Clark's First Christmas!

Hello!

We have been really busy with all the hustle and bustle of the holidays, sorry I haven't made a post in a long time. My mom came up from Florida for a few days, my grandparents came down from Michigan for visit and we went up to Michigan to see Matt's parents. I've also been shopping, baking, cleaning and trying to get a nap here in there before and after work. I have been one tired and slightly crabby elf this holiday season. We hope everyone had a happy and safe holiday. We also hope you spent quality time with family, ate until you were going to explode and had a big smile on your face--like this guy....

On Christmas Eve we all got all dressed up for 4:30pm church service. Clark was stylin' in his new duds (thanks to Aunt Barb) he had a full belly and a bag full of new toys. We thought he would be a happy camper and I would get home in plenty of time to go to work.

WRONG. All the bottles and toys in world were not going to distract this very small, very scheduled child from his nightly routine. At 5:45 he completely lost it, he went nutzo, he wanted his jammies and bed (yes, he still goes to be at 6pm). We had to leave a little early so that the screaming scheduled demon would relax, he ate and went down like a sack of potatoes. On a regular night 6pm bedtime is awesome, Matt and I get our evenings together, but on nights where we want to go out past 5pm it kinda stinks.

Christmas morning Clark woke up to find a message left by Santa! (thanks for the blocks Great Gma)

 His stocking was filled with all sorts of useful items such as spoons, teethers and wild animals. And of course socks for his totally awesome feet (he is still completely fascinated by them)

Of course he was more interested in the plastic and paper that everything came packaged in.



Krum was so happy in his Christmas PJs, he thought he was hot stuff. Frazier thought Santa Paws forgot about him so he threw a very distinct temper tantrum.

Once he realized that Santa Paws did indeed remember him, he perked right up!

In other news, Clark has added another word to his vocabulary. Wooo Wooo. Like a choo choo train. James--the brightest red engine on Sodore--lights up and blows his whistle, Clark is in love.



woo woo



Have a great week!

Colie

6 Months Old

Guess who is 6 months old.

I don't know, who is 6 months old?

You are, Clark!

Whhhhhaaaat? Not possible.

That's what I say.

How can this....

Turn into this.... and in just a blink of an eye?

In the last 6 months Clark, Frazier and Krum have had to put up with a lot of awkward picture positions. As a result they have become very tolerant--and somewhat subdued.

We went to the Windy City this past weekend to visit Josh, Shilpa and baby Leena--who is the same age as Clark.

Leena is pretty much Clark's girlfriend, she has given him his first kiss and his first slap across the face. They shared their toys, their germs and lots of deep soul searching stares. It was fun to watch them entertain each other and show off their tricks. Leena is amazing as rolling and army crawling. Clark's special talents are sitting for long periods of time and eating. Each baby's strength is the other baby's weakness, they balanced each other out. That is why they make such a great couple. Clark was in the middle of showing Lenna his totally awesome feet when we interrupted for this picture. Shilpa had a great camera and got a ton of good pictures of the two of them, I was a little embarrassed to breakout my lame-o camera so I missed a lot of sweet moments.

We had a great time, I can only assume that it is only going to get better as the kids get older!

Colie



Snow-one Looks this Good as a Bear....

Last night was the first snow of the season. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't it in the high 50's last week? Just checkin'. Doesn't matter, I love that cold white stuff and I always get super excited about the first snowfall of the year. I even got out of bed last night to see if it was sticking to the ground. So, needless to say this was the first thing I did this morning....

Where did his hands go?

He is such a laid back kid. As long as there is a bottle ready every 2 hours and 50 minutes, there is a place to nap 2 hours and 20 minutes after the last time he woke up and his crib is available at 6:17pm he is good to go. He is up for anything, eats anything and loves everyone, but don't mess with the kid's schedule or he turns into the Abominable Snow Beast. Then again, look who he has to learn from. Frazier eats at 5:20am and 3:58pm, he stands by his bowl at those exact times. Krum takes himself to bed at 6pm and wont get out of bed until 9am. Okay, Okay.....and I'm a little nutty about a schedule too, I admit it. We like to call ourselves dependable around here.

At what age does it become awkward to dress your kid up in goofy outfits and take pictures? Because I think it is awesome, I just don't want to push my limits.



Helllllooooo Ladies, who wants to cuddle me?


Have a good week and enjoy the snow!
Colie

He Speaks!

Hello!!

First off, Happy Thanksgiving! Or as Frazier calls it, SNACKSGIVING. We hope you all had a wonderful holiday where you were surrounded by good people and good food.

Clark weighed more than the turkey!

The other day we were sitting in the living room playing with his toys. The dogs started to run around in circles while barking. When ever they do that I always say woof to Clark and he giggles. Thank goodness the video recorder was sitting on the coffee table.....

He also say HI on a regular basis. Or at least what we consider to be HI.

He is growing too fast, he needs to slow down so I can keep up.

Take care,
Colie

Matt's Version

Matt has his own version of the very tender moment shared by Clark and Frazier.

Clark: Hey Fraz! Come here for a second, I gotta ask you a question.

Frazier: Oh, ok, Clark. What's your question?

Clark: What did the 5 fingers say to the face?

Frazier: I don't know. What?

SMACK!!!!



Beans, Beans the Magical Fruit

You all know how that cute little rhyme ends. I am here to tell you it is all true. Sure, he is all black beans and smiles now, but there is nothing funny about what follows a few hours later. In all seriousness, the boy loves beans. He reaches out for them and gets impatient between spoonfuls. They fit in nicely with his very strange affinity with words that begin with the letter B -- Bumbo, Baby, Boo, Banana, Black-Coffee, Beard, Bum, Boom and now Bean -- He cracks up when you say those words. Weird.

Do you like riddles? Clark has a good one for you---What's the last thing a black bean sees before it goes to legume heaven?



Nom Nom Nom

 I captured a very sweet moment between Frazier and Clark the other morning.

Awwwww!

Have a good weekend,
Colie

5 Months

Hello!

Look who turned 5 months old this Sunday.

It looks like he has either been hitting the Jimmy Beam real hard or like he is posing for Take One in those creepy 80's double exposure portraits seen here.

My money is on the Jim Beam.

He found his feet very recently and thinks that they are even cooler than Krum--not too hard to beat, but he adores K-Woww.  He pulls his socks off just so he can suck on his toes, its pretty adorable. His taste pallet is expanding and he has experimented with sweet potatoes, carrots, squash, peaches, bananas, apples, avocados and mushrooms--that last one was by accident, he attacked my plate. Bananas are by far his favorite, I swear he poops banana bread.

I thought I would share this video of Clark playing with all his toys. It looks like the rattle has a mind of its own and is possessing his arm! Please excuse my baby talk voice, its pretty bad.

Have a good week

Colie

Halloween

Clark's first Halloween!

He slept through the first hour of Trick or Treating. He claimed that it sounded like a lot of fun, but he needed a nap and he would do it in the morning. Hummm....I wonder where he gets that mentality? Matt?

He dressed up as a 90's Grunge Rocker. I made a Nirvana Tshirt, he wore an open flannel and I put holes in a pair of jeans he was about to out grow. This was the closest thing to a good picture we could get, he was overly enthralled with the pumpkins.

Take One.

Take Two.



Take Three...Four...Five...Ten...

Holy Moly, he looks like me in the picture!

Hope everyone had a happy and safe Halloween filled with lots of Recess Peanut Butter Cups and very few raisins
Colie

A Very Productive Weekend

Hello!

This was the first weekend in 2 months that I didn't work a Friday night and subsequently sleep half of Saturday away--and become a zombie the other half of Saturday. We were able to get a lot done....

First up was attempting to bake bread from scratch. I didn't even use the awesomeness of a bread machine. It was me, my two sticky hands and some baking yeast that accomplished this fantasticness.



That's not a bite taken out of the slice, it broke that way, I promise!

It took 2 hours, there was flour in crevices of the kitchen I didn't know existed and each piece had about 200 calories, but it was delicious. I also made baked chick-peas that tasted like pumpkin seeds (yum) and sugar cookies in the shapes of scary black cats and grave stones--Damn Pinterest for making me addicted to crafts and kitchen confections! (If you don't know what Pinterest is visit http://www.pinterest.com/ and prepare to be admitted to a support group because you can't quit).

Up next was cleaning the house in preparation for Cousin Mile's first visit--that took all day, passing a baby back and forth in exchange for a washcloth.  Miles is 6 weeks old and growing very quickly. I really should have adjusted Clark's pants before this picture, he looks like he is trying to smuggle a Chihuahua across the Mexican boarder.  Cloth diapers are very economical, but not very fashion forward.

Third up was making sure we all dressed alike. Don't worry, I am also wearing a gray sweater on the other side of the camera.

Fourth activity of the weekend was pumpkin carving. OooOoo, AhhAhh....

Pop Quiz:  Red cheeks + Diaper rash + No naps! + Eating everything in sight =  ?




Here is a hint: See the red BITE MARK on his finger...

If you guessed TOOTH you are correct! While I was a baking/crafting fool this weekend Clark decided to one-up me by showcasing his first baby tooth. I found it today when he was sucking on my finger and he bit it. Crazy little monkey.
Hope you all had a productive and happy weekend as well!
Colie

Laundry Day

How to Tell it's Laundry Day

Our Punkin's First Pumkin

Everything has become so much more fun now that we have a baby to share it with--well everything except cleaning and cooking, that has become 100 times harder.

Today we went to the pumpkin patch. We found a nice small farm that was covered in pumpkins ripe for the picking. There was a honor system money box and free kittens. Well, a sign for free kittens and a number to call to see them. Matt confessed that if the kittens were actually there we probably would have driven home with one. Note to self--find a way to get Matt around free kittens, more specifically a solid dark gray kitten (they are my favorite).

We found a medium sized, very round pumpkin for the Clarkster.

He had a great time walking around and thought it was awesome to be out so late (7:30!) Usually he is getting sleep-sacked and ready for bed. It was a big deal.

I wish I had better and more pictures, but the camera had enough battery juice for precisely 2 pictures before it died. I am still learning how to be more prepared.





Have a great week!

Colie





Hello

Wow, I can't tell you how many times I have started and stopped writing this post. It seems like there is always something going on around here-- a baby to feed, a dog to let out or a bathroom to clean. How is it possible that I had so much time to sit on the sofa and watch TV before and now I can't even check my spam email?

Anyway, here is about 3 weeks worth of happenings--which is like an eternity in baby weeks

Clark got a Halloween card in the mail from his Great Grandma this past week. He was very intrigued by the picture and the colors. I love seeing his expression when he sees something for the very first time, he studies it, gives it the once over and then will decide if it is worthy of his attention by giving it a smile. If he disapproves he sticks out his bottom lip and expects it to be disposed of immediately. Not saying for sure, but I think he gets his patience from me. The card also came with his fist dolla dolla bill ya'll...two of them actually. Keep savin', Buddy, I can't imagine how much beer college is going to cost in the future.

Clark has mastered his Gangsta Lean. I keep telling him if he wants the gangsters to take him serious he can't always have that big goofy grin on his face. He says it makes him look trustworthy. I don't think he knows what a gangster is. 

We just realized that Clark is 4 and a half months old and we had zero of those adorable baby in the bathtub pictures. Sure, we have Baby leaning up against the dog, Baby holding onto Daddy's beer can, and Baby with food all of his face pictures, but none in the tub. Then I realized why....



Frazier LOVES the bathtub, it is an unnatural love really-- The dog jumps in the shower with us! We don't have any baby in the tub pictures because Frazier is constantly trying to jump in the tub with him and we are having to fend him off. It just occurred  to me as I type this that I could shut the bathroom door. Genius.

Clark has retired his Colts t-shirt, he claimed that he out grew it, but I know he is just embarrassed with their 0-6 record. Emily W. sent him a pair of football babylegs so he can still celebrate Football Sundays in style.

Happy Sunday. Hope you have a good week!

Colie



Going Cold Turkey at 4 Months

Hello

Clark turned 4 months today. I thought it was high time the boy started to earn his keep around here.



He can press and fold better than anyone

Clark lives a pretty pure life, he doesn't smoke or drink, he doesn't cuss and goes to church every Sunday, but he does have one vice. Swaddling. The baby loves to be swaddled morning, noon and night. This hadn't been a problem until recently, he has grown out of his swaddle-me sleep sack and is starting to almost roll from back to belly--can you say suffocation risk? Last night we took the swaddle away without any preparation or warning. The kid went down like a sack of potatoes, but woke up at 1:30, 3:30 and 5:30, which we expected to happen. His arms have a tendency to get away from him and it wakes him up. Good news is, all it took was putting my hand on his chest and rocking him back and forth in the crib to get him to go back to sleep. Hopefully he can self soothe back to sleep within the new few nights. I'm so proud of the big boy.

Speaking of being a big boy, guess who started rice cereal today...



Gimme the spoon, seriously, I can do it

He was more interested in the spoon then he was the cereal, but he managed to keep some of it in his mouth. 

I finally just gave up and let him take control of the spoon. Up next, learning how to do the dishes.

He had his 4 month doctor's appointment today, he only gained 3 ounces, but he grew an inch! He also got another round of shots, they were the same ones he got at 2 months, but this time he had a nasty emotional reaction to them. The poor guy has been crying all night--its a painful, pull at your heart kind of cry and he wont eat. He keeps whimpering in his crib as I am typing this, but when I go check on him his eyes are closed and he is sleeping. My heart is breaking. Frazier is upstairs laying outside of his room--what a sweet boy. Frazier is very open about his feelings toward Clark.





Check out the faux-hawk in this next picture...he totally rocks it...kinda...well, at least he has the self confidence to pull it off.





Have a good rest of the week!
Colie

How Can He Grow so Fast?

Hello!

I don't know what I expected having a baby to be like, but this isn't it. It is so much more fun, eventful, entertaining and exciting than I would have ever imagined. Even if someone were to have described it in detail to me, it would still surpass anything I could have possibly thought it would be like. The amount that a baby learns in just a week's time is amazing! Last week he started to reach out for things, granted he looked slightly inebriated when he did it. This week he reaches for things directly and grabs them on the first try. Then he brings them to his mouth and squeals with joy as he burrows his face in them. We now have to travel with toys in the car because he gets bored. Boredom causes shrill monkey screams to emanate from the backseat causing me to swerve across center lines, its not good for anyone.

Hello, Monkey. I haven't seen you around here before, come here often?



Is this guy for real? He doesn't say much.

We went to the zoo again this weekend. Clark made it just past Oceans before he fell asleep--Oceans is the first world that you enter at the zoo. Last time he didn't even make it though Oceans so we are making some progress. Once again, he gets super pumped to be someplace new, he just can't maintain this level of excitment for extended periods of time.

Another progressive achievement this week has been with books. He used to be mesmerized by the pages and touch the books as we read. Now he reads out loud along with us, however, his version is slightly different. He tries to turn pages and uses different inflections on his vowel laden gibberish as he reads through them with us. He cracks himself up so I know his version is much more entertaining than the one I am reading--- "Who's behind the busy farm tractor? Oh, its Cuddly Cow. Mooo." Last time I checked cows weren’t cuddly, they were delicious.

This is just a normal day at Casa del Williams--Krum practicing awkward yoga positions in the background and Frazier is snooping around for anything that might be new or out of place.

A few weeks ago I decided that I wanted to make a monogrammed picture using buttons, I had no idea what kind of ripple effect it would have on the household. I made the monogrammed W and bought a sweet little frame for it. I hung it above the fireplace.

The starburst mirror that was above the fireplace needed a new place to be hung, so I put it where the antique window frame used to be, but that looked funny next to the plant. So I moved the plant to the kitchen's breakfast nook. Then I had an empty space where the giant man-eating plant was so I moved the chair and ottoman over there. Which caused an empty space on the OTHER side of the living room so I moved the antique apple ladder that we use as a blanket hanger over there. I wasn't fully happy so I told Matt we needed to move the pie safe (huge piece of furniture) up from the basement. This caused yet another empty space that will need to be filled by a large piece of furniture we have yet to acquire  Then all the knick-knacks were off and it caused the whole room to look wonky. So operation knick knack shuffle was engaged. Long story short, the house is in complete feng-shui disarray and I'm crabby. Damn buttons.

Hope everyone had a good weekend and your feng-shui is in working order
Colie