All About Liam

We welcomed Liam home from the hospital on Saturday the 25th.  After more than four days in the hospital, I couldn’t wait to get home with my little boy!  Although Seamus thoroughly enjoyed my hospital bed and easy-access remote control:

As you know, “Baby Brother” went unnamed for all of my pregnancy and well into a day after he was born.  We had a list of every possible Irish boy’s name, and we keep looking at him and saying the names, trying to figure out what name suited him best!  We knew his middle name would be Joseph, which is the first name of both of my grandfathers (one still living!)  I really wanted Devon to have a say in the first name, since I had had Seamus and Grace’s names picked out since I was young.  So the day after Liam’s birth, I called Devon and said, “Don’t think about it, just say your favorite name right now.”  And without hesitation, he said “Liam.” 

And Liam Joseph it was!  It fits him perfectly, and the kids thought it was just as good as Aladdin :-)

Liam all ready to head home.

In the hospital nursery, they have a large collection of knitted hats that are donated for the babies to wear.  Imagine Devon’s excitement when the nurse found a baby hat in Dolphins colors!

Daddy’s little Dolphins fan (and a tired Daddy!!)

He had the perfect shirt to wear home from the hospital - “Little Brother.”  He loved hanging out on this beautiful quilt that was made for him by my co-worker Kim!

We had a lot of fun putting Liam’s room together.  We really had no intention of buying new decor, but I spotted these adorable nautical canvases for a buck apiece, and then a perfectly matching crib bumper for less than $10, and I knew I had to go with it!

The inside of the bumper has ginghams and plaids in all the same colors as the canvases.  So cute!   

My mom even transformed the lamp and crib mobile from our old crib bedding to match the new decor!  These previously had a “Little Duckies” theme, and now look at how great they look!

So far our little sweetheart is doing just great.  He’s a very chill baby, and tolerates lots of hugs and kisses from his big brother and sister.  He’s a great eater and a great sleeper!  We couldn’t ask for anything more.  He also has these hilariously long toes:

Love them!  Thanks for all the love and well wishes!

Introducing…

Liam Joseph Camenga

September 22, 2010        12:26pm

7 lbs 8 oz           19 in

Although we weren’t expecting him until the 30th, Baby Brother Liam has made his arrival!

I went to the doctor for a checkup on Tuesday the 21st, and they had been watching me for elevated blood pressure, facial edema and other possible pre-eclampsia symptoms.  The doctor sent me right from her office to the hospital, telling me we would be having a baby by the following day!  Yikes!

So I was a bit nervous and quite unprepared, but I knew all along that he would come when he was ready to come!  The c-section went very smoothly, my symptoms are calming down and he is doing just great.  He’s a sweet little love with a very calm demeanor, very alert and a great nurser.  He can hear my voice from across the room and turns his head to look for me!

Here’s super excited big brother and sister just before seeing Liam for the first time!

My three little loves!  How blessed am I?

Warning – scary Mommy pic!  My face was practically double it’s normal size due to the edema I was experiencing!

Thank you for all the wonderful well wishes!  We are a very lucky family!

Soccer Time

Seamus is an absolute sports fanatic.  Baseball, football, golf, you name it – he’ll play it.  We love that he loves being so active, particularly because we understand the difficulties that can come with being achon and gaining weight.  We’re hoping that his passion continues and we can keep him in year-round sports.

With the arrival of fall has come soccer season!  He is playing for a town league and is on the Orange team.  Finding gear presented a challenge – where the heck do you find shin guards that small??  Luckily my mom found a tiny pair at a local consignment sale.  They were pink, but nothing a little spray paint couldn’t fix! 

Then came the socks – this was downright comical.  Every pair that we found were as long as Seamus’ entire body!  I ended up buying a youth small, and cutting out the entire calf portion.  I then reattached the cuff just above the heel, and voila!  Perfect length. 

Lookin’ good!  Yes, the t-shirt is kind of like a dress, but we can fix that!

So focused!

A little smile for Mom :-)

Fancy footwork! 

He had a great first game.  We can tell that it’s tough for him to keep up with the other kids speed-wise, but so far that has not dampened his spirits and he still loves playing.

Looking forward to a fun season!

Addendum

Ahem…apparently I spoke too soon.  May I present to you the THIRD-day-of-school head injury!

Face-first clash with the blacktop.  Tomorrow’s uniform is going to include the addition of a football helmet!

First Day of School

Although I should really say, First Days of School…because each kid had a different first day!

Seamus’ official first day of kindergarten was last Thursday, when he went in for two hours.  My sister kindly took pictures and brought him to school.  Grace joined in on the photo shoot as well.

Look at those cute backpacks!

I worked from home to be with Grace on Friday, her first day.  She was more than thrilled to finally be wearing her Sacred Heart uniform! 

 

Here they started flashing the thumbs up and peace signs…they must be learning from their buddy Ethan!  They were also yelling out, “Yeah Pre-K!  Yeah Kindergarten!”  I think the neighborhood could tell they were just a little proud!

The traditional first day of Pre-K donut!

Can’t believe my girl is off to school with her big brother…

And there she goes!  She gave me a kiss and was on her way…not a tear in sight…just Mommy’s!

She had a fantastic first day and has declared that she LOVES Pre-K.  Thank goodness!

And just because we can’t let a day go by without any excitement, here’s Seamus’ second-day-of-school head injury!

He had a nice collision with a brick wall while playing ball with his class.  Lovely!  When are those school pictures again???

The Weisser Camp

Last weekend we had our monthly visit with the Weissers at their camp in Pine Lake Park!

We had not seen each other since our Nashville adventure, and the kids were super excited to see their buddies and of course enjoy the lake.

Just hanging around!

  

Swim time!  It was very chilly, but they didn’t care!

Best buds!

We had a delicious dinner, enjoyed the sandbox, and watched the daddies play a rousing game of cornhole.  We also celebrated Ethan’s birthday.  Happy Birthday Ethan!

Thanks friends for the great relaxing visit!