Liam ~ 5 months old

Our sweet bug is 5 months old! I got his picture taken within a week of the 28th, too! #secondchildproblems

What a sweet baby our Liam is becoming. This photo is a great picture of a day in the life of him. Happy-go-lucky. That tongue is always hanging out. 

Let's see. 

Eating: he is eating all breast milk still. Very proud of that. We have attempted some oatmeal with him.. and he acts all interested.. but then ends up spitting it all out. Then he's all hawk-eyes while we're eating dinner. Just not ready, I guess. 

Sleeping: he wakes several times a night still. He goes to sleep in either his crib or his swing. Then after about 3-4 hours he'll wake, wanting to eat. Then he sleeps in our bed the rest of the night. All perhaps very bad practices, if we ever want to get him to sleep all night by himself. But I can't stand the thought of him sleeping all alone. Isn't that crazy?? Most parents race to that finish line, of a full night's uninterrupted sleep. But I just have these very sinking feelings that he is my last baby, and I can't let him grow up too fast. :( He'll sleep all night eventually, why can't I let him snuggle with me in the mean time?? :) I'm sure this is against all AAP recommendations, but right up the attachment parent's alley. 

Developing: he's still in the babbling phase. "mmmmummmummm" (I think he means "mama") ;), "aaaaaaaa", "oooooooo". So sweet. He laughs, laughs, laughs when you tickle him and play with him. He loves his doorway jumper, like.. LOVES it. He loves his exersaucer, not his jumperoo, yet though. He still likes to lay under his play gym/mat thing, and reach for the toys. He can grab toys that he wants, and pass them from hand to hand, and of course mouth! Everything in the mouth! He has recently (like two days ago) started sitting up on his own! It's a very unsteady, hunched over position.. but it counts! He reaches his feet from sitting, or from laying and loves holding on to those. He's still not rolling, though. He will sometimes roll from back to side. But no mas. 

Brace yourselves... picture overload!

Liam and Daddy

Liam and Granna (and Sophie!)

Exersaucer, I told you!

Still hates the tummy time.

His cockatoo hair!

Me and the boy, in a rare photo together :)

got the ol' 50mm out :)

Those thighs.. that bum.. this boy <3 p="">

Boy loves being outside. :) Stares and stares at the trees.

Little brother got a piece of the pie.. his big brother's train set.

It's been a good month. Next Liam update.. he'll be half a year old! :)

A little catch up!

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE! We are residents of Dallas now! This just about doubles the space we've been squeezed in to and gives us outdoor space! (YAY!) We're both close to our jobs now and we are close to our church, Watermark.

We had our friends over for a fun play date in the new house! We made home made pizzas and decorated cookies, and most important, had fun! Cohen, McKensley and Ellie!

Little man had his first taste of oatmeal last night! He kinda loved it! 

He made a mess, but he went after that spoon with gusto!

Liam and Daddy: 2 of my 3 favorite boys!

More please??

Sweet brothers. :) Cohen grabbed his hand and held on tight. 

It's been a crazy month. I'm already feeling sorry for my 2014 Blurb book, because I have neglected my camera in January, February and March so far, thanks to packing, moving, and unpacking! :-/ Need to remedy this! 

Liam ~ 4 months old

Just a quick update on my little bug! He's so great now. :) Colic is gone, but I swear the day after the colic stopped.. he started teething! He drools almost constantly! (see his shirt?!?) The good news is, today is Day 1 with his hazel wood and amber teething necklace. Hoping to see relief soon with it! 

(this pic is a little late!)

I wish I had more time to blog right now, but we just moved (yay!) into our new house and it is positively crazy here! 

At his appointment he weighed 15 pounds 12 oz. I'm pretty sure. I'll have to verify that on his info sheet.. ;) it's in this mess, somewhere. Anyways, he's SOLID! 

His hair is crazy as ever. It won't lay down. I try after bath time, but it just starts lifting on it's own and looks even more crazy. 

He still just gets breast milk, unless we run out of pumped milk when I'm at work. Our pedi said he could have oatmeal now.. he seems verrrrry interested in eating, watches us like a hawk when we eat.

He laughs all the time, talks to us a lot. He likes his exersaucer and his play mat right now. We just discovered he likes being outside, looking at trees. :) He always smiles big at his big brother Cohen. 

We sure are blessed with these sweet boys. Love them both to the moon and back! More later, I promise!

Snow day!

There have been quite a few days this winter where snow has been predicted.. But we've only gotten ice (Icemageddon, anyone? Ice-apocalypse?), sleet, frigid temps and..freezing fog?? Yea, we've had all that. So, my hopes were low when I heard we could get snow today. I wanted Cohen to get to play in snow this year..

I woke up at 8 to SNOW! Falling steadily to the ground! Cohen loved watching it out the window. Then he said, "Mom! Maybe we can get a jacket, and pants, and shoes, and gloves and go outside and touch the ice! and eat it!" No idea where the "eat it" came from.. And he kept calling it ice, even after I told him, "no.. finally it's snow!"

My little snow babies! This was Liam's first experience with snow, he did not love it. :)

This guy, though, he loved it.

He ended up crying because the cold was stinging his hands. Hey. We never get snow, we don't really buy toddler gloves. :-/

That face! My love. :)

Very fun. The snow's gone now, but I'm so glad he got to play in it.. twice. :) And it's still 20 degrees outside! Cooold!

Power wheels!

For Cohen's 3rd birthday, his Granna and Pop got him a Power Wheels Monster Truck. He was ecstatic, from the moment he laid eyes on it!!

I felt like he was too little, but... I guess he's not. It just seems like a 3 year old is too young. Like he shouldn't even have the coordination to push a foot pedal AND turn the steering wheel..  He even figured out how to go in reverse when he needed to.

My friend Amber, and her son Eli, came over to play one day while we were in Paris. He brought his Power Wheels 4-Wheeler, and they went to town! :)

He was a natural!

Eli was quite the daredevil!

Riding in the two-seater!

Something caught his eye!

And Eli followed suit!

Then we switched cars, and Eli drove Cohen's.

Cohen got a turn on the 4-wheeler.

There were crashes. :)

Every great play date ends with cookies!

Hanging out with Great-Grandmother Ivy!

One happy boy!

Love when Cohen gets to play with his little buddies! Can't wait to do it again!

Liam ~ 3 months old

Look at that angel baby! 3 months old already. He's turning in to a real sweetie pie. :)

I didn't weigh him at 3 months.. I know.. slacking. But, I bet he was 14 pounds. He has his 4 month visit in a couple weeks, we'll see then. He has great head control. He hates tummy time still..  He's made no efforts to rolling tummy to back. He doesn't really reach for any toys yet, but I'll put something in his hand and he'll assume a death-grip on it. He will grab my fingers and bring them to his mouth. He still eats 98% breastmilk. :) So proud. It was so hard with Cohen, so I'm just thrilled it's working a little easier this time. I did go back to work, so I have been pumping, for him to have my milk from the bottle when he's at home without me. Because also, this kid is not a fan of formula. I recently bought Similac for Supplementation, and he just won't hardly drink it at all. He was at least taking the occasional bottle of Enfamil.. so I may end up going back to that, for when (if) he runs out of pumped milk in a day.  I digress. He mostly gets breastmilk. 

His Colic. Is subsiding. :) I am one happy, relieved, thankful mama! He does not cry for hours on end in the evenings anymore. It really started getting better right around the 3 month mark, just like the books and articles said it would. Thank God. We needed the break. He needed the break. I am here to say, no products worked for him. Only sweet time helped him, as much as I wanted to believe gripe waters and drops and gas meds would help him. I think as mamas, we just have to know that we have exhausted every avenue.

Sleep... He still wakes once or twice at night to eat. Though, there have been 3 or 4 nights that he has slept between 6-8 hours in a row. Like last night, 8 hours in his swing! (He doesn't have his own room right now, therefore no crib set up yet...) Naps are pretty sporadic when I'm home.. Simply because he nurses when he wants, plays a little, fusses, dozes off, rinse, repeat. When someone is keeping the boys, he will wake, have bottle, play for a bit, and nap for an hour or two. I rarely get hour+ naps. 

He smiles and laughs everyday. :) He is ticklish on his little tummy rolls. He likes to be talked to, and I started singing him Soft Kitty (from Big Bang) and he just laughs! So cute. We introduced him to his Lovey, and he loves to bring it to his mouth and chew and slobber all over it. He likes sitting in the Bumbo chair for a while (but then he'll try to buck out of it!). We got out Cohen's old door jumper, and this baby loves it! He will just bounce and bounce! He likes to lay under his play gym...doesn't really reach for the animals yet, but likes looking. And he likes exersaucers, but we don't have one. He's played in a few of his friends'.

 outtakes:

And you know big brother has to join in... :)

Fun at Granna's house

Bathtime!

Animals and play gym.

Mama found a carry that he liked in the K'tan!

And door jumper fun!! Check out that grin!!

We're just loving this precious baby, with his smiles and giggles. Can't wait to watch him grow!!

How much is too much?

Do you ever find yourself struggling to take it all in? Striving to remember it all? Cherish every moment? I do. Everyday. I want to be this awesome record keeper, who remembers every single thing that happens to her family. When someone asks me, when did {one of your children} start teething? Or start crawling? What did you and Hector do on your {third} anniversary? I want to be able to answer those questions.

Or how about, those cute things your kids say? What was going through their minds when they were 3 years old? These are the things, guys! I don't want to get out of this sweet, child-like phase of life, and not remember all the golden moments.

But the truth is, I can't. I have a terrible memory. Like, the worst. I think this speaks poorly for my future memory-keeping skills.. I know what runs in my family.. This is why I have to keep a very detailed planner on my person at all times. So I can stare at it for hours a week, hoping to grasp what's going on in my life. If our pediatrician didn't call 2 days before appointments, my children would probably never go. Is this normal?? I don't know. But I know how I'm combatting it.

And this is what I mean by, How much is too much?

Every day, I try to keep up with all this:

This is my favorite. I write five little lines a day. It can be what we did that day, something cute Cohen said or Liam did, the way I felt a certain day, rough times we faced, or something special that happened to us. Whatever it is, I write it down. And for every day, it gives you lines for 5 years worth of recordings. I've just started my second year, and it is so sweet to go back and read last years writing. Things I had already forgotten, but that come back as soon as I read them. 

From Barnes and Noble

This is a new one I just started this January. Mostly because Cohen wasn't old enough before. Like the above journal, it gives space to write for three years. Differently, though, this one gives a question for each day for you to ask your child. To engage them in conversation. To show them that you care what they think, that you're listening when they ramble. It's a sweet time for Cohen, I'm finding. When he sees me get it out, he smiles. He knows I'm about to ask him a personal question, that only he can answer. It has nothing to do with baby brother, unless he answers that way. It's questions like, "What are you excited about?" or "Describe a time when you were mad." or "What do you see out your window?" And he's still a tad bit young for it. But I just help him on questions he doesn't quite understand, or I re-word it into something easier. I'm so excited to see how his answers change as he gets older.

From Anthropologie

And Liam's baby book. I don't necessarily get this one out every day, but I should. That's how often this baby boy is changing. :) I try very hard to keep it updated. I love to look at Cohen's, so I know I will cherish these records. And call me crazy, but I think my boys will want to look at these when they are old enough. :)

From Hallmark

And this doesn't even cover daily devotionals!! I use (and LOVE, and recommend) Jesus Calling by Sarah Young. I've never come across a more relevant devotional. Each day, it's as if the devo was written just for you. 

And our friend Leslie gave Cohen the Jesus Storybook Bible for Christmas. He really likes it. He asks to read it before bed. I've even caught him referencing it, since starting it. I drew him a rainbow the other day and he said, "Mom! Like God showed us!" I said, "Yes! It was a symbol of his promise that he would rescue us!" And he mentioned something the other day, about a tower. I said, "You mean like the tower of Babel?" He said, "Yea!!" :) Brings me joy to see him remembering Bible stories. 

So.. It may be too much, but it's exactly what I need to help me through the fleeting, yet rough months and years. 

AND, like I lightly mentioned.. I keep an Erin Condren life planner with me at all times. And I print our family pictures each year in a Blurb photo book. Keeps your pictures from being trapped on your hard drive and brings them out for all to see and enjoy--their original purpose, anyways!

I'll appreciate this paper trail one day. :)