Jumping in the fake pool

We just got back from the beach this past Saturday and Liam still has one thing on his mind..."mimming" also known as "swimming".  One of his favorite things to do at the beach was run and fall into the tide pool where Daddy would catch him.  Well yesterday,while sitting at home, Liam decided to recreate this fun activity but rather than a pool, he would dive into daddy's arms.  It was cute.

15 months

Liam turned 15 months last Friday so I thought  I would provide you all with a little update.  We had our well check-up on Wednesday and everything looks great.  Liam weighs 24 lbs and is a little on the short side as he is only in the 33% for height.  My sister and I were just talking yesterday about how much her son Sean and Liam look alike in Sean's baby pictures (he is now 11).  And, Sean was always on the shorter side, so its no surprise that Liam is too.  One thing that was discussed at Liam's apt was the possibility of tubes.  He has had numerous ear infections and sinus infections, so the Dr told us we are at the point that if he has roughly 2 more within the next 3-6 months, we should go forward with it. Honestly, I've heard nothing but great things from those whose kids got them, so I'm not worried about that in the slightest.  In fact, I think it would be a good thing as he wouldn't have to be on antibiotics all the time.  The next step is to just wait and see.  

At 15 months, Liam is

• Walking great.  Started walking a little over a month ago so he is pretty darn sturdy at this point.  No running yet, but he has tried "speed walking" to get away from me many times :)

• INTO.EVERY.THING!  Seriously.  You can not turn your head for 2 seconds without him exploring something new and most times it is the things that are off limits.  We just started enforcing time out recently, so we will see how that goes over the next few months

• Throws little fits here and there if a) he is tired b) he is hungry or c) we don't let him play with something that he really wants.  Most the time they last all of 5 seconds but boy are they dramatic

• Has 4 bottom teeth, 3 top teeth and is about to cut his 4th upper tooth any day now

• Sleeping from about 7/7:30 - 6:30, sometimes 7

• Takes 1 nap at daycare / 1 morning catnap and 1 long afternoon nap at home

• Still shovels food in his mouth, but not really swallowing much.  Our Dr. said it is pretty common for some kids to wait until they have their molars and can really grind things up.  He told us he really doesn't think Liam needs therapy and to go ahead and stop it and see how he is doing by 18 mo. (fingers crossed)

• ALL about momma.  Constantly asks for "momma" and will say it repeatedly 50 times a day.  If "dada" goes to get him in the morning I can hear him on the monitor say "momma? momma? momma?"  I'm not gonna lie, it's pretty darn cute.

• Has roughly 8 words: momma, dada, ball, uh oh, bye bye, shoes, ba ba (which is his own word for his blankie), all done, wawa (water) and he still signs for milk but doesn't say the word yet.  He attempts to imitate almost everything we say (swear words are stopping at our house now), but these words above are the ones he knows without us telling him first.

• NOT into babysitters.  This just started about a month ago.  He is very aware now and a) knows that if mom and dad are dressed up past 7PM then something is up and b) will start bawling as soon as the door bell rings and the sitter walks in.  I know it's just a phase, but I'm ready for this one to be over!

• Is still all around a laid back, easy going kid.  As long as he gets the sleep and food he needs, then he is pretty happy all the time. 

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We are eating....sort of

So we had a break through in the Murphy house last week.  Liam ate table food!  As most of you know, Liam would eat purees all day long, but the second we would offer him table food, he would put it in his mouth, chew around and then spit it out.  He just WOULD.NOT.SWALLOW.  This has been going on for quite some time, so I'm sure you can imagine my surprise when I offered him his usual ravioli and peaches for dinner one evening and he swallowed them.  Both!  And he proceeded to eat a lot of them.  Fast forward to the next morning, I gave him peanut butter toast and he ate the whole thing.  Did not even want his baby food.  Since then we have eaten pancakes, vienna sausages, anything with peanut butter on it and goldfish.  There are still things he will spit out, so we are unfortunately not 100% off baby food, but I think we are on our way.  I've always figured it would happen eventually, but at the same time have gotten so used to him just eating purees, that I am utterly still in shock.  Fingers crossed we keep progressing and can stop these baby foods all together within the next few months!

Botanical Gardens

Nona and Captain were in town this weekend and we had a blast.  Saturday we headed out to the botanical gardens and spent all morning walking around and exploring the children's garden.  To say Liam had fun is an understatement.  He walked all over those gardens laughing and exploring and couldn't get enough.  After a quick lunch in the cafe, we headed back home around 12:30 for a big nap.    It's so nice to have this right in our backyard and I fully plan on going often!

Nona and Captain

Liam squealed when we walked behind this water fountain

Love the plaid short boys

Captain teaching Liam all about fish

Slide fun

Fish!

Splash Ground Heaven

We have the best playground ever near us that we only just discovered a couple months ago.  It's a brand new project that is part of the new belt line plan in Atlanta.  Basically they built this HUGE playground with lots of cool, funky play areas all built on recycled tires (for extra cushiness).  In addition to that, it is right next to a pretty pond with lots of green space.  At the top of the playground there is a water (splash ground) area with lots of shooting fountains and water buckets that fall over when they fill up with water.  It truly is heaven for a kid.  They even have brand new public restrooms which is an added perk.  After our discovery of this park, we have been at least a dozen times.  Liam loves it.  He loves playing in the water at first, but he gets most excited about the amazing playground and all the cool things it has to offer.  A couple of times we have brought a picnic and had lunch over there as well.  Just a few weekends ago, we met some of the kids from Liam's daycare class and their parents for some coffee, bagels and playtime.  

Dada and Liam checking out the water

Enjoying some bagels on the steps.  Quinn is to the left of Liam and I love how he is just laid back chilling in this picture

Quinn, Liam and Elise

Tough Week

It's been a tough week in the Murphy household.  It started when we got the call last Friday that Liam had fallen at school and busted his eye pretty badly.  I wasn't sure what to expect but when I picked him up his eye was swollen and cut and not pretty.  Fast forward a couple days and a Dr. visit confirmed that Liam also has hand, foot, mouth...AGAIN!  This virus is just nasty.  It makes him so uncomfortable and he just fusses all day and all night.  He finally seemed to be doing a little better on Tuesday and while he was walking around the house, he flipped over the bottom rung of our barstool and smashed his face into the ground.  Blood was everywhere and for about 5 minutes we could not figure out where the blood was coming from (tooth, tongue, lip, etc)  Once we were able to clear it out enough we noticed that his upper lip was split wide open.  It was horrifying.  Of course he was screaming and would not let us put ice on it, so we just watched as it ballooned up.  We finally got the bright idea to give him some popsicles, so off Josh went to Kroger at 7:30AM with blood stained on his shirt to get two boxes of popsicles.....they must have thought he was CRAZY.  Now, today, Liam has woken up with a mass on his cheek.  I noticed it a couple days ago and thought it was just the rash that he gets at the end of hand, foot, mouth.  Unfortunately today it is much bigger, raised and hard.  Now I'm leaning towards an infected bug bite.  Oi vey!  I have another Dr. apt at 3:15 today to get it checked out.  Our poor poor guy has has such a miserable week (which also equates to miserable parents, I might add).  I'm just hoping this was a week we can erase off the books and hopefully this weekend brings better fortune to Liam and our household!

More Walking

Here are a couple more....