Such an Exciting Week!

Well, we are in the throws of making the adjustment from one child to two...whew! I'm a little exhausted from a certain little night owl who has recently joined the family and a fever I can't quite seem to shake. Clinton is adjusting pretty well. I think it dawned on him today that Heidi is here to stay and he's acting out a little, but for the most part he's still pretty good. He loves to hold her and read her books. He also loves that they each have their own blanket, but he does NOT like when I nurse Heidi. He tries to cover me back up with my shirt and tells Heidi, "Nooooooo!". And of course, Rodney and I have fallen in love again. We're so excited about having a little girl. I'm excited about ruffles and power bows, and as one nurse put it, Rodney is excited about "having his heart stepped on in ways he never even imagined."

Here are some pictures from this past week:

We started out on Wednesday taking Clinton to get his big brother hair cut. As much as I loved the shaggy hair, it was becoming quite troublesome. I can't believe how different it made him look!




Thursday morning we headed into the hospital. Last picture of Heidi in the belly.


Heidi made a grand entrance at exactly 3:01pm on March 26. I guess you can tell by my face that I was pretty excited about her being a girl! I cried when Rodney made the big announcement to the room and everyone cheered...it was so fun!



Heidi with her Papa.


Heidi with her Pop.


Heidi's brother (future Dr. Williams?) looking in on her! He had a fascination with the gloves and sanitizing lotion.


Heidi ready to go home.


Clinton, Rodney and Heidi.


More pics to come...

Excited and exhausted,

Heidi Sage Williams is HERE!!!!!

This is Chelsea posting for Courtney. Heidi Sage Williams made her debut today and we couldn't be more thrilled. Here is Heidi Sage's first picture. What a cutie-patootie (not that I would be biased). Courtney thinks she looks a lot like Clinton looked when he was born. Mom and baby are both doing well. When I receive more pictures I'll post more. Congratulations Courtney and Rodney on a beautiful, healthy, baby girl!!!

Heidi Sage Williams
March 26, 2009
7 lbs 5 oz
20 1/2" long

We're Having a Baby Today!!

Rodney and I are off to the hospital this morning. We are hoping to welcome Baby Williams into the world today. We are so excited to see if this will be a missy or a little mister. Either way we are happy...we know God has chosen what to bless us with, and we accept his blessing with great joy.

Stay tuned for updates...hopefully, my sister, Chelsea, will be providing them as I text them to her from the hospital!

Looking forward to walking lighter,

So it seems...

If you've been reading my blog for the last couple of weeks, it may seem to you that our dear Clinton only loves his daddy. But this is not so. Don't get me wrong, he does treasure every moment he spends with his daddy...but mommy isn't exactly left out on all the lovin' going on. Clinton and I have a number of beautiful mommy-son moments throughout each day. Moments I treasure. Moments I hope to never forget. But moments I'm sometimes afraid may be lost as there are very few pictures of me and Clinton, since I'm the photographer.

For instance, there isn't a day that goes by that my little man doesn't spoil me with his sweet kisses. Sometimes, he'll get up from playing just to run across the room and kiss my leg then run back to his toys. Sometimes, we'll be shopping and he'll reach up and pull my face down to kiss me right on the lips. And sometimes I just ask for them...and he almost always obliges.

Almost every morning, Clinton crawls out of his bed dragging his blanket (lovingly referred to as "key-at") and makes his way across the house and into my room. He gets in bed with me and we snuggle as he drinks his morning milk.

We also spend a lot of time making faces at each other and laughing like crazy. Anytime Clinton starts acting grumpy, all it takes is a funny face to get him back to his funny self. He says, "Gen, gen." (Again, again.) I love when he tries to copy the faces I'm making, it's so cute.

And of course, he loves mommy's reading skills. We lay in his bed most nights and read the same two stories over and over (Smash Crash and The Little Engine That Could). Lately, he's been trying to put me to sleep. He gets on his knees and leans over me saying, "Shhh. Shhh. Seep." (Sleep) Of course, as soon as I turn the light off, he's the one sleeping and I sneak out.

Just a few things I want to always remember...



Now for the good stuff. Below are some more pictures from this past week...

Clinton and Daddy putting the new closet system in the nursery closet. I just love this face.


Clinton showing Daddy how to use the tape measure.


Both boys working hard.


Yay! A finished product. And, yes, those are girl clothes hanging in the closet, but I promise I didn't purchase them. They're hand-me-downs from Rodney's neice and I've had them for over a year now.


Clinton playing basketball with the neighborhood kids (and a little help from Daddy). Doesn't he look so big??



The other night Clinton got out of the bath and crawled up on Rodney. He laid like this for about 15 minutes, it was so sweet. He had missed his Daddy.

This is the look I got when he thought I was interfering on his Daddy time.


Just freakin' cute.


Sharing my heart with 2 precious guys,

What's In a Name?

When you're pregnant there are three questions you get asked more than anything.

When are you due? Do you know what you're having? Have you picked out a name?

And to the disappointment of many, we've only been able to answer one of those questions. So, our answers are more like:

April 1. No. Uh...no.

Even with not finding out what you're having, you still only have two choices of what it could possibly be. So picking out one boy name and one girl name should be easy, right? Uh...no.

I am happy to say we have a boy name...set in stone. And although we're not sharing the actual name, I'll share the initials...and you can start making your best guesses. (If I've slipped up and told you, don't spoil it for everyone.)

RDW

As for the girl name...well, let's just say if we were having triplets, quadruplets or even octuplets...we'd have names for all of them! I believe we've narrowed it down to three that are our absolute favorites. So, here are your initials to ponder on...

ELW
LCW (possibly LSW)
HSW

Let the guessing begin! ...or not. If you're patient, you can just wait until the baby is born and a name is given. :-)

The Votes Are In...

I'm taking down the voting poll. I had a 65% guessing for a girl and 35% for a boy.

We shall see...just a few more days...

(Sorry....there are no prizes for a correct guess...just something to add to your psychic resume.)

...and in case you're wondering, I think it's a girl!

A Few Pics from Nana's Birthday

This boy loves his "whup cree-AM" (whipped cream)!



A perfectly wrapped gift, if I do say so myself.


Rodney was demonstrating some of his exercises to everyone and Clinton and Emma were trying them out.


Rodney trying out a new exercise!



Countin' the days,

Just Cleanin' the Eye Balls

It's easy to forget as you're going through your daily routine that someone is watching every move you make--very carefully. And not just watching for entertainment, but watching in order to learn how to do it for themselves.

Clinton has noticed mommy's facial cleansing routine (which is nothing more than about 30 seconds with a bottle of Neutrogena face cleaner) and he's been desperate to get his hands on that bottle for several weeks ago.

The night came when I finally slipped and left it out. Clinton didn't fail to notice. I left it on the inside edge of the tub and saw Clinton climbing into the tub as I passed from the closet into the bedroom to talk to Rodney...and of course, I didn't think anything of it. I just thought he was climbing in there to get his bath-time choo-choos.

After a few moments, we noticed our child was quiet (always a red flag in our house)...but as we got quiet to listen we heard a very quiet and pitiful whimper. I went in to find Clinton with globs upon globs of my face soap all over the side of his face, up in his hair, and in his poor eyes (which I assume was the cause of the whimper). With every rub attempting to remove the soap from his eyes, he just seemed to get more and more of it in and it seemed to be lathering up by the second.

I'm just guessing he wasn't about to cry when he thought he was getting away with something, but as soon as we started trying to help him there were tears to be had.

After a few dunks under the faucet and a good wipe down with a generously wet rag, Clinton was finally able to open his eyes back up and look around.

He hasn't gone after the soap again.

I'm all for learning a lesson the hard way once (or twice) if it means mommy doesn't have to hear herself say, "No, Clinton. Don't do that, Clinton. That's not yours, Clinton. What did mommy say, Clinton?" umpteen times throughout the day...maybe I should write a parenting manual...




Learning to be more careful,

A Few Funny Clips of Our Funny Boy

You might want to scroll to the bottom of the page and click the pause button on the playlist so you can hear the movie.

Clinton Tries to Potty Train Himself

I wish so badly I had a picture of this, but the camera just wasn't close enough.

So, Clinton and I had come in from the backyard. Rodney was quarantined to the Master bedroom with the flu. I needed to take a much-needed 4,000th trip to the ladies' room so I rushed back to Clinton's bathroom. I usually leave the door open so I can hear what he's doing, but for whatever reason I shut the door behind me as I hastily entered. As I was getting ready to open the door up and head back out, I heard a loud thud followed by shrieking and crying. Yikes. I immediately started trying to follow the screams and had visions of a head trauma.

The screams led me to the guest bathroom and I was dying laughing as I rounded the corner and it registered what I was actually seeing. I guess Clinton has seen me "go to the potty" about a million times since the baby dropped (directly onto my bladder), and decided to give it a try. But the poor little guy has the tiniest butt ever and it slipped right through the seat. All I could see was two tiny feet sticking up, two arms with elbows out on the edge of the seat holding up his weight, and his panicked little face as he screamed for help. I laughed and laughed...

He was upset because he still wanted to try but he was scared and his clothes were all wet and mommy couldn't stop laughing at him! Too funny...

Laughing out loud often,

A Day at the Park

Clinton would sleep outside if I would let him. And since Daddy covered the backyard in fertilizer this weekend, we've been trying to keep a little someone out of the grass. A three hour trip to the park helped to ease some of the pain we've ALL been feeling...

Always Like My Daddy...

If you haven't noticed a pattern here lately, then you haven't read the last umpteen posts...Clinton LOVES his Daddy.

So much so, that even when Daddy isn't with him, he's doing what he would be doing with Dad if Dad were here. Here are just a few examples...

Today Clinton had mud on his "schruck". And just as he has seen Daddy do a thousand times (click here and here for proof), Clinton needed to wash his truck. So, I got him a wet sponge and he went to town washing his truck until it was shiny enough for his standards...


Rodney is our in-house handy man which, in turn, means Clinton is our Jr. handy man. Clinton loves tools...and not the plastic ones that go with his tool bench (he won't use them at all), but Daddy's tools. Daddy's very hard tools. Daddy's very sharp tools. Daddy's dangerous tools. Clinton got his hands on one of these tools the other day and immediately went to work on his Chicco rider.


For the most part, there are only two instances when Clinton will wear a hat. (1) If Pop is around with his cowboy hat on, then Clinton, too, must have his cowboy hat on. (2) If Rodney is around wearing a cap, then Clinton, too, must have his cap on. Other than those two instances, Clinton doesn't care much about hats these days. However, he found Rodney's running toboggan the other day and had to wear it as he rode his scooter around the house.



Feelin' the love (for daddy),

37 Week Checkup and a New Friend

I have found that if you prepare for something that is possible, whether you want it or not, it will not happen. BUT if you remain completely unprepared, it is sure to happen. Since I'm wanting this muffin to cook a couple more weeks, I went ahead and packed bags for Clinton and myself before heading to the doctor's appointment today. This is the third week in a row I have done this.

I keep bags packed for us with our bare minimum necessities, but just to make sure the doctor didn't examine me and send me straight to the hospital to deliver, I packed ALL necessary and unnecessary items we might need. I then loaded them into the car with the cameras, phone charger, and stroller and headed off to the doctor.

As I had hoped, the report was good. I did not need to go across the parking lot to the hospital to deliver...whew! I was, however, dilated to a 2 and 60-70% effaced. Meaning I'm in perfect condition to induce at 39 weeks, as we are hoping to do, but no promises could be made that the baby wouldn't fall out before then. (I go to a group practice and every doctor seems to have a different opinion about how quickly things can transpire...)

And for the really good news...I lost a pound! ;-) After my weight loss two weeks ago followed by my incredible 7 pound gain last week, I was happy to see that I hadn't done as much damage this week! Every time I step on the scale and see the numbers rolling higher and higher, all I think about is the work it's going to take to get this weight off!

...and now for my new friend. I seem to have lots and lots of contractions during my pregnancies. Up until now I've been able to take my terbutaline and some Tylenol and wait for them to subside. Now that I am considered full term, I've been banned from my much-loved terbutaline....so I have to sit and suffer...and try to decide if I am really in labor or just having another fun round of "practice" labor. The last two nights have required me to make such a decision...

Making this decision is not always easy because I'm often in enough pain that I can't think straight and I sure don't have the ability to sit and time the frequency and duration of contractions to decide whether or not it is a find-a-sitter-call-the-hubby-home-rush-to-the-ER situation. However, there is this awesome website, Contraction Master, that allows me to lay in bed and just hit the space bar as the contractions stop and start. Last night's lasted about 2 1/2 hours, but after the first 90 minutes I noticed the contractions were going from 4-6 minutes apart to 10-12 minutes apart. The website tracks how long each contraction is, how far apart they are and how long you've been having them. (And if you're cool enough to have an iPhone, which I am not, they're adding a special feature for you!)

It's so nice to have real answers when you call the doctor. Instead of the doctor asking how long the contractions are lasting and me responding with, "FOREVER!!", I can actually say, "Between 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 minutes...blah blah blah." Makes for a more sophisticated sounding conversation.

Actually hoping for a couple more weeks of "fun",


...oh, and the reason for wanting to wait a couple of more weeks, is because my dad is scheduled to come up here and take care of Clinton. Seeing as Clinton asks to call his "Poppy" and cries when we hang up, I would really like for Clinton to have this time with his Pop. I also like the idea of Clinton getting to be at home and in his normal routine while we're at the hospital instead of finding places for him to go and stay.

Daddy's Sidekick

Daddy hardly gets a break around here. Clinton only prefers mommy when he's sick, other than that he's all about dad. There's not a lot that will keep Clinton off of his daddy's heels...including a shower.

This weekend as Rodney was trying to shower and get ready Clinton stood and waited for him at the shower. He would go back and forth from crying to hitting the door telling Daddy to get out. Just look at that pitiful face. Daddy couldn't even get dried off before a little someone was back in his arms!




Loving a front row view of a father-son bond,

Hair Dilemmas

Clinton's daddy wakes up every morning with a severe case of bed head. I think it's cute, one of those quirky things I love about him...Rodney thinks it's bad. So bad that if we have company, Rodney comes to the breakfast table with his cap on. I don't exactly look marvelous when I wake up. I have very thick hair, with a natural curl....and it, too, can look a bit crazy and distorted in the early hours of the morn.

It seems Rodney and I together have passed this gene on to our young son who is still completely oblivious to style.

Yesterday, I came home from my last day of work at church (Rodney and Clinton stayed home because Rodney wasn't feeling well) at which point I quickly ate and left for a baby shower of a dear friend who is expecting twin girls. I noticed Clinton's hair had not been fixed, but it wasn't until I returned home that I noticed what a crazy mess it was!

Check out these pictures for what is sure to be the latest craze in hair style. Of course, if Clinton had any idea how crazy he looked, he would have been embarrassed when his girlfriend, Addie, came over to play with him.






After a long warm day with a very sweaty headed toddler, we're debating what type of summer cut to get...feel free to throw in your suggestions. Crew cut with spiky hair? A burr? Short shag?

Looking into Pantene stocks,