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1st Month
May 2006
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William Clayton Potter, III
made his debut on Wednesday, May 10 at 10:08am (11 days early), and
he certainly didn’t dawdle!!! Mom started having contractions about
4:00 that morning, about 12 minutes apart. At 6:00 the contractions
were suddenly 6 minutes apart. Mom called the doctor’s office a
little before 7:00, and of course got the after hours service. We
waited almost 30 minutes for the on-call doctor to call back, and he
never did. Mom called the doctor’s office again, and was told to
wait for the on-call doctor. After almost another 30 minutes without
a call from the on-call doctor, Mom’s own doctor called. We had
planned to deliver at St. Francis Hospital, the new hospital in
in our county, but when Mom’s doctor called to see if they had a bed
available, he discovered they were full. He gave Mom two choices,
she could hang around at home and wait for a bed at St. Francis, or
she could go to St. Mary’s hospital (in Richmond), which was where her doctor was.
Knowing how little time Rachael had wasted being born, Mom and Dad both
knew they didn’t want to wait around at home, so they headed to St.
Mary’s. By the time Mom and Dad got to the hospital and the nurse
got Mom hooked up to the monitor, it was 9:05—an hour before Liam
was born. Mom and no time for pain medication, and the nurses didn’t
even get all the paperwork done before Liam was born.
Liam looks a lot like Rachael did
when she was born, but has beautiful clear blue eyes and grunts and
squeaks a lot. He has the same aversion to sleeping anywhere but
Mom’s arms—just like Rachael, but isn’t nearly as fond of the swing
as Rachael was.
Grandma and Grandpa Weiss were
the first grandparents to come see Liam, coming from Pennsylvania
the weekend Liam was actually due.
Grandma Mel and Pop-Pop, and
Uncle Jay came to visit Memorial Day weekend, and we had all three
William Clayton Potters together.
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2nd Month
June 2006
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Liam is now sleeping in his crib and consistently sleeps about 6 hours
before needing to nurse again. He is also getting into a good nap pattern. He
eats well and is a pro at filling his diaper. He was the youngest one at
Vacation Bible School this year, and was doted on by the two volunteers
keeping the nursery.
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3rd Month
July 2006 |
Maw-Maw and Pots came from New York for the
July 4th weekend for their fist look at Liam. He still has his
beautiful blue eyes and has started grinning at us. Mom goes back to
work tomorrow (July 10), and Liam will be going with her at least
through the end of the summer.
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4th Month
August 2006
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Liam's 4th Month
(August
'06)
Liam didn't was not able to come to work with Mom for as long as we had
hoped. Luckily, Kay and Terry readily agreed to start keeping Liam, too. He
is slowly getting used to taking bottles, but gets confused if Mom is in the
room at the same time.
Liam is so, so close to rolling onto his tummy. He will roll onto his side
and start to go the rest of the way over, but then flip back onto his back.
He'll do it one of these days. He is growing fast and becomes more and more
like a real person every day, grinning and giggling at us. We can tell he
has so much to say - he will be as talkative as Liam. It won't be long
before we start him on some solid food.
Mom, Liam, Rachael and the Comers took a trip to the county fair one
evening, and Liam was a real trooper. It was hot and noisy, but he really
seemed to have a good time, while Rachael and Kate rode ride after ride.
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5th Month
September 2006
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Liam's 5th Month
(September
'06)
September 1st was the day--Liam successfully rolled from his back to his
tummy for the first time! He is still working on getting back onto his back.
However, he has discovered the joys of being in the exersaucer.
Liam likes to be held in a standing position and to wiggle along with
Rachael as she watches The Wiggles on TV.
Liam has discovered that he is not quite ready to watch LSU football with
Daddy and Rachael - the yelling and clapping were just too much for him.
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6th Month
October 2006
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Liam's 6th Month
(October
'06)
Liam had his first solid food on October 5--it was rice cereal. He did
pretty well with it. We think he actually ate more than he ended up wearing.
Applesauce was his next food, but he wasn't a big fan. He does like it mixed
with the cereal, though.
Liam was baptized at Chester UMC on October 22. Grandma Mel and Pop-Pop,
Grandma and Grandpa, and Uncle Eric and Aunt Tina were all here. He was
fussy and tired as the service started, but as soon as Pastor Marg started
talking, he calmed down. When we stood up in front of Pastor Marg, he was
mesmerized by her.
Liam got a bad cold from Rachael at the end of October. After visiting the
pediatrician on Halloween, he was diagnosed with bronchiolitis and put on nebulizer treatments. He is definitely not a fan of the mask he wears to get
the treatments.
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7th Month
November 2006
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Liam's 7th Month
(November
'06)
On November 1st, Liam went back to the pediatrician to see if his breathing
had improved. Unfortunately it hadn't, so he and mom were sent right to
Chippenham hospital where Liam was admitted. He spent almost exactly 48
hours there, getting nebulizer treatments, and having his chest and back
pounded (he actually like that). Those two days were probably worse for Mom
than Liam--he had no clue what was happening, but Mom did, and had to spend
those 48 hours keeping him happy and entertained. His hospital crib was on a
angle to help him breath, but he would fuss and kick and by the time he was
asleep he would end up in a heap at the bottom of the incline. Then his
oxygen level would drop, Mom would have to straighten him out, and he would
wake up and we would start the whole process again. Mom finally started
standing next to him while he fussed himself to sleep, patting his back and
keeping him from sliding. He also ended up with an ear infection, and was
put on antibiotics. Thankfully, he responded to all the medicine and
treatments, and was able to go home on the 3rd. We spent another week
weaning him off of the nebulizers.
On the 5th, Liam finally decided to roll from front to back. We were
beginning to wonder if he ever would.
Liam is eating three meals of solid food each day now. His favorites seem to
be oatmeal, pears, bananas, and squash. He also doesn't seem to mind carrots
and applesauce.
On Thanksgiving day, we discovered that Liam can sit up by himself. He tips
over every now and then, but really does quite well. He is so close to
crawling. He will get up on his hands and knees and rock back and forth, and
then push himself backwards. Right now he gets around by spinning on his
tummy. We have also discovered that he is extremely ticklish.
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8th Month
December 2006 |
Liam's 8th Month
(December
'06)
December was a good month for Liam. He got his first two teeth on the 10th
and 16th (the bottom front ones). On the 27th, he went from his tummy to a
sitting position for the first time.
Christmas was just another day for Liam. He liked the bows and paper better
than the gifts.
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9th Month January 2007 |
Liam's 9th Month
(January
'07)
Liam continues to grow and develop into a real little boy. He pulled himself
up to a standing position for the first time on the 2nd, and started
crawling on the 5th. There is no stopping him now!
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10th Month
February 2007 |
Liam's 10th Month
(February
'07)
The end of January and beginning of
February were rough times again for Liam. He got a cold and started wheezing
in the middle of January. We put him on breathing treatments and he got
better. Then, at the end of January we went to Washington D.C. and spent a
day there at the Museum of Natural History with Grandma Mel and Pop-Pop.
During the night before in the hotel, Liam started wheezing again. We
started him on breathing treatments when we got home, but he just didn't
respond to them this time. The pediatrician sent us to the emergency room
for tests on February 1st, but they sent us home. We followed up again with
the pediatrician the next day, but Liam wasn't any better, so we were sent
back to the hospital for Liam to be admitted. That was Friday morning, and
luckily Liam responded well, and we were able to get home Saturday evening.
However, this time he had an IV, and was put on oxygen during the night on
Friday. Liam was also not pleased that the only baby hospital gown they had
was in pink--they were all out of blue. Anyway, we made it through another
hospital stay, and are trying to figure out how to keep on top of this
problem so we don't have to go back.
One good thing, Liam got one of his top
front teeth on the 5th! He loves Cheerios and will not let anyone substitute
another type of food.
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11th Month
March 2007 |
Liam's 11th Month
(March
'07)
Liam is just looking more and more like a
little boy these days. With 6 teeth in his mouth now, he has a great, toothy
grin. We have been trying to get him to eat more table food, but he just
isn't interested--he simply smashes it on his tray.
Liam is cruising everywhere along the
furniture, and can really move quite fast. He will occasionally let go and
hover for a few seconds before he plops down. It won't be long before he
takes his first step.
He seems to be saying a few words--duck,
dada, dog, Jack (Kay's dog), and we think even a form of Liam.
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12th Month April 2007 |
Liam's 12th month
(April
'07)
Well, it's
official--Liam took his first step on April 1 (no fooling!) He
hasn't really taken off walking yet, but he'll take a few steps at a
time. He still prefers crawling, though. He got his 7th tooth a few
days later.
Easter wasn't a
really big deal for Liam--he didn't even seem upset that he didn't
get any chocolate. He did like the fruit snacks that the Easter
Bunny brought him, though. He also enjoyed some of the sweet
potatoes we had for Easter dinner.
We all went to
the Virginia Marine Science Museum, and Liam absolutely loved the
huge fish tanks. He sat in his stroller pressed up against the glass
watching all the huge fish and sharks swim past. As we would round
another corner, with another tank coming into view, he would point
and reach out for it.
It seems
impossible that our little baby is about to celebrate his 1st
birthday!
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1st Birthday Cake
May 10th 2007
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