Honey

Yesterday we met the newest cousin in the family, Honey.  I have always loved birds.  I grew up with 2 birds, Spike and Maggie.  Both were cockatiels. I'm not sure what kind of bird Honey is exactly but she is beautiful.  It made me miss my birds.  I would love to have another one but the are messy and too much to handle, especially at this time in my life.  She was so sweet and just wanted you to rub on her and cuddle with her.  She can be very intimidating because of the huge beak coming at you but she just wants you to love on her.  Her color is peach and her head feathers are orange.  Orange happens to be my favorite color :)  She is supposed to come back for Easter so I'm sure there will be more pictures of Honey to come!

Rolled Over?

So Thursday, I woke up to little man talking in his crib.  It was about 4:15 which is when he usually wakes up to eat in the morning.  He sleeps on his belly every night so I expected to walk into the room and see him like I always do, wiggling around on his belly like a fish.  But NOOOO! I walk in and he is laying on his back.  He had rolled over!!!  Too bad he hasn't done it any more since then :( but you can tell when we lay him down on his back that he is starting to try to. 

Here he was taking a nap in Landon's crib last week.  Love that little booty!

Sick Baby

So the past 24 hours have been eventful.  We have a sick baby.  Not a really sick baby but an unhappy baby I will say.  For the past few days he has had this cough that I thought was just him choking on his slobber.  He sneezes 10-20 times a day. He doesn't have a runny nose but you can definitely tell he has some congestion and when he does have snot its a green color.  He can't get comfortable.  He had a 100.4 temp this morning.  He doesn't cry, he just wimpers and wiggles around.  So just to ease my mind, I called this morning and got an appointment to see Dr. Eastham.  I figured that it was nothing but I couldn't live with myself if something really was wrong with him.  I have kinda been sick myself but I blame it on allergies.  I had the cough and runny nose stuff kinda like him.  When we got there his temp was 99.4 and of course he was laughing and being his funny self.  He weighed 12.3 pounds with his clothes on.  When Dr. Eastham came his he listened to him and looked in his ears.  Lungs and ears were clear.  So he said that with the temp he thinks he just has a viral respiratory infection.  Very common with this weather and with a lot of kids lately.  He said that it would last 10-14 days and that it would probably get worse before it gets better. Lucky us! He has done better today that he did last night.  He took a good nap today since he didn't get much sleep last night.  Here is a picture of us waiting on Dr. Eastham.

After the Dr. we went to Hobby Lobby because I have a tutu to make and needed some ribbon.  All the ladies over by the ribbon isle were swooning over him.  One lady said that he was a good shopper and that he would make a good husband one day haha.  Here is my happy shopper!

You Are My Sunshine

So tonight as I was rocking Liam to sleep and singing "You Are My Sunshine" I couldn't help but start crying.  And I cry even harder because he just lays there and stares into my eyes, oh so focused on every word I sing.  Thank goodness he doesn't know any better because my singing sounds horrible, even worse when I am crying.  Every word to that song is so true.  I don't remember my life before Liam.  That was only 3 1/2 months ago.  It's crazy how one person can come into your life and change everything.  Time has gone by way to fast and I want to take in every moment.  I hate that I can't be with him everyday but I'm glad that our families get to keep him so that they can enjoy every milestone too.  I love you John William "Liam" Barker, more than you will ever know. 

You are my sunshine, my only sunshine

You make me happy when skies are grey

You'll never know dear how much I love you

Please don't take my sunshine away

Our First Walk in the Stroller

Last week we took our first walk in the stroller.  We walked around our neighborhood and to People's Bank to see Aunt Mandy and everyone else there.  Then we walked back home.  It was such a nice day! It's hard to believe that it is February and we are in short sleeves! Oh, Tennessee weather!

I'm Three Months Old!!!!

Well if February had 30 days in it, Liam would have been 3 months on the 30th.  But since this year February only had 29 days in it, we will count the 29th as 3 months.  Kate did our 3 month pictures that day and he did really well until we started doing outfit changes and he started getting fussy. The moment we put him in the car, he was out! I will post pictures when I get them back.

I can't believe it has been 3 months already.  Time is FLYING by.  I'm sad and happy at the same time.  I'm sad to know that he will never be this little again but I am excited to find out what he will be doing next.  He gets more and more fun every day.  During this month his smiles have gotten bigger and cooing more frequent and louder!  We have gotten into a daily routine, which is nice! We have been working on holding onto toys and the dreaded tummy time.  He is now able to prop himself up on his elbows and look around.  He looks like a little turtle popping out of his shell :)  He has found out that putting his hand in his mouth is soothing and sometimes better than the paci!  And he has finally started to drool everywhere!  We started putting cereal in a bottle for his last feeding of the night which is around 9 o'clock.  And he started sleeping in his crib!  He will eat around around 9ish and I will lay him in his crib around 930ish.  He wakes up around 4 or 4:30 to eat which gives me enough time on the weekends to get myself ready for work and get him to his grandparents house.  I'm so thankful that the transition to the crib was that easy for us both.  So the pack and play is packed up and ready for the move, which I will post about when the paperwork has been complete :)  There are big things to come for the Barker family!  Happy 3 months Liam! We love watching you grow!

Playdate With the Boys & Carter

Yesterday we had a play date at Carla and Carters house.  We got there a little late because little man had to eat first.  Needless to say, he slept practically the whole time we were there.  When he did wake up, it was obvious that he knew he was in a different place because he wasn't being his usual giggly self.  He was just staring at everything and taking it all in.  Gavin slept, ate and stunk up the place like all newborns do :) and Landon was being his chattery, drooly self rolling around in the floor.  Carter had more fun playing in the babies car seats than anything else.  It was so funny, every time she would try to crawl into the car seat the handle would smack her in the head.  That girl has a hard head! Not just because it kept hitting her but she kept doing it over and over again! Silly girl! We ordered pizza and I ate breadsticks :( It's nice to get together every once in a while and have adult conversation!  With our move in a couple of weeks, we will all be living in the same neighborhood, with the exception of Shayna.  We have got to find her a house in the neighborhood so these kids can grow up together!!!  We missed Adalyn because she was sick :(  I can see it now, when the boys get older Adalyn will have them dressed up in girls clothes making them do all kinds of crazy things! She will be the boss! I'm so excited that they are all so close in age! We are going to have our hands full.

Birthmark

So I thought that when he was born the bright red spot on the back of his head was the end result of a 21 hour labor.  After 3 months that red spot is still there.  After some research, I found out what the term for this kind of birthmark is, a salmon patch. Coincidentally, I had the same kind of birthmark when I was born.  Not only does he have the huge one on the back of his head ("stork bite") but he has a small one in between his eyes ("angel's kiss").  This one on his face gets darker when he cries or is straining to poop. I am told that I had the exact same mark when I was born.  I have one now on my top lip that comes out when I cry or get mad. So sorry Liam, you got this from me :)

Salmon Patches

Salmon patches are nests of blood vessels that appear as small, pink, flat marks on the skin. They occur in one-third of newborn babies. Salmon patches can appear on the back of the neck ("stork bite"), between the eyes ("angel's kiss"), or on the forehead, nose, upper lip, or eyelids. Some fade as baby grows, but patches on the back of the neck usually don't go away.

Here is the one on his forehead...

Smiling

Liam has become a ham lately!  He has starting smiling and cooing.  We hang out with Landon quite a bit and I always find myself comparing him to Landon.  I have to remind myself that he is 2 1/2 months older than Liam and I need to quit thinking he should be doing the same things he does. Landon is laughing and rolling over and Liam just stares at you and lays there and I'm like ... "Why aren't you doing anything!?!?!?" Then I'm like ... "Oh yea, your too little to be doing that!" I don't want to rush it, I'm just ready for him to play.  Liam is finally starting to get his personality and I have definitely seen a difference in him since the elimination of dairy in my diet.  He seems much happier so that makes me feel better.  Here are some pictures of my sweet boy smiling!

I'm Two Months Old!!!

 
I can't believe that he is already 2 months old. Boy how time flies.  Everyone told me that it would but you don't know until it happens.  January 31st was his 2 month check up with Dr. Eastham.  He weighed 10 pounds and 2 ounces which put him in the 9%.  He was 21 inches long and they said his head circumference was 36 cm, which was what he was at his 1 month appointment.  He was a wiggle worm and I don't think they measured him right.  Anyways, that put him in the 1% for both of those.  I have a little squirt!  Of course he started being fussy when Dr. Eastham came in the room.  We were having trouble hearing each other because of the screaming, so Dr. Eastham took him from me.  It was the funniest thing and I wish that I had gotten a picture of him, but he put one hand under his bottom and the other on his belly like superman. He walked around in a circle bobbing him up and down and there was silence!  I called him the baby whisperer haha!  Needless to say, we use that position quite often when he is fussy.  Thanks Dr. Eastham!  Liam had been having some tummy trouble and issues with his pooping so Dr. Eastham told us to start putting Karo syrup in one of his bottles until he established a better pooping pattern, and for me to keep eliminating dairy out of my diet :(  Poor baby got an oral immunization and 3 shots.  He yelled out for about 30 seconds and then was fine.  I fed him right after so he was all better then.  We ended up having to give him Tylenol about twice because he started getting fussy later that afternoon.  And of course I saved the band-aids :) They will go in the drawer along with his belly button and circumcision bell.  I know it's weird but I'm a mom and I can do things like that.  I might use them to embarrass him one day when he brings home a girlfriend.

I had to put this one on here ... it's just too funny not to.

15 Things A Mother Should Teach Her Son

I found this this morning on Pinterest and had to post it because it is so true.   One day I will have to teach him these things!!!

15 Things A Mother Should Teach Her Son

1. The kitchen? Not just for girls. Learn to use a stove.

2. If a girl tries to change you she doesn’t really love you no matter how much you want her to.

3. Shower daily, keep your nails trim and use deodorant.

4. A dutch oven is never funny. EVER.

5. It is NEVER acceptable to break up with a girl over the phone.

6. Understand how to use basic tools.

7. When you ask a girl, “Is something wrong?” and she says, “No.” She’s lying.

8. The job of a stay-at-home mom is equally as hard as yours.

9. Table manners. Use them.

10. You will never know a stronger pull than that of your friends trying to get you to participate in their wrong doing. Resisting makes you a man. Succumbing makes you a coward.

11. NEVER use your fists to solve ANY dispute. One wrong punch could take a life and it could be yours.

12. Condoms will save your life.

13. Never use the word gay in a derogatory manner. It’s ignorant.

14. Sexting is a federal offense.

15. Real girls do not look like Victoria’s Secret models.