Big Baby G (g is for girl)

Tooth Fairy Came! and other things...

This weekend we went to Jacksonville.
It was a busy weekend... and after being in the car for seven hours, I am wiped.
Don't expect too much from this post!
Seriously, this is going to be a grammatical mess.
{I should note that even though Jacksonville is only about 4.5 hours from Santa Rosa Beach, the trip was much longer since we had to meet my mom in Fort Walton to get Miss Chappy... and it stormed all the way down I-10}


The sole reason for writing this post is: Chappell got her first tooth today!
Her first little pearly white made its way through the gum line... and I can't believe it.
It's her bottom (left) tooth - or lower left central incisor, as my mom (the dentist's wife) told me over the phone.
Of course she cut her first tooth while I was away. Just my luck, huh?

While I'm writing, I'll go ahead and say that Chappell's pretty mobile these days. She will crawl a few steps forward/backward and rolls all over the place. She can easily get to the sitting position from lying down or the crawling position.

Chappell currently loves to say "baba." We hear a lot of "dadas" and "babas." She has also said "mama." However, I've only heard her say "mama" once or twice. Hopefully she will start using that word more often!
She talks all the time - and it's the cutest thing ever. Looks like Chappell is following in her mama's footsteps... I was constantly in the "chatterbox" at school.

Random thoughts

It's pretty pathetic, but I never bought Chappell a crib mobile. I couldn't seem to find one that I liked?
Sometimes I'm so picky, I end up going without because I can't/won't make a decision. I have to wait for the perfect __________. {You are supposed to fill in the blank}
My aunt sent a mobile after Chappy was born, but it wasn't really my style. She doesn't read this, so I think (hope) it's OK to say that. In fact, I'm not so sure she knows how to use a computer...
Anyways, the mobile had dancing teddy bears wearing acid-washed denim jeans. Kind of frightening.
I found this adorable cupcake mobile last week on Restoration Hardware's website. I'm in love. It arrived today and looks precious in Chappy's room. Too bad it will only be up for a little while... I'll have to take it down when she starts pulling up on the crib!

I can't tell you how much I love Internet shopping. It's just so easy! I have Chappell's formula and diapers shipped right to our door from Diapers.com. It's great.

New Topic: I'm looking into getting some new throw pillows from Etsy. Which ones should I get? I'm not so sure about the first ones. They'll probably get nixed from the list.

As you can probably tell from the pillows, my intentions are to brighten up the palate in our den/family room. While on the subject, I need to take pictures of our den to send to friend, Jessica Inman. A fellow KD sista-friend, she works for an artist based out of New Orleans named Amanda Talley. Reed and I really like her work and are going to commission two pieces to put above our couch. Check her out! Maybe I should wait on ordering throw pillows until I see what the painting looks like...

Jessica-- please nag me to send you some pictures! Reed asks me to every day. And somehow, I forget.

I'm a mean mom...

I can't stop laughing at my child!
I know these things are popular (and I hope I'm not offending the person who gave this to me) - but I think they are ridiculous!
I found this flower headband when I was unpacking Chappell's things a few minutes ago.
I figured we'd have a little fun with yet another photoshoot!
Smith says she looks like a "tacky grandma."
Love it!

I'm back!

This might be a long one. I haven't blogged in a while (for me) and feel like I have a lot to mention in this post. I should warn you, if you have a weak stomach - this post is not for you.

Thursday morning, Chappell and I were all set to make the trip over to Pensacola. I had everything packed and ready to go - outfits laid out - and we seemed to be running on schedule. Then I remembered it had been a day or so since lil' Chappy had gone potty. Numero dos...

{This is an issue we've been dealing with her entire life... it comes and it goes... and it isn't fun when it strikes}

Since I would be leaving Chappell with my mom overnight, I figured it was only fair to remedy the "problem" before dropping her off. So, I popped a handy-dandy glycerin suppository in her tiny fanny and waited for action. Isn't motherhood glamorous?? They usually work after a few minutes, but this time nothing.

We waited... and waited... and waited.

Of course being the first time mom that I am, I started freaking out... why wasn't the dang thing working? Crazy thoughts started running through my head... will this poop be stuck forever??

I mean, the box says to call the doctor if it doesn't work within an hour. That's scary!

After about 30 minutes of waiting, I decided to go ahead and get on the road. Things seemed fine (for about twenty minutes) until I looked (in my Safety 1st mirror) to see my baby's face about as red as a tomato. Then came the tears. I pulled over as fast as I could, realizing once I stepped out of the car that I had chosen an Alvin's Island as the scene for disaster. Perfect.

And here's how (probably) the worst 5 minutes of my life played out:

1) Lay Chappell down on front seat. Take diaper off. Baby sliding all over the place. Huge poo stuck. Screaming baby. 101 degrees.

2) Realize baby's head is banging seat belt holder-thingy. Realize must move to back seat. Realize back seat is full with luggage and hanging clothes.

3) Cover Chappell's bottom with old diaper and move luggage to trunk with screaming baby. Even better.

4) Lay Chappell down on back seat. Baby screaming louder and drenched with sweat. I'm drenched with sweat, it's 101 degrees. Baby continues to scream louder and giant poo starts to come out. Use old diaper to remove poo from baby's bottom. Diaper becomes saturated with poo. Meanwhile, poop still stuck. Have to use MY hand to remove pieces of poo. Loving it.

5) Tourists coming/going to buy airbrushed t-shirts. Tourists stop and stare at spectacle. Poop flung all over parking lot. Gnats swarming. 101 degrees. Wipe poop off of hands (with baby wipe) and return baby Chappell to her car seat.

Are any of you non-parents still considering reproduction? If that isn't birth control for any of you, I don't know what is! Just kidding Chappell. If you ever read this, I want you to know that I love you very much. However, this wasn't my most favorite parenting moment.

We eventually arrived in Pensacola. Thank the good Lord above.

Once I unpacked Chappell's things and got her settled, I drove over to Mary Hunter's bay house in Point Clear, AL.

{On the way over I realized that I miss Alabama. I don't know what it is, but as I crossed the state line, I felt sad. Maybe it's because that's where I went to college, lived after getting married, and had my first baby. So many great stages of life...}

Anywho, I can't tell you how relaxing the drive to Fairhope was... even though it was raining, it was so nice knowing that I wouldn't have another baby-diaper disaster.

Once I arrived, we drove into downtown Fairhope for a day of shopping. I think we hit every store there. It was so much fun. Hunter had to restrain me a few times. We went to this consignment store that had an incredible baby section... it really was incredible. Brand new Pixie Lily day gowns for $10-14. They had the cutest smocked outfits for little boys... again, $10-14. Hunter convinced me that it would be a little silly to buy baby clothes for a little boy that I don't even have... sad.

After shopping we returned to the house and poured a glass O' vino. At 3:30! 3:30 pm seemed pretty early to the loser that I have become. I have to admit it was nice. We hung out on the porch for the remainder of the afternoon and relaxed.

I love it there... the old trees and the view of the water... cannot be beat. Here's a picture of me after a walk on the boardwalk. I was expecting a casual stroll. Instead, it turned out to be one of Hunter's famous power-walks. Yeesh.

Friday morning came far too early. I packed up and rushed home to be my sister's slave.

The day was spent running errands with Smith and doing last minute preparations for her big debut party on Sunday. We met with her web designer over at Hail Studios - and the website went live Friday afternoon. That was pretty exciting...

Reed had a condo meeting on Saturday morning, and met us in Pensacola Saturday afternoon. My nephew (Alec) turned 7 on Saturday, so we had a birthday party for him Saturday night. Smith had 5 friends in town for the show. Our house was packed with 17 people Saturday night. Chappell stayed in my parents' closet (in her pack n play). It was crowded to say the least.

I must add, Smith's friends are hilarious - Reed and I enjoyed hangin' out with them Saturday night!

The debut party on Sunday went well, and Smith is officially selling clothing from her brand new line, Smitten by Smith! I was in charge of sales and held down the fort at the front desk. Reed was in charge of the music for the runway show. Never thought I'd see that. Good stuff.

Thank you to Mary Carolyn Rentz, Emily Leidner and Flower Magazine for the incredible floral arrangements!

Smith will soon be traveling around the Southeast selling her pieces to {high-end} boutiques. She will have a booth at the apparel mart in Atlanta this October. I will keep you posted on my sister's budding career as a professional fashionista. Let me know if you are interested in placing an order :)

I think that might be it for now. Once I got home this morning (around 10) I realized that I had left Chappell's bag in Pensacola. Awesome. I met my Mom in Fort Walton and just got home about an hour ago. Please excuse the lame-ness of this post.

Below: Isn't the best picture of me, but I wanted everyone to see my lil' assistant. We had to take turns with the calculator.

PS: We moved Chappell's crib to the bottom level today. Two days ago we found Chappy sitting up in her pack n play after her morning nap. Since then, we've found her sitting up in the crib. What a big girl!

www.smittenbysmith.com

Check it out!  

www.smittenbysmith.com 

It will be updated frequently... keep checkin' !

PS:  I mean... how talented are my sisters?  

Where we are...

The picture above is me at 6 months old. Below, is Chappell at 6 months.

What do you think?

I need to get some of Reed's baby pictures. Then you'll be able to make an informed decision. Ha!

Trust me... if you saw them, you'd know that she looks just like her mama!

A friend of mine, Hunter, was jogging my memory this morning about some baby milestones (when they happened, etc.) and it was so great to be able to look back at my previous posts. Otherwise (sadly), I would already be confused. So much has happened, and it's really hard to remember the past once you've moved on to the next stage.

This inspired me to write a detailed account of what Chappy-baby can do. I'm warning you, this will be boring for anyone else besides me. So just go ahead and skip if you want to.

1) Chappell continues to say "dada." Sometimes I think this is with intent, sometimes not. She's said it to Reed before, but a lot of times she will say it to me. It's her favorite sound thus far... and she really thinks we are having a conversation when she starts to babble. "Mama" has only happened once or twice in a slur of other babbles. So it totally doesn't count.
2) Chappell is still toothless. I love her big gummy grin and I'm not in any hurry to see her teeth. She will seem so much older.

3) Chappy rolls all over the place. She rolls both ways with ease. She will roll all the way across the floor of our room to get to a toy if she wants it bad enough.

4) Still not crawling. She's scooting and gets into the crawling position. Once in the crawling position, she will move her legs maybe one time... then stop trying to move, or roll over onto her back. We're getting there.

5) She can sit up un-assisted for long periods of time. She will sit and play by herself forever. Loves it. Or at least until she gets lazy (or twists her head too far around to look at something/someone) and tips over.

6) Sleeping 12-13 hours each night with (usually) three 1-2 hour naps.

7) Wearing mostly 9 month clothes. Can still fit into the 6 month stuff but who knows how much longer. Wearing size 3 diapers.

8) Anyone still reading. Probably not.

9) Loves peekaboo, playing with her ring set, all Lamaze toys, rattles... or anything else she can get her hands on. She likes feeding herself at the end of her bottle. Has a huge fascination with Diet Coke cans for some reason. Loves ice water. Loves anything she can get her hands on in a restaurant.

Tomorrow kicks off another busy weekend.
After Chappell's 8 o'clock bottle, we're going to head over to P-cola. I'm dropping Chappell off with my mother (for the night) so I can go to Point Clear, AL to hang out with one of my most bestest bestest pals, Mary Hunter. I'm super excited. I think we are going out to dinner in downtown Fairhope - and I just received a text message about pedicures. Sounds perfect to me! This is much needed girl time.

(Me and Hunter in Florence)

Friday, I will head back over to Pensacola to help Smith get ready for her big debut on Sunday. Her photo shoot went really well (on Monday), and the website should be up very soon.

Who knows, it could be up now?

I think I'm going to be manning the front desk at her show. Soooo... I will have some work to do once I get there. Can't wait!

Continue to check http://www.smittenbysmith.com/!

A little fresh air

A weekend at home

Alas! We stayed home this weekend! It was soo nice to sleep in our own bed/crib and live out of our closets - not suitcases!

Friday night we kicked off the weekend with a trip to Publix. We decided to ditch our diet for the evening (I've been cheating a lot lately... oops) and cooked a lovely seafood dinner. We popped a bottle of cheap bubbly (that was actually quite delish) and dined on lobster tails, scallops, asparagus & fresh tomatoes. It was quite relaxing & extremely tasty. I was way too tired to stay up and watch a movie. I crashed. When we eventually watched Bride Wars (on Saturday) I was rather disappointed... it was probably the worst movie I've ever seen. I mean it. It wasn't even cute. It was just dumb. This movie brings shame to click flicks everywhere. Don't rent Bride Wars!

Anywho, on Saturday we drove into Destin to run various errands. We finally bought a roman shade to cover the window on/in our front door. This was a huge relief because it seems like the lawn people come almost every day, and I'm sick of the awkward eye contact that occurs quite frequently. It's creepy and I haven't been diggin' it. I must add that Reed and I are very lucky to still be on speaking terms and happily married after the hanging of this said shade. Reed, I am vowing here (with witnesses) to never get involved with one of your around-the-house-projects... ever again.

Even if you ask me to. And I know you will. You always do.

Love you! :)

Saturday afternoon we went over to the beach house to hang out with my sister, Lyle, and her family. It was great to see baby Iain play w/ his little cousin Chappell. I can't wait to get to Pensacola later in the week for more play time. Saturday evening we wasted our brain cells on Bride Wars. I think I mentioned that earlier.

We planned on going to church, but I changed my mind when our alarms went off way too early. We met Reed's parents for a late lunch near Bay Point, and then went back to the beach house to see my sister.

What a busy weekend!

So, today I received a call from Chappell's future pre-school saying they have a spot for her. The kind-of-bad-news is that in order for her to have a spot for her grade, we'll have to reserve it starting this session (end of August). I want her to start going two days a week when she turns one, to meet other babies... not now!

BUT, if I wait to enroll her later, she might not get a spot. There is a waiting list for the "ones" classroom. Basically, this means we have to start paying tuition in August... even though she won't be attending school until December or January. The nice thing is, if I ever have a doctors appointment... or something else to do, I can take her there. It will be paid for!

Chappell's Schedule

Folks, this one is for me.

I want to be able to look back when Williams kid # 2 is here to see what Chappell was doing at 7 months. So please forgive me because I know this is lame for you. This is what I give my mom and my in-laws when they are taking care of Chappell. Except it's printed with more instructions and important phone numbers, like Chappell's pediatrician and poison control.
Can you it tell she's our first?? It's not that obvious...

Chappell’s Schedule

7:45-8:00 am Wake & Feed (6-7 oz.)
*Follow with fruit. Feed until she loses interest or seems full.
9:00-9:15 am Morning Nap
11:00 am Feed (4-6 oz.)
*Follow with veggie, feed until she loses interest or seems full.
12:00(ish) pm Nap
2:00 pm Feed (6-7 oz.)
3:00(ish) pm Nap
5:00 pm Feed (6-7 oz.)
6:30 pm Rice Cereal with apple-prune juice & fruit/veggie
*Feed her as much as she’s willing to eat. She will usually finish the whole bowl of rice cereal and a significant amount of baby food.
7:30-7:45 pm Feed (4-5 oz.), burp her & put her down for the night.
*Make sure sound machine is on.