Wintergreen, VA

For Thanksgiving this past year, we rented a great house in Wintergreen. For the Williamson family vacation this year, we wanted to go somewhere all together, but without this portion of the family having to fly (I can not imagine being on an airplane with Andy and his screaming...). Eddie suggested we go back to this house since it is so spacious and everyone would have their own room.  It was a great break from the heat and humidity of NC and we had a great time!

Here is a recap with pictures:

This is Eddie's mom-- she was going to be called "Grammy" by the kids, but Cal has decided to call her Mimi.  We say to call, "say grammy!" and he looks right at you and says "MIMI!"  Oh well...Patty loves it either way and will take him calling her anything, just as long as he calls her :)

Mimi and Andy on the back deck

 Andy having a little stretch out time

 A rarity: I am in a picture!  Enjoying the sunset on the deck with my sweet hubs (we look ROUGH after a day in the car with 2 kids)

 The first full day we were there, it was rainy and kind of cold...it felt wonderful out! We found out there was a kids' center where there was a bouncy house and some games.  It was the perfect thing to do with Cal to burn off some energy. 

His first stop once we got there was the ski ball game-- of course: balls!  Grammy Mimi showed him how to roll the balls up to the top and Cal took this task very seriously. 

Rolling/throwing the balls up:

The problem with that approach was that not all of the balls would go into the holes, and this made Cal a little perturbed.  He wanted to score points, and he was going to figure out a way to do it...

He found a way:

After we left the ski balls, we headed over to the jump house.  Cal didn't want to go in alone, so Mimi climbed up there with him to jump and help with the slide.

 Another rarity: a picture of me!  Andy is happy in the Bjorn, so I strap him in and away we go!

 Back to the ski balls (check out those lashes...)

Then Tommy, Tricia's boyfriend, showed Cal the drum sets.  Cal loved them!

Me and Andy! (guess I am in a lot of pictures....).  Andy really turned a corner this week in Virginia.  The first day was rough, but he got better and better while we were there.  He was crying as much and while he was still spitting up, it wasn't quite as frequently.  I was thrilled! He had a ton of people willing to hold him, so he was a happy camper most of the trip: PHEW!  He even started cooing, which is just the greatest thing to hear.  Eddie and I were beaming...literally...it was JUST what we needed! 

 Our house was at the top of the mountain, and at the bottom of the mountain, we found a little lake.  It was SO much fun!  There was a great beach with lawn chairs and a huge trampoline and climbing thing out in the water.  Cal had a blast there...actually, we all did!

He went out in the water with his dad and went under when he wasn't expecting it so he decided to stick to the beach for a little bit:

 (again, when he is hard at work like this, he has the most seriously look on his face-- just like playing ski ball above)

 I LOVE THIS ONE!

 There weren't a lot of cars up by our house so Cal loved to go out walking running with whomever would go with him.  This day, he and Mimi went on a walk and spotted a bus. 

Cal is full on running in this picture:

 Please notice bug boots, Lightning McQueen t-shirt (his obsession), and bright pink cheeks!

I caught up with him and he started asking me "where bus? where bus??"  I didn't answer so he would say "I dunno!!!" and keep running...

 How funny is the back of this shirt???

He was running down the street saying "where bus???" haha

 Back inside the house, Aunt CB, who I also affectionately called my Au Pair, had things under control with Andy! See how he loves to have his little legs tucked under him??  That is how he likes to sleep too...

We celebrated FIVE years of marriage up there too! 

 woot woot!

 Andy wasn't a fan of being put down while we were up there.  It was much more entertaining to be held up high where he could see everything!  Here he is in his chair....very briefly. 

 I love this picture of Eddie and Cal going on a walk...holding hands.... so sweet...

 Best Buds

 Mr. Andy!

Now we are back home...until we head to the beach for the 4th!  All this traveling is exhausting!

xoxo,

One Month and Myrtle Beach

I am a bit late in this post...forgive me!

Andy turned one month on June 18th.  We were down in Myrtle Beach for Eddie's summer regional meeting-- they have this every summer and growing up, it was always so much fun to go to.  I was a little lot nervous about the thought of all four of us in a hotel room for 3 nights, but we thought, hey, let's do it.  I was going to stay at home with the boys, but my parents were going to be in Myrtle Beach too, so I wouldn't have had much help at home if I had stayed here. 

Long story short, the boys did much better than I anticipated.  Cal played SO hard during the day that he was exhausted at nap time and night time-- so much so that Andy screaming didn't wake him.  Phew!  There were two beds in the room, so Eddie stayed in one, and I stayed in the other with the bassinet (pretty romantic, huh???).  Cal's pack n play was in the corner and the room was full! Cal had the BEST time with his cousins, Jackson and Catherine.  We were all in a row of hotel rooms so we pretty much took over the floor with all of our stuff :)  Cal and Jackson were so much fun to watch together.  They are going to continue being the best of buddies.  They would run down the halls together screaming at the top of their lungs.  I am pretty sure the hotel was ready for us to leave....

Like a ding bat, I forgot my memory card for my camera, so I only took a few pictures with my iPhone:

Poolside: pimping in the shades

Hugging it out

Jackson put his own glasses on

Swimming with Daddy

June 2011: Cal, Catherine, Jackson

My little Coppertone Kid!  I loaded the sunscreen on him every 20 minutes and he got soooo tan still!

A funny story about the regional meeting-- Saturday night is the awards night where the financial advisors receive recognition for various things from the previous year (Eddie won a bunch of awards: yay, Ed!  So proud of him...).  Well, you get all dressed up and have a nice meal, etc.  They provide a sitter service for the kiddos.  Cal was having a great time with Jackson, and Andy was still having a tough time with his spitting up/screaming spells.  The ladies who were the sitters were SO sweet and loved having Andy there.  I told them to call me when it was time to feed him.  I sat down at the table for 5 minutes and my phone went off that he was ready to eat.  I went out and sat in a chair with a blanket over me and started feeding him.  Well, I was wearing a one shouldered dress.  The side without with shoulder slipped right down and I could feed without problem.  Then, I tried to switch him to the other side...and I couldn't get the strap down.  He was screaming and rooting and trying to latch onto anything in sight.  I calmly went into the bathroom and into a stall where I was able to lift my dress up using one hand while holding him with the other.  I stood in the stall while he nursed and I started thinking about getting my dress back down.  It was fully lined and fit closely enough that I would need two hands to shimmy the thing back into place.  Hmmm....  I texted Eddie that I needed my mom to come to the bathroom.  By this point, I am having a hot flash, I have spit up running down my belly and my leg and I am about to freak out.  My mom comes into the bathroom and in my ever-so-dramatic fashion, I flung open the stall door and stood there in black heels, hanky panky undies, a dress around my neck, a baby eating, and spit up pouring down my body.  My mom bent over laughing at the scene.  Just picture that, will ya?  HAHAHA!

We got home on Sunday night (father's day!) and I was up and at 'um for Andy's one month check up Monday morning.  I dropped Cal off with my mom and they headed to the pool together and I took Andy to the check up.  I was nice and early.  24 hours early, apparently.  I made the appointment for TUESDAY, but when I entered it into my iCal, I must have hit Monday instead....ugh!!  Luckily they were able to fit me in that same day, at noon.  My mom was fine to keep Cal a bit longer, thankfully... me=MESS.

ANYWAY, the check up went MUCH better than the previous visit.  I was anxious to talk to her about his spitting up (still doing it A LOT) and also if the medicine he was on was even working. 

Here are little man's stats:
Weight: 10 pounds, 14 ounces--- 75th percentile
Height: 21.88 inches----50th percentile
Head circumference: 38.5 cm---- 50th percentile

Interesting things about the above stats:
- homie has gained 18 ounces in 11 days.  Doctors aim for 1/2 an ounce to an ounce a day...homie is getting enough food from me! He is thriving!
-Since Andy is reluctant to take a paci, he takes to food for comfort-- hence the spitting up (he's getting too much and has to regulate) and hence the massive growth spurt...
- Cal boy has always been in the 90th or above percentile with his weight...Andy might be on his way to catching him!
- Cal's head is ALWAYS in the 95th percentile (hehe)-- Andy has a little nugget head!  (AND I LOVE IT!)

We decided to stop the Zantac since I haven't noticed a huge difference in the spitting up.  We think it might be colic that is causing his crying spells.

We also decided that I would continue trying with the paci.  I have started doing the face down football hold that I did with Cal and that seems to be working-- it calms him down more and he keeps the paci in (he doesn't have a choice, I am holding it in for him!). 

Sleeping:
This is still a tough area for us.  Andy is not sleeping in bed with us (like Cal did); he's been in the bassinet next to the bed.  Our doctor encouraged us to move the bassinet out of our room, and into his room-- that way, he wouldn't hear our every turn, cough, yawn, etc, and we wouldn't hear him working to get comfy.  I moved him out that night and I slept much better... even though he was up, I was sleeping harder with him not in the room. 
I am still putting him on his side to sleep since he spits up SO much and so frequently.  It was almost choking him in his sleep...plus, he seems to prefer his side.  Actually, he really prefers his tummy.  Many of you long time readers will remember my struggles with this with Cal.  I was terrified of SIDS and didn't want to let him sleep on his stomach...but that was the only way he would sleep (not in his swing...).  Our doctor is encouraging us to place him on his back, as that has been proven to be the safest...  (as I write this, Andy is napping on his tummy and is snoozing away.  I won't do it for night time, but a little nap on his tummy might be okay now and then... Oh, and I think being on his stomach helps alleviate some of his belly pains he has.

Our check up was on a Monday, we had Andy's one month pictures/family pictures with Tamara Lackey on Tuesday and Eddie's family was arriving Tuesday night, and we were leaving for the mountains of Virginia Wednesday morning!  BUSY few days!  More on those shortly...

(the boys are sleeping so I am trying my best to catch up!)

Tamara Lackey Pictures: March

Back in March, Tamara Lackey, the photographer I have written about numerous times, held a workshop for other photographers and asked if Cal would be available to be a subject.  As a "payment" she would give us all of the pictures... I finally went by her studio (for Andy's one month pictures!) and picked up the disc.  Here are a few of them...

March 2011

Cal

18 months old

(Carrie 31 weeks pregnant)

I was suuuuper swollen this day for some reason-- more so than the rest of the pregnancy.  I love the ones of Cal, though!  She is soooo talented...I can't wait to see how the ones turned out for Andy's one month!!!

A BIG FAT update!

WHEW!  i am long over due for a post!  Things over in our neck of the woods have been going well....it's just tough trying to find a time to sit down and write anything.

I'll start with ANDY:

We had a bit of a rough spell with Mr. Andy last week.  Okay, it was really really really hard.  It started last weekend.  We went to Fridays on the Front Porch (a big outdoor party-type in downtown Chapel Hill), and Andy was good, but when he woke up, he was angry mad.  He spit up all down the front of my dress and I had to take him to the bathroom to nurse him-- not a big deal.  That Saturday, I was noticing more and more spitting up- like after every single feeding, and often in between feedings, causing him to be hungry all over again- and if he was awake, he was screaming...not just crying like you would expect a baby to do, but screaming like he was in pain.  He was squirming around trying to get comfortable and his little tummy was just hard as a rock.  I emailed my pediatrician to see if there was something I should be doing that I wasn't, and she sent me a few suggestions to try. My mom came over to help me out some and she also agreed that something just wasn't right with the little guy.

After several realllllly bad nights of him just screaming and spitting up non-stop, and a few email exchanges with my pediatrician, I decided to take him in to see her.  My mom said that I was describing his problems too kindly in the emails and that she didn't realize his level of discomfort until seeing him in person.  So, I took him in on Tuesday, while Cal had camp.  He woke up when we pulled into the parking lot, which means scream fest.  I carried him into the office and he caused quite a stir screaming like you would not believe.  I checked in over him screaming, and quickly got him out of the carseat and I left it in the corner of the waiting room, while I went in the private area to try to nurse him to calm down.  I got all emotional in there, of course... I can totally handle not sleeping at night-- that's what new borns do!  But what I cannot handle is watching my baby in so much pain.  It was killing me.

The nurse came back to get me and we went to get weighed, etc... when we got back into the room where we would see the doctor, Andy spit up down the right side of me.  I switched him to the other side to try to wipe myself down, and he spit up all down my left side.  I put him on my chest (with a burp cloth!) to try to pat his back, which sometimes helps, and he spit up down the front of my shirt, through my boobs and it ran down and pooled in my belly button.  Just imagine what the front of my shirt looked like.  I stood up with him to try to calm him down and he spit up AGAIN, this time over my shoulder, down my back and all over the floor.  Seriously.  By this point, I am sweating something fierce and I cannot calm my baby down.

My sweet doctor comes in and takes one look at me and knows I need help.  She starts in about how they don't like to give babies medicine for reflux because there is no real proof that it works....then she held Andy and he spit up AGAIN all down the front of her pretty linen dress.  She tried to calm him down for a while and then said, "Oh, Carrie...I had no idea it was this bad.  Bless your heart!"  I just kept thinking it was a little gas and he'd grow out of it.  Well, I am glad I took him in because we got a prescription for zantac and it seems to be helping.  We were trying mylicon and that didn't really work, but the zantac in combination with Gripe Water seems to help a bit.  Fingers are crossed that we have it figured out.

All of that being said, it has been really hard to get any pictures of Andy lately.  If he's awake, he's screaming, and if he's asleep, I am trying to run around like crazy getting things done, or playing with Cal because I know when he's awake, I am going to need to be holding him.

Here are a few (all of these pictures are taken from my iPhone.  I never have time to grab my real camera...)

Sleeping on my chest

After the meds-- MUCH happier!  He is SUCH a sweet sweet little guy... I hate for him to be hurting!

Cal had to see what I was taking a picture of...

Once again, Cal is obsessed.  He kept taking the blanket and tucking Andy in...

My little nugget-- love him

So, that's what's been going on with Andy!  I can not believe he will be one month old soon!!! I am going to have to figure out what to do with my pictures on the side of the blog... the whole blog needs a makeover...when am I going to find time to do that?!?!

Now, onto Mr. Cal!

In one of my recent posts, I said that Cal has become interested in the potty and he even went so far as to pee pee in a bowl... I asked for suggestions and my friend Jill, who happens to be my grandbig in my sorority at Elon, who ALSO happens just found out she is preggers with TWINS!, suggested that I try the little frog toilet from Target.  So, we set off to Target and bought us a little potty, just to see what would happen.

Here is the potty:

That is the only time he has really sat on the potty.

The boy peepees on the potty like there is no tomorrow.  He will pee on command and he LOVES to go on the potty!  WHO KNEW???

I must say, though, that I am still not ready for this!  I know, I know, you can't fight it once they are ready, and I am not fighting it, and I am encouraging him to go, but it is SO hard with another one to focus on Cal!  The day we got the potty, we were letting him go "free" on the bottom.  I was nursing Andy and Cal decided to go peepee- yay! Well, as soon as he was done, he reached down and started playing in the pee!  I was screaming NO NO NO! Which then got Andy crying, which just started a train wreck of events.

My parents went to Target and got Cal some big boy undies:

And he LOVES LOVES LOVES them, but he loves ripping them off and running naked even more.  The challenge now is trying to get a diaper on him for times when training isn't going well.  He screams, "no, I potty!  I potty!" And really puts up a fight.  It is exhausting.  He is really good and ripping off his diaper now too.  Saturday afternoon, he kept taking his shorts off and would pull off his diaper.  So I decided that we would just focus on potty training that whole day.  He would peepee on the potty and we would celebrate and then he would go over to another place in the house and peepee some more...on the floor. 

After reading about my struggles with Andy lately, I am sure you can imagine how exhausting that alone is, but to hold a screaming baby while bouncing him to calm him down and squatting down to clean up puddles, is pretty tiring.  I am not giving up, of course, and I really need to devote more time and energy to the whole cause.  I think once we get Andy a little more under control, it will all be easier.

To focus on the positive, Cal will peepee on big people toilets as well- he loves going potty on the toilet! And he has gone number 2 twice on his little potty.  Both times were kind of on accident, in that I saw what was happening and I ran and put him on the potty, but nevertheless, homie went number 2 on the potty!  He will pee on command, which is pretty impressive.  If you tell him to peepee on the potty, he runs to the potty, strips down, and goes...every time.  Sometimes it's not a whole lot (which usually means there will be a mess for momma to clean up shortly...).

Above is a typical scene in our house-- a bare bum, checking on Andy in the carseat...oh, and Cal has his cowboy boots on too...I mean, why not?  (and y'all sensing the level of chaos in my house right now?? haha!)

As a reward for pottying, I have tried a bunch of different things...usually, he will go just fine without a "tweet" as he calls them.  The other day it was a million degrees outside, so I let him have a Popsicle.  This was his first one ever and he devoured it!  It was so cute to watch him enjoy it.  Right before the "tweet" he rubbed his face on the underside of the screened porch (gotta love little boys!), and got filthy...

boys will be boys...???

sweet boy!

 And some more random pictures from recent happenings...

 Cal loves to lay his head on his pillow when he goes to bed-- it's so sweet to tuck him in with his little cow...

 Playing in the pool in the yard....notice the boots on!

 Cal holding Andy

 Checking on Andy in the bassinet-- so sweet!

 Looking like he's feeling better!

 Giving kisses!

And THIS is why I am able to blog right now......

So that's about it!  A lot of things going on right now!

xoxo,