I'll let the pictures do the talkin'

It will be two years ago on August 15th that Matt and I bought our house. And shortly after getting settled we decided that the empty room off of our bedroom should be a master bathroom. It was completely empty, no interior walls, no plumbing, just electricity and two windows. One week ago, we officially FINISHED the bathroom. It has been a long process, but we've had fun working together on everything from designing the floor plan, to picking out tile, the toilet, the lighting fixture and the million other little decisions that come along with starting anything from scratch! Enjoy the progression in pictures......


One of the first steps was adding plumbing to the room. Matt had to get under the house and connect the new plumbing with the rest of the houses already existing pipes.

Next, the cement backer-board went up in the shower. And as a side note: before the plumbing, and the cement board, the VERY first steps were the walls for the walk-in closet, shower & toilet room. They had to be framed, dry walled & sanded. But I don't have pictures of that part.

Tile in the shower.....Before

AFTER...................
After and in use!

The toilet room before....

After...........

The vanity before....

Ok, now recognizable...

Now, we're cookin' with gas!!! Cabinet doors installed...

After............... glorious isn't it?

Close up.....

Lighting...

Even our little vines have come along way. Soon they will cover the entire lattice and our Costa Rican inspired shower will be complete! Ok, explanation on that one..when we were in CR together we staying at a house that has a guest house with a shower that had one entire wall just screen, no glass, no window, just showering in the rain forest. So this is as close as we can get in Jax. ;)

Man oh man I love my Matt! Happy Father's day baby!

I apologize for this post being a day late. Father's day was yesterday, however we were so darn busy all day long..that this is the first free moment I've had since we started the Father's day festivities yesterday morning. We had a beautiful day as a little family...including some time for just Matt and I...which is rare. Our amazing Jacqueline watching Jack Richard was beyond a blessing! We are so grateful. Thank you JDK! We started out the morning with breakfast at Matt's favorite bfast joint. The Fox. In Avondale. Then Church, then a nap. All three of us-JRW slept for 2.5 hours and so did we. Glorious!

Then we let the little man stay sleeping and we snuck off to a mid day movie together. Jack stayed with his favorite "girlfriend/aunt/2nd mama Jacqueline". The movie was followed by a few margaritas at a mex rest. near our house. Again glorious!

Came home, played with Jack, then bath, reading, bed...for Jack, that is. Then I made a favorite dinner of Matt's, Pasta Carbonara, we ate together..then finished off the night in Matt's new hammock, just laying under the stars, chatting and enjoying each others company. Priceless. Yes there are some things money can buy, that new hammock is one of 'em. It's so relaxing, I wish we would have gotten one years ago!

But I wanted to take an opportunity to publicly say what an amazing father I think Matt is. He is truly the most patient person I know. In the year we've been married and the year and half we dated, and the other year and half we were engaged I've never seen Matt yell, loose his temper, get upset, anything. He is so calm, loving, sweet, compassionate, generous. I could go on and on. I still wonder what I did to deserve such a beautiful person in my life, and such a perfect partner to spent forever with. I can not think of any characteristics that I wish he possessed. He is, in my eyes, perfect. I love the way he loves Jack, the way he loves me, and the way he has provided and made this beautiful life that we have and share. For those of you who know Matt. You know that he is as easy-going, fun-loving and hard working as it gets. Not to mention he makes me laugh. But today is about Daddy's and he is a good one! He gets so excited to spend every minute he can with his little "buddy" as he calls Jack. And Jack adores Matt. From the moment we found out we were pregnant, Matt has been the most supportive husband and excited soon-to-be- Daddy.

I could not ask for a better Father for Jack, head of the house, and leader of this family than you Matt. Thank you for being you. Thank you for your patience, love, understating, strength and faith. You are an amazing Father, Jack and I are blessed. I love you.

Here are just a few of my favorite pictures of Jack's birthday and a couple favs of Jack & Matt several months ago...enjoy.

Masta Bathroom.

I L-O-V-E this man.

I'm going to be honest with you. And I know this is going to be hard to hear, but at some point, very soon, I will NOT be blogging about our master bathroom any longer. We are, officially less than two weeks from being done! We did a whole lotta work this past weekend, and we worked together alot actually. Which is strange b/c our days of working side-by-side have slipped away since Jack's been born. For obvious reasons. But it was the strangest thing. Sunday, Jack was so incredibly self-entertained, we got a bunch of priming and painting done plus we switched the direction our bedroom door opens..I get back to that another day (b/c I need a pic to explain). We worked for about 12 hours (including clean-up). And I really enjoy working with Matt on things....alot actually. I enjoy anything that allows me to spend time with him. Even if it's manual labor. ha. And even though he's done the bulk of the work on the house, there have been a few projects here and there that we've done together..and it's fun! I feel as though working with your spouse really brings you together and helps you to sharpen those communication skills. But back to Sunday, Jack took an insanely long morning nap, even after waking up late. Then he watch a Baby Einstein in the saucer....ok fine it was two. But in all honesty that's the only time I utilize those videos. Don't get me wrong I think they're great. But I'm not a big TV person myself, and I'm definitely not going to let my kids be big TV watchers either...like hardly at all if I can help it. But back to the point, he watched a couple videos, then for the first time we used his crib for something other than sleeping. I put a bunch of his fav toys in there, opened all the blinds, turned up his music, left the door open and he just hung out and was happy as can be. He could pretty much see us the whole time. But I figured he would enjoy playing in there b/c every since he was a wee one he's always LOVED his crib. Even now, he wakes up from a nap and sits, plays, talks for sometimes over an hour. It's his own little sanctuary. So in the end, it was an extremely productive weekend. BUT as of right now, Matt is actually working on the vanity.... right now, as I type, he's looking at me through the back door ;) The vanity doors and drawers arrived this afternoon. And I wanted to put up a few pics of us working this past weekend and Matt working tonight. The only reason I'm blogging is b/c he's working. Normally nights, after work are precious family time. But we are on the home stretch and "we" had to add-in a few workin'- nights b/c Saturday is the only workable day this weekend..hello...first Father's Day. Then next weekend we are going to Charlotte, NC to visit Matt's family. We love them!! So excited! And as an extra bonus Matt's sis Rebecca and her hubby Mark are going to drive down from DC for the weekend as well. So, that is going to be a blast! And I can't wait. You should be excited for the fun pictures of Jack with his cousins! ;)

Matt sanding the vanity this evening.

Me painting a door this past weekend...

And as I write this post, and Matt sands away....the prince....is.....asleep.

Sweet Dreams!
chw

Laughin' out loud!

9 Months!!!

It's hard to believe that our little Jack Richard is 9 months old! It's such a cliche but I really feel like it was yesterday that I was meeting him for the first time....however oddly enough, in another way I feel as though he has been in my life forever, I can't remember my life without him. It's so weird. Bottom line, I love him like crazy! Matt and I have been having so much fun with this new stage of crawling and pulling up on everything. BUT in addition to his newly found mobility...he his workin' on some new teeth. The little man only has 2. And as yall know....that means...cranky teething time. For the last few days he has not been a happy camper! I think within the next week he'll have a few new chompers! Enjoy these recent pics.

my tiny project...(in progress)

Here is a picture of my collage/picture frame wall that is above my desk....at home. Very important things get done at my desk. For example: "facebooking", "blogging", reading other peoples blogs and updating my own. Other tasks include, surfing the web for all the questions in my head aka googling everything and anything, emailing friends and family, online shopping, reading the news online, you know usual desk stuff. But after awhile I got to thinking, wouldn't this big blank wall be the perfect spot for a whole bunch of random pics? However, it is, as the title says, a work in progress. I still need to hang more pictures from our wedding. There is one of our entire wedding party up top and one of Matt and I (bottom rgt) but I still need a few of us with our families. I also need to print out and hang a picture of my beautiful God daughter Adalie Darlson....additionally I plan to frame and hang a picture from my wedding of my sisters and me...you'll notice there is one of us Williams gals on Lisa's wedding day, I plan on putting one from my big day next to hers. And last, I would like some fun not-so-formal pictures. Maybe a few fun ones from parties in the past...ya know! Oh! and one more thing..the big 8x10 in the middle with the 3 small pics along side of it was taken by my extremely talented little sister Alivia...she's a photographer is anyone is s. fla needs one!

chw

my morning out and hmm..yea...about that.

This morning Jack & I tried something new. For the first time Jack attended a "Mother's Morning Out." It was at our church and the ladies watching the wee ones, were the same gals Jack-man hangs out with while we are in church on Sundays, while I'm in my Bible study and when I go to MOPS meetings. So, seeing as these women are extremely familiar with him and vice versa, I didn't have a second thought about signing him up for every Tuesday in June....and maybe a few in July...well, okay maybe all the Tuesdays in July too! But I also wanted to support the program because it's the first time our church was giving something like this a try. It lasts from 9-12, and normally the little angel is taking his morning nap during that time, but because he's so easy going and well adjusted, he hangs in there and then naps twice as long when he gets home...and hey, that is just fine by me! But to all you mamas out there, if your church has a similar program I highly recommend it! I got a TON of stuff done, plus it's always a good thing for a little one, who doesn't have siblings yet, to socialize with other people his/her size. I find it so funny that even though Jack is only 9 months old, I have quickly forgotten what it's like to hop in and out of my car and run into a store without unstrapping, re-strapping, carrying etc. Not that I don't LOVE running errands with him, I just can't believe how fast I get things done when I'm alone. With that being said, I was insanely productive today. I got a haircut (which is one thing that you can't do with your baby, you can pretty much do everything you did pre-baby, but a haircut/hilite is next to impossible), I also, got all of Jack's Baptism invitations in the mail...YES I know he's 9 months old, and we're Catholic....I say that because Catholics usually baptize the wee ones right away. But I will get to that story in a minute. I also purchased his baptismal outfit, which I thought was going to be hard because I wasn't about to put a 9....well at the Baptism 10 month old in a gown...however, I popped into a children's store right near our house, they have absolutely gorgeous things! Anyway, I flew in there, picked out the PERFECT "little-Catholic-10-month-old outfit". I won't go too much into detail, I'll make you wait for the pictures instead. But he will look like a complete angel!!! Anyway, I guess I should explain why it's taken me so long to get my act together and make that baby an official Catholic. Okay, first of all he was born in September..after a really busy year for Matt and I. I mean just as a quick catch up for those of you who are unaware. Matt and I got engaged December 25, 2006, I graduated college May 2007, we bought our house August 2007, got pregnant in December '07, got married May '08, had baby September '08...in conclusion I have been a little busy the last two years. Matt and I always joke that we are like "over achievers" in the settling down, family department. BACK to the point, I had been very busy, and after he was born the holidays were quickly approaching and I didn't want to tack on one more thing to an already busy few months. Then comes 2009, Matt and I were having some indecisiveness when it came to our church of choice, we prayed ALOT about it, and what was best for our family was revealed, then we started the process of picking what month & weekend worked best for both our families. And let's not kid...there were a few months of procrastination on my part too. Anyway, I'm signing off for now, but I have some pictures of that angel of mine I want to post tomorrow, in addition to my "collage/picture frame wall" that I've been working on....and am pretty proud of! haha Love to you all,
chw

I'm still here!

Hi All! The Williams clan has been busy! Since my last post...we have.....celebrated our 1 year wedding anniversary, celebrated my first Mother's day, went to the musical WICKED, enjoyed a day of golf at the TPC, drove to Tally for my little sister, Alivia's graduation from FSU, my best friend Meghan and her daughter Adalie (my God daughter) came to visit, (I went to Titusville to celebrate Addie's FIRST Bday, she came to Jax), then MOPS & my Bible Study ended until fall, school's out, meaning my Tuesday morning tutoring with my first graders ended, we had a quick trip to Stuart to visit my family and then this past week we had our good friends, the Kaisers visit for a few days! WHEW!!! And in between all of that we've made ALOT of progress on our master bath. We've picked out and purchased everything we will need to wrap things up. Matt & I are predicting a finished product in roughly one month. But you know how that goes...stay tuned. Anyway, I plan on posting some pictures in celebration of our ONE year of marriage, but until then enjoy the pictures from this past weekend. Jack had the best time with Zach and Grace (Jacquie's Niece and Nephew) from Ocala. They, along with their mama Lindsey came to jax to visit Jacquie, and as always, we had so much fun with them.

chw

We love the Kaisers!

Mother's Day Video From Matt.

Earth Day Gift.

Matt came home from work with a little Earth Day surprise for me. Two beautiful Bougainvillea plants. I had mentioned that I wanted to plant a tree on Earth Day, but truthfully planting something, anything is better than nothing at all. Bougainvillea are one of my favorite plants ever! I recently visited my good friends Christina and Steven who just bought their first home and Christina was explaining how her "Boug." plants were driving her crazy b/c of their thorns. And yes, you don't want to get too close or fall into one! But when they are full grown either as a hedge, bush or up a fence, in my opinion there is nothing as cheerful! I love the variety of tropical colors they come in. But before I go any further, I have to admit that last spring Matt and I planted 4 Boug. plants, in the hot pink/magenta color. I either did something wrong, or it was the freeze that lead to their demise. But it's a NEW DAY, and a fresh start. So here's hoping! I first fell in love with them, at my Mom's old house (on Country Club Lane). She had the more gorgeous, enormous Boug. plant. It had grown up the side of the patio and then grew over to the detached garage. It was so big, it created a tunnel that you walked under to go up the stairs to the "apt" above the garage. Unfortunately, one of the terrible hurricanes 4 years (I think) ago destroyed it. But it was magnificent. We do have a lasting memento of the beautiful backyard scene in my sisters condo in Chicago. I painted a small painting of it as a gift for my sis. Also, on our honeymoon in St. Lucia in the West Indies last year...they were EVERYWHERE! So I will forever think of our glorious honeymoon when I see a Bougainvillea plant.

chw oxxo

Earth Day! Here are some of my GREEN ideas!

I love that we are more aware than ever that the way we are living is affecting our beautiful planet. And because it's EARTH DAY today, I thought I would share a few simple ways that I have changed the way I live and consequently become more green! Maybe you'll pick up a few tips that you'll incorporate into your own lifestyle and I hope you'll share some of your own green ideas in the "comments" section at the end of this post!

1. Take the paper towel roll off the counter. I have it under my sink, out of sight, and by doing so, I hardly ever grab a sheet here and a sheet there for quick clean-ups that I can easily use my sponge for. And for those of you who don't like the idea of using a sponge in your kitchen b/c of the scary commercials that portray sponges as killers, with deadly bacteria...all you have to do is throw it in the dishwasher every once in awhile OR fill a bowl with water and microwave the sponge in water and it sanitizes it. Additionally, I hardly EVER clean with paper towels anymore. I have a large stack of rags under my sink next to my cleaning products. And b/c I clean with earth-friendly and non-toxic products, I just use rags to clean, wash and use again. For over a year now I've lived by these practices and I've noticed that the ONLY time I actually use a paper towel is to cover something I'm reheating in the microwave. A roll of paper towels lasts well over 2 months in my house.

2. I use cloth napkins for every meal. It's nice to not have them reserved for only the holidays or special occasions! Everyday is worth it! I picked up this practice from a friend of mine. And it adds a nice touch to ever meal when you have a cloth napkin in your lap, even if it's just eating a sandwich alone and checking your email, there's something, old fashioned (maybe?) that I love about it and can't see myself ever going back to using paper napkins or paper towels! And to answer the question I know you're asking yourself....how does washing cloth napkins end up being green when you have to wash them? Well, if it doesn't get too dirty, we fold it back up and use it again. But as for the dirty ones, we simply throw them in the wash (that we are already doing) with our other laundry. And between Matt, Jack and myself (and the size of our washer) I do enough loads to where we've never had the issue of not having a napkin for a meal.

3. Store everything in tupperware. I can't remember the last time I stored something in a resealable plastic bag. And if I do...when I'm done I rinse it and reuse the bag! Even when I pack a lunch for Matt, I go as far as putting chips (for example) in tupperware, same with his sandwich-everything!

4. Recycle EVERYTHING you can!

5. Buy Organic! I try to buy as many organic products as I can. Some items are more important to buy than others. Meat, produce, milk, eggs are some of the ones I always buy organic. Some things can be dramatically more expensive than the non-organic version, so I price shop between publix and super target, and found that super target beats publix's prices when it comes to most of the organic products I buy. And for the baby mamas out there, target has the absolute lowest price on Earth's Best Organic baby food. I use their jar food and rice cereal, and no one is cheaper than target!

6. Make your own cleaning products! This sounds like a huge job. But honestly it's one of the easiest ways to clean green and save green! Lavender oil and Tea Tree oil are natural disinfectants, you mix them with water and clean counter tops, sinks, floors, any surface really. I bought a book by the company Seventh Generation called, Naturally Clean: The Seventh Generation Guide to Safe & Healthy, Non-Toxic Cleaning it has the recipes for the cleaning products, along with alot of other great information. The oil is a small investment initially, but it last SO much longer than a bottle of product from the grocery store. And it's so much safer...especially if you have little ones crawling, touching and eating everything!

These are just a few small things that I thought of and wanted to share! Please leave any of your GREEN ideas in the comments section to share!

chw oxxo

It's the little things.

It's the little things as a mom that make you smile! Little things like the first glimpse of the tiniest tooth, babies first smile, sitting up on his own. Practically every milestone is cause for celebration! However, it's not just all the wonderful new things that Jack is doing that's getting me to break out the camera and start blogging. This time it's a fab new product that I LOVE! Last week I found myself at Babies R' Us upgrading Jack's "bink" to the next size, in addition to the next level baby bottle nipple (Born Free brand-love that too-I'm still nursing, but that's another whole blog entry), and buying him his first sippy-cup. Other mommies I've chatted with, say 7 mths is a good time to introduce it (sippy cup) by having it "around" during meals-so the transition at 1 year isn't so difficult. Anyway, in addition to the upgrades, I came across a bib a mommy-friend from MOPS and my play group told me about. Bumkins! It's great. I don't know what material it is, but after Jack is done eating I rinse it quickly in the sink and lay it either over his high chair or from a cabinet knob, and it's dry in no time! No need to keep adding dirty bibs to loads a laundry. It's stain resistant and it's free of PVC, phthalates & BPA. Bottom line: It's safe material! Plus it has a pocket at the bottom to catch food etc. I believe they are sold at Target as well. So if you are in the market....try a BUMKIN bib! ;)
chw oxxo

A longer video of Jack....(like 4 minutes!)

So here I am again apologizing for being a delinquent blogger. But I thought instead of hearing what's new, or posting a bunch of still pics, videos would be fun for a change. In order to HEAR the video, scroll down to the bottom of the page PAUSE the music, then return to the top of the page, hit PLAY on the VIDEO and you'll be able to hear Jack laughing etc.
Hope all is well & much love,
chw oxxo

Videos of Jack Richard

All around updates....

Jack SIX MONTHS OLD!!!

Hi Everyone! So many exciting things happening right now. Matt is in Costa Rica with some friends on a "man-cation." haha He has been working so hard at home and at work that when the opportunity came up for him to go on a 24/7 surfing trip with his best guy friends, I was so happy for him! So he's there for a week, I'm heading to my Moms for a little while and plan on spending some time with friends from south Florida that I always miss, like....Lindsay Dance, Christina Lewis and Steven, Lindsey Roth, Jennifer Epstein and her baby Brenna, Jacqueline's Mom Valerie and her cousin Ashley and her baby, Cameron, maybe my Godparents Dave and Jennifer (if they are down from Illinois) and of course Gigi and Grampie! In addition to getting ready to head down south..I had a blast this weekend running the Gate River Run with Lindsey Kaiser and her friend Leighton and my good friend Courtney Hartford and Kristen Perez. We had a blast! It was a 15K which is 9.3 miles. I finished in 1:41-which I was pleased with. But there is always room for improvement! I'll have to wait to post pics until later today because Jacquie has all of them on her camera. Anyway-other than that we had a short visit with Alivia on her way back to Tally from Stuart last night. Jack always loves to see Aunt Liv. Alivia is graduating in May! I can't believe it! After she walks-shes finishing her last semester in Greece over the summer!!!!

On a different subject...I have a few new blogs on my page. Christina and Steven's Sweet Home Silver Oaks is so exciting because they just bought their first house and they are posting all the new and exciting developments with it! We love them and are hoping to get a special tour when we are down this week. Hope all is well. Love to you all!

chw xoxo

I'm back!!

I know I know...I'm such a slacker! But the good news is, it's just when it comes to my blog! I've been super busy with random stuff lately. My week usually holds: MOPS on Mondays, Tutoring on Tuesdays (ok I swear I'm not trying to do that, haha). I started volunteering in the fall to tutor 1st graders with their reading at a school near our house. I attend a Bible Study on Wednesdays, Jack's "Music Together" class on Thursdays and a new play group I just joined on Fridays. And just keeping up with my SIX MONTH OLD! Can you believe it?? Is keeping me on my feet! And I also run as much as possible and train. I just ran a 5 mile race on Saturday and on March 14th, I'm running in a 15k (9.3 miles). And I can't wait!!! They are so much fun. OK so what else have I been up to? As of recently...I've finally been able to help with some bathroom stuff. Up until this point all the work has been stuff only Matt can do..but yesterday I started painting in there and pretty much finished most of it (minus a little trim) this morning. Below are some pictures of our bathroom window creation. And it requires a short little story. When Matt and I were in Costa Rica, we spent some time at a house that had a shower, where one of the walls in the shower was just a screen, looking out to the rain forest, I'm sure it's common there, but it was so unique to us and natural, Matt and I fell in love with it. So when we started brain storming on ideas for our master bathroom. We thought that it would be neat to put the shower in front of the huge window, that was already there and plan to plant climbing vines on lattice, so that eventually it would be a huge window covered in plants that would give the feeling of showering outdoors and it would have beautiful natural light. And below the pictures of last weekends project-the lattice (which by the way we had a blast building it together...very rarely, actually never have we had a project that we've started and completed in one day!) And the rest are the most recent pictures of the shower with the fixtures in it. I promise to post some more tomorrow if Matt hangs up our new mirror. Hope all is well with everyone. Christina, I hope you're reading this and it's somewhat entertaining! She gave up Facebook for Lent! Very impressive...I gave up chocolate, which for some reason doesn't seem as intense as no Facebook for 40 days! You go GIRL!!! much love

chw xoxo