Smiles

Liam is getting better and better about sharing smiles. He seems to smile more frequently and easily all of the time and it lights up his sweet little face. I wont complain if he wants to smile all the time

With Matt back to traveling I have had to rely on the kids to help me more than before. They don't seem to be old enough to get him to sleep but if I can get him settled and to sleep they will hold him so I can get a quick shower/do dishes/or tuck the other kids in bed. It is usually short lived but I'll take what I can get. Gracie is completely freaked out if he fusses at all. Hallie seems to handle him the best. She will bounce him and try to get him called down before panicking. Im sure grateful for their willingness to help

While preparing for family pictures I decided to try Liam's blessing outfit on him as a possible to wear but it is still plenty big. I think I'm going to have to take it in before his blessing day but Im going to wait until we get closer before making that decision. Its going to be super cute.

More Sunday cuddles..they're definitely a favorite and something I really want to remember

Sleeping? Bumbo And Getting Big

We are trying everything we can think of to get this kids sleeping on his own during the day. This is the 2nd swing we have tried and occasionally it works. On this particular day he slept for an hour in it...a new record. I cleaned like a crazy person to get the cupboards in the kitchen organized. It felt so good to be productive and him to still get some sleep

This little guy has awesome neck control so I got out the bumbo so he could sit and watch Emy play. It didn't last long this first time around but it was a good first time

He did seem to like it and gave me some great smiles. There is something so gratifying about when a baby smiles. I feel like I'm doing something right and can finally tell if they are happy with it.

I have a love/hate relationship with how big he is getting. I love him and can't imagine our lives without him. Perfect little caboose for us

Meeting Nate

My dad and Nate came up for a ski weekend and of coarse to meet Liam. It was fun getting to see him and catch up on life. I wish he could find a nice girl to settle down. He seems to have made great strides since moving out of my parents house. He's working towards becoming a physical therapist. Going to school full time and working. From looking at baby pictures Liam slightly resembles Nate and seems to have his hair line.

Life with 4 Kids

We are slowly trying to get adjusted. I have really struggled getting settled with the 4 kids. The mom guilt is like nothing I have ever experienced with the girls. I just feel spread so thin and like I can never give everyone the attention they need that includes me. I have spent many times crying and feeling so inadequate. I love these little humans and their daddy so much and want to give them my best. At this point all I can do is keep trying. Matt is wonderful and so helpful when he is home. Liam still doesn't sleep during the day unless he is held. He loves to be bundled, have a binki, and his bum patted. None of the girls really loved their bum patted but Liam loves it. He settles right down and falls asleep with his bum patted and some bouncing. I wish he would sleep when we lay him down I think that adds alot to the stress since I feel like I can never get anything done unless Matt's home to trade me out. I don't want to seem ungrateful because I love being a mom but Im struggling to find the new normal right now but I'm sure we will get it all worked out. Now that Liam is starting to smile and become more interactive the girls definitely seem more interested in him. Im trying to spend some one on one time with the girls when I can. Emy & Grace both really like getting to bake things so we have been trying some new cookie recipes. 

Light At The End Of The Tunnel

We have gotten a few small glimpses that its possible for Liam to sleep on his own. He seems to occasionally think the swing is a good thing but still prefers to be held. Matt has always loved this stage where he will sleep on your shoulder and just melt in to cuddle. This is a regular Sunday thing. 

Since we put the swaddle sack in his car seat the car rides have become more tolerable. I love to look in the rear view mirror and see him peacefully sleeping

I try to be consistent with trying to lay him down but at least once a day I like to just cuddle him and enjoy the moments. Emy doesn't make it easy she likes all the attention and isn't happy when I just sit and hold him

He still loves tub time and his smiles are getting more consistent. He has even started giggling a little

Here is how each of the kids looked at 2 months. I think Liam looks the most like Hallie at this point but they all definitely look like they belong together

I love this picture because he has awesome fuzzy hair. It seems to be filling in and from pictures it looks like he has Nate's hair line

Gracie's Run In with the Wall

Poor Gracie has a habit of hurting herself. While her and Hallie were running around downstairs she turned to talk to Hallie and ran into the wall splitting her eyebrow open. She came screaming up the stairs and it was only once she got upstairs that I realized how bad it was. Blood everywhere and once she saw it she was a mess. I did my best to calm her down and see how bad it was. I contemplated if it needed stitches but it was a complete white out outside and pasted 5 pm so our only options were the instacare or the ER so I decided to clean it up and use steri-strips to hold it closed. 

It has healed quite nicely but a small scar remains. Im hoping with time it will fade. This poor girl. Sometimes I wonder if she would do better if we wrapped her in bubble wrap

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is a family day at our house. I think its kinda silly to just celebrate love once a year so we do our best to celebrate it everyday and have extra fun on the holiday. We painted "love" nails and did heart hair for all of them. They were super excited and had all their valentines ready to go days before taking them to school

They all had class parties including Emy who got to go to preschool this day. Grandma Sheryl sent a little girl for all the girls

Emy's Valentine's box she made at school

We waited until Matt got home to open their gifts from us. They all got led boards hopefully they will use them during church to be quiet. They also got balloons and a few treats

It was a simple but fun day celebrating love and a good reminder to show love to those we love dearly everyday

Daddy & Hallie Date Night

I was planning on going to the Jazz game with Matt but Nic is still the only one we really trust to keep Liam and Griff got really sick with both RSV and Influenza A so we made a last minute switch and let Hallie go with Matt to the game. One of these days I will go with him but until then Im glad he at least gets to take one of the girls and spend time with them. It worked out great because the client he took had a daughter the same age. Matt said they hit it off and had a great time. 

Happy 35th Birthday Matt

For Matt's birthday he was able to come home early from work and took Emy skiing all by herself since Hallie had activity days and Gracie had dance. Emy thought that was pretty cool she got Matt all to herself.

After skiing Matt picked up Hallie and came to Ogden to meet Gracie, Liam and I for dinner. We decided on Tokyo Station and no one was disappointed. I love eating there I just wish it wasn't so expensive. It cost us $100 every time we each there but for special occasions that's ok. The waitress was so good and made the girls kid friendly chopsticks that they of coarse loved.

Liam of coarse couldn't be left out and decided he was hungry just as we were eating dinner. I love this man of mine. He is my everything and more than I could have ever imagined for myself. I hate that he is gone so much but we try to make the most of the time when he is around

After dinner we went home for presents and dessert(he requested cheesecake). He got some new hair clippers, some shorts, and some treats from the girls

We loved celebrating with this guy. He means the world to all of us. We're so lucky we get to spend forever with him

Sleep? First Time Blowing The Driveway

I have tried several things trying to help this little guy sleep on his own during the day but nothing we've had good success with. We have tried a bouncer with a vibration option. 2 different swings. He highly disliked the mamaroo so we bought a regular sing that also had a vibration option and we get limited amounts of nap time in there. I feel like I have broke every mom rule but we are just trying to get him to sleep so I can get something done. He occasionally likes his carrier but likes to be held like the picture below and the carrier puts him strain up and down so that's a bummer. On a positive note I may have the most tone arms in no time from holding him.

I like to be productive and get things done so being pregnant and recently having a baby has been hard for me since I can't do everything I would like to. Im starting to feel more like myself and on this particular day I decided it was time to get out and clear the driveway since Matt wasn't home. It can be frustrating living where we do that no one really helps us but we're also pretty independent so usually we do ok. Liam was very cooperative and slept the entire time. I bundled him and put him the in the baby carrier and put a hat on him then wore Matt's winter coat on top zipper up to protect him from the cold and noise. I tried putting ear protection on him but his head is just so little. When I got him out he was sweaty so I think it's safe to day he was warm.

I have been trying to be more consistent at laying him down or at least trying to with naps and once in a while he actually sleeps a little bit. I think the longest I've ever gotten is an hour but hey I'll take what I can get. It's hard to complain since he sleeps so well at night and really is a happy baby he just requires more attention round the clock than my other girls did but were trying to get things figured out because I want him to get the rest he needs while also being able to spend time with the girls and still being able to keep up on the house

2 Months

I took Liam to his 2 month check up and wasn't quite sure what to expect since I hadn't taken him back in for weight checks or to follow up with the pediatrician since I was uncomfortable with what she suggested. Don't get me wrong I wasn't just doing nothing. By this point we had met with the lactation specialist a couple times and done more weight checks there as well as coming up with a plan to make sure he was eating and growing appropriately. I scheduled Gracie's 7 yr and Liam's 2 month together so we got there and got both of them check in and did Gracie's well child check before getting to Liam. When we did weigh him he was doing great. The graph had a nice little curve where his weight was climbing along with his height and head growth. 

23.25 in tall

11 lbs 3 oz

While she assessed him she talked to him about how smart his mom was and that I knew exactly what I was doing. I was really glad she wasn't mad that I hadn't followed her instruction. I once again voiced to her that I was uncomfortable with what she suggested and why. She said well what you did was great and he was just slow to gain weight. Which was kinda what I was thinking but I wanted to be proactive to be sure he was getting what he needed. She was very complimentary about what we had been doing and mentioned she was a little worried what the scale would say. Now we'll just go back at 4 months. 

We've started getting him dress...which is probably a good thing so we aren't missing him wearing his cute clothes before they're to little but the hoods on these things are crazy. Who's baby head is this big?

The girls have become more interactive with him now that he is older and is more interactive with them. He is starting to smile and once I get him to sleep they are happy to hold him. He can be a bit difficult when he is tired so they like me to get him to sleep first. He also takes a bottle well so they help with that sometimes as well.

It's surreal that this little buddy has been with our family for 2 months already. He still sleeps great at night usually in a 6-9 hour stretch. It's amazing. He still sleeps in the rock n play next to our bed. He eats every 3 hours during the day and take 4-5 oz consistently. When he nurses(which is during daytime hours) he likes to nurse at least 20 minutes on each side. He does pretty good about keeping poop in his diaper and rarely has blow outs. He likes to be bundled and occasionally likes his binki to go to sleep. He like to see whats going on and during awake time loves to watch the tv or see what Im doing(usually dishes, dinner, or doing something with the girls). I don't think he is ever unhappy if he's being held. He still likes to be completely bundled and held for nap time. He is still in 0-3 month clothes and size 1 diapers. He LOVES bath time and gets really excited when you get him undressed to get in. Still doesn't like the car or the car seat which makes it hard to go anywhere. He does ok if he can be bundled for a nap so we have a snuggle me in the car seat that we have cut out places for him to be buckled so he can safely be bundled and we can go somewhere without constant crying. The time goes to quickly but we are doing our best to enjoy every minute we can