Loving our Time at Home

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

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

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

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

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!

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.....

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