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!)

Introducing our son: Liam Andrew

Lauren and I are super proud to introduce our son, Liam Andrew. Liam was born this day, the 29th of July, 2009 at 5:55PM in Bel Air, MD.

This little outdoorsman-to-be weighed 8 lbs, 8 oz, and is 20.5" tall.

He has his father's appetite and his mother's hair (so far).




Liam is pronounced "Lee-um" and is the irish short-form of William, and means "Strong-willed Warrior". When we first moved into our house, we painted the nursery (the smallest room) my favorite shade of blue (Lauren calls it french blue) and we dubbed it Williams room. It seems almost ironic that our boy was to eventually have that name of sorts!

Lauren and baby and are both doing great, and he picked up on nursing like he's been doing it his whole life.....wait...he has!

Lauren is ready to eat a cow. I'm going to go find one. Thanks for being with us today in techo-spirit!

-Kevin, Lauren & Liam (natterbug is at gramma/grampas)

PUSHING!

TSIA!

Contractions

7 CM, still not dropped down very low, but more contractions.

Top graph is baby's heart rate, bottom is contractions. Dark vertical lines are 1 minute marks.

3:55 PM - Baby says "Heck no, I won't go!"

It is clear that 'He who has not been named' is in outright defiance of not having a name yet and is waiting for us to choose one.

Mrs. Lauren has been a real trooper today, having only liquids for food, twice, and having to endure watching me eat (as I was told I should eat or I'll pass out...advice I was more than happy to adhere to).

Mr. Nameless is taking his good old time and there has been some but little "progress" (paraphrased for the squirmy men out there) today, but the doc says everything is coming along fine, just slowly, and baby is doing well. It's just a waiting game. Lauren can't feel a thing, and is enjoying the "warm tingl[ies]" from the epidural. We tried watching a movie we picked up at the Red Box this morning; an action-hero movie called 'The Watchman', which was so completely boring and we were not able to follow it at all, that we turned it off after 30 minutes and fell asleep, (it was that bad)!

So we wish we had some great action and news to report, but alas we've nothing to tell. Our techy gadgets are allaying some of our duldrums but with batteries waning, we might actually have to resort to *gasp*... magazines!!!!!

Post-epidural glee!

Yay only had to stick her once!

Post-action footage :

11:26 AM Epidural Time

Epidural time! Lauren's nervous from bad experiences before but the doc is friendly and chit chatting to keep her mind off of it. Contractions are every 3-4 minutes but no real progress yet. They plan on breaking her water once she's all drugged up good!

UPDATE: epidural al done on the first try. Lauren is very excited!

We're at the hospital!

At the hospital awaiting check-in! Setting up a wireless network in our room so Lauren will be able to surf the Internet from her iPod and post updates! -Kevin
(Sent from my iPhone 3gs)

8 1/2 Hours

My mind is currently racing with all of the thoughts of fear, excitement, dread (for the pain), etc, etc that happen the night before you are induced. Kevin and I have to be at the hospital at 6am tomorrow morning.

6 AM! I mean, can we get any earlier?

I'm doubting right now that I sleep more than 4 hours. I know I'll need all the sleep I can get, but my brain seriously doesn't want to turn off.

So inducing definitely wasn't my first choice in having this kid, but there are few nice things about it:

• I figure if there are any complications, that this is probably the BEST way to go. Nice and controlled (well as controlled as you can be with the whole giving birth thing).


• My house is completely clean as my wonderful mother-in-law helped me clean my house cleaned my house for me today.


• I had LOTS of time leading up to this day when I COULD have been having a baby to nest my heart out. I even painted some trim work today that really needed it.

So ready or not... here comes baby. Say a prayer for me tomorrow. Words can't even begin to describe the jumble of crazy emotions in this pregnant woman's head.


41 weeks. Is there any more room left in my stomach? My bladder tells me no.

All's Quiet on the East Coast

This baby is pretty content. Pretty content to just hang out in-utero and bake a little bit more. I'm not sure we could be more ready. Our bags are packed and our lists are written. I mean, I'm sure we'll forget something, but that's going to happen regardless. I've found myself with a lot of extra time on my hands and at times a little bored. I know that free time is going to go by the wayside very quickly so I've been scrapbooking and trying to tackle projects that I've been putting off for a while.

For those of you that don't already know, we've scheduled an induction for the 29th. I don't really WANT to be induced, but my parents are coming to visit on the 30th and I figured they aren't just coming to see me. =) I'd also HAVE to be induced at some point before I hit 42 weeks so I figure I might as well give the baby a week to show up fashionably late and then just make him come out whether he likes it or not. Hopefully this isn't a sign of things to come from him. As for the name lists, we're still working. We started mulling over a new name just this past week. It would be interesting if it is the one we end up choosing since we didn't even think of it until after his due date had come and gone!

Keep sending names you think of. The jury is still out!

Hugs For Baby

He Who Shall Not Be Named

So maybe there's a reason that this kid is running late. We still don't have a name.

Isn't that hard to believe? Oh, it's not for lack of talking about it. It's mostly for lack of agreeing. Or lack of feeling strongly about a boys name. Girls names just seemed so much easier.

Our criteria don't seem that hard. It needs to go well with our last name. It needs to NOT be in the top 10 (or preferably the top 20) list on the Social Security website. It needs to roll off the tongue easily and be easy to yell =). It also needs to not be too outlandish. And Kevin really thinks that it shouldn't be something that labels the kid on paper as someone he's not (so that throws Miguel, Akmed and Seamus right out the window).

So with that said... anyone have any great ideas???

The Due Date Come... and Goes.

*sigh* It's been a long day. This whole week of anticipation is hard for someone who has the patience equalling that of my one year old. I could blame my husband for getting my hopes up in eager expectation that the baby was going to come last weekend, but alas, my frustration is my own. And it's on my mind that everytime I place a phone call or pick up the phone the first question on the persons mind on the other end of the phone is "has she had the baby yet?" I might just stop answering the phone until I have this kid. =)

I know that this quiet period BEFORE he arrives is the calmest time I'm going to have for a good long while so I'm trying to take advantage of it. It feels like I'm watching a pot try to boil so I've tried planning stuff throughout the week so that I can keep my mind on other things. I've been organizing our digital photos, catching up on some scrapbooking, making some cards, getting in touch with old friends and generally staying on top of the stuff that tends to pile up(meals, laundry, dirty bathrooms, etc). It will be interesting to see just how much of an explosion occurs once I do have this kid and have no energy to balance all of the stuff that's on my plate right now. I guess I have 6-8 weeks to figure that out before I add one more thing (work) into the mix.

Well, I'm off to go drown my sorrows in an O'Douls. At least I can celebrate the day - even if it is turning out to be a non-event!

3 days to go.... or less?

Kevin here ---

Its about 9pm here and I've been having 'gut' feelings (haha) since yesterday that the baby would be coming this weekend. We've been making preparations all day. And just 30 minutes ago Lauren started getting sharp pain contractions that make her yelp mid-sentence. My cousin Trisha who has 6 kids says "Sounds like you'll be in the hospital by morning", and I have a gut feeling we will maybe.

Took a snapshot of Lauren a few minutes ago to show her beach ball under the shirt.





I can't help but throw in some more gratuitous photo braggardship of my favorite daughter in her favorite blanket giving daddy her cheek for a kiss earlier today. Her blanket and the new word "cozy" are her two favorite new things this week.




If we do go in tonight, I'll definitely keep ya'll posted!