Swing Love

As much as I want it to get really cold, Liam and I have been thoroughly enjoying this unseasonable weather by taking advantage of the baby swings at the park. He absolutely loves to swing as well as stare at all the other kids at the park.

Scary Sunday

Yesterday was tough. I debated whether or not to blog about this, but in the end I felt that I wanted to share with everyone and my mom, just how much she means to me.

Yesterday I received a call from my sister around 12:00PM that my mom had fallen down the stairs at my parent's house and was unconscious. Immediately my heart stopped and I began shaking and crying. She went on to tell me that she was on her way over to the house and that my dad told her the paramedics were on the way. The next 20 minutes or so are kind of a blur. Josh and I were not home when we got the news, so we drove straight home and I just panicked while I waited to hear back from my sister. What seemed like an hour later (but was probably 10 minutes), my sister called to tell me that she had woken back up and was responsive. They took her to North Fulton hospital (because it has a trauma center) and I headed straight there.

The rest of the day was spent with my mom, dad and sister in the ER. Miraculously she had no broken bones and only a few scratches/cuts here and there. The CAT scan did show some blood on the brain due to the trauma so they kept her overnight to monitor her and make sure the leak stopped. As of this morning things are looking good. She is still feeling pretty good, all things considered, and the bleeding has stopped. Looks like they are going to keep her one more night to monitor her and then hopefully she can go home tomorrow.

I always say that I hate it takes something like this to put things in perspective, but sometimes it does. Yesterday was such a scary day for me. My mom has endured so much over the past few years and to see her remain so strong and positive is not only amazing, but inspiring. Now that I am a mom myself, I appreciate everything she has done for me on a whole new level. She is truly an inspiration and I am so happy that Liam is able to know and love his Grammy as much as I do. The fact that my mom is ok, is the best Christmas present I could ask for. I love you mom!!


My mom, my dad and their five grandsons :)

My Next Adventure

2 days ago I ended a four year career at 22squared. I have nothing but amazing things to say about 22, but unfortunately I've reached a point in my life where I am less career-minded and more looking for a great work/life balance in order to a) share in all the special milestones Liam makes and b) spend as much time with my family as possible. While 22 is a fantastic place to work, they do not offer any part-time possibilities. I was able to work out a 3 month part-time option with them earlier this year, but that has now ended.

So, moving forward in my life, I have taken a part-time position as a project manager at a small agency right around the corner from my house. Most likely I'll be working three days a week and the other two days will be staying home with Liam. I'm very sad to be leaving 22, but at the same time, very excited at this new opportunity. The flexibility is amazing and I feel fortunate that I have been able to find such a job.

My new job does not start until January, so for the next three weeks I will be enjoying the holidays, friends and family!

8 months, an ear infection and a cold

Not exactly the title I was hoping to use for this post, but sadly it is true. Liam turned 8 months old on Tuesday and that same day he was also diagnosed with an ear infection and a nasty virus. Liam has been having interrupted night sleep for about a week and then Monday night he literally only slept for a total of 3 hours. The rest of the time the poor guys was up screaming and crying but every time I would pick him up, he would fall asleep on my shoulder :( I knew something was going on and decided that laying down must be bothering him in some way. I finally got smart and around 3 in the morning put him in the car seat in the crib. That helped and he finally was able to sleep from about 3AM-6AM. When he woke up in the morning he was also running a fever of 101.7. We went straight to the doctor as soon as they opened and our suspicions were confirmed....our first ear infection. On top of that, the Dr. also noticed he was coming down with another cold. Here we are 4 days later, the ear seems better, but the cold is in full force....coughing fits and all. I've stayed home all week and have been giving everything I have to help my little guy, so to say I'm exhausted is an understatement. There have been some benefits though...lots of cuddling, videos and just wanting mommy to hold him. Today he seems worse than yesterday, so I'm actually hoping this means we nearing the end as things always seem to get worse right before they get better. Poor guy :(

As soon as we are in better spirits I will take his 8 month pics to share.

Here's where we are at 8 months:
- Drinking from a sippy cup (see video). Not a pro yet but at least its something. I can't wait till my bottle washing days are over!
- Rocking like crazy on hands and knees. Also goes from sitting position to hands and knees and wants to do this ALL day long.
- Waves bye bye (every now and then)
- Starting to try and pull himself up. Gets about half way then falls.
- Loves to stand with support
- Still no table food...going to wait till we are all better so will prob start trying in a few weeks. Loves his jar food though!
- Smiles and laughs whenever Polly walks in the room
- Really starting to like books
- Thinks peek-a-boo is the coolest game in the world
- Loves to make an "O" face with his mouth
- Still no teeth and really no sign of them

Only 4 more months till his 1st birthday!

Videos

I haven't posted many videos in a while so I felt it was about time. Here's two of my recent favs. The first one is Liam belly laughing for the first time (please excuse my nastiness in this video). Whenever he laughs it usually is a little shrill, but I was FINALLY able to get a good one out of him the other night. The second video is showing Liam's new favorite pastime....sitting in the shopping cart. He is now big enough and sturdy enough to sit in the cart himself, and he loves it. I think he truly thinks he is on a roller coaster.

ENJOY!

The Northeastern Tour

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Josh, Liam and I fly up to New Jersey to begin our Northeastern tour. On Thursday afternoon we made it to New Jersey where Josh's parents live. We had a wonderful time hanging out and letting Liam get some much needed Nona and Captain time. The next morning Josh and I packed up some of our stuff and headed to Philly for a wedding and our first weekend away from Liam. I had high hopes leading up to our trip to Jersey that I would feel OK about leaving Liam. After all, he is almost 8 months old and pretty happy all around. I fully planned on him being "off schedule" that weekend and I was ok with that. However, Thursday evening at Josh's parents house, after putting Liam down, I had a meltdown. I was so upset about leaving him. Of course he had just come down with a cold, and he was in a new environment and the thought of being 2 hours away from him really got to me. Josh was great and talked me through it and after that slight breakdown, I was actually alright. The next morning I woke up in a great mood, not at all nervous, and actually excited to get a weekend of my hubby all to myself. All in all the weekend was fabulous. Josh and I had no responsibilities for one whole weekend and it felt great. I got plenty of texts and pictures from Liam's grandparents to keep me sane and was able to thoroughly enjoy myself. I'm not going to lie though, when Sunday morning rolled around I sat straight up in bed and told Josh we had to get home ASAP as I was DYING to see our little man. We made it home in record time and were greeted by the cutest, happiest little boy. I couldn't get enough of him that day!

Two days later we were on the road again. This time with Liam in tow. We were headed to Virginia to spend Thanksgiving with Josh's grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Besides the drive there (a normal 4 hour commute was turned into 8 hours due to holiday traffic), the visit was wonderful. Liam's great grandmother couldn't get enough of him and held daily music lessons for our little boy (for those of you who don't know, she is a musician herself). We thankfully caught some of these "lessons" on video (see below).

After 3 days in Virginia, we packed up ALL our stuff and flew home last Friday morning. Liam was an angel on both flights (he is becoming quite the traveler), something about the humming of the plane and the movement puts him right out.

It was a great adventure and we had a lot of fun. We are definitely happy to be home and getting back to a somewhat normal schedule. It's taking some adjustment time for Liam, but I'm sure he will bounce back in no time. Next our focus is on the holidays (we celebrate both in our house) so we have LOTS to do. I'm overly excited about having Liam to celebrate with this year!!

Our little traveler

Reading with Captain and Daddy
Liam with his Great Grandfather (98!) and Daddy
Morning Stroll in Virginia
Holding a tambourine for the first time

'Tis The Season To Be Crazy

I'm sorry I have not posted in awhile. Things are a bit hectic right now with work, traveling, and everything that needs to be done for the holidays. Unfortunately my blog is what takes a back seat when things get a little too crazy.

Josh, Liam and I just got back from an 8 day extravaganza in New Jersey, Philly and Virginia. We had a FABULOUS time, but I'm not going to lie...we were all pretty excited to get home and back into some normalcy. I have lots of pictures, videos and stories to share from the trip, so hopefully I can get to that in the next few days.

On top of our trip, Liam has reached some new milestones these past few weeks that I also need to share: drinking by himself from his sippy cup, getting up on all fours and rocking back and forth, full on belly laughing, and we are about 90% sure he is FINALLY teething.

More to come, so stay tuned!

7 months!

A week ago Sunday Liam turned 7 months old. I know I say this every time, but I seriously can hardly believe how time is flying by. Just yesterday Josh and I went to visit some friends of ours who have a 1 month old baby and he seemed so tiny. It felt like 5 years ago that we had a baby that small and unresponsive. Liam is so active and into EVERYTHING and it was surreal to see this little baby just sleeping and eating and trying to figure out his way in this world. I remember thinking how difficult it was to have a one month old, and now I look back and think how easy that was compared to this stage. They say every stage is hard in its own way, and they are right. It's funny how that works. Some things are much better now but some things are much harder. For instance, you are constantly on attention - making sure they aren't getting into something they shouldn't, have enough toys to keep them busy and occupied, etc, etc. They definitely understand that fussing can get them what they want and therefore tend to use it often. It's not really crying as much as whimpering, but you better believe that if Liam doesn't like the toy I have set out for him, he is going to put on his fussing hat until he gets what he wants. We aren't crawling yet, and I'm hopeful that once that starts he will feel a little less frustrated in the fact that he can't get around and to the toy he wants. I can only imagine how that must feel!!!

At 7 months Liam is:

- Sitting up on his own completely
- Eating breakfast, lunch and dinner
- Mostly taking 2 naps a day, though sometimes he still requires that 3rd catnap
- Standing with a little help from mom and dad
- While sitting in his highchair, he will grab onto the tray and pull himself to a full upright position
- Pushes ALL the way up on his arms while on his tummy. Also rests his elbows on the floor
- Can move pretty much any which way on his tummy except forward
- Still sleeps through the night, although this time change has thrown a little wrench in our wake time....we are working on it!
- Gets frightened upon meeting people he does not know. Takes him at least 10 minutes or so to warm up
- Makes a smacking noise with his lips
- Realizes that objects still exist even when they fall out of sight (looks for them after they drop)
- Picks up everything
- Takes a few sips from his sippy cup at breakfast, lunch and dinner
- Is SO much fun and makes everyday more interesting than the last :)

Sick

That seems to be the word of the day at our house lately. Luckily there has been nothing serious but it is still hard when your cheerful little guy is consistently sick and unhappy. I have had my serious share of illnesses this year as well. I honestly NEVER get sick and this year I have been knocked down hard a few times. 3 weeks ago Liam started in with a little cough and cold. Just as he was starting to get well he began getting really fussy and spitting up a TON. Then that weekend he started in with a low grade fever and waking up at night...so, off to the pediatrician we went. Turns out he had some sort of stomach bug. Poor little guy. Thankfully we got him on some medicine and he seems to be doing much better. This weekend was the first time in a few weeks were I really felt like I had my cheery happy boy back. Then cue last Thursday. This time it was me. I started in with a sore throat and by Friday it was bothering me enough that i went to the Dr. Yep, strep throat. I seriously have not had strep throat since I was a kid. Everything started hitting all at once and I just got so bummed about it all this past week. I know it will keep happening and I know it is actually a good thing for Liam so he can build up his immune system, so as long as I keep telling myself that we are set.

We head to New Jersey/Philly/Virgina next week for grandparent time, a wedding and Thanksgiving so keep your fingers crossed that we can stay well until AFTER that trip :)

Halloween

I haven't had a Halloween this fun in awhile and I can only imagine how great it will be next year when we have a full fledged toddler on our hands. This year Liam was a cow. We were going back and forth on what to get him, but honestly all the baby costumes are at least $40-$45. I mean, seriously?! He is going to wear it one MAYBE two times. No way was I willing to dull out that kind of money for one wear. Enter Costco. We happened to be doing our monthly Costco shop when I noticed an assortment of baby Halloween costumes for $9.99. Yes, that is right...$9.99!!! One of those amazingly priced costumes was a cow and we instantly knew that would be perfect for him. He is a pretty beefy baby so the cow was a natural fit. To him it just felt like sweats with a pillow so he obviously loved wearing it.

The Friday before Halloween there was a party at our daycare. All the kids dressed up and there were snacks and toys galore. Liam had a lot of fun watching all the other bigger kids. He is mesmerized by kids these days and it wears him out just watching them.

Liam with his friend Mary Ellen the unicorn :)

Grammy and Granddaddy joined us at the party too




On actual Halloween, we joined all the little kids in our neighborhood for a pre-trick or treating party and parade. Liam is still a little too young for this and by 6:30 was DONE with all the partying so we hit the hay. After Liam conked out, Josh and I took the monitor and went to our neighbors for some Halloween burgers and drinks. Our homes are so close together that we realized last week our monitors reach! It was a great night and I am already looking forward to next year.

Still Jumping

So here we are almost 3 months after we first introduced Liam to his jumper and he is still completely obsessed. I thought for sure this phase would have slowed by now, but it is really the only sure fire toy we have. When he is fussy, the exersaucer (which Josh and i have renamed the ES 5000) or toys on the floor can be very hit or miss. BUT no matter what, without fail, if you put him in the door hanging jumper or even the jumper that sits on the floor he goes crazy! I love that we have a little active boy, but this is out of control. I recently read that I should not keep him in these for longer than 30 minutes....good thing I read that because I think I could leave Liam in them all day long and he would be the happiest boy on the planet.

I thought I would share Liam's excitement by showing you a video of him bouncing in his floor bouncer. Ah, don't you wish the simple act of jumping could make you this happy?

Pumpkin Patchin'

Today we took Liam to his first ever pumpkin patch. I'm pretty sure I was MUCH more excited than he was. In fact, to say he was a little unsure is an understatement. We even had a very difficult time getting our happy little man to smile because he could not figure out what in the heck was going on and why there were orange balls all around him. He did start to warm up to the idea in the end and was soon trying to touch and grab all the pumpkins in sight.

Liam's Baptism

Im a little behind on this one, but 2 weeks ago Liam was baptized. It was just family and we kept it small and simple. A long time ago we decided to raise Liam Christian, but we also think it is very important to expose him to all the Jewish traditions of Josh's family as well. So, while this baptism was important and special, it is by no means symbolizing that we will not acknowledge any Jewish traditions. We thought a lot about how we wanted to handle the differences in our religions and we are excited about where we landed. So while Liam will be raised believing in the Christian faith, he will still get to experience all the traditions and holidays of Judiasm through Josh's side of the family. Since meeting Josh, I have joined him in many of these holidays and the family togetherness of these events is something I have no doubt I want Liam to be a part of. And lets be honest, the fact that Liam will celebrate Christmas AND get to experience Hanukkah is not too shabby :)

Half Way To One

Liam turned 6 months old this past Thursday and I am in complete denial! I cannot believe he is already halfway to 1. I recently heard that it feels like it is forever when you are in the midst of it and then when you look back on it, it feels like a blip on the radar. So true. Early on I thought Liam would never reach the stage where he could play and sit up and smile, and now I feel like it was so long ago that he was just a sweet little innocent infant. I get sad just thinking about it.

Things right now are truly awesome. Liam is such a smiley happy boy. He rarely cries (knock on wood), he sleeps well at night, he is always happy and I just can't get enough of him!

He currently: sits up on his own (just started this week), when on his tummy can move in circles and backwards (just not forwards yet), LOVES going to school and playing with the other kids, still does not have any teeth, thinks his toes are the coolest thing since sliced bread, sleeps 11 1/2 hours at night (holla!), occasionally drinks from his sippy cup, thinks his granddaddy is really funny, is ticklish on his thighs and ribs, loves watching Polly and thinks she is pretty funny too.

We also had a check up this month. Our poor little guy had to get 4 shots but he did great. He let out one big scream and then he was good to go. Everything else looked great and he is currently weighing in at 19 lbs 2 oz (78th%) and is 26.5 in long (56th%)

I (I mean we) Survived!

This past week, Josh went on a Bachelor party in Costa Rica and left me, Liam and Polly to fend for ourselves for 4 days. To say I was a bit anxious is an understatement.

I knew I could handle it just fine...what I didn't know was whether I would be able to keep my sanity for those 4 days. Well, I was pleasantly surprised! Liam did great! He slept great (except for the last night but 3 out of 4 is pretty good), ate great, and was all around very happy the whole time. The hardest parts were definitely the weekday mornings. Getting to work on time without Josh to help out with Liam or Polly was hard. And I had to get up extra early in order to get everything done. Phew, I'm just tired thinking about it.

Besides that, I packed our days with walks, play-dates, time with girlfriends in the evenings and a full day at Grammy/Granddaddy's and Aunt Molly's. It was actually a really fun four days but I will say I was SUPER excited when Josh walked in the door Sunday afternoon. I really have a new respect for all the single parents out there. Its hard enough when you have a team, but doing it all on your own is on a whole other level!

Here's a pic of the playdate Liam and I had with our neighbor. She has a son who is 2 weeks younger than Liam. We enjoyed some much needed vino while the boys enjoyed each other :)

"Beach, Beach, Beach"

Those are the words I chanted to Liam everyday as we walked down to the beach on our recent vacation, and for whatever reason he got the biggest kick out of it. He would just squeal and smile every time. SO CUTE.

This past weekend we took our first ever beach trip to Hilton Head as a family. I grew up going to Hilton Head and to this day, my family still tries to go every summer. For obvious reasons, this year's trip didn't happen as we had a 1 month old at the time, so needless to say I was ecstatic to finally go! Waiting until the end of September was perfect. Liam is almost 6 months (1 week!), the weather was never too hot, and the crowds are non-existent.

Day 1: I think in my excitement I rushed Liam into it too quickly. The second we got down to the beach I walked (or maybe ran) to the tide pool and sat him down in it, sure that he would love it. Well, immediately he started bawling. Ok, not so much. My next thought was that surely he would love the ocean....so, after throwing him into the tide pool I again ran to the ocean where the waves were huge, the noise was loud and the breeze was heavy. How could he not like it, right?! Again he started bawling and clinging to me for dear life :( After both traumatizing events, I wised up and decided that a relaxing nap on the beach might be more his speed. He proceeded to take a 2 hour nap so mom and dad could enjoy their naptime as well.

Day 2: Today I was wiser. I eased into the beach, the tide pool and the pool and low and behold, he loved it! (At this point I'm overly excited because I was getting really worried that my boy was not going to like the beach which was going to cause major problems). He sat in the tide pool and splashed all around. He put his feet in the ocean and grinned. Lastly he had the BEST time in the pool. He kicked, splashed, sat in his new float, laughed and did not want to get out.

The rest of the trip was fabulous. We only had one evening of crankiness. Every other night he was happy and busy busy busy as usual. All in all it was a fabulous trip and it got me VERY excited for next summer when he will be running all over that beach.

Log Rolls

Do you remember when you were a kid and you used to log roll down the hill? For some unknown reason, it was the best thing in the world. Looking back on it, I can't believe that just rolling down a hill was that much fun, but I vividly remember loving every second of it. Well, we don't have a hill here, but apparently the floor is just as good.....Liam is obsessed with log rolling from one end of the carpet to the other. We finally caught it on video for you all to see because we think it is hilarious. If you put him on the floor it is all he wants to do. He only knows how to roll to the right so we put him at the very top of our carpet and let him have at it. Not only does he love it, but he is really good at it and lately has gotten very fast. Sometimes I will look away for a split second and he has already reached the end and is getting ready to roll onto the fireplace (which obviously is not ideal).

He's a bit slower in this video as he is clearly mesmerized by the camera, but he does start to pick up at the end.

Enjoy :)

Back To The Grind

This week was bittersweet for me. After 5 months off, I went back to work. Its sort of been a whirlwind of emotions. On the one hand I love being back with all my friends and really getting to stimulate my brain again. On the other hand, I'm not going to lie...I did LOVE having that time off. The mornings were so relaxing and enjoyable and while Liam napped I was able to get a million things done around the house. Now the mornings are one big blur and I usually feel as though I have run a marathon before I even get to work. Everything has to be timed just right in order for not only myself to make it out of the house dressed with a full stomach but also Liam. It all starts with me getting up and showering at 6:30 (in hopes that Liam sleeps till at least 7:15) and ends with us rushing out of the house at 8:15. Phew...I'm tired just thinking about it. Liam has been handling it really well though and doesn't even seem to be phased by the extra 2 hours he has at daycare. Luckily I'm only working till 2 these days, so the rest of the day I get to spend with my little man :)

Liam turned 5 months on Tuesday! Normally we take our 5 month pictures in the morning, but due to all the craziness we had to settle for the evening, aka "witching hour". Sadly this means that we do not really have any smiling pictures this month. I think next month we will take them on the weekend! At 5 months Liam is happy as a clam! He is drooling up a storm, talks a lot, LOVES his bouncy seat and exersaucer and rolls ALL over the place on the floor...front to back and back to front! As for food, we decided to stop that until 6 months. It seemed that everytime he started food he was getting sick, so we made a judgement call and decided that we would put off food until he was good and ready. As for sleep (both naps and nighttime), we have hit a slight bump in the road, but I'm praying its just a phase and they will work themselves out soon enough.

Love this face.

He is saying "Please get on with it"













"I'd rather play with my shirt

than be sitting here!"














"Ho hum mom.

No matter what I'm not going to smile"

Playtime

One of my favorite parts of the day is just sitting back and watching Liam play. He concentrates so hard and it is amazing to see his little mind working. Lately he has started reaching out and grabbing for everything in site. Although a bit hectic it is still really amazing to see him advancing right before my eyes. He now rolls over onto his tummy constantly and almost prefers it to anything else! He is also getting much sturdier at sitting up, so hopefully he'll be sitting on his own soon. Here are a couple of pics of him playing with his toys and then showing off his tummy skills to daddy.

2 Steps Forward. 1 Step Back.

That is how I feel lately. It seems that every time we make progress with Liam, something happens and we regress slightly.

About a month ago we went through the difficult process of "crying it out" at night so that Liam could get the full nights sleep that he needs. It took about 4 days and then we were finally sleeping from 7:30 - 6:30/7:00 consistently (2 steps forward). Then we went on vacation. With the pack and play, unfamiliar surroundings, and mommy sleeping 2 feet away, Liam woke up at 4AM. When I say "woke up" what I really mean is that he was literally screaming at the top of his lungs. Had we been home I'm sure we would have let him cry for about 15 min and he would have gone back to sleep. HOWEVER, with a house full of guests we had one choice....feed him. Of course this started us down a slippery slope. The next 2 nights on vacation he woke at 4AM again wanting to be fed. Once we got home, we went through the agonizing "cry it out" again for 1 night and then after that he would sleep soundly until 5AM but that was it. He would NOT go back to sleep unless he was fed. Soooo, here we are, 1 step back, feeding our boy at 5AM and then again at 7AM his normal wake time. Last night he woke at 5:30 and actually went back to sleep till 6:30 without having to be fed first so fingers crossed that we are headed back in the 2 steps forward direction again!

Food. We started Liam on food 2 weeks ago. He was doing great, so we introduced bananas which he LOVED (2 steps forward)! However, the very next day he woke up with a rash and a runny nose. The rash did not go away and seemed to get worse so we called the nurse and she informed us that it was probably a food allergy and we needed to stop all food immediately until the rash went away. Just when we were making progress (1 step back). SO, 3 days go by, rash is still there, runny nose is still there and eyes are very itchy. Finally went into pediatricians office and turns out he is NOT allergic to food...just has a summer cold that has caused him to break out in a rash. All this starting and stopping food for nothing! My boy is probably thoroughly confused why he got to eat such yummy food for 3 days and then it was abruptly taken away from him :(


Rolling over. As you saw from my post a few months back, Liam rolled from his tummy to his back when he was 2 months old (2 steps forward). He did it consistently for about a week and then it stopped. Completely (1 step back). He is now almost 5 months old and has not done it since. He rolls from his back to his tummy (which is supposed to be more difficult) ALL the time, but he can't for the life of him roll from his tummy to his back.

Motherhood is such an interesting journey. Its amazing how excited I get when he reaches a milestone and then how crushed I get when we regress slightly. It has tought me a lot about going with the flow and letting my type A personality take more of a back seat. I now realize that things will go up and down and I just need to be happy that I'm along for the ride :)

"Chhhanges"

Bear with me as I continue to make some changes to my blog. It literally has taken me about 2 years to figure out how to design a blog and even still I have a LONG ways to go. Finding the time to actually sit down and mess with it is my biggest challenge these days. Today we had a nice afternoon nap which allowed me the freedom to make some desperately needed updates. Lastly I want to give credit where credit is due....the beautiful picture of Liam that is now the header of my blog was taken by my friend Caroline. I'm in love with this picture and cannot thank her enough for being such a talented photographer. Hope you all enjoy the new layout and don't be alarmed if more things change in the coming months :)

We Started Food

Who knew food could be so much fun! I seriously was super excited to start Liam on food. Just to see the reaction of eating actual food for the first time was itching away at me. How crazy is it to think this is the first time he has ever had to gum something and then swallow something that was not in liquid form. What a strange feeling that must be!

So, this past weekend we went to the lake with some friends of ours who have a 7 month old (don't worry i'll post all about that weekend soon). Waylon has been eating food now for about 3 months so I plopped Liam down in front of him and made sure he had a good view of this other boy eating his food rather than drinking it. I've read a million times over that babies learn from watching others so figured that was a good prep for Monday morning's cereal. All in all, Monday went great. We started out in the bumbo seat on top of the table, but Liam was a little uneasy with that set up so we moved to the bouncy seat on the floor where he is most comfortable. Next came the cereal....after a few gags and a couple looks of "what the heck is this", he proceeded to literally eat the whole thing! Josh and I were impressed. Well, before you get all excited, it must have been a fluke thing because since then we have had 3 other food feedings all of which he has ZERO interest in. He'll take some bites then fuss because he is D.O.N.E. I'm really hoping that the flavor is just so boring that he could take it or leave it and once I introduce bananas and pears and all that other fun stuff he'll be all for it. I mean, we've all seen pictures of Liam...the boy loves to eat so I can't imagine him not enjoying the real deal!

Tomorrow I'm going to go buy some other goodies to start mixing in with his rice (blah) cereal and I could not be more excited. Oh how mommy hood changes you!

Jump Around

We put Liam in the jumper for the first time yesterday. I've been DYING for this moment as I just knew he would not only love it but would look super cute jumping around :) I finally felt like he was ready and his head was sturdy enough so we gave it a go. Needless to say it was a huge success and wore our little man out like I've never seen before. Following our jump session, he proceeded to take a 2 hour nap. This jumper is now a favorite of not only Liam's, but momma's as well!!

Bath Time Is The Best Time Of Day

According to Liam that is.

We have been giving baths to Liam since he was about a month old. Not because he is dirty by any means but it is just part of his bedtime routine. It used to calm him down right before his night sleep but lately it has become an outlet for the remainder of all his pent up energy. He has grown to LOVE his bath and if he could talk I know he would tell you it is the best part of his day. No matter what kind of mood he is in, the second we walk upstairs and start undressing him for bath he gets super excited and starts squirming all around. From that moment on until his bath is over he is the happiest baby on the planet. We finally decided to capture this happy time on film. We took lots of footage, but i'll spare you some of the film that only his parents or grandparents would find fun to watch :) Oh and to give him some privacy, we only videoed the top half which is sort of a shame because his legs going buck wild is half the fun. I guess you'll just have to picture it in your head.

Let the rolling begin

This past week we stopped swaddling Liam at night and luckily it was just in time. Last night in the middle of the night our little nug rolled over from his back to his tummy! I'm still in shock. I was not expecting that until at least six months. I guess we just have one active sleeper! In the middle of the night I heard Liam starting in with some grunts and the next thing I heard was a loud cry then silence. I quickly picked up the monitor and noticed that he had accomplished his fete. Once on his stomach he went right back to sleep. Grant it he woke up a LOT last night trying to figure out what in the world he was doing on his tummy but how could I be mad...afterall he just completed a huge milestone. I'm one proud (and super tired) momma today.

We Survived Our First Flight!

I had been dreading this past weekend for about a month now. Not because of the trip itself...in fact, I was very excited to go to Virginia and visit nona and pop pop and have them meet their first great grandchild. It was the getting there part that was looming over me like a dark cloud. I remember when we booked our trip a month ago I instantly got butterflies in my stomach. How in the world was I going to take our 3 month old on a plane and ensure that he would not scream and cry the ENTIRE flight. I immediatley wanted to take back all the bad things I had whispered under my breath about unruly kids on planes. Surely Karma was going to rear its ugly head and it would be terrible.

So, jump to last Sunday and imagine my anxiety level when I realized that Liam (on top of everything else) had a head cold. Now, not only were we scheduled to fly in 5 DAYS, but my son had his first cold ever and it was a head cold of all things. Well, I did what any nervous mother would do and first called the doctor and then proceeded to quarantine myself (I had caught it as well) and Liam for 5 days. We did absolutely nothing, went absolutely nowhere and went absolutely crazy out of our minds (well I did at least). Luckily by Thursday we were both feeling almost back to normal and ready to tackle the 747. Josh and I sat down on Thursday evening and went over our "game plan" to make sure we were both on the same page and knew how Friday was going to go down (gone were the days of flying being a time when you could relax and read a book and enjoy some peace and quiet for 2 hours).

Our strategy looked something like this:

1. Arrive at gate 1 hour before takeoff and feed Liam a "snack" (gotta keep that belly full if we have any shot at staying happy)

2. Board flight early, get situated and pray for a cat nap

3. Upon takeoff nurse Liam (help with ears and full belly-see note above)

4. Put Liam in sling and pray that the noise and snugness of the sling make him fall back asleep

Low and behold it worked. Everything went off without a hitch. Liam was a champion. He snacked, cat napped, ate, slept. I'm still in disbelief that we had not one moment of crying. When we landed the woman in front of us even looked back at our sleeping sling baby and said "he was so good. I did not even hear a peep out of him". Ahhh, that was music to my ears :)

Who Does Liam Look Like?

Almost everyone I know says that Liam looks like a mini Josh. Its hard for me to say either way because to me he just looks like Liam :) After visiting my mom's house last weekend, I dug out some old baby pics of me and have posted those along with some of Josh below. I will say, there is one picture of Josh that looks IDENTICAL to Liam now! However, there are a couple of me that also resemble him....especially the one with my furrowed brow.

What do you all think?

Baby Josh

Josh and his nona

Looks just like Liam here!

Baby Meghan

I see a lot of Liam in this one

Furrowed brow!

Weekend At Grammys

This past weekend my dad was away on a mission trip, so Josh, Liam, Polly and I packed up the car and headed out for a long weekend away with Grammy. This was our first "vacation" since Liam was born and our first time away from the routine of our house so we were a little nervous to say the least. Five days away and you would have thought by the looks of our car that we were staying for a few months....you just never know what you might need when Liam is having a melt-down!

My parents have a pool, so we treated this like a real vacation with lots of pool time (or as much as you can get with a 3 month old anyway), drinking and relaxing.

We had a lot of fun, but Polly had the best time of all. To say she loves Grammy and Grandaddy's house is an understatement. With a huge yard, a pool, a cat and sprinklers, there is no shortage of fun for her.


















All in all Liam did great!

He got some much needed time with Grammy.....








Watched sports and played with Daddy....














And even got to spend some QT time in his favorite chair...



We started regressing slightly in our sleep time by the end of our stay so we were definitely ready to get back home, but for our first "vacation" I will say it was a huge success. We are heading to Virginia a week from Friday (Liam gets to meet his great-grandparents!), so this was a nice tester before we take the big leap and fly out of the state!!! Wish us luck!