Thankful and Goodbye

Our lives have changed so much since my last post. Liam is a big brother to a beautiful little girl. I am a mother of two. Goodbye old life. Hello new blessings and crazy life with two kids. I had 3.5 great years where Liam had my undivided attention. It was awesome. I will always look back and cherish those 3.5 precious years. Let me be clear though, life has only gotten sweeter. My heart cleared a space and Sydney moved right into it. Who knew I could love another child equally to Liam. Who knew that I could love Liam even more for loving his sister so innocently like he does. Just when I think I couldn't possibly love more, my heart surprises me. "A child feels a place in your heart that you never knew was empty." And while I am at it, who knew I could love Bill even more. Seeing Bill carry our two kids around, one in each arm, is just precious to me.
So goodbye family of 3. Hello family of 4. I am so thankful for the past and so thankful for the furture. My life, love and Liam are all changing. So, in honor of that I will be making some changes. I am going to print this out for Liam. I am going to keep at printed memory of that time. Then, I am going to start documenting my new life, love, Liam...and Sydney.

Dear Santa

You will never guess who called our house today?! SANTA! Yup, Santa! Suddenly Liam has become very aware of Santa and the fact that he is coming and going to bring him lots of presents. As a Christmas FREAK I can't tell you how happy this makes me. The best thing is though that I suddenly have big time leverage over my innocent 3yr old. "You better be a good boy! Santa is watching!" (I know, I am mean!) It is also pretty cute to see Bill pretending to be Santa while at a bar in front of other guys. I wasnt there, but I can imagine. This could not have come at a better time. I have 8 days, yes 8 days, until Sydney is born. I need all the leverage with Liam that I can get. The house is a mess and I am the size of a barn. We are picking up Sydneys PINK crib tomorrow! I can't wait. I will post pictures of her nursery asap.

The count down in on. Sydney could be here any day now. I am of course not even remotly ready. I am however VERY ready to not be pregnant in the Texas summer anymore. I am so over this heat. I hate Texas. SERIOUSLY. If you know me at all, then you know that I love fall and Christmas. I made a trip to Bath and Body Works this weekend to get a gift for somebody and was very pleasantly surprised that they had out their new fall scents and they were getting ready to release their Christmas line! It made me so happy. There is light at the end of this hellish tunnel called summer. I usually hate summer anyways, but this year for some reason it has been worse.
Except for this:

10 days up north in the cool summer. I guess come winter when I am holding my sweet Sydney and sitting outside with a light jacket on, the grass might be a little greener here in Texas. But for now, I hate Texas.

Books Aren't Just For Reading Anymore...

So the other night Liam was refusing to sleep in his bed. He has been obsessed with sleeping with us. This is a serious "No!" for me. I love Liam to death but he is a horrible bed buddy. He sleeps sideways and I always end up with a foot in my face. Anyways, I put him in his bed and told him that he better not come out of his room. I meant business and he knew it. He knew it...but he was mad. Screams ensued. I, in turn, walked into my room at the end of the hall and shut the door. I NEVER shut my door on him. This only made him madder. Screaming got louder, but he didn't dare come out of his room. A few minutes of Bill and I ignoring his pleas and cries went by and then it got quiet. I smiled a bit thinking that I had won the battle. THEN...BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Me: "What was that!?"
Bill: "I have no idea..."
I go to my bedroom door and open it, expecting to find that Liam has taken out a wall. This is what I found:

The brief silence when I smugly thought I had won the battle was really my stubborn son collecting "ammo" to throw at our door. I will give it to the kid though...he never left the room.

Summer 2010 thus far...

Alright, so I am a little behind on my blogging. I have a million pictures that need to be uploaded and of course Liam has said a million things that I think are pretty funny and worthy of being posted. Unfortunately, I live in Texas and it is 100 million degrees outside and I am 9 months pregnant...oh, and I sprained my ankle and am hobbling around. (Of course I was in front of like 10 people, and feel flat on my face, just walking...) Those things being said, I think I have plenty of reason to be a little behind. I really am going to make an effort to stop reading everybody else's blog though, and keep up with mine. (I am sure this will become easier with a newborn...sarcasm much?)Today Liam and I are having a pajama/movie watching day. We are camping out under the fan in my room and I am keeping my ankle propped up in hopes that it will get better faster. So here are some of the pics that I have been holding hostage on my lap top...
Refusing to wear pants and playing with his cars.
At the Cheney's, standing with Grandpa Bob.
Driving The Grand Fetas boat.
Being just generally goofy..
Liam and a very pregnancy craving Mommy had a dessert date at Cheesecake Factory. Liam was in his PJs. Liam took swim lessons in June. He loved his teacher Miss Robin.


Over the 4th of July weekend we took a trip to Hayward, Wisconsin. It was a great time and the weather was gorgeous. Liam had a blast. This is Hayward at sunset...

Liam driving while Daddy reaches for his beer...we are very responsible
Aunt Katie and Tony
Round Lake
Driving with Daddy

Passed out on Mommy on the pontoon boatMy handsome husband
Famous Daves, Hayward.

Gigi took us all to the candy shop. Liam thought it was great.

So much candy, so little time!
Liam, (Sydney in the tummy) and Mommy
Mommy and Gigi
Aiden, Liam and Uncle Hence

Papa and Nanie waving goodbye.
Grandpa Bill, Daddy and Liam.

We have less than a month until Miss Sydney joins us. I am soooooooooo ready! I will never again have another summer baby! Bill is no longer allowed within 5 feet of me from October to February.

9 weeks

Lately I have been a little distracted. Maybe it is the baby constantly moving inside of me? Maybe it is the challenging 3 year old that is constaly on me? Or perhaps it was the great visit I had with my family. Either way, I am way behind on posting and even taking pictures of my little man.
Playing his "nintendo".





Showing off his new Buzz Lightyear Swimsuit...
Bill making me jalepeno poppers...Sydney wanted them.


Multitasking...eating grapes while bathing.

As I type this Liam is destroying his playroom happily with his cousins. They are having a grand time. They are here until Sunday. Liam is going to be so sad to see them go. Then we are off to Hayward and then a few weeks later Mimi will be here and then...SYDNEY WILL BE HERE. You read that right. 9 weeks. 9 weeks until Liam will officially be a big brother. I know that is going to be here in a blink of an eye. I am so excited to see our children together, to know what Sydney looks like. On the other hand, 9 weeks left with just my Liam. We have had a great run though.

Awesome.

I just had the funniest conversation with Liam EVER! He crawls up on to my lap and looks at my big belly. He gets a contemplative look and says:
"Mom, please don't go to the doctor anymore. Please! Please! Please! You tell that doctor that we don't want a baby sister! He needs to keep her!"
I laughed pretty hard. He seems to know that she is in my belly, yet he is pretty sure that Dr. Rost is in on it somehow and since begging me isn't working perhaps he can reason with Dr. Rost. Poor kid is about to be so shocked when she comes and never goes back to wherever it is he thinks she came from. I am sure he will come around. He stops every parent with an infant so that he can ask the babies name. I am sure she will turn out to be the love of his childhood.

My Sydney Sisterhood...

I have been thinking a lot about my new daughter. She is kicking me constantly now and has made her presence well known since the get go. If this pregnancy is any indication of how strong her will, will be, then I am downright scared!(She made me crave crab for god sakes!) I think back to when I was a teenager and shutter when I think about how I and some of my girlfriends were to our mothers. Even as an adult, I know so many women who do not get along with their mothers. I cannot think of one man who doesn't adore his Mommy. While Liam is quite close to his Daddy and I am pretty sure he considers him his best friend ever, I am quite confident in my position in his heart. You best not mess with Liam's Mommy if you don't want a good smack. I am pretty sure Liam learnt this from his father. Bill sure loves his Mommy too. So, therein lies my fear. I don't want my daughter to have a love/hate relationship with me. I want a shopping buddy, a pedicure pal, and a coffee conversationalist. Am I being to honest? Are these fears things I am not supposed to voice? Well, too bad I guess, cause I have never been especially gifted at knowing when to keep it to myself. So right now I am going to make the decision to have a marvelous love/love relationship with little Miss Sydney. Bring your worst sister, cause I am sure that my fear of your rejection is stronger than your will to rule the roost! You can make me puke for months on end, eat me alive with heartburn, turn my extremities into marshmallows, and make me consider eating what I would normally consider disgusting (all this before you are even born!) but you can't make me dislike you. I am going to love you. You and I are going to be great friends! Although I am willing to admit that I am wrestling with some anxieties, I am going to place my heart in the hope of all the joy and sisterhood you are going to bring to my world and in return I am going to give you extreme grace when your hormones are out of control, and love you no matter what. I am so excited to meet my Sydney.
P.S.
Mom- This is in no way an indication of how I feel our relationship is. While our time together is limited, I treasure it. I wish it could be more. I miss you. I love you. Thanks for setting an example on how to love your daughter.

Happy Sunday

This weekend was a good one. We spent a lot of good family time together. Bill grilled Saturday night. Dinner was delish. Then we all hung out in the backyard and played T-ball. Liam is quite the little sportsman. He may even be a switch hitter. I tried to snap some good pictures but my camera lens isn't quite equipped for twilight lighting...and if it is, I haven't figured it out yet. :) But none the less, here are those photos.







Then Sunday we ran errands and made a stop at the local PetSmart. Liam LOVES PetSmart!He wanders around and ogles at all the puppies, kitties, and fishies. He randomly exclaims "They are so adorable!" Its pretty adorable.
All in all it was a pretty great weekend. We are blessed to be able to be happy doing mundane things in our backyard. Not to mention, we are lucky to have the backyard we have. I love living on the golf course with all the extra room to run. I never thought when I was younger that I might say this but I actually think that I would like living in the country.
Anyways, I also never posted anything about a special day in our house that passed last week. Daddy turned 27! Happy Birthday Bill! Liam and I made him yummy German Chocolate cupcakes filled with cut up candy bars. I know that sounds weird but Bill saw it on a show and requested it...surprisingly good. Here are the pictures from that. We love you Bill/Daddy!



Heres to hoping that everybody else had a great weekend too! May the week fly by so that we can have another great weekend next weekend.