took naps (well, everyone BUT me), everyone got snack, and everyone went outside. I remembered to grab my camera before we headed out to the front yard in hopes of catching some great shots of Will playing. I didn’t catch so many of those shots. Instead I caught a lot of the back of his head, since he’s stubbornly refusing to look at my camera now-a-days.

Example number one of the not-so-great photography. This is the closest thing to eye contact+smile that I got out of the entire hour or so we were outside. He’s shouting “da!” as a car drives down our street and turns around in the cul-de-sac. No, buddy. I’m so sorry. “Da” is at work right now and can’t come play with you. You’re stuck with boring ‘ol “ma” who has a camera glued to her face.

After shouting “da” 5,286 times, he moved on to shouting “bah.” If you’re not familiar with toddler-speak, “bah” means “ball.” And oh my heavens does my boy LOVE his “bah.” There can be a ball ten houses down and he’ll spot it with his eagle eyes and start chanting. In all actuality, it doesn’t even have to be a true ball. It could be, say, a kiwi sitting on the kitchen table. Said kiwi might just end up squished into pieces from being thrown onto the kitchen floor. So I guess “bah” really means any semi-round object good for throwing. After the 23rd time he shouted “bah” at the top of his lungs, I went in search of a “bah” in the garage. The only thing I could find was an exercise ball, so I figured…it’s round and it bounces. It’ll do. Who would’ve known exercise balls were so good for smacking?

The next one is classic Will. The side-eyed look at me for saying something stupid, I’m sure. I have a feeling I’m going to be seeing a LOT of this look in about 12 years. I’m so not ready.

And finally, probably the WORST example of photography you’ll ever see on this site. It’s totally not even in focus. But my goodness, it’s hilarious. The chubby hands desperately grasping for something to hold onto in the swing. The pulled back mouth that was laughing moments before this shot and is now starting to embrace a look of terror. I call this one, “Whoah, Mom! TOO high!”

So in case you were wondering, just because you are a professional photographer doesn’t mean you’ll always get professional-quality photos of your kid. I have many, many more photos like these stashed away on my hard drive. And sometimes when I really just need a laugh I open them up and chuckle. Hope they were able to do that for you today

It’s been just over two months since I did this photo shoot with Will on a rainy day. We recreated it this afternoon (though it wasn’t so rainy at all!) and I’m in awe at how much he’s grown. Two months. 60ish days. And in that time, my baby grew into a toddler. I think part of it is the hair…look how much it’s grown! It’s starting to turn into this adorable curl in the back and it definitely needs to be combed in the morning. The days have passed where a quick towel dry after bath suffices! And then there are the teeth. Oh, the teeth! I love that grin – 8  perfect little baby teeth. The gap in the middle. I love that even though two months have passed, this is still our after nap routine. At least if the boy has grown by leaps and bounds, the routine still stays the same.

1. I haven’t posted a Will update in who knows how long, so this ToT will be a Will-version! Can you believe he’ll be 14-month-old in just over a week? Hello, Father Time? Please slow down. My baby is growing up entirely too fast!

2. Will’s language is exploding. He consistently says “na-na” (comes from banana, but really means food), “moh” (more), “ba-ba” (bottle/milk), “doh” (dog), “ba” (bye), “baa” (bath), “dow” (down) and “baw” (ball). He signs all done, milk, and more pretty well. We’re working on please and thank you, but he really doesn’t do those consistently at all. He also knows what the cow says, “moooooooo” (said with his lips pursed together). His mind is a little sponge and it is incredible to watch him learn!

3. He’s been a full-time walker for about a month now. We take a walk just about every evening before dinner and he walks all the way to the mailbox and all the way home, usually. Tonight we took the dogs on the walk with us and he absolutely loved it! He kept shouting “doh! doh!” and pointing at Riley and Sammy. So cute

4. He’s really turned into a picky little thing when it comes to food. He’ll usually eat fruit, bread, and cheese without hesitation. But in the past few days he’s been turning his nose up at blackberries which used to be a huge favorite. In his defense, the ones I bought are a little sour, so I’m hoping that’s the reason and that blackberries aren’t another food to add to the “do not like” list.

5. Will had his first night away from Mommy and Daddy on Saturday night! He stayed with Grannie and CP (aka my parents) while Greg and I went a wedding. He had a blast and came home nice and tired – always a sign of a good time! I think Grannie and CP were a little tired too But Greg and I sure were thankful for the night out. I didn’t even wake up once in the middle of the night wondering about him – I was SO sure I would! Boy was it ever nice to sleep in too…it’s only been, oh, 14-months since we’ve both gotten to sleep in together!

6. The other day I was in the living room cleaning up toys, feeding one of the boys I watch, and just not paying all that close of attention to Will. I knew he was in the kitchen and I knew he was messing around by the trash can. But I figured he couldn’t get it open since the lid was on it, so we were golden. Um, WRONG. Will succeeded in opening up the trash can, taking out an almost-empty bottle of Maple Syrup, flipping open the lid and sucking down syrup like it was water. I screamed when I saw him doing it (a- I’m not a huge fan of maple syrup and b- the thing had been in the TRASH!) and ran over to take it away from him. He proceeded to throw the biggest tantrum he’s ever thrown before. I explained why he couldn’t have the syrup bottle and then walked away to let him have his tantrum. He watched me walk away, stopped crying, got up and followed me into the bedroom and then threw himself down at my feet screaming again. Totally reminded me of this video.

7. Will loves going for runs with me. We do it just about every afternoon (though pretty soon those are going to have to move to morning runs!). Every day around the time we go in the stroller he starts hanging out by the garage door waiting. As soon as I open the garage door he runs (well, fast walks) to the stroller and points up and says “uhhhh”…which is his way of saying he wants to ride! He gets his snack and water in the stroller and is usually content for my 4-5 mile runs. I haven’t tried a longer run with him, but I probably will this summer. I love that he’s learning from my example at being healthy and active. And I love that he looks forward to that time in the stroller every day.

8. Alright, that’s it for now…gotta get back to editing~ Sorry this was a pictureless edition. I promise to take some *new* pictures of Will this week AND post them!