How fast they grow...

A year ago today we got our first look at Liam's face. Well, we didn't know it was Liam at the time, but it was our baby!

And this little piggy wore a bowl on his head...

A few weeks ago Liam realised that he could make a neat sound if he breathed in and out really quickly through his nose. It quickly morphed into scruching up his face while he breathed in and out. Now, he breathes in and out so hard that he makes little pig grunts! It is the funniest thing I've ever seen and heard - a little pig grunting while making the oddest face - I can't help laughing out loud each and every time he does it!

What a smart boy we have! After 24 hours of playing with a bowl (and us wearing it on our heads to make him laugh) Liam started putting the bowl on his head!


Finally, in other news, we think Liam may be cutting his third tooth because he has been so crabby. I can't feel or see it, but I'm hoping there is a reason for his bad moods! And, I saved the best for last, Liam started giving kisses! Great big open mouthed slobbery kisses! It's so cute, he just grabs my head to pull me down and plants a big one on my face! I have to say, that sure does make a mommy feel pretty special. He's tried to kiss his daddy, but he never follows through. As soon as he feels those whiskers, Liam backs right off!

What's up?

We haven't really been up to much around here. Liam's second tooth finally broke through completely yesterday. It took a few days (and a few rough nights) but he officially has a two-tooth smile now. Liam's also been working on waving bye-bye, but it's kind of hit and miss. Some days he waves like crazy, other days he looks at us waving like we're crazy. He and I have been going swimming again now that the pool is open so it's nice for us to have something different to do.

On Friday Hayden came to play while his mommy and daddy went to an inservice. Can you tell these boys like Baby Einstein videos?

8 Months Old

Only four months until our baby is one year old - yikes!

Liam is a very busy boy; rolling around and army crawling everywhere. If we take our eyes off of him for even a second he is across the room searching for electrical cords or trying to get in the glass of the entertainment centre. He is constantly up on his hands and knees rocking so we are sure he will be crawling very, very soon. If he gets into this much trouble now, what's he going to be like when he's even more mobile?? (LOL) He absolutely loves pat-a-cake and clapping - he claps as he plays, he claps when he eats, he claps when he sees one of us enter the room, he claps when he is going outside...you get the picture. Another of Liam's favourite things is working out in the yard with his daddy. The two of them will stay outside for hours!

As always, Liam continues to be a great eater. He eats 3 jars of baby food plus cereal, yogourt, and finger foods (Cheerios, Goldfish, pieces of cheese and fruit) each day. He absolutely loves eating whatever we are having and will make the most awful racket until we give some to him.

Unfortunately, sleeping continues to be a bit of a problem. He is now very consistent with taking two good naps a day (1 1/2 to 2 hours each), but still doesn't sleep too well at night. He often still wakes up multiple times a night, and always wakes up at least once. We are working on some sleep training with him, but have yet to see any real improvement. Wait, there is one thing - he'll go down for naps and at bedtime by himself (no holding or rocking by Mommy) so I guess that is something!

We've seen so many changes this month - sitting, army crawling, clapping - I wonder what next month will bring!

Fast Cars, Birthday Hats, and a Bear in the Living Room

Just about 8 months old, and already Liam loves "driving" his car. Must be a guy thing...

Liam's cousin Max turned one on Saturday. Yay Max! We went to Max's Baba and Gigi's for a barbeque and of course we had to put hats on the boys. Here are Max and his mom Pam (Derek's cousin) with Derek and Liam.

I don't know, do you think Max had fun??

Isn't he just the cutest bear cub you ever did see?? Liam's all ready for Hallowe'en, and Mommy is very proud because she made the costume herself!

The new couch

Finally, after years of used and ugly furniture we finally have something nice! Our new leather couch and loveseat were delivered on Tuesday night and I LOVE them.

Two new tricks!

On Sunday Liam started crawling! Well it's army crawling, but in my books that still counts. Our little boy is offically mobile!

Yesterday we discovered that Liam can clap! He's always loved playing pat-a-cake and now he can join in all by himself!

Shhhh....

Does anyone else think that the "sideways with head pressed against the slats" sleep position just doesn't look that comfy??

Even on a bad hair day, I'm still the cutest kid!

If you look closely, you can see his tooth!

Here's the tooth!

Okay so it's not the best picture. BUT, if you look closely you can see his little tooth on the right side! This picture is already a week old, but I am having no luck getting a better one. Most of the time when he opens his mouth he covers his tooth with his tongue!

Toothless no more!

Liam's first tooth broke through this morning! Luckily, it hasn't been causing him too much discomfort. I'll post pictures once it is more visible!

Another day at the beach

Yesterday we went on another day trip to Clear Lake as a last hurrah of summer holidays. We did a bit of shopping, but mostly we sat down by the beach. We also took Liam for his first visit to a playground. He absolutely loved the swing and was smiling and laughing the whole time we pushed him. I guess we'll have to find a park with baby swings here in Dauphin!

Digiscrapping

Thanks to Cheryl and the girls over on our Born in Jan/Feb board, I have been introduced to the world of digiscrapping. I've been having lots of fun creating different layouts - and probably spending way to much time on the computer! Here's what I've got so far:

What a difference a day makes!

I just wrote yesterday that Liam could care less about sitting - today, he's a sitting pro!

Silly Monkey!!

I was sitting on one end of the couch eating some breakfast and watching a show on T.V. while Liam jumped in his jumperoo at the other end of the couch. I kept looking over at him and he was jumping away - every once in a while he would lay his head down on the side. He does this quite often to either look at things sideways, or when he is playing with the roller toy. Anyway I keep looking, and he is still hopping with his head down. After a minute or two, I went to take a closer look - the little monkey is sleeping, and still jumping! He's never done this before - this is the first time he's fallen asleep while playing!

Seven Months!

Our little man is now seven months old!

Liam is getting better at sitting everyday - that is if I can get him to practice! He really doesn't have much interest in sitting as he would rather be rolling all over the place. If I can keep him entertained enough, he can sit up on his own (and properly, no more tripod!) for 2-3 minutes. I'm hoping he'll have sitting down pat in the next few weeks. Liam is also starting to make some progress towards crawling. The past few days he has started getting up on his hands and knees. He doesn't get all the way up yet - it looks like he is trying to do a push-up from his knees - but I'm sure he'll get those knees all the way under his butt any day now. Now that he doesn't just bury his face in the floor when he gets on his knees he is getting some movement, but it is slow and mostly backwards! Of course he is still enjoying the good ol' Jumperoo - he'll jump over an hour if we'll let him. Last but not least, he is starting to take an interest in standing. He used to not care, and would just let his legs go limp if you tried to stand him up. Now there are times when he refuses to bend at the waist when you try to sit him down!

This past month Liam has really started to babble. He's becoming a real talkative little guy, saying ba-ba-ba and da-da-da all over the place. However, blowing raspberries is still his favourite. There are lots of times that he blows so many raspberries that there is a foam around his mouth and he looks like he has rabies.

Liam continues to be a great eater. We've introduced some of the baby meats, although he doesn't seem to like them much. He's also been trying some new things like yogourt (so-so) and cottage cheese (absolutely loves it!). I've started to give him finger foods like cheerios and grated cheese. He doesn't quite have the pincer grasp down yet, but he manages to fist the food and get it to his mouth. He still wants to eat whatever we have on our plates so we have started giving him more table food. He seems to like it more than the baby food so maybe we won't have to buy that for much longer!

Finally, finally, Liam is starting to become a better sleeper. He now has more good nights than bad, and on a good night just wakes up twice to eat. He also has started taking longer naps - thank goodness! He still isn't consistent, but he now takes as many long naps as he does short ones. Could this be the beginning of the end of the sleep-deprived Mommy?

Liam's turn on the computer...

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An update from Liam

Hi everyone! It's me, Liam! Boy, has it ever been a busy two weeks! It all began with my Daddy getting a new job. Daddy is going to work at a new bank as a business banker. We are all really happy for him because it will be an interesting change for him and he'll be getting a big pay raise. Yay Daddy!

The move to a new bank meant that Daddy had to take his vacation weeks from the old bank first so we have been busy travelling around and visiting with everybody. We started by going to Manitou to see Grandma Sherry and Ron, Uncle Colby and Uncle Ian, and Grandpa Terry. We had a fun time at the farm. We went for a long walk and Uncle Ian pushed me in the stroller. It was so nice to be outside!

We also went to visit my "Auntie" Sandy, Lori, and Michael. This was my first time meeting Lori and Michael. I thought Lori was facinating - I love big kids! She was so funny; she didn't want Mommy to take her picture so she kept on closing her eyes, and she called "Uncle" Ian "superdad"! Mommy still laughs about that one! I liked meeting Michael too. He is only 3 months younger than me so we will have lots of fun playing together when we get bigger.

On Thursday I went with Mommy and Daddy to Winnpegosis. Daddy went fishing with "Uncle" Todd, Mommy visited with "Auntie" Twylla, and I got to play with Hayden. The next day Daddy stayed home with me while Mommy and "Auntie" Twylla went for a moms-day-out lunch together.

We stayed home on the weekend and I spent my days rollin', rollin', rollin'. I rolled all sorts of places and got in all sorts of trouble! I love it when I get under the table, or in the curtains. I even rolled myself right under the chair!

On Monday we spent the day at Clear Lake. We went window shopping in all the stores, walked on the boardwalk and looked at cabins. Everywhere we went people were telling me how cute I was!

Then we were off to Swan River to see Grandma and Grandpa J. We went to the post office to see Grandma Linda and I got to sort some mail! I had lots of fun chewing up Grandpa's cable bill. We also went to Grandpa's pawn shop. I wanted to work there too, but I was too tired and just had a nap instead.

Last but not least, yesterday we went shopping in Brandon. I got some new toys and Mommy and Daddy bought some new living room furniture.

It was a busy couple of weeks, but I had lots of fun. This next week will be exciting too; Daddy starts his new job tomorrow, on Tuesday is Mommy and Daddy's anniversary (3 years!), and on Wednesday I will be 7 months old!

Bye-bye for now!

Liam

6 month check-up

Liam had his 6 month appointment this afternoon. I was so curious to see how much he weighed - a big 20 lbs 4 oz!! The doctor said Liam is doing excellent and Liam took his 2 needles like a champ, so all in all we had a great check-up!

Our first "vacation"

On the weekend we took a mini-vacation to Winnipeg. We hadn't been to the city since just before Liam was born! We went shopping for Liam, visited my Grandma (Liam's great-grandma), swam in the hotel pool, went to the zoo, and ate out. It was wonderful! We were a little worried about how Liam would react to all the travelling and the strange environment, but he was great! He slept most of the way there and back, and he slept fantastically at the hotel in his pack and play. Now that we know that he won't be a problem we are going to start travelling more often!



Here is Liam giving hugs to his great-Grandma. When Grandma saw the picture she just cringed and said she looked like a wild witch woman! LOL!



This is Liam and me posing in front of the statue of "Winnie the bear" at the Winnipeg zoo. (Forgive Derek for cutting off the top of the statue!)