Let's Talk About Liam

The blog has obviously veered away from being Liam-centric in the past few months. The pregnancy was so emotionally and physically exhausting that any attempts to write an update about Liam just were not seen through. Liam has been here the whole time, though, growing and getting smarter every day.

As of today, Liam is 34 months old. In two short months he will be three years old. WOW! He's having a Thomas the Train party because the little dude is still obsessed with those trains.

Some words I would use to describe Liam at this stage are:
Smart
Stubborn
Charming
Particular
Entertaining

Smart: We definitely have a little smarty on our hands. He learned the alphabet (both upper and lowercase) many months ago. He's been counting to 20 for many months as well although he still usually skips 15. These days, we get asked 100 times a day what a word starts with or how a word is spelled. He usually already knows the answer for what a word starts with. He knows the letter sounds already. He can spell his name (good thing it's short), knows his full name, and recognize some words by sight. If, for example, you tell him a word starts with G, he will say, "Just like____(another word that starts with G)." So letters and words are his big thing right now for sure. I think he will be an early reader.

Liam got his first non-peg puzzle around Christmas. It was a 24-piece Thomas the Train puzzle. He put it right together in 10 minutes. Since then, he's put together lots of puzzles, with the biggest ones being 35-piece puzzles. If we weren't so tired of picking up tons of puzzle pieces off the floor, we'd let him move on to bigger ones!

He recently started learning the months of the year. He can tell you what months all four of us were born in and recognizes many of the month names by sight. His memory is too good. If you tell him you might do something tomorrow, he will ask you about it right when he wakes up the next day. He always speaks in sentences now. It's not always perfect, but you always know what he's saying. He's starting to pick up phrases he hears and use them, even if not correctly all the time. He loves to say, "Guess what?" but he really doesn't have any follow up to it! He also likes to say, "That's fine." He really says a lot of funny (to us) things these days and I usually don't write them down. I did write down a few in the fall, though:

October 23: Mama: Liam, Where are we going? Liam: To the bakery. For pancakes! For a party!
(Said while sitting in the driver's seat of the car while it was in the driveway.)

October 24: Excuse me. Paper please.

October 25: (Knock on the door.) It's Gibson!

October 29: I'm a dinosaur! I'm a kangaroo!

November 8: He left a toy car named Boomer in the yard. As we were going inside, he said. "Bye bye Goomer. See ya later!"

November 11: Laying his head on my belly: Hi Gibson! You in there?

November 12: I asked Liam who he wanted to pray for: "Jingle Bells...and animals."

November 26: I told him we need to clean his room. He punched the air and said, "Let's Do it!"

November/December: "Don't scares him!" when he doesn't want you to mess with something like a toy

Some of these now seem like no big deal, but at the time I obviously thought they were significant enough to write down. I will try to do better at writing them down from now on.

Stubborn: Goodness, he really is stubborn. If it's not his idea or something he wants to do, he will not do it...at least not without kicking and a good amount of screaming. Especially since Gibson has been born, Liam has become a screamer when he gets told "No" or doesn't get his way about something. He's really good at making his displeasure known.

Charming: This is usually the case around people other than us! Thankfully, Liam keeps his screaming limited to us and is typically nice and friendly to other people. Most of the kids he hangs out with just happen to be girls, and he loves to spend time with them. He talks about them and asks to see them. If you ask him who his friends are, he rattles off the names of several girls. It's cute. However, last week we saw our 8 year old neighbor while out on a walk. Liam has played with her and her sister a few times. They think of him as a cute baby! Anyway, he walked right up to her and said, "Can I have a kiss?" I was kind of dismayed, but we all just laughed. We've never told him to do that or that it's ok to do that. I've asked him for kisses before, but I'm his mother! I guess it's cute now, but it won't be in a couple of years! He only got a handshake, by the way.

Particular: Liam always has an idea of how he wants things to be or how it wants things to be done. He wants a specific snack or a specific toy, and there might be screaming if what he wants isn't available or won't be given to him for whatever reason. He doesn't have OCD tendencies at all. He's definitely not neat; messes are his true forte. I called it particular, but it really leans more toward bossiness. He's quick to tell us where we can sit on the couch or not to mess with his toys. He's a man who knows what he wants, for sure. I can see him bossing around Gibson one day, unfortunately. This is how he is at home, but I'm not sure if he's this way around other kids at church. I've never been told he was bossing kids around, but that doesn't mean he's not doing it!

Entertaining: Having a conversation with him is entertaining because you just never know what he's going to say. We get a lot of laughs out of phrases he says or words he makes up. His imagination is huge, and I like to watch him play with his trains making up stories for them. He loves to pretend and gets so excited about things like parties that will happen in the future. This year, he's aware he has a birthday coming and he finally knows what that means and that there will be a party. It's entertaining to watch him figure stuff out and learn about new things. He "loves" everything, or so he says. He's got a lot of energy and uses it to either be entertaining or annoying, ha! He's very loud, or at least I just noticed how loud he was since we've had a newborn in the house! Liam is always worth watching, if not for the entertainment factor, then for the "We might have to stop him from doing something crazy" factor. To say he keeps us on our toes would be an understatement.

These days, Liam is adjusting to life as a big brother. It has been hard on him. He can't really be trusted around Gibson yet because he would get pretty rough with him. Telling Liam the word "no" just makes him want to do something even more...and he will try to do it fast if he's thinks you're about to stop him. He's been a challenge the past 7 weeks. On more than one occasion, he has said that he wants to throw Gibson away in the trash can. I don't think he really means it, but no longer being the center of attention is hard on a two year old. He frustrates me on a daily basis and has gotten to be fairly disobedient sometimes. It's hard! Liam is obviously still very much loved by us, but I can't give him the massive amounts of attention he wants and needs since Gibson has decided he needs to be attached to me 24/7. We are learning how to be a family of four together!

Some pictures of Liam from the past few months:

Gibson at One Month Old

The past month went by super fast and yet it feels like Gibson was born ages ago. I'm happy to say that we have survived a full month parenting two little guys. I've definitely had tough days alone with both of them, but most of the time things go well, or at least they go ok. Either way, we're all alive and well!

Once we were home from the hospital, Gibson and I took up residence in our bedroom and pretty much stayed in there the first few days. Liam came down with a runny nose the day we came home, so we kept them separated. We ended up having to keep them apart for most of the first two weeks because Liam's runny nose lasted that long. Unfortunately, I think this set us up for some jealousy from Liam.

I would say that Liam has had a tough time with all of this. He definitely loves Gibson, which means he wants to mess with him all the time. Well, he can be too rough and he's just unpredictable in general, so we have to stop him from bothering Gibson much in order to keep Gibson safe. Those arms and legs of his are just too tempting to pull on, apparently. But overall, I think the thing Liam is having the hardest time with is that I just can't give him all the attention he wants. I give him what I can, but Gibson literally wants to be on me 24/7. Liam learned fast to misbehave when I am stuck feeding Gibson. He has started screaming when he's upset like when we tell him no. He has refused to go to bed for hours at night resulting in everyone showing their bad side. So Liam has definitely been our biggest challenge this month.

Gibson, however, has been a pretty easy baby. He is content...as long as he is being held. This is challenging for sure at times. I strap him on me with a wrap for most of the day. He nurses a lot. I have to hold him at night while we sleep. Yes, a month in and he's still sleeping on top of me at night. I haven't laid flat on my back for more than a few minutes this past month. My back is killing me. Occasionally, I can lay him down in his crib or the bouncy seat for just a little bit. However, I can't leave him unattended in the bouncy seat to even go to the bathroom because of Liam. Hopefully things will change soon and Gibson will start sleeping in his crib at night. It's literally less than a foot away from my side of the bed, but me being close by seems to wake him up until I hold him. Gibson also doesn't like to be swaddled as most babies do. I'm hoping when it gets warmer that he will warm up to his crib.

Back to his first week home. The day after we left the hospital, Gibson had his first check up with our pediatrician. I even had it together enough to take him by myself to the appointment. His weight was down to 6 pounds, 14 ounces from 7 pounds, 11 ounces at birth. So that's a pretty big difference. The doctor suggested giving him a tiny amount of formula before breastfeeding to wake him up, and that seemed to work well. Gibson also had a bit of jaundice, but not as bad as Liam. The doctor was overall pleased with Gibson despite these things. He assured me that I wasn't starving him even though my milk had not yet come in. We had to go back two days later for a weight check and to check his jaundice (just by observation instead of heel pricks!). That day, his weight was 6 pounds, 13 ounces, so he had lost weight even though my milk had come in by then. The jaundice was about the same or a little better. The doctor was once again fine with all of this and told me to keep doing what I was doing regarding nursing and formula. I remember that weekend Gibson nursed a ton and then we went back yet again on that Monday when he was 8 days old. I thought he had surely gained weight, but nope, he was still 6 pounds, 13 ounces. So he hadn't lost any weight either. He had also not pooped since he was 3 days old. The doctor had confirmed he wasn't constipated, though, and he had not been acting like he was trying to do that but couldn't. Once again the doctor was not concerned and said he was well-hydrated. He said I could give more formula if I wanted to, so I decided to give him a little more. That second week, it seemed like I just wasn't making enough for him as he would still be hungry after nursing. I wasn't attached to the ideal of getting to exclusively breastfeed, so I was fine with giving him more formula. And then when he was 10 days old, he started pooping again after taking a week off. I could tell he was starting to gain weight as well and his jaundice was gone. At a month old, I still have to give formula after most feedings, but Gibson is getting way more breast milk than Liam ever did, so to me we are successful and I am not stressed out about it like I was with Liam. It's a much better situation.

At his two-week appointment, Gibson was up to 8 pounds, 2 ounces (70th percentile) and 21 inches long officially (99th percentile). So all the feeding was doing him good. To date, Gibson has still not spit up even one time. He's also really good at burping after meals. He really does love to eat and is chunking up really fast.

Gibson hasn't gotten out of the house much in his first month except to go to the pediatrician. It's now been a couple of weeks since he's even been there and he doesn't have to go back until he is 2 months old. It's been cold a lot of the time we've been home (with a few spring-like days here and there), and it's flu season. So those reasons coupled with the fact that we don't really want to deal with going out with two kids yet has kept him at home. I've gone places either by myself or with Liam, but Gibson so far has stayed behind. We have taken several walks around the neighborhood, but Gibson has been in the wrap snoozing on me every time. He got to meet his grandmother, great-grandparents, great aunt and uncle, and friends who blessed us with meals. Gibson also experienced his first Valentine's Day in his first month.

The first few weeks with newborn Liam still stand as the hardest of my life. I am much more calm and less-stressed this time around. Gibson has given us a few smiles on purpose and is starting to focus on us more. He's been awake a lot more since the third week or so. It doesn't help that Liam makes a ton of noise or that Gibson will wake up usually if I put him down even for just a couple of minutes. The longest stretch he has slept has been 5 and a half hours, but that was just one time!

I have to consciously remind myself that Gibson is not just baby Liam all over again. He certainly looks similar, but so far their baby personalities are pretty different. Liam always enjoyed his space and slept in his bed from day one. Gibson demands to be held. Liam was way more fussy than Gibson is. Maybe Gibson will be our laid-back go with the flow child because Liam is certainly not!

We are very much in love with Gibson already. He is a sweet, snugly baby. I know that Liam will adjust one day to all these changes, and then life will be easier maybe. The days really do go by fast, though. I'm sure Gibson will be the precocious two year old before I know it.

First Week:

Second Week:

Third week:

Fourth Week:

Gibson at the Hospital

Gibson was born at 12:16 pm, so at lunch time. Our friend Sarah, who had been watching Liam, brought him to the hospital around 6:00 p.m. to meet his baby brother. Liam was excited to meet him and was pretty cute doing so. Of course, he kept trying to smother him with stuffed animals, but it was totally out of love and a two year old's lack of knowledge on how breathing works. What I loved was that I finally got to hold Liam again! I had not been allowed to pick him up in a long time, and he had backed off a good bit on showing affection to me since I couldn't really do anything with him. When Liam came to the hospital, we gave him a few gifts "from Gibson" including two new trains. We had told Liam that when Gibson was born, he would give him some trains, so maybe he was just excited to get the trains!

Since we do have Liam, Will had to go home with him and not spend the night with me at the hospital. I may have cried a little when they left, but I knew we didn't really have a choice. Gibson and I worked on breastfeeding that first night. He was sleepy for a long time that first day and was not interested in eating. I will say that Baylor has become much more proactive on breastfeeding since Liam was born. I told them how I had failed with Liam, and they wheeled a pump in basically right after I got to my room. So I started a routine of breastfeed, supplement with a  little formula, and then pump pretty quickly. I also need two hands to count the number of lactation consultants I saw in our two days there. They were great in getting us off to a good start, and things have gone much better this time around.

Around midnight the day Gibson was born, I realized that I had been awake for about 38 hours at that point. Since Will wasn't staying with me, I made the tough decision to send Gibson to the nursery for two hours between feedings so I could try and get some rest. He had already been to the nursery a couple of times because he was treated as a preemie since he technically was one by 12 hours. So they had extra tests and checks to do on him. We had also gone down there together for his first bath. Once again, since he was a preemie, they had to do the bath in the nursery so he could have it done under a heat lamp.  He was allowed to stay in my room, however, but I knew I would have a hard time sleeping with him in there alone with me. I think he stayed in the nursery for two two-hour stints that night so I was able to get a little sleep.

One thing they kept monitoring was his oxygen level since he made noise when he would breathe. But his levels always checked out great and he never had any signs of breathing difficulty. He just makes noise. He still does it occasionally while sleeping, and he always makes noises while eating. He's just a noisy kid.

On our second day there, Gibson had to take a car seat test, which is mandatory for preemies. He had to sit in his car seat for 90 minutes and maintain his oxygen level, heart rate, and temperature. I rested a little while he was down in the nursery doing that, but I went down for the last 30 minutes. He got excited when I talked to him and his heart rate went up, so then I laid low and let him keep snoozing in there the rest of the time. He passed easily, and while we were there he had his hearing test done, which he also passed easily. Preemie protocol calls for the baby to be swaddled in two blankets and wear two hats. The yellow hat is for preemies. It didn't fit him very well!

Our second night alone at the hospital, I also sent him to the nursery once so I could sleep a couple of hours. In the early morning hours, he was checked out by the pediatrician who declared him perfect and able to go home that day. We had to stay the full 48 hours after birth because of his preemie status. Around lunch, my friend Kelli came all the way from Louisiana to visit, meet Gibson, and she ended up being super useful in getting us packed up and on our way home. She also brought the really cute baby blanket, burp cloths, and stuffed dinosaur she made for Gibson. Will and Liam showed up after lunch, and we took our time getting all of our stuff together. I rented a breast pump to take home with me. We finally got all loaded up around 3:00 p.m. and we headed home with our two boys. It was 70 degrees the day he was born, but in the 30s the day we went home.