Steven and Shay

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

2 month milestones

Liam is now 2 months old! I really can'y believe how much he is changing and growing every single day. When I sit and think about all the new things that have happened in our house in the past month I feel overwhelmed and proud. We are so lucky to be parents to such a smart and happy little boy!

Here are some of the biggest milestone from the past month:

Liam now weighs 11 lbs 12 oz and is 23" long. Pretty soon he'll be double his birth weight (which was 6 lbs 14 oz)
Liam is SMILING now!! There is truly nothing better than seeing his gummy little smile every single day. Smiles most often come when he's getting changed on the changing table or when he sees one of us for the first time that day. Daddy gets lots of precious smiles when he comes home from work!

Precious boy!

We have a little chatter box on our hands! Liam is making a lot of new noises "ooh" "ahh" "ack" "goo" and our absolute favorite "ahhhh-GOO!" Sometimes we get sweet soft "ahh-goo" and sometimes we get excited "ahh GOO! AHH GOO! AHHHHH GOOOOO!" Every now and then Liam gets serious with Steven and will give him a very matter of fact "ahh goo."
Liam loves lights and windows! Here's a picture of the day he discovered the overhead light in our living room:

Liam now takes a bottle, which makes going to church and friend's houses much easier on me!
This past weekend Liam slept through the night two nights in a row! Mom and Dad rejoiced!

Last week my maternity leave officially ended. I am very blessed in the sense that my job is one that I can do from anywhere. My team is spread all over the country (world, actually) so we communicate via Skype, phone and email primarily. Therefore I made the decision to give up my office and become a work-from-home mom! It's been a challenge to keep up with work while caring for Liam every day, but I am making it work. I know in my heart that no matter how hard juggling all of these things are on a day to day basis it is nowhere near as hard as it would have been to hand my 8 week old baby over to daycare! The band and my co-workers are very supportive of my new role as "mom." This is a huge blessing- one I will never take for granted!

The last weekend in January we took Liam on his first trip out of town. We packed up the car and went to Atlanta so Liam could meet my Aunts Debby and Anita and my grandparents. Of course, Mimi and Aunt Lindsey were happy to get in some good cuddle time with Liam too! We had a great visit. Liam had a wonderful time checking out all the lights and windows in Mimi's house. The trip exhausted him and he slept great for the first few nights we were home!

Nana with Liam

Nana and Papa with their first Great-Grandson

Aunt Neen and Liam

Mimi with a very sleepy baby!

Four generations of our family!

Nashville has had some pretty nasty weather ever since Liam was born. I've lost count of how many snowfalls we have had since December 3rd. That cold, snowy weather doesn't make it very easy for us to take Liam out of the house. Steven and I are looking forward to springtime when we can break out the stroller any day we want and take Liam up to the park or down the neighborhood greenway. Until then, we figure out ways to play inside:

He likes to sing us Irish drinking songs... ("yo ho ho..")

Liam loves playing "Superman" with Dad

He loves his car seat but is not a fan of wearing his hat out in the cold

Morning nekkid time!

Our little chatter box!

Getting clean!

Weeeeee! (Ahh-goo!)

Friday, January 14, 2011

6 weeks old

Liam is 6 weeks old today!

In a lot of ways, it seems like it has been much more time since he was born. In fact, that day seems like it was 6 months ago- not just 6 weeks! So much has happened in this short period of time, which is why it's been over a month since I've updated. There isn't much time to update a blog!

These 6 weeks have been jam packed full of memories. We have enjoyed Liam's first Christmas and several visits from family members. We love knowing that Liam is already beginning relationships with his family and our best friends!

Since I last checked in our friends have had quite a bit of news. First, I hope you will all join me in congratulating my friend Sarah on the birth of her beautiful daughter, Aubrey Caroline!! Our kids were due 4 days apart and ended up having birthdays 3 weeks apart! On some days we thought Miss Aubrey would never come but she finally made her grand entrance on December 23rd! What a fantastic Christmas gift for Sarah and Burke! Sarah and I have been through such a long journey together.... and now we get to start this new phase of life together! It's gotten much harder for she and I to talk these days, but we manage to check in all the time over text. I am really looking forward to the day we can let our kids meet!

Also, in the past week there has been a pregnancy explosion within our circle of friends! Liam has lots of new friends on the way in 2011! This is going to be a really exciting year for so many reasons!

Milestones

At 3 weeks old Liam surprised us by rolling from his tummy to his stomach! We're expecting him to go from back to belly before too long. He is one strong kid!

We've also caught Liam giving us some sweet smiles. We like to think they are all real smiles, but I'm sure some are just coincidence. Last night at about 4AM he was asleep and I caught him smile and give what sounded like a little laugh. I can't wait for the wonderful day he gives us a big toothless smile and a loud belly laugh!

Liam sleeps and eats really well! He is gaining weight (8lbs 9 oz when he was 4 weeks old) and understands that night is for sleeping and daytime is for playing- not the other way around. Wow, we can't even tell you how great it was for him to grasp that concept!

Liam seems to recognize us more all the time. He has known our voices since birth but Steven and I both notice him recognizing our faces. His eyes can focus much more these days and he will reach up to touch our faces and watch us very closely.

Liam also loves to play on his activity mat! He will bat at his toys and enjoys the sounds and clicks when the toys move around. We love to watch him reach and touch things. He is learning all the time and it's been so fun to watch him begin to understand some things.

Liam LOVES music. This is no surprise to us! Steven and I take any opportunity to play songs for him. His favorite is when we turn on the record player in our living room and dance him around. He is picky about songs- he likes upbeat songs and will cry when a slow song comes on! That means no Alison Krauss (boo). His favorites are Tom Waits, The Beatles, Paul McCartney, Arcade Fire, Sharon Jones, Lady Antebellum, Louis Armstrong, and yes, he seems to like Hanson too!

Here are a few recent pictures of our little guy. We are so blessed to be his parents! We have so much to look forward to with him- thank you, Lord, for this tremendous blessing!

Bath time

Christmas morning- he was our best present ever!

Our first Christmas with Liam

Little rock star

Friday, December 10, 2010

Firsts and special gifts

Since we have been home some very special people have sent us some beautiful gifts to welcome Liam!

Bon Jovi's management team sent this beautiful quilt and a bouquet of lilies! They are in Australia right now doing some final 2010 concerts so it was really sweet of them to get together and send this to us!

The label I worked for sent us these flowers and a really sweet card:

Aunt Rebekah, Uncle Andy and our niece Abigail sent Liam these flowers, which look beautiful in his nursery:

One of my best friends, Jennifer, who lives in Oklahoma sent this cute cupcake carnation bouquet!

Since Liam got home he has had several "firsts"

First trip to the pediatrician! Liam is extremely healthy and is already gaining weight.

Poor kid had to be naked so we wrapped him in the blanket Heather made

First ride in the car! He wore the hat Aunt Joyce knitted for him and he looked SO CUTE!!!!!!!!!

First nap in his boppy pillow! This thing is AWESOME and so versatile!

First bath! What a little cutie.

Tummy time in the Boppy! These are some of my favorites!

First ride in his swing. When I was pregnant and he would be jumping around I'd try to sway my hips or rock him so he'd get used to the soothing motion. It seems to have worked because he loves to rock, bounce and sway!

Liam Gabriel Boone

Liam Gabriel Boone was born on Friday, December 3, 2010 at 9:28AM! He weighed 6 lbs 14 oz and is 18.5 inches long. He has blonde hair, deep blue eyes and definitely has Daddy's long guitar player fingers! He has my dad's feet, which basically means he has a large space between his big toe and the rest of his toes. My 3 siblings and I all have his feet as well- it's a very dominant gene I guess! Every day he seems to look a little more like Steven, which is just fine with me. It will be fun to see what traits of mine he has but thus far he seems to be all daddy!