Picture of the Day

Just hanging around

NapTunes

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

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

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

I love the smell of Naptime in the morning.

Our Visit to the Park!

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

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

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

Listener Supported – Liam Approved

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

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

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

Picture of the Day

I just cannot help but love that little face.

Growth Spurt

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

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

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

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

Liam's First Halloween, y'all

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















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



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

Busy Boy

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


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



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

Big Day!

Oct. 24th - Liam started sucking his thumb

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

Oct. 25th - Liam starting napping in his crib



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



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

Cuteness Overload

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

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

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

BOO!

Seriously Evil Time Change

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

This early rising shit is for the birds.

Big Boy

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

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

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

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

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

Things We Still Need to Get:

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

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

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

sigh - where has all the time gone already?

Next Stage

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

Here's the specs for it:

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

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

Evil, Evil Time Change

This time change is messing with my sweet baby.

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

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

Evil, evil time change.

Costume idea

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

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

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

Sneak Peek!

Oh Daddy, what will we do with you?

From last night as Daddy came to bed with Liam-

Daddy with Liam & his laptop in his arms:

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

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

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

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

3 Cute pictures of Liam during the last month

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


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


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

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

Happy 3 Month Birthday!

Wow, Liam, what a month you had!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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