Hectic

Not sure what he's doing here, but probably something funny

another rare photo of mom and son... and we were color-coordinating

Liam and his new favorite fruit snack - Plum Tots Mish Mash
(thanks to fellow Dec '09 mommy Tiffany @ http://jdnielsonfamily.blogspot.com/ for introducing these to us!)
(also take note of his new anchor tattoo on his right hand! haha)

Caught red-handed (probably trying to find the box of the Plum Tots snacks!)

So last week was a crazy one, mainly because my dad had to get emergency quadruple bypass heart surgery. He went in for a diagnostic procedure last Monday morning, and didn't get to leave the hospital until the following Sunday. It was pretty scary, but I'm glad to say that he is doing well back home. Even Liam knows not to ask him to pick him up. While my mom stayed by my dad's side all week long at the hospital, it was just grandma watching Liam all week by herself. I took a lot of time away from my desk (which was OK with work) to help her with the teething, cranky toddler. The event also prompted a reunion of my 2 sisters and I... we haven't all been in the same place since my GA baby shower in 2009, or in the same place WITH our family since my grandma's 80th birthday party in 2008.

Anyway, now I'm back to trying to keep up with the work I didn't do last week as well as trying to plan another trip down to Savannah next month to visit family and friends and also fix up our house for spring showings.

In Liam-related news, as I stated above, this little guy is teething pretty hard... I think he's got at least THREE new teeth (if not more) coming in at once. It's just as I suspected since he hasn't gotten any new teeth since last October! There's 2 coming in on the bottom-front, sandwiching the 2 teeth he already has down there. Then on his left side-bottom, there's a molar coming thorough, and the other side is looking pretty swollen as well. I haven't been able to check the top (the only time I can really see is when he's crying...haha), but I'm sure there's gotta be something going on up there, too. He hasn't been TOO cranky, just a little harder to please and wants to be picked up a lot.

His vocabulary is expanding. When the rest of the family was here, I got him to show off his tricks. It was hilariously cute. I think my sister got some of it on her phone, but wasn't able to send the video to me. A few other impressive things that he's done is recognition: one instance, I had a box of brownies on the counter. He pointed to it and then went to the fridge where my mom has a dry-erase board with the Pillsbury Doughboy on it. And he pointed to that. He pointed at the box again and I realized that he saw the Doughboy on the box and recognized it from the dry-erase board on the fridge! Props to Pillsbury for exceptional branding!

Another instance was when he was going through his tactile animal flash cards and took the tiger card out (which was odd to me because he normally likes the cat or duck - which has fluffy fur that he loves to lick - gross, I know). The tiger card has fur on it but not as fluffy as the cat or duck card. Then he took it and ran to his room to grab something and ran back out to show me his tiger beanie baby (that his Grandma Mary got him) and the tiger flash card! Very impressive!

The photos above were taken by my cousin Steven with his sweet new 35mm prime lens! More photos to come on the Shutterfly soon.

I'm thinking of renaming the blog... it was short and sweet when I started it ("The Preggo Chronicles"), but now the title just seems too long... Gotta think of something different!

Spring is here!

We are so glad that the weather is finally warming up (although as I type this, it is 43 degrees outside)! Last Friday, the weather was awesome... high of 75. Saturday was just a little cooler, but still sunny. Liam LOVES the outdoors. He will cry and throw a fit if you bring him inside if he isn't ready to come in! He loves watching people, cars, dogs, birds... anything and everything, so long as it moves!

Pointing at the neighbor's dogs

Starting his rock collection

Waving at a jogger

We met up with the Wattrups and checked out the Super Pet Expo yesterday. We also hung out with Pennie and Jerry who had a booth set up for their Caricature business - Big Heads Little Bodies. This was the FIRST time we went out as a COMPLETE family... "complete" being the 3 of us and our 2 dogs - Mac and Snorty. It was a bit challenging because our dogs don't get out much and we have been bad at getting them to socialize with others, so they were REALLY excited to be going anywhere. They did so well when we took them to the Savannah Doggy Carnival a couple years ago that we figured they would be OK this time. Well, they did OK - Mac didn't try to mount anyone, neither of them got into any fights, etc... they wanted to go EVERYWHERE and see everything that Joel (designated dog handler) had a hard time keeping them in one place. I, on the other hand, had my own time with Liam, who ALSO wanted to see everything. There were so many dogs... he was in heaven! Big dogs, small dogs, tiny dogs, and colorful birds... he loved it. Near the end of the Expo, we stayed near Pennie's booth since all the other booths were shutting down. Liam got cranky because we "confined" him to the booth we were at and would not let him wander around to see the other dogs walking around. After more irritability, we decided to head back home.

Liam and Scarlett at the Pet Expo

Our family (minus me)

Mirror photos in the car

Speaking of crankiness, Liam has been cranky more often lately. On Saturday, he only had ONE 15 minute nap in the morning. We tried to get him to nap again around his normal nap time, but he was not having it. Ugh. After we gave up, we took him outside and he was all smiles. It may be that his teething is bothering him, but who knows. By the way, no new teeth have cut through yet (STILL only 6 teeth!).

Liam has gotten into his books a lot more. At bedtime he will bring me book after book for ME (not Joel) to read to him. I seriously need more books...I'm tired of reading the same books every night! He has this one book called "Go to Sleep Russell the Sheep" which, at the very end when Russell finally falls asleep, the book makes a snoring sound. Liam knows how to make this sound now. haha Like when he pretends to go to sleep, he will make the snoring/snort sound. It's so funny. And while reading the book, he will anticipate the last page by making that sound.

Oh, we got the shopping cart I ordered last week. It works OK, but it is very light and tips easily. He had a few wipeouts on it. I fixed it by taping some weights on the bottom part of the cart. Not the prettiest fix, but hey, it works a LOT better now! Not bad for $10! haha

We didn't do much for St. Patrick's day. I didn't even buy him a green shirt to wear. He did wear green pants that day. Maybe one of these years, we will take him down to see the parade in Savannah.

More pics on the Shutterfly.

 

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Living Social also has a deal today for $5 towards the relief of earthquake and tsunami victims, they will double it - click to donate.

Deals to share...

I mentioned in the last post that I wanted to buy Liam a toy shopping cart. I was just about to buy THIS Little Tikes model, which had free shipping, plus I found another discount code online for 5% off (ccbd2011), which would have made it about $30 total. The other ones I saw were at least $35.
 

BUT, I happened upon a cheaper (in value and quality) cart on Walmart.com HERE. It is only $9.54! It also comes with boxes of fake food. And this is actually made in the USA, as well. I ended up getting this one instead because well, why not. I could have gotten Liam the more sturdy Little Tikes one, but honestly, he wouldn't have known the difference!

And another deal I came across was a special discount code for my favorite cupcakery, Georgetown Cupcakes. If you use code BACON at checkout, it will take off $11 from your order!!! So, if you are not in the area, you can get a dozen of these tasty treats shipped to you for around $45 (normally it's around $55, and they ship it overnight!). But apparently, the code is only valid until 3/17/11!

nom nom nom!!!

Catching up from Feb - part 2, and March Shenanigans

Ok, before my memories from the 2nd part of February escape me, I better jot down what I can remember... Here are a few recent, random pics before I get started...

Walking with Dad at the park

Cuddling with some of his stuffed animals

Sweeping the deck

Giving Mac a hug

I think I left off after Valentine's Day week/the week I was in Atlanta for work...

The following weekend was President's Day. We were invited by my Auntie Letty to go to their condo in Bryce, VA (near Shenandoah) and go skiing and tubing. Southern-boy Joel had never been skiing so I figured he'd have fun. As for me, I just wanted to stay on the safe side and go tubing with Liam.

The drive was only a couple hours west of the DC area. Liam did fine from what I can remember. When we got there, we were greeted by my aunt, uncle, and cousins Danielle (14), Amelia and Alayna (don't know, but they are probably 7 and 5 years old). The 2 little cousins were SO EXCITED that Liam was there. They wanted to show him everything and carry him everywhere... I get nervous when little kids try to carry Liam. He is heavier than he looks!

After a delicious spaghetti lunch and a movie, we got ready to hit the ski resort around 5pm. Joel, my uncle and older cousin hit the slopes, while me, Liam, Auntie and the two little cousins headed over to the tubing area. The trek up to the top with an almost 30lb kid in tow was a workout in itself! But unfortunately, when we made it to the top, they said it was a 1-person-per-tube rule. I planned on holding Liam in my lap. Auntie Letty volunteered to take Liam around while I went tubing with the 2 girls. I think I went down only twice before Liam decided to go into meltdown mode. Auntie took my place tubing and I grabbed Liam and headed to a clear spot where he could just play in the artificial "snow". He had fun doing that, at least! Then after the tubing was over, I met up with Auntie and my little cousins again in the lodge and got some snacks. The skiers came in and met up with us. Joel seemed to get the hang of skiing pretty fast, as he graduated from the bunny slope to the advanced slopes in no time. They went back to skiing until the place closed and we headed back to get dinner ready. Liam decided to pull one of those back-arching moves (because he was cranky and sleepy) as I tried to get him in the car seat. And then he proceeded to cry all the way back to the condo. Luckily it was only 5 minutes away!

After eating dinner and getting in his PJs, he played with the girls until he passed out on me. We brought the pack and play for him to sleep in. It was pretty cold that night so we had to put a blanket in there with him (he normally doesn't sleep with blankets). Luckily he slept through the night!

We decided to head back home the following afternoon since we both had to work on President's Day (I asked to work that day and take off the day of his 15-month appt instead). It was a nice little get-away and not far of a drive! Can't wait to visit again next winter. Maybe I can try my hand at skiing again... I don't think I'll be as quick to adapt as Joel though... I've become more of a wuss with motherhood. I think it's the instinct of wanting to be available for your kid, as opposed to breaking my legs or back and unable to carry out my motherly duties... or maybe it's because I know I've become more of a klutz after having Liam (he messed up my equilibrium!) that I will probably fail miserably at it (like I did with trying to ride a scooter...). We shall see.

ANYWAY... back on track. March has been fun, so far. My mom's 60th birthday was the first weekend of the month and I invited some family over. Liam was overwhelmed with relatives, but handled it pretty well and was being sociable. It took a while for him to get to sleep that night, but it was expected.

He's still sleeping well at night. If he cries in the MOTN, he will quickly put himself back to sleep. We have had some nights where he'd cry and be inconsolable as we were putting him to bed, but he'd eventually cry himself tired and fall asleep. I think it's due to the teething pain. Poor guy.

Yesterday, we visited Scarlett and co. since we have not seen the Wattrups in about a MONTH! Liam and Scarlett took a while to warm up to each other, but they eventually were dancing together, sharing toys and even hugging and kissing! Well, Scarlett was doing most of the XOs... at first Liam would just stand there and let her do it, but later, he would bring his head in and let her do it!! OMG, it was the cutest thing I have ever seen. I wish I got a photo of that! But I did get a pic of Scarlett hugging Liam, at least!

our toddlers... *sniff*

Scarlett giving Liam a hug...awww

I've gotten Liam a few new toys... a toy clock (to satisfy his clock obsession) and some awesome Ikea toys! Thanks to my Ikea hook-up (cousin Sharon) who was able to purchase these with her employee discount! I got a tent, mini kitchen utensils and pots and pans, nesting/stacking cups, and even a cake decorating set for me (all my decorating supplies are still in GA storage) for only $30! Woohoo!

Construction hat not included

How cute are these mini pans?

Liam in the tent - static hair, heehee

The next toys I want to get for him are a shopping cart and a vacuum. He loves pushing things. He found a pink toy shopping cart at Target and he loved pushing it around the toy aisles! Petco also had these little shopping carts that he was able to push around, but the wheels on it kept locking up so he had a hard time maneuvering it.

the pink cart at Target

The mini-carts at Petco (note: crappy wheels, but still fun!)

Liam's finally starting to talk more. In addition to dada, mama, dog, dat, and clock (cock, haha), he can now say bye-bye, cat (gat), gook (he will call lots of things "gook" haha), moon (moo), water (wawa), bird (buh), car (gar), along with understanding almost everything we ask him. He's doing a lot of mimicking as well, so we really have to watch what we say around him. However, while we were at the store, we walked by some shoes and I said, "Ooooh! Look at these shoes!" Liam thought it was the funniest thing at the time and has started saying "Ooooooh!"

He also knows how to unlock my phone, text, thumb through all the photos on my phone and even turn off "airplane mode" (no incoming our outgoing calls, messages, web)! And he loves trying to take off the battery covers on all remotes and toys he can get his hands on.

I will update the shutterfly site soon with recent March pics. Happy St. Patty's day!

15 month Well Checkup

I know I still have to update with the 2nd part of the February events, but I wanted to post about Liam's 15-month well check up yesterday.

Pointing at birds @ Fort Washington Park

I took the entire day off today (I worked on President's day, so I requested this day off in lieu). Liam's appointment was at 10am at Childrens Medical Associates in Alexandria. I left the house 45 minutes early to give myself traffic wiggle-room. Liam did great in the car and just looked out the front windshield at all the cars most of the time. We got there and I signed in. Liam got to play in the waiting area for just a few minutes, which included peeping in on a nursing mother in the back corner (separate nursing area) of the waiting area... he ran back there expressing concern for the crying baby. We got called back very quickly after that and he got weighed and measured. (28lb 10oz, 32.5" tall, 18.75" head circumference... still in the high percentiles for a 15-month old boy) Then back to the exam room where we also didn't wait very long for the nurse practitioner to come in and start the exam. (The waiting times were so short that I didn't even have time to take my traditional doc's office cell phone pic this time!)

She checked him out and asked me questions about his sleeping, eating, talking and other habits - all of which he seems to be progressing as a normal 15-month old boy should! My only concern to discuss was his undescended testicles. She checked him out down there and assured me that it was normal, because they are both there, they just haven't moved down into the scrotum yet. It's not cause for concern at this point of his life, anyway. He behaved very well the whole time and was very easy-going, which the nurse commented on. She asked if he was always like this and I said, "most of the time"... when he's not throwing tantrums because he's not being carried! haha She also said that tantrums are normal at this age as well, the best way to deal with them is to ignore him for a while. I'm fine with that, but I think his primary caretakers (my mom and grandma) may think otherwise! haha

She also confirmed that he has a couple molars coming in on the left side of his mouth (top and bottom). They haven't cut yet, but she saw the blister and white spots on his gums. Finally, after about 5 months, he's getting more teeth to add to his collection of 6!

He also got 2 shots, HIB and DTaP, one in each arm, and I am proud to say that my big boy didn't even shed a tear! He did, however, shoot the stink eye at the nurse who administered the shots!

We got out of the doctor's office in RECORD time... I had planned to meet Pennie and Jerry for lunch, but it was way too early, so we headed to visit Joel at work! It was a short little visit, but we got to show Liam off to a few of his co-workers and then it was back to work for poor Dad!

I still had time before lunch, so I just headed to the restaurant anyway and figured we could walk around in a nearby store while we were waiting. But I got lost a little (I got confused at the whole mixing-bowl area of I-95!) and Liam ended up falling asleep so when I pulled into the parking lot, I just sat in the car and played on my phone while Liam napped.

Liam behaved at lunch, as well, and was too busy playing on the floor (bad mommy for letting him play on the dirty floor, right!) to eat much. He did drink a lot of milk though! He let me put him in the highchair at the end of our meal, finally! After lunch we all grabbed some coffee at the Starbucks next door. Liam grabbed some juice bags that I had to pay for since he started gnawing at them and wouldn't put them down. After we got our drinks and sat at a table, Liam sat on Pennie's lap and then on the table to look out the window at the cars and birds that went by.

After saying "buhbye" to Auntie Pennie and Uncle Jerry, we left to go back home. He managed to fall asleep and continued to stay asleep when I pulled into the driveway. When he finally woke up about 30-40 minutes later, we went inside and he helped me take the dogs out. I let him wander around the backyard for a bit since the weather was awesome and then decided that we should hit up Fort Washington park and check out their playground.

We got to the park (no one was in the entry booth so we didn't have to pay - sweet!) and found the playground, but it only had the old school metal pipe jungle gyms (not toddler-friendly) and a few swings. I put him in one of the swings and swung him for a few minutes, but didn't really enjoy it too much after that, so we drove down to the part of the park in front of the water. We walked to a secluded spot, and he pointed to all the birds ("buh"s) and airplanes that flew by. Here's a video of him:

A couple of guys that we saw exploring the fort and taking pictures (Liam saw them on the hill, pointed and called them "guh" = "guys") had walked down next to the same spot where we were... which gave me an uneasy feeling. They looked harmless, but it just seemed weird to me for some reason that it was 2 guys AND the fact that they decided to check out the same spot we were at - out of ALL other scenic places along the water (not to mention, this was in PG county, after all... haha). Then I ran a bunch of scenarios in my head of what could happen, what I would do, etc... We weren't in view of the main part of the park and I was alone with my little son. So after a little while of me keeping an eye on both Liam and these 2 guys, I picked Liam up and walked back to the car. He just made a poo anyway... Nothing happened, but I can't help feeling paranoid all the time!

Despite my little maternal-paranoia episode, we had a great day out!

 +++++

Just for fun, here is the growth progression of Liam from birth to 15 months:
(age - weight- length/height - head circumference, if available)

Birth - 7lb 5oz - 19.5"
1 month - 11lb 8.5oz - 22" - 39cm
2 months - 14lb 14oz - 24" - 40cm
4 months - 18lb 6.5oz - 26.5" - 42.5cm
6 months - 21lb 12.5oz - 27" - 44cm
9 months - 25lb 15.3oz - 28.75" - 45cm
12 months - 27lb 6oz - 31.5" - 46.5cm
15 months - 28lb 10oz - 32.5" - 18.75" (47.6cm)

Catching up from Feb, part 1

Cool kids... wear their pants on their head

My last real post was Liam's 14 month post... today he turned 15 months. Oops!
It's been a busy February!

I have lots to tell about, so I figure I will split this up into a couple posts.

On the night of February 10th, Joel's grandfather passed away. We decided to head up to PA (a little north of Philly) to visit family the day after, which was a Friday. Joel's parents actually met us at my parents house Friday afternoon so we were able to follow them up. The drive was a little more than 3 hours, and Liam did pretty well. Our first stop was to visit Nan, Joel's grandmother at her apartment. We went to dinner with her, along with Joel's parents, but were unable to bring Liam to the formal dining room. So Joel's Aunt Mandy volunteered to watch him for a couple hours as we had our dinner. I was worried at first, because he hasn't really been watched by someone other than immediate family since he was in daycare (when he was an unaware 3 month old). But Aunt Mandy owns a daycare and reassured us that he would be fine. Liam cried and we could hear him all the way down the hall after he realized we left the apartment! When we came back up, she told us that he multi-tasked...he cried because we left him, but AT THE SAME TIME, he would play with his toys. LOL... Luckily, Nan had our Christmas photo on her fridge, so whenever Liam realized we were gone again and cried, Aunt Mandy would take him over to the photo and he would stop! That happened more than a couple times, apparently. But overall, he did great! I'm so glad he wasn't too much for her!

That night we went to Joel's uncle Dan's house - we would be spending the night there. Uncle Dan collects old clocks, and they were ALL over the house. Most of the collection was in one front room. Liam wouldn't stop pointing at all the clocks. He also likes to say "clock" but it sounds more like "cock" (!!!) instead! (haha) When Uncle Dan realized Liam knew what a clock was, he showed him the "clock museum" (the front room with most of the cool old clocks). He wound up all the clocks and made them chime. It was pretty awesome! The room we all stayed in had 3 old clocks in it and as I was putting him to bed, he'd point to all of them, one after the other and drifted off to sleep. That first night, Liam slept great! Despite all the excitement and new people plus a late bedtime (close to 10 or 11pm - I can't remember), he went down easily and didn't wake up at all that night.

Grandma Mary and Liam @ Uncle Dan's house

a blurry pic of Liam with his little cousin (her name escapes me!)

The next day, Joel's cousin brought over his family. They have 2 little girls (5 and 3 years old, I think?). Liam played with them, although they were pretty unaware of how little he is... so there was a little bit of snatching and possessiveness going on (among all of them), but that's to be expected. Liam doesn't normally play with any other kids so we have to work on the whole sharing thing a little harder I guess. That evening, there was a larger family gathering at another Aunt's house. {Side note: Joel's dad is 1 of 15 siblings!} This was the first time Liam has met a LOT of Joel's aunts and uncles, so it was cool for him to meet everyone. He seemed to have a good time. Then after that gathering, we went over to Joel's cousin's house (the same one with the 2 little girls) to eat dinner and have a cousins hang out and let the kids play. Liam was great the entire day until it was time to leave and go back to Uncle Dan's house for the night... he cried ALL the way back (at least a 30 minute drive). It was late again and he did NOT want to sleep in the carseat. It wasn't until we were pulling into our parking space that he finally fell asleep! :( That night was the total opposite of the perfect night before. He woke up crying  in the middle of the night and wouldn't stop. Since we were in the same room, it was hard to ignore his cries, plus we didn't want to wake up everyone else, so we decided to bring him in bed with us. I'm surprised he didn't object because he's never been the type to sleep with us in bed. After only a few moments, he stopped and we were all finally able to get back to sleep.

We drove back home the following day after breakfast and Liam did pretty well in the ride back down, thank goodness.

It was a nice trip, despite the circumstances. I'm glad we got to see Joel's parents again and that Liam got to meet a lot of Joel's dad's side of the family. We will probably go back up again for the annual reunion around 4th of July.

Liam talking on his blackberry and showing off his V-day shirt

My mom had ice cream and she made Liam dance for it! I wish I got that on video!

A card from Grandma Mary and Papa Joe (well, one of three cards)

Opening the card...

That's not how you read it!

The next week, I was off to Atlanta again, from Monday the 14th (Valentine's Day!) to Thursday. I got Liam a Valentine's Day shirt from Old Navy that I had him wear Sunday night before I left so I could take pictures. He also got a cool Musical card from Joel's parents, as well as some chocolate Valentines! Liam already got his V-day present from us, which was the Cozy Coupe, but I also got him some new books. And by the way, for Valentine's Day, I got Joel some chocolate covered cherries (his fave) and some warm slippers, and he got me some Georgetown Cupcakes! nomnomnom

The next weekend, we were out of town again... this time to my Auntie's condo near Shenandoah, VA... more on that in the next post!

P.S. Although I've been slack on updating the blog, I've been up-to-date with the photo uploading to Shutterfly, so please check that out. I also posted his 12-month photos taken by my buddy Chris (Mararac Photography)!