Quick Report

Liam and I flew into Salt Lake City a little after 4pm yesterday. Liam was ELATED to see his dad! He wouldn't stop smiling and giggling... that is until it was time to go into the car seat for the ride home. He just cried with a broken heart as he was trying to say, "I am NOT done playing with my daddy!" It was so sad... those tears were so big!

We got home, ate, unloaded and everyone, including me, was fast asleep by 9pm. Liam was up quite often for whatever reason... I just put him in with me to feed and slept as much as I possibly could. It's weird sleeping in your own bed again after being away for awhile. I had weird dreams about my trip and kept thinking it's okay that I am getting interupted sleep because I am on vacation... nope... I realized in the middle of the night that today was going to be Monday... back to work, etc.

I will post details about my trip later. I left my 512 SD card at my parents and I only have the wedding photos on my smaller card with me. My mom is overnighting the card to me so I will have it by tomorrow. I am so mad I left about 90 pictures and 3 videos behind! I was so excited to sort, enhance and share them last night! I guess it was a blessing in disguise because I really needed to rest and I got to do that early last night.

Indiana is wonderful!

Well, Katie, thanks for being inquisitive about my trip to Indiana.

All went well on our trip here. Liam was as dreamy as he could possibly be for a 9 month old! He behaved quite well. There was no crying until my mom picked us up from the airport and I got a little worked up that the stroller wouldn't fit in the trunk of the car. So Liam felt my anxiety, the humid heat and his own fatique and it got the best of him. We had a crying baby most of the drive to my parent's house.

Though our first flight was delayed an hour, we were still able to meet Liam's other grandparents in Minneapolis for our layover! We only got about 30 minutes or less with them, but it was so worth it! I was so grateful the flight change didn't mess up our planned encounter. Grandpa brought what Liam thought was a "present" for him. It was his cane and Liam couldn't get enough of it! The toys baby claim! It was so cute! I will update later with photos.

Liam slept for about 40 minutes our first leg of the trip and another 40 minutes on the second leg. Nursing him was much easier than I thought it was going to be because we ended up having an extra seat beside us on both flights. I hope I get that lucky on the way back to Utah. What a blessing! Elbow room and space for Liam to play was awesome! I have to say, the cool cucumbers I brought along were the favorite toy/snack! I am so glad I thought of that at the last minute. He did watch his baby einstein video too, so with all the "props" I brought for a smooth flight those two items were the stars.

Yesterday we visited the bride to be and her mother made brunch for us and we chatted half the day away! Liam was charming and very well behaved at their house. I just couldn't ask for a better baby to be traveling with.

Anyway, when I get home I will report more and post photos!

Time with Liam & a Birthday

I have this week off of work because Monday was Pioneer day and I based my Indiana visit on that since it was an extra day paid off of work that wouldn't cut into my PTO time. We leave on Wednesday to see my family. I am so nervous to travel by plane with Liam. I think I have made it clear in previous posts that I don't like even driving anywhere without Ian as a chaperone. So this feels like a major undertaking especially since we'll be traveling ALL DAY LONG without Daddy! I am, however, excited to get home and see so many loved ones. I am grateful too that I have a layover in Minneapolis because Liam will get to see his other grandparents in the same trip! Ian's parents live in the Minneapolis area and hope to move out this way soon, but in the meantime they sure miss Liam (and us) so it will be so fun to see them en route. I can't wait for everyone to meet my little man! He is fun at this age! 9 months today in fact! He is so interactive and so entertaining to watch! I just hope everyone who meets him will see what I get to see each day! He has such an electric personality!

Last night Liam was having a hard time getting back to sleep when waking at 10:45pm. I suspected this might happen because he went to bed almost an hour earlier than usual. But it was so nice to savor putting him back to sleep. I got to hold him, stroke his hair, lock eyes with him and rub his back as he slowly fell asleep in my arms, then finally nuzzling his nose into my arm and dozing off into dreamland. What a charmer this boy is! It was nice to savor the day and this re-bedtime with him since I didn't have to work or rush to get my rest.

And since it is Liam's 9 month birthday and to keep my little tradition alive:

Dear Son,

You are growing a tiny bit slower than a weed! You are getting taller, faster, smarter and funnier! You are tracing, climbing and balancing! You are scaling our stairway like you are training for a race! You are grabbing our attention to communicate with us! You are charming us more than we ever thought possible! You are a copy cat. You can shake your head from side to side when we do. You can say "da da", "ba ba" or sing when we do. You can charge us like a bull when we come charging at you. You even wrinkle your nose and breath out fast bursts when we urge you to. You little comedian you...

You have better judgement then just last month! You know when you might fall and so you prevent it by slowly crouching down to the sitting position. You give us verbal warning when you are headed for a "no no" item. You throw little fits when we take a "no no" item away from you or remove you from that fun fun bathtub. You are one smart cookie!

You notice food more than ever before! You insist on eating when WE are eating! You will eat ANYTHING just as long as you are eating WITH us! You even ate gerber peas because it was food (and you have always rejected peas in puree form). You ate a "biter biscuit" for the first time yesterday and enjoyed the taste, texture and painting ability it had. You painted your whole face, your whole walker tray AND anything you could possibly reach outside the walker. You are one true boy who loves dirt, grime, dust, grass, rocks and cat dander. I have to wash your little mitts multiple times a day to keep my borderline OCD under control.

I have noticed that you enjoy feeling different textures. You are just like your mama. You rub soft fabrics and nuzzle your blankets. When you find lint on the carpet or floor, you don't pick it up... you rub it with the palm of your hand so you can feel it and watch it move. You make me laugh!

And last but not least, you can crawl after the cats faster than they thought you could manage. They have actually warmed up to you this past month. They LET you pet them sometimes. I have caught both of them inviting you to pet them. I guess that is just proof of how needy they are for attention since you joined our family.

As always, darling boy, you are a marvel to watch! You steal my heart! "My cup runneth over!"

Happy Birthday, Sunshine!

Kiddo in the Kiddie Pool

I have this week off of work and have been so excited to spend this extra time with Liam. We even got a night out on Saturday because I didn't feel guilty getting a sitter (since I would have the whole week to make it up to him)! We had a nice evening up at Sundance at the Foundry Grill patio. I ordered the most divine Rotisserie Rack of Pork and Ian had the Halibut. It was an excellent meal! And a great atmosphere! We SO want to go back some day (but what are the chances we'll have a $50 gift certificate again?).

While we were out without a baby, we went grocery shopping. That was a very productive and quick shopping trip for the first time in a long time!

Anyway, today was a scorcher! It was so hot that I intended to get Liam in his new kiddie pool earlier in the day, but I couldn't find the energy to get it blown up, etc while Ian was at work. So when Liam woke up from his afternoon nap, Ian was home to watch him while I blew the pool up, filled it up, etc. And here is our handsome man in the pool! He escaped a few times to chase the cat and find the water hose to play with. Once I got the hose in the pool he stayed put.

Discovering Daisies

Hmm... those are pretty... pretty yummy looking...
[Snickering all the way] Here I come my pretties...
Steady there while I pick you...You's a tough one...
Gotcha... anybody watching?Hunting for these things are a piece of cake... much easier than the cats!

Liam Playing with Dad 7/18/06

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Video Hosting - Upload Video - Video Sharing

Photo Update (the past week)

Well I am sure Liam's fans are ready for some pictures of him this week! He has been really busy helping me do laundry, chasing the vacuum and the cats, checking out the animals at PetSmart, and of course climbing all over me. Here are the highlights:

Once Liam sees I am sorting laundry, he giggles and makes a b-line to start "helping" me take the clothes out of the basket.

I let Liam loose when I vacuumed yesterday. He usually is in his crib trying his best to peek over the top to see any glimpse of the vacuum while giggling excitedly. But this time, he followed the vacuum everywhere I navigated it. He was soooo happy to be free to hunt the loud, boisterous, big toy. (Yes, it's very obvious I need to clean out the canister.)

Monday we went to PetSmart to get Bengal food. While there, we exposed Liam to a few different creatures. He seemed pretty impressed!

This I had to share (as embarrassing for Liam that this may be later in life...)

He caught Orion's eye and went to go try and get him down from the bed.

Well, when Liam got to the standing position, I noticed his butt crack is so prominent that it acutally shows through a very thick diaper.

If you can't see it in this photo, maybe this enlarged shot will be more obvious... (Oh my, this made me laugh!!! I noticed this happened yesterday too, in a totally separate outfit and I told myself I would get that on camera later. Mission accomplished!)

And finally, this is our little ham crawling up my front... I leaned back and got a great grin on camera! What a handsome little man!

{Click on photos to enlarge.}

I gots me some blooms

Well it turns out I have one of those envied husbands. I got flowers sent to me at work today (out of the blue... He's not in the dog house or anything like that). BEAUTIFUL ones too! And guess what the note said?

Just wanted to send you something just because you are Great!
Love you tons,
Ian

Here is a photo I found online of what he ordered. (I don't have my camera at work to take a picture of the real deal and I won't be bringing them home until Friday night.) Mine are, of course, much prettier and I don't have the butterfly on mine, and mine are much more vibrant than this photo depicts and, and, and, the vase is just like this one but with more dots on it! What a thoughtful gesture! Thanks Honey!

Humor me... Really, make me laugh!

This was a fun little thing Naddin J had on her blog. It would tickle me pink if you'd play along. It's kinda like Mad Libs.

Copy this letter to my comments and fill in the blanks. Then, if you want, copy the blank letter to your blog with your name after "Dear," and I will come and fill one out for you...

Dear Gina - Working Mom of 1,
I _____ you. You have a nice ______. You make me _______. You should _______. Someday I will ______. You + me = ________. If I saw you now I'd __________. I would build a _______ just for you. If I could sing you any song it would be _________. We could __________ under the stars.
Love, _______________
(P.S. ______________.)

Double Chin

Liam really likes his dad's belts (and a couple of mine). He seems to have an infatuation with metal (I hope it isn't an indication that I don't have enough Iron in my diet, i.e. his diet). He has had a long time relationship with belts... at least 3 months. He also loves power cords and his dad's glasses. Oh and I can't forget the remote control duo. He gets a bit giddy when he has both remotes at once! You would have thought he was punch drunk earlier today when he had both of them to squeal at and tap together.

The look on his face here just cracks me up... look at that double chin!

Another Note: About 3 weeks ago I was called to work in the Nursery at church. Today was our second Sunday in there... Liam just loves it! Ian kept Liam at home until 3rd hour today because our sleepy head decided to take a nap right when it was time for me to be at church. When Ian first dropped him off... 2 of the little boys (Josh and Conner) sat and played with him and Josh just put his arm around him and sat with him for the longest time... it was so CUTE! I was wishing I had my camera! They also have a bubble machine in there and Liam would not let us take him away from the bubbles! He would about throw a fit if we picked him up... What fun!

And video...

Visiting Aunt Heidi

At 4pm today, Liam and I hit the road to go up to Layton. I was leary to take him for a 90 minute drive by myself because I couldn't sit in the back if he started to cry. (Note: I don't leave the house with Liam unless Ian can chaperone. I am serious. I don't go anywhere without my husband except work, but then Liam doesn't go to work with me. Visit Mrs. Poopydigs and you'll see I have this same posted phobia.) We had bought a portable DVD player at Sam's Club last week for our plane trip to Indiana at the end of the month. I introduced Baby Einstein and the DVD player to Liam this week. He loved both! (The DVD player, a little too much. He thought we bought him his own laptop as he is always after my laptop each time I work. So he drools all over "his DVD player" and sits on it, etc. if I let him).

Anyway, I strapped the DVD player up in the back seat so he could watch his Baby Einstein video all the way to Layton. (Without being able to reach it, so the player was safe.) What a lifesaver! He did so great!

My sister, Heidi, lives in Boise, but she does her Air Force Reserves weekends in Layton. So we met her at our friend, Lindsey's house. [And] It's Lindsey's 30th birthday today, so we watched her kiddos while she and her hubby went out for sushi and a movie. We ordered pizza and hung out with the kids. While we ate, Heidi told them we could go to the park when they were done eating... I was thinking, "taking 4 kids and my baby to the park is really NOT what I want to do..." But we did it and it was fun and I of course took a bunch of photos!

Liam was so tired, but he seemed to enjoy getting in the dirt and exploring new things like wood chip mulch stuff... he even crawled to the under side of the slide and rubbed the back of his head on it and came out with a HUGE dirt smudge. I had to bathe him and change his clothes before we drove home. (Note to self: Not everybody buys tear free soap for their kids. Be more careful with Liam's eyes next time.)

He slept all the way home, and he's still sleeping now... Ahhhh...

{You can click on the photos to enlarge.}

The Boy with the Curl

Liam found a sun spot and then even better, found his shadow. He played with that shadow for about 10 minutes.

I was trying my hardest to get a shot of Liam's curl in the back of his head... I had to take him outside so the flash didn't drown it out. This is what I got. Funny little man curl!

And Lastly, Liam was enjoying a couple big cookie boxes I brought home on Monday... he's enjoyed them all week long. If he's not on top of one, he's inside the other. Click HERE for video.

Forgot My Camera

Yesterday Liam and I were feeling much better. The sitter said he was like a new kid... so happy and laughing a lot. I was in better spirits too and felt like I had more energy yesterday. When I got to the point of my work day when I pump, I found that, in my illness, my milk supply was down. I only got 2 ounces when I usually get 5-7 ounces. I was in a panic. I didn't know what to do! That was really low and I suddenly realized that I must be starving Liam. I also realized he was sick too and may not have much of an appetite either, so maybe those two factors just didn't do well for the supply.

So with Stephanie's advice, I went to Good Earth on my way home and got the Traditional Medicinals Mother's Milk Tea so I could start chugging that immediately! I think extra water-chugging was in order just by itself, but I hear this tea REALLY helps, so why not combine two good things?

I got to the sitter's and Liam was in good spirits, but I was told he hadn't had a nap, so I knew we may have a grump on our hands by the time we got to Ian's company picnic in an hour. I got him home, fed him and he fell asleep (big surprise). Ian held the sleeping babe while I slathered the Skin So Soft kid's bug repellent/sunscreen all over him. I got my tea prepped in a big 1 liter bottle and we hit the road to head up the canyon.

Liam slept the whole way there and was in a fairly good mood so he could greet all of Ian's co-workers and their families. I was glad when our friend Vika showed up... all she wanted to do was hold him (and I was very pleased with that). Then everyone got done eating and played volleyball. Ian and Liam just played in the grass and watched, then Ian went in to play and Liam just watched and watched that Volleyball. He wanted the spare and made a b-line for it on the sidelines. He also loved the very lush grass. He would crawl far away and I would go get him and "walk" him back to our sitting place. He would bounce while he walked, it was so cute!

Ian's boss has a fishing hole of sorts for the kids every year. They just drape a big sheet and the kids "fish" for toys that Leslie (Ian's boss) has bought for them. She takes special care when she goes shopping for each child! Liam got a sand pale, shovel, a stuffed alligator, bubbles and glow stick bracelets. He slept all the way home...

Those glow sticks were a hit when we got home and he wouldn't go to bed after his power nap in the car. He batted that thing around the floor and kept going in circles. We just laughed. And we laughed harder when we hid the bracelet and he kept twirling around and a around looking for it. He did that for a whole minute then moved on to a new toy... it took us awhile to get his attention back to the bracelet so we could watch him go in circles some more. At 10pm Liam was still not going to bed. At 10:30 Ian finally was able to lull him to sleep. Thank goodness cuz we were beat!

What a day to forget my camera, huh?

Lost and Found (this morning)

Caught red-handed in the closet!


...and now, a step-by-step of how to get out...






And that is how it's done, folks...

Flying Liam

I wore my hubby out tonight... I was just watching Liam laugh and laugh as his daddy raised him in the air over and over... then I realized more than just us three could enjoy this cute scene... so I made Ian do it again for the camera! Thanks, Honey!

Snotty Drooly Boy

Click HERE to see Liam on Friday night. He loves the stairs and spitting these days. Sorry about the snot, but he's sick and teething... YUM!

Yep, this is a record...

Yeah, I have made a record. I went 5 days without posting anything on my blog! Why you ask? Did I go on vacation or do something cool? Surprisingly, NO, I did nothing fun at all. I worked my hiney off this week! I've been tired, stressed and Liam and I are suffering with a chest cold.

I have been sad lately, so it's kinda hard to write a positive, cute post when you feel lousy.

Today we didn't do much. It was a long night with Liam because he would wake up crying after a labored cough. So every hour or less he was doing this and I was either putting him in bed with me to nurse, or just calming him down and putting him back in his crib. Very sad.

We called Liam's insurance nurse line to make sure we shouldn't take him into InstaCare today. The nurse was really sweet and gave me some home remedies and assured me it was nothing severe enough to go see a doctor today. She also offered to evaluate my symptoms to make sure I was taking care of myself.

Ian had gotten Liam to sleep at 10:30 so when I got off the phone with the nurse, I layed down to sleep too. We both felt a little better when we awoke an hour or so later. So we got ready for the day and ran a couple errands. I had relayed to Ian yesterday that Shari told me Liam was knocking down the kids' block towers this past week. They have wooden blocks, build them up and wait for Liam to come knock them down and do it all over again. So we went to Toys R Us with our little boy and ended up spending WAY too much money on him. Yes, we got the letter wooden blocks, but we also found him a wading pool, a stuffed little baseball and a swim diaper and matching hat for our trip to Lake Powell and any other water related affairs that come up.

We also went to one of our favorite restaraunts while we were out. Liam had a dill pickle for the first time... I wish I could have captured that sour face on camera. He had two really long reactions to the pickle... sour sour sour face!

We got home and played with Liam for awhile and watched him enjoy his new blocks. Then we got him down for a nap around 3:30 and we all took another nap! What a treat to actually take TWO naps in one day! I feel so much better because of it. I am planning on doing the same thing tomorrow so I can hopefully be over this cough and cold come Monday's work day.

The Parade this morning...

This is Shannon. She is babysitting Liam this summer. Yesterday she invited us to come sit with her family for the Fourth of July parade that her younger brother, Adam, was marching in. Adam plays the trombone and Ian is his leader in the scouts.

Shannon and her friend camped out all night so we had good seats at 9am today. Shari (Shannon's Mom) and the kids showed up shortly after we did and Liam was really happy to see all his friends!

I love parades and anything else festive on any given holiday. Seeing the syncronized highway patrol motorcyles, hearing fire engine sirens and the local marching bands makes it feel like the Fourth of July. LOVE IT!

It was SO hot out there and Liam got really irritable shortly after we arrived. He did have a good time, though, and was really taken with the marching bands.

Liam looking on (the highway patrol in the background)

Liam and Jacob

Liam and Edward kiddos

Liam and Ashley

We hope to get Liam in the wading pool or a regular swimming pool sometime today. I will post pictures later.

Editor's note: We went to the pool and the cute pictures I had in mind DID NOT happen as Liam WAS NOT fond of the water. Plus it turned overcast outdoors and Liam was beyond exhausted and wouldn't take a nap before we left, so it wasn't the optimal timing for this "first". Oh well... another time...

July 4th on July 1st

I felt blessed to have good neighbors yesterday. This past week I told Ian that we needed to find a good interactive toy for Liam this weekend because our little genius is bored with the stagnant toys he has. Anyway, my next door neighbor, Jayme, called yesterday saying she had a bag of toys her two boys had outgrown... so she was sending 5 year old Dylan over to drop it off. I didn't think much of it until I opened the bag. They were cool toys that light up, move, play music, etc!!! No need to go shopping for toys (for awhile).

The other reason it was nice to have friends next door yesterday was because we had picked up a wimpy pack of fireworks and didn't have anyone to watch them with... except Liam of course. We drove up to the house and saw Jayme and the kids doing their own wimpy fireworks, so we walked over and ended up having a nice evening with them.

Liam was startled by a few fireworks, but mainly mesmerized!