Liam is 2 Months!

 

Liam's first 2 months flew by! It was a month full of snuggles, family, playing, and growing.

 

 

Last week he was 13 lbs 2 oz (75%) and 24" (90%). Another baby getting their height from Daddy! He grew so much this month! I am squeezing him into size 1 diapers to finish a box and wears 0-3 month clothes but can fit 3-6 months. He nurses every 2-3 hours during the day. At night he will go 3-4 hours. He has taken a bottle and did great with it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

He is starting to smile more and talk to us. Amelia still loves him but still working on being gentle with him. I really hope that they have a special relationship as they grow up.

 

 

I forgot with Amelia how hard we fight to get naps. He cat naps during the day and does better at night. Two nights ago he slept from 8 pm to 6 am!  I started using the sleep sack with the swaddle and he goes much longer!

     

He enjoys being in his swing and of course being held. I also use the moby wrap with him. I am still his favorite but he is starting to love his Daddy! We love our little boy so much!

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Liam's First Month

Liam's first month flew by! It was spent with lots of time with family and adjusting to being a family of four!

Liam is very sweet little boy. He is a good nurser. It took us a little bit to get him latched on but we soon figured out what we were doing. At first he wanted to nurse every 1 1/2 hours during the day and 2-3 hours at night. He gained weight pretty quickly. He weight 7 lbs 8 ounces at birth. By his 2 1/2 week appointment he was 8 lbs 5 ounces. He is slowly outgrowing his newborn outfits by the end of the month and still using newborn diapers.

 He was pretty much attached to me the whole month. I was the only one who could calm him. He slept in his rock n play sleeper next to me like Amelia did.

Amelia is adjusting to not being an only child. Amelia loves Liam but sometimes struggles if we are holding him when she wants to be held. She is also still learning how to be gentle with him. There have been burst of anger with him but we are working on it. She loves to find out where he is and say Baby!

Right after we came home from the hospital, my parents came for a few days to help us. We started getting the nursery organized, and really tried to love on Amelia as she was adjusting. Then we had a 2 weeks alone, one of those weeks I was home with both kids. Liam was a pretty good sleeper during the day then.

Joe went out of town on a mission trip with the students so my parents came back in town for a week to help. Then Liam started his fussy stage, especially in the evenings! I was starting to worry that he was going to be a colicy baby. The next week Joe's parents came to stay. We were definitely getting spoiled by the grandparents!

We love you William James! I sometimes forget what our family was like before you came because it seems like you were always there! We love your baby snuggles, daddy side eyes, and constant reminder that you are God's gift to us!

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Liam's Birth Story

Here is the story of Liam's entrance in the world (if this doesn't interest you, don't read!)

My pregnancy with Liam was not bad by comparison to many others I see at the hospital. I was just very tired for a lot of it. That could have something to do with a very busy toddler that I didn't get to rest as much as I did with Amelia.  When I went to my 38 week appointment, my blood pressure was high. The doctor explained that with elevated BP the goal is to get to 38 weeks which I  already was. I however was not ready to go ahead and have a baby then! We decided that I would go to work the next day and check my BP there.  
The next morning I didn't feel well and my BP was a little higher at work. After a quick visit to triage to monitor my blood pressure and rule our preeclampsia, I was sent home to take it easy over the weekend and to see my doctor on Monday. I did try to keep it easy but had a nagging headache all weekend. Sunday when I woke up I felt even worse so I called the doctor on call who told me to come to the hospital and we would go ahead and have a baby. Joe was at church but I was home with Amelia! I quickly got things arranged and we left Amelia with a family from church. Funny note, I had arranged to buy a dresser off Craigslist that day so we made a quick stop on the way to the hospital to pick up the dresser for Liam's room.

    After I was settled in at the hospital, the doctor checked me and I was 1-2 cm but needed cervidil (a medicine they put inside) which is to prepare my body for induction. I got that around 2:30 in the afternoon. I started contracting pretty quickly and as the evening went on they started to get more intense and closer together. My nurse gave me an ambien to help me sleep but I was in too much pain to fall asleep. I remember around midnight I was moaning with contractions but I knew they would take the medicine out after 12 hours and I could get up and shower. I kept trying to make it until then!  But I didn't last that long and got my epidural.
After I got my epidural placed, it took extra medicine to get me numb. Finally I was blissfully pain free and officially exhausted! But I was only 2 cm then but at least very soft. But I guess my blood pressure plummeted after with all of the epidural medicine so then I received medicine to get my BP back up (ironic isn't it?)
Around 5 am they started a small amount of pitocin to get my contractions stronger. I was sleeping off and on all morning, but I was starting to get more nauseated. Around 9 am the doctor broke my water and I was 5-6 cms. Pretty quickly after I got sick. Then I started having lots of pain on my side, and Liam was tolerating my labor either. I was moved to my side, given oxygen but soon felt better with my epidural bonus button which made my pain tolerable and my legs incredibly numb. 
I soon started feeling pressure but wanted to labor down as much as possible so I didn't want to tell anyone. My nurse came in  after talking with Dr Moore, decided to check my dilation, and it was time to push! Now with Amelia, they used a vacuum which gave me a horrible tear so I was pretty adamant that would be a last resort! It took a few pushes to get the hang out of what I was doing and they brought a mirror in to help me see which helped! After about 15 minutes at 10:21 am William James Mayes was born on July 1st screaming weighing 7 pounds 7.9 ounces and 20 1/2 inches!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

He is a wonderful blessing to our family and we love him so much!! I really hope to blog more and I have some catching up to do!

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Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

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Baby #2

Due in July!

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Amelia's First Birthday Giraffe Party: The Decorations

We did it! I made it through her first birthday party. It was touch and go on party day getting everything done but Amelia had a great first birthday party!

We decided on a giraffe party a few months ago. Amelia loved her Sophie the Giraffe Teether, and especially the giraffes at the zoo. When starting to look for party ideas on pinterest I found you really could have a giraffe birthday party.

We will start with the invitation. I found invitations I liked on Etsy and took what I liked on each invitation and made my own. I liked how you could see how Amelia got older. I worked on this invitation long and hard until I got it the way that I liked it but I think it turned really cute!

I found lots of cute projects on pinterest and the internet, and I tried to accomplish as much as I could. The color scheme was pink, blue, gray, and yellow.

 

My favorite decorations were the fire place. I made a birthdday timeline for Amelia. It has 2 pictures for every month. The circles say Hello World, 3 Months, 6 Months, 9 Months, and One year with wooden pink giraffes. I brought down the name blocks from Amelia's room. Behind I made a ruffled garland using strips of fabric. I also loved the Ruffled One with tissue paper.  And one of Joe's students painted a giraffe with the quote "Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive that is youer than you." Dr Seuss.

 

 

 

We hung tissue pom-poms around the house.  The cenerpeices for the tables were ribbon topiaries.



I made this wishing tree that I wanted the guests to write wishes for Amelia. It didn't happen in the hustle of the party but still cute. I made this chalkboard print for Amelia on the computer. I found a lady that actually writes them out but I know that I don't have cute handwriting.

This large giraffe greeted the guests at the door. This was actually one of Amelia's gifts. The kid loved the big giraffe. If you follow me on instagram you can find the giraffe in some interesting places.

 

 

This was an easy project to take some of pictures from the year and hand them in the shape of a one.

 

This was the front door as the guests came in. I made a ruffled wreath with an A in the center. That is now hanging on Amelia's door.

 

The giraffe was holding the welcome sign.

 

And of course balloons to welcome the guests. We didn't get pictures of the yard signs. They said "The Party is Here" with a giraffe that was taped to posts.

 

Stay tuned to the next post with info about the food (Amelia eating her cake) and opening presents.

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11 Months Update

Amelia is 11 months!...Well almost three weeks ago she was 11 months.

She had a great month before. She weighs about 22 pounds and we will see exactly at tall she is at her 12 month appointment. We are starting to see her silly little personality. She loves to be with mommy and daddy. And especially loves reading books.

 She went on her first family vacation to Florida. She went to Disney World, the beach, Universal Studios, and a lot more. I need to make a long post on our trip to Florida.

Amelia is playing for much longer now but usually is getting into mischief. I heard her playing the piano one day all on her own!

We went to a wedding of some of our former students that was at a farm. I had to crochet Amelia some cowboy boots! I thought she looked especially cute!

This month she learned new things like clapping, pushing her walker, she is a pro at cruising, , and especially at making messes!! Amelia into everything now. She loves to pull all of her books down, and empty her basket of toys. And she loves everything that is not hers! She also LOVES stuffed animals. Especially the ET stuffed animal she picked out at Universal.

She also loves eating. Pretty much anything you give to her and she is shoveling it into her mouth. I love that she is such a good eater and much less stressful for me. She usually has either a banana or pancakes for breakast. She is also loving mac and cheese. She loves most fruit and usually all veggies.

Amelia also had her first child hood illness. She had hand foot and mouth disease. She first had a fever and then started with her yucky rash. Thankfully they weren't too bad in her mouth. The interesting part is that she gave it to Joe! He was definitely more pitiful than she was!
 

 We had a great month. We are currently in full on planning mode for her party in less than 2 weeks! I still can't believe that my little baby girl is going one! When did that happen?!

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You Just Wait

 

We have been on vacation for the last week so I have lots to say and pictures to share. But I will leave you with this picture of Amelia meeting Belle. She LOVED Belle (and I think Belle loved Amelia). Melts my little heart.

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Amelia is 10 Months

Baby girl is 10 Months! This month has been lots of fun with a baby (an almost toddler) who is crawling and into everything!! Even getting her monthly picture is starting to become a challenge because she is soo busy! She knows what No No! means and gives me a big smile but usually stops what she is doing. 

She says Da da all the time now! Sometimes directed at Joe and sometimes she is just happily saying da da! My favorite was one time I asked her who should change her diaper and she announced da da!

We are in full swing planning her first birthday shin-dig! It is a giraffe themed party for her favorite zoo animal and favorite teether toy Sophie! Look out for more info to come! And maybe even a peek at the invitation I designed over at my Etsy Shop. 

She weighs about 20 pounds when I weigh us on the scale. She can still fit in 6-9 month clothes because all her next size are more fall clothes. But colder weather is coming upon us so new wardrobe for Amelia! She still sleeps 10-11 hours at night and usually takes 2 1/12 hour naps a day. She sleeps best in her crib but will doze in the car. She is a big pacifier baby so we are thinking about weaning her from it soon.

Amelia is a big eater now. She eats almost all table food. She still loves cheerios but eats a banana almost every day. She loves tacos, spaghetti, grapes, carrots, meat, cheese. You know pretty much everything! You take her to Chipotle and she is chowing down! 

Her other new favorite activity is pulling up onto everything! She is walking around furniture pretty well and will walk with me holding at least one hand. And today she climbed 6 stairs. Eek! I love our baby gates!

Amelia is still toothless! I know! She has the cutest little toothless smile but I am way surprised it has taken us this long! But I think we they are coming soon! Her gums look swollen to me and she has been way more fussy than normal. Maybe soon?

Amelia loves

*eating

*playing

*chasing the dogs around

Amelia hates

*getting her clothes changed

*getting strapped in the car seat (but loves to play with her carseat if it out)

*being tired

We love our baby girl sooo much! 

PS Amelia is in a contest for the cutest baby at American Baby. You can vote for her here!

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