Monday, June 30, 2008

Sharing

This evening, our friends Alissa and Ashtyn invited us over for dinner. It was a lovely evening and a welcomed diversion. Liam enjoyed playing in Ashtyn's new playhouse, driving around in her car, and shooting hoops in her basketball net. The kiddos did a fabulous job of sharing and playing together. In fact, I would even go so far as to say it was a peaceful evening...it's been a long time since I had one of those!

Slam dunk!

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Ups & Downs

Last week was full of ups and downs. The down: my grandfather's health steadily declined over the last part of the week. We went to visit him on Friday, before we headed out of town. He later passed away around 1:30 in the afternoon. He was 82 years old and will be dearly missed by his family and all who new him.

All of this made things stressful for our trip to Cincinnati for the annual Ohio River Paddlefest. This event was one that my mom and dad started attending together in 2005. That first year, Sean and I also went with them, but we weren't able to go the past two years. After my dad died in 2007, I made a promise that I would take Liam to Paddlefest as a way of commemorating dad and his love of the water. We had practiced with Liam in a canoe and a kayak before going, so we knew that he would be good about sitting in a boat.
The trip went pretty well baring a lack of port-a-pots, a thunderstorm, a diaper "incident", and strong winds. I'll let the pictures do the talking...

Liam discovers body art.


Riding on mommy...and daddy, at the expo.


Grandma's bed is softer! (Liam's first time camping).

Look at all the boats! (Daddy and Liam in center).


Where's the water?


My grandma is buff!


We made it! Three hours and 8.2 miles later!

Monday, June 23, 2008

First potty at school

Last week I told Liam's teachers that he has been using the potty very regularly at home. I suggested that they try to put him on the potty after nap time, since he usually needs to go as soon as he wakes up. Today they gave it a try and sure enough, he went #1 in the potty! Hurray! I am so proud of him.

Liam has really been loving the play dough lately. He asked for it this morning and again tonight. He can roll out snakes and press cookie cutters into the clay. He also enjoys driving his cars around in it.

Tonight daddy read Liam a book and then he encouraged Liam to tell him a story. Daddy asked Liam what was going on the pictures of "Goldie Locks and the Three Bears". Liam told him all sorts of things and was very talkative. Sometimes we have to really encourage him, because he tends not to talk when he has a pacifier.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Party Crasher

This Saturday was one social event after another. Liam and I spent a good portion of our morning at Alissa and Ashtyn's house yesterday morning. It was an impromptu play date that occurred because Alissa needed my help with her yard. Thankfully, Liam and Ashtyn played pretty well together and we got a lot of work done. Liam really enjoyed scooting around in Ashtyn's toy car. Thanks for a fun time!

Later in the day we drove up to St. John's to go to our friend Hannah's 2nd birthday party. Hannah is quite a beautiful little girl! It's been so long since Liam and Hannah played together. They used to play a couple times a week together, but work and the cost of gas have kept us from having play dates lately. The highlight of the party (aside from some really great food) was a "bouncy castle" that the kids jumped on. It was so funny watching them! Hannah is a super good jumper, she could really get some good air. Liam liked sliding down the ramp and climbing back up it again. When it came time to open presents, Liam decided Hannah need some assistance - much to the embarrassment of mommy and daddy! I think Liam enjoyed opening presents more than the birthday-girl!

Sunday was a pretty laid-back sort of day. Liam and I went to the grocery while daddy painted the shed. We decided it was time to finally put some plants in the garden, now that the patios were done. Liam had fun riding on my back while we picked out plants at the greenhouse. Admittedly, he napped through most of the actual planting, but he was a great helper when it came time to water the plants. He liked filling and emptying his watering can.

Friday, June 20, 2008

Random Thoughts

Liam is such a big boy, look at all the things he can do now:

-Liam can put on his own shoes now. He has been taking them off for probably two months, but only learned how to put them on in the past couple weeks. He doesn't always get them on the right foot though! :)

-Liam is very good at feeding himself and getting less messy. He can eat soup and cereal with a spoon. When he's done with his meal, he puts his hands up and waits for us to wash them. He also often takes his plate to the sink too.

-Liam occasionally tells us when he needs to go potty. He usually uses it at least once a day and often more. While he was sick this week, he had diarrhea, but he actually had most of it in the potty!

-Liam started saying "play dough" on Monday. He is content to play with it for at least a half hour at a time!

-One of Liam's other favorite activities is driving his toy truck and tractor around on the patio and filling them full of rocks.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Hot, hotter, hottest...

Between Sunday and Tuesday, Liam ran a really high fever. Even Motrin couldn't keep it below 102 degrees. We all lost lots of sleep because Liam cried out in his sleep and was very restless. Plus, I was extremely worried about him. At one point I brought him in bed with us. He slept better, but we sure didn't!

Even though I figured it was just a virus, I decided to take Liam to see the doctor because his fever was so high and persistent. Of course, the doctor just complicated things...he thought there might be a possibility of a UTI and ordered urine tests. The proces of collecting urine from a 22 month old boy is not pleasant. Poor Liam had to have a bad taped to his private area. He was so exhausted that he fell asleep in my arms at the doctor's office. They sent me home and told me to drop off the sample once he went. Sounded easy enough. But in reality...a whole other story! Liam woke from his nap to find himself home and in immense discomfort caused by: his fever, his muscle aches and head ache, and a plastic bag being taped to his, ehm...well you get the idea.

I did my best to calm him down and set about trying to remove the bag. However, the tape had bonded to his delicate skin so well that it would no budge. I frantically tried to reach a nurse at the doctor's office. I got cut off...TWICE...and then finally spoke to a person. She said "just take it off like a bandaid". Then I had to patiently explain to her that there is no way this is going to come off like a bandaid! All the while, Liam is shrieking in the background. Eventually I got the point across and I was able to work the tape off with a damp washcloth. Poor Liam...

On Tuesday, I stayed home with Liam in the morning while daddy had an important meeting. Then he was going to come home and I was to go to work in the afternoon. BUT...I forgot to leave the car seat with Sean and he had to take Liam back to the doctor to get the results of the tests from Monday. So I came home and we all went to see the doctor again. Thankfully, the UTI and the strep tests they did all came back negative. Liam and daddy dropped me off at work for a couple hours before picking me up again.

By this morning, Liam was feeling better and the fever was gone. So I took him to daycare. I was exhausted at work from such a rough start to the week!

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Daddy's BBQ

To celebrate father's day, we met our friends Sarah, Ian, and Ellie at the park to fly kites and have a BBQ. The weather was extremely windy, almost too windy! But we did get up our sled and some of our fun line laundry. Our friends also brought some cool kites: a ghost delta and a a box kite. The kiddos had a blast wading around in the water. Ellie was quite the water baby! She wanted to wade all the way in! Suddenly a small storm popped up and blew across the lake. We had to bring down the kites and retreat to a pavilion. The wind made it difficult for the daddies to get the grill going, but once they did, we all ate a wonderful meal. After the storm passed, the kiddos got wet again. We were all super worn out by the time we headed home!

PS-Sorry, I forgot my camera.

Tribute to Dad


Miss you.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Meet the newest member of our family!

Hi, My name is Dozer. I was adopted today from the county animal shelter. I am a real lover!

Dozer is such a sweet boy, who instantly won us over. He is very laid back and even tolerates Liam when he gets little rough. Even though the shelter said he was picked up as a stray, we are pretty sure he lived most of his life in a home. He made himself at home almost instantly and wasn't shy at all. He follows me everywhere. Now I have two shadows: Liam and Dozer! He even climbed into bed with us...one big happy family.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Fungus Humungous

With all the rain we've had, I suppose it's no surprise that I found all these growing in my yard tonight. I put my size 11 foot in the photo for scale. I all have to say is EEWWWW!!!







FYI, Michigan is home to THIS. I wonder if I can cash in on the one in my yard?

Photo Update

Readers of this blog will notice that I finally updated some of the posts from last month with photos. I know it's been a long time coming, but I eventually got those photos off the camera and uploaded. Enjoy.

Kitty-Kitty

This evening it was rainy and miserable outside. We decided to go to a couple local pet shops to look at cats for adoption. Liam was very excited when we told him we were going to look at kitties. We pet a few cats, but none of them just had to go home with us. Not yet anyway...

Splish Splash

Last night was hot and muggy, so we decided to take dinner down to the splash park to cool off. Liam was so excited when he saw all the other kids running around that he didn't want to ear his dinner! He ate a few bites and then I stripped him down to his diaper to get wet. He squealed with glee, but was cautious. He didn't really like getting sprayed, but thought it was fun too. He ran around the perimeter, occasionally venturing further in to get wet. It was very entertaining for us to watch him!

We also took him down to the beach area. He had so much fun at the beach last weekend that I thought he would prefer wading in the water. There were a ton of kids at the beach, so there was a lot of splashing going on there too. Liam played with his boat and silly walked around in the water.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

We did it!

Last night we finally finished the second patio in the back yard! I am so pleased with the finished product, even though it took us a while and was really hard work. Liam was pretty good about playing while I worked in the yard. He drove his trains around on the patio or scooted on his bike. Now if we could only get ride of all the mushrooms that keep pooping up! Ick!

It makes me so pleased that Liam loves to play outside. We only have problems if he feels like he's not getting enough attention, so sometimes it is difficult to juggle a major project and playing with Liam. He is very eager to help and will carry tools, pull weeds, push the wheelbarrow, and sweep with a broom. The last couple weeks we always come in the house just before bedtime. Liam is always so dirty that he usually needs a bath. He enjoys playing with his toy boat in the water and seldom wants to get out of the tub.

He tries very hard to use words that he hears Sean and I say. He will often repeat a word when he hears it, then I will say it again and use it in a sentence. He speaks in sentences, but I can't always understand what he is saying.

Monday, June 9, 2008

Stormy Weekend

Our weekend started and ended with storms. Friday afternoon I could see that a bad storm was approaching as I picked up Liam from school. Luckily both daddy and us got home before the storm hit. Just as we sat down for dinner it began pooring. Liam was unsettled by the thunder. "Boom, water, boom" he said. We told him that it was rain and he said "Rain wet". He ended up eating most of his dinner on my lap.

Saturday was hot and muggy. We enjoyed sunshine while working outside in the yard and on the house. In fact, mommy got a little burnt while painting trim on the south side of the house. After we finished all our chores, we drove down to Indiana to return a trailer we borrowed from Sean's folds and a ladder that we borrowed from my mom. We spent a little while at the lake. Liam got excited and started squealing as soon as we turned down the lane to the cottage. Then when saw all his grandparents and his Aunt he started screaming "grand-grand"! He got lots of love and attention from everyone. He played in grandpa Johns red Jeep and watched Aunt Rae catch fish. Daddy took him out for a quick paddle on the lake before we headed home.



As we drove north, we could see a massive storm on the horizon. There was so much lightening that it was like fireworks. The only time I had seen a scarier sky was on a trip to Kansas around five years ago. During tat trip 18 tornados touched down in the county we were camping in! We managed to get home just as the rain started. We hurried inside. Liam was unhappy to be awake and even more unhapppy to hear thunder. We setting in bed together. He clung on to me all night - it stormed for over 5 hours!

Sunday morning we were relieved to wake up and find our power still on and house in tact. We puttered around the house for most of the day. Liam brought me lots of books to read to him, including a family photo album that I made him for Easter. He pointed out all has "grand-grands" and aunt "Rae". He will now sit still through an entire Dr. Seuss book! A big change form a few months ago. He also sits and looks at his books often, especially his car and train books.

Sunday afternoon we had plans to meet some friends at a sate park to fly kites and have a picnic. As we headed out the door, some clouds started moving in to the horizon. But since we organized the outing, we felt obligated to show up. By the time we got to the park, it was rumbling in the distance. This didn't seem to bother Liam. So we stayed for a little and waded in the lake to cool off. Liam had a lot of fun and even tried putting his face in the water. I changed him into dry clothes and we headed for home. The storm caught up with us when we where about half way there. My grandmother called us with news that there was a tornado in Lansing and wanted to know whether we were ok. By then we had weathered the worst of it in the car and were approaching the outskirts of Lansing. We saw many trees down. The street lights were out in our neighborhood. We found out that the power was out at home too. Luckily I had prepared most of our dinner earlier in the afternoon. All we had to do was cook up brats on the grill, which daddy did. We ate and them took a walk around the neighborhood. There wasn't much to do at home except read some books. When I asked Liam if he wanted to make music he said "ding" and wiggled his butt like he heard a beat. It made me laugh. I got my violin out for a little while. Liam enjoyed running the bow across the strings. Then we all turned in early, since we had lost so much sleep the night before.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Bye Burger!

Yesterday when we were leaving daycare, Liam said "Bye Burger". Now you may be wondering who Burger is...that is the nickname for Liam's classroom teacher. He really adores her and always waves or says bye, bye. But this was the first time that he said her name!

After dinner, we headed outside to work on the yard. However, Liam wasn't keen on the hot muggy weather, so I took him back inside to read. Once he calmed down, and realized that daddy was still outside, he decided he wanted to take his bike outside and ride it on the patio. This gave mommy and daddy the time they needed to finish digging the hole for the second patio and start filling it with gravel. Liam like the gravel filling...him climbed up the little hills that daddy dumped out and helped mommy "smooth" the gravel out by stomping it down. Once our work was done, I asked Liam if he wanted to go on a bike ride with mommy. I got out his trailer and a bike and we took a spin through the neighborhood. He had fun spotting dogs and cars. We stopped at the playground for a little while. He was hesitant to play at first, because there were a lot of old kids there today. But he was soon climbing the stairs, hanging on swings, and sliding down slides. He found a couple boys that were roughly his age and had fun chasing them around, until...he started throwing wood chips and mommy intervened. We were both muddy, sweaty, and tired by the time we came home and took our baths. Liam read a bunch of books with daddy before bed time. He always surprises us with the words he knows. He will point out all sorts of animals, boats, cars, and trains in the books. Last week he also started saying "The End" whenever he turns to the last page of a book.

PS - A couple nights ago, Liam tried to "blow" the seeds off this plant growing in our yard because he thought they looked like dandelions! :)

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Surprise visit from Auntie

Last night Auntie Rae came to visit us. She arrived shortly after dinner. Liam was so excited to see his aunt and stuck to her like velcro! We goofed around in the back yard for a little bit before going inside for the night. Liam had to show Auntie Rae all his favorite toys and books.

In the morning, Liam jumped into bed with Rae after he ate breakfast. Nothing like a squirming toddler to get you up in the morning!? Rae decided to follow us to Liam's daycare. She spent part of the morning there with him. He had fun showing her his favorite toys and people.

22 going on 2

Today Liam is 22 months! Only two months away from turning 2 years old. My how time flies when you're having fun!