And up he goes!

Well, our newest accomplishment is.....we can stand up on our ride on car! Are we supposed to...no...do we think it's the greatest thing EVER? DEFINITELY. Did we fall and go boom? Yes, but we didn't hit anything solid so there was no need to go to the ER, thank the Lord!

He's getting to be so brave...it's kinda scary. He's also loving books these days. I usually have to read any given book about 5 times a day and then we have to look through ALL the books that have textures and stuff in them...those are his favorite!

I finally got some pictures of Liam with his cousins loaded onto the computer. They were so good with him and I got some really cute pictures. They played together well and Liam would get so sad if they went somewhere that he couldn't follow.



He's also showing his temper more and more, and it tends to get him in some trouble. I'm having a hard time sometimes though. Like today, he kept trying to crawl under the end table to get to some electronic stuff that he's not allowed to play with. I would put my hand on his back and say his name in a stern voice and the first few times he would turn around and either send me a big old grin or grin up at me and giggle. I really struggled to keep my self from laughing...I had to turn my head away and cover my face.

Anyway, other than figuring out how to raise a one year old and working 36-60 hours a payperiod I've been keeping myself busy. Matthew is still working on his Master's with an expected graduation date of April. YAY! It's almost here...and I know he's more excited about it than I am. Matthew gets to spend some quality time with Liam on the weekends that my mom can't come help and he LOVES that time with Liam (and I'm pretty sure that Liam LOVES his time with his daddy)!

I think that's about it for now. Hope everyone is doing well!

Wow, where did the Holidays go!

So, my last entry was on my little man's birthday. His birthday party went well...it felt like sheer craziness but I think that all in attendance had fun...especially the 3-4 kiddos that were 1-2 years old. Liam wasn't so much into the opening of the gifts, but he did enjoy the toys once he realized that was what was hidden under the wrapping paper. Needless to say we aren't lacking in the toy department. By the time the day was over both mommy and Liam were pretty much exhausted.




All of our family in the area was able to make it. My mom, AKA Nana, as well as Matthew's mom (Grandma), dad (Papa), sister (Aunt Emily), and brother-in-law (Uncle Casey) were able to share in the excitement. Liam hasn't gotten to see his Papa a whole lot but by the end of the holidays when Papa had to head back to Poland for a little bit longer Liam had started saying his version of Papa.





Oh, and this is the birthday cake that I made for Liam's birthday. Matthew insisted that Liam have a Cookie Monster cake just like he had for his first birthday party. So, Liam got to have an entire cake ALL to himself. We had a little problem with the frosting...it didn't stick to the cake as well as it should have to when Laim kicked the tray of the chair and it hit the floor with the cake on top, all the frosting popped off. I was fine with it though...it just meant Liam would eat less sugar right?




In the midst of birthday celebrations we also celebrated Aunt Emily's birthday. We were able to go to dinner with Matthew's family for Emily's big day. It ended up being a long day, but Liam was a trooper as we went to pick Papa up at the airport and then went to dinner and stopped by Aunt Emily's new house.

Matthew was able to take about a week and a half off between Liam's birthday and New Years which was nice. It definitely made working a few night shifts easier. We had so much fun preparing for Christmas this year and Liam really liked the gold balls on the Christmas tree. He kept taking them off the tree and trying to gnaw on them...thankfully they were shatterproof. He was also somewhat interested in the gifts under the tree, more so with the gift bags....easy access I guess. It was a lot of fun getting to do the whole Santa Claus thing...though I'm pretty sure he had NO concept of what was happening. By the time we got done opening our gifts and gifts from family it looked like Toys R Us exploded in our dining room. In fact, the dining room is now our toy room....I guess that's just what happens when you start having children.




So, the holidays were good. We spent lots of time with Matthew's family and my sister was able to come visit after Christmas and we spent the New Year with them. Liam LOVED having cousins to play with, and Brodie, Austin, and Deacon did REALLY well with him. It was cute to watch them all in the dining room playing with Liam's toys with him.

Well that's about it...we're both back to work and Liam is working hard playing with his toys everyday! :0) It's amazing how quickly this past year has gone by. May God bless each of you during the year ahead! :0)

Deep thoughts at 4 am

So, I'm sitting up at 345am because I woke up at 230 to Liam fussing and I just haven't been able to go back to sleep. Today is my precious Liam's first birthday...and I'm so happy for him cause he's such a big boy and such a sweet little man, but I'm kinda sad too. This year just went by too fast and I don't want it to speed by like this. As parents, we are enjoying EVERYTHING about being Liam's mommy and daddy, seriously, I can't describe it to anyone who hasn't been blessed with this experience yet. Matthew and I were talking before we went to sleep the other night and he got real quite and then said, "I just didn't realize I could love someone so much." My heart just swelled up because I feel the exact same way. I know it's bad, but I love that he wants to see me more than other people most of the time. It makes my heart warm when he starts clinging to my legs because he wants his mommy to hold him. I don't know, maybe it's because we had to wait so long to have him, or maybe it just that way for everyone. I hope it's that way for everyone because it's just such a blessing. We can be stressed out about paying bills, or work, or we might have just gotten into an argument and all we have to do is get in the floor and play with Liam for our prespective to come back into focus. He's our world and I'm so afraid it's going to just slip by me and the next thing I know I'm going to look up and he's going to be headed to college. About a week ago he took his last bedtime bottle...and I left his room and cried a little. Karen Kingsberry writes a children's book that is all about your childs "lasts", like the last time to rock them to sleep, the last time you hold them on your hip, the last time you help them with homework....etc. Well I was reading that to Liam the other day and I still get all choked up when I read it because he's already had so my "lasts".


Okay, I got all that out so hopefully I can go to sleep now...I just thought i would throw in a cute pic of Liam sharing a sucker with daddy...this is one of my favorite pictures!

It's The Most Insane Time of the Year!!

Okay, wow, it's been a while since I've had a chance to sit down and write something out. Liam's all over the place now so the only time I get with the computer is generally after he's in bed at night...and then half the time lately I have a list of stuff I need to get done still! Alas, I have finished most of my list for the day so I thought I would put off a few things in hopes of letting everyone know what we're up to.


Let's see Liam had a big day on 11/12, here's the story....
I had just left for work and made it about 5 minutes down the road when I got a call from Matthew who was frantic informing me that Liam had just tripped and busted his head open. My first response was, "Are you kidding me?" (See, in the past my husband has at times been a bit melodramatic about things...tending to sometimes blow things out of proportion) He responded, "No, he fell and his head is bleeding!", my response, "Are you kidding me??" and at this point Matthew was getting a little irritated with me and responded with an angry "NO!" So, I proceeded to call into work as I attempted to turn the car around and head back to pick the boys up and head to the ER for the second time in Liam's short life (the first occured when he had a reaction the first time he took formula at about 6-8 weeks old...his hands, feet, and ears got all red and swollen...very scary). Matthew comes out with Liam only in a diaper with a cloth held against his head and Liam's PJ's in his free hand (No worries it was like 80 degrees here at the time). Matthew gets him in his car seat and we head off, yes, Liam is still in his diaper at this point. Once we get going I ask why Liam doesn't have his PJ's on...and Matthew looks at me like I'm crazy and says something to the effect of, "You try putting PJ's on a crying baby with a head injury!". Halfway to the hospital I ask if he remembered to grab the diaper bag and he says no....and I think what would men do without us sometimes! At least we're headed to a hospital that is well stocked with diapers and formula and whatnot! We get to the hospital and Liam is fine and dandy playing and laughing at things, and at this point his head is only just oozing. It took about 30 min to get into a room (not bad) and then probably an hour before we were lucky enough to have a med student attempt to glue the cut closed. He did get the site closed, but he dripped glue into Liam's eyebrow and almost got his glove stuck to Liam's head!! I was a little irritated to say the least. Liam did pretty well all in all and we went home and life continued on as normal. Thankfully the glue finally came all the way out just this last week, right before we took him to take his 1 year pictures!


We got to spend thanksgiving with family in Dallas. We went to stay at my cousins house with my mom and aunt, and we all had a really good time. I had to work the night before thanksgiving and then we jumped in a car pretty much as soon as I got home...talk about one of the longest days of my life cause even though I got like a 4 hour nap we stayed up til midnight, then I had trouble going to sleep only to be awakened shortly after I fell asleep by Liam. Us crazy people in the Terrell family got up to do the official Black Friday shopping fiasco...which I'm sorry to say wasn't quite as fun for me this year, which was very possibly due to the fact that I was sleep deprived!


I'm fortunate to have my mother-in-law home right now and she's helping me with Liam so I can work some extra hours, and Liam seems to be enjoying it also! We're also preparing for the big FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY!! I can't believe the year has flown by so quickly...my sweet baby is become a little man!! This year will probably give us an idea of the type of birthday party turn out you'll get when your birthday falls the week before Christmas...but regardless of how many show up will still have a good time...and trust me, there will be pictures!! :0)

I've actually gotten the birthday gifts wrapped and I finished most of the Christmas gifts last night. Tonight I got my sugar cookies made so that all I'll have left to do next week is make cupcakes and Liam's birthday cake. He's going to have a cookie monster cake made by his mommy, and I've practiced one and must say that it turned out awefully cute!!


We got our tree up about a week ago. My mom and I got it put together while Liam was taking a nap and I was so excited to get a cute picture of his face when he saw it. Funny thing was that he looked at the tree, but then he saw the vaccum and headed straight for the cord completely ignoring the tree. After a little bit of coaxing (and after putting up the vaccum) we got a few cute pictures.

head colds, ear aches, and sinus infections oh my!

So, this has not been the most enjoyable week to say the least. I took Liam into the doctor about a week ago and the Dr. said he had a head cold, gave us some decongestant and sent us on our way. Shortly there after Liam decided to share his little bug with daddy...and we all know what that means...I then had TWO sick babies to take care of! :0) Liam was super clingy and fussy and had started waking up with the middle of the night howling, was difficult to console, and would arch back if you tried to comfort him so I started getting worried. On Sunday Matthew went to the Dr. and the Dr. gave him some cough syrup with Codiene and Matthew asked if they had any openings so that we could bring Liam in. An hour later the Dr. had looked at him and said that his ears looked a little red, but there wasn't any infection. Well, alas we got throught Sunday night, but by Monday evening Liam was starting to "swat" at his right ear so we called and set up an appointment for Tuesday morning. We went in and sure enough...he had an infection behind his right ear drum. We were given some antibiotics and numbing ear drops and sent on our way. He seems to be improving slowly but surely, however now I think mommy is coming down with a sinus infection...so who's going to take care of me?? HA! This is my first time getting sick since Liam was born so it's been kinda rough with the entire household sick. I'm afraid to take any medication that might make me pass out for 8 hours...so I'm drinking lots of fluid (which I guess I should be doing anyway) and am trying to take it easy...whatever that means as a mom right? :0)

I'm sure life will soon go on about it's business. Halloween's probably not going to be an elaborate affair this year...but what they hey...the last thing Liam needs is a bunch of candy he can't even eat right?

time to ponder

So I was at work last night chatting with some friends when I realized that pretty much the only thing I talk about all the time is....LIAM! Yeah, go figure right, but I starting to wonder if that is annoying to other people. I mean, I think he's fabulous...pretty much the greatest thing EVER...but do other people want to hear about him all the time? I also realized that every time I write on my blog it's mostly about....yep...Liam. Is this just something that happens when you become a parent? When did this happen? I wonder if I could have a conversation with someone without bringing Liam into it. Does that make me a boring person? Am I going crazy? I feel like I'm going crazy. It makes me wonder if I should get out more...start branching out a bit and maybe even...DUN,DUN,DUN...go out with Matthew and leave Liam with a babysitter on occasion to try to get some variation in our lives. Unfortunately...babysitters aren't abundant, Matthew is still working on his master's, we're trying to save money (isn't everybody), and Matthew and I love spending time with Liam. I'm feeling braver about leaving him for longer periods as we head towards the 1 year birthday, and it's crazy to think that a year has come and gone!

My thoughts are a little jumbled right now since I worked last night and haven't had the opportunity to lay down at all yet. Anyway...if anyone has input into my dilemma i would love you hear it! :0)

What am I thinking...

So it's almost 11pm and I'm sitting here in front of the TV wondering why the heck I'm not in bed right now! I must say that I am reveling in the silence. Liam's asleep and Matthew is having to work late tonight...this is the first time in I don't know how long that I have full access to the laptop and TV at the same time, without having to keep Liam away (he likes the laptop...go figure).

Life is good...I'm contemplating picking up some more hours at work these days. I'm still doing nights, which is the way to go if you ask me. The pay rocks and you get to just take care of the babies...no orders are usually being written, no tests to take the babies down for, the pace is much more conducive to a stress free life. We're wanting to try and get some bills paid down over the next year, so the best way to do that is for me to pick up some more hours. For me that means working some 12 hour shifts instead of 8 hour shifts...that means I'm not losing much of my home time...just my sleep time. You do what you've gotta do huh? At least I really enjoy the people I work with...that's definitely a plus. The unit is still growing...they're adding 12 more NICU beds where the postpartum waiting room used to be, which indicates a serious lack of planning on the hospitals part when they were building this new building like 2 years ago.

Okay, enough about work, Liam is much more fun to talk about! He is so funny. He's started this thing where he stands up and starts clapping for himself! It's so stinking cute...but I haven't been able to get it on camera yet. He's got two top teeth coming in with two more probably on the way per the dentist office. He's finally come out of the latest teething spell...and I have my sweet little boy back for a short time until the pain of cutting more teeth begins again.

The other night we were getting Liam ready for bed and he crawled over to my old rocking chair that's in his room. I put him in it and started rocking it and he LOVED it! It's so funny cause now when he sits in his high chair he starts pushing back like he's trying to rock the chair...silly boy!

Liam's also getting a little more adventerous in the bathtub...which makes bath time a bit treacherous these days. The kid flat out won't sit still and just play with the 50 or so toys that he has in the bathtub with him. Oh no, he has now discovered how pretty the shiny faucet is and he thinks it's fun to pull up on it repeatedly...even after to say "No" and sit him back down on his bottom. Stubborn little thing he is!Now that he's graduated to the big tub I'm just waiting for one good head bonk to happen! Matthew and I were laughing today about covering the tub with foam rubber...if only right?!