Round Two

Here we go again, folks!  Baby #2 is on its way.  Wes and I have been very lucky so far in our baby-producing attempts.  This one took only about two months of trying (compared to Liam's one WEEK of trying...)  I. am. baby-making-machine!  Just kidding.  Pregnancy does me no mercy.  This time around, I have been sicker, fatter, and more exhausted-er than I ever was with Liam.  We found out July 3rd, after taking my...oh, seventh test?  I have a self-control problem.  Rather, I am a planner.  I want to have as much information as possible as early as possible in nearly every life situation.  (Thus, I'm finding out the sex of the baby while Wes continues to protest.)  Let me clarify; I like surprises, but only surprises for which I have absolutely NO foreknowledge.  For example, I know I'm having a baby, so there is no sense in waiting to know what flavor.  I know we all die one day, so it would be great if I could have all of the details regarding what that will be like as far in advance as possible.  Get it? 

To celebrate the big news, Wes and I had a romantic evening out on Main Street, Park City.  I don't know if food tastes better when I'm preggo, but Wahso was De. Li. Cious.  (Thanks Mom and Dad for the gift certificate!)  We basically had the place to ourselves, which is typical in PC in the summers (you can barely get a table in the winter), so we got some great personal attention.  The staff suggested baby names, and they even made us a special dessert. I bet you can figure out what their inspiration might have been...

I am a lucky girl.  I have a perfect-in-every-way little boy and a sweet, empathetic and involved husband.  This new little one is just going to be icing on a fantastic cake.  We are totally excited, worried about money, full of questions about how Liam will deal with a sibling and virtually drunken with joy.  I have no idea how to have two children at the same time, but we'll figure it out...I hope.  I guess I'll have to get over some of my OCD because things will be less than orderly very soon.  

Check out Wes after he ordered the only thing on the menu that featured his nemesis, onions, as a main meal component.  

I felt the little guy (I'm going to refer to him as a guy because I am more than convinced he is a he) kick way earlier than with Liam...around twelve weeks.  Wes hasn't felt him yet which makes him very jealous, but at the size of a large heirloom tomato, the time will come very soon.  I love my new midwife, Danielle Demeter, although I miss Tina Fought terribly.  I was looking forward to keeping her for all of my pregnancies the minute I gave birth to Liam and then she pulled a bait-and-switch on me and moved to West (Death) Valley.  Lame.  Danielle let me see the baby via internal ultrasound around 8 weeks and then again at 12 weeks (we couldn't find the heartbeat via Doppler, per usual.)  Nearly everyone I know in Park City has gone to her and I have not heard one bad thing from anyone.  Not one.  I hope she's okay with a non-natural-birther, as I plan on not being stupid this time around, getting pitocin/epidural before it's too late and hopefully cutting my twenty-six hour marathon labor in half-ish...like less than thirteen hours would be nice, please?

Although I really don't need an ultrasound to tell me that this one's a boy, I find out today with Liam and my mom at St. Mark's Hospital.  Wes is in California for work and we're both bummed he won't be there, but I'll just force him to come to a few of my upcoming monthly appointments.  (Many thanks to the late Steve Jobs for FaceTime on the iPhone 4.)  Until today, Wes has requested that I hide the gender from him until the birth, which I totally can do, but he caved today indicating that he would probably find out anyway...so... 

Here is preggo-me at 8 weeks...

And at 13 weeks...

And at 16 weeks...

17, and growing!  

I will be 20 weeks in five days.  Wes thinks this all has gone by very quickly, but when you're throwing up nearly every night for a month and can't catch your breath because of acid reflux, time slows down a bit.  I still have PTSD from Liam's birth, but I remember the awesome reward at the end of everything and I focus on that.  We're going to have another one!  I have to say, we make pretty cute babies, so I think we know to expect nothing less than heaven.  Yay for babies!  

Liam Lately

In just a few short weeks, our Baby Liam will turn two.  To me, that is incomprehensible.  That's one fifth of the way to ten!  Light speed, people.  Liam is full of energy, personality, words, humor, light, curiosity and mischief.  Enjoy a few updates on our favorite tiny dancer.  

Liam weighs approximately thirty-six pounds.  That is double...DOUBLE...the size of some of his peers. He wears 4T pants and 3T in everything else.  It's not that he's fat...in fact, he is perfectly proportional.  He looks like a normal toddler until you pick him up and realize he may be made of lead.  That's a Rawson trait, I think.  We tend to have healthy bone density.  

Some of Liam's favorite activities include anything having to do with music, practicing jumping and throwing/kicking, coloring, playing with Play-Dough, climbing up to slides but not going down them, going to the "bouncy houses"/library/zoo/park/splash pad or "sprinklers"/pool or any place involving a new adventure...playing with his buddy, Peter and the cousins, hiking, taking baths and showers, eating fruit of any variety, playing trains, playing "Mangoes" (Leggos) and reading books.  He also loves looking for animals in our yard, and sometimes we get lucky.

I am amazed at his aptitude for language.  He is at least a year or more ahead of his age group, which bodes well for preschool in a couple of years.  Everything that I have read indicates that he should be starting to put three and even four word simple sentences together.  How about, "I want mama sit down with Liam and build blocks just for a minute." Fourteen!  Seriously?  We've also heard, "I want to do dishes with dada" (music to my ears) and "I'm gonna sit down for a little bit" (he knows his limits.)  He understands more complex concepts as well, such as "I'm going backwards" and "We'll go outside later."  

Some of my favorite moments are when he's trying to recall a new word he learned and he can't quite pinpoint what it was, so he associates it with something he already knows.  For example, occasionally he refers to the library as the "strawberry," ice cream cone as "pine cone," pancake as "cupcake", etc.  There is nothing cuter, I tell you.

Call me a bad mama, but some of my favorite Liam moments are time-outs.  Our little one-year-old knows when he's in trouble and he couldn't be a cuter criminal.  We will put him in time-out for a minute or so and if anyone tries to speak to him, he'll remind you "time-out..." in a defeated little voice.  He'll stay seated the entire time and wait for mama or dada to rescue him.  We ask him why he was in time-out and let him complete our sentences, like "You were in time-out because you opened mama's (drawer) and made a mess with her (mascara) ((see below)) when mama said (no)."  Then, he'll say "I will listen.  I'm sorry, mama."  He wraps things up with the sweetest hug and kiss, it makes me want to put him in time-out all the time!  Okay, I won't, I won't.  He's a good boy!  It's hard to discipline someone who spends most of his time melting you to mush...

Sometimes we catch Liam singing to himself in his crib, usually in the mornings.  Just yesterday he was singing "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you!" in near perfect pitch.  I've even caught him playing peekaboo with himself in mirrors "I see you, Liam!"  He can sing his ABC's with just four hints (A, H, Q,W).  Liam is nearly ready for potty training, we think.  Twice now, he has told us "have to go potty...need to take the diaper off" and has gone #1 and #2 by his own initiative.  I don't want to rush things, but I think he's telling us that he may be ready!   

And then, when he is just worn out from a good day's play, he'll put his head down on his arm or the floor and sigh, "So tired." Could it get any better than this?  I can't see how.  We love him to pieces.  Happy almost birthday, sweet boy!  Your mama and dada are SO proud of you!

Red, Orange and Gold

Fall is here.  I really don't know how it happened.  I went to New York for a few days and came back to an incredibly colorful, and cooler, Park City.  It happens every year, yet somehow I am consistently shocked at how quickly the seasons change here.  One day, you're driving around with the windows down wearing a tank top stopping at a lemonade stand and the next, you're dusting off your ski gear because the forecast says "possible snow on Friday."  In any event, here is a little farewell to a glorious summer.  

In the summer of 2011, we hiked Pinebrook and the mid-mountain trail...

We spent time with friends, and some older ones...

We visited the dinosaurs at Zoorassic Park...

We cooled off at the Basin Rec Splash Pad (Liam's new favorite place)...

We appreciated the beauty of nature in the Uintas and caught our first fish with Papa (and got stung by a horsefly)...

We started a family tradition of having Sunday picnics at the lake...

We went on a canoeing/kayaking adventure with good friends...

We capsized...

And we played...

Happy end of summer, folks!