Thankful!!

I knew that I would love staying home with Kailey this summer, but I just didn't know how much! I am not saying that it isn't tiring, because it most definitely is that! But, overall, I love being home with my sweet baby girl. I love her being my alarm clock in the morning, instead of my annoying "nature sounds" alarm clock I use for school. I love having a schedule with her and feeding her new foods. I love how everyday it seems like she learns something new. She is so close to crawling now, we can taste it! (she is just having trouble with the legwork..). It is so crazy how fast she is growing. She will be 7 months old on Saturday and when I think about how much she has changed from those first few days in the hospital it is overwhelming!

I mean, is that even the same baby?? I definitely am learning to treasure every single moment. I wonder sometimes if I would be this way if I hadn't experienced all the sad baby stories in my life. Sad baby stories just absolutely move me more than anything else. I have been hearing a lot of them lately. Just of people miscarrying, or their baby dying of SIDS, or stillbirths. It is just overwhelming sometimes. It just shows me that Kailey is such a miracle. I want to show you this blog that I have been somewhat following for a little while now. It is definitely sad, but the author, Angie, really touches my heart because she is so honest with the emotions she is feeling at this time of her life. I am sure that her blog is read by hundreds of people and that she ministers to each of them in a special way. I just thought I would put the link on my blog for those of you who have kids. It will definitely teach you to be thankful for your kids, even on those frustrating days! The link is www.audreycaroline.blogspot.com. Make sure you click on the link that is at the top left so you can read her very first post ever. It explains it all...:)

Kailey and Addie

Kailey and Addie are getting to be friends! Well at least on Kailey's end. Addie is so good with her. Kailey tugs on her beard and her fur and Addie just looks at me like "mommy, why are you letting her hurt me??" Kailey's whole face lights up when she sees Addie. Whether Addie is outside looking in the door, or just walking across the room, Kailey LOVES her! She always squeals with delight. I think they will be friends one day! Below is a video of them playing together for the first time. It is nothing much, but I think it is sweet!

Crib Recall....ARGH!!!

Has anyone heard about the giant crib recall?? I just happened to be watching Good Morning America the other morning, and they said that Jardine Enterprises was recalling 320,000 cribs. I thought "hmm..that sounds like a familiar name.." and I looked it up. Sure enough, Kailey's crib is being recalled. So I searched out the reciepts and applied for the voucher they are sending out to get us a new crib. For my 7 month old. Anyways...I told Casey when he woke up and he says "why? are all of them breaking? or just a few? What is wrong with them?". I said "4 babies have broken and fallen through the slats and almost gotten strangled". He is like "well that doesn't mean hers will". He then proceeds to try to break the slats. At first I was pretty mad at him for acting like a typical male, but then I realized the real reason he didn't want to take the crib back. It is because of all the hassle it took to get the thing!

In September Casey's parents came to visit. They decided that their baby gift to us would be the crib. Yay hooray! So we drove down to Austin to Babies 'R Us to pick out the crib we wanted. (It takes about an hour to get there). We picked it out and they actually had one in stock. So we loaded her up in Casey's dad's truck and brought her home. They open the box and it is our crib, except it is cherry instead of white. Casey called and they didn't have any more of them in stock, so he had to order it, which meant that Casey's dad's truck would be gone! About a week later Casey had to borrow Matt's truck and go down there to get our crib. This time Casey asks 3 million times if it is for sure the right crib, and even opens it to make sure that it is white. He brings it home and opens the box and....it is the WRONG CRIB!! Now as you can imagine we were pretty upset...talk about a waste of gas and time! So this time Casey borrows the church trailer and takes this crib back to get ours. He gets all the way home with it and there is a message on our answering machine saying that the glider chair we ordered from Babies 'R Us is ready for pick-up. hahaha You can't make this stuff up...

So anyway. They are supposed to be sending a voucher for the cost of whatever we paid for our crib the first time. Then we can pick out any brand crib we want from Babies 'R Us. Lets hope that this time we are able to get the crib home in the right style and finish the first time, or Kailey might be sleeping on the full size bed in the guest room. I'm kidding, but Casey is not!

Baby Food and Baby Einstein

One of Kailey's first experiences with baby food! (And mine..)

Kailey is getting on a pretty regular schedule of eating baby food and it has caused me to evaluate the whole baby food process. She has been so good so far on eating baby food. There hasn't been one thing she hasn't liked. She has eaten green beans, green peas, carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, pears, applesauce, peaches, bananas, and even prunes! (Let me tell you, I will NEVER feed her prunes again, if you know what I mean!). She is a very good eater but I feel really bad for her. Have you ever smelled baby food? It smells DISGUSTING! Especially the veggies. I would never eat that stuff. The only way I eat sweet potatoes is with a good dose of brown sugar and butter, not just plain. YUCK! Well I guess she doesn't know what she is missing. I feel bad sometimes though when she tries something new and makes that "baby food" face. The one that says "what on earth is this that you are feeding me??" She usually overcomes it and I just keep force-feeding her this stuff that I know must taste horrendous! And on another note...

Thank goodness for Baby Einstein movies!! I know there are some mothers out there who refuse to show their babies movies because they don't want their children to get used to sitting in front of the TV. I totally don't either, but one video a day doesn't hurt and she LOVES them! Right now she is watching "Baby's first sounds" and it teaches her how to say "ba ba" and "da da" and other sounds. I think it is good for her. I mean I would totally feel guilty if she sat there for hours, but it is just 30 minutes. It just gives us something else to do, you know? Don't judge to harshly!! :)

Prayer

I have been having some head problems, I guess you could call them! I thought it was my eyes changing, so I went to the eye doctor last week. They said my eyes hadn't changed too much, so I am not sure if that is it or not. I am going back to the eye doctor today to see what they say. It could be my sinuses because I am having a lot of pressure above my nose. It just always bothers me when I have things going on in my head! I am always scared that I have something serious going on and that freaks me out. So if you could just pray that we can get this figured out and that everything is ok, I would greatly appreciate it. I almost didn't post about this, but I decided that the more people that are praying for me, the better! Thanks friends!

**** Update ****
I went to the eye doctor and made sure my prescription was the right one, and he changed it a bit. I am still having problems, so I went to the doctor today and he thinks I have developed an allergy of some sort. Hopefully the nasal spray he prescribed will get rid of this pressure I am having! It is very hard to function! Thanks for your prayers!

First Family Vacation

We went on our first family vacation to good ole' San Antonio! We had a really great time. Kailey did better than I could have hoped. I was very worried how she would do because she gets cranky when she is hot, and seeing as it has been in the upper 90's all week, I was worried! We left on Sunday after church and then that night we ate dinner on the river walk at Casa Rio. Here is a picture of me and Kailey:

On Monday we decided to go to Sea World. Casey had never been there before and I hadn't been in about 5 years, so we thought it would be good! It was so much fun! (really expensive, but fun!) We got there a little after 10am and left about 5pm. I couldn't believe that Kailey lasted that long. She did so good though. We saw a few shows, and she was even watching the Shamu show! So, of course, we bought her a stuffed shamu so she would remember him! haha.

The next day we decided to go to the zoo. This prompted me to make a family rule. The Williams' family will never again go to the zoo during the summer. We are only allowed to go to the zoo in the fall or the spring. End of discussion! It was SO HOT!!! ahhh. Most of the animals weren't even outside, so it was pretty pointless. We left earlier than expected and decided try this local place we read about online called Chris Madrid's. It was so good! It was hamburgers, but seriously the BEST hamburgers I have ever had in my LIFE!

So that was pretty much our vacation! It was relaxing and fun, which is what we needed, because Casey's summer is aboug to get going full swing! VBS is next week and then there are about 3 camps in July! Here are some other random pics:

Kailey enjoyed seeing and talking to herself in the full-length mirror at the hotel!
Oh! I almost forgot. Kailey completed 3 milestones on our trip! He first tooth made its appearance, she learned to sit herself up from a laying down position, and she learned to wave bye-bye when someone waves to her first! Yay!

Leaving town!

We are having our first family vacation, starting tommorow! We are really excited. We are going to San Antonio. We will be visiting Sea World and the zoo with Kailey! Not that she will remember any of it, but it will be fun! Hopefully she will be in a good mood! I will make sure to take lots of pictures so I can show them when we get back. Have a great few days everyone!

Swimming Fun

We took Kailey swimming for the first time this past Tuesday. Did we start out simple?? No of course not! We went to Schlitterbahn! Well actually, Casey was taking the youth to Schlitterbahn and I decided to go with Kailey. She actually did really well there and LOVED swimming! So yesterday we bought a little blow up pool for the backyard. We filled it last night but it was too cold for her so she and I went swimming today. It pretty much felt like a bath, it was so warm, but she liked it that way. I don't think she really knows what to do though. For awhile she just sat there, but she finally started splashing. Here are some pictures of our fun in the sun!

Schedule Change

Whew! What a day! I have been done with school now for a week, and I am still trying to get used to it! You would think I would be more rested since I am not having to work all day, but WRONG! It is way more work taking care of Kailey! It seems like ever since I have been home she has been waking up earlier and earlier every morning. It is like she knows that I want to sleep 30 minutes later so she wakes up 30 minutes earlier! But, she has been taking really good naps. Yesterday she started a new stubborn streak. I have been saying for weeks that she is a strong-willed child, and she is definitely proving to be so! Normally, when she is tired, I can just hold her close to me and rock her, while she sucks her thumb. Then she falls asleep. Not anymore! She now does this (very painful) thing where she squirms around and presses her (very strong) legs into my arm. Why do babies fight going to sleep when they are so tired? It is nuts. I wish someone would tell me to take a nap! The other thing I am trying to change in her schedule is her feeding. She has been on jar food for about a month and a half now, but I need to get her used to eating more of it more often. Figuring out all these little tricks about babies can be very challenging at times! How are you supposed to know how much to feed them? I always just feed her until she starts fussing and then I give her a bottle. That is about all I know to do! I guess we will work up to 3 meals a day over this summer hopefully! Even though all of this is challenging, it is definitely a great feeling to be taking care of her instead of teaching school!

Introduction

Well, I finally did it. I got a blog! I figured if I had facebook and myspace, that I could get away with not starting a blog, but I caved and got one! I don't really know how good at blogging I am. I guess we will see! My blog name is "Life with Kailey Rose" because really that is what my life is centered around at the moment! There is definitely nothing like having a 6 month old! She is a tremendous blessing and incredible miracle! I try not to take her for granted for even a second, although at times this is hard! I guess I should somewhat start at the beginning of her life, just to get everyone up to date!

Kailey Rose was born on December 5, 2007 at 5:49 pm. She was 9 pounds and 20 inches! It was definitely not an easy delivery. We went in the night before in order for the doctor to induce labor. So by the morning of the 5th I was in labor. Long story short: My epidural did not work and Kailey was not descending into the birth canal so we had to have a C-section. Not only that, but since my epidural didn't work, I had to be put under anesthesia. This meant that I wasn't awake, and Casey was not allowed in the delivery room. This was hard on both of us in the weeks following her birth, but we have definitely made it through!

Kailey is named after my sister. My mom had a stillbirth when I was in late elementary school and her name was Hannah Rose. I always wanted to name a baby after her, and so I did! I try to remember Hannah when I take care of Kailey everyday. Taking care of a baby is definitely tiring and, at times, frustrating. But, I also know that every day that I have with Kailey is a gift from God and a miracle!

I obviously cannot write about every single thing that we have experienced in the last 6 months, so I will just tell you what kind of baby Kailey is! She is an AWESOME baby. In fact I am terrified of what our next child will be like because Kailey is so good! She is just very content and happy most of the time. She is only fussy when she is tired, hungry, or sick! So we are blessed!