Catching up

It has been SUCH a long time since I have written anything down.  With these kiddos growing, it's been gnawing at me to sit down and capture my memories of these two little ones.

Liam:
Liam has been such a tremendous joy to have in our home.  Although very young, he has an incredibly sweet spirit that influences those he's around.   He's easy going and rarely complains about anything.  Very rarely cries.  When he's hungry, he'll let us know by getting restless and grunting a little bit.  If we ignore him for too long, he'll get a pouty lower lip and let out a few cries.  But he's always quick to be consoled.  He requires so little attention that we often have to remind ourselves that he needs it.  Not a bad problem to have.

He doesn't hold back on the smiles.  Little Liam will light up the room with his big smile.  All we have to do is make eye contact with him and say "hi Liam" and he will smile and coo.  We love love love his smile.  I love the special moments I have alone with him when he will smile and coo, just him and me.  Sometimes I will be holding him in my arms and will be doing something else like reading, watching tv, etc. and when I look down at him he is staring up at me with an enormous grin on his face.  Our sunshine. 

Liam has always been super strong.  At his first doctor's appointment, days after birth, he was holding himself up on his elbows when the doctor placed him on his stomach.  She was amazed by his strength, and told us we had a strong boy on our hands.  At the next appointment, she felt his legs, amazed at the muscle growing in his thighs.  We continue to see these strong muscles as he is constantly moving and kicking.  If we are holding him on our laps with his feet toward our body, he will kick and kick our stomachs or chests until it actually starts to become quite painful. 

Liam is a good sport with Gracie.  She can be rough with him at times.  Like the time she used her sippy cups as drum sticks on Liam's forehead.  Poor Liam screamed.  One of the only times he has screamed.  She's learning to be softer with him, but she doesn't really understand.  She will often times try to give Liam his pacifier, but she doesn't quite have the aim necessary to get it in his mouth, so it gets shoved into his nose or cheek.  Liam never complains.   Sometimes we put him in a swing that is close to the floor and rocks back and forth (front to back).  Gracie will come up to the front of the swing, grab it with both hands and push as hard as she can.  Obviously, we try to stop it whenever we can, but it still happens.  Once again, Liam's easy-going personality takes it in stride.

Liam is a grunter.  Maybe it's his alternative to crying?  At night while trying to fall asleep, we hear him grunting.  I wake up to his grunting in the middle of the night, signaling he's ready to eat.  He grunts as he tries to get out of his swaddle.  He grunts a lot.

Liam puts his hand on his face when he's tired.  We know he's ready for bed when his hand is resting on his eye. Unfortunately, this causes scratches to the face.

Within the past week or so he has started to recognize when gracie is crying, and will start crying himself. I find it interesting that he is so perceptive.


Within the past week or so he has started to recognize when gracie is crying, and will start crying himself. I find it interesting that he is so perceptive.
We blessed Liam last Sunday.  As expected with his sweet personality, as soon as he was in the circle and the blessing started Liam got a huge smile on his face and started cooing. The days leading up to his blessing were really tender for me.  I spent a lot of time thinking about the little spirit that was inside of his little body.  A precious gift from our Heavenly Father.  With much gratitude, I felt the responsibility we have been given to care for him and to teach him.  I am so grateful for Jason and for the Priesthood power that he holds, enabling him to bless our sweet baby boy. 

He's just perfect.  He brings us so much joy.

Gracie:
Gracie has grown in so many ways!  She is becoming so fun to interact with.  She recently learned how to say "Hi!" and "Bye!" and will greet everybody and everything that she sees.  She has this fantastic wave that accompanies her greetings.  One day we were at the outdoor mall.  It was the middle of the week so there weren't a lot of people out and about.  When she saw a person approaching, she would stop dead in her tracks, look and them, wave, and say "hi!"  She wouldn't stop or move until they acknowledged her and waved back.  She can get a person to smile in less than two seconds with this cute little greeting of hers.  She uses that cute wave to say "goodnight" for naptime or bedtime.  and will insist on waving goodnight to everybody in the house before she'll go to bed.  Especially Liam.  Liam is always the first to get the wave.  Even if he's in a different room, she will run to wherever he is and wave goodnight to him.  When he was first born and she wasn't quite sure what to think or who he was,  she would wave to him.  Whenever she would see him, he got a wave and a greeting in her high-pitched voice.  You see, as soon as Liam came along, Gracie developed a higher-toned falsetto voice that came into play whenever she was addressing him.  We figured it was her "baby talk".  This was before she said any words, before "Hi" and "Bye" came into the picture.  But she would change her voice while she waved to him.  It was really endearing.  That voice was soon translated to any interaction with animals that we see while out and about.  They too get the falsetto voice and the wave.

Gracie loves to be outside.  She will play outside for hours with her dad while he's working in the yard.  She will walk with purpose to wherever she is going.  She likes to play with the big rocks, bringing them onto the sidewalk and putting them back.  One day while outside with her dad, she started army crawling through the garden spot we have in our yard.  I guess she wanted to get down and dirty, to be one with the earth.  She will often times (almost daily lately), find our shoes and bring them to us, insisting that we put them on our feet.  Once we have our shoes on, she will go to the door, pointing to the outside and will not stop until we cleverly distract her or take her outside.  Once outside, she couldn't care less about who is with her.  She is a girl on a mission.  She will start walking down the sidewalk at a swift pace, exploring yards as she wishes.  Her little cheeks always get really rosy with all the effort she puts into her exploration.  It is so fun to watch her.

Gracie still loves going on morning runs with her dad.   Almost every time he runs, he takes her in the running stroller.  He has a system down.  Book, toy, water, treats, and the pacifier (for emergency only).  They both love it.  Whenever Gracie sees the stroller, she taps on the seat, asking to get in.

This summer we have started taking Gracie swimming.  She is fearless.  She loves the water and loves her independence in the water.  We take her to this pool that has a beach entry.  She will walk in until the water level is up to her mouth, allowing herself to breathe through her nostrils.  She will walk around at that depth, and will not let anybody touch her.  So fun. 

She went through a phase where she was obsessed with hats, shoes, and headbands.  She would always want us to put them on her.  Sometimes more than one headband at a time.  Or a hat and then several headbands on top of the hat.  She made up her own sign for hat and headband (tapping the top of her head).  She also has a sign for "put my shoes on now!" - she stomps with one foot while holding her shoes out for us to grab.   She also has a sign for "blow dry my hair" which is a rubbing motion all over the top of her head. 

Gracie does not like doors or drawers to be open.  Whether to her bedroom, the bathroom, closets, dresser drawers or drawers in the kitchen...she goes around closing them.  When I'm cooking, she will be playing in the kitchen and when she notices I left a drawer open she will stop playing to close it.  I'm not complaining.  We could use a little attention to detail around this place.

We have started feeding her smoothies for afternoon snacks.  With that came an awareness of that blender sound.  Whenever she hears it she will go to the part of the kitchen where we keep all of her cups, pointing and waiting for us to fill it up with yummy smoothie.

Gracie loves to dance.  Almost anytime she hears music she gets this big toothy smile on her face, highlighting that beautiful dimple of hers, and starts spinning in circles.   She especially loves to dance to this Little Enstein train that she has.  When she pushes a button, it will play music.  If we sing or hum the song that it plays, she will drop whatever she is doing and start searching for the train.  It may be buried in her bucket of toys, but she will find it, push the button and start dancing.  She especially loves it when we all start dancing along with her.