10/31/2011

Let's see...
Well, I haven't been here in about a month and a lot has happened since then.
I guess I should start off with the big stuff?
We bought a new house last Wednesday, and moved in this past Saturday!
We absolutely love it, and we are glad to get out of that ummm... **icky** rental. So glad.
This house has a lot of space for us to grow into, and we hope to be here a really, really long time!
There isn't too much to be done, but we plan to renovate the bathrooms and kitchen at some point-- but in the meantime, we're not worrying about that much.

The house is pretty perfect for us and Chappell loves our new street! Two of her best buddies, Barnes and Pollard are our new neighbors and she is so excited that we live on their "stweet" now. Every time we drive down our street (which is a lot), she asks me what they are doing. I'm hoping maybe she'll get over the initial excitement at some point, because
I always tell her that they are either sleeping or eating dinner. I'm afraid if I tell her they are awake she'll pester the stew out of them!!
What else is going on?
I've been super busy with my photography business and everything else that goes along with being 29 weeks pregnant. I'm feeling pretty great in general, and this has been a great pregnancy thus far. Things are happening so much faster this time! I feel like my pregnancy with Chappell dragged on for eons and this one is just flying by. I've been running myself ragged between the move and holiday sessions for the biz. I actually landed myself in the doctors office last week because I "over-did it." After several sessions and marching all over Tuscaloosa and kingdom come last Saturday, I ended up having pretty severe "pelvic pressure" and pain, so they made me come in and get checked. Turns out (thank the good Lord) that everything was fine. Apparently I just need to take it easy. Someone please tell me how to take it easy when you have a 2 year old, your own business and a move to take care of? Plea
se?
Yesterday and today I painted the baby's nursery by myself. No signs of slowing down just yet.
There's way too much to do around here!!

Speaking of the baby's nursery, I'm loving where we are headed! The bedding is a blue/white/cream pale stripe by PomPom. I ended up painting the walls Benjamin Moore's Revere Pewter and the Ballard Designs chandelier was just installed on Saturday. I'm loving it!
I'll post pics soon.

Sooooo... I suppose I'll leave you with a few shots of Miss Chappy the cowgirl and her mighty pink steed.
These were just a few I snapped before we met up with friends to go trick or treating. I also feel like I should mention that they were resized for facebook and I have no idea how they will appear on here, resolution wise- man, I'm such a nerd. Just had to get that off my chest.

Chaps and her twinie.
Just up from a nap and a little confused.
Chaps and her big preggo mama. Everyone here knows I get huge when I'm pregnant. I can't deny this fact.

Ugh those eyes!!

I'm world's worst blogger

I'm sorry baby Collier.

I've become the world's worst blogger and a stereotypical second time mom. I promise you are just as important as Chappy, however, when she decided to enter the world I wasn't quite as busy as I am now, and this sister of yours seems to take up a lot of my time.

I'm assuming you'll get used to that... btw, I'm very thankful that you are a boy because I have a feeling you really won't care too much about my blog.

What's new in our world... I've been keeping myself pretty busy with my bizznass, Reed's been busy with work... Chappy's been busy being hilarious, etc., etc.

Chaps is going to school on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays this year and is loving it! Her teachers are Miss Janice and Miss Jamie, but she still gets to hang out with her old teachers Miss Leanne and Miss Sara Elizabeth and loves them all!

On Tuesday Chaps and I decided to drive up to Birmingham to visit Annie Miff (Smith) because she is in town visiting some of her stores in the South East. I woke up on Tuesday feeling a little "off" after a night of bad (worse than usual, I should say) sleep. However, I just ignored it and threw on some clothes (looking quite disheveled, mind you) and got in the car. It stormed the entire way to Bham and I became increasingly uncomfortable. My stomach was hurting and cramping but I couldn't really figure out what was wrong. Chappell had been sick the Saturday before, but this just didn't feel like the stomach bug. It was a weird sort of discomfort & pain. My ELASTIC pants were starting to feel extra tight as I began having cramping that felt a lot like contractions. Awesomeness.

We got to Birmingham and visited with Miff for a little while and I started feeling even worse.

Reed thought it would be best for me to just get myself back to Montgomery before I ended up stranded in Birmingham. I have lots of friends in the hammer, but let's face it, who wants some sick person to come invade their healthy household? I would check into a hotel room before I brought the plague to one of their houses. Ha!

Soooo... I packed C up and we high-tailed it back to Montgomery. Reed met me at the house. Actually, he was a few minutes late and I was quite angry about it... ha!

After laying down on the couch for a while, I realized I was in fact contracting and called the doctor. I never had braxton hicks or anything like that with Chappell until the very end of pregnancy so I was kind of freaked out.

Then it hit me... the stomach bug. Lovely.

Although I will admit I was relieved to find out that all of the weird stomach symptoms were a side effect of the dehydration and oncoming illness.

I managed to keep some gatorade down eventually and didn't have to go in for IV fluids, which I'm very thankful for. IVs are not my favorite.

Next day, I woke up feeling just dandy. What a whirlwind...

Besides the stomach bug, we've been doing pretty well around here. This pregnancy is breezing on by and in general, I feel great! I'm currently 24 weeks. I'll be 25 on Tuesday. Reed felt some strong kicks last night so that was exciting. I thought that he'd felt the baby last week, but apparently he hadn't. SO, I guess last night was the first kick that he's felt! I could tell that he was really excited to finally "feel" his "little man." Very cute.

Collier is a super active baby in utero... I can only imagine what he'll be like once he gets out of such tight quarters. From what I hear, I have a lot to learn about life with boys. I have no experience whatsoever in that department. I'll figure it out.

Chappell loves talking to baby Collier, and says the cutest things during their little "conversations."

Examples:

Uhh, baby Collier, when are you going to come out of your home?

I can't wait to see you, sweet baby boy!

Baby Collier, are you sweepin?? Awwww, he's sweepin, mommy. I sing him Hush Little Babies, like on Baby Einstein.

Baby Collier, I can't wait to rock (wock) you, and give you a bottle, and some juice, and sing hush little baby, and you take a nap, and I give you a blankie!!

She cracks me up, sweet girl.

Yesterday, I asked her if she knew what time it was.

She said no.

Then I said, "it's nap time!"

She responded, "it's not nap time, it's Wednesday!"

I thought that was pretty clever...

We's Potty trained!

Quick update:

C is potty trained! It's been a week since she's worn a diaper. She only wears them to sleep.

Score!!

Potty trained and in a big girl bed... Just in time to do it all over again???

I know it'll probably anger a few, but it was easy! With only two accidents all week, I'd say it was pretty easy!!

a few biggies

So I guess we've had a few big milestones up in this hizzy.

First of all, we decided on a name for our son (SO WEIRD to say that!!):

Collier Hutcheson Williams.

We'll call him Collier.

Both of the names come from Reed's side of the fam, and since R's decided not to do a junior I am completely fine with it. I think it kind of makes sense for him to be named after Reed's side of the family and Chappell has two names from my side, so... no arguing from me.

I think I mentioned it on here already but we transitioned from the crib to the big girl bed a few weeks ago.

I hate to say this and have other moms out there hate me, but it's gone flawlessly.

She didn't have one bad night... hasn't crawled out... it's great. Knock on wood.

It's been a really easy transition for her and I think some of that is due to the fact that we waited so long. It really seems to make a difference when you don't push things like this too early...

She was ready, and I'm very glad that we waited so long.

I'm waiting to post a picture of her big girl bed because the headboard and foot board aren't up yet! It's an antique bed that belonged to Reed's great grandfather I believe? It's really cute -- hard to believe a little boy ever slept in it-- but it's missing the rails that attach the pieces... my mom thinks that she has an extra set so hopefully those will be here soon. Otherwise we'll get Reed's dad (who is quite handy) to rig something for us.

My awesome-sweet-otherwise-talented husband is not handy... so he will not be giving it a go.

Next up... potty training!

We attempted this a few months ago however, I gave up when we had to travel via airplane to my uncle's funeral. In retrospect, I'm not sure she was ready then because she had a few teetee accidents... I'm not quite sure if she fully recognized when her bladder was full?

We started again yesterday morning and she's been accident free so far. She's been awesome. We brought her little potty along in the car for a few errands and a trip to the park... and surprisingly, she told me when she had to go! So... as weird as it was to have a potty in the car, it's worked quite well.

I got a little brave and sent her to school in panties today, so we'll see how that went for her...

not to be negative, but I'm sure she had an accident. Today was the first day of school and the place was insane. I highly doubt she made it to the potty... but we aren't going back. It's panties except for nap and bedtime from now on.

She always does best with cold turkey and it's usually her method of choice in these "milestones."

We shall see...

I'm currently 21 weeks... things are just truckin' right along. This pregnancy has gone by so much faster. And I think I'm enjoying it more than the first time around? I'm not spending every moment fixating on it, and it's kind of nice. I know my alone time with Chappell is limited... so I'm really trying to soak up our time together. The good, and yes, the bad.

He'll be here before we know it!

Just a lil'

bit excited about the wee man's bumpers...

so.dang.cute!!

Big Girl Bed!

Wow!

What a milestone for us!

Yesterday, on kind of a whim, we decided to get Chappell her first big girl bed.

We did this because, Reed and I are still deciding if we want to sell or keep Chappell's crib for the next baby due to the drop down rail. We figured that we can't make any sort of decision, or try to sell it, until Chaps made a move.

So we headed over to good ole Big Lots and purchased a twin mattress and box springs.

Later on in the afternoon, Chappell was so excited about her "big girl bed" that we decided we should go ahead and set it up even though we don't have a comforter or actual bed yet. I'm hoping to get a day bed for her, we'll see if that actually happens. BTW, does this nursery/big girl room shopping ever seem to end?

I feel like I need so many things to get ready for this new baby... and I didn't really expect it to be this way at all!

Anyways... I'm totally rambling--- we went ahead and set up her new room and broke down the crib. I'm not gonna lie, I was really sad about this. I thought she had at least another month or so in the crib and I hadn't mentally prepared myself for this milestone!

The hours crept on by and it was finally bedtime.

We did the same routine as always... bath, books, rock & sing w/ mommy... then it was time for the big ollllllle bed.

I tucked her in and said goodnight.

She got out one time, I put her back in.

Sang one more song, and left again.

She babbled for a while and asked for help, but then went right on to sleep.

I actually woke her up this morning because I was nervous something was wrong! Yes, even though I could tell from the video monitor that she was totally fine.

Right now she is napping in her big girl bed for the first time and she hasn't made a peep. She went right to sleep.

What the heck? I thought this was going to be horrible?

Knock on wood, pray, cross your fingers-- do whatever it is that you do--- that it will stay this way!!

Big News!

I can't believe I'm just blogging this now... in typical 2nd child fashion...

WE ARE HAVING A BABY BOY!!

My 16 week appointment was Wednesday morning.

I paid for an extra ultrasound, just like I did with Chaps, so I didn't have to wait until 20 weeks to find out the gender.

Impatient much?

I wasn't nearly as anxious this go around as I was with Chappell, until the day before the appointment. Tuesday crept by so slowly!

Anyways, as soon as she put the ultrasound (wand?) on my stomach the baby rolled over and I caught a glimpse of his umm, you know, boy parts.

I told Reed and the tech that it was a boy immediately!

The tech said she needed to confirm that what I saw was in fact a little boy and not just swollen girl parts... she told us a few moments later that I was right!

Reed and I are both so excited. We couldn't believe it... I think we both thought after Chaps that we would have a house full of girls.

I can't describe how excited and happy I am to get to experience a little boy...

I never had a brother and I've always wondered what it would be like to have a boy in my family...

Even though this lil' man won't be my own brother, I'll get to experience what it's like to have a son... and I'm so excited to see his relationship develop with Chappellina throughout the years. It will be different, that's for sure.

Although I really want Chappell to have a sister some day, I think nothing could be more perfect for her than a little brother. Chappell is without a doubt the princess of our entire family and loves being the center of attention-- and the thought of having another little girl right after her made me a little nervous. I didn't want her to experience anger or jealousy... or question herself with another girl to compete with... does that sound weird?

I feel like a little brother will be much less threatening for her, and I think that will make adjusting to a new sibling much easier. She loves all things girly, but also loves to get dirty and play with the boys.

I really don't know what to expect but I can't wait to meet my little boy!

Afterthought

I think it's quite funny that after my last post, Chaps has been a perfect angel and in the best mood all day. I guess that goes to show you that toddlers have good and bad days like the rest of us...

Thoughts

I'm pretty lucky... if I don't have a shoot or something to do on the weekends, Reed gets up with Chappell and lets me sleep in.

It's especially nice (and appreciated) now that I seem to have insomnia with this pregnancy.

Feeling just a little bit *ick* on Saturday afternoon, it seemed like a good idea to treat myself to a real*non-diet*Coke.

It was absolutely delicious, but as I tossed and turned all night long I regretted my decision... no more caffeine after 2 for me! I'm such an oldie...

So Sunday morning finally rolls around and I mozy on downstairs around 9:30 am.

Chappell's been up for a couple hours already and has destroyed and unsorted all of the toy bins that I carefully organized only a week or so before (which is fine, but just a little unsettling).

I park myself on the couch with a cup of coffee and slowly adjust to the chaos that is Sunday morning with a two year old.

A few minutes later, a very excited Chappellina comes bolting towards me, full speed-- she's going in for a hug. It all happened pretty fast, but I ended up with a busted lip and my coffee ended up all over the white couch.

Don't worry, Chappy didn't get burned - the coffee wasn't even hot at this point.

I walked into the kitchen to get some paper towels and I couldn't help myself... in pain with a bloody lip, the tears just started to fall.

I'm just -- TIRED.

I'm almost embarrassed to publish this post because I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea... I love my little rambunctious two year old (and my life in general) more than anything in the world. I love everything about her-- and I felt so bad as her big, big blue eyes and chubby cheeks watched for my reaction.

Even with the countless (COUNTLESS!!) tantrums she had this week-- she's still perfect and wonderful in my eyes.

I guess the point is... I can't remember the last time she stayed with her grandparents for a weekend, giving me and Reed a little break... which is probably my fault, because I don't like her to be away... even for a couple of days. I used to do it much more often when she was younger, but now that she's become such a little person, it's getting harder!

It's two things I think-- first of all, I miss her like crazy when she's gone. Secondly, I am a control freak when it comes to my daughter. I'm with her all of the time and I know that no one cares about her as much as I do. I get a little worried and anxious when she's in someone else's care. I guess I'm scared they won't pay as much attention as I would and something bad is going to happen to her? Terrible, I know. I'm a freak.

I'm just tired and pregnant and busy and it's freaking hot--- I think a few days off would do me some good...

---

So when Reed asked if I wanted to go with him to Birmingham next Thursday & Friday for a CLE (legal course), I thought this might be the perfect little get away! Chaps is going to stay with Reed's mom and dad while I spend my days sleeping in and shopping for baby dos... we also plan on a little Gian Marcos and Bottega while we're there.

Back to work for me!!

art & band aides

My posts are so sporadic and weird...

We spent a pretty relaxing weekend at home. I had shoots on Friday and Saturday and other than that, we did a lot of nothing!

We went out to dinner with friends on Friday night - it was fun!

It's so nice to get out and enjoy a meal where you aren't constantly thinking of creative ways to entertain a two year old... she's pretty over sorting bags of sugar and splenda... and the salt and pepper lost its appeal months ago...

Anywho, while we were out to dinner, a fabulous babysitter (recommended from the Hoot fam), took care of Chappell. She is super patient, and our child loves her - so it's pretty great. To make her even more awesome, she is an Abrakadoodle art teacher! So every time she comes over I try to get some art supplies or play dough together for the two of them to play with.

This time, Chappell drew a picture of me!??

Margaret (the babysitter) swears that she didn't help Chappell at all. It has a face, two eyes (with X's for pupils... scary???) a nose, mouth and hair (looks like a buzz cut).

I was quite impressed! Margaret said that she was shocked she could even draw a circle.

I need to take a picture of her masterpiece and post it.

Saturday, Reed took Chappell to the pool while I went to my shoot.

When I met Chaps and Reed at the pool, I noticed that Chappell had a pretty bad rash where a Tinkerbelle band aide had been...

Turns out, she's allergic to band aide glue?

Anyone else ever heard of this?

I told my mom about it (because she's probably the only other person on this planet who cares), and guess what? Mimi's allergic to band aide glue and tape as well.

So there ya have it.

But how do I explain to a two year old who loves band aides more than anything else in the world, that she can't wear them anymore?

My mom said she should be fine if she only wears them for short amounts of time...

UMMM, OK?? You try ripping band aides off of this kid.

Tell me how that goes.

Countdown to gender identification... T-minus 3 days... eeeeeeeek!!!!