For the love of all that's holy...

SHUT UP! Liam has been fussing with only very short interim naps for about 12 hours. As I write this now, I've gotten 2 hours of sleep.

Is this not the creepiest baby toy you've ever seen? It's called the Cirque Du Soleil DooLoo Travel Toy. It looks like a cross of several Miyazaki characters in my opinion, but hey, maybe there some uber-pretentious parents who want their kid playing with this instead of something common like, say, Tickle-Me Elmo.

Liam's check up

We just got back from Liam's nine month check up. He weighs 18 lbs 4 oz, is 27.5" long, and his head is 41.5 cm. That puts him in the 25th percentile for height and weight, and 50th for his head, which the reverse from his previous stats. I thought his noggin looked a little disproportionate. That might be why he's been falling over a lot lately. Liam's also right on track for all his developmental stuff.

Other fun news is that he's cutting another tooth. His upper left incisor is bulging out of the gum line. I with it would just come in and be over and done with. Currently, he's got a fever and is being extra fussy. I hope he shapes up before Friday.

So Sis. Shelly, otherwise known as the pioneer dress lady, yesterday told me that the three skirts I made for her mom don't fit because she gained weight, and that the fabric she bought for two other dresses are now going to be used to make a pageant dress. So she came and got the rest of the fabric for the skirts, and now I'm wondering if I've been fired. She wasn't mean about any of it, and she also didn't say that it was my fault, I'm just feeling a little miffed and unappreciated. Oh well. At least I don't have to make anymore of those %$*&^ dresses.

Wish me luck in getting through this week!

I don't abuse my child, I promise!

Liam managed to give himself a bruise on his forehead. I've also noticed a lot of marks on his legs too. Is this normal? I really don't abuse my kid; he just seems to fall over a lot.

We've also found a few things that Liam will eat. The first real food that went down well was pancakes. We were at IHOP and the waitress set Justin's pancakes down right in front of Liam. Before we could get them away from him, he'd grabbed a handful. So I let him have a little taste of his stolen treat and he kept opening his mouth for more. Since then, we've progressed to bananas, cheese, tortillas, and cheerios. I'm hoping to be able to wean him at a year, but it might be a little bit longer if he still won't eat (healthy) solids willingly.

On another note, today was our fourth wedding anniversary. Supposedly the traditional gift is fruit and flowers. I didn't think that Justin would appreciate that, so he'll just have to be happy with the bluetooth ear piece I got him. I keep telling him he looks like Captain Jack Harkness.

Bring it on!

PJs and pacifiers

Liam sleeps exactly like me. He rolls over on his right side and grabs his bumper when he sleeps. He also curls up his legs, or sleeps on his stomach with his legs tucked up with his bum up in the air. He also snores, but that's another story. I bought him some pjs with a monkey on the shirt. Justin and I jokingly recite "ten little monkeys jumping on the bed".

This past week, Liam's gotten a lot better at cruising. He's able to switch with the levels of furniture, and go around corners. I've also seen him balance with only one hand while reaching for something on the ground. Usually however, he tips over at that point. Another great hurtle he's overcome is crawling over stuff. I used to put the pack 'n play to block him in areas, or keep him out of others. On Thursday, I heard a thump and had found Liam had launched himself over the barricade and swung his legs the rest of the way. Later that day he crawled up some stairs. The only problem is that he can't get down without hurting himself. I've also been helping his walk with his firetruck which brings grand delight. A couple of days ago he wedged the truck up against the futon, climbed on top of it, and then climbed onto the futon to sit on my lap. He looked very pleased with himself.

On the annoying side of things, he's developed a severe case of separation anxiety. It's gotten really bad that I can't even walk away sometimes. He's pretty good if he knows that I'm sitting next to him, or he'll climb into my lap and play there. So meanwhile, I get nothing done and he is fussy and whiny most of the day. It also doesn't help that he's teething again. But now he's screaming for a lot longer when he's going to bed. This too shall pass?

He's not saying many words, but he does make a lot of sounds. He does say something that sounds like "uh-oh", but I don't think he's associated it with anything. I'm not sure when I need to start worrying about his pacifier screwing up with his speech.

I'm not looking forward to driving across two states with him. Any suggestions for driving two days with a nine month old?

Stock picture only

Today we got the latest addition on our family:


One caveat: it is not a minivan, it's a sports wagon! We decided that it was difficult enough to put one infant car seat into our sedans, let alone a booster and an infant seat, or hopefully eventually two booster seats. So, sadly, we bid farewell to our beloved Rory, the Lancer. You served us well, Rory. We hope to love your successor as much as you. We managed to get a good deal thanks to our friend Dave, and due to the fact the Lancer was still worth quite a bit as a trade in. So now we have a nice new car that will be a lot easier to get Liam in and out.

On the Liam front, he's rapidly progressing in his mobility. Two weeks ago, he had learned to crawl forward instead of backwards, and learned to push himself up into a sitting position and pull up into a standing. Now, he cruises along the furniture, climbs over small obstacles, and can balance if I'm holding one of his hands. He's also really talkative, but not really forming words other than "Mama". He chases after the cats, especially India, who is nice enough to let him pull her tail. Liam continues to love his truck now that he's figured out all the buttons, and that he can balance on it. We're now working on getting back down because he cries when he gets stuck standing up. He's huge now! We switched his car seat today to the convertible which arrived today along with the car. It's a Britax Boulevard, which I love because it's one of the safest car seats on the market. It is, however, very big and very hard to install. Justin and my dad managed to wrangled it into the car, and it's NOT moving.

What are YOU looking at?

April's pictures

Teeth!

Sticking his tongue out at the world

Peas were not a hit.

Crawling

Liam's Mafia suit

Pushing the pack and play out of his way, despite the fact Mommy was using it to block him in his room.

We got Liam a new toy to help him learn how to walk. He loved it as soon as he saw it, not even waiting for us to get it out of the box. It makes the world's most annoying noises, sings, and moves! As you can see, his ability to stand improved immediately.

This is now usually what I find when he's supposed to be asleep.

Eight months

Wow. Can anyone believe it's been eight months already since Liam was born? It's gone by super fast. Also I can't believe that he's progressed so far so fast. I was looking through some older posts and realized less than a month ago, he was barely able to scoot forward a couple of inches and that took him most of an hour. Now when I put him down on the ground, he's off like a rocket. Some major developments as of late are:

two bottom teeth
rolling over both directions on both sides
crawling
pushing himself up into a sitting position
responding to his name
getting into a kneeling position
pulling himself up onto a standing position and holding onto furniture for support

This past week alone, he's learn to do two of those things really without warning. When he sets his mind to do something, watch out. I can't wait until he's walking and I'm running after him to keep him out of danger....

After more than a year since we got it, a year since we bought a Wii to play it, and about eleven months since we started it, we finally finished Twilight Princess last night! I must say that was the awesomest Legend of Zelda ever. And Link remains a pimp.

So now we have to get some more games to play because it doesn't make sense to have an expensive game console without using it. Some games I'm excited about are Super Smash Bros Brawl and MarioCart. I'm not a huge fan of first person shooters or sports games, but I should do some more looking to see if there are some other ones I'd like.

The sixth and final dress (for now) is done and delivered. Now I'm going to work on some bridesmaids dresses if the mother of the bride ever remembers to give back the fabric. This is the first time in about two months I haven't been slaving over my sewing machine. It's kind of nice, but I realize how monotonous my life has become lately. I should get out of the house more.

I also need to do some preparations for our trip out to Oregon next month, and start packing up our belongings to move upstairs. May is going to be a fun month....