Sitting up!!

Liam sat up for the first time yesterday! Big boy!!!

Thanksgiving 2012

We had a wonderful first Thanksgiving with Liam! After so many years of waiting and praying for him we were finally holding a little boy we are so grateful.
Yesterday we celebrated at my mom's house. Mom Emily Steve Zachary, Aidan, Aunt Bonnie, Uncle Bob and Robin were all there. Matt and I contributed the green bean casserole this year. Next year I want to make a dessert as well.
On the night before Thanksgiving the 3 of us Matt Grandmom dad and Uncle Rod in Waynesboro. We went to Cafe Del Sol; it was delicious as always.
This was typed using my voice input. I'll have to go back and edit the typos later :-)

Liam at Christmas

 

 

Christmas time with our sweet angel is so blessed! Liam is the cutest most adorable baby in the world... always making cooing sounds, smiling at everyone and everything, and drooling up like its his JOB. We took him to the outlets to meet Santa, who he had no problem with at all. The next weekend we went to the tree lighting ceremony in Carroll Valley Park. This weekend was a shopping weekend!

 

5 months

At 5 months Liam is such a joy! He is always full of smiles and laughter. When he sees us and gets excited he kicks his legs all around! He is a baby on the move! He is starting to creep. I put him on the playmat and he scoodges off of it! At night he moves around in his crib in his sleep.
Walker is really starting to love him. When we come home from daycare Walker comes right to his car seat and give him lots of kisses! Last night we filmed Walker and Liam in front of the Christmas tree and Walker couldn't stop giving Liam kisses!

Thankful

Today I am so thankful for our baby Liam, who slept in until 7!!!

Awful :(

I feel like I'm being tortured. I hate leaving Liam in the morning to go to work. I should be so grateful to have a job and be able to pay our bills, but I hate that I have a job and I hate that I have bills. All I want is to be near him, to hold him, to comfort him. He is part of me and still too small to be away from me. I can't help but feel this is all too early, he's just too little, that I shouldn't be away from him. It's a physical pain, almost like I can't breathe, when I drive away from him in the mornings. I thought it would get easier but it's worse. And I don't know if I will ever be able to forgive myself for missing these days.

4 WEEK OLD BABY!

Liam is 4 weeks old today! So hard to believe! Let’s see, what is life like with my little man? It is wonderful. He sleeps nicely at night—we get to bed by 9 or 10, and he doesn’t wake up until 1:30ish, then again at 4:30, and then sleeps until 7 or 8 (it depends on how long he goes until he pees!). During the day, we spend a LOT of time nursing… he always wants to nurse! He usually only goes an hour and a half or so? In between feedings, he hangs out in his pack n play (once a day) for quiet baby time, then we do tummy time, then we do gym mat time, then he sits in his swing while I eat lunch. The afternoon is a crap shoot—s ometimes he’ll sleep from 12-5 (with me waking him to feed). Othertimes he’ll fuss and want to be held. Today was a fussy afternoon. But now he’s sleeping peacefully in his pack n play! Today during tummy time he turned his head from one side to another! Yippee! I love this kid. I love to kiss his squishy little cheeks! I love to feel his milk breath on my face when he’s fallen asleep while I nurse him. (I feel it on my face because I’m usually covering him in kisses at this point!)

Birth Announcement!

Photo Card

View the entire collection of cards.

Praise God.... he's here!

Born 6/25 at 6:33 pm

40 Weeks & baby is staying put!

Had my 40 week/due date appointment. Baby is staying put! I am still just as dilated as I was at 32 weeks when I had my scare... baby is showing NO signs of wanting to go anywhere :) Silly baby. Plan: We are going to do an induction. I wanted Friday, but it will be Monday at the earliest. I will hear from the scheduler either tonight or tomorrow!

37 week update

I am 37 weeks pregnant! I love every moment of it, I really do.

At 37 weeks pregnant, I am feeling quite large. I am about 45" around... and have put on 30 pounds. I have developed stretchmarks on my belly in the past few weeks-- but I am not complaining. Every pregnancy quirk is an amazing blessing from God for me in this lifetime. My face also has some splotches on it-- I guess the "mask" of pregnancy. It looks like I've smeared self-tanner on myself in random places! I am still having trouble walking, particularly in the morning, but it is not getting worse so I can manage.

Liam still loves hanging out by my rib cage. He snuggles his little tooshie way up high, right below my chest. Sometimes when I am eating I just can not breathe and I have to stand up to let gravity push him back down a bit!

It looks like we are waiting for him to decide when to get here; my OB wants me to really try labor and see how it progresses. No c-section for us, for now.

I love you, sweet baby Liam!!!

36 week MFM Appointment

Today was my final appointment with Dr. Sweeney in Annapolis. All of the ultrasound techs in his office are super nice! It turns out that my placenta has moved up this time! It is now 3.5 cm from the os, so I am cleared to do a traditional delivery. He said I "could" do a c-section if I wanted, because there is a risk of bleeding during delivery, but that would be up to me and my OB. So now I am graduated from this part of my pregnancy... it is weird to think I am so far along!

35 Weeks, praise God!

At 35 weeks pregnant, I am feeling pretty good. Of course, it's relative to me and my own issues. It hurts to stand up and walk initially. After I warm up I feel better, but I like to sit after a bit. My hips still hurt-- sometimes I walk like a pirate with a wooden leg, haha!  I get out of breath easily (when Liam is up by my ribs, which he usually is!).

Let's talk about baby and baby's habits. Baby likes to hang out on the right side, with his toosh up towards me and his head down in my pelvis (not engaged yet). I often feel tiny little fingers pushing against my hip if I sit up too much, so I try to recline a lot. He is a very active little boy. I can watch my stomach swirl and sway all to one side based on what he's up to. Sometimes he bunches up so much that my stomach is no longer round, it is lopsided to wherever he is. It's usually on the right side, but a few times he's bunched up on the left. His feet go back and forth, from my right side to my left lower side where his head is (on the last ultrasound he was playing with a foot). I can see and feel his feet scrape along the left side of my belly when he's moving them back or forth. It kind of hurts in a pointy-thing-in-your-stomach way! Liam gets the hiccups about once a day, sometimes more, sometimes less. I may not feel it. At night he moves around a lot, particularly when I am going to sleep and then from 3-5. It doesn't keep me awake though, which is convenient. But I DO love it. I love to feel my little guy scoodging about in there, knowing he's okay and happy.

In the past week, it seems like he's developing reflexes. He will kick back when Matt taps my tummy. Once I was running my fingers down along my tummy, where his back is, and he would kick in response each time. I stopped to see if he was just kicking, but he didn't kick. Then I ran my fingers back down and yup! He kicked.

I sing the South African National Anthem to him every day so that when he's born he will recognize it. And I love him so very much! I tell him every single day, multiple times, how much I love him. I love my baby boy!

I've been having Braxton Hicks contractions since about 30 weeks that I could notice. But lately, just in this week, I am getting them more and more! Two days ago I really thought I was going into labor, I had four contractions in about an hour. But then they stopped. I think I'm not drinking enough fluids...

33 weeks and almost done work!

So I had to go in to see my OB on Tuesday. I have been in just so much pain in my hips; walking is difficult! Between being dilated, having pp, the hip pain, and my general anxiety, I am super stressed. My doctor wanted to pull me from work and wants me to get physical therapy. So tomorrow is my last day of work. This has been such a long road to get this far in our pregnancy; I don't want a single thing to jinx it!

Rock that belly! 32 week belly shot

After taking some picture on photobooth, I couldn't help but snap a shot of my belly. As I stood up it filled the whole screen! I am a planet!!! :)