William Time!

Another wonderful event that has taken place since I was last blogging about the Paine family is the birth of Josh and Jessica's son -- William Joshua. Will was born on September 8th, 2008 weighing in at 8 pounds, 4 ounces and 21" long. He had a full head of black hair (no surprise there!) that is already starting to show signs of curling a bit. He has, of course, just been an absolute delight and the bright spot in all our lives.

Dave and I look forward to ANY time we can spend with William and we jump at the chance to babysit (which works out very well for J&J I imagine!) Today was no exception. Josh asked me a couple days ago if we'd be free this afternoon to watch Will while they went to a movie. We were only too happy to oblige and had been looking forward to getting in some cuddle time ever since.

William arrived a little after 2:00. Aunt Bree was busy making all sorts of treats for her Halloween party at Jay's house but took a few minutes off to snap a couple pictures and get a few snuggles in. William was wide awake and couldn't have been more fun.





Dave and I decided to surprise Great Grandma and bring William out for a quick visit. We were hoping his cheery disposition would last and it did! William was happy as could be visiting (once he got some of his bottle) and loved having Great Grandma hold him -- he couldn't take his eyes off her!

I can't believe how blue Will's eyes are -- and he's almost 8 weeks old! We fully expected him to have brown eyes since everyone on Jessica's side has brown eyes as do Dave, Josh, and Daniel. I'm the only one with blue eyes so the chances were slim that his would be blue. I just would have thought that if they were going to change to brown that they would have started by now ... or at least appeared to be more muddy in color. Nope. William's eyes are clearly a very beautiful darker blue color and I can't help but wonder if they are going to stay that way (fingers crossed for finally having a baby with my (and my dad's) eyes!)

William was a fascination to Rascal and Daisy who were allowed to sniff but not touch today. However, when J&J arrived to pick up Will, the dogs (who were laying on the couch next to me watching William's every move) jumped up and barked. The loud noise startled Will and his face puckered up and he started to cry just as mom and dad walked in. Fortunately he calmed right now and turned back into his cheerful self in time to get scooped up by mommy for lots of "I missed you!!!" kisses.

What was such a thrill today (well, yesterday as I'm writing this) was that William seemed really able to focus and pay attention to us. And best of all -- lots of smiles and babbling. That's really still very new and so much fun to see.

Gosh -- I just love that kid and can't get enough of him.



After he goes home it's just like Mary told me it would be -- it feels like the day after Christmas ... :( But thankfully, it won't be another 365 days until the next visit!