January revisited

Last fall I got an email from Shutterfly saying they were giving me a free photo book. Not one to turn down anything preceded by the word "free," I jumped at the chance. Of course their version of a free book is 20 pages, while the book I created ended up being almost 100 pages. So free turned into mighty expensive! Nice marketing technique, Shutterfly. You got me.

I made a book chronicling William's birth in November '08 through the end of '09. It felt so good to actually do something with all the pictures I took back then. Of course I love having the blog, but it's nice to have a physical book of photos. I decided I would make a book for every calendar year going forward. It'll be a fun project for me, and it has really inspired me to step it up when it comes to picture-taking. I have a feeling the 2010 book will be much slimmer than the '09 one because I took fewer pictures. But now that I know I'll have something to show for my "work" in 2011, I am enjoying taking a lot of photos again.

Here's a look at some of our January antics.

I promise he hasn't made any coffee in his pretend coffee-maker, although the look on his face makes me question if he snuck a sip of Mikey's coffee when we weren't looking.


We are loving having the glider in the living room. It'll be a sad day when it heads back upstairs!


If you look closely, you'll see that Mikey is reading "William's Family," a Shutterfly book that Grammy gave William for Christmas.


The packaging said this harmonica is for ages five and up, but this two-year-old begs to differ.


The day I took this picture, I realized I didn't have many pics of Ryan sleeping. This is what happened when I tried to remedy that. Cute shot, but I cut that nap a little short!


He wanted to hold his baby brother. Who are we to deny that sweet request?


Dueling Dysons!


Such an angel! I just want to pick him up and give him a giant hug.


Ryan has turned into a very serious thumb-sucker in the last month. William did the same thing and dropped the habit a couple of months later. I hope he decides to quit on his own, but I wouldn't dare take it out of his mouth now.


Don't mind the name on the chair. I am taking Ryan's picture in this chair every month so we can easily see how fast he's growing. He will get his own chair in due time, but at this point, I don't think he cares too much.


I adore this one.


William and Mikey went to Texans Field Day several weeks ago. It was Mikey's consolation prize for qualifying for a radio contest but not winning the grand prize (a trip to any sporting event in the world - the winners picked something in Australia!). Most of the stuff was a bit advanced for William, but he still talks about Field Day every day. He got to kick a ball, run after a ball, meet some cheerleaders, and best of all...sit on a golf cart.


William's funny face. He asks us to make funny faces all the time. We try to vary them, but he sticks with this tried and true favorite.


I did get a picture of William smiling in the chair, but I kind of like this one. It's his "turn off the stinkin' camera, and let me get up, lady" face.


I am dying to go on walks around the neighborhood. The only way to do that with both boys at this point is in our super awesome double stroller. Ryan doesn't yet know that the stroller is super awesome. He had a total meltdown two minutes after I took this picture. I'm hoping that he will like it better once he can sit up more.


Ryan looks so thoughtful here. Plus, I love his onesie. Thanks, Danielle!


He is finally interested in the animals hanging from his playmat.


Just another day in the life of a baby.