A Trip to America!

The rumors are true... we are going to California for Christmas!  We leave Christchurch December 9 and fly out of San Fran on January 4, so we have almost a whole month.  I'm especially looking forward to a chance for James, Will and I to spend quality time with my family, as a new family ourselves.  It will be so great for my family to have some time to get to know James better-- we've only been able to spend a total of 3 weeks with my family in our 3 years of marriage so far, and that means they really just haven't had a chance to spend any time with him, or get used to who I am as a married woman.  :)  It will also be so great to have a context for my parents and brother and sister and I to get reacquainted with each other after the huge life transitions all three of us siblings have gone through: for me, marriage and mommyhood; for KT, finishing college, living on her own and becoming a pastor; for Clayton, halfway through his junior year of highschool and having his first girlfriend... yeah, we've all changed significantly in the past three years.  AND I'm really excited for everybody, including Grandma & Grandpa Christenson, to be able to spend lots of time getting to know Will, who gets sweeter and more adorable every day!  

Another huge relief: We just found out today that we have housing here in New Zealand from January through March and probably April too!  It's the same house we stayed in to wait for Will's birth last year-- a big beautiful house in Christchurch, walking distance from a mall, with really cheap rent.  Perfect.  God is so good and so faithful, and we are so thankful!

musical kid

As a musical person myself, I always secretly hoped at least one or two of my kids would be musical, but I'm also wary of putting my loves onto my kids and encouraging them in directions that don't fit them.  So it's exciting to me that Will actually really likes music!  Every time we turn music on at home, especially classical, he gets a big smile on his face and starts rocking back and forth-- usually almost in rhythm!  I take him along once a week to a music class run by a friend of mine, and he loves to play the instruments and listen to everyone singing along.  Hopefully pretty soon he'll start doing the motions too... 

And then today, we were at our Aunty & Uncle's house and I was playing the piano-- actually, the first time Will has really ever seen me play.  He got so excited and crawled over right away, holding up his arms for me to lift him up on my lap.  As soon as I picked him up, he started playing the keys and grinning away and rocking back and forth-- not banging, but really trying them out to see what sounds they make!  He stayed there for a full 20 minutes while we played Christmas carols (I know, season's starting early) and enjoyed every minute of it!  It was so cute... and I am so pleased that he seems genuinely interested in music, and he's not even a whole year old yet.  Yay!  

picnic on the Waimakariri

soon there will be a video...watch this space... in the meantime, a couple photos of our picnic on the Waimakariri River.  (That's why-ma-ka... oh, forget it!)  It's summertime!

getting better

Will's pretty much over his ear infection, just a lingering cough left... Antibiotics work wonders.  His little thrush infection has cleared up too, so we're in good shape!  

Big news for this week: We're going to America for Christmas!  Hooray!!!  Can't believe we're going on another trip, but it's really our life, isn't it... can't get around it when you live on 3 continents.  Believe me, it's not as exotic as it sounds-- and I have a feeling, the more kids we have, the less exotic it will feel!  But we are so thankful for the richness of our life and we wouldn't trade any of it.  Thank you, Lord!

watermelon!

not so sure about this juicy cold stuff... but it sure tastes good!

as they say down here, "poor wee man..."

Well, the "mysterious fever and miserable nights" mystery was solved yesterday: Will has his first ear infection.  :(  He also has a thrush infection "down below", which wasn't helping matters-- bad mommy for letting things get to such a pass!  So we went to the doctor yesterday and came home armed with antibiotics and antifungal cream, and today Will was in much better spirits-- although not back to his usual happy self yet.  

In other news, Will has discovered Watermelon!   I took some great summertime photos of Will in his highchair today, in nothing but a diaper and his bib, happily smacking away on watermelon chunks and smearing juice all over his highchair and anything else he could reach... I haven't put them on the computer yet, but stay tuned.  :)  

videos

ok, i've made the videos public domain, so you should be able to see them now.  originally i wanted to keep them private on youtube, but i can't figure out how to keep them private and still let people see them on our blog without making you all become members of youtube too!  (anyone know how to do that?)

Will managed to get from hands & knees to sitting up today on his own!  something new every day...

my current personal favorite

had enough yet? here's a few more for the avid fans...

in this one I think he looks a lot like his namesake, Grandpa William Broughton (now with Jesus)

temporarily zoned out

clever boy!

I don't know whether we have an exceptionally clever son, or whether I'm just biased... probably the latter...  but he's learned two new tricks today: maneuvering from sitting to tummy, and pointing at a ball in his book-- first time to identify an object on a page by name!  AND he actually likes brushing his teeth-- licks his lips when he sees me pick up his toothbrush, obligingly opens his mouth and holds it open while I brush top & bottom (all 6 of them).  What a cooperative boy!  

In other news, he's not doing so well on the napping front: down to 45 minutes in the morning, and just 30-45 minute catnaps in the afternoon... no nap for mommy at this rate-- I just doze off, and then he's up again.  ::sigh::  Another phase, I suppose-- the problem is that he's actually still tired when he wakes up after 45 min, he really needs to go longer.  Anyway...

Here's a video (yay!) of our little explorer:

woohoo!

Yay for me!!  I figured out how to link a youtube video to our blog ALL BY MYSELF!  I am very proud of myself.  ::pat pat::  So, now, you can see videos of our sweet little boy!  Hooray!

By the way, please ignore all the other stupid youtube videos that show up at the end of ours... I haven't figured out how to make our youtube videos private while still allowing us to post them on our blog.  I also have to use the youtube video player on our blog so you can see our videos... comes with a price, I guess.  Just ignore the others!

wrestling with Daddy