Williamson Family Adventures

Taryn May is on Her Way!

2012-01-21T21:42:00.001-06:00

I am absolutely appalled that I have not blogged since July. Here's hoping for more time and motivation to post in the new year! Not like we are going to be busy or anything with Baby #2 on her way! I am sure anyone who follows my blog probably already knows that we are excitedly preparing for our baby girl to arrive around May 24. Zane is starting to get just a little excited about having a baby sister. I think he will be a fantastic big brother to her.

Our baby girl will be named Taryn May. We hope that Taryn will be a name that will grow with her and fit her personality, whatever that may be. Her middle name, May, although coincidentally will likely be the month she is born, is actually to honor 2 special women in Tommy's family. His maternal grandmother, May Bell Wallace, passed away in an accident before Tommy was born. Her mother, Tommy's great-grandmother, Josie May Cox, lived to be 96 years old and held the family together for 5 generations, passing away in 2008 on the same day as Tommy's great-grandfather after their 75 year marriage. Granny always teased that she hoped someone in the family would name a baby Josie after her. Hopefully she will be just as pleased with her middle name being passed on. While neither Tommy or I ever had an opportunity to know May Bell, we know that she raised her family in the Lord and her children hold her in high esteem.

A young May Bell

Pa & Granny- J.C. & Josie May Cox

Taryn May's first close up

Sorry for the sideways picture. I couldn't rotate it on my phone. We are trying to get ready for Taryn's arrival. Funny, most of the things on my to do list right now have to do with Zane's transition to big boy/big brother. We have to get his room together to free up our baby furniture. Hopefully, I will make the time for more posts to come about potty training and the upcoming transition to the big boy bed! He is becoming such a big boy so quickly.

With love,

Crystal

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

"Aww, MAN!"

2011-07-13T13:45:00.001-05:00

Zane's favorite phrase of the week has been, "Aww, MAN!" He says it with perfect inflection and drama! I thought I would share this cute video of him in the pool on Monday night, getting brave and trying out his new phrase.

YouTube Video

We have so much fun with our big boy!

Crystal

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Dancing in the Minefields

2011-06-26T14:04:00.003-05:00

Dancing in the Minefields
Song by Andrew Peterson

I was nineteen, you were twenty-one
The year we got engaged
Everyone said we were much too young
But we did it anyway

We bought our rings for forty each
From a pawn shop down the road
We made our vows and took the leap
Now fifteen years ago

We went dancing in the minefields
We went sailing in the storm
And it was harder than we dreamed
But I believe that's what the promise is for

"I do" are the two most famous last words
The beginning of the end
But to lose your life for another I've heard
Is a good place to begin

'Cause the only way to find your life
Is to lay your own life down
And I believe it's an easy price
For the life that we have found

And we're dancing in the minefields
We're sailing in the storm
This is harder than we dreamed
But I believe that's what the promise is for

So when I lose my way, find me
When I loose love's chains, bind me
At the end of all my faith, till the end of all my days
When I forget my name, remind me

'Cause we bear the light of the Son of Man
So there's nothing left to fear
So I'll walk with you in the shadowlands
Till the shadows disappear

'Cause he promised not to leave us
And his promises are true
So in the face of all this chaos, baby,
I can dance with you

[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/a/andrew_peterson/dancing_in_the_minefields.html ]

Today is our 7th wedding anniversary. I really love this song by Andrew Peterson because I think it captures the struggles and joys of young married life (or just married life) so well. Tommy actually proposed on my 20th birthday and he was 21. We did spend a little more on our rings. :-) My favorite line in the song is in the bridge... "When I forget my name, remind me."
We have known others that got married young and then later, if things fell apart, they would say things like, "we were too young" and "we grew up in different directions, we are not the same people we were when we got married." I think that is kind of the point. You are never going to be exactly the same people you were when you got married, no matter how old you were, because we are all constantly growing and changing. The challenge of marriage is to keep your connection to each other and, I think, remind each other who you are and who you can be. I feel like Tommy and I are better people than we were 7 years ago. Every day has its' challenges, but, like the song says, "That's what the promise is for."

Tommy is still my best friend and my partner in life. I am so grateful to have a wonderful man to share my life with and raise a child with. God has blessed us tremendously! I can't wait to see what the next 7 years and beyond hold for us!

With Love,

Crystal

Cousin Time

2011-06-12T22:05:00.001-05:00

Uncle Craig, Aunt Fallon, and Lylah (17 mos) came for a little visit to Arlington this weekend. Zane has been having so much fun with Lylah. She is truly one of his favorite people!
Here are some pictures and a video of them playing at Cracker Barrell tonight.

YouTube Video

It is so good to see them! I am so glad that he is already close to his cousins.

With love,

Crystal

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Summer Fun

2011-06-05T22:29:00.001-05:00

We have been having so much fun already this summer!

We are learning the cool way to wear a baseball hat.

We have played with our friends a lot.

Zane with friend Casey (or "Cakey" as Zane calls him)

I caught that picture right before they started trying to push each other out of the car! :-)

We have also been swimming a couple of times.

YouTube Video

This was Zane's first time back in the pool but it was still pretty cold in the water. When we got all the way in yesterday, Zane was a little apprehensive and clingy. I think he has learned some fear since last year. I wonder if the accidental plunge he took in April had anything to do with that. :-) I am fine with some healthy fear as long as he can still have fun!

Today we went to the church picnic. This picture will be great bribe material in about 15 years!

I am liking this blogging app but I can only post with pictures and videos that are on my phone. Maybe soon I will get a chance to do some more from my actual camera!

Hope you are enjoying your summer too!

With love,

Crystal

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Zane Breaks it Down!

2011-05-29T16:35:00.001-05:00

Zane LOVES to dance and will start grooving whenever he hears music. Here is one of my favorite videos of him:

YouTube Video

He started dancing to the Tejano music as we were leaving On the Border that day and entertained everyone waiting outside. I think he picked up some moves from his Uncle Craig!

I found a blogging app for my phone that some of my fellow blogging friends like. If this works out, I might be able to post more often! These days, pictures are a challenge with such an active boy but we have some great videos! Hopefully we can share more of them.

With love,

Crystal

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Halfway to 2

2011-03-23T16:57:00.003-05:00

It was time to update! This is our most recent family picture taken about a month ago, right before Zane turned 18 months old. Look at that mop head! I forgot how badly he needed a haircut. (We buzzed it pretty short soon after that!)

18 months was such a big milestone for me. I just can't believe we are halfway through the second year already. I still want to look at him as barely 1, but now we are closer to 2! He is walking, running, dancing, talking, and playing like the BUSY toddler boy he is!

We have said bye-bye to the paci now completely. This was a big step of faith for all of us! We had cut back significantly earlier in the year, but relapsed when Zane had the flu in February. We essentially had to start from scratch to wean him off, but did it completely this time, just after he turned 18 months. He has been such a big boy about it! He barely cried the first night, cried a bit more the next couple of nights, but now he doesn't even ask about it. He did find one in the house the other day and we caused a major meltdown when we took it away. I feel like the only things we have left of "baby days" now are diapers and the crib. Everything else is completely different already!

Zane is so busy! He is earning the nickname "Hurricane Zane" because you can walk through our house and see exactly where he has been, leaving a path of destruction in his wake. He would much rather play with the keys or wallet he can barely reach on the dresser than the zillions of toys he has on the ground. He has learned how to open the doors in our house now, including the front, back, and door to the garage! This is scary! We are learning to always, ALWAYS lock the outside doors.

Zane LOVES to be outside! It doesn't matter what he is doing there, he just wants to be outside.
We have been trying to take advantage of the nice weather and spend time in the backyard every evening and go to the park as often as we can. Zane loves the slides, but he makes it very clear that he does not want to get on the swing.

Zane is very opinionated, particularly about the things that he does not want or like. "Zane, do you want more chicken?" "No, no" in a very cute, but determined voice while he shakes his head.

His favorite phrase is "Oh NO!" He thinks it is what you say when something hits the floor. He often throws things down and then looks up and says "Oh No!" He will keep repeating it until you say it back. We haven't gotten through to them that it's not "oh no" when you do it on purpose. :-)

He is very silly. He loves to put buckets on his head and gets to belly laughing at silly things that Daddy (or occasionally Mommy) will do. Tonight he got to laughing about the 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed. He kept hitting his head with his hand and saying "Ow" and then belly laughing! He is so funny!

His health has been okay. We have continued to struggle with sinus infections and wheezing that just doesn't want to clear for days and weeks. His pediatrician told me that he just has a bad respiratory system and we just have to hope that it gets better as he grows. His doctors have decided to keep him on antibiotics through the end of April to try to clear up and prevent those stubborn sinus infections. He started with a runny nose and cough again earlier this week but he has seemed to keep it from getting worse or getting too wheezy with it so far. Maybe the antibiotics and nasal spray are helping this time! Keep praying for his respiratory system. He is such a happy guy when he does feel well!

I can't believe how fast he is growing! He will be 2 before we know it!

With love,

Crystal

PARENTING a toddler!

2011-01-22T18:57:00.010-06:00

I am so excited to get a quick moment to blog! Hopefully I can make it through a whole post without being interrupted but we will see. Zane and life in general keep me super busy these days and sitting down in front of the computer to write just does not happen very often.
Zane is a toddler in every definition of the word now. He really started walking the week before Christmas and that has changed EVERYTHING! It is like he is completely blossoming into his own little independent person more and more each day. It has been so much fun to watch him learn new things and beam in pride when he accomplishes something new. He loves that he can walk on his own to get to all kinds of places and he is already starting to try running. He loves carrying things around the house and taking them wherever he wants. He loves music these days and is even starting to try to sing!
Toddlerhood is also very challenging. I was talking to another mom the other day about how the first year, motherhood is really just caring for an infant. Now we are in full-fledged, no turning back PARENTING all day long. "Zane, no touch..... Zane,use your spoon.... Great job getting off the couch!.... No, you can't have your paci until bedtime." You get the picture. This is definitely a challenging stage as our communication is still fairly limited. It is so difficult for him to understand why we do things sometimes. We have cut the paci out to just bedtime and I think it broke his little heart for a few days that he would cry and cry at naptime but we just wouldn't give it to him. He is doing much better about that now, although he still usually cries a little. I think we have decided to give him until February to cut it out completely. We are not terribly worried about it causing permanent teeth damage or whatever right now, but I just know the longer we wait the more attached to it he becomes and the harder it will be to break it. Before we cut it to only night time, he was getting to a point where he wanted it all day long and would totally melt down if we took it away. I am not okay with that.
Zane's health continues to be a bit of a struggle. I have just become resigned to the fact that we will continue this cycle at least until respiratory season ends. I am just continually praying that we won't have any major illnesses or asthma flare-ups that we cannot get under control at home. After 3 months of pretty constant sinus infections, Zane had to have his adenoids removed in December. We were hopeful that this would fix everything but he has still been on antibiotics and steroids 3 times since the surgery. He has seemed to clear up the infection every time but we will get about one great week in before he starts all over again. I am just waiting for the day that immune system of steel that everyone says he is going to develop will kick in. We sure do enjoy those good weeks in between! Thankfully, each time he has only had minor sinus or ear infections and his asthma has never gotten to the point that we can't manage it with his nebulizer at home, although he has made me nervous a few times. I am also very thankful that he has a pulmonologist now and they are more than willing to call in medications for him over the phone just by talking to me about his symptoms. We have not had to miss work very much at all. We can also contact the on-call physician after hours and that has saved us at least one or two trips to the E.R.
We are excited about a new year. I know it is already the 22nd of January, but I never really got to reflect on last year and what we are excited about for the coming year. Honestly, when I have thought about 2010 as a whole, most of what comes to mind is medical. I guess it has just been that kind of year for us. Lots of doctor's visits (and doctor's bills), not only for Zane, but for myself and even Tommy. But I also see how God has been so faithful to us. It has been a really fun year of watching Zane grow and learn, getting together with his cousins and our friends, and relying on God's grace to get through each day. God has taken care of us and taught us much about his faithfulness.
So here it is, a year in review:

January 2010- We welcomed cousin Lylah to the Curry family!

We celebrated a late Christmas with the Currys after she arrived.

February brought the most snow we have ever seen in Texas in our lifetimes!

In March, we got to play with cousin Lylah.....

and Zane enjoyed playing with Daddy at home while Daddy was looking for a job.

April- We celebrated Easter....

and hung out with cousin Noah.

In May, we enjoyed the nice weather....

and had Zane's baby dedication.

June- We played with some friends....

And Mommy got to go to Austria for a week!

In July, Zane got tubes in his ears.

It was kind of a rough month, but cousins Foster and Emma came and played for a week and we had a blast with them!

In August, Little Man turned 1!

September brought us to a weekend trip to Dripping Springs to play with cousin Lylah.

And we had an early birthday celebration for cousin Noah (1st birthday in October).

In October, we had a great time with all the Curry cousins when we all went to the zoo....

and we took a trip to Abilene for Hardin-Simmons Homecoming!

Zane was a very cute dragon for Halloween, too.

In November, we celebrated Thanksgiving with Daddy's family...

and then had a late celebration with Gigi & Pops, Uncle Craig, Aunt Fallon, & Lylah!

December was, of course, a wonderful Christmas...... but this is the only December pic that I have access to at the moment!

I can't believe how much Zane grew through those pictures. It's hard to remember him looking so little! It's been a fun and crazy year. We are looking forward to 2011 to see what God will have for us. Every day is an adventure with a toddler in the house!

We love you all!

Crystal

Allergies, Infections, & Asthma, Oh My!!

2010-09-26T17:11:00.004-05:00

Zane enduring a breathing treatment at Lylah's house

Many of our friends and family know that Zane has not been the healthiest of little boys! Basically since he started day care we have had one issue after another. For several months, our basic cycle was: stuffy nose becomes cough, cough becomes wheeze, wheeze gets worse, ear infection, repeat every 2-4 weeks. After about 6 ear infections, Zane got tubes in his ears in July. We were very hopeful that this would really clear up everything. It did cut out the ear infections, but the rest of the cycle pretty much stayed the same.
He also kept getting flares of eczema that we attributed to food allergies and broke out in hives one day after eating food off my tray at Genghis Grill. Because of that, combined with the wheezing, we saw an Allergy & Asthma specialist at the end of July. Turns out, Zane's allergic to eggs (and has skin irritation with certain citrusy fruits). This doctor also added another maintenance med to Zane's wheezing treatments.
At the end of August, Zane's wheezing flared up, probably because of Orange O-zone days when it was so hot. We got it back under control in just a few days, in time for Zane's birthday. The next week, Zane's birthday week, we started him on whole milk. Within days, his asthma was the worst I have ever seen it. We had one horrible night where he woke up every 4 hours or less, short of breath, crying, and coughing until we did a breathing treatment that subsided the symptoms long enough for him to get back to sleep. At that point, we switched to soy milk immediately. Since that week, we have yet to get Zane's asthma completely under control again. Runny noses have come and gone but the wheezing and coughing stick around. Last week, we took him back to the pediatrician and they doubled one of his maintenance meds, put him on 5 days of oral steroids, and referred us to see a pediatric pulmonologist (lung specialist) the very next day. Luckily, the pulmonologist is at Cook Children's, where I work, so I feel pretty comfortable there and it is quite convenient for us.
The pulmonologist took Zane's history and a chest x-ray and said that he would call this asthma (or an asthma-like condition :-)). He believes that Zane most likely has intermittent asthma that is triggered primarily by respiratory viruses and infections and he is hopeful that eventually we will be able to cut the maintenance meds out completely and just treat flare-ups. He gave us a new plan and an after-hours number for the pulmonologist on-call (this may eliminate some ER time!) and told us to continue the 5 days of steroids unless he cleared up before then. When we completed the steroids and Zane didn't seem to be better than he was to begin with, I called the pulmonologist back. They had me take him for a sinus x-ray and, sure enough, the poor little guy had a sinus infection. I am pretty sure he had that for at least a week and a half prior because he had little yellow goop draining from his eyes but no runny nose for at least that long. They put him on antibiotics for 3 weeks! Since starting them, he had a lot of drainage for the first few days and that has slowed down now but he still has a horrible cough and his wheezing has been worse than before. I just want to get my little boy well! I am pretty sure it has been at least a month since he has really felt good.
It doesn't slow him down much though! We are still chasing our little guy all over the house, whether he is wheezing or not. He is about to eat us out of house and home too! Yesterday, I heated up 3 frozen burritos for lunch. Zane ate 1 3/4 and I only got 1 1/4. He also ate some apple slices and drank most of his milk. I'm telling you the kid can eat! I am just glad that he has been more willing to try new foods lately.
We are hopeful for better, healthier days to come. Respiratory season makes me nervous but it does look like he can probably get the flu shot so that helps! We are trusting God to take care of our little boy. Thank you to all our friends and family for the prayers, support and helpful suggestions.

With love,

Crystal

Happy Birthday Zane!!!

2010-08-31T17:10:00.008-05:00

Today

One Year Ago

Zane,
Happy birthday Little Man! I cannot believe that it has been a whole year since you were born! It has been the most amazing year of my life. Now I can't imagine life before you were here. We love spending time with you every day. You are growing and changing so quickly. We had a blast at your birthday party last weekend. So many of our friends and family came over to celebrate your first year of life with us. Uncle Robin & Aunt Jill even drove all the way from Tulsa with Emma & Foster just to surprise us for your big day.

Lego Cakes made by Mimi

Swim Party

So many presents!

Digging in to the cake

Our little smurf

Birthday Cake Fun

Birthdays are so much fun! I am looking forward to many more with you!

With Love,

Mommy

P.S. Happy birthday to Pops too!

11 Months!!

2010-08-01T14:07:00.017-05:00

Zane (11 mos) at a mini-photo shoot for his birthday invitations

I am so far behind!!! This irritates me and stresses me out more than you would think! I was really enjoying my little month by month history of Zane's life and then I had to go and skip 2 whole month milestones. It has just been the craziest summer and, when I barely have time to keep up with laundry and keep enough bottles clean in the house, blogging just falls to the bottom of the priority list. I have really only been on the computer to pay bills since May.

But, despite the mess that is my house, the bills that need to get paid today, the baby shower this afternoon, and everything else that I should probably be doing, I am making it a priority to post today (And by that, I mean that I started on Sunday, 8/1, and it took me 6 days to finish!). You know why? Because my baby boy is 11 months old! This is my last "month" post before his birthday. I cannot believe how quickly this year has flown!

Zane at 8 months

Zane,

We have so much fun with you! At less than a year of age, you have such expression and personality. You love to make us smile and laugh with you. Everyone that spends time with you loves you! You are pretty laid back most of the time but you do have something to say if another kid gets into your personal space bubble. You are sometimes a little unsure of strangers, but once you warm up to someone, you do great.

We have had so many milestones over the last few months! You started crawling Memorial Day Weekend, just before you turned 9 months old. You execute a perfect army crawl, fit for military duty, getting you across a room in no time. You use your elbows and your big toes to push yourself around, and you mop mommy's floor in the process. At this point, you know how to crawl on your hands and knees but you generally revert to army crawling, especially if you are in a hurry.

Zane Crawling

You started really talking in June! To be honest, I think you have been saying "da-da" since about April but I was in denial until you started saying "ma-ma" at the end of May. By now, you consistently call us by name, Gigi, Pops or Papa, ball, more "mo-mo", dog "dah", Max "Ma", Smallz "Ba", duck, truck, cup, bottle, juice "ju", and about 25 other words that you can repeat if we say them. You jabber all the time, whether we understand you or not.

In the beginning of July, you started pulling up. This happened the same day that you got tubes in your ears. I think it helped your balance to get that fluid off your little ears. Now you are pulling yourself up on everything and cruising around the furniture. I am pretty sure you will be walking by your birthday!

Some of your favorite things right now are food, snapping your fingers, banging toys on the floor or each other, clapping, & watching Baby Einstein. You have so much personality!

Zane at 10 months

We have been really busy this summer. Daddy started his new job in May. He is doing Public Relations for the North Tarrant Express highway project and he loves it. He has missed his time at home with you but he is glad to be back to work. So, we have adapted to both working again and you have gone back to school. You are back at the same daycare but in a different classroom. You have lots of fun there playing with your friends and learning so many things.

At the beginning of May, we had a good visit with the Curry cousins. Uncle Robin, Aunt Jill, Emma & Foster came down from Tulsa for your baby dedication. Uncle Craig, Aunt Fallon, & Lylah weren't able to stay, but they came for part of the weekend to see everyone. It was a blast to watch you all play together! Here are some of our favorite memories from May:

Zane (8 mos) with London & Hadley at London's birthday party
(Mommy & Daddy went to college with both London & Hadley's parents)

I couldn't resist!

Zane got a haircut (NOT his first!) at Gigi's house

"Save me!"

All the Curry grandkids with Gigi & Pops
Lylah (4 mos), Zane (8 mos), Foster (5 1/2 mos), & Emma (3)

Zane with 2 of our favorite girls- Emma & Isabella (9)

"Chick" shirts
(Zane's says "Chicks Are All Over Me")

For Memorial Day weekend, we took a trip to Lubbock and visited your Great-grandmom & Great- granddad (Gigi's parents), and you met Mawmaw & Pawpaw Wes (Pops' mom & Step-dad) for the first time. Your great-grandparents were all very excited to see you and you were a perfect little guest. Even visiting Pawpaw Wes at the hospital, you brightened up the whole room. Wes passed away in July and I am so glad that I have that memory of you playing with him and making him smile.

Zane with Great-Grandmom

Zane with Great-Granddad

On Memorial Day, we drove back home and you went swimming for the first time with Lylah at Pops' house. You had a blast! You love swimming and splashing.

Zane (9 mos) & Lylah (4 1/2 mos) with Pops

June was another busy month. We squeezed in some time with friends between trips and work. You went back to Lubbock with Mommy, Pops, & Gigi in the middle of June when PawPaw Wes got really sick. Mommy left from there to go on a trip to Austria for work that made me leave you for a whole week!! Your time with Gigi & Pops in Lubbock was your first overnight without either of us. I think it was much harder on us than it was on you. You had a blast with 4 grandparents to spoil you rotten! You returned home to Daddy and he survived 5 days by himself with you but he made sure I knew that I was very missed. Being away from you was really hard, but I had a great time on my trip. Since I took the camera with me, we don't have as many June pictures:

Zane (9 mos) playing with good friend Micah (6 1/2 mos)

Pops using his super-human ability to put babies to sleep

July brought more craziness but you always roll with the punches. We spent some great time with friends on several weekends. You got to see your first fireworks on Independence Day. You thought they were pretty neat but you were a little more interested in playing with your toys. Mommy hurt her back at the beginning of the month and spent most of the rest of the month trying not to pick you up! That was very hard!! I probably shouldn't be picking you up now as much as I do, but a boy needs his Mommy sometimes. :-)

You got to spend a lot of time with cousins in July which was really fun. Noah stayed with Mimi & Papa Bear for a week so you got to play with him several times while he was there. He came to our house and followed you around while you showed him all your favorite things to get into- the cat door on the closet, the dogs' water bowl, and an empty 2 liter. :-)

Zane & Noah

Here are some fun pictures from July:

Zane ate almost an entire biscuit by himself at McDonald's

Zane decided that it can be more fun to crawl through a toy than to play in it!

Zane with his friend Caleb

Emma & Foster also came to stay with Gigi & Pops for a week while Uncle Robin & Aunt Jill celebrated their anniversary. Gigi got sick while they were there and we spent some time helping out. Corralling a 3 year old, 10 month old, & 8 month old was exhausting for Mommy & Daddy, but you had a blast playing with your cousins!

Fun with cousins!

Zane & Foster getting to know each other

Zane (10 mos) & Foster (8 mos) eating & playing

"Ready to swim Mom!"

Zane playing with Emma

We are hoping for some normal weeks now that summer is winding down. I realized this week that I don't think we have had 1 week where we all worked and went to school all 5 days all day, slept in our own beds every night, with everyone feeling well since at least May! We have dealt with illnesses, injuries, travels, death, fleas, teething, and broken A/C's all summer.
You are growing up so fast! We have been planning your first birthday party and I have been both excited and sad about how big you are getting!

We are so proud of what a big boy you are becoming, Little Man!

With Love,

Mommy (Crystal)

Zane's Baby Dedication

2010-05-16T11:01:00.006-05:00

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." Deuteronomy 4:4-6

Last Sunday, we had a very important milestone in our family. We dedicated Zane to the Lord at our church. We stood in front of our family and friends and committed as his parents to raise him in the knowledge and love of our Savior.

Us on stage with Pops. So glad he is our pastor!

Our friend Joe praying over our family as our deacon.

There are 4 things specifically that we have committed to Zane as his parents:

1. We commit to love you and care for you in a way that will show you a picture of how God loves you.

2. We commit to be the primary spiritual teachers in your life, to teach you about the Lord at home.

3. We commit to pray with you and for you on a regular basis.

4. We commit to make your spiritual development a priority in our family lives.

Zane with his first Bible

The gifts we received from the church.

Zane is our precious blessing from the Lord. I cannot imagine a greater gift.

Crystal

8 Months Old!

2010-05-13T17:07:00.007-05:00

You are getting so big!! So, technically you have been 8 months for 13 days already, but let's pretend it's April 30. Mommy has been a little busy! You amaze us every day as you learn and grow so much! You are getting more and more mobile every day. We set you on the floor and you quickly pull yourself onto your stomach and scoot yourself around in circles grabbing everything you can reach. You are not crawling yet as you still have trouble pulling yourself forward but you don't stay in the spot that we put you, that's for sure.

Your personality comes out more and more each day. We have had lots of fun with you this month! You belly laugh at silly things all the time. Your dramatic side has come out a little more. You are definitely laid back and happy, but you make some dramatic faces and you are very vocal!

You love to eat! We could feed you baby food for hours and you would probably still keep opening your mouth for us to put food in and get upset when we finished. You cry every time we tell you "all done" with your food, even after we increased the amount we give you. There are very few things that you haven't liked. You do, however, have quite an opinion about formula. We began supplementing with formula this month. You did fine the first few times when we were using pre-mixed liquid formula samples. Later that week, however, we tried the regular powdered formula and you absolutely refused it, even when it was just 1 oz of formula mixed with 5 or more ounces of breastmilk. For whatever reason, you could tell the difference and you went on a hunger strike with Dad! We got some more pre-mixed liquid formula and you have taken that just fine. I think you share my sensitivity to different textures in food. :-(

You finally started consistently sleeping all the way through the night this month. You occasionally wake up once during a night for a very brief period of time, but for the most part you are usually out for the whole night although you still sometimes wake up earlier than we would like. You don't seem to understand why Mommy & Daddy don't want to play and talk at 6am.

You played with Noah (6 mos in this picture) at our cousin Isabella's 9th birthday party.

Isabella and Zane

Doesn't it look like he is taking the picture of himself? Remind you of anyone else we know?

All dressed up for church

We are getting a bit old for the swing. You get frustrated that you cannot put the toys from the mobile in your mouth!

We took a quick trip to Waco this month and visited with our friends, Keith & Rachel, and their kids Naomi (2 1/2) and Caleb (2 1/2 weeks!). Landon, Nikki, & London came too! It was great to catch up with old friends. We couldn't believe that we were all old enough to have kids! It seems like just yesterday we all lived in the dorms!

You love seeing Pops & Gigi at church every Sunday!

Fallon & Lylah came for a brief visit this month and you had a great time with Aunt Fallon. You stayed up a little too late that night and got into a really silly mood. You loved having your cousin Lylah around and kept looking at her and saying "bah-bah-bah" as though you were trying to say "baby" but couldn't figure it out. Fallon decided to help you figure it out and you thought it was HILARIOUS! This is one of my favorite moments with you so far!

You are so much fun to be around! 8 months is a great age!! We love you Zane!

With love,

Mommy (Crystal)

Zane's First Easter

2010-04-18T16:39:00.005-05:00

In the rush of Easter morning, I didn't get any pictures on the actual day of Easter, but I really thought Zane was cuter on the day before at the Easter egg hunt anyway. We had the hardest time finding a dressy Easter outfit in Zane's size. Maybe I waited too late to look or didn't look in the right places, but all we could find were toddler outfits or more casual outfits. On Easter Sunday, after trying on several combinations, he ended up in a "polo" type romper with khaki color pants over it because all of his jeans that are long enough fall off his waist! I was slightly disappointed. Nonetheless, we had a great time at the Easter Egg hunt (for Zane it was more of an Easter egg reach) at our church on the day before Easter and I wanted to share the pictures.

My Easter bunny!

He figured out what to do with the borrowed Easter basket

"You said this was an egg, right? Aren't eggs food?"

It was very bright outside so this is the best picture we were able to get of the 3 of us.

Zane with Pops & Gigi

Zane's first experience with a chainlink fence

After the egg hunt, we met Tommy's family for lunch to celebrate his Aunt Nancy's birthday. Zane had a good time with his Great-Memaw and Great-Pops and his Great-Aunt Nancy.

Great-Memaw & Great-Pops loving on Zane

Our happy guy!

Easter sure is exhausting!

With love,

Crystal

7 Months Old

2010-04-01T21:46:00.004-05:00

Zane! You are growing too quickly! You turned 7 months old yesterday. I am amazed every day at how much you learn and how grown up you have become. You weigh 18 lbs now! You have been staying home with Daddy all month and you guys have had so much fun together.

You sit up really well now! You can sit up all day long it seems. You love this new way of looking at the world and you sit up and play all the time. You have also been rolling over more, usually from your tummy to your back because you hate tummy time. You get a little more mobile every day. Before long, you will be all over the house!
Your new favorite thing is waving. You wave all day long, one hand or both. We need to get video of this! It started out a very slow deliberate hand wave while you watched your own hand in fascination. It has become an exaggerated, "blinker" motion that you do constantly- if you see someone across the room, yourself in the mirror, when you're happy, sometimes even when you're crying.
You are getting better and better at communicating with us. It pulls at my heart whenever you are playing on your own and then you look up at me and cry and reach for me to tell me you want to be picked up! You reach for everything now! We have to constantly move things out of your reach or they will be right in your mouth.

You especially want our food and cups! You LOVE to eat still! I am not sure if you would ever get enough. You get very upset when we stop feeding you, no matter how much we give you. You seem like such a big boy sitting in your booster chair at restaurants and eating with the family!

You have one tooth! (Almost 2). Teething has not been our favorite thing but we are managing. Unfortunately, we have also had to continue breathing treatments. All month you had to take at least 2 a day for the preventive medicine even though your wheezing got much better early in the month. Just as we were about to be done, you got a cold and sure enough, you started coughing and wheezing again. This has led to another ear infection too! This is feeling like an everlasting cycle! We hope that you will feel better quickly and that we won't have to keep doing breathing treatments forever. We have at least another month ahead of us....

Zane (6 mos) & cousin Lylah (2 mos)

Most of the time, you are just about the happiest baby in the world. We are having so much fun with you! We are so glad you are our little boy!

Zane making the bedtime story difficult!

With love,

Mommy

Happy Half-Birthday, Zane!

2010-03-10T21:32:00.005-06:00

So, Mommy is a little behind this month! We celebrated your half-birthday, 6 months old, 10 days ago. We have been super busy, but this was too big of a milestone to skip over! You are such a joy to everyone around you. Even though things have been difficult this month, you are definitely the bright spot of each day! Your big personality shows more and more each day and you grew up so much this month.

This is one of our favorite moments with you from early in February. We were reading a book to you about a baby monkey who wants a hug and you starting trying to say the word "hug"! We know you didn't know what it meant, but it sure was fun!

HUG!

We had a record amount of snow this month. On Feb 11 & 12, we got a combined total of about 1 foot. That is crazy for this area of Texas! You weren't nearly as impressed by the snow as your Mommy & Daddy but you humored us and let us take you out bundled up for some pictures.

Zane with the Snowman

You rolled over a few more times this month. :-) We have decided that you are just too laid back to care enough to roll over all the time. You are just content to lay where you are playing with your feet or whatever toy you might have. We have seen you do it, but you just don't do it very often.
You got better and better at sitting up. This is what you really want to be doing. When you are laying down, you are often raising your head and trying to pull yourself to a sitting position. You like to see and interact with the world. By last week, you are now able to remain sitting on your own for up to 30 seconds or so before you topple over! This was very exciting for all of us.
You play peek-a-boo, even when no one is playing it with you. That seems pretty advanced for a 6 month old, but you know what you are doing. You pull the blanket over your face and then laugh and kick when we notice. If your hands are under the blanket, you can even throw it off yourself and squeal when we say "Peek-a-Boo!" You love it when someone else plays too. You think it is hilarious for Daddy to pop out from behind something.
You LOVE to eat. You have mastered baby food so well! You are now eating a variety of veggie and fruit purees. We haven't found anything yet that you don't like. You get very impatient when you don't think Mommy or Daddy are feeding you fast enough and you often get upset when all the food is gone.

You slept through the night for the very first time on the night of February 7, the Superbowl. I guess you were worn out from all that football! We were very excited! This still hasn't quite become a pattern, but at least we know it is possible. You still nap pretty well most days, taking 2-3 naps 1-2 hours each and you go down for bed like an angel. You have a stuffed giraffe ("G-Raf") that you have grown some attachment to and you smile so big when we wind it up at night and hand it to you playing a lullaby. You hold it and chew on its ears until you get sleepy and then you drift off without a peep usually.
You dealt with some sickness this month but it didn't get you down too much. You had lingering bronchiolitis and an ear infection at the beginning of February that required breathing treatments. This got better and we had just weaned the breathing treatments completely when you got sick again at the very end of February. It was back to the doctor and back on the breathing treatments, with an added medicine, for you. It didn't really slow you down much until another ear infection hit and made you pretty miserable. We are over all of that now but have to continue breathing treatments for another couple of weeks.

You are teething now. :-( This has made everyone unhappy. It is hard for your Mommy and Daddy to see our happy, usually independent little guy so grumpy and clingy. We know that it is only because your gums hurt so bad! We are doing our best to help you feel better and we hope those teeth will get through soon and give you a break!

Your 2nd Haircut!!

You had your last day at your school on February 26. We were very sad to take you out and your teachers were sad to see you go. All your little friends made a big card with all of their footprints and names on it! On the bright side, you are having the opportunity for some great bonding time with Daddy while he is looking for a job! You will be back in daycare before we know it and I am sure he will miss his time with you. Daddy has been a great stay-at-home dad these last couple of weeks!

Sitting Up

Zane, we love you dearly!! Every day you make us laugh and smile as you grow and learn!

With love,

Mommy (Crystal)

Time for a Change

2010-02-20T19:12:00.002-06:00

Well, I will come right out and say it. We had a bad week in the Williamson household. For the last couple of weeks, Tommy was getting indication at work that the business was struggling. They were looking at ways to cut costs. They were discussing cuts to benefits and some other things. We had begun having our own discussions that maybe it was time for Tommy to move on. We had begun looking at job openings and talking about what he might want to do, but we felt like we were in a good place to take some time and be a little picky. Well, we are no longer in that place. After some rough days at the beginning of the week, we began to get in more of a hurry, and scrambled to find a digital copy of Tommy's resume so he could start applying for jobs. On Thursday, Tommy was laid off. The company's financial situation apparently snowballed very quickly and they had to take some pretty desperate measures very quickly to hopefully avoid going under. Tommy and 3 other people were laid off this week, including the president's son-in-law. It is difficult as we are friends with the family that owns the company and they felt horrible about letting him go. Our prayers are with the Veras and Bulins as they also deal with a difficult time for their families.
So, we have been scrambling but trying not to panic. Tommy got about a week and a half severance to buy us a little bit of time. He has already filed for unemployment so we are hopeful that will be processed quickly. The biggest decision we have had to make was to pull Zane out of daycare immediately. This was really difficult for me on Friday. It just made everything a bit more real to have to tell his school and gather all of his stuff and know that he won't be back, at least for a while. His primary teachers weren't even there on Friday to say good-bye. I know they will be sad. We feel like we will be okay financially with unemployment with no daycare expense. I am still a little nervous about our finances over the next few weeks as we were in no position of "cushion" after I was off work unpaid for a couple of months not that long ago. We should get our tax return in a couple of weeks, so that will at least recover us from the time that I was unpaid. Things will be tight for a while but I know we will get through it.
We know that God will continue to provide for us as He always has. We are keeping a positive attitude and we feel like this will be a blessing in the end for Tommy and our family. There is a great opportunity out there for him that will hopefully be an exciting new adventure. We have had an amazing outpouring of support and prayers from our family and friends. Tommy has quite a few people that are helping him with job leads and sending his resume to various contacts. I feel like he will find something pretty quickly, hopefully.
He is looking for general administrative-type positions. Human Resources would be ideal, but he has applied for several executive assistant-type positions and other things. He has experience with HR, marketing, administration, and restaurant management. His degree is in Communication and Management. If you know of anything in the general DFW-area, please let us know! We appreciate your prayers and job leads!

Crystal

5 Months Old!

2010-02-01T20:53:00.007-06:00

I can't believe you are 5 months old already! We have had such a busy month. We were full strength back to work this month so that means you got back into the swing of daycare. Your teachers sure do love you! Mommy's getting more used to the difficult balance of working full time and being a mommy but it is still the hardest thing I've ever done to be away from you every day and to try to find time to clean the house!!

You are truly the light of our lives, Little Man! You are so much fun! You smile and laugh all the time, especially with Mommy & Daddy. You are a big talker! No one is really surprised, considering that your Mommy likes to talk a lot, your Daddy was a communication major, and your Pops speaks to people for a living. You babble all day long and it is always something very important. You squeal and jabber and experiment with new sounds. You are a pretty good conversationalist.

You love to play now, too. You have your favorite toys that you like to play with. The best ones are the ones that crinkle in your hands or make some other noise. You think it is really fun to put any toy or any thing in your mouth too. If no toy is around, your hands or feet will do. You have really found your feet and like to grab them with your hands. You rolled over once, from your tummy to your back. You haven't done it again yet though. You seem much more interested in sitting up than in rolling over. You try to sit up a lot and you like sitting in your bumbo chair or being propped up somewhere so you can see everything.

You love to eat! You nurse and take the bottle really well, even when you don't feel good. You even held your bottle on your own a few days ago, Big Boy! Once you figured out what Mommy was trying to do with feeding you cereal, you decided that you really like that too. You often get impatient when you are not being given bites as quickly as you think you should and you have been known to throw an all out fit when the food is all gone. We have started adding some pureed veggies and fruits to your diet, too. You have been eating peas, and tonight, you tried some peaches.

This month, you had another cousin born! Lylah Belle Curry was born on January 6. In the middle of January, we went to visit Lylah with Uncle Craig & Aunt Fallon in Dripping Springs. Gigi & Pops, and Uncle Robin, Aunt Jill, Emma & Foster came too. We had a great time with all the babies and Emma in one house. You had fun with your Pops & Gigi and aunts and uncles, and you fit right in with the other kiddos. We also got to finally have Christmas with Mommy's family, but since we started pretty late, you had to go to bed in the middle of it. You still got some great presents! It was a fun road trip!

All the Curry Cousins- Lylah (11 days), Foster (2 mos), Zane (4 1/2 mos), Emma (3 yrs)

Foster & Zane hanging out at Gigi & Pops' house

You had a cough for most of the month and last week, we had to start you on some breathing treatments. We are optimistic that this will be a one time issue and we won't have to deal with this again, but there is a possibility that the respiratory issues are an indication of asthma. We are praying that this will not be the case for you!

You are such a good baby and such a joy to be around! We love you more than we could explain!

With love,

Mommy

4 months old!

2010-01-02T09:46:00.003-06:00

Zane,
You turned 4 months old on New Years' Eve, December 31. You are becoming such a big boy all of a sudden! You are 14 lbs, 10 oz., and 26 inches long. The doctor says you are tall for your age. Mommy is wondering what happened to her sweet, cuddly newborn because all of a sudden we have an active, playful baby. It has been so much fun to watch you play this month!

In many ways, this month has been quite difficult, at least for mommy. Mommy was sick for pretty much the whole month and that makes it really hard for her to keep up with you! We also continued to adjust to our new routine with Mommy back to work full time. That is still pretty challenging for Mommy because she just doesn't have the time to play with you and get everything else done that needs to be done when she is not at work. You were sick too this month. First, you just had a little congestion for a few days and you seemed to get over it pretty quickly. Then, about halfway through the month, you got an infection in your eye that turned into a full-fledged cold with a super-stuffy nose and a yucky cough. You were sick for the entire week leading up to Christmas and are really just now acting like yourself again the last few days. You have an ear infection now, too, after having all that congestion for so long, but it hasn't been slowing you down too much.

You went to your first wedding this month. Unfortunately, Mommy didn't get any pictures at the wedding, but you looked super cute in your sweater vest and slacks. Our friends, Amanda & Clif, from college, got married on December 12. You got to meet a lot of Mommy & Daddy's friends from college that day, and they were all so excited to get to see you. You got a little bored during the ceremony, but Daddy took you into the foyer so you could play with your friend Molly Kate, who is just a few months older than you. It was fun to get to show off our precious boy!

Mommy had a birthday this month. She turned 26 on Dec 16! I am sure you think that is really old! You and Gigi took Mommy out for her birthday because Daddy had responsibilities at church that day.

You with Mommy & Daddy on Mommy's birthday

You also had your first Christmas this month. You loved looking at Christmas trees and Christmas lights everywhere we went. Santa came to visit and left you some fun toys on Christmas morning. You liked playing with wrapping paper from all the gifts.

This month, we have really watched your curiosity spark! You are getting more and more control over your hands and you are reaching out and grabbing anything that you can. You have really started playing with toys this month and it has been a blast to watch you discover what your different toys can do. You love bouncing in your bouncy seat and listening to the lion play you songs. You even figured out how to make the lion work all by yourself so you can listen to the songs without Mommy & Daddy to pull the ring for you.

You love to smile and laugh when you are feeling good. It has been great to hear you laugh again as you have been feeling better this last week. You are becoming quite verbal and will babble and squeal at us all day long. You always have something very important to say!

We are trying lots of new things right now. After your 4 month doctor's appointment this week, she said that you could start trying some solid foods! You had your first bites of cereal on Tuesday and you really liked that new game! We are having to pull your high chair out of the box this weekend so we can start feeding you like a big boy. You also get to start playing in your bumbo seat because you are holding your head up so well. Pretty soon, I am sure you will change our whole world because you will be scooting all over the house by yourself. Mommy is trying to cherish these last few weeks of knowing that you will stay where she puts you down!

Video of Zane's first bites of cereal

You are such a joy to be around and we love you so much!

Love,

Mommy (Crystal)

Zane's First Christmas

2009-12-26T14:34:00.006-06:00

Zane's First Christmas Morning

This Christmas has been a lot of fun with Zane, yet very stressful and odd at the same time. Let me start by saying that I have basically been sick since about December 3, sometimes getting a little better but never fully, and then it hits full strength again. I started with a bacterial upper respiratory infection with a sore throat and some sinus congestion, started feeling better with antibiotics, but then started getting some major head congestion 5 days into the antibiotics. I am pretty sure I caught a virus while still recovering from my infection. Somewhere in there Zane got sick too, I guess about the 17th. With a sick baby and a full time job with no spare time off, it is pretty difficult for a sick Mommy to get enough rest to get better. Zane seems to be feeling better than he did, but he still has a pretty nasty cough. He was out of daycare for an entire week. Since Friday afternoon, I am feeling about as bad as I have at any of the worst points of it this month, with about the worst stuffy nose I have ever had and a lingering cough. All of this made the preparations for Christmas very difficult and stressful for me. We barely managed to get all our Christmas presents bought between last Saturday and Tuesday, the 22nd. It worked to my favor that we are having a pretty scaled down Christmas this year anyway because of our financial constraints from having Zane this year. Despite all of that, we managed to have a great Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with Zane.

On Christmas Eve, I had to work until 2pm (like I said, no spare time off!), then it was a whirlwind of trying to get together last minute presents and wrapping and getting ourselves together to be at Tommy's parents' home before 5pm. Did I mention that it started snowing?! We spent a little time over there as his mother's family, the Wallace clan, began gathering for our traditional Christmas Eve together. Everyone was a bit slower in gathering than usual because of the bizzare snow storm that had hit! We slipped out for a bit in the middle to attend our church's annual Christmas Eve service. Tommy had never been to the Christmas Eve service since he has always been with his family, and I haven't been in 7 years! Pops (my dad) really wanted us to be there because he wanted us to help him light the final advent candle with him as each staff member had lit one candle with their families. It was a wonderful time of reflection and celebration as we considered the significance of Christ's birth in our lives. Zane did great for the lighting of the candle and then fell asleep on Daddy's lap by about the 3rd carol as he had missed his late afternoon nap in all of the running around. It was fun to attend as a family. We are still trying to figure out a way to work this in to our typical Christmas traditions every year (or at least some years). After the service, we returned to Mimi & Papa Bear's house to spend more time with the Wallaces. Zane crashed at about 8:15, so exhausted that he didn't even want to eat his last feeding of the day. We had a good time with the family, watching all the kids play and adoring the new babies that came this year (3 total on that side, Zane, Noah, and Tommy's cousin's baby girl- Aurie). Then, home late to finish wrapping gifts! Did I mention that I didn't get enough sleep this week?

Family Picture on Christmas Eve

Fun Fact- We got engaged in front of this very tree 6 years ago

With snow still covering the ground, this was the first white Christmas in the Metroplex that I ever had. Christmas morning arrived a bit earlier than it has in previous years. Zane woke us up at 6:30am to start the day. Even Zane looks pretty tired in the pictures. After Zane had his breakfast, we opened gifts as a family. It was fun to start a new tradition, gathering around the tree to see what Santa brought and then take turns opening presents. I am sure it will get even more fun in the years to come.

The 3 of us on Christmas morning

After our small family Christmas time, we made a brief stop to see Gigi & Pops (my parents) so that they could see Zane on his first Christmas before they headed to Dripping Springs to see my brother and sister-in-law. They were so happy to see Zane in his cute Santa hat and he took a great interest in their Christmas tree. Then, back to Mimi & Papa Bear's house to open presents with Tommy's immediate family and his dad's side of the family. This was a much smaller gathering than Christmas Eve as Tommy's dad has a smaller family and Tommy's Aunt Nancy was not even there because she was sick. Zane and his cousin Noah had a great time opening presents (rather watching presents being opened) on their first Christmas and then they both went down for a much-needed nap while we ate Christmas lunch. And, at that, the festivities for this weekend were over and we actually had nothing planned and nowhere that we needed to be. Odd, but we have been grateful for some down time.

Zane (3 mos) & cousin Noah (2 mos) with Papa Bear

I say odd because we would typically be spending the rest of Christmas day and then a day or two after with my family. That is kind of how we have worked things the last few years. This has been anything but a typical year in my family, however! With everyone having babies, our holidays have been a little off-track. We were not all able to get together at Thanksgiving because my brother, Robin, and his wife, Jill, had just welcomed their 2nd child, Foster, a week before Thanksgiving. They were obviously not ready to make a big trip from Tulsa and we could not all be together there because my other brother, Craig, and his wife, Fallon, could not travel because she was 8 months pregnant. For Christmas, we decided to wait to get together until Fallon has baby Lylah Belle, expected any day now (due Jan. 6). If we had all traveled to the Austin area this weekend, it would have been pretty difficult for Robin & Jill to pack up their preschooler and newborn and make the trip again, not to mention difficult for us with Zane, after she comes, so it may have been months before they were able to make the trip to meet her. So, the Curry family Christmas is on hold for now and we are playing it by ear. I think we are all hopeful (most of all Fallon) that she will come sometime this week so that we can all go out there over New Year's. I am really missing my family right now but I am very excited that next time we are together, we will be 2 larger than we were the last time we were all together (just after Zane was born).

The rest of this weekend has been one of recouperation and enjoying new things. I have designated this weekend as my "sick days" since I haven't been able to take one from work since I first got sick, so I am forcing myself to keep it low key. Zane has received so many presents already! He has been enjoying some of his new toys and taking long naps.

Check out Zane discovering how to work a new toy from MeMaw & Great-Pops (Tommy's grandparents):

View our complete Christmas photo album on Facebook with this link. You do not have to be a facebook member to view it.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2027672&id=152601048&l=3b55efc542

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Crystal

3 Months... A Little Late!

2009-12-09T19:24:00.004-06:00

Zane,
You are 3 months old now. Well, you turned three months old last week actually! Mommy is a little behind. You are growing so fast! You are at least 14 lbs now (double your birth weight) and I think about 25 inches long!

This past month we had a great time! You went on your first road trips. First, we went to Cisco, TX to visit your Uncle Craig & Aunt Fallon and help them move. Then, the very next weekend, we traveled to Tulsa, OK to visit Uncle Robin & Aunt Jill and see Emma and meet cousin Foster for the very first time! You were a great traveler for both trips. You slept in the car pretty much the entire drive and never fussed at all. Our trip to Tulsa took quite a bit longer than normal but it wasn't because of anything that you could have helped, besides the diaper blowout all over mommy and the seat. You also had your first Thanksgiving. We spent Thanksgiving with Daddy's family at Mimi & Papa Bear's house. Aunt Tammy & Uncle Cameron were there with Noah, and Great Aunt Lesha and Uncle Chris came with Isabella. It was a fairly small group, but we had a great time eating, playing with you and Noah, and watching football.

Zane with newborn cousin Foster

Mommy had to go back to work at the end of this month. :-( This was very difficult on Mommy, but you have adjusted pretty quickly. You started daycare on the day that you turned 3 months old. Mommy misses you so much during the day but the daycare is good. Your teachers are Miss Angie & Miss Danielle. They do lots of fun things with you and you even finger-painted a snowflake last week!

You are learning more and more every day. You laughed out loud for the first time a few weeks ago while you were with Pops & Gigi. Pops said you really liked the song "Elvira." You talk and coo at us every day, but especially in the evenings right before bed. You have really discovered your hands this month and you love to explore them with your mouth. You are getting so good at grabbing at things. Your favorite thing to do right now is play in your activity gym, batting and grabbing at the toys hanging down in front of you. You also love watching football (seriously!) on TV. You will watch football for long periods of time.

You are on a really good routine now. You eat, then play, then nap in about 3 hour cycles. You have been sleeping great (most of the time). You usually go to bed between 8:30 and 10 and will often sleep straight through until about 2:30 or 3am, when you wake up for a quick snack and then go right back to sleep until about 7am. You are napping much more easily than you used to as well.

We are having so much fun being your Mommy & Daddy. Even though the transition to working full time has been a little hard on all of us, you just go with the flow and adapt to whatever situation we put you in. Our evenings and weekends with you are precious time!

We love you Little Man!!

With Love,

Mommy (Crystal)

Loving our Time at Home

2009-11-12T20:06:00.002-06:00

Zane is 10 1/2 weeks old now. I cannot believe how fast he is growing and changing. It has been such a blessing to be home with him these past weeks. As I am preparing to start back to work in a little more than a week, I have been thinking back on our time at home and trying not to dwell on the time I will have to spend away from him. I have absolutely loved spending my days with him. Our mornings have been precious as Zane tends to be very happy and easy in the mornings. He smiles and plays with me for a good long while and then goes down for his nap pretty easily without much complaining. We have had a lot of fun going to lunch with friends some days. We've spent some lunches with Mimi- my mother-in-law, Marla. We have had the opportunity to spend some time with some of my friends who are stay-at-home moms with their kiddos and that has been wonderful. It is great to be around other young moms. I am blessed to have a ton of support with my friends and family! We have also been able to spend some time with my sister-in-law Tammy and her baby Noah since she has also been on maternity leave. Through it all, Zane has been so easygoing and ready to go. Of course, we have had our moments when he screamed and screamed in Target until we got in the car and he immediately crashed out, but I would expect no less. I would probably be cranky too if I woke up from a nap and I was in the middle of the clearance section at Target.
I am so glad I was able to take a full 12 weeks off with Zane. I have mixed feelings about returning to work. In a perfect world, I don't know that I would choose to stay home with my kids forever, but I do think I would stay home full time for the first year or so and then maybe go back part-time. But, this is not a perfect world and our current financial situation requires me to have a full time paycheck, so I go back to work the week of Thanksgiving. I am so sad to think that someone else will be sharing the mornings with Zane in a couple of weeks and I will miss so many smiles, but I hope that I will only appreciate those moments even more when they are fewer. I am also a little scared about releasing some of my control over how he spends his day. I may look pretty chill on the outside but on the inside, I am quite a control freak, so this really does terrify me. What if they don't put him down for a nap when I think he should go down? What if they can't get him to sleep? Naps are our biggest struggle right now, so that is probably why my fears are mostly nap related.
The other side of me is just a little bit excited to go back to work. I do love my job and it will be good to be that version of me again, if that makes sense. Being a mommy is amazing, but it will be kind of nice to have one part of my life back to "normal" again. I feel very out of the loop with my co-workers and my job and I am really wondering how my kiddos and families are doing. Being a parent changes everything, so I am sure that I will bring a new perspective to my work and hopefully, that will be a good thing. I know that working again with children with cancer will make me thank God every day for the health of my child and pray every day that he will continue to grow healthy in every way. It will also be nice to have all the unknowns about returning out of the way and to fall into our long-term routine, whatever that will look like. I am sure that Zane will adjust to daycare just fine, but it may take me a while to get used to it. I do think having Zane will motivate me to get out of the office more quickly at the end of the day! I can document tomorrow, I have a baby to take care of now!

One more week at home! So much to do and so many moments to relish and enjoy!

Sorry no pictures in this post, my computer is still broken so I only had a limited amount of time to post from Tommy's work laptop. Next post we will have some pictures of our first road trips (yes, plural!) as we are heading to Cisco tomorrow to help my brother Craig and his wife, Fallon, pack up their house to move. The weekend after that we will be driving all the way to Tulsa to meet our nephew, Foster, who will be born any day between now and Tuesday of next week. Whoo! I am pretty sure we are crazy to do two trips in two weekends, but we will likely be pros at traveling with Zane by the time we are through. Until then!

With Love,

Crystal

2 Months Old

2009-11-03T22:49:00.003-06:00

Zane,

You turned 2 months old on Saturday, your first Halloween. You amaze us every day with how quickly you are growing and learning. You are now 11 and a half pounds and 24 inches tall!! You are almost outgrowing your 0-3 month clothing already. You smile so much now and it brightens our hearts every time you do. You like to play laying on your back, kicking your legs and moving your arms, smiling at the things that you see and at Mommy and Daddy's attempts to amuse you. You are starting to get more control of your arms and you can grab soft things now like a burp cloth or shirt next to you on the changing table. You coo and talk to us a lot now too, especially in the evenings before bedtime.

Mommy and Daddy found a book that helped us learn how to help you fall asleep on your own better and you have been doing so well! Since we moved you from the bassinet in our room to the crib in your room a couple of weeks ago, you have really thrived in sleeping at night. You are learning quickly to fall asleep on your own without much fuss at all at night. You have even given Mommy a couple of nights where you slept 6 or 7 hours straight. Daytime naps in your crib are quite a different story, but you are fussing about them less and less. We are on a good routine now where you eat and then we play and then you take a nap and then we start over every 2 1/2 to 3 hours during the day. This has been going really well for you and Mommy, besides your hesitation with naps.

We absolutely adore you and love every day with you, Little Man!

Learning and Growing

2009-10-22T22:36:00.005-05:00

3 more weeks have gone by with no post! Our computer was in the shop for a few weeks and now that we have it back, it broke again. Who would have thought. I can do Facebook and Gmail from my phone, but blogging is pretty limited to an actual computer. We have been loving our little man this month. He is getting so big and strong. He started smiling a couple of weeks ago and melts our hearts every time we get that big smile looking up at us. Playing with him in the mornings is my favorite part of every day. Here are a couple of pictures and a video from our last couple of weeks.

Might not look like much, but he sure is amazing to us! I wanted to share a video of him playing and cooing at Tommy's parents' house. He is busy busy all the time.

The big news of the month is that our nephew, Noah Michael Torok, was born to Tommy's sister and brother-in-law, Tammy and Cameron, on October 3. Here is a little video of Zane and Noah's first meeting. The week Noah was born, Zane weighed in at 8 lbs, 9 oz. Noah was 8 lbs, 10 oz at birth! We are anticipating that these boys will get into a lot of mischief together. Now we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of cousin Foster (to my brother Robin and his wife Jill) in November, and cousin Lylah to arrive in December/January to my brother Craig and his wife Fallon. What a great year!

Crystal

1 Month Old

2009-10-01T18:55:00.003-05:00

My friend Shea does a blog for each time that her baby turns another month old. I think that is a great idea, so I have decided to copy her idea. Hope you don't mind Shea!

Zane, you are 1 month old already! We can't believe how quickly the time has gone or how much you have grown already! You are weighing in at 8 lbs, 8.5 oz now, almost a pound and a half heavier than your birthweight of 7 lbs, 2 oz. You are starting to outgrow some of your newborn clothes now, and I have been having some fun trying your 0-3 month outfits on you to see which ones are starting to fit.

You are spending more time awake now and Daddy and I have fun with that. You have several periods a day that you are awake and happy. You spend your time staring at us and everything around you, soaking everything in. You've started to coo at us, but mostly you just grunt. :-)

You still like to have your hands in your face and you still put them in your mouth some, but you really like your pacifier now. Sometimes you suck it so hard that you push it right out. You've started looking for it when you lose it now and you get frustrated when you can't get your hands to cooperate and bring it to your mouth.

You sleep pretty well.... sometimes. We had one all-nighter with you when you just decided you didn't like sleep anymore, or at least not sleep in your own bassinet instead of in our arms. You are definitely a night owl, but no one is surprised about that considering your parents. Your schedule would be great if we were still in college and could sleep all morning. For a while you liked to be awake from about 9pm to 11 or 12. You are getting a little better about going to sleep earlier. We are pretty excited if you are asleep before 10:45 or 11, but you sleep pretty well through the night, waking up to eat a couple of times and usually going back to sleep within 30 minutes after you finish eating.

You have had a busy first month, meeting so many people that care about you. Your Gigi and Pops (my parents) have hardly been able to go more than a day without seeing you. Your Mimi and Papa Bear (Tommy's parents) have been spending a lot of time with you too. All of your aunts and uncles made a special point to come visit you in the first week of your life. You have been to church a few times already now and everybody thinks you are precious. We have heard "Look at all that hair!" about a thousand times. Lots of friends have come to visit you at home as well. In the first 2 weeks of your life, I think you had at least one visitor every day. Popular guy already!

As much as you have grown and changed in the past month, we are excited to see what the next month will hold. We love you so much already and we are enjoying getting to know you. We love our little man!!

Both pictures on this post were taken yesterday when Zane celebrated 1 month of life!

With love,

Crystal

Zane's First Weeks

2009-09-25T13:37:00.007-05:00

I can't believe Zane is already 3 1/2 weeks old! The time is flying by and he is already growing and changing before our eyes.

Here are a few things we have learned in the past 25 days:

1. It turns out we CAN still function on the amount of sleep we got in college.

2. Always take the opportunity for a nap or shower when it arises. You can never assume that another opportunity will come that day.

3. Makeup? Just be glad that I got deodorant on and brushed my teeth today. The priorities are a bit different.

4. Maternity leave is not a time to complete household projects. "I'll be home for 12 weeks. I can get that closet cleaned out." Ha! It's a good day if I get a shower and one load of laundry done. Hence why I haven't been blogging much.

5. "Dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge." Urine is not the only thing that can be projectile.

6. Zane- "Mom and Dad, thanks so much for putting a fresh diaper on me. I was just waiting for that so that I could poopy. Oh, did you think I was done? Oops, guess we need yet another diaper." I think our grand record is 4 fresh diapers in one diaper change session....

7. Swaddling works wonders, while it lasts.... He started kicking out a week ago.

8. Quiet alert time is the most precious time. Naptime is right after that.

9. There is always someone who is willing to hold the baby.....

10. He is worth it all.... the pregnancy miseries, the labor and delivery, the loss of sleep, the hard days, and the complete upheaval of life as we formerly knew it.

We love our little man so much! Here are a few pictures of him since we brought him home.

Zane's first bath. He hated it so much that he peed directly on Daddy!

Hanging out with Uncle Robin. Robin & Jill and Craig & Fallon all came to visit the weekend after he was born.

Aunt Fallon and cousin Emma getting to know him.

Stretch!

The Hawaiian outfit we put him in for our friend's beach-themed anniversary party. It was kind of big.... but precious. Check out the flip flops! They make his feet look so tiny!

Tall and skinny boy! Takes after his Daddy in that respect for sure.

I wanted to share this video too. Those of you that know Tommy will appreciate this. He insisted on buying a book about "kid-versions" of superheroes for Zane so he could start teaching him about the superheroes. Male-bonding time....

That is all for now. If Zane will let me, I will try to keep the blog regularly updated with more pictures.

With Love,

Crystal

Zane has arrived!

2009-09-10T11:53:00.010-05:00

I hope everyone will forgive me for being a little behind on the blog. As most of you already know, our little Zane Curry Williamson arrived on Monday, August 31 (my dad's birthday!) at 1:18pm. He weighed 7 lbs, 2 oz., and he was 19 1/4 in.

I actually got up Saturday morning feeling "weird." It was hard to explain, but I kind of felt like my blood pressure was high. I haven't had any problems with my blood pressure throughout the pregnancy or anything but I was a little nervous about it so we found somewhere to check it and it was just borderline high but nothing to call the doctor about. That continued off and on throughout the day. We were ready to get this baby coming and everybody was pulling for him to come on Dad's birthday, so we did a little walking on Saturday and ate Mexican food. By Saturday evening, I started having some contractions but still pretty far apart and a little inconsistent. I was able to sleep pretty well that night despite the contractions. On Sunday, I continued having contractions and by mid-afternoon they were about 4-6 minutes apart. We decided to go ahead and call the doctor. My doctor was not on call for the weekend :-( , but the doctor that I spoke with said that I could probably wait a little until they were more intense since this was my first baby. We headed up to the hospital about an hour later, but of course the contractions slowed down some once we got there. They ended up sending us home but the nurse said that I was in the early stages of labor and that she would expect me to have him within 24-36 hours. Meanwhile, dad had everyone at church (including Ms. Mozelle, who ranks right up there with Elijah in the prayer area) praying that the baby would come on his birthday- Monday. The prayers apparently worked, because my contractions backed off to every 7-9 minutes for most of the night, but they definitely increased in intensity. I didn't sleep more than 2 hours total Sunday night. By morning, the contractions started coming closer together again and by morning, they were 4-6 minutes apart again but much more intense.

We got to the hospital about 7am. They admitted me for sure this time and the timing was perfect because my doctor was back on call and it was dad's birthday! I got my epidural pretty quick, which was good because I was in a whole lot of pain by that point. After my epidural, I felt great! I was chatting with Tommy's parents and my parents and the other friends and family members that were visiting. I hadn't progressed very much in the first few hours there and the doctor came back in at about 12:30 to check me. With everyone waiting in the hall, the doctor discovered that I was fully progressed and ready to start pushing. Tommy had to pass everyone's purses out the door as we tried to come to grips with the reality that we were about to have a baby. Just about 30 minutes of pushing later, Zane was here.

He has a full head of light brown hair and dark blue eyes for now. Dad was elated that Zane came on his birthday! I don't think he stopped smiling for a few days. Everything has gone very smoothly and both he and I have been very healthy so far. I will do another post soon about his first couple of weeks. We are so proud of our little man!!

I am including a couple of pictures of the day of his birth, but click on this link to view a full album of pictures from his birth up to a few days ago. It is on Facebook but you do not have to be a member to view the album with this link.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2025253&id=152601047&l=2f504a34b4

I am limited on what pictures I can include right now because all of the pictures are on Tommy's computer or the flash drive that he left at my parents' house. Here are a few that Tommy emailed me to include today.

Check out the album for more. I will post again soon about his first few weeks.

With love,

Crystal

Patience, patience.....

2009-08-29T09:47:00.002-05:00

I am 38 weeks and 2 days pregnant now, meaning that little Zane is full term and could come at any point now. A couple of weeks ago, I was really freaking out about how quickly he could be here and I was frantic to try to finish everything. Now, we pretty much have everything done and ready and we are just waiting. Neither me or Tommy are very good at just waiting. Part of the reason that I end up being late all the time is because if I have a few minutes, I want to do just one more thing which typically makes me run late. I also hate getting places early and then having to sit around. Tommy just gets bored and feels like he should be doing something fun instead of waiting. I think he is even more ready than I am at this point mostly out of sheer boredom..... He told me yesterday that he almost sent me a text message from work saying, "Can you go into labor now? I'm bored." He didn't send it, but that's where he is mentally. It's kind of like the last couple of weeks before your wedding when all the major stuff is pretty much done and you are just ready to be done with it all and be married already. The only difference is that we don't have a specific date to wait for. Everyday we wake up and wonder, "Will today be the day?" and then we go to bed a little disappointed when nothing has happened. It is really difficult to be simultaneously mentally prepared to have a baby any day but also be prepared for another 2+ weeks of pregnancy, especially at this point in the pregnancy. I am feeling pretty good most of the time, but I am quite ready to be done with this part. Funny how you think you are going to be scared about labor and all that it entails, but really I am just so ready to see my little boy that I don't really care what I will have to endure in the short run to be able to see him. Labor is just a temporary means to an end.

Everything has been going well and I am feeling pretty good most of the time. My doctor was slightly concerned at my appointment last week because of the way he was measuring but when they did a sonogram, he looked fine and he is all the right size but just has a slightly smaller abdomen than most. They think he will probably just be tall and skinny, but who is really surprised about that? Have you seen Tommy? They are watching us a little more closely now but everything is still looking fine. We will go back to the doctor on Monday. Every time we go to the doctor now, we are basically ready to be admitted to the hospital. On Wednesday this week, we had the car packed and everything just in case. We are taking the "Be prepared" approach.

Personally, Tommy and I are rooting for any day now, but my dad is pulling for Monday so that he can share his birthday with Zane. So, cross your fingers and send some good "go into labor" vibes our way this weekend. Please be praying for a safe delivery and a healthy baby boy!!

With love,

Crystal

And the Countdown Begins....

2009-08-15T10:39:00.010-05:00

Okay, okay, I freely admit that I have sorely failed at doing my job of updating the blog over the last (eesh) couple of months. I have a whole list of excuses that I will try not to spend all my time on (*Tommy hogging the Internet connection on his video games* Ahem, I mean...... I didn't say anything.... ) :-). Regardless, we have been very busy trying to get ready for Zane and keep up with our busy lives this summer. I was also a little hesitant to post for a while because I lost our brand new camera and I was really pretty depressed about it and just didn't want to post much without having many pictures to go along with it. Lame excuse, I know, but it contributed. Thanks to the generosity of our family, we have a new camera now so that we can take lots of great pictures and videos of Zane after he arrives.

It is a bit of a daunting task to try to quickly summarize the last 2 months in one post, but I will do my best to just give the highlights. I will make a bigger photo album on facebook (soon I promise!) to include more of the great pictures from along the way.

The dogs are trying to adjust. They like to hide under the crib!

My good friend Amy got to visit briefly in July. I was 31 weeks here.

We finally got the room arranged so that we could fit all the furniture. This was a challenge!

We had a great baby shower from our church in July. (I'm 32 weeks here)

Our friend Christi made this for us. Isn't it cute!

Smallz made himself comfortable with all of the stuff we got at our church shower.

We did a few maternity pictures in July as well. I was 32 weeks. Our friend Landon did a fabulous job!

My Grandmom finished the t-shirt quilt she made for me of all my sorority shirts from college and brought it in July. I love it!

We had a great time at the lake with my family in July. Here is my niece Emma making friends with 2nd cousin Carson.

We have already had a busy month of August as well. My co-workers threw me a shower at work, but unfortunately I do not have any pictures of that one yet. I will have to get my friend Donna to send me the ones that she took. I didn't want to risk taking even my old camera because the camera that I mentioned before that I lost, yeah, I lost it at work...

Some of our college friends threw us a fun shower last weekend. We had a great time reuniting with lots of friends and family. Tommy entertained the men with video games upstairs.

My wonderful hostesses

My friend Jacque got to be here for the shower from North Carolina. Unfortunately I didn't get any posed pictures with her. But here she is next to me!

Tommy's sister, Tammy, is only 4 weeks behind me. We are looking forward to Zane having a great time with his cousin Noah! We are 35 and 31 weeks here.

Whew! I think those are the main highlights of the last couple of months. Zane's room is just about ready. We just need to hang things on the wall. I will definitely post with the finished product. I am 36 weeks now and we are realizing every day that he will be here very soon. This is both exciting and terrifying! We have just about everything we need (and so much more), aside from a couple of trips to Babies R Us and Target. I am feeling okay most of the time, just tired and getting a little fed up with having this big belly and all the pregnancy woes. I plan to keep working until I deliver or Labor Day weekend, whichever comes first, as long as I continue without any major problems. It will be such a relief to be done with pregnancy, although I know that caring for a newborn will be a whole new adventure in itself. We can't wait to meet our little boy and start getting to know him! I will make a point to keep the blog better updated now, I promise!

With Love & Anticipation!

Crystal

Zane's Room

2009-06-20T16:26:00.006-05:00

I finally have a few minutes to update and show you guys the progress we have made with the room. We took a leap and decided on the red paint for the room and we absolutely love it!! We also got the crib all put together so it is really beginning to look like a baby's room. To show you how far we have come, I am posting the very honest before pictures of this room. Before we did anything, this was the catch-all junk room in our house....

It doesn't even look like the same room anymore. With a lot of help from some friends, we installed a ceiling fan and got the room all painted.

How many men does it take to screw in a lightbulb.... er, install a fan? We've even got an Aggie in there. Thanks Andy & Brooks! Tommy's parents were a great help too!

Andy also stuck around and helped us tape the room to get ready for paint.

Our friends Mike Taylor and Mike Reed helped Tommy do most of the painting. They were both lifesavers!!

Tommy posing with walls almost done. Just lacking one coat of red!

And now for the finished walls!!

We think the red turned out great!! I will post pictures of the crib in a separate post because I am out of time. Off we go again!

Love,

Crystal

Paint Problems

2009-06-02T21:45:00.003-05:00

We have yet to decide on a paint color for the nursery. So I need some help from some of my more design inclined friends, or really anyone.... It has been harder than we thought to find a shade of blue that we both like on the wall and that matches/coordinates with the blue in the bedding. The blue in the bedding is almost a denim blue, which looks like a gray blue on the wall and that looks a little depressing to Tommy. We are still considering blue at this point, but I decided to think outside the box today. Up to this point, I have been trying to avoid very dark or bold colors since our bedding is so colorful and bright, but I am willing to consider anything at this point. My friend Nikki and I picked up a stack of paint swatches tonight in a variety of colors and ideas. Tommy and I are both kind of liking the concept of painting red on the bottom and painting the top a creamish-tan. (We already have a chairrail in the room). I really feel like the red would grow with Zane as we go from baby room to toddler room in a few years. My only concern is that it might come across as too much with the bright bedding. I am rationalizing however that with the furniture and everything, much of the red will be covered so maybe it wouldn't be too much. Please tell me what you think!!

Let us know what you think. If you have additional suggestions, we will take them. We are trying to avoid green because we already have another bedroom in the house painted green as well as the bathroom. I am also stearing away from yellow because I don't think that would grow up with him very well. But, I am still open to suggestions!

Thanks,

Crystal

Baby Bump Watch

2009-05-29T23:28:00.003-05:00

Well it seems to be time for an update on the baby belly. I am showing for sure by this point. Random people all day long ask me when I am due. I am at a point where I feel pretty darn huge, but everybody exclaims about how small I am. Whatever! I realize I have quite a ways to go, but I am now having a hard time getting up and down and bending over. I get tired pretty quick these days if I have to do a lot of walking. I've told Tommy before that I wish sometimes I could just take the baby off and make him carry it for me for a while but that won't come for a while. So here is the update and the last recent one for comparison....

25 weeks- 5/28/09

21 weeks- 4/29/09

I will try to post some pics soon from last weekend with Robin & Jill & Emma in Tulsa. We had a great time and I have some fabulous pictures!

Love you all!

Crystal

Time to make a place for Zane!

2009-05-28T20:46:00.007-05:00

We have been busy trying to get the house all ready for little Zane. We still have a lot to go, but we have been able to accomplish a few things. We got his bedding in and we are so excited about it. Here are a few pictures of the real thing.

We also made a last minute decision to go ahead and lay some grass in the backyard. We are hoping that by laying it this year, we will have a thick yard of grass by next summer when Zane will be toddling around and he can play outside. Before now, our backyard has been mostly mud and weeds, so this is a big deal!

Our next big step was painting the bathroom. It has been decorated in pink and that will definitely not do for a little boy's bathroom, so we had to do a little work.

Before

More Before

It took a lot of tape!

Daddy working hard

Green!

Finished.. for now!

We still have a ton of work to do, but we are getting there. We will be cleaning out the junk room next so that we can make it a nursery. We found a crib this week and plan to go pick it up on Monday. So excited!

More to come!

Crystal

Kickin' It

2009-05-12T20:12:00.002-05:00

Hello All!

We haven't had much to update about the last couple of weeks. I have had a pretty rough couple of weeks at work, just a lot of really intense and difficult situations with patients and families. That has left me pretty much wiped out by the time I get home, usually later than Tommy would prefer.

For Mother's Day, Tommy got me an Itunes gift card (and some grass in the backyard) and Zane gave me a moment of nausea at church.... That is life though. The exciting news we got this weekend is that Craig and Fallon are now expecting. This means that Zane will now have 3 cousins within 3 months of his age!! Tommy's sister- Tammy is due in October, my sister-in-law- Jill is due just before Thanksgiving, and my other sister-in-law- Fallon is due Christmas Day. I figured that at some point some of us might have some overlapping pregnancies, but I never imagined that I would be pregnant with all of my sisters-in-law at the same time! Now that is sisterhood! I am so excited to watch how this will all play out. Zane will always have someone to play with.

Fun milestone of the moment. Tonight, Tommy and I were sitting on the couch and I realized that I could actually see my tummy jump when Zane kicked. I got Tommy's attention, and he raised my shirt up and we both stared for a few seconds with nothing.... Tommy leaned down and talked to Zane. He asked Zane to please kick one more time. Right after he asked, our obedient little child responded and my tummy made a huge jump! My entertainment for the whole rest of this evening has been laying here watching my stomach jump around at Zane's every little move. Crazy!! If this is so fun, I can only imagine how much time I will spend watching his every move when he is out and I can actually see him. This is getting so fun!

We love you all!

Crystal

Busy busy

2009-05-03T21:11:00.005-05:00

Hi all!

I don't have too much to share but I have had a few requests for an updated baby bump pic so I thought I would make a short entry. I will include the last pic as well so you have a good reference point.

16 1/2 weeks (3/30/09)

Almost 21 weeks (4/29/09)

I am getting to the point where people are asking me, "How far along are you?" rather than [awkward] "Are you pregnant?" I half want to tell someone no when they ask just to mess with them but I haven't been able to be that mean to anyone yet. I am really enjoying the second trimester but it is going so quickly.

Our friends Landon and Nikki had their baby girl, London, this week, and our other friends Sarah & Dicky (Fallon's brother & sister-in-law) had their baby girl, Molly, last week. Going to see Landon & Nikki in the hospital made things a little more real for me. It doesn't help that they have the same doctor and delivered at the same hospital we will use. It makes me very excited but I am also realizing just how much we need to do to get everything ready. Everything went pretty smoothly for both couples and the babies are healthy. I haven't met Molly yet, but I can tell you that little London is beautiful. Zane will have plenty of cute little girls around to play with!

The Day family- Landon, Nikki, & London

We are working on getting some baby showers scheduled. It looks like our shower at church will be Sunday, July 19th in the afternoon. We have some friends that are planning to host a different shower for us as well. I don't have a definite date on that one yet, but we will let you all know as soon as we can. Our next step is to begin to transform the junk room into the baby nursery. First we have to get rid of all the junk..... Why do we have so much random stuff??

I am hoping for a lighter week at work this week after an insane week last week. I can't believe it is May already!

Love you all,

Crystal

Halfway there...

2009-04-26T17:30:00.008-05:00

Well, we officially hit the 20 week mark on Thursday, putting us at least half way there. I can't believe how quickly time has flown. According to babycenter.com, the baby should be about the length of a banana now. I can feel him moving and growing in there for sure. I will post another baby bump picture soon if I can remember to get Tommy to take one. I am feeling great most of the time now. I still have occasional sudden onset waves of nausea, but luckily I haven't been in the car for any of them recently. I figure that may just be a permanent feature of this pregnancy so I am trying to just get used to that.

In the past week or so, we have made some more decisions. We have a full name now. Our little one will be Zane Curry Williamson. This will give Tommy an easy nickname for him when he is running late or being stubborn, characteristic of a Curry. :-) We also decided on a nursery set today. We have picked the Cocalo Peekaboo Friends bedding set, as shown below.

We love the primary colors and we feel like we can do a lot with it to make the room our own. The only problem is that no one wants to keep the set consistently in stock in stores, so after several disaoppointing trips to a variety of stores, we bit the bullet and just ordered it online on our own. We will register for some of the matching stuff, but most of it will be "online only" items. We will find mix and match stuff to register for in stores too so no worries there. Now we just have to figure out how we want to paint the room. Ideas?

Our creative idea of the week has been to build his name out of lego blocks. Tommy jumped on this and bought a box of legos to experiment with this weekend. It turned out pretty well but we ran out of green and white before he could finish.

I've been having fun with the video feature on our new camera. I just love how Tommy tries so hard to tone down his frustration in the video. I was so glad to catch him break one! Anyway, if any of you have some extra green or white legos that you wouldn't mind donating to the cause of Zane's nursery, we would love to take them off your hands!

Just one more pic:

They included Zane on the bulletin board at church with all the babies that have been born recently or that are on the way. I thought it was super cute!

Other than that, we are just trying not to be too busy. I was in Memphis, TN for most of this past week at a conference. It was great, but it was exhausting to travel by myself at this point in my pregnancy. No regrets, but next time around I would probably make Tommy come with me to pull my luggage around. :-) I know next week will be insane trying to play catch up at work, but I will be glad to be back.

We love you all!

BOY or GIRL

2009-04-16T22:02:00.006-05:00

So sorry that it has taken me a whole week to update with our big news. It has been a super busy week and I have been waiting until I could scan the sono pictures into the computer to include them.

So for weeks, I have been totally convinced that we were having a girl. I talked to so many people who predicted girl for various reasons- I was so so sick, the heart rate was a little higher than average, etc. I just really thought it was a girl. Tommy was still holding out hope for a boy though, more because he didn't like the idea of everyone being right. Turns out, Tommy was right!! We are having a BOY!! Let me tell you how much Tommy enjoyed making phone calls to tell everyone that they had been wrong! We are very excited for sure. I had to make a major mind shift from girl to boy but it is great.

I love this one. He is sucking his thumb!

This one needs a little explanation. He is giving us a rear shot. You can see his little booty and that is his little boy part in the middle there. The sonogram lady was very sure that he is definitely a boy!

Our boy name has been picked out from the beginning. That is one thing that we actually agreed on. The little guy's name is Zane. It depends on what website you are on, but if you look in the right place, Zane is from Hebrew origin and it means "the Lord is gracious." We are still discussing the middle name. We have it narrowed down but haven't made a decision just yet. We will let you know. Honestly, I think we are avoiding that decision at this point.

Instead we have been trying to come to an agreement on nursery decor. Here are some things that we have found that we like.

http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3447276

http://www.burlingtoncoatfactory.com/IWCatSectionAndProductView.process?Section_Id=46481

http://www.burlingtoncoatfactory.com/IWCatSectionAndProductView.process?Section_Id=48263

We loved these cute custom letters. We may try to make one ourselves- http://www.inspiremecrafts.com/photos/hanging_letters/index.html

Tommy loves the 1-2-3-4 in the background of this one. We have already talked to our friend Landon about trying to make something like this for us- http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&ik=c6ace19f11&view=att&th=120afad0fd362646&attid=0.1&disp=inline&realattid=f_ftln61ye0&zw

That is where our thoughts are this week. What do you think? We welcome comments! Just don't tell us if you hate all of it.....

Crystal

17 weeks and counting

2009-04-04T11:09:00.005-05:00

I am full force in my second trimester now and it has definitely been much better than the first. When looking back at how sick I was for a few weeks, I realize even more how awful that was now that I am feeling better. There were several weeks that I was throwing up an average of 2-3 times a day. And that's after I figured out some tricks and things to keep myself from feeling so sick. That's also with good anti-nausea medication. The sickness slowly dwindle off to once a day for a while and then a few times a week and now it is pretty rare for me to get sick to the point of throwing up. I think the vomiting in the car incident was the last big hoorah, at least for a while. I have only thrown up once since then. Since I have been feeling better, I have been able to go back to the gym, eat what I want, and start trying to get my house back to a point of acceptable cleanliness.

My little belly really started popping out the last week or so. I've been mostly in maternity clothes for several weeks now, but I still wasn't obviously showing to the outside world. About a week ago, I noticed that I looked much more pregnant in a top that I had only worn about a week or so before without looking obviously pregnant. All this week I started getting comments from friends and family that I was getting a little pregnant belly. And I actually had my first incident where a person ( a mom of one of my patients) noticed my belly and asked if I was pregnant. Luckily, I am, so we didn't have a super awkward moment. It is definitely fun to be showing a little bit but it does make my wardrobe situation a little more challenging.

9 weeks Pregnant- 2/8/09 (Still pretty sick too!)

16 & a half weeks- 3/30/09

I have also started feeling the baby move a little bit. It's still not consistent but I feel it once or twice throughout the day now. That has been fun. We should (hopefully) find out whether we are having a girl or boy this week on Friday! I can't believe we are already to that point. We are very excited and I will definitely be sure to update the blog as quickly as possible after we find out. Thanks for all of your prayers and support! We love you all!

Crystal

Crystal & the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Morning

2009-03-23T13:28:00.003-05:00

So today had to be the worst morning ever. No kidding. I am starting to get to a point where I think I can laugh at it so I figured I would share for the amusement of all. I got up this morning for a normal Monday and started getting ready. After my shower, I wasn't feeling great, which is not terribly unusual for me at that point in the morning. I managed to make it to breakfast and typically I feel much better after I eat my cheerios. Today, though I was still a little iffy even after breakfast. I gagged a little on my stupid horse pill of a prenatal vitamin and almost lost my breakfast but managed to "hold it in"- yes Robin, I can do that sometimes, and continued on with quickly getting ready so I would not make Tommy late to work. I hurried into the car, the new car by the way, to finish my hair and makeup on the way to work. A few minutes after leaving, I started really feeling bad again so I laid my seat back and closed my eyes for a little bit to try to feel better. About half way through the drive, I seemed to be feeling better so I sat back up to try to get my makeup done before we got to work. 30 seconds later, I realized that I apparently was not feeling better and tried to lay back again to salvage myself. Apparently, it was too late. I yelled at Tommy to pull over, and poor guy tried, but when you are on N 287 in the fast lane with a tiny left shoulder, there is only so much you can do. I couldn't hold back any longer, and threw up all over my work clothes, Tommy's car, and my purse. He did manage to get pulled over in time for me to get my 2nd & 3rd wave out the side of the car, hoping none of the zooming cars going by was going to take off the car door or my head. Some stupid jerk actually honked at us. Why do you honk at the poor pregnant lady puking out of the side of her car? Like anyone does that intentionally!
At that point, we decided we would need to turn around and go home to clean up. Since our friends, Aubra & Andrew, that Tommy works with, saw us on the side of the road, Tommy didn't need much of an alibi. I tried to clean myself up as best as possible with a few napkins that Tommy had in his car but there were just not enough napkins. I spent the 20 minute drive home (with the window cracked for Tommy's sake) afraid to move, because I was afraid I would just spread the mess. Tommy thought that I should probably just stay home after all that and by the time we got home, I decided he was probably right. To make matters worse, when I was trying to get all my stuff out of the car, I accidentally dumped my makeup bag out into the vomit... and I broke my only eyelash comb. :-( In assessing the damage, I determined that a simple handwashing and changing clothes was not going to cut it. I was going to need a full shower, wash my hair, everything. Basically my whole day had to be reset. Showering again starts the getting ready process over and I would need to try to eat breakfast again since I had lost everything I had eaten that morning. By the time I rinsed my clothes out and got them in the wash and did all that, it would be 10:30 or 11 at the earliest by the time I could get myself back to work. On top of all that, I still wasn't feeling great and would definitely not be moving at my fastest.
I decided it would be a better use of Cook Children's money to pay me for a day of earned vacation/sick day rather than pay me for a whole day when I was only going to get in 5 hours or so of actual work time. I also wasn't completely sure if this was just pregnancy sick or if maybe I was actually sick. After breakfast was a very unusual time for me to be so sick, especially the last couple of weeks since I have been feeling so much better. It would be hard for me to commit to coming in late not knowing if I was actually going to feel up to going at all. So I called in and took a sick day. I feel a little guilty, but I have done very well and not taken any days off even when I was so super sick early on in the first trimester. I was pretty sure that I wouldn't be leaving much work for my team members that couldn't wait until I go back tomorrow. So I got myself cleaned up and got my clothes in the washer and tried to eat something. My appetite is not quite back today and I really haven't felt great but I haven't been throwing up again. I took a long nap and have been lounging around, trying to redeem the rest of my day. Hopefully, the excitement is over for today and tomorrow I can go back to my typical second trimester self, not throwing up out the side of cars. Tommy and I will probably be looking for a good car wash today, someone that will shampoo the interior perhaps. Tommy did his best to clean up the car, but I am a little concerned that it will never quite be the same.

On a happier note, everyone has been asking when we will find out the baby's gender, so I thought I would go ahead and share that we should find out at our next sonogram on Good Friday, April 10. We will definitely update you all as soon as we find out. Here's hoping that tomorrow will be better!!

Crystal

Smallz in the City: Part 2

2009-03-21T12:05:00.003-05:00

Alright, so I was hoping I would not have to update this quite so quickly but the drama with Smallz has continued. Today, we decided that the training had been going pretty well with the electric fence and we decided to put the dogs outside while we ran a couple of errands close by. As Smallz had barely been brave enough to leave the deck, we were not terribly concerned that he would try anything. Of course, as we have been so many times before, we were wrong.
As we were completing our errands, Tommy got a call from a random number on his cell phone. I was on the other line and didn't click over since I didn't know who it was. Tommy checked the voicemail a few minutes later, and sure enough it was our neighbor that lives behind us. They have gotten to know Smallz pretty well over the last couple of weeks, so we are on a first name basis now. When we called, she confirmed that he still had the shock collar on and Tommy was so angry! He was in the car ranting about how we wasted all that money on the electric fence and that Smallz will never leave his kennel again. I wasn't quite ready to give up on the wireless fence myself. When we got home, Smallz was tied to our back fence on the neighbor's side, still wearing the collar. Tommy tossed the collar over to me and I examined the back fence to figure out how he escaped. We were able to figure out what he has been doing. He has figured out that he can just push out the back chain link fence at one place where he had previously dug it out of the ground. He doesn't even have to dig anymore and I am sure he can get out in less than 30 seconds if he wants to.
While checking the fence, I noticed that the collar did not seem to be working. I brought the collar inside to try to check the battery, thinking that maybe Smallz's escape had run it down really quick. As I came into the house, I remembered that sometime in the middle of the night, I had turned the receiver off because the red light was in my eyes. So, we went to the bedroom to check it and sure enough, it was still off. So much for consistency. My bad...... So, we are somewhat relieved that he didn't just push through the shock out of sheer stubborn will, but I am sure he is more confused than ever now that we have it on and it is shocking him again. Last time he went outside, he tried to go to that back corner again but he high-tailed it back to the deck as soon as it started shocking him. Now he is afraid to go outside. So tomorrow, our friend Joe is going to come over and help Tommy fix the back fence so he will no longer be able to escape in that particular way. We won't leave them out there again unsupervised until that is fixed. So, between the electric fence and the real fence, hopefully we will be able to keep him in the yard again. Tommy called it "first line of de-fence" and "2nd line of de-fence." So, back to the kennels for the doggies today while we are out. Hopefully, Smallz won't be mad and poop in it again. I am pretty sure he is just about the craziest dog I have ever known. He's sulking now because we won't let him escape.
All the while, we have been watching everybody else's dogs because we don't get a spring break so of course we are still in town while a lot of our friends got to get away for a few days. We have had some challenges keeping our friends, Shaun & Lauren's dogs in their yard as well. They have a beagle-pug mix that is every bit as smart as Smallz and just as keen on escaping. Crazy beagles! She managed to figure out that if she ran fast enough she could get her chain that was keeping her tied off to just unlatch and let her free. We managed to get her back and had to wrap the chain around her collar twice and attach it to itself and she has not been able to get that off yet. Hopefully, we will have no more escaping dogs this weekend. We have had quite enough.....
Hopefully our next post will actually be about the baby as I am sure that most of you are much more curious about that. Here's hoping that we will finally be able to solve this problem permanently!

Smallz in the City

2009-03-18T21:12:00.004-05:00

Hello World! I have decided to join the blogging world with our own personal blogspot to record the daily happenings of our growing family. I figure with a baby on the way, I've got to start doing mom things, right? So here goes...
Many of you have met or at least heard stories of our infamous dogs, Smallz and Maximus. We got Smallz first, bought and paid for a full-bred beagle... What were we thinking? Maximus was an unexpected addition as our friends found him as a tiny puppy, alone on the side of the road, and we (as if Tommy had a say....) decided to keep him. Smallz has had many escapades and adventures in his 4 short years and I am pretty sure he's got a few guardian angels that stay busy keeping him out of danger. Some of you may remember his travels in Abilene, to include a visit to the county hospital (running loose in the hallways), a grocery store, a trip to Anson, and a very focused study of a yellow plastic road marker in the middle of Ambler with cars dodging every which way to avoid him. Things have been fairly quiet for Smallz the last couple of years and he has become a bit overweight and complacent over time. But no more! Smallz apparently made a new year's resolution to have some more adventures and was able to successfully escape our yard at least 10 times in a 2 week period. He has met several of the neighbors and even found some other dogs to join in one of the adventures with him. He also got to spend several afternoons at the grandparents' house (Tommy's parents had to rescue him for us multiple times) and an afternoon showing our friend Landon the weaknesses in his yard.
Where is Max in all of this, you ask? Chilling at home in the backyard. He has apparently figured out that when Smallz gets out, he waits for no one, and thus had been left behind in a strange place one time too many. Max is the ever obedient man's best friend. I am certain that Smallz has called him a goody-2-shoes at least once.
We have spent a lot of time the past few weeks trying to patch up Smallz's escape routes, each time thinking we had it fixed, and each time coming home to a yard with only one dog. Smallz has some serious Navy Seal ops going back there, even digging under barbed wire without scratching himself. His most recent escapes have been very houdini, with no obvious signs of where he could possibly have gotten out. We hate that we are having to put both dogs in kennels for 9 hours a day, so we broke down and bought an electric fence. We went for the wireless one for the convenience of easy set up, but it was not cheap. Smallz has a collar that beeps and then provides a static "correction" anytime he gets too close to the boundaries. The boundaries are a bit odd as you have to set it up in a radius with the indoor receiver in the center of the circle, but we have managed to block his access only to the back few feet and the fenceline of one side of the yard where he has tended to escape most frequently. We started the training today and Smallz definitely did not like the "correction" he received. Now he's a bit nervous to even leave the deck but we are trying to show him where he can safely go. I know it sounds cruel but it is much better than getting hit by a car. Hopefully, this will work, but I am still nervous that he will be so stubborn that he just pushes through to get out, or he may figure out a way to get that collar off. We will keep you updated. I have been trying to tell Smallz that he has given me quite enough material to write a series of children's books about his escapades and we do not need any more chapters, but he tends to have selective hearing. I guess he is just preparing us for kids.