Dear Liam 18 month edition

My sweet little Liam Hayes, you are 18 months old!! Time has just flown by with you my littlest love!

You are growing up so fast!! You are weighing in at 24 pounds (48th percentile) and standing 31.5 inches tall (20th percentile). While your percentile doesn't seem crazy tall, you feel tall to us because you are already 2 inches taller than brother was at 18 months. You are wearing size 4 diapers, a mixture of 18 & 24 month sleepers and 18 month pants and shirts.

Your teeth are coming right along. Currently you have 4 top front teeth, 4 bottom front teeth & 1 top molar. I can feel the other top molar & 2 on the bottom starting to come through but they haven't officially broken through.

You aren't talking quite as much as brother did. Brother was a chatter box from day 1 and you tend to be a little more sneaky & quiet. You say 24 words. I think my very favorite thing that you say is when you run through the house or yell after brother. You can't say his whole name so currently you just call him "Ace."

What you lack in words you 100% make up for in your actions and abilities. You know down to a T how to make Daddy a cup of coffee on the Keurig right down to adding 2 sweetners, where to put the K cup and which button to push to make the cup. You have watched us an figured out how to unscrew things, turn off and on lights & use different things around the house. You have even tried to open cans with the can opener.

Speaking of coffee, you my sweet boy are still an avid coffee lover. You don't care if it has creamer, is hot or cold or straight black. You love to sneak a little swig of it any time you can.

You my little man are our eater. There isn't a food you wont try & there are very few foods that you don't like. Green beans, sour cream & potatoes are the only foods that you don't prefer. A few of your favorites include: Blueberries, cottage cheese, cold hotdogs, diced peaches, apples, granola bars, yogurt, meat of any kind, tacos, spaghetti, etc. I add the etc. because truly I could go on for quite some time about the things you love to eat. Along with eating any type of food, you eat ALL the time! It almost feels like I cannot feed you enough. On a normal day you will eat 3 square meals and 6-7 snacks a day. This is a whole new world for us as brother eats like a bird. You can definitely out eat him any day of the week!

Since you've fallen in love with table food, we ended our journey in nursing. We made it to 17 months. I was so proud of how far we made it! You probably would have continued but I noticed in pumping I wasn't getting much milk anymore & it seemed we were just doing it out of routine. When we got down to just night feedings I decided to put you to bed one night and see what happened. You went straight to sleep and we never really looked back. We made a great feat in our milk donations too buddy! I'm very proud of us! I absolutely loved and adored everything about nursing you and the bond we shared. I miss it already! 

Along with the nursing, you also got rid of your paci! You did really well. True to your determined self you still tried to continue using the paci when we had clipped it but it didn't take long before you realized it wasn't worth it and we trashed it.

Sleeping has been well, interesting. We have been so much more lax with you on your sleep training at night than we were with Mason. I'm not sure if it's because you're our 2nd or you're just spoiled but we cannot make you cry it out. You are currently only sleeping through the night 1 or MAYBE 2 nights a week. The other nights you are up 1 or 2 times. It almost seems like we are in there before we have realized you need to cry it out. Generally we have blamed it on teeth and given you motrin or a drink of water. We know we are going to have to bite the bullet soon and make you cry it out, but for the current moment we are wimps and haven't done it. You have stayed incredibly consistent in the fact that you don't like to be rocked to sleep. If we have tried to rock you then you will thrash around until we finally just lay you down & you go right to sleep.

You are a great little napper! You are very consistent with the little schedule you have created for yourself. You wake around 5:30/6:00 and will start your constant grazing. Around 11:00 we eat lunch and you go down for your afternoon nap shortly after. You will nap between 1.5-3 hours and then are awake to play and eat some more and then back down for bed between 7:00-8:00.

You are going to give us a RUN FOR OUR MONEY!!! You are incredibly stubborn and determined that you are going to get your way one way or another. Discipline with you has been different & I can honestly say we are still finding our way in this area with you. You don't seem to have a care in the world when it comes to getting in trouble. We have tried time out, ignoring, spanking, being firm in our voice. Your reaction is to smile & proceed on with what you're doing. It seems as though you have already weighed the pros & cons in your head & decided that the fun you'll have committing the crime outweighs the punishment of the crime. I have noticed you seem to respond better when Daddy does the punishing. Oh little man, I can just tell my hands are going to be FULL with you!

As crazy as you are, you are the snuggliest, sweetest little man with a smile & laugh that makes my entire day. You LOVE to be held more than any toddler I've ever met. If you could be permanently secured to me I think you happily would. More than just being held you like to be snuggled right into the crook of my neck. It is the absolute positive best feeling in the entire world! Your top love language is 100 percent physical touch.

You are very curious and love to figure things out. More than just figure it out you want to show us how you did it. You will do it and then turn around with the biggest most proud smile you've ever seen plastered to your face. Those are some of my favorite moments. It definitely reminds me of your Daddy! He always tells a story about when he was younger and tried and tried to light a match and when he finally got it he ran to show his Best Friend Mom because he was just so proud of himself.

Just like brother you LOVE the outdoors. If you could live outside I think you probably would. Any time you hear a door open you make a break for the exit faster than anyone I know.

You are just as obsessed as always with Mason. The way you look up to him and follow him around is the sweetest thing! And Mason loves you just the same, if not more. He is so proud that you are his brother, so proud that you look up to him and is absolutely your biggest fan and protector. I am in love with the bond that you 2 have always shared!

You're still becoming more and more Daddy's little man with every passing day! I've especially noticed a stronger bond forming as we stopped nursing. The highlight of your day: When Daddy comes home for the day!

Even though you're a Daddy's boy your love for Mama can't be denied. You've become obsessed with being glued to my hip in the Tula & I'm not going to pretend that I don't love every second of it!

You're also pretty strong in your separation anxiety. We have learned that Miss Diana at church & Miss Megan are really the only people you feel comfortable to be left with. I know this stage will not last forever but might last a little longer since we are so lucky to be home every day. However, we are very thankful for those 2 wonderful women you have bonds with.

My sweet Liam, you bring us so much happiness. Your ornery little smile, your sweet snuggles and smells, your love for us. You will never know how much joy you have brought to us! We love you times infinity.

Love,
Mommy

Dear Liam: ONE YEAR EDITION

Liam Hayes,
Oh my sweet baby boy, YOU ARE ONE! How is this even possible? It feels like just yesterday Daddy was shouting "It's A BOY!" as the doctor laid you on my chest.

You are weighing in at 22.5 pounds (67th percentile), standing 29.75 inches tall (47th percentile) and your little noggin is 45.5cm (33rd percentile). You are wearing mostly 12 month clothes. That includes shirts, pants, onesies & sleepers. You can still fit into 9 months but we have honestly put most of them away as we are entering into a new season. You are wearing size 3 diapers. With brother we found that Huggies little movers worked best for him. Everything else was a explosion mess. However, you are the opposite! Huggies are not a good fit for you. We recently found the Hello Bello brand and it has been the perfect fit for you!

You are still drinking Mama's milk. In fact, you're enjoying it just a little too much. You have been nursing between 6-7 times a day & at our 1 year check up doctor says we need to cut that back to 3 times a day. I'm not sure who is going to be more sad about this me or you. As it is your birthday we shall wait until tomorrow to cut back.

At the beginning of this month we had a life changing thing for you, we got tubes put in your ears. We experienced 32 days of a continuous double ear infection when we had the tubes put in and you have been a different child ever since. You seem happier, you're eating better & while you still aren't as independent as you once were early on you are getting your independence back. You did very well with the surgery and even woke up perfectly normal from the anesthesia. The doctors and nurses warned us you would probably be very angry when you woke up but you surprised all of us by being calm and normal. It's been a welcome change for the first time since you were a few weeks old that we are on zero medications!!!

Your schedule hasn't changed a bit from last month. I look for it to change in the coming days as we start to come off the feedings. You are showing some signs of wanted to stay up a little later so we will see how that changes in the coming months too.
6:30: Up/Nurse
7:00: Breakfast
9:00: Nurse/Nap
10:00: Up/Nurse
11:00: Lunch
12:00: Nurse/Nap
2:00: Up
3:30: Nurse/Snack
5:00 Dinner (sometimes Nurse again)
6:00: Bath, Books, Nurse, Bed

 

You've gotten your 2 top teeth in this month bringing your teeth count up to 4. These 2 came in by the skin of your teeth, the last one coming through the day before your birthday. With your lip tie you're going to have the same cute little gap between your teeth like brother does. :)

Still a food lover. You my dear with eat absolutely anything put in front of you! Fruit, veggies, dairy, meat. You haven't really disliked much of anything. Your favorites are yogurt, blueberries, apples, broccoli, cucumbers, spaghetti, cheese, etc. Honestly, I could probably go on and on with your list. You seriously could not get enough of your birthday cake at your party.

You've gone from walking to running everywhere. You really took off fast on us and there is absolutely no slowing you down. You have about 2 speeds, fast and faster! Lots of people are afraid you're about to face plant at any second (including us) but you have no fear when it comes to getting around.

You live for outdoors and I mean ALL things outdoors. The second you hear a door crack you make a bee line sprint for the door & become hysterical if the door shuts before you get there. You especially love to be in the garage. You rarely leave the garage when the door is up, rather you will go to the edge of the door, sit down & watch the neighbors and cars pass by.

This month you discovered the word Dada and you are obsessed with it. You will say mama if you're frustrated or insistent on needing something but other than that it's all Dada. You're becoming more and more of a Daddy's boy as the months go on. I'm not sure how much longer I can stake claim on having a Mama's boy. I think it may be because we spend so much time together that you really value the time with Daddy when he's home.

This month I've been able to really see that you, my child, are going to be the one that gives us a run for our money. You are cute and you know it. If I want you to say Mama you look at me, give me a huge grin & say "DADA DADA DADA DADA!" If you are told no you give us the same enormous grin & continue to do just what you're told not to. We've tried being serious, swatting your hand, all things but you still look us as with the "I know I'm adorable & can do this" look. This is new as we are used to Mason who has a meltdown if our voices slightly raise or we are disappointed in him. In fact so much so that when we are getting on to you or telling you no Mason becomes very protective and upset at us for being mean to you while you're over there all smiles about it. We are going to have our hands. FULL.

Your favorite things include the following. Opening and closing doors. You seriously do this all day, every day! Cabinets, doors, drawers, toys, etc. whatever you can find that opens in any way you are opening it and closing it all the day long. You also have really started to love cars and trucks. You love rolling them around and watching the wheels. Any toys or possessions that Mason has are the object of your affection, right down to his drinking cup. We are talking night nights, cups, trucks, cars, toys, clothes, every. single. thing.

You still have some separation anxiety when we go places, mostly the church nursery. But honestly since we are home so much I think it's to be expected. However, you also have some separation anxiety at home. While you have this anxiety you seem to love a good stranger. When you're out in public you will go up to anyone to hold you. However, if you realized that I may be leaving you aren't having it. You really don't like me to be too far away from you at all. Your preference is that I am on the floor in the same room as you at all times. Even if I move up to a chair in the same room as you it's not good enough. As you play you come back and forth the majority of the time to get a hug and then go back to play. It's almost as if you fill up your little love tank and then go on to play. You also really love to be held.

 Sweet boy you have brought so much joy to our lives in this past year! You've added more smiles, laughter, snuggles, tears, happiness, love, kisses and sheer and utter JOY than you'll ever know. You've taught me to be more go with the flow, less rigid on schedules, to listen to & trust my mommy gut & a you've shown me a second love that I didn't know existed! You are a blessing, you are loved more than life & you will forever be our little blonde haired, blue eyed, baby boy.


Love,
Mommy (Daddy & Mase too)