2 years, 11 months

Dear Son,

You've had a tough week.

Last Sunday you had a 101º fever. My parents were here visiting so Grandpa and Daddy gave you a blessing.

Monday you seemed fine. We went to Kangaroo Zoo and you jumped and slid to your heart's content. Grandma and Daddy were just like little kids too, following after you and playing non-stop!

Tuesday you weren't yourself... ornery... and dare I say rotten.

Wednesday you were sweet and obedient.

Thursday seemed normal.

Friday you had sores in your mouth so we knew for sure you had been suffering from hand, foot and mouth. I stayed home with you.

2am Saturday morning was the beginning of 5 bouts of vomit. So all of Saturday you were lazy, clingy and exhausted. We hung out in bed for a few hours watching movies and playing with your aquadoodle. You brought a puzzle in and once you got it together, you fell asleep for a couple hours. Your day was a boring one until I went to the R.S. Broadcast and you were left in Daddy's care. He and Uncle Drew took you fishing and you caught your first fish! We were all so proud of you!

Today you slept in until after 10am! You let me hold you for an hour or two while you slept. It was nice to laze, doze and enjoy having you nuzzle close. You've seemed back to yourself after that good sleep... though you still aren't eating.

All ills aside, things have been typical toddler life. Another 4 weeks of learning and growth has passed us by. You are very strong willed and becoming a bit of a sass lately. We are sometimes found speechless as to how to respond to your stubbornness and bossy demands. Yet another stage that we hope will soon pass. And when it passes, we hope the begging for treats all the live long day will too.

In the meantime (during the non-boogery moments), you love... singing made up songs, anything made of sugar, the book Daddy Kisses when Daddy reads it to you, saying "holy moly" over and over, dinosaurs, puzzles, saying hello to strangers, bump-bumps in the road, WATER, Lightning McQueen gummy vitamins, jumping on and off anything, slides, saying good night to the moon and good morning to the sun, your tricycle and going faster than the monsters who are soooo slow.

You are my cute little cowboy! Living life without you would be boring.

Love you always,
Mom

Resource - 94 ways to keep 'em busy

I found this post and had to bookmark it here for me to find later... lots of ideas to keep little ones busy busy.

Costume in the making

Two years ago, my sweet mother in law made Liam the cutest lion costume.

This year she is making him another costume... I can't wait to see the final product. We got a sneak preview last week when she was visiting. He's going to be a little Bat Man! And the cape is probably going to be used on a regular basis for years to come. Every little boy needs a super hero cape!

A Good Day

Liam was so well behaved all day long yesterday!

When I dropped him off at the sitter, he gave me about 20 consecutive kisses and hugs and happily let me go to work.

When I picked him up, Kate, his sitter, was raving about his awesome behavior all day long!

I was hesitant that it would last much longer than the ride home. Since dinner time through bedtime has always been the witching hour(s) for him since birth...

Liam proved me wrong!

He played nicely and stayed out of trouble. He listened to us for the most part! He was even okay with going upstairs to take a bath early! He didn't drown the bathroom with water! He got out of the tub in a timely manner. He let Daddy put on his PJ's rather quickly. He didn't ask for more books after the agreed upon total of three. He was reverent during prayers. He fell quickly to sleep at 8pm (on the nose) as I rubbed his little back.

Heaven.

I then went to bed to read my book and promptly went to sleep at 10pm (two nights in a row for me).

Back on Track

Well I finally finished Breaking Dawn last night! Finally! I take a long time to read books. I am a slow reader and I only read after Liam has gone to bed and after any other tasks are done around the house or whatever... And I don't stay up past midnight much anymore. So this book took me a little over a week. Molasses compared to everyone else I know that read it in 24 hours. I loved the story. I think Stephenie Meyer did an awesome job on this one. Other than Bella's naming conventions, she finally had it together in this book! Finally!

Anyway, I didn't report our trip to Idaho yet. It's been over a week since we got back so here goes... We had a nice stay with Katie and Josh. Alli was out of town with friends, so we missed her, but Isaac, Jacob and Liam had a blast together! Liam was particularly fascinated with Jacob. I am not sure if it's because he has another favorite friend named Jacob in our neighborhood or if it was because Katie's Jacob was such a patient and loving "big brother" to him while we were there. I didn't have to worry about Liam at all during our stay. Jacob seemed to have it covered. All I had to do was change diapers and bathe him.

I really enjoyed the twins during this visit. I haven't had that connection with them since they were babies and living across the street from us. Every time we've gone up to visit, they were at a stage where they took a bit to warm up to "strangers" and the time we had was so short. This time, I just couldn't get enough of those sweet 4 year olds! They were sooo adorable and thoughtful and smiley. Katie is one lucky mama! I know she is happy to have them in the 4 year old stage. We had a few conversations about the 2 and 3 year old stages and how difficult it can be. I look forward to the day Liam gets better control of himself. I am enjoying him the best I know how for now. He can be a total sweetheart, but he can also be a defiant monster. Good thing I love him so so much! And good thing I have Ian to offset the times when I do lose my cool.


Back to the Idaho fun... Saturday night we went to the fair and rodeo. Liam held tight to Jacob's hand most of the evening. The three boys played in the rocks for awhile before the rodeo and then they all did pretty well sitting in the stands eating junk and watching all the animals and cowboys.


We sat with Katie's family at the rodeo. It was fun to watch Jayci. I think I had my eyes on her more than the rodeo. Just a sweet little baby girl she is! Kari was so nice to let me hold her and take photos of her darling face.



Katie, Kari, Judy and I went and stood in the Elephant Ear line for awhile before the rodeo ended. Once we got those massive scones back to the stands, and even with the guys' help... Nobody could finish their Elephant Ear. They were just so BIG! I think all of us had our fair share of too much fried fair food that night, so we just couldn't pack away any more grease. It was all so yummy though!


Overall, we had a nice weekend. Katie took me out to lunch on Monday before we left town. She was so sweet to see I was a little stressed with Liam's grumpiness while our men were out golfing that morning. She called a sitter and we took off - alone! Sweet peace! Thank you, Katie. It was so nice to spend some alone time with you.

Oh I guess I should report that Ian's first 24 hours in Idaho were not fun ones. He had something irritating his eye and had to go to the ER a couple times and then to an Ophthalmologist Saturday afternoon. He was just miserable for a bit there... We were all glad that the doctors could help him so he could still join us at the fair and rodeo Saturday night.

Here he is trying to hide his eye patch. He still looks cute to me!

MIA

Sorry I've been ignoring Liam's blog and everyone else's. This past week has been a busy one. We went up to Katie's Private Idaho over the long holiday weekend and enjoyed our stay with them. And while Ian drove to and from Idaho, I read Breaking Dawn. I am still reading it and so that is my real excuse for not uploading and organizing my photos to share with you all. You'll see some reports and photos in the next couple days though. Hang tight.