Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday Mom. The girls enjoyed cupcakes in your honor tonight! Liam didn't seem to mind not getting any. We all wish you a very happy birthday. See you soon.

I Found My Thumb!

Liam finally got his thumb in his mouth this weekend. I thought it was so funny that he was holding it in with the other hand. House of Colic was at an all time high this weekend, but he is 6 weeks old now and I was expecting it. I am also hopeful that it will start getting better in the next two weeks. Keep those prayers coming!

Little Momma

Emma was sitting next to me on the sofa this evening while I fed Liam. I looked over and found her feeding her baby monkey. I got the camera after Liam was done and snapped a picture of her feeding and then burping her baby. So cute! I told her she was such a good mommy to her baby monkey and she got the biggest smile on her face. She then carried the baby monkey around inside her pajama shirt for a while. (I guess she was imitating Liam being in the sling most of the weekend, it was the only way he would stop screaming.)

The Zoo

No real pictures of the animals they saw, but who cares when the girls are so cute!

Paw Paw Meets His First Grandson!

My parents drove in to town Sunday morning for a visit. It was my dad's first time to meet Liam, his first grandson. It was a short, but fun filled trip as always. They took the girls to the zoo Monday morning while I stayed at the house to get our house treated for the termites. I got very little sleep, not that this is anything new, but Sunday night was exceptionally bad. That last picture is of my dad trying to calm Liam down after hours of crying. My poor baby cries so much these days that his voice is hoarse. I can only hope that next week things start getting better when he hits the 6 week mark. I will post pictures of the girls from the zoo soon.

1 Month Portrait

We celebrated Liam's 1 month birthday last night while he slept. We celebrate each month for the first year with cake, presents and portraits. Well, since I have 3 small children I didn't think I could manage a session at a portrait studio so I decided to take them myself. I am going to have this one printed in the 8x10 so that he will have them just like his sisters. I thought it came out just as good as some of the ones I've had taken at Target. Hopefully he won't feel like he got shorted!

Termites

Yikes! We found termites in our house tonight. Will tried to explain what termites were and what they did to Page and now she is afraid that they are going to eat our house. We really need to be more careful about what we say to her!

Attack of the Mosquitoes

Texas has been inundated with mosquitos with all of the rain we've had lately. When the sun finally started shining this weekend we let the girls play in the pool. They got eaten up by mosquitos. We counted 20 on Emma and about a dozen on Page. Poor things were only out there for a few minutes before we realized that it was a REALLY bad idea. They were more bummed about having to go in than they were about all of their bites. Which on a regular day would have sent them into hysterics. We have since invested in some citronella candles for outside and hope to test them out this week if the rain stays at bay.

Liam's 1 Month Check-Up

I can't believe it has been a month already! We got some great news today at Liam's 1 month check-up. He is gaining 1.5 ounces a day and has gotten up to 9 lbs. 3 oz. and 21.5 inches. I am so thrilled! Both of the girls had weight issues so this is such a relief. ( Page was 2 months old before she weighed that much and Emma was 3 months old!) I am going to start trying to spread out his night feedings a little since I know he is getting enough to eat. The doctor was also very impressed with his head control. He has been holding his head up since he was born, as did the girls. He got his first immunization this morning and did so great! Page was more upset than he was. She started crying before the nurse even came in the room about Liam getting a shot. He screamed when he got the shot, but once I picked him up he was completely fine! Which I was so thankful for, not just for his sake but for Page's as well. I think she would have had a break down if he had screamed much. She is such the little momma. We also confirmed that our little man has colic. Things supposedly reach their peak at 6 weeks, so we only have 2 more weeks before it starts getting better. Liam also got his first taste of solid food this morning thanks to his big sister, Emma. After Emma's nap today I fixed her a bowl of Kashi Crunch with raisins. She wanted to share with her brother and I couldn't stop her before she had put it in his mouth. I did get it out almost as soon as she put it in, but she got it in there nonetheless.

A Day In The Life

12:30 a.m. - Liam finishes nursing and FINALLY falls asleep
2:30 a.m. - Liam awakens for his next meal, it lasts 1 hour
4:30 a.m. - Liam is hungry again, this time he doesn't go back to sleep and cries until his next feeding
5:30 a.m. - Emma wakes up and climbs in bed with us; she wants to see her "baby bruder"
6:30 a.m. - his next feeding
7:00 a.m. - Page wakes up ready for breakfast, Will gets up and pours cereal in a bowl
7:30 a.m. - Liam finished nursing and goes to sleep, I get up and fix the girls breakfast because they are still hungry
8:30 a.m. - Liam is awake and hungry, but he has to wait a few minutes because his sisters "need" to hold him and kiss him or else they have an emotional breakdown which I can't handle right now
10:00 a.m. - finish feeding, burping and changing Liam, but he won't go back to sleep so into the bouncy seat he goes so that I can get the girls and myself dressed for the day
10:15 a.m. - Page is crying about how I fixed her hair and Emma is in time out for playing in the toilet
10:30 - Liam is still crying and NOT sleeping so instead of getting myself dressed, I try to calm him down and feed him again
11:00 a.m. - thank the Lord for Sesame Street!
11:30 a.m. - Liam finishes eating despite his sisters playing with his feet, hands and hair, now it's time to fix lunch
12:00 p.m. - eat lunch with the girls, 30 minutes later than usual and lots of whining about how hungry they are
12:30 p.m. - potty time since they didn't like my vegetable soup and only ate a few crackers
12:45 p.m. - pray and sing with the girls as I listen to Liam crying for his next feeding
12:50 p.m. - feed Liam, Emma starts screaming because Page bit her
1:00 p.m. - give Page a spanking while nursing Liam
1:30 p.m. - go into their room again and find them playing in their window sill, the blinds are destroyed. Both girls get a spanking and put back in bed, while burping Liam
2:00 p.m. - Liam will only sleep if I hold him, but he peed on the sling yesterday and I haven't had time to do laundry yet so I have to hold him. I hear Page singing songs to Emma
2:01 p.m. - I warn them to stop talking and go to sleep or they will stay in their room until they take a nap or it is dinner time
2:30 p.m. - Still no nap for the girls
3:00 p.m. - Hear screaming from the girl's room and find Page peeling paint off of her wall, again, and Emma can't reach her pacifier that Page has taken from her and thrown behind her bed
3:02 p.m. - I start questioning my ability to do this, stifle a little cry and take the girls out of their room even though it goes against what I said an hour ago because I am afraid of what they will do to their room if I leave them in there any longer
3:15 p.m. - snack time for the girls, i cut up an apple and throw in some dried cranberries to make it look pretty
3:30 p.m. - feeding time again, I pray, no, beg God to help Liam go to sleep so that I can fix dinner before Will gets home
4:00 p.m. - Page wants to paint and since I feel guilty about not playing with them all day I agree to water colors
4:10 p.m. - Emma poured out the cup of water all over herself and is splashing in the puddle it made on the floor, I try not to yell
4:11 p.m. - I am unsuccessful at restraining myself because now she is laying on the floor lapping up the water like a puppy
4:15 p.m. - Praise God Liam is sleeping! I put him in bed and clean up Emma and the floor. Page is crying about Emma pouring out her water and she needs to finish her picture for her daddy
4:20 p.m. - Page has new water and Emma is banned from the paint
4:30 p.m. - Time to start dinner
5:00 .m. - Call Will to see if he will be home any time soon, he doesn't know. Liam is awake and wanting to eat again
5:45 p.m. - Liam has eaten and gets put in the bouncy seat as I resume cooking since I had to stop earlier.
5:50 p.m. - Will is ready to get picked up from work so I stop cooking again and load all three kids into the van, they are crying about how hungry they are to which I reply, that's why lunch is so important.
6:00 p.m. - get Will from work and return home, Liam fell asleep in the car, hooray!
6:15 dinner is finally ready and we sit down to eat
6:30 p.m. - Liam is crying, Will gets him so that I can finish eating
7:00 p.m. - Will gives the girls a bath while I feed Liam again
7:30 p.m. - Since the girls didn't nap today they are very whiny and they get put to bed a little early. Emma wants to put on her pj's by herself and Page wants to cuddle with her daddy. I pray and sing while nursing Liam
8:00 p.m. - Liam is asleep and I contemplate doing housework or going to bed. Housework wins tonight because I think in some way tomorrow will be better if I have some order in the house. But I check the blog first and get sucked in to other people's lives
9:00 p.m. - Make myself get off the computer and unload the dishwasher and put clothes in the dryer. Throw the clothes that were in the dryer on the sofa with the intention of folding them. It doesn't happen.
9:30 p.m. - Liam wakes up to eat
10:15 p.m. - He is done eating and the crying starts.
11:30 p.m. - crying stops long enough for another feeding and then resumes until he passes out from exhaustion. I pray the whole time that I would not be angry about how hard things are right now and how tired I am.

Please read this with the humor that it was intended for. I found it therapeutic to type this up as the girls fought nap time again today and Liam was nursing. I know it is only a season and that this too shall pass, but I thought I would provide all of you with a window into my life right now. It could also be used as birth control for those of you out there contemplating another child, lol! Don't get me wrong, I love my children and love our growing family more than anything else in the world.

Fancy Page

For those of you with girls, might I recommend a book called Fancy Nancy. It is so cute! Page got this book a while back from Will's mom and it is one of the few books that she still requests we read on a regular basis. Here is a cute picture of her after one such reading as she found things that made her look fancy, just like Nancy!

The Princess Room

The princess room will soon have another addition. We ordered these bunk beds for the girls this week. Our toddler bed is on it's last leg (it has been through 4 kids now) and there was a great sale at Rooms To Go. Page is very excited about sleeping on the top bunk, but I am more than a little nervous. I will post pictures of their room once we get the beds in and set up.

Liam's First Bath

Liam turned 3 weeks old today and finally got his first bath. He had been having some bleeding from his umbilical cord so we have been holding off to make sure it was completely healed. He liked it so much more than his sponge baths. He also graduated to size 1 diapers today. He is getting so big!
Things have been pretty crazy around here, as you might expect. I was so thankful for the 4th of July because Will was home on Wednesday. It was a hard first week home alone with all 3 kids and nothing but rain outside. We managed to get through it, but not very gracefully. He was awake eating while the girls napped so I didn't get any type of break during the day and he cried anywhere from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. several nights in a row. giving me about 1.5 hours of sleep 3 days in a row. But, God really gave me the strength to get through it much better than I had anticipated.

Face Shots

The girls getting ready for a walk with Daddy.



Not the best picture, but you can see how blue his eyes are, I hope they will stay!



Finally accepting the bouncy seat as opposed to Mommy's arms.

My Brothers Visit