An Eventful 2 Months

Liam turned 2 months old yesterday. He's growing so fast and learning new things all the time. He sleeps very well at night, although not so good during the day...he doesn't want to miss anything and fights taking naps. He smiles at us a lot now, and with each one he wraps us a little bit tighter around his finger. We thank God for him every day and look forward to the months and years ahead.

In an unfortunate sign of the economy, I found out last week that my position at the Girl Scout office was eliminated. I thought that I was protected by the Family Medical Leave Act because I'm out on maternity leave. But because my position was eliminated due to budgetary concerns, it is allowed. I worked there for 5 years and gave my all to the positions I held, so it has been very hard to understand. I am looking at this unexpected turn of events as a opportunity for needed change and I am trying to be optimistic about finding something else. Please say a prayer for me and for Joey as I look for another position, as this is a hard time for us both.

First 2 weeks at home

Sleepy 2 week old baby pictures.

The first two weeks at home have been great with Baby Liam. Joey was off for the first full week and was scheduled to be off this week too, but because the baby came early, we both felt like it was ok for him to go back half days this week. We have had lots of visitors. It's been fun to introduce Liam to so many friends and family already.

Liam and I are adjusting to being at home during the day. I think we're doing well. 2 week olds can be pretty unpredictable. Sometimes he sleeps for hours at a time, sometimes he's awake for an hour and sleeps for 10-20 minutes. I like it when he's awake except when he's still crying after being fed and changed and seems to be fighting sleep. Luckily, so far (crosses fingers that it will continue) at night he's sleeping consistently for 4-5 hours at a time. We start putting him in his crib when he goes to sleep between 9 - 10, and wakes up to eat around 1 and around 4:30. And, he doesn't wake up until after 7:30. Awesome!

We took him for a recheck at the pediatrician earlier this week and he was almost back up to his birthweight, which they like to see at 2 weeks. He's not going to be so little for long! I am excited to see him grow and want to enjoy every minute of it.

Baby Liam has arrived!!

Baby Liam arrived on Saturday, September 19 at 11:37 PM. He weighed 6lbs 8 oz and was 19 inches long. He is such a blessing to our family. We love him more than words can describe!

I was scheduled to be induced on September 21, but I woke up on Saturday morning with the unmistakeable symptoms of broken water. We headed to the hospital and they admitted me. They hooked me up to "go juice" (Pitocin) at about 10:30 AM. I stayed at 1 cm for a really long time so they gave me medicine to help my body relax. It made me very sleepy and I slept through most of labor. I progressed to 3 and was stuck again for about 6 hours. The doctor came in at around 9:00 PM and said that he'd give me 2 more hours to progress or we'd be looking at a c-section. I had a new nurse who suggested I turn on my left side to see if it would help. I prayed that my cervix would open and I wouldn't have to go the c-section route. The nurse checked me about an hour later and I was at 6 cm, then soon after that they checked me again and I was at 9cm. I was ready to push about 11:15 and started with the nurse, she watched his heartrate and I'd push on one contraction and sit out the next to let Liam recover. She called in the doctor and Liam was out in 3 pushes. Even though I was in labor for 13 hours, it seemed to go by really fast and I could not have asked for better medical care. I stayed at the hospital until Monday and because we were both doing so well, we got to come home.

Here are pictures of Liam from his first couple of days...After his first bath at home, his hearing test at the hospital, and just before we left the hospital. Isn't he so cute!!

Baby Watch

We're on baby watch here at 615 Summit. Our doctors have decided to put me in the hospital on Sunday evening and begin the induction process - so it looks like sometime on Monday our Baby Liam will be here....in 4 days! Joey and I are both preparing for work absences, so this week is crazy. My office is moving, so I'm having to pack up everything and hope that it makes it where it's supposed to go and Joey is preparing his team for Code Blue while he's out. We are so excited to meet our son!!!

Liam's Room

This is Liam's room in it's almost complete form. The only thing thats missing is him! Hopefully, he'll be here in just a couple of weeks.

It's September

September is finally here! Football Season, Fall, and most importantly, Baby Liam will all arrive this month! We're ready for all 3 at 615 Summit Drive. We are so excited!
Every day we read a book that tells us what's going on with the baby. On January 19th, the day I took the telltale pregnancy test, the book said that 3 babies could fit in the size of a period on the page. What a miracle that something so tiny can grow so much in 9+ months. I thought back then that September was an eternity away and thinking back now it seems like January was an eternity ago. So much has happened these 9 months, that time has really flown by. I have been compiling a list (in my head to date) of everything that Liam has done while growing inside of his mommy. He's flown on a plane, visited 5 states, "seen" the ocean and the mountains, been to 3 concerts, celebrated 3rd, 60th, 70th, 29th, and 41st birthdays at parties of family and friends, attended 2 weddings (with 1 more to go), marched in a parade, been camping twice, "watched" a Clemson and Greenville Drive baseball game, made it through a week of vacation bible school, and much more. I have been so blessed to feel well enough to continue my hectic lifestyle while being pregnant. Joey and I can't wait to share all of these things and many more with our little boy as he grows up!

No Mirrors, Drugs, Ball, and Background music

Joey and I went to Birthing Class on Saturday. There were close to 20 couples in the class, and all but 3 are having boys. We had a really good teacher who taught us more about the birthing process than either one of us was aware of. We watched a couple of videos and learned some breathing and massage techniques. She showed us ways for me to sit to be more comfortable during labor - my favorites were on the birth ball and the cowboy..haha! We filled out a preferences sheet to use at the hospital which was nice, as there were things on there we hadn't thought about. The Hall preferences include no mirrors, drugs, and background music which sounds like something much more sketchy than a birthplan :). We walked out feeling more prepared to welcome Liam into the world. I suggest to anyone having a first child to take a birthing class.

Baby Liam is due 1 month from tomorrow!!!

Kelly's Breakfast Biscuit Showdown

One of the most common pregnancy questions I get is "Are you having any cravings?". Honestly, my answer is "no" because other than being just generally hungry, I don't 'crave' anything strange or specific. However, I have eaten more breakfast biscuits this almost 33 weeks than I have in my life. I think I am attracted to the protein which keeps me fuller, longer. If I eat a bowl of cereal (my prepregnancy breakfast staple), I'm starving in less than an hour :). At least 3 days a week (usually 4 or 5 :)) the Yaris wheels through the drive thru. My two top choices are Chic-Fil-A and McDonalds, mostly because of convenience on my morning commute.

I decided to research the nutrition facts for each of my favorite biscuits and thanks to the internet and FDA regulations, its all posted on the restaurant websites.

Sidenote: Although Joey says that I am a complete fun sucker in this habit, I find it eye opening to see what restaurants are serving patrons. If you haven't read the book or seen the "Eat This, Not That" guy on TV, it is startling! Things that you would think are healthy can have your fat and sodium intake for a week hiding inside. Just for fun look up the nutrition facts BEFORE you go to your favorite restaurant next time, if you look it up when you get home, it's going to make you very sad :).

So, in trying to stay relatively healthy my usual order is a biscuit and a soft drink. I skip the hashbrowns because they double the calories and fat at almost every place. And, they're not that good.

Here is my breakdown:

McDonalds Sausage and Egg Biscuit: 510 calories, 33 g fat, 36 carbs, 18 g Protein
Hardee's Sausage and Egg Biscuit: (Loser) 610 calories, 44 g of fat, 36 carbs, 17g Protein
Chic-Fil-A Chicken Biscuit: 450 calories, 20 g fat, 48 carbs, 20 g protein
Bojangles Cajun Filet Biscuit (surprise results): 454 calories, 21 g fat, 46 carbs, 20 g protein

Once Baby Liam arrives, it will be back to cereal or oatmeal for breakfast, and my biscuit habit will have to be rolled back to once or twice a month. I will miss the nice people who work in the drive thrus especially at Chic-Fil-A and McDonalds...they have a special gift for serving up convenient breakfast with a smile :).

Sad Day

Uncle Marvin passed away this morning around 1AM. Although we've been prepared for his passing for a while now, it is still sad to bid him farewell. He touched so many people during his 78 years on earth and he led us all by example in his unwaivering faith and love of the Lord. Because of that faith we know that Marvin is walking tall in heaven today, probably looking for something to tinker with already.

Great Weekend

This past weekend many of my friends and family were in town for a shower for the baby. It was such great weekend! My Aunt Lynn and Uncle Dan stayed with us, which is always fun. The shower was at my Mom's house and my sister who is unbelievable in her crafting abilities, made it look awesome! I got great gifts from everyone and it was just an amazing day all around. While the party was going on at Mom's the family men and kids were at 615 summit having fun in the backyard. On Saturday night, 615 was at capacity, with more people than I could count having fun and eating yummy lasagna. Thanks to everyone who came to town, we love you all so much. Baby Liam has no idea how many people already love him before he even arrives - what a lucky boy is he!

On Sunday, we said goodbye to our family and friends and headed to church to begin Vaction Bible School week. I'm teaching the 5K class and Joey is working on the recreation team. It is so much fun, but we're tired when we get home each night! It is all worth it if the kids learn more about Jesus and have fun in the process.

Money Magazine Top 100

This morning, as is typical at 615 summit, I woke up and flipped on the today show. One of the promos this morning was for a story about Money Magazine's top 100 small towns in America. I wasn't able to watch the story, but it peaked my interest enough to google it to find out if our town made the list. I was shocked that not 1 town in SC made the list. Not only this year but since 2005 when they started this list, only one town (Mt Pleasant) made the list. In fact, a very low number of southern cities made the list at all. So I looked up the criteria for this list and in addition to unemployment and education it includes things like "How many movie theatres are in the area". So, because we only have two 20+ theatre complexes plus an awesome smaller theatre complete with the George Lucas sound system, the city gets counted as 3 compared to 27 in the average winning city. Instead we have a beautiful park system, a thriving downtown, and during the summer there are free or very cheap events going on at least 4 nights a week. I would rather take a picnic and enjoy Shakespeare in the Park any day over having access to 27 theaters offering the same $10.00 ticket and $20.00 concessions.

I am biased to our city, but it is a pretty great place to live. (I'm not saying the name because of the title of our blog - thanks internet stalkers). I moved here from another state, to go to Clemson University. Before I arrived the only thing I knew about SC was a water tower shaped like a Peach and South of the Border because of previous trips through the palmetto state on 85 or 95. I never left after finishing school, I met my husband and we plan on raising our family here. It is a great place to live and I am proud to call it home. To the Money Magazine editors who determine the list, try taking a real trip to the sunny south, you might be surprised at what you find.

Touring the Hospital

Joey and I went for the tour of the hospital last night. The group we were in was rather large, so it looked like a herd of preggo ladies walking around...lots of babies on the way in the coming months! The Labor and Delivery floor at the hospital had renovations within the last year, so even though I've been up there before, it was fun to see what it looks like now. We saw the room (well not the actual room but close enough :)) where the hatching will occur and the room where we'll be to recover for 2-3 days afterwards. My only personal experience with any hospital is a couple of trips to the er for minor stuff and outpatient procedures when I was a kid. So, especially in the first room I had a lot of things going through my head - "this is where I'll be in pain", "this is where we'll meet our baby", "what are those machines for", "where does all of the icky stuff go". Hehe..I think too much!! The hospital has a religious connection, so there are reminders of Jesus in every room which is very comforting. God won't let me deal with more than I can handle and He is granting us with this awesome, amazing blessing. Overall, it will be a great place to welcome Baby Liam to the world. Next month we go for childbirth class then breastfeeding class in early September. Yeah for hospital education getting us ready for our little one.

The 4th of July

We spent the 4th of July at the Beach with our family. I've never seen so many fireworks in all my days. From the beach at night you can see fireworks for as far as the eye can see along the coastline. It was very cool! Baby Liam and I took our first dip in the condo swimming pool. It felt so good to float and the preggo swimsuit looked better than expected! We also visited the Ripley's Aquarium, after which Joey purchased a fly fishing rod (something's just not right about that :)). We decided to relish our time there as this will be our last trip to the coast sans baby. I can't wait for Liam to put his baby toes in the ocean!!

And, our great friends, the Shavers, had twin girls on July 6th. Happy Birthday Anna and Samantha! We love you already!!

While I was off having fun...

Joey worked a lot on Liam's nursery while I was on my trip. He cleaned out the room, painted, and put together the crib. He also got a new rocking chair for Liam's room. And our friends Lisa and Gary gave Liam an awesome little Cubs rocking chair, blanket and baseball books. It looks so great!! Here is a picture of the room as it looked when I got home. Joey is the best husband and he's going to be the greatest daddy ever! We still have quite a bit of work to do especially in making some closet space for Liam. 615 Summit is not known for it's vast closet space, and we tend to use every bit of it.

You will notice Cool in these pictures. He is very excited about Baby Liam's arrival. He likes everything in Liam's room so far, except the drawer that comes out from under the crib. He gets scared and runs toward the door when we roll it out. Joey says he doesn't know why, but my theory is during the late night crib assembly session, Joey put Cool in the drawer and rolled him around the house. Just a theory!

Trip to Virginia and Maryland

A few weeks ago we got an invitation to my Aunt Jean's 70th birthday party. After much debate and travel searching we figured out a way for me to go. My Uncle Dan and Aunt Lynn picked me up and we drove to Alexandria through the mountains of Virginia, a much nicer route than the 85 through Richmond route. We visited with my cousin, Melanie and her family for 2 days. We visited Old Town, saw the movie UP! and had some awesome meals prepared by Melanie's husband, Rick. On Saturday we traveled to Cambridge, MD. On the way we drove through Annapolis - which is fabulous and a place I would like to return to for more exploring. Aunt Jean's party was at the Suicide Bridge Restaurant on the Choptank River in Hurlock, Maryland. There was a great jazz band and singer at the party and the food was delicious. It was a great time and a wonderful tribute to my aunt. On Sunday I flew home (Liam's first flight). The weekend was so much fun. My family is so spread out (we all live in different states) that we don't get to see each other very often, but it is so much fun when we do.

This is my Aunt Jean and Cousin Melanie at the party.

Liam has a place to sleep

Joey and I purchased this crib / changer over the weekend. This is a stock photo - ours still looks like a big cardboard box right now. Thanks to Papa Ken for helping us get it home as it is pretty large. The nursery has a lot of work yet to go - but we still have over 3 months until Liam is due to arrive. Speaking of the due date - this week I hit the 100 days to go mark!

Eventful Weekend

This past weekend was crazy. On Saturday, we visited the NC Zoo in Asheboro with our family. Both of our nieces were there which was very cool as they haven't seen each other since our wedding and then they were only a few months old. We saw lots of primates, elephants, birds, rhinos, giraffes and other African animals. The NC Zoo is an amazing place - we only were able to see half of it. We'll have to go back to see the other half sometime.

On Sunday after church we visited Marvin then went to Babies R Us to register for Baby Liam. Joey had the idea that we would do both this registry and the Target one in the same day. Fast forward 2 hours and we were both propped up in the glider section of the store deciding to stop for ice cream on the way home. As first time parents, the baby superstore can be extremely overwhelming. There are so many different items to choose from, then on top of that there are multiple choices for each item. And, in a real life store you don't have the convenience of customer reviews, so it's kind of all a shot in the dark. Did you know that they make a diaper wipe warmer that also doubles as a night light?

Also this weekend I was able to see Baby Liam squirm around from the outside for the first time. I have to admit, it's creepy, it sort of looks like that scene from Space Balls where the alien pops out and starts to sing "hello my darlin". Joey has yet to see my tummy move around. I call him to come and look, and I think I scare Liam in the process causing him to freeze :). The baby books say that he can use all of his senses now...and I think this is for sure true because even lifting up my shirt to get a better look makes him freeze due to the light.

June already

I can't believe it is June already. June and July are my favorite months of the year because they are the only two months when things in my life seem to slow down. Work is not as hectic and for whatever reason, weekends seem to last longer (this could be because I actually get two full days off which is not typical for the GS professional). It is starting to get hot outside which I have dreaded since I found out I'd be having a third trimester in the middle of summer. But, so far it hasn't been so bad. I spend a lot of time enjoying the AC :). When I get hot, I think about my baby who spends 24/7 in a 96.7 degree dark uterus, and I don't think I have it so bad :).

Memorial Day

Joey and I visited our friends the McClains at their mountain house in Hiawassee, GA for Memorial Day. It was so much fun and so relaxing. We went to the Brasstown BBQ festival and an arts festival in Blue Ridge. It rained some which was a great excuse to take a few naps but didn't keep Joey and Jason from late night fishing on the boat (in the slip :)).

Back at home, our dear Uncle Marvin is having a bad bout with pnuemonia. We are praying for him all the time and hoping that he gets well soon. He's being released from the hospital today and headed for a beautiful hospice care center where he will hopefully feel better soon.

Baby Liam is squirming around a lot these days especially after I eat dinner each evening. He's due in just 4 months, we're getting very excited about meeting him :).

Baby thumps

Last night Joey and I were watching a particularly hilarious episode of How I Met Your Mother...Ted got beat up by a goat followed by the long awaited awkwardly funny Barney / Robin get together moment, needless to say I laughed a lot. Anyway, apparently Liam thought is was funny too and started squirming around so much that I could feel him from the outside. On the second trip out of the recliner and across the living room, Joey felt him squirming around in there too. It was very cool, and even cooler that Joey could feel the little bumps and squirms too!

Little Hall on the way!

Joey and I found out in late January that we are expecting a little one in late September. It has been a most uneventful pregnancy, everything has gone perfectly. Joey made a comment a few weeks ago (in a disappointed tone) that I am not experienceing any of the things that you hear that pregnant ladies experience. He is anxiously anticipating the day that my nesting instinct kicks in. I feel extremely blessed!! :) I am 20 weeks 5 days pregnant today, so a little over halfway to baby day. We found out last week that we're having a boy, his name will be Liam. We're both so thrilled to be starting this new chapter in our lives and can't wait to meet and introduce everyone to our little Liam.