I Dunno, But I Think They Might Be Blue

4 Weeks

Right around 3 weeks his eyes changed from ultra-dark gray to more blue. I think they might stay!

Eastern Shore

Friday we got back from a week at the Eastern shore. Kevin's parents had rented a place on the water and had kindly invited us to stay with them. So we packed up the many, many things you need to accommodate an almost two-year old and a newborn and we hit the road! We rented a small fishing boat and took it with us. Sadly, we had the boat almost ENTIRELY full of kiddo gear (pack n play, swing, etc). It's amazing how much STUFF kids actually require to survive. Ok, perhaps we bring the stuff for them so WE'LL survive. Hmm...

We stayed in a sleepy little town called Crisfield, MD which claims to be the "seafood capital of the world". There wasn't much to do in town, but there was plenty of crabbing to be done as well as general relaxing. While my life was pretty much the "usual routine" with the kids, I did get some much-needed naps and enjoyed the fruits of the daily crab runs. We ate some form of crab (steamed crabs, crab dip, crab cakes) everyday and enjoyed every bit of it. Unfortunately, Kevin and I had a catastrophe the night before we left for Crisfield and realized that our entire deep freezer had thawed because a strap had kept it from shutting properly. So we also had about 8lbs of shrimp and some additional crab to bring with us. Talk about a feast!

We caught blue crabs every single day, either from our boat or from the dock behind the rental house.

Getting ready to steam 'em.

The view from our backyard.
Thursday we took a boat trip over to Tangier Island (in Virginia).


This island is really remote (it took us an hour and fifteen minutes to get there) and only has a few cars. Most people get around on golf carts and are fisherman. I can't imagine how one would build a house on the island as there's no big commercial businesses like Home Depot, Walmart, etc. In fact, the grocery store is a little ma and pa general store. They have one police officer, no jail, one school for K-12th grade and no hospital or permanent doctor on the island. We took a golf cart tour around the island (which took all of 10-15 minutes) and in wondering what the kids did for fun I saw a few chucking rocks into a marshy area. I guess that answered my question!

Crab shanty's just off the main dock at Tangier Island. These are sloughing houses for soft shelled crabs.
Walking down a "street" on Tangier Island.

First Haircut

Natalie got her first haircut yesterday. Our neighbor, Debbie, owns a salon, and came over to do the honors. Be gone fem-mullet, be gone!
BEFORE/DURING:

AFTER:

She was QUITE the moving target!

2 Weeks

So yesterday I got an email from my grandma telling me that I didn't have any two week pictures of Liam available for viewing on the blog. This is the same grandma that used to tell me she was going to "jerk a knot in my tail" when I was bad growing up so I figured I ought to hop to it! =) These are for you, Mommo! Love you!

Is it just me or is he showing off for the ladies already? Look at that bicep!

At his appointment yesterday he was 9lbs even and had grown an inch and a half! He's going to be busting out of the newborn sizes pretty quickly it seems. He's a good baby really. I just need to figure out some sort of contraption that will keep him attached to me at all times (because he REALLY likes to eat). I started bottles already because I can only nurse him for 2 hours straight a couple times a day. I mean, seriously, kid! How am I supposed to get anything done???

Natalie was being SO sweet in this picture and wanting to "hold" baby Liam. About an hour before this picture though, she was throwing the biggest tantrum ever because I was holding Liam and not her. Ahhhh... the joys of being almost-two and realizing you're NOT the center of the universe!

YEAH! Pictures!

The pictures we had taken of Liam are back! If you'd like to see them, they're on the following website for the next week and a half: http://www.timelessandtreasured.com.

Click on "Enter Site". Then click on the "Clients" section. The password is just liam.

I thought Heather did an amazing job. SO hard to decide!!!

Survival Mode

Do you ever have those dreams - the ones where you're running (or trying to run) and it's like you're wading through sludge? You can barely move and you're being chased by something that is moving really, really fast?

Well, that's how it feels having a newborn around, I've decided. I remember feeling this way when Natalie was born but I had since chalked it off to being a "new mom" and not really knowing what to expect. I figured I'd have a system down once Liam got here and there'd be no big issues.

Ha!

I totally forgot how frequently they want to nurse. And how hard it is to keep them awake long enough to get in a good feeding and how many dirty diapers they make during a days time and just how POORLY I function with interrupted sleep. Ahh, but it's all coming back to me now!

So far, Liam has been a delightful baby. He only cries when he's hungry and sleeps most of the time. I mean, its the BEST possible situation. It's just balancing his irratic eating schedule with Natalie's schedule AND trying to get out the door to do a simple trip to Home Depot that should be considered an Olympic event. It took Kevin and me THREE HOURS to get out of the house on Saturday morning.

Did you catch that? TWO ADULTS, TWO KIDS...THREE HOURS!!!!

We had set out to bathe both kids before we got in the car, but we finally decided one kid bathed was "good enough" and just hit the road. We decided that was why you got 6 weeks maternity leave - because there's NO WAY you could get out of the house and go to work prior to that.

Natalie has taken well to sharing the limelight with the new poopy intruder. She's expectedly more clingy but hasn't tried to sabotage Liam.

Yet.

I'm glad she's adjusting well too, because in a way I feel bad making her share our attention. I know that in the long run having a sibling is a great, character-developing thing that makes life so much richer, etc. (It has mine!) But I'm sad that I can't pick Natalie up whenever she wants and snuggle her when she obviously sees that I'm "snuggling" (or nursing) baby Liam. I don't want her to feel like she's been replaced and is left with a too-tired Mom who's not quite as much fun as she used to be. Obviously I know that this time of sensitivity (on my part) and tiredness is fleeting and in another year I'll probably tell Kevin, "Hon, let's try to be like the Duggars!" (okay, well maybe not). Right now these thoughts are just what's on my mind. Hopefully Natalie won't be scarred for life. Maybe we should start a therapy fund now... =)

One Week Old

In attempts to be fair, we had professional pictures taken yesterday of Liam (a friend of ours took pictures of Natalie when she was 9 days old but has since moved away). I'm really excited to get them back!! In the meantime, I thought I'd try my hand at taking a few pictures with our camera at home. Let me tell you, it's much easier taking pictures of a newborn than it is taking pictures of a constantly-moving toddler. That being said, it was extremely difficult to get the shots I wanted and I now have newfound respect for photographers of children.

Out of the 150+ pictures I took, here are a few blog-worthy ones. Not pictured: the explosive poo stain on the curtains. I was expecting to wash the blankets and towels, but the curtains??? He's got quite the range!

Nana And Papa

My parents came in town the day after Liam was born and helped us out - watching the kids and doing our laundry and other odd jobs around the house. I can't express how much it meant to me to have the extra hands PLUS the moral support. Perhaps it was expressed in the snot running down my face as they left for the airport. Hopefully I'll see you guys soon...

Baby Liam comes home!

Well I've heard the natives are restless and wanting more pictures and video!



Yesterday Lauren and baby came home and spent the day recovering and relaxing.



We have a video here from when we were about to leave the hospital and Liam was in his new going-home outfit.

Lauren has settled right into her routine with the baby and is a like a pro returning to her sport. Its funny all of the things you forget about as the first kid grows out of certain stages. Kind of fun to have all of it come back to you with a new little one arriving in the house; all of the little things they do, how you had things set up before, and hearing all the little squeaky noises they make at this age, which you've all but forgotten about. Fun times!

Natalie is really bonding with her little brother. Just like with the kitty, she insists on holding the baby, and really seems to like him. (shew!)