First Trip to the ER - Colton

Last night was our first ever trip to the ER with a child. Luckily the ER was not busy and we got right in! Here is what happened.

I had to take him to the ER last night at 11:30 because he woke up with a cough and congestion like I have never seen or heard and was just crying and crying. We were worried he had pneumonia or something as he could not stop coughing and the more he coughed the worse it got. So I took him in while Kraig and Lauren stayed home (and he said Lauren was worried so they prayed for Colton…so sweet!). We were lucky and got right in and were done by 1:30 a.m. and back home and in bed by 2 a.m. They ran chest x-rays, strep test, flu test and some other test. The X-ray was cute in a way to see my baby boy stand on this stool like an adult with the exception he only had a diaper on (I had to wear a cover and stand outside the doorway due to baby #3). The strep came back positive and he is going to be on in inhaler thing to open his lungs, a steroid to help his body fell 'normal' and get more oxygen to the blood and a antibiotic to clear up the strep for a few days. So I'm glad we took him in! They gave him a breathing treatment that night which helped him start breathing normal again. Thanks Nona for the coloring book packets at Christmas! Those saved me at the ER! We colored and read books while we were in our room.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year From the Williams Family

2011

(and baby #3 at 9 weeks)

And here's a blast from the past...

2010

2009

2008

(Lauren was 18 months in the card above)

And after looking at these cards side by side, I realized Kraig and I have traded sides each year...yes I'm a planner...but NO I didn't plan for that. Just funny how it turned out that way.

Third Time's a Charm!

That's right...Lauren is going to be a big sister again and Colton will be a big brother!

We are PREGNANT!

We are 10 weeks along now and baby #3 is due July 12th!

We went to the Dr Tuesday and got our 1st ultrasound and everything looked great!

Stats:
Heart Beat = 173 BPM
Crown to Rump length = 2.79-2.87 cm

Size = Lime (2 in, 0.3 oz)
Heart Beat Photo

View of baby...close up and far away.

Baby is laying sideways with his/her head on the left.

We didn't get to see the facial features because he/she kept tucking his/her face down towards the belly and covering the face with his/her hands.

The Dr looked at the close up photo and said "that's interesting" and I said "that's interesting as in boy interesting" and he said "yes but things are not finished developing yet". So we shall see if we are having another boy or another girl! I don't want to find out the sex (I didn't want to with Colton either) but Kraig really wants to know. So we shall see in a few weeks.

Happy Friday everyone!

Princess Haircut

Lauren got a 'princess' cut today. What does that mean you ask? Her hair really needed to be cut but we didn't want it to be cut too short. So Lauren started saying she wanted to get a princess cut. :-) We went to see Miss Margie and she did just that. She cut about 2 inches off, which took off the really thin, stringy hair so it looks much better already!

Here is the not-so-princess cut (after school I might add so it's pretty run down).

getting a few layers to shape it a bit

And here is the final product. The 'princess' cut! I think it's just perfect!

This cute little guy got to go too.

Not Yo' Mama's Banana Pudding by Paula Deen

We made this last night and all I can say is YUM! There was a ton though so we took some to the Andersons since banana pudding doesn't keep well. Kim said Skip and Chase were very happy! Click here for the recipe on the Food Network website.

Prep Time: 30 min
Level: Easy
Serves: 12 servings

Ingredients
2 bags Pepperidge Farm Chessmen cookies (we used a box of Vanilla Wafers)
6 to 8 bananas, sliced (we used 5)
2 cups milk
1 (5-ounce) box instant French vanilla pudding (we used Vanilla pudding)
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (12-ounce) container frozen whipped topping thawed, or equal amount sweetened whipped cream (we used a tub of whip cream...not frozen then thawed)

Directions
Line the bottom of a 13 by 9 by 2-inch dish with 1 bag of cookies and layer bananas on top.
In a bowl, combine the milk and pudding mix and blend well using a handheld electric mixer. Using another bowl, combine the cream cheese and condensed milk together and mix until smooth. Fold the whipped topping into the cream cheese mixture. Add the cream cheese mixture to the pudding mixture and stir until well blended. Pour the mixture over the cookies and bananas and cover with the remaining cookies. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

November in a Nutshell

Sorry I've been a bad blogger lately. To catch up here is what we have done this month!

• November 1st, Colton had his 2 year check up. Click here for details


• November 2nd, I had dinner with my girl Tracey Farmer and her 1 month old baby boy Austin at PF Changs


• November 4th, my niece Katlyn turned 10 (yes I said 10!) and we went to her surprise birthday party


• November 5th, Kraig and I went to the Razorback game and tailgate where Arkansas beat South Carolina 44-28! All thanks to Uncle Ryan and Aunt Lisa for watching the kiddos (the kiddos had a great time at Jump Zone by the way)


• November 11th and 12th, Kraig went deer hunting


• November 15th, I had dinner with my girls Keisha and Melissa at Johnny Carinos. I had not seen them in a long time so it was great to catch up!


• November 16th, I had dinner with my sis-in-laws Kristen, Lisa and Chelsea for Chelsea's belated 21st birthday at Bonefish. Lots of fun had when we get together!


• November 20th-23rd, Kraig went duck hunting


• Sunday the 20th, I hosted my first family Thanksgiving at my house for 30 people! Everything turned out great (a little later than I planned to pull everything together but it was a success)! I even cooked my first turkey (21 pounds) and ham (10 pounds) and everything seemed to think they tasted good so I was happy! (Thanks Melissa for the recipes!) Click here for the Turkey Recipe.


• Monday the 21st, Lauren went back to the dentist for her 2nd filling (and last hopefully) and did great! I stayed home with her that day and we enjoyed some mommy daughter time!


• November 22nd, the kids and I had dinner with Uncle Larry Beck and cousin Robin Beck from California at Mellow Mushroom along with the rest of the Beck clan for Larry's Birthday


• November 23rd-25th, our family went to the cabin on the 23rd to have Thanksgiving with Nana and Papaw and the Beck clan and came back Friday to watch the Razorback game.


• Saturday the 26th, I went Christmas shopping with my girls Jen and Lori and got some awesome deals at Kohls! We were supposed to go to St Louis for the weekend but Sue was not feeling well so we stayed home and gave our tickets to Spencer. It was a great weekend!


• Sunday the 27th, we celebrated Mimi's 90th birthday! The full Ellison clan was there and it was great to see everyone!


• Lauren is taking dance every Wednesday night in Tontitown and loving it!


• I've been cooking more and more and getting the hang of it! LOL. Click here for all the recipes I've been trying.

So that's our month of November in a nutshell. I do have pictures of some of it so I will post those soon. I can't believe it but Christmas is right around the corner! Happy Holiday's everyone!

Colton's 2 Year Check Up

Colton had his 2 year check up at NW Pediatrics on Tuesday, November 1st. Doctor Furlow said he was perfect (which I already knew)! She did say that because he has been slow to develop his teeth he will probably go through puberty later as well. Poor guy...looks like he will be the 'short guy' for a while. He is in the 25th percentile for his height and weight (which means that 75% of the kids born at his height and weight are bigger than him at his age).

Stats:

• Height: 33.46 inches


• Weight: 26 pounds (although he would not sit or stand on the scale...our home scale says 27.5 pounds)


• Teeth: 10 total

Things you are saying right now.

1. What You Doin' Momma?


2. I Wuv You (I love you)


3. Rock A Farm (You want us to sing Rock A Bye Baby but change the words to Farm related things?)


4. Rock Baby (when you want us to sing the original Rock A Bye Baby version)


5. Mommy


6. Daddy


7. Sissy


8. Ava Bug


9. Baby


10. Truck


11. Cars


12. Train


13. Choo Choo


14. Bike


15. Deer


16. Bear


17. Dog


18. Cow


19. Duck


20. Kitty Cat


21. Lion


22. Tiger


23. Horse


24. Mar-Mello (Marshmellow (he loves Lucky Charm cereal))


25. Choc-it Milk (Chocolate Milk)


26. Nack (Snack)


27. Appi (Paci)


28. Smoke (steam from daddy's truck on cold mornings)


29. Ow-side (Outside)


30. Jump


31. Cup


32. Water


33. Milk


34. Fork


35. Spoon


36. Cereal


37. Breakfast


38. Cheese Stick


39. NO!


40. Yes


41. Sit


42. Diaper


43. Potty


44. Pee Pee


45. Poop Poo


46. Co-wor (Color)


47. Marker


48. Water

Vaccines you received at the check up:

• Hep A 0.5 mL IM


• Flu Vaccine (Nasal Mist)

French Dip Beef Sandwiches - Crock Pot Recipe

This recipe came from one of Kraig's clients Mrs. Andrea Van Houweling in Michigan. She is a wonderful cook and this is a very easy recipe that taste awesome!

French Dip Beef

• ~3 pounds of beef roast (London broil, chuck roast, eye of round roast)


• 1 can beer


• 2 cans concentrated beef broth


• 1 packet of dried onion soup


• 2 T Worcestershire sauce


• Some sweet pepper slices (optional...I normally don't use)

Put beef in crock pot. Cover with onion soup, beer, broth and Worcestershire sauce. Cook for 9 hrs on low. Pull apart/shred with forks and mix with juice in pot. Serve in rolls or buns. Can also serve with barbecue sauce.

Barbecued Beef Sandwiches - Crock Pot Recipe

Last week my sister Mary Ann bought me a new Crock Pot book and I've been trying recipes on and off. I cannot wait for tonight's dish!

Barbecued Beef Sandwiches
Makes 12 servings
Prep Time: 20-25 minutes
Cook Time: 8-10 hours (LOW) or 4-5 hours (HIGH)

3 pounds boneless beef chuck shoulder roast
2 cups ketchup
1 medium onion, chopped
¼ cup cider vinegar
¼ cup dark molasses
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon dry mustard
½ teaspoon black pepper
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
Sesame seed buns/split

Cut roast in half and place in Crock Pot. Combine ketchup, onion, vinegar, molasses, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, salt, mustard, black pepper, garlic powder and red pepper flakes in large bowl. Pour sauce mixture over roast. Cover and cook on LOW 8-10 hours or on HIGH 4-5 hours or until done.

Remove roast from cooking liquid; cool slightly. Trim and discard excess fat from beef. Shred meat with 2 forks.

Let cooking liquid stand 5 minutes to allow fat to rise. Skim off and discard fat.

Return meat to Crock Pot. Stir to evenly coat meat with sauce. Adjust seasonings. Cover and cook on LOW 25-30 minutes or until hot.

Spoon filling into sandwich buns and top with additional barbecue sauce if desired.

Trick or Treating 2011

Happy Halloween! This year we met up with some friends (Brooklyn Fields, Hayden Lawrence, Kieran and Ava) and walked around Harber Meadows before all the bigger kids with scary costumes were out. We had a great time and I think the kids did too! I of course forgot my camera so thanks Ryan, Lisa and Stacy for the pics!

Ava as a Glitter Fish

Kieran as a Watermelon Fairy, Lauren as Rapunzel and Brooklyn as Minnie Mouse

And my little Gnome

He was really getting the hang of Trick or Treating this year! He would walk up to people and either pick out his own candy or just stand there until they gave him a piece.

Thanks for the outfits Nana and Papaw!