Small Things. Great Love.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

One month already?!

Wow...I can't believe it's been a month since my last post! I'd say I was negligent, but I know it's not true...I'm just a busy mom! And it's been a crazy month.

The first weekend in May, we went to Dallas for Laura Goodson's wedding...she's Madeline's age and she has a sister my age, Emily, and we've been friends forever! It was a beautiful wedding...and we were just a smidge late (nursing baby strike!), so we came in right behind the bride. The reception was lots of fun and Liam did fabulously...he napped in the stroller and we nursed in the lady's lounge. What a trooper! We saw Kevin on Saturday evening and then Sunday morning, at 3:00am (hooray for a hungry baby!) on my first Mother's Day, Matthew and Liam gave me a new band for my watch, an "L" charm for my necklace, and my very favorite perfume. It was a special time for the three of us, even if it was in the middle of the night! When everyone else was awake, we went to Mass with Mom, Dad, Becca, Madeline, Darryl, Caleb, and Carolyn and then back to Carolyn's house for brunch. After brunch, we went to the Rangers game with Shannon & Kevin and Uncle Scott & Aunt Suzy. The seats were great because they were in the shade and Liam did perfectly again. It was a wonderful first Mother's Day for me! I am truly blessed!

The next weekend we were all home here in San Antonio. We relaxed, played with Liam, and went on a picnic to our favorite park here. We even took Daisy...who chased some swans and fell into the river!

The next weekend was Liam's Baptism. My mom came early to spend some special time with me and to help me get ready. We had lots of wonderful people here to help us celebrate: Liam's godparents, Madeline & Darryl, Caleb, Mom, Dad, Becca, Nelson, Brenda, Shannon, Kevin, my Aunt Maria, my Grandma, my Uncle Scott & Aunt Suzy, and the Powell's family friends, Terry & Kathy, who came all the way from Pensacola. It was such a wonderful and blessed day...we were truly happy to give our biggest and most precious blessing back to God! And he did great with all the company...he loves people!

In BABY updates:
Liam is quite proficient at holding his head up...He does it now every time you put him over your shoulder. He's getting better at tolerating "tummy time" and he can lift his head off the ground. He loves the Bumbo and sitting up...he loves to look around and see everything. I think he's learning that when he's on the playmat, he can hit at things...I'm not sure he realizes those are HIS hands, but he smiles and coos when he does hit the dangling toys. He is a HUGE smiler...his whole face lights up in a grin and a laugh and that's all it takes to make my day perfect, everyday! He is also a big talker...he loves to coo and babble, especially when people are around. He loves bathtime...He kicks and smiles and I think he could stay in all day. He's regularly going 3-4 hours between feedings during the day, and sleeping 7-8 hours at night. I'm staying up to give him one last feeding between 11:30pm and 12:00am...but I've had to wake him up the past week or so. I don't think he's quite ready to drop that feeding yet, but it won't be long before he's ready and then we'll be doing 9-10 hour nights! He's such a great napper too...he just loves his sleep!! At his two month check up he was 12#3oz and 23 inches long and he's definitely outgrowing some of his 0-3 month clothes. And we're using up the last of the size 1 diapers because he's ready for size 2!

Here are a LOT pictures from the past few weeks...sorry it's hard to pair them down! Next week is Liam's first trip to the beach! We will post updates and pictures when we get back!

Ready for a walk

Matthew says this picture proves Liam inherited my "big eyes"

Mother's Day dinner in San Antonio

Thanks for the yummy snack, Mom...Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day at the Rangers game

So blessed!

Seriously...I live for this face!

He loves to dance

Picnic with Mom, Dad, & Daisy

After her ill-fated slip into the river!

Daddy & Liam

Glad somebody thinks we're funny!!

Happy Baptism, baby boy

Love this kid, too! Caleb is getting so big!

The whole gang at Liam's Baptism

Liam's parents and godparents

Terry & Kathy Terrell with Liam

First dip in the pool!

Becca & Liam

Grandpa Nelson & Liam

He's getting so big already!

So serious...

Sisters!

Grandma & Grandpa David with Liam

Caleb loved the pool, too!

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

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.