In honor of my baby's birf-day , I took a stroll through my February 2005 folder.
Within twenty minutes of Garrett's birth, I was allowed to take him to the nursery and stay with him through all of the poking and prodding that is supposedly necessary right after birth.
I never took my hands off of him, and I cried happy tears over him. The nurses probably thought I was crazy.
You can see his eldest birth brother's face in the forefront of that picture. To this day, he loves Garrett.
After the mean nurses were satisfied with the amount of tears they caused, they left me alone to bathe and feed my baby.
Those were very special moments for G and me. I'll treasure those memories forever.
Once the hospital found an empty room for us, Daddy could admire his Groundhog.
We were in OKC for about a week while our paperwork was completed. We got our little Aggie out of Sooner country asap.
Once we got home to CO, if G wasn't in our arms, he was napping on the couch like so:
Actually, it wasn't often that he slept. Ahem. This child has never required much sleep.
And anyway, he wasn't safe on the couch unless his 22 month old brother was occupied.
My sweet Liam wasn't too excited about sharing his mommy in the early days of brotherhood, but he loved to watch tv in Garrett's car seat.
Six years later, what would I tell myself? "Oh, honey, the Lord is about to rock your world with a move to TX and a third boy, but hang in there. You will survive."
Yeteryear: Garrett's First Days
Yesteryear: 4 years ago
It's time for yet another edition of Yesteryear, where I open my thumb drive and post random photos from the past. This means 1 of 2 things: A) I have nothing exciting to report from the present day. B) I'd rather blog than clean my house.
If you chose A) or B), pat yourself on the back for making the right choice.
These photos were pulled from the January/February 2007 file. Liam was 3 1/2, and Jackson and Garrett were turning the ripe old age of 2.
If we were in the car for more than 15 minutes, Jackson would fall asleep.
Not much has changed on this topic, except that he can now make it 30 minutes on a good day.
Garrett was never a good napper as a little guy. Well, not much has changed there either. But my mother-in-law sent me this picture of him on February 1, 2007.
He was spending the day with her, and I remember she asked him if he needed a nap. Naturally, he said NO. So she told him to just lie down and watch a movie with his blanket. A few minutes later, he was asleep.
Why in the world do I remember that was February 1, 2007, yet I can't remember that we need olive oil when I'm at the grocery store???
Back to yesteryear.... I know that was February 1, 2007, because Garrett spent the night with Ni to celebrate his birthday, which is February 2nd. And it snowed that Groundhog Day. Random facts that help absolutely no one.
You're welcome.
Moving right along.
Back in those days, whenever we were expecting Didi (my mom) or Ni (Rick's mom), my kids liked for me to open the blinds in the dining room so they could watch for their cars.
All 4 of my boys would wait with great anticipation. Sweet, huh?
We often get warm days in the middle of winter here, and whenever we do, we head outside. This is one of my favorite photos of all 3 boys:
Reasons I love it: 1. Liam's cheesy grin. 2. Garrett's watching his big brother with great admiration, as he's always loved his big bro. 3. Jackson's scrunched up forehead that he thought was a smile. 4. J&G were lefties even then. 5. The ever-so-cute Beatles t-shirts.
Jackson has always sat in this position to watch tv.
To this day, he believes that is his spot, and he races to make sure he gets there before his brothers.
If we weren't outside or watching tv, I came up with all kinds of goofy games to keep these busy boys moving. One of their faves was to make a train and "choo choo" throughout the house.
Liam was always the engine, Garrett in the middle with his eyes on Liam, and Jackson the caboose and in a hat. They were creatures of habit even back then.
Another game was Red Light, Green Light that began at the front door.
I'll let you figure out who won every time.
As soon as we could get back outside, we loved to go on long bike rides. Liam rode his own bike, and every ride had to include chewing gum.
He has holes in the left knee of his jeans even today.
And the littles rode in the trailer behind me.
As long as they had their gum, they didn't care about being crowded.
Yes, my kids began chewing gum at an early age, each right around their second birthday. It was one way of getting some peace and quiet on the road, so they could have it in the car and on bike rides. Never once did they swallow or play with it.
We usually rode to the neighborhood park. A bike ride + playtime at the park = nice, LONG afternoon naps.
Jackson got his first pair of glasses in January 2007, just as he turned 2. His little round frames were a hit everywhere we went.
But I prefer his luscious eyelashes.
Be still, my aching heart! Where on earth does the time go?
Yesteryear: Christmas Card 2005
Sometime in December 2005, we set out to capture a stellar photo for our Christmas card. I remember the boys weren't wearing anything cute at the time, so we stripped them down to diapers/underwear and plopped Santa hats on them. Liam was 2 1/2, Jack was 11 mos., and Garrett was 10 mos. And they were small enough to fit into the same chair.
Rick had the camera, and I ran crowd control.
Immediately, I had to take Jack's hand off of Garrett. Jack was cute as a button but always had his hands into something. And Garrett had little patience for being picked on. Funny how those two "traits" haven't changed.
Liam was "Joe Cool" in the background.
And his legs were forever ashy because of the time he spent crawling around with trains on the floor. It was such hard work to be 2.
Then, Winston came in and distracted Liam and Garrett.
Garrett began to fuss. Honestly, he fussed a lot as a baby, unless he was in my arms.
With this next shot, I started to think we might have to settle with a mediocre photo.
And then Liam found something funny and flashed his million-dollar grin.
And then Jack began to plan his escape.
"Jack, be still," I probably said. And he gave me the look that says, "What did I do?"
Then, he flashed his million-dollar grin and jumped up.
And it was unsettling to Garrett.
"Jack, sit BACK!"
Liam has always relished in his brothers getting into trouble.
In the meantime, Jack planned another escape with his Richard Pryor eyes, and roly-poly Garrett fell backwards causing Liam's hat to fall. They were like a stack of dominoes.
Garrett was terribly upset by the whole ordeal, and the photo session came to a halt for a little mommy love.
Liam stayed cool the whole time, and I guess Jack was on the loose for the time being.
Daddy pulled out some fruit snacks as bribery, and everyone began to cooperate again.
And then we caught this one:
And that was a wrap.
Yes, we sent a picture to all of our friends and family with Liam in his underwear.
Although I was terribly busy chasing three boys under the age of three, I cherish the memories of those days.
Yesteryear: December 2005
I opened my December 2005 file to this picture:
Holy cow, where did my baby go?! Garrett was 10 mos. old and full of delicious squishyness.
And Jack was 11 mos. and had a fetish for shoes.
If ever I couldn't find him, I could go to the mudroom and find him in a sea of shoes with a big smile on his face.
My Liam at 2 1/2:
Seriously, I have tears in my eyes right now! WHY do the have to grow up?!
He was (and is) so darn cute!
Back in those days, every time I pulled out the camera, the two little boys would get right in my face for a picture.
And Daddy was able to hold everyone in his lap.
Unless Jack was busy climbing something.
He's the one that I found in the middle of the dining room table a month prior to this photo at 9 mos.
Garrett was definitely too cautious to climb a table or a ladder, but he applauded Jackson's efforts.
And Liam adored trains.
My sweet baby Santas....
Oh, how I miss those days!
Yesteryear: Where Did My Babies Go?
For this installment of Yesteryear, I decided to pull random photos from August 2005.
Five years ago, Liam was 2 and getting ready to go to preschool. I had just taken him to pick out new tennis shoes, and he was extremely proud of his choice of all white leather. When we got home with his new shoes, he posed in the chair and asked me to take his picture. He was so stinkin' cute!
And so tiny!
Speaking of tiny, Jack and Garrett were 7 and 6 months respectively. Jack had a love for hats at an early age. No one could walk into our house with a hat on their head without J claiming it for himself.
How do you like those wide eyes?
As for Garrett, this is the only picture I found in the August folder in which he wasn't fussing.
That lazy G was proud to be sitting up by himself, and Jack was already crawling. If I remember correctly, Jack loved to crawl right into G and topple his roly poly brother.
A lot happens in five years!
Yesteryear: Cheeeeese
I had one project in mind for this summer. For all that "down time" I was supposed to have. Yea right! What was I thinking?
Said project was to put all of our old photos on a flash drive. Family photos from 2003-2007 are all saved on CDs. It was a "system" created by my wonderful husband back when Liam was a baby, but Rick's not Type A like me. So this "system" of 30 CDs sitting in a shoe box is not an ideal solution in my world. I think a flash drive will be a better solution for looking up old photos, in which case I can be sentimental over old pics instead of throwing 30 CDs across the living room out of frustration.
Anyway, since summer is almost over, I'm in a crunch to finish this project. As I rush through the last 10 CDs, I want to begin a series I will call "Yesteryear", in which I will post some of my favorite photos of my boys' earlier days.
To begin, this is probably one of my all-time favorites of all three boys. I'll title it "Cheeeeese".
Left to right: Jack, Garrett, Liam
