Keepin' Cool at the Pool

I have been super busy lately with J. Hilburn and am having my best month yet-- very exciting! Anyway, that is making it hard to blog: excuses, excuses. (this post keeps getting longer and longer and lnger--I am cramming it all into one long post!)

We had Reagan's birthday party on Saturday and on Sunday, we had Giselle's at the pool. I am a pool freak and I love being there and I am glad to see that Cal is enjoying it too! We try to go after his morning nap and then play hard for a while and then he is ready to crash. A few times, I put him in his jogging stroller and walk him around the pool deck and he will take a great nap in his stroller! Here are some pictures of nap time in the stroller (gotta love the fan!):

Speaking of sleeping: I NEED HELP!
Ever since Cal "sprouted" those two teeth, he WILL NOT sleep through the night! I know he can do it; he's done it before! But right now, he gets up screaming in the night. I am about to lose it. Yes, we have tried Tylenol (there are more teeth coming this week, I think), and yes, we have tried letting him cry it out when he wakes up. BUT, the longer we lat him cry, the longer it takes to calm him back down. I let him for for 30 mins (of straight SCREAMING) a few nights ago, and then I was up for the next hour and a half trying to calm him down. I am averaging 5 hrs of sleep a night, which I guess is a lot, but it is catching up with me.

Any tips on what to do with a teething baby that isn't sleeping through the night? I never in a million years dreamed I would have an 8 month old who wasn't sleeping through the night! He is, however, a GREAT napper now. He is taking 2 two hour naps during the day.

I put up some new videos on mobileme, and I think they are pretty funny:

May: in pictures
One little monkey -- explains why he's a good napper!
If you're happy and you know it
Cleaning out the drawers

So, when I look at all of those videos, I've been pretty busy lately! Add that to a kid that is in to EVERYTHING, and a worn out momma......

Oh, AND, Cal is having his FIRST sleepover this weekend. I have not spent one night away from him in almost 9 months (not counting the time in my belly!) and my mom is keeping him over night this Saturday. I have warned her about his sleeping and she swears she doesn't mind. We are throwing a friend a shower and I will need to stay late to clean up/ect (read: I will be partying with some of my best friends!), so she agreed to keep him. She told me this morning that I deserve a night of sleep. I kinda agree :) I am trying to pump a ton of milk so I leave her with plenty to give him. So far, I have 4 ounces....better get pumping!

And one last shot of my little ham:

Say CHEESE!

Cal has started a new "thing" where every time the camera comes out, he stops what he's doing and gives the cheesiest smile you've ever seen. I have no idea where he learned this trick, but it is pretty funny. The above pictures were from the beach this weekend, right when we arrived. My mom and dad were cracking up and he was putting on quite a show!



We have a mover!

Mr. Cal started moving today....I can't really call is crawling, because what he is doing isn't really crawling, but he is moving across the floor! He keeps one foot in front of him at all times (?), and uses his back leg to push off. When he gets frustrated, he puts both feet down and straightens his legs, with his arms on the ground too- I think in yoga it's called a downward facing dog? I have been trying to get a good video of it and I will post one tomorrow.

But today will go down as the day Cal started moving across the floor! Oh, and he moves across the floor to the nearest thing to pull up on...go figure!

Standing in the kitchen after dinner:

Patty Cake

ignore my voice....

Practicing for football season

Cal will be watching quite a bit of football this fall and I have been working with him on what to do when TCU (his Poppy's team) scores...

SO big!

Cal loves to play on the ottoman.....

Craziness and Cal

(my family with my sister-in-law's parents after the baptism)

Sunday was a beautiful day that was action-packed!

My dear friend, Julie, was having a shower in Raleigh at 1:00. At 3:00, my mom and my sister-in-law's mom threw a "Sip 'n See" in honor of their new Granddaughter, Catherine. So far, no problems! My sister-in-law wanted to kill two birds with one stone and figured that since her parents were going to be in town, they should go ahead and baptize Catherine.

Talk about a filled day! We went to church at 10:30. It didn't start until 11:15, but we were going to put Cal in the nursery and wanted to give him some time to get used to it. Plus, we were honored to be asked to be Godparents and I was not about to be late for that!!!! The service was a....lengthy one...we didn't get into our car to leave until 1:00.

If you are following along, my friend's shower was starting at 1:00....in RALEIGH (30 mins away)! Oh, and I had to go home, change clothes, feed Cal, etc, etc....

I made it to the shower and had a great time. I can't wait to meet Julie's little guy: Fenton! Cal is going to love having another little boy around!

(Cole, me, Julie and Andrea at the shower)

After the shower, I hauled it back to Chapel Hill for the Sip 'n See! I made it there at 4:00-- phew!

Eddie called me after the shower and said "You aren't going to believe what your son just did..." We are on high crawl watch over here so I was sure that he was crawling (and that I had missed it!), but instead.... Cal was in his crib (Eddie was watching on the video monitor), and sat himself up-- first time he got himself seated, then proceeded to PULL HIMSELF UP. Once he was standing, he let go and toppled over into the crib. This is his new favorite trick. Needless to say- the crib was lowered last night!(here's Cal's big ol' head in the video monitor. He's supposed to be napping here, but it is so much more fun to scream when sitting up then laying down)

Saturday fun!

We had SUCH a busy weekend. Sunday was incredibly crazy, and Saturday was perfect :). I had an appointment with my friend Saturday morning, so I left when Cal was down for his morning nap. While I was gone, I got a few text message pictures from Eddie of what Cal was up to. He woke up and Eddie got him all dressed (shirt says "Dirt Makes Me Cuter") and they went outside to wash Eddie's car and power wash the house. Eddie dragged the walker outside and put Cal in it in the grass. He loved it! I think he actually liked watching his Dada, but regardless, he was a happy camper!

When I came home, I brought him inside to feed him lunch and play a little. He has a toy that rotates around so that when he was little he could lay on his back and play with it, but it grows with him. Now he can sit in front of it and push the buttons, etc... but it is MUCH more fun to PULL UP and play with it instead! I couldn't believe it! I mainly played on his knees, but he did manage to get to his feet with me right behind him to help him..... who is this kid??

He wasn't really into an afternoon nap so we took a drive and he crashed! The pictures above pretty much summarize the day. I loved every minute of being together!

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