Holiday Get Out of Town Recap-a-thon!

Alrighty, so I didn’t get any updates in before I returned to VA or before I depart for AoE – I’m peeking in to say “hey! Still here! Be back next week!” again.

Quick recap though & anything I leave out is completely UNintentional and NOT because I don’t find them recap worthy.

1) Liam grabs for everything now. Especially things he cannot have. And he gets mad when you take them from him.

2) Christmas in Carolina was fantastic. SO happy we had the opportunity to do that!

3) Liam loves to eat wrapping paper & play with his toys while they are still in their boxes of doom.

4) He likes carrots the best, then butternut squash, then sweet potatoes.

5) He fell asleep eating the other day – I have proof but that’s way too much work at the moment.

6) Being sick really sucks but Liam handles it better than Mommy.

7) He hugs and kisses ALL the time now.

8) He REACHES for you.

9) He HATES having his nose wiped. Fine…stay booger-y.

10) His poops have now reached Disgusting Level. I fear the future.

11) Stuffy noses make changing poopy diapers easier since you cant smell them.

12) Liam loves snowmen

13) Now he laughs every time you walk down the stairs with him. I have proof but again, still too much work right now.

14) He loves the train.

15) He filed for his US Passport this afternoon.

16) He got his picture made with Santa and didn’t once even think about crying – again, with the proof thing, but seriously this one would take WAY MORE work since I’d have to take a picture of a picture and then post it...

That is all for now!! I’ll be back on Wednesday night & then my parents are coming into town for NYE. I’ll try and post while I’m gone, I plan on “napping” a lot and Matias never leaves home without his computer so…but I will definitely be back with authority in the New Year if not before then!

SO Cute!

We live right down the street from a fire station and they just came around the neighborhood with Santa & Mrs. Claus riding on top!!

We took Liam outside to see them drive by & to wave at them :)

Christmas must be coming soon - that's twice we've seen Santa in less than 24 hours!!!!!

You're kidding, right?

It seems both Liam & I are sick. Head colds, it appears.

He's being extra cuddly right now & I'm hoping he can stay that way on the train and that he remains a good boy like he always is BUT what crappy fucking timing.

Hyperlinks

For some reason blogger is not liking my hyperlinks so anyone that wants to mosey over to dropshots, I would suggest just copying the link and dropping it into a new window.

booger eaters.

Butternut Squash

Liam got his first taste of butternut squash last night & it seems to have gone over much better than the sweet potatoes :) It's not that he doesnt enjoy the sweet potatoes, it's just that he doesnt LOVE them.

I still have avacado & carrots to make for him but will do that next week (or maybe even take some with me this weekend if I feel ambitious - which at the moment I'm not!) so we'll see how he does with those! Then I think after we are back from our travels over the holidays, I will start him on fruits!

First on the list are apples, pears & bananas!!

I still have a crapload of stuff to do before I even think about leaving tomorrow but my To Do Lists are shrinking so that's a good sign! I think I have todays' schedule under control - breakfast, get ready to go out, WALMART (e gads), drop off order in Nokesville, come home & start packing/putting laundry away after lunch, get ready for Christmas Party, go to party, come home, dinner for Liam & hopefully finish getting packed for myself and Liam. PHEW. I'm tired just thinking about what I have to do!

I'm just worried about how much we have to bring for him this week...food stuff is my main concern cause it's the first time doing it and you only learn by doing in this new occupation of mine. My needs are my last concern so I know I can survive with just 2 or 3 changes of clothes cause my parents happen to have a washing machine, if I need one! Just to need to make sure this little bebe has everything he needs! Grandma is really good about having things for him so that if I do forget she's usually got it on hand or we can make a quick trip to the store for him. Nothing is every far out of reach but I like to plan for things so...the To Do Lists continue to grow!

I thought I was going to be able to have time to take Liam to a Mommies Group event this morning but that's just not in the cards. I only have so much time to get everything done & it's stressing me out! I'm pretty good about these things but it's just so much different when you've got the bebe to consider and take care of WHILE you are trying to get everything done! Example, how are you supposed to put his laundry away when the only time you get to do it is when he's napping and in his crib? Was easier when he napped in his cradle and I could be in his room during that time...I know all these things work themselves out but with everything going on right now, I concentrate on the little details and yes, I suppose, I sweat the small stuff. I have decided that the house just cannot be as tidy as I want it to be when we leave though and the babysitter will just have to handle the furballs rolling through the kitchen.

But with all this complaining, I have accomplished things :) Christmas card list is completed. 3 more presents to get (at one place) and my shopping is done, Liam is clean and taken care of, the cats are happy, my tree is decorated (but we never got the lights up on the deck), stockings are hung (with care!), and cute outfits are secured for Mommy & Liam for his first visit with Santa...like I said my main worry is making sure I have everything we need for our visit to Grandma's and to TOTALLY make sure I pack it all VERY well. That's my main obstacle, I think. And the fact that I cannot stop obsessing over everything. But, we all know that's not gonna change ;)

You may or may not hear from me until after I get back...

So Much to Say!

We've had a lot going on these days with getting ready for a(n) [early] Christmas this weekend at Grandma & Grandpa's (and Auntie Leanne too!) and an extended trip for Mommy & Liam BUT we've also had a lot going on in the house!

Liam is now eating cereal 2x times a day along with HOMEMADE BABY FOOD 2x times a day (with lunch and dinner)!! We've got it all documented I just have to find the time to post the pictures. He doesnt much like the sweet potatoes too much, but he suffers through them ;) He LOVES his cereal though!

He's rolling over from his tummy to his back consistently now! Much harder to control on the changing table also since he seems to enjoy rolling over to his side during his "naked time". He's shifting positions all over the place in his crib while he's sleeping. And he's sitting up REALLY well - it wont be long before he's an "unassisted sitter" - I think probably during the Holidays he will make this milestone.

He loves Christmas music & prefers to fall asleep to that as opposed to Rubber Soul. I dont think he much liked Rubber Soul for sleepy time music so I switched him back to the Ones (beatles #1 hits). Although his favorite song, BY FAR, right now is Old MacDonald. Even helped him calm down/fall asleep in the car!

Speaking of the car, he is behaving/tolerating it much better - sleeps during our trips and on only really cries before he sleeps. His cow toy REALLY helps him stay calm and entertained. That stays in his car seat permanently!

I'm having issues with his clothes though - since he is SO tall (27") that puts him in 9 MONTH clothes but his weight is still in the 3-6 month range. Seriously, he fits in 9 month old PANTS. He's just shy of 5 months. Either the boy will need a belt (do they make infant belts??) OR suspenders. Probably will get some suspenders if we can find them. HA! He's going to look like a little old man! He's already outgrown some of his 3-6 month clothes - even my favorite striped pants from Target! They are like little high-waters on him! So I'm a little worried here - gonna have to take the time and go through his closet and drawers where I have his next size clothes stashed and make sure I havent missed the chance for him to wear any!

We have Matias' Christmas Company Party this Friday and for the first time it's Kid Friendly so we will be taking Liam and debuting him to his co-workers - should be a fun time, they always do a good job with their parties. Then the next day we leave for NC on the train again - so we'll see how he tolerates the train a few months older! I'm packing cereal and a bottle (or two) for him to nosh on while we travel but since daddy is going to be with us this time, I'm hoping he will help out a lot with the "keeping him busy/behaved" also!

Exciting things coming up this week!! YAY!! I cannot wait!!

When you're the best of friends

Liam LAUGHED and SMILED at Monkey this morning when we were all in bed having our special cuddle/waking up time.

And then I melted into a gooey mess & Matias had to clean it all up!

Cry Face Progression

[Editor's Note - both pictures were taken by DADDY while Mommy was NOT present!! No Liam Fellows were harmed in the taking of these pictures]

Big Boy

Look at my big boy holding his own bottle yesterday!

Saturday Six

I used to do this "thing" called Friday Five and it would be Five Questions sent out every Friday...so I thought I would do a Saturday Six and list six things (go figure!) that just drives me crazy in love with Liam at the moment.

1) how he holds his hands in "prayer" when he nurses
2) the tickle spot on the back of his neck that sends shivers through him and makes these funny noises emerge from him uncontrollably.
3) listening to him talk to himself in the morning
4) watching him learn to pet Monk
5) whenever the commercial with the Beatles Christmas song comes on he cranes his little head around to see the TV - can he possibly KNOW it's the Beatles? It's not like we've played that song for him...
6) the nose scrunching

Like the Rooster Crows

Our son, and I say "our" son because lord only knows where he is getting this from, is an Early Riser.

Every morning 6:30 he starts talking to himself in squeals and gibberish and is as happy as can be! But damn, that's early. Now, thankfully, he usually goes back to sleep after I nurse him but on mornings like this when I am getting ready to head out the door at 8am, I'm hoping the noise of the house being "awake" doesn't keep him awake also. It's amusing to watch the cats listening to him wake up and talk - but then again a lot of things are amusing to me at that hour.

Last night he didn't sleep through the night either & I don't know why - maybe because I fed him dinner a 1/2 hour earlier? He woke at 10:30 and wanted to nurse (and that's fine with me cause I'm also trying to keep my supply up while we transition to solids) and then again at 4:30AM. He wasn't cold, I made sure of that - thinking maybe with the weather REALLY dipping into the low 20s that he needed to be more bundled. P.S. It's 12 degrees right now.

And I've been up since then. I couldn't trust myself to wake up at 6 like I needed to to get ready for today, so I just got up & came downstairs and read a magazine until I got into the shower. So, I'm frigging tired already & it's only 7:05. It's going to be a long day. But hopefully, a very profitable day! I just don't know how well I will be functioning once I get back home (I'm already thinking about this & I haven't even left yet!) and we have a lot to do this weekend as it is our last weekend home before Christmas. And not one single gift has been bought. BUT I have addressed a nice chunk of our Christmas cards :)

New video

I've uploaded the Snowman Series video to www.dropshots.com/talljendmb for your amusement. Remember, he stopped truly performing when the camera came out! And now every morning, we sit in our bumbo seat and play with the snowmEn - Grandma sent him one without knowing how much he loved the ones from previous years!

A Boy & his Snowman

This is the first two in a series of photos taken the other morning.


The first one is called - "Wait, I'm taking out my chupie!"


The second is titled "Liam & Frosty 'chillin' at the Piano Bar"

And because...

I haven't posted a picture in FOUR days (!), here's one for your viewing pleasure.


The Liam Fellow watching his Baby Einstein.

Liam Robert’s 4 Month Checkup

Liam went to the doctor today for his 4 month checkup (he’s really 18 weeks old though) & to get his second round of shots.

And the numbers are in!!

Length 27” – OFF THE CHART!!! LITERALLY!!! BIG BOY!!!

Weight 14 lbs. 4 oz – YAY!! He gained 3 pounds since our last check!! Even though he’s still on the skinny side, we’re bumping up his cereal intake so that will help him get the calories he needs!!

Head Circ 16 ¾” – his noggin grew ¾ of an inch since his last check!! They aren’t concerned about his remaining flat spot since most of the rest of his head evened out, we’re just waiting on less back time and more upright time to take care of that naturally! YAY! Our son doesn’t need a HELMET!!

YAY! GOOD JOB LIAM ROBERT!

We are stepping up his cereal intake to ½ cup TWO times a day – whoa! He had his lunch today and ½ a cup is a TON but he loved it and got his full so Mommy is happy. It seems he wasn’t getting enough calories from the Pimp Juice since he was waking up so often in the night the past few weeks or so. Next week, after we try out the 2x a day cereal, we will be stepping it up to VEGGIES!! WOW!! Our boy is growing up so quickly!! Seems it’s all happening so quickly. Too quickly, sometimes. He doesn’t need Mommy anymore. *weeping*

He did REALLY well with his shots, only cried a little bit and then as soon as Daddy picked him up he STOPPED. Mommy decided that Daddy can hold his little arms down next time…don’t quite know how I got stuck doing that in the first place! He’s napping now, after his lunch, so we’ll see how long he is down for considering they say they are ‘supposed to’ sleep for longer when they get their shots. Think they take Cat Nappers into account!

I’m really happy with his weight gain since I was starting to get worried that he wasn’t getting enough (I guess Mother’s Instincts are right on spot, eh?) with just Pimp Juice so I’m glad he gained a nice amount but I am looking forward to him putting on a few more by the end of January!

He needs to move out of his infant car seat by 29”, so we only have two more inches and then we need a new one – but this one will last him through toddler-hood so it’s not that big of a “strain” since he’ll be using it for YEARS! And I don’t think they are overly expensive either for what you are getting – just spread out the cost over the years you will be using it!

I’m really relieved that Liam gained weight and that we are moving towards helping him put more on in the upcoming week but still the little inkling of a thought of how I (or my body) has somehow failed him is still sneaking in. I’m just MORE thankful that we decided to give him cereal and not wait and have him go ‘hungry’ for a week when he didn’t need to.

Funny man in the house

When Grandma & Grandpa were here for Thanksgiving Liam started mimicking Grandma's cough. We call it his little fake cough & he's become quite the expert at it but now he's added a new twist.

The Pant.

He coughs about 3 times and then starts flaying his arms and legs and PANTING. And he thinks he's quite funny when he does this.

On a completely different note but still amusing to me - we went to church on Sunday & he filled his pants during one of the hymns/songs/whatevertheyarecalled and we didnt hear him "do" it until the song ended and he GROANED so loud that both of us had to laugh.

He is also EXTREMELY fascinated by the Christmas decorations around the house! I didnt think he would be so young, I thought this stuff didnt REALLY start attracting him till about 6 months...

He LOVES my new Let it Snow sign that Grandma got for us, stares at it everytime we walk past and we've even held him up to it to get a closer look. (it's on the top of the pantry door sill)

He LOVES the snowmen on the mantle with our stockings - just sits and stares at them whiling smiling.

He LOVES my Dept. 56 Village - everytime we walk past it we stop and look at everything and keep the arms pinned to his side as he is trying to grab at it all.

He LOVES the tree! We only have the lights and garland on it right now, tonight we'll do all the decorations after he goes to bed so that he can be "surprised" when he wakes up in the morning. But he loves to go over to it and stare at the lights and he just thinks it's the neatest thing since Pet Rocks.

But the thing he LOVES most of all at the moment is our singing snowman from Hallmark - he sits at a piano and dances and sings & Liam has been PULLING IT closer to him and HUGGING ON IT!! It's too cute! I took pictures this morning & a video but the kid has become hip to the presence of the camera and usually stops what he is doing right away and videos dont usually come out to great if there's only one of us here entertaining him! But I'll probably post it anyway so y'all can get the idea :)

Phew...

I was just nursing Liam and he was making this strange cry - not a normal cry at all - and I was getting worried that he either didnt want Pimp Juice anymore because he just wanted cereal OR that something was wrong.

I fed him for as long as I could with the tears coming, then took him to Daddy so I could quickly research what was going on...didnt find anything online to help me (gee, you think a crying baby MIGHT mean hunger?) and then I turned to my Baby Whisperer book and couldnt find anything in there either! Just as I was sitting at the top of the stairs, starting to worry maybe he was getting sick or something was wrong with the Juice, Matias came upstairs with a sleeping baby in his arms.

Thing is - this isnt his normal nap time - it's Juice time! His schedule is so rigid so it really threw me off that he was ONLY tired and didnt want to nurse at all. I know there should be some flexibility in there AND there is BUT he ate before his 2pm nap and then this was the first time I was nursing him again since.

Maybe, just maybe, I'm over thinking this and he could be in a growth spurt too but it really just threw me that he wanted a nap so badly and instead of falling asleep while nursing, he chose to cry. And, to be honest, Liam doesnt cry. He's even stopped (knock on wood) crying in the car. He doesnt cry when he wakes up from naps, he just squawks loudly! He barely cries when he wakes up during the night - as you can see most of these things involve WAKING UP and EATING!

Anyway. He was tired. End of Story. But I wasnt sure what it was and that is what was worrying me. I think it all centers around starting cereal & me worrying that he's going to reject the boob totally now & not just the right one :)

Can I have some more, please?!

Matias complained that I fed Liam messy-ily, but seriously, how else do you feed a baby and NOT have it be messy?

Get your feet off the table!

Liam's first meal at the table & his feet were up there in a nano second! Excuse the messy house! But check out the NEWLY REFURBISHED kitchen table!! Just in time to have another grandkid mess it up!

Liam reading a magazine

Hope you didnt want the Home Companion back, Grandma!

I feel like a pendulum!

We had decided NOT to feed Liam his cereal but when he didn’t sleep through the night again & it was taking Matias about 2 hours to fall back asleep after Liam woke up so Daddy decided that we needed to try the cereal to see if it made a difference in his sleep patterns.

The first night he slept normally – waking twice – and was a happy little camper all day long yesterday – even sleeping BOTH WAYS in the car when I drove into work. He did have a very bad nightmare that night around 1am so I’m not sure if he would have woken up for a feeding if he hadn’t had this dream. But he didn’t go down for his 10am nap which worried me cause we were getting in the CarCar to go ByeBye later in the morning – so I was concerned that his schedule was going to get more out of whack. Thankfully with his naps in the car (about 30 minutes each) he was ok nap wise.

We decided to use the ready made formula we got from the hospital to mix his cereal with last night instead of me pumping (Hate! Pumping!) for that tiny of an amount & he LOVED it! He was so happy in his highchair & had two servings of cereal and I probably could have given him a third if I wasn’t worried about him horking up that last serving. He smiled and kicked and grabbed at the spoon and talked the entire time I was feeding him! Then he was out before the first Beatles song was over (Love Me Do)!

AND HE SLEPT UNTIL 6:15AM!!!

He went back to sleep after a feeding until 8:17 and we’ve been up since then. It took him a while to go down for his 10am nap, in fact he woke up after about 5 minutes and started playing so I took him upstairs and rocked him to sleep and he’s still asleep now.

Liam’s doing REALLY well with his cereal & I couldn’t be happier! I started feeling a little ‘strange’ last night after I fed him though. I had this feeling come over me that he didn’t Need me anymore & that he was growing up so quickly and soon we would be feeding him “real” solids and giving him the keys to the car. And I felt a TINY bit resentful towards the cereal for giving him something I couldn’t. He finally slept a great nights sleep because he wasn’t hungry and he was hungry because the Pimp Juice wasn’t cutting it for him 100% anymore & that makes me sad. Here I was somewhat wanting a break from nursing and now that I have it, to an extent, I’m upset that he has another source of food! Isnt that what I wanted?!? I guess I’m just not ready for him to be such a Big Boy. And for him to enjoy it so damn much. HA. I swear I can see in his eyes now when I nurse him that he’s wanting that cereal! Lord, I’m just crazy.

Let me tell you this left boob of mine was FULL this morning! Whoa doggie – you try sleeping on your stomach with one Rocky Mountain and one Alamaden Valley Foothill.

I've got a Bobblehead Fellow

This picture just cracks me up - it looks like he has NO neck! and a HUGE NOGGIN! And I HATE this top. I think it makes him look like a queer figure skater - no offense to queer figure skaters. Or a luger. And I dont mean a pistol but the person who rides the luge. He just looks like he's wearing a skin tight top and it's making him look strange.

You make the call

Do you think he enjoyed his FIRST CEREAL???

There's one video on dropshots, we have another one to upload, but honestly, the files are so large it takes forever!

Let's play a game

The game is called "caption this" and you have to write the caption for the following picture. I'll set the scene...Liam is watching the news on TV. And GO!

In case you missed it!

I started using DropShots for posting videos of the little Liam Fellow (don't worry all of them wont be him acting so Liam Fellowish) and I think most of you got the link but just in case you didn't here it is!

www.dropshots.com/talljendmb

I havent posted any photos yet cause I feel like I'm posting them all the time here but I have sent the link to people who dont have the Bebe Nino link so I should probably get on that cause we REALLY dont need anyone missing out on how just damn cute he is.

Question of the Day

What music does your baby absolutely love? What CDs do you constantly have in the CD player or queued up on Winamp (as us modern mom's do!)?

Liam's Favorite CDs:

1) Jason Mraz Demos, Unreleased & Covers
2) Jack Johnson Curious George Soundtrack
3) Jimmy Buffett's ParakeetHeads (all kids singing his songs, with censored lyrics!)
4) Disney Lullaby's
5) Beatles 1 or Rubber Soul

Leave a comment with your baby's favorite CD & maybe we can set up some sort of Christmas CD Swap for the little ones to gift to eachother!!

(Sidenote: Christina, do you remember our Gift Giving Get Togethers at my house when we were oh, about 15, 20 years younger?!?)

To Not Feed is our answer

So yesterday afternoon Liam went down for a nap around 4:30ish (sometime during Oprah with Julia Roberts talking about Charlotte’s Web and OH MY GOD I CANNOT WAIT TO TAKE LIAM TO SEE THAT!!) and he didn’t wake up until 7:15!! WOW. I thought his 8pm bedtime would be tossed out the window and he did go to bed later (around 9ish - before L&O but not after Charlie Brown Christmas…) but he was HAPPY while he was awake which, was a huge difference than his mood the entire day yesterday.

Matias did stop for cereal on the way home but since his schedule was out of whack we didn’t want to introduce something new to him so abruptly. BUT we did have him in his high chair (don’t worry Grandma, pictures are coming!!) and had him socialized at the dinner table. And HE LOVED IT. Had his feet ON the table in about .95378 seconds! He talked, he laughed and he just smiled the entire time. He watched both of us eat & jammered away. I asked him how his day went & told him that is what we talk about around the dinner table at night and he just ate it all up – no pun intended.

In my family, we ALWAYS ate dinner together & even if we didn’t have mind-blowing conversation, we all sat down together when my dad came home from work & I’ve always made a point of doing that in my home too. Matias & I have ALWAYS eaten together, regardless of what time he gets home or how long it takes him to cook & we are going to continue that with Liam. So this was our first attempt at having him sit at the table with us & he just loved it! I think he liked FINALLY being able to see what was going on at the proper level, you know? If he is still awake at dinner time, we always put him in his papasan chair but then he’s on the ground and that just becomes awkward to include him in dinner time…

And even though he went to bed later his sleep last night was SO MUCH BETTER (!!!) – he was only up twice! Once at 1:30 and then 5:30 for nursing sessions and then when he woke up at 7ish Matias brought him to bed where he fell asleep between us holding one of our hands in each of his. And he slept till almost 8:30! He woke up in such a great mood and has not whined ONCE so far this morning – he’s his normal, happy self again! WOOT! I mean, he didn’t even want to play in his activity center yesterday. Mommy is very happy about this because, honestly, the barely any sleep thing was really starting to take its toll on me.

Right now, he’s playing in his activity center and listening to Jason Mraz. AND he’s almost got the dreaded, blasted, ball thingie figured out!

And to address the extended breastfeeding question that Christina brought up in the comments…

I am not sure when I will wean Liam but I know that it will be past 6 months – I was HOPING I would start to get a break when he started on solids or maybe a little older when eating ‘jarred’ food but it seems that babies cannot have cow (VACA!) milk until they are a year old so there goes that idea! It’s not that I DON’T want to continue nursing him, cause I do, I was just thinking I could get a break from it for personal reasons but since I cannot, I wont! And I even was thinking of using water for the cereal so that I wouldn’t have to pump for cereal but Matias wants him to have Pimp Juice in it so that he recognizes it as something familiar…which I don’t have a problem with I just don’t like pumping & I have a hard time finding time to do it. And that might be easier if he napped longer! So now I just pump at night after he goes to bed – which is what I’ve always done when I’ve needed to get some stocked up for Mommy not being around (DMB concerts, CM events…) I don’t know how long I will nurse after he gets teeth - that will be a Wait and See decision. But I don’t want to put him on formula – one of the main reasons being the cost of it & then the obvious reasons. I feel if I’ve gone this long with nursing, I can continue to do it and not introduce formula if I don’t need to.

And the jarred food issue – I think we’re going to go the Mash It Up Ourselves route with that. I suppose we’ll see how long that lasts when we get to that point also but that’s our goal right now. We usually only buy organic or local grown fruits and veggies as it is so why not continue that for our son? If it’s what we do for ourselves, shouldn’t we be doing it for him also? We have one of those mini-prep processors from Cuisinart that I’m going to try and use & I’ve found a good “cookbook” for making baby food for all ages and stages.

SO! I think that’s where we stand on everything right now…we’re going to wait till the doctor appointment next week to make any decision about cereal but I do want to start him cause I’m constantly worried that he’s not getting enough to eat cause he’s kinda skinny. And I know he’s ok but he’s not a chubby baby, he’s tall, and everyone’s babies are so much heavier than he is and I’m inclined to think it’s ME that’s not allowing him to put on a lot of weight. I would say that he’s probably only 13 pounds at the moment – which is more than double his birth weight at 4 months plus BUT I just don’t know…I think it’s a common mommy issue to worry about your baby getting enough to eat…and I would feel much better if I knew 100% for a fact that he was enough to eat. Again, I know this is something to discuss with his doctor next week!
And on a totally unrelated note – yesterday on Oprah, Julia Roberts was talking about recycling and she said “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle just like Jack Johnson sings on the Curious George soundtrack” and I got the biggest kick out of that. It’s simply, hands-down the BEST CD for kids [almost] EVER! And to think that my kid is as cool as her kids and listening to it – strikes right into my goofy celebrity gossip heart! OR I should say that HER kids are listening to the same music as Liam. HA! Bet she doesn’t have the ultra cool Jason Mraz compilation CD though. Hmmm, I should send it to her. Or anyone here that doesn’t already have this for you baby! Let me know & I’ll send it to you – it’s just the bestest.

So here’s another random question. Wait I’ll save it for another post. What a tease I am.

To Feed or not To Feed?

Liam is making all the signs that he's ready to start on some cereal but I wasnt sure about doing it before going to his 4 month appt. - which due to his ped. schedule puts him at 18 weeks instead of 16 - so I called the nurse line for advice.

That didnt get me very far.

She was distracted & not paying attention when I had to tell her twice that he IS 4 months old, in fact he's 17 weeks so yes, I understand that you dont want him starting before that mark BUT HE IS PAST THAT MARK! And I could hear her typing which at first, I thought, hey cool she's taking notes, but I just dont think that's the case. I'm pretty sure she was trying to get some other work done. The best reason she could give me for not starting cereal before his appt. was that they give me a handout. Gee thanks. And that if I wanted to come in earlier that I could make an appt. So, if I can come in earlier, why couldnt I schedule his 4 month appt. AT 4 MONTHS?

I'm a little frustrated by this. And my patience is being tried because Liam is also starting to teeth & since his night time sleep schedule is ALL sorts of messed up so is Mommy's. AND he's a Cat Napper - doesnt normally take naps longer than 20 minutes during the day but WAS sleeping through the night so we didnt have any issues with that until now.

He's waking up anywhere from 3-10 times a night - whereas before he was waking up once around 4am and then again at 8ish to start his day. The boy is exhausted. He's been napping now for almost 2 hours & I'm afraid his 8pm bedtime is now going to get messed up but I'm not about to wake him up.

I called Matias to have him pick up some cereal on his way home so either we will get to that tonight or tomorrow night depending on how & when he wakes up from this nap. I think I'm going to go ahead and start him on cereal anyway to see if it helps him out.

I cannot stand to hear him cry (the sad cry!) when he's so tired and I think there's something I can do about it.

And on that note...

Pity, Party of 1, your table is ready.

I’ve put off writing about this because it is such a downer & I don’t like to vocalize such things as they then become Real once said out loud but it’s been bothering me a lot as of late & I really just want to get it off my chest – or my aptly – my stomach.

I’ve had a hard time losing the last of my baby weight & with a combination of a C-section and the sweet tooth not leaving when Liam arrived I’m struggling.

I’m not writing this to garner the “don’t worry” or “you look great” comments cause the truth is I DO worry & I don’t FEEL like I look GREAT and that’s what really matters. I take walks with Liam whenever I can and weather permits; I have two flights of stairs in the house and no bathroom on the main floor. So it’s not like I am completely sitting on my ass all day long. And to add some lightness to this, my ass is the only thing that has remained the same – thankfully.

I finally packed away my maternity clothes and bought a size larger pair of jeans – THANK god it was only ONE size larger. I’ve been living in yoga pants and long t-shirts for the past 4 months and my maternity jeans and I hate it. But I’ve taken the step and put them away and will live in my new larger size jeans.

I hate that I look dumpy because of the clothes I’m wearing and because I’m fat. I hate that my incision site still hurts periodically and that stops me from trying to wear non-elastic waist pants. I hate that my boobs are lopsided because Liam only nurses from one side – but please note that I don’t “hate” Liam because he only nurses from one side – I hate the way it looks when I’m wearing clothes that you can tell my 36DD boobs aren’t BOTH 36DD.

I hate that I have no money to buy any “make me feel pretty” clothes. But to be honest, even if I did have “extra” money I would spend it on Liam anyway. I hate that I have no underwear that fits me.

I hate thinking about shopping for new larger clothes cause that’s simply just depressing. I hate that I have a whole closet full of clothes, most with the tags still on, I bought last Fall that I will probably never be able to wear again.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate the Reason for any of this. I wouldn’t trade Liam for 10 pounds or even 50 pounds but that doesn’t erase the thoughts and sadness that creeps into my thoughts and self image. I avoid mirrors, especially when naked, but mostly so that I don’t have to see how large I am now. I suppose I should be happy that I can rest Liam not only on my hips but also my gut but we all know humor will only get us so far. And I know there are things I can with my diet, even though I’m still breastfeeding, but I barely have time (or remember) to eat lunch let alone add a fricking diet regime into that mix. Plus I have to keep a certain amount of calories in my diet for the Pimp Juice to be nutritional. And I know I should step away from the cookies but I cannot get rid of the sweet tooth. And I don’t eat entirely horribly to begin with – portion control would probably be my best method here but I just don’t see that it will make much difference.

So you can probably sense that I’m just somewhat resigning myself to this situation all the while still bitching about it. And in my mind I’m totally, well not totally, blaming this on the C-section. I didn’t want one (hell, who would?) & THIS is the reason why. My body doesn’t feel like mine anymore, it doesn’t feel like it will ever be back to even my worst pre-pregnancy state again and that’s out of my control.

I hate looking at pictures of myself & I hate being around other people and having my picture taken cause the whole time all I’m thinking is how they will go back and look at those pictures and talk about how fat & gross I am.

I just wish I didn’t care.

Happy 4 Month Old Birthday, Liam Robert!

So, I’m only a week behind in writing his 4 month old birthday entry…we’ve been a tad busy! To defend myself further I would like remind y’all that we went to AoE for Matias’ 30^th birthday over Veteran’s Day weekend, then my sister, Auntie Leanne, came to visit between jobs on that Monday and stayed till Friday (YAY for bad weather!) THEN grandma & grandpa came for Thanksgiving on Tuesday and on that weekend I had my CM Open House and a book club meeting. And I survived. And more importantly so did Liam!

So enough explaining my absence away – let’s move onto Liam’s 4 Month Gush Fest, shall we?

As I mentioned above, we’ve been traveling and had some company the past couple of weeks and Liam took it all in stride – he LOVED having family over & visiting with everyone. He hammed it up for all the grandparents – we have a video of him laughing his adorable little head off for Poppa (which is what Daddy now wants to be called), he kissed Grandma all over her face until she was covered in sweet baby drool, and I think we mastered the “driving long distances in a car” issue – leave after his bedtime with his jammies on and after a nice warm bath.

He’s growing in leaps and bounds right now that it’s hard to remember everything he has accomplished or has started to accomplish!

I thought he was starting to have a tooth break through cause I found a tiny dot of blood on his gums one morning and rushed to call everyone with the news and then NOTHING! But those days surrounding the Blood Dot were tough days on him and I do still think he is in the starting phase of teething. He didn’t quite know what to think of the berry flavored Baby OraGel (why is it flavored? He has no idea what a berry is or even what a FLAVOR is beyond Pimp Juice…) and made some amusing faces when I was applying it to his little baby gums. He is chewing on his fists like a mad man & proceeds to gag himself almost every time which has led me to keep a bibbie on him almost all the time so that we can attempt to catch the vomit he gags up.

He LOVES LOVES LOVES his monster of an activity center. Smiles and wiggles and swivels himself the whole time just chilling and squealing and learning. You can SEE him analyzing his options on how to make things work & he’s mastered everything but the “move the ball over the arched plastic thingie” and the fact that he hasn’t mastered it yet is starting to frustrate him. He’s the type of thinker who studies how it works and then stares at it before just making it happen and since it’s taking him longer to make this one work, I can see the frustration and sometimes hear it on his face. The Cow is still his favorite but the Lion is a close second (he likes the ROAR). He still works out in his gym in the morning, doing his morning stretches. He plays mostly with his feet during this time, so I take them out of his PJs to give him ultimate access to those monkey toes of his. I’ve never seen a baby who can so easily spread his toes – I cannot even separate my big toe independently of the rest of them – but he has yet to shove them in his mouth. Maybe it is because his fist is always in there? And sometimes, it’s both fists at the same time. He is a DROOL MACHINE when he is in his activity center for some reason.

He is pulling himself up into sitting position really well these days! And if he’s in your lap leaning back he can basically do it all on his own now! And his newest trick is to lean all the way forward and roll onto his back. Sometimes I think he’s bringing his mouth to his feet instead of his feet to his mouth which I keep telling him is the hard way to go about doing that but, already, he isn’t listening to his Mommy.

He is still quite the little Cat Napper but will take longer naps when he is sleeping with Poppa – go figure. And, of course, after we’ve been out and about or after company leaves he can nap like a pro. He does really like his stroller & likes walking around the mall or outside – this almost always leads to a 2 hour nap – which makes Mommy want to shop more or take him on walks!

Grandma & Grandpa bought him his Bumbo seat and he’s still figuring it out to an extent. The first time he was in it he listed all the way over and then we realized that he took a major poopie. Then the second time, he did the same thing. We joked that he must think he’s on the potty! So now instead of Matias putting him in his backpack while he cooks dinner, he sets him on the kitchen island in his Bumbo seat and Liam watches, totally enthralled, as Poppa cooks! He loved being in his backpack while Poppa cooks & it’s really cute to watch him peek over his shoulder to check out what he is doing.

The cats are really becoming interested in him since he is becoming more active & Monkey is getting a lot braver around him – even coming into bed with the 3 of us and letting Liam “pet” him. Petting usually involves pulling his ears & grabbing his tail, but Monkey is such a gentle little boy that he doesn’t mind this at all, in fact, he’s even licked him a few times! Mystic still jumps up on the couch for a short cuddle with us when we are nursing & Liam has started “tracking” her movements when she passes by him. It’s cute to watch him crane his neck to see her walk around him and swivel his activity center to track her. She will still retreat to her bag when he starts crying though!

In addition to his fist shoving, Liam has also started sucking his thumb more regularly now! Yesterday he napped successfully without his chupie and I think we are going to keep that going and only put him down for the night with it and slowly wean him off of it, hopefully. I’d rather have a thumb sucker cause as my mom says “they can’t lose their thumb”! He’s also REALLY discovered his hands – not just for grabbing things cause he’s been doing that for a while – but he EXAMINES his fingers and hands all the time now, and it’s just adorable to watch. But let’s face it; I think just about everything he does is adorable to watch.

He is also scrunching his nose when he smiles – which IS just damn adorable. And he does NOT like it when I talk or anyone talks to me while we are nursing – he cuts his eyes at me and PULLS off. And I think it’s funny. Until he hurts me, then not so funny anymore. He is also blowing raspberries and loving to be kissed all over. After you smother him he then covers you in Liam Kisses and leaves you a wet goopy mess and he just LOVES it. He smiles all the time. He’s just the Happiest Baby Ever. He gives his smiles away pretty easy but the laughs take some work – if you happen to know the Super Secret Special Sound to make him lose his mind then you can make him laugh from another room but otherwise you’ll just be blessed with the sideways smile and nose scrunching.

He stands up SO well these days! He’s getting so strong & agile & I feel like it’s all happening so fast! When he has tummy time on Mommy he doesn’t like to keep his arms up in position but when he does he is accomplishing his baby push-ups and pushing his legs and butt into the air!

Liam is a little cuddler, as most little boys tend to be, but for me it’s just the sweetest part of him growing up – the Mommy Hugs. He just snuggles right into you and I can smoother him with kisses all atop his head and neck and squishy cheeks & he LETS ME!

Like I said, there’s so much changing and developing these days that it’s overwhelming and hard to recapture in a monthly wrap-up so I’m going to try and be better about posting more often so that I can help myself remember all these moments with Liam.

VACA!

Liam's favorite part of his activity center is his animal noise maker. His favorite by FAR is the cow. You hit it once and it moos, again and it says cow, again and it says vaca again and it plays Old McDonald. He will hit the cow 8 out of 10 times - I counted it yesterday.

Although I'm getting a tad sick of sing E-I-E-I-O, he loves it. I fondly refer to that damn cow as Mother Vaca (say it out loud and quickly).

But how can you hate it so when this is the face looking up at you after he hits it?

Just so you know

It was a year ago today we found out we were pregnant :)

Growing Boy!

I know I mentioned that I took the pillow away from underneath Liam's feet in the activity center a couple of weeks ago but just this week, OVERNIGHT, he grew some more & I was really only able to tell because of the activity center.

His feet were touching the bottom but not Fully. Leanne & I put him in it the next day and BOOM his feet were FULLY FLAT on the ground!!

I'm positive this is also what is making him being able to stand so well when we hold him up - he's a ton more stable now & you can feel the strength in his legs increasing daily.

And also, overnight, he went from a size 1 diaper to a size 2! I know this was "overnight" because he peed through his sleeper, blanket & sheets TWICE in one night. And this little guy gets so upset when he pees through, he does his sad cry & just wants to be held and cuddled. Unfortunately, we had just gotten some size 1 diapers when we were in AoE but thankfully, we had size 2 diapers since my diaper cake from my baby shower were made totally of size 2 PAMPERS!!

My Boys

This morning I was surrounded by My Boys in bed. Monkey was on the side by the edge of the bed with his head on my arm all tucked into me, Liam was on the other side between his Daddy & me, then Daddy was over on the other side with his arm under Liam, me & Monkey. Only one missing was My Girl, and it turned out she was in the room, just not in bed with us! I wished I had a tripod set up to capture the moment but I simply had to close my eyes and commit it to memory. And then I went back to sleep surrounded by My Boys.

Later in the morning, Daddy & Liam were watching Transformers & lying on the floor and it was just the sweetest little boys moment.

I know I have tons of those moments to come.

Picture of the Day

Just hanging around

NapTunes

It seems that if you play The Beatles for our little Fellow that he sleeps for hours. HOURS. Yesterday it was almost 2 ½ hours, today, he’s been down for close to an hour already!

YIPPEEE!! We’ve found the golden ticket!! No more Cat Napper!! We have a portable CD player that I bought years ago for Tour Time Hotel Music Needs and I just plugged it in up there and he’s OUT.

Matias started to list off all these albums he liked and I just stopped him and said “I have 3 Greatest Hits CDs, that will do”. So now, I’m listening to The Beatles through the monitor. I actually got to take a shower and get ready all while he’s napping!

I love the smell of Naptime in the morning.

Our Visit to the Park!

Liam & I went over to Kym & Joey’s to go the park last week – it was his first trip to a park! We had other playdates arranged but rain always seem to cancel them out during the summer-time…so this was his first venture to the land of swings and slides!

He didn’t much care for the swing – don’t worry, I sat with him in my lap, arm completely wrapped around him! He almost started to cry so I jumped off right quick, but the slide was a different story. He smiled the whole way down and I think I could have gotten a laugh out of him if we repeatedly kept going on it but Mommy’s Ass (it deserves to be capitalized at this moment in time) was -->thisclose<-- to getting stuck while going down and we couldn’t have that happen in public!

He also loves taking walks in the wind – he talks the whole time, ok jibber-jabbers, and smiles and when you check on him he’s expression reads Pure Bliss. So we go Wind Walking and it keeps/makes him happy! Hopefully, it’s also working off some of Mommy’s Ass in the process too. Cause trust me, I’ve never been one of Those People who find themselves sitting on the couch and thinking “I should do some sit-ups right now” and then ACTUALLY DO THEM. Oh, the thought crosses my mind but then I go eat some Halloween candy or something.

Listener Supported – Liam Approved

On Saturday when Daddy went to play soccer and it was too cold for us to venture out with him to watch, I decided to put on a DMB DVD to see what Liam’s reaction would be…he was ENRAPTURED. Loved every single second of it & enthusiastically approved of the many close ups of Dave (would SMILE and giggle) and he appears to be a Roi fan! He sat on my lap and just watched & listened. It was so darling! The good thing about the gas fireplace is the reflective glass covering it, you can watch his reflection in it (and see what Daddy’s up to in the kitchen!) without having to be in front of him. It was just too cute. I wonder if all the times of us listening & the four shows he went to had any effect? Like was he thinking, “FINALLY! So THAT’S what that guy looks like!” and “isn’t he funny when he dances?” Carter or Stefan didn’t get much of a reaction out of him and Boyd started to gain his attention later into the show, but for the time being he’s ALL about Dave & Roi.

His favorite song, BY FAR, is Rhyme & Reason, not the BEST song for a baby but he just goes batshit crazy for it. I had to play it again for Daddy to see & his little legs were stuck straight out, feet jamming & squeals were being emitted at top decibel. So Rhyme & Reason, it is. I was a little bummed that Satellite wasn’t on the set list ONLY for the reason of wanting to see what his reaction would be to someone singing it who sounds decent and to discover that there’s more than one verse. Of course, he really like PNP intro and then was pleasantly surprised with Rapunzel – I wish I could have captured it on film but I didn’t want to risk putting him down and sitting on his own only for him to start crying and then ruin the moment for him (and the picture!) so I left him alone with his new found joy.

It was really fun to watch him react to The Boys – he really got a kick out of it – and the smiles to prove it! I was joking that Listener Supported would be on Saturdays, GORGE on Sundays…you get the picture…but I’m not at all afraid to throw one in if he decides he’s going to get fussy on me & we are out of things to do!

Picture of the Day

I just cannot help but love that little face.

Growth Spurt

It seems our Little Liam Fellow has had a growth spurt in the past 48 hours or so!

A couple of days ago we had to bolster him up on his activity center by putting a throw pillow under his feet & when I put him in it today, he doesnt need the pillow anymore. When did that happen??!?

He has been sleeping longer in the afternoon but I was just thinking he rearranged his schedule again since the Evil, Evil Time Change of 2006 and he was going to sleep longer in the PM Nap Time Slot but it seems he must have been growing during that time!

I hope he still takes long naps in the afternoon though - those were nice! ;)

Liam's First Halloween, y'all

Liam in his Baby's First Halloween outfit his Auntie gave him. Throwing his feet up in the air as he is doing all the time these days, I just thought it was fitting that his little footsies said BOO! on them :)















Mommy with her Tigger getting ready to go out Trick or Treating - notice that Liam is holding his goodie bag (yes, Grandma that IS the bag you sent his books in!) all on his own!



Daddy with his baby Tigger and all his candy he got when we went out - notice the whiskers, courtesy of Mary Kay & my free gift of brown lip liner. That's probably the most use I'll get out of that...

Busy Boy

Liam likes talking on the phone - here he is "talking" to Grandma yesterday morning. I usually take the phone away from him when he starts licking it or attempting to shove it in his mouth along with his fists.


Check out the Big Boy in his Big Activity Center! This was the first time I put him in it & he swiveled himself around and touched and whacked and played with every single damn thing on this Monster.



Tummy Time Break - taking a little break from his push-ups to smile at Daddy. He really likes his snake & it has really helped in helping him enjoy Tummy Time which he detests.

Big Day!

Oct. 24th - Liam started sucking his thumb

Last week, Liam found his thumb & started taking naps in his crib - a big day for everyone involved! Mommy sucked her thumbs for many, many years & I have no problem whatsoever with Liam sucking his thumb. We just arent sure how much what thumb he sucks relates to if he'll be left or right handed...he's an equal opportunity thumb-sucker at the moment, so we'll just wait and see.

Oct. 25th - Liam starting napping in his crib



Here's also a picture of Liam taking his first nap in his Big Boy Bed! Every since he's learned to roll onto his side (Oct. 23rd he started rolling from his back to his side and then back onto his back), he's LOVED sleeping on his side, in fact, if you flip him onto his side you can almost always get him to sleep in under 35 seconds.



And this last picture is just humorous to me :) I did NOT put his chupie there, he did it himself. I swear. I only put toys on his head, not chupies on his face.

Cuteness Overload

I have a bunch of really great pictures from the past couple days that I want to post but I'm having issues deciding on which ones!!

I'll probably get over those issues after he goes down to bed tonight and just post a slew of them :)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

BOO!

Seriously Evil Time Change

This once good sleeper has now started getting up at 5 or 5:30AM, AM PEOPLE, and not going back to sleep. And he's learned to SQUEAL so that's normally what we we hear. He's now sitting happily in his papasan with vibrate on squealing away and sending the cats running and it's 7:40AM.

This early rising shit is for the birds.

Big Boy

My little man has been sleeping in his crib the past two nights! YAY and BOO!

I started him out just taking his naps in there but then last night Matias asked where I wanted him to put him down (Daddy puts him to bed) & I just said "crib" and then we decided that when he woke up we would bring him into his cradle (still in our room). He didnt wake up until 4:30 (5:30 OLD time) so he slept most of the night in his Big Boy Room in his Big Boy Bed!

He looks so tiny in it!! And so HUGE in his cradle!! Mommy's not ready for this!! I went in tonight to give him his chupie & he just looked so damn cute stretching in his crib...then I quietly sneaked back out as to not wake him up & he went back to LA LA Land. Of course, I took a picture of his first nap in his crib but I should get a picture of him waking up in the morning also...

Speaking of the nursery, I got a few things from my Want List this week!

-- two really cute frames - white & light blue (I think we're going with the light blue accent color, navy just seems so dark in there for some reason!)
-- a new changing pad slip cover in light blue. I just went with the cheaper one from Target, it's nice and a cozy terry cloth fabric - the color is just taking me some time to get used to since we've only had white in there so far!

Things We Still Need to Get:

-- window treatments from PBK in light blue (SURPRISE!)
-- shelves (I'm going to go to Michael's and just paint the unfinished ones myself)
-- lamp (need to drive out to IKEA soon and pick that up!)
-- night light (Matias had one picked out from the store today but it wasnt cutting it for me! Too boring & sterile looking - I need a PIG or something in there)

I know it probably seems strange that we havent decorated or even finished his nursery yet and he's almost 3 1/2 months old BUT I just couldnt do anything without knowing the sex first and then finding out what type of little boy he was, PLUS we've had these three months of him being in our room anyway so it's not like he was really USING his room beyond getting changed & diapered there! I'm glad we waited but now I just want to pull it all together but I LOVE what has changed so far & that's part of not being able to wait till it's all finished, you know?

But, yeah, my little Liam Fellow is sleeping in his nursery in his Big Boy Bed.

sigh - where has all the time gone already?

Next Stage

So it's still sitting in pieces in our living room because we couldnt fit it in our car with the stroller so we had to take it out of the box...BUT...we have moved onto our next stage with Liam & we went ahead and bought him an activity center! Matias stuck him in it at the store & we took it for a test drive to make sure he liked it and was engaged by it - he already whacked a few of the buttons & moved some of the balls around!! And he looked so Grown Up sitting in his little excersaucer!! I'll post pictures once I get him in it :)

Here's the specs for it:

• Nine activity toys
• Fun animal sounds
• Teaches animal names in English and Spanish
• Baby-friendly classical music
• Your baby can rock, spin, bounce, or sit
• Seat rotates 360 degrees
• Three-position height adjustment
• Removable, washable seat cushion
• On/off switch and volume control
• Suitable for children less than 32" tall who are not walking

P.S. I know I said I wasnt going to go for the "big Baby Einstein" one BUT they are discontinuing the smaller Graco or Evenflo one (cannot remember at this moment) and the choices below that price point were nothing to write home about. The seat doesnt rotate (which I REALLY wanted) and there wasnt anything about them that looked enticing, sure they turned into walkers when he needs that but I dont think we're going to look to depend on a walker for him at that point...so yeah, we got the big one!

Evil, Evil Time Change

This time change is messing with my sweet baby.

He's been up since 5:30 OLD time and been really unsettled the whole morning. He's eaten and taken a nap and been changed and ready to go for the day all before 9:30 NEW time. That's how long it took me to notice that some clocks were an hour "behind". GAH.

Poor guy. Poor Mommy too. Matias tried to lay a guilt trip on me when I left him with Daddy in bed (hoping he would go back to sleep like he always does with Daddy) - he came down with him all sad looking with "REAL tears" after having been calling for me for like a 1/2 hour. He's trying to use the whole "he says Maman" against me - but guilt trips dont work on me. I DO feel bad though that he couldnt calm down and was looking for me BUT he cant always be brought to me every single time he does that - there's two parents here, and sometimes one of them needs a break AND that's not the one still lying in bed.

Evil, evil time change.

Costume idea

I was thinking the other day that Liam actually looks a little like Charlie Brown - with his funny hairline and all - and how cute he would be dressed up as him for Halloween!

I think it's a bit late though to be thinking of costume ideas so maybe next year, right?

Damnit, I just found baby shirts on Ebay...

Sneak Peek!

Oh Daddy, what will we do with you?

From last night as Daddy came to bed with Liam-

Daddy with Liam & his laptop in his arms:

Daddy: What do you think I'd drop first?

Mommy: (silence) Honestly trying to respond but also trying to figure out what would be best situation to drop Liam (carpet, hardwood, on the bed...) and I couldnt come up with an answer. (crickets chripping)

I know that he wouldnt drop EITHER but that stipulation of "which one FIRST" really threw me.

Do y'all see what I have to deal with? Devil's Food & Dropping Laptops...the fun never ends, folks!

3 Cute pictures of Liam during the last month

Swimming in the tub - you are quite good at dog paddling when Daddy flips you over to have me wash your backside!


This is just TOO CUTE - sitting in bed with Daddy before getting up to start your day


In Cville - just plum tuckered and ready to fall asleep in about 1/2 second!

These are from Auntie Leanne (she's old AND wise!) & I just think they express all your cuteness in 3 distinct ways.

Happy 3 Month Birthday!

Wow, Liam, what a month you had!!

For four weekends in a row you experienced something new and exciting and I experienced it all right along with you.

You went to Charlottesville to meet your DMB Freak Family, The Babysitter watched you while Mommy & Daddy went to two DMB shows – making that your first time being left & also the first time I had ever been apart from you for more than 2 hours. I couldn’t stop talking about you & I knew I sounded like one of Those Mothers who cannot talk about anything other than their kid but I didn’t care cause I’m so proud of you & love you so much and talking about you when you weren’t with us made me feel closer to you. I missed you when we were apart & I thought about you all the time – I know your Daddy did too cause when I whispered to him that I missed you, he said “I do too” and we smiled knowing how special you are. You met some very important people in our lives and they welcomed you with open arms and lots of hugs & everyone was so very happy to have met you FINALLY. I’m glad that we got to go to the shows but I don’t know what I would have done if we had been apart for the entire weekend and hadn’t been able to fly The Babysitter in from Canada to watch you for us, how could I have survived being apart from you for so long? So, not only did you meet our Freak Family but you also got to spend 3 more days with Auntie Leanne, Grandpa & Grandma in Charlottesville!!

The next weekend was your Baptism in Washington in the church that Mommy & Daddy got married just a little over a 1 ½ years ago! We had a lot of family in town that weekend – I think there was probably over 15 of us here supporting you in your first step in becoming a member of the Catholic church. I baked you a cake that Auntie Leanne helped me (and when I say help, I mean “basically did everything”) finish – she made the icing, cut the cross out & slathered most of the icing on it for me, I was too nervous to make a mistake and ruin this for you, I wanted it to be perfect & I wasn’t sure if I could do that for you, so I asked for help. Never be afraid to ask your family for help – that’s what they are for, Liam. I just hope that you become the catholic I know you can be with the “proper” guidance. Your behavior amazed everyone, including the priest, but I knew you had it in you – you love to watch everything happen & you like to participate in things around you – even at this age, I can tell you are a Joiner and not a Spectator, I hope you keep that attitude throughout your life and don’t lose it because it seems to come so naturally to you. You watched the priest as he baptized you, you watched our hands as your daddy, your Godfather, Godmother & myself held a candle over you & you even helped cut your own cake!

THEN the next weekend we went to Grandma & Grandpa’s house for the VERY FIRST TIME!! You are so spoiled when you are with them – spoiled with love and kisses and hugs and they never stop telling you how much they love you, how special you are, how perfect you are & you just take it all in & reward them by laughing out loud for them FIRST (I’m not bitter, don’t worry!)! It’s nice for me, Mommy, to get the extra help with you but let me tell you a little secret, it’s not HELP or WORK for them to spend time with you and change your diapers or rock you to sleep or walk with you during Fussy Hour – they wouldn’t want to be anywhere else doing anything else. Don’t ever take that for granted. If you can remember these times that you’ve been surrounded by love, you’ll be able to make it through anything knowing that you always have us to fall back on when you need it. And that’s why you always go home for Canadian Thanksgiving.

We went back to North Carolina for a wedding that week by train & you were so well behaved and just adapted to everything happening around you so easily. You nursed & napped and played on the train like we were sitting in our family room and not on a loud, fast moving train with weird smells and loud talking people & I couldn’t have been happier with you! Who ever thought I’d be a Mother on a train with an 11 week old and LOVING IT?!?! I taught you that “a train goes WOO WOO” and when I say that to you, you respond with a little WOO. At the wedding, you sat on my knee and WATCHED it all happen. You got scared when everyone clapped and I just cuddled you into me & you were ok. You napped through most of the reception when you were in Grandma’s arms meeting all of her friends! When we went to the celebration dinner later that evening you slept through the entire thing – you woke once & all I had to do was pick you up and tuckle you into me & you went right back to sleep. No one could get over how well you behaved but that’s just all about being a Liam Fellow, isn’t it? We stayed until Monday morning so that we could spend time with everyone & waited for Auntie Leanne to come home from her trip to PA so that she could see you again & spoil you with her attention. We dressed you up in your First Halloween costume & posed you amongst all of Grandma’s pumpkins and got some heart melting, ovary flipping pictures of you – the first one I saw I couldn’t believe you were my son – you are so cute, and loveable, I just couldn’t get over that what I was looking at was actually MINE. It can take me by surprise sometimes, I can get a little distance and see you from afar and just be in shock that you “belong” to me – or more accurately that I BELONG TO YOU. You’ve got my number, kid. And I’m just fine with that.

You’ve started doing so many things, hitting so many milestones at once that it’s so hard to keep up with you sometimes. The laughing out loud just makes me happy – when Grandma was dancing with you to Jack Johnson & I was singing and dancing around with y’all and you LAUGHED and LAUGHED like it was the best thing in the world – to me it was. You were so happy listening to the music with us singing along for you, dancing in circles in Grandma’s arms…you just giggled like a little boy who just GOT IT. It’s like you’ve already got it all figured out. Please keep that with you. Always know that music and singing and dancing will always make you laugh out loud especially if you are doing it with other people who you love.

You are scaring me cause I think you’re teething and I’m petrified that you’ve saved all your “badness” up for this time! I know it’s early for you to be teething but your Uncle Chris cut his teeth early so…and all the DROOLING (daddy calls you his Drool Boy), and shoving of the fists in your mouth and the sucking on the burp rags and your teething toys & the increasing fussiness when you nurse…it all points in that general direction. Plus, I can see some little nubby points breaking through where no nubby points existed before, young man!

You now prefer to sleep on your side & when I rock you to sleep, as I do before every nap & bedtime, you just roll over into my chest and roll your eyes back and you are OUT. You cry when I put you down on your back so I have to reposition you onto your side and you go right back to sleep. I asked my Mommies Group about this & everyone basically said that all their 3 month olds usually start rolling to their side to sleep so I know you’re ok & I’m not allowing you to do something to might hurt you. And goddamn it’s just too cute to see you all tucked up like that. You can roll over from your side to your back and then back to your side but Tummy Time is still an issue with you – although you have reached all your milestones, you haven’t really always done it with smiles on your face!

You watch TV. You love the news, especially the weather report. You actually sit up and watch it. You also watch Jeporady! at 12:30 with Daddy & me before your nap. Last night I thought you had had enough of the news (I think they were talking about the president) and I decided to put Curious George on so that you could hear Jack & possibly watch something a little more age appropriate. YOU LOVED IT. You laughed out loud, you “danced”, you smiled and you sat the entire time GLUED to the screen. Daddy calls you a TV Fan & I know it’s probably not the best thing for you to be attracted to at the moment but, jesus, it sure is cute. As soon as the music started you were spellbound, you just love yourself some Jack. And again, that’s just fine with Mommy.

I caught Daddy dancing with you today while he was playing the Beatles for you and my heart melted. You were loving it & I think it’s safe to say, so was Daddy.

All your new noises are just so much fun, our conversations are never boring! You tell me just about everything that’s on your mind & I hope you always do. I know you wont, but at least for now, I know you like telling me everything that crosses your mind & I’ll always listen even if I don’t understand.

You still really don’t like it when I’m not in your line of vision & although I don’t mind it most of the time (cause really how far should I be away from you?), it does make things a little difficult to get done! You still LOVE being on your changing table, but I’m well aware that will probably change within the year! You’ve started to discover that you control your feet and you’ve acquired the skill of finding your poopy diaper with your feet already. You haven’t quite gotten them to your mouth yet, but I just attribute that to you being so tall! Now you don’t only think your own farts are really funny but also that Mommy & Daddy’s are pretty silly too. It’s like a little inside joke when you smile at me after I’ve, hmmm, really let one rip. I think if you could high five me, you would.

Mystic has really taken to you and enjoys spending time with you on the couch & still retreats to her bag when you begin to cry. Monkey, I think, slept in your cradle when we were gone cause there’s just way too much fur in there to have been transferred from you to your sheets! He’s still not quite sure about you when you move about but has become a lot braver about sticking around when you start to get going. You almost always have Monkey Fur between your fingers and toes, I’m trying to at least keep it out of your mouth since your fists are always trying to fit in there, but it IS really interesting when I find it in your diaper!

My catalog of Songs I Sing to You While You Fall Asleep has not really expanded – I added Crash Into Me & you seem to like that one! I can actually sing all of Nancies and you haven’t complained about that either. But usually I just have to sing London Bridge (my fair Liam, of course), Twinkle Twinkle, Fere Jacques, & Satelitte and you are asleep. You didn’t really appreciate The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow this afternoon so I don’t think I’ll be adding that to our permanent catalog.

You play with almost all your toys! It’s hard to pick a favorite one cause you play with all of them with the same enthusiasm. Although we do have a couple of “fail safe” toys that I always bring out to keep you company!

I have to go now cause you just started crying & I need to go make sure everything is ok with my little Liam Fellow. I love you, sweetie. OK FALSE ALARM! You were just restless, but you’ve been waking up during the night since you started teething and been quite inconsolable. I know I shouldn’t run to you like I do but if something was ever wrong and I didn’t react, I don’t know what I would do. On a funny note, one night I was hearing these weird noises on the monitor when you were sleeping & I FINALLY figured out that these loud, booming sounds were you FARTING. And I laughed. You always make me laugh, Liam. I hope I do the same for you.

Happy 3 month birthday, my little bundle. Mommy loves you, more than even she can imagine.