6 Months

I can't believe James is already 6 months old. This month went by very quickly. James has been very fun this month. He "gets" our jokes and laughs at us. His sleep seems to have really gotten into a pattern and he takes good long naps. He can also roll around on the floor to reach his toys instead of just laying and screaming until we give him what he wants. He started eating solid foods at the beginning of this month and he LOVES it. He has eaten several different foods and he excitedly sucks them all down.

Somehow even though he loves to eat he is only in the 8% for weight. He weighs 14 lbs. 11 oz. now. His height has also dropped to the 50th percentile. We are going to try to beef him up in the next couple months but I'm not really sure how to feed him any more. Maybe I just need to make him move less!

James also got to make his first trip to PA. A 10 hour trip on a good day. He did well for being so little but there were a few times that he cried for an hour straight so we are working on his car riding skills.

I think this has been my favorite month so far.

Elves at work!

Only 1 week left!

5 Months

This was a rough month but James seems to have turned over a new leaf as soon as he turned 5 months old so hopefully that will continue through his entire 5th month. This month James started standing on his legs when we hold him up. He gets very excited about his accomplishments when he does this. He can also wiggle and roll around on his blanket on the floor to get to whatever toys he wants to play with.

James is talking more and giggling. He continues to find new sounds he can make and repeats them constantly (even at 3am). His current sound is a high pitched squeal. He also buries his head into your shoulder when he laughs-like he's so pleased with himself. It is very cute.

We took James for his first sick visit to the doctor (he ended up not really being sick). He had kept us awake for hours at a time in the middle of the night for a week so we thought he might have an ear infection. He didn't. About a week later he found his ear and has started playing with his ear...I don't think it's infected but now he is showing one of the signs!

Because of Thanksgiving we have done a lot of traveling. James did great! His sleep hasn't been too disrupted and he put up with sitting in his carseat for 6 hours at a time. He also got to meet lots of new people.

James also got to see his first snow!

Best Friends

A little over 2 months ago I started babysitting for another little boy. He is 5 weeks older than James. Lee and I always said we wanted twin boys...well this is pretty close! At first they didn't even realize the other one was around but recently they have started noticing each other. They will hold hands, talk to each other, steal toys from each other and chew on each other's feet!

Halloween

Halloween Jammies!!

James dressed up as Tim Tebow for Halloween. Sorry FSU fans!

4 Months

Well James is now 4 months old and has survived another round of shots. Both mommy and James cried a little less this time around. James is still a long skinny little boy. He weighs 13 pounds (15%) and is 25.5 inches long (75%).

James has learned a lot this month. He likes to talk to us and smile at us. He has learned to grab at smaller plastic toys and put them in his mouth and chew on them. He likes to sit up in chairs with pillows supporting him. 3 days before officially becoming 4 months old he rolled over. He is no longer able to spend any time on his tummy. As soon as I put him on his tummy he rolls right over onto his back. It won't be long before I can't catch up with him!

We went to the pumpkin patch (a fun fall experience I have always wanted to have with my child). Every year since we got married I have dragged Lee to a pumpkin patch to take pictures of the pumpkins. Those pictures were cool but no where near as special or cute as they are when you put your own little boy in there with all the pumpkins. We got some pretty cute shots even though James wasn't quite sure why he had to hang out with pumpkins for extended periods of time while we looked at him and made faces at him!

3 Months

Well, I figured I should do my 3 months post quick before James turns 4 months old and I am two months behind! Basically at this point I don't remember a lot about what I was going to write about 3 months because it has been so long...

A few things I remember:

James started grabbing things this month. I expected him to grab at hard plastic toys and stick them in his mouth and chew on them but he started with grabbing his burp cloths and chewing on them. Since he seemed to like cloth I gave him his lovie blanket and he liked cuddling and chewing on that.

James started telling us long stories and laughing and cooing.

James started sleeping 8 hours a night and being very regular with a nap schedule during the day.

Too Cute!

Look what my mommy found at the consignment sales this weekend (plus two others with our favorite caterpillar). Now if she would just finish my hungry caterpillar quilt!!

2 Months...SLEEP??

James slept through the night one night last week (well 8 hours). Unfortunately his last feeding was at 8 pm so he woke up at 4 am. That is not morning if you ask me! One night this week he went 7 hours between feedings and this time it was from 10:30-5:30. That's more like it! Hopefully this trend will continue. I need some sleep!

He enjoys batting at his toys that hang above him on his playmat. That lion definitely deserves every punch he gets!

James loves to smile at us and laugh.

James is getting great at holding his head up. He does prefer to do it from the slightly elevated surface of his boppy but he is strengthening those muscles.

He likes to play with his mommy and daddy.

He has learned a lot this month and is growing quickly. He is getting too big for many of the clothes that looked so huge on him when he was born.

At his 2 month doctor's appointment he weighed 11 lbs. 4 oz. He is still in the 25% for weight. His length moved from 25% to 75%. He is taking after his Great-Grandpa Kelts!

He also had his first round of shots at the doctor's office. He didn't really like the shots (and neither did his mommy!). He screamed and turned really red. When we left he fell asleep immediately but when he woke up he was REALLY fussy. He wouldn't nurse on the side that had two shots. We gave him some tylenol and he felt much better and even gave us a few smiles again.

At least he got some great band-aids out of the deal!

James is 1 Month Old

I haven't been very good at keeping the blog updated but then life isn't very varied around here. It is definitely eventful but not with events that are all that interesting to blog about. We do a lot of eating, sleeping, and pooping. Well, James does anyway. I don't do a lot of sleeping. Quick funny story about my LACK of sleep...one night when James didn't sleep very well I was up several times in the night trying to calm him down and get him to sleep. I ended up sleeping in the guest room so that I wouldn't disturb Lee as much because he had to go to work the next day. Finally James fell asleep and so did I. Well, I can often hear James crying when he really isn't, just because I am always in fear of him starting to cry when I am trying to do something. Anyway, at some point in my sleep I thought I heard James crying and I thought I was holding him and nursing him. I got up thinking "oh no, I am going to crush him, I fell asleep nursing him!". I stumbled to what I thought was James' room but when I opened the door it was in fact my room so I stumbled to the other end of the hall to James' room and sat down in the rocking chair to "finish nursing James". When I looked down I didn't have James in my arms after all and I kind of panicked thinking "what did I do with him". Finally I looked in his bed and there he was sleeping peacefully. Lack of sleep can make you go crazy!

Here are some of the exciting things we have done in James' one month of life...

James has been to many different restaurants.

Steak is his favorite food-like his daddy. He especially likes steak from high-end restaurants when grandparents are in town. (He went to Fleming's at 1 week old.)

James likes to have tummy time

James likes to smile.

James likes to pout.

James likes to spit up.

James likes baths.

James likes to sleep.

James went to the lake for the fourth of July.

I'm the type of person who likes to make lists and accomplish the tasks on those lists. My list looks something like this:

-make diapers

-unpack boxes

-go through school stuff

-organize closet

-update blog

-call a friend

I thought having a newborn (who supposedly sleeps all the time) would make it easy to accomplish those tasks. What I didn't realize was that after I spend time feeding him and getting him to sleep there isn't much time before I have to do it all again. What my list should look like is:

-feed James

-change James

-get James to sleep

-shower

-put clothes on

-eat a meal

-repeat

That list I can accomplish. Oh, and apparently I have been doing pretty well getting that list done because James now weighs 9 lbs. and is 21 in. long. (Incidentally I am dressed and fed most days too.)

I will attempt to update again before James is 2 months old but I make no promises!

The REST of the story...

Now for the long awaited details of James' birth. In the process it was painful and not so much fun but looking back on it I think I had it really easy...

At 9:30 Friday night June 18th I started having regular contractions. They were 6-7 minutes apart and I knew the doctor wanted me to call when they were 3-5 minutes apart for an hour. I figured we would be heading to the hospital by midnight. However, they got closer together then farther spaced out so it took a little longer than I guessed. At 2:00 they had been 4-5 minutes apart for an hour so I called the nurse on call. She said I was welcome to come in but unless I was dilated 4cm she would have to send me home. I said I would wait a few more hours and see what happened. Lee had just recently fallen asleep so I didn't want to wake him. I was too uncomfortable to sit or lay down so I just paced the room timing contractions. At 3:30 I was pretty sure my water broke so I called the hospital again and said I think I better come in now. The nurse on call didn't seem to see any urgency or seem to think I was really going to have this baby but I knew I needed to go.

We got to the hospital at 4:00 and it took forever for someone to call us back to preadmission to check us out. Once we got there no one really paid much attention to us thinking "oh it's just her first baby she's got plenty of time!" At this point my contractions were 2 minutes apart and hurt! Finally someone came to check and said I was only 3 cm dilated but she stretched it to 4 cm so she could admit me instead of sending me home. At this point I very determinedly told Lee that I was going to go back on my resolve to not have drugs. I decided if I was only 3-4 cm dilated and I was in this much pain then I was never going to make it to 10 cm. After what seemed like an eternity the nurse came with my admitting information and took me to the labor and delivery room. As soon as we got there I told Lee to go find someone and tell them to get me some drugs!! He ended up going into the hall and the first nurse he found was one of our friends from church. He told her I wanted an epidural so they started getting me ready for an IV and doing blood work. My contractions were getting worse and worse. Finally I got to a point where I felt like I needed to push. I let the nurse know! She decided to check how far along I was and I was 8 cm. We were still waiting on the blood work to come back so she said she would check again at that point and then I could decide about the epidural. When the blood work came back I was 9.5 cm dilated so I said let's just get this over with!

It was time for me to push but the doctor wasn't there because they had not wanted to disturb him so they weren't going to call him until 7:00. When I said I felt like I needed to push they decided to call him. I had to breathe through a couple contractions while I waited for him to get there and get set up but then I started pushing. It's hard to know what that really means when the time comes. At first my contractions were so fast and furious that James and I weren't having time to rest so his heart rate dropped and they hooked me up to oxygen and started talking about using a vacuum. Finally things slowed down a little and we started to make some progress. After about an hour of pushing James was born at 6:55. Once James' head appeared Lee got to clean his head off and then the doctor showed Lee how to pull James out. Lee was so excited to get to "deliver" his own baby.

It was a pretty quick process...James came 5 days early and I was at the hospital 3 hours before he was born...pretty ideal for a first child.

Next time I get a chance I will have to update you on how life with James is going!

The Weekend in Pictures

For a bunch of pics of brand new baby boy, go to www.flickr.com/fiestaleland to see our life-giving weekend in pictures.  WARNING: site may contain emotional content, keep a box of kleenex at hand!

James Callen Williams

James is here!!

More details later.

But...

He was born June 19, 2010, 6:55 am

7lb. 11oz.

20 in. long

Everyone is healthy and beautiful.

Less than a week...

Less than a week until we close on our house...

Less than a week until my due date...

Just over a week until my insurance year (and thus deductible) starts over...

We may have to get this baby out before the end of June. Hopefully he will be a good boy and do that on his own. I don't really want to have the doctors "help" him out. We've been talking to him and trying to teach him to obey his parents even at this early stage! :)

My bags are finally officially packed so I am more than ready to make the trip to the hospital. Until then I am just running errands for our move (address changes, etc.) and resting.

Waiting

20 days till my due date so we are just waiting. I guess technically we have just been waiting for 9 months. It feels a lot more like just waiting now. I am not working anymore because my doctor said more rest and less stress would be good for me (we figured Kindergarten at the end of the school year wasn't the place for that combo.). It has been great to be able to sit, stand, lay down, and nap whenever I feel the need! My back had been killing me at school and now I rarely feel the pain. I have the "nursery" all ready to go. Well, actually we are living with some friends so a corner of our room is dedicated to the baby with a pack n play with a bassinet and a changing table. All his little clothes are washed and ready for him to do a fashion show for me...they are all so cute I can't wait for him to wear ALL of them! I think we have everything we will need as soon as he comes home but I don't really know what babies need so there is a good chance we will find we need something else, who knows.

When I went to the doctor last week she said I was 1cm dilated and his head was down low and ready to go. I went yesterday hoping for an update and more progress but the doctor didn't check. In fact, she said she won't check again until 39 weeks...my question is how will I know when to go to the doctor if they don't check and let me know! I'm not convinced the whole contraction thing will clue me in!

We are also just waiting on our house...did I mention we are building a house and it is due to be closed on the day before my due date?! It is really moving along and I think when we look at it this weekend it will probably look pretty much done but there are little things that will still need touching up. It's really exciting but we are about to have A LOT going on all at once. The hard thing is I can't do anything about it. I can't do anything to make things happen faster or space things out at all and I really can't do much to help move things in or settle our house. I'm finding I can't really move much in general. It is a weird feeling when what I like best about summer is moving. I like to run, swim, walk, bike, plant flowers, clean... Most of those things are very difficult right now! Soon I'll be back out in the heat.

Well we'll keep you posted throughout the waiting and definitely when the waiting is over!! I can't wait!

catchup

We have been very busy being pregnant and homeless and we're sorry for the lack of updates. Here's a summary of our recent adventures...

 The opportunity presented itself for a glamorous photoshoot at one of Greensboro's hotspots, see a sneak preview below.  You can visit Lee's Flickr Account to see many many more (scroll past our friends' prom pics).

Also of note, Stacey has had not one, not Two, but THREE more baby showers!  One thrown by dear friends where she--well we--were showered with many gifts, but mostly LOVE (which is pretty much awesome).  The other two were pretty good hauls, too...one for Pearce Elem staff and the other thrown by her sweet class (headed by an awesome new friend).

We both have been surprised at how overwhelmed we feel by having received so much from so many people.  Never did we expect quite this much attention and immense blessing!  It is...amazing.

Also, this is very late but our friend Kasey requested this a long time ago.  Kasey (and Tim), we love you and here is Stacey's belly picture at 33 weeks (we are 36 weeks at the time of this posting).

There.  Now consider this the state of catchup.  If you have any burning questions, you may pose them in the comments section and we'll gladly respond 

...probably with as many smartaleck comments as possible.  But that's why you love us!

Burn Notice starts soon, gotta go set the DVR.  What is there to say?  Some crave pickles and ice cream, we crave mediocre television!

Kidnapped!

Last weekend two of my sweet friends from college who live out of town came and kidnapped me for the weekend. They worked up the whole plan with Lee and kept it a secret for a couple months while they worked out all the details. I think Lee is glad the weekend is over so he doesn't have to keep it a secret anymore.

They haven't gotten to see me since I got pregnant so they were excited to see my progressing tummy. Then we went to this little tea room for lunch. We went and got pedicures then checked into a hotel for the night. They had planned for a picnic but it was rainy so we just had a picnic in the room then went downtown for dessert. Then we stayed up late chatting and watching a girly movie. We had so much fun and it was so sweet of them to think of me and pamper me a little before the baby comes. They will have to come back and meet our little man in a couple months!