The south has made mama soft.

We've been having a bit of a cold snap here and as a result Liam hasn't been afforded the ample amount of outdoor play time he's accustomed to. Instead he just stands at the window and gazes longingly out into the yard.

Its audible. The sound of my heartbreaking when he does this, its audible.

Liam's first Birthday!

Well, that's it then. My baby is one.

To celebrate this momentous occasion we invited a bunch of friends and family over to watch some football and eat chili. Not too many of our friends have children so I didn't want the party to be overwhelmingly child themed. Plus, he's only one- he doesn't get it yet. It was an intimate gathering. Mostly because I never mailed the invitations. Whoops.
We started the day off with Birthday French Toast! Which I decided would be a Flanagan Family Tradition.


Liam agrees; this will be a good tradition.

Then Liam had some milk with Grandma.

And it was time for monkey cupcakes!

We sang Happy Birthday

We made a wish and blew out the candle


Liam was a bit skeptical about getting messy

But then Daddy showed him how its done and...




Time to get cleaned up and open some presents:

And the best part of all: time to play with the presents!






Happy birthday my little one. Can we take a little more time before the next?

One year ago today: The Conclusion.

January 2, 2009 1:00 am.

Doctor: "Ok now, just one more big push and he'll be here. Would you like to reach down and touch his head?"

Me: *shakes head feverishly*

Doctor: "Are you sure? Its right here, I'm holding his head you can touch your little boy's head if you just reach down.

Me: "NO, I don't want to touch his head. I just want to keep pushing and get this over with!"

Which is just what I did.

On 1/02/09 at 1:02am Liam Smith Flanagan was born into this world. 6 pounds 5 ounces 19.5 inches long. Ten fingers, ten toes. There was some concern with meconium getting into his little lungs so they swiftly took him to the other side of the room to aspirate and run all the little tests to make sure he was, indeed, perfect.
After what felt like an HOUR he started crying and after what felt like a LIFETIME they brought him to me.

In all my life I never knew I could feel that way for another human being. Maybe it was the hormones, maybe it was the exhaustion but I swear my heart exploded in my chest and all the love I've ever felt poured out for him.

I had been in labor for 21 hours and I was STARVING. So before the nurse even finished asking me if she could get me anything I cut her off: "turkey sandwich with chips and a Coke, please."

That coke; a real coke, with caffeine, I still remember how wonderful it was after 9 months.

I scarfed down that sandwich while Chris, Kim and Katie took turns passing and cooing over Liam. By 2:00am we were being wheeled to a recovery room. Liam went off to the nursery for his first bath and a snooze while Chris and I fell into individual comas.

Tonight, one year later, Liam weighs almost 20 pounds and is probably close to 30 inches tall. I held him in my arms as I rocked him to sleep and I felt my heart explode again. I realized that if time is going to go whizzing by I'm going to have to slow down and soak up minutes like these with the two loves of my life.

2009 in pictures

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