Liam’s 3! 11-11-11

How do you sum up three years of a little life?  How can I even begin to express how special Liam is to us?  I can’t.  I can’t believe that 3 years have gone by already!  Liam is truly the joy of our lives.  It seems just yesterday that we brought home this little bundle of babe and now he’s a big old 3 year old!  He is such a funny, loving, smart, sweet little guy.  At three, Liam is so full of energy…way more than I have stored up!  I think I could plan crafts, reading, park time, and play time all day long and I would still not wear him out.  Liam has (according to me) an amazing vocabulary and understanding of language.  Pronunciation is still a challenge but that little mouth runs all day long!  I love it.  I love to hear his sweet voice. He has quite the sense of humor.  It is interesting to see how it has changed over the last year.  Liam still thinks funny noises are….well, funny, but now can grasp more concepts.  He is able to get the gist of a joke and often tells little jokes himself.  Liam is still very outgoing and friendly.  Usually, everyone he meets is a friend.  He has become much more independent and definitely voices his wants.   Liam’s favorite foods include, bread, cheese, milk, cheese, pizza, cheese, strawberries (with sugar), yogurt and of course, any kind of sweets.  We still struggle with fruits and veggies, as Liam tells me, they are “gross”.  Liam loves his cousin Spencer.  Loves, loves, loves him.  He talks about him all the time.  I’m sure that Liam is going to be a wonderful big brother.  He is so loving.  I still love to cuddle Liam.  He loves it too.  He sleeps in our bed most of the night and I wouldn’t change it (although Daddy sometimes would).  Working nights means that I have missed more than my share of bedtimes.  I enjoy feeling his little, warm body curled up next to me at night.  I like knowing where he is at all times.   We had our first visit to the ER right before Halloween.  Liam decided to stick a popcorn kernel up his nose.  We had just sat down after a fun evening at the ward trunk-or-treat when, whoops, up that nose the little kernel went.  Luckily the ER triaged us rather fast and used a nifty little tool to quickly remove the old maid.  I think Liam learned his lesson.  I don’t want to ever have to take him in for anything more serious than that!  I would give everything to keep him safe.  I am the cautious, over protective Mom.  I’ll admit it proudly.   I just can’t bear the thought of Liam ever being hurt.  He has changed our lives for the better.  Made both Frank and I better people.  He is a blessing in our home. 

 

We took a little trip to Venice Beach to take some pictures at the canals.  We left our house with warm 80 degree weather only to arrive at the beach to find it chilly and foggy.   No buttery sunset light for me!  But I was still thrilled with how his pictures turned out.  How could I not be when I had such an adorable little GQ model?!?  There was a group of tourist that stopped, said hi and took his picture.   Kinda funny.   Little super star already.

 

 

My little heart throb!

 

 

This is his Grandpa Ray face…the resemblance is amazing

 

 

 

 

 

This one is for Uncle Kyle!

 

 

 

 

 

Loved this cute gate. 

 

 

 

 

Liam aka "Gene Simmons”

 

 

 

I think this one is my favorite

This is how we ended the evening, chillin’ in the stroller.

Happy birthday my Liam.

  I still call you my baby and you always say, “I’m a big boy kid!”

So happy birthday, big boy.

Mommy and Daddy love you so much, forever and ever.

Wishing and waiting….

Do you remember these from when you were a kid.  We always called them fairies.  This summer we had a lot of “wishing fairies” at our house.  I taught Liam to find them, make a wish and blow them away.

 

 I am a chronic planner.  I figure out how I want things to go, then try to make it happen.  The problem is, in reality I don’t have the ultimate control.  After Frank and I got married we decided to enjoy married life together for a year before we even thought about babies.  Well, the one year mark came and we felt ready to start a family.  We were extremely lucky.  In just 2 months we got the exciting news that we were expecting.  Liam’s pregnancy and delivery was relatively uncomplicated.   I remember being wheeled from my labor room to the post partum room and thinking, “Ok, I could do this again.  That wasn’t bad at all.”  Life with Liam is a joy.  He is so much fun and has brought so much love into our home.  Both Frank and I have grown into better people.  When Liam was a year old, we decided that it was time to start trying for baby number 2.  I fully expected it to be as easy as it was the first time.  I had a plan after all!  Month after month, my emotions got the better of me. The hope that this would be the month, the disappointment when it wasn’t, and then the anger.  I was often angry at everyone.  Myself, my poor Frank, even God.  How could this be taking so long.  How could that righteous desire be left unfulfilled.  I think what made it more difficult was going to work and seeing the babies in the NICU.  These babies were often the product of very unstable relationships, often unwanted, with parents that had little to no means to care for them.  I just had a hard time rationalizing one of these precious NICU babies going to a home where they may not be cared for as well as a child in my home.  How did this work?  How could the baby that we so wanted, prepared for and would love unconditionally be kept from us?  I didn’t understand.  I had long talks with Frank.  His faith never wavered.  He knew that our family was not yet complete.  It was just not the right time.  Test after test, we were reassured by the doctors that everything was fine.  It would just take time.  And so this summer, after nearly 2 years of trying, Liam would gently pick up a wishing fairy and wish for a baby.  It nearly broke my heart each time he did it.  I think since he had heard our pleas for a baby in our family prayers night after night, he just thought he’d wish for one too.  I had actually come to a sense of peace.  We had Liam. I know of many others who struggle to conceive just once.  I realized my many blessings and I was indeed grateful. I had accepted that we may be a family of just three.  There is certainly much worse things than that! That is why I was shocked when I got a positive test in August.  I didn’t even test until late, I was sure it was just my body being weird.  But I was wrong.  That baby we so desired, is now on the way!  This pregnancy has been nothing like Liam’s.  In fact it has been laden with discomfort and a lot of fear on my part.  Again, Frank is confident that everything is fine.  I often cling to that.  But we keep chugging along, day after day. Each day, a day closer to the goal of completing our family.  I am so excited to meet this little one. So excited to see if it’s a boy or girl!  So excited to see how much it looks like Liam! 

My testimony of prayer has grown.  I know that my Heavenly Father hears my prayers.  He loves me and wants to bless me.  And I know, that he will bless me (and our family) to get to the end of this pregnancy and welcome the baby that will complete our family.  I know I am blessed and I will have faith that He will watch over us.  I can’t wait to meet this little one.  April seems so far away!

Baby is looking towards us.  See those little feet and toes up in the upper left? Cute!

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Trick or Treating

Liam was so excited for Halloween this year.  He is old enough that he gets the concept of….getting lots of candy!  Grandpa Ray and Grandma Ruth came out to our house for dinner and a quick trick or treat session. We had a totally Halloween themed dinner.  Mummy hotdogs, mummy pizza, deviled eggs, pumpkin wraps (just tortilla roll-ups) and to drink, swamp juice!  Liam was so excited he barely ate any dinner!  Once the sun went down it was time to get suited up and head out!  What fun!

 

My hero!

 

October was a warm month.  Warm temps here in cow country can bring out A LOT of flies.  (Disgusting, I know!)  Who knew that flies love pumpkin so much?  It was really gross but I guess it added to the Halloween effect>

Getting ready to eat with Grandma

Chilling with Grandpa

 

I know, I know…who lets there kid stand on the kitchen table?  Answer:  A newly pregnant lady who might lose her dinner if she bends over to take a picture.

That’s one happy trick or treater!

Pumpkin Patch

This year they put a pumpkin patch near our house.  Liam was thrilled!  Every time we drove by he would ask if we could stop.  Well, we finally went last week.  It was great!  Lots of pumpkins, rides to watch and animals to look at.  The boy was in heaven!  He is so excited for Halloween this year.  Our house has had decorations up since the end of September.  Darn that Target for putting out their Halloween stuff so early. Liam was adorable and asked for “dec-rations” for the house.  He is eagerly awaiting trick-or-treating.

 

This kid was so excited that I couldn’t get him to look at me!

Our very own Jack-O-Lantern

 

October in SoCal=Shorts and flip-flops at the pumpkin patch!

 

Liam picked out a “Baby Pumpkin”

 

 

Sights at the pumpkin patch.  What fun!

Spencer

While up visiting with my family I stole little Spencer away for a few minutes and snapped a few pictures in my Mom’s backyard.  Can you believe that Spencer is almost 1 year old?  How did that happen?!?  I had planned to edit the pictures and give them to Marcy as a little surprise but then we had computer failure.  Spencer is such a sweet little guy.  So happy!  I love those chubby little cheeks!

 

Such a happy boy!

 

 

 

Look at those pearly white chompers!

 

 

Not the best picture, but I love that you can see that little dimple!

 

We love you Spencer!