8 month photo shoot

These are a bit blurry…I couldn’t get the light right.

Starting Early

Liam likes to share my quiet time with me….he plays while I have a quiet time.  On this day, though, he wanted my devotional book…and I thought it was sweet.

Rawhide

Liam Cook will end up crawling to get a piece of rawhide….I can feel it.  This kid will faceplant to get Ollie’s rawhide…and yell when I take it away.  On this particular occasion, I gave in for a minute to get a few pictures.

Snow Day!

Liam in his makeshift sled…and his hillbilly snow outfit!

Opening Presents

Apparently we didn’t document Christmas well.  All I have pictures of is Ollie in his stocking and Liam unwrapping puffs.  Dad, can you guys load the pictures from your house onto a flash drive and bring it with you Saturday?

The last picture is Liam before church on Christmas morning..I love that sweater..and his other one..I’ll have to get a picture of it too!

The end of spoonfeeding

This may not be the last time he was fed…but it’s one of them.  He hasn’t been spoon fed at least since the start of the year.

I like to feed myself

Serious about Baby MumMums

I finally uploaded pictures…so I’ll give you a sampling of some recent Liam pictures in a few posts.

These were about a month ago…before Christmas.

Snippets

--I just discovered this morning that our library now supports library loans on the Kindle…this is super exciting.  I’m working on downloading what I need to make it work right now.  I am beyond pumped.  This is a real gamechanger!

--Liam is trying to learn how to crawl.  He can kind of army crawl sometimes…and he face plants a lot, which is sort of funny.  The things he is most interested in crawling towards: rawhide, electronic cords (I’m fixing that), and the hardwood floor in his bedroom (he likes to smack it with his hand).  That’s kind of weird, right?

--Speaking of Liam, he’s coming into his own in eating—he’s getting really good at feeding himself.  Yesterday he ate puffs, yogurt melts, chicken, cheese, apples, and something else I can’t remember right now.  I just remember thinking he had packed away a lot of food for such a little fella.

--Next Wednesday Andy and I are going to Indy for the day to be in the audience for a taping of Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.  We had talked about taking our first away trip from Liam sometime next year…and we had discussed going to NYC because we both love the city.  The one thing we wanted to try to do was be in Jimmy’s audience…and then a few weeks ago, I saw on his show that they were taking the show on the road to Indy for the Super Bowl…so I signed up for tickets—and we got them!  We’re both WAY excited.

--And this dumb, but I want to share anyway—diapers.com has the best customer service.  Seriously.  A few months ago, a package I ordered was missing two items, and I called them and they shipped them right out…like they were here a day later.  The lady I talked to was super sweet and apologetic.  And, they email you if their original time estimate is off to apologize for any delays in receiving your packages.  I for real love this company and their services.  And their diaper prices aren't bad either..ha!

--And lastly, I’ve been rearranging furniture, and I like it.  I rearranged our living room three times in the last week (in all fairness…the first two were me…the last one was because I needed to put the pack and play back up…someone needs to be corralled when I take the dog out…Andy gets into everything…sorry..I crack myself up).  I rearranged Liam’s room, and I like it so much more…I also bought some art to hang in Liam’s room…I just need to get frames.  And I rearranged our room and I love it!  I need a new dresser (I’m currently using the chest of drawers that was Andy’s as a child…yeah.  That doesn’t work)…and I think if we can find a nice dresser (not a chest), and work on the art/décor in our room (and change the light fixture…boob lights be gone!), I’ll love it too.

Serious Question—Storage and Organization?

Where do you store the things that you aren’t currently using, but will use in the future?  Andy and I (mostly just me), have a pretty good “if we aren’t using it, it’s going away” policy…but we have run into a problem—baby stuff.  I have 3 Rubbermaid containers filled to the brim with things we aren’t using, but probably will use again in the future—one bin is all of Liam’s clothing from the first six months of his life, another has things like receiving blankets and infant carriers and such, and the last has some toy things we don’t use, bottles that didn’t work this time, but might next time, and all of my pumping supplies.  All stuff that we will likely use again when Liam gets a brother or sister in a few years.  But I don’t know where to store it.  Our one car garage is filled with all of our garage needs.  We have a storage shed out back, but it’s kind of gross and I wouldn’t want to put anything good in it.  We have zero closet space in the house, and our attic is not useable.  So we sit, with three giant storage containers (and truthfully, I could use another…for the Bumbo, play mat, bath sponge, and a few other things….and that doesn’t count the baby swing and bouncy seat that are chilling on the closet floor) just hanging in our living room.  The long term solution is a new house.  If Andy’s side business works out, we will likely move in the next twelve months…but in the meantime, I don’t know what to do.  We have literally filled every inch of space in our house.  The only thing that could possibly work is to see if I can move more of the stuff from the garage out to the storage shed…and then fill that space with Liam’s stuff.  I can only be so creative…and I think I’ve hit my wall.

PS—As soon as I can find the card reader, I’ll get more Liam pictures up….I have a few fun ones to share.

Mommy Panic

I have been prone to anxiety throughout my life….I have serious memories of sitting with my dear friend Mariah and worrying about things as a child.  I often made up horrific situations in my head and tried to figure out what I would do if they happened (like…my parents were killed in a car accident…or my parents and Lauren…and I’d try to figure out who I would have to live with and what would happen).  I have prayed that the Lord would guard me against this with Liam, because it’s a trap I fall into easily.  It hasn’t been too much of an issue since the first few weeks when my brain was scrambled.  But this weekend, it snuck back in a bit.

We let Liam try his first gluten last week—he had some noodles for dinner.  A day or two later, his cheeks were really pink and he had the start of a diaper rash.  I immediately chalked it up to gluten intolerance or Celiac’s and started planning for a gluten free existence for our entire family…we’re talking baseball team snacks, birthday parties, school events…everything.  Because in the back of my mind, something was lingering.  When I had the PUPPS rash during pregnancy, my doctor had mentioned offhand that some research was starting to suggest that there is a slightly higher instance of autoimmune disorders in children whose mother’s had the rash.  So in my mind, I guess I have been clinging to the thought that Liam will probably have an autoimmune disorder…and a slight rash appearing two days after eating gluten triggered it.

But then I started to really think about it.  And look at my son.  And I realized something—his pink cheeks were from dry skin.  We gave him a bath and rubbed some California Baby Super Sensitive lotion (love that stuff…it’s pricey, but I’m a big fan…and I think it’s worth it) on them and he was fine.  His rash was probably from his excessive number of dirty diapers…and that is probably from teething.  He has been really fussy and acting like he’s hurting and not sleeping well this past week…so I truly hope his little teeth start coming in soon. 

So we’ll still be careful and watch him, but I’m going to try to relax a little.  In any case, he stole my bread at Panera yesterday and gnawed on a hunk of it for a long time and he seems to be fine today.  I wish we had a camera with us for that one…because watching little Liam gnaw on a little piece of baguette crust was pretty stinking cute.

And so this isn’t a total word vomit…here are two videos of Liam eating (or playing, as may be the case….he likes to suck on food and spit it out…or chew and spit it out).  Warning—Ollie gets in trouble in one or both of these…so you might hear me yell at him.

Liam and his daddy

Liam adores Andy.  Full on loves his daddy.  He gets the best smiles and the best laughs.  And here are a few videos to prove it.  Unless you’re my mom and sister, this may not be totally interesting to you, but I am going for it…because I want to remember this too!  And again, thanks Mom and Dad for the camera—we’re loving it!

Liam at 8 months

I really cannot believe that Liam is 8 months old today.  This year has flown.  Seriously.  Liam is still the sweetest thing, but he is definitely starting to exert some independence this month.

So here we go…Liam this month you:

--Celebrated your first Christmas….3 times over.  Each time, you were more interested in the wrapping paper and got kind of overwhelmed and cried.  You wanted to play with wrapping paper and eat it…you didn’t really care about your presents…we figured out the best way for you to open presents on the third try…Aunt Lauren opened your presents for you and you watched and laughed. 

--Your Aunt Lauren and Great-Aunt Cris taught you how to bang on your booster seat tray and you think that is the greatest thing ever.  You do it before dinner, and when you are finished eating.  You also really love the high chair toy your Grandma and Grandpa Cook gave you.  You hate being spoon fed, but you like to feed yourself.  I’ve all but given up on spoon feeding you…I’m half tempted to give the leftover baby food I have to Miss Mandy for their new baby because I’m pretty sure you won’t eat it.  I tried to give you some baby food turkey and you threw up everywhere.  You also threw up real turkey at Grandma and Granddad’s house….I’m wondering if there is a connection.  We did figure out your bottle—we changed the nipple size and that’s made all the difference in the world.

--You like it when we give you “fingers” of food…you can hold on to them and bite off the ends.  Sometimes you eat well and sometimes you swish stuff around in your mouth and spit it back out.  Broccoli stalks seem to be your favorite…at least to grab onto and suck on.  You also like dark meat chicken (white is too dry and you get it stuck on the roof of your mouth), whole green beans, slices of sweet potato, apples, mangos, and ground beef.  We just separate out a little of our dinner for you and make sure it isn’t salty, and you eat it.  For instance, on Monday we had chicken breast, broccoli and tomatoes, and salad…and you ate some chicken, some broccoli, and cucumber.  Last night we had whole roasted chicken and green beans, and you had both of those things.  Tonight we’re having Mexican lasagna, so you will get some of the meat (without seasoning) and some cucumbers from the salad…and I may give you a little banana.

--You have stayed alone in the church nursery and you love it.  The workers are so sweet with you, and I think Mr. Jim is your favorite.  They said you sat on the floor and played with him the whole time on Sunday.  You were so happy and just smiled away when Daddy and I came to get you.

--You can throw a serious temper tantrum.  You and Ollie are having some toy troubles….you want to play with each other’s toys, and when he takes his toys back (or I take his toys away from) (or I take something away from you that you shouldn’t have) you scream and scream and arch your little back. 

--Your sleep has been less than ideal this month…You are trying to make your morning nap at 11 instead of at 9, which is fine if we are out somewhere, but you get fussy at home.  So we’re figuring that out.  Thankfully the weather has been mild the last 4 or 5 days and we have put your daddy’s jogging stroller to good use.

--You love rolling.  You are a rolling fool.  You will roll the entire length of living room just for the heck of it.  I have to put you in your Exersaucer to take Ollie potty or you will roll and get into something while I’m outside for all of one minute.  We put your Exersaucer in the kitchen and you hang out in there with me while I cook dinner and do dishes. 

Miss Jodi told us that one of the men at church had said that you should be the poster child for people who want to have babies—because you’re so gosh darn cute and sweet.  And we couldn’t agree more!