Liam in Canada

The three cousins
The Ferguson Clan

Liam enjoyed the cooler weather

Liam with uncle Devin and his cousin Seth

The End of July Liam and I went on a trip to Canada to meet Lance's family. Unfortunately Lance could not be there with us because he had to work in Las Vegas. But I am so glad that we went because it was great to see everyone! Lance's Dad and his little brother saw Liam for the first time! I enjoy being part of such a big family. I love the Ferguson's.

The flight with Liam was great and he did not cry at all. He was so happy that the Flight Attendant said "he will become a pilot". Tomorrow I drive to Charlotte International Airport which is about two hours away to pick up my two good Friends Susi and Sabrina from Germany! I am really looking forward to there visit (=

We love this little man so much!!!

It's been a while...

and Liam is already 7 weeks old! The time since he was born has been a very exciting journey for Lance and I and we would like to share some of our adventures with you. This is going to be a long blog so I hope you won't get bored reading it. =)

So, where do I begin? I guess Liam's birth would make a good starting point. Thankfully my mom was able to arrive in the USA before Liam did...long before he did! After 2 full weeks of waiting and no signs of me being close to deliver, my doctor decided to give me a drug called Cytotec to induce labor. It was a good decision because after a night in the hospital (with Lance sleeping on the sofa) and some small contractions, my water broke and from then on everything went very fast. It was 6 o'clock in the morning and we were less than 6 hours away from meeting our child! Lance called my mom and told her it was time to come join us. Up until then I was convinced that I just wanted Lance in the delivery room. But, once my mom got to the hospital I changed my mind and did not mind her staying with us anymore. Ich bin so froh, dass du da warst Mama und diese unbeschreiblichen Erinnerungen mit mir teilen kannst. Danke!

At this point I must say that I had the must wonderful nurses one could hope for! Not only did they make me feel like I was the only patient in the hospital, they also made me laugh and cared for me in any possible way so that during labor I was already hoping to still be in South Carolina with the next child. Thank you Rhonda and Stacey, you are awesome!

The fact that Lance and I decided to wait and find out the sex at birth made the whole experience so much better! Not even my Doctor knew since I had my last ultrasound in Korea. Everyone in the room was taking sides whether it is going to be a girl or a boy and it was about half half. By that time I was pretty sure that I was going to have a little boy but my doctor was convinced it was a girl so she kept telling Lilli to come out while I was pushing. It was like a party! I can not say that I did not have any pain at all but the medication (epidural) really made it easy! Thank God for pain medication (-: According to my wish I was given a low dose epidural, just to take the edge off and I was still able to move my legs. Labor was just like my pregnancy a very good experience...I am very thankful for that. Lance has been really supportive during the whole process and did what he could do. Just being there for me and holding my hand.

After a couple hours of pushing, my doctor FINALLY took the baby and showed it to Lance...he shouted out LIAM, LIAM full of joy and tears started to run down his cheeks. Due to the pushing my eyes were swollen and I had a hard time opening them but when I finally did and saw our son for the very first time and could not help but cry. It was love at first sight! It was love even before but now there was a face, a name and a voice and it became so much stronger with every second that I held him and looked at him. Lance, by the way, was the one who cut the umbilical cord and it made me so happy to see him so happy. We were a family now! How wonderful!

Right after Liam was born I started to nurse him, which was a painful yet amazing experience. How did this little guy who spent his last 10 months of his life in a bubble full of water immediately know where and how to get his food? I just sat there looking into Liam's dark blue eyes and thanked God for giving us a healthy child. Two arms, two legs, two hands with 10 little fingers and toes, two eyes, his daddy's nose and the cutest little mouth! It is a true miracle when a child is being born. Praise God in Heaven, for I do not believe that all this is a result of countless coincidences.

After another 2 nights in the hospital (Lance was with me the whole time) we were finally able to take our son home with us and everything was just so exciting! His first time into the daylight, his first car ride and first everything. The same day we even went to buy some groceries at Walmart...Liam slept the whole time. Thankfully I was recovering really quick and the nurses could not believe what good shape I was in when it was time to leave. When Liam was 5 days old, we went to Outback and enjoyed a nice meal with my mother. She enjoyed every moment with Liam and could not wait to see him in the mornings. It was so nice having her there and I just wish she could have stayed longer. Lance's mom came just before my mom was getting ready to leave and it was really good to see her again and of course she was thrilled to spend some time with Liam.

In the last few weeks we had most of Lance's family here and we really enjoyed spending time with everyone, even though they mostly came to see Liam. ;-) First Kyle and Megan drove down from Ohio with there little son Seth, then Brent and Lori came with their daughter Elli, followed by his sister Jenna and husband Justin. We enjoyed hanging out together, went out for dinner, hung out at the pool on base etc. Liam has already been in the pool last week. He loves water! He also enjoyed watching the World Cup with mom and dad. ;-)

We're very thankful for all the gifts we received for Liam before and after his birth. The girls from the squadron organized a big baby shower for Liam, which was a lot of fun. Our church threw us another shower too!

The weather is very hot here now and the humidity makes it difficult to stay outside for too long. For the 4th of July weekend we had a little family trip to Savannah, Georgia where the film Gone With the Wind was made. I loved the city and it was a great getaway. On the evening of the 4th we went down to the river to watch the big 4th of July fireworks. It was quite the event and it was the first time for Liam and me (-: The next day we went to Tybee Beach, which is a pretty beach close to Savannah. It was hot but there was a nice sea breeze and I think Liam enjoyed staying outside and being at the ocean for the first time being a little over a month. On our way home, we stopped at Hilton Head Island and had a great time there. My two good friends Susi and Sabrina come visit us in August and I am really looking forward to that. We will go back to Hilton Head for a couple of days then! Yeah!! I just love being by the water...it makes me happy.

Everyday with Liam is another adventure and I enjoy studying him and exploring all his different faces. I have so much more to say that I could already fill a few books, but I don't want to make it to long. All in all we can honestly say that Liam is a great child. He is very content and is a good sleeper and eater. He is growing good and according to the doctor a very healthy baby. When he was just 4 weeks old he started to smile at Lance and I. That is just the best sight and it makes me forget about sleepless nights and a million dirty diapers.

Liam wanted to end this blog by letting you all know something...press play below to hear what he had so say.

Welcome To The World!

Liam Sean Ferguson! No words can explain how happy you make your parents feel. We love you!

One more blog...

...A friend of mine recently painted my belly and took some fun pictures that I wanted to share! It is the same girl that took the pregnancy pictures that I posted last. These will be the last pictures before that belly is empty. Love to everyone (-:

Last Blog From The Two Of Us...

and I mean Lance and I (-:

Time flew by since I wrote the last time and it is hard to believe that it is May already! This will be the month our baby is born. All the childbirth classes are complete at this point and the Doctor told me yesterday that she thinks I have at least another week left! Does not sound like a lot, does it?! I think the baby will come on the 15th. I don't know why but I just think it does! On the gender however we remain completely clueless...how are we supposed to know! It is interesting how everyone else around us knows what we are having though (-; Not a single day goes by without someone's flimsy prediction on whether it's going to be a boy or a girl. The funny thing about it is that I never even ask about their opinion. Oh well, I guess we find out for sure soon! How exciting!! Will it be a little boy or a girl, boy or girl, boy or girl.....we can't wait!

Having said that, the pain of giving birth is something that I would love to skip. It would be a lie to say that I am not at all nervous at this point. However, the fact that billions of women have managed to give birth and survive before me helps me a lot (-; But how is the baby's head ever going to come .....anyway. I will have to do it, somehow!

A big thank you to everyone that has contributed to getting the nursery ready for the little one. At least once a day I walk into the baby room and look at all the onsies lined up in the wardrobe thinking about our future. Sometimes Lance and I are looking at each other and one of us would say "we are going to have a baby soon!" And, even though there is alot of uncertainty in that truth it fills our hearts with joy. This must be one of the if not the most thrilling times in the relationship of a man and a woman.

My mother will fly to the U.S.A for the first time on May 13th and it will be interesting to see who will get here first, the baby (due May 12) or her! The pictures of me were taken just a few days ago. A friend took them around the corner from our house. I wanted to have some memories of that big belly. Well, the next time I will write the belly will be empty, Lance and I will be parents and our lives will be forever changed.

Lots of Love to everyone.

Spring is here!

Over two months have gone by since I wrote the last blog, and without even knowing it the Baby has already been to 5 States in America and to Germany and back with me. After some time in Alabama Lance and I drove to South Carolina, our new home state, where we had about a week to find a house. House hunting was extreme but we succeeded in the end. We bought a beautiful new construction (pictures here) and are currently waiting for it to get finished so that we can move in! A friend that we know from Korea lets us live in her house until we can move in and we can't tell you how much we appreciate her hospitality towards us.

After a week of running around like headless chicken, picking out tiles and plants we were looking forward to get some rest and spend some time with the family in Michigan. We enjoyed watching the Olympic games with everyone and meeting Lance's little nephew for the first time was very special. While we were staying in his parents house Lance had the idea of clearing out some of his old stuff that was still stored in the house. It was interesting to go through all the pictures from his school years and I had to smile when I found a Coca Cola bottle with French writing on it which he brought back as a souvenir from his first Europe Trip...little did he know that he would one day have a German wife as a life long souvenir (-:

After some precious time with Lance's family we flew from Chicago to Munich to see my family and to get my belongings ready to ship overseas back to the USA. It was so good to be back to Germany and we both really enjoyed it! Even though I had lived in Munich all my life, I still appreciate the beauty of this city and walking through the town with my American husband makes me acknowledge it all over again! I love to see how much Lance likes Europe! While we were there we also went back to Schloss Neuschwanstein, which most Americans know for it's copy at Disneyworld. It is a breathtaking castle that is nestled in the Bavarian mountains (pictures here). Knowing that we would be gone for awhile we tried to soak it all up and stored the memories in our minds for later. We tried to meet all of my friends within the short time we had and to spend as much time with my family as possible. It was great to spend time with everyone and especially with my so loved Grandparents since I don't know whether they will come and see us in the U.S.A.

The Departure was heartbreaking! Seeing my friends along with my mom, waving goodbye as we were walking through security was not easy, but I was able to keep it together still. I knew the next time I would see them I would have the baby! It was only a little after as the plane was taking off that I lost the battle with my emotions and cried like a little child! (and yes, emotions do get stronger during pregnancy!) Even though I worked and lived in France and Spain in the past and I moved to Italy with Lance, not to mention the good amount of time I spent in South Korea, this goodbye was different! I realised it was the first real move overseas; into a new house, in a new country, with a new baby on the way...so basically a whole new life!!

I hope I did not sound negative because I am anticipating this new stage in our lives more than anything else before, and especially the baby that grows inside of me fills my heart with joy! I cannot wait to look into this baby's eyes and kiss the little face. This coming Saturday I will be 31 weeks pregnant and I cannot believe how fast the time goes by. I continue to enjoy the baby's movements and found a good doctor and hospital for the delivery. She is from Ireland, seems like a very nice woman and has delivered more than 5000 babies in her career.

Lance has finally returned to normal work routine and will hopefully be able to fly again soon (before he forgets how to (-;) I am still feeling very good and apart from some heartburn have no complaints. Oh hang on, there is one! What's the deal with those leg cramps that keep waking me up in the middle of the night lately?! Are any of you mothers familiar with those? It feels like an Elephant sits down on my leg and then I cannot move it for a few seconds while it is so painful that I want to yell! Thankfully it never lasts long. Anyways, life is good! Until the next post... I am off to drive around in my new car!!

"Happiness is where we find it, but rarely where we seek it" -J. Petit Senn