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.

Baptism Pictures!

Liam helping Mommy cut his cake - do you see him watching?!! too cute!


His Godfather, Joaquin holding him while getting Baptized - do you see him watching the priest?!!? That's me on the left & his Godmother, Caroline, on the right



Cute little picture of his outfit :)

God Bless JC Penny's!

We had our 3 month photo shoot yesterday & I couldnt be MORE pleased or excited about it all!

JC Penny's was fantastic. The woman taking the pictures actually knew what the hell she was doing with a baby & had me supporting him under the blanket, something TARGET didnt even consider for a one month old. As soon as he was 'posed' he started LAUGHING OUT LOUD and didnt stop the entire time. I was nearly crying I was so happy & relieved. Needless to say, the pictures turned out just perfect. And I ordered a LOT more than I went in wanting to :)

He laughed, he smiled, he didnt squawk at anything or any position she put him in. So we have a set of poses with his whole outfit on, one with just the polo and pants (no sweater), and a set with him in just his diapers and every single one is just edible. And I didnt even order every one. What I did do though was purchase the online access with a passworded site where people can view and order sheets if they so wish so once I get that I will let you know and if you just email me (jennifer(dot)nino(at)gmail(dot)com) I can send you the password so you can see Sir Cuteness in all his 3 month glory! Thankfully, Matias didnt lose his head over how much I ended up spending - I think it had to do with how much he liked the pictures too!!

So, YAY Penny's!!!

Finally!

I FINALLY ordered (and decided on) Liam's crib sheets!!

We ended up going with the Navy Kasey from Pottery Barn Kids with the navy chambray sheets, the airplane sheets & the train junction sheets (the last two were on clearance!) - and I LOVE it!

We didnt want to tie ourselves into a theme or a distinct color, we wanted to be able to decorate and change things around with things we can add in his room as he grows and changes so we just went with a nice array of blues and khakis that we can obviously add our own little touches - like the trains and the airplanes but not trains and airplanes ALL the time. I wish they had some sailboat sheets that matched also...

And I normally dont talk about prices or amounts but we got all of his bedding for $110 simply because I used a wedding gift card we got from Pottery Barn (I could NEVER find anything for that amount since everything is so costly there...) and Liam's Baptism gift from Matias' family. I'm really happy that we didnt have to pay an arm & a leg for this stuff cause although it's all cute and adorable I just cant stand paying a ton of money for it all - this way it worked out really well! Now, if shipping & handling wasnt over $20 that price would have been a lot lower!

We should be getting it all early next week & I just cannot wait to get his room all set up - I just think it's going to look so adorable against all the white furniture & new fresh walls! Our next big thing will be introducing him to sleeping in his crib & I am not looking forward to that. He's on the verge of being way too long for his cradle but I'm the one not ready to have him in another room, just yet. I'm sure it will be nice to have our bedroom back to ourselves but I do like having him in there...sigh...

We still have to get some window treatments - I've picked out a few but Matias hasnt chimed in yet on which ones he 'approves' of so we havent bought them yet. And I know which light I want from IKEA so I just have to run over there and get it (not paying shipping!) and it's a great price too!

There's still a short list of things I want for the room though:

white & blue frames for his pictures
white shelves for his "stuff" (I think I can get these at Michaels or ACMoore and just paint them myself for cheaper than buying actual white shelves...)
a mobile (I think we can hold off on that since we have a thing that attaches to the inside of his crib but we'll see once we get him in there)
a night light (right now we leave a lamp on in there all the time since he doesnt sleep in there it's ok for night time changes but that will stop once he's sleeping in there!)

And then 3 months AFTER he was born, his nursery will be ready :) It was funny, the dude on the phone at PBK asked when I was due...I said "3 months ago" and he laughed but then I explained how we didnt know "what" we were having so we wanted to wait and see and discover what kind of little boy OR girl he OR she was before deciding on their room decor.

WOW!

Liam just CLICKED HIS TONGUE!!!

We were standing at the top of the stairs with Daddy & just getting ready to go down when he just up and clicked his tongue & smiled!!!

Our boy is growing up so FAST!!!

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving, eh!

So over a week has past since we returned from our VERY FIRST VISIT TO GRANDMA & GRANDPA’S (and Old, Wise Auntie) for Liam’s VERY FIRST CANADIAN THANKSGIVING!!

This trip also marked my first time being the driver while Daddy hung out in the back with Liam – we just find it easier on the road trips to have one of us in the back with him to make sure he’s ok & to better monitor what is going on with him since you cant see him at all cause he’s rear facing and that just kind of drives me crazy. Thankfully we didn’t hit any traffic as we have a little Red Light Racer & it is not pleasant to hear him wail while sitting at a red light or in traffic. If I can remember correctly, we only had to stop twice for the Pimp Juice & twice for diaper changes – I think the normally 4 ½ hour trip was extended to 5 hours but overall that’s not too bad. At some points though the weather was just horrible & it is now getting dark early so for Mommy the drive wasn’t all that grand but we made it to Cary just a little after his bedtime & we got him situated in his pack and play (Grandma bought her own to encourage visits – just kidding! It makes it a lot easier for us not to have to pack it in the car along with everything else we need to bring along with him!) and hung out a little with the family before heading to bed ourselves.

That night we discovered that Liam didn’t really dig the pack and play – the “bed” is almost suspended and any movement causes it to swing like a suspension bridge which woke him up and made him do the “frozen snowangel” (or more technically known as the “startle response”) and cry. I caved (yeah, twist my arm) and brought him to bed with us where he spent the rest of the weekend. I’m a sucker for having our little guy in bed with us especially when I can use the “he can’t sleep” excuse.

Sunday, we went to Macy*s since Liam had received a gift card from Matias’ co-workers at his contract site at his SURPRISE baby shower earlier that week and we SHOPPED! They had some great sales & we got some really cute stuff – another hoodie, a rugby shirt, some adorable pants, and some really cute shirts. We needed to stock up on some Fall clothes – crapper of the whole thing is that he is in between sizes AND seasons! He’s just a little too small for the next size up right now but the weather is changing so he’s wearing his clothes a little big right now & just might be doing that until next month (which is sneaking up on us quickly!) – it’s kind of a pain in the ass to get some massive shopping done though cause he’s going to be six months in January but he doesn’t need TWO sets of winter clothes – I know, horrible thing to stress over, right?! Don’t worry, I’ve got it all covered – literally. Liam will be the Layer King. Awww, Liam the Layer King – kidding. But it does have a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?

[edited to note: this is not the “catch up nap time” I was alluding to earlier this is “Mets vs. Cards Game is on” catch up time. I’m a talented multi-tasker. Liam has been down for the night for two hours now]

Sunday NIGHT we had a fantastic Canadian Thanksgiving – complete with all my favorite trimmings & a GLASS OF WINE! Liam received a bib that was altered to read My First CANADIAN Thanksgiving and proudly wore it while in his car seat on the dining room table. Yes, the dining room table – Grandma even admitted that she would never do with her own kids (yeah, hello!) but with Grandkids it’s OK. whatEVER. I think it took him a few times of us going upstairs to finally get him down for good but I do believe he enjoyed his first thanksgiving at Grandma & Grandpa’s!

Monday morning my mom left for a beach trip – can you believe she left before Liam had even woken up?!!? I still cannot believe that she missed out on all that time she could have been spending with him just to go to the beach and quilt. Oh well. I suppose it was her decision to leave her grandson.

[god, I love guilt trips]

Liam had his first trip to Best Buy to go computer parts shopping – what a proud moment! Matias needed to fix my sister’s computer (fried video card – I called that!) so we trekked out with Grandpa to go pick up the replacement & then went to lunch.

Liam is definitely getting more comfortable & better at spending time in his car seat – he was never BAD about it (of course not!), it just seems that now he’s grown a little more accustomed to hanging out in there without bitching about “are we there yet?” He still is the Red Light Racer though – I was joking with someone on the train yesterday (when he started getting fussy while the train was stopped waiting for “track work”) that I now totally encourage all drivers to run the yellow lights – much less painless than sitting at a red light!

I wanted to make it home before his bedtime & we nearly made it – it would have been a little more helpful if the person in charge of “knowing what Liam needed” was a little more in tune with things – like say, possibly changing his diapers and suggesting a feeding AT THE SAME STOP so that we wouldn’t have to stop DOUBLE the amount of times. It really isn’t ALL that easy to find a “nice” spot to whip out your boob in the back seat of the car to feed your baby, contrary to what you might have envisioned. Plus it would have been nice to make it home before dark but everything worked out ok with only TWO stops within 15 miles of home. Yeah, please don’t ask cause I have a headache from rolling my eyes about it simply thinking about it.

So it was a quick but wonderful trip to Grandma & Grandpa’s (and Old, Wise Auntie) House for Canadian Thanksgiving but that was ok cause I was getting ready to turn around on Thursday and take our First Train Ride back to NC for our First Wedding & Mommy’s First Weekend Alone [without Daddy]!

Maybe I’ll find the time to post about that before the kid turns six months! Now I’m off to pump so that Daddy has something to feed the little Bundle while I’m at the church bazaar on Saturday – HIS First Day Alone [without Mommy]!

I’m hoping to get some pictures from my family covering the past two weekends – HINT HINT – so I’ll post them here, of course, when I get them!!

Mr. Bundle

One of the many nicknames for Liam - Mr. Bundle ALWAYS greets you with a smile in the morning. Here he is in Great Auntie Jean's Truly Canadian Blankie on his first night wearing fuzzy footie pjs last week when the weather dipped.

Two weeks lag time!

It appears I have fallen about two weeks behind in posting our outings! We've had a VERY busy month what with his Baptism, Canadian Thanksgiving, Liam's first Wedding so I need to catch a nap time (when I dont have anything else to do around the house or for work) where I can sit down and write. Let's see when I can make that happen!

Liam's growing in leaps & bounds though at the moment - almost too much going on at one time for me to grasp!! There's the sitting up on his own, laughing out loud at Mommy's dancing (!!!), rolling over...the list just goes on!

The rest of the month is busy too! His 3 month birthday is sneaking up this Friday (WHAT?), we have his photo shoot scheduled for tomorrow, Halloween is coming & Mommy has a church bazzar to work this weekend so Daddy will be babysitting on his own for about 1/2 a day!

I'm going to try and join the other Mommies for a trip to Cox Farms for Fall Festival on Thursday, I have a crop scheduled for Sunday at the house & we have a Halloween party on the 27th!!

AND I think, 90% sure, he's TEETHING.

2 Month Doctor Appointment

We went for our 2 Month Appointment on Thursday - yes at 10 weeks but the week he turned 2 months was set aside for two week old appointments [whatever that means...] and he got his first round of immunizations.

Again, he took it all like a Champ. He didnt cry or scream as much as I expected him to & in turn I didnt have to cry or feel overly protective of him! YAY! He did turn very red in the face and scream a little but calmed down rather quickly. They gave him FOUR separate shots - not two at a time! And right after, I nursed him and that calmed him down right away. Matias was even laughing at how easily he calmed himself down.

Now for his numbers!

Weight: 11 lbs. 5 oz. (average weight)
Head Circum.: 16.5 inches (90%)
Height: 24.5 inches (90%)!!! (doctor even commented that he is a Tall Boy)

We have to work on having him play, lay & football hold nurse him since his head is a little flat on one side - nothing to worry about now, it's of Average Flatness - but down the road it could/can become a problem if not corrected. We are going to have get his new car seat when he hits 29" - not 26" like she mentioned. But it appears that he is gaining most of his weight through his height - they arent worried about his weight though so thankfully I dont have to start worrying over it myself! We have to start giving him Vitamin D drops since that is the one thing breastmilk lacks but other than that Liam got a clean bill of health at his 2 month check point!

He took a few more longer naps than normal that day - we had prepped him by giving him some baby tylenol & gave him some more throughout the day to lessen the effects of his shots - and was EXTRA cuddly (no complaints here!) and liked the comfort that nursing gave him a little more than usual. Went to bed on time & slept like a Champ through the night, per his usual schedule - with just one extra feeding, if I'm remembering correctly!

Friday was a little more 'uncomfortable' than Thursday - he slept in my arms for 2 hours, completely tuckled into me but did play in his gym that afternoon, and played very happily too! He got his bath last night (didnt want to push it on Thursday) and was same little happy boy and didnt even notice when Mommy 1-2-3 RIPPED the FOUR bandaids off of him in the tub! And yesterday was just the perfect day to stay tuckled up on the couch with his fleece pants & hoodie on with Mommy - rainy and COLD (today it's 48 but feels like 43!) - so we listened to music in between naps and just enjoyed each others company.

I asked the doctor about his 20 minute Cat Naps but since he's sleeping through the night, she saw no cause for concern - now that would REALLY suck if he ever only slept 20 minutes at a time but since that's not the case we are doing just fine! Mommy wishes it was a little more than 20 minutes cause that's quite a short amount of time to get anything done around the house - especially shower! But hey, the Liam Fellow is happy who cares if I'm dirty or there are tumbleweeds of Monkey Fur blowing across our hardwood prairie?

I’m not a stranger in the eyes of the Maker

Liam's Baptism

Let’s see if I can get this out while he’s still upstairs snuggled up with Daddy on this frigid and wet Saturday morning!

First off, I HAVE TO say that Liam was an angel during his Baptism. Even the priest (who is no longer Father Charles – he moved up to Rhode Island) commented no less than 4 times that he is “such a good boy”, “is he always like this”, and how “lucky we are” – yes thank you very much we know! We had him dressed in a cute little white seersucker overall suit with a white blouse underneath that his Great Aunt (on his mother’s side) had made for him with a Peter Pan collar that had blue stitching, and white shoes that came attached to one of his gifts just as a little ‘decoration’ to the wrapping (I’m sure they aren’t intended to be used as shoes but they look a hell of a lot cuter than his white GAP socks would have!) and a pin that Isabel had given me when I was pregnant. The pin had a blue fabric rosette, a lemon (not sure about that), a silver fist (think it has something to do with Rio since she lives in Brazil) & a St. Francis of Assisi, Patron Saint of Animals, charm on it, we added the silver cross his Great Grandma Txixi gave him and everything was complete! He had his cross & his Kitties with him looking over him even at the church. Of course, he looked just adorable & like a little gentleman.

It was quite the trek into DC with three cars in our caravan of Merry Baptizers but we made in time for Communion so everything was still on track! Liam got a little fussy during Mass so I took him out to his Grandma’s car to give him a quick lunch & I thought I had enough time to feed and change him since we were the second in line to get Baptized but I got a call from Matias just as I finished up & just as he filled his pants (quite loudly, I might add) that “we were up” so I brought him back in poopy diaper and all and just ‘prayed’ (as much as I can pray) that he didn’t get too upset about sitting in poop.

Needless to say, he didn’t react to his poop at all. He was seriously a little angel. He was all attentive & I would dare say it even appeared as if he was participating in his own Baptism! He was watching the priest when he spoke, looking at us & his Godparents when we were being spoken to, and watching the candle when we were all holding it & he SMILED when the priest baptized him!! The other little one being baptized (who was about 6-8 months old) was NOT happy about her situation – her gown was a traditional HUGE Baptismal gown that had been passed down & it was warm out – so she wasn’t very ecstatic to be there. Liam on the other hand – took it all in & behaved so, so well. He didn’t make one little peep, just laid there in all of our arms and chilled. Mommy was so very pleased.

What Mommy wasn’t so very pleased about was how Daddy’s brothers & sisters RUSHED the Baptismal Pool and crowded around to take pictures. Thanks for ruining the sanctity of our fricking event. I was even PUSHED out of the way, ELBOWED to move but no worries, I know when a well placed elbow of my own needs to be landed and WHERE. I’m still really upset over it all because I just really think it was rude to rush in and try to get in between us all for the sake of a fricking picture – LET US HAVE OUR MOMENT WITH OUR SON AND BACK THE FUCK UP PEOPLE! Looking back on it, which I’ve done numerous times in my head, I wish I had actually taken the Pain in the Ass by the shoulders and told her to get the fuck out of my way, that this is MY SON and your goddamn 12 y.o. ass does NOT need to be in between the PRIEST AND MYSELF! But instead all I did was land an elbow to the face. It was like a goddamn three ring circus up in there & I’m not pleased about it at all. Let us have a moment while we are performing this ritual, would you please?

After that it was time for pictures at the altar with everyone – I haven’t seen very many of them since we didn’t use our camera for it but I hope to see some at my parents this weekend! I have a few of my parents & Leanne with him & they just look adorable so here’s to hoping we have a decent one of ourselves!

And don’t get me started on when I was trying to ‘decorate’ Liam’s cake and the Pain in the Ass, ok?

And then it was over. I really LOVE our church. It’s intimate & gorgeous & just the right place for our family. The Priest was wonderful – again coming up to us afterwards to comment on Liam’s behavior & “bless” us one last time. I’m so GLAD (and relieved) that we were able to have Liam Baptized in the church his Mommy & Daddy were married in AND Matias couldn’t tell enough people that – everyone who talked to him he told that we were married there, so it turns out it mattered to him too. Wish he had a little foresight with that though – we could have saved ourselves an argument or two [dozen].

We came home & started on the Asado! Matias grilled chorizo and made ChoriPan (chorizo and bread) while I made broccoli slaw and finished the cake decorating and my mom made grilled zucchinis and potatoes – everything was just delicious, if not a bit frantic in the house trying to get everything prepped with about 34 dozen people milling and HOVERING over everything you do without ONCE actually attempting to help you do anything. BREATHING. BREATHING. STILL BREATHING.

Thankfully, Liam woke up after I had my mini-attack up there so now I’m in a much better state of mind! HA!

We were very lucky to receive some fabulous gifts for Liam’s Baptism – my parents gifted him his silver mug engraved with his name & birth date! My mom got it in Montreal while she was there visiting her mother – she got it at my favorite store – Birk’s [think Tiffany’s of Canada] – and it just means the world to me! I plan on taking a picture soon to post here! Matias’ family gave us a card & some cash that I’m going to put towards his crib sheets (I just like saying that cause it’s a funny double entendre), my Grandmother, Liam’s GG (as we call her) gave him a commemorative Canadian Coin Set from his Year of Birth (TOO COOL!) and (ok follow me here) Micaela’s Mother in Law gave him a Savings Bond. [And I do have to rant here – AT NO POINT IS IT OK TO ASK ME HOW MUCH THE SAVINGS BOND IS ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE TWELVE YEARS OLD]

My mom & sister had to leave after we served the cake (and good lord I can bitch about people being retards while I’m trying to cut the cake BUT I WILL REFRAIN) since Leanne had to work on Monday & Sunday was turning out to be a LONG ASS DAY. I was dropping my dad at Dulles for his return flight to Ottawa around 7:30pm that evening & Matias’ family was leaving when ever they got their act together (I’m surprised they still aren’t here!) – everyone was exhausted after our long day but it was all worth it – Liam Robert has been cleansed of his Original Sin & is now a Catholic (can you hear the sarcasm in my voice?) – I’m glad we were able to Baptize Liam in OUR church & that our family was able to be with us to share the event with us. Seriously though, Liam is very blessed to have the love & support of his entire family & we are very happy to have been able to share it with everyone!

It took him about two days to fully recover from everyone being here and all the excitement – but he got back on Schedule pretty easily until we took him to get his shots on Thursday!

Guardian Angel

Matias firmly believes he has a guardian angel & I dont disbelieve - he prays to her & she helps him feel calm. There was the one time, on the night he proposed, that I lost my engagement ring throwing a snowball at Matias, that he asked her to help him find my ring & he walked off about 20 feet away and came back with the ring. I also believe I have a guardian angel but mine has fur & lives with us - I believe Mystic is my guardian angel. And today she proved that she also looks over Liam.

Liam got his 2 month old shots yesterday and has been feeling a little under the weather. He was sleeping in bed with Daddy this morning when he woke up crying so I went upstairs to see what he needed (maybe some Pimp Juice) & I found Mystic sleeping beside him in bed. Not something we see everyday. Then after I brought him downstairs for snuggle time, she jumped up on the couch to sleep beside him again. And as I'm writing this I had to change Liam so upstairs we went & who do you think followed us into the nursery and jumped inside the open dresser drawer to take a cat nap?

She just knew that he needed to be comforted today. She wont let him out of her sight. And she always knows this. Mystic will snuggle and cuddle and let you use her as a pillow when you're having a craptastic day - she's just that way but to see her do it for Liam really did bring me to tears.

I wrote earlier this month that I hope Liam knows he can count on his Kitties to be his friends & his support system when you just need that extra snuggle time for whatever reason & I truly meant it but to see her react the way she has today brought me to tears. I know that might sound lame but then you might not know how far back & deep Mystic & I go (and that's ok).

My ONE hope is that she will be here when he grows up. God, that's going to be so much fun to watch. I want him to be able to participate & be aware of this Mystic Kitty's love & sense of protection she already feels for him - it's just a fantastically overwhelming feeling to sense it beginning to happen.