Snow Day!

On Friday night, the snow started and we woke up Saturday morning to a snow covered everything! It was Cal's first real snow so of course I had to take some pics...

All bundled and up and ready to face the cold!

Hank was loving the snow!

Burrrrrrrr!!!!!! It was only 20 degrees outside!

The family!

After being outside for a while, Cal went inside to take a nap (in a closet! It was warm and dark and cozy...he loved it!), while Momma went sledding with a bunch of neighborhood kids. :)

On Sunday, it was a BEAUTIFUL day, with bright blue skies and the sun shining bright. We went back over to my parents house and this time Cal got to spend more time outside with us...

My favorite shot from the weekend :)

Shopping Sites/Websites

I have been buying some fun baby gifts for friends and have found these fun sites. I wanted to share with y'all in case you have someone that you want to buy a gift for...

http://www.diapers.com

(under clothing and shoes, go to personalized gifts)

http://www.personalizationmall.com

(they have great gifts and run great specials all the time)

http://www.prettybabygifts.com

(pretty cool-- you can pick at the top "it's a boy", "it's a girl", "I'm on a budget".....)

http://www.landsend.com/pp/WheelsLaceBabyBlanket~44973_-1.html?bcc=y&action=order_more&sku_0=::BLU&CM_MERCH=IDX_00005__0000000284&origin=index

(this was one of my favorite baby gifts from Land's End. The blanket is so light weight and cozy)

please feel free to add to the list! I love resources like this... and I am always looking for new gift ideas!

xo

The Littlest Cowboy

It's 8:35 am....

...and I have already completed a workout DVD, put away laundry, taken Hank on a jog around the block, taken out the trash and recycling, started another load of wash, read the newspaper, played with Cal and set up 2 J. Hilburn appointments.

IT'S AMAZING THE ENERGY YOU HAVE WHEN YOUR KID SLEEPS THROUGH THE NIGHT! Yup, that's right! Cal Baby went down at 10 (too late for my liking, but we did have date night, so it all got thrown off...), and we didn't hear a thing from him until 6:30 this morning! I woke up about to explode (heehee) so I went in to make sure he was still alive around 5:50, and sure enough, he was just snoring away!

I got up with him this morning-- usually Eddie takes him down and they have some male bonding time over the Today show so momma can sleep a little more. But this morning, I was full of energy (I am getting tired now!), so I brought him downstairs and we had a great time playing and now he is napping!

Hope today is as good as yesterday! :)

A GOOD day!

Today has been a really GOOD day in the Williamson house.

Two nights ago (Tuesday night), Cal woke up at 2:30 and I went in there to try to get him back to sleep and he was NOT having it. I tried relentlessly for 2 hours (I am soooo stubborn!), and then finally fed him. We were up for a total of 3 hours.

I was needing my sleep last night!

Cal ate at 9:00 and fell sound asleep while eating. I tried to wake him several times because you are supposed to put babies down awake so they will learn to go to sleep on their own (so I have heard...). Well, I couldn't wake him up, so I just put him in the crib sound asleep. At 12:15, he screamed, so I went in there, ready for a battle like the night before. I put the paci in and he was out again! He didn't say boo until 5:00. We are making progress! I fed him at 5 and he slept until about 7:30. I fed him again and he crashed until 9:30!

We played this morning after he got moving at 9:30 and then I had to run some errands so we loaded up the car. He sort of fell asleep in the car, but when I was carrying him in to the house in the rain, he woke up mad. We played when we got home and then I noticed some serious yawning. I knew he was well over due for a nap, so I decided that we were going to nap in the nursery (as opposed to the swing). It's a dreary rainy day, so it's perfect napping weather! I put him down and I watched him play on the video monitor and then he started crying. I gave him 10 minutes, went back in and flipped him to his tummy and put the paci in again. I walked out and within 3 minutes, he was sound asleep! He has been in his crib asleep for just over an hour now. YEEEEE HAW! I am hoping this will start to set the standard for sleeping in the house. He is going to outgrow that swing and I don't want to have a battle to get him to re-learn to nap in his crib!

Eddie and I are having dinner tonight at the Country Club with a bunch of other couples so it will be nice to have a night out. I feel like they are VERY few and far between, so this is a real treat! My Aunt will be keeping Cal for us. We are lucky to have family near by!

Just wanted to post an update!

xo

Sleeping update

No one reading this probably cares whether or not Cal slept through the night.... but I am updating this so that I can look back on this blog months from now and remember when it was that it finally happened.

Last night, he went down around 9:30, but he was super tired from all of the baptism activities of the day, so he had a mega nap that lasted until 8 (should have woken him up earlier, I know!).

He slept until 4:15 and then wouldn't just fall back asleep. I tried to get him to sleep for about 30 minutes, and then I just went ahead and fed him and put him back in the crib where he slept until 8:30! woohoo! When he woke up at 8:30, he was flipped onto his back, laying sideways in the crib carrying on quite the conversation with his mobile. He is so sweet... I am sooooooooo in love with this little man!!!

Getting Baptized

Cal got baptized today, Sunday, January 17th. It was such a special day and one I will always remember. He was wonderful during the service and during the baptism too. I was such a proud momma and beaming the entire time. I just feel so BLESSED to have this amazing baby and family. There are a bunch of pictures (and a video) on the mobile me page, so check that out if you want to see more than this....




My mom, AKA Martha Stewart, made his outfit for the day. We were going to do a gown, but he is just such a boy that we had to put him in a romper. I really wanted to do a gown though and put the monogram on it and have all of our kids wear it. Oh well.... thankfully, I have an incredible mother who is willing to make more! She did such a great job and I don't think I could have picked out a better outfit in any store! It was PERFECT!

We are exhausted tonight after an action-packed weekend. Maybe Cal will sleep through the night tonight...???

PS-- for those wondering, my whole "not feeding him in the night" thing is working... he got up once last night at 4. I put the paci in and then brought him in with me at 5 and he slept until 7:45. I just have to cut out him waking up until morning.... I will post more on that later!

xo

Baptism Pre-Party

Cal got baptized this weekend, so we wanted to have a pre-party on Saturday afternoon. We had it over at my parents house, where there is a big side yard so the kids could run and run and run and play. It was a fun afternoon, and I think everyone had a great time! Thank goodness the weather cooperated! It has been sooooo cold here, and on Saturday, it was around 60 (then got colder as the day wore on....). Here are a few of the pictures from the day:

The guys watching the game on TV in front of the fire.

The kids running in the yard. They were obsessed with the Corn Hole we set up for the adults to play.

More running and running!

Miss T with Cal!

Cal with his mom and dad :)

4 MONTHS OLD!!!

On Saturday, the 16th, Cal turned FOUR months old! Hard to believe it's already been 4 months. Every parents says this, but it seriously feels like he has been in my life forever, and at the same time, 4 months sounds so short, but so old....does that make sense?? Having a 4 month old baby sounds so old, but so little too! Here is his 4 month shot:

It's Official....

I AM A STAY AT HOME MOM NOW!

I was taking the year off (after working in August and part of September), and then I was going to "re-evaluate" going back to work in the fall. Well, I met with the head master at my school and told him that there was no way I'd be able to leave my baby every day!

Let me back up and say that I have all the respect in the world for the women who do return to work, because I think it would be SUCH a challenge... but I am SO thankful that I am not returning. Working at a private school, the parents are demanding and they don't fully appreciate that when I am home it is "me" time for my family. They would expect a prompt reply to all emails, even if they came in at 9:00 at night. I don't think that that's fair to Cal or Eddie or me.

It feels like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders and I am relived to not be returning. I will miss all of my colleagues and the kids and the atmosphere of school, but I wouldn't trade my time with my baby for anything. He's only little once!!!

So, here's hoping my J. Hilburn sales continue! So far, I am doing okay with it and I hope that continues to grow. It's fun, easy, and a way to still have interactions with adults.

To all of the other stay at home mommy's out there reading this.... YAYYYYYY!!!!

More Sleep Battles

Well, so much for hoping Cal would be sleeping through the night after our good night 2 nights ago.... we have not had luck since.

I am not feeding him in the night any more though... he wakes up and I go in there, put the paci in, and rub his back/face until he falls asleep again. I have not fed him in the night in 3 nights now (doesn't sound like a lot, but it feels like a lot to me!). Because I am not feeding him, he is waking up more often....

Last night, he went down around 9, was up at 12, 2, 4, and 5:45. At 5:45, I changed his diaper and fed him in bed with us and then he fell asleep until 7:45. He did this same thing the night before. I am hoping that he will learn that he won't get food when he wakes up, so he should just stay asleep, but so far, he is just waking up more often....

What do y'all think? Should I just feed him and have him only get up once or twice? Or should I stick to my guns and not feed him, since I know he can go the whole night without eating...

Cal's Newest Trick

Having this baby around is SO much fun.

Here are some of the latest:

Cal has discovered his feet, and he loves grabbing them!

Cal has figured out how to pull of his socks, and does so often! (we now wear shoes to keep them on....)

Cal rolls over! See video.... (and ignore my talking in the background... gross.)

Guess who slept through the night last night??

that's right! little man slept through the night last night!!!

We went to Winston-Salem to visit a friend, and he slept for an hour on the way there and an hour on the way home, and then took a nap around 5. I woke him up around just before 8. We played hard for a few hours and then at 10, I started to put him down (later than I would prefer, but we will work on moving it up earlier...). We didn't hear boo from him until 6:00 this morning! I woke up at 5 freaking out because I hadn't woken up once in the night! haha (not to mention how "full" I was! OMG!

My goal was to have him napping in his crib (not exclusively; I don't mind car seat napping!) when we are at home (as opposed to his swing) starting when he was 4 months. He will be 4 months this Saturday and as I type this, he is in his crib.....and I think he may be sleeping! I really want to establish that the crib is for sleeping. It's so funny, now that he knows how to roll over (have I mentioned that yet??), he starts out on his tummy and then flip over to his back and just stares at the video monitor like, hey! did you see that?? too funny!

fingers crossed for a repeat performance tonight!!!!

SLEEP!

I made the mistake of posting on facebook the other night that I was going to let Cal cry it out a bit. You would not believe the responses I got!!!! (if you are one of the ones that posted a reply, ignore this post!). It was my own fault for opening the can of worms and I should know better. People just feel so passionate about the right way vs. the wrong way to get a kid to sleep.

The truth is, Cal has only slept through the night 2 times in his life. He usually nurses, falls asleep while eating and then I lay him in his crib. He then wakes up a few hours later, eats, and falls right back asleep again. Yeah, I wish he would sleep through the night, but I am not a basket case about it, I do not cry about it, and I am not worried that he will be up every night at 3 for the rest of his life.

It was my own fault for opening that can, and I enjoyed reading everyone's post, I just wasn't expecting everyone to respond like that! (for those of you not on facebook, a)what is wrong with you??, and b) I had 25 responses to my post!).

Long story short, lately, when I put Cal down, he wakes up immediately and then won't go back to sleep. I don't pick him up or anything, but I have been going in after about 10 minutes to pat his back and calm him down again.

This too shall pass and we will all survive! :)

Bowling in Arizona!

The TCU Horned Frogs were invited to the BCS bowl game, The Fiesta Bowl, in Phoenix, AZ.

We flew out on the 29th for 8 days, 7 nights....that's a loooong time to be gone with a baby! Each of our bags weighed just at 50 pounds! That's a lot of stuff to take!

Before we left, Cal had a little sniffle, but we didn't think much of it. Also, I should note, on the 26th, Cal slept through the night (I got wayyy more excited than I should have....it hasn't happened since!).

We made it out there fine, wish I could say the same for Eddie's bag.... we were delayed leaving DC, so we didn't get in to AZ until 11:45, AZ time, which was 1:45 am our time. We were pretty dead. Cal slept a lot on the plane, so he thought it was time to play when we got to our room!

Poor Cal...his snotty nose turned into quite the cough and one day he was just full on under the weather. We had the team doctor check him out, and he thought everything sounded fine to him. I was worried sick, of course! It's hard to have a sick baby and be away from home! We are buds with our pediatrician so I called her on her cell phone (!!! I am THAT mom!) and she was great-- told me to give him some baby tylenol and that really seemed to help him. We went into see her when we got back and it turns out he has a chest filled with "crap" and an ear infection. Poor little man.....

It was a great trip out there and we spent some quality time with Eddie's family. We even got a picture with 4 generations of Calvin Edwin Williamsons.... it was pretty special. The outcome of the game was a bummer, but the trip itself was fun.

Me, Eddie and Cal in our matching O-Line t shirts and Cal with his jersey. I love this one :)

The Williamson Family

Riding the bus to the game, riding like a big boy!

Calvin Edwin Williamson, I, II, III, IV!

Christmas Time

I hate that I have been so bad about updating the blog! I have been posting pictures to the MobileMe account though, so I am staying on top of that, at least!

Christmas this year was so special. Having a little one makes the holiday even more special. We went to the children's service at church on Christmas Eve, and even though Cal had not a clue what was going on, it was fun to watch all of the other kids about to pop with the thought of Santa Clause visiting them soon! My brother and Elizabeth stayed in town for Christmas so it was extra special to have them here with Jackson.

Christmas morning, I was (of course) excited about getting up and getting moving! Eddie's sister was in town from DC so we got up and opened gifts over here from Eddie's parents, and to each other. Cal was spoiled rotten from his Texas grandparents! He got all kinds of great stuff from them!

Afterwards, we headed over to my parents house where Santa was SO good to Cal! When we walked in, Jackson was already exploring his big gift, a power wheel jeep, all throughout the living room! Cal's big gift was waiting in the corner-- a jumperoo! He loves it! It was a great day and we were all spoiled. It really made me realize how lucky and blessed we are. All I wanted for Christmas last year was a baby, and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have that come true....

Here are some pictures from Christmas/Christmas Eve:

Chris and Jackson, Christmas Eve at church...love this picture!

A new Christmas tradition: reading "The Night Before Christmas" to the grandkids (the Snuggie was a result of a dirty santa gift exchange....not sure that will be part of the tradition...)

Christmas morning in his new JUMPeroo! He was liking it! :)

And, how cool is Cal in his new sunglasses from his Aunt Carrie??? hhahaha

'bout time to change the background!

sheesh! Time to get rid of the Christmas themed background.... not crazy about this one, but it's better than red and green! I have some serious updating to do! I will just take my time and do little updates here and there. :)