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To my son on his Birthday

Dear Liam,
  It is wild to think that you are already a year old . I feel like we were just bringing you home from the hospital. I cannot express in words the love that I have for you or how blessed I feel to able to call myself your mother.
  You are the strongest, silliest little boy I have ever come across. The way you grunt when you want food is always good for a laugh, even though I know for you it is a very serious matter. I love the love and adoration you have for your sister. I don't even care that you have rarely slept through the whole night in this past year, because I love gettng up to snuggle you....BUuuuuut let's maybe work on the whole sleep thing this year ok?
  You fill my heart with so much joy. Happy HAPPY Birthday Butterbean. I love you to the moon and back ...plus 1...times infinity.

-Mom

From the eyes of a friend...

My dear friend Karen was out "birth liason" :) on the day Liam made his grand entrance. I mentioned casually to her once that she should write about that day from her perspective. Because she loves me and never lets me down....here is Liam's birth day from the eyes of Karen:

The best way I can describe watching a child be born is this – it’s the grossest miracle that exists. One minute your friend is waddling around, the next minute…well she’s still going to waddle a bit due to stitches but now she’s holding a gorgeous baby moose, I mean boy.

On April 13th 2011 , I had the esteemed pleasure of being a birth liaison, to make me sound fancy, for the birth of one Liam Williams. It was something I was excited for due to a number of reasons. It’s always an honor when your friends want you there for their major life events and this was a big one. But I was most excited to be there and “go hang in the waiting room during all the gross stuff.” That was the birth day I was sold. However....

 Kari and Steven were at the hospital getting all situated as I left Minot bright and early. I had prepared myself by going with this theory – my job is to entertain Steven and do whatever the laboring lady tells me she wants me to do. As I arrived at St. A’s, I was clearly focused on the task at hand because just off the elevator, I ran into a woman and was staring at her, wondering where I knew her from. (Turned out, she’s my gynecologist.)

Our day went remarkably fast for those of us not in labor. We talked, joked, took some pictures. We had been discussing naming options and had a quite lovely chat with a nurse about it. She was so kind to bring us three name books from approximately 1964. All this did was make us throw out the worst names in the book, just for kicks. We then asked the nurse what the worst name they had ever had a baby named was. The answer – Lucifer. Apparently, the father’s name was Angel and he had figured since he lived his life like no angel, he thought his son would likely not live up to his name. The nurses apparently resorted to calling the baby Luke because they couldn’t bring themselves to call a newborn the devil. Can’t blame them there.

Around noon, I went and had a quite enjoyable cafeteria turkey sandwich. When I returned, labor had started getting stronger for Kari so Steven and I retreated to the couch for a few games of Uno (which I won all of no matter what he might recall). We did our best to let mama know we were there without getting her out of her zone. Sometime around 1-2ish and around 5ish centimeters, a little shot of meds helped her calm enough to attempt a nap, though I’m quite sure she never slept. I want to say around 3:15 or so, she sat up and said she was starting to feel pressure. The nurse came in and further changed my life forever.

Seated on the couch, I was told just to not look. So I stared at the door while Steven held her hand during the dilation check. Our little wonder mom had just gone from 5 to almost 9 in less than an hour. Assuming since the nurse walked away from the bed that it was safe to look, I looked over at Kari. Lesson learned. Gown up over her knees, I saw what I could only assume was a crime scene. Exact words said in the next 10 minute are a blur. I do remember asking Kari if she wanted me to go now and I believe the response was something to the effect of, you’ve seen it once so you can stay…but maybe come stand by the head of the bed.

 While nurses fluttered about, preparing for the last minute cervix stretch, I double checked with Kari about 15 times if she wanted me to stay. The general consensus seemed to be that my job had changed from cheerleader to ankle holder. So to Kari’s left side I go. Perched next to the monitor, I heard Kari tell the nurse she felt like she needed to push. Now is the part where you find out the little secret – she was lying just a little. Wanting to get it all over with, Kari told a little fib and the nurses started letting her push at just under the 10 centimeter mark. I had the pleasure of being on the side with all the nurses so while holding a leg, sweating profusely and trying to come to grips with how I will never be the same, I had the joy of being sandwiched into the monitors by the leagues of nurses in the room.

The pushing didn’t take nearly as long as I thought. Looked like a lot of hard work though. As the doctor was getting situated, I developed the plan to just not look. Again, crime scene in the room prevented my eyes from staying focused on my friend’s red, splotchy face. I am so very glad there were no video cameras in the room because I’m quite sure the whole 20 minutes (at most) the doctor was doing his thing, I was staring in wonderment at my dear sister/friend’s crotch. Before long, I saw what I assumed was an alien emerging. And then he was out. As well as massive amounts of fluids in colors I had never seen before. Steven followed Liam to the baby cooker and scale. I joined them after excusing myself through the sea of nurses. One beautiful baby boy covered in not so beautiful goo came into the world. I went back to check on Kari, only to find her chatting it up with the doctor (who was sewing her naughty parts back together) as though they ran into each other in the produce aisle.

I held the new little wonder for just a moment before having to hand him over to everyone else who came to see him. I snapped a few pictures and laughed with Kari about how our friendship will never likely be the same (in a good way, don’t worry). I ordered her some room service and bid the newly expanded family adieu and drove back to Garrison where I took a two hour nap to shake my overwhelming day and drive back to Minot. I am beyond blessed to have the Williams (and Wollmuth) family in my life and I’m thankful I was able to experience the grossest little miracle before ever having to endure it for myself. I believe another year or so and I may be mentally stable to help bring another Williams into the world. After all, why scar another friend for life, right Kari?

LOVE YOU KAREN. This is something I will treasure forever. "Around noon, I went and had a quite enjoyable cafeteria turkey sandwich" cracks me up every time.... :)

Liam's Birth Story

In celebration of Liam's first year of life, I am finally getting up his birth story....Enjoy

Steven was ready for our next addition from the moment Lara was out and dried off. I had vastly different feelings. For someone who has always wanted a big family, I was very surprised by my tunnel vision on my daughter. I could not even imagine every having another baby as incredible as she was. She was my baby. That was that. Until her first birthday. By the time LB reached the ripe old age of one, she was basically already a teenager. There was a day shortly after her birthday, when she was FAR less baby like than the day before, that I had a realization that I was "ready" for Lara to have a sibling. A couple days after that I brought this up to my husband. Evidently all we had to do was put the "we are trying vibes" out into the universe. We found out we were pregnant with Liam a month later.

Throughout the pregnancy, Liam was measuring between 2 and 3 weeks larger than he should have been for his gestational age. This led to more scheduled ultrasounds and talks of early induction and possible c-section. For those of you who know me well, I am avidly a gainst scheduled c sections and on a few occasions was very put off by my OBs insistance on the topic. He tried to persuade me with the threat of future incontinance due to my delivering too large of babies. Long story short I put that idea quickly to rest at every appointment the last month of my pregnancy, but could not escape the suggestion of early induction.
The morning of April 13th, I awoke at 6 am after a very restful night of sleep to get Lara ready to go to daycare and get my last minute things prepped. We left to drop Lara off at 7am and I bawled like a baby on the way to the hospital about leaving my baby to go have another baby. It was this strange ball of excitement and apprehension that is pretty hard to explain in words. Steven calmly looked at me and said "Babe...we are going to have our new baby. That doesn't make Lara NOT your baby anymore. You can have more than one baby." Oh the wise words of my husband....calmed me imeadiately and helped me to focus on the excitement of the day ahead.

We checked in to the hospital at 7:30am. We had to wait in the little waiting area and were actually escorted through the hospital with an elderly couple who was there for (perhaps obviously) a totally different reason. We made it up to our room to settle in, gown up, and have my water broken. It was about 10 times more painful that I had remembered with Lara. On the opposite side, my godsend of a nurse was able to insert my IV on the first try, which, for those of you who are familiar with Lara's birth story, was a BIG DEAL. Things were off and running, and I got to get settled in.

A big difference in my labor with Liam was that I was not confined to my bed so Steven and I got to get up to take many a walk and I was allowed to use the rocking chair. I spent a good portion of my labor in said rocking chair. Our dear friend Karen was with us for the day to keep Steven entertained when I didn't need him. I have very vivid memories of silently rocking away with my eyes closed, listening to Karen whoop Steven's butt at Uno repeatedly.

Around 2:00 pm, I was getting tired and the contractions were coming much stronger than before. I hoped a little IV medication would help calm my body enough for some rest, but it did little to no good. After laying in a weird, painful haze for a good hour and 15 minutes, the "transition" began. The progress from 8 to 10 centimeters was upon us...well me... and it is the least pleasant part of the whole ordeal. At this point, I was VERY VERY tired....tired of labor, tired of being in pain. I also didn't want another run in with the "just breathe through your contractions while we wait for the doctor to come catch the baby" episode like I had with Lara. So I may or may not have lied to the nurse and told her I was feeling an iminent need to push. Now, I knew the end was "somewhat in the near furture" but the baby was by no means barrelling out as of yet. She checked me...9cm...Let me just tell you, being at 9cm is the MOST FRUSTRATING place to be in the whole world because no matter ho aw bad you feel you have to push... modern medical facilities will not let you do so until you hit the magic 10. In what seems like a blur though, I had the room convinced this baby's arrival was imminent. Dr. Hutchens showed up, suited up, and got the crew ready for the big show. I pushed..and pushed...and 20 minutes later...and handsome baby boy was born. 8lbs 12oz of pure handsome.

I say a handsome baby boy because at this point, we had no idea what to name him. I thought, for a majority of my pregnancy that his name was going to be Grayson. You could not have convinced me otherwise. But as the big day approached, Steven was less convinced by that name. So we sat in the delivery room, looking through baby name books...nothing standing out to me.... But the minute they handed me my son, I knew his name was Liam.

Liam Kristofer Paul Williams

Born April 13th 2011

8lbs 12oz

21 inches long

Proud to say I delivered another beautiful baby, without an epidural. Call me crazy, but I think there is something so empowering about giving birth without being numb from the neck down. After he arrived and was "fluffed up" he nursed for the first time....like a champ...and has been going strong since.

I could go in to detail about the events that followed that landed Liam in the NICU and why I will never be medically induced again, but that is for another post. Today is a day to focus on the joy and beauty that was my son's arrival into this world.

LB in curlers

Lara has been asking for "beeeutible curls" in her hair, but will not let me anywhere near her head with a curling iron. We were in Target yesterday and found the foam curlers of my youth in the hair supply isle. Surprisingly, she sat patiently while I rolled her hair last night.

She even slept in them....but unfortunately only for part of the night. So no curls this morning. I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little dissapointed. Oh well, we will try again another night. And it was totally worth it for how adorable she looked in those darn curlers.

Dear 2011

Well 2011...here we are....the last of your 365 days. I will say you are going to go down as by far the FASTEST year in history. Congrats on that. As I write this letter to you, I am watching Liam jump away in the Johnny Jumper that he is technically 5 lbs too heavy for....because he is a moose.
He is definitely one of the highlights of my year. Though his arrival was a liiiiiittle more stessful than we anticipated, we survived it as a family and are super blessed to have one of the cutest, most charming little boys on the planet.
 Thank you for my marriage. It was during this year that I came to paramount realization about marriage in general. No marriage is perfect and every day isn't going to be like sliding down a rainbow....but marriage is a committment that you better make dang sure you make to someone that you like enough to want to work at EVERY DAY...forever and ever. I am beyond thankful God brought Steven into my life and that I had the smarts to recognize that he was that man for me.
  Thanks for making me one year older. Thank you for making my daughter one year older...wiser...sassier...more beautiful. Each year is a gift, even if its been a stressful one. You have been one more year I was priviledge enough to spend with my family, who I love the hell out of.
  And with that 2011...I bid you adue. It's been real...its been fun...and at times it hasn't been real fun... But thanks for all you did.

  -Your friend, Kari

And to 2012...Bring it....I can't wait for you to be here.

Halloween Fun - Daycare Party!

Today I had the great pleasure of getting out of work a little early to join the kids for some Halloween fun at daycare! They decorated Halloween cupcakes, painted and glittered pumpkins, and had (as Lara would call it) a DACING PARTY!

My Little Red

and the Big Bad Wolf

Decorating involved ALOT of taste testing

Test run of the costumes went great. Can't wait to do a little dressing up of my own and to take the kids trick or treating on Monday. Lara has been practicing up.

-Williams out.

Williams Fam Photo Sneak Peak

We had our "fall family photo/Lara's pro 2 year/Liam's 6 month" photo shoot last night with the AMAZING  Jess of J&J Photography. Lara was obstinant to say the least. When we got home I was so worried that we didn't get a single great shot of her. It is still yet to be seen if we were able to get a decent shot of the kiddos together. But looking at the pictures you wouldn't know she was anything but a cooperative angel. Here is the preview for your visual stimulation. I love them and can't wait to see the full disk!

Incredible right?

-Williams out.

Lara's Birth Story

You may be thinking "What the what? Lara's 2! What are you doin posting her birth story now?" Well....A) I have been wanting to write it out for a long while now and B) I plan to post Liam's and a mother must be fair.

We were scheduled to be induced Saturday June 27th at 7:00am. Needless to say there was not much sleep to be had at our apartment the night before. We put together a closet organizer, my rocking chair, and the pack n' play...talked about how "holy crap by this time tomorrow we will probably be parents"...and Steven got to fufill his 9 month dream of drawing a basketball on my stomach.

I was having regular contractions through the night but eventually calmed my nerves enough to go to sleep. I was awoken at 5:30am to a call from my mother. "I am on my way. Why aren't you at the hospital yet?!" Confused I responded "Because we don't have to be there until 7." "Oh...why did I think it was earlier...I guess I will go walk the mall." Needless to say grandma was preeeety anxious.

My alarm went off at 6:15am and I got up, took a shower, fancied my hair (because you have to look good while giving birth) and made sure all of our last minute things were packed. The feeling I had while riding in the car to the hospital is a hard one to explain. It was a strange mixture of anxious, scared, excited, and freakishly calm.

We arrived at St. As a few minutes before 7am. There was no one in the check in area except us so we got to check in right away. Sitting at the window while the lady put my arm band on, I remember feeling like being strapped into a roller coaster, slowly eeking my way to the top of the big drop. No turning back now.

They led me straight up to Labor and Delivery to a HUGE room with its own little waiting area with couches that could be curtained off. I changed into my foxy gown and got hooked up to the monitors. Dr. Hutchens came in a broke my water at 7:30am and my contractions immediately started coming closer together. The nurse came in to put in my IV. She asked if I wanted her to stick me with some numbing stuff before she put in the IV. I like to avoid as many needles as I can and thought I could tough it out. WRONG. NEVER let them put an IV in your arm without numbing you first. Bonus for me...I have squiggly viens and evidently had a rookie nurse who stuck me 5 times before she got a different nurse who stuck me 2 more times before they had to find the anesthesiologist to put my IV in. Getting my IV was by far the worst part of my day. When nurse #2 came in to try she thought she had it and turned the fluid on and my hand started to swell.

At 8:00am mom arrived and they got the pitocin up and running in my veins. By 8:30am I was allowed to get up and go to the bathroom. I got situated back in the bed and got started on my ice chips.

Lara evidently hated the way I was sitting because about 2 minutes after I sat back down, alarms started going off indicating her heart rate was dropping. Nurses rushed in the room and put me on my left side and put an oxygen mask on my face. Pretty scary way to start out the day. L's heartrate stabilized for 20 minutes and then dropped again so they switched sides. But this time Steven's family had arrived...people were throwing around the C word...and I was freaked out but determinded that Lara just didn't like the way I was positioned and if someone would just listen to me and let me move...she'd be fine. My nurse told me no, don't move...stay on your oxygen...but let me just tell you, laying on your right side...NOT the most fun way to labor. Just sayin'. So being the rebel I am, I sat myself back up the way I was before I got up to pee. Lara's heartrate didn't drop again. SO ha nursing staff.

Steven asked me numerous times to get an epidural...I am pretty convinced he needed one more than I did. Like he will never understand what it feels like to be in labor, I will never understand what it is like to watch my other half go through labor so I feel for him from that respect. He did do a good job of keeping me entertained.

By about noon I was ready for something to take the edge off a bit as I wasn't allowed to get up and move after the heartrate incident earlier that morning. They gave me some stadol and I was actually able to nap for a while. For those of you who don't know, when you have stadol you still feel everything, you just don't care as much. At 6pm things started to really hurt. Like really REALLY hurt....Welcome to the "trasition phase" of labor. It gets its rep as the absolute worst part for a reason. I curled up in the fetal position, burried my face in my pillow, and listened to Steven tell me when a contraction was peaking and then coming down. There was nothing left to do at that point but grin and bear it. My mom and Ashley were standed at the end of my bed during this part chatting and giggling which was SUPER irritating to my laboring self so I got a little snappy with them. At 6:30 I started to feel like I needed to push. Steven got the nurse who checked me and said, "Oop...almost...but not quite." I'm not sure how much more time passed, but I was REALLY neeing to push...it was a feeling of "Why isn't anyone listening to me? I'm not making this up!" feeling. It was a little before 7pm when the nurse came in, checked me, and said "Ok Kari, we are going to do a little practice pushing. It will probably take you a while to push this baby out because you have a very flat pubic bone (whatever the crap that means)." I pushed once...the nurse checked and said...."Oh wait...we better go get Dr. Hutchens." As luck would have it...Dr. Hutchens had thought my labor was progressing rather slowly (I was stuck at 5cm for quite a while) and had decided to go out and get a burrito so they had to page him. Nurses started pouring into the room to get ready for L's big debut and started telling me I couldn't push anymore until the doc showed up. Well...when your body is trying to get a baby out...you really don't have much say in the matter and I was about ready to freak out if they told me to breathe through one more contraction. Steven tells me I was "freakishly calm" the whole day until it was time to push and we had no doctor there to "catch". Whenever someone comes in to L&D a doorbell rings. Well the doorbell rang and one of the nurses says "Oh that must be Dr. HUtchens..." Relief flooded over me until someone said "Oh nope...." and they started LAUGHING. What about that is funny? Nothing. Finally Hutch showed up. I pushed 5 times and out came Lara Lynn Williams at 7:29pm...almost exactly 12 hours after my water broke. Dr. Hutchens asked if Steven wanted to cut the cord. He hesitated...looked at me...looked at Lara...and finally Karol pushed him forward and said "Yes...he does.".

Steven went with Lara while they cleaned her up and I got to hang around for some stitches and chat time with Dr. Hutchens. When they brought her to me to hold all I remember seeing was a pink hat, HUGE eyes, and her little birdy tounge sticking out. I started crying and told Steven "She has your eyes!" Just like I had hoped.

No epidural meant I felt everything. I can honestly say it was not the most fun I have ever had, but it was absolutely manageable. 12 hours of labor sounds like a very long time but it FLEW by. There isn't anything about L's labor that I would have done differently....except maybe have had a more fashionable get up.

6 Months

Liam is officially 6 months old. Just to get it out of the way right away...WHERE has the time gone?! I feel like he was just this little snuggly bundle of goodness....

He has really been liking the paci that is in the picture above lately...even though it is a newborn baby paci and looks absolutely ridiculous on his chunky face now. I think that has to do with his teething action he has going on. Yesterday was his actual half birthday and what a rough day he had...He has a blood blister/cyst/oucho looking thing on one of his bottom teeth that burst during daycare resulting in blood all over his onsie. Poor boy...In happier news though the gush of blood was due to his tooth FINALLY breaking through. So for his 6 month birthday he got one of his bottom teeth with the other front one right behind.

With his 6 month dr. appointment came his 6 month shots which were terrible....but we both survived. The nurses gasped when they saw what they referred to as his "generous legs".....yea ladies... my son is gearing up to play Division 1 football someday....you don't make the team with chicken legs. Just sayin'.

He is babbling up a storm...laughing...and sitting up all by himself. His favorite things to do are listen to/watch his sister be an absolute goof bomber and play in his new Johnny Jumper.

Happy 1/2 Birthday Butterbean! Momma loves you! 

Sloppy Sloppy

Raise your hand if you MAJORLY dropped the ball on keeping up your family blog......

My...Bad.

However, with the fall comes a renewed dedication to posting regularily to keep you up to date on the happenings of the Williams Fam.

Since we last spoke, we had another bambino...maybe you've met him...

Liam Kristofer Paul Williams

April 13th 2011

8lbs 12oz

He spent 10 days initially in the NICU for an "infection of unknown origin". It sucked...long story short. But we made it through it...he came home and now, 5 1/2 months later looks like this...

He is an AWESOME, chubby, happy baby. We had so many people tell us while I was pregnant "Oh you know they aren't all born great and happy like Lara..." Well neener neener to all of you who said those words to me. He is every bit as easy of a baby as his sissy was. Do I recognize that I am VERY blessed by this? Yes absolutely I do.

On June 27th...our beautiful Lara Lynn turned 2.

She is probably the sweetest, most dramatic 2 year old I have ever seen. As of today she is 100% potty trained during the day. I wish I could take any kind of credit for her rocking abilities on the pottay...but I cannot. The week we had Liam in the NICU she must have sensed I was a little stressed because that was the week she just decided to be potty trained. She also is talking up a storm, picking up new words daily. She LOVES her little brother "Limi Weemoo" (Liam Williams) and is the best big sister we could ask for. She had a brief stint in the "terrible 2s"...about 2 weeks worth...and it was aweful. But then for whatever reason, shifted gears. I hold my breath every day waiting for the terrible 2s to return. Don't be mistaken however...this girl can throw a mean tantrum when she wants to.

You may have sensed that we are still blessed with perfect children....I kid of course...they both have their days just like any other kids...But we are extraordinarily blessed to have two such happy, healthy kids and I am really happy to be back in the blog world to keep you updated on what we are up to.

Someone please write me a nasty e-mail if I start to slack again :)

-Williams out.

The Coolest Thing She Has Done...

Scroll to the bottom of the page and pause the tuneage before watching the video

In her 18 months of life...her first carousel ride is evidently the coolest thing Lara has ever encountered....

She rode that thing with a giant smile on her face at least 10 times that night. Maybe I am more entertained by it than you, but how can you resist that smile?

Bathroom Revamp

Had to share the glory that is my pretty new bathroom...

First: The old and busted...

AAAAaaannd: The New Hottness

Happy Beeday Old Guy....

Dear Steven,

I hope you had a wonderful birthday yesterday. Of all the sketchy football players that ever walked on the field at Jamestown College, I am very thankful I ended up with you. You are my best friend and I truly would not rather be traveling through life with anyone else....even if you do play video games a little more than I would like :) Thank you for being a wonderful husband and father and for always keeping me laughing (even when I don't think I want to). Love you schnuggar lumpkins.

-Kari

How Time Flies

I was looking through pictures today....Can you believe in 1 year's time this blue eyed chubby bun...


January 2010

 Has grown into this sassy little girl?

December 2010

Love you Lara B... You are the coolest 18 month old I know...and having worked in the 18 month old room at Small Wonders I have seen my fair share of 18 month olds...even some pretty cool ones. *sniff sniff* Now off to the deep freezer with you so you stop growing....