Where's Liam?

In all this mess can you find the baby? I don't know why I feel the need to post this, but for some reason I thought it was funny.

Earlier today, I walked into our room to check on Liam, and for a split second I couldn't find him. Where did he go?

Oh there he is...right in the middle of the bed. He is so small he got lost in all the mess. What a cute little sleeper. I love how newborns sleep with their arms over their head...it's so cute.
Oh, and here is Weston. He wanted his picture taken too and put on the blog. The kid needs a haircut, but I think its cute long.

Watch Out! A 4-year-old with a Drivers License

Kallen's favorite thing to do now is drive cars. Anytime we go anywhere, once we stop the car and start unloading, he'll jump into the front seat and go to town. Weston as well has started enjoying the fun. His favorite button is the hazard lights, Kallen's favorite thing is the horn. Inevitably, their love for buttons means that most days I turn on the car and the air is on full blast, the left or right turn signal is blinking in the corner of my dash, and usually the windshield wipers are swishing back and forth. All compliments of their excellent driving skills.

Cute story, the first time Weston ever tried driving the car, we were parked outside of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts waiting for Kallen and my Mom to come back. Weston loved every minute of it, but the cutest thing he did was accidently turn on the radio. When the music suddenly turned on, it at first scared him and he jumped. But once he got over the initial shock of what he had done, Weston smiled and said, "music...lets dance". Then he proceeded to wiggle his whole body to the beat. It made it even more cute that the radio was on some kind of Spanish station, so it was a fun upbeat Mexican song. It made me laugh.

*Update: Word of caution: If you let your kids play in the car, make sure they close the doors completely afterwards, or you might find yourself with a drained battery.

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.

Weston's got a little Ink

Weston got into some permanent pens the other day. I should have known he was up to no good when he was playing quietly, but once again, I told myself I was just being paranoid and that nothing was wrong. Boy was I wrong. I found him upstairs with about 20 pens all opened and his arms and face looking like this. It was even in his hair, but its hard to see it. Even after 2 weeks, he still has a purple scalp. Silly boy.

Thankfully, he didn't write on anything else besides himself. Thank you! He was pretty cute with pen everywhere so I had to take some pictures. His arm probably got the most ink. It reminded me of those crazy tatoos that you see on some people's arms.

The little man was so proud of himself and I couldn't help but laugh at him too.

Crack Cat

A few months ago, we kind of went out on a limb and bought a kitten. Tyson and I had talked about getting a kitten a few times before, but we were always postponing it for one reason or another. Well, out of the blue, we visited our local pet store and decided to buy one. He was pretty cute and the boys were so excited for a cat. So we got him. We didn't have anything for him yet, but we bought him regardless. Bad idea. Word of advise, don't ever buy a kitten on a whim...and honestly, maybe never buy a kitten at all...especially a 5-week-old kitten. They are a pain!

When we first got the little guy home (yes, it was a boy...so I was even more outnumbered than before), he seemed like a pretty mild-mannered cat. We named the little guy Archemedes. Not only was it a fun name, but Tyson and I loved hearing the boys say it. It was pretty cute. Anyway, Archemedes seemed like a nice cat, he would play with the boys, but then cuddle and fall asleep. The first week he never scratched or bit any of us. However, that all changed. Soon, the crack cat emerged. He honestly acted like he was on crack all the time. He started biting and scratching all of us. In fact, he would never sit still and if you ever tried touching him, he'd start biting. Now don't get me wrong. I really don't think he was doing it to be mean, I just think he thought that is how you played, but he never stopped and as he got older, his bites and scratches just got worse. So we made the sad decision to give him away. I didn't like this decision, because even though I started really disliking the cat, I felt bad giving him away. However, after some talking, we decided that it would not be safe to have a cat like that with our young boys and the new baby. So Archemedes went away.

It actually is a sad tale...however, I'll admit, I don't miss Archemedes at all. However, the boys miss him, so we promised Kallen that once Baby Liam got older, we'd get another cat. Kallen tells us that "we will get a new cat when Liam is older...a nice cat...one that doesn't scratch". He honestly says that. So maybe in a little while, you'll see another post talking about a new cat, because the boys were pretty cute with the kitten...at least for that first week. And even when he was a crack cat, they still loved him. So we'll get another cat...someday. I mean, honestly, how can you tell a little boy we'll never have a cat again when he was so cute and would read Archemedes stories. You just can't.

So what did we learn from all of this? First, don't buy a cat on a whim. Bad idea. Second, don't buy a kitten unless you are prepared for some big problems and annoyances. Get an adult cat who has a MELLOW personality. Kittens are dang cute, but sooo much trouble. Third, buy a girl cat...especially if you already have too much machoism in the house as it is. Those are the lessons.

Easter Fun

Easter was a little different this year, because I really didn't know if we'd be in the hospital having our baby or not. So things were a little low-key. My doctor kept telling me that Liam would come any day...so the week before Easter we kept waiting for something to happen, which would rush us to the hospital, but nothing ever did. Liam decided to wait until the day after Easter to make his grand appearance.

This Easter was pretty fun for me, because Kallen totally got the whole Easter Bunny thing and was super excited for him to come and visit. In fact, he went to bed easier then he ever has, because he wanted the Easter Bunny to come and not miss our house. In the morning, Kallen walked sleepily into our room and we asked him if the Easter Bunny had come. He replied, "no, it is still nighttime, He hasn't come yet." We informed him that it was morning, and that he should check our Family Room. He got this funny look on his face, and then slowly walked into the other room. Then Tyson and I both smiled when we heard him quietly exclaim, "Wow" followed by, "Daddy, you have to come out here". It was pretty cute.

The boys (even Tyson) all received light sabers from our furry friend and they all love playing with them. Kallen went straight for the easter basket when he first walked into the room, but Weston went right for the easter eggs. He didn't have any problem figuring out that they were filled with candy. He'd find an egg, open it up and exclaim, "chocolate". Then hand it to me, and find the next egg. It was pretty cute.

They all had a great time, and I'm excited for next year when the bunny visits again, but this time we'll have little Liam to celebrate it with too.

This is Kallen's "bad guy" face, since he was holding Darth Vader's red lightsaber. I think it is pretty funny.

Who Needs a Horse When You've Got Daddy?

This picture makes me smile. The boys love playing with their Daddy, and they especially love getting rides from him. Now that we have a third boy, do you think Tyson will be able to fit all three on his back?

Liam Edward Hill

Our third boy has arrived and we are so happy he is here! Can you believe we have 3 boys now? Holy Cow! I feel that things are going to get crazier and crazier around here.

Below are a few quick pictures of the little guy...relatively speaking (he was a big baby). Born April 25th at 6:34 pm. Weighing 8 pounds 15 ounces.

Welcome Liam Edward Hill, we already love you lots and lots. More of the baby story and pictures coming soon.