Liam's First Christmas!

This year was Liam's first Christmas!! We decorated and got a tree in our Tri Cities, WA apartment even though we were going to Portland for Christmas Day. Liam loved looking at all the christmas lights on the tree. His changing table is below a window and Liam would look out through the blinds and watch the Christmas Lights that his daddy put up outside. I want to thank everyone sooo much on making Liam's first christmas the best ever!

This is called "Happy Baby Face." Liam is starting to really copy our facial expressions, and we love it when he smiles.

We got Liam a Santa outfit (seen above) and we attempted a Baby Santa photo shoot, which only lasted 2 minutes until "crank face" showed up.

This is in Portland, Oregon at Midnight Mass on Christmas. Liam's cousin Bella loves to hold him.

This is on Christmas Eve at my mom's house. Aunt Chrissi is "watching" Liam while everyone eats.

While Aunt Tanya was holding Liam, Liam had an accident and peed all the way down his auntie's pregnant belly at her baby shower. I guess that was Liam's way of welcoming his new cousin Sam into the world.

And here is his new Cousin Sam at 2 days old! Liam is on the left and Sam is on the right. They are gonna be best friends growing up. Sam's older brother Will was passing out gifts and when he found one labeled Laim he couldn't figure out which baby was Liam. He walked up to Matt (who had Liam) and sayed, "what baby is that?"

Here is Liam's Cousin Will who is Sam's older brother. Tanya and I had to run an errand and Will didn't want to let go of Liam. Mary (Matt's mom) watch them while we went out, then we when got back, Will was still holding Liam, and Liam was still sleeping. . .I see a future babysitter.

Here is Matt, Bella, and Liam. Bella likes to take the binkie out of Liam's mouth.

Auntie Chrissi holding Liam at Tanya's baby shower. She thinks that Sam is sooo small compared to Liam. Liam is at 12.5lbs (gaining about 3lbs) and 23inches long (growing 3inches) since birth.

Here is mommy holding her happy baby. I can't wait until he can laugh.

Sleepy baby. He looks so small on a regular bed.

Below is a video of just last night. Liam is holding his head up pretty good and making noises, while his cousin Bella wants to hang out with him. I believe she is saying "Come on I know you" Liam is 7 weeks and Bella is 1 year.

1 Month!

Liam is now over 1 month old!

Above is an example of what we call his "crank face." There are times we get a little stressed out but usually we can tell what he wants. We love our little crank face. Tonight Matt repeated one of Liam's small cry coo to Liam and Liam stopped crying and pushed his eyebrows down and glared at Matt. I bet Liam didn't like being mocked. ;)
Some days I can set Liam down and grab some food or use the bathroom. Usually though if he is awake he has to be held by someone, which makes it hard to get stuff done. Working on it though, I try to put him in his swing, bouncy chair, and crib a few times a day to get him used to it.

Liam and I spent last week in Portland to spend more time with family while Matt went to Tri Cities to work. We had a blast at Nana's place (Matt's mom) and then a couple days at grandma & grandpa's house (my mom and dave). Car rides have so far been easy with Liam. He usually just sleeps the entire drive.

Liam loves to sleep on his stomach on Matts or me. I still am sleeping in the living room at night while Matt sleeps in bedroom. We tried to get Liam to sleep in the bassinet in our room but he hates it and wakes up many times in night. Then Matt doesn't get enough sleep for work and we all turn into "crank faces." So until Liam can sleep a 5hours straight we will keep with the living room routine. Liam also snores really really loud! He's soo cuddly though, I don't mind.

Liam is starting to make new faces. Its really exciting. I can shake a rattle toy in his face and he will smile really big repeatedly. He also is lifting his head and keeping it up while he is over our shoulder. Yesterday while I tried to get him to play in his bouncy chair I heard him say "goo goo." I melted right there. It was sooooo cute.

What's up with his right ear?? It looks like an elf ear! Neither Matt or I have an ear like this. I guess its an Irish ear from Matt's side.

Yesterday Matt was holding Liam, who was very alert, and Matt's hand started to hurt so he held it up and closed it slowly. Matt noticed that Liam was looking directly at Matt's hand and Matt noticed Liam's hand opening and closing too! Matt continued this for 2 minutes, while Liam starred and copied Matt's open and close hand. Matt tried this today and Liam did it again! What a smart baby.

We will be back in Portland for the week between Christmas and New Years.
Hope everyone is doing fabulous and gearing up for Christmas!!

TMI Post

This TMI (Too Much Information) Post contains an update on Liam and I, the C-Section video, and a diaper change video.

Liam is doing great, I freaked out a little yesterday when he refused a bottle for over 10hours. We called his doctor and he suggested we get him checked out at hospital. At hospital they ran some test, which all came out normal. The doctor noticed his skin and eyes are still yellowish but told me that since the test are normal, that my breast milk must contain a higher amount of a hormone that would make his skin look yellowish. He said to continue trying to feed him breast milk and come back the next day if he didn't eat. Well on the drive home I stuck a bottle in Liam's mouth and told him it would make mommy very happy if he drank it...guess what...he drank the entire bottle (2.5oz) before we got home! Figures. Today he has been great with eating, so I guess he just wasn't hungry or didn't feel good yesterday....weird.

I am getting better, now being able to pick Liam up out of the swing, being able to sit down while holding him and better at getting out of bed. Last Monday I woke up and notice a fair amount of blood on my sheets and saw it was coming from my C-Section cut. Thankfully Matt stayed home from work that day and we went to see my doctor. The blood was kind of spurting out and was black. My doctor said it was a big hematoma above my cut and it was leaking out of my cut. They cleaned the blood up, re-taped the area, and taped gauze on it. They informed me to change it twice a day or every time it goes through gauze. At the moment I change it 2-3 times a day. I have a follow up doc appt tommorow. Mary, Matt's mom, stayed with us last week so it was nice having a nurse around to observe the bleeding.

Below are two C-Section Videos. One shows Liam being pulled out of my tummy (all I felt was a weird hard pressure) and other is a short video of Liam being cleaned.

Next is a diaper change. Sometimes he cries, sometimes he doesn't. He really hates being cold, so when his diaper is off or clothes he freaks out. So we got him a wipe warmer, which actually helps ALOT! He doesn't scream when a warm wipe touches his toosh.

We are excited to be coming to Portland for Thanksgiving!! We are having a "Meet Liam" day on Saturday at 5pm at my mom's house. Let me know if you want to stop by and I can give you more details.

And yes I am posting this around 1:30am...Liam just fell asleep after a bottle & Matt has been asleep for awhile (he might be getting sick, so he needs sleep). I'm going to attempt to put Liam in his bassinet, next to our bed, for a first night time sleep. Fingers Crossed!

Liam's First Week of Life

This entire week Nov.7-Nov.14 has been one of the best weeks ever. Our first baby, Liam has been such a joy and blessing to be around. I've discovered I love the smell of him, every time I hold him I can't not give him a kiss on his head and smell his baby smell.

Grandma Cheryl spent most of the week with us, helping to take care of Liam and I. She was so amazing doing the dishes, laundry, cooking, cleaning, and diaper changing! (Liam, not me). "He's a good baby," she described Liam after one of the last nights she stayed where Liam basically slept straight through the night.

When she left, Liam was looking around wondering where his grandma went. I told him in a few weeks he will see her again for Thanksgiving. Thanks mom for helping out!

Liam also got his first bath by myself and grandma. Lets just say it could have gone better. . .We put the baby bath on the bathroom counter and he was screaming his head off and peed that shot up all over the mirror, my bottles of hair products, and the clock radio....we couldn't not laugh but also trying to end bath time quickly.

At night time Liam loves to sleep on his side, which freaks me out a little, I'm nervous he might roll onto his face...but we make sure to wrap him up tight.
He becomes calm (usually) when me or matt sing or hum to him. We think we understand what a "wet diaper/poop diaper" face and cry is, and also a "bubbles" face and cry. Hungry face is easy, because he just opens and closes his mouth and sucks on his fist or arm.

He was eating formula bottles at the beginning of the week, but my milk came in so now he eats 90% breast milk bottles and 10% breast feeds. He is a hungry baby, drinking between 1.5oz-3oz per feeding. He falls immediately asleep after a feeding.

Lem also likes to "play" with his binkie and bottle. He will open his mouth likes he wants it and then once the binkie or bottle touches his lips he shakes his head back and forth really fast like he is saying "no, I don't want it" but then he stops and opens his mouth again! Silly baby.

He is also very strong for a baby. We are surprised how much he can lift his head by himself when he is being burped over a shoulder. Also his hand and arm grips are impressive.

We are also soooo grateful for all the baby presents we recieved from family and friends. From the very safe car seat (thanks grandpa & grandma) to the every day very needed necessity diapers & wipes (thanks to all guest at baby shower).

For the people who do not know of my previous baby experience, I have very little to zero. So that means I had to learn how to change a diaper, yes before Liam I have never changed a baby diaper. So with my mom and Matts help I have learned (not mastered) a diaper change. So far when I've changed his diaper I have lucked out on just the wet diapers...matt gets the dirty ones ;)

Matt has been such an amazing daddy. Through out the day I will text Matt pictures of Liam and when he gets home from work he goes straight to Liam. You can see the change in Matt's face when he locks eyes with his son, its pure love.

Here are 2 videos of Liam just hanging out with us. The first video is 1 minute long with Liam just hanging out in the swing and the second video is 3 minutes long with Matt holding Liam.

Enjoy!!

P.S. I do have video of the actually C-Section (Matt filmed it)...It doesn't really show alot of yucky bloody stuff, and it shows Liam coming outa my belly and Liam getting cleaned up. If you want to see it, let me know (email/cell) and I can email you it.

Baby Liam is here!!

Baby Liam was born at 4:17pm on Saturday November 7th by C-Section. He weighed 9lbs 4.6oz and 20 inches long.

I was induced in hospital on Friday evening and dialated great through out the night and into the morning. Around 1:30pm on Saturday the nurse came in and said it was time to push! I had Matt, my MOM, Mary (Matt's Mom), Tanya (Corkum), and Tanya (Jones) in the room with me helping me with each push. After 2 hours of pushing the doctor came in and said I can continue pushing if I wanted to but I should of deliveried this baby a few hours ago and that babies heart rate with in stress. After telling me the my birth canal was the size of a coffee can (rather then a bowl like most canals are) I should get a c-section.

I'm glad I did, because Liam turned out to be a big baby weighing over 9lbs! He would have never fit!

C-Section went great, I barely remember it, I slept through most of it. I do remember them pulling Liam out and Matt telling me I was doing a great job, then I passed out.

We are now at home, I'm recovering from c-section with help of matt and my mom this week.

Here are a few pictures of our new baby Liam. He loves to sleep, eat, and snuggle. He hates getting his diaper change.

40 Week Appt + Maternity Pics

I hit 40 weeks pregnant on Monday and had my doctor appt Tuesday. Well I really thought our baby would be here already, in my head I just assumed I wouldn't make it to the due date, let alone pass the due date! Matt and I talk to Liam all day Monday insisting it is his predicted birthday and he should come out and open presents! He had other plans...

My doctor appt went okay. I am still 1cm dialated (arg!) and still have not felt one single real labor contraction. We had an induction date scheduled for this Sunday but we asked if they could get us in this Friday so it would be easier for family & friends to visit for the weekend. They said yes! and now I'm just waiting for the birthing center to call me back on a specific time.

My doctor also told me they had a shipment of the H1N1 vaccine shot (the dead cell kind with no mercury) and that I should take advantage and get mine today. So I did. It didn't hurt & I had no side effects.

So now we are just waiting for the induction date this weekend, (unless Liam has other plans for the week). He is super active still in my belly, and his heart rate was 140 at appt (which is great). I am getting more awful lower back ache - I think its a pinched nerve though, it hurts when I step on my right foot when I'm walking.

Here are the rest of the maternity pics we had done, I love them. I am really impressed with the photographer (college student), she was really fun to work with (and cheap!). I might see if she feels comfortable doing Liam's newborn pics...

Enjoy!

39 Week Appt

Okay last night I went to hospital because my I felt like I was having a Braxton Hicks contraction for an hour straight! In the hospital elevator I asked Matt to feel my stomach and it was still tight, then when I got in a room the nurse check me and of course my stomach wasn't tight anymore. grrrrrr. My doctor was actually their on call so he came in to do a routine checkup and I am only still at 1cm dialated. And the baby turned over, meaning his face is looking up, which can cause terrible back labor, so I'm hoping he flips back around before real labor begins.

My doctor set an induction date for Nov. 8th if needed, and today at my 39 week regular appt, I was still the same stats, so they scheduled a 40 week appt for next Tuesday.

I feel like Liam is close but still sooooo far away from him arriving. It must be because everything is set up for him here and I'm just bored.

("bored, bored, bored" as my mom would say)

Matt and I got Maternity Pics taken at 36 weeks by a local college student, she is now just finishing them, here are some I got in an email, the rest are being mailed on a CD.

Here is more proof that everything is ready for baby to come out! I will email these to Liam, I wonder what kind of internet speed he gets in there?

His bath time area is ready! Got all his hooded towels to hanging up that will keep him nice and warm. And a bath caddy holding all the fun bath toys he got at the baby shower.

Also the swing has new batteries in it, and Pooh Bear and Sea Horse are awaiting their new owner, Liam to cuddle them in it!

Come out baby!