Pics of the kiddos

Here are a bunch of pics from the past couple of weeks. Liam is terrific! He is sleeping through the night, bless his baby heart! He goes down for his long stretch of sleep between 10 and 11 and sleeps until somewhere between 5:30-8am!!!! It is wonderful! (KNOCK ON WOOD!) He is such a smiley, happy guy - and huge. At 10 weeks he is weighing in at over 14 pounds. He is such a charmer, though....when I drop them at the child care room at the gym the ladies fight over who gets to snuggle him! :)

Kate is fab. The pics here are of her "helping to cook". This was at breakfast time on a weekend - hence the PJs and Apron! She insists on wearing the apron whenever she "cooks". It involves a slew of tupperware containers, some form of dried good that she can pour and sort (for instance pasta....here it is cheerios) and a number of spices that she "shakes". Oh! And I cannot forget the selection of spoons that has to be present! She looooves to "cook".

Kate Celebrating

This weekend we attended the wedding of a dear family friend. Kate had an absolute BLAST! She danced the night away. Here she is toasting with an empty coffee cup and being the life of the party at the dinner table.

“Come with me and you’ll be in a world of pure imagination”

How true the above words are when it comes to having kids! We get a peek into this whole world that they see and it makes me remember what it was like to be a child and truly be able to come up with the most vivid scenarios in my mind and go there with complete ease. It was so fun! I see Kate’s imagination at work most often when she does not realize I am around/watching/listening. Yesterday was a perfect example. She was playing upstairs, going from her playroom to her room etc. I could hear her talking to her dolls and animals, coming up with different funny voices to make them talk and sing. At one point, I heard her saying in a very insistent and somewhat urgent voice “Don’t worry, bear. Don’t worry! I’m coming to rescue you!” I crept upstairs and peeked around her door into her room. Kate was on her bed, leaning over the guard rail on her bed, stretching out the handle of a toy broom towards her stuffed bear (creatively named “Bear”), who was sitting on top of a chest under the window. She was yelling “grab it! Grab the bwoom! I am going to rescue you. Don’t worry, you won’t fall in the river! Grab it!” (I later learned that the chasm between the bed and the chest was actually a swirling river and Bear could not swim). I just stood there watching my little girl play and it was all I could do not to laugh and disturb her or go in and grab her up and squeeeeeeeze her in a big hug. I did both later after her little drama played out – bear safely on the bed, Kate hugging him and telling him “Good job, bear. It’s awight now!”

On top of her increasing imaginary play, Kate exhibits shades of me as a child in her love of books. Some people know that I was the epitome of bookworm as a child. I read so much – at the dinner table, in moving vehicles, instead of chores – that I got into trouble from reading. I would stash a flashlight in my bed so I could continue reading the tales of Laura Ingalls Wilder well after “lights out”, with multiple warnings by Mom and Dad to “close the book and get to bed”. One of my favorite xmas gifts ever was one of those "itty bitty booklights" that you can clip onto a book so you can read in the dark! I was supposed to just use it on airplanes etc. but BOLDY disobeyed! What a rebel! I even caused my parents a lot of financial damage from my reading! This is in reference to the time I was reading WHILE I was walking to school and I was so engrossed that I actually walked into a utility pole and knocked out my front teeth. To this day I sport partially fake front teeth. I cannot believe I am telling that story, actually – it has taken me Twenty Years to get over the embarrassment and be able to laugh about it – so laugh away! In short, I was a huge booknerd, earning the nickname “Nibs” which stood for “Nose In Books”….I still have books from childhood with the “To Nibs” inscription written in there.

I DIGRESS. Kate is Nibs2. Last night we put her to bed and heard her ‘reading’ out loud for HOURS. I think it was over two hours. She stayed in bed, and was just narrating all kinds of imaginary adventures out loud while we heard pages turning over the baby monitor. This went on and on and, for now, I did not have the heart to interrupt. I know what it is like to NEED that flashlight so I could continue the latest tale. So we let her go on, listening to the songs and voices and giggles with full hearts. When it was time for my own “lights out”, I went and checked on the then quiet Kate. There she was in her footed jammies, lying sideways on her bed surrounded by books, lights blazing, totally crashed clutching Bear. What a long day of animal rescues and raging rivers, princesses and unicorns.

Dad with his kids!

Smiling Children

Sleepy Liam

Liam post-bottle on his Dad's lap, with some help from the boppy pillow!

Tiny Dancer

Kate attended her FIRST DANCE CLASS today! Her former dancer Mom could barely contain her own excitement! I tried to keep it cool and casual as I have vowed to not press Kate into anything and to not live vicariously through her! :) However, she loves to dance and bops all over the house as it is, so it was a no-brainer to channel some of that activity into a Creative Movement class! She was very excited to go and select a "dance outfit" and actually asks to wear it around the house, even. She had a great time with the other kids in her class and "Miss Amy" her instructor. She was a very TIRED dancer after class as evidenced by these pics. I had brought Liam to our room to change his diaper and when I came back in the living room I found little miss Kate fast asleep in her ballerina clothes. It was all I could do not to sweep her up in my arms and snuggle her. Well, we are all looking forward to a summer of dancing and I cannot wait for the last class of this session in 8 weeks when I get to watch the progress! As it is, parents are not allowed in the classroom as it distracts the kids. I take Liam and walk on the track nearby while Kate twirls inside.

Liam is Eight weeks old today!

Here are some pics of our BIG baby! At eight weeks old he is already over 13 pounds and is wearing 3-6 month clothes....he is too sweet. So snuggly and such a big eater! He has even provided us with a few genuine smiles by now! Not just gassy ones! :) We are just crazy about him.

Liam at 5 weeks old

I am a little behind on the picture postings, but here is Liam at the beginning of April, 2006.

All is well

It has been an incredibly hectic and stressful week, but I am happy to report that all is well! First, and most importantly, my niece Mia is doing wonderfully well. She had MAJOR surgery where portions of her intestine were removed entirely and then her whole small intestine was "rerouted" and attached to her abdomen due to malrotation. She also had her appendix removed, the cyst removed, an umbilical hernia corrected, and a cyst from her head removed. More info is available by following the link to her care page on my previous blog entry. She was on all kinds of tubes and monitors and now sports a scar that goes horizontally across her abdomen from one side to the other over her belly button. BUT she is now out of the hospital and is doing remarkably well. She is a strong, brave little girl with strong, brave and loving parents. I am in awe of their composure and grace during such a trying time. I know it is all relative, but I crumbled at a little baby virus that Liam had! :) I am just so proud of Erin and her beautiful family. I know they had a lot of prayers and support and I am grateful for it all. God does not guide where He does not provide!

With that blessing, I also celebrate the success of my non-profit. Throughout the concern I was experiencing with Mia and the Morris clan, I still had an event that was a year in the making to tend to. The media coverage was amazing! I was on the local NBC morning news show 4 times, with 5 or 6 teasers - all shot live from my house Thursday morning. It was fun! The reporter was terrific and really helped me feel comfortable being interviewed. I have a huge respect for news folks now - they really have to think on their feet and be so articulate. They must be great conversationalists at cocktail parties! :) Anyway, the TV coverage was great and we got TONS of hits on our website as a result and already requests on how to donate merchandise are pouring in. Wonderful! We also had two newspaper articles about us last week.

The best part, though, was a successful event! Almost all the girls left the event with a dress of their dreams - complete with shoes, accessories, and even make up! One girl did not get one because she had her heart set on an orange dress and we did not have an orange dress. Another girl had a dress from us last year that she loved, but wanted some accessories. We had make up demonstrations and hairdressers giving complimentary prom updos at the event, so girls were trying on gowns with glamorous hair! It was so fun. The volunteer force was large and really skilled and the event went so smoothly! I loved seeing the smiles of the girls we helped - and also the smiles on the faces of the volunteers as they experienced the heart warming day. I will admit that it is a LOT of work and there are days when I question my sanity in taking this job on. The compensation is all in the faces of those girls, though. That is why I do this. Thank you to all my friends and family who have helped, listened, contributed, supported etc. Special thanks to my husband who has helped with the kids while I was hosting board meetings, carried dresses up and down from the basement, and been a shoulder to cry on and active listener as I vented. I am so lucky to be a part of this organization and to have the support in my life to make it possible.

There is lots to do with Ever After as we follow up this event and try to profit off the media coverage. I am looking forward to a busy and successful year ahead! But also looking forward to some down time after such a crazy week.

One of the best parts of things working out and having such positive news is that I got to share the success with my friend, Stacee. She is one of my best friends and lives in Boston (insert jealous face here :). She came for a visit this weekend, leaving her wonderful boyfriend and adorable dogs behind to help me out at the boutique event and spend the weekend with Nick and me and the kids! It was SO great to see her and it was such fun. God Bless her for putting up with toddler attitude and baby meltdowns in restaurants! Instead of typical activities that we USED to enjoy such as dancing at clubs and having cocktails in some cool urban lounge, Stacee jumped right into my life of dancing with Kate to the iPod tunes and sipping a glass of wine as we prepared chicken nuggets for Kate and prepped the backyard BBQ. Instead of old habits of ignoring the animals that are creepy guys on the club scene, we strolled with the kids to seek out animals at the Como Zoo! :) I must admit, I prefer marveling at the gorillas to the "euro guys" in their tight armani black tshirts that so often plagued boston in my days there! :) Life changes, but good friends roll with it and love you - thank you, Stace.

So - now it is back to "normalcy". Other adventures are on the horizon and I will greet them as they arrive. But for now I am loving Liam asleep, in his baby swing with Kate coloring in her Dora coloring book and singing a made-up song to herself. Sigh of contentment.

Live! From Saint Paul! It's Thursday at the Crack of Dawn!!!!!

Exciting news! As many of you know, I am President of a Non-Profit Organization based here in the Twin Cities. (See www.everaftergowns.org for info). Our annual event, what we work all year for, is this Friday and it promises to be a huge success! We have tons of inventory and are so excited for a terrific day.

Well - now the local NBC affiliate's morning show wants to do a piece on us on Thursday! They want me on it. They want it LIVE. They want it satellite fed from MY HOUSE!!!! And not just my house - my basement.

Let me explain my fears.

One. It is live. Live. LIVE! Ack! Exciting but scary! What if I sound dumb? What if I have dark circles under my eyes from lack of sleep because of Liam?

Two. I have four live spots on TV in a major market and I weigh the most I have ever weighed, not being pregnant. I know, I know - "you just had a baby!!!!" Well, Minneapolis/St. Paul does not know that! I have NOTHING to wear! :)

Three. They want to film in my basement. MY BASEMENT! For those of you who don't know what my basement looks like - and most don't because I am ashamed of it and allow few people to witness the disaster that it is - I really hate it. It is unfinished, cement floors, open ceiling, cement block walls that previous owners painted blinding yellow. It is also tiny and quite packed with stuff. Especially with the 400+ gowns, 100+ shoes, and many many accessories that comprise our wonderfully amazing inventory - which is entirely housed here at the Harris household.

I think that is part of the angle of the story - "local women sacrifice time, money and basement space to help young teens".

Four. My neighbors on my street are going to flip. As they awake to a news team satellite truck parked in my front yard, the tongues will start wagging before the coffee is even brewed! They will think I went berserk, or that we were robbed or something - God forbid - and that we are the morning news! :) I predict a steady flow of "just dropping by" visits from the neighbors on Thursday to get the scoop. I know this because this happens whenever vehicles of the truck variety park in front of our house. This has happened a. when we got new windows b. when we got new kitchen cabinets c. when the Orkin guy came for a visit (I hate bugs) d. when our new kitchen appliances were delivered e. when the contractor was working on the kitchen. (Side note - I repeatedly have been asked the question "Oh, you are getting ______ done, eh? How much did that run ya?" Is it just me or is that a really rude question to ask? My neighbors are AWESOME and we love our block, but that question never fails to surprise me).

Anyway - I am not REALLY complaining. It is such a great thing for the organization! Our goal is to grow the number of teens we can help and exposure should help us attain that goal! Plus, maybe there will be the benefit of someone seeing the piece, taking pity on me and my basement, and offering to donate climate controlled storage space in which to house our inventory! :)

So - if you are in the Twin Cities, feel free to watch me try not to make a fool of myself on television at the crack of dawn on Thursday the 20th on KARE 11. For those not here, keep checking www.everaftergowns.org as we will probably link to the taped feed somehow.

Wish me luck! If this is my "15 minutes", I will take it!!!!

Prayers and Special Thoughts Requested

My sister's 6 week old little girl (and our god daughter), Amelia, was born with some complications. She has a cyst or growth in her abdomen that has doubled in size since her birth a short time ago. She also has some kidney complications. Amelia is undergoing surgery today at Children's hospital in Chicago. Erin, Nick, and Jack are staying at a hotel right near the hospital as Amelia will be in the hospital anywhere from 3 days to a week or more, depending on how surgery goes. It is my understanding that we will know more about what the growth is and what is going to happen/how it is going to go once the doctors get in there. Apparently it is growing as part of the wall of one of her organs which could complicate things.

Other than the growth, Amelia is healthy and strong and should tolerate surgery well, but still she is so tiny and I know it is just breaking Nick and Erin's heart! My mom is there with them to help out. To stress them out even more, their beloved dog, Dutch, got very sick on Sunday and is ALSO in surgery today back in Michigan and they had to leave him of course.

But positive thoughts are powerful and I would appreciate some good energy vibes sent their way! ;) Below is the info on Amelia's care page if you would like to see it.

To visit the CarePage, please click the link below:

http://www.carepages.com/ServeCarePage?cpn=Amelia030306

(If you cannot click through this link, please copy and paste the
entire URL into your browser's address window.)

...or you can use these manual instructions:

1. Go to www.carepages.com
2. Click "Visit a CarePage"
3. Register (first-time users only)
4. After you've registered, enter the exact CarePage Name below:

Amelia030306

To top it all off....

As mentioned in the previous post, we are in the land of baby yuckiness here. As a cherry on top, I now have mastitis! See what happens when I air problems on the blog instead of sticking to the regular fare of smliing children and funny tales? :)

Mastitis is SO NOT FUN.

My kingdom for a long nap and a cold shower. No, a hot one. No, a cold one. no.....Ahhh, fever cycles!

The Bright Side:
-TGIF
-Antibiotics are awesome
-Weight loss through fever sweats
-It is not contagious!

What day is it? What's a shower again? There are clothing items other than sweatpants and old college T-shirts?

Ok - so the sterotypical image of a new mom is being played to the maximum here at the Harris household. I would have thought it more likely to have occurred right after Liam's birth - and I certainly had my moments - but I am the definition of frazzled mom to a newborn and mom of a toddler right now. I think Nick has come home from work the past couple of days thinking "Where is my wife?" "What has happened to my home?" "Why is my daughter wearing pajamas at 5pm?" "Why is my WIFE wearing pajamas at 5pm?"

Though, bless him, he would never say so or let on as much! :)

It is true. I am a mess! :) We have been hit by a disgusting baby virus that has entrenched us in VERY messy diapers up to our elbows, multiple baby barf episodes, and lots and Lots and LOTS of CRYING. Poor Liam has a bug of some sort and it is refusing to be squashed.

So here I am in the land of pampers and pedialyte galore. Kate is wondering what the heck has happened to her mom and brother and Nick is doing whatever he can to help. It is craziness here. I cannot help but wonder how this happened? With Kate as a baby I was overly cautious and barely left the house for the first 6 weeks, fearing that her tiny baby body would be attacked by the big bad world's nasty germs. She remained pretty bug free for almost her whole first year. NOTHING like this nastiness that Liam has. When Liam came, I fell under the typical "seasoned mom" spell - taking him out and about with Kate and I to storytime, Target, playgroups.......thinking I was all cool, and oh-so proud of how I was handling the "two kids" world. I know I shouldn't blame myself - but look where I am now! Argh!

To top it off, Kate just told me "Mom - I think I need to go lie down, I don't feew so good". When I asked her what hurt she rubbed her stomach and said "my bewwy".

INSERT image of me on my knees, shaking my fists at the sky, screaming "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO"!!!!!

Whether Kate really is getting this bug or she was trying to garner sympathy after seeing Liam get a lot of constant attention (which has to happen when you have 5 diaper changes in an hour, complete with three outfits going in the wash from being dirtied) remains to be seen. Please pray for us! :) No, seriously. Pray for us.

I write this not to have people feel sorry for me, or to whine (though the effects of writing ARE rather therapeutic). It is just life! Someone recently mentioned that it seemed our life was rather "Norman Rockwell-ish". I challenged myself - do I really only mention the happy blissful moments? Well, mostly yes - but not because I want people to perceive my life as such....no one's is. I write about them because joy is what feeds me and I want to share that! Also, I don't want to burden people with complaints. I mean, there are so many WORSE things in the world - who am I to complain when blessed with so much. And anyway, does anyone REALLY want to read about stressful sickness and baby poop and puke?

So I figured I would give it a try....the poop and puke aspect of our lives is now officially on display. Sorry if it is too much information! :) This too shall pass and we will be back to our regularly scheduled programming of adorable Kate antics and happy healthy baby pics in a number of days, I hope.

Wishing you all health, health, and health. It really stinks to have any part of it missing! And I do mean STINKS in the literal and figurative sense here.

After Liam's Bath

Liam LOVES his baths! He just becomes completely serene. These pics were taken after a bath....smelling so sweet and clean and so snuggly!

Sibling Snuggles

When Kate wakes up in the morning, one of the first things she asks about is Liam. If he is in my arms, she wants to cuddle him immediately! If he is downstairs, she wants to get downstairs right away to see him. She is just crazy about him! Here are some pics of Liam snuggling with Kate in her big girl bed.

Coming Soon to a Blog Near You......

A lot of people have been asking for Before and After pics of the house after all the work that we (read: Nick) did on our tiny bunglaow. I am working on loading the pics, so be on the lookout for "Extreme Home Makeover: Harris Edition". Also, more pics of the kids will be posted as well. Things have been so busy here with trying to figure out the schedule of two kids and also my Non-Profit annual event is in two weeks so I am swamped with that. Updates are coming soon!

You'll Ruin Your Eyes!

Today I uttered a sentence that I never imagined I would have to say…..something that I find happens a lot now that we have kids!

I looked over at Kate as she was watching Dora the Explorer this morning and found myself calmly asking her “Kate, let’s not watch TV through binoculars, please.”

I wish I had a picture of her standing in the middle of the room, holding my mini-binoculars to her eyes as she sang the “Dora” theme song. What was it that my mom said about standing too close to the television? What on earth does binocular television viewing do to the eye? ☺

Maria, I just met a girl named Maria......

We have an incredibly adorable and precocious daughter! And did I mention imaginative? This weekend, Nick and I took the kids to run some errands. At one point, a passerby stopped and commented on how lovely Kate was. She asked Kate “are you the big sister?” Kate politely answered “Yes, maam, I am the big sister!” The woman said “What is your name?” and Kate, without hesitation and with full conviction stated “My name is Maria!” Well, I just looked at her, stunned, as the woman went on to say “Maria! My, what a beautiful name!” To which Kate replied “Yes, it is beautiful. My name is Maria!”

I could hardly stop laughing as I reminded her that her name was not, in fact, Maria but the very beautiful Kate. The woman, a total stranger, laughed right along with us.

But WHERE does Kate come up with this stuff? She is so darn funny! I mean, she is two years old!!!! And we don’t even know anyone named Maria, so who knows where she got it. All I can think is maybe we listen to too many musical soundtracks – maybe too much West Side Story!!

So – Liam and “Maria” are doing well and providing us with endless entertainment. Liam, by the way, is the best three week old baby ever…..last night he slept for over 5 hours straight! Ahhhh, blessed sleep! But who knows what he will do tonight! The boy is growing so fast – already almost 11 POUNDS!!!! – that he eats like crazy to keep up. He is too cute.

All is well here - loving life with these little peanuts. It is the "Maria Moments" that remind me that any sleep deprivation or toddler terror moments are well worth it.

Friends

Kate always asks to "howd Wiam". She loves to hold her baby brother and always exclaims "Oh! We're Fwends!!!" She is fascinated by him - and he adores her. We are so lucky.

First Bottle

Liam totally pounded this bottle. Kate, of course, had to help feed him. She is SUCH a big helper. My little gopher - she gets me diapers, blankies, etc. She loves helping her brother!

Crashed

Nick has the enviable ability to sleep anywhere, anytime. I left him holding Liam in the armchair to go put a load of laundry in and in that short amount of time, both of them totally crashed. I found them like this in the chair. Poor Nick had not even had time to change out of his work clothes yet.

Snuggly Guy

Liam is one of the cuddliest babies I have ever known. He just loves to snuggle. He bunches up and works himself right into your arms, or on your chest and just conks out. He would be held all day long if he had his way. Thank goodness for our super swaddling blanket (an awesome gift from my friend, Carrie)....it makes him feel snuggled and cozy when people's arms need a break! Anyway, here he is snuggled up on Nia.

Kate playing Dress Up

Nia and Gramps have a "Dress Up Box" at their condo - it is full of all kinds of fun outfits and accessories - mostly a lot of Nia's wardrobe from the 1980's that are now considered to be outrageous, but at the time were incredibly chic! ;) Kate loves to play in the dress up box. The other day she wore a gold sparkly belt for an entire evening. Here she is in her "let's have tea" outfit. "Pink is her signature color". (name that movie quote, anyone!)

Liam and his Gramps watching NCAA Basketball Tourney

He loves his Gramps!

Nakey

Bath time for the kids! WHOA! It is so strange to say "kids" plural! Here are the two little peanuts getting ready for bathtime. As I have mentioned in past posts, Kate LOVES holding and snuggling her baby brother. The contrast between Kate's ultra fair skin and Liam's newborn ruddiness is quite strong! Looks like Kate for sure got her Mom's un-tannable skin. Jury is out on Liam.

Creative Kate

Kate kept busy on this snow day by drawing and playing games. She is such a good girl! And darn cute, too, I think! :)

March Madness

Wow! Today we got about a foot of snow! It is the most snow we have gotten all at once in two winters. Now THIS is the Minnesota that I expected to encounter when we moved here. It is actually so beautiful - like a painting. Though Nick may disagree with all the heavy lifting he had to do in clearing it! Kate is so anxious to go and play in the snow. I guess we'll get to use those snow coveralls I got for her at the beginning of winter after all! Hopefully they still fit!

Anyway, I snapped a quick pic from the front porch while it was still blowing a bit this morning....

Life with Liam

Life with Liam is wonderful. He is a sweet little boy. He is perfectly serene – except when hungry, when he goes from zero-to-super-cranky in 0.3 seconds with his extremely loud and demanding cry! ;) He also absolutely despises having his diaper changed and likes to play a game where he tries to soil as many diapers as he can with repeated bodily functions in the course of one attempted change. That aside, he is awesome. He is a super snuggler and loves to cuddle and be held. He really likes the Baby Bjorn carrier! So much so that Kate has taken to imitating the Baby Bjorn – today she took one of her teddy bears and stuffed it down her shirt so it’s head was poking out of her collar in the front. She walked around “hands free” like mom, occasionally patting bear on the back saying “ooooh, you’re such a sweetheart. Oh you wittle sweetheart”. SO CUTE!

Kate really is a great big sister. When she wakes up in the morning, she immediately asks about Liam and wants to give him kisses. Yesterday he snuggled in bed with her and she “read” him stories for about 20 minutes. When Liam cries, Kate instantly breaks into song to try to quiet him – usually “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”. She also calls him her “little buddy”, running up to him while he is in the swing or bouncy seat saying, “oh hiiiii wittle buddy”! Truly adorable, if I may say so. She just marvels at him – exclaiming over his tiny fingers and toes and announcing to the world when he has his eyes open “Look! He’s looking at me!!!!”

I am so proud of her. We have had to deal with a couple of expressive toddler moments – I think it is a combination of her age and needing to assert herself and also the major changes in the household with a new baby. But nothing major stands out. She is really adapting well thus far and Nick and I are just more in love with her than ever. I myself have had a few moments of “mourning” so-to-speak when it comes to Kate. She was my best bud for the past 2 ½ years and it is an adjustment not spending so much time totally dedicated to her. I worried that it would affect her and, while she seems to be adjusting just fine, I have to confess that I have had some moments of feeling overwhelmed by “missing” Kate. Even though she is right here! She will always be my best girl. It is just hard for ME not having as much one-on-one time with her as I used to. I thought it would be Kate that would have a tough time. Turns out it is the hormonal and teary mom that is struggling! ☺

Nick is just all around fantastic. He is the best dad – changing diapers like crazy and rocking Liam and just being super dad. He has been especially great spending time with Kate on every level as I am occupied with nursing. He and Kate have gone on some fun outings together and he is so good about making her feel like a special big girl. She is crazy Crazy CRAZY about him. And Nick has been amazing with me, too! He takes my emotional and physical ups and downs in stride as I “come down” from pregnancy and childbirth and has been nothing but patient and loving and wonderful. He will probably be embarrassed when he reads this, with me going on and on about the love of my life…..but I just could not be more blessed. What can I say? I’m a lucky girl!

Well – as is often the case, this has become somewhat of a “dear diary novella”. Super Dad Nick is rocking Liam to sleep and it looks like he is almost out, which means we will be falling asleep 2 seconds after Liam does. More adventures of parenthood in Minnesota to come…..

Some pictures from Liam's first week!