Liam 6 Months

6 months... where did the past half year go? Time has flown so quickly since Liam was born. I can't believe he's already 6 months old. He is such a joy. I have random pictures of him inserted throughout the post. This past month with him has been so much fun!

His shirt says, "Snuggle this Muggle"

Gma did an Easter photo shoot and I think he loved the colored eggs

Liam sleeps so good at night. I am counting my blessings, crossing my fingers, and saying all the prayers that this continues. He will normally go to bed between 8:00pm- 9:00pm, and wake up around 5:00am. I don't mind the 5:00 am wake up, because that allows me to spend some time with my sweetie before I head to work.

Hanging with Grammy and Uncle J and his cousin's band concert

This cutie and I got out the stroller for a walk on Good Friday

His naps are a different story. He is NOSEY and always wants to see what everyone else is doing. So because of that, he does not always nap well for his baby sitters. When he's at home with Lee and I (we must be boring!), we can usually get him to take a morning and afternoon nap, and sometimes he'll take a little snooze during the evening, but not always. One thing we do struggle with is getting him to sleep. It's very rare that he will let us rock him to sleep. If he's going to fall asleep, its usually in the car or after we've fed him. If he's acting super fussy because he's tired, we'll sometimes even give him a 1 or 2 oz bottle because we know that will get him to fall asleep.

My little sweetie just before I dropped him off at his baby sitter's

I happened to be home with him yesterday, and I could tell he was tired because he was getting fussy and rubbing his eyes, but he just wouldn't fall asleep. I stuck him in the car seat and drove to Dunkin' Donuts, and he was asleep before I got to the coffee shop. It was a win/win because I got a caramel coconut iced coffee (YUM!), and Liam fell asleep! He ended up napping for about 2 hours.

Over the weekend, we started giving Liam baby food (green beans), and hes indifferent about it so far, but he does love his high chair! He eats about 6 times a day, usually a 5 oz bottle. Every now and then he'll eat an extra ounce or two to sleep, or even in addition to his bottle.

He was excited about his first time in the high chair.

He is rolling all over the place, and loves tummy time. He tries really hard to crawl, and gets so mad that he can't. He's not quite sitting up on his own yet, but he's pretty close, so I won't be surprised if he does that in the next month or 2. He is drooling/slobbering a ton, and he puts everything in his mouth. He loves watching tv, being sang to, and anything that lights up.

Happy boy playing in his jumper

This past month, he got to spend time with all of his grandparents, go to his cousin's dance recital, celebrate St. Patty's Day, attend 2 Easter Egg hunts, and celebrate Easter with both sides of our family. His bff Madden was born, and we are hoping to meet him in person soon. It has been an exciting month for all of us! Liam is such a happy baby! He has brightened our lives so much, and we love that he is the center of our world.

Happy Easter! 

The Easter Bunny found Mr. Liam

Liam: 4 & 5 Months

In the blink of an eye, my sweet little baby boy turned 4, and now 5 months old! How is that possible?

Liam has grown so much in the past 2 months. From 3-4 months Liam started sleeping in 5-6 hour stretches, he's really started babbling more, and he loves watching TV, specifically he loved the Olympics. Its so funny how when certain things are on, the TV will catch his eye! When he goes to his Aunt Mandy's house to be babysat, he REALLY likes their big tv, especially when his cousin Charlie has TV shows on with all kinds of bright colors.

At his 4 month appointment, he weighed 14 lbs 13 oz, and is in the 30th percentile for both height and weight. He's starting to get some peach fuzz hair on the top of his head. At 4 months, he was indifferent about bath time. He doesn't get excited, but he doesn't fuss at us when we bathe him either. He's still sleeping in a bassinet in our room at night, and he eats 5 oz of breast milk every 3 hours except for during the night.

My big boy at 4 months old

We got to celebrate Valentine's Day soon after this pic was taken

By about 4.5 months, he started sleeping through the night! He will usually sleep anywhere from 7-10 hours, which has Lee and I feeling pretty excited!! I'm dreading the sleep regression that I hear comes along with teething. Speaking of teething, he's become a slobbering machine, but we haven't spotted any teeth in his mouth yet.

He loves playing with those piggies

That sweet little smile melts my heart

He loves playing in his jumper, and on his turtle play mat. He has really figured out how to push buttons on his toys to make them play music. His favorite toy currently is his toes... it's so so cute watching him reach for his toes and play with them. He really recognizes faces and he gets excited when his grandma comes over to babysit him. He is starting to look a little snug in his 6 month jammies, so we've recently bought a couple 9 month sleepers to try out.

We are loving every minute with our sweet little miracle, and our families are pretty obsessed too. Here's a few more pics of our happy boy during months 4 & 5.

This cute was all dressed for Valentine's Day and was excited to spend his day playing with Grandma.

This little sweetie loves his jumper! 

My brother always says I have the best "ugly faces" when I'm being sarcastic to him... I see this in Lee's future as well! 

This happy boy loves playing with his Daddy.

Liam 1-3 Months

Hi everyone! It's been a while since I've written a blog post. 3 months or so.... Since my son was born in October, I took a break from blogging and enjoyed every second with our sweet miracle boy.

Now that my maternity leave is over, we are getting on more of a schedule, and I hope to begin blogging more as well. I want to be able and look back at my blog someday as a scrapbook for our family. I am so excited that this 'scrapbook' will now have photos and stories of our precious boy. Liam is just so cute: he has big blue eyes, long eyelashes, and the cutest chubby cheeks I've ever seen. He is such a sweet, mellow little guy. We have been very fortunate with his health, and he is starting to sleep some more at night, which is a huge bonus!

This blog post may not be super exciting for everyone else, its more for my own records, but if you don't want to read it all, skip to the bottom for some pics of our little sweetie. Someday I might want to reference what's been going on these first three months, so here are my notes so far:

Coming home from the hospital
Liam had jaundice as a new baby, so we came home from the hospital with a billi blanket. We had it for about 5 days and then we were able to get rid of it. Lee took two weeks off of work once Liam was born. The first week, Lee and I got up together for every single feeding. Being new parents, neither of us really knew what we were doing. Lee was so super supportive while I was attempting to breast feed, and since Liam and I both struggled with that, after we nursed, Lee would feed Liam while I pumped. This was a huge weight lifted from my shoulders, and I am so thankful Lee braved those sleepless nights with me. The second week Lee was home, we started alternating feedings, and I would pump in between.

Sleep/feedings
Once Lee went back to work, I took over the night feedings except for one. Liam was eating every 2 hours most of the time and I was also pumping, so Lee would take one middle of the night feeding so I could get a stretch of consecutive sleep. Some nights he'd get up  more than once if I was really struggling. Around 10 weeks Liam started having more 3 hour stretches between feeding, sometimes even 4 hours would go between feedings. By about 12 weeks, Liam started only waking once a night, except for a random night here and there when he wakes up more than once. Unfortunately, we have pretty much given up on breastfeeding, but Liam is still getting only breast milk that I am pumping. So I have scaled back to 6 pumps per day, and I am getting up once through the night to pump. I went back to work at 13 weeks, and now that Liam is sleeping better, Lee and I are alternating nights getting up with him.

Breastfeeding
As I mentioned above, Liam and I both struggled with breastfeeding. Liam was born 4 weeks early and was a sleepy baby at first. He would fall asleep nursing before he would get full, so I felt like we were breastfeeding around the clock. Also, he struggled latching, so I ended up taking a few days off while a scab healed, and then we never really got back on track after that. We also took breaks for thrush (2x) and mastitis, so by around 10 weeks I just began exclusively pumping. Liam also had breast milk jaundice around 4 weeks of age, and it lasted about 3 weeks. We didn't have to do anything for it, just watch to make sure his eating habits didn't change, but it was alarming to us at first. If I ever had another child, I will definitely try harder with breastfeeding, but with Liam it was all so new, and I was overwhelmed, and often in pain. I'm thankful that I've been able to pump and still give him breast milk, and I'm extra thankful that Lee has been so supportive. Lee helps wash pump parts, takes care of baby while I pump, etc. He never complains, even when I do, and I just can't say enough how awesome he is. I know not all women have support with breastfeeding/pumping, and I'm thankful Lee has been so helpful.

Development
Around 8 weeks I felt like Liam really started being more fun to play with. The first 8 weeks he was sleepy, cozy, and snuggly, which we adored, but around 8 weeks he started cooing more, and giving us all kinds of baby talk. Around 10 weeks I felt like we really started feeling human again with him sleeping more, and around 12 weeks he started rolling from belly to back! At 14 weeks he is talking up a storm, HATES being burped, loves tummy time, and also loves his new drum and new bouncer that he got for Christmas. At his 8 week appointment, he only cried for a quick second when he got his shots. He was in the 62 percentile for weight, and 10 percentile for height.

Work
I left Liam for the first time at 5 weeks. Took a quick trip to pick up some dinner and come straight home. After that I left him for an hour or two here or there for a haircut, dentist appt, etc. Going back to work was the longest amount of time I'd been away from him. I went back to work at 13 weeks, and that first day (really the first week) was excruciating. I cried when I dropped him off at his Aunt Mandy's, and I sobbed the whole way to work. Thankfully, I was able to pull it together the rest of that week, and ended the week with a snow day from work, which I was so thankful for. I am now back in the groove of going to work, and I miss my little sweetie all day, but I'm thankful his aunt and grandma are taking such good care of him.

Photos
Here are Liam's 1, 2, and 3 month photos, as well as pics from his first Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Eve! His first 3 months were packed with holidays!!

We dressed Liam up as a doctor for Halloween and visited our fertility doctor's office. They ladies there LOVED his outfit! 

and Halloween night, he was a sweet little pumpkin.

1 month old

That first month FLEW by! 

We loved having Liam here for Thanksgiving this year. 

Two months old, and ready for Santa to visit! 

2 months down, forever to go. 

Our fancy little man wore a tuxedo shirt for his first New Year's Eve! We celebrated at his Aunt Mandy and Uncle Patrick's house. 

2017 was good to us, and we are excited for 2018!

3 months old

I love those 3 month old chubby cheeks. So so sweet. 

Birth Announcement

Friends, Lee and I are so very thankful and excited to share with you our pride and joy, our biggest accomplishment, and our greatest blessing:

William "Liam" Andrew, born on October 6, 2017. 

Isn't he the most precious thing you've ever seen? We are head over heels in love with this little boy, and we are in awe of God's greatness. Lee and I are incredibly thankful to be Liam's parents. Our family is blessed beyond belief, and we owe God every bit of glory. 

Baby and momma are both doing great, and we cannot wait to share more pics and details about Liam once we are settled at home. 

Thank you for everyone who has prayed for us leading up to this moment, and during this wonderfully exciting time.