ALLLLLLL BOY!

Thank Heavens for Little Boys!Let me just tell you, Cal Williamson is ALLLLL BOY! He is super curious, super squirmy, and I am starting to see some mischief develop too! Here are some "All Boy" stories from the week:

On this past Monday night, Eddie and I had a "date night" (read: we had to run to the mall and didn't want to haul Cal with us!), so my mom kept Cal for us. When we picked him up, my mom was super upset. Cal was playing on the floor and cut his nose either with one of his nails or with a toy... either way, he had a huge gash on his nose. We didn't care-- boys with be boys! But my mom felt terrible! He looks adorable with a big ol' scratch on his face and it doesn't seem to phase him at all. He didn't even cry when he did it!

Yesterday afternoon, I put Cal down for his afternoon nap. He sat up there talking for a while and then he was crying. I went into check on him, and it was really hot in his room with the afternoon sun shining in. I took off his shorts and shirt and put him in a light t-shirt and clean diaper to go back down. I went into my room and could hear him chuckling in his room. I looked on my video monitor and could see nothing but polkadots (the polkadots that are in his laundry hamper!). So, I went in to check on him, and the little munchkin had TAKEN OFF HIS DIAPER and thrown it at the video monitor and knocked it into the hamper. He then peed all over his crib... everything was soaked! He was so proud of himself when I walked in to get him and was tickled that he was naked-- he couldn't stop laughing!

(this is him right before the nap-- squirming like crazy!)

He now has TWO teeth coming in so he is a drooling mess all the time and it just cracks him up! He thinks the slobber coming out of his mouth is just the funniest thing ever and he laughs so hard as it drips down-- gross, huh?

In the top picture, I had to get creative when feeding Cal. He will take a mouth full of food and then start saying BYE BYE over and over again, spitting the food all over the place. Of course, I say no no, but Hank comes running to clean it up and Cal thinks this is the best game ever! He usually wipes the food over his cheeks and then turns his head to find the dog and wipes his face clean on the sleeve of his shirt. I tried to fix that by putting a dish towel on him under his bib. It worked! He stayed clean!

Family Ties

My family tree is an interesting one...

My dad's mom, Doris

My mom's dad, Bruce serving in WWII

My mom's parents (LOVE this picture of them!):
My dad's parents

My mom's mom passed away from breast cancer before I was born. My dad's dad also passed away (from a heart attack) before I was born.

My (remaining) Grandfather was so devastated after his wife died that he sort of shut himself down and wouldn't talk to anyone-- it was really hard on my mom to watch him be so upset. I love how in the picture of them above you can almost feel the love he has for her-- just look at how he looks at her......sigh!

When my brother was born in 1978, it brought my Granma and Granpa to town to see him. They started spending some time together and found happiness again in each other's company. They both had experienced a painful loss and that common factor was something that bonded them. For the first time in a long time, they were both smiling and happy.

This picture was taken right before I was born... they brought McDonald's in for my brother who was obsessed with BeeBies (french fries!)

Long story short, they fell in love, and waited until after I was born in September, 1980 and got married in October! In Spanish class in high school, we had to create a family tree with the limbs that were labeled (in Spanish)...my teacher could not understand that MY family tree actually grew together!

If you want to get technical about it all, my mom and dad are step-brother and sister-- how gross is that? haha

I love old pictures and after reading Lauren's post on her Happily Nested blog, I really want to do something with all of these pictures!

Fun Blog to Check Out

My friend, Lauren, started a new blog and after visiting it, I am hooked! Lauren has the cutest house and she shares some of her "design tips" on her blog. She has a great husband and a sweet (huge!) dog, who gets featured in several of her posts-- I now look for him (the dog) in the posts!

I especially love that her design ideas aren't overly expensive...and that she is totally honest about how much a project costs. I also love that you don't have to be an expert or crafty to complete her projects on your own.

So now, Eddie and I need to move into a new house so that Lauren can help me decorate it! If you have a chance to check it out, it's worth it, I promise! I am not crafty at ALL and she has inspired me.....
Here is Winston helping out with one of the projects (I LOVE the way this project looks when done-- SO neat and so easy too!)

This idea (above) is one of my favorites and one I would like to attempt with pictures from places we have traveled. Here is a link to that post.And again.....Mr. Winston is helping Lauren!

Enjoy!

Bye Bye!

This is another one of those videos where I am pretty sure he's saying something, but to others I just seem like a crazy mom. Cal has been waving his hands a LOT lately and just started putting together what sounds (to me!) a lot like bye bye.

He was doing it a bunch this weekend when Eddie's sister was around, but we weren't ever quick enough to grab the video camera. Today after lunch he was extra chatty so I started filming.....

What do you think? Can you make out bye bye? Am I crazy for thinking so? :) ---> don't answer that one.

http://gallery.mac.com/cewilliamson#100371

A toofer!

We knew it was coming.... Cal has sprouted a sweet little tooth! His nose has been runny and the amount of drool coming out of his mouth is unbelievable, so we knew it was coming any day now. Last night he was just exhausted and woke up several times in the night-- and once I just held him and snuggled a bit, he was out-- it was about the sweetest thing EVER. I had a feeling after a night like last night that we might see the tooth pop through and this morning it wasn't there, and then right before his afternoon nap, I felt it! It is darn near impossible to get a picture of it, but it's there! I will try to post a picture if I get one.

Wish me luck nursing.............

What a weekend!

Whew! What a weekend Mr. Cal has had! It is hard work being a baby (and being so cute all at the same time!). He is working on cutting a tooth right now (notice the drool in the pictures) and he has had quite the runny nose to prove it! Cal has become SUPER talkative lately, and the above picture is pretty typical for what he does all the time! Just chatting away, carrying on a conversation with any/everyone! Not sure what he's saying, but he's adamant about it!

On Friday, Cal and I went to Durham Academy to the book fair to buy a couple of new books, so you know he had to look nice to meet everyone! I LOVE this outfit: linen pants from Baby Gap and a turquoise polo shirt also from Baby Gap. He is wearing the cutest shoes from Old Navy-- they look just like little boat shoes. He has a pair of Sperry Topsiders, but he is able to take them off immediately and for some reason, these shoes from Old Navy stay on him. He is having a big time playing away with his toys!

Also on the weekend agenda for Cal was trying super hard to crawl! Here, he has rolled all the way into the closet and he is trying to crawl himself out. He gets SO close and then collapses on the floor super frustrated. It is so cute to watch him. I just want to do it for him!

And, just another look at the awesome drool that we have going on :) Gotta love a teething baby! (at least he's a happy teether!)

Eddie's sister, Carrie, came for the weekend to hang out with Cal. It's nice having her just in DC so she can come down often to visit with him.

(we skyped with Eddie's other sister, Tricia...we had a late night wine party after Cal went to bed and had a little dance party for Tricia!)

I had the Junior League "Home Roam" on Saturday, so I was gone working that most of the day. I know Eddie was thankful to have his sister there to help him with the little guy.

After such an action-packed weekend, Cal was tuckered out tonight! He didn't put up a fight at all... There is nothing sweeter than a sleeping baby!And the last picture just cracks me up... The sun shines directly in Cal's nursery windows during all nap times and then tonight, it was still bright in there. Because of the shape of the windows, we can not hang blackout shades (we have tried numerous times!). Instead, I got crafty and strategically placed burp clothes over most of the cracks to cover up where the sun shines through-- does this not look like white trash at its finest??

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Big Boy Carseat!

It was time.... Cal's long legs were continuously kicking the back of the seat! My parents bought Jackson, their other grandson, a new car seat when he out grew his infant one, so they did the same for Cal today. We went to Bye Bye Baby and picked out Cal's new seat! He LOVES it-- he can sit up and look around! The girl in the store kept telling us that since he was right at 20 pounds, we were okay to face him to the front of the car (!!). I thought you had to wait until he was a year AND over 20 pounds, but she kept insisting otherwise. She said his legs were too long to face the back of the car and we needed to face him to the front. Whether or not she was correct, Cal is facing the back of the car and is happy as can be!

When did you turn your baby around? Was the lady in the store right?

Mommy's Little Reader

I really want Cal to enjoy books as much as I have so we have a ton of them! I try to read to him at night, but he doesn't really go for it. He would much rather eat the books (and throw them across the room) than listen to a story. That is fine with me-- he is still young! He did sit in the rocker in the nursery and play with a book and I took some quick pictures of him. I am now obsessed with Picassa, so I will turn these pictures into a blog post!

My mom swears that my brother and I were early talkers because she always read to us. I am hoping Cal will enjoy being read to as much as I used to!

7 Months Old!

I can NOT believe that Cal Boy is now 7 months old!

It's getting harder and harder to get his picture holding the sign. It's funny, when my friend (Hey, Stephanie!)'s daughter was 7 months, I remember her writing both of those exact things: can't believe she's 7 months, and it's impossible to have her hold the sign!

Milestones for now:

Sleeping: still a MEGA issue. No more sleeping in the swing....ever. It's only in the crib (or occasionally the stroller)

Food: loves everything! He eats all of the veggies and fruit I give him! I am cutting back on nursing...

Sippy Cup: I have been searching for a sippy cup that he will actually use, and have tried several different brands, but he doesn't seem to like any of them. I finally found one yesterday that he LOVES! He is such a big boy drinking his water from a sippy cup.

Crawling: Sill no crawling here...and I can't say I am complaining! He can roll like no one's business. He will push up on to his hands and knees, but is not moving forward yet. He will reeeeeach for something, and then just decide to roll to it instead. I really have to watch him with Hank now because he will roll across the room just to be near his buddy.

Words: He is still saying UP and a few other mombo jumbo words. I love listening to him "talk"!

Body After Baby

I was hesitant to write this post, but I know some day I will want to look back and read about the journey to get my body back after having a baby...

It isn't easy for me to admit this, BUT I gained just under 50 pounds when I was pregnant. GULP. Dang, that is a LOT. I knew it was A LOT while I was pregnant, but I also knew a lot of it was water weight, and I also had a 9 pound baby (didn't know that part while I was pregnant!).

Everyone kept telling me: "It takes 10 months to put it on, give yourself 10 months to take it off..." Uhhhh....I understand that logic, but 50 pounds is A LOT (have I mentioned yet that it was A LOT of weight?), and I didn't need to be carrying that much around.

I am proud to say that I am now below my starting weight as of now... we'll see if I maintain it!

While I would like to say that it is because of diet...it's not. I am hungrier now than I was during first trimester of my pregnancy. And I eat 3 times as much as I did then. Literally. While I am writing all of this, I might as well admit what I ate on Sunday: a bagel, a blizzard from Dairy Queen, nachos, 3 chunks of chocolate ship cookie dough, quesadillas. Seriously-- how gross is that?

The main reason for the weight loss is nursing. So many people can't believe I have nursed as long as I have....I can't imagine not nursing (not for the weight loss, but because of the benefits). Doctors tell you the amount of calories burned when you nurse, and I have no idea what they are. I know nursing has increased my appetite immensely.

The other main contribution to the weight loss is walking. I figure I average 20-25 miles a week that I walk. It is a sure fire way to get Cal to sleep in his morning nap when crying it out ain't working! Hank is now trained to heel perfectly beside the jogger and we make great time. I try to keep up a really fast pace. I love that time by myself, either listening to music, listening to a book on tape, or talking on the phone (I have a headset that I can use while I walk-- I don't have enough hands otherwise!). Everyone is happy after a walk: Hank is thrilled, Cal is happy to have napped, and Momma is happy to be outside and getting the heart rate up.

I did Zumba three times and loved it and I have gone to the gym I think 4-5 times since Cal has been born. I just love this beautiful weather and love being outside enjoying it! Soon it will be too hot to walk and I will have to try to go either wayyyy early in the morning or at night.

When I stop nursing, I know I am going to have to cut back on the amount of sweets I am consuming. It's not that I have cravings, per se, but I really want the sweets! Go figure!

Also, my weight is below my starting weight, but my body shape has changed completely. My boobs are twice the size they were previously. My stomach is pudgy with love handles (this is new to me). My legs (my problem area) have slimmed some due to the walking....but everything is different than it was before.

Just to give you a little looksie at what I had to lose........ (I could have been a contestant on The Biggest Loser. Seriously):(I might walk double tomorrow, just to make up for that picture! hahaha)

UP

Cal has been exploring his vocals a lot lately and lately loves the letter P. Yesterday he was doing his normal "chatting" when he put together a u and a p: UP! No, he has no idea what it means, but he says it all the time (non-stop!), so I took a short little video of it. Not sure if I would qualify it as his first word, but it's fun to watch it get put together!

What do you think? Is he saying UP??

http://gallery.mac.com/cewilliamson#100344

Time to take down the mobile....

Mr. Cal was supposed to be taking a nap the other afternoon and I was letting him "cry it out" (something we are STILL doing on a daily basis!). He was doing his thing, screaming like there was a monster in his room, when all of a sudden, it fell silent. I was listening on the monitor and thought he finally gave in and went to sleep. Then I heard the mobile music playing....I didn't put the mobile on. I started kind of panicking that someone was up there (I am a worrier, what can I say?!). When I looked at the video monitor, Cal had ahold of the mobile and was lassoing the little dogs around his head, propelling them around and around, making the music play. It was too cute.

Here is a picture from the video monitor (hard to see with the lines), but you can see he has ahold of the mobile....

I took this one when I went in to get the mobile out of his hands. He was having a blast:
This is a result of me taking the mobile away:
And this is a result of all of the crying:

PHEW!

What a beautiful weekend!

I love this time of year in NC! The weather is just gorgeous!

Eddie left on Wednesday for the Masters and got back super late Saturday night/Sunday morning. Cal and I had a wonderful weekend together!

Playing in the "play corner" I set up for Cal so I could clean up the bedroom/make the bed. He loves it!

Cal slept through the night every night while Eddie was gone--- well, last night he woke up at 1:00 when his daddy got home, but Eddie was so thrilled to see him, he ran in to get him and love on him. He went right back down after a 5 minute feeding. :)

Cal LOVES the remote control. He loves to hold it, chew it, push buttons, etc. Yesterday he was sitting in the middle of the bed carrying on a conversation with the remote-- it was too cute!

Taking his nap this morning in the crib. I watched him on the monitor and thought it was too cute, so I snuck in (what is wrong with me???) to take a quick picture. He was soooo out, he didn't hear a thing!

And lastly, Cal's new trick: I say "gimme a kiss!" and Cal comes at me full on and "smooches" me. It is about the sweetest thing ever. He will do it 100 times if I would let him! What a sweet little thing. Who knew you could love another person this much?

Side note: please pardon the hair- this is after a walk and cleaning the house. I am about to go buy some flowers to plant, so a shower will have to wait!

Hope you had a great weekend!!!

Lesson Learned....

(warning: this story is kinda gross....)

Yesterday morning, Cal and I were snuggling, and I was going to change his diaper and his clothes to start the day. I didn't smell anything, and he was so happy on my bed, so I brought a diaper and clothes into my room to just change him on the bed.

I whipped his diaper off of him, thinking it was just "wet." It wasn't. It was full. VERY full. The "content" of the diaper flew out when I did the whipping of the diaper and landed in a heap on the bed. I just stared at it thinking, "What do I do now??" Oh yes, and Cal, being the boy that he is, loves to play with his....parts...any time I change him. Well, his parts were dirty. So I was trying to hold his hands away from that area, meanwhile, the mess that was in the diaper, was also on his back and he was now squirming around trying to get his hands free so that he could grab hold of his...parts. Did I mention that he was lying in the middle of my bed?? Backside covered, now his hands were dirty too?

So, I quickly take the dirty diaper and scoop up the "pile" from the middle of the bed and set it aside. I take the clean diaper and try to put it under Cal to keep the mess from spreading any more. To do this, I had to let go of Cal's hands. As soon as I let go, he grabbed the dirty diaper filled with the mess and proceeded to wave it back and forth, slamming it on the bed over and over again on each side of him. You'd think I would have been able to stop this, but the little stinker (pun intended) was fast! I started laughing at this point, because really, what else can I do? And I put my hands on my face. Yup-- they were covered in poo too.

So, at the end of this 5 minute ordeal, Cal had poo on his hands, it was on his legs and feet, I had it on my face, and my bed was COVERED in the mess. All I could do was laugh.

The joys of being a mommy!!!

PS-- Cal slept through the night again last night! YAY!

Grocery Store

It's looking like we are figuring it out! Mr. Magoo slept through the night again last night! YAHOO! He slept until 6:00 and then ate and fell back asleep until 8!

Taking a little morning snooze....

We went on another mega walk this morning where he took his morning nap. After the walk we went to the grocery store. Normally, I lug his car seat and put it in the cart, leaving little to no room for my groceries. This time, I decided to put him in one of those infant carriers that is attached to the top of the cart. Normally, those kind of gross me out because you don't know who used it before you and what their kid did in the seat.... ugh-- BUT, I used the sanitation wipes and wiped that thing down. Cal loved it! He was up high and could see everything. He was talking up a storm as we walked up and down the aisles. It was fun!

Hank and Cal

Doing a little lunch clean-up!

Before sweet Cal came into our lives, Hank was pretty much the center of my universe! I must say, Mr. Hank has handled Cal VERY well. He loves to lick him and lay near him, and Cal loves to watch Hank and reach for him (especially his tail), and I think the first time Cal crawls, it will be for Hank-- he is always on his tummy reaching for the dog!

I try to always watch closely when Hank is around Cal just because he is so big and would never hurt him on purpose, but accidents do happen.... yesterday, I was in the study with Cal in the doorway jumperoo. All of a sudden I heard Hank crying-- loudly! I quick looked over and Cal had ahold of Hank's cheek and was jumping up and down!!! I felt TERRIBLE for Hank, but he was such a good dog, he just let Cal hurt him! I am not sure there are many dogs that would have put up with that without snipping a little bit. Hank got a big ol' treat for that one!

As obsessed as Cal is with Hank, Hank is equally as obsessed with Cal! They are really cute together and I can't wait to watch Cal grow to love Hank as much as we do.

Swingless: Day Two

Yesterday was day two without the swing. It was MUCH easier. I have just taken the swing out of the equation. If it isn't an option, I don't have to use it!

Revelation of the day: I am as addicted to the swing as Cal is!

Day two was great. He slept through the night the night before, and that morning, we got up and played, and I had to run a bunch of errands for Eddie's birthday. I loaded up the stroller and took Cal on a long walk before that. He crashed for about 35 minutes of the walk and woke up happy as can be.

He took his afternoon nap in his crib. He woke up a couple of times during his nap, but he would grab his paci and fall right back asleep! I think he was down for just over 2 hours. We are getting there!

We are making process-- he is now going down for bed without screaming, and he slept through the night last night too (YAY!), but wouldn't nap in his crib for his afternoon nap. We took a loooong walk and he crashed then. Baby steps!

Eddie is at the Master's this weekend, so it's just me and Cal (and Hank!). I can be tough momma these next few days when he's crying. I don't want him to wake Eddie up when he has to get up to go to work, so I jump up every time he cries in the night.

It's been 2 nights in a row that he slept through the night.....will tonight make it 3??????? Fingers crossed!!!

Happy Birthday to Eddie!

In honor of Eddie's birthday, I post this video...

They were playing in the kitchen and Eddie was filming it. He was jumping around (with the camera) so I offered to film so that it wouldn't be so jumpy. The result: us laughing for a long time!

Happy Birthday to my sweet sweet husband!

Swingless: Day One

We have given up the swing. I mean it. We are done with it.

Yesterday was the first day:

Cal struggled to go down for a morning nap. I could feel myself getting frustrated because he was SO tired, but he just wouldn't give it up. I was rocking him to sleep and I should have just let him cry it out. At any rate, I rocked him to sleep and he slept for 45 minutes.

I talked with a good friend in the afternoon who told me about getting her twin boys back into a routine/retraining them and she said her nanny/nurse told her that they have to cry it out and learn that you aren't going to go in and pick them up every time they cry. Soooo...

For the afternoon nap, I put home boy down in his crib and he screamed for 22 minutes and then was sound asleep for over 2 hours. It was great!

Cal went down for bed around 8:30 ish and I sat him up in the crib (I have found that he likes to sit up and then lay down where he's comfortable, as opposed to me laying him down in a spot). He cried for about 10 minutes and then.... HE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!! We didn't hear a peep from him until 6:30! YAY!

If that lamb swing is the cause of him not sleeping through the night until now, I might scream..... but I love that swing so much......

here's hoping day 2 goes as well as day 1!

Easter at the beach! (and a sleep update...)

Happy Easter to everyone!

Last Wednesday, I drove down to the beach with Cal and my mom. Eddie was staying back to work (and play golf on Friday morning!), and was driving down later. On the way to the beach, I was talking with my mom about Cal's sleeping and she was convinced that she would be able to "break" him of his sleep habits while we were gone.....

Wednesday night, my mom said she would get up with Cal. He woke up at midnight (right on time!), and I got up with him, but my mom came running in. She shooed me away and said she had it under control. I went back to bed and listened to Cal scream at the top of his lungs until about 12:30. I walked out into the family room and my mom (who NEVER gets flustered) was blown away! She said she had never seen a baby fight sleep like that! She wanted to try for another 30 minutes, so I waited until 1:00 and then went out to get him. My mom was dumbstruck. She thought FOR SURE she would be able to get him down. Now she knows what I have been going through! He went down finally and was up again at 5...

Thursday at the beach was super busy....and Cal did NOT NAP! Everyone tried rocking him to sleep, but he never napped for longer than a few minutes. I think every nap totaled 45 minutes. The crazy thing is, he was happy as could be the entire day! No crying, no fussing, just laughing and smiling at everyone! Go figure! Thursday night, I gave Cal some Tylenol because I really think he is teething like crazy. We fed him dinner, and I also switched and gave him 2 veggies earlier in the day and then for dinner gave him a fruit and some oatmeal. After dinner, he had a bath and then played and played and played. Once he rubbed his eyes, I took him and had him down by 9:00 (later than I would like, but at least he was down!). he stayed down until 6:00! We all celebrated on Friday!

There was a repeat performance Friday and Saturday nights-- it was AWESOME! I thought, are we over this horrible hump?? Saturday night was so good-- he woke up at 5:15, but I fed him and he went back to sleep until 8:45! And we were supposed to go to church at 9! OPPS!

We got home last night (Sunday) and Cal went down without a problem.... but he woke up at 11:30, 2:00, and 5......sigh.

I did have a revelation though: the lamb swing has GOT to go. I am too tempted to use it for naps, and it is not smart of me. We travel too much, this kid has GOT to learn to nap in his crib! That's all there is to it!

This morning, I worked for about 25 minutes to get him down (he was sooooo tired), and he slept for 40 minutes. This afternoon, I put him down and let him cry it out (it took 25 minutes to cry it out), and he's been asleep for 40 minutes now.....we'll see how long it lasts! BUT he is in the crib! PHEW!

And finally, here are some pictures from Easter weekend at the beach:

Cal with his Easter basket!

My two boys

Love my sweet little guy

With a new hat from the Easter Bunny!