I attempted to start this post 3 weeks ago. It was Mother’s Day weekend. It was generally a good weekend. Jason went hiking on Saturday and a friend watched the little man so I could get a haircut. I bought myself some Mother’s Day flowers, and had a wonderfully productive weekend, but I was coming down with another cold. Unbeknownst to me at the time, the cold would be a doozy (lost voice, sore throat, sinus drainage leading to morning queasiness/puking)ultimately earning me a round of antibiotics. That makes 3 massive colds, 3 stomach flus, and a dislocated elbow for me in 6 months! EEeee! William has had a cold and is teething, but at least there hasn’t been more throwing up lately. I’m feeling much better, but still fighting a touch of a sore throat. Hopefully by week’s end I will be classified as “healthy” once again.
William now has points on 2 top molars coming through, bringing his teeth count to 10. His bottom gums look pretty swollen so there are probably more to come shortly. He has been in a (mostly) great mood since getting over his last cold.
He wants to be outside in the yard from sun-up to sun-down. A trickle from the garden hose or watching Jason mow the lawn will keep him entertained indefinitely. He is saying more words every day. When in the mood, he can point to his head, hands, tongue, ears, nose, toes, belly, and knees. His favorite foods are pancakes, yogurt, cheese, and graham crackers. He very much dislikes watermelon. He has been sleeping through the night and napping great the last few weeks. This week we are also officially done with bottles!
He is now a sippy-cup only guy. 14 1/2 months and running like crazy. Has really started to like books, has picked a favorite blanket, and enjoys morning cartoons on the couch for as long as his short attention span will last. Our summer schedule at work starts soon, and I will miss some of our mornings together, but we will have more afternoon time to play.
We’ve finally seen an end to the cool spring and the weather has gotten nice. It was super dry for awhile, but this past week we got about an inch of rain (which is a ton for Salt Lake). 
We’re starting to get our new yard together. The hostas my mom sent from WI are doing great. We have a million amazing perennials in our new flowerbeds. I think I counted 11 peonies! The garden is still a disaster, but we’ve managed to trim and weed all the roses, get a water lily in the backyard pond (which will be officially installed this fall), plant a couple tomatoes, hang our hummingbird feeders, move the ornamental thistle from the old house, and plant a hanging basket. Yard work is slow with William on the loose, but we’re making progress.
Since I last wrote we had more company! KTP and Mike came to visit from WI for a weekend. Unfortunately, I think I sent them home with my cold, but they were the first non-family guests in our new house and I hope they had fun seeing some of Salt Lake. They were talking about hiking ‘next time they visit’ so it must not have been TOO bad.
We enjoyed the annual Baxter reunion on Memorial Day and are now gearing up for another WI trip for my brother’s wedding. I am really excited for Will to be on the farm. This trip he is old enough to love the animals and playing with my parents’ border collie Mike. It is a good time of year to visit, and hopefully the storms stay away and it is not too hot. We are really looking forward to our visit. Please let us know if you will be around during the end of June!
In other exciting news, I blackened the crap out of my big toenail today. Dropped something on it, said a bad word, dipped it in the pond (thinking cool water would help), ran the garden hose on it….got nauseous, lightheaded, and almost passed out. So of course, I laid down on the bed for awhile and called my dad who has experience with such injuries. 🙂 It is the first time I’ve ever had a black nail that I can remember and man did that smart! It will be a few days before I am walking normally I am afraid. Thankfully I can wear open-toed sandals at work.
Here are a few more pictures just for kicks! I will spare you all the pictures of my poor shmucked toe. 🙂 I hope to get a video montage of Wilbaer posted soon so keep checking back.
