It's a Sickness...

For all those who don't know this about me- I LOVE to cook. Really. Yes, it's hard when I've got 3 kids and a household to take care of, but really, I still love it! Some people read classic literature... I read cookbooks and cooking magazines! I admit, sometimes I spend hours and hours cooking a Sunday dinner. Like I said before, it's a sickness...

We have a bunch of family coming into town next week and I've been thinking about meals for a good week now. Hmmm....what to make??? I found a recipe for sweet potatoes in the crock pot that sounds yummy. (See recipe HERE) I also just picked up a 17 lb turkey at Albertsons for .38/ lb!! Not bad! No, I'm not hosting the actual Thanksgiving dinner but apparently now, I'm cooking a turkey. No biggie- cooking a turkey is easy. My mother-in-law made this great chili last time she was here, so add that to the list.

But for everything else, I've been scouring my cookbooks and allrecipes.com for anything that sounds GOOD. I'm always on the lookout...so feel free to share!

I'll share one of Adrian's favorites, it's a REALLY easy treat:

Poor Man's Turtles

1 bag of Rollos candy
1 bag of mini pretzels
pecan halves

Put a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap Rollos. Lay out pretzels on parchment paper. Put a Rollo on top. Cook for 4 minutes. Right after you take them out, gently press a pecan halve into each Rollo. Cool and enjoy!

Who does Colin look like??

Who do you think Colin looks like?

Dad?

Mom?

Thomas?

Hailey?

Smile!!

So the past few days Colin has had several "almost" smiles, and finally today (4.5 weeks old), he gave me a super cute gummy grin! I love it! Makes all the challenges that come with the first month of a newborn's life so worth while. Thankfully, I was able to catch a few cute grins on camera...enjoy!

Catching Up!

Sorry I've been MIA...although I do have a good excuse! Adjusting to life with 3 kids has been interesting to say the least! Some things are harder than I anticipated...others easier, but overall, I'd say it's gone pretty well so far. And hey- I've made through the first 4 weeks and everyone is still smiling, that's got to mean something!

My mother-in-law has been here for the past 2 and she's been such a tremendous help. The kids already miss her. She left early this afternoon and already Thomas has asked 3 times, "How many weeks until Grammie comes back?" I take that as a good sign though. It was fun having her here.

So I'm on my own (again) come Monday and am feeling pretty confident about it. At least now I have a huge bowl of Halloween candy to help me feel better if I have a bad day! Tee hee!

Here are tons of pics from the last few weeks!! I'll try to give some descriptions...

These first few are from the snow storm we got a few weeks ago. Adrian and the kids built a Halloween snowman. Too bad my husband is a Mechanical Engineer and not a Civil Engineer. The snowman only lasted an hour until he face planted into the grass...hahahahahha!

Impressive wingspan!

Colin all ready for church on Sunday. Isn't the outfit so cute? Courtesy of Grammie of course!

Colin's first bath!

Going to the pumpkin patch and carving pumpkins!

It's pretty bad when your husband busts out the power tools to carve his pumpkin...

Hailey dressed in her Princess costume. A princess costume isn't complete without the cell phone!
Williams kids' Halloween pics- Thomas the Spiderman, Hailey the princess and Colin the pumpkin. Super cute! We had a fun time Trick-or-treating.

Skinny Legs & SNOW!

Colin is 1 week old today- time sure flies when you're... sleep deprived! Hahaha- no really, this past week has been pretty great. The kids LOVE Colin and are so willing to help. Colin is a fantastic nurser and with all I'm feeding him, I'm sure he's growing, although it's not very apparent yet! He has the skinniest legs! And the tiniest little feet! They're so cute. So far, I'd have to say that going from 2 to 3 kids is a lot easier than going from 1 to 2. Granted, it's only been a week, but Thomas and Hailey play so well together, when Colin is sleeping (which is all the time!) I find I have a lot of time to rest, clean up the house, etc. It's surprising to me since I felt like a complete mess for at least a couple weeks after Hailey came!! Colin just seems to fit right in to our family. And, in celebration of Colin's first week, we all decided it should SNOW! Ha! As if we have a say in that! This is what we woke up to this morning. Since we're somewhat close to the Great Salt Lake, we get a lot of lake effect snow. We decided we should add 2" to whatever the weatherman says we're going to get! The kids and I love it... Adrian, well, not so much! At least it didn't stick to the pavement- no shoveling this morning! My poor garden though- zuchinni plants do not like snow! We tried to cover up the peppers, we'll see if they make it.

COLIN IS HERE!!!!

We'd like to introduce our newest member of the family to you all- Colin Keoki Williams arrived early Sunday morning weighing in at 5 lbs 14 oz and 19.5" long. Another tiny baby- I guess we just don't make linebackers!

I had false labor the night before, so when contractions started late Saturday evening, I was convinced it wasn't the real thing. An hour later (around midnight), although still sporadic, the contractions had gotten VERY intense. I hopped in the tub- which felt much better...but the contractions were still very intense. At 1am, I called my midwife. She advised that I wait another 15-20 minutes, then come in. Knowing we had a 15 minute drive, we decided to get ready and go!

Kory came over to stay with the kids and we got in the car at about 1:30am. At this point, contractions were about 8-9 minutes apart. The next contraction came 6 minutes later...then the next 5 minutes later...then 3 minutes later...thank heavens we arrived at the hospital then! We didn't even park- we just pulled right up to the door and left the car there. I requested a room with a tub as I was planning on going all natural and it had helped so much at home. So we had to walk around Labor & Delivery a few minutes before finding one with a tub. Finally got to my room at 1:47am. Immediately had to go to the bathroom...and when I did my water broke...and I felt the most insane urge to push...so I did! I couldn't help it! At that point the room flooded with nurses and 2 scooped me up and brought me to the bed. I pushed once more and Colin crowned. The midwife came running in just in time- I pushed again and Colin was born! He arrived at 1:51 am- less than 10 minutes after we arrived at the hospital and only 4 minutes after we got to our room!! It was an incredible experience- Adrian and I still can't believe how it all happened. I am so happy I got my natural childbirth experience...although I would have had one regardless being as I didn't have time to put on a hospital gown, much less get medication!
We came home today and are doing great. Colin is a fantastic nurser and the kids are so in love with him! Here are some pics...

39 weeks- only 7 days until my due date!

Wow- can you believe I made it this far?! I can't! Having never made it past 38 weeks, I thought I'd feel incredibly anxious and pretty frustrated by now...but I don't! I think having 2 kids at home really takes your mind off things. We've just been going about the usual weekly business and every so often, throughout the day, I stop and remember- I could have a baby at any moment- YIKES! I'm pleased to have made it to October- now all our kids have different birth months. All things aside- I'm doing pretty well. The last few days I've had lots of contractions and cramping- and I did find out this morning that I'm now dilated to a 2- so I guess that's progress from last week! Baby Colin is doing great- obviously very cozy in there! The midwife said he still feels small, so even though the ultrasound from 2 weeks ago said 6 lbs 14 oz...I seriously doubt this baby will break 7 lbs!

So the waiting continues! We do have a cold front moving in on Friday, so maybe that will put me into labor?!

Here's my belly...I'm measuring small...but feel big!

And now 38 weeks pregnant!

OK, this is officially my LONGEST pregnancy EVER! Crazy! I had a gut feeling it would be, but was truly hoping I was wrong, especially since this little guy will most likely also be my biggest baby! But nope- trust me, I'm still pregnant. I think I'd be a bit less anxious if I didn't feel so lousy. For whatever reason, it appears my morning sickness that I had until well past 20 weeks has again decided to resurface. It's done this several times throughout this pregnancy- 26 weeks, 32 weeks, and now apparently, 38 weeks. Sigh. So I'm trying to be patient while also trying to hold my breakfast in, as well as deal with all the other "joys" of pregnancy. Ahhh- but looking on the bright side- baby #3 and no stretch marks! Oh gosh, I hope I didn't just jinx myself!

Here's a recent pic for all those curious to see what a normally very thin woman like myself looks like at 38 weeks pregnant...

37 weeks...

Baby looks great- even though his head is measuring a full 2 weeks ahead! Ouchie! This morning's ultrasound said he should be about 6 lbs 14 oz right now...we'll see how accurate that is! I'm dilated 1 cm and am 60% effaced...making progress- yay!

I'm getting really excited!

One month to go!

Suddenly October 8th doesn't seem so far away! Yikes! I have just under 4 weeks left to go and am really starting to wonder how far I'll go this time. I think in the last week this baby has DROPPED. I thought he was low before! Thank you so much Nellie for letting me borrow your exercise ball- sitting on that makes me feel like my hips ARE still attached!

In the past week, I'm very happy to say we've gotten a lot accomplished in regards to preparing for Colin's arrival. I still haven't packed my hospital bag, but I've been productive in other ways- cleaning out the garage, cleaning the van, organizing the kid's clothes for Fall, etc. Funny to think this is all in preparation for Colin, but I know, once we come home with a newborn, normal life as we know it will go out the window for a while! I really, really need another week to do stuff, so at this point, Colin can come anytime after the 22nd. I'll let you all know how that goes...

So here's to being 36 weeks! The countdown is ON!

Ode to Washable Crayons

Sigh.

To all those moms out there who think little girls are "sugar and spice and everything nice" I say to you- YEAH RIGHT. I have to admit- I was a teeny, tiny bit scared when I was pregnant for the first time and we found out it was a boy. I had all sisters growing up- what could I expect from a boy?! Well, I have come to learn everything I was SUPPOSED to learn from being a mom to Thomas, I am learning from being a mom to Hailey.

So when I turned the corner into the living room this afternoon and found a myriad of colors spanning the ENTIRE length of my sage green wall, I just sighed. Yes, for about .5 seconds I did have a minor heart attack before I repeated to myself, "THIS is the reason I buy washable crayons." Whew!

Thankfully, washable crayons are indeed, washable. And Hailey repeated after me the entire time I washed the wall, "We only color on PAPER." Ha.

Thank heavens we're having another boy.

Why Dads are just cooler...

Here's the after pic of her hair...

Happy Birthday from SPIDERMAN!

This past Saturday Adrian and I threw Thomas a 5th Birthday celebration that just so happened to include a special appearance from SPIDERMAN! It was a huge hit! (Thanks BUBBA!) Some of the kids were a bit apprehensive at first, but most warmed up to him and by the end were chasing him around the yard and having a great time. He came and helped play games, smash the pinata, apply tattoos, and open presents! It was a lot of fun. The weather was gorgeous, which hasn't happened a whole lot for Thomas' birthday in the past, so we were thrilled. Here are some neat pics...

Here's Thomas saying HI to Spiderman! I announced that he would be arriving shortly, then a few minutes later, Thomas decided to go check for himself...and just happened to see him coming through the gate. It was so cute- he ran back around to the party shouting "HE'S HERE!!"

The older kids posed with Spiderman before we started the pinata.

Here's the pinata Adrian & I MADE. Totally worth it, but took much longer than either he or I planned! We were up until midnight the night before gluing on all the little red pieces of tissue paper!

Thomas and cousin Matt pose with some of the gifts. Cool gifts. His favorite by far is the Spiderman watch Matt gave him. Thanks Auntie Tiffany!!

Brooklyn & Thomas showing off the tattoos Spiderman helped apply.

I made Thomas' cake this year. It wasn't anything spectacular as I tend to lack energy and creativity at 35 weeks pregnant, but it was fun and he loved it.

Overall, GREAT party! I hope everyone who came had a fun time!!