From our family to yours

Meeting Santa

Ollie is being needy right now and taking up all of my lap and licking my face…so I’ll leave you with Liam’s pictures.  We saw Santa today…he was at the Comfort Station downtown (basically a public restroom with an open area)….you just walked in and a man was sitting there with a Santa suit on.  The whole thing could have been shady, but we got our pictures and all was well.  And we got to take our own—so I have more than one for you :)  Or you know, all of them.  Because I’m that person…really.

Liam sitting up (in his way cute snowman jams)

Liam has a new skill…sitting up!  He can sit pretty well on his own when we sit him up.  And he loves playing with toys from this new vantage point!

Liam with the Tree

These don’t show Liam’s full love for the tree…but they do show him with the tree (sort of…he’s a little on the short side…so mostly it’s the presents)

Liam at seven months

Liam, you are a total blast right…except when you’re not.  You have become pretty volatile.  You are super happy most of the time, but when you’re mad, you are really mad.  You have started screaming more…for more attention, to be held, for more food, to hold your food (which isn’t going to happen), to pet Ollie, to slobber on us…basically, when you want something, you want it now, and you scream to get it.  It happens about 5-6 times a day, which really isn’t bad.  We just have to be prepared for it.

For the most part, though, you are a sweetheart.  You like to play lots.  You love shaking your maracas and anything that makes noise.  You only pay attention to the television when there is music being played—you love the theme song to Parks and Recreation, which tickles me to no end.  You “dance” anytime you hear music..if someone is holding you, you start bouncing and shaking, and if you’re on the floor you smile and kick.  You love bouncing in your Exersaucer.  You put everything in your mouth.  You are a lot better at sitting than you think.  If you don’t think we are supporting you, you fall over…but you can sit up on your own really well.  You have mastered the roll and scoot to get what you want.  We had to start doing some baby-proofing.  You put the cord to my laptop in your mouth…so we had to make sure all electrical wires were hidden from your sight….because your reach is getting better. 

You are also really in love with Ollie’s toys….and he’s in love with yours.  I picked up a mouse the other day, and I wasn’t sure whose slobber was on it—yours or Ollie’s.  He is pretty good about sharing his stuff with you….he’ll let you have it for a few seconds, then he very gingerly steals it back being careful to not hurt you or upset you.  It’s fun for me to watch.  You two interact a lot now….as long I pet him and scratch him, he’ll let you do whatever you want to him.  Recently you’ve been grabbing his beard and yanking…and sometimes you lean over him and just “pet” (smack) him all over.  Then he licks your face and neck.

You have figured out your own form of kissing.  You put your open mouth on our cheek or mouth and slobber all down our faces.  It’s pretty funny…when someone laughs, you do it more.  You think it’s the best.  You are in love with the Christmas tree…you would grab it and pull every bit of it to your face if I’d let you. 

You are also getting pretty good at solids.  Homemade butternut squash is your favorite, followed by any fruit.  You’ll eat everything, but you give a look that says, “Really?” anytime you eat a vegetable….which is often.  You sneeze every time I feed you, so you often spit food all over you, me, and Ollie.  Because Ollie is there to lick up any wayward bites that you might miss.  You love Baby MumMums….because you can feed them to yourself.  You will happily sit and munch on one of those about any time.  You currently hate your bottle.  You want it, your hungry, but you fight eating about 90 percent of all bottles.  It’s literally a battle to feed you.

Liam, we love you to pieces, and you are so much fun.  You’re the best, bitty boy.

Flipping the switch

One of the things I have learned in the last nearly seven months is that things can change at the flip of the switch.  This morning, for example, I was dancing with Liam and Ollie while listening to the Michael Buble Holiday station on Pandora (BEST.STATION.EVER), and I thought to myself that life just doesn’t get much better than that.  And it didn’t.  Nope, it went downhill.  Liam melted down (hello baby who is still wrecked after Thanksgiving and has had a rough two weeks) and started wailing and kicking.  And Ollie stole a toy and destroyed it and growled at me when I went to take it from him.  So I put Liam to bed and spanked Ollie.  And plopped him in his cage for a timeout (Ollie..not Liam).  So now I’m alone listening to my Pandora station, trying to gear up for the day. 

Last week was a lot of switches…so it’s kind of a struggle this morning.  I had my first cold as a mom (still do, actually), and it turns out it’s really hard to just rest on the sofa when you have a baby who wants to PLAYALLTHETIME.  And who goes on a nap strike.  And a husband who is working lots of extra time….  It’s all for a good thing, but it’s rough when the week where he hardly sees Liam coincides with the week I got sick.  And I hate all of our Christmas decorations…I honestly don’t have any ornaments on the tree (well..one, a ceramic bone I ordered with Oliver’s name on it).  It’s just sitting there with the lights and a pearl garland and the tree topper..and one Oliver ornament.  And my laptop broke.  It doesn’t recognize the battery exists anymore.  And my Kindle Fire stopped working…so Amazon is sending me a new one.  I think I’d rather just move my desktop (the hand me down I got from Andy) into the living room than replace the laptop right now.  So yeah…I’m trying to flip my switch to a more cheerful attitude.  Because I have a lot to be thankful for, and my bad attitude is just pretty dumb right now.

Catching Up

Liam and I spent all last week away from home.  We left on Sunday, and stayed in Indianapolis with Andy’s parents until Thursday morning.  They had a two week break in having any help or family come, so Andy and I decided it would be good for me to go…just so they weren’t alone for too long.  They can’t really have many visitors right now because Andy’s dad’s condition is so fragile…if he were to get sick, it would be really bad, so for the most part, they go to the wound care center to have his wound changed in the morning, and then they are home the rest of the day.  So Liam and I went and stayed.  Because having your six month old grandson for most of a week might be the best non-medical medicine there is.  Especially when that grandson is Liam—because that kid is a charmer.

Poor Liam doesn’t sleep well when he’s away from home, so I didn’t sleep well either.  We’re both still recovering.  We had a good time, though.  And it proved to me just how resilient our boy is.  He continued to be super sweet and patient even when he was worn out.  By the end of the week, he wasn’t napping well at all, and my mom had to rock him and pat him to get him to rest.  I don’t know how she did it.  He hasn’t fallen asleep in my arms in a long time.  If I try to get him to sleep while holding him, he thinks we are playing and starts bouncing and rocking and singing Willow Smith’s “Whip My Hair” while headbanging.  Maybe not quite all of that.  But it’s close. 

So now we are home, and happy to be here.  I don’t want to leave.  I am working on slowly getting the house picked up and back together.  I got caught up on laundry Sunday afternoon.  Our room is clean, and the kitchen is close…I just need to put away Liam’s clothes (also…I need some storage containers to clear out Liam’s room….at 6 months, we have a lot of things he has outgrown/moved beyond and I need to get them out of his room and into storage somewhere) and clean up the living room and bathroom.  I don’t touch Andy’s office.  It’s too stressful for me in there.

And now for two pictures of Liam that I stole from Lauren (he wore pants that day…I promise.  They were brown and adorable.  But he got too hot and we had to take them off.  Turns out he’s adjusted to the cold temps at our house, and he gets overheated at other places…it started to happen at church on Sunday as well)

Famous Family

Andy’s cousin Kathryn has appeared in various media outlets for the last week….here’s a video clip from Anderson Cooper on AC 360. http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2011/11/14/ac-the-ridiculist-stolen-bike.cnn

Kathryn has been in the news because her bike was stolen.  After it was stolen, she was perusing Craigslist trying to find a replacement, when she found an ad for her bike.  She contacted the guy, went to his home, asked to test drive the bike, knew that it was hers, drove to her car parked a few blocks away, and loaded up her bike and took it home.  When she got home, she called the police and gave them the guy’s address and they went and picked him up.  They also recommended she not try that again in the future…which is pretty much what her parents said as well.

I kind of love this story.

Our favorite sentence this week

Our favorite sentence this week has been, “Liam, your grandparents are going to have so much fun with you this weekend.”  Because my mom and dad are watching Liam for the WHOLE DAY on Saturday while Andy and I go out…to Cincinnati!!  This is big stuff—it’s the first time Andy and I will both be away from Liam at the same time (well…we went to lunch once and ran errands in Indy twice)..and only the second time I’ve been away for more than an hourish.

We keep telling Liam that, though, because he is so much fun right now.  He has figured out jumping and bouncing and does it constantly.  It starts when he’s in his exersaucer, but he will keep just bouncing up and down while we are holding or carrying him.  He is laughing so much (and screaming more too…but only when he’s left alone) and he’s so funny.  His little smile consumes his whole face—when we get him after a nap, his smile is basically his mouth opening as wide as it possibly can.  He knows what toys are and he wants them….and he chooses what to play with.  He loves Ollie so much and he is constantly trying to pet him and play with him.  Together they crack me up.  So all these combined….my mom and dad are going to have so much fun on Saturday :)

An Interesting Friday Night

You know how when things happen sometimes, you think, when I get over this, it’s going to make a great story…one that will enter into the family book of tales to be retold when your kids grow up and bring home spouses and grandkids.  I feel like last night could be one of those stories :)

Andy is at his parents house.  He left last night.  He is going to see them since his dad is home, and to return Keegan.  Liam and I stayed home since his dad needs as few visitors as possible right now.

I was worn out, so I went to bed a little before 10.  I cracked Liam’s door open several inches because it gets too cold in his room if the door is shut.  I had to shut the door to our bedroom because Ollie kept trying to escape.  He wanted to stay in the living room on the back of the loveseat and stare at the front door.    When Andy’s gone, Oliver likes to take over as man of the house.  He takes his job seriously.

So….about an hour after we went to bed, I heard pounding on our front door and saw flashlights coming into the house.  You can’t even begin to imagine the panicked, sick feeling.  Oliver is losing his mind.  The police are standing at our front door.  I had to put Oliver in the office because he tried to lunge at the officer.  Those few seconds where I was putting Ollie away, I almost threw up. 

As it turns out, it was okay.  The police were there because Andy called them.  He had called the house at 10:15, and I never heard the phone.  Apparently right after he hung up, the house phone dialed him back again, but no one was there.  Then he tried calling back again and again…on the house phone and the cell phone…probably about 15 times.  I never heard the phone because the bedroom door was shut.  Or I may have accidentally silenced the ringer earlier in the day, I’m not sure.  He got panicked because he couldn’t get ahold of us, and the phone had dialed him, so he called the police to ask them to check the house.

So I assured the officers that we were fine, called my husband and assured both he and his mom that we were fine.  And then Liam woke up.  Mostly because Ollie wouldn’t stop barking.  He was a mess.  I got Liam settled back down after a bottle and a diaper change.  Ollie started to settle down about 45 minutes later, and I was eventually able to settle down enough to sleep about an hour and a half later.  At 12:30….and then Liam woke up at 5.  So we’re a little tired today.

Liam Pictures….Post 2

And lastly….do you think I need to go grocery shopping?  Since we are down to 8 eggs, one pound pepper bacon, vanilla syrup, a tablespoon of hummus, 2 carrots, and some radishes in the fridge….I’m going to go with yes.  We’ve been trying to eat from our stores for the last two weeks to try to waste less…and we’re about out.

Liam Pictures…Post 1