Self Feeding

William started self-feeding around mid-November.  We knew he was ready when he kept reaching for the spoon and got such a kick out of feeding himself with it (aka dousing himself with it).

Bring on more dishcloths!

Experimenting with soft apple and veggie puffs.  He can hold onto the puffs really well.

It's inside his hand

Steady

Going for it

Gets a good bite of his fist

Try again!

Figuring out how to hold it right

Sometimes he tries with both hands.

And sometimes he gets frustrated.

So far he keeps working at it.  He seems pretty determined about getting that food in his belly!

Working together and practicing

This is where a dog comes in handy

 He is showing his personality more and more these days, too.  I've been trying to work out from home again with tae bo dvds.  William will usually wake up from his nap before I'm done, so he hangs out in the bouncer or with toys on the floor watching mommy and Billy Blanks.  He gets a kick out of it.

Love that face

Trying to understand that big glowing box thing :)

"Squeal!"

Sometimes he gets tired

And sometimes he "talks to" his playmates

And sometimes he makes these really hilarious faces

Exercising too

More Wedding Adventures

While in Georgia for double wedding extravaganza, William and I got to spend time with all three sets of parents.  Here are some pictures from time with Grandma Carla, Grandpa Kelly, and Great Grandma VeeVee. 

Smiling at Great Grandma VeeVee

Playing games together

Thanks for coming from Pine Mtn to spend time with us!

VeeVee and Toby, the only dog I know that actually purrs like a cat

Grandma had all sorts of daddy's old toys laid out for William to play with, and a Georgia bulldog!

Having so much fun

William really liked chewing on this book

Grandpa's home!

Workin the Grandpa magic and getting little bubbie to sleep

First time eating cream corn, straight from the Hillis garden!

Not so sure about the texture

He made this face after every bite...

...then opened up for more!

Loving his Grandma

Got to see my friend Jenny while in GA.  Catching up with her is always so much fun.  Jenny and were in school together since 5th grade.  How's that for longevity of friendship?

William loved her

 Got to spend some time with mom and Paul before heading to Atlanta for Janet's wedding.  All we have is a couple of quick photos before jetting out the door!  More to come of them later :)

(dribble)

After a week in Georgia post-Chipper's wedding, we traveled to Atlanta, Ga, for Janet and Trevor's wedding. It was SO beautiful.  But I took absolutely zero pictures as I was either doing bridesmaid thingies or had baby-in-tow.  Hope I can get my hands on other people's pics soon.  Here's the *one shot I got.

Bridesmaids with the beaming bride in red

Family Wedding Extravaganza

It seems like the older you get, the more you realize the importance of your family.  And the more you treasure every moment when you get together.  God has blessed Matthew and I both with loving family members who mostly all live in Georgia.  It's always this whirlwind when we are down there trying to see everyone in short spans of time.  But in the end, it's worth a few barely-nap days for baby and getting carried away by gnats at the family picnic.

This fall has been a season of weddings (four, to be exact!) among friends and family.  So needless to say, both William and Olive - Olive the Outback - have racked up some miles in the past couple of months!

Most recently we got to celebrate the marriages of two of my dear cousins, Chipper and Janet, to our newest additions to the family, Megan and Trevor.  Fortunately for us, they were both in Georgia on back-to-back weekends.  So William and I began our trek to GA the day after Halloween, returning to Tennessee on November 12th.  Matthew was able to drive down for Janet's wedding on Veteran's Day weekend.  I will post those pics later.  Today, here are the *numerous pictures from Chipper and Megan's wedding at Lake Blackshear outside of Cordele, Ga.

*Thanks to Ashley for posting many of her pics to FB where I STOLE them :-P  Love you!

My cousin Matt's wife Elaine with her daughter Olivia, loving on William

Matt and Elaine's son, Carter, who really enjoyed rubbing William's soft head

Uncle Steve and Aunt Elaine

Cousins Ashley and Jes

Cousins Chuck, Matt and Jes

My dad with his siblings - Uncle Charles, Uncle Steve, Aunt Mary-Anne

Rehearsal and setting

Lots of talent in the fam.  And they do it for the Lord.  Check out Matt on iTunes and Ashley's band Fan Into Flame on Facebook.  I can get you their autographs...

Cousin Scotty, Uncle J, (Aunt) Polly and Mary Alice hanging out

The "new" youngest in the fam (my cousin's children).  I am officially old.

Uncle Johnny baking his masterpiece brownies and Mary Alice prepping hamburgers for our picnic

Polly really helped William learn how to self-feed with bananas

Grill out (aka gnat invasion)

Gameday... Go Dawgs!  Aunt Elaine and "little" Elaine :)

Grill-master dad

Plastic football = lots of fun

Beautiful southern moss

The game got intense

Beautiful Candyn

Olivia and Ashley makin faces at William

Mary Alice and my dad lounging away from the gnats

Lovebirds

This group was amazing!  You can check out Heart Strings on Facebook.

Bride and groom, Megan and Chipper

Such a beautiful and sacred ceremony

Beautiful ladies Ashley, Candyn and Polly

My Aunt Kathy and cousin Scotty with his wife Sharon and kids Hannah, Hunter and Heath

Holding my date

DJ Jesse with Chip and Megan.  Jes started a DJ business called Judah Press and was an awesome DJ at their wedding!

Singing and dancing with our fingers

Mimi loved holding William so mama could dance

Reception was so much fun

My dance partners

Brothers