Smiles

Liam has finally started smiling in reaction to people! Before he would always smile in his sleep and sometimes when he is passing gas. Yesturday I got the biggest smile from him. I almost cried because it was so cute. The smiles continued throughout the day. Then later in the evening he smiled and laughed at me. It was adorable! It is so great to see him change every day. His personality develops each day. He has been very clingy over the past week or so. Today we went to Lowe's to visit my co-workers and he started crying when one of my friends was holding him. They handed Liam back to me, and he instantly calmed down. It is such a good feeling to know that your child knows who you are and you comfort him. I am definatly going to have a hard time going back to work in 6 weeks. I already get a little teary eyed thinking about it. Until then, I am just going to enjoy every moment with him.

Here are a few pictures from this week:


We went and visited with Grandpa & Grandma Corydon on Sunday. Here are some pictures from that visit:

Updates...

I admit that I have slacked a bit on the updates this week... so here they are! There are not a lot of pictures to go with the events, because I seemed to forget my camera a lot this week.

Yesterday:
Liam & I had lunch with Rosa at the Olive Garden. It was yummy, and it was very nice to see her. We haven't seen each other since the baby was born. It was great to catch up. She got to hold Liam finally, and now I secretly think she wants another little baby :) We also went over to Grandpa & Grandma McCandless' house to visit for a little while. We also got to see Aunt Kaite and Aidan. It was really nice to see everyone since it has been a while. Liam was really good and slept most of the time. We also received a very cute Ribinki in the mail yesterday from my friend Janna. It is so cute. She had made so many cute things for Liam.


Wednesday:
Mommy was able to get some alone time because Dad was off work and able to watch Liam for a little bit. I went and got my hair done, and ran a few more errands that are kinda of hard to do with a little one. It was relaxing to get out of the house. But I really missed my little guy. Everytime I would get out of the car I would walk over to where his carseat normally is to get him out, but he wasn't there. :(


Tuesday:
We went to check out a potential child care giver today. We have been looking for a while for some day care when I go back to work, and have not been successful. But I think we may have finally found day care for Liam! We are going to continue to pray that this is really where God wants us to send our son. Liam & I also took our first grocery store trip since he has been born. He was wide awake the entire time just looking around at all the lights. Towards the end, he started to scream because he was hungry, and an older women in line behind me told me that he was too young to be out of the house yet. It really kinda bothered me that someone, again, was telling me how to raise me child! Oh well... I finally got over it!

Monday:
We spent the day at Grandpa & Grandma Corydon's house. We stopped at Target on the way there and got Liam a little pack-n-play so he can sleep when he is at Grandpa & Grandma's. He did really well. He got to see his Uncle David & Aunt Brittany, and he actually slept in is playpen, which is more than he does at home.

Sunday:
Liam & I went to church for the first time since he was born. I was nervous because I didn't want him to cry during the sermon. But he did very well. He slept through the music, but once the music stopped, he started his grunting... which usually means he is going to be passing gas, or pooping. So I went to the mother's room to change him, but he ended up falling asleep, so we stayed in there. He was the only boy in the room, and he was grunting and passing gas the entire time. What a true boy!

Here are some pictures that were taken during the week!

Battle of the Baby Weight!

Pregnancy really can do a number on a women's body. And I never really realized it until I got pregnant. During my pregnancy I was very conscious of what I was eating, and I tried really hard to eat healthy. But towards the end, I gained a lot of water weight. When I went to my last doctor's visit on Jan.16 (the day I was admitted to the hospital), I weighed 231 lbs. My starting weight was 183 lbs. Over the last 4 weeks I have been beating myself up because I have felt that it is going to take me forever to loose the weight that I had gained. So, lastnight I went out and bought a scale, something I never wanted to do. I don't like having scales in the house because it makes me obsessed with my weight. But I thought, hey, I need motivation and maybe realizing that I have lost some weight will help me loose more. Well, I weighed myself this morning, and I weighed 189 lbs! I was totally blown over! How could I have lost 42 lbs in the last 4 weeks? And it doesn't even look like I have lost that much. I still have more weight to loose, but it was definatly a shock to see that I am so close to my starting weight. Now, if only I could get those stretch marks to disappear!

4 Weeks Old

Today Liam is 4 weeks old. It is hard to believe that almost a month has gone by. Liam looks different to me everyday, and he is growing so much. Yesturday he held his head up all by himself for a whole minute while I was holding him, and he is constantly pushing up with his legs. He is definatly a strong, and seeming to be independent boy. He gave me a little surprise today as well. Today, Deron had to go back to work, so it was just Liam and me all day. Well Liam decided to give me a BIG and MESSY diaper to change before Daddy was able to come home and help me. And let me tell you, this was probably the worst diaper I have ever had to change. I had him strapped down on his changing table while I got his bath together, and when I came back later to clean up, I noticed that there seemed to be water all over the changing table and on his laundry basket. Well, it wasn't water... while he was waiting for his bath, he went to the bathroom :) Yeah! Another mess! I never really realized how hard it can be to give a bath to a baby when you are by yourself. Well, everyday is a learning experience these days. All in all, we had a pretty good and relaxed day.

Here is a picture of the 4 weeks old Liam!


For Valentines Day, we spent it together as a family. We were going to go to Victoria Gardens and walk around then go to the Spaghetti Factory, but it was too cold and windy. So, we just went to the Spaghetti Factory. It was nice to go out together. Liam slept the whole time, and we enjoyed a great meal! Deron got Liam a little Valentines Day present too. He got him his first Light Saber. Obviously Liam is way too little to use it... but Deron was super excited to finally be able to buy one for his son. He took some picutres of Liam with his new toy, and they were quite cute. In one picture Liam is smiling, the next it looks like his is kissing his toy, then the next one looks like Liam thinks his toy is a bottle.

Mommy & Liam

Yesturday, Liam & I had our first day out together. I was a bit nervous since this would be my first time officially alone with him. We went to Lowe's to visit all my co-workers, then we went to Chili's and had lunch with some friends from work, then we went to Target to go Valentines day shopping for Daddy, and then to the Sprint store. I was really happy with how Liam was. He slept almost the entire time except for when he wanted to eat when we were at Chili's. All in all, it was a great day. I was exhauseted by the time we got home. But because Liam slept almost the entire day, it took us a while to get him to go to sleep at night, and he didn't sleep for more than 2- 2 1/2 hours at a time. Tonight Liam & I are going out to dinner with my friend Megan at Fridays. I am hoping he will be well behaved this time too. He does pretty well in restaurants so far, hopefully he will keep the trend.

Here are some pictures from the past few days. Grandma & Grandpa McCandless came and visited on Saturday, and we went up to Grandma & Grandpa Corydon's on Monday.

Pictures

I am trying to figure out how to really use my camera. I want to be able to take really cute pictures of the baby, but was struggling for a while. But I think I have figured out some new features on my camera. Here are some pictures that we have taken over the last couple of days.

A Visit From Your Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman!

Today was a fun and relaxing day for us. We got out of the house again and spent way too much at Target. Just when you think you are completly prepared with baby stuff, you find something else that you needed... and it doesn't come cheap. When we got home, Deron got all dressed up in his Spiderman costume, and we took some pictures with Liam. They turned out pretty good. I know... Deron has a Spiderman costume? He bought it for the boy's birthdays, and a little bit for the kid in him too :) The costume is really nice. It looks very authentic. And I am sure the kids will enjoy it for years to come! Everything we do is for the kids afterall. I also was able to sneak in a few pictures while Liam napped. It is sometimes difficult to take pictures while he is awake since he likes to make faces at the camera.

Cousins!

Today we went over to Grandpa & Grandma McCandless' house. Aidan did very well with his new cousin. The moment we walked in the door he was following the baby. He came up to his car seat and said "Baby, baby!" He watched him while he slept in his bouncer chair and he played with the toys on the bouncer while Liam slept. After Liam woke up and had some food, we sat Aidan down on the couch and put the Boppy pillow around him so he could hold Liam. He did so well. He was completly taken by every little thing. He pointed out Liams eyes, nose, mouth, hair, hands, feet, forehead, chin & cheeks.In fact, when we tried to get Aidan to go eat lunch, all he wanted to do was hold the baby. Later on we let him hold him again. This time he went straight for the pillow and tried to put it around himself. He was still so excited about the baby. All in all, they did very well together. Liam really can't do much more than sleep, eat & poop right now, but Aidan just likes being around him. It is really neat to seem them together and think about how they are going to be little partners in crime soon.

The first picture is from today when Aidan was holding Liam. The rest are from Liam's bath yesturday. Keep in mind that I do not pose these pictures. Liam does it all on his own!

Table for 3 please

Yesturday Deron & I decided that we haven't gone to our favorite restaurant, Chevy's, in quite a while, and that we really wanted to get out of the house. So, we packed up the kiddo and went to lunch. It was VERY nice to get out of the house, and we got to be a "real" family for the first time. Liam slept the entire time, except for the occasional opening of one eye to see what was going on. There was even some talk of coming back to Ontario Mills later this week to walk around. It was nice to get out of the stuffy house and get some exercise!

We are also trying to get Liam used to his "big boy" bed. He has been sleeping in our room in his pack in play since we came home, but Deron has to go back to work next week, so we thought it would be a good idea to get him used to his crib in his room. Naptimes have been difficult lately because he seems to only want to sleep wherever Mommy & Daddy are. But he slept in his crib the entire night, and is in fact still sleeping there right now! It was a very good transition for him, and I told him I was very proud of him this morning when he woke up at 6am. I think he smiled at me, but then again, it could have been gas :)

Here are some recent picturs.

Family Time

Today Liam got to meet his Great Grandma & Grandpa! It was also our first "real" day out of the house other than the occasional doctor's appointment. It was nice to get out of the house and to see family. Liam did pretty well, and was enjoyed by every family member. When I was little, I pooped all over my Grandma when she was wearing her church dress. Well, Liam spit up all over Great Grandma while she was holding him. Like mother, like son! Here are some pictures of our visit today.