6 Months!

Oh my...he's so sweet I could just eat him!  Seriously, I don't think he could be any cuter!  And that puff on his head is my very favorite.  Ever now and then Joe threatens to cut it off and he gets a few threats right back!:)

Oh yes, I am in love with this little guy- more and more each day.  Can you believe, despite those adorable rolls, that Liam is now only in the 20th percentile for weight?  They said that it's pretty normal for a nursing baby...especially since we cut out most of the night feedings.  Yes, you read that right, he is mostly "sleeping through the night" now!  Lately he's been going to bed for the night around 6:30 or 7:00 and sleeping until 4 or 5 in the morning (and then most of the time going back to sleep for another hour or two after he eats)! AMAZING!  Sometimes he still wakes up around 10 or 11 to eat (but even that is fine with me).  And once he started sleeping longer stretches at night he even started taking less and longer naps during the day.  Some days there are 3 naps, but lately it's been most two naps (usually an hour and a half to three hours each)!  We are so thankful for more sleep!

He is babbling and blowing raspberries like a champ, rolling over more, and even starting to be able to sit.  He's still pretty wobbly though and always falls over at some point so we can't exactly let him sit on his own yet, but I'm very much looking forward to that day!  Until then I'll just keep trying to enjoy these days when he still loves to be held by his mama!

The kids are starting to enjoy playing with him a bit more as he starts to become more interactive with all of us.  And he thinks they are the best ever.  He's also been quite entertained by the dog lately.  He's still a big hair puller so Sadie better enjoy this time because once he's mobile she might be in trouble!:)  And he continues to be a great eater and is pretty much enjoying just about every kind of food we have given him (I am oh so thankful for that)!  

He loves to play peek-a-boo, swing in his doorway swing, jump a bit in his jumper, and put every single thing he can get his hands on in his mouth!  He's also really enjoyed our times outside (we took him snowshoeing in the sled recently and he didn't fuss one single time on a two hour trip and even fell asleep in the sled again)!  He really is the best baby!  He's been sick the last week and a half (he caught a bug at his "well child" check up) and during the worst of it he was a little bit fussy (not even a lot) and it made me realize how little he actually fusses.  He's just such a happy, content baby.  And I am a very blessed mama!

Dreaming of Home

We have been in our house now for 11 years.  We have been so blessed with this house and yet we never really expected to be here this long!:)  When we bought the house we were newly married and it was perfect for us...near campus, just the right size and price and honestly so much nicer than I thought we could afford. With three bedrooms we had space for an office and a spare bedroom!  We really believed that God saved this house for us.  And it has been such a good home for us.  But we never expected to be here this long and our family has changed quite a bit...3 children and some pets later and we have outgrown this house a little bit (well, sometimes it feels like a lot).   

We are thankful for this house that we have, but we have been dreaming of something else.  Dreaming of HOME...our forever home that we will raise our family in and grow old in.  A home where we can settle in, have room to grow and roam, and plant some apple trees.  And we have many other dreams too...of owning more land (a number of acres), of living on the water, of having a larger home (maybe with a dinning room this time), of living near friends, of building a house, of having a little homestead...

And now that we know that we will be staying in this area we are moving forward, pursuing these dreams, and waiting to see which of them God will have for us.  Because obviously we have a lot of dreams and while I am a bit of dreamer I'm also realistic that we will not get ALL of the things we are dreaming of.  One or two of them would be great though!  So we are looking and hoping and dreaming and wondering what God is going to do.  And trying not to get impatient in the process (some days that is easier than others).

Today is one of those days that feels a little harder.  Last week a dear friend told us about a house that her co-worker lives near that is going to be for sale later this year.  And, much to our shock, this home has MANY of the things we have been dreaming of...it has water frontage, it has 15 acres, room to grow, it's in a perfect location for us, and the house is beautiful (at least from the outside...though we hear it's pretty great on the inside too).  It seemed too good to be true (in our price range at least)...but the sellers had a hard time selling it a few years ago (for quite a bit of money) and now they are willing to take less for it than it is worth. And suddenly it seemed possible...so many of the things we have been dreaming of at an incredible price!  And to be honest I sort of moved us in in my mind.  I dreamed of  the adventures (on land and in the water) that our little growing family could have there.  I probably shouldn't have let my mind go there quite yet (since the house isn't even officially on the market yet) but I did.  So, after talking with the owners yesterday and today it was pretty disappointing to learn that they already have somebody who is interested in the house.  They have already seen the house and say that they are very interested, but haven't put an offer on it yet.  Because the house is currently be rented the owners don't feel like they should involve anybody else (us) yet until they know whether or not these other people will put in an offer.  

So that's it for now.  The owners say they are hoping to know in a few weeks if these other people are  going to put an offer on the house and they will contact us if they don't make an offer.  So all we can do now it wait and see what God is going to do.  As I was praying about it yesterday I felt a nudge from the Lord asking me, "Do you trust me?"  I do.  I trust Him.  Of course I also know well that this doesn't always mean that I'll get what I want.  But I trust Him to know better than I do.  So, I don't know if He'll work it out for us to get this home that I am in love with or whether He has something else all together for us.

So we will wait and see and continue to look and dream (and maybe say a few prayers that these other people wouldn't make an offer on this house we love)!  Feel free to pray with us!:)

Snow

It's been a snowy weekend for sure, but not exactly the combined 2 feet plus of snow they predicted for the weekend. Such a bummer. I know that many might not agree with that sentiment, but I love snow and when I cancel plans for the snow it's extra disappointing that we didn't get even more snow. Instead I've been stuck inside today with a sick little baby. Oh well, at least the new snow has made everything white and beautiful again!

Liam's 1st Ski Trip

In January we took Liam (and the whole family) on his first ski trip!  It was such  a beautiful day!  Ever so slowly the kids are able to go a little bit further on skis though Eli still ends up being pulled in the sled after a pretty short distance!:)  Lily is able to go further than her brother and her endurance is already much better from last year- which is fun to watch!  In the end Joe ends up getting a decent workout because he is pulling some combination of kids in the sled!:)  And of course Liam is always in the sled if he goes.  And I do believe that he enjoy this first little ski trip of his.  In fact, like his brother before him, Liam actually fell asleep in the sled while we were skiing!  Adorable!  I'm already looking forward to many more ski trips with my little family!

Good Mornings AND Good Nights!

Right from the bat our little Liam was his own person and did things just a little bit (and sometimes a lot) differently than his brother and sister!  And sleep has been no exception.  This one, he likes to sleep flat on his back, in a bed, curled up close to his mama.  I NEVER would have thought I would be co-sleeping with one of my babies.  But that's exactly where I found myself with Liam.  It started off that he would sleep for a bit in the swing (when it wasn't moving) or in the rock n' play but we quickly learned that anytime he would get fussy or have a hard time falling asleep (or going back to sleep) that it would only take a few seconds of laying next to me in bed before he was in lullaby land!:)  And before I knew it we gave up on all of the other things all together and he was sleeping all night (and his naps during the day)  in our bed.  Good thing that Joe had already moved upstairs to the extra twin bed in Eli's room (so that he could get a little more sleep at night)!  And once we figured that out Liam really was a pretty good sleeper.  He was easy to get to sleep and easy to get back to sleep once he woke up to eat.  In this way he was probably the easiest of all our babies.  Except that he woke up often, very often, to eat at night.  Most nights he continued to wake up every 2-3 hours at night.  Every now and then he would do a bit of a longer stretch, but most nights I found myself getting up to feed him 3 or sometimes 4 times a night.  And for quite a while I was okay with this.  Because it was easy (even if it was tiring).  And because it's what he needed.  And because I honestly LOVED waking up to his beautiful, smiling face each morning.  Every morning he would wake up before me and start to coo and babble to himself until I rolled over.  And then as soon as I opened my eyes his little face would just light up and my heart would melt every single time.

And that's how we spent out nights and mornings for months.  The mornings were great, but the nights (and the many feedings) were beginning to wear on me.  And I began to realize that he probably wasn't really waking up at night to eat because he NEEDED to eat, but because he had grown accustomed to eating often at night and it was his habit and his way of getting back to sleep.  And when we went in for a checkup in December that's exactly what my doctor confirmed.  She told me that he didn't need to be eating in the middle of the night at all.  And she highly encouraged me to wean him off of his night feedings after the holidays.  And Joe was very much in agreement.

So, after New Years we went for it.  We moved Eli to his sister's room for a while, we put up the crib in Eli's room (eventually the boys will share this room), and we started having him nap in his crib.  This actually went fairly smoothly.  After a few days of letting him get used to his crib we started the real sleep training.  And it was every bit as hard as I expected.  We did sleep training with both Lily and Eli with great results.  But both of them were just waking up at night to be comforted or to have their pacifier put back in, but not to eat.

 So even though I knew Liam didn't need to eat in the middle of the night I still knew it would be a harder transition and that I would feel like I was depriving him. I did and it was awful.  It probably didn't help that he's my baby (my last baby).  But we did it.  The first few days were awful.  Joe slept up in his room to check on him and he screamed.  A lot.  Sometimes for well over an hour (a few times for an hour and a half).  And because our bedroom is right below his I heard every cry and sometimes did a little crying myself.  Honestly I think the only reason I was able to follow through with it was because Joe was there with me, holding me to it.

As I mentioned, at first Joe stayed up in the room with Liam to check in on him.  But we quickly began to realize that this was actually making things worse.  Every time he would see or even hear Joe he would scream harder.  So after a few days of that we set up the baby monitor and Joe moved back downstairs.  And from then on each night he cried a little bit less.  After about a week and a half he was sleeping pretty good through the middle of the night and if he did wake up he only fussed for a few minutes and then soothed himself back to sleep!  Amazing!

So, we're a few weeks in now and things are going well.  Liam goes to sleep around 6:30 or 7 at night and wakes up one or twice to eat before we go to bed (usually around 9 and 11...sometimes skipping the 9:00 feeding).  And then he sleeps a good 6-7 hours straight!!  He wakes up at 5:00 a.m. (almost on the nose) every morning and Joe goes to get him and bring him to me in bed.  I feed him and then he'll sleep in bed with me for another hour or two.

The time will come when we need to wean him from this morning feeding and the late night feeding(s) but for now this is good.  We are still tired (6 months of waking up every two hours at night will do that to a person), but we are starting to have good mornings AND good night!  And for that I'm very thankful.

After all, who could resist waking up to this face...