2011 In Review

Usually I take a few moments to reflect on the year on New Years eve and write in my journal. I have no idea where my journal is, so I decided to do my reflecting here.

The past year has been pretty good for us. Sean has continued working for his new office and enjoys it most of the time. I received a one of a time chance when I was offered a post-doc this summer. Commuting has been difficult, but we've made due. Sean helps so much with the boys! We have found much help from our neighbors too, who watch Liam for us after school. Liam enjoys having the extra time to spend with his friend, Joshua. John, Nicole, Joshua, Lidia, and Penny spent part of the morning with us today in fact!

Not much else has changed, really. They boys continued to grow and amaze me. I feel very fortunate for all that we have and all of the opportunities that we have been granted. All in all, 2011 has been a good year and I hope that fate will continue to be kind to us in 2012.

Fly Boyz

Yesterday we took the boys to the Air Zoo. The trip was nearly perfect. The boys were very excited, but behaved pretty well. Both Grant and Liam enjoyed themselves looking at planes, cycles, cars, and misc NASA stuff. Grant loved playing with the toggle switches in the gemini capsule. They were both brave enough to ride some of the amusement park rides with me. Grant flew biplanes and rode on the ferris wheel. Liam rode those two plus the spinning balloon ride. We couldn't have asked for a better day!

Very Merry and Very Early Christmas Morning

Christmas began very early this year, when a super psyched Liam woke everyone up at 4:30am! Sean and I relented and got up at 5am. We came done to find that Santa had been busy the night before and left ample gives under the tree and in stockings. We started with stockings and then allowed the boys to open the few gifts from mommy and daddy. Then it was time for some breakfast. I made homemade blintzes. Yum!

But one we had food in our bellies, it was difficult to stay awake. So Sean and Grant and I all laid down for a nap between 7am and 9am. After a little rest, we came back to continue opening gifts from Santa. After all the packages were open, mommy got busy building the Lego sets that both Grant and Liam got for Christmas. We spent the day playing and eating Christmas treats!

In the evening, we visited our neighbor, Peggy, to spread a little Holiday cheer. She has had a rough year and I knew it would brighten her day to see the boys. She also treated them to a gift. Grant got a see-and-say, Liam got a hexbug and an ornament. They are sure lucky boys!



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The day after Christmas, we received a visit from Grandma Kathie and Great Grandma! The boys had lots of fun showing the grandma's their new toys and going out for a Chinese lunch. We are so glad they could come spend the day with us!

Winter Fun

Today we had thought about taking the boys on the Polar Express Train ride, but we were all in no mood for traveling. So we decided to go to the City Market's holiday event in town instead. It turned out to be a great decision, because there were lots of fun events going on. Liam and Grant got to both visit with Father Christmas, listen to live harp and violin music, pet ponies, and decorate a giant ginger bread house. We also tasted real roasted chestnuts - super yummy! Upon leaving Sean and I entered a drawing for a free dinner and the kids got goodie bags. Later when we got home, we received a call that we had won the drawing for the free dinner!

December Day

It's hard to believe that Grant is already 17 months old today! He had a rough week, particularly, yesterday, when he had a flu bug. The poor guy woke up sick and couldn't eat anything all day without getting sick. We spent the day together, snuggled, and had low-key play. I just hope that I don't end up getting it after cleaning up all the messes. Today he was feeling better and could hold down some food.

Liam also apparently had a rough day yesterday. Sean met him at the bus stop to pick him up and the bus driver told Sean that Liam had been miss-behaving and was getting written up. In particular, he supposedly hit a boy who sits behind him. After talking with Liam we learned that the other child had been harassing Liam - that doesn't excuse his behavior, however. The big concern is that if Liam continues his behavior, he will be suspended form the bus for three days. This will make things quite difficult for Sean and I. What a way to start off December...

On the plus side, Grant is talking up a storm - I can actually have a conversation with him now! This evening I got out the peg board and he spent quite some time playing with it. He nearly filled the board with 100 pegs! Later, Liam and Grant were both making music with daddy. Grant and Liam were having fun playing with the little keyboard. I love it when they are creative. :) I told Liam that I would let him take piano lessons if he learned how to play Mary Had a Little Lamb. I taught him the first part of the song. He was very pleased with himself and I think he may actually be determined to learn it. Liam was also inspired to draw an orchid, because Sean and I were working on our orchid artwork for next year's competition. Liam's drawing was very impressive for a 5 year old!

Little Wordy Guy

Grant has really discovered the power of words and has been using them. Today alone I heard him say: bye, kitty, more, apple, horse, chew-chew, train, draw, night-night, and probably more that I missed. He also has been showing that he wants to help and be a big boy. On Tuesday he pulled out the cat food and carried it over to the cat's bowl. So together we fed the cat and then he put the food back. I praised him for being such a great helper and he just beamed with pride. He's helped me feed kitty every day this week, since. When it's time for us to clean up toys, he likes to sign the clean up song and usually pitches in with picking up toys. In the past few weeks, Grant has also been using spoons to feed himself. He does a pretty good job at it too!

This morning Grant and Liam and I played with trains while Sean made breakfast. I made them a fun track for their trains. The boys actually played really nice together. Later, after we took care of chores, I took the boys to the horse barns and we fed them apples.

Yesterday, I hung out with Grant, since daycare was closed. He and I went to the Impression 5 museum. Grant had so much fun at the museum - he was giggling and squealing with excitement. I ran into another mom, who I used to see at a mom group when Liam was little. She has a little girl a few months younger than Grant and a son a few months younger than Liam. Grant and the little girl played with blocks together. Grant did a very nice job putting duplo blocks together in a small tower.

Grant also weaned this week! November 1st was the last day he nursed. He has nursed less and less for some time. We made it down to just once a day and now that he quit, he doesn't seem to notice. I feel a little guilty for weaning him so much earlier than Liam, but it's just much harder to keep it up with me working long hours and being away from home so much. And then there has also been the issue of recurring thrush, which has made nursing quote miserable for me. So on the whole, I am relieved to be done with nursing.

Trick-R-

Treat! Yes, today Liam and Grant went out begging for candy. Grant really got into the swing of things. He was talking up a storm. This evening was the first time he ever said "trick-er" and "thank you". He also said bye-bye several times, which he started saying for the first time last week.

When we got home, Liam helped hand out candy and Grant played with all our mini pumpkins. Then we went in to eat some candy. Grant really enjoyed his chocolate. I don't even know how many Liam ate, but I was relieved to see that some of what he ate included fruit snacks. :)




This morning, I helped out at Liam's school party. The kids all paraded through the school and showed off their costumes. Liam behaved very well and I think he enjoyed having me around. He is really lucky to have such great teachers and a good class of kids. They all seemed to get along pretty well for five year olds!

Dashing Dinos

Both Liam and Grant got to run in the Dino Dash this year - and mommy too. Only I ran the whole 5k, then hurried home to pick up the boys so they could run in the mini-dash and diaper-dash. We ran into our friends, Dan and Annie, and their son Aidan. Liam and Aidan sure make scary dino faces!

Days of Yore

The first somewhat sunny day after weeks of rain, we decided to do something outside today and headed to the Michigan Renaissance Faire. Despite the fact that it was actually quite chilly and we had a bit of a late start and even took a wrong highway, once we were there we had lots of fun!

No surprise that everyone thought our little Viking and handsome Knight were just too adorable!

Orange Belts & Poo-Poo Talk

Some highlights of the week:

Liam applied himself and worked super hard during his last couple karate classes. This means that he earned his orange belt in the class! Unfortunately, I didn't submit the paperwork in time, so he didn't have his belt in time to be presented in class. But sensei presented him with another orange belt that he got to wear for a few minutes. The next morning I sent the paperwork in and Liam's new gi arrived in the mail yesterday. He was so excited to put it on! He will get his official orange belt on the first day of class during the next term (in two weeks).

We all met Liam's Kindergarten teachers this Wednesday. They were very nice and told us good stories about Liam. One day last week Liam showed a lot of compassion for the preschoolers in his class who were missing their parents and having a hard time. He tried comforting them and showed them pictures of his family. So sweet. :)

Grant has been going through some terrible teething and has been quite cranky - not his usual jovial self. He has even started waking 2 - 3 times a night again and crying a lot. :( But we will manage to make him laugh and he does the same for us too. Tonight at dinner he started passing gas loudly. We were also shocked that everyone started laughing. :P Then egged on by the result, Grant started straining to do it again and eventually did with spectacular results. All the while, I was thinking - this is what it's going to be like in a house for of boys!

This weekend I found a little time to do some sewing. I worked on Halloween costumes. I managed to whip together a mighty cute viking outfit for Grant and a batman cape for Liam. He is still undecided if he will be batman or yoda - I also knited a Yoda hat and feet for him last week.

Kindergarten Kid

A BIG day for Liam - and me - today was his first day of Kindergarten! Here he is waiting for the bus with his buddy Joshua.


And getting on the big yellow bus.

Grant's First Haircut

I had to trick him by carefully cutting his hair while he was nursing. I was sad to see his baby curls go, but I do think he looks pretty sharp with his new do.

T-Minus...

...9 days and counting, until Liam starts Kindergarten! He has been having a blast at summer camp at the science center the past two weeks and has one more week to go before school starts. For the most part he has been well behaved. I even heard this great story last week...Liam made friends with this little girl (who is probably 7 years old) named Anavi. One day, Anavi was feeling lonely and missing her mom. So Liam, ran and got the phones of our family that I had put in his backpack the weekend before. He told her also about his family and what was going on in the pictures and she wasn't sad any more. It makes me feel so good that he has such compassion. My little boy is growing up so fast!

In other news, we took the boys to the Detroit zoo for the first time yesterday. It was a warm day, but we had a lot of fun and saw so many animals! Grant is now nearly running - he was showing us that he has a mind of his own and constantly tried running the opposite direction. So I had to corral him in the stroller for much of the trip. At one point we stopped to get frozen lemonaid. While we were waiting, Liam saw a Cicada ambushed and carried off by a Cicada Killer - I am afraid that the even was so traumatic that he will remember it more than all the cool animals that we saw.

My big 5-year old!

Hard to believe that I first became a mother 5-years ago this week! My little Liam turned 3 on Wednesday and today we celebrated his birthday with friends and family.

Here are a few pictures from our festivities this week.

The Great Communicator

Grant (and mommy) survived the surgery on Tuesday just fine. In fact he was back to his normal jovial self mere hours later. He took a long nap and then was playing rough and tumble soon afterwards.

On Wednesday evening Grant "communicated" his desire to nurse by carrying the boppy pillow over and handing it to me. This was no easy feat, as the pillow is just about as big as him! The next morning, he and Liam were playing in the dinning room. Then I heard Grant repeating a loud humming noise and went to see what was the matter. Turns out he found kitty's hairball on the ground and was sitting next to it trying to get my attention to let me know it was there. He didn't touch it or anything, just notified me about it. He is one smart cookie!

The Night Before

Well, tomorrow morning, Grant goes to the hospital for surgery bright and early. It's nothing too serious, but it's still nerve-wracking, nonetheless. He has to have tubes placed in both ears - hopefully to prevent any further ear infections. I'm told by friends, whose kids had this done that it's a pretty minor procedure and will make him feel much better. Tomorrow is going to be a LOOONG day no matter what.

Liam's Solo Field Trip

Well, today Liam took his first field trip all on his own - no parents chaperoning him. The trip was part of the summer camp at the community center that he is attending this week. They went to a local state park for the day. I was nervous because I worried that he would wander off or not stay with the group. He's also never had to have responsibility for his own things before. So much to my dismay, he lost a bottle of sunblock and his really nice swim suit and matching swim shirt - the one I bought for him as a sibling gift last summer. I made some calls, but it's nowhere to be found. On the bright side, however, he had a fun time and didn't get sunburned.

A Week of Firsts for Grant

First birthday (7/3/11)



First time walking (more than two steps) on his own. (7/7/11)





First time sleeping through the night (It helped that he was totally wiped out after a hot day and lots of fun at our friend Aidan's birthday party). (7/10/11)

Grant's First Year

A year ago today...I nearly died after giving birth to my beautiful boy. Thankfully someone had donated blood that matched my type and after two transfusions and the wonders of modern medicine, I have been blessed to watch my two wonderful boys grow up.

Yesterday we celebrated Grant's first birthday at my mom's cottage. I think everyone had fun and we managed to dodge the rain until the end of the party. In fact, the rain disappeared in time for us to celebrate with some fireworks. Liam was so excited and quite sad when he was too tired to watch the fireworks. He did manage to collect a ton of lightening bugs in a giant bug container that my mom gave him. The bugs were like mini fireworks! Liam also caught his first fish with daddy! Grant was exhausted from the day too! He had so much attention and fun, and everyone gave him great toys.


Today we had another lake party, this time at my inlaws house. It was a lot of fun until Grant became cranky and inconsolable. Liam managed to get a chance to play with some sparklers, but we had to leave before the end of Grandpa's firework display.

My Baby is...

...nearly not a baby any more. At least he's a baby for a few more days. We are celebrating Grant's first birthday in Indiana at my mom's lake cottage, so I won't be able to post anything on his actual birthday.

I can't believe how fast the last year has gone by! It's a little scary. I feel like I've missed most his baby-hood while working or being too tired enjoy it. I try to take time to notice the little things and rejoice in all of the discoveries that he makes. He is a bright and happy little guy. He is so close to walking right now. He can stand on his own for longer and longer durations and has even taken a few steps. But he is weary of walking without having a finger to hold on to.

I'm making Grant's birthday cake right now...I'm very excited! I'll post an update about his birthday celebration when we return!