Cant hurt to start him young, can it?

It's official!

Liam's First Concert will be the 5th Annual Huey Lewis event at Wolf Trap on May 31st!

YAY!!

Grandma & Grandpa (funny how he joins us for everything now that the Fellow is here...) will be coming up for the show, staying the weekend (can you say "hit the pool"?) and then on Monday the three of us (no Fellows or Matiases) will be heading back to Wolf Trap to see Tony Bennett!

We are just going to do lawn for Huey since you have to buy a ticket even for "babe-in-arms" and since we dont really know how this will play out with the young Fellow we are just not going to take any chances - esp. with a $20 price difference in tickets :) He'll be just over 10 months at that point so, hopefully, maybe not walking yet...and we can still easily control him and enjoy ourselves somewhat!

So excited :)

More on Sleep Schedules

I believe we have officially begun the Cry It Out portion of our program here at Casa Nino.

Liam has been a handful the past week. In between cutting a tooth, learning to sit in his crib & changing around his nap schedule he has begun to Manipulate the Arms that Rock Him.

This morning at 5:30am was the FINAL straw for me - Matias had already been in there from about 4:30 till 5:10 when he "woke up" again crying - I went in & he SMILED AT ME. That was it, I wasnt falling for that again. I got him back to sleep & left the room - he started crying right away. Not tears streaming down his face crying, but a pouty, noise making cry more akin to "where did you go?" than "I NEED YOU FOR SOMETHING". So I let him cry. And he did cry for more than 5 minutes, then the silence would come, then the lamenting, then the silence. Wash, Lather, Rinse, Repeat until 6:30am when I finally went in to see if he was hungry. He nursed like the Pimp that he is, smiled & coo'ed at me and went back to sleep. Until I put him down. But I walked away & left him crying. He was warm, feed & dry - my top three conditions for leaving him sobbing. But I'm not going to lie to you, I cried lying in bed, knowing that if I picked him up he would stop, but also because I knew he was playing us. We've created this problem by "loving him too much" & that sucks. I mean, he doesnt cry cause he's neglected, hurt or in pain, he cries because he WANTS US & is that REALLY a bad thing?

Yes, it is. When it happens 4097852 times during the night. And I'm going to say it again...Liam does NOT cry unless he REALLY, SERIOUSLY NEEDS SOMETHING. So the CIO method has NEVER appealed to us because why would we make him go through something that he normally avoids like peas? (peas are the new plague, fyi), so it's been really hard on us to come to this decision but when I told Matias that he smiled at me that sealed the deal for both of us.

I'm hoping it helps though because he should be sleeping longer during the night. And since I still worry about his weight, I'm not going to turn him away from the Juice, as long as he nurses properly. When he starts yanking my chain (wow, I really could have gone with a different word there but I'm keeping it clean, folks) about that, then I will cut him off.

So to recap last night - he was up twice before midnight, once at 1am to nurse, 4:30-5:10 he was sleeping in Daddy's arms, 5:30am smiling at me through his crocodile tears, 6:30am nursing, and then he did cry again at some point BUT we had to WAKE HIM UP AT 10AM. And I just dont know what to think about that...did he really fall back asleep in the early hours or was he just quietly defeated? Did he sleep right through till we woke him by standing over his crib and going "What?" out loud because he was tired from not sleeping most of the night? Did he just give up & realize we werent coming for him & just stayed there quietly until we came & got him? I'm telling you, none of those thoughts make me feel any less like crying myself.

And his crib was a disaster. Cuddle pillow was all jacked up at one end of the crib, Curious George was buried under his blankie that he was sleeping on top of on his stomach, chupies tossed everywhere...it looked like he sat there & just tossed everything in sight until he wore himself out or if he spent all his time playing. And ALL that makes me want to do is HOLD HIM ALL DAY TO MAKE UP FOR IT. But doesnt look like I'll get the chance seeing as he's been sleeping since noon & it's two o'clock now...

I know I'm not a bad mother. I know this. But I feel like I've let him down somehow & telling me I havent will not make me un-think that. And I feel like I have to shower him with affection all day to make up for the times I REFUSED to go cuddle him. See Mom, I feel guilt, I just dont do guilt trips! So, I'm a little down today when I should not be - we have so many exciting things happening now and in the coming week that I should be focusing on but it's hard. And my heart thump-thumped a little this morning when he tried to crawl into Daddy's lap to have a book read to him and Daddy didnt know what he was doing (usually does this with Mommy) and when I told him to put him in his lap, Liam turned and hugged on his neck before settling in for a reading of Animal Kisses.

It's a sad day

Liam has a tooth. YAY!!! I'm so excited cause it is really darn cute poking through his little lower gum - it's not ALL THE WAY through yet but, trust me, it's there. Now if you asked Matias he would tell you that Liam does not have any teeth. Someone is in denial, to an extent. He would probably argue with me if he knew I said that because he "doesnt consider it a Tooth until it is ALL THE WAY THROUGH". OK whatEVER.

The Little Big Boy Liam has a tooth!

I'm guessing it will be through completely by the end of next week - just in time for Grandma & Grandpa to see it :) Unfortunately, GG & Auntie Carol might only know Liam with teeth - no gummy smile! And that's a little sad for me.

My Little Bebe is growing up & it's HARD, people!

Notes on a Menu

Liam has been doing much better nursing wise now that I'm supplementing some of his meals with bottles & everyone is basically happier all around. He's happy when he nurses & I'm happy that he's happy & not totally off the Pimp Juice!

The peas did not go over "as well" the next day but that's ok, as long as I can get them in him every now & then, I'm ok with that.

I prepared him some kiwis yesterday & he's thinking about it. I'm sure the texture is testing him but he's doing ok getting them down. Let me tell you though - 3 kiwis only makes about 7-8 oz. of frozen cubes - that's not a whole lot, people.

Today, I'm going to start on some more veggies for him - eggplant & broccoli are just waiting to be cooked up for him!

I've got to start him on some more meats but I do not want to do deli meats unless they dont have any crap in it & I'm not sure how easy that is to find...

Baby Proofing

The baby gates are up after having to make a trip to the store to get those blasted extenders...which cost just shy of 1/2 the cost of the gate! What a racket!

I love them so far though because they didnt take any tools to install, and I did it with limited curse words & of course, because they function properly.

The cats are having a few issues - Monkey stalked the gate & tried to get through, under, over, around it multiple times (this is the one going upstairs) until I couldnt take it anymore and just shoved him through the banisters. Mystic watched the whole time from the dining room table so I'm assuming she took notes & will have no problem with going through the banister rungs...I REALLY dont need her trying to jump it.

I also put the socket covers on the other day - who knew we had so many outlets. Dont get me wrong, I know Liam would find them quicker than we would! And I also bought the cabinet locks for the kitchen. I'm not installing those though cause I just think they look like a pain in the ass & I'm not about to struggle with that :) I've put his Office, House, and gates together with no help, I think this is a good time for someone to do something on *their* own, dont you think?!

And sadly, I do think the best way to figure out what exactly needs baby proofing in your house is to just let them go for it - hear me out - you never see things the same way as a baby & what's interesting to them, you've probably been blind to for decades! Now, I'm not saying he's a walking crawling (BEEP!BEEP!) crash test dummy but it sure helps to see what he's going to go for & then just take care of it :) Like all those silly tags on those plastic pouches your sheets come in that state "this is not a toy"...who would have guessed that out of 5420375 toys in front of him he has to BEEP!BEEP! crawl and find the one thing that's not supposed to even be out. So I didnt let him put it on his head. I gave it to Monkey to play with. And then I wonder why he cant figure out how to get around a gate.

Picture(s) of the Day

Liam gets to "choose his Chupie" before going to bed every night - here he is making the big decision!

In his crib, the first night his mattress got lowered with his first set of two piece jammies on

Hey! I've got a colander on my head! And I LIKE it!

We were listening to DMB & he kept turning his head to "look" at the music

My Little Big Boy Liam coming after the Paparazzi!

P.S. on the peas

I somewhat force fed Liam 2 oz. of peas yesterday but he took them much better than the last few attempts plus I bribed him with yogurt as a reward after!

I'm sure it didnt hurt that I had DMB playing in the background and was chair dancing & singing like a fool - it had him laughing & moving around also - lots of opportunities to sneak the spoon in :)

New addition to the Morning Routine

Every morning now, Daddy asks if Liam has any teeth! We both still really love that he's all gummy still & that his cavernous smile is still all pink inside. It will just be another milestone taking him further away from being our Bebe Nino and onto some other nickname I have yet to even contemplate.

Daddy even went as far as to say "YAY! That means your still our little baby!" so as you can see, I'm not the only one in this house having Issues with our Little Big Boy.

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!

Mommy likes

One of the cutest things Liam has started doing the past couple days is backing up towards me when I'm sitting on the ground with him & then turning around to situate himself in my lap then handing me a book to read to him.

My little boy is climbing into my lap so I can read to him. Do y'all understand the fluttering that occurs when that occurs?!!?

Read that sentence again & if your ovaries dont flip, then your heart is dead.

;)

This Time Last Year

A fun new segment I might continue to do :) something I'm going to call This Time Last Year & then post a snippet from my blog from [come on, guess...] This Time Last Year!

From March 22, 2006
You Know You're Hormonal When
...you find yourself seriously choking back tears and thus saving yourself from choking on your sammich while listening to Red Rocks Best of What's Around on your and chair dancing away at work...

Hey la.

Can I get a "Hey la"?

Picture of the Day

Taken during play time on his Sock Monkey quilt (thanks, grandma!) with his cake pan, colander & many, many assorted toys. Please note that this picture depicts the reasons why I do not think he looks like a Bebe anymore but is now my Big Boy.

Liam Robert is 8 Months Old!

It’s amazing to me that Liam has hit so many milestones in the past 3 days. It’s upsetting to me also that I feel like I’m losing my bebe, he was just only a wee nino, wasn’t he? Now who is this kid who needs his crib lowered so he doesn’t fling himself out, who outgrew ALL his pajamas over the weekend & is now wearing TWO PIECE PJ sets in 18 MONTH SIZE, who is this little boy who goes straight for electrical cords when he’s BEEP!BEEP! crawling around the house? I barely recognize him. And my heart breaks just a little bit – I never thought I would love & miss him being a bebe SO much.

I tear up over almost everything these days – it just feels like everything is passing me by & I cannot get over how much you’ve grown, mentally & psychically in just the past few weeks. I feel like I’m being left in the dust. Guess who is going to be the one crying when dropping you off at preschool for the first time year? I’m sure your Daddy will too though.

We’ve been having “issues” with you & my boob. You’ve been dissing it steadily for a while now so we decided to give you a bottle at dinner to help fill you up before bedtime & you took to it like a bee to honey & even through my happiness about giving you the foods you need, I was upset that I couldn’t give you those foods you need. I became better with it as time passed but then you started dissing me even harder & I had to talk to Matias about giving you a second bottle during the day because you just were not nursing properly. When I added the 2^nd bottle at lunch time you started nursing much better at your other times. I’m thankful for that because I know I’m getting you the food stuffs you need & you eagerly nurse now which makes me very happy indeed. The first time I gave you the second bottle, I cried the entire time. I was slowly losing my bebe. Soon, before we know it, you’ll be drinking milk from a cup & not nursing at all – and on so many levels, I’m ready for that but this little connection that we established from day 1 at 2am in the morning has really made an impression on my little heart, Liam & I just don’t know how to handle/digest (no food related pun intended) that you’re moving on from me & our Us Time that is so precious to me. We are now nursing during the night, for breakfast & afternoon snack – lunch & dinner have been taken over by the bottle. Unfortunately, I am not able to pump for your bottles & the reason being is that you have always just nursed from one side…this, I believe, is also the reason why the “dissing of the boob” has occurred. I think my supply is decreasing & that saddens me BUT I, personally, think I rock because I’ve sustained you for 8 months with only one boob to begin with! Now, you nurse eagerly & for a longer period of time, rather than the 5 minutes of messing around you were doing, and you are happy to be nursing instead of us fighting over it & me getting frustrated & hurt. In the end it is a win-win but sometimes it’s hard to convince the heart of that.

Then we move onto the whole Mobility phase and WOWZERS, buddy you can BEEP!BEEP! with the best of them! And you are SO proud when you do it, it’s so hard NOT to cheer that little smiling face on & just go crazy over you & your accomplishments. So, I’ll squeal & yell & clap like a demented lady & that’s ok with me because you just eat it up & attempt bigger & bolder things – like, say, STANDING from your sitting position & crawling over to something to pull yourself up, or I don’t know, pulling apart anything you can get within your reach. It’s amazing how quick you little movers are – and how you know exactly what you SHOULD NOT go for. Like the humidifier (water, water everywhere!), the electrical cord for your lamps, the drapes in our bedroom & the ever present cat tails. For the first time yesterday, you & Monkey were at eye level with each other & he flipped out. He just didn’t know what to make of you crawling towards him with a smile that had “danger” written all over it. We are getting your baby gates ASAP & closing up the dangerous cabinets…baby proofing should prove entertaining! You think there are some products out there for Cat Proofing? Maybe we should just shave them…

Your sleep schedule leaves a little to be desired but for some reason I don’t think Daddy minds cuddling with you every hour on the hour throughout the night. I do believe that last night was just a bad night for you since it was the first time you slept in your crib with it lowered, it must feel strange to be lower & more “enclosed” in your bed so I don’t blame you for being a little off. It’s your fault anyway – you had to go & sit up the first chance you got once we got home FORCING us for YOUR OWN SAFETY to lower your mattress. It doesn’t even look like a bebe bed anymore, thankfully the bumper pads help make it look more bebe-ish. I rue the day when you even consider putting your little foot on those bumper pads to hoist yourself up – and listen, little Mister, just because I wrote that doesn’t mean you CAN DO IT, got it?

You’ve outgrown your clothes just recently too. I talked to Daddy about going in mid-April for your next size & season shopping extravaganza but I don’t think we can wait that long anymore. I snagged some adorable two piece jimmies from WALMART that were 100% organic and just too darn cute to pass up (notice, grandma, that I didn’t say that other curse word?) and they are 18 month size! How & when did that happen? We measured you last night on our Ghetto Growth Chart & you’ve grown about an inch in the last month, we think, putting you at about 31” at your 8 month mark. You don’t go to the doctor until 9 months, which thanks for reminding me to make your appointment, so we wont know “officially” until then. I was hoping you would make it to Spring before having to outfit your wardrobe for the next season but I’m beginning to see that you probably wont make it that long! Since you are still a slim boy, some of your pants still fall off you but we’re just going to have to roll them up so that you aren’t walking around to too short pants that now look like Manpris.

Thankfully, through all this growing up you’ve been doing lately, you still flash us a gummy smile – no teeth to report yet! You’ve got two trying to come through (one lower & an upper) but it’s still comforting in an “I’ve still got my bebe” sort of way that you are all gums. For the time being – now that I’ve said that you’re probably up there with two teeth jetting out. Thankfully, he did NOT have two teeth jetting out, just the same cute, gummy smile I’ve grown accustomed to!

Liam, you’ve become VERY attached to Mommy lately & I’m ok with that! You’re clingly & mushy & squishy in my arms every chance you get. We have a special Tuckle position that helps you fall asleep when I rock to you sleep & it involves throwing a leg over my forearm & tucking your foot under my arm against my body…you also have your head/face buried in my chest during this special time and that makes me feel quite warm on the inside. If you happen to make it into bed with us you snuggle so close to me, one night you slept with your face in my armpit (thank god, I shaved and had deodorant on!) and although I couldn’t believe that you could be comfortable, there you slept all night snug as a bug in a pit!

You blow raspberries like you’re entering a competition and P.S. you are so cute when you blow them that I think you would win! You only blow them out of one side of your mouth, tongue hanging out, raspberry-ing away! TOO CUTE!

One thing that is NOT SO CUTE is your new affection for the Wipees tub on your changing table. I’m not about to wrestle an 8 month old to get you to LIE STILL and not contort yourself while I put your diaper on! And, yes I know that there is so much more similar fun to come! It’s still a mad dash to your neither regions to see what gets there first – your hand or the wipe. I’m glad to report that I am still winning that battle most days. Now, letting you feed yourself is another battle completely. I’m not thrilled with the mess you make of yourself and your surroundings but I’m trying to let go of that and just let you have at it but it’s been tough going for me on that front…it doesn’t help that I “argue” with you to LET.GO.OF.THE.SPOON. but I’m just not ready to hand over those reins and watch that horse leave the gates. Plus that horse is DARN messy, mister.

I could go on forever about you, my little Pumpkin Eater but I wont…I’ll just stop here & tell you how much Mommy & Daddy cherish every single second with you & although the new “ages & stages” have us sad & a little nervous, I know only good things come of it all. Watching you grow up is the best job I could have ever asked for & who knew the interview process would be so much fun!

I love you, Liam Robert, my little Fellow, my baby boy, my little star, my favorite Prince, my Pumpkin Eater, my Stinky McStinkerton, my Son.

And he's off!

Liam is in full on BEEP!BEEP! crawl mode!! SO EXCITING! But wow! I really wasnt prepared to lose my little bebe yet :(

He even mastered SITTING UP from a crawl position this weekend at Camp Carolina! What a shock! I didnt realize it was such a big accomplishment! He was SO proud of himself & all the clapping and cheering encouraged him too!

He's almost got the crawl forward but still working on that. He's good at lunging forward from the proper position but still wobbly on pulling himself forward. I dont think he's far from it though!

And with that said, Matias found him sitting up in his crib last night - needless to say tonight we are changing his mattress position. Another milestone Mommy isnt ready for :(

He's also favoring drinking directly from a cup instead of a sippy cup - he's much better & eager to do that so we might forgo sippy cups altogether. Still waiting to confirm that though!

He's all over the place now :) SO QUICKLY TOO! He BEEP!BEEP! crawled out of his house this morning & all over his quilt upstairs - all the way to the window again where he sat up and tried to stand up to look out the window. He LOVES to pull himself to standing once he gets seated again too!

But before I get carried away with this quick post, I owe Liam/y'all an 8 Month Gushfest!! I hope to get to that today or tonight :)

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.

Street Walkers

Liam & I have been taking afternoon walks the past couple of days since the weather turned oh so Spring like & he's been LOVING it! He sings in his stroller & holds onto his cup holder with one hand and the side with the other - it's too cute! Sometimes he turns around to smile at me from underneath his [favorite] baseball cap & my heart just melts (and hopefully during all this walking some "muffin top" melts away also...) a little bit. He watches everything around him & watches as cars/trucks/buses pass by us. Yesterday we saw a HUGE dog & he got all sorts of excited - babbling away & turning to smile at me, mouth agape. We "followed" the dog & when they turned up their driveway, I made a point of saying that this was the first dog he had seen & what a gorgeous dog he was - he was a HUGE horse of a dog, dark gray with light gray spots. He smiled & babbled the entire minute it took me to talk to the Dog Mommy.

We were all set to go to a play date at the park this afternoon & I mean All Set - as in heading out the door, trying to beat any rain when it started raining :( I even had his little rain jacket paced in case we got caught in it. I had his blanket, books, his ball & some toys ready to go - dreaming of lounging on the grass, helping him practice his BEEP!BEEP! crawl. It rained for about 10 minutes but by that time Liam was ready for another nap (his first PM nap was just over an hour) so I just opted to keep him in & have him take another nap. I might take him out for a walk when he wakes up depending on the weather, of course.

Stupid, stupid rain ruining my afternoon at the park with my boy. If that does not work out, I can just plan on a walk tomorrow. We did get out today though since I had to make a quick WALMART run & he LOVED riding in the car - thank you buddha - so it's not like we've been cooped up all day when it's been almost 80 degrees here! But still...the park, it would have been lovely.

8 Month Menu

Foods I'm Going to Buy for Liam next week!

• broccoli
• mango
• asparagus
• dried lentil beans
• eggplant
• white potato
• blueberries
• kiwi
• cantaloupe
• honeydew
• watermelon

Now, granted, I'm not going to buy them ALL next week but he can start having these at 8 months old & HOLY CRAP HE'S 8 MONTHS OLD NEXT WEEK!

And, on a somewhat related note...I'm beginning to wonder if I need to start feeding him more at mealtimes.

This is what his Menu consists of at the moment:

Breakfast -- cereal with 2 oz. of fruit mixed in it & then another 2 oz. of a different fruit after
Lunch -- 4 oz. of fruit or yogurt
Dinner -- 4 oz. of veggies & cereal (not mixed together cause EWWW)

Every once in a while he gets those Gerber Puffs & avocado or grapes for Finger Foods as a snack but I'm wondering if I either need to bump up the ounces at mealtime or give him a heartier snack in the afternoon....

We are SO going to be one of "those parents"

Admittedly, I thought I would be one of "those parents" who yells at people to shut up while their baby is napping or smears poopy diapers on annoying, stupid, CRXs across the street for reeving their engine THREE TIMES to pull into the stupid driveway or punching you in the throat for making my baby cry what I didnt expect is that Matias would be one of "those parents" also!

HORRAY!!

Last night while he was putting Liam down for the night, these three kids were outside playing kickball at 8pm IN THE DARK. They live 5 houses up & were playing RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR HOUSE. And banging on the mailbox FOR FUN.

He yelled down to me to tell those pieces of shit kids children to go home but I didnt have to cause he went into the guest room & YELLED AT THEM FROM THE WINDOW TO BE QUIET. The super stupid kids brainiacs from down the street could NOT figure out where this command was coming from! It was so hilarious to watch them from the library not having a clue about its origins!

And I also found it HIGHLY amusing that Matias turned into one of "those parents", it's not that I didnt expect it, I just wasnt sure how & when it would manifest itself considering his family was probably out & about making a ruckus "after hours" so I kind of figured it would be considered status quo, you know?

He needs the BEEP! BEEP! horn

Our little Liam Fellow is growing up. He's crawling. In reverse. He's been doing very well at spending time in the crawl position & started rocking to get things out of his reach for a few days now but last night he took his first REAL crawl steps...in reverse.

We were upstairs playing in our bedroom on my quilt & he just up & started moving in the backwards direction! And he was making a lot of progress - not just 'oh I happen to move 1/2" that time by accident' kind of way either - he made his way from the middle of the room to the wall, then played along the wall for a bit attempting to pull down the drapes and turn on his favorite lamp (it's a foot switch), then he BEEP!BEEP! crawled over to the nightstand! I tried to get him to move FORWARD by bribing him with BOOKS. The kid responds to Book Bribes! That a boy! He moved about 2 strides forward and then grew REALLY frustrated & I also think he was getting tired. The other night when practicing crawling forward he literally broke a sweat. This crawling is a LOT of work, people!

We'll practice more BEEP!BEEP! crawling tonight after we get home from our afternoon walk. It's too nice to stay inside if we arent napping!

Our little boy, he is growing up so fast :(

The Future...

I feel I must share this dream simply because it's funny & shows JUST HOW MUCH MATIAS WANTS A BABY GIRL!

He had a dream we had another child and it was a girl (YAY) but she came out with a full on mustache - and Matias said "just cut it off".

Guess he really wants his girl, eh?

Yo, Baby!

Liam had his first Yogurt today (blueberry) and LOVED it! He CRIED when it was finished, all 4 oz., and I would normally give him more but I want to wait until we have passed the 3 day rule test.

I kept telling him he was a Big Boy eating yogurt just like Mommy's & he was grinning & eating it all up :)

Book Shopping

We took Liam to B&N today and spent an hour and a half there! He LOVED every second of it and really only started getting whiny when we'd obviously been there too long for any activity.

We went through all the board books to find the ones he really loved. And he sat on the floor with Daddy & "road tested" them all before deciding on 4 books. 2 Baby Einstein, one that he cried when Mommy was holding it & a Animals Peek A Boo by the same person who did the Animal Kisses one that he loveslovesloves. And then the piece de resistance - Z is for Zamboni & it's an alphabet book ALL CENTERED AROUND HOCKEY! I used a gift card that I was holding onto from Grandma & Grandpa that they had given him for Halloween & I LITERALLY jumped up and down and hugged it to my chest when I found it.

Dork? Ah, who cares :) My SON has a hockey alphabet book :)

That thing we dont talk about

So that thing that we have not been talking about & I'm not even talking about it now, you know, BUT it HAS NOT BEEN HAPPENING FOR THE PAST THREE NIGHTS.

But, seriously, I have no idea what I'm talking about.

Photo(s) of the Week

Quick recap of our week - photo journal style

Liam playing in his house & getting one more wear out of that shirt

Liam drinking his dinner bottle ALL BY HIMSELF! So much by himself that he didnt even want me to hold him. That stinker.

Liam pulled himself up and hugged that banister like it was his new best friend!

Happiness is eating...

...and drinking! He's gotten so much better with his sippy these days! Actually drinking from it!

No Shots Have Been Dropped!

It appears we have exceeded our FREE bandwidth with Drop Shots, I knew that time would come soon enough! We are going to go on and upgrade to the Star Account but as you can tell from the lack of updates we have not done so yet.

I know you must be jonesing for NEW Liam FOOTAGE!!!

Stupid Stupid Time Change

Someone was up at 6am this morning & it was not an adult.

Edited to note: I went upstairs to check on the ever quiet bedroom & discovered Liam COVERED in his "bed toys" and asleep. In my attempt to get the toys off of him for safety's sake, I woke him up. And he's been playing & eating up a storm ever since. It's now 11am & he does not seem ready for his nap yet.

Dream the impossible dream

Matias woke up this morning & told me that he had a dream that Liam had grown four teeth overnight.

Don't worry, he checked when he got him up - nothing STILL!

Two Things

In the course of making Liam's papaya I discovered/noticed two things -

1) Papaya seeds look like caviar
2) Papaya kind of smells after it has been steamed & pureed

I would not say Liam LOVES papaya but we have not had any bad diaper incidents & he continues to open his mouth to eat it. Thankfully we have another meal to add to his menu, sadly Papaya turns a dark orange when steamed & pureed.

A word to the wise

The prunes. Dude, the prunes.

ONLY GIVE YOUR BABY ONE TABLESPOON OF PRUNES NOT FOUR OUNCES

We had a blow out to the extent I have never witnessed before in my LIFE. It was everywhere. Down his socks, up his neck. Ended up SMASHED into the changing pad cover, SMEARED on the changing pad strap.

I rinsed everything in the sink right away [that was sick] & then threw it in the washer. Nothing seems to have stained but let's be frank here, there was no time to "set in". The changing pad strap was soaked in bleach & water - thankfully that came out - and is now soaking in water to get the bleach out since Liam will sometimes put it in his mouth.

It was out.of.control.

Then Kym told me that she learned the hard way too, and paid for it a couple times throughout the day - THANKFULLY we only had this one instance.

Sorry about that Liam. It's strange though cause usually you will get "helpful hints" like this in your research findings but all I got that was REALLY stressed was to add a LOT of liquid to the puree so that it didnt turn to paste, NOTHING about serving size!

Let this be your warning, you mommies with little tykes behind Liam, ONLY ONE TABLESPOON!

I cannot even tell you if it smelled - I was too busy trying to get it OFF of everywhere & off of HIM before he got it on his hands, feet --> mouth to stop and smell the prunes.

He liked eating them though! Too bad it just cannot count as another meal...

Shakespearean into the Forest Gang explained

One of the main themes in Shakespeare is that the city is oppressive & the forest/nature allows for more freedom in your life, be it escape from sexism, hierarchal familial roles, love relationships, education...

If you go into the forest you are free to be the person you REALLY want to be, as opposed to remaining in the city where laws & norms are thrust upon you by a variety of enforcers.

Most of the "forest time" happens at night because it's easier to escape at that time...

I believe that Liam is being lured into the forest by the Shakespearean Sprites nightly in order to "fulfill" his "Sprite-ness" outside the confines of his home.

That Roll Call seems to happen nightly between 11:15 & midnight.

Make sense now? Or am I just the Crazy English Major Mommy?

Alert! Alert!

We are going to have PRUNES for lunch today! I'll let you know how that "turns out" :)

And let me introduce to you the one and only...

...Matthew's Technicolor World! My oldest friend, who now lives in Bloomington, has FINALLY started a blog for her son, Matthew. YAY!

I've added her link to the right there so please go pay her a visit :)

(and you thought I was going to go on about the Beatles, didn't you?)

The Karmic Bitch Slap

I *swear* every time I mention his sleep schedule (and lord knows I mention it enough), Liam KNOWS.

I say he naps perfectly then the past two days his naps have been horrible. Two 40 minute naps a day, that's it. And he's horribly cranky & terrificly teething for the last 2-3 hours of his day. Almost falling asleep in his oatmeal and going to bed early.

The other night while Matias was at a lecture, I was charged with putting Liam down for the night. Matias came home, we had dinner, were sitting our asses on our couch & we looked at the clock, looked at each other and THOUGHT ABOUT commenting that it was past the Shakespearean into the Forest Gang Roll Call time. I instantly made Matias bite his tongue and not let the words past his lips, but it was too late. The THINKING ABOUT IT was enough. Not five minutes later, at twenty past twelve, did the Sprites induce our Fellow into the Forest.

So I'm going to stop talking about "certain things" cause there's some weird, mind-reading business going on & I'm not going to continue to tempt him.

Instead, I'm going to write & talk about things like " dont eat your peas", "dont take longer naps", & "I hope these teefies NEVER come in!" & see what comes of it.

Ergo (that's my fancy thesaurus.com way of not saying "so" so much...), Liam please do not eat your peas! Please do not take any naps longer than 40 minutes! And finally, I hope you live forever with your gummy toothless mouth!

Contain your excitment - it's a post about sleep schedules!

I'm only going to say this once [this week] but we seem to have gotten his sleep schedule under control.

YAY. Mommy REALLY enjoys the uninterrupted sleep.

He still wakes up at either 11:19 or 11:21 (I suppose it depends on what clock you are looking at cause heaven forbid any of our clocks sync up...) for his Shakespearean into the Forest Gang Roll Call (please leave me a comment if you know what I mean by that...turns out neither my mom or Matias understood...) but then quickly goes back into a nice, deep slumber.

Until 2:30 when he eats for 30 minutes and is back into a nice, deep slumber.

Until 7:40 when he wakes up for the day.

Like I said earlier, I'm fine with the nighttime nursing, if he's hungry, I'm feeding him. Bottom Line. End of Story. LALALA I'm Not Listening to You. And I dont mind that he sleeps until almost 8 either - no complaints from me!

Mommy is getting about 9 hours of sleep actually & THANK YOU JESUS! Cause then I'm on the clock from 7:40 till 8pm and that makes for a really long day - gee, you think??

So with that Most Obvious Statement of the Year sitting up there I will leave this with saying - thank you, Liam, for getting back onto a NORMAL sleep schedule, even if it does still include a Roll Call from your Sprites & a mid-night feeding.

What's in YOUR freezer?

Here's another rendition of the contents of our freezer:

• carrots, of course
• squash, but running out and Daddy is getting more tonight
• sweet potato
• those dreaded peas
• those dreaded bananas - they live together in misery, shelved in that useless little bin on the door
• apples
• pears
• peaches
• nectarines
• plums
• avocado
• chicken

Daddy is picking up some new items for him this evening that include the following:

• prunes - cannot wait to see how these effect his daily constitution
  
• papayas

I also have the Yo Baby yogurt in the house because Kym & further research indicated that the amount of whole milk is in fact ok for this age & that the milk is lactose free (thanks Stoneyfield Farms! YOU ROCK!) and therefore harmless to my bebe. I could not get the banana ones though because I do not like fishing poop out my son's butt.

I'm selfish like that.

SWAK

The Valentine's Day Cards FINALLY went out today. I had a really tough time making them because I had all these really spectacular visions of using my new stamps to create my own cards and BAH, I sucked at it. Hard core, sucked at it. So I was disappointed & wallowed in my disappointment while the cards sat there, finished but not how I wanted them to look, just waiting for me to send them out. And even though it's MARCH, I'm sending them. And if you happen to have a problem with that, I have a big bucket of Suck It for you. *grin*

Now, I have to think of a 'scene' for our St. Patrick's Day cards. HA. What a fool I am! I do think we have left over sparkly headband Shamrock thingies from Days at the Tavern's Past but I do NOT think Liam has a single stitch of green clothing...

Picture(s) of the Day

Catching up with a few pictures from the past couple days



Liam in his highchair - I finally put the tray on!



Liam was eating his cookie after having his lunch


Oh my! It's a ferocious bear!


Oh my! Now THAT'S some bedhead! And of course sitting, oh so, cute with his Mocha Cat!
P.S. This one is now my new wallpaper, replacing his disdain for bananas.

I'm in love

Yesterday I purchased an apple corer.

And I LOVE IT. Oh my god, I had no idea how much easier it would make preparing Liam's pears & apples!

So totally in love with my apple corer.

A couple things

Just poppin' in to write a few quick things that have crossed my mind & I would like to get down before they finish crossing into "no where land"!

1) I'd like to apologize to Liam Robert for it seems he has inherited my "funny" pinky toenails. Which is to say, he barely has one but it will stick up & get in your way all the time. Matias asked if that was bad for hockey & I just told him "all toenails are bad for hockey".

2) We are amazed daily at your 'perma-grin' when watching your Baby Einstein

3) He throws all his toys OUTSIDE his Peek & Play House - and thanks, Warehouse for the mouse pad a few years back - Liam LOVES it! I call it his 'doormat' to his 'house'.

4) We are discontinuing the peas. The poops were not pleasant. Or at least I dont think they should resemble hockey pucks.

5) I'm sorry that you are wearing a tshirt over a turtleneck...I dont know what Mommy was thinking when she bought you a 6 month size shirt from San Fransisco. Thing is, I probably wasnt thinking seeing as I was deep in Mommy Brain at that point...

Growing Boy!

Since Liam turned 7 months a couple of days ago, we went ahead and updated his Ghetto Growth Chart...

It appears that he has grown at least an inch (!) in the last month! Big boy!

I promise this is the last one for a while!

I am getting so tired (no pun intended) about talking, thinking, discussing Liam's sleeping habits BUT I think we really made some progress the past couple days so I'm going to write about here it for one last time (unless something catastrophic happens!) and move on!

The naps are perfect. He never had any problems with his naps as of late - he goes down for 2 hours (sometimes more) around 10:30 and then again around 2:30 for usually only 1 1/2 hours. If he only takes a nap that is less than an hour he goes down again between 5:30 & 6:00 depending upon what time he woke up from his earlier nap. And then he's ready for bed at 8pm.

With him sleeping with his (MY!) cuddle pillow at night it has greatly reduced the number of times he wakes up and the duration that he is up for. The last two nights has seen him waking at 11:30 for his Shakespearean into the Forest Gang roll call, and then again at 2ish for a nursing session. We rock him, put him back in with his (MY!) cuddle pillow and he's good until 8am. YES.

We are thinking about moving his furniture around - moving his crib to where his dresser is - to see if being on an inside wall helps at all. He's never cold & I'm always checking for that but maybe it's too loud on that one wall...we havent done it yet cause Matias is still regaining his "strength" from his cold (his sister ended up with a 104 temp. - the one who has a baby and is still nursing) so we might do that in the coming days. I'm a little leery that moving his crib might throw him off though and cause a whole new set of sleep issues.

I'm ok with the 2am-ish nursing because he's been "asleep" for 6 hours & if he wants food, I'm giving it to him. With him only being the in 50th percentile for weight, I'm always keeping my eye on his food/calorie intake & do not want to make a hungry go back to sleep. I know he should be sleeping just a little longer but like I said if he wants it he's going to get it. It was starting to become an issue when he wanted to nurse EVERY TIME he woke up, but he's gotten over that quickly.

So HOORAY for the cuddle pillow (MINE!) and let's hope that continues to work for him!

GushFest Vol.1 Issue 7 Part 2

So I have a few things to add to my GushFest...

This past month I left Liam and stayed overnight in DC & I missed the poop out of him. I knew he was in great hands cause Grandma was here & Matias was here for the nighttime duties but I still worried and fretted and missed him & couldnt wait to get home. And he did do fabulously! Grandma has such a great time with him :) But can you blame her? He's so easy to have a good time with!

I had some apprehensions about leaving him for the first time, like everybody would. I just called & checked in on him to make sure there were no lingering questions or if I could offer any advice to Grandma...she had it ALL under control! I would not want to leave him with anyone else.

Darn it all, I KNOW there was something else about Liam I wanted to recap also...maybe I'll remember and update [again] later!

Happy 7th Month Birthday, Liam Robert!

It’s hard for me to believe that you are ALREADY 7 months old, it really just seems like yesterday that you were turning 6 months and yet some how I don’t know where the time went. We are moving into our nostalgic phase with you because with all your new milestones, we leave others behind. Those “others” left behind have been hard for me to let go of & although I try not to cling to them because I know the new milestones coming are just as fabulous as the phases we are leaving behind…I’m just leaving my little bebe behind too & I’m really not quite ready for that.

Not only are you an Unassisted Sitter but you rarely tumble over anymore. You reach for things well out of your reach, pick them up with no problem and sit back into your original position as if you’ve been doing it for months. And sometimes I have to stop and tell myself he HAS been doing it for months – only now there are not as many dropped toys or something considered out of your reach and you don’t falter in your actions. The only time you will lie down is when you are sleeping, every other time you MUST be sitting OR standing. And again, you’ve been doing that for months (or at least one), I seem to ‘forget’ that these are huge milestones because I see you INSIST on doing them every single day but when someone sees you that hasn’t in a while, it’s the talk of the town. I keep being told that you are mastering things well before your ‘scheduled’ time & even though all babies are different, it doesn’t seem to me that you are ‘ahead of the curve’ simply because you INSIST on doing things and there’s no stopping you. Except for the foot in your mouth while I’m feeding you, that I REALLY must put a stop to.

The Big Trick that got you show-ponied around this weekend was your [natural] ability to pick up your Chupie, switch hands and put it directly in your mouth. Daddy & I sat there wondering what the big deal was because, seriously, you’ve been doing that for at least 2 months now. You don’t even bother to look AT the Chupie you just grab it and shove it back in your mouth, or perhaps you’re feeling playful & will twirl it around a few times, switch hands, toss it in the air and catch it behind your back before letting it land in your mouth. I did catch you playing the cutest game ever though with your Chupie the other day in bed – we had the pillow on an incline and you were LITERALLY tossing the Chupie up the pillow, letting it roll back down and CATCHING IT IN YOUR MOUTH! Now, that is a Big Trick, my little Fellow! I think you should join Circe de Soleil and be the Chupie Acrobat, but please let’s not start the “running off with the circus” discussions just yet.

You are a VERY huggy little boy & give Mommy kisses throughout the day – and even with all the baby goop on my face, I still jones for more. You give your smiles away VERY easily but your giggles and the new emerging chuckles of varying pitch and frequency are a little harder to come by. You discovered your belly this past month & jiggle it up and down like a little bowl of Jello & you make everyone laugh who watches you do this. Your feet are in CONSTANT motion, and I mean CONSTANT. Your right foot is in a continuous Figure Eight motion ALL THE TIME, but especially when you are eating in your highchair. When you are nursing your left arm is holding your left leg STRAIGHT up and sometimes I get bashed in the face with it. You love holding onto my necklace that Daddy gave me for our 2^nd anniversary & I just finally had to tell him to let me untangle you before he takes you from me because chances are good that you’ve got your little finger inside the circle.

You HATE peas with a passion. I’ve never seen you REFUSE food before. You clamp your little mouth shut & will not allow any particle of pea to pass. I’ve even tried leaving the spoon up against your mouth to see how long it would take for the tongue to dart out and AT LEAST taste a little more – yeah, I ended up with a lap full of peas because you threw the spoon at me. I really wanted to get you to eat something that wasn’t Orange cause you’re looking a little “tanned” these days! Last night Daddy came up and said “EAT YOUR FOOD” in the loud,scary voice that makes you laugh your tukus off & you didn’t let us down – you laughed so hard at him & tracked him around the room that we had to video tape you. Your favorites are still carrots & you love some apples too! Pears have made a nice addition to your morning cereal, and I’m hoping that adds a little somethingsomething to your morning. Consider it my note in your lunch bag to you. Because OH YES you will be getting those.

You are ALL boy. I’m expecting the Poop Jokes any day now. You look to the sky when planes are passing over and watch it soar through the sky. You do not cry when trains pass us at the station, you watch them go by. You play soccer with Daddy every night, although Mommy thinks it’s more like Fooze ball the way he swings you around after the ball…and I would LOVE to organize a Fooze ball game with all our little Freak Babies someday. Maybe at the GORGE while the ‘grown ups’ play Kickball! You have discovered your Penis and I’ve discovered that you don’t cry no matter how hard you tug on it. You splash something FIERCE in the tub – we normally strip down to tshirts and pants, no socks, no sweatshirts to bathe you since we become SOAKED after just a few moments of you being in there. And you laugh at us the entire time. You turn the pages of your books when Mommy reads them to you & smile at each and every page as if you understand already the joys of reading and exploring with books.

The three things that everyone always says about you are – you are all boy, you are very busy & you are the happiest baby they have ever seen. I’d love to take some credit for that but I know that I cannot because I just go with the flow & hope that I give you everything you need & want to help make you the best Little Liam Fellow I possibly can.

You are making strides (no pun intended) on your getting around skills. You know to put your arms up when you want to picked up from your Peek & Play, or if we are just chilling on the couch watching a Baby Einstein and want Mommy to hold you. You LUNGE at us when you want to pull yourself over to us. And you CRAWL all over me & I love every minute of it. You have started putting weight on your knees in your pre-crawl position and rocking on your arms/hands that are now fully extended and keeping your weight up. When you want something you vigorously NOD YOUR HEAD (too cute!) until we figure out what it is you want. For a while now you have known that your Baby Einstein’s come from the laptop and onto the TV and you will switch from watching the TV to watching the laptop and heaven forbid someone blocks your view of the laptop. If your view is EVER blocked you LEAN until you can see around the obstruction. And yes, we have video of you and your cousin, Luccia, doing your best to see around Daddy when he’s purposefully blocking your line of sight.

Again, I can go on and on about your affection for your Monkey & Mystic Kitties. You seriously LIGHT UP every time you see them. And Mystic just loves you to death in her own Mystic Kitty Way – you’ll learn more about that way as you grow up! Monkey Kitty would just love to curl up and nap with you, I’m sure of it. He just loves you to pieces and the feeling is returned to him ten-fold by your smiles & giggles.

Daddy has asked that I not write about certain Mommy Related Things on your blog because he wants to you to read all of this when you are older & it’s my hope too that you can look back & read about how much we love you & cherish every second we spend with you. I would be so privileged if you were to read about your days with us when you are older and I would hope that you could see just much we care beyond words for you. I do all of this for myself & for your family & friends who do not have the privilege to witness your amazingness on a daily basis but also there is a part of me that hopes my writings will exist as a lasting testimony to who you are and how you became that person. And really, I know that I’m just your voice at the moment & that quite soon you will be able to tell your story on your own.

I hope that your version of your story will have all the happy, cheerful, amazing moments in it that mine does. It’s all because of you, my dear little Star of Light and please do not ever forget that.

Roll Call!

He didnt miss it, they just pushed it back 15 minutes. Yes, 15 minutes after I said that he was sleeping past his ..Into the Forest Gang Roll Call he woke up. And then again at 12:30. And 2am. And 6:15.

MY Cuddle Pillow

I took this over the weekend at his parent's house - as you can see, this is clearly NOT my (mine!) Cuddle Pillow anymore.

I'm going to jinx it, I know

But I would to note that since Liam is sleeping with his (mine!) Cuddle Pillow he has not woken up.

He skipped the beginning of his Issues at 10:30ish and now we have passed the Shakespearean into the Forest Gang roll call.

All is quiet on the Western Prince William County Front.

Happy Ash Wednesday!

Hmmm, not sure if that is appropriate or not, let me consultant my Catholicism for Dummies handbook...

Anyway...Liam went to Mass today at Holy Rosary in DC to participate in his First Ash Wednesday & thus the start of Lent & Fish Fridays!

He did really well & had a friend a few pews back who kept him smiling and giggling. He went and received his ashes and then promptly (and I mean less than 10 seconds) smeared them on my off-white shirt I was wearing. I continue to resist the urge to wipe Matias' forehead, it's something I struggle with every year. I only had to take him out during the liturgy over Communion as he was being a bit too loud for my taste...I brought him back in for Daddy to take him to be blessed but he had already done gone up. He slept in the car both ways - he really loves his new car seat, it's making a WORLD of difference!

Then we went to Whole Foods after & he slept in his Daddy's arm most of the time. We just needed to restock on his fruits & veggies (and believe it or not, Grandma, they DID NOT HAVE PEACHES!) but he was really good the whole time. I realized I cannot give him the Yo Baby yogurt yet as it contains whole milk...bummer...

I owe y'all (and Liam, of course) a 7th Month GushFest so I'll try and get to that tonight while I wait to see if I can make it to 10pm to watch LOST.

Separation Anxiety?

Both Matias & I agree that Liam is suffering Separation Anxiety so last night we put his (well, it's mine) Cuddle Pillow in his crib for him. He gets rocked with it under him & if and when he comes to bed with us, he sleeps on it.

The little monster slept through from a 2:30 feeding until 7:40! I'm beginning to wonder if he was anxious about being separated from his cuddle pillow and NOT FROM US!

Either way, he got really good sleep last night & we did too! YAY for SLEEP! He was crying this morning since we didnt jump up quick enough and go get him & I found Mystic keeping guard outside his room. She's really become quite the little Protector of this Liam Fellow!

And back to the Cuddle Pillow - this is the same pillow that we had in the hospital and that he spent most of his 'newborn' time sleeping on when he wasnt in his cradle. So I'm thinking he's become attached to this pillow and this is now one of his "loveies" (god that word makes me want to stab my eyes out)...

Going Crazy, one night at a time

Something is seriously messed up with Liam's nights. He doesnt have them switched with his days. And I think there's something "up" with his crib. He does NOT like to sleep at night in his crib & Matias & I are arguing about having him sleep with us for numerous reasons. He will sleep, like a baby, in our arms but the second we hover over the crib he is up and awake and CRYING and it does not stop until we are sitting back down with him in our arms or in our bed. And it has to stop. I'm running on about 3-4 hours of sleep & since Matias is sick (thanks, AoE!), I've got not very much help around here to depend on cause he's in rough shape...

He sleeps for about 2 hours and then wakes up and will not go back to sleep for about 40 minutes...you do the math...

I'm exhausted & HOPING that I do not get this flu thing that we brought home with us - also, crossing fingers that Liam doesn't get it either but he seems ok so far.

I know he is teething but since nothing has broken through yet, I'm not 100% sure I should allow that reason to account for his Issues. I also really believe that he is playing us to an extent & I'm not pleased with that at all because Matias & I are at odds about how to handle it.

There's your update - hope you enjoyed it ;) I'll post more & include some pictures soon!!

*sigh* this kid, he cracks me up

Liam will actually COUGH when he's ready to get up from his nap. Sometimes this is alerted by a sneeze or a squeal but most normally it's a cough.

Grandma DID teach him the little fake cough trick but now it's just too funny to me that he COUGHS to signal "hey! lady down there playing on that computer! i'm done with my nap! come get me!"

I'll take the camera up with me now so you can also see that he tries to lift him self up (sit up/crunch style) when you come into the room.

Kisses for Kitties

Liam is one of the youngest "cat people" I have known, besides his Cousin Alexis who loved both cats & dogs equally at a young age.

Grandma & Grandpa got him a Kitty Love book for Valentine's Day and every time we read it, he LICKS each and every picture of the kitty he sees! It's so cute!

He also smiles very broadly at his cat in his Office and throughly enjoys looking at all of our framed pictures of Mystic Kitty & Monkey Kitty.

Pictures of the Day

Full on Chill Mode. Reclined with his sippy watching Baby Einstein.

How do you spell relief? Liam spells it ICE CREAM CONE!

Liam does in fact lick/kiss EVERY picture of a cat he sees! This is a Valentine's Day card of Simba that Auntie Leanne sent to him. Kisses abounded for Simba.

Hmmm, maple flavored [organic] teething cookie. He smelled like maple sugar after chewing on it.

Cry Face V6.5 (Again, I would like it noted that Daddy took this picture & that I was not present for it. No Liam Fellows were harmed in the taking of this picture.)

The cuteness, it just abounds

We took a TON of pictures yesterday that I've uploaded to dropshots. I'm still missing the Outside Snow Adventure ones cause I have to pick the best ones first :)

There's a video of him screaming for E-I-E-I-O, one of him out in the snow and playing with Mommy, and then one last one of him going from sitting to standing and back down again - he's really proud of himself when he does this & he loves to do it all day long!

I'm going to post my favorite pictures here from a bunch of series we have but I uploaded most of them so you can see all of them, if you are so inclined.

Come and Knock on My Door

Liam in his Peek & Play Dome! So far he is still checking it all out and getting used to everything but he gives it a thumbs up at the moment.

He has started handing me toys over the door, toys that I think he's 'done' with & is handing them to me for safe keeping but who really knows why he is doing it it's the fact that he IS handing me toys :) Then he started throwing them when I was sitting right in front of him. He threw a ball and it went rolling into the kitchen and a Monkey Kitty went hauling ass after it. I'm in for a LOT of picking up of plastic balls in my future.

A new "feature" to meal time is the screaming that accompanies his Ramon, the Happy Feet penguin, singing Jump & Move. Ramon instructs you to "let it out, you just got to let it out" and then the song starts - well, Liam SCREAMS & smiles the entire time now. But ONLY when Jump & Move comes on. Cause, you know, he's "letting it out".

We were quite active today, snow day and all, so I have a bunch of pictures to upload and stories to tell with them.

And for the record, I injured myself twice while assembling this thing. Once I got the tent pole inserted improperly and had to get it back out but it was somewhat jammed in there so I got the screwdriver and tried to jimi it back out. Can you see how that one went? Screwdriver to the palm of my hand. Then as I was attempting to unscrew the doorbell's battery Super Secure Battery Pack Door, I realized my screwdriver was not skinny enough but that ONE blade of my NEW scissors was just perfect. Until I grabbed tighter and sliced my fingertip with the fresh new scissor blade that I wasnt using to unscrew the Super Secure Battery Pack Door.

P.S. It would be easier to get those Super Secure Battery Pack Doors open if they used retinal scans.

Baby Smooches!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!

Liam Fellow sends his baby hugs & kisses to all his baby friends, their mommies & daddies & all his mommies friends and of course, Grandpa, Grandma & Auntie!!

BAH!

OK so HOW JEALOUS am I that Nathan AND Yannick both have TEETH?!?!!?

Wish this little guy would hurry it up already :)

The Nights of Liam Fellow

Two nights ago he had a really, really tough time – he was up from 10:30 till about 12:15 and that was just the start. When he wasn’t going back down we just brought him downstairs to finish the movie with us & he snuggled and cuddled and fell asleep on his cuddle pillow. Then we went to bed also – Matias said he was with him from about 1:30 to 2:30 and finally got him back into his crib…the getting him back into his crib has been the issue. He falls asleep ASAP and then wakes literally when you lean over to put him in his crib then cries, with tears. I got up with him at 3:30 and nursed him when he wouldn’t go back in his crib & I couldn’t very well sleep in the nursing chair, I brought him to bed. Where he cuddled and snuggled and held onto BOTH Mommy & Daddy and smiled as he fell asleep. And he slept there until almost 9am. It was rough sharing the space with him but he was happy and asleep so I didn’t fight it. Around 7am I went into the guest room to finish my sleep off with some decent rest so that I could keep up with him for the rest of the day.

Now last night – he slept from 8pm to 4am. Without even stirring at his Shakespearean into the Forest Gang. And when I put him in his crib after nursing him, he simply rolled over and stayed asleep – like normal.

Matias also started on getting him to fall asleep on his own, without us rocking or dancing with him. And it’s WORKING! I even did it this morning for his AM nap! Didn’t even have the Beatles playing either! We just let him play with his Neptune and then he lets us know when he wants to lie down, either by just lying down himself or leaning onto his bumper pads, then he plays with his Chupie for about 3 minutes maybe and then he rolls over, gets his blankie on him and he is out. Matias told me last night he was doing this but I wasn’t sure if I was ready to start doing it at his naps, mainly because I like the little cuddle time we have before he dozes off and also because it’s not really that much work but in my heart of hearts I knew it was for the best if we could transition him to teaching himself to go to sleep without the dancing, music and mommy & daddy. BUT HE’S JUST A LITTLE FELLOW!! He’s growing up way too quickly! And I have to give all the credit to Matias for doing this - for I had ZERO to do with it and can take absolutely ZERO credit for it.

So our nights are still up in the air but our “going to sleep” routine is shifting towards more independence…

Things Accomplished Today!

Grandma left yesterday morning after visiting with Liam Robert for just about a week! Grandpa left yesterday evening after flying in from Ottawa to spend some time with his Liam Fellow! Matias is at work & I have my first full day alone with Liam in a weeks' time!

I've got another post to write about sleep schedules as his is entirely messed up :( BUT I did get a lot accomplished today during naps and whatnot.

1) made some sweet potato
2) made some pears
3) assembled his Peek & Play Dome!!
4) ordered his Valentine's Day cards pictures (yeah, they will be late...what can I say? Life got in the way...)

I'll write more about our past week but I'll just quickly say that Liam had an awesome time with his Grandma, and I'm not just saying that cause she's reading this - he really did love having her around!

Tomorrow I need to make more carrots, peaches & apples. When I make a new food, I dont make a huge batch of it in case he doesnt like it then I end up having to make more not soon after...that all evens out though when I make huge batches of everything and then dont have to cook again for a few weeks. If I had more than 3 ICE cube trays (oh my god, Rach, are you using those trays for his food?!!?), I could make even MORE at a time! Sucks that a whole bag of baby carrots only makes ONE tray of food!

Wow, I'll be a little Martha Stewart (does that make me an Alexis Stewart?) tomorrow - I can cook all three foods at the same time cause they are all made different ways! Watch out, Maman's gonna be multi-tasking in the kitchen.

oh!Oh!OH! While my mom was here she made this [fantastic] tortilla soup and had some leftover cooked chicken that I pureed up for Liam and froze SO we have chicken to try with him soon too!

I started him on nectarines today and so far all is 'systems go'. Next I have to give him the zucchini to see how he handles that too! He didnt even say "boo" to the plums last week so we are good to go with cooking up more of those!

To recap his menus consist of:

Apples
Pears
Peaches
Nectarines
Plums
Carrots
Sweet Potato
Squash
Avocados

And this ends my boring recap of my day :)

New video

There's a new video that I find HIGHLY entertaining!

Liam has another new game where he laughs his ass off at plastic bags. This episode contains evidence that Mystic is a Protector From Plastic Bags as she stalks and goes after Matias to save us from Danger.

That's my girl.

Helping Daddy Grill for the Superbowl

Helping Daddy get the grill started.
Chillin' & Grillin'

I've got my ghetto hat cocked right

Cannot stand the cuteness. His first jean jacket. His first baseball cap. And his funky shoes from his Uncle & Auntie in CT. Getting ready to go to Target

The Screaming Game

I'm sure there's some circle of hates out there who think it's wrong to scream in your kids' face but he started it.

Old McDonald called...

...he wants his clothes back.