Happy Birthday to my sweet baby boy, Liam!
Every January, about two weeks before Liam's birthday and up to it, I find it hard not to get emotional. I think back to all the things I was doing around this time, just two short years ago. I was pregnant with my last child (planned and discussed), I was chasing a two year old around and preparing to deliver what we thought would be a healthy baby boy in the next few months...
When Dean was home at the beginning of January, we had gone to Johnson City for some errands, and to take Dean to the airport. The entire drive, we reminisced on the time that Liam spent in the NICU. How the road we were on was driven multiple times a day and could be done in our sleep. How Nana, Dean's mom had drove immediately after Liam was life flighted away, keeping the helicopter that held our sweet boy in her sights the entire time. Being thankful for the fact that Liam had a visitor every day while he spent those long aching weeks away from home. That the nurses loved our son and helped him get better. Then, we stopped, looked in the back seat at our two boys, but especially to Liam, headphones on, reciting the alphabet train while rocking out with "Blue". We just smiled knowing how extremely blessed, lucky and complete we are to have Liam. And honestly, how truly amazing that little boy is!
It's hard to look past the bouncing boy that Liam is today, and remember how fragile his life was in the beginning. The not knowing if he would survive the first few weeks of life, or that if he did, he could be faced with so many challenges ahead. To the hard, trying days of being a mother, a family, that had to trust the NICU doctors and nurses to "mother" our child, to tend to his brand new needs, to thinking, we really are so lucky and Liam truly is a miracle.
I am sure many that read my blog around this time of year think... "ok, enough, he's fine", and he is... It's just so difficult on his birthday to not really remember what we all had to go through just to have him now. I can only imagine when he's a teenager, when he's an adult, and when he welcomes his own children into this world how emotional and amazing it will be to look back on his journey...
OK, so TODAY! Today at 11:48 am, Liam David Ward turned TWO!!! Where has the time gone?? Liam is amazing. He went from a mere 4lbs 2oz to 24lbs 8oz! He is 32" tall, and boy is he BUSY!
Liam's favorite thing to do right now is being read to and anything to do with books. He absolutely loves books! He loves sitting for story time, turning the pages, and spending countless hours a day retrieving a new book, looking at the pictures and chewing on them. :) He knows all of his letters even in random order and is learning the phonics of each letter. He can count to 12, although we are a little concerned that he switches languages on us during them. He switches at seven, and then goes on sounding German for the next few... Lol. He's such a goof!
He loves to torment Big Brother, and does so very well. His favorite shows are Blues Clues, The Wiggles and Mickey Mouse. Liam loves cars, trucks, especially monster trucks (hurray!) anything to do with the alphabet and shapes. When he's not wrecking havoc in the house and with Jaxon, Liam can be found in the corner of the playroom, quiet as a mouse just looking through books and pointing out the things he recognizes! Liam loves to dance, and loves music as much as the rest of us. Any type of instrument captures his attention, and he'll spend hours strumming on his guitar and sitting still just listening to children's songs. He is also turning into our sports boy. He will race throughout the house yelling touchdown with his arms raised above his head. And he'll jump up with Dean and I cheering on our team during the game. If we go to a restaurant with a tv turned to a sporting event, good luck with getting his attention. Lol
Liam is no longer my star eater, although he is still much better than Jax. I guess the toddler years are filled with picky eaters, but he does like food, just of his choice.
Last week, he had his 2 year NICU appointment. He shocked all the nurses and Dr. Bondt was pretty happy to see Liam being a normal two year old. He scored above average for his actual age and will no longer be assessed with his adjusted age. Some area's he scored less on paper than he does in real life, but I wasn't too concerned as it was three hours past his nap and I didn't blame him for not cooperating. After Dr. Bondt came in to evaluate him, he said that the clinic would no longer need to see him as he was JUST FINE! While I always detested the NICU appointments deeming them pointless in Liam's development, I am happy to see that he passed each and every appointment with flying colors, and now is no longer considered in the "high risk" category. Of course, he may have things that come up later in his life, but if they do, we will deal with them then.
We are over joyed with all Liam has given our family and especially with him turning two!!! We love BIG BOY and are SO proud of you!!
Love,
Mommy, Daddy and Jaxon
