First, I absolutely cannot believe that I’m writing about my three month old son. He is such a miracle, our miracle, and I’m just amazed by him every day. More to come about that after I gush about his accomplishments this week:

Standing Tall: He’s been kind of balancing on us while he practices “standing” for a while, but during these two weeks, we really noticed a difference in how he pushes down with his legs. It’s truly amazing how much strength he has! (Well, it’s amazing for me, anyway. If you’ve seen his daddy, you probably wouldn’t be terribly shocked!) He’s no where near ready to do it on his own, obviously, but he sure thinks he’s ready!

Sitting/Pulling Up: He’s not doing this for real yet either but if given the chance (aka, a sturdy looking toy on his playmat, our fingers/hands) he’s not interested in laying – he wants to SIT UP. He makes the most ridiculous faces if he’s forced lay back because he wants to sit up SO BADLY and is straining to do so with muscles that aren’t quite ready. But man – gotta give him his due for trying!

Grammy Days: We are full on into our baby-care routine! Grammy Ronda is here with him three to four days a week, depending on our schedules. She loves it, he loves it, and we especially love it. We wouldn’t have chosen to have him in the middle of a school year like this, but it’s worked out nicely. We were hoping to not send him to daycare right away, and with this arrangement, he will be about ten months old before he goes. One of the other beautiful things about Grammy being home is that Nana and Pappap, Shane’s grandparents, get to see Liam on a more regular basis. It’s good for all four of them to be together!

Celebrating: Within a day of each other, Liam turned three months and Aunt Tonia had a big birthday too so we had a birthday lunch to celebrate (baby bedtime puts a damper on nighttime celebrations!). (Hopefully over the next nine months, Liam will appreciate birthday candles more than he did that day! 😂) The next time he shares a “birthday” it’ll be his half birthday, right in between Pappap and Grandpa John. I’m sure that will be a special day. 🎉

Bye Bye Baby Acne: Poor baby has had some super rough skin for a few weeks…between cradle cap, dry winter air, and actual baby acne, his skin has been so rough. Super Dad has been at it with the coconut oil and cradle cap brush and finally, after adding traditional baby lotion to the routine, we have nice baby skin again! For his diaper area, we use coconut oil or Beautycounter baby protective balm. For the rest of him, we use Aveno Lavender Baby Lotion or Honest Company Face & Body Lotion, depending on what floor we are on when he needs greased up. (I thought I had a lot of product…this little man puts me to shame! We have lots of brands so we can see what we like and then stick with that.)

Babble, babble, babble!: This kid is CHATTY! (Can’t imagine where that comes from…) I love it! It’s so much fun. He’s not quite ready to completely mimic (though I swear he does) but we mimic him and he is just amazed that we speak the same language! 😂 Lots of laughs and smiles and more chatter. (That’s what he’s doing in the picture above!)

Fans and Grabs: New these weeks he’s more intentional about grabbing things and hanging on once he has them. Again, like everything else, I’m not sure if he’s just flailing and catches and holds on, or if he’s grabbing, but regardless, he’s got stuff in his hands that we didn’t put there and he likes it! Shockingly (not really), his favorite seems to be his moose! It’s the first toy I bought for him when I was pregnant so I think that’s pretty awesome. It’s got lots of textures – some he likes and puts in his mouth and some he definitely doesn’t but it’s pretty awesome to watch him experiment with them all. And fans…these are his jam. I don’t know if it’s the movement, what it does to the light, a combination…who knows but he is completely entertained by the fan. He laughs at it, talks to it – it’s highly entertaining for all of us.

And in other news, we are devastated for our infertility family affected by the equipment malfunction at UH. If you’ve been following along with us, you know that Liam is truly a miracle. We were unsuccessful in our attempts to conceive and we sought help, like so many other couples, from a fertility clinic. We chose RGI, a private clinic in Akron, and thank God we did. Friends have used the UH clinic with varying success and despite some early concerns we had with RGI, felt we were in good hands and thankfully, that instinct paid off. We went through one IVF cycle with two different embryo transfers (one embryo each time, one fresh and one frozen). The first, a three day embryo, didn’t take and the second, a beautiful five day frozen blastocyst became our incredible little man.

Despite the amount of developed science and medicine involved with IVF, there is still a large amount of chance. For one, there’s a good chance it won’t even work. A 60+ percent chance, in fact. Considering the cost…$30k for us…the chances just aren’t good. That said, when you pay to cryopreserve your embryos or eggs, the chance that they won’t be properly stored isn’t on anyone’s mind. Again with the chance – there’s a chance that they won’t survive the thaw (though it is a very very small chance) but that they won’t be properly kept frozen? No. In fact, IVF families pay $600 per year to eliminate that chance. I say all of this in such frustration because my heart is broken for these families that put their trust into UH, into the IVF process, and were devastated. They had hope in a can and now that hope is lost. I pray that they are able to find peace – and hope – in whatever way they can.