Brotherly love

We keep waiting for Karsten to show some jealously towards Liam, but thankfully it hasn't happened! He is enamored with Liam - he's always saying 'Look at him!' He asks to hold him almost every night - I snapped these pictures the other day while Karsten was holding him.

We didn't coach him for this picture, I was just snapping pics as Karsten talked and held him. I wish I could remember what he was telling Scott as he did this.


Say cheese!


Karsten was concerned that Liam didn't know he could make the butterflies sing.


So he got into the play gym with Liam and showed him if you touched the butterfly or ladybugs, they would make noise.

More visitors

It's been great to have friends come visit us.

Kenna and Seville stopped by to meet Liam. Seville came back a few days later as Kenna's photography assistant for our family picture. She got some of the best smiles out of Karsten. Stay tuned for those pictures on our Christmas card!

Jenn came by to visit us - thanks Jenn!

For some reason I can't track down any pictures I took when Jill visited. It was fun to introduce Liam to her and catch up - after chatting in the office every day, it seemed like it had been ages! I'll get those posted asap!

Two weeks

Liam is two weeks old today. We're getting into a routine and starting to learn his likes and dislikes. Of course, there's still plenty we're still figuring out - that's what keeps things interesting, right?

I think Karsten taught him to turn his head away from my camera. :) We couldn't get a good picture of him sitting up in the chair AND looking forward.

Just Chillin

With each passing day we are beginning to notice longer periods of time in which Liam is awake. Lucky for us, he hasn't gotten his days or nights switched. We have also discovered there are short period of time in which Liam just wants to be placed on the floor. Hopefully that doesn't mean we are holding him too much.

There were 2 items that we used when Karsten what a baby that for some reason never go put away into storage. The 1st item was the attachment to the Pack and Play that converts it to a bassinet. The other item was the play gym. We kept this hanging up in the laundry room. When it came time to use it again, it didn't take long for me to get it setup.

While doing floor time Liam is also starting to kick his legs and swing the arms around. Karsten likes laying on the mat as well, but Liam was not a fan of the two of them side by side.

Then there's me laying on the floor as well. I too am easily entertained by a swinging butterfly that plays music and flashes lights. I don't recall Lisa taking a picture of me under the butterfly, but who knows there may be one.

Take Picture Mommy

Karsten is going from avoiding the camera to being interested in seeing the pictures I'm taking. The other day he climbed up on the chair next to Madison and said take picture Mommy. As soon as I took the picture he said 'me see, me see'. Then he smiled and said 'we tute'.

Sharing

Karsten really is going a great job as a big brother. He gets so excited to see Liam every morning and Liam is the first person he looks for when he gets home from Gail's.

Liam was hanging out watching Karsten play then Karsten decided that he should share his train cars with Liam. He very gently put all of the train pices on Liam's lap in the swing.

Our lil owl

I saw this little owl hat and totally fell in love. Jenn wisely said that hats to baby boys are like bows to baby girls. :)

We tried to put it on Liam during his newborn pictures but he was not having any of it. I tried it on him again today while he was sleeping. How cute is this?

Liam's first days

Scott tried out a new program to make a video of Liam's first few days. I think it turned out fantastic - what a great way to help us remember those days that are kind of a blur to me! Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

Daddy's hair

When I was pregnant with both Karsten and Liam, we joked around about what kind of hair they would have. My hair is naturally curly and Scott's hair is very thick and stands straight up. It looks like Liam may have inherited Scott's hair - after his bath today, his hair was standing straight up.

Christmas Quilt

When Scott and I got married, my mom started a tradition of Christmas quilts. She made a beautiful Christmas quilt for us that we keep on our bed around Christmas. They also have a Christmas quilt that they use on their bed. When Karsten was born, she made him a Christmas quilt to use around the holidays (you can see it here). On Thanksgiving, she gave us the Christmas quilt that she made for Liam.

I love the fabric - Christmas-y but not just red and green.

Liam will have fun playing on it this year and sleeping under it for many years to come! Thank you mom!!

Happy Thanksgiving

This year more than ever, we're very thankful for all of the blessings in our life. Liam arrived and is a happy, healthy baby. We have wonderful family and friends and everyone is in good health.

Since Liam is only a little over a week old and I'm still recovering from surgery, we stuck close to home and spent Thanskgiving with my parents. Unfortunately, this meant that Scott wasn't able to defend the position of his Christmas ornament on Linda and Leland's tree. Each Thanksgiving, Kelli and Scott sneak around and try to move their ornament to the highest position on the tree and the other person's ornament to the lowest spot on the tree. Scott got this picture from Kelli - it's his ornament hanging on the lowest branch of the tree. LOL.

We got to my parents house in time for lunch - Thanksgiving dinner was planned for around 5 or 6pm. Chuck was having hot apple cider and Karsten wanted some as well. This was the perfect time to break out the matching mugs that Chuck got on their vacation to Yellowstone -there's a Papa sized mug with a moose on it and two kid sized mugs, each with a moose on them. Karsten thought he was pretty cool with a mug just like Papa's.



Karsten made a great turkey centerpiece at Gail's. It made the table very festive!


Hanging out playing legos.


Liam spent a lot of the day like this - holidays are hard work for a little guy. He really enjoyed the cradle Chuck made - I think he'll get lots of use out of it when we're visiting over there.


Karsten and I before dinner.


Liam woke up just in time to watch us eat pie.


Grandma gladly held Liam so Scott and I could finish our pie.


Chuck and Liam hanging out after we're all stuffed from the wonderful dinner.


We decided to try to get a couple of brother shots in their Thanksgiving gear. Both Karsten and Liam did great and we got some good pictures!




Karsten stopped smiling and wanted to look at his baby brother. He said 'awww, look at my baby brother. Him is sleeping.'




Happy Thanksgiving everyone - hope you had a wonderful day with your family and friends.

Angee Birds

Karsten recently discovered the fun of Angry Birds (aka Angee Birds). At first Karsten wanted Scott to use his finger and throw the birds. When we were at my parents, Karsten wanted to show Papa how to play Angee Birds.

Then he decided he wanted to play by himself. He would occasionally ask Scott for help, but for the most part he said 'me do it'.

Thanks Gaga

Gaga is always sending us fun care packages - we were excited to get one of her special packages at our door today!

Karsten quickly learned that Gaga's packages almost always contain something yummy for him. We made the mistake of opening this package right before dinner and had to tell him that he could not have any of these m's until he ate dinner. He makes a pretty convincing sad face but we held strong. :)

Gaga also sent some super cute PJ's for Liam and Karsten (I may have been more excited about these than Karsten - he spotted the m's right after the PJ's, so they were quickly forgotten), and a cute first Christmas ornament for Liam.


Since Liam is too little to hang his own ornament, Karsten was a helpful big brother and volunteered to put it on the tree for him.


Scott was surprised Karsten wanted to hang Liam's ornament so high on the tree (see Thanksgiving post for background on the ornament battle between Kelli and Scott) but assumed Karsten would realize the err in his ways when he was older. :)

Thanks Gaga!!

Outings

I enjoy being home; however, it's nice to get out of the house for a change in scenery. Scott was able to take 10 days of paternity leave, and since Thanksgiving fell in the middle of that leave, we had a nice long time with him home with us.

Having Scott home was great, it was like we were on a perpetual weekend. It also came in handy for all of the doctor appointments we had for Liam since I couldn't drive because of my c-section.

Since Liam lost more than 10% of his weight in the hospital, we had an appointment to see the doctor the day after we got out of the hospital (Friday), then she wanted us to have a lab test to his bilirubin levels on Saturday to check to ensure he wasn't getting jaundiced. We also stopped by the doctor's office on Saturday to make sure he was gaining weight - good news, he was!

Then we had his one week appointment on Tuesday and stopped in on Wednesday for another weight check. We saw a lot of Liam's doctor and nurse in his first few weeks - Scott said a few more visits and we would have to become Facebook friends with them. LOL.

After his weight check we decided to run to Target to pick up a few things. I had forgotten how much room the carseat takes up in the shopping cart - looks like we're back to the days of pushing one cart for the carseat and another for whatever we're shopping for (and Karsten!). This was Liam's first outing other than the doctor.

1 week old!

Liam is one week old today! He is a great baby - a happy little guy who usually only cries when he is hungry or has a dirty diaper. He's eating every two to three hours and will go a longer stretch of about 4 hours at night. Once he gets back to his birth weight - hopefully next week - we can let him sleep as long as he wants at night. yay!

He sleeps for most of the day but has one or two periods when he is awake and looking around. Karsten gets excited when Liam's eyes are open. 'Him is awake mommy!'

He has also grown an inch. Ok, not really, but when we took him in to his pediatrician, he was 19.5 inches rather than 18.5 inches like the hospital said. We're going with 19.5 inches as his new official length. :)

Big yawn!

The fun place

Karsten had a good Saturday - he started the day with undivided Grandma time while Scott and I took Liam to the lab for his biliruben test as well as to the doctor for a weight check.

Then, when Scott and I got home, Linda and Leland arrived and they all set out for a fun afternoon at Fritz's and Little Monkey Bizness. Shannon, Liam and I spent the afternoon with Kenna taking Liam's newborn pics.

At Fritz's, you order your food by picking up the phone at your table, then the food arrives on a train. It's a big hit with the kids - plus you get this cool hat.

Little Monkey Bizness is a big gym play place with bounce houses, climbing things, slides, etc. Karsten calls it 'the fun place.'

Settling in

A few more pictures to share from our first few days home from the hospital. We've done lots of cuddling with Liam, playing with Karsten, napping, chatting and relaxing.

Linda and Leland relaxing with Liam.

Liam catching up on his sleep. He spends most of the day sleeping and we only see his eyes for a few minutes each day. Growing is hard work for a little guy.

BIG yawn!

Karsten loves this fishing puzzle that Liam got him when he was born. He has so much fun catching all of the fish. He thought Liam would like to see him fishing.

Karsten gets very concerned when Liam is crying. He offers helpful tips like 'him needs a bottle' or 'him has a poopy diaper'. He's always very careful of Liam when he's climbing up on our lap.