Thursday, December 31, 2009

Welcome to 2010

I'm still up. Not celebrating, but bogged down with a silly project of mine. For the past couple years now I have been trying to really simplify my life and get rid of stuff! This also includes all the silly memorabilia from my childhood. Because I am a sentimentalist at heart, I feel like I have to preserve some of it however, so I am scanning artwork, cards, and certificates. I just finished all my stuff from elementary school. I still have 80% of a huge file box to scan however...it will have to be enough for now, because I am going to bed.

It's a wrap!

Can't believe that it's New Year's even already! I've been so terrible at keeping up with the blog this year. Liam has grown in so many ways and is such an amazing little boy! This Monday he climbed in bed with my after his daddy got up to get ready for work. He told me, "Mommy, you're my best friend." Then he also said that kitty and daddy and Kensie (a girl in his preschool class) were also all his "best" friends. He is so sweet!

Today we all went to visit the Air Zoo again. This time we started at the space exhibits. Liam was so excited he kept running from display to display. In the WWII exhibits, we all got to go inside a bomber and Liam sat in a cockpit of a fighter jet. It was a fun day and a great way to end the year.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Story Time

It makes me so happy that Liam has an overwhelming love of reading. At nap time and in the morning, he loves to pull all the 200+ books off his shelf and "read" through many of them. Despite the mess it makes, I am pleased that he loves his books. Not only does he love to be read to be us and his teachers, lately he also likes to tell stories of his own or pretends to "read" a book to us from what he remembers or sees in the picture. Tonight he read The Little Engine that Could. It is so sweet and precious! He also has started asking me what the words say on signs or subtitles on the TV. Hopefully he will keep up this curiosity and interest in words and reading....of course he still has to master his letters before we get too carried away. ;)

Saturday, December 12, 2009

A Train Load of Fun

Today we treated Liam to a ride on a steam engine. This is a holiday tradition we started last year. This time my mom and Sean's parents were able to join us. I like giving Liam rich memories, rather than more stuff for Christmas. Here are some photos from our adventure...



Sunday, November 22, 2009

Talkin' with Santa

Friday evening was our cities annual winter festivities. We didn't have time to participate in everything, but we did go to the city market, where Santa and Mrs. Clause meet the kiddos. We've taken Liam to this event on several occasions, but he was always afraid of Santa. But this year, to our surprise, Liam was so excited to see Santa and he ran right up to meet him. He even talked to Santa and told him what he wanted for Christmas!

Saturday, October 24, 2009

My Sunshine

This has been one crazy week! I'll start with the happy news that we are expected another kiddo, due in June! I am only 6 weeks pregnant. We were planning on keeping this news secrete till Thanksgiving, so we could announce it to our families. But of course, fate had different expectations. Tuesday morning, while teaching in front of 35 students, I started hemorrhaging! I dismissed class and quickly drove myself to the ER. After a torturous day of tests and procedures in the hospital, we were no closer to knowing whether or not I had lost the baby. I was told to go home and rest and wait for another round of blood tests on Thursday. Meanwhile, we called the family to let them know what had transpired.

My in laws, who are retired, came up to watch Liam for me. They decided to take him home with them for a couple days, so I could rest. While I was sad to see him go, I knew it was for the best. My mother happened to have Wednesday off from work, so she came to keep me company, make sure I stayed off my feet, and keep me fed.

Thursday morning was tense. I canceled my class so that I could get my blood test and continue resting. I decided, however, that I should teach my afternoon class, so it would not be behind. I managed to make it through an hour and half lecture, then quickly checked my phone for messages from my OB's office. Sure enough, there was a message...to call them! So I called and waited for the nurse. She told me that it was good news, my Hcg (pregnancy hormone) levels had doubled and that I was still pregnant. She told me to take things ease and rest as much as I could. We also scheduled an ultrasound for Monday, to check on the baby and look for a heartbeat. What a relief!

Friday, Liam came home. It was so good to see him, I really missed my little guy! His grandma and grandpa said that he was a good boy while he visited them. He came home with a nice haircut. They took us out to dinner before going home.

This morning we attempted to get Liam and I vaccinated for H1N1 at the county clinic. We arrived a half hour early to find that there was a line of more than 500 people around the building. We waited in the cold rain for a while, but decided it wasn't worth it. We attempted the clinic again around noon and were able to walk straight in! So that is one less thing I have to worry about now. I only wish that we could have gotten Sean vaccinated too.

Liam is napping now, but when he wakes, I want to carve some pumpkins!

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Dino Dasher

Liam ran his first official race today! It was only about 200yards, but it was still a race. He was the fastest in his age group (1-3)! Although, he was disappointed when all the kids 'won' medals and didn't think his medal was special. :( Pictures will eventually be posted on flickr, for family. Stay tuned...

Sunday, September 20, 2009

"I love you mommy."

I never get tired of hearing those words, no matter how many times he says it in a day! Liam has learned how to share his appreciation and love. In the past couple weeks he will frequently tell Sean and I that he likes us or loves us. It is so sweet to hear those words in his little toddler voice.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Snakes and Snails and Puppy-dog tails

It has been declared that Liam is 100% boy! His fascination with all things icky has really become a passion. He spent most of the weekend finding bugs, collecting worms, and petting frogs and caterpillars.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Dancing with Fireflies

Last night I let Liam stay up late and go outside to explore the world at dusk. We watched the bats chattering and flying in the sky. I told Liam how they ate the bad mosquitoes for us. Then we started looking for lightening bugs to put in his bug box. We looked all around the back yard and caught quite a few. Someone in the neighborhood was setting off fireworks. We walked down the street to see, stopping to talk to neighbors along the way. Liam had to show them his collection of blinking fireflies. It was starting to get dark, so we went back to the backyard and sat at the table to watch the lightening bugs. When the mosquitoes started biting, we opened the box and watched the bugs climb out one by one. It was hard to say goodbye, but I told Liam we could catch them again another night.

PS - I gave Liam a haircut yesterday. It came out pretty good!

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

I'm the mother of a 3 year old!

Two days ago we celebrated Liam's third birthday with friends and family. Since Liam's current passion is dinosaurs, we had a dino themed party - complete with a dino cake and all! I think everyone had a good time, including Liam. He was spoiled by many great toys: legos, books, and even a dino-car toy!

On his birthday we went to the local science museum, where he played for several hours. It's hard to believe that three years have flown by already. He is such a big boy and has grown into a little person of his own. He's nearly 39 inches tall and weighs about 35 pounds. He talks quite a lot now - sometimes in whole paragraphs. One of his favorite pastimes is singing. He sings about cars and dinosaurs, as well as the usual childhood tunes. All summer he sung Happy Birthday to all his friends and toys. He was all ready when his own birthday came. :)

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Inspiration

I'm always on the look out for good ideas for activities to do with Liam. This gal's blog is quite inspiring!

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Are You Alright?

This morning Liam and Daddy had some quality time while I worked at the greenhouse. They went to the MSU Horse Barns, they got a tasty doughnut treat, and then Liam found two horse toys at a yard sale. Later in the morning, they came to visit me at the garden. Liam got to play on the playground with daddy until I finished up my work.

When we came home, Liam played in the backyard by himself for a while. Sean and I were just inside in the kitchen and could hear him playing. He moved all the deck chairs together to form a train. I told him that he should get some of his animal friends to ride the train with him. He came in to get his stuffed puppy, dinosaur, and his favorite elephant. They rode on the train together for a while, and then Liam arranged a train wreck. He Went around asking all his animals, "Are you alright?" And then answering "I alright" or "I think so" for them in different pretend voices. It was so cute to watch him using his imagination and pretending.

This evening, he asked me to lay in his bed with him at bedtime. We snuggled for a few minutes and talked about his day. I rubbed his back and tummy to help him relax. We also talked about the possibility of visiting with or friends Ashtyn and Alissa tomorrow. When I asked him what he wanted to do with Ashtyn he said, "I play on little bikes with Ashtyn at home. I want to." It's so nice to have actual conversations with my son...he's growing up so fast!

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Unsolicited Parenting Advice

Why is it that everyone Joe or Jane on the street feels they have a right to tell you how to parent your child?!? In the past two weeks, I have gotten a ton of unsolicited and rather annoying advice from perfect strangers. Everyone wants to tell me that there is something wrong with my kid: he's hyper, he has sensory issues, he needs a speech therapist. For crying out loud people, he's not even three years old yet!

I have a very hard time believing that any of these so-called conditions can be diagnosed at this young age. Maybe he's just stubborn and bull-headed like the rest of his family. Maybe he's extremely intelligent and knows what he wants, which makes him harder than most kids to "control". I think we've become a nation of hypochondriacs. Every child that doesn't fit into some limiting and rather boring mold is suddenly labeled deviant or defective - you'd better medicate that kid!

Sorry for the rant, I've just had it up to here with total strangers telling me that my kid needs and "evaluation" for some condition.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Manitou Meanderings & Making Friends

Today is my least favorite day of the year. This afternoon, I took Liam to the park in order to escape thoughts of my deceased father. It was a lovely sunny day. At the park, there was a large family with a little boy who was probably 3.5 or 4 years old. He was the same size as Liam. He asked Liam, "what is your name?" He followed Liam around asking over and over. I could tell Liam was worried, he came over to me and said, "what name?" I told him, "it's ok, you can tell him your name is Liam and then ask him his name." He ran off happily and told the boy his name. Liam came back and reported that the boys name was Tim. Then he went back to play with Tim. It was very cute to see Liam learning how to socialize with new kids. They played on the jungle gym for a while, until Tim's family left.

After that, Liam and I played. He pretended that the gym was a sailboat. We sailed off to dinosaur land and then went to meet the dinosaurs. I am so grateful for the wonderful imagination of childhood!
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Last week we took our vacation to South Manitou Island, off the NW coast of Michigan near Sleeping Bear Dunes. Liam was actually pretty good for the week. He enjoyed camping, paddling, and hiking. While hiking, we pretended we were trains - he was Thomas and I was the coach Clarabelle. Liam splashed in the water and looked for pretty rocks along the shore. Liam also got to climb up a 100+ foot lighthouse, twice! It was a lot of fun for all of us, but also very exhausting! See my flicker page for photos of our adventures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/archymommy/sets/72157621739868164/

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Full Circle

Yesterday and today, Liam and I picked snow peas in my garden together. I have many fond memories of doing the same with my mother, when I was just a toddler. Tonight we had fresh snow peas with our fried rice, yum!

I spy something...

So this evening while Liam was on the potty, Daddy started playing games with Liam to pass the time. First they made up stories together. Then they started playing "I spy". Daddy went through a number of colors: yellow was a rubber ducky, green was daddy's shirt, brown the kitty cat, and so on. Eventually he got to the color white, and Liam responded with utmost glee "My Penis!". Needless to say, Sean and I were nearly rolling on the floor with laughter!

In typical toddler fashion, Liam is quite obsessed with his male anatomy right now. I suppose it comes along with potty training. Which, by the way, has been going great. He's pretty much worn underwear for the past three weeks. I put him in diapers only at bed time, but he usually wakes up dry. I am very pleased that he has finally decided to use the potty consistently! It's so nice not to have to wash diapers all the time, or paid for disposables.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

The cat puked in my fishtank, true story...

After a long, but fun day driving to Portland, dropping of some bikes for repair, stopping by a few geocaches, visiting Jamie and (Liam) playing on the farm, then delivering milk to friends in Lansing, we came home to notice a rather bad odor in the house. At first I couldn't figure it out. I sniffed around in the kitchen, removed some old produce from the frig and took out a small trash bag, but still the smell lingered. An hour or so later, I happened to walk by the fish tank, when I noticed...well, you know. It was totally gross and ended up ruining my evening, and Sean's too once he got home. We had to totally tear down the tank and scrub it clean. I suppose the plus side is that none of the fish have died and now the tank is nice and clean.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Bountiful Birthdays

No, it's not Liam's birthday yet, but several of my friends little girls turned three in the past week. Last Sunday we went up to St. Johns for Hannah's birthday. Liam was fairly well behaved through it all. The only difficulty seemed that he wanted to be outside when we were inside and vis versa, so we were constantly chasing after him.

Liam has been signing the Happy Birthday since March, when several kiddos had birthdays at his preschool. So he was very excited to sign for Hannah's party and did so with gusto!

Tomorrow is Ashtyn's birthday. She is having a bug-themed party...I have to fill you in on what happens another time.

As for the rest of the week, Liam and I were quite busy. This week's theme is farming. So we visited the MSU farm: horses, sheep, and cows. Another day we visited the children's garden on campus. We met up with some friends for lunch and play time. While we were there, they started up the model train that runs through the garden. Liam really enjoyed that part. He also enjoyed playing in the dinosaur garden.

The weather was quite hot on Wednesday, so I took Liam to the splash pad at the local park. He had fun at first, but then was reluctant to get splashed. I put on my suit and made sure he got good and wet with me. ;)

PS - I'll probably jinks myself for posting this, but Liam has been using the potty reliably nearly all week. In fact, he asks me to use the potty and has worn underwear instead of diapers for the last 4 days. The only time he wears a diaper is at night, and he wakes up dry. I am really hoping that this is finally it! He is definitely ready and now seems to take an active role in using the potty.

Friday, June 19, 2009

Liam Returns

Liam returned with his grandparents yesterday. He reportedly had a great time and was fairly well behaved. The highlight of his trip was getting to drive the little John Deere tractor that his grandparents gave him. Their yard is nice and big, so he had plenty of room to drive around. He also helped grandpa pick up sticks in the yard using the tractor's trailer.

Grandma also spoiled Liam with a swimming pool and sand box. Liam had fun splashing about and getting sandy. One evening, Liam's other grandma, his uncle, and his aunt all came to dinner. Liam was the center of attention and ate it up! What little boy could ask for more?!

Thanks grandma and grandpa for a great time!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Adventures with Grandma and Grandpa

A few minutes ago, Liam embarked on his first adventure without mommy or daddy. He is spending part of the week with grandma and grandpa.

To be continued...

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

A week in review

Wednesday - Liam and I took a bike ride to campus to visit the natural history museum. Liam loves his dinosaurs! One of the attendants asked him what he saw upstairs and he answered, "I saw a T-rex!". I bought Liam another little dino and a coin with a dinosaur on it. Then we took a bike ride through campus and did a few geocaches. Two of them were in a wooded area of campus. The mosquitoes were murderous, but we persisted and found the caches. On our way to get ice cream, someone stepped out in front of me and when I swerved the bike trailer skidded and fell on it's side. Liam was pretty shook up. But I managed to calm him and get the bike bake in order. Ice cream made everything better!

Thursday - Liam and I stopped at a couple parks on the south side that we'd never visited before. One of them had a large dinosaur and a large car that you could ride on. Liam loved these toys and bounced on them for a while. I also pushed him on the swing.

Friday - We took a drive to Okemos to take care of some chores. While we were there, we stopped at some yard sales and a geocache or two. Liam was not in a good humor that morning. But after his nap, he woke up a changed toddler. He was much happier and was especially happy when daddy came home from work. He and daddy played with the legos and watched dinosaur movies.

Saturday & Sunday - Went down to the lake in the afternoon. We got there in time to go out for a short paddle with my mom. Then we headed to the nearby town for some supplies and to do a little geocaching. Sunday morning, daddy worked on our boat trailer while Liam, Grandma, and I did a little paddling. We also took a stroll around the lake. Great Grandma came up to visit too. Liam had fun playing hide under the covers with his grandmothers.

Monday - (yesterday) Liam and I biked to Hunter Park. Liam played on all the playground gear and we ate our lunch. We had hoped to play in the water, but the pool didn't open while we were there. :(

Monday, June 8, 2009

Comic Relief or Public Menice?

Liam was the ring bearer for my cousins wedding last weekend. This photo pretty much sums it up...he had to be carried down the aisle. It was a disaster and quite embarrassing for me. At one point Liam even rolled across the floor! Then he insisted on picking up all the flower pedals and returning them to the flower girl.

But at least he did look cute in his little tux - like a mini James Bond. This photo was taken just before the wedding with the adorable flower girl.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

One hot biker

Liam started peddling his tricycle a little over a month ago. In that short time, he has become very proficient. He can peddle forwards and backwards, maneuver tight turns, and even knows how to back up and turn around without using his feet on the ground. This evening, we went biking together as a family up and down the sidewalk on our street. Liam did so well that Sean and I devised a plan to all bike down to the river trail together. We lashed Liam's tricycle to the trailer. Liam rode in the trailer down to the bike trail. Then we let him peddle down the trail with us on our bikes too. It was a little tricky teaching him to stay on the right side of the road, but all in all it was very fun and he was a super biker. Liam biked nearly 3/4 of a mile with us! A lot of stamina for a toddler.

Saturday, May 30, 2009

I Told You

Liam's new phase of the weeks is "I told you...". He started saying it today and used it several times. His grandma and grandpa are visiting for the weekend. We had a lot of fun this afternoon at Sleepy Hollow State Park. We packed a rather lavish picnic dinner, our kites, and Liam's sand toys. It was a super tasty meal and lots of fun too!

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Faires and Trains

This weekend was quite a busy one for us. On Saturday, I took Liam to his first movie in a theater. It was just a Thomas the Tank Engine flick that they were showing for kids. But we ran into our friends Alissa and Ashtyn while we were there. Liam was so happy to Ashtyn, that we invited them over after the movie. Our friends stayed for lunch and we all enjoyed the weather in the backyard. Liam and Ashtyn took turns playing on his bike. Liam liked pushing Ashtyn around (her legs were not quite long enough to peddle on her own).

After our friends left, we biked down to a classic car show that was going on at a dealership just a couple blocks away. By then the day was getting hot. But Liam still enjoyed looking at all the cars...it was just so hard not to touch them.

Sunday morning we drove down to Marshall to meet up with my sister, Rae, and her boyfrined, Rock. We arrived before they got there, so we did a little geocaching. We found three caches in all. Then we went over to the Mayfaire Renaissance Festival to meet Rae and Rock. We had a lot of fun at the Faire. There were silly performances, fun garb, and lots of cool wares to look at. Liam was dressed as a knight. Sean and I were Irish peasants. Several people commented on our outfits and thought that we were part of the festival staff. I take that as a compliment, since I made most of our clothes the week before. Liam had fun playing kids games and winning prizes. He actually won a little treasure chest full of faux gold coins. He also won a "gem" from a magician. We had so much fun that were there until nearly closing time!

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On Memorial Day, we decided to go for a bike ride to campus and do some geocaching. On the way, I had an accident on my bike. I was ok, just mostly embarrassed and a little bruised. We tried flying Liam's kite when we got on campus, but the wind was not steady enough. We attempted three caches and found them all. Liam had lots of fun helping us hunt for the caches and trading items in the caches too.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Cave Doodles?

This evening, after dinner, we all went out to doodle on the driveway with chalk. Liam has become quite adept at doodling "dinosaurs". He drew a bunch of them here and there amongst our drawings of dinos, trains, flowers, and such. It struck me that many of his drawings look very much like Paleolithic cave drawings of large mammals. I have to say that I am quite impressed that Liam can draw a recognizable animal with a body, legs (often more than four), neck, tail, and a head. This seems pretty advanced for a 2 year old!

Thursday, April 30, 2009

I draw "D" all day long

Liam's new phrase is "all day long". He used it every chance he could today. "Kitty bite me hard all day long." "I play dinosaur all day long." "I watch Bob Builder all day long" (he wishes)... ;)

I feel bad that it's been over a month since I published on this blog. I started several posts in the past month, but never took the time to finish time and publish. What can I say, it's been a crazy month! I suppose I should share the news that I will be defending my dissertation next Tuesday. I have been working hard on revisions, conference papers, and presentations - so this month has really been a blur of activity for me. Today was my last day of work and soon I will be able to put Dr. before my name...No doubt this summer will bring many changes.

In the meantime, Liam has been growing like a weed. He grew more than half an inch between April 4th and April 20th! Even with all my business, I have tried to plan and organize themed activities each week. We've learned about plants, Easter, and travel and maps. It's been fun making little mini lessons for him and I think he has had a lot of fun in the process of learning. I was very gratified earlier this week when he pointed out the map on Sean's computer when he was looking up the weather forecast...Apparently Lian remembered looking at maps and coloring maps with me last week.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Teeth trouble

Last week I notice a dark spot on two of Liam's teeth. I was concerned, so I called around and tried to get him in to a pediatric dentist. Yesterday afternoon, we saw a very nice dentist and learned the bad news: Liam has FIVE cavities!

I'm so upset. I've tried so hard to make sure that Liam has good nutrition and diet. We don't eat a lot of sugary foods. But somehow we still ended up getting some bad decay. The dentist assures me that she sees this often, but it is still not what you hope for. :(

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Worms are animals too!

This afternoon the weather was quite mild. So we spent the evening working and playing in the back yard. I started digging up an area of the back yard in preparation for our vegetable garden. Liam was having great fun hunting for all the worms that I uncovered. He was very interested in watching them move and wiggle in his hands. He also gave them rides in his toy wagon. After a while, his made the announcement "worms are animals". Sean and I were quite impressed by his observation and asked him why. He said "because they move". How astute! Of course, realizing that they were alive was not quite enough to stop him from "pulling apart" a huge night-crawler that I gave him from our compost. I felt a little guilty that he killed that worm. :( But I'm afraid that I'm guilty of killing far more worms, since digging is my profession as an archaeologist...Let's just hope that god isn't an earthworm ;). In the picture, Liam is posing with his worms and saying "cheese" - that's not a grimace.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

A Triumphant week

I turned in my dissertation draft on Monday. To celebrate, I picked Liam up from daycare early and we went to the zoo. We actually walked the entire zoo together...I think that's a first for Liam! Then we went to the playground, where Liam had a grand time climbing and sliding and screaming with all the other preschoolers (and some bigger kids too) that were there. He saw that some of the other kid's dads were climbing on the gym, so he wanted me to join in. He pulled and tugged and finally persuaded me to climb through the tunnel and go down the slide. We also played on the swings together - Liam on my lap.

The rest of the week was less eventful, but I got a bit of a breather from all my hard work. Instead of writing, I focused my energy of spring cleaning in and around the house. Liam "helped" me in the back yard, raking mulch and leaves, bagging yard waste, and digging holes in the garden.

Today we did a little of everything. In the morning, Liam colored with mommy and daddy after breakfast. Then Liam helped me in the yard for a little while. We all stopped at the park and zoo for lunch, play, and visited with some animals. After that we went to the "Bugs" class that Liam is taking at the science museum. He was pretty tired by then and really didn't want to engage in the structured activities. But once the kiddos were let loose, he had some fun. We got a call from our friends, Dan, Annie, and Aidan and decided to meet them at the Maple Sugar festival. Liam loved looking at all the turtles they had on display in the park center. Then we went for a walk and found a geocache that had eluded us before. Liam was pretty exhausted by then and rather cranky - so was mommy for that matter ;) - so we headed home for Liam to nap. A busy end to a rather good week.

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Liam's first trip without me

This morning Liam woke up all excited, with the knowledge that he and daddy were going to visit grandma and grandpa's house. He was so excited that he didn't even want to eat breakfast before the left. So I said goodbye to my guys and the headed off. It was hard for me see him go without me. I was a little maudlin. But the reason that they went on a little adventure without me was so that I could finish writing my dissertation. Two days alone was just what I needed to get the job done. I finished up the last writing and editing Sunday morning! What a relief to have my draft done. I was very excited to have them home Sunday afternoon. We went out to dinner to celebrate.

(written from memory on 3/18/09)

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Surrounded by Al'gators

This morning when Liam got up, he came and snuggled in bed with me as he usually does. But this morning, he told me that were surrounded by al'gators. I went along with his make-believe and we pretended that the bed was an island with alligators all around it. He asked me if the alligators had gotten daddy and I told him that daddy was too fast to be eaten by alligators. Then we talked about whether the alligators would get kitty. We decided that kitty was to mean and tough to be eaten and that he would, in fact, eat the alligators so we could get out of bed. It's so fun to play pretend with my little guy. He has such a vivid imagination!

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Boats, Bunnies, and Bikes

On Friday, I had to pick up Liam from daycare, but didn't have the carseat. Since the weather wasn't took bad, I biked over to pick him up with the bike trailer. Liam was so excited to see that I came on the bike. Many of the other kids were a little jealous of Liam getting a cool bike ride. On our way home, I stopped by the park to let Liam play for a little bit. He had fun chasing after another little boy about his age.

We had another busy weekend. We spent most of Saturday at the Michigan Lightcraft boat show. It was a lot of fun to dream of kayaking and canoeing (in this cold weather). Liam was a very good boy while we were there. He stayed in his stroller. I let him hold pamphlets and stickers from the vendors.

While daddy was in one of the many talks, Liam and I visited the potty. Then we went over to the Rabbit show that was going on in the other half of the building. The show was free, so we walked around. Liam charmed his way into petting a couple dozen adorable little and giant rabbits.

(written from memory on 3/18/09)

Friday, March 6, 2009

World Day of Prayer

Well, my beautiful calendar (made for me by my mom) tells me that today is "World Day of Prayer". It just so happens, that one of my prayers came true today! I have been awarded a fellowship from the university that will put my financial worries to rest. It has been hard making ends meet while paying for Liam's full time daycare when I'm not working full time. I have to have him in daycare in order to get my dissertation done, so we've been making a lot of sacrifices just to get by. The fellowship doesn't mean that we are on easy street or anything, but it means that I don't have to fret so much over how to put food on the table for the next couple months, and that is huge for us!

Monday, March 2, 2009

Nerdy never looked so cool!

I stumbled upon this awesome Etsy page today. Her artwork is very beautiful and educational.

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Flowers and Cars

This weekend was the annual MSU orchid show, which is always one of the highlights of February. My mom came up to see the orchid show too. Sean came home just as we were getting breakfast. He ate and then went to lay down after 20 hours of driving. Before mom and I went to see the flowers, we took Liam to Lowe's for one of the Build and Grow workshops. This week's project was a race car...which we couldn't miss! Liam helped build his car, but had even more fun playing with it when he was done.
The orchid show was lovely as always! It was a welcomed bit of summer here at the end of winter.

(written from memory on 3/18/09)

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Second Annual Chocolate Party

Yesterday Sean left for Florida with his parents. He went to help take care of his Uncle's estate and go to the funeral. Unfortunately, it also meant that Sean would miss the Chocolate party that we scheduled man weeks ago. I was a little worried about getting everything ready for the party. But, thankfully, everything went smoothly and our guests arrived to a clean house and the smells of yummy food!

We had quite a crowd - ten adults and five toddlers. The kiddos were so cute. They all wanted to play upstairs in Liam's room. I checked in on them regularly, to make sure there was no mischief. On one of my trips up to his room, Liam and Hannah were sitting in his bed together and Liam was reading Hannah a book!

All the adults had a good time chatting about parenting, work, school, and life in general. Everyone brought yummy chocolate treats too!

(written from memory on 3/18/09)

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

What a day

What a day. The president signed the stimulus bill. I mailed our taxes and turned in Chapter 8. Ellie rushed to give Liam a hug and bring him some toy trucks when he arrived to daycare out of sorts...what a day!

Friday, February 13, 2009

One rough week

This was a rough week for Liam. He caught a bug at his new daycare and this week it became an ear infection. He had a couple nights of a fever and cough. The poor guy is such a snot machine right now. :(

In spite of all this, he's done pretty well. He played well at his new daycare. Wednesday night Liam and I made some Valentines cards for his classmates. On Thursday they had a little Valentines party, complete with cupcakes. I was surprised to learn, however, that Liam's daycare was not going to be opened today. So Liam got to spend today at Cheri's house with his pal Ben.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Good-bye Uncle Bill.

Last night, Liam's great Uncle Bill passed away. Bill never got to meet Liam and Liam never got to meet Bill, but I know that Liam has one more guardian angel looking out for him now.

Friday, February 6, 2009

Break my Heart

Yesterday Liam broke my heart when he asked to go the Cheri's house instead of school. I told me that he missed playing with Ben. I know that he loves his new school, becuase he often doesn't want to stop playing to come home when I go to pick him up, but he also misses his old daycare.

Monday, February 2, 2009

First day as a shamrock.

Last week Liam said good bye to Cheri's House. Today he started going to preschool at Resurrection Church. It is a different environment from what he was used to a Cheri's house. There are more kiddos and a little more structure. He is actually one of the youngest kids there. Most of the toddlers are 3 years old. There are so many new toys to play with that Liam jumped right in and seemed to be having quite a lot of fun here.

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Jolly Green Giant

My mom visited us this weekend for her birthday. We took her to the Hidden Lake Gardens conservatory to take in some lovely green, growing things. Liam had so much fun with Grandma and even more fun running around in the gardens. To my surprise, Liam wanted to use the potty while we were at the gardens. He used the potty successfully, and then continued to use the potty the rest of the weekend! :)

(written from memory on 3/18/09)

Monday, January 19, 2009

Phrase of the day...

"I DO IT". Yes, he's only 2 and he's already mastered the phrase "I DO IT!" So today, Liam washed his own face and lathered his hair in the tub. He clipped his own finger nails (with mommy tensely watching). He got out his own plate for breakfast. What a big little boy he has become!

Sunday, January 18, 2009

This Little Piggy

Overall, this weekend was very trying. It was a combination of me being tired and a little sick and Liam being, well, a toddler...tantrums and all. But with all it's ups and downs, Liam made up for it this evening when he took my hand and started doing the "Little Piggies" poem on my fingers. I didn't really get what he was doing until he got to "wee-wee-wee all the way home". I started to laugh and told him he did a good job. Then we each did "piggies" on each others hands for a while. He is such a clever boy!

Friday, January 16, 2009

A kindred spirit...

Today I found this blog about making crafts from recycled items. This is also one of my pastimes, so I had to share!

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Dinosaur Say Roar!

This weekend we visited two museums. Yesterday, we went to Impression 5 Science museum with Alissa and Ashtyn. Today, we decided to go someplace new. We took Liam to the Nautral History museum on the MSU campus. It is a small museum, with modest collections...but the displays are pretty nice. I told Liam that we were going to see Dinosaurs. He got very excited and said "dinosaur say ROAR!" He had fun going through the galleries on the first floor. Then we headed up to see the dino bones on the third floor. But the huge skeletons were a bit frightening to Liam and he wanted daddy to carry him. He told us that the dinosaurs were "scary". I told him that the Triceratops was a plant eater, like cows...thinking that this might make them seem a little more friendly. But he told us "that scary cow". Well, so much for that. :/

We did spend a little more time there and looked at the animal dioramas. At the gift shop, Liam picked out several tiny plastic animals: 3 dinos, horse, and lion. Then we walked over to look at the clock tower. The sun was peaking through clouds and the campus was quite lovely. Liam and I raced each other on the snowy sidewalks. It was a nice outing and we all had a lot of fun!

Friday, January 9, 2009

Think of the Children

In an effort to improve safety for children's products, our legislators have introduced the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. Unfortunately, this act goes too far. If enacted, it will hurt our economy, create more waste, and more importantly it will significantly affect my pocketbook!

Please see my sister's wonderful post on the matter. She says everything more eloquently that I can and has many great links on the subject: http://fireinthewind.squarespace.com/ranting/2009/1/9/think-of-the-children.html

Sunday, January 4, 2009

The Cat Returns

Tonight we watched Hayao Miyazaki's film, The Cat Returns. This is one of Liam's favorite films, mostly because of all the kitties! This interest in cats is because, Liam and our family pet, Dozer, have become inseparable. Even though they didn't get alone too well initially, Liam and Dozer are the best of friends now. Liam is obsessed with watching Dozer, feeding Dozer, playing with Dozer, chasing Dozer, and even naps with Dozer. Liam also has fun sometimes pretending to be a cat with Dozer. :)

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Horsey New Year!

Yes, you read that right....Horsey New Year! Since we didn't get out of the house yesterday, we were all pretty stir-crazy today. But everything was pretty much closed today. So we decided to treat Liam to a trip to the MSU horse farm. It was opened today and more importantly, it was free! The frigged weather prevented us from staying outside too long. Luckily the stables were open, so we visited horses and barn cats inside. Liam loved to visit each of the horses. We learned from one of the students working there that some of the horses were kept inside because their had been shaved for ultrasounds and it was too cold for them outdoors now that they were missing so much fur. There were also two very friendly barn cats in the stable. One of them liked Liam so much that he followed Liam around. Liam had so much fun that he didn't want to leave.

Unfortunately for mommy and daddy, Liam fell asleep briefly in the car on the drive home. This meant that he wouldn't lay back down and nap once we returned home. Liam was pretty crabby this evening and fell asleep in my arms at around 6:30pm. Even with Liam not taking a nap, I managed to be quite creative today. I resurrected my long-dormant silk-painting skills to paint two orchid paintings. Why orchids, you ask? Well, every February Sean and I enter orchid-themed artwork in a local orchid show. Today's paintings will hopefully be good enough to use for this year's show.