Dear Liam

Dear Liam,

You were blessed by your loving daddy on March 27th, 2011. You looked so handsome in your little white tux that Mimi bought for you. Your dad couldn't make it to your name before he started to tear up. It was a tender and beautiful blessing. Daddy blessed you that as you grow, you will be healthy and strong and able to perform any physical activities that come throughout your life. He blessed you with a strong mind and with a desire to learn and gain an education. He blessed you to always seek learning from sources that would influence your life for good. Daddy also told you how much your Father in heaven loves you. He blessed you that you will develop a testimony of Jesus Christ and the Atonement and that you will have the desire to make covenants at baptism and in the temple. He blessed you with the desire to someday serve a mission and bring others to the Gospel. He blessed you that through your example, others will come into the Gospel. He blessed you with physical health, mental strength, and spiritual strength. He also expressed how much your parents love you and will always be here for you. Even though you cried through most of it, and your big sister was fussing because she wanted to be by you and daddy, it was perfect. We are so thankful to have you in our lives. Your smiles light up the room. I can't wait to see the wonderful young man you will become. We love you, our dear sweet Liam.

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

Looking so handsome in your tux.

I can't get over how stinking cute you are
I got some smiles out of you.
You look even cuter when you smile.
Mommy, daddy, and you. Hannah was napping when we took this picture....but it appears that your mommy was the one in need of a good nap.

Big Kids

At 6 week's old Liam is a whopping 12 lbs and 22 inches long. Now for some perspective here. Everyone who know's Hannah know's she is a big girl. She is one of the younger kids in nursery and stands about a head taller than everyone else. She is 2 year's old, 37 inches tall, 34 lbs, and wear's 3T and 4T clothes. My 2 year old is the size of a 4 year old. Hannah was just over 12 lbs and 22 inches at her 2 month check up. That mean's Liam is 2 week's ahead of Hannah in size. That mean's Liam is bigger than Hannah. Which mean's Jake and I are just destined to make BIG babies. Which mean's we go through clothing sizes surprisingly fast in this household.

Here is our little man at 6 week's old. He looks so grown up in this picture. And handsome.

Already a big basketball fan

Hannah loves to hold her baby brother
And gives him plenty of kisses
He fell asleep dancing with daddy. Turn's out little Liam is a huge Josh Groban fan.

1 Month Old

I wrote this post a while ago, but life has been pretty hectic around here so my blog has been neglected. Better late than never is my motto :-)

Our little Liam is a month old. The day's go by pretty slow....but I still can't believe it has been a month already. First of all he is THE CUTEST baby boy I have ever seen. I might be biased....just a little :-) The fact that he is so darn cute makes it easier to put up with the cranky times. Yup our little Liam is a fussy baby.

He is much more vocal about his discomforts than Hannah was. If he has a bubble he will grunt and fuss until he is burped. He cries more often than Hannah did. We didn't realize how lucky we were with Hannah as a baby until this little guy was born. Babies are supposed to cry 1-4 hours a day. I honestly don't remember Hannah crying much at all. As long as she was fed every 2-3 hours she was happy as a clam. Liam has probably cried as much as 2 hours in total throughout the day. Even though I know it is how babies communicate, it is still really hard to hear him cry as much as he does. I have looked up cholic a lot on the computer these day's, but apparently he doesn't have it. Cholic is when babies cry inconsolably for 3 hours straight, 3 day's a week, for 3 week's. Wowzers. So glad that is not the case.

He has always been a fairly decent sleeper at night. He ranges between 2-4 hours between feedings. The longest stretch he has gone between feedings at night was 6 hours. During the day he likes to eat every 2-3 hours. Nap's are hit and miss. Someday's he will nap like a champ, other day's he will sleep a little here and a little there and wake up as soon as I put him down.

Being a mother of 2 is quite the adjustment. Sometimes I feel like I'm stretched too thin. Like when Liam is crying because he is tired and I am trying to rock him to sleep but Hannah keep's walking in and turning on the light, and when I ask her to leave she starts crying which in turn wakes Liam up. He constantly wants to be held which makes it hard to be there for Hannah like I want to be. Do you mom's out there ever feel like you are neglecting your older children by taking care of your newborn? I'm trying to find a balance, but it is hard.

Most of the time Hannah is just beautiful with Liam. She wants to hold him, snuggle, give kisses, laugh at him, soothe him when he cries, and just be around him. When ever he is sleeping she asks for "baby bru-uh". But there are also times when she get's too excited around him and accidentally jumps too close to him and hits him or pats him a little too hard on the head. You can really tell she loves her little brother already. Liam loves Hannah too. When she get's near him and starts talking to him his eyes just light up. If he is fussy with me and she starts giving him attention he immediately stops crying and just stares in awe at her. I captured this adorable picture of Liam on his 1 month birthday smiling the biggest grin I have seen him have and it was focused at his big sister. He saves his biggest grin's for her. I can't wait to see how close these two little tikes will be.

Liam's Favorite Things:
He loves to stare at lights.Enjoy's diaper changes and laying on the bed afterward.
Hannah.
His favorite position is sitting up. (with assistance of course)
Standing with his strong little legs

Being held in the Moby Wrap (Moby Wrap = Life Saver, this contraption deserves a post of its own in praise...actually that is not a bad idea. Moby Wrap post to come)

Some more pictures from February:

Sibling Snuggles

First picture as a family of 4 (Hannah 2 years old, Liam 11 day's old)

I love Hannah's grin in this one

So sweet

Liam looking cute in his bouncer at 3 weeks old
Looking at Hannah

Liam's Birth Story

First of all, in case you missed the announcement, we did eventually name our son....right before leaving the hospital :-) William James Pollard. But we call him Liam. Today is his official due date and he is 10 day's old, so I figure it is about time I wrote out the story of his birth before I forget. I know I always enjoy hearing/reading the birth stories of friend's, so maybe you do too.

I was not expecting him to come early. So when I felt some weird stuff going on Tuesday night (the 25th) I brushed it off. Especially since I was looking for the same labor sign's I had with Hannah. The first thing I felt happened when I was doing dishes after dinner. I got this strong sudden pain in my lower pelvic area which looking back I'm pretty sure it was "lightening". This is when the baby drops into your lower pelvis. It can happen week's before going into labor so I didn't think it meant I would be giving birth in the morning. Right before going to bed at around 11pm I started feeling light cramping with what I thought were still braxton hick's contractions. Jake asked if I thought I was going into labor and I told him no. So we went to bed.

At about 3:30am I woke up to more contraction's with cramping. They were irregular at first but after Jake created a spreadsheet on his lap top and we noticed they were coming every 3-4 minutes and lasting about 50 second's we decided that I was definitely in labor. I called my dad to see if he suggested going to the hospital and he told me to go in and get checked. At 4:30am we called my great friend Kelli and she ran over with her baby boy to stay with Hannah while we went to the hospital. Shout out to Kelli, you are awesome.

When I got to the hospital I was at 2.5 cm. They checked me again in an hour and I was still at 2.5 cm. They gave me the option of going home which I immediately turned down because I could tell the contractions were getting stronger. They checked me an hour later and I had dilated from 2.5 to a 7. In an hour. That was intense. I certainly proved to them that I was indeed in active labor. They finally admitted me and at this point I was anxiously awaiting an epidural. But the nurse said I needed to be hydrated with an IV before the epidural. After 3 failed attempts to put an IV in she got another nurse who actually knew what she was doing :-) I didn't get the epidural until I was at a 9. Which was basically just in time to push. After the epidural I remember looking at the screen which show's the contraction's and being so grateful that I wasn't feeling them because they were coming so close together. It was nice to get a short break from the pain and regain some energy before it was time to push. The Dr broke my water and shortly there after I felt like I needed to push. I pushed twice and our little miracle was born at 10:31 am. 7 hours of labor and 2 pushes. We love our little Liam!

Baby Boy

Here is a picture of our handsome little guy. More to come when we leave the hospital tomorrow. He is yet to be named. This is what happen's when 2 very indecisive people get hitched and have babies. But you should be happy to know we have narrowed it down to 2 possibilities. Now we're just waiting for the little guy to speak up and voice his opinion.

Welcome to the World

Our little boy was so excited to enter the world that he did so 10 day's early. He was born at 10:31am today. Weighing in at a whopping 8 lbs 10 oz and a lengthy 22 3/4 inches. Labor only lasted about 7 hours and I only had to push twice! I know I know *pats self on back*

We are doing great! He is a sweet little baby and we already love him so much. He is just perfect. I will post the birth story soon, with pictures.

Dilemma

Hello friends. I am in a bit of a pickle.

So let's just imagine that you and your husband have a name picked out for your soon to be born son. Now let's also imagine that one of your best friend's is also expecting a boy just a week or so before you are. You discuss names with this friend but not the one you have picked out. So that friend of yours has her baby and guess what? She names him the same name you and your husband were planning on using.

Now what do you do? You live in different states and won't see this friend very often. At most once a year unless you somehow end up living in the same state year's down the road. So do you name your son as planned? Or do you forfeit the name?

Advice, please.