The last few weeks

Many apologies for not posting sooner...It has been a busy and rough few weeks for us!!

Liam had his first trip when we went to the farm for Easter!  I must admit that it is difficult to travel with a little one, even one who is as well behaved as ours is!!  The packing alone took me a whole week and I WAY overpacked for him, but I just wasn't sure what we would need.  I'm sure I'll get better at pairing things down as time goes on.  He did great on the trip though...we stopped in Temple to nurse Liam and then we finished the trip to the country.

We had a lovely Easter with my family and Liam met his great-grandmother, Joan, and his great-aunt Maria, great-uncles, Tom & Paul, 1st cousin once removed (very technical terms here!) Carl, and Holly & Brittany.  Caleb also loved his time with his cousin...Caleb gave Liam tons of kisses and Liam even smiled for Caleb.  We can tell they are going to be tons of trouble!  :-)

While we were in the country celebrating Easter, Liam started to get very fussy around nursing.  I couldn't figure out what was wrong because he was such a good nurser before and he never, ever fusses.  We tried tons of different things to help him, but nothing seemed to be working.  Things got worse when we returned home and I finally made a ton of calls to breastfeeding consultants.  The final recommendation was that I should take him in to see his doctor because it didn't sound like I was doing anything wrong.  I took him into the doctor last Thursday and he was diagnosed with acid reflux...our poor little guy was hurting!  The doctor prescribed Liam some medication and told me to change my diet.  I'm dying!!  No Diet Coke, no chocolate, and no spicy foods!!...but I'll do anything for our little man.  Things finally seem to be turning around and he seems to be doing much better.

We also celebrated Matthew's 29th birthday on April 26th.  I made a cake for him and I also made him a dinner of chicken-fried steak (a HUGE sacrifice for me, since I hate it), mashed potatoes, and green beans.  We had celebrated with Matthew's family a week or so before, with my family at Easter, and it was just the three of us on his actual birthday...we had fun every time we celebrated.

In other baby news:  Liam is smiling at us all the time!  He even laughed at me yesterday.  I can tell you there is nothing in this world better than a baby's smile!  He is still taking great naps during the day (in his elevated cradle...thank you, acid reflux) with about an hour to hour and a half of alert, happy time before his naps...and he wakes up hungry, just like his daddy.  He's a great sleeper at night, too...last week he went 7 hours in the night!!  Usually he goes anywhere from 4.5 hours to 6 hours at least once, sometimes twice in the night.  We can't complain!!  He has almost outgrown his 0-3 month clothes...especially the one-piece suits, but Mommy hasn't gotten out the boxes of 3-6 yet, so I'm not sure how big they will be on him.

Otherwise, things are going well around here.  The month of May and most of June are already booked up for us, so I've been dreading turning the calendar over...but here we are!  The house might not be clean much this month, but we're going to make the most of our time and enjoy all of these things we get to do.

Enjoy the pictures from Easter and a few from the last couple of weeks.

Love.

Matthew trying out a new lens for his camera

The Swagger Wagon loaded for Liam's first trip

Caleb loves the country

Gran-Gran and Liam

Uncle Tom & Liam

Aunt Maria & Liam

Carl, Aunt Maria, & Liam

Matthew picked out the onesie...

Babies love the pool!!

Dinner!

Happy Birthday, Matthew

Uncle Darryl & Liam

Play hard, nap hard

Easter morning

Mr. Smiles!

Brief update

This post will be short because I think I only have a few minutes before Liam wakes up from his nap hungry...baby's needs go first around here!

We've had a busy, but great couple of weeks continuing to adjust to our new normal.  The second weekend in April, Matthew let me get a massage Saturday morning and they had their first "boy time" together.  It was a bit of a disaster because Liam wouldn't take the bottle, but I think they had fun anyway...and Matthew did great...and my massage was awesome!!  (Thank you, Kristin!!)  Then on Sunday, we took Liam to a home show north of town and he did fabulously...We fed him twice "on the road" for the first time.  It was a little challenging, but we all managed and had a great time.

This past weekend, Nelson, Brenda, Shannon, & Kevin came into town to celebrate Matthew's birthday.  We had a great time with them and went out to dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant.  Poor Matthew wanted to go to a steak joint in town but it was closed because of Fiesta!  We enjoyed having all of them here and I know they loved seeing how big our little man is already!

Speaking of our "little man", I've already had to put away all of the newborn clothes and he's already in a few 3 month things!!  He's growing like a weed!!  He is still a really wonderful sleeper...he is even sleep 5 hours through the night regularly.  He takes great naps during the day, except for the late afternoon one.  My mom calls it "the witching hour" and it's so true!!  He's a great baby and never fusses, except every so often, he'll refuse to take that late afternoon nap.  We can't complain since he sleeps so well through the night!!

He's still our pride, our joy, and our greatest blessing!!  He smiles every once in awhile now and we both live for his precious grin (which is EXTREMELY difficult to capture on camera right now!).

Hope you enjoy the pictures from the past few weeks!

Have a wonderful and Blessed Holy Week & Easter!

Love,
Courtney

Could he be more relaxed??

Somebody else thinks he's a baby, too.

Baby's first mohawk :-)

Enough with the flash!!

Love the baby kisses!!

This face ALWAYS makes us smile!

"Life's rough...sleep hard."

Yes...the cat is licking Matthew's hair

Nelson & Liam

Shannon & Liam

Trying to catch that smile!!  Almost...

3 weeks old...already!

We've almost made it to the 1 month mark!  I can hardly believe it's been 3 1/2 weeks since our little guy was born...It seems just like yesterday!

It has been an amazing few weeks for us as a new family.  On March 29th, Liam had his 2 week check-up and he did great!  He had already gotten back to birth weight ( 8# 4oz) PLUS another 11 oz.  Needless to say, he's a great little nurser!  The doctor also said that he won the award for the healthiest and best behaved baby...he just let the doctor check him out and he slept the whole time!

Last weekend was my birthday and my poor husband had to work...but Madeline, Darryl, and Caleb came to keep me company while Matthew was at work.  We had a GREAT time with them and I'm so incredibly grateful they were here...I'm not sure I would have made it through this week without some adult reinforcements for the weekend!!  It was so much fun for Caleb to be around Liam again.  Caleb smiled so big around Liam and he kept wanting to climb over the chairs to check on him while Liam was in the bassinet.  Caleb's going to be a great older cousin and he's an awesome big-brother-in-training!! :)

Madeline, Liam, and I went shopping (for the babes, of course!) on Saturday, Matthew joined us for dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant Saturday night, and we all met up for lunch at a delicious burger joint in town before Madeline, Darryl, & Caleb had to head back to Temple.  Matthew showered me with shoes on Sunday when he came home from work...he said a new momma needs some new kicks!!  (Plus I'm pretty sure our little man made my feet grow during pregnancy...I can now fit into Ronald McDonald's shoes).

So far as new parents, Matthew and I are adjusting to sleeping in 2-4 hour increments and catching a nap when we can.  We're also trying to figure out a schedule during the day and at night that works for both of us to get some sleep...Usually, Matthew helps me get each nightly feeding started and then he goes back to sleep until Liam's done and then Matthew changes him, while I go back to sleep.  I try to give Matthew as much sleep as possible because I can nap during the day!

We're so very blessed because he is SUCH a good baby.  He gets toted around on errands and sleeps through all of the jostling in and out of the car.  Here's a few things we've learned about our little guy or that he has done in the past few weeks:

-He LOVES his paci!!  It's one of the few things he fusses for (besides a meal!)
-He loves being swaddled and doesn't sleep well when he's not snug-as-a-bug.  Thank GOODNESS for my dear friends Katie and Troy who got us the SwaddleMe...It's a life saver because he can't escape from it during the night!
-Liam has dimples just like his mommy and daddy!!  He smiles so big when he's sleeping now and we discovered those dimples several days ago.
-He loves to take walks...he falls right to sleep.
-He doesn't care for the vibrating chair, but he enjoys the swing.
-He took his first bottle from Dad...We're not feeding him from the bottle on a regular basis, but we wanted to introduce it to him a few days ago.  He fussed a little at first, but ended up doing great!
-He has HUGE feet!!  His feet are already too big for the 0-3 month outfits with footies.
-He has a widow's peak like his Daddy and a HUGE cowlick right in front like his Mommy!
-He can't decide what color his hair will be or what color his eyes will be...They both started out brown, but the hair is lightening a bit and starting to turn red, and his eyes are lightening to what might be blue
-He loves to listen to music...Classical is his preference right now!
-He is a recent fan of the playmat (given to us by Matthew's dear friends the Gussios)...He stares for 20-30 minutes at a time at the things hanging from it.
-When he's awake, he's VERY alert...he loves to watch faces, the fan, lights, mirrors, and anything that moves.
-Yesterday, he finally tolerated some tummy time...it was a struggle before because he would fall asleep or fuss for his paci
-He tries to raise his head up when he's laying on our chests...he's getting better at it!
-He LOVES the Moby wrap...anytime he's in it, he's happy!!

We're so in love with our little guy and love to watch him grow and change everyday!!  I can't imagine our lives without him!

Enjoy these pictures from the last few weeks.

Love,
Courtney

Dimples!!

Smiley baby :-)

It's hard work being a baby...

Talking to Dad

Love the paci

Bathtime

Smiley baby...again!

Caleb at my birthday lunch

The family on Mommy's birthday

Birthday lunch, continued

The Blalocks...Caleb was wiggly!! :-)