Out with the old...

Since it's been oh, 8 months since my last real post, I guess its time for a little update!

Liam is doing fantastically well. He's an amazingly curious toddler who has been walking running since 10 months and talking non-stop. I feel like a bad parent, but I honestly have no idea how many words he has, there are so many. We can't sit down and have an in-depth conversation that is entirely in understandable English, but he talks all.day.long. He's extremely polite, he will shake your hand if you ask and at least 50% of the time he says "thank you" if you hand/pass something to him. What can I say? I'm proud of him!

On the allergy front, we're working on things. There has been a drastic improvement but we're not entirely out of the woods yet. Last I updated, we were dairy, soy, egg, peanut, tree nut, fish, shellfish and beef free and I'm very happy to announce that we now are officially only egg and (obvious) dairy free! I say "obvious" dairy because he can have small amount of dairy, say a few bites of real mashed potatoes and have no reaction, but if he eats say, a slice of pizza, then he has a mild reaction. We're constantly testing him and seeing how he reacts to find out just how much he can handle. We are still nursing (with no end in sight, much to my mother's dismay [although her reasoning for me to stop is to help squash jealousy issues (more on that below), not that she thinks he's too old, and if she thinks that, she's never vocalized it]) so I am enjoying small amounts of dairy and occasional things with eggs baked in them, like cookies but not an omelette. We've discovered, however, that he is allergic to one of my parents cats. If we keep them separate, which isn't hard since the cats don't seem to be big fans of screeching toddlers, he can be around them for awhile before he starts getting sneezy and blotchy.

Now onto some big news: Liam is going to be a big brother! That's right, T2 is due June 11th, 2012 and we are very excited! We are currently technically "Team Green" but we intend on finding out the sex on Jan 23, as long as they cooperate!

Thats all the news/updates I can think of for now, stay tuned for more on everything as 2012 rolls around!

This would have been Day 364..

But I failed miserably at my 365 blog challenge.

After taking (a lot) of time to think about it, I'm going to start posting again. I won't be doing such a huge undertaking as my previous challenge, but I'm going to aim to post roughly once a week. Which will turn this into a 52 blog, rather then a 365. I feel much more comfortable with this arrangement. Lets hope I can do it!

Stay tuned for a design overhaul and updates!

Day 67 (3/8/11)

Sometimes, as a parent, you need to catch those funny, awkward moments on camera, just so you can humiliate tease your children once they are older. Thats the case with today's picture:

Mid-yawn. Or roar. Your choice.

One another note, Fuzz Face came by for a visit today! The two of them had a blast rolling around and playing together on the floor!

Day 66 3/7/11)

One of Liam's favorite things to do is lunge himself towards whatever he's not supposed to have. Like remotes, cell phones, etc. After weeks of distraction and hiding, I remembered that I had an old cell phone sitting on our dresser. I took it out, cleaned it, and Li has completely claimed it as his own. Since he got my old one, he's left our phones alone, now remotes on the other hand....

MY cell phone!

Day 65 (3/6/11)

As Liam goes into the world of solid food, we're combining two approaches. He's getting standard purees, the kind you eat off a spoon, and he's getting sticks of food so he can feed himself. The first style is extremely common, almost everyone on the street feeds their child in this manner. The second, not so much. Its known in the babyworld as Baby Led Weaning or BLW. Basically the child is given stalks of solid food (soft foods obviously like banana, avocado or steamed sweet potato) and they control how much they eat. Its very "hands on" (see what I did there) and very messy, but it allows the child to explore their food. Feel the texture, squish it in their fingers, play with it, all sorts of fun things. For more info on BLW, check out the link above.

You want me to do what with this stuff?

Oh, I'm supposed to eat it!

Day 64 (3/5/11)

I love my kid. He is the happiest baby I've ever met. He can always make me smile. He can always make me laugh. He is the best thing in my life and I'm so happy that I can share him with everyone!

Who doesn't love this face?

Day 63 (3/4/11)

We had a movie night with some awesome friends tonight! Everyone was already there when Liam and I got home, so he was a little overwhelmed at first, but he quickly warmed up to everyone. One of our friends, Ms. T, is a photographer and was taking some fun shots of Li rolling around and playing with everyone, so when she was playing with him, I took their picture!

I think someone's in love!

Day 62 (3/3/11)

As mentioned previously, Liam is suffering from a double ear infection. We tried several ways to get him to take his medicine, yet every way ended in an upset Bubba and frustrated parents. It finally dawned on us that he likes to be in "control." We let him hold the dispenser, and while he's sucking on it, we administer tiny squirts of meds. It works so well that he ends up sucking down the whole thing and gets upset when we take it away!

This is how Superman takes his medicine. Like a champ!

Day 61 (3/2/11)

Some days, you just need to sit on your Daddy's lap, wearing St Patrick's Day legwarmers, and chew on a wooden car that your Grandpa Fuzz Face made you. Today was a manly day!

Day 60 (3/1/11)

Liam went t o his first hockey game tonight! My aunt gave Fuzz Face and I a pair of tickets to go see the Washington Capitals play beat the New York Islanders. It was a fantastic game, Liam was awake almost the whole time and even though he was exhausted, he was in a fabulous mood. When he finally fell asleep, there were 2 mins to go in the game. Caps scored 1 min later and woke him up. He fell back asleep and shockingly enough STAYED asleep when the Caps won in overtime 2 mins later! And he stayed asleep through all the fans, including hiss mother, screaming and cheering around him. Poor baby didn't wake up until we got back home! It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to go to a game with M in tow!

Not a great picture, but Li and I at the game!

Day 59 (2/28/11)

Happy Birthday to Liam's Uncle Matt!

Today wasnt such a great day for Liam. We tried taking a few pictures for a get well gift for a friend of ours and it didnt turn out so well. He was tired and fussy and kept trying to eat the paper. I finally outsmarted him by laying him on top of the paper, but by that time, he was too mad.

The end result.

Day 58 (2/27/11)

As mentioned a few days ago, Liam has a nasty diaper rash. Its because of my taking antibiotics due to the bronchitis I randomly contracted. One of the best ways to get rid of a diaper rash is to air the area out, so Li has been getting lots of nakey butt time! After a few days it improved greatly, although we're still fighting it.

Getting ready for nakey time!

Day 57 (2/26/11)

Believe it or not, but this is the face of a child with not one, but two ear infections AND a nasty diaper rash. He's such a trooper!

Day 56 (2/25/11)

Liam isnt crawling yet but he sure is trying hard! Every day he practices more and more. He's discovered how to scoot backwards, and its been fun to watch as he discovers how to do things!

Happy 28 weeks baby boy!

Day 55 (2/24/11)

Ever since Liam was about a month old, we stopped giving him baths. We never bought a baby bathtub and just bathed him in the kitchen sink. Well, if you've met my child, you'll know that he's no delicate flower and quickly outgrew the sink. We moved on to just taking him into the shower with us. It works out perfectly, either M or I go in and get the water right and his washcloth set, then the dry parent passes the monster to the wet parent and the washing commences. We've found it to be really quick and easy, plus Liam loves playing in the water and being so close to us!

Chubby boy!

Cheese!

Day 54 (2/23/11)

Liam was born with very little hair. Other then his rat tail, he was pretty much bald. I mean, he was fuzzy headed, but essentially bald. Over time, his hair started filing in and once it was long enough, I started putting it into mohawks whenever I could! One of the perks of his hair finally growing, is the awesome bed head we get to witness every time he wakes up. Its pretty sweet, you should check it out!

Day 53 (2/22/11)

My poor boys are still recovering from the weekend. They looked so cute sleeping next to each other, I couldn't resist taking a picture!

Day 52 (2/21/11)

Today was President's Day and Liam and I spent the day at Grandma's house, watching his cousins A and C! It was a handful, but a lot of fun. M's sister's were around, so I got to spend the day with some adult conversation, which was nice. Poor Li was so tired from our busy weekend and then spending the day with his cousins, that he fell asleep before we even left her house to go home!

Day 51 (2/20/11)

Even though we're still at the sci-fi convention, I had a gtg with a friend of mine that I met when I was pregnant with Li. Her daughter, Baby M, is a few days younger then Liam and completely adorable! Her cheeks are to DIE for and you just want to squeeze her when you see her! 

This was the first time Li and Baby M met, and as they were sizing each other up, Liam spotted her socks. Now, my kid has always loved chewing on his socks. Loves it. Every diaper change, his feet are in his mouth and his socks are soaked as a result. 

Poor Baby M's socks never had a chance. Once Liam started on her feet, both her socks were off and in his mouth. Then he went for her toes. Thats where she drew the line. After we stopped the apparent cannibalism, we tried to get some cute shots of the kids but Baby M was over being eaten and Liam was hungry, so it didn't quite work how we wanted it to!

Back to the convention. M and I were helping out Tahmoh Penniket, from Battlestar Galactica and Dollhouse. He's a very nice gentleman who was very focused on his career and spent the majority of the weekend learning lines for upcoming auditions. The four of us before we took him back to the airport!

Day 50 (2/19/11)

Every February, M and I work at a SciFi convention local to our area. The past few years we've been working with the guest stars (ie- famous (ish) actors). Last year I worked with Felicia Day and M worked with Sam Witwer. This year, since we had Liam, we both worked with Tahmoh Penikett (his picture will be in Day 51). M did most of the work, Li and I mainly hung out and helped get drinks and watch the tables when Tahmoh or the other guests had to go do an interview or what have you.

One of the other guests was Laurie Holden (Andrea from The Walking Dead) and she was head over heels in love with Liam. As soon as she saw him, she asked if she could take pictures, literally right after she had checked in with the hotel! Pretty much anytime she could, she was holding and loving up on Liam, and of course my little man ate it up! Who wouldn't want a pretty blonde fawning all over you? Laurie was so in love with him that she sent Frank Darabont (Oscar winning Director) a picture of him, just to show Li off!

Laurie wants us to stay in touch, just so she can see Liam as he grows up. We exchanged emails and I hope that we can get the chance to go down to GA and visit her on the set of TWD. Hey, maybe she can get Liam a walk-on role as an undead baby! We'll see!

Laurie and Liam

Day 49 (2/18/11)

Holy beautiful day Batman! Not only did Liam turn 27 weeks old today, but he went to the park for the first time! He wasn't super keen on the swings, he had fun, but it was more of a reserved type of fun. He loves being outside! He laughs every time the breeze hits his face, I love watching him smile!

Taking it all in with Daddy!

Playing on the swings!

Horseback riding with Momma!

Day 48 (2/17/11)

Not every day can be a good day.

Day 47 (2/16/11)

As many of you know, M has a thing for Superheros. Superman specifically. When Liam was born, he told him "Superman is better then Batman." Well it looks like Li go the message:

On the hunt...

Poor Superman never had a chance!

Day 46 (2/15/11)

My father ended up getting new tires for my Jeep, so Liam and I went over to switch them out because I needed new tires BADLY! I was hoping Li would be awake so he and FuzzFace would have some time to play together, but alas. He slept through the entire thing. There's always next time!

Can you spot the baby in this picture?

Day 45 (2/14/11)

Happy Valentine's Day! As our super special Valentine's gift to Liam, we took him to the pediatrician for his 6m well baby visit. Thats right, shots! Our little monster is now weighing in at 21.9lbs and is 27in tall (although I feel that he's taller then that).

He's also starting to become much more mobile! He's not crawling yet, but he's rolling like crazy! He can get on his hands and knees and he also does a mean downward facing dog. I think we may have a future yogi on our hands!

Day 44 (2/13/11)

Liam is 6 months old today!!!

Day 43 (2/12/11)

Tomorrow is my little baby boy's half birthday! He will be 6 months old! In order to celebrate, we set out to make some vegan cupcakes, however we quickly figured out that we didn't have some necessary ingredients. After a quick walk over to the grocery store, we got back on track and made some super yummy cupcakes!

Enjoying the frozen banana!

On our way to Giant

Finished cupcakes!

Day 42 (2/11/11)

Liam and I were trying to take a picture of us with the letter L as part of a care package for a friend of ours. It didnt go so well. We eventually got a good picture, but he kept trying to eat the paper!

Happy 26 weeks Liam!

Day 41 (2/10/11)

One of my favorite things to do is play aroundwith my little love! There is nothing better then sitting down with him and tickling/ laughing/ singing/ dancing and watching all the funny faces he makes!

Day 40 (2/9/11)

Today was another lazy day. We played around with Daddy, got silly, and managed to get a picture of Liam's second tooth!

Someone's got 2 teefies!

Silly boy!

Day 39 (2/8/11)

FuzzFace made Liam a new toy! He used wood leftover from Li's crib along with castoffs from PRS Guitars to make one awesome car! He hasnt figured out yet that it rolls, but it makes a great toy to chew on for now!

Day 38 (2/7/11)

Today was a quiet day around here, Liam and I stayed in from the cold and just played and cuddled!

Day 37 (2/6/11)

Today was the Superbowl, but more importantly, it was a Washington Capitals vs Pittsburg Penguins game! Around this house, we are hardcore Caps fans! Even though I had to work during the majority of the game, Li and I still supported our team!

Day 36 (2/5/11)

We got a new Click a Doo cloth diaper from a friend of ours and I think Liam approves! I can't wait to get more, I really like how it fit and it held in everything it was supposed to, not to mention how stylish it is!

Day 35 (2/4/11)

Today we had our first "playdate" with Baby T! M and I met up with her parents and did a little shopping. Well Momma T did shoppong, Liam and I helped pick out some cute, girly clothing! It was so cute to watch the two of them together, Baby T would go from super happy to pouting and back to super happy while Liam just stared, smiling at her!

Happy Daddies!

Pretty Mommies!

Happy 25 weeks Liam!

Day 34 (2/3/11)

This is what a sleeping baby is supposed to look like, unlike the other day :)

Day 33 (2/2/11)

One of Li's favorite toys is a stuffed rabbit puppet that my Uncle Stu brought with him when he came for a visit in November. Its not a toy that stays out all the time, because I want it to stay relatively nice so he can enjoy it whens he's a bit older, but when he sees it, he goes CRAZY!! Its so cute to watch his face light up!

We woke up this morning to a second tooth!! Pictures to follow on another day!

Day 32 (2/1/11)

Today was a FuzzFace day and M got this special moment on camera for me! I think Liam is his Grandfather's biggest fan, its so cute to watch them together!

Li's seat had been sitting in our living room until we installed it. I was looking at it and decided to try it out myself. Turns out that not only do my hips fit in it fairly easily, but it is super comfy too! Thanks again to M for the shot!