Going Back

I am scheduled to go back to work bright and early Monday morning. I cannot believe how quickly the last three months have gone by, to say I am sad is putting it lightly.

I have loved loved loved being a part of every moment of Liam's life so far. I have loved pretending to be a housewife. It's been so nice to cook and bake and get laundry done throughout the day instead of a mad dash in the evenings.

That being said, I am blessed to go back to a job that I love, a job that I am (hopefully still) good at. I am anxious about transitioning back into a forty hour work week, especially one that starts with my alarm going off at 4am most days. I know I will have to give myself some grace and pray for it from my peers and employees as my company has changed several things in the three months I have been on leave. My store itself has at least two new team members that I have yet to work with! I have a lot of adapting to do and a lot of remembering as well. I currently can't remember any of my sixteen different passwords or codes to safes and alarms. I am also nervous about trying to arrange my work day around my pumping needs as it is in Liam's best interest to remain on a breast milk diet. I am hopeful that I will be able to find a balance quickly and that my team won't resent the time I will have to spend off the floor to pump. I am grateful that my boss in on my side and has given me several resources to make this easier on myself.

I am so thankful that Ryan will be staying home with Liam. It would break my heart even more to have to drop him off in the arms of a stranger at day care. He will be in good hands. I know that they will have a lot of fun and hopefully Ryan will be able to get some studying done during nap times.

Thankfully, my schedule grants me the opportunity to be home by 2 pm most days. That gives me a lot of time to still love on my little man. Hopefully, I can dwell on that and not on the fact that in twelve months time I will have spent 84 days at work and away from Liam. Can you tell I'm trying to psych myself up for this? :)

Please pray for me and our little family as we make this huge transition. Pray that I will have grace to do my job without crying all day. Pray that Liam bird will be good for his daddy and take his bottles. Pray that Ryan will have patience and will use his time wisely to study when he can. And, if you are one of my customers, or one of my employees, please be patient and kind as I make my way back to the land of the working woman. I promise I will try my best!

Brother, Gus

(the day we brought Liam home)

I realize that I haven't written about Gus' transition into being a big brother, of course he loves him! Yay! I don't know why I ever worried. From the moment we brought Liam home, Gus has been a wonderful and protective big brother. He is very concerned with Liam's happiness and curious about everything that relates to him. If Liam cries, you can guarantee that Gus will either be in the middle of you trying to console him, or he will come and get you to make sure you realize the baby is crying. When our families were visiting Gus was protective of Liam and seemed to worry that not everyone knew what they were doing with the baby, he would hover near the rocking chair and constantly try to lick Liam's head to reassure him that he was near.

(Gus loves "checking" on Liam while he is asleep in his pack & play or taking a bath)

All this being said, we haven't gone through this transition without a few issues. Mainly, Gus looooves Liam's diapers. We keep a small trash can in our laundry room for dirty diapers and Gus goes in there the second the laundry room door is opened to sniff the trash can. On at least two occasions, Gus has successfully gotten diapers out of the trash can and shredded/consumed them before we discovered his naughtiness. Let me tell you, gross. The only success we have with keeping him out of the diapers is to keep him out of the laundry room, which really shouldn't be that hard, but we frequently leave the door open. The other day as I was doing laundry, I walked back into the laundry room to find the top of the trash can stuck around Gus' neck! I really wish I had taken a picture!

Another thing that Gus loves is anything that Liam has spit up on. Gross, I know. We have to make sure not to leave burp rags or bibs lying around because Gus is bound to steal them and lick them to death. He really loves it when Liam spits up on the floor, but honestly, I don't mind him cleaning that up for me. :)

The most recent issue we have had is that Gus doesn't seem to understand that Liam's toys are not his own. We have started trying to introduce a few things to Liam like a rattle, music player, and the stuffed musical glow thingy in the previous post. Anytime we start to try to engage Liam with one of these items Gus goes crazy. He begs for the toy, he sits patiently like a good boy, he waits and waits for us to give it to him...and we don't. I feel awful because I know he must be so confused. For the last two years any toy that we brought into our home was for him, and the baby toys do resemble a lot of his own toys. I sat the stuffed toy on the changing table the other day for Liam to watch while I changed his diaper. I came back into the room later and saw the tail of the toy sticking out from under the bed! We have no idea how to teach Gus that these are Liam's toys, so if anyone has any ideas or suggestions I would love to hear them!

All in all, I think we have had a pretty easy time bringing a baby into our dog's life. While I was pregnant everyone had a story for me of how they knew about someone who had to give their dog away after they had a baby, so I was truly worried. But, I think we have worked really hard to make sure that didn't have to happen. Gus still gets a ton of attention from us and we try to trust him to be near Liam so he hasn't been jealous. Hopefully as Liam is in the floor more and more things continue to go well! We love our babies, both fur and human!

Wordless Wednesday

(smiley baby in the middle of the night, love)

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Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! We are so blessed, and so thankful for our healthy little giggling dribbling baby boy.



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Wordless Wednesday

Tree made entirely of poinsettias at Opryland Hotel.

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Christmas Cold

Liam and I both have a cold. Boo! Little boy is usually a good sleeper and very cheerful but we had a long fussy night Sunday complete with congestion, coughing, and watery eyes. So I took Liam to the doctor yesterday to make sure it wasn't an ear infection or RSV. Good news is that it's just a cold. The other good news is that he only woke up once last night between 8pm and 6am! The bad news is that I woke up feeling yucky this morning.

I had a few errands to run today but decided to stay snuggled up on the couch with my little man instead.

My sweet husby picked up a lemon on his way home from work so I could make hot toddys.

Here's my recipe...
Juice of 1/4 lemon
1/2 Tbs honey
1 Tbs whiskey
6 oz boiling water
Stir everything together, increase or decrease ingredients to taste. Pretty easy!




I know it's probably all in my head, but I really did feel a little better after I had one. They are very soothing on the throat.

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Wordless Wednesday

Liam bird slept through meeting Santa for the first time, typical.

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That's So Nashville.

Monday night Ryan's band, The Atlas, had a show here in Nashville that I really wanted to attend.



Now, most parents would probably never consider taking their infant to a concert but we figured the earlier we exposed him to it, the better. So, we got some little baby ear plugs and I wrapped on the Moby and we rocked out.

In typical Liam fashion, the bird slept through the entire show snuggled up close to me. It's "so Nashville" for people to stand unimpressed with their arms crossed at shows. They are either too cool to be impressed, or they think they're better than the band. Needless to say, the sleeping babe fit right in.

It was a great show in every way and I was thrilled for Liam to get to subconciously be there.


*go to www.theatlasmusic.com to download some FREE and wonderful Christmas tunes




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Wordless Wednesday

By far our best present under the tree this year.


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TWO Months Old!

Dear Liam,
Alright! Enough already! How are you already two months old? I seriously cannot believe that I have been your mommy for eight whole weeks! You are such a joy and I have delighted in staying home and loving on you.

At your two month appointment, which was two weeks ago, you weighed 7 pounds 10 ounces and were 20.5 inches long. We weighed you at home the other day and you were right at 9 pounds! You are growing like a weed! You are still wearing newborn sized clothes and diapers and are starting to fill them out a lot better.

You are really starting to become more alert. You love to sit in your bouncy seat and stare up at the ceiling fan. You are still sleeping a lot, two or three big naps during the day and then sleeping all night except to eat two or three times. You love being swaddled while you sleep and we have found that the Halo Sleepsack has been one of our favorite items for you (I should do a product review...).

It's a blessing to be your mommy. Even when you spit up or go potty on me, I wouldn't change it for the world. I love getting to see your sweet personality start to show and snuggling you is truly one of the best things about my life.

Forever and ever,
Mama

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