Firsts

Just wanted to share some pictures of some of Liam's "firsts."

Here is his first time in the swing:

His first football game (watching with Daddy and Grandpa Buddy via phone):

His first trip to the zoo (I guess he wasn't impressed):

 His first SuperBowl (he finds it as exciting as I do, I see):

Anchor Baby

When I was pregnant, one of the major news stories was about people having "anchor babies," which meant that they would deliver their babies on US soil, therefore making the child a US citizen.  The idea was that the (illegal) immigrant parents would be allowed to stay in the United States because the child was a citizen.  So Will started joking that Liam was our anchor baby.  For Christmas, I had a onesie made for him:

But Liam was definitely NOT happy about being involved in this little joke:

Smiles

Liam is really smiling now! It's funny how happy a baby's smile can make you feel!

This morning I was changing Liam and Bailey came into the room.  "I poop!" she announced.  So as I was changing her diaper, I was talking to her about being a big girl and using the potty.  Her response?  "No.  I want a diaper 'cause I a baby. I a baby wike Wee-um."

She also did NOT want her picture taken. :)

Liam's First Valentine's Day

Liam celebrated his first Valentine's Day today! Here he is at our friends' house--we went there after school for lunch and play time.

Emily and Bailey at the zoo

Today we went to the zoo with Mimi and Grandpa.  Emily and Bailey had a great time!  They got to see some birds up close, including a falcon; fed the 'aminals' in the petting zoo; posed in the butterfly garden; and checked out the cheetahs, lemurs, snakes, and elephant before heading home.  It was a fun day!

One Month Old!

Liam is officially one month old!  He is doing great and growing like a little weed!!  He is 21 1/2" long and weighs 13lbs 1 oz!  The doctor said he is "perfect" which really made me happy and proud.

 

He loves to "play" on his mat and with his sisters--looking at them is probably his favorite activity right now!  Last week he smiled at me, which made my day.  Hopefully we'll start seeing a lot more of those adorable grins soon!

Liam is also a good sleeper.  He sleeps 3-5 hours at a stretch at night, and usually goes back down pretty easily after being changed and fed.  He's up most of the morning and then naps most of the afternoon.  He especially loves to be held while he's sleeping but he also sleeps well in his crib, carseat, or swing.  He is not too fond of the bouncy seat.

Emily and Bailey love their baby brother.  When we took him to the doctor for his two-week checkup, B climbed right onto the table with him, got into Dr. Lewis's face, and said, "That my baby brother!  What you DOING to my baby brother?" LOL!!  And today I was feeding him and she noticed that I didn't have a burp cloth.  So she said, "Where the white towel?" and went and got one for me!  Emily loves to give him kisses and wants to hold him all of the time. She is also great at finding his binky and helping me get anything I might need for him.

All in all things are going well and I think we've all adjusted to being a family of five.

Taste buds

Emily is learning about the five senses at school this week.  Today when she got home she told me all about the sense of taste: "Mommy, I have these things on my tongue that are BUDS!  And they help me to taste if something is sweet, sour, salty, or pepper!" LOL :)

Liam is here!

William Kenneth McDowell V joined our family on December 31, 2010.  He was born at 9:22 pm and weighed 10 lbs 2 oz!! and was 20" long.  He has stolen our hearts and we are all just thrilled that he is ours!

Poor Liam got off to a rough start.  Because of his size, he suffered from a condition called TTN, which basically meant that he had excess mucus in his lungs.  The pediatrician explained that for most babies, that mucus is squeezed out during the birthing process, but because Liam was so large, he had larger lungs and therefore more mucus than other babies.  So shortly after he was born he was hooked up to all sorts of monitors and even an oxygen tube to help dry some of that out. The doctor was concerned because he was breathing too quickly and he wasn't getting sufficient oxygen saturation.  

After nearly 36 hours of treatment, his breathing improved and they started letting him eat.  Liam had to get a feeding tube down his throat :( and they gave him small amounts of formula to see how he would tolerate it.  Finally, he was deemed well enough to leave the nursery and stay in my room with me.  I was thrilled--and so were the girls, who FINALLY got to meet their baby brother!

I started nursing him right away to make up for lost time.  He took to it like a champ but because we'd been apart so long, I didn't have any milk yet.  Overnight he became dehydrated and developed jaundice. He had to return to the nursery and was placed in phototherapy to help eliminate the jaundice.  It was more formula, too, although I was allowed to nurse him first and then they supplemented him with formula. 

On January 3, I was released from the hospital but Liam had to stay.  Leaving without him was one of the most difficult things I have ever had to do.  I went back to the hospital that night after the girls were in bed and spent about five hours with him. I held him and nursed him as much as they would allow.  The next morning I went back and I was overjoyed to hear that he had been released, too!  We went to see his pediatrician that day and she gave him a clean bill of health.

We are all adjusting to our new family member but we couldn't be happier.  The girls love him--Emily wants to hold him all of the time and Bailey keeps saying, "That my baby brother!"  If I come out of his room without him, she'll say, "Oh, no! Where's Liam?"  Overall he seems like a very content baby.  He's sleeping and eating well and I couldn't ask for a cuter child! :)  We are so blessed!!

Frosting

This morning I had the following conversation with Emily:

"Mommy!  The grass is all WHITE!"

"Yeah, it got really cold last night so we got some frost.  Cool, huh?  That's the closest we get to snow down here."

"Look! Jake and Julie's [our neighbors] yard has frosting, too!"

Emily's 5th birthday PARTY!

Emily had a great birthday party at My Gym.  They played all sorts of games and also got to spend some time exploring the gym and doing whatever looked like fun!  Miss Alyssa and Miss Shannon made it a fun time for everyone.

Silly Bailey

Over the past week I have had several conversations with Bailey that have really had me laughing.  Two-year-olds are a riot!!

The other day, after I put her shirt on her, I noticed that she had a string dangling down from the sleeve.  So I said, "Bailey, come into the kitchen.  You have a string on your arm and I need to cut it."

Bailey got very upset and replied, "No! I don't want you to cut my arm!" LOL!!  I guess I should have been clearer about what I was going to cut!

AND...

Bailey was playing on Emily's bike and she fell off and scratched her belly.  So that night after her bath Will and I were trying to put some Neosporin on the scratches.  She was super upset because I mentioned a band-aid (this kid HATES band-aids for some reason) so we told her we weren't going to put a band-aid, but that we needed to put some cream on her boo-boo.  Again, she got upset and said, "I don't want you to give me a boo-boo!"  And it took like ten minutes of us explaining that we weren't trying to GIVE her a boo-boo, we were trying to take care of the boo-boo she already had!  Sheesh!!  But it was still funny.

And last but not least...

Yesterday B was watching Max and Ruby, and Max pulled a worm out of a mud puddle.  So Bailey says, "Look!  Max has a noodle!"

I laughed and said, "That's not a noodle; that's a worm."

Bailey goes, "Oh, that's not a noodle.  That's a WORM!"

So I burst out laughing, which made her laugh, which made Emily and me laugh even harder.  What fun!!

Emily turns 5!

Emily had a special birthday, and we still have her party to look forward to this weekend!  At school, Ms. Christina made her a birthday crown to wear!  We brought cupcakes and her class sang to her.

After school we went to McDonald's for lunch with some friends.  It was a little bit of a letdown since the playplace was closed and that was why she wanted to go there, but she still had fun:



Then, since Mommy had a doctor's appointment that afternoon, she went over to Bella and Lydia's house and they gave her the Furry Frenzies city playset that she wanted!  She was thrilled!!

And finally, when we got home, she got to ride her brand-new big-girl bike, which was her present from Mommy and Daddy.

The funniest part was when we put her to bed, though, and she said, "Mommy, when I wake up tomorrow it will be my very real birthday!"  Sorry, kid, you only get one a year!!

It's Beginning to Feel a lot Like Christmas...

On Saturday we spent some time together decorating our Christmas tree! The girls were super excited and they did a great job. We tried a new location for the tree this year and it worked out great because we didn't have to rearrange our entire dining room to set it up!

The Florida Aquarium

While visiting Grandma and Grandpa Buddy in Tampa, we decided to go check out the Florida Aquarium.  The kids had a great time looking at the sea life and even got to touch some of the animals!  Here are some pictures from our day.

My cuties

Last week I brought a bag full of nonperishable food as well as some other items to Emily's school.  They were collecting Thanksgiving meal donations for needy families.  Emily said, "Mom, why do you have that bag?"

"It's a bag full of food for a family who doesn't have any.  It's for Thanksgiving."

She got a very concerned look on her face, and then she said, "Are the Cheetos in there?" LOL!!

and...
Yesterday I took Bailey to the mall.  As we were driving around to find a place to park, she kept pointing to the different stores and saying, "Is THAT the mall?"  It was so cute!  She also does the same thing when putting a puzzle together: "Does THAT piece go there?"

They are such cuties!!

More THAT!

This morning I gave Bailey a Vienna Finger (my favorite cookie).  She opened it and ate all of the creme filling.  Then she brought me the two cookie pieces and said, "More that!"

So I said, "More what?"

And she pointed to the place where the creme used to be and said, "More THAT!"

LOL!  I told her she had to eat the cookie before I'd give her another one.  Silly kid!

Liam's room--update

Mom went shopping and so did I--so Liam's room got a bit of an update this weekend!  Dad finished putting up the trim and got the clothes rack in the closet so I am washing clothes and getting them all ready to go!  We have a little more work to be done--the doors need to be painted and doorknobs installed, and some electrical work since the light switch needs to be moved and a ceiling fan installed.  I am thinking of getting a shelf to go over the changing table as well.  But other than that, things are done and we are ready to meet our SON!

Halloween Fun

 

 Emily and Bailey were super excited to celebrate Halloween this year.  Every day Emmy would ask me if Halloween was "the next day" because she wanted to wear her costume and get candy!  Bailey was also looking forward to it; she kept bringing me her costume and asking to wear it.  However, on the big day, she refused to wear her costume and didn't get to trick-or-treat.  Daddy is a softie, though, and he got a bag full of candy for her.  Meanie Mommy was just going to make her miss out.  She is SUCH a stinker sometimes!  Here we are in our costumes!  It was fun to dress up and see the other neighborhood kids.  We only did one block of our development and got tons of candy--maybe when the girls are bigger we'll let them do the whole 'hood. :)