Liam Piper: 11 Months to 12 Months

Yes, you read that correctly.  Liam Piper has less than six days until he turns one year old.

Let's pause now and take a moment of silence for the grieving mother in the corner.

Okay, we're back now.

I cannot tell you enough how much we love this little boy.
I cannot tell you enough how he has completely changed our lives for the better.
I cannot tell you enough how different he is from his sister.

He goes by many names is this house:
Liam
Wee-am (since all of Nora's L's sound like w's)
Buddy Man
Liam Pipes
Liam PIPER!!!! (When he's in trouble)
Son
Sir
Master of Destruction
Destructo
Little Jonathan

Months 11 and 12 have been lots of fun with Liam.  He is getting around like a mad man.  He is such a fast crawler, and even though we all thought he'd surely be walking by now, he's not.  And I am so glad about that.  I know that the sooner he is walking, the sooner he'll be running, and the more hair I'll be losing.   (You should see me in a parking lot with Nora.  I'm so paranoid she's going to dart away and into coming traffic.  Oh, and seriously, I say that for every child you have, you need one more arm and two more eyes!)

This is Liam pulling up on my leg wanting to be held as I cooked supper!

Liam is getting much more verbal.  There is very little that we can understand, but this boy sure is a jabber.  (Hmmmm....wonder where that comes from?)  He can say "Dada," "Mama," "Ora," "Gook," (which may be milk, book, dinosaur, vacuum cleaner....I'm not sure, exactly), "Tickle," "Uck," (Truck), "Cah" (Car).  These are very open for interpretation, but according to me, those are the words he says.  As far as signing goes, Liam is very stubborn and refuses to sign unless Jonathan or I take his hands and make him do the motion.  We have only introduced the signs for "more" and "all done" and when we repeat the words and signs a million times, the whole time he just stares at us like we're stupid.  I'm not so sure if that light bulb is ever going to go off, but we keep trying. 

The world of table food has vastly opened before us the past few weeks.  I had been playing things pretty safe in regards to table foods with Liam because he has (had) a very sensitive gag reflex.  It wasn't uncommon for him to choke on a cracker or cheerio or a new food that I was trying to get him to like, and when he got choked up a certain way, out it all came.  Back to an empty belly.  Yuck.  However, since he's so close to being 12 months, I knew I really needed to be better about introducing things regardless of the gag reflex, and so about two weeks ago I started giving him bits and pieces of whatever we were eating.

Here are some of the things that he's eating now:  every kind of fresh fruit we have in the house (bananas, strawberries, cantaloupe, mandarin oranges, grapes, etc.), deli ham and turkey, cheese, waffles, lasagna, ground beef, potatoes, yogurt, bread, avocado, chicken, green beans, broccoli, and more.  At this point we are still having some baby food purees, but I am trying to slowly wean these out of the diet as he eats more and more table food. 

Also this week, I have been trying to switch Liam over to whole cow's milk.  Since he was about 8 months, Liam has been on formula, having several 4 oz. bottles throughout the day and an 8 oz. bottle just before bed.  I introduced a straw sippy cup a while back, and knowing that he knows how to use it, I started putting milk in the cup at one feeding on the first day.  He didn't really like the coldness of the milk, at first.  He's used to his bottle being rather warm, so I imagine the cold milk will take him a bit of time to get used to.  Over the past three days, I have switched out all of his bottles with cow's milk except for his evening bottle.  That one is still formula, and I'll probably keep that one as is until Jonathan and I get back from our trip to NYC (which is less than three weeks away, people!!!).

Liam is still taking two naps.  His morning nap is usually around 10:00 (might be a bit later if he sleeps in), but he'll nap anywhere from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours.  It's usually about an hour, though.  In the afternoon, he and Nora go down for a nap around 2:30.  If it's a good day, he'll sleep until 4:00, but there are some days where he's wide awake at 3:30, and then there's today, where it's 5:15 and I just heard him talking in his crib!  Oh happy nap day!

Liam loves bathtime.
Liam loves his sister.
Liam loves to throw a ball.
Liam loves to push a truck or car or anything with wheels.
Liam absolutely love his Momma. (he he, I'm his favorite)
Liam loves his Daddy.
Liam looks like his Daddy spit him out of his mouth.
Liam is stubborn.
Liam likes to dig in the trash, eat things off the floor, and loves to play near the toilet.

Needless to say, he is ALLLLLLLL boy!

Spring Fever

Spring is in the air, and even though all of our sinuses are revolting, we just LOVE being outside and enjoying the beautiful weather this time of year.  It won't be long before it is so hot and humid that we'll be forced to stay indoors, so we are spending lots of time outside while we can!

Nora showing Liam how to "drive"

I love this one.  Looks like he's stuck in traffic.

"C'mon, people, what's the hold-up!?"

Afternoon snack: grapes on the vine.

Yesterday, we were rained in and spent the day indoors.  Poor Liam is particularly having an allergy spell, so it was probably best for him that we weren't able to be out.  Hopefully, the rain washed away a lot of pollen.

Can't believe this boy is almost ONE!

We are so blessed to have wonderful next door neighbors, Matt and Anne.  Matt is a physicist and Anne is a school counselor, and they have one of the most precious little boys named Dillon.  Dillon turned 2 in February, and he and Nora are such good buddies!  They play together so well, like better than Nora plays with any of her other friends.  I'm guessing it's because one's a girl and one's a boy.  None of the cattiness and territorial issues that seem to arise in girls even at such a young age. 

We spend lots of time with Matt, Anne, and Dillon.  We often share supper together, meet up for neighborhood walks, play at the playground, or just throw a Frisbee or ball together in the front yard.  Seriously, we love this family and plan to take them with us if we ever leave this house.

Here is Nora mowing our lawn with Dillon's mower.

 

We gave Dillon his first ice cream cone the other night.  Big hit!

I have so much blogging to do to catch up over the past several weeks (er...months), so I will try to post more of what's happening in the life of the Bradshaws soon!  Thanks for reading!

Got Juice?

Since Liam is just a few weeks away from being one, I am trying to get him adjusted to taking liquids from a cup instead of his bottle. A few weeks ago, I decided to give him a new cup with a straw and put a bit of diluted apple juice in there. It was a hit!

Just Waking Up

Liam is always so chatty after naptime, and I am always wanting to record him because he seems to have so much to say. This video is from last week, and after I went in to his room to get him up, I remembered to go grab my camera. Well, he fell apart because I left the room, so that's why he is all teary and sad. Oh, the drama!

I love how he says "Ora" and, if you can't tell, this boy LOVES to talk about his Daddy!

My Little Helper

Nora is learning to help me in so many ways, and the Lord is giving her such a heart to serve her Momma and her family! She loves to help me put clothes away, switch out the laundry, and her newest "chore" is unloading the silverware basket into our silverware drawer. She can do it all by herself.

She started singing this song today while working away, and I just had to capture such a precious moment!

Great is THY Faithfulness

I am feeling the sense that God is testing my faith, growing my faith, increasing my faith. I see this in many areas of my life, some of which I can't necessarily discuss on the blog, but trust me. He's telling me something. I am very thankful, and I am very encouraged when He speaks so kindly and openly to us in His word.

Psalm 37

"Trust in the LORD, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness.
Delight yourself in the LORD,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him, and he will act.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
and your justice as the noonday.
Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;
fret not yourself [....]

The steps of a man are established by the LORD,
when he delights in his way;
though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong,
for the LORD upholds his hand.
I have been young, and now am old,
yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
or his children begging for bread.
He is ever lending generously,
and his children become a blessing."

Gosh, I feel like could take this psalm phrase by phrase and make application in my life right now. I love it when scripture bounces off the page at me like that! Anyway, one of the things I am seeing and hearing from the LORD is that HE is faithful. My faith is frail and weak and cannot be sustained by my own strength and will power, but HE IS FAITHFUL.

The other night, Jonathan and I were out to dinner with a precious couple that go to our church. They are about Jonathan's parents' age and have six children. Gosh, are they just oozing with wisdom and the Bible just poured out of them! I pray that I make much of the time, investing myself and my time in the Lord and His Word that Scripture just flows out of me that way. It was wonderful and so edifying to just be with them! Anyway, we were discussing something together, when the wife looked over at me and said, "You know, God will never disappoint us. When we get to heaven, there isn't one thing that we can look to him about and say, 'You know, God, I trusted you with this, and I shouldn't have.'"

Talk about stop me in my tracks.

That is so what I needed to hear!

I may not always understand God's ways or may not always like the path that He chooses to lead us on, but I do believe that He is good and that He is faithful and that He is sovereign. And I do believe that when I get to heaven one day, I will be able to see clearly how all things have worked together for good. I will be able to say, "God, you are so trustworthy! It makes SO much sense!"

One day, when I am old and gray, I know that by God's grace I can say:

"I have been young, and now am old,
yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken
or his children begging for bread.
He is ever lending generously,
and his children become a blessing."

Thank you, Father, for being so near to me today and for speaking so clearly this week!

Pure Cuteness

My boy is getting to be so big!  In only a few short weeks, he will be one year old! Wow! Here are some recent pictures of him sitting in the front yard.  My favorite is the one of him smiling.  Notice his two bottom teeth!?

P.S. His hair has a mind of its own.

Give Not Up Thy Prayers

The following quotes have come across my path several times in the past two weeks. I think the Lord is trying to tell me something and encourage my faith. I post these here again in case, like me, you need to see these quotes again or for the first time so that your faith in our God who is "might to save" will be increased.


“Unbelief says, ‘Some other time, but not now; some other place, but not here; some other people, but not us.’ Faith says, ‘Anything He did anywhere else He will do here; anything He did any other time He is willing to do now; anything He ever did for other people He is willing to do for us!’” A.W. Tozer

“Mighty to Save” Isaiah 63:1

“Christ is not only ‘mighty to save’ those who repent, but He is able to make men repent. He will carry those to heaven who believe; but He is, moreover, mighty to give men new hearts and to work faith in them. He is mighty to make the man who hates holiness love it, and to constrain the despiser of His name to bend the knee before Him….Believer, here is encouragement. Art thou praying for some beloved one? Oh, give not up thy prayers, for Christ is ‘mighty to save.’ You are powerless to reclaim the rebel, but your Lord is Almighty. Lay hold on that mighty arm and rouse it to put forth its strength…Whether to begin with others, or to carry on the work in you, Jesus is ‘mighty to save;’ the best proof of which lies in the fact that He has saved you.” Charles Spurgeon

Off to the Doctor....Again.

Poor Liam is not feeling well again. He finished his antibiotic from his previous ear infection this past Wednesday night....so less than 36 hours ago. This morning he woke up early and has been pretty irritable and extremely unhappy. He's not running a fever, but he isn't really interested in food and is just falling apart. He won't nap, and seems to be in pain but since he's only 11 months, I don't know exactly what he's feeling. Poor Buddy Man! We have an appointment early this afternoon, so please say a prayer that we can figure out what is wrong, and if it is another ear infection or a continuation of his earlier one, that the doctor will have wisdom for how to care for our boy.

Please pray for me, that I will have patience in caring for our children. I am struggling with being frustrated that once again we are at this place. I like to find solutions to problems and fix them, so this season of sickness is causing me to have to lean on the Lord, trust His perfect sovereignty, and find my strength, joy, and ability to care for my children from Him.

***Update: Liam does have another ear infection. This time it's his right ear, not his left! Dr. G. was very encouraging and said that he wants to see Liam again after his round of antibiotics to make sure we've got this thing this time. We are getting to be best buds with everyone over at our ped's office!! Praise God that our biggest problem with sickness is just an ear infection. All in all, our kids are quite healthy!

Psalm 34

This psalm brings such hope to me today. There are so many places in these words where I find comfort and joy from the words that can be applied in so many areas of my life right now. I pray it comforts you and encourages you as well.


Psalm 34
I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise shall continually be on my mouth.
My soul makes its boast in the Lord;
let the humble hear and be glad.
Oh, magnify the Lord with me,
and let us exalt His name together!

I sought the Lord, and he answered me,
and delivered me from all my fears.
Those who look to Him are radiant,
and their faces shall never be ashamed.
This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him
and saved him out of all his troubles.

The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him,
and delivers them.
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!
Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints,
for those who fear him have no lack.
The young lions suffer want and hunger,
but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.

Come, o children, listen to me.
I will teach you the fear of the Lord:
What man is there who desires life and loves many days,
that he may see good?
Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.
Turn away from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.

The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.

[...]

When the righteous cry for help,
the Lord hears and delivers them from out of all their troubles.
The Lord is near to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
The Lord redeems the life of his servants;
none of those who take refuge in Him shall be condemned.

Just Another Manic Monday

It's been nearly two weeks since my last blog post, and although I had intentions of being better about blogging, I have not succeeded! We've been busy and sick and trying to enjoy this glorious spring weather and training for a 5K, so blogging has once again taken a back seat.

I was talking to Jonathan the other night about the season of life that we are currently in. Lately, I have been a bit frustrated because I feel like I am so busy lately--mostly with the day in, day out caring for the kids and trying to keep my house from self-destructing--that I don't have time to do much else. Do any of you have those days where you spend the morning cleaning and putting thing away, playing with kids, fixing and cleaning up from meals, only to have it all destroyed hours later?! Seriously, some days by the time Jonathan gets home, it looks like I have done NOTHING all day. However, the Lord and my husband reminded me that it's not about results (sort of), and Jonathan doesn't rate my success as a wife and mother by the way the house looks at the end of the day. The reality is that we have two kids two and under. Life is busy. They are messt. Liam is a maniac at this stage and is so curious about everything. He's learning his limitations, experimenting with senses and abilities, and our home is the domain for him to do that. It might not fit in to my Type A personality and desire to have everything in its place. But, what's the most important thing right now? Where is my focus? What "results" am I most interested in? These are questions I have to ask myself every day, several times a day, because I tend to lose sight of this.

The truth is that my babies are only babies once. Liam is only 11 months once. I need to treasure them NOW.

With that said, let me share some of the wonderful and exciting things we've been doing over the past two weeks:

1. On Sunday, March 28th, Jonathan ran his first half-marathon! I am so extremely proud of him for setting and accomplishing this HUGE goal! He primarily wanted to be able to finish the 13.1 race, and not only did he do that, he finished it right at his goal time: 2 hours, 20 minutes, 40 seconds! I so badly wanted to take the kids out to the finish line of the race which was in the UT Stadium, however, Liam had an ear infection and the weather was SUPPOSED to be very rainy. Even though it was probably best that we didn't go out with Liam being ill, the rain held off until after Jonathan finished the race. He said the cool weather was great for running in!

Unfortunately, I did NOT get any pictures of my precious husband before or after the race. I am so sad about this fact, but alas, I didn't!

2. Liam turned 11 months yesterday (April 4th, Easter Day). Only a few more weeks and this boy will be one year old! WOW! We have the sweetest, most handsome boy on our hands, and as I am sure I say every time, we couldn't be more in love with him! He is so cute and funny and tender-hearted, but at the same time, he is stubborn and messy and smelly! ALL BOY!

3. Nora has decided she no longer wants to go "peep" in the potty. Not ever. Can I just say one thing? I.AM.SO.CONFUSED!!!!! Please pray for my patience and that I will have some supernatural wisdom from the Lord with how to walk this out in the coming months. I have decided to wait a few more weeks and try again. I think. Nora could change the plan on me tomorrow. HAHA.

4. Last Thursday, Nora, Liam and I went over to the Townsend's house to have our Easter baking and craft day. We dyed Easter eggs with the girls and made special colored Easter cupcakes and homemade icing. The girls had such a wonderful time playing together and being crafty. Amy and I are loving these traditions with our girls!

5. Easter was yesterday, and we had a wonderful and full day celebrating our Lord Christ Jesus' resurrection. We went to church where we had a wonderful service, then we headed over to Jonathan's parent's house for lunch. We didn't eat our big Easter meal until suppertime because Amy had to work yesterday, so we just had sandwiches for lunch, then the kiddos took naps. After they woke up, Nora had her first Easter Egg hunt! She loved it, so much, in fact, that I had to go and hide all of the eggs a second time so that she could go find them. Nora and Liam were both extremely spoiled by having Easter baskets given to them by us, Jonathan's folks, and Aunt Mamie! Just what they need, huh?!

We had a delicious Easter dinner of chicken and dressing, ham, butter beans, green beans, pistachio salad, broccoli salad, homemade macaroni and cheese, and rolls. For dessert, I made individual raspberry cobblers and Ms. Joyce made a delicious coconut cake that I have been so anxious to try. YUM!

We got to talk on the phone to my parents and wish them a Happy Easter. Also, I spoke with my Aunt Kathie and my grandmother, Gloria, who live in Baton Rouge. They loved talking on the phone to Nora. Lastly, we got a surprise phone call from Aunt Hazel who has been extremely ill the past few weeks, near to death, actually. I got to hear her voice for the first time in a long time, and I was so blessed to speak with her! God is so good! We had a wonderful Easter and I am so thankful for Jesus and His death on the cross!

6. I was able to go to the George Strait/Reba concert this past Friday night. We bought tickets for Jonathan's parents for Christmas, and Amy bought a pair of tickets as well. She invited me to go along, so I borrowed a pair of her cowboy boots and off we went. I must admit that I was extremely skeptical about this concert. I like my fair share of country music, now don't get me wrong, but REBA? Isn't she cheesy, corny, goofy with that big ole grin she's always wearing on her face? I mentioned my thoughts on this to Mr. Paul and Ms. Joyce who immediately told me that I was wrong. They saw her in concert about 15 years ago and said it was phenomenal. I was like, "YEah, sure." At least I'll enjoy George Strait. But, oh my stars, REBA WAS AMAZING!!!!

Ok, so Lee Ann Womack opened the concert. She was pretty good. Pretty nasally, but all in all, she's got some good songs. She lacked energy, but I didn't really realize that is what was missing until Reba took the stage. That woman must have downed 13 Redbulls before going on. She can sing so effortlessly and was just so gracious. She must have thanked the audience for their support over the years like 6 times. I think she's great live and probably better live than over the radio. And, to make things even better, she had several "guests" appear during her show. First of all, Brooks and Dunn showed up. Oh. MY. Goodness. We went wild. I don't even listen to Brooks and Dunn regularly, but it must the fact that everyone around you is screaming like animals and there are spotlights and flashes going off everywhere and then you realize there are two huge stars on stage! It was great! They sang a song with Reba then left. A few minutes later, Reba started to sing a Kelly Clarkson song that she's covered called "Because of You." I started thinking, "Oh Reba, she covered some hip alternative Kelly Clarkson song. Kelly Clarkson is so cool." But WHO SHOWS UP!?????
You guessed it!

KELLY. CLARKSON.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amy and I were freaking out! Again, I don't really even listen to Kelly Clarkson. I mean, I definitely know who she is but I don't love her music unconditionally or anything like that. But seriously, once again I was screaming my head off and looking over at Amy and we both say simultaneously, "OH MY GOODNESS! IT'S KELLY CLARKSON! NOOOOOO WAY!!!!"

We are such dorks.

So Kelly and Reba sang a few songs together. Then she left and Reba went on with her concert. So many good songs! Then, Reba goes on to talk about her TV show called none other than "Reba." As she's talking about the show, the actress who plays Barbara Jean comes running out and onto stage. I have maybe watched 1 full episode, but I knew who she was. They did a 10 minute diddy together that was really funny and they sang a song together (sort of). After that, Amy and I were like, "Who else is coming? Who else is going to come out from behind those magical curtains?" It was so much fun!

George Strait is awesome! He has so many great songs, but by the time he came out and we settled down from being star struck, he starts singing all of these slow and sappy songs. I was about to fall asleep. I mean, now that I have kids, I don't stay out late, and I definitely don't go to concerts that don't end until after midnight. So, at about 10:45, the four of us said we were ready and decided to get out and beat the crowd. Sorry George, but you should have gone before Reba! It was great fun and I am so thankful that Amy invited me. I need to do that more often.

Okay, so no pics on this post, but I'll do a picture post really soon with some shots of the kids and our craft/baking day and some pics from the concert that I snapped on my phone.

Later!