Monday December 8, 2008
brothers — do you think they look alike?
Liam’s personality is emerging rapidly. Our babies might look alike; but they have night and day different personalities. Adam is methodical. He learned to crawl at 9 months with some coaching from my dad. All through his life, he waits and watches until he can do something perfectly. He refused to practice writing his name, then out of the blue, he did it solo. As a baby, he did a lot of looking and not so much moving. When he learned to walk, he refused to take steps between us then one day I was vacuuming and heard him do a little distress cry. I turned around to see him walking in circles as though he’d gone into orbit. From then on he was racing across the room.
playtime
Liam lunges, grabs, squirms, rolls, and contorts. He moves all the time. At six months he is across the entire living room floor in twenty seconds. Not truly crawling. Just getting up, on all fours, lunging, rolling halfway while contorting his torso to switch directions and then flip, flip, flip and boom, he’s there. He giggles almost as much as he moves. While Adam used to intently observe every single detail as I carried him through the house, Liam’s head darts here and there, eyes half smiling already and making eye contact with me every few seconds half giggling … just waiting for us to get to the hillarious place we must be going next. Adam hardly touches him and he giggles so hard I’m afraid he won’t be able to catch his breath.
Still, the two have many similarities. They both love attention. They love stories, playing ball, and dancing in the living room. They both love being cuddled … things I used to think were inherent to all babies. The boys are both still sick with terrible colds. Last night when Liam woke up screaming, I snuggled him close and rocked him gently. Almost immediately his body began to relax. Secure. Warm. Upright so he could breathe. He drifted back to dreamland in five minutes; but I sat there five more remembering another day. Another rocker. Another baby.
^photo credit to Adam 
^
I was in my final nursing school rotation doing pediatrics at a rehab center. My patient for the day was a 9 lb six month old baby girl with the same first name as my own. She was beautiful, but oh, so pitiful. Her mother birthed her three months prematurely and abandoned her at the hospital. The long months of high concentration oxygen therapy had left her (the doctors thought) nearly blind and deaf. She looked like a newborn. I administered her tube feedings, accompanied her to her chest x-ray, and watched the tech strap her in as she fussed. My heart broke. No one cared for her in that mama hen protective way that mommies fight for the comfort of their child.
when can I go hang out with the men?
Halfway through the day my instructor suggested I hold her in the rocking chair to give her some tactile stimulation. I was delighted. I’ve always loved rocking babies. I held her gently and sang to her wishing she could feel loved. Instead, it frustrated her. She wasn’t accustomed to being held and very quickly went into respiratory distress. The nurse supervisor insisted she be put back into her seat to calm down. That night she ended up back in the main hospital. I never heard how her story ended. When I left, they couldn’t find her mom to get rights terminated but a nurse working part time at the center was hoping to adopt her. I can only hope she did.
It’s just amazing how different siblings can be! My 2 girls are like that, M cries at the drop of a hat and with R your hard pressed to get anything across that affects her! Makes me wonder what they’ll be like when they are older. 🙂
That last picture of Liam is adorable!
I could have written that about my boys. I like how different their personalities are tho. It’s so much fun to watch how they interact w/ each other. I love the pic of Liam looking at himself in the mirror and the last one too!! He is so adorable…
Loved all the pictures!! missed you in the nursery yesterday. =) Hope your boys are better.
Those pictures are ADORABLE….esp. the last one! You have such fun looking little boys!! Liam’s personality sounds so much like Roland’s!(:
Liam is such a sweetie!! So sorry y’all are sick!
that last picture is adorable…did you or your sister take that? (she’s a photographer, right?)
Your post made me cry…. there are so many innocent, precious “other babies” out there…. and what can I do?!?!!
@chambray7 – Thanks. I took it and yes my sister does some amazing work.
@emicow – me sorry too. I’m about to ban cousin get togethers. We apparently caught Metri and Rochelle’s bugs on Tday.
@babydazed – missed you, too. Good talking to you Sat!
Not all babies like to be cuddled. Mine is finally learning to cuddle- on her terms, not mine- but she was never cuddly. She always has liked to be held and have attention, though. My heart breaks when I think of all the babies that don’t have loving, caring parents, like that little girl… Cute pics, BTW!
I’ve never been one of those “oh-let-me-hold-the-baby-please” people, but that story made me cry, and made me thankful once more for my loving parents. Don’t we have a wonderful heritage?
Michelle you truelly have absolutely Beautiful babies!! Love seeing Liam just grow like a weed…:) Sorry to hear about the sickness..so not fun!! Seems like it won’t stop??!:( Wish you better days ahead!
Very interesting seeing the comparison. 🙂 And I LOVE that last picture!!!!!
I find it interesting to compare the different personalities of my children, too. I’m finding that it seems to be true that girls develop faster intellectually then boys. Maybe it’s because my first, a boy, was an only child so long and didn’t have another child to stimulate him. The second, a girl, we can’t believe her comprehension level! In some ways she is almost a year ahead of what Z would have been at the age she is now. Now, with another girl, I’m waiting to see how she will develop.
Babies and mirrors are such fun to watch! Love the rocking chair pic, too. Don’t you just pity those poor babies that get trucked off to a babysitter every day??? No mama to cuddle them any old time.
The picture of Liam in the mirror is so cute! His personality is surprising me. I was expecting him to be completely laid back.
the pics are so cute.
I also hope the baby you talked about got adopted in a good home!! My husband and I are starting the adoption process there is such a big need for homes for babies. I so love children but we weren’t blessed with our own so we hope to adopt one as our own
@djcrouse – bless you! I am so excited whenever I hear people talking about adoption. At the same time, I know that you have experienced a lot of pain as a result of the infertility and my heart goes out to you. My husband and I were on the verge of pursuing foster care when we went through a stint of secondary infertility. It’s still in the back of my mind somewhat.
im lovin your blue walls!
That last picture is a picture of real contentment! Sweet!