Liam Taylor Shealy....

.....arrived at 8:48pm on April 15th weighing 7lbs even and measuring 191/4 inches long.

Where is a picture of this adorable baby, then? you might ask. Well, our computer is still a piece of sh*%, is all I have to say about that. I SWEAR, as soon as it is possible I will post pictures of this new cutey. (Who, dare I say it, may be an even cuter baby than his brother was?) So, that is the short story. If you want the entire scoop, keep reading......

I went for my regular doctor's appointment on Thursday morning. She examined me and basically we both decided we would like him to come on his own so, even though he was already late we decided to give it until next week before inducing. I took a non stress test (as part of normal procedure for overdue babies), was handed my chart and headed to the front to check out. Until my doctor yelled at me from down the hall and had me come back to her office. She said that after looking at my NST she was concerned about some dips in the baby's heart rate during some of the contractions I was having (which were starting to feel stronger by the way) and maybe we should just going ahead and get him out.

So, I headed downstairs (her office is in the hospital) to labor and delivery to get induced. Except by the time they hooked me up to the fetal monitor I was already having steady contractions on my own. Yay! I labored for a while (wasn't too bad actually) and made it to 3cm. That was when she decided to give me some pitocin to speed things up and because of that, by the time I made it to 4cm, I was ready for that epidural! Like I remembered, once I got that, things were great! I even got a little nap while Wes and my sister ate Chick-fil-A in my room. I was 5cm around 6pm so I thought it would still be forever. (Basing all my assumptions on my 30 hour labor with Noah of course.) I sent my sister home around 8 and then all of the sudden I felt the urge to push. Weird. They checked and I was 9cm! By the time they set up for delivery, it was 8:30 and I was fully dilated and ready to push.

I am serious when I say that pushing this time was surreal. With Noah I pushed for 2 hours and was practically delirious with exhaustion by the time he came out. This time, I pushed maybe 7 times - for about 15 minutes - and he came out. No drama, pain or anything. It was so calm and everyone there (doctor, nurses, Wes and the random paramedic guy getting some kind of observation credit) were just smiling and cheering and laughing. It was crazy! And this time, I even got to hug Liam while Wes cut his cord and I remember all of it because I was not delirious!

Anyway, then he was here and the rest has been a whirlwind of activity. We are home and getting used to life with two but so far it has been awesome. Noah is in love with him and is most helpful - seriously! He even yelled at the little girl at school (who he has a massive crush on) because she told him Liam wasn't real, and he freaked out on her and said she better not say mean things that would make Liam cry. Yeah, how dare she deny his existence! I was so surprised that he yelled at this chick that he likes so much but I guess Noah's philosophy is "Broes before Hoes".

Next time - pictures. If it's the last thing I do!

A Reluctant Update

I say reluctant because I was hoping that by now my update would include pictures of Liam but, alas, there is no Liam yet. April 11th came and went and now I am two days overdue and more than slightly pissed off about it. I thought second babies weren't supposed to be so late....

Also, our camera software is all messed up so I can't even upload any photos that I have of Easter or anything, so really there is nothing interesting to even put on this blog! So...I will not post again until our baby is actually born, lest I scare anyone away with my cranky attitude. I will leave you with this question. Ladies, any ideas on inducing labor?.......

How You Know You Are Too Pregnant

I do realize that I am only 37 weeks pregnant, and if this kid is like Noah, I could conceivably be pregnant for 4 more weeks but here goes anyway...cause I certainly feel too pregnant these days! Okay, ways you know you are too pregnant.........


1. You walk into your son's room to clean the giant mess, see all the things you have to bend over and pick up, and just collapse into a heap and start crying. (Yes, that actually happened.)


2. You constantly think about all sorts of cleaning/heaving lifting/exercising that you can do to induce labor.


3. You can't sleep anyway - because no position is comfortable - so you start thinking it would probably just be easier to have the baby here, crying in the middle of the night...at least then you could send your husband up, shut the door, turn off the moniter, and sleep while it was his turn to feed the baby.

4. None of your clothes - despite the fact that they are maternity - seem to fit properly anymore.

5. Your son stares in wonder at your belly and informs you on a daily basis how big you are getting.*

6. Your husband seems convinced that almost anything he says will set you off on an angry tantrum or crying fit (he is most likely correct...)

I am sure there are more but I am getting depressed thinking of all these things so I will stop there. I went to the doctor yesterday, and I am technically "term" now so here is all I have to say..."Bring it on Liam, let's do this!"

*Here is an added thought to comment #5... Ladies, if you want an honest opinion about how you look, bypass your husband entirely and go straight to your almost 4 year old boy. (If you don't have one I can lend you mine) He will tell it to you straight! Comments like, "Mama, your bum shakes when you walk" are not too harsh for the little guy. Shoot, I could just throw away my mirror and rely on Noah to let me know if I look okay or not!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

This is Noah's most favorite face to make recently...and no, he has not been at an Irish pub drinking beer all morning! This is just Noah being his crazy self. Enjoy it ... I do!

It's Almost Time.....

For so long it has seemed like time was just crawling but now it seems to be speeding up. It is March 1st and I am 34 weeks pregnant and that means that, conceivably, we could be having a baby in about 4 weeks! Wes and I realized recently that we have some serious preparing to do. The nursery is not finished, we still have some baby essentials to get and I have not even registered at the hospital yet - double yikes! So, it seems like the next month could go by in a whirlwind of activity.......

Which is why this past weekend was such a welcome diversion. I got to spend the whole weekend in a beautiful hotel downtown with my friends Julie and Gray. It was a fabulous girls weekend that included shopping, eating (oh, the eating!) and lots of relaxing kid-free time for me. Of course, I brought my camera and failed to take any pictures, but I can promise you that we had a wonderful time! And, a cute side note, apparently I was missed by Noah. A lot. Which is a bit surprising considering that he is usually so Daddy obsessed. When I got home on Sunday he ran toward me at full speed and jumped into my arms and kept saying, "Oh Mama, I'm so glad you're home. I missed you so much!" He literally didn't stop hugging me for 10 minutes - not that I'm complaining - it was very sweet!

So the countdown begins.....Liam comes (and pregnancy ends, yeah!) very soon and we are very excited!

A Baby Update

Well, this week I am 32 weeks pregnant - or a million weeks if you ask me when I am in a bad mood. (I exaggerate everything!) Even though it doesn't seem like it when my back is killing me, the due date is not far off so we decided we had better do something about preparing the nursery. I had finally cleaned out the junk room over Christmas break but that was the extent of work we had done so far. Then all the furniture (well, most of it, we still need a chair/glider) came so we realized the only thing left to do was paint. Thankfully, Wes' dad volunteered to help and this past Saturday a coat of Sherwin Williams "Comfort Gray" was up in a just a couple hours. Noah even managed to convince Pops that he needed to help....

So, now the room is painted and the furniture is together and we just need some stuff for the walls....oh yeah, and a baby.

I love just standing in the nursery because it feels so calm and peaceful....And then, of course, there is this room down the hall....

Yeah, peaceful is not the adjective I would use to describe that!

Winter Wonderland

When all the hype about us getting snow started yesterday I scoffed. I mean, this Charleston for crying out loud. We don't get snow! Noah spent all day saying "I hope it snows!" and kept telling him not to get his hopes up. I was convinced he would be one disappointed little boy until...last night around 7:00 it started snowing! Real, honest to goodness flakes falling and sticking! Noah was ecstatic! We went out into the dark and the cold to watch the snow fall and catch some on our tongues.

Of course, snow being so rare here, everyone else was out too, and we ended up staying out for about an hour with other neighborhood kiddos. Around 8:00, fearing frostbite on his feet, we dragged Noah inside for bed promising that we would go back out first thing in the morning.

And that is exactly what we did. I have never seen him eat breakfast and get dressed so fast! He kept pointing out the window and saying "Look Mama, its a winter wonderland!" We dressed the poor child as warmly as possible in a household so completely unprepared for snow. (I mean, he didn't even have any mittens! He wore a pair of Wes' socks on his hands!) We spent a really fun time this morning playing with him and enjoying his excitement at the "winter wonderland".

Wes and Noah work to build a snowman.

A family photo with our finished snowman - do you like the gangsta hat?

Pops follows through on his promise to pelt Noah with snowballs!

Noah's favorite snow activity? Dragging his Thomas trains through the snow to "make tracks".

Making snow angels with his friend Ann Connolly.

Finally, even though Noah claimed he was not at all cold, we took a look at his pink face and completely soaked hands and decided we should go inside to thaw out. He was not happy so I have a feeling that we will be back out again later. He is a big fan of the cold stuff!