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!

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.

Happy Valentine's Day!

To Lindsey:

Breakfast in bed with heart-shaped pancakes, grapefruit and orange juice

A hair cut and hour of shopping ALONE

Another hour ALONE in front of the fire with my new bookDinner of heart-shaped pizza, ice cream floats and chocolate chip toffee cheesecake

To Ryan:
A little something to remind you how much we love you while at work...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hard Work

It's hard work being a baby.

Exhausted...

at 8:45 am.

Mylicon Miracle & Craig's List Love

Mylicon Miracle

We have seen a Mylicon Miracle at our house.
Collin has been really fussy after each time he eats. I have been cutting things out of my diet trying to figure out the cause, but it was beginning to look like I wasn't going to be able to eat anything at all!

For example, Sunday night Collin woke up to eat at 12:30am. I fed him until about 1am, and then he began his characteristic arching of his back, kicking/stretching of his legs, flailing of his arms (which I have learned means he needs to burp/toot). I burped him in a variety of positions until at 1:30. Nothing.

Frustrated, I woke up Ryan, who burped and rocked and bounced our little guy until 2:30am. Result? Collin screamed and screamed in pain, and nothing came out.

I use this story as an example of each time he has eaten since about a week ago. It was becoming very draining, to say the least.

Enter Mylicon on the scene. Ryan picked it up on the way home from work Monday night, and it has worked like a dream. Collin doesn't seem to mind the flavor, and he is so happy and content to be alive. We had begun to believe he hated being awake, since all he'd do is eat and scream with his eyes open. Now today I have played and read to him most of the morning! Yeah for gas relief meds!

Now doesn't he look content?

Craig's List Love

I also wanted to share my Craig's List Love. I have found so many great things right here in town for so cheap. Here are a few of the baby things I have acquired:

Play Mat Gym (with music) -

New: $69.99; Craig's List: $10

Car Seat Base -

(We actually bought the whole car seat, but we really just wanted an extra base.)

New (just base): $30; Craig's List (whole seat): $15

Baby Bath Tub -

New: $25; Craig's List: $5

Baby Swing -

New: $72.99; Craig's List: $20

Boppy -

(I already had one, but I'd been wanting another... and for this price? I couldn't resist!)

New: $30, Craig's List: $5

Stroller Frame -

New: $60; Craig's List: $20

Electronic Ball -

New: $13; Craig's List: FREE (She threw it in since I bought so many other things!)

Now just to clarify, all these items were not purchased from the same person or at the same time. These have been my finds since about September when I started gathering things for the coming baby... But still: What did people do before Craig's List? I'm in love.

Happy One Month!

Today Collin turns one month old. Time flies! He is growing so fast. Yesterday he had his doctor checkup -- Weight: 10 pounds; Length: 22.5 inches.

He no longer fits into "newborn"-sized clothes, and some of the "0-3 months" things are getting too short. What an eater!

Here are some fun photos from this past week:

Pushing a Poo

Mommy's New Man

Our Little MonkeyShhh! I'm Sleeping

We are having so much fun learning and growing together. Happy One Month, Collin!

Collin's Blessing

Today Collin turned 4-weeks old, and we blessed him in sacrament meeting. Grandpa Morello and Papa Williams stood in the circle while Ryan pronounced the blessing.

Our little man

Everyone
Morellos
Williams
The Women (and Collin, of course)
The Men

We are so grateful for the priesthood and eternal families. We are also grateful for our loving family who is always willing to travel long distances to share in our special family milestones. We are especially grateful for our little Collin: for his health and strength and sweet, mild temperament.

Happy Two Weeks!

So we are now among those obsessed parents who photograph the child day and night. Here are some fun pictures we took to celebrate his two-week birthday.

He likes to strike funny poses. We call this his GQ pose.

Awesome, huh?

Collin will only sleep during the day if he is being cuddled (luckily this hasn’t transferred to his night-time sleeping yet). He likes to be hugged and to lie on Daddy’s chest.

This is how they fell asleep watching football on New Year’s Day.

We spent some time this week before Dad has to return to work having a little photo shoot.

We would have gotten more family photos, but Collin soaked his little outfit. Good times.

And here’s one last picture of our chipmunk.

Jaundice

Sorry that we haven't posted more in the last week. Our first week of parenthood has been... too eventful.

We were discharged from the hospital in time for Christmas, but unfortunately we were re-admitted on Christmas Day for Collin's jaundice. We are all home now but may have to return for additional treatments. Each day we have had to return to the hospital for Collin to be tested, and then we anxiously await our doctor's call to see what steps need to be taken. It is quite frustrating since we've been given very little instruction on how to help him other than to feed him.

It looks like Ryan may have left out Collin's vitals at birth in the last post:

Weight: 7 lbs 13 oz

Length: 20.5 inches

But at the doctor's yesterday he already weighed 8 lbs. 8 oz., so you can imagine what kind of eater he is!

Please keep our little Collin in your thoughts and prayers. He's had a rough first week.

We are loving every minute of parenthood, and he is an absolute joy. It has been challenging, but we wouldn't change anything for the world.

Baby Knows Best

It is my pleasure and privilege to introduce Collin Daniel Williams, first-born and soul heir to the Williams family fortune.

So, after all of our worrying and belly-aching (and aching bellies) about being in the hospital during Christmas, inducing labor, etc., our little man decided enough was enough. After a surprisingly pleasant 9 hours of labor, and a relatively quick 2 hours of pushing, Collin was delivered at 11:44 am Sunday morning, and the miracle of life began.

As you can see, Lindsey is doing amazingly well, and Collin is, of course, perfect. We are enjoying a few days of rest and recuperation in the hospital, and we will be going home to spend Christmas will G-ma and G-pa Morello and Uncle Jared. We are so happy to have him here, and eternally grateful for the best Christmas present we could ever have hoped for.

The moral of the story is: Don't question the baby's (or the Lord's) timing. We've stressed our selves out twice now worrying about dates and timing, and both times everything has worked out perfectly.

Well, enough of my rambling....I know you really just want to see pictures, so here are a few more...

Brand 'spankin' new

A hint of a smile

Zonked out on the warming table

Happy Birthday or Merry Christmas?