The Liner Family

Cam and I are huge food network fans. Cam’s favorite show is Good Eats with Alton Brown. His whole thing is about the science of food so I think that is why Cam likes it so much. His other show is Feasting on Asphalt and that is my favorite. He travels on motorcycles and stops and these little random places and finds good food. When I heard he was going to be in Nashville for a cooking seminar we got tickets for it. Neither one of us had ever been to anything like that so it was a new thing for us. We had the BEST time watching him. He was so entertaining almost like going to a comedy show or something. He demonstrated 3 different meals and techniques all were a little out of the ordinary but still cool to watch. There was also microphone stands on each side of the convention room and at any time you could get up and ask a question. I got up enough nerve to ask one! I asked him about something that he did on his feasting on asphalt show. It was a really fun day for me and Cam and we would definetly do it again!

We had a great weekend at Splash Country a couple weeks ago. My neice Courtney came down from Nashville to go with us. She was a trooper sitting in between 2 small kids in the backseat of our 4 Runner especially on the way back home! It was a very busy and tiring weekend. We left Friday evening for Cleveland bc we were going to leave from there on Saturday to go to Gatlinburg. It was after midnight before we actually got there though. On the interstate our car was really unstable in how it was driving. Cam thought it was a tire problem and sure enough it was. We pulled off in Chattanooga and Cam’s parents met us there and took us back to Cleveland bc it just wasn’t safe to keep driving with all of the kids in the car. It ended up being a tire problem..one was about to split open. God was really watching out for us. It was on the way back home that was even more of an adventure though. I was so tired from the weekend and we got back to Manchester so that I could leave Cam and the kids home while I took Courtney back home. At the red light off the interstate about 5 minutes from the house Elijah says he has to potty. He is newly potty trained and doing very well with it, but anytime he has ever said he needed to go I IMMEDIATLEY take him..no chances. This time however I decided to say “Elijah we are almost home can you wait 5 more minutes?” After about a minute Cam and I begin to smell a nasty smell coming from the backseat. I look back and of course it was DIAHREAH!!! All over his legs, all over his car seat, all over everywhere!!! We get home and I get Elijah out of the carseat and we take the carseat out so we can clean it. Elijah starts walking toward the house or should I say waddling there bc his pants were pretty full and well, not to get totally gross on you, but stuff was falling out as he was walking. I grab him and just decide to strip him and clean him off in the front yard. Actually I was pretty close to just grabbing the hose and hosing him down, but instead use a whole pack of wipes. We get him inside naked and clean for a bath and then I had to get back in the car to get Courtney back since the next day was a school day. I leave and get back and notice the car seat was still outside we had forgotten to take it in so I grab it and put it in the kitchen. I started taking the thing apart when all of a sudden I notice a few ants crawling under it and then I lifted up the seat and about a hundred ants just start crawling all over the floor!!! The ants had made there way to the carseat outside attracted to all the goldfish and snack crumbs from the seat. Now not only do I still have to clean the poop up I know have to clean ants..and to top this all off after I asked Elijah if he could hold it Cameron speaks up and says “you sure about that? we are right here at a gas station”. I now have Cameron rubbing this all in my face. Lesson learned. Never tell a 2 year old to hold it!!!!!!!!!!!!

Julia had her one month check up last week and she was right at 7 pounds! That was almost 2 pounds heavier than we she left the hospital! She was 19 inches long so she is still a little tiny thing, but she is getting some rolls on her it’s too cute. She is still having some eating issues. It still wears her out to eat so after about an ounce she konks out and we have to keep her awake and then try to give her the rest. So feedings can last quite a while. She is getting a little spoiled too. She won’t go in her swing or her bouncy seat. She likes to fall asleep in your arms then you can put her in her bed and she will sleep there good. The Dr also noticed that she has a small hernia in her belly button. It pooches out a little. Elijah had one at her age too but his got so big that it was about the size of a tater tot. There are similiarities with them, but also some big differences. Elijah would go to sleep ANYWHERE. He slept in his swing and his bouncy seat and like I said she will not. He took a paci and she won’t She will a little bit now, but it never puts her to sleep. Elijah always ate really good I never had to wake him up. He is still doing really good with her. Once she starts to interact with him he will absolutley love it. While I was holding her the other day he sat beside me looking at her and she flung her arms and it hit his face. He thought that was the funniest thing. I think they will have a lot of fun together.
This weekend we are taking some time to just do something fun with Elijah. We are all going to Splash Country in Gatlinburg. My mom is babysitting the princess while we all go up there.

Isn’t crazy that Julia is already one month old! Check out her picture from today.

We celebrated my Father in law’s birthday tonight and met the family at Red Lobster in Chattanooga. It was the first eating out at a nice place with both kids. Thank God for Grandparents and Aunts!!!!!! There is no way Cam and I could have gone with the kids alone and enjoyed our meal. We get there and Elijah IMMEDIATLEY says “I’m done” as soon as he gets in his high chair. He then proceeds to say he has to potty which he knows that he will get to get up out of his chair by saying that. And of course you have to assume he needs to go bc he is still in early training so that was bathroom trip #1. He then gets back to the chair and starts throwing a major fit..he gets out of his chair to sit by Pawpaw and then decides to start heading to other tables so then I have to grab him which he then starts screaming at the top of his lungs. Bathroom trip #2 for a spanking. Back to the table he starts to calm down now it’s Julia’s turn. She gets upset..time to eat and of course the food comes out at the same time. I get to stare at my plate while I feed her. She gets done then has explosive poop. Bathroom trip #3. Back to the table to finish her bottle and explosive throwup. Bathroom trip #4. As I said before thank goodness for Nana, Pawpaw, and Aunt Tessa. They all pitched in and helped with Elijah and Julia. I think we will be sticking to places that have playlands inside them for now if we want to eat out!!

If they made a caffeine injection I think I would stock up on it. I hate coffee. I try to drink it, but I just can’t stand the taste! I love the smell though. I could seriously use some in the mornings now especially with having 2 little ones. Cam has been sick with pnemonia so he has not been able to be around the baby at all so all baby duties have fallen on me 24/7. Being up with her every few hours and then getting up to a VERY energetic 2 year old is challenging! 6:30 a.m. first thing out of Elijah’s mouth “let’s play with toys Mama!!!” Yep, I could use some coffee.

In other news, my friends and I are selling our consignment sale. It was just getting to difficult to do. Finding a building was horrible especially finding one where you the owners actually won’t do you wrong and with my family growing it’s hard to get it worked out to have someone watch the kids for that amount of time. So we decided it was time to move on from it. I will miss some things about it though. Me and my dear friends Sharon and Jenny have had alot of laughs doing the sale and I will miss spending that time with them the most.

Julia is doing great..she is eating pretty good. It can still be a challenge during feedings. I don’t have to wake her up anymore to eat, but she will wake up and then after an ounce just crash. So I have to come up with ways to keep her awake so she can take all the bottle. At night is the hardest because that is when she is the most tired. I’ve been having to undress her, change her halfway through the bottle, or burp her several times. So feedings are taking a while at night. Other than that she is a good baby. She isn’t realy fussy only when she is really hungry or has a belly ache. She also DOES NOT take a pacifier! Which is bizarre for me because Elijah took one pretty much as soon as he came out. He has always been a huge paci baby so this is weird to not have that comfort of knowing a paci is on standby just in case!

Elijah is such a good big brother. If Julia starts crying he will go over to her and rub her head and say “it’s ok baby”. When he talks about her he says “baby sitter” instead of baby sister it’s so cute. I still have to keep my eyes out for him because he still thinks he is the size she is so he tries to get in her swing and her bassinet with her. He can still actually sit in the bouncy seat though it’s like a little lounge chair for him!

Time for bed gotta put baby sitter to bed!

We celebrated our 4th of July by bringing home our baby girl from the NICU! It was a wonderful feeling leaving that place with her in my arms. She is doing really well at home. Last night was our first night and she woke me up by sucking on her hands and do I would fix her bottle and she would eat and go right back to sleep. She did that twice before we all got up at 7. She didn’t cry once. If that is an indication of her normal sleep habits that isn’t too bad!! She is eating better too. She isn’t taking a complete bottle that we fixed but drinking alot and we didn’t have to try to wake up her to eat for once. Elijah is doing really well with her. He doesn’t seem to jealous but he does want our attention alot more. His only problem is not really playing independently by himself. He just doesn’t like to play alone. It wont be too long before he will get a playmate out of Julia!

Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who has prayed for Julia’s health during her NICU stage. The Lord has definetly comforted us while we have had her in there. Leaving her at the hospital was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do and then seeing all the other parents taking there babies home was really tough. I got to hold her for the first time yesterday and it was just the best feeling in the world. She is off her oxygen, feeding, tubes, and IVs now. All she has on her is her vital stickers on her chest. She is taking her bottles really well it just takes her a little longer to take it all. The Dr. said that if all goes well today we can do our room in night tommorow (they make all NICU parents have a night with the baby before taking them home) and then on Friday we can have her home!!! I am so ready for her to be here. She has a new brother and a dog that are anxious to have her here too. Thanks to everyone again who has been thinking of us this week.