Our first try with solids

We tried some rice cereal with Nicklas last night. First I tried the spoon, and most of it when down his front. So I tried it in the bottle with a little breastmilk and this is the face I received...

He's not really happy with it yet...I just wanted to see what he would do! We'll be waiting a little while on solids, I think...

Christmas in Pictures

It's your first Christmas, Nicklas!

Here's great-aunt Alice and Robert's cousin Jeremiah from our first trip to Ringgold since Nicklas was born. Alice read the boys "Twas the Night Before Christmas"; Nicklas was just fascinated. He loves to be read to.

Robert's other cousin Maria. Both kids were in love with Nicklas from the start.

Wild turkeys! There must of been about 30 wild turkeys running through Gi Gi's yard (Gi Gi is Robert's grandmother). I've never seen turkeys except for the ones you get frozen from Ingle's for Thanksgiving dinner. I got a good picture of this one in her driveway...



Melissa and Jonas spent the week with my mom and dad in Winder. Some of Melissa's family, including her sister Carly and her mom Gay, came over Christmas eve and Christmas day so that they could spend time with Luke. This is Carly with Melissa and Nicklas.

Somebody was tired before we even started opening presents! Nicklas got a new crib toy, some new clothes and a baby Einstein video about sign language.

Luke is so cute! It's hard to remember when Nicklas was that small...of course, he wasn't ever as skinny. Here's a rare smile, since he spend most of the week asleep (or at least, when I saw him that was the case).

Here's my little cutie watching me open his first Christmas present!

Santa's little helper...with his Papa.

Cousins Alexis and McKenzie came over with Uncle Heath for lunch. Alexis is now seven months old, and McKenzie will be five in March. (Sorry McKenzie, I didn't get your picture!)

Luke and Carly on Christmas day.

Nicklas had a great Chrismas!

Luke loves his Baby Einstein play gym.

Our boys!

Robert and I received a WiiFit for Christmas, so most of the afternoon was spend doing yoga, hula hoop and ski jumping. I'm planning on losing plenty of weight next year!

Jonas, don't scare the baby!

Thanks for a wonderful Christmas! Next year we'll be chasing toddlers!

Christmas Pajamas!

I just couldn't wait to get Nicklas in his Christmas pj's this year...He seems to like them, as you can tell. I just love the little reindeer feet! This week was our last week at Kindermusik for the year, but we will be signing up with Ms. Dana from Hebron Baptist Church in Dacula for next semester. I'm so excited to have Nicklas in this class, and the next one will be even more fun. He's getting to the age where he enjoys activities more and we'll get to see him grow stronger, sit up and maybe even crawl before the next semester is over in May. My only challenge is that Kindermusik is right in the middle of morning nap time (the ballpark time that it is) so he's often sort of zoned out during class.

We took some time this week to get our Christmas shopping done, and while I was out I had Nicklas' picture made with Santa. I just loved this Santa Claus, but Nicklas was not impressed. He didn't cry or anything, but nothing I could do could make him smile. He'd also just woken up in a strange place in the middle of the mall, so no wonder he was a little cranky.

Next week we'll be traveling to Ringgold, GA to visit Robert's mom's family and his parents will be driving up there as well from Waycross. It's only a 2.5 hour drive from here, so hopefully he will do well in the car. Maybe a good nap and that's it. We'll be coming home on Christmas eve, since I have to play oboe at Grace Episcopal Church in Gainesville once again for their Christmas Eve service. It's the third year I have done this, but its a paying job and I'm not about to turn down the money this time of year. Our family is taking it easy as far as Christmas presents are concerned, especially Robert and myself. It's hard not to buy Nicklas a ton of gifts, but he's only four months old and has no idea what Christmas is anyway, so I'm going to save it for next year. At least I don't have to work Christmas day this year, so I will just enjoy the time with family!

Time to vent...

The "can you roll over" game!

Now that Nicklas is almost four months old, I'm struggling with trying to fit him into a "schedule", whatever that means. I'm such a schedule-oriented person that I can't stand not knowing when he'll need to eat, sleep, poop, etc. Roughly, he eats every three hours, naps three to four times a day and goes to bed anytime between 7pm and 9pm, waking up anywhere from 6am to 8am. Some people might say that I have him on a schedule, but all these things happen at different times every day and different ways. Sometimes he doesn't want to eat when I think he does and won't nap when I want him to, etc, and it drives me crazy! Am I alone on this?

Sometimes I think that I should throw "what the book says" out the window and just let him do what he wants when he wants to. He's much happier that way...and I hate to say it, but he spends so much time being unhappy that I'll do anything to keep him from crying nowadays. Am I spoiling him? Does it make me a bad mom to let him do this? Or is he too young for me to even worry about this stuff? Sometimes I get so frustrated (and so does Robert) that I'm sure that I've made a mistake trying to be a mommy, even though I love my boy so much it hurts. I was not made to be the stay-at-home mom, and those precious days when I go into work feel like a vacation. And when I come home, my time with Nicklas is even sweeter and more special. I just worry so much that he's being fussy with whoever is taking care of him (be it my mom or Robert) that I almost can't enjoy myself being out of the house. I feel as though if he's fussy, than I should be the one to deal with it.

I envy all of you out there with so-called "easy babies". You know, those who never cry and nap on demand. Oh, I know you're out there, because you've told me all about it. I'm thinking God is giving me the challenge now because Nicklas will grow up to be an angel child...here's hoping!

Happy Turkey Day!

So after much debate I decided to cook Thanksgiving dinner at my house this year, since Mom was driving back from North Carolina on Wednesday and we didn't make it up there or down to Waycross to visit Robert's family this year. The original plan was to spend Thanksgiving up in Wake Forest with Jonas and Melissa and Luke, but we didn't want to overwhelm them with the new baby (and Nicklas has been a real grumpy pants since we drove home from NC last week). Plus, I had to work at Athens Regional on Thanksgiving day (at 5pm) so I really couldn't go very far. Nicklas had fun in his Thanksgiving outfit (see Luke's picture on Melissa's blog for his matching clothes). That turkey has really started to roll over, but only from back to front. I leave him alone in his crib for two seconds and come back to find this...

I just can't get him to stay still! He's so sweet, as long as he's had his nap...

Mr. Cool in Daddy's sunglasses.

Introducing Luke Elliot Williams!

Last Sunday we got a call around 4am that Melissa had been admitted to the hospital in Raleigh. So I packed up the house (almost) and we took off for North Carolina with Nicklas. Dad took a flight later and met us up there. We arrived at the hospital about ten minutes before Luke was born. Melissa only had to push for about 15 minutes and he came on out! I was so jealous...much better than pushing for almost two hours. However, Luke is a very tiny baby.

We stayed until Tuesday when they left the hospital, so we could finally get pictures of the boys together. Nicklas was too young to go upstairs to see Melissa, so someone had to camp out down in the lobby with him and all the gear for two days. He did amazingly well, considering how messed up he got with sleep and eating schedules. I was very proud of him.

What's up cuz?

Our boys!

I have a nephew!

I would like to announce the arrival of Luke Elliot Williams, son of my brother Jonas and his wife Melissa. Luke was born today November 16th, 2008 at 2:02 PM, weighing in at 6 lbs and 14 oz and is 21" long. He's tall and skinny, just like his daddy! Both mom and baby are doing great, and Nicklas, mom, dad and I are up here in Raleigh NC to visit for a couple days. I will post pictures a little later!

Sleepyhead

Nicklas loves his sleep! He sleeps through the night almost every night now. At around 7:30 he looks pretty much like he does in this picture above. He's also starting to roll over as well. The other night I heard him crying at about 2:30 am and went to his room to find him on his stomach (he sleeps on his back). He was whining pitifully, like "how'd I get here?" I saw him do it once more Saturday morning, but as soon as I grabbed the video camera he quit. Typical.

Speaking of sleep, I went to the grocery store today for thirty minutes and when I came home this is what I found...

....like father, like son

Kindermusik!

I took Nicklas to his second Kindermusik class today. Mom (who used to be a Kindermusik educator) came with me and took lots of photos. The class encourages moms and dads to use music to stimulate baby's mental and physical growth, as well as bonding techniques and other activities. I have to admit, I thought it all sounded like nonsense, and I do feel a little silly sometimes, but Nicklas really seems to enjoy himself. He's fascinated by all the sounds of the other kids (this class is birth through like 18 months) and the musical instruments and motions. Robert and I both feel very strongly that music should be a big part of his life, and this is a good way to start him out.

He likes the part with the scarves...

Soothing touch time

Just some cute pictures

I had to share these...they are too cute not to!

Halloween (A Day Late)

On Saturday we had our Sunday school Halloween party at our friends Chad and Rachel's house. We had costume and pumpkin carving contests, which even though Halloween was the day before, turned out to be really fun. Robert won "scariest costume" award since he dressed as the "Unibomber" sketch (hooded sweatshirt, giant sunglasses, fake mustach). I forgot to take a picture of him in his outfit, but it was quite a sight. I dressed Nicklas in a little lion costume, which he didn't seem to mind too much. I kinda wished it had a tail, but I guess that could be considered dangerous for little babies.

Robert ended up carving our pumpkin since I was inside nursing the baby. I made the mistake of bringing the biggest pumpkin, which only means you have to clean the most out of the inside. We did, however, take our pumpkin home and light a candle in it. Nicklas was mesmerized.

Here's Nicklas with Rusty, who's dressed as a construction worker.

Here's my little lion. He almost outgrew the outfit before Halloween; you'll see here that I couldn't button the snap under his chin because he head was too big!

Lydia Chafin, who I can't decide was a butterfly or a fairy. I prefer fairy.

Robert was a little miffed that we were missing the GA/Florida game since we were outside carving pumpkins, but after the third quarter we were kinda glad that we weren't watching....what happened Dawgs? Wade Dressler (Florida fan) was quite happy about it, he made sure we got the play-by-play from his ear-bud radio.

Our two month check-up

Last Tuesday we took Nicklas to his two month doctor's appointment to be weighed and have his first vaccinations. He now weighs 12 pounds 11 ounces (way to go!) and is 23 inches long. I could of sworn he would be longer than that...he's already wearing 3 month and 3-6 month clothes and some of them are even a little too short! He's growing so fast its scary! The shots were pretty unpleasant (for both him and myself) and he's been a grumpy-pants most of the week since then. Dr. Hogan also started him on Zantac twice a day to see if it helps with his fussiness, since he's generally upset most of the time after he eats (and before he eats, if we're really keeping score). It doesn't seem to help much, but I'm trying to be patient...she said it might take a week or so to notice a difference. Plus it tastes terrible, so it's like pulling teeth to get him to take it.

Robert had the week off for fall break, so he kept the baby for two days while I went to work. Those were also the two days that Nicklas decided he wasn't going to drink from a bottle anymore! I would call home and hear him screaming in the background, but Robert was doing the best he could to get him to eat. Nothing worked, so he ate very little those two days. I'm trying to chalk it up to the fact that he's just had shots and started on this Zantac and maybe that's why he's regressed back to only taking the breast and not the bottle. It's also the first time Robert's kept him all day alone, which probably stressed them both out, to be honest. I'm not working much this week, so we're going to try the bottle again slowly to see if he'll take it.

I know Robert is glad to be going back to work tomorrow!

Pumpkin picking!

Who likes their bath??