Some Updates with Liam

It's been awhile since I posted anything about Liam, so I thought I'd put up some pictures so the little guy isn't forgotten.

Liam is a sweetheart, but a cranky sweetheart. He started out life pretty mild-mannered and Tyson and I both thought we had scored with the easy going kid. However, that soon changed. Now, we both agree that he is probably our hardest baby. Kallen seemed harder because it was a more stressful transition for the both of us, but Liam is definitely the harder baby...we are just more use to being parents now, so it doesn't feel so bad. The problem with Liam is this, if he isn't asleep or eating, he is usually crying, so we end up holding him most of the day, but that gets old really fast. He has been the slowest eater out of the three boys and the hardest to get to bed at night. Plus, he has no schedule at all during the day. He'll sleep for 5 min here and there and then wake himself up crying. If he didn't give us his super cute smiles every now and then, this kid might have been returned by now. :)

Even though Liam is a little more difficult, we really do love him. He is a good addition to our family and it has been such a blessing to have him in our lives. Kallen and Weston love him and call him "Baby Liam". It really is cute to see how they are with him.

The first week we had Liam, he slept...a lot. It was probably because he had horrible jaundice. His doctor was pretty worried about it, so we had to stay an extra day at the hospital and get bloodwork done all the time. The doctor saw him everyday to see if his jaundice count was going down, but each day it just kept rising.

Eventually, we had to use a home light therapy on him for about a week, which didn't seem to help much either. In the end, the doctor thought it might be my milk that was making him unable to get rid of his jaundice (bilirubin), so I stopped nursing. I guess sometimes nursing mother's don't have an enzyme or something that breaks the bilirubin down. Sure enough, that was it, and his bilirubin finally started to decline. Who knew?...Mom had bad milk.

Liam started smiling pretty much at one month, which was so much sooner than either Kallen or Weston. My heart just melts whenever he looks up at me with that big grin. Also, it is hard to get annoyed with him as he smiles at you...even during the middle of the night when your dead tired and he won't go back to sleep. I really think it is his secret weapon so Tyson and I don't get too frustrated. His smile honestly makes everything perfect and right in the world. This was one of the first pictures we got of him smiling, so it isn't that great...his smile is so much better, but its all I've got right now.

Some of my favorite things about Liam are: He has started to have one long stretch of sleeptime during the night for about 5 -6 hours. That is a ton for a kid of mine and he started doing this so much sooner than the other boys did. I also love that he has red/blond hair. You can't tell in pictures right now, but the little hair he does have is red. Its kind of fun to finally have a child that looks a little different from the others. I'm guessing if he does keep his red hair, it will be strawberry blond and probably will eventually turn completely blond in a few years. I'm not sure Tyson likes the red hair, but I sure do. Liam also has the skin type of a redhead. Now that his jaundice is gone, he always shocks me how white he is. He has the palest chubby legs I have ever seen! Also, I love that Liam doesn't spit up! Our other kids, especially Weston spit up ALL...THE...TIME! I was always covered in throw-up and everyone in the family went through at least 4 different outfits per day. So it is nice to have a child who doesn't do this. I didn't think it was possible to have a non-spitter, but Liam proved it was. Liam is also so strong. He loves being held in the sit-up position and does so well with keeping his head up. What a trooper. And finally, like I mentioned before, He has the best smile!

I'm so excited to see what Liam's personality will be like in a few more months. Little newborns are so soft and cuddly, but I love seeing them when they start interacting with you more as they get older. It makes life as a parent lots of fun.