Ryan & Lindsey Williams: February 2009

Thursday, February 26, 2009

I Love My Engineer

At night, we turn our heat down and use a space heater in our bedroom (where Collin is still sleeping in the bassinet). At 8 am, the thermostat is programmed to start heating the house back up to 68 degrees.

Yesterday something went wrong. The heat kicked on at 8:00 like it was supposed to, but when I went out to the kitchen at 9 am to get my breakfast, it was still dreadfully cold and the heat wasn’t even blowing. I checked the temperature, and it was only 63 degrees. I called Ryan and left him a message, but I knew he was in meetings all day.

At 10 am, I was planning on leaving to go to the mall (yes, I’m now one of those women pushing the stroller around for exercise), and I started panicking about what could be wrong. Previously, I would have just called our landlord, but now that we're homeowners, that doesn’t fly anymore.

I went down to the basement, checked the circuit breaker box, and flipped the “furnace” switch off and then back on. I heard nothing but a strange buzzing noise. I didn’t smell gas, but… What do I know?

I called my parents (who encouraged me to turn back off the power to the furnace and look up the number for a heating and cooling guy) and my engineer brother (who was in class and didn’t answer). I was pretty worried that the house might burn down while I was gone, which further explains to you how little I know about anything mechanical. After some assurance from my mom, I headed out to meet my friend at the mall.

I have to admit that I hoped it would fix itself while I was gone, but unfortunately it was still a chilly 65 inside (thank goodness it was sunny and warm for February yesterday). Collin and I spent the afternoon in the warm bedroom.

Enter My Engineer. Ryan got home from work at 5:30 pm. He ate dinner and went down to the basement, and at 5:55: the heat started blowing, and Ryan returned successful.

No runs to the Home Depot for costly parts, no calls to or visits from an expensive technician, no pricey claim on our home-buyer’s insurance…

Nothing but my wonderfully-free engineering husband. I love my handy man. Thanks babe!

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Two Months

Collin is two months old today. Yesterday we went to the doctor’s:
Weight: 13 lbs
Length: 24 in
I can hardly heft his carrier, so I think we’re in trouble. Even Ryan’s arm gets tired when we haul him around. He is no longer fitting into the clothes marked “3 months,” but we can still cram him into most of the “3-6 months”-sized things.

He currently has blue eyes, which is a mystery to Ryan and me. They are large and round, and he loves to look at this great big world. He's very curious.

He is learning lots of new things too. This month he has learned to: smile on demand, giggle, “stand” and scoot with his legs, “talk” with consonant sounds, bat at his toys, lift up his head (a little) when on his tummy, hold his head up on his own when he’s held (most of the time), look at himself in the mirror (this always cheers him up), sleep for nine hours (yippee!), and burp on his own (without medicine).

The other thing Collin has learned to do this month is enjoy his diaper changes. The first week of his life, he got an infection in the nether regions, and this led to ridiculous screaming each time we started to even go near his diaper. This month his infections and rashes have cleared up, and he may have even started to associate his diaper changes with eating time. And since he LOVES to eat, he seems quite perky at the thought. Anyway, he always smiles and giggles when we change his dipe.

We used to have a cute cover for his changing pad, but I couldn’t keep up with washing it after every projectile poo, pee or spit-up. The plastic is MUCH easier to wipe down after such an occurrence. Maybe one day we can put the cover (which matches his room) back on.

My favorite thing to do is get him dressed up to go out in all his cute clothes. Here’s my current favorite outfit.

I think it looks like he is headed to the gym to work out… or maybe like he’s a thug headed for the basketball courts in inner-city Peoria.

We are also really proud of how reverent Collin is at church. In fact, he is so well-behaved that he keeps his eyes closed in prayer at all times. Well, is sleeping through all three hours reverent or just quiet? Anyway, yes, Collin has slept through all of church all four times he’s attended. Ryan and I LOVE it.

The last news to share is that Collin is an early, EARLY teether. Apparently, teething can last for months, so that’s what we are assuming is going to happen with our little Collin. He has started drooling, biting/gumming, and pulling on his ears. Crazy! I thought I had a few months before all this would start happening.

Anyway, happy two months, Collin! We love you.