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

Holy 6 Months Batman!

Liam bo-piam,

You are six months old today.  That is stinking wild!  It’s gone by so quickly…sometimes I still feel like I just got my PICC line taken out two weeks ago, but then I realize, we’ve come a long way since then, sweet babe.

You are huge!  Like enormous!  Not in a bad way.  I don’t know your stats yet, but I do know that you look SOOO long to me.  I can’t get over how big you are these days.  You can squeeze into a few last 3-6 mos. things, but in the last two weeks or so, we’ve moved you up to 6-12 mos.  Or the 9 mos in Carters.  You still wear a 3 in diapers.

You like solids.  Maybe more than a bottle at times.  You really love pears, and if I mix a smidge of pear into other foods, you gulp them right down.  I made your pears in these cute little trays from IKEA, and they are about half the size of a regular ice cube…so I mix one full sweet potato with a pear, and you eat the whole thing.  Or I mix your oatmeal with pears, and you try to bite the bowl when I don’t feed you fast enough.  Sometimes, though, you’re not having it.  Yesterday you spat oatmeal all over the living room.  It was all over me, all over you, all over the Bumbo, and all over Ollie.  Because Ollie likes to sit right next to you and grab anything he can…if you spill, I have to push him back to keep him from licking you.  You spit up the other night, too, and it got everywhere.  I thought your dad was going to vomit.

You can roll over, but not well.  Your little head is too big.  It’s heavy and you don’t like to move it.  You can sit up with your hands supporting you for a few seconds, but again, your head is pretty heavy.  You can scoot yourself.  I’m not totally sure how you’re doing it.  I think you might be grabbing the carpet and pulling a little, and rocking and half rolling to get places.  I put a toy out of your reach the other day to watch you, because several times I have put you down and then taken the dogs out to the bathroom and when I came back, you were NOT where I left you.

You have the best personality.  Seriously.  You are sweet and loving and so fun.  You like to smile and laugh and play.  You LOVE your dad.  You think he’s the funniest person ever.  Seriously.  He gets face-consuming smiles and full gut laughs.  You adore him.  You are only cranky when you’re tired or don’t feel the best.  You’ve had an off week this week, and you’ve been a bit fussier, but even then, you are still so sweet.  Most mornings when you wake up, you laugh and shout in bed playing with your giraffe until we wake up and come get you.

No teeth yet, but you are slobbering and chewing up a storm.  Ollie destroyed your favorite teething toy the other night.  You are both very aware of each other’s toys, and often try to trade.  I keep pulling his toys out of your mouth, and chasing him away from your toys.  I told your dad that Christmas morning will be interesting—you’ll both be more interested in the other person’s toys!

We celebrated your first Halloween—you were a dinosaur!  We didn’t actually do anything, but you wore your little costume.  I am excited for your first Thanksgiving and Christmas—they will be here so soon!  Today is a pretty big day, too.  Your Grandpa Cook is supposed to come home from the hospital today, and I kind of love that it’s on your half-birthday.

Liam Cook, we love you so stinking much.  We can’t get through a day without one of us gushing about you—our sweet thing.  We love the crap out of you kid :)