We're back!

Back from the beach & recovering from a week away from the cats, mainly, as they get so very needy when we are gone for longer than 12 hours! Not much free from cat time lately!

I've got all the pictures rotated and such, just need to go through & edit them down and all that fun stuff before posting them.

Needless to say we had a great time regardless of the wind, sandblasting & Nor'Easter that came at us on Wednesday! We were able to actually get to Hatteras Island before the road was closed from flooding but did not get up the lighthouse due to gale force winds at the top but Liam discovered his love for all things Lighthouses. We didn't get to play in the ocean as much as one would wish but enough birds got fed (bird bread! says Liam) and sand was played with so the beach scene was a success! Dinners were eaten out (Pepper! says Liam) & not much bad behavior from our Little Fellow just lots of fast eating on Mama's part to ensure we got out before Meltdown arrived & that Liam at least attempted his Eat Out Food (not much of a fan of eating out, this little one). Naps were tackled when they presented themselves & bedtimes came about on time due to the Nap on the Go routine we adjusted to.

LOTS of quality family bonding time for Liam through it all though. Hand holding with Auntie, reading & coloring at home before dinner time & playing on the beach. Nana's "beach home" was a big hit, of course, with our little traveler - even requesting that Mama get herself a "beach home" on numerous occassions on the drive home yesterday. Grandpa is definetly being called "Earl" in Liamese although we are attempting to change that!

Liam learned a LOT of new words this week & it was so much fun to tell him about places & things and have him pick it up immeadiately and understand what we were talking/telling him about it. Lighthouses, Wright Brothers Memorial First in Flight, Beach homes, Beach Bum, Beach, Pepper...and quite a few more were all added right into his little dictionary in a matter of hours.

I will write more, with pictures, when I get the time & energy to do it all justice. It was such a treat to take our little Liam Fellow to the beach for the FIRST time with his Nana (sometimes just Nan), Grandpa & Auntie. Cannot wait to do it again :)

Next Stop - Kitty Hawk!

I think I'm just about all ready to head down, across, over to the beach! Cannot wait to see his expression when he sees all that water! And run on the sand - I'm not sure how he'll like the feel of it but we'll sure find out, won't we?!?

Lately, Liam has really taken some big steps with stringing words together, making sentences and two word phrases. It's so cool to watch him pick it up so quickly.

The latest things he is saying are "chupie bag" (he commandeered a baggie to carry his chupies around in), "go to bed" & naming off ingredients in his recipes that he cooks up. He's got some others but I'm drawing a brain dead blank right now...

I'm just really so excited for this week - so many new things he'll get to experience! Lighthouses, turtles, sand, ocean, waves, aquariums, eating out often! Only suckerific thing is how much rain we are supposed to be getting while there. I'm crossing my fingers that it will be overnight rain or nap time rain, you know? There's an indoor pool (I bevlieve) so I'm sure there will be no shortage of asking to go there in case of rain.

All I've got left to do is pack up our last minute stuff - monitor, blankies, pillows, etc... and then we can HIT THE ROAD!

I might stop in while we are there but I'm not sure I can plan on it :) If not, I'll see y'all next week!

A Jen & DMB Update

Matias & I woke up one morning a few days after LeRoi had died and we had both decided that we needed to go to the Greek Theater shows. I need to go the shows for two reasons; 1) Sunday's show is LeRoi's bday show & 2) I feel like going to another show this tour will help me. So on Friday morning we are heading out to CA to be with FreakFamily & RealFamily (brother lives in Northern CA) while Nana & Grandpa mind the Fellow for us.

The problem here is that I haven't been able to listen to DMB since Roi passed on that Tuesday. I'm serious. I cannot listen. I don't turn it when it comes on the radio but I bawl through the song. Matias is dealing with this by head-on just listening to anything & everything he can. When I hear him playing his music, I cry.

I know I have to do something about this before we go to the show on Saturday or I will surely be One Hot Mess. I mean, I know it's going to hard and beautiful & healing all at the same time & there will be copious amounts of crying involved anyway but it does not need to be the first time I listen to them.

Matias suggests I listen to the 8.19 show. I'm sure that would be best but I'm not quite sure when or how to go about doing that. I've thought about listening to it on the plane but I'm not quite sure the other passengers would appreciate the Ugly Cry. It's a little complicated to listen & mourn & heal with a two year old around. (I'm not blaming him!) I think what I need to do is get a bottle of wine, head outside (after the Fellow has gone nightnight) turn it on & just Be. It will be ugly, there's no doubt but I guess I'm just a 'pull the bandaid slowly' kind of girl and Saturday would be a 'pull the bandaid hard and fast' kind of night & really, no one needs to witness that. I was almost ready last night but LeNelle wasn't and Matias wasn't home (fixing a friend's computer) and she's in the same boat I am but I thought maybe if we ripped each other's bandaids off it would be best...

So it is obvious that Matias & I mourn differently; and that's such a pleasure to discover, let me tell you. Or maybe, I should listen to Nissan? Roi's last show & I was there...? Yes, thank you, I think that's what I will do. And if time, mental & emotional state allows, maybe I will listen to 8.19.

We are returning on Tuesday with the FellowSitters leaving town on Wednesday so you won't hear from me until towards the end of the week, OK?

Total Cop-Out

Things We Have Done in the Past Week

1. Hosted an asado at our house for 20 of our closest friends & went to an awesome (albeit probably the last show of the tour for Roi...) DMB show
2. Went to Camp Carolina with Nana & Grandpa, Mystic (yes, the cat) & Liam
3. Went to a really cool playground down the street, practically, from Camp Carolina
4. Went to a park with a train & a merry-go-round! Two FIRSTS for Liam!
5. Celebrated CANADA DAY!
   
6. Liam went to his SECOND DMB SHOW! He didn't fall asleep until about 10pm (Smooth Rider, I believe) & then woke up less than an hour later to finish off the show.
7. Had a sleepover at Auntie's!
8. Learned how to say "money"
9. Started an obsession with the GARAGE. What is it???
10. Celebrated the 4th of July! Our fireworks got rained out 15 minutes before they were supposed to start! And we kept the Fellow up for them! Liam has never seen fireworks...last year they got rained out in CT also!
11. Went for a ride in a 1921 Ford Model T - totally awesome & totally recommended!
12. Went back to the amazing park & ran across the Squeaky Bridge 427405 times.
13. Got some much needed (and CHEAP!) jammies at the Carter's Outlet (please note, the 3 piece sets ((shirt, shorts & pants)) are $5.99 right now!!)
14. Introduced Liam to the rocket ship shopping cart at grocery store
15. Learned how to say "green beans"
16. Started to learn how to ride a trike!
17. Helped bake a cheesecake
18. Was attacked by a shark AND a bear!
19. Liam had his outfit changed TWICE before Mama figured out finally to just put his swim trunks on him already for the love of god.
20. Charmed & bamboozled everyone with his loving Fellow ways

We had an awesome week at Camp Carolina & I wish I had the time (and energy) to write more details about it all & maybe I will throw a quick story up every now & then but I wanted to get it all down before too much time passed (Bonjour Montreal!) & then other adventures happened...

We've got his birthday coming up in just about a week and a 1/2 (WHAT?) and then Jen & Matias get to go to Deer Creek for some Adult Time! So we'll be busy & doing fun fantastic things, that's for sure!

Summer is definitely in full swing!!

Montreal - Sunday

Sunday morning we had to head back over to The Condo so that Carol could go to church & we were with GG so after breakfast we packed up our stuff for the day & again, said goodbye to the "wow-wow" & Barbabra (a name Liam picked up real quick!). We let him run around and play in the car before heading over - the rental car had one of those new fangled keys that looks like a USB stick but that did not deter Liam from figuring out how to start the car himself!

This is Liam's International Sign for Charlie Brown!

Running around outside of Wright Base. I absolutely ADORE this picture.

After Liam had lunch & was put down for his nap, my dad & I headed over to Canada Drive-In for some smoked meat sammiches! Total Montreal classic right there & although they are not the most stellar offerings, they are very good indeed & it was Matias' first introduction to them. I had brought an Mini Everyday Easel for GG to put up in her room complete with a very cute picture of Liam playing at the playground so I gave that to her & she seemed to enjoy it very much. My plan is to send one every other month and then she can put the old one in an album and at the end of the year (or so) she will have a completed album of what Liam has been up to.

Liam ready for lunch at The Condo. Carol had borrowed a highchair that was a tad on the old fashioned side because I think it was old! He loved banging on the metal tray though & I think the pink seats nicely compliments his coloring.

We were heading back over to Wright Base for a BBQ dinner with Mike's sister, Pat & her husband Allan so when Carol got home & Liam was up from his nap, we kind of left in a whirlwind of activity. For some reason, Liam got up & wanted to GO, he wanted to specifically go in the car, like RIGHT NOW. So, I grabbed all his stuff & we dutiful followed the Fellow out back to the car! I don't know what comes over him sometimes but when he is ready to go he is Ready To Go - he'll go grab his shoes, his bag & find the keys and off to the car we must go. Like right that minute or it's a quick trip to Meltdown City!

Dinner was fantastic & Matias was very pleased with the menu of Meat - his favorite food, you know! Liam played and played and played with Casper some more - Christian & his girlfriend, Kristy were out back with him playing and eventually Casper let him RIDE ON HIS BACK. Which, I'm assuming was a very big hit. For some reason, Liam had started drinking all sorts of juice, something he normally doesn't do at home but he totally chugged Christian's limeade in about 4 large chulps - even before Christian got a chance to have any himself!

Me with Auntie Barbara and of course, The Meat.

We put Liam in his stroller when we had dinner, hoping it would motivate him to eat with us & actually have something other than yogurt or his beloved apple sauce. He did manage to eat about 6 or so bites of SHRIMP! Very much warmed Matias' heart that his son enjoyed those god awful creatures - Mama had a hard enough time touching them to feed them to him! He started to get a little squirrelly & Casper started getting a little too friendly with the easy access vantage point of the stroller being at Lick Level so we put a Charlie Brown on for him & he chilled out while Casper was sent outside (hot-side as Liam calls it!).

From left to right around the table -
Jen, Kristy, Nana, Allan, Barbara, Mike, Pat, Grandpa & Christian. You can spy Liam in his stroller!

After dinner the women flocked to Liam's side as he watched a Baby Einstein - it was so cute to see Barbara, Pat & Nana adoring him & just generally loving on him. Meanwhile, the Men Folk had retreated to the basement for a game of darts! I put Liam to bed but happen to fall asleep myself (it was one of the Butt Crack O' Dawn mornings) but managed to pull myself out of bed (it was one of those Will Only Fall Asleep in Bed with You night-nights) and join everyone downstairs.

It was so nice to be able to spend time with everyone and not have to worry about what Liam was up to or if he would behave properly - he was so great about everything. He never touched anything he wasn't supposed to - minus the little donkey statue that he tried to ride but, come on, that would tempt anyone! He was well behaved with Casper, learning to turn away when the licking got too much and was even beginning to throw his toys for him to fetch. It's always so sweet to watch him warm up to other people & how he favors Nana above all else (even me sometimes!) - even though he will pull the If I Go to Nana I Will Not Get in Trouble Card - which, hello, doesn't work Charlie, sorry! I didn't have to worry about him 'offending' anyone with his Toddler Ways or throwing any tantrums because the boy was happy the entire time & that always makes Mama happy too!

Montreal - Saturday

Liam slept through the night in his own bed (which is a word he says, btw Track Keepers!) on Friday, leaving Mama & Dada with enough rest to face the day ahead of us! Typically, Liam will not sleep through his first night in a place away from home, regardless of how many times he has stayed there before. He will normally wake up between 11 & 1am and only fall back asleep when he is put down in our bed leaving us to sleep with him the rest of the night. Thankfully, most normal people have larger Queen size beds than our puny Full size bed at home so we do have more room & are more comfortable BUT Liam will also wake up at Butt Crack O' Dawn and stay awake whenever he is in the same room as us or in bed with us. It's almost as if he cracks his little eyes open, spies us there & is UP for the day. Usually this occurs between 5:30-6AM. It seems this trip he alternated his Butt Crack O' Dawn wakings with his Normal 7:30 Please Jesus Stay Asleep wakings - this was new for him but surprisingly routine by the end of the 5 sleeps!

Anyway!

After a lovely breakfast of eggies in a cup with fingers/chimneys/ solders/whatever you call slice of toast you dunk into your soft boiled eggies (Christina, ask Kevin what he calls them!) at Barbara & Mike's we organized our Stuff so we could head over to The Condo to spend the day with GG & tour around Greenfield Park.

Liam played around in the morning & took his nap on GG's bed - a first for him to sleep by himself the entire time in a "normal" bed & although I was a little worried about him rolling off & freaking out when he woke up, I was interested to see how it would go. I don't worry too much about him rolling off since he already has his Pillow with him & I spread some others around his perimeter and, of course, laid him sideways to sleep.

We had lunch with GG & hung out until Liam woke up, catching up on everything & about everyone in The Park. It was great to see Liam interacting with GG, "helping" her with her walker, hugging & giving kisses and not being shy around her. He loved showing off all his wonderful signs that he knows & is real quick at learning people's names so that when you say "Where's GG?" he will point right to her! This also helps earn some "points" with the family, but really when you are that cute, that's just icing, right? :)

"Helping" GG with her walker!

When he did wake up, he merely called out for his Mama and stayed in the middle of the bed, sitting up but not budging to get down & fall off! I was hoping that would be the case & he just wouldn't get down (although he could) and come on out, I would like it if the same thing happened when we transfer him to a Big Boy Bed (which is not on the horizon, just saying) or we might be in trouble come 5:30 Butt Crack O' Dawn ;)

We decided to go for a walk around Greenfield Park showing Matias all the sights - he remarked numerous times that "y'all have history on every street, on every corner, on every block" and yes, that's just about spot on. Greenfield Park is a small suburb, with old families there (both in age and amount of time they have lived there) and lots of intertwined histories because of it. Example - my parents both grew up on Fairfield but on different sides of Churchill - if you ask my mom she'll tell you that my dad was from the "wrong side of the tracks". The pool I learned to swim in is down the street. The Canadian Legion where just about everything happens is across the street from The Condo. So and so's son bought so and so's house and look at all the renovations they've done is a common conversation starter. If the house didn't stay in the family, some other established Greenfield Park family bought it.

Mama, Nana & Fellow (still in a good mood) walking around The Park

We went by the church my parents got married at and there was a wedding that had just ended! We walked by Grauntie Jean's house, we stopped and gawked at all the houses that are so out of place with their over-the-top tacky-ass renovations, took pictures of all the cats we passed that were outside lounging, smelled blooming lilacs, found rocks & tossed them in puddles as we passed by.

Collecting rocks for Liam to throw into puddles. Here he expertly chooses the perfect one for the task.

We went past my Grannie & Poppy's house (my dad's parents) that has stayed in the family and now one of my cousin's family is in it - a lot has been changed on it, that's for sure, but I'd like to think I'd still recognize it! Unlike the house we used to live in that we passed TWICE and still didn't recognize it until I finally convinced them that it WAS the right address! Then we went down to see Grandma's house, I will always refer to it as Grandma's house even though a different family lives in it now - it was hers for 63 years, and in my mind it will always be hers. It's the house my mother grew up in & it's the house with the Haunted Room. And I wish I were kidding with you. That room is haunted, for real. It was a relief to see that next to nothing had been changed since the title switched hands - only windows & doors had been replaced but nothing had been torn down. I saw someone in the dining room and lingered as long as I could without looking creepy hoping they might come out since we were taking pictures and all...but no such luck. I would have liked to have shown Matias around - maybe next time though, right? We got our picture in front of the tree though so I'm pleased about that - three generations in that picture - not too shabby, eh?

In front of Grandma's House on Fairfield
Haunted Room is upper left one!

By this time, Liam had had it with being strapped in his stroller. He was begging to get out but we couldn't let him run/walk/do an Irish Jig because there's just too many "busy" streets for him to run out in (and plus, we are still working on the whole hand holding thing). We let him out for a bit to throw some rocks in a few puddles but man, did he get cranky! Once we got back to The Condo, Matias took him out to run (he sounds like a dog...) but when he brought him back in he clearly was not done with Being Outside so my mom & I took him on a walk across the street to discover the playground there. He had a blast on all 5 of the slides - they do their parks right there, let me tell you that much! Finally got him tuckered out & got him all Fresh Air-ized to the point that he finally calmed down & was back to being his typical Fellow self instead of this maniac brute throwing himself on the ground for 5-10 seconds at a time! We had fun too, chasing him around & playing with him on all the different set ups they had :)

We had dinner with GG & Carol (a nice lasagna, if you are interested!) and headed back to Barbara & Mike's (we'll just call this Wright Base from here on out for my lazy typing sake, ok?) for the night.

Grandma & Auntie Carol fixing the salad -right before Nana heckled GG into sitting down right this minute or I'll sit you down myself ;)

My mom came back with us this night & we got to Party It Up Crazy Canadian Style until 1:30am! I believe this was a 6am wake up call from the Fellow morning but we don't let him leave the room until 7:30 at least so that other people can still sleep so we usually end up watching Charlie Brown in bed until we hear someone else go into the bathroom :)

It was a nice, slow day - just the right kind to ease you into your vacation full of Touristy Things in your hometown! We had a lot more walking & sightseeing in front of us & this day simply consisted of the 4 blocks surrounding The Condo!

I can watch him throw rocks in puddles for hours.

Montreal - Friday

I will now attempt to recap our Montreal Trip before I let too much time pass & plain forget certain things in my old age :)

We left Friday morning, right at nap time & sailed through Dulles & customs in less than an hour setting us up with perfect time to get Liam some lunch & ready for his nap when we boarded the plane. Everything went really smoothly, minus the 1/2 hour delay of traffic getting the 5 miles down the road past 66 on the way to the airport. Liam is a really champ & loves to fly - laughing & smiling the whole time during take-off! He slept from right after take-off (cannot miss any action) until they announced we would be landing in 20 minutes - the flight is short (just shy of an hour and a 1/2) so his nap was on the shorter side but knowing he was going to see Nana & Grandpa and have lots of family members to meet & new places to explore, I didn't quite worry about his abbreviated nap.

We got through the airport without any delay & our luggage was there waiting for us and Nana was outside! Liam hadn't been told he would see Nana on the flip-side cause I didn't want to cause any "nananananana" action on the plane & whatnot so he was pleasantly surprised to see both her & Grandpa waiting for us outside!

Nana, Fellow & Mama on the road in Montreal. He seems not as thrilled as he actually was, I'm sure he's just his reaction to Grandpa's Quebec Driving Skills & rush-hour traffic across the bridge. Please note the hand on leg positioning indicating duress and 1/2 cocked eye-brow that is Liam's signature Thinking Cap expression.

We went first to Barbara & Mike's (my dad's sister's family so my Aunt & Uncle & Liam's Great Aunt & Great Uncle) house so that Liam could meet the wow-wow (dog) Casper & get acquainted with where we would be staying instead of showing up at bedtime & expecting him to roll with it and then go to sleep for the night. We went straight outside to the backyard so that Liam could stretch his legs & enjoy the space to run around in & we had some lunch.

Dada keeping Liam "safe" from Casper until they could become quick friends!

Liam & Casper took an obvious liking to each other from the start, Liam just had to learn how to deal with such a large, playful dog who has as much energy to burn off as Liam does!

After our late lunch, we headed over to my Grandma's assisted living facility to visit with her for a bit before taking her to the condo, where Auntie Carol lives, for the weekend. For those of you who have not brought a young person into an older person's living facility I must tell you that they will be loved on & coo'ed over & have their arms, face & hands rubbed with the certain affection that only exists between the old & young. And I'm here to tell you that it can overwhelm the young ones :) Liam is great with people though - very generous with his hugs & kisses, a great waver & loves blowing kisses on his way out the door. There is one very friendly woman there, Madeline, who was a nun & a teacher and is now cursed with Alzheimer's who, of course, took a liking to Liam (and my mom!) - Liam was very sweet to her, he even leaned in to give her a kiss goodbye when we had simply 'asked' him to say goodbye. It made her day. Grandma (or GG, for Great Grandma, as the Great Grands call her) was so happy to see us all & her spirits were very high.

When we got back to the condo, Auntie Carol was just getting home from work so we all settled in & had some famous Miss Italia pizza! Matias, my dad & I went to pick it up & enjoyed our first Canadian beer of our trip while we waited for our order to come up :) We hung out some more, just letting Liam get familiar with everyone & everything but he's such a great little traveler that it doesn't take him long to feel comfortable with both his surroundings & the people occupying those surroundings!

Jen & Dad outside Miss Italia waiting on our order

We headed back over to Barbara & Mike's a little after Liam's bedtime but I don't recall having any major issues getting him down to sleep - we'd been able to borrow a pack & play so he had his own bed in our room. My mom had stayed at Carol's condo that night since it was GG's first night home for the weekend & we were heading back over after breakfast to hang out with GG while Carol ran her Saturday Errands with friends. We stayed up a bit talking & catching up with my Aunt & Uncle (they were at the wedding, for the track keepers, Auntie Barbara did the blessing of the meal at the reception) and just plain chilling out after an afternoon of traveling to Montreal & getting settled into our Greenfield Park digs :)

Thankfully, I hadn't forgotten anything and my mom was wonderful enough to go Fellow Shopping for us & had stocked BOTH Barbara's fridge AND Carol's fridge with everything Liam loves (and needs!) so we didn't have to run around to get anything to make our stay easy & pleasant. I'm telling you, everyone needs a Nana - just NOT MINE, ok? :)

Hey! We're back!

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

We arrived safely after the tornado warnings had passed in VA but my Mama is still recovering from eating her way across the island and through Greenfield Park. She promises to have something more to say about our fantastic trip to MONTREAL tomorrow! But for now, she's put about 200 pictures up on dropshots for your tour viewing pleasure :)

New Friend

Rach asked that I post some pictures of Liam & Nathan together from our trip to Louisnati a few weeks ago (was it really that long?) so here they are!

Liam & Nathan playing with a ball & Nathan's favorite tape measure in the office; really attempting to get some computer time!

Liam trying to give Nathan a beso but as you can clearly see Nathan is not quite comfortable with this level of affection from a boy he just met.

Nathan is much more comfortable with the manly man high five!

They spent so much time just simply chasing each other around the house - too funny to listen to both of them squealing and the pitter patter of their footie-pjammied feet scampering around every turn!

Then it was time for Nathan to give Liam the home tour so upstairs they went to explore!

TOMORROW!

We are off to Louisville and then onto Cincy tomorrow to meet Mr. Nathan ICE & to visit with all of our wonderful Midwest Friends Freaks!!

I am so stoked that Liam & Nathan finally get to meet & play together - how much fun is that going to be??

Then we get to go to Cincy where we will be staying with Ms. Nikki (and her lovely husband Chris) - they haven't seen Liam since the CVille shows in 06, I believe he was only 2 months old at that point!

Then we get to go and hang out with 1/2 of the DMBFreak population - Huffy, Lil' Huffy, Huff (3 different people!), Amanda, Megs, Bobbo...!

I cannot WAIT. I am so excited to get everyone together PLUS our two little boys!

But please, let's not dwell on the flight we have to take or the list of things I still have to pack which cannot be packed until tomorrow morning or that we need to be out the door by 9:30...

We'll be back Monday afternoon so I will not hold your breathe that I will back online until Tuesday at the earliest :)

I'm leaving on a jet plane...

...be back on Sunday evening!

We are going to Deer Creek in Indy this weekend for the final shows of DMB at that venue.

Wanted to let y'all know that I will be back sometime next week & hopefully back to my regular programming :)

Nana is FellowSitting with Grandpa this weekend so he is in GOOD hands, but he will be missed. I almost nearly had a little tear appear when saying good night to him this evening since I will not see him until we get home on Sunday.

Alrighty, enough of that.

I put the video up on dropshots :) Tell me that kid just doesn't get about 5 months older looking every time you see him???

Chau!

And we are back on the air!

We are back from our extended weekend in CT for the Fourth! The fireworks got rained out but the party didn't :)

There's some pictures & videos up on the place where shots are dropped of Liam playing with his cousin Luccia (who is two weeks younger than he) that are really quite endearing. It was so fun to watch them play together! We made a point of spending a lot of time with her so that they could explore everything together and play with each other as they never get much time - it's erally cute to watch the two of them since they are so close in age.

I'll write more when I get a chance - trying to get the house back in order, do laundry, clean the floors...you know, all the fun stuff you have to do when returning from a trip!

LeNelle is visiting us this Sunday through Tuesday so Liam will have someone else to dote over him :) Then Wednesday Grandma & cousin Alexis are coming up early to help me get everything prefect for Liam's FIRST BIRTHDAY!! GAH. People, he's a year old next week?

In this time I have to go over & get his pictures taken too - maybe we'll do that next week though - closer to a year, you know?

Liam has a few new words & he now waves whenever he is saying hi & bye BUT yesterday he did say "hi" while waving! And he yells GOL! whenever he sees soccer being played and since Copa America is on right now & Argentina is in the semi-finals - soccer is on a LOT. It's really cute though & I'll get some video of it soon!

I'll write more later!!

Recovery Part Deux

We are back from CT - survived the Nor'easter et all! Now, I'm still just recovering once again & will update for REAL, REAL SOON!

I think we have some video of Liam crawling around with his cousin Luccia...

But right now, I'm stuck watching the news about VA Tech & wondering what in the hell I would do in that situation...I DO KNOW my ass would be at the Inn at VA right quick.

Liam has been napping for the past 2 1/2 hours so I've been enjoying lunch, catching up with Grandma & lounging while watching the news...not complaining about the nap though! I'm sure he needs to "recover" just as much as Mommy does :)

But quickly - does everyone's little ones get SO HAPPY to be home? Liam CANNOT calm down when we get home - he MUST see all his things, and squeal and then go from room to room just bursting. God help you if he happens to stumble upon the cats! I just cannot get over how happy he gets when he returns home. I do have to say though that it makes me very happy that he loves his home so much & recognizes this AS HOME, you know? I swear if he could talk he would be all "MY CRIB!, THE COUCH!, THE BABY GATES!, THE BATHROOM MIRROR!, THE CEILING!" He's a loonie sometimes this one.

Weekend at Camp Carolina

Preface - it is MUCH easier to now call Grandma, Grandpa & Auntie Leanne's Camp Carolina from here on out, I'm a lazy typer & that's a lot of typing :)

We ended up leaving earlier than I expected & were out the door at 2:06pm. Then we sat in HORRIBLE traffic & rain for the next three hours & that's how long it took us to get to Richmond. Usually it's a two hour drive to Richmond, then 20 minutes to 85, then two hours to Camp Carolina. This time we arrived at 8:20 when we should have gotten there at 6:30ish. A big BOO HISS to that.

With that being said, Liam did fantastically in the car. He didnt sleep for as long as we both would have preferred but Daddy kept him busy with books, laughing & a Baby Einstein on the laptop thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately, he did have a HUGE accident after drinking his bottle but we think he got a little carsick since we were still in stop & go traffic. I happen to be looking in the rear view at the exact moment he puked the entire contents of the newly digested bottle all over himself. Thankfully, we were at a rest stop exit & I quickly got off to take care of the boy. Well, Daddy took care of cleaning him up, I just drove or at that point sat in the front seat and felt bad for him.

Liam had a tad bit of "stranger anxiety" when we finally made it to Camp Carolina (is it possible that I am such a lazy typer that Camp Carolina might just become CC?) and saw everyone. It had been three months since Auntie had seen him but just a month since Grandma & Grandpa had visited so it just took a little clinging to Mommy before he warmed up and wanted someone else to hold him. We got him feed and in his jammies and down for the night he went. He slept pretty well that night, only waking at 4:30 or so and of course we just snuggled him into bed with us...

Saturday, St. Patrick's Day, we had some errands to run, hair to be cut, cakes to pick up, coffee & cheesecake to be found & book shopping/browsing to do. Liam was a REAL little trooper through it all - not once really fussing & he took a nap in his stroller in the reclined position at B&N. It was cold so we were not able to go on any walks :( But it was nice to be out of the house and have 3 other people ready & willing to take care of Liam if need be!

We had fantastic corned beef & cabbage - that according to Matias he looks forward to every year & started to get our drink on. I'll leave the rest of that story for my non-bebe blog though as it gets somewhat "adult" in nature ;) Liam stayed up with us to have his First St. Patrick's Day dinner and he was really funny at the table! He sat between Daddy & me in his bumbo seat on a regular chair but would only sit still/behave if he was playing with limes. And by playing with limes, I mean, dropping them on the floor as soon as you hand them to him.

Mommy was supposed to drive home the next evening but the events from the evning before had her on the couch in the fetal position for most of the day. I was lucky to go get my car inspected! It was Auntie's birthday (not going to tell you which one but it IS a DMB song...) so we were planning on an early dinner out so Liam could come too & not be butting up against his bedtime & cake at home. He was REALLY well behaved at the restaurant once we finally put him in the high chair and out of his bumbo - for some reason that went more smoothly. He had a bottle while we ate our dinners, played with some toys & checked out the basketball games in the bar with Daddy. No meltdowns or loud protesting screams! He stayed up for cake at home & attempted to nose-dive into the cake before we even got Happy Birthday to You out! Then it was night-night time for the Liam Fellow & we decided to stay over another night & drive home in the morning so Matias could work a 1/2 day from home...

Sunday, Liam was pretty much in the hands of Grandma & Auntie :) He played with his mixing bowls, took a nap with Auntie on the floor, etc., etc., etc. Sadly, I cannot REALLY tell you everything they did cause I was in that fetal position I mentioned earlier...

We had a great time hanging out with everyone & celebrating birthdays & St. Patrick's Day at Camp Carolina :) Liam did really well on the drive home too, but again only slept for about 45 minutes - this time the drive was only the regular 4 hours and change - so it didnt make that much difference. We came home, feed him, ruffled the cats fur, took him around to show him that he was Home & that everything was still here, and then got him down for a nap.

It was a THREE HOUR NAP. Thankfully! I got to rest on the couch and then I had the energy I needed for Mothering the rest of the day :) One of the good things about driving at night is that you can get to your destination, get settled, probably nurse him & go to sleep for hours...driving during daylight (sounds like a good name for a horror movie about infants who hate their car seats...) you still have to be Mommy & Daddy when you get "there" for god knows how many more hours & traveling can wear one out - especially if it takes over 6 hours for a normally 4 1/2 hour trip! But Liam is a Liam Fellow so I really do not have anything to complain about - minus that whole car sick incident.

My mom got some really great pictures that I will hopefully get copies of next week when they are here (or is it the week after that?) ((goddamn there are FIVE weekends in March...)) and I will share with y'all. He got a neat little "piano" that my mom had stashed from when Kyle was a babe - still in its packaging! Liam was having a ball playing with that & Auntie actually let him play the REAL piano with her :) He got some REALLY cool nesting blocks also & was getting the hang of them, but was also really enjoying checking out all the pictures on them! Grandma & Grandpa got him some REALLY cute books too! And we are adding to our Pooh collection too! Liam TRULY loves books. More so than any other toys he has! YAY!! That makes Mommy & Daddy both thrilled. As an aside - he will dig for his books in his toy baskets and throw his "toys" aside to get to them :) The only difficult thing is rotating new books in - he's got his Favorites and has a tough time cycling new ones in...just takes some diligence from Mommy though!

and ALSO, before I forget...Liam TOTALLY copies his Grandma's coughcough. He's been doing that for a while, around Thanksgiving, but he STILL does it & it's just the cutest little fake cough you ever will hear! And for some reason he went STRAIGHT for Auntie's glasses while NEVER having touched Grandpa's...I think it's because my dad has those invisible frames while my sister actually has the "frames"...

OH and ALSO, this was the funniest thing to happen all weekend - Auntie was holding Liam, Grandma was in front of them (facing them) and I was behind Grandma...he reached out to Grandma, she reached to take him AND THEN HE PUSHED HER ASIDE TO GET TO ME! HA!

My little boy. Mommy loves you too :) But dont be a stinker to the counselors at Camp Carolina!

Going to Grandma & Grandpa's (and Auntie's!)

We are leaving this afternoon to go to NC for a quick little visit :) I was not expecting to leave until bedtime but Matias bribed said that if my mom could get him a haircut appointment for tomorrow he would not have to do that today so we could leave early...yeah that got taken care of in record time!

I'm just packing up all our Stuff & waiting on the little Fellow to finish his nap, no rush!, so I can get his stuff in his room.

He slept in this morning, 9am, so he didnt go down for his nap until 11am! I dont know what came over him but it was fine with me! He's been a HUGE Mommy's Boy the past couple days & will only calm down/go back to sleep for Momma so I've been up every.single.time with him for this entire week. I get a tad cranky about that.

And not to babble on about his sleep schedule, BUT, he has been waking 1-2 times a night (including the SitFG) to be nursed but other than that when he finally goes down and stays down he sleeps well past 8am. If he sleeps through the night, with either no wakings or only 1, he wakes at 7am. Real Catch-22 in this house.