One Month

Wow, my baby boy is officially one month old. How is it that the whole last week of my pregnancy seemed to last longer than the whole first month when Liam arrived?? Will and I have been so blessed with the birth of Liam. He is such a good baby! After years of my parents telling me to just wait until I have a baby just like ME, I was a bit terrified! But instead, Liam started out sleeping 4 hour stretches with a cry that is cute enough to make Will and I laugh most of the time. When he does cry, he is easily calmed with a little love. He is pretty laid back and glad to be held by all of our family and friends. I’m pretty sure that he will suck his thumbs/fingers as soon as he can consistently figure out how to get his hands to his mouth and keep them there. He loves looking around taking things in and is already starting to lift his head when he’s on his tummy. I simply can’t get enough of him! Though he was 7 pounds 11 ounces at birth, by his two week appointment he grew a whole inch and weighed in at 8 pounds 7 ounces! Though I’m not sure what he weighs now, I know he’s still a growing boy!! To celebrate Liam’s one month birthday I wanted to share a few of our favorite moments from this past month together!

Will and I began adjusting to Liam well before he was born. Throughout the pregnancy we prepared for his arrival. Since his birth we have really started getting to know him and getting to know how to care for him. Since this is new to us, it’s been an exciting adventure. :) Liam is actually the first newborn baby Will has EVER held! Prior to this, Will’s policy has always been not to hold a baby until they can hold up their own head. He has since learned babies aren’t quite as breakable as he once thought. Here is a picture of Liam’s favorite Papi hold, aka the football hold.





Changing Liam’s diapers was an adjustment for the two of us as well. Liam peed on himself (and us!) on multiple occasions before we mastered the technique for keeping him covered during changes. The even bigger adjustment for me was taking care of Liam’s ‘boy parts’! After his circumcision, I definitely tried to wipe him with a baby wipe (a definite no-no), followed by trying to put water on him. As Will started freaking out by both actions, I then went to try and blow on it because I felt so bad about messing up! Oops! Luckily Papi was there to give me a full tutorial. :) I’m sure one day Liam will be completely embarrassed to read this, but by then I’m sure he will be well accustomed to my tendency to over share! ;)

Giving Liam his first bath at home was also a sight to see! Will and I decided to give him the bath in the bathtub, our first mistake, as this made it hard to bend over to reach him in his tub which was sitting in the bathtub. This was the first time we really heard Liam CRY! He was not happy with us. At one point Will asked me to lift Liam up some so he could wash his back. However, instead of simply lifting his head up while he was still sitting in his tub, I lifted him all the way up and had his feet dangling. Poor Liam, lol. After this, Will rinsed him off with cool water, because to make the water warm in the bathtub he had to turn it all the way up. Let’s just say Will and I hassled each other for our mistakes and poor Liam was just trying to survive his first home bath! He sure did sleep well after that first bath! Since then we have MUCH improved our technique and now give him his baths in his tub by the kitchen sink. :) Here are a few pictures from his first bath at home.





Overall, we are simply enjoying Liam and enjoying being parents to such a sweet boy! It is so much fun to watch him grow and change. He is now starting to have more alert time during the day and continues to sleep good stretches at night. I will attempt to start doing better at keeping the blog updated!

Liam's birth announcements

Woohoo!! Liam’s birth announcements have been sent. They are super cute and each one is HANDMADE by my super friend, Kerri Berry. Who has claimed herself as the sister Will never had (approved of course first by Will’s mother), making her Liam’s auntie. :) Anyways, I just wanted to take a moment to give a HUGE thank you to Kerri for her awesome gift of making Liam’s announcements!

Captured Moments

Well, I recognize I have been slow to blog these days, but I am going to work hard to start keeping up. Though this is late, it’s something I wanted to share. We were fortunate enough to have photographer and friend, Carleen Sparkman, from Charm Me Photography, in the delivery room with us when Liam was born. She captured some very dear moments with her camera during Liam’s birth. I wanted to share several of our favorites on our blog.

Here are a few shots before Liam’s arrival. One of Will and I grasping hands (something we did A LOT of during labor) and the other during a break from pushing. I love this one because I think it captures the anticipation of the moment, as well as the connection between Will and me.





Will was worried about being present during the delivery because of his weak stomach for blood. I have to say though, I’m very proud of him. :) He was fantastic throughout Liam’s birth and even made the decision to cut the umbilical cord. Here is the picture captured by Carleen.



Next is my favorite photograph. This is the moment after Liam’s birth where Will and I are told we’ve had a baby boy. It was difficult to wait the full pregnancy not knowing the sex of our baby, but this moment was so worth it. Though it didn’t matter to me either way, my face shows complete happiness when I hear “It’s a BOY!” Also, the look on Will’s face is priceless. The first time I saw this photograph I cried.

Liam is surrounded by beautiful girls!

Liam already has great friends, though he may not know it just yet. LOL I just wanted to take a second to introduce the beautiful girls in Liam’s life.

First, his beautiful cousin, Kylee. She loves him so much already and gives him kisses whenever they are together. If we (hopefully) are able to move to Keller, Kylee will be helping Aunt Marcie take care of Liam while Mama and Papi are at work. Here are a few favorite photos of the two of them.




Next, I introduce our friends Ryan Nye and Jepsy Colon-Nye’s baby girl Alondra Dianne Nye. She was actually born the day after Liam, on July 27th! She was the same exact size and weight as Liam at birth! We were crazy enough to go and visit them the day we left the hospital. We drove straight from being released at Harris SW to Baylor Grapevine to meet her. We were afraid Baylor Grapevine might think we were stealing one of their babies, as we still had on our own hospital bands! They also live in Keller, so it’s likely there will be plenty of photos to come of Alondra and Liam together!



Next I introduce Brittain and Jenny Griffith’s baby, Emrie Jo Griffith. Kaz and I have been friends since we were about 14 years old or so. She is my dearest friend and I am so sad I haven’t had the opportunity to meet Emrie in person. Though I haven’t met her yet, I love her dearly already (and am planning a trip to Houston to meet her soon)!! She was born 3 weeks and 6 days after Liam on August 22. Here she is in her going home outfit. Such a cutie!!



Then of course, there is precious Hadley, daughter of our friends Harrison and Liz Merritt. Like Kylee, she is already taken with Baby Liam. She gets so excited anytime she gets to see him! Here is a picture of the first time they met.

3 Men and a Lady

The other day Cara said something pretty hilarious...

We were sitting in the living room catching up on shows recorded on the DVR. She was holding Liam while I had Deuce, the family dog, at my feet. Cara looked down at Liam, looked over at me, and then looked at the dog. Then she got this shocked look on her face. I was wondering what she doing, when she said, "I am surrounded by boys!" At that very moment, she finally realized she was living in a house full of men, outnumbered 3 to 1 counting the dog.

Sorry, babe. You are going to have to endure non-lowered toilet seats and dirty underwear until you get your girl to restore the home's rightful balance. Until then, enjoy the Wallace house. It's strong enough for a woman, but pH-balanced for men. :-)

Papi Goes Back to Reality

In the morning, I will be making my dreadful return to reality. After a nice week spent getting to know our new baby boy and spending quality time with his lovely (and very beautiful) mother, I have to return to work. I would much rather stay home with the two of them, but I know if we want to do normal things like eat and live under a roof I have to go. So tomorrow morning will be a very sad time. On the bright side, I will be taking leave from work for the month of November so I can be at home for a month when Cara goes back to work so that will be fun and very interesting. Let the November play date requests begin now!!