My Profile Picture

This is the picture I have for my profile picture, but thought I should show a larger version of it. It makes me laugh every time I look at it. And clearly shows that I have my hands full!



Mother to a couple of cheese balls,


Oh, and a picture of Heidi with the first of many "Mother, what is he doing?" looks. Ha, ha!

Hot Momma Heidi

This week I received a package in the mail for Heidi from my friend Holly. Holly and I have been friends our whole lives and she has always been able to make me laugh, even when I was mad at her! Well, this week she made me laugh again. I opened up the package to find Heidi's first pair of high heels! Won't she be stylin'?


My wonderful mother saved a lot of outfits that were mine when I was a baby and I've been loving dressing Heidi up in them! Here she is in one my first Easter outfits. There was a matching a bonnet, but I'm a sucker for the power bows!



Hot Momma's Momma,

Melting Mommy's Heart

I think Clinton has made it through the peak of his adjustment period, or maybe he's just giving mommy a break...but whatever it is we're loving it!

He has been so loving lately with EVERYONE in the family, including little Miss Heidi. He loves holding her and the other day I went to get her out of her bed and a bottle had been lovingly placed by her head. Clinton also likes to make sure that Heidi has her blanket. Now, Clinton doesn't go anywhere (especially to bed) without his special blanket....so, he likes to make sure Heidi also has hers. And he also gets a little upset when she doesn't have a bow in her "hair". He'll start smacking the top of his own head while looking at Heidi and saying, "Eh, eh!" So, we go get her a headband with coordinating bow and he is happy...and so is mommy!


Clinton has also been showing mommy some lovin'. While most little boys pick flowers for the girl they love, my son picks shrubs. He ran in the house the other day with this for me and I have proudly displayed it in a vase by the front door. (I wonder how many girls from my Bible study noticed it this morning and wondered where I get my decorating taste??)


Soakin' up the love,

Goodbye, Chicco

Our beloved Chicco rider took its final bow Wednesday as Clinton's favorite toy. Clinton came around the corner with the steering column in his hand and I knew we had lost a dear friend.

Chicco had burned up many miles on every ridable path within our house. Chicco had even scoured every inch of the cul-de-sac. And Chicco was the first toy Clinton rode down the back steps only to land on his face in the grass.

Chicco had a secret storage bin under the seat and Clinton found many wonderful treasures to store there. Everything from matchbox cars to choo choo trains to snacks-in-progress, found their way into the bin. Once Clinton even put his cookie with some water creating a gooey mess for mommy to clean out. Chicco also had a small gap between the back of the seat and the handle. Here Clinton would try desperately to balance anything and everything he could. It resulted in a lot of "Oh, no"s and stopping to pick up and reset the toy.

There are many things Clinton will share--snacks, kisses, trucks--but Chicco has never been one of them. If ever I made him share it, he would drop is bottom lip, lower his head and with shaking shoulders sob quietly as long as he could then bust into a full-blown wail while falling into my arms. The love he had was obvious to all (especially Dalby, who really wanted him to share it). :-)

Yes, these are the memories we will hold near and dear to our hearts of our Chicco.

Thursday morning Clinton sat at the door and watched excitedly as the garbage truck turned down our street. He loves watching it every week. If only he had known they were taking Chicco away, he may have been in a heap on the floor crying his heart out. Instead, he waved to the garbage men while flashing his enormous cheesy grin in their direction. My heart couldn't help but break a little for I knew the truth.

I'm sure there will be many favorite toys to come and go through our door, but we will always remember our dear Chicco as the first to truly win our little boy's heart.





Picking up the pieces, :-)

The First of Many...

Today while Clinton was at school, Heidi and I had the first of what is sure to be many photo shoots. Poor Clinton had to suffer through these almost daily when he was a baby, but Heidi will have to settle for whenever we can do it (which will usually be when Clinton is elsewhere since he is so "helpful" with the camera these days). Heidi wasn't sure what to think at first but she got the hang of it after a while.

Heidi amazed by her new friends.


Lookin' cute and snug-as-a-bug.


Is that a smile I see?


Flower Power '09


Being shy.


Not at all happy about the naked situation.


Aww.


Say cheese,

Easter 2009

A couple of photos in our Sunday best. ;-) (Heidi is wearing a dress that was mine when I was a baby. So sweet.)



After church the kids got to see what the Easter Bunny brought. Clinton was much more interested than Heidi. :-)



Clinton enjoying his last solo egg hunt. There were four eggs with matchbox cars and those were the faves...everything else was a disappointment.


Lovin' baby Easter dresses and power bows,

Heidi's Haven

Okay...now for the details! I posted these pictures earlier but didn't have time to fill in all the info on how the nursery came about.

For anyone that has been in my house, you know that I don't like things to be matchy-matchy. I'm not a fan of furniture suits, I don't like the same fabric spread over an entire room, and I love family heirlooms and antiques. So, needless to say, my house is a carefully selected group of mismatched furniture from grandmothers, antique stores, and a few junk store treasures that have been lovingly restored. So, putting a nursery together is no different...sometimes making things difficult.

Clinton's nursery was a bit easier. Since he was named after my father, who was a professional bull rider, his room naturally took a cowboy theme. Mother made his crib bedding out of some of dad's old blue jeans, we put up some pics of dad riding bulls, hung dad's first chaps on the wall, and filled in with a few other cowboy accessories. And of course, I selected a few antique pieces for the furniture. Click here for pics of that adorable room that is now a big boy room...sniff, sniff.

Heidi's was a bit more difficult. I was having trouble finding a starting point. I needed some kind of inspiration. All I knew was that I didn't want pink...my sister is pink enough for the both of us! :-) Then one day mother mentioned she had been going through my baby stuff and found my old Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls that my Grammy made me....and that's where the nursery began.

I didn't want a Raggedy Ann and Andy nursery, I just wanted a nursery they could sit in. So, I started with Red and White as my base colors. I found some Red gingham bedding that was amazing affordable at nurserydepot.com. From there I had to pick a wall color. I finally decided a shade of pale blue would help calm the room down from the bright red. After great deliberation, mother and I settled on a color called Vintage Map (found in the Martha Stewart colors at Lowe's). It has a lot of greens in it, but still it is a blue. Chelsea then brought her out-of-the-box thinking and added Black and Chartreuse as accent colors.

Mother and Chelsea flew in from Texas to meet Heidi and love on Clinton and to help me put together a nursery. I had refused to do a gender neutral nursery even though we didn't find out what we were having. I knew I had a little design team that could put something fabulous together in a very short time...and they didn't disappoint.

A big thanks to my two favorite girls for all their painting and sewing!! Heidi and I love her room...as does everyone who has come by and been forced to take a tour! :-)

Where it all began...


A little black and chartreuse.


Some custom made letters by Aunt Zsazsie. You can see them in more detail on her blog by clicking here.


A little place for hanging pretty things.


A mirror given to me when I was a baby by my Aunt Polly and some custom made drapes by Bebe.


A bed handed down to me from my Grammy. (I have a rule in my house...every room must sleep two adults. We have out-of-town guests often and it's important to me that everyone has a place to sleep!)


An antique dresser given to Rodney by his parents...one of my favorite pieces in our house.


The crib all of the Williams' grandchildren have slept in.


Decorating tip--Hobby Lobby is a great place to get cheap accessories.

Smilin' and Stylin',
and Heidi

Thanks, Pop!

While Rodney and I were at the hospital with little Heidi, Clinton was fortunate enough to be spending lots of quality time with his Pop...which he has lovingly renamed Hop, Zap and Poppy.

I was so excited when my dad offered to come and stay with Clinton. It was so important to me that Clinton be able to stay at our house and remain on his schedule while his mommy and daddy were absent. Clinton loves his Pop and talks to him often on the phone. Many times he'll bring me the phone and ask for Pop. As we talk to him on speaker phone, Clinton will lean in and give the phone an occasional kiss or sometimes hold out his hands and sign "want"--which means he wants Pop to hold him. He and Pop make pigeon noises back and forth to each other and talk about trucks and other boy things. And he often cries when we have to say goodbye.

One time, the whole family (me, mom, Chelsea, dad and Clinton) were all on a conference call and every time dad would speak Clinton would make the "want" sign BUT every time mom or Chelsea would talk he'd make a barfing noise...it was so funny!

The morning we were getting ready to go get Pop from the airport, I told Clinton we were going to see Pop. He started saying, "Poppy, Poppy!" and ran off to his room. I heard his closet doors open and he returned with his cowboy hat and boots. He wore his boots the entire time Pop was here.

While Pop was here, the boys went to the park several times (one of Clinton's favorite things to do) and enjoyed several meals of chicken nuggets, french fries, and mandarin oranges at Wendy's (the only meal in the world Clinton will eat every bite of). They also read books and watched movies. The neighbor told me last week, he also saw them playing out in the back yard a lot.

Clinton is very observant and it seems he's learned a few things from his Pop, one thing in particular that made me laugh. My dad always carries a handkerchief in his back pocket, and that is where Clinton had to blow his nose when they were out. Well, yesterday Clinton ran up to the kitchen table (where I keep a stack of cloth napkins) twice, grabbed one, blew his nose, threw it on the floor and ran off. I reported the incident to Pop and Bebe, and now Clinton has his own toddler-sized handkerchiefs making their way to Tennessee with Bebe on Tuesday.

Clinton went to preschool while I was in labor, and dad got to come sit with us as we watched contractions on the monitor and debated girl names. Dad provided us with some "awesome" options, but we opted for Heidi instead...but we appreciate the input.

Thanks again, Pop...we were all so grateful to have you here and really appreciate all your help. We know our little man can be a handful, but he loved having you here and continues to ask about you often. We look forward to our next visit.

Heidi's first nap with Pop...the first of many, I'm sure.


With love and appreciation,

All About Heidi

We have been so blessed to welcome Heidi into our family. She has been a perfect fit...and an awfully quiet one. I just thought I would make a post all about our new precious girl to introduce the blogger world to a little girl we already love so completely.



Heidi's Debut. I just thought I had an easy delivery with Clinton. I'm not great at being pregnant, but I loved my labor and delivery with Clinton. Heidi's delivery proved to be just as enjoyable.

We arrived at the hospital around 6am (about 30 minutes late, but that's just how we roll around here). By 8, we were in our room and I was getting my IV and blood work done. By 8.30a my pitocin was started and by 8.32a my first contraction began. The contractions were bearable, but consistent and things were looking good. At 10a the doctor came in and broke my water (this is when labor is considered started). After that, the contraction increased SIGNIFICANTLY and went from being 4-5 minutes apart to 90 seconds apart.

I requested my epidural as soon as I felt I needed it...only to find out I was being bumped for an emergency section and then for a girl who was dilated 2 cm further than me. So, for 45 minutes I suffered through some hellacious pain while Rodney, his mom, and my dad all watched. The contractions were progressing so quickly that they had to turn my pitocin completely off. I tried to keep my cool for Rodney's and my dad's sake...but by the time they finally got around to me with the epidural my cool was lost.

Rodney stayed in while they did the epidural, which was a bit troublesome. Because the contractions were so close together, I was having them as they tried to do the epidural...which made me move...which made them lose their opening...which meant they poked around and created more pain...which made Rodney sick. I looked over and thought he was going to pass out. After a couple of tries, the epidural was in and after that it was a piece of cake.

I was able to visit with everyone and thoroughly enjoy the rest of my labor after that.

My dad had to leave at about 2.10p to go get Clinton from school and when he left I was at 4cm. By 2.45p, I was at a 10 and the nurses left to collect the team. About that time I had a contraction that felt like a baby coming out...so I sent Rodney down the hall to hurry everyone. Come to find out, Heidi was on her way. The nurses had me push twice as we wait for the doctor. The doctor barely made it in and sat down just in time for the third push and out came Heidi at 3.01p. At 7lbs. 5 oz and 21.5in, she was perfection.

Even better, she was skinny with a small head....no stitches or swelling for mommy! Hallelujah!



Heidi's Name. Rodney and I had a very hard time agreeing on a girl's name. So, we both went through the name book and made lists of the names we liked. Heidi had made the list for both of us. I chose Heidi because it was my favorite book when I was a kid and the first "big book" I ever read. Rodney picked it because he liked it. We also liked that it meant "Noble".

The middle name wasn't any easier. Sage came about because it's my middle name and a family name. It was my great-great grandparents last name. We also liked it because it means "Wise".

And that is how we got Heidi Sage Williams.


10 Things We Love about Heidi.

1. Her quiet little cry that she only lets out when she's really hungry.
2. Her long skinny feet with toes that look like fingers.
3. Her funny faces that she makes at us.
4. Her interest in Clinton when he's up in her face making lots of noise.
5. The way she tries to latch onto anything--cheek, nose, chin--when she's hungry and looking for some milk.
6. The squeaky noises she makes.
7. The way she sounds like a squeaky toy when she has the hiccups.
8. Her perfect little features that seem so tiny compared to her very big brother.
9. How she loves to cuddle on your chest to sleep.
10. The way she keeps her legs completely scrunched up to her stomach as if she were still squished in the womb.


...and we can't forget Heidi's big brother...who is adjusting more everyday. He loves his sister...but isn't always willing to share mommy's attention. Suddenly, mommy is getting lots of lovin' from her little boy...even when Daddy is home!


Lovin' two babies,