Liam is here!!!

Introducing

Liam Andrew Shacklett

April 26th, 2012  3:04 pm

8 pounds 11 ounces, 21 inches

and perfect!

Connor James is 21 months!

21 months already!?!

Every month I say that I can't believe you are another month older, but it's so true!  I can't believe my baby is a toddler, and pretty soon I won't be able to believe that my toddler is a little boy! :(  You are growing up so fast, but it has been, without a doubt, the best 21 months of my life!  You are full of energy and keep us on or toes! I love watching you learn and grow, but I wish I could slow down time a little bit! ;)

This month is super special because your brother is going to be here very soon!  You two will be 21 months apart in age!!!  I'm so excited for the two of you to meet!  You are going to be such a great big brother!!!

In celebration of your first 21 months, here are 21 things we want to remember about you at this age:

1. You are a major daddy's boy at the moment!  This makes Momma a little sad! :( lol

2.  You absolutely LOVE blocks right now!  You love to building towers with Daddy and you LOVE bringing us your wooden blocks so you can tell us the letters on them!

3.  You know your numbers 1 through 10! Yep, you are a sponge! You are learning so much, so quick that it's hard to keep up!

4.  Your Elmo obsession is still going strong! :)  That little red monster is so much fun!

5.  We celebrated your second Easter this month! 

6.  You got a battery-powered four-wheeler for Easter that you LOVE!!!! It is very hard to get you off of it sometimes!  You are so cute driving yourself around!

7. You found Netflix on Daddy's Ipad, and you are really into watching Sesame Street and Super Why! episodes! I'd never seen Super Why! before, but it's a really cute show! (Momma also really loves that it teaches alphabet and reading skills!! lol)

8.  You are really into any type of technology.  I guess you are really taking after your Daddy!  You love the Ipad, computer, and our cell phones!  You also really like toys that are technology based!  Maybe you're another future computer engineer, like your cousin Ryan!

9.  You are still really into books! Yay!!!!!  We read books together everyday, and Momma loves it!  You crawl into our laps with your books and blankie and we read away!

10.  You are starting to read books by using picture clues!!!  You are reading your Goodnight, Gorilla book and your Peek-a-WHO book! :)

11.  You have started naming animals you see in books and on your clothing!

12.  You have starting pointing our your colors on things other than Fruit Loops!!! lol

13.  Shopping has become a little difficult recently.  You are Mr. Independent, and being confined in a shopping cart is not for you!

14.  You got to spend 2 weeks with Momma and Daddy this month!  One week was just you and Momma for her spring break, and then the following week was just you and Daddy for his spring break!  You were one spoiled little boy!! ;)

We watched lots of Sesame Street together on spring break!  I love how you are crossing your legs! lol

15.  You are learning your letter sounds!  You have really taken to your fridge phonics toy that sticks to our refrigerator, and you have started repeating letters and there sounds!   A says "ah!"

16.  You are a runner!  You run everywhere you go.  You hardly ever walk! lol

You love running up and down the ramp in the church basement! lol

17.  You have suddenly decided that you DO NOT like going to the doctor anymore!  Hopefully this is just a phase! ;)

18.  You love to watch music videos!  You are really into Sesame Street videos that we found on YouTube!  You like to dance along!

19.  You can officially climb on and off of the couch without any help!  Needless to say, you are up and down constantly! lol

20.  You are getting a big-boy room makeover this summer! After changing the theme 20 times, we've started on it a little bit.  Here's a sneak peak... 

21.  You are going to be a big brother in less than 2 weeks!!!  We are hoping for a smooth transition into big-brotherhood for you! :)  We have no doubt that you are going to be a super big brother!  We are so excited for Liam to have such a special person to look up to!

 

Gotta love the big brother t-shirts!! :)

Happy 21 months Bubby!  There is always so much to celebrate about you each month!  You are such a special and fun little boy!!  No matter how old you get, you'll always be our "baby!"  We love you to the moon and back a million times!

Love,
Momma and Daddy

Updates on Baby Liam!!! :)

Pregnancy #2 has flown by, and our little Liam is going to be here before we know it!  My due date is in 3 weeks, which seems crazy soon!  Here are some updates on our little man and pregnancy 2:

• I am 37 weeks and 1 day today.
• Approximately 3 weeks (hopefully less) until we get to meet you, Liam!
• I have gained 27 pounds!  I'm actually really proud of myself that I was able to stay within the recommended 25-35 lb weight gain recommendation for pregnancy!  Hopefully it melts off! ha ha!!
• Little (or big) Liam weighed in at 7 lbs 10 oz at his ultrasound this week.  At the rate he is growing, he could possibly weigh 9 or 10 pounds if he goes to 40 weeks! Eeek!  Looks like he wants to give his big brother a run for his money!
• Nesting hit big time over my spring break last week!! 
• I've washed all of Liam's clothes and bedding.  His crib is set up and ready to go.  Our hospital bags are packed (for the most part), and I have cleaned and organized just about every inch of my house!  With lots of help from hubby of course! :)
• My heartburn is practically nonexistent now.  YAY!
• I'm starting to get really anxious about being away from my Connor for two nights! :(
• My back, hips, and other joints are killing!!!
• I have pregnancy-related insomnia! I toss and turn all night!
• I am beyond excited to meet my new little man in just a few short weeks!  I got to visit a friend and her newborn today and my baby fever is through the roof now! LOL  Come on, Liam!!! We can't wait to meet you!! :)

Cute little onesies for my cute little man!

Happy Easter!

Connor, your second Easter is officially here!  The Easter Bunny hopped by early this morning and left tons of goodies for our sweet boy!  What a lucky boy you are!

You were so excited to check out your new loot!  The Easter Bunny left you lots of practical big-boy presents, with a few exceptions! :)  Of course, the ELMO book was the first thing you pulled out of your basket!  Elmo plays the piano with this book!  Two of your favorite things all in one! Music and Elmo!!!

 

You weren't sure what to think of the bunny ears, but you sure loved your new big-boy forks!

But WAY more important than the practical big boy plates, monkey towel, and abundance of books was the FABULOUS battery-powered FOUR-WHEELER!  That's right, the Easter Bunny is pretty awesome! ;)

Just look at the excitement on your face!!!

You were a mess! You giggled and drove all over the house (and into a few road blocks!)

Caution... my 20 month old is driving!!!  My walls and furniture are soooooooooooo in for it!! LOL

After all of our excitement this morning with our Easter Bunny gifts, we left for church!  You were already WORN OUT and ready for a nap!!!  So, excuse our family Easter picture! lol  You were a tad bit grumpy!

You had such a great 2nd Easter!  Even though you were extremely tired for most of the festivities, you did enjoy spending time with your Mamaw and Papaw Benham,  Nana and Papaw Shacklett, and your aunt, uncle and cousins!  Just think, this time next year, we will have two precious boys to enjoy this wonderful holiday with.  Before I can blink my eyes, both of my boys will be old enough to understand the true reason for our celebrations!  What a great day that will be!  Your daddy and I are so thankful that Jesus died for our sins so that we can have you and Liam! We are truly blessed!

Happy Easter!!!

Happy Birthday!

Yesterday was my brother, Andrew's 29th birthday!  It's only appropriate to give a big shout-out to celebrate his last year in his 20s!  Next year, it's the big 3-0!!

Connor and Uncle Andrew the day Connor was born...

He looks great holding a baby wearing a UofL hat!!! ;)

Happy Birthday, Uncle Andrew!

What a Difference 10 weeks makes!

24 weeks!

34 weeks!

We're in the homestretch now!

We can't wait to meet you Liam!!!

Connor is 20 months!

It's hard to believe this was 20 months ago...

Cousin Tyler, 9 months, and Connor, newborn

I'm pretty sure you didn't know what to think of each other here!! LOL

What's really funny about this picture is the fact that we bought these matching outfits in advance, and they were too little for our big boys!  Tyler is squeezed into an 18 month, and Connor into a newborn size!!  You were both busting out of them and only got to wear them this one time! haha!!

...and here we are 20 months later!

Tyler, 29 months, and Connor 20 months!

It's always an adventure when you two get together! :)

Without further adieu, Connor, here is an update on all that you are doing at 20 months...

1.  You are still completely obsessed with the Ipad!  At first, I thought this was a bad thing, but you LOVE learning new things.  Your favorite apps are teaching you the alphabet, numbers, colors, and animals!  It's so neat to see how much you have learned!  Here you are playing your favorite app... Elmo ABC's!

2.  Speaking of learning... you officially know ALL of the alphabet.  You know your uppercase and lowercase letters.  You can say them and you can point them out (even out of order!)  We were shocked at how well (and how quickly) you learned them!  We knew you could repeat all of the letters, as you do when we say them (or when Elmo says them! lol), but we didn't realize the extent of your knowledge until this week!  You were playing with one of your toys, and it has the letters printed on it.  You started pointing to various letters and saying them! Now you point them out where ever you see them!  You are such a smart boy!

Pointing to, and saying the letters on your clock toy! :)

3.  Momma and Daddy are both so excited to officially announce that you are off of the bottle!!! Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It has been a struggle, but we finally found the solution! The Nuk learner cup was the magical solution!  We call it the "Big Boy Ba-Ba!"

4.  Since the weather has been CRAZY in the month of March, we have spend a lot of time outside enjoying the warm weather... and oh my goodness, do you LOVE being outside!  Your favorite thing to do?  Hold your ball and walk completely around the house, over and over! LOL

5.  You have discovered popsicles and LOVE them!  You are just like your Momma!

 

 

6.  You love listening to music and dancing!  You love for daddy to play the guitar!  And you LOVE the song, "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes!"  See:

Head!

and Toes!!

7.  You are a big time daddy's boy all of the sudden!  You follow him around like you are his little shadow and have to do whatever daddy does.  You LOVE building block towers with daddy too!

Daddy's little shadow, helping him pay the bills! :)

8.  When you play with your letter blocks, you like to point out the letters of the alphabet on them, and then you clap for yourself and say, "Yayyyyyyyyyy!"  LOL

9.  You are a bath-a-holic!  You think baths are so much fun! The other day you didn't want to come inside from playing so Momma had to bribe you with a bath!  You came right in! ;)

Our little water frog!!

10.  You had to move up sizes in your clothes!  You are becoming such a big boy!! You were wearing 18/24 month clothes for most of winter! Now you are wearing 24 month/ 2T/ and even 3T!!!  Here are some of our great finds for this summer!!  You really like sports! ;)

11.  You are still REALLY into Elmo! :)  You think that little, red guy is the best things ever!

Showing off your Elmo slippers! :)

Look what Momma found for you and Liam to wear this summer!!

12.  You are becoming such a good little eater!  You are opening up to more variety all the time! This makes Momma and Daddy so happy! 

13.  You say, "All Done!" when you are finished eating! :)

Saying, "ALL DONE, Momma!!!"

14.  You are really into your play kitchen right now! You love to play with the dishes and cook on the stove!!

15.  We had to "baby proof" our furniture even more! lol  You kept finding ways to bruise yourself, so now we have special padding on the edges!

16.  You LOVE to be read to, and you love to read to yourself!  Always have, and hopefully always will!

  Here are some of your favorite books at the moment:  My Big Alphabet Book and Goodnight, Gorilla!

17.  We are pretty sure your favorite color at the moment is blue! How do we know? Well, you always eat the blue Fruit Loops first! LOL

18.  You love your Cousin Ryan and his girlfriend Kylie!  You follow them around saying, "Ryan, RYAN!!!" until they give you their full attention! :)

Ryan and Kylie made us dinner the other night, and it was YUMMY!

19.  You are in training for becoming a big brother!! :)  You are learning how to "be easy!"  You are going to be one pretty cool big brother!

20.  It is officially "March Madness!"  The NCAA tournament is in full swing, and you are the cutest little UofL fan out there! ;)  At least we think so!

Happy 20 months, Bubby! 

We love you to the moon and back a million times! 

We can't wait to see what you have in store for us next!

God has truly blessed us!