tender-hearted and hard-headed

Liam is an amazing mix of his parents. I won't say which one of us gave him his tender heart and which the hard head. However, he has been blessed with both.

Yesterday morning Liam watched the movie Homeward Bound. It's an old movie that I remember watching as a kid. Towards the end of the movie, the golden retriever Shadow falls into a hole and can't get out. You don't know if he makes it out until the very end when he comes limping out of the woods and reunites with his little owner Peter. Well, after Shadow falls in the hole, next thing I know Liam's looking up at me with tears welling up in his eyes and pouring down his face. He cried all the way through the end and kept crying afterwards. It was the sweetest thing. And he didn't quite know what to do with how that movie made him feel. He'd never cried over a movie before. Then of course our dog Lucy was the great love of his life for the day. So much for me trying to get rid of her any time soon....

Here's Hayden singing a little number and at the end you can hear Liam asking for Lucy:

So we let Lucy inside to play and have a treat...

His face says it all

Oh Lucy we hope you never fall in a hole

a little treat - licking out a peanutbutter jar

Poor Liam followed his emotional morning with an emotional afternoon. Will gave him a haircut, and Liam HATES haircuts. He fights it and fights it and fights it somemore.

Many many tears, a very frustrated daddy, and over 2 HOURS later the haircut was complete.

Hayden was just strolling around in the midst of Liam's weeping and knashing of teeth.

FYI...I am still pregnant. Mom and Dad have decided to go ahead and come up on Saturday. YAY!!!! I've had major anxiety this week with Will being gone at night, having random contractions, waiting for labor to start so I can tell everyone to start making the drive from Arkansas. And it's just not like me to be so anxious! Now that I have a for sure day of Saturday to look towards I'm feeling more calm. So come on down Harper!

time flies when....

Yoo hoo....I'm back in the blogging world. A little recap of the past year - oh how time flies!

Time flies when you're...

ON VACATION!

June trip to beach in Galveston, TX with the Copelands

the Copeland crew

Will's wonderful grandparents

DAD IS IN REMISSION!

In July Mom and Dad came to visit and he was pretty sick. It was hard to see him like that. But in August we got the good news that he is cancer free and doing well! Praise God for healing!

As sick as Dad was in July, I was so glad he and mom made the trip. How I miss them!

PREGNANT!

August brought the big news of Copeland baby #3. I had great intentions of taking pictures every week but that didn't last long. This was the first and only, taken at 6 weeks.

In November we bought a surprise cookie cake for the kids and told them that blue icing meant boy and pink meant girl.

Liam had been saying all along that he wanted a girl. He got his wish!

And the preparation began for Harper Claire.

My friends from my Side By Side Bible study gave me a baby shower for Harper. Laura Shotts had this awesome cake made!

Matching outfits for Hayden and Harper. Hayden is SO excited to be a big sister.

I took this picture today. Harper at 39 weeks! Me plus 45 lbs. Yikes. Thinking about the exercise required to get back to my August body already makes me feel out of breath.

SURVIVING WINTER!

We got 60 inches of snow from December through February - half of that in December alone!

And we got our first snowblower right before a giant blizzard that brought nearly 20 inches in a day!

Needless to say we had a white Christmas. This was our 2nd annual Christmas Eve picnic under the tree.

Will's family came to our snowy house for the holidays.

KIDS ARE GROWING UP!

In February we took our second annual winter trip to Little Rock and celebrated Hayden's 2nd birthday with a big princess party.

Hayden is so precious and thus far has been EASY to raise!! She's happy, easy-going, and so loveable. And oh how she loves Liam. Every night when she prays, the first things she is thankful for is Bubba.

(this picture was taken today. we had snow less than two weeks ago, but it looks like spring is finally here!!)

The 20 month gap between them seems less and less as they get older. They play together so much more now than a year ago - with loving and fighting mixed in. They are so different from each other but Hayden tries to be just like Liam.

Buzz Light year and the Bumblebee Transformer

NEVER a dull moment with Liam. I wish I had kept up with blogging this year because the stories to tell about this boy are priceless and too many to remember. One of the latest...I let him go to the bathroom by himself at the public library. Trying to give him a little freedom. Next thing I know he's calling me to wipe him. And what do I find in the boy's bathroom? Liam had pooped in the urinal. Liam and freedom - a dangerous combination.

Hayden had her adenoids removed this past Wednesday. She was a big snorer and mouth breather with a constant drippy nose, giant tonsils and huge adenoids. We're waiting on the tonsils and want to see how she does with just her adenoids removed. The surgery went great and she was back to doing her thing the very next day.

The night before Hayden's surgery, Liam headed to his first sleepover at his friend Luke Fermin's house. He was super pumped and did great - after calling his momma at about 9:45 that night - and then he gave into sleep for the night. Bless Luke's mother.

SURVIVING 2ND YEAR OF NEUROSURGERY TRAINING!

These pictures were taken in January after we had made it through two quarters of Will being on the chief jr. service. It's hard to explain what it's been like, but the term "single parent" that was thrown at me before training began became much more of a reality. I think I can say that it's been the toughest year of my life. Blogging went by the way side and I've been in survival mode. There's alot to say about that... but now it's nearly 1 am, I am having some serious Braxton Hix contractions, Liam is crying downstairs about a rash that's bothering him and Will's working nights this week. AND A COPELAND STORY CONTINUES!!!

3 year old boy

Liam turned three on Monday! I can't believe that I have a three year old! He has changed my life and I love that precious precious boy. We had a little party - a bicycle party. I told Liam he could invite 3 friends and he picked Parker (friend from church), Fletcher (buddy since we've moved) and Luke (Bible study friend). Liam's big present was a new bicycle of course. The bike was a surprise, but Liam had been asking for it and I'm pretty sure he had a sneaky suspicion that we were getting him one. So all of his friends brought their bikes over to ride. Will grilled hot dogs for lunch and then we opened presents and had cake.

love the smile on his face

Luke, Parker, Liam, Hayden and Aunt Pam (Will's aunt from LR happened to be working in Minneapolis this week and got to come to the party. so cool!)

Luke's mom Brooke and little bro Samuel

Fletcher and his mom Alexandra

Buzz Lightyear from Nini and Pa

M&M cake made by yours truly (and Betty Crocker)

can't have cake without ice cream

loves his daddy

Aunt Pam was Hayden's best bud at the party. Pam knew the way into her heart with cake and ice cream

garage party - the weather was perfect

We gave these little Buzz Lightyear water guns as party favors and they were a hit. Worth every dollar from the Dollar Tree.

Fletcher's bro Ferguson getting Liam good

Liam and Will got surrounded!

Hayden was cleaning the plates while everyone else played

family pic

It was a fun little party. Thank you friends for coming to celebrate Liam! He got some great gifts. A Duplo leggo truck, Memory game, a Slip-n-slide, stick horse and cowboy hat, art kit, new clothes, and I think the gift that takes the cake is Buzz Lightyear. Liam loves him some Buzz Lightyear.

Will and I have found ourselves saying more and more "Liam's such a good kid". And he is! A few months ago I was not saying that very much! But I think we've turned a corner. We've finally moved away from the phase of constant discipline, and it's no longer this endless battle for control. There are definitely still days that he tests me - like his birthday for example. He decided to throw all of his learned skills out the window - he was U-G-L-Y to his sister, talked back to his momma and peed his pants all day. BUT for the most part we're out of the trenches of the terrible twos.

The phase I'm finding that we're in now is me playing referee between the two kids. Liam picks and picks and picks at Hayden and she's beginning to fight back. Yeesh. I was a picker...or a pest as my mom called it. I know the thrill of pushing someones buttons and getting a rise out of them. As a matter of fact I still do that from time to time.

I'd like to quote Justin Timberlake at this time, "What goes around comes around goes around comes all the way back aroouuu-ou-ou-ound." My theme song for year 3.

the Copeland peas

The Copeland family garden is producing a dozen gorgeous pea plants. I am so proud of those little green plants. No produce yet, but we look forward to the day. The lettuce and strawberries are barely hanging on. But at least we have our peas!

the peas

The weather in Rochester has made a major turn since we got back from Little Rock. It's in the 80s pretty much every day now - sometimes barely 90! My kind of temps! Had our first swim in the backyard pool last week. Just glad I didn't have to haul that sucker from Wal-Mart on top of my van this year!

notice Liam's studly summer hair do

I'll say this about our new little town - we may have wretched winters but summer is amazing. Not near the humidity that there is in Arkansas and just enough heat to put on a swimsuit and get a litte sun.