Liam's First Christmas!!

We all had so much fun enjoying Liam's first Christmas. I know that as the years go by they will only get more exciting! Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy! Merry Christmas!!

All Dressed up for his first Christmas!

Great Granddaddy and Grandmother Pam

Liam's first Christmas present!

Christmas Morning at Home 

You can tell he loves his presents

Yep, still trying to sleep...

His first Christmas Stocking

Taking a Christmas nap with Daddy

Proud Aunt Emily at Grandma and Grandpa's

Christmas at Grandmother Pam's

Emily and Alex's first Christmas too! So cute!!

 

Liam's first church service!!

Grandma and Grandpa Libengood and Aunt Emily

Grandmother Pam and Great Granddaddy Sam

Posing with Mommy and Daddy after Church!

Liam got to go to his first church service tonight at 12Stone! I feel so blessed that he is doing so well and that he is here to enjoy the holidays with us. All of his grandparents got to be there too! How special!! 

NICU Follow-Up and Uncle Andrew

Well, Liam had his one month NICU follow-up today. Everything went perfectly! He has gained 3lbs. in a month!! HOLY COW!! He is now up to 8lbs and 5oz. Let me tell you if this would have been a full term baby he would have been huge! For preemies born at his gestation (32 wk 5days) he is in the 80th percentile as far as weight. He is such a happy baby. He is still on a every 3hr. feeding schedule. I am in the process of trying to stretch that out to every four. Sometimes it works. The nurse told me that usually after they hit 10lbs. they are able to sleep for longer peroids of time. The way that Liam is growing that will be in about two weeks :) He is nursing which is a blessing. A lot of preemies have trouble latching on and being able to nurse, not Liam. He is definitely getting plenty to eat proven by his 3lb. weight gain. The only concern from the visit today was that he looked a little jaundice. They went ahead and did blood work to check his bilirubin levels...they came back at 7.7 and Dr. Suskin said that there was nothing to be concerned about, so all is well.We do not have to go back until June. 

My brother came in from Arizona today! This is the first time he has got to meet Liam. He was so excited! It is nice to have him here. It has been a whole year since he was here last. He brought his girlfriend Sierra with him to meet the family... brave girl considering they will be here for nearly 2 weeks! I am excited to have the chance to get to know her. Andrew seems to like her pretty well. It is so nice to all get to be together on Christmas. I am feeling blessed! 

Best Mom EVER!!

Let me tell you, I have some shoes to fill. If ever there was a woman to set a good example of a mother it would be mine. Now that I am a mom it is so weird, I see my mom in a whole new way. I think ahead and wonder if I am going to be to Liam what my mom is and has been to me. Once you become a mother, you are a mother forever. I am 27 years old and I am still someone's child. I look at my sleeping baby and think, there is nothing I would not do for him, now and forever. Now I understand. I am still someone's sleeping baby. My mom still looks at me and feels that same way towards me as I do to my infant son. No matter how old I am if I am sick my mom will take care of me, if I am sad she will comfort me, if I am lonely she will be my company. I am someone's Mother!! What huge responsibility!! 

How blessed I am to be able to have a mother who loves me and has taught me how to be a mother. Through nothing more than being one to me. Her love and selflessness is something that I have always admired and now that I am a mom myself I am beginning to understand more where a love like that comes from. I want so much for Liam. I look at this precious little person and become overwhelmed with what a huge responsibility I have been entrusted with. I wonder why God is so good to me sometimes. Of all the things that my mom has taught me, above all she has taught me to love God. I feel that if I fail at all other things in raising my son, if I can teach him above all else to love God then I will consider myself a success as a mother. 

There are so many things I look forward to, yet so many things I fear. I can't wait for the first smile, the first laugh, the first word, the first steps, the first day of school and on we go.... Yet I fear the first cold, the first boo boo, the first spanking, the first heart break, the first of many things. I pray that I am able to handle to good with the bad and teach Liam life lessons when good things come his way, and life lessons when bad things come as well. 

As I embark on this journey called motherhood I must say that I have a good example to follow and good shoulder to lean on. I have been blessed beyond measure and I pray that I will never take a single moment for grated that I have to mother my child. One day he too will be grown and he will be someone's father and I hope he will want to look for a woman that will be as good as a mother to his children as I hope to be to him. 

One Month...Time Flies!!

I can not believe that my baby is already one month old!! He is doing so good and getting so big! He had his appointment with the Pediatric Optometrist yesterday which all premature babies have to do so they can can check to see if the blood vessels in their eyes are fully developed. Let me tell you it was traumatizing to watch.  They have to dilate their eyes and then they take these metal clamps and pry their eye lids open while I the mother have to hold my precious screaming baby still. Then they have to poke around the eyeball to see all of the blood vessels. Yuck!! We were both so glad when that was over. Good news is that his blood vessels are fully developed and he will not have to do that again!! 

Then of corse I had to take some  1 month pictures of him, and since Christmas is right around the corner I took full advantage of that! Soooo Precious!! 

God has a plan

Well, I must say that God's plans are not always our plans. However, I know that God offers more than we can even ask or imagine. Yesterday I got a call from my boss (which is weird since I am on Maternity Leave) anyway, I answered. I knew that he was not one to just call and chat, so I knew something was up. After some chit chat he let me know that my position was no longer going to be in the budget for 2009. Yeah, nice. I have been having a hard time trying to wrap my head around the idea of going back to work anyway since my little boy has arrived and I have been praying that God would show me what to do or to make an opportunity available where I could work from home. Well, God answered one part of the prayer...I won't have to worry about going back to work, now just for the $$ part of the equation. I am looking for some way to make a little extra money from home, so I am praying that God will open that door and lead me in the right direction. 

I have no doubt that this will all work out because God opened the door for me to be at Bentley exactly when I needed it, and now that he is closing that door I know  that he will provide. Life is such a learning process, and I have learned to take one step at a time. If I get ahead of my self, or try to make my own path God will quickly show me that I can not do it on my own. My goal right now is to enjoy my little boy. Enjoy every moment I have with him and to be thankful that I have this time to spend taking care and loving on him. 

What a day!

 Liam came home from the hospital  two weeks ago today after spending two weeks in the NICU... What a blessing! Since his arrival home however I have not been out of the house except to take him to the doctor. So, I was planning on getting out today. Not that I was going to do much except go to the bank and have lunch with my husband, but I was looking forward to it like it was Disney World!! If you have ever had a new baby you know that everything takes much longer than anticipated. So, I get Liam and I ready which is a least a two hour process... and finally we are in the car buckled up and ready to go! I turn the key... and... nothing... the car won't start!! Are the freakin' kidding me!! After all of this and the car won't start. So, of corse I do the logical thing....CRY! I call Nick and he calms me down and convinces me to ask the neighbor to help me jump the car. Well, since the car is in the garage I figure I will back it out before I go ask the neighbor for help... just put it in neutral and use my foot to push it backwards while I remain in the drivers seat... this will work right?!... sort of... I quickly learned that the car will not fit out of the garage with the door open. The car door was now lodged into the wall of the garage, the car half way out of the garage and my sleeping baby in the back seat. So, what do I do now... CRY...right! So then I have to call Nick again and he has to come home and see how stupid I really am! He does however fix the situation, and I do get to go to Wal-Mart to get a new battery for the car. So, in the end I guess I did get what I wanted... I got out of the house ;)