Living Happily Ever After

happy valentine's day

2012-02-14T16:51:00.001-05:00

we have been spoiled during these days leading up to valentine's.

holiday date night monday night to the melting pot, my all-time fave...

reese opened her big envelope that has become quite stuffed over the last few weeks...

and we made a few valentine's, including one to surprise daddy with at work today...

happy valentine's to you and yours.

love me and mine.

by the sea

2012-02-11T22:46:00.001-05:00

well we didn't quite make it to florida, or the real sea, as reese has her fourth round of ear infections, this round much worse than the previous three. this time we are dealing with bullous myringitis. if you've never heard of this, let me picture it for you...

ear drum with blisters. all kinds of pain. all kinds of infection. we have gone through two antibiotics and three rounds of antibiotic shots and so far, we still have two bright red, infected ear drums. we are hoping the last shot reese had friday will clear them up over the weekend. after four visits to the pediatrician in six days, reese is very much aware of exactly where she is and exactly what will happen next the second we walk in that office. let the white-coat phobia, doctor drama begin!

after seven days of fever, reese had her first day of no fever today. yay! to celebrate we headed to the gatlinburg aquarium, the next best sea in tennessee and a perfect place to be when it is 28 degrees and snowing.

little miss

2012-02-09T23:46:00.000-05:00

little miss...

expressive

curious

independent

cheese-addict

sunshine

mini tales

2012-02-05T22:14:00.000-05:00

i added a new link to the top of the blog mini tales for you all to keep a running tab on reese's milestones. enjoy!

sweet and sour

2012-01-29T22:10:00.001-05:00

sweet and sour describes our weekend well.

although we had many sweet moments, we had lots of sour moments this weekend, many more than we have thus far. reese has certainly reached the toddler phase and is surprising us with more and more sneak peeks of the terrible twos.

today was a rough one. poor auntie jj had to witness a tantrum first-hand via skype. (reese meant to say sorry in between kicks and throws!)

we shall relive the sweet moments of the weekend.

the sand box

2012-01-27T21:27:00.000-05:00

reese doesn't typically take any interest in the sand box at our frequented park, despite the swarms of other children that are busy building sand castles and occasionally throwing sand. i was always thankful of this as i am pretty grossed out by the thought of my own child playing in those feces-infested, urine-coated public sand boxes. this time to the park was different. i did my best to bite my tongue and let her be a "normal kid."

i was more than thrilled when she only stayed a few minutes and was equally disgusted in the sand box. for different reasons. the sand was stuck to her hands. she licked it. and then it stuck to her tongue. it was all over at that point. thank goodness.

alfalfa

2012-01-24T17:59:00.000-05:00

the end

2012-01-13T23:38:00.000-05:00

i'm sad to say christmas ended tonight. all 200 pieces of the tree are packed up. evergreen scented candles hidden in a box. and all the holiday decor thrown back up in the attic. (i went back and forth as i came to each section of decorations as to which i was going to keep out a little longer...and then i realized i might be ridiculous.) it's all gone.

but only 346 days until christmas 2012. i'm positive this will be our best christmas yet.

swinging, sliding, and chasing puppies

2012-01-10T00:02:00.000-05:00

we really enjoyed our family trip to the park last weekend...

for the record, she ran behind the dog saying "ruff-ruff" as loud as her little voice would allow and ran as fast as her little feet would take her...the puppy still ran away.

she's got big girl skills

2012-01-05T20:12:00.002-05:00

all in a year

2012-01-01T15:22:00.001-05:00

Here's to you 2012! To an even more amazing year!

Happy New Year!

baby nole

2011-12-29T22:02:00.001-05:00

fsu played their bowl game tonight vs notre dame. reese and i cheered them on from home in true seminole fashion decked out in our gear while daddy was at work. lucky for us, daddy had $5 on the noles' victory tonight so he was on our side too!

my little nole was too busy playing to "cheese". thanks auntie jocelyn for the onesie and cousin lori for the new clips!

and we won.

yay!

they say as a parent, you should start 'em young...i'd say that usually pertains to things like the alphabet, counting, reading, manners. but i say the seminole chop counts too!

please ignore the leftover christmas tornado and my terrible singing...

it ain't over yet

2011-12-28T22:42:00.001-05:00

well, it is actually.

but i'm not finished with christmas.

i'm leaving the house fully decorated. and if the roofers hadn't come to replace our roof from the crazy hail storm back in april, the outside would still be decorated too.

i haven't decided when the official clean up date will be yet, but i can tell you it won't be on new year's day. or the day after.

christmas is just too much fun.

isn't that right, reese?

to you and yours

2011-12-25T00:01:00.000-05:00

merry christmas to you and yours!

love us and ours.

it is just so fun to watch this sweet face indulge in everything christmas!

i am already counting down until next christmas when she "gets it" a little more and we can indulge a little more...or a lot more. elf on the shelf. cookies for santa. reindeer food. all the fun crafts. creating our own family traditions!

until then,

enjoy a reading from the sweet smells of christmas with reese...

surprise!

2011-12-24T13:26:00.000-05:00

hope your christmas eve is full of fun surprises, too!

turkey weekend

2011-12-19T16:34:00.001-05:00

our trip to florida was short and sweet to say the least. we crammed in family, friends, and the beach in the quick 72 hour trip. these trips are never long enough!

papaw and great-grandma

auntie jocelyn watching her go!

and go!

it was super nice to have black friday start at midnight so this year we could enjoy the crazy shopping and the beach all in one day!

not a fan of the sand, but loved the ice cold water!

"scary" animal parties with kendall

lunch with lots of friends and little ones...i wasn't sure how this would work out but it was fabulous! 5 moms, 3 one-day moms, and 7 tiny ones between 3 months and 8 years.

piper and kylie

newly-engaged megan and her borrowed ella

jocelyn, reese and the gorski family

the whole crew

back row: megan, katie, piper, megan, lily, jess, jocelyn, ella, kelly, peyton

front row: kylie, reese, me, kendall.

miss you all greatly! can't wait until our next reunion!

cheesin'

2011-12-14T19:00:00.002-05:00

reese and reid as a pair led to lots of entertainment...take this for instance...

ice, ice, baby

2011-12-13T00:48:00.000-05:00

we spent the weekend in nashville doing the christmas tourist thing, complete with a tour of the opryland hotel, and the ice display. creed and i also got an extra day in the city to ourselves for date night and a double date to the nfl game, titans vs saints. my first nfl game by the way!

back to ice, the 40,000 square foot display was made of 2 million pounds of ice and carved by 40 ice carvers from harbin, china. quite impressive! the entire display was kept at 9 degrees fahrenheit so we were furnished with fabulous parkas! the colors were fabulous too! the theme this year was merry madagascar, but themes in the past have included the grinch and charlie brown's christmas. also made of ice were the 20 foot slides and a clear nativity scene finale! i had to include tons of pictures so you could try to imagine just how amazing the sculptures were!

reese and reid chatting about what to do next while they wait in line

note: i did not gain 500 pounds overnight...notice the small hat poking out the top. both reese and reid decided to fall asleep in line and missed the entire display. because reese fell asleep prior to our parka fittings, i had to zip her up in mine.

auntie amber hiding in the background!

the whole crew: auntie amber, pat-pat, grandpa don, and ashley with sleeping reid.

keep in mind this was all ice!

the 20-foot ice slide

the nativity scene finale

our sleepy little reindeer woke up just in time for the gift shop at the exit!

oh well! this, too, will be much more fun next year!

a happy (or-not-so-happy) christmas

2011-12-11T22:32:00.000-05:00

this is pretty much the consistent reaction to "santa" we are getting this year! cow or no cow!

better luck next year!

too much fun

2011-12-07T23:00:00.000-05:00

getting ready with mommy this morning was entirely too much fun...

oh how i cherish these days! just her and i. i know she will grow and they will be gone too soon.

picking berries and such

2011-12-05T00:04:00.002-05:00

christmas is coming

2011-12-02T21:53:00.000-05:00

i have more to post about thanksgiving but i just can't contain my excitement about christmas! it's coming! our tree has been up for 3 weeks now. outside decorations will go up this weekend (we have waited so the neighbors don't realize i'm crazy when it comes to christmas). i am blasting michael buble's newest holiday cd every time i get in the car. and tonight we went to our first city christmas event. the downtown christmas parade, complete with rodney atkins as the grand marshall.

i love all events downtown. the area is just so perfectly put together for fun family events.

reese watched from daddy's shoulders. this was her first parade and she really seemed to enjoy the bands as she would start dancing at any sign of music!

christmas cards will be put in the mail next week...right after we see santa on sunday!

so exciting

2011-11-29T00:10:00.000-05:00

the excitement to get on that plane to florida could hardly be contained!

home sweet home again

2011-11-27T22:54:00.001-05:00

we made it home safely from our thanksgiving in florida. unfortunately, we arrived home to a 50 degree downpour, so very disappointing after spending the last 4 days in 80 degree sunny fabulousness!

take us back florida! we miss you and your people already!

baking oj and sipping tea

2011-11-21T22:38:00.000-05:00

a snippet of a morning in reese's busy play world...

still blooming

2011-11-21T10:16:00.000-05:00

we are having flip flopping weather right now, high of 50 degrees one day and then low is 50 degrees the next with a high in the 70s. winter is teasing us. i don't mind as i'm still not quite ready for winter. apparently my gerber daisies don't mind either as they as blooming more now than ever. thanks for planting them grandma!

shopping in style

2011-11-14T08:56:00.003-05:00

crunch, crunch, crunch

2011-11-09T23:15:00.001-05:00

these days

2011-11-05T23:11:00.000-04:00

our days are filled with climbing stairs...

playing "kitchen"...

hugging and loving babies...

shaking and banging...

and a whole lot of reading books these days.

creeping crawler

2011-11-03T08:21:00.001-04:00

we had a walker as of about 12 months but now we finally have a crawler...a creeping crawler. she's just about got it figured out.

creeping crawler from Kara Williams on Vimeo.

trick-or-treat

2011-11-01T12:10:00.000-04:00

happy halloween

2011-10-31T09:55:00.001-04:00

ghosts are hung.

doorway is set.

we're off to trick-or-treat!

bright and beautiful

2011-10-30T22:55:00.000-04:00

fall is in full-swing! everywhere you look, the colors are fabulous! orange and red are my faves and the shades around here are unbelievable!

whoo whoo

2011-10-29T23:42:00.002-04:00

lots of halloween-ing going on this weekend...

fall

2011-10-27T10:02:00.000-04:00

swing, swing, swing

2011-10-25T22:18:00.001-04:00

hip hip hooray!

2011-10-22T20:42:00.000-04:00

i'm super excited for lots of things today! for one, it was a perfect fall day here! we spent the afternoon at a new park and reese had a ball! also super excited for tonight because daddy finally comes home! yay! and and and super excited for monday as my cyber world is upgrading and with a damaged screen, a chipping keyboard, and no gigabytes to spare, i'd say it was time! i will miss my dear macbook. it was good to me and stayed strong when the coffee tried to destroy it and it's malfunctioning almost destroyed my graduate school career. we made it but now we're moving on up to macbook-pro. look out! from what i hear, it will be fabulous!

lots to blog about when i figure out how to set up my camera to the new computer and will finally have enough memory to download pictures again! i'll be back!

oakes farm

2011-10-18T22:10:00.002-04:00

we spent our last sunday afternoon with grandma down on the farm. oakes farm that is. auntie amber joined in the fun to be had too. fun including everything from slides and a petting zoo to 5 miles of twisty turning corn maze and a hayride to the pumpkin patch. reese's fave: the tractor pulling the hay wagon (seen in the second to last picture)!

each year the corn maze is cut/designed by one of the top corn maze cutters and dedicated to a significant event from the year. this year was dedicated to trevor bayne, a local knoxville, tennessee boy who won the 2011 daytona 500 nascar race at only 20 years old. notice trevor's face to the left and his race car with the number 21 to the right. pretty creative!

fall is lots of fun around here. festivals every weekend. we've been spoiled with 70 and 80 degree temperatures up to this point. however fall is about to smack us in the face as our high is said to be 56 degrees tomorrow! say it isn't so! boots are cute but i'm just not ready!

hurt vs. heart

2011-10-16T23:27:00.001-04:00

a young girl appeared in the emergency department, and while she should have been celebrating her 24th birthday with her family, she laid in a hospital bed, sister by her side and parents frantic in the waiting room, marked by bruises from head to waist and cuts in between, attacked by her husband with cutting shears. unfortunately that wasn't her first time in that situation because of her husband's mental illness. it was her 7th experience. and as hard as it is to say, it probably wouldn't be her last. how do you tell someone the person they love is so sick, mentally and emotionally sick, that they could kill them? how do you explain to her that although they agreed to spend the rest of their lives together, the right thing to do is to run away from him? how do you convince her that it is better for her child to be without a father? how do you let her leave your presence knowing that she could be the next statistic of spousal homicide?

gone west

2011-10-14T21:46:00.001-04:00

creed and i took a trip to seattle back in august to visit jocelyn in her new surroundings. we hopped off the plane bright and early west coast time and zipped off to the space needle for lunch reservations at the rotating restaurant at the top of the needle. from there we headed to the pike place market to pick out a fresh dinner to grill on the roof top oasis above jocelyn's apartment with some dear friends that accompanied us on our mini-vaca.

the original starbucks

yes, that's gum, and lots of it...chewed and spit out

what a view...mount rainier in the distance

the next day we spent the morning being healed...more on that another time...and headed to the crab pot for the freshest of fresh crab...so much crab that creed couldn't quite keep it all down.

saturday, we stopped by uw for jocelyn to show off her new campus and headed north across the border to spend the day in vancouver.

welcome to canada!

so nice to see auntie paul again!

we ventured into a local brewery...

and then the girls wandered the quaint house boat village while the boys did boy things.

we also squeezed in an interesting weezer concert to celebrate creed's birthday and the fact that he is without a doubt weezer's number one fan, in addition to a fabulous dinner in a vancouver hotspot complete with belly dancers. those adventures call for imaginary pictures. and for the record, we didn't see a drop of rain the entire time we were there.

thanks for the lovely hospitality, joc!

first birthday

2011-10-12T17:33:00.001-04:00

reese's first birthday has come and gone now. i am so thankful we have the whole extravaganza documented. there are too many to share them all (and i have no idea how to get my computer to cooperate to place any pictures side by side) but here are some of my faves...

a big thank you to katherine birkbeck for capturing our fabulous day on camera!

r&r-ing

2011-10-04T16:10:00.000-04:00

i'm here in beautiful gatlinburg, tn r&r-ing for 72 hours while also attending a state conference for all PAs. creed is away in jacksonville, fl until the end of october and grandma is home following reese around. (she is walking on her own now so a break couldn't have come at a better time! i will be doing some serious home baby-proofing when i return.) as much as i love motherhood and the always-on-the-go way of life, i must say the peace and solitude here make for a lovely balance.

sunrise over the smoky mountains

welcome fall!

2011-10-01T11:52:00.000-04:00

we're spending today bundled on the couch. it's football saturday afterall, but today is different. the temperature outside has dropped to 47 degrees and we're bundled up for our first day of real fall weather. and besides all that, it's our last day with daddy for the next few weeks as he leaves again in the morning for another 3 week trip.

the spiced cider is hot and the house is pleasantly filled with the aroma of mulling spices.

the leaves are changing and some are already falling! i had been very apprehensive about this turn to autumn, but i'll have to admit, i was excited when the house filled with warm fall scents this morning!

birthday party sneak peek

2011-10-01T11:22:00.000-04:00

we're still recovering from all the fun that was had...but we'll be back with more party highlights soon!

another project

2011-09-10T22:59:00.000-04:00

another project knocked off the list...

before

and after

project

2011-09-07T21:14:00.000-04:00

my long awaited project is finally complete...

we completed the photo wall on a whim as creed was shipped off to afghanistan on a last minute trip today and i just had to have it done before the big party next week!

bookworm

2011-09-07T00:14:00.000-04:00

bookworm from Kara Williams on Vimeo.

daddy's number one fan

2011-09-01T20:24:00.000-04:00

daddy played in a church softball league this summer and made it to the playoffs. reese and i decided to stay up late to watch what would be daddy's last game of the season. despite daddy's home run, they lost that night, ending their season.

happy first birthday lil reid!

2011-08-27T22:41:00.000-04:00

we headed to nashville today for reid's first birthday bash!

our little bookworm

blowing out her first candle

at the first stop light around the corner from reid's house we looked back to see this...

reese obviously had too much fun!

happy first birthday lil reid!

baby love

2011-08-26T09:56:00.000-04:00

reese is learning how to love her babies...

we're still working on not eating the baby.

ps the seattle trip will be updated next month as i forgot my camera i use to upload the photos in seattle.

seafood & seaside in seattle

2011-08-21T23:18:00.000-04:00

we had a fabulous time in seattle but am currently suffering from time zone discombobulation so will post more soon!

family car club

2011-08-17T07:50:00.000-04:00

after almost a year as a family of three, and much anticipation on creed's part, we have finally joined the family stickers car club with the 8 million other families.

although we don't have the 6 family members, 3 dogs, and 2 cats that most other cars have, we do have plenty of back windshield room for the future.

and don't worry! i haven't given up my fsu spirit entirely!

chatt trip

2011-08-14T15:09:00.000-04:00

a couple of weekends ago we headed south to spend the day in chattanooga with creed's great-aunt and uncle whom reese and i had never met. creed's sister and her husband came along and his parents met us there for a quick family reunion.

reid + reese = bff

2011-08-13T10:38:00.000-04:00

reid was born 28 days prior to reese's birth. with reid's daddy and reese's daddy being bff's since college (and both mommys becoming friends and first-time-mommys together), these two were born to be bff's. we recently had another get together. these bonding moments are becoming quite comical as concepts of "mine" and sharing and curiosity begin to enter the picture.

the two mobile munchkins.

notice first reese has the baby.

now reid has the baby.
you can be sure there was no please or thank you involved and a whole lot of screaming exchanged during this battle.

and now there are two babies...problem solved.

both can surely agree on their love for water!

on the move

2011-08-07T20:15:00.000-04:00

we're getting closer...

on the move from Kara Williams on Vimeo.

all things caterpillar

2011-08-06T21:37:00.000-04:00

reese has a new ride!

and a new book!

pop-ups are her fave these days!

beantown

2011-08-05T21:05:00.001-04:00

i was boston-bound a few weeks ago for one of the most amazing experiences.

christopher was singing america's national anthem at the all-american fenway park in front of 37,400 people (christopher was sure to interject at every opportunity to give us the statistics of the park...too cute!).

i landed at boston-logan international bright and early thursday morning to await jocelyn's arrival. from there we cabbed it to our hotel just in time to change and head to fenway park for the soundcheck. and there we were.

on the field of fenway park. not a soul in the seats. not a grey cloud in the sky. not a peep to be heard...

except christopher's sweet little voice. "i'm going to stand right here. i'm going to hold the mic just like this. there is a lot of echo here." and his biggest concern..."make sure the announcer says christopher duffley when introduces me tonight." nevermind the fact that he is about to sing in front of his largest crowd yet. all will be perfect as long as he is introduced as christopher duffley.

and christopher duffley it was.

christopher at fenway from Kara Williams on Vimeo.

we finished the evening watching the red sox beat the orioles next to 40 of christopher's biggest fans (principal, vice principal, teachers, friends, therapists, etc.) and 37,000 of his newest fans.
a big thank you to the whole duffley clan for letting us be a part of this special day!

in between the sound check and the big game later that night we headed down to faneuil hall to have lunch wharf-side with a long-lost friend from university of miami.

with a marriage and baby in my life and a bachelorette party and wedding just weeks away in her life, and of course the 7 years in between now and our last meeting, we had lots to catch up on.

the following day jocelyn and i took advantage of a big comfy bed, thick curtains, no baby, and no schedule to sleep in and stay in bed till noon. the best sleep i've had in more than a year. much needed.

we later hopped on the T to the sam adams brewery.

we learned the proper technique to sample beer.

and then finished the evening with dinner on newbury street, dessert at finale desserterie, and live music over another sam adams at the original cheers watching the red sox game in true boston fashion.

creed arrived late that night due to a missed flight leaving only about 36 hours to the see the city. creed had never been to boston so him and i got up early the next morning to cram in as much as possible. being the die-hard baseball fanatic he is, fenway park was our first stop.

we took a behind-the-scenes tour learning all the fun facts and history of the park. we were able to go up into "the green monster" (the seats above the scoreboard only available by raffle) and see the citgo "c (see) it go" sign that batters often aim for.

we then headed to the wharf to meet up with jocelyn, christine, and christopher for lunch at the barking crab.

we parted ways as jocelyn flew back to seattle and chris and chris headed back to new hampshire for his next extravaganza singing "take me out to the ballgame" at another baseball game. creed and i headed to the harpoon brewery.

we then headed back to fenway (my fourth visit in 48 hours) for another (creed's first!) red sox vs orioles game!

what a fabulous jam-packed yet relaxing weekend get-away!
looking forward to our next one as we venture out to seattle to visit jocelyn in a couple weeks!

jean baby

2011-08-02T22:12:00.000-04:00

well we still haven't received any phone calls from e-trade for reese to make her commercial debut...but perhaps huggies will call us...

diaper butts are so cute...

but jean diaper butts are quite possibly the cutest thing ever!

happy 4th...a little late

2011-07-28T20:53:00.001-04:00

happy 4th from Kara Williams on Vimeo.

destination: winnipeg, manitoba, canada

2011-07-27T19:03:00.001-04:00

reese went on her first big trip last month. i was quite anxious about the whole traveling with a baby thing. with creed stuck home working, i was super thankful jocelyn and i could arrange our travel plans to go together...just in case. just in case my worst nightmares came true. about 10 minutes in, i thought for sure every last nightmare was quickly becoming a reality. when speaking to delta, i arranged for "infant-in-arms" but when we got to the desk to check in, there was a huge ordeal about it being an "international" flight and nothing was arranged properly. meanwhile, about 5 minutes after creed dropped us off, jocelyn reminded me of the notarized letter we needed from creed granting me the permission to take reese over the border without him...the letter we completely forgot to write and didn't exist. as the delta agents are making call after call to various supervisors about what to do with reese, and creed is rushing to the bank to attempt to get a quick note notarized, reese kindly decides now would be a perfect time to throw her pacifier disappearing into thin air and explode in her pants. needless to say, my anxiety level was skyrocketing. and then creed texted to say he got a ticket. and then the agent said we would have to pay more for reese. and then creed called to say the bank had already closed and there would be no notarized letter. perfect.

delta fixed the infant-in-arms situation for $12. creed wrote a consent letter on the back of receipt paper and had the gate agent witness it. (we crossed our fingers for the lack of a notary part.) jocelyn cleaned reese and put her back together. some nice stranger behind us found the missing pacifier. and a few deep breaths later we were off to security.

all in all, reese was a trooper and did great both there and back.

we had a great time relaxing with family friends and spending many days playing yahtzee and crib and yahtzee and more crib. it was so nice to see everyone and i'm so glad reese was finally able to meet her Canadian family!

the pilot was quite excited about reese.

cousin lily and reese played a long game of lily puts the bib on reese, reese rips it off, and repeat. over and over and over again.

just-like-grandparents june and larry

uncle doug

aunt elaine

auntie dona-leigh

uncle ken

cousin mason

cousins mason & lily

auntie linda

i am so sad to see there are no pictures of reese with great-grandma davis! i can't believe this happened and this will not happen again! i can report we had a great time with ggd and certainly wouldn't know what to do without her!

so nice to see you all! we miss you already!

bathing beauty

2011-07-20T21:07:00.000-04:00

family fun in the sun

2011-07-18T22:16:00.000-04:00

we spent a lot of time at the pool over the 4th of july weekend with the whole williams gang.

lovin' daddy's shoulder rides!

my mother-in-law, pat, "pat-pat"

my sister-in-law, amber

the newlyweds, amber & jonathan

miss hollywood herself!

summer sun

2011-07-16T16:44:00.000-04:00

reese's 8th and 9th months

2011-07-14T22:04:00.001-04:00

a little late, but better late than never...

reese continues to grow right on track, still petite, but perfect, weighing 16 pounds 2 ounces.

event of the month (or last 2 months): teeth! finally! not one but two!

look at my 2 teeth!

reese has two teeth coming in now. her first popped up june 1st and the second quickly after, june 13th. this whole teething process has caused quite the shake up in our great sleep routine! she is hardly sleeping these days! she is standing lots, hanging on to coffee tables and ottomans. she is scooting backwards on her belly, but not yet crawling forward. i think she may walk before she crawls. she despises spending any time on her belly so learning to crawl is a bit of a challenge. if placed on her belly, she just rolls onto her back. we've just barely got the backward scoot out of her so i've since bought her a push toy to hopefully encourage walking instead. she enjoys standing with one foot on top of the other, flamingo-style, so hopefully this new toy will teach her walking works much better with two feet. she is talking with a purpose now, telling stories and ordering directions, or at least we think she is.

reese has slowed down her eating these last few weeks. she picks and chooses which days she feels like eating, but she is still maintaining her weight. i'm guessing her teething is effecting her appetite too. we haven't tried many foods outside of baby foods due to my fear of her choking but we will get there. while on vacation in canada, reese tried plain spaghetti. she seemed to like it and definitely enjoyed playing with it. she also tried strawberries and really liked them. she is doing really well feeding herself, her faves being gerber yogurt melts and veggie dip lil crunchies. breastfeeding has come to an end. we made it to about 8 months when reese weaned herself. i'm so thankful we made it that far for all of the health benefits. on another note, we are learning just how expensive formula can be.

reese finally measures up to her growth chart at 26" and is standing all by herself!

reese is turning into quite the girl. it's so hard to believe she is 9 months old!

happy 4th

2011-07-04T21:25:00.000-04:00

the pennsylvania

2011-06-05T21:01:00.000-04:00

daddy's pride and joys

(the pennsylvania was left to Creed in his grandfather's will after he spent many years growing up helping with the yardwork despite his then severe allergy to grass)

happy mother's day

2011-05-08T16:35:00.001-04:00

now everything's different.
sweeter. simpler. harder.
quieter. louder.
more full of wonder.
more full of hope.
more exhausted.
more exhilarated!
deeper. truer. clearer.
now everything's different...
everything's so much more.
-anonymous

hope all of you mothers enjoyed your day!

happy birthday papaw!

2011-05-06T22:34:00.001-04:00

a very happy birthday to dad/papaw!

love kara, creed, & reese

e-trade

2011-05-06T21:07:00.003-04:00

i absolutely love the e-trade commercials and i think the e-trade baby would make a fabulous little boyfriend for reese! they clearly made a mistake by not casting reese as the girlfriend.

this picture just goes to show she is ready for her e-trade debut!

how could they pass up this cute little face?

reese's 7th month

2011-05-04T16:39:00.000-04:00

reese is growing, too much and too quickly for my own pleasure.

the event of this month is a continuation of last: sitting. she is much more steady on her bum.

she is sitting so well these days. she is able to look up without tumbling backwards and she is stretching to reach so far ahead of her. her drooling has picked up a lot in the last couple of weeks so perhaps we are getting even closer to some toofers! she is still blabbing all day long. she experiments with all kinds of noises and this past week she has added a fabulous fart noise, which she LOVES. me, not so much. i can't help but laugh when she does it because she gets so excited about it and she thinks it's hilarious herself, but i hate to laugh and encourage the terrible noise. oh well. she has backed off on the "panting" but will still occasionally do it. she has also recently decided she is hilarious and laughs at everything everyone does and everything she does. her laughs add a lot of my laughs and a whole lot of laughter altogether.

as for her diet, we are still chugging along consuming lots. we do a lot of eating and drinking these days. i think she is maintaining her 15th percentile status so that's great. she seems to be starting to wean herself off breastfeeding. she's much less interested these days and it takes a whole lot more effort to make it happen. i foresee more pumping in my near future.

we are spending the next few weeks without daddy as he was off to afghanistan last monday for 22 days!

dolly's april book

2011-05-04T13:10:00.000-04:00

we received our april book from dolly's imagination library a couple of weeks ago.

yay for pop-ups!

it's 5 o'clock somewhere

2011-05-03T17:53:00.000-04:00

i haven't experienced the 5 o'clock somewhere extravaganza in a long time, and man did i live it up. i had a fantastic birthday and a what a great last Jimmy Buffett hoorah for the week!

I couldn't have asked for a better beach ball celebration!

I miss these girls like crazy!

pa-c

2011-04-30T23:33:00.005-04:00

anyone that graduates from an accredited physician assistant program is a "physician assistant". with this, you get a title and two letters (pa) behind your name and a big fat dead end.

it is the "c" that's key. you cannot get licensed or practice medicine without being certified and so it is the "pa-c" that everyone strives for.

meet kara m. williams, pa-c.

tea and tulips for two

2011-04-29T21:53:00.000-04:00

birthday week

2011-04-29T19:44:00.001-04:00

i have slightly neglected my blog once again, easily distracted to say the least.

so let me pick up where i left off...my birthday week.

monday - i started the week off by taking my boards, the PANCE (physician assistant national certification exam). a six hour exam of 360 questions covering basically anything medical from diagnoses to reading chest xrays to health prevention and maintenance. i finished the exam in less than 4 hours, only stopping once after i forced myself to take a break so that my eagerness to finish wouldn't interrupt my thought process. i survived. glad to have it finished in time for my birthday the next day. however i wouldn't find out if i passed until at least thursday and possibly not up until two weeks later.

tuesday - grandma and i celebrated my birthday with high tea at crescent bend. the day was a rather rainy, gloomy day, but we made it through the tulip gardens in between rain drops. the tea itself was fabulous and the crumpets and finger foods dainty. that night i went to dinner with a friend of mine as creed was in new mexico for work...or so we thought. his meeting was canceled and he ended up "surprising" us...or nearly giving grandma and i heart attacks and a phone call to 911...late that night.

thursday - we met with our photographer, jessi, for reese's 6 month photos. i cannot wait to see them! they were taken at the university of tennessee botanical gardens. unfortunately we had had storms come through earlier in the week and wipe out a lot of the flowers, but i'm sure the pictures are fabulous regardless. reese could sit in a rainstorm and be cute (if i do say so myself)! i was a bit worried about the shoot as the last time we attempted it, reese wanted nothing to do with jessi or taking photos. this time was a whole new ball game and she did great!

and then, i got the email. i passed my boards! hip hip hooray! what a relief! and oh what fabulous news!

friday - creed and i went out to dinner to celebrate while grandma babysat. we had a fabulous dinner at the chophouse.

saturday - i headed to tampa for a quick 24-hour girls-night-out at the jimmy buffett concert with jocelyn, stephanie (my old roommate from tallahassee) and kelley (also an old roommate and my best friend from college)! when kelley called to tell me jimmy buffett was coming to tampa there was no question as to whether or not we would be going. the question was what would be the reason to celebrate and where would we celebrate before the concert. those questions were quickly answered as my birthday and passing the boards were good enough for me! the evening was a blast and just what i needed to end the week of celebration!
(photos are coming in individual posts)

happy birthday great-grandpa davis!

2011-04-25T15:33:00.000-04:00

a big happy birthday to you!

love kara, creed, & reese

happy easter!

2011-04-24T15:24:00.000-04:00

hope the easter bunny was good to you all!

we miss you

2011-04-23T22:17:00.000-04:00

we miss you ggd.

great-grandma davis has gone home now and we are left just reese and i to play, go for walks, and swing at the playground.

we are readjusting back to just the two of us and carrying on in our routine until i find a job. as much as i love to be able to spend so much time with reese, i'm looking forward to starting my career and having more adult interaction. wish me luck as the job hunt continues on!

one year

2011-04-20T20:55:00.000-04:00

it's hard to believe it was one year ago today that we became homeowners.

what a great experience it has been!

A big thank you to the gardening grandmother for our beautiful tulips!

reese's 6th month

2011-04-08T11:27:00.001-04:00

reese just passed the 6 1/2 month mark, but an update is better late than never...

another routine stop at the pediatrician

weight: 13 pounds 6 ounces (6 months), 14 pounds 1 ounce (6 1/2 months)

height: 25 inches

head circumference: 42 cm

the event of the month was that she finally rolled over! yay! and she is sitting up by herself! and she is going to sleep on her own and staying asleep through the night!

it's been a big month!

we forgot to get a before photo, cake compliments of "pat-pat" (my mother-in-law)

she is rolling from front to back and side to side, and she is close to rolling back to front. she is sitting up by herself and does very well balancing on her own now. at times she gets just a little too curious of what's above sending her toppling over backwards, then the look of terror comes across and then the wimper. she seems to be having more symptoms of teething lately so maybe we will see some pearly whites one day soon! everything she gets her hands on still goes directly to her mouth and she now gets her hands on everything within spinning distance. she continues to talk up a storm, babbling and squealing all day. she has been playing with her octaves more, really tuning the highest octave possible. she has started the most adorable sign of excitement...panting. any time she gets excited her arms go up in front of her and she pants. so cute. you can't help but laugh every time. we're working on da-da-da-da, but for now, she just smiles and laughs when we say it. that's ok too.

she is loving food. since her six month appointment showed a slight decline in growth, we have really started packing in the food in attempt to pack on the pounds. we have had to introduce formula because there was just no way i could keep up with her needs so we are splitting the milk intake half and half. who knew nursing your child would be such a challenge? the movies make it look so easy! however, i am super thankful i have been able to nurse thus far and am working hard to continue to do so. as for solids, reese is now eating organic fruits and veggies, no more cereals. she loves fruits and loves veggies if they're mixed with fruits. she started rejecting peas at one point, but has decided to willingly eat them mixed with anything else so i'm happy about that. she is eating prunes, peaches, pears, bananas, apricots, apples, mangoes, carrots, spinach, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, peas, and green beans. she loves yogurt and we have let her have some of our all-natural fruit popsicles and she seems to really love those for her poor teething gums! so far we haven't found any negative reactions to any foods!

reese has developed a bedtime routine consisting of dinner, then bath, followed by nursing, then bed. bath time is still her favorite time of day! by the time she has kicked the water out of her tub and filled her belly, she is usually asleep before she even finishes nursing. the nights she does make it to her crib awake go much more smoothly with the ferber method in place. she usually sleeps from about 7pm until 5am, wakes to eat, and goes back to sleep until 7 or 7:30am. we all sleep better these days.

lots of exciting things to come this month: grandma's still visiting, 6 month professional photos, pictures with the easter bunny, and reese's first easter.

happy spring!

ferberization

2011-04-07T14:05:00.001-04:00

i kept hearing about the ferber method, how great it was and how well it worked.
jocelyn and i ferberized reese. reese experienced ferberization. this is true. these are real words.

the ferber method is one way to teach (ferberize) your child to self-soothe and fall asleep on their own (ferberization). you decide on an amount of time to wait, allowing her to cry, before going in to comfort her, never removing her from the crib, but just letting her know you are there if she needs. so we decided 5 minutes would be long enough. the first night she cried 35 minutes. absolutely heart-wrenching. the second night 9 minutes. manageable. the third night one minute. amazing. she has had a couple of rebound nights that need a little extra comfort but all in all, it turned out to be a great method and worked really well for us.

reese "sleeping" from Kara Williams on Vimeo.

or at least we think it works and we think she's sleeping.

spring all around

2011-04-06T14:23:00.000-04:00

one really great thing about the city of knoxville is it's amazing calendar of events throughout the year, especially the spring and summer. the weather turns perfect, the plants turn spectacular, and the festivities turn fabulous! with spring in the air, tulips everywhere (my absolute fave), and my birthday near, grandma and i just booked an afternoon of high tea at crescent bend and a tour of the tulip gardens to celebrate next week! so exciting! a sneak peek from the internet of what's to come of our darling (said with a british, high tea accent) afternoon...

i can hardly wait!

dearest dolly

2011-04-05T22:22:00.000-04:00

speaking of books, the good ole sweet southern bell, dolly parton, has invented the best of inventions with the best of intentions, dolly's imagination library. with this program, each child in our county (among several other counties in the area) receive a book in the mail each month until the age of 5, the first always "The Little Engine That Could" and the last always "Look Out Kindergarten Here I Come". not only does every child, privileged or not so privileged, receive a book, but each child has the joy and excitement of running to the mailbox each month to look for their book! until reese is capable of running, i will be filling in.

december

january is currently m.i.a.

february

march

nursery addition

2011-04-04T22:32:00.000-04:00

just before my life was consumed by studying for my national licensure exam (only one more week till the big day), i took my quiet moments during nap times to finish painting this much needed addition...

a second bookshelf!

thankfully reese loves books!

spring has sprung

2011-03-21T22:17:00.000-04:00

and coincidentally, with the first day of spring came our first tulip too!

one year

2011-03-20T10:07:00.000-04:00

happy anniversary creed!

look at me

2011-03-19T19:33:00.000-04:00

i can sit by myself

with just the right balance, reese is sitting for up to 30 seconds on her own!

happy st. patty's

2011-03-17T11:18:00.000-04:00

roly poly

2011-03-16T22:08:00.000-04:00

she finally did it!

roly poly from Kara Williams on Vimeo.

unwanted visitors

2011-03-15T20:38:00.000-04:00

bath time is by far reese's favorite time of day.

usually bath time is filled with mini mohawks...

her fave starfish face cloths...

under the sea finger puppets...

and ol' mr. turtle...

complete with fun bath towels...

however tonight was a little different.

bath time came to a screeching halt after the appearance of some unwanted visitors.

reese's 5th month

2011-03-12T19:34:00.001-05:00

reese turned the 5 month corner while we were in florida so we are a little late on our update...

reese is busy watching everyone do everything these days, watching very closely. she is not yet rolling over, but hangs out on her side quite often. she is able to sit for several seconds on her own, swaying quickly leading to tumbling over sideways. we're getting there. she babbles all day long and she has now started to talk herself to sleep. priceless. she appears to be teething; everything not only goes in her mouth, but she chomps down hard on it. so far no other symptoms and still no teeth.

we have introduced solids and she loves them. she was hesitant at first, but now she really enjoys it ALL. she is currently eating rice cereal and oatmeal cereal with different mix-ins: apples, bananas, green beans, peas.

we are still working on her sleeping through the night though most nights she will go for an 8 hour stretch or so before waking up, usually only waking up once, occasionally twice. we are also working on getting her to go to sleep without being rocked to sleep...a HUGE challenge...one that seems impossible and a form of pure torture for all of us.

we are checking in with the pediatrician again on her six month birthday.
where has the time gone?

daddy fun

2011-03-11T20:09:00.001-05:00

daddy was able to join us for the last 3 days of vacation

sunset dinner on bonita beach

we broke up the trip twice on the way home, staying overnight in valdosta, and then we stopped to visit these two cuties (creed's second cousins, anna kate and emma claire) outside of atlanta.

sunny days in the sunshine state

2011-03-10T13:03:00.000-05:00

finally vacation officially began...

and let me tell you, reese and i (daddy had to work) lived it up to the fullest with jam-packed days of beach bumming, family time, and lots of outings with friends.

as you can see, first up was the edison festival of lights block party with pops (not pictured unfortunately)...

dinners with pops, bernadette, jocelyn, and reese

time with all of the great-grandpas

dinner with the girls (and all of their little girls) that make my world go 'round

beach bummin'

the newest addition to our girls gang...peyton leigh

portraits in the park

2011-03-09T09:38:00.000-05:00

an improptu photo shoot by a former high school classmate who coincidentally was shooting her monthly portraits in the park session just minutes from where we were staying in orlando. a few of my faves, all by erika lauren photography.

florida-bound

2011-03-08T10:21:00.003-05:00

with a board review conference booked and a very missed best friend in orlando and with a much-needed vacation to follow, we were florida-bound...

we broke the trip up by staying with jocelyn's friends, katie and sweet little kylie, in valdosta, georgia.

we finally made it to kelley's...

kelley and i met another dearly missed best friend, steph, for breakfast and ventured out to the market for some music and swinging

reese loved her first swing experience!

next stop was the disney contemporary resort, our home for the next five days, where jocelyn and reese played all day and i learned all i could possibly learn crammed into 4 1/2 days. reese celebrated her first valentine's poolside.

hope your valentine's day was filled with as much love as reese is full of teething slobber!

hockey time in tennessee

2011-03-07T21:14:00.000-05:00

knoxville icebears

a lubkeman family addition

2011-02-09T10:52:00.000-05:00

dr. reese

2011-02-07T21:27:00.000-05:00

flock of storks

2011-02-04T23:21:00.000-05:00

a flock of storks are flying through over the next few months...two landed today!

baby girl

peyton leigh lubkeman

born at 1:34PM

weighing in at 8 pounds 1 ounce

20 3/4 inches long
congratulations kelly, jeremy, and big sister kendall!

cousin baby boy

mason edward james place

born at 3:40PM

weighing in at 7 pounds 5 ounces

21 inches long
congratulations lori, keith, and big sister lily!

the stork is coming

2011-02-04T07:13:00.000-05:00

little peyton leigh will be making her arrival today!

wishing you all the best kelly, jeremy, and soon-to-be big sister, kendall!