Lemme paint a lil' picture...

I am still at the beach and will do a FULL blog post with pictures when I get home, but I had to share this little story...

On Tuesday, I was playing outside with Cal and I got an email from Tamara Lackey, the photographer who shot our wedding and Cal's one month pictures. She is in the process of shooting her second DVD. The first one was geared towards professional photographers teaching them everything from how to improve your client experiences to setting up a studio, etc. Her second DVD is geared towards everyday people who love to take pictures....uhhhh, me! Oh, and the crew on this DVD was the crew from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Pretty neat to have them in my house!

So anyway....she emailed to see if Cal and I would be available to shoot the portion of it where she talks to a mom about her camera and gives her pointers on how to capture a busy baby doing busy things. That's my life!

So, while I am at the beach, and driving 3 1/2 hours with a baby and a dog are not at the top of my list, I felt like I should do it... I knew it would be fun and I love doing anything with Tamara. I also kind of felt like I owed Tamara for all of the wonderful images she has given me....I know it sounds crazy, but that's how I was feeling.

On Tuesday, Cal took a pretty good morning nap, played a while, then ate some lunch. I was going to let him sleep a bit while I packed up the car and then we were going to hit the road. He went down for his afternoon nap and I was running like crazy and stepped on a squeaky board and woke him up after 30 mins of sleeping. He was NOT happy about it! He was crying...okay, screaming, and really upset! (guess he was in the middle of a good dream...?)

So, I changed plans and got everything loaded up and put him in the car, thinking he would fall asleep before we got off of the island and probably sleep the whole way home. Ohhhh, sooooo wrong.

Here is the painting a picture part:

We got going and he screamed. We drove for an hour, and I stopped to get him out and stretch and he screamed. After 2 hours of solid screaming (I could not talk on the phone he was screaming so loudly), I decided to try to feed him. Well, with the dog in the backseat, there wasn't a lot of room for me back there too. I squeezed between Cal in the car seat and Hank, the 88 pound dog to try to feed Cal some green beans. I would have gone into a restaurant, but it was 102 out and I couldn't leave Hank in the car. Cal ate about 3 bites and then stuck his tongue out and started "spraying" his food everywhere. The entire back of the seat, my face, Hank, the carseat, the blanket, EVERYTHING was covered in green beans. But on the plus side, he was not screaming. Until I put the car into drive again and we continued the rest of the way....

Now, just to add to the fun of it all, I am 5'10'' and crawling back and forth from the front of the car to the back of the car is a challenge. I would have used the door in the back, but couldn't get by the carseat or the dog, so I had to try to crawl back up front. MUCH harder than it sounds. I had one leg in the front, one in the back, and my head in the ceiling, Hank trying to lay on my leg in the back, and Cal grabbing a handful of hair. It was QUITE the sight!!! By the time I got home, my nerves were shot.

The shoot went well-- Hank totally stole the show. They decided they wanted to show how to handle the most chaotic of a shoot that there could be--- yup. That's my life! Cal was sleepy and a little in shock of all of the people in my house and Hank was in heaven. He was retrieving sticks 5 feet long and bringing them over and showing off. It was fun and the ride back to the beach was much easier on me and Cal!

Pool Time!

The pool at the Chapel Hill Country Club is WONDERFUL. It is made for babies, I swear! It has a gradual entry or a "beach entry" in the shallow end so that babies can sit and splash and crawl around in the water. I love love love it. I am planning on taking more pictures of it some time this summer, but every time I go, I have my hands rather full with Cal (who has gotten really fast at his odd little crawl!). Cal and I took Grammy and Poppy there a few times so I got to snap a couple quick pictures of Cal playing and pulling up on the chairs in the water.

I love summer!!!!

Visit from Grammy and Poppy

Cal's grandparents (Eddie's parents) are from Texas and Big Ed is a college football coach (go frogs!). He gets a week of vacation every summer and usually they do something really neat for their vacation together--Italy, New England.... this year, they chose to do what they thought would be the most fun vacation of all: a week with Cal!

They came to town last week and when we went to the Edward Jones Regional Meeting, they headed up to DC to visit Eddie's sister, Carrie, and then came back down on Sunday night to finish off their trip. We've been super busy between shopping trips, pool trips, and just hanging out, so my blogging has been slack this week. I am heading to the beach tomorrow for a loooooong stay so I will be slack again then. Ahhhhh: summer!

Here is a picture of Cal napping on his Poppy:

Four Years Ago....

Once upon a time..... there was a groom:
(he got a little emotional on his wedding day)And his bride:
And they had the most wonderful wedding on June 24th, 2006. After the ceremony, they snuck in a hug, not believing they were really married. Neither one of them wanted the moment to end.

The day was hot, but perfect.

And they lived happily ever after....

Happy Father's Day!

I am extremely grateful for the fathers in my life, and I am happy to have a day to express my love and appreciation.

After Cal got up this morning, I brought him in bed with us and retrieved Eddie's first gift-- from me: two packs of white under shirts. Am I romantic, or what?? He is very particular about his under shirts and all of the ones he wears now are the ones he had when we dated in high school! (I know this because I LOVE to wear them--then and now! They are extremely broken in and suuuuper soft and comfy.) All of his shirts are filled with holes and are impossible to fold when doing laundry. He was actually pretty excited to get some new shirts! I am washing them now in hopes of softening them up a bit before he wears them.

After the excitement of my gift, Cal gave Eddie his gift:

The front:

The back:


side note: let me just tell you how hard it is to get a 9 month old's hand print! I think it turned out pretty cute though

Eddie is going to put it in either his office or in his man room once the new house is built.

Happy Father's Day to you all!

9 months old!

I am really in disbelief that I have a 9 month old. Really and truly, it feels like he was JUST in my stomach. The time is flying! Yes, I say that every month, but it is going by so fast! We are loving every minute with Cal and I swear, every day we fall more and more in love with him. Eddie and I are crazy about this little guy and every time we think it can't get any better, it does!!!

Milestones for now:

Weight: I am guessing around 22 pounds, but do not know for sure. All of the moving he's doing has slimmed him down some.

Height: no idea, but today I looked at him and thought he had grown a ton overnight

Head circumference: uhhh...huge.

Sleeping: sigh. At his 8 month stat update, I wrote about how well he was doing sleeping. Well, those days are few and far between now, I am afraid. I think there is a combination of teeth coming in, growing pains, and training momma to come and feed him during the night. He is still taking two naps a day, and goes down great at bed time. He usually gets up 1-2 times a night. He isn't really hungry, because if I nurse him, he will fall right back asleep again in about 5 minutes, but if I try to not nurse him and just give him a sippy cup of water, he will not fall back asleep. It is soooo trying and frustrating, but I think it's going to be one of those things that we will just have to try to break. I think he's in the habit of getting up now and it's up to us to break him of that. Wish me luck. Again: SIGH.

Food: He's a great eater! He loves crackers still and now enjoys Goldfish, Cheerios, and LOVES shredded cheese. He can't get enough of the cheese! He will eat most baby food and is still nursing 3-4 times a day.

Sippy Cup: he has started chugging out of the sippy cup! I try to have them every where to encourage him to drink drink drink so he doesn't get dehydrated in the heat (it is SO hot here now). He loves to hold it up and drink away!

Crawling: Oh, yes he is. Cal can crawl any and every where and he loves it! He can travel around a room, but he mainly just crawls over to whatever he can pull up on: the couch, the chair, THE DOG...anything! It isn't a traditional crawl, with one leg constantly leading the way, but he can move about and I think he likes having some mobility.

Words: He is a chatty little thing! He will point to Hank and say dogdogdog and he says dada and momma. He says a lot of jibberish too, and I love listening to him talk away! He has started singing too, which I think is about the sweetest thing in the world!

Walking: He is cruising around furniture and around the room, but not walking yet....I am scared for the day!

Dog Dog Dog

Cal is beyond obsessed with doggies these days. He is constantly pointing at Hank and saying what sounds like dog dog. He started screaming it the other day in my bedroom, and Hank was downstairs....I came into the room and he was pointing at the TV and there were dogs on. We have a little touch and feel book with dogs and he loves pointing at them. Here is a little video of Cal "saying" dog dog:

http://gallery.mac.com/cewilliamson#100510

Enjoy!

Weekend Update

It was a busy weekend in the Williamson household!

We hosted a couples shower on Saturday night for dear friends of ours, who are sadly moving to Philadelphia next week! Their baby is due in September and we are super excited for their growing families, and sad that we will not be closer to witness it firsthand.

On Friday, two friends (Andrea and Julie) came over to make the favors for the party and to tie up a few loose ends. I had such a great time with them. Sometimes, just sitting around with great friends makes for the best time. They came over at 10:45 and didn't leave until almost 3. It was just what I needed.

In in effort to get Cal's sleeping back on track, I decided to switch up some of his nap times. He was going down for his afternoon nap at 3...therefore, waking up at 5 or 5:30 and then going back down again at 7 or 7:30. I moved that nap to 1, and he went down like a champ....he did not, however, sleep through the night.

Eddie was also playing in a golf tournament this weekend, and on Friday night, we had a kick off party...actually, it was called a pairings party, where they announce who will be playing in which groups. After they announce that, the groups all get together to discuss their handicaps, etc, and then the foursomes are "auctioned" off. It was....interesting to watch it all happen. MUCH more for the guys playing than for their spouses, that is for sure! :) Eddie was in heaven and I enjoyed watching him. We had a babysitter--someone new--and it went perfectly well! She was wonderful and super trustworthy and I felt totally comfortable with her keeping Cal. Cal is at a great stage where he will go to anyone and he will smile at everyone, so when we left he was singing to Liz-- super cute! We got home early, 9:30, and the house was quiet! She got him down without a fight!

Saturday, I ran around like a crazy person trying to get ready for the shower that night. Cal was going to be spending the night at Grandma and Grandpa's house....ACK! His sleeping habits have been HORRIBLE lately and I was really worried about my mom. I also had to run the last minute things over to the house where the party was being held, AND get Cal all ready with his bag, etc, AND get me all ready, AND pump enough milk for the overnight party he was about to have!

I got myself ready during nap time, ran like crazy getting everything else ready, and was pumping right before I ran out the door. I got to my mom's house and realized that I left the bottle (the ONLY kind the kid will take) on the drying rack on my kitchen counter. I could have gone back home to get it, but the party was right near my house and I would have been late(r) if I was driving back and forth. Mom found another (different kind of) bottle and swore she'd be fine and sent me on my way.

The party was a HUGE hit and we had a great time. It was just so much fun to spend that time with my really good girl friends laughing and talking and enjoying each other. I didn't worry about Cal at all and I was REALLY looking forward to sleeping through the night.

After clean-up and getting home (and pumping....AGAIN! whew), I was sound asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I was thinking about Cal, but knew Mom was fine with him :).

At 1:00, the thunder rolled in. I have posted in the past about how much Hank loves a good thunder storm. And by loves, I mean he is terrified. Isn't that some kind of irony? The ONE night where we are so excited to sleep through the night and we are up with the dog??? I got up and gave him a benadryl and then got back in bed. His cries did not stop and he was banging his head on the side of the bed over and over and over again (the whole bed shakes). Finally, Eddie got up and put him in the nursery with the door closed (the blinds were down so he couldn't see the lightning). Well, the smarties that we are, we didn't realize that the baby monitor was on, so when Hank started crying again, the monitor brought his cries right into our bedroom. We both had to laugh at that one.

I woke up at 6 in some pain-- Cal has been getting up every single night to nurse (well, I try not to nurse him, but that is the only thing that will knock him back out!), so I was really full by 6. I went downstairs to pump and then was back asleep until Eddie woke me up at 9. He was ready to go get his baby! I was loving sleeping! We called my mom and put the on the speaker phone.
Our conversation:
me: how'd it go??
mom: I do not know how you do that every night.
me: that good, huh?
mom: Carrie, how are you not exhausted every single day?
me: I am just used to it, I guess. Was he that bad?
mom: He wasn't "bad" at all, but he was sooooo active! I just don't know how you function after night after night of that!

Apparently, Cal woke up at 12, and mom cuddled him and brought him into bed with her (mistake one). He fell right back asleep in the bed, but woke up at 1:30 SUPER excited to see his grandma laying there. He started climbing all over her and trying to stick his hand in her mouth (he thinks this is the best game ever). Every time she would open her eyes, he would get a fit of the giggles and not stop laughing. She would put him in his crib and he would start screaming and jumping up and down. As soon as she would walk into the room, he would start laughing. This went on until about 5.

All I have to say: WELCOME TO MY WORLD! I really, honest to goodness, think that my child is going to be a late night talk show host! He loves to socialize at all hours of the night!

We have broken him of these sleep habits in the past and we will do it again, I swear. It's going to take some tough love though. And maybe some ear plugs....

He did sleep until 8 and he was exhausted when he came home, but wasn't quite in the mood for a nap. We went to the pool for about an hour, just to wear him out even more. I loaded him up in the car and he was asleep before I made the first turn leaving the neighborhood. We came straight home and he took a 3 hour nap.Sleeping on the way home from the pool....love the little tan legs and the shirtless baby-- sweetest little thing :)

We've been giving him Tylenol to help with his teething, etc, but a friend today suggested IBproferen instead. She said it lasts up to 8 hrs and is much better for babies that are cutting teeth. I just gave him a dose of that and he is sleeping away right now....fingers crossed for a good night!

Here are some pictures from Tiffani and Peter's Shower:
Hope everyone had a great weekend! Sorry this post is so long....I think I am a bit long-winded! Maybe tomorrow I will do a post about what a GREAT night's sleep we had over here.....??? maybe????? please???

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:

Reaggie's Birthday!

On Saturday morning, we headed out to Reagan's FIRST birthday party! Reaggie's mom, Stephanie, went to Elon and we had several education classes together. Steph and I have enjoyed having lunch together a few times with the kids and catching up.

It was, BY FAR, the nicest first birthday party I have ever been to. Steph thought of every thing. I swear, it was like it was a party thrown by a professional.

Let me back up a bit....

Being the incredibly smart woman I am, I thought the party started at 10:00. I figured out that I entered the party into my iCal, but didn't have the invitation next to me, so iCal automatically just assigned it 10 am. I was a little bummed by the time because Cal really needed his morning nap (he missed it Thursday and Friday for a variety of reasons), but I knew the party would be worth it. He crashed in the car on the way to the party, so he got a quickie nap in.

As I am driving down the road, I get an email. I know it's bad to look at email while driving, so I just glanced to see who it was from. I was a little surprised that Steph was sending me an email at 10:05, if her party started at 10:00. I was at my exit so when I got off, I looked at the invitation and saw that it didn't start until 12:00! OPPS! I was far enough away (45 mins) that I wasn't going to go all the way back home, so I did what I had to do: I went shopping! There is a great mall one exit up from Steph's exit and it has an awesome Saks 5th Avenue. So, I HAD to do a little shopping! :) I got an adorable pair of Tory Burch flats. I LOVE THEM!

Back to the party:
After strolling the mall and doing a little shopping, we heading over to Reaggie's Pink and Green themed party. I am serious when I say that they (Stephanie) thought of EVERYTHING. You know how I try to take pictures of Cal each month holding a sign that reads "I am ____ months old today!"? Well, I got that idea from Stephanie, except mine are always lame and never turn out because my little munchkin would much rather eat the paper. Well, Steph has one from each month and the signs all are the exact same color and font (something at which I have failed miserably). She framed each one of those and had them lining the bookshelves on either side of the fire place-- so sweet to literally see Reagan grow! They also had a TV above the fireplace which was playing a slide show of pictures from Reagan's first year-- such a sweet touch!

There were pink and green streamers, pink and green M&Ms, pink and green napkins, etc.....it was all SO nicely done. Cal had a blast playing with all of the toys and other kids. People were taking pictures of Reagan (on the other side of the room), and Cal would be grinning ear to ear just in case someone was taking a picture of him...what a ham! Stephanie's mom was there and she was SUPER sweet (not that I am surprised!) and she held Cal for me while I chowed down on some great food. It's nice to have a Grandma around that loves babies!

We had a great time at the party, and Steph, when you read this, you threw your baby one heck of a party.... Can't wait to see what you come up with next year!!!!! :0