How do you drive this thing?

Liam is definitely feeling better today. Not yet 100%, but better. We spent the morning doing chores around the house. After lunch we took a bike ride around the neighborhood to go yard sale shopping. Liam wasn't keen on his bike helmet, but soon fell asleep and napped as we traveled around.

Shortly after we came home, grandma Bev and grandpa John arrived from Indianapolis. Liam was groggy, but happy to see them. They brought Liam some surprise toys. He is such a spoiled baby! We all took a drive to look at some of the houses that we are considering. Then we ate dinner at Steak n' Shake. Liam ate the most solids he has in a couple days. He ate some dried veggies that I brought along, as well as some baked beans, crackers, and some carrots from grandma's stew.

Baby on a Stick

Or is it stick on a baby? Whew, it's been a rough couple of days. Liam's fever broke yesterday morning at 4am. Although he was no longer hot, I could tell he felt worse because he was moaning and whining all day long. He also went from nursing all day long to nursing just a handful of times, so I'm now painfully engorged. Yuk!

In the morning Liam and I had to take care of a couple chores. We spent an hour at the car dealership getting the oil changed. The owner of the dealership felt bad for Liam, being that he was sick, so she gave him a stuffed teddy bear. It sure helps to have such a cute baby! Liam got a second free stuffed animal when we stopped at a yard sale on the way home. This time he got a cute giraffe.

Yesterday evening we went to look at a few more homes. They were all really nice, so now were left with thinking it over and trying to make a decision. One of the houses is located in our current neighborhood, which is a big plus for me. However, it was only 900 sqft, so it's about the same size as our apartment. :( It did have a good, and fairly dry basement, so there is a possibility of using it for an office space. Plus it also had a garage for Sean. Liam enjoyed playing in the back yards of most of the homes. That's were I took this picture of him eating a stick. Yum!

Liam chose this evening to take his first little steps in front of us (I suspect that he actually took his first steps a week and a half ago, but I only caught it out of the corner of my eye). He was trying to get Sean's baseball hat on the couch and took a couple steps between the recliner and the couch. We tried to replicate this feat (pun intended), but he chose to crawl over instead of walking.

A trip to the clinic

Some bad news this evening. We took Liam to the emergency pediatric clinic because he had an alarming temperature of 104-degrees! He started out with a temp this morning. I called the nurse line at his peds office. She suggested Tylenol...it was probably just a summer virus. So I gave him Tylenol and we went about our business for the day. He took an astounding four naps! When he woke from his fourth nap this evening he was bright red and very hot to the touch. That's when his temp was 104 and we took him to the clinic. By the time we got there, it had gone down to 102. By the time the doctor saw us, it was 101. The verdict: a summer flu bug that is going around. He had a very sore looking throat too. The poor guy. The doctor said that it would probably take a couple days to clear up and to feed him cold soothing foods and plenty of fluids in the meantime. (sigh) Why does he always get sick just before we leave town?!

The good news for today is that Liam did his first baby sign. I was feeding him avocado in the highchair and when he ran out I asked "do you want some more?" and he signed MORE! I'm glad that the signs are starting to sink in.

PS - He weighed 24lb 12oz fully clothed.

PPS - Liam went in the potty four times today!

Dog Days of Summer

Whew! It was a hot one today! I'm going to keep this post short, 'cause it's late and I'm tired. Liam was really restless, clingy, and nursy last night. Both of us woke up a little crabby, but I was determined to turn the day around. I put him on my back in a wrap and we went for a walk through the neighborhood. By the time we got back we were both in much better spirits, even if we were hot and sweaty.

We had a quiet morning at home. Liam got TWO whole naps in for a change. Around 2pm I put Liam in the bike trailer and we went to meet some friends at the water park. I finally remembered my camera and took some pics. Sorry, none in the water (not enough hands to safely do that). It was fun to get wet and cool off from the heat!

Liam and I got home just after daddy did. Since today was the last Tuesday of the month, we decided to go to the thrift shop for their half off sale. We scored a baby walker toy for only $1.50! Liam loves to play with this type of toy at Elli's house, so I was happy to find one so cheap. We ate dinner out at our favorite sub shop. Liam saw another baby there and ate some cheese and bread from mommy's sub.

Once home, Liam took a THIRD nap while mommy and daddy met with the realtor to discuss resuming our house hunt. After his nap Liam had a blast with his new walker toy. Liam actually used the potty TWICE today! A new record...now if I could only catch #2 there would be fewer poopy diapers to wash. :)

Magical Monday

Liam had a really bad night of sleep last night, following two good nights of sleep. Like last Thursday night, he wanted to nurse all night long! Ugh, I am sore.

This morning we went to the Elimination Communication (EC) meeting at the birth center. EC is all about figuring out your baby's cues for elimination and using that knowledge to "catch" their waste in a potty instead of a diaper. Most of the time people start EC when the infant is really young. I'm getting around to doing this with Liam now partly because we had such a rough time with reflux/colic/breastfeeding in those early months, that I couldn't tackle it. I also wasn't sure how to get started. However, I found out that I'm already on the right track with what I started doing last week. Usually it is possible to potty train at a much earlier age when you use EC. I tried to catch #1 a couple times today, but had no luck like over the weekend.

Elli came to play in the afternoon. It's amazing how having another baby around will keep Liam so much more content and occupied! We love Elli!

This evening, Liam tplayed peek-a-boo with everything, including his shirt. Sean started playing peek-a-boo with Liam's favorite teddy bear by hiding it behind his taggy blanket. Liam though that was funny. Then Sean made teddy disappear. The look on Liam's face was priceless! He was shocked...where had teddy gone? Sean made teddy reappear and disappear several more times. Then Liam started to suspect something. He tried looking over and behind the footrest where daddy was performing magic to find teddy.

Daddy also teased Liam by making him think that he was sucking on his pacifier. Liam was not amused and screamed to make him stop. Mommy and daddy though it was funny though...he's so possessive of that pacifier! Daddy also showed Liam that some of his toys could be put inside his stacking cups. For the past week Liam has been beginning to get the concept of "inside" and started putting the cups in each other. Once he saw daddy, he started placing all sorts of toys inside the cups. You could just see his excitement at learning something new!

Oat-Meal

Just a short post about Liam's meals...Today was just all about food! This morning I made a big batch of apple-cinnamon oatmeal for Liam and I to share. Since he won't let me spoon feed him anymore, I gave him a spoon and let him have at it! Every once in a while I would help by scooping up a little oatmeal and then he would lick it off.

At lunchtime daddy made one of his awesome homemade pizzas. I cut up some into little pieces for Liam and he loved it! For dinner, I made Pad Thai...a little too spicy for baby. So I gave him some of the chicken before it was stir fried. Liam also ate cheese slices and cheerios with dinner.

Because Liam at some much solid food today, he didn't nurse as much as usual. This resulted in clogged ducts for mommy...ugh! I'll have to wait for my milk supply to catch up with the change in demand.

A Day of Firsts!

Liam woke up this morning to find his grandma Kathie and Auntie Rae visiting. He was so excited to see them that he actually spit up milk (something he hasn't done in quite a while)! I was excited because Liam slept better last night then he has in several weeks (boy did I need that sleep!). We all treated ourselves to breakfast out and then spent the morning talking and playing with the baby. My mom and sister had to leave all too soon and we were sorry to see them go.

After his afternoon nap, I put Liam on the potty (knowing that he often goes after a nap). Sure enough, I caught his first full pee in the potty! Hurray! Much celebration ensued!

Later, Liam and I went to the bike shop to have them install the trailer hitch for his baby trailer on the used Schwinn we got for daddy on Thursday. In the parking lot across from the shop, an auto auction was going on. Liam was intrigued by the auctioneer's rapid speech.

This evening, after daddy was finished with his work, we took the trailer for it's first spin and Liam for his first bike ride. We rode to Cool Cone, our favorite local ice cream shop. I was a bad mommy and let Liam share my vanilla ice cream. Liam enjoyed the trip and loved being in the trailer. He wasn't too keen on the helmet, however.

Liam's First Doodle (6/22/07)

Inspired by the "painting" that my friend's little girl made in daycare, I decided to see if Liam could color with crayons. I sat him in the high chair and let him choose a couple crayons from my hand. Of course he wanted to taste them (don't worry their non-toxic), so I gave him a binky. Then I showed him what to do with them. He mimicked my motions and moved his hand back and forth over the paper on his table. He made contact with the paper a few times, but I'm not sure he knew what he was doing. He had more fun just holding the crayons and inspecting them. I need to get some finger paint or maybe some jumbo crayons and try again!

It's a Boy!

Good News! My neighbor's son, Emmett Franklin L. was born on June 22nd at 2am. He is only 4lb 12oz, but is healthy. Both mom and baby are doing well!

What a crrrrrazy day!

Today was such a crazy day! I'm too tired to write about everything that happened to make it that way, but I will tell a couple of random stories.

This afternoon while Liam was peacefully playing and I was reading, our Finches cage came crashing down from the ceiling. I screamed as the cage blew apart and Liam started crying from the shock of the noise and my scream. I quickly calmed him and went to check on the poor birds, who had fortunately remained in their cage even though the top had fallen off. Of course as soon as I walked over to them they took off. Now I had an upset child and two small birds flying all over my living room. I put Liam on the loveseat and asked him to stay there while mommy got the birds safely back in their home. I reassembled the cage, grabbed a towel from the kitchen, caught the birds, and put them back in the cage. Ugh! What a mess to clean up! Bird seed everywhere! Liam watched pensively as I swept up the mess. Afterwards I made Liam a snack of avocado cubes and dried corn.

After Liam took a nap, I decided to let him go bare bottomed and try the potty again. He got a little antsy on the potty, so I took him off...I didn't want to make it upsetting. Of course, as luck would have it, about 30 seconds after he was off the potty he started to pee in the floor. I picked him up and set him on the potty nearby. He managed to get a couple dribbles in the pot! Yeah! (applause & cheers) I am very happy, even if most of it ended up on my floor!

This evening I found out that my neighbor, who was expecting her first at the end of July, was in labor at the local hospital tonight. I ran into her sister, who told me the news. Apparently her water broke last night and she has been in labor ever since but made little progress (only 1cm dilation). This doesn't look good for her...especially considering the c-section rate in this town! I just hope that she and her son will be safe and healthy!

I'm get'n nervous now!

Ehmmm....Yes, this is Liam standing and drinking without using his hands for support! Liam seems determined to be walking before the end of the month.

Liam spent the day in daycare. They said he had a really good day and he helped one of the littler babies turn the pages in a book. At home this evening, Liam ate a BIG dinner of cheese slices and penne noodles. He got very upset after dinner and we couldn't figure out why. Finally I realized that he was thirsty and got him his cup. He drank and bunch of water...and nursed several times...he must have gotten dried out at daycare. The weather was so lovely that we took a walk before dark. Liam rode on my back, but he was kinda' a stinker and kept pinching and molesting me. I let Liam go bare-bottomed for a while this evening and tried setting him on the potty. He didn't go...but at least he was content to hang out on the potty.

Straw Sippin'

The past two days have been pretty uneventful. Liam spent his mornings playing with Elli at Sara's house. He took long naps in the afternoon because he was so tired out. Elli hung out with us Monday afternoon and we all stayed in to beat the heat (I also broke down and turned on the AC unit). This afternoon we hung out at home until daddy came home, then took a long walk around the neighborhood looking at homes for sale. Liam got antsy in the stroller, so I carried him on my shoulders for a little while. He loved being up there and constantly squealed and babbled with delight.

This afternoon I saw Liam standing for nearly a minute without support. He is getting braver and braver about standing on his own. In the evening Liam was begging for water out of my glass. I decided to get a straw and see if we could teach him how to use it. We were very pleased when he picked it up in a matter of minutes. So now Liam can successfully drink water from a sippy cup, water bottle, and now a straw.

Daddy's Day

This morning Sean got happy Father's Day wishes from Liam and mommy as he woke up. This is because Liam slept part of the night with us in bed since he wasn't feeling well (I think we all had a 24hour flu bug, because we had upset stomaches yesterday afternoon into this morning). We gave daddy some cards and a handmade ceramic frame with a picture of Liam for his office.

Unfortunately Sean had to work much of today, so Liam and I had our own adventures in the morning. We helped Alissa and Ashtyn bring home a baby pool from the store. Once we got it set up at Alissa's house, the babies spent over an hour splashing and playing in the water. It was as fun for the babies as it was for us mama's to watch! The babies loved the water so much that not only were Liam's toes pruned, but his whole feet were too! After Ashtyn's pool party, Liam and I stayed for lunch. Liam tried a bunch of new foods. He ate some black beens, pureed red lentils, and some lasagna. To my surprise he really liked the lasagna and ate up the noodles, meat, and cheese!

When we came home Liam and I both took a nap. Daddy finished working just as we woke up. I made daddy a special dinner. We called Liam's grandpas to wish them a happy father's day too. While we played this evening, Liam stood on his own for the longest time yet! We attempted to take a walk. We started out in the Scott Woods, but the mosquitoes were really hungry and it was too hot to walk in the sunny neighborhood. On the walk home, I let Liam walk behind the stroller, pushing it. He was able to walk about 10 feet before getting tired.

Once I get copies of the pool party photos from Alissa, I will add them to this post. Check back later...

Tiny Steps

Today Liam and I were super thrift shoppers. We started out our morning at the Mom to Mom sale, then cruised several of the neighborhood sales. I found many bargains, including this adorable tricycle. It looked brand new and was only $5! Liam took a long nap when we came home...I was eager for him to wake up and see his new toy. He noticed it right away and immediately started pushing it around and saying "rmmmm" (his car sound). I showed him that he could sit on it. His legs are just a smidgen too short to be able to move himself around, so he tried scooting by rocking back and forth on it. He also soon found out that it could be daddy powered. Liam was so thrilled when Sean started pushing him around the apartment on it.

For dinner we tried a new Malaysian restaurant. It was kind of a dive, but very yummy. Liam enjoyed watching the anime that was playing for the owners daughter in the corner. I gave him a couple nibbles of our food, but he wasn't interested. He even passed up a piece of fortune cookie. The cookie that was his had this fortune:

"The step may only be a tiny on, but trust that it may be the largest one possible for now."

Very prophetic considering Liam took a few rudimentary steps today! He's definitely venturing towards walking. He will let go of his support completely when moving between pieces of furniture. He can also walk with me holding only one of his hands.

Christening Portraits

I'm obviously a little behind, but I finally got a chance to take a few photos of Liam wearing his christening gown this morning. These are a few of the cutest. Enjoy!

Zoo Pals

This afternoon a group of us got together at the Potter Park Zoo. There were five mamas (two of which are expecting), four grade-schoolers, and four babies in our group. It was a hot and hectic time, but we all had fun. Liam enjoyed watching the river otters play in the water...we were all looking at their pond longingly. He also had a lot of fun with the goats in the farmyard. In the picture the goats are checking to see if he or Elli have food. We got a glimpse of the month-old baby snow leopard - he was so cute and already the size of a house-cat. As always, we stopped to watch the mongoose lemurs play. Before we left, Liam and I shared an icecream cone (the one "junk" food item I will allow). After all the heat and excitement, Liam was super tired and fell asleep on our walk home.

Liam has made some more strides towards walking. This morning I saw him quickly shuffle between the recliner and couch without holding onto anything. Then this evening he stood in front of his dresser without support for several seconds before he carefully squatted and sat down.

Barns and Bikes

Today we took a trip up to visit our friend Eva and little Hannah for the afternoon. Liam napped during the lovely drive to the countryside. When we arrived at Eva's and I opened the car door, there was a strong oder of mint in the air. Mint is one of the biggest crops in this part of Michigan. Liam was so excited to play with Hannah and her toys. He also enjoyed chasing their tabby cat all around the house (thankfully their cat was extremely laid back).

Eventually we all made our way to a nearby farm to visit some of the animals. Liam got to see baby cows, but was most interested in their well trained dogs. He loved watching the older kids throw a frisbee to the dog. Liam also played with their youngest son, Joe, who is just a month older than Liam but even BIGGER than him!

We didn't get home till almost 6pm after getting stuck in some traffic on the way home. After dinner, Liam and mommy ate some apple slices. He went to bed at 9pm tonight, which is the earliest he's gone to sleep in a long time.
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Wednesday Liam went to daycare, as usual. This time he cried and sobbed as I went to leave. I was surprised, because he's been so good about being left at daycare. I gave him another hug and kiss, but then had to go. He definitely knows how to tug on my heartstrings!

I had a hectic day of meetings. Sean and I ate a quick dinner when he came home and then we went to pick up Liam together. Liam was snoozing in a swing when we arrived. He was very happy to see us when daddy woke him. I let him nurse before we left. On the way home we stopped at Target for more baby Tylenol (a must while he's teething!). While we were there, we discovered that they had an infant bike helmet in stock...we've been looking everywhere for one of these! Now that Liam has a helmet, we will have to renew our effort to find affordable bikes to replace the ones that were stolen.

A Storybook Day

Even though Liam continues to be sleeping poorly, today was a great day. This morning he was all about his books. He kept bringing books to me to read. His favorite book is "Beetle Bug's Party", which has fiber optic fireworks to turn on at the end of book. He's just like his daddy, who's always attracted to pretty lights. It's unfortunate, however, that Liam's teething right now, because he's bitten a few chunks out of some of his books. I had to keep a close eye on him while he's flipping through his books.

I took Liam to Sara's for the rest of the morning and I got a lot done! Several of my mommy friends were planning on going to the splash park this afternoon, so I packed Liam's swim stuff before picking him up. We went to the park from Sara's and met up with Lindsey and Keisha and their little ones. I took Liam "walking" through the splash park a couple times. He got cold quickly, so we spent most of our time there watching the bigger kids play. We also went down to the beach for a short time to wade in the water. Liam loves to splash! We were getting a lot of sun, so we didn't stay at the beach too long. Instead we went home and took a much needed nap.

This evening Liam ate a bunch of ground turkey meat for dinner. It was the first time that he's shown and interest in meat. I read him more books and he rough house with both mommy and daddy. He continues to try to stand up without support.

Don't tell the landlord there's poopoo on the carpet... (post for June 11, 2007)

Yesterday morning started out pretty idyllic. Liam played well while I did yoga for the first time in a couple months. Everything was happy and relaxed. Until...the diaper blowout from ___ - well you know.

I left the room for a moment to put the diaper laundry in the dryer. When I returned, I noticed Liam playing with something in his hands that look vaguely like peas. But I hadn't given him any peas this morning and didn't leave the container anywhere in reach, so they couldn't be peas, right?...Then I suddenly realized that these were peas and that they had come from his diaper!!! Yikes! There was poopoo all over him, the floor, and the blanket that I had been doing yoga on! An emergency bath ensued and a half hour later everything had returned to normalcy...somewhat.

A little later we went to the group for Natural Family Living at the birth center. I've been meaning to go to these meetings since Liam was born, but somehow had always missed'em. This month's meeting was on babywearing. I brought along a couple of my carriers to share. I met a few new moms, including one who lives just down the street from me in the same neighborhood. I also met up with a few moms that I hadn't seen in several months (ever since Liam graduated to the crawlers group). The last time I saw their babies, they were newborns...now they were big and sitting...how time flies! Liam had a blast playing with all the toys and other babies, as usual. He is so social...not at all like his mommy and daddy!

After the meeting I took Liam to his pediatrician just to be safe about his possible ingestion of stuff animal stuffing. His doctor said he was fine and that anything he ate would pass through given time. (Way to make me feel like a total paranoid mama!) BTW: Liam now weighs a whopping 23 pounds!

Liam fell asleep on the way home and he continued to sleep once I put him in his crib. Meanwhile, Sara brought Elli over for me to watch. Elli played by herself until Liam woke up. He got excited and started jumping up and down in his crib when he saw Elli follow me into his room. They played together the rest of the afternoon and evening. After Elli left, daddy helped Liam practice standing on his own. He can stand up for a few seconds at a time before he looses his balance.

It's a Zoo

Today we took a drive to the Binder Park Zoo. We picnicked in the park before going into the zoo and enjoyed the lovely morning. We ended up spending nearly five hours in the zoo! We all had a lot of fun and Liam got to see a lot of animals. Liam tried to communicate with the cockatoos...it turns out that his excited squeal sounds exactly like a cockatoo call! It was so funny watching him and the bird call back and forth to each other. Liam also got to ride on both a train and a tram! We did so much walking that we were all tried out by the time we left. I think we made a lot of memories today!

When there's not just food in the poopoo...

This morning while changing Liam's diaper, amongst the usual partially digested peas, blueberries, etc...there was something that was not edible. I discovered two plastic bee-bees - the kind that are often used as filler in stuffed animals.

I promptly sorted through his stuffies. Many of them have bee-bees, but none of them have holes or loose seams. I decided to take away some of his stuffed animals while he's teething. The only thing I can think of is that while bitting one of them, he accidentally pulled the bee-bees through the fabric and swallowed them. (Don't worry, the bee-bee's weren't from last night's surgery to Eeyore, because he only contained stuffing.)

I'm not even sure it happened at home, since he spends three days a week at daycare or a friend's house. I'll have to mentioned it next week, to make sure they check their toys too.

Ugh! I am SOOOOO done with oral fixations!

PS - During Liam's afternoon nap I finished Eeyore's personality reconstruction. I restuffed him and sewed him up. Now Eeyore is good as new!

PPS - This evening we made a little outing to the local park. I took Liam on the swing and down the spiral slide. Then we played in the grass until the mosquitoes found us.

Spinach Pie

Well, teething is definitely back in full swing at our house. Liam was up every hour last night! Yeah, sleep deprivation! Even in my exhausted state, we managed to have a full day including: playing with blocks, taking the potty for a test drive, stopping at some yard sales, a trip to the city market, and a playdate at the birth center.

While at the market, I bought a yummy spinach pie from one of the vendors for lunch. Liam helped me eat it. He liked it so much that he was disappointed when it was gone (and so was mommy).

We spent most of the afternoon at the birth center for the crawlers group. Liam was so happy because there was another boy there for a change. He played with Sawyer, who was just a couple days older than him. They had a great time playing with the Thomas train set. Unfortunately, he probably won't see Sawyer again at the next group, because he and his family live about two hours away...what a bummer.

Liam was rather cranky this evening and putting him to bed was a struggle. Let's hope he sleeps better tonight though!

PS - We gave Eeyore another try last night. Liam definitely doesn't like it when Eeyore talks. He would push him over and leave him on his back, legs kicking. Sean decided to do some surgery on Eeyore and removed the animatronics from stuffed animal. If I get some more stuffing, I might be able to sew Eeyore back together.

From Chilly to Steamy

Wednesday morning was really cold. I dressed Liam up in pants, button-up shirt, and sweater vest for school (aka daycare). He looked so cute. He had a good day at school and impressed the teaches by waving bye-bye as we were leaving for home. The weather got nice enough that they took Liam out for a walk - his first time outside while at school. Liam was so tired from his day of playing that he promptly fell asleep when we got to the car. He even slept through dinner on my lap, while Sean and I ate out. When we got home we all took a stroll around the neighborhood.

I took this picture after his bath. He's chewing on his favorite bath toy - a terry cloth octopus. He loves his time in the buff after baths. Tonight he got pretty cranky when it was finally time to get dressed for bed.

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Today was full of excitement. This morning, Liam started playing hide-and-seek with me. He found the corner of our bedroom behind the bed and thought it was funny to make me find him there. Every time I turned around he was making his way for his favorite hiding place! I know he thought it was a game, because he would giggle if I chased after him or when I found him.

Elli came over this afternoon. I planned to take both of them to the beach at the local park, since the weather was supposed to heat back up again today. While we walked there Elli napped and Liam happily babbled to himself and pointed at everything. He especially likes the shadows that trees make on the sidewalk and gets excited when he sees birds and squirrels. When we got to the beach, Lindsey was there with Scarlett and Keisha as there with Lilly and her older daughter Maya. Jamie and her three little ones also came. I sat on the shore with the babies on my lap to let them dip their toes in the water. It was cold, but it felt really good! Liam was so happy to be in the water. He wanted to sit in it and walk around in it and do lots of splashing! Elli was a little more cautious, and watched all the older kids playing. After a while we decided to go to the water-park area, where there was shade. Lindsey and Scarlet came with us. One of Maya's classmates wanted to play with Elli and Liam in the water, so I had to keep an eye on all three of them. The babies were quite tired by the time I headed home. They slept as I walked home through the humid, hot, and super windy air. When Elli's daddy came to pick her up, Liam waved bye-bye without being prompted. He's so smart!

Sorry there's no pictures from our adventure at the park. I had too many things to carry (including babies!). Maybe next time I'll get some photos...

Tasty Treats

Now that Liam has mastered eating solid finger foods, I've been trying to introduce new foods and flavors. I have limited time and energy, so sometimes it's tough to think of nutritious and fun finger foods for him in addition to fixing meals for Sean and myself. I don't feel particularly comfortable with feeding him table food, because of a family history for food allergies. Yesterday Liam ate cubed avocado and grated carrots for dinner. Today it was puffed rice cereal and tofu cubes.

When he's in the mood to eat, he gets really into it and gobbles his food up. When he's not in the mood, however, he makes a mess and rubs his food all over himself and his table. Dried peas are still his favorite snack, although he also loves bananas, dried blueberries, cheerios, rice crispy cereal, baby cheddar crackers, baby vanilla cookies, slices of cheese, graham crackers, and apple slices. He also eats yogurt daily and the occasional jar of pureed fruits or veggies.

Sean and I don't eat a lot of meat, so I've had a tough time with figuring out how to introduce it to Liam. I've given him a few nibbles of lamb and ground beef while we were eating out. He's also sampled shredded chicken and salmon at home. So far he hasn't shown a strong interest in meat. I think he gets plenty of protein through, because he still breast feeds about 6 to 8 times a day!

A pamphlet I received recently says that toddlers eat 25% more calories daily than they need. I think this is definitely the case for Liam. He has gotten kinda chubby again...he's probably about to have another growth spurt (He hasn't really grown much in the past couple months).

The BIG One-O

Gosh, 10-whole months since Liam was born! Where has the time gone?! He's gone from a tiny helpless baby to this little person who can both delight and frustrate (sometimes at the same time). Today was a stormy day, much like the morning he was born (Although I got to sleep most the night last night...Liam didn't wake up to eat in the middle of the night!). Sean was kind to me and watched Liam to let me sleep till 7:30am. To thank him I made a big pancake breakfast and some scrambled eggs. After breakfast the weather was clear, so we got ready to go out with the hopes that it would stay nice long enough to go to the zoo. By the time we all had our shoes on it started to rain. Bummer...

To pass the time, we took a drive to a local outlet mall. These places aren't really my thing, but I knew that the drive would give Liam a good nap, and give mommy and daddy some time to talk and sip our coffees. Our first stop at the mall was the Bose dealer. They gave us the royal treatment and let us sample their special room equipped with a $4000 surround-sound system. It was a bit loud for the baby, but he enjoyed it and also got a chance to nurse discretely. It rained on and off, but we walked around to several stores. We went to shop for some dress clothes for daddy and some shirts for mommy. We also stopped in a toy store and gourmet kitchen shop. We had just made it to the book store - bound to be an expensive stop for us - when I noticed that the sky was black to the south of us. I quickly got Sean's attention because we were on the other side of the mall from where we had parked. We raced across the mall to the car so that we wouldn't get caught in the rain. We had a wet drive home and Liam took another nap.

Liam had a rather messy snack time once we came home...and yes, that's yogurt on his nose. For the most part, Liam played really well by himself this afternoon. He busied himself pulling his favorite toys out of baskets and banging them together. This allowed daddy to get some much needed time alone to game on his computer and allowed me to read while watching Liam play.

I can see now why people are so nostalgic about bathing their babies. Now that Liam is a mobile toddler, bath time has become a struggle. I am constantly wrestling with a strong wet baby to keep him from crawling all over and standing up. I work up such a sweat that I need a bath! After his bath, I allowed Liam to go in the buff for a while. He loved being naked so much that he got rather rambunctious instead of quieting down for bedtime. What a start to another exciting month!

PS - Liam pointed to the dark clouds as we were walking to the car at the outlet mall. He said "clouds" when I told them what they were. Then, to my surprise, he started waving bye-bye to them!

Rummage-days

Yard sale season is in full swing. Liam and I found some great bargains in the past two days. Friday started with me watching Elli for Sara. It was a long morning, because both babies were a bit cranky and tired and I was tired too. Eventually I got them to both fall asleep. Nap time consisted of me hold one baby in each arm while in the recliner until they stopped kicking each other and finally fell asleep. This was tough because you know how over-tired babies will cry when you put them to sleep, well both Elli and Liam were not happy about napping and fought sleep to their utmost.

After Elli left, Liam and I had a quite lunch and then we headed out to the local LLL rummage sale. I had high hopes to find some neat things for Liam, but alas, all the organizers have girls! Since I knew most of the people who ran the sale, Liam and I hung out in the yard to play with the other babies and mamas. The good news is that Liam is finally over his grass phobia, the bad news is that he is over his grass phobia and now loves to eat the grass and just about anything he can find in the grass. Ugh! I am SO done with this oral fixation of his! The only thing we bought at the sale was a stuffed Eeyore toy. It turns out that Eeyore is animatronic. He talks and walks.

It was late afternoon before we came home. I stopped at a few more sales on the drive home. I found Liam some great outfits for next fall and winter, as well as another gate for the house and some other odds and ends. At home we got a chance to play with Eeyore. At first Liam was excited about Eeyore and watched him the way he watches animals. But Eeyore got creepier the more we played with him. When you turn the toy on, he says "Hello, I'm Eeyore" and begins to play music as he walks. Then he says "Do ya...want to crawl with me?"...more music and walking..."Come on...might be fun"...more music and walking...you get the idea. Sean and I decided that Eeyore might be a pedophile. Liam also took a dislike to Eeyore. He started giving him a wide berth when crawling around him. Later he was openly hostile toward Eeyore and pushed him over. Hmm...It's a rather cute stuffed animal. I might find a way to take out the electronics and just fill it with stuffing. That way he'd be a lot less creepy.

Friday evening we went to Fun Tyme arcade. As usual I played ski-ball and spin-to-win. I won enough tickets to get Liam a set of maracas. Sean tried his hand at the stacker game to win a playstation portable...He came really close a few times. Liam got to ride in the penny airplane. Liam and daddy played the crazy taxi driver arcade game. I took pictures of both activities with my cellphone since I didn't have a camera on me (sorry, I can't download those pics). We also watched some people racing go-karts. Liam clapped every time the cars came around. It was too cute!
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Today Liam and I ran errands and stopped at some more rummage sales in the morning. I got Liam a few more nice outfits. I love buying $20-plus clothes for less than a dollar! It got really hot today, so we decided to go ahead and get the air conditioner ready to use. It was sure nice to be able to cool off after our late morning walk in the neighborhood. Liam and I also ate an apple when we came back home. This was the first time that he was able to eat some thin little pieces of apple successfully. The first piece took him a while to eat. He licked it for a bit, then eventually chewed it up. He happily ate a bunch more pieces.

Most of today was spent doing chores. Liam took several long naps...he's a growing boy! We intended to go out at have some fun in the afternoon, but a storm blew in a spoiled our plans. Instead we went to our favorite Chinese buffet. I brought snacks for Liam to eat, but also gave him some white rice to sample. He ate a little and made a mess with the rest. I also gave him a few little bites of rice-flour cake for dessert. He really like that!