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.