happy 8 months birthday

little man, you're 8 months old today! its amazing how much you change every day, how big you're getting, how much you're growing & evolving. as i type you're backwards crawling out of the computer room, lunging for the stairs, trying to stick your finger into the outlet (thankfully you can't reach it yet) .. i guess its time to babyproof!

every day i am thankful to have you in my life. liam you mean the whole world to me.

bittersweet

today we lowered the crib mattress. it was sort of sad. my baby is growing up so fast! now that he can sit on his own & almost crawl we thought it would be safer to lower it; instead of waiting for him to fall out & hurt himself

time is going by too quickly. i wish he could stay little forever

my little mister twenty pounds chubbers - yes you read that right, he's 20 pounds!!

...

just noticed i look like a hunchback! not sexy.
see, when you're a new mom you carry the weight of the ... on your shoulders

new ink

its not finished yet, i have another hour sitting to finish the color in the flowers but that will have to wait another 3-4 weeks until this bit is healed. will try to get a photo of the back & sides later when i've woken up

indiana jones & ugly betty & LOST

saw my first indiana jones commercial on tv last night & let me say, it looks SO GOOD!!

as well, saw the first epi for Ugly Betty & was completely lost! i paused the show (b/c we have PVR, love it!) & talked to shaun for a bit about how the last season of Ugly Betty aired right after liam was born, which explained why i have no memory of it. my theory is this: when you're a first time parent, you are sleep deprived right? so if you're not sleeping more than 2-3 hour chunks (in a row) you are also not dreaming like you should be. since dreams are the way our memory organizes what happens in a "day" it makes sense that i have no real memories of pretty much anything for the first 4 months of his life. this includes tv. so off to www.thepiratebay.com i go to DL last season.

LOST was on last night but this is one show that i did not forget ever for a second. sawyer is looking just as hot as he always has. i wish ... a lot of things... but man, sawyer... swoon...

enjoy

last week of being 7 months

because being naked is so much fun!


mr. scrunchy face, don't know why, but he's doing this all the time now


blue-berry mustachio! (doesn't it look like a rhett butler mustache? maybe thats just me..)


mommy making him laugh


falling down after trying to craw - his shirt says "Mini Pooper" (like mini cooper)

trying to crawl

ps. the turn-out for that quiz was pathetic! considering i get over 150 hits on my website per day you'd think more than 2 of you would answer :P

for the soon-to-be-parents

ladies & gents who are expecting: this one's for you! post your score under "shouts" (you don't need an account, just post as anonymous if you want) & leave your name or nickname or online name so i know who you are

i got 85% .. not bad! there are a few tricky questions in there

http://pediatrics.about.com/library/quiz/bl_new_baby_quiz.htm?

good luck!

ps. this isn't just for soon-to-be-parents, i'm looking at you shannon(s) [shannon work & shannon avery], you miss meghan [taylor woot woot!] & aimee i know you want to take this quizzie girl :)

so tired

so very very tired. shaun woke me up at 12:30 last night with a sleepy elbow to the head. before i could get back to sleep liam woke up. i did pick up/put down for an hour (from 3:30 to 4:30 am) & finally caved bringing him into bed with us. he proceeded to marathon nurse/cry every half hour until 7am.

today is not a good day.

park fun

awwwlookit his snotty nose...

i knew

there was something i was forgetting to write about. we were supposed to take a urine sample to the lab (for liam) a week after he finished his meds b/c his pedi wants to make sure the UTI is - officially - gone. however, do you know how hard it is to gather urine from a baby?!?! its CRAZY hard. we are having zero luck getting it done. the sample was supposed to go to the lab last week & we have yet to get the urine. i would really appreciate any advice from my readers on how to achieve this... i plead "first time mommy" syndrome

okay so...

this is how i found liam yesterday after his nap



after discussing it with shaun we've decided that i am going to keep BF'ing my son until he's a year old. now that we've found a great daycare provider near my work (& i'm going back part time in july mon/wed/frid) i will BF in the morning, at lunch & then at night before bed. 3 times a day is about average for 10 months anyway. then, in his 11th month, i'll be BF'ing in the morning & at night but he'll be starting cow's milk during the day - which works out perfectly.

i am so happy that i don't have to deal with bottles!! what a PITA that would've been... & pointless too since we would have to turn around & wean him from the bottle anyway. i've got a great milk supply, its easy, its quick... it would be stupid not to just keep it up. so there we have it.

okay now to the news... mister liam has 4 teeth & a bad head cold which i think he picked up at Svea's birthday party. he's very snotty, cranky, sleeping like crap (he woke up at 4am today & wouldn't go back down so i brought him into bed with us & we had a marathon 2 hour nursing session!)


the four teeth. it is SCARY BF'ing a kid with 4 teeth. he's bitten me a few times already & seems to think its funny


playing with his dinosaur on the change table (he loves it!)

there is a lot more news than just this... but some things i'm having a hard time processing so i can't write about it (& some things haven't been made 'public' yet so i can't talk about them but i'm looking at you Sarah & Becky!!) there is just too much going on right now. too much. the next few months are going to be a whirlwind of life changing events for (pretty much) every single important person in my life.

in no particular order, this is what is going to happen in may, june & july of this year:

• Kim's shower (Hamilton)
  
• Meg's shower
• My 31st birthday
• Matt's wedding
  
• Monia's 30th birthday (MTL)
• Meg's bachelorette (MTL)
• Kim's baby's birth (Hamilton)
• Meg's wedding (Strathmere)
• Rob's 30th birthday (MTL)
• Uncle Ken's 80th birthday (MTL)
• Start of daycare
  
• Back to work part time
• Back to work full time

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ps. i forgot to add how excited i am to going through this madness; this summer is going to be so much fun! i can't wait to take liam camping & see my BFF get married & meet my sisters little baby & visit MTL again & actuallly get to "go out" for my birthday

new spanx line

slimming apparel - what a great idea! completely lined with spanx, they're loungy clothes. i think i'm in love

why i love dove

what have we done to our little girls?

birthday party!

today is Svea's 1st birthday party. liam's little cousin is 1 whole year old. its amazing. i still remember the day we first saw her. carey, her mom, was just glowing & Svea was so little & cute & sweet & had this amazing shock of dark brown curly hair (which she kept btw.. so jeleous, her curls are rediculous cute). we got her some amazing presents & i wrapped everything last night & it looks so good; we can't wait to see her tearing into her butterfly wrapping paper :)

Happy Birthday Svea!!

the birthday girl enjoying her present from liam



click here to see all the pictures from her party

bangers

but no mash. liam is banging a wooden spoon against a plastic cup right now while sitting on the floor beside me. too adorable.

christening

no, not that kind. tuesday night saw me christening both our bowls. yep. disgusting. it was the result of a tainted batch of halibut that (thankfully) only i consumed. no, i did not feed liam any of the bad fishies. he tried salmon earlier that day & it went perfectly. chewed it up, gummed it down - either way he loved it. my halibut though... oh... badness. as i was eating it, i thought it tasted funny but then reasoned with myself "self, its probably because its been so long since you've had halibut" to which myself replied "yep, thats probably what it is". i am my own worst frenemy.

shaun stayed home from work weds to help, my sister came for the day today. i'm almost back to normal.

whew!

liam is, luckily, one happy little monkey. bex had him laughing today like nobody's business. wide open mouth, droll spilling down the chin, eyes crinkly half shut, hard laughing. the kind of laugh that comes out of your nose. he's only ever laughed like that for me & shaun before. it made me so happy. i love my sister & i love that she loves my son

i spoke too soon

today's afternoon nap was a disaster. he fed at 2:30, then normally goes down nicely around 3 & sleeps for 1/2 - 45 mins. today he cried. i picked him up, he cried louder. he stopped crying, i put him down, he cried. rinse, repeat until 4pm!!! yep, over an hour of crying straight. it was horrible. i could tell he was tired b/c he was rubbing his eyes, trying to scratch his head, suck on the arms of his bear (his lovie) ... i felt so bad for him. at one point i had to walk away & call shaun for a sanity check - it was the crying, the howling cry.. some of you have heard it (in the hospital one nurse called him "the loudest crier we've ever heard") & its just so loud & so grating & so loud that it seriously rattles your brain. anyway he finally, finally fell asleep just after 4pm. which was wonderful except that i was so worn out from the cry-a-thon that i sat down at the bottom of our stairs & had a good cry myself.

oh being a mommy is hard. its hard hard hard sometimes.

how's it going?

its going really good!! we're down to feeding him at 8:30 pm for his last milk feed of the day (night), he's lasting until 7am so i counting our blessings. to be honest i don't quite know what to do with myself now (at night). all this free time, its such an unusual commodity. i am eagerly looking forward to next week when the DF wean will be finished & i'll have time to make it to 7:30 bikram classes - yes, you heard that right ppl, i am going back to bikram! they have classes most nights starting at 7:30 at rama lotus, so if i scramble & get dressed before i put Liam to bed, then i should be able to just make it (if parking isn't an issue) - its sooo exciting. i can't wait to get my pre-baby body back.

Liam is now eating 1 egg white, 1/3 cup cheerios & 4 oz fruit for breakfast. he eats 4oz fruit/4oz veggie for lunch & dinner with 1 pkg of baby mum mum's in there (with lunch or dinner depending how hungry he is). we've started giving him small pieces of chicken if thats what we're having for dinner. he's been tolerating it really really well. eats it all up with his little teeth, mashes it around his mouth with his tongue. loves it. so lunch today i'm going to introduce small pieces of flaked salmon & tomorrow we're going to start on shredded cheddar cheese. this will make up the calories he's losing at night after dropping his nightly breastfeeds.

sleeping

this is how my baby sleeps... when i went in to DF him last night at 9 i found him like this. it used to scare me that he loved to cover his face when he slept. now he has such good head & neck control that i'm not scared, its funny!


see Aunt Merla? i told you he loves that blanket you made. he cuddles up against it & rubs his face on it (its the green, blue blanket near the bottom of the picture)

ps. those are socks on his hands. its to keep him from scratching his face, neck & head (which he rubs when he gets tired, its a soothing thing) anyway w/o the socks, he always scratches himself & wakes up

what a ham

ewwww

mr. liam decided it would be fun to barf 3 times last night before bed. corn & peas... all over the place... ewwwwww

here is he this morning after STTN - happy & back to normal. so what was that about then? why so sick, then normal again?



this kid is so confusing sometimes

medication

liam finished his medicine today!! he's all done. now we have to take a urine sample in a week & ensure the infection didn't come back & hopefully (cross fingers) we are UTI free

daycare

we might have a day care!! stay posted & i'll update when i can - but right now its between two home caregivers. the first is close to my work (maybe 3 mins away) & is $35 a day; the second is close to home (5-10 mins away) but only $30 a day... we'll interview both & go from there. what a load off... i hope one of these ladies works out

heuristic play

what is this? Heuristic play is rooted in young children’s natural curiosity. i've been encouraging this type of play for a while now but its only recently that liam is really getting into it. he is eager to explore anything that he can get his hands on & since he's bored of most of his 'toys', this is a great way to keep him entertained without spending a bundle of money. as you can see below, liam is enjoying some time playing with mommy's measuring cups!


mom where's diesel??


there he is!!


did you see mom?? a puppy!!


mom i'm talking to you! did you see? a puppy!!

9 hours

you read that right ppl, i slept 9 hours IN A ROW last night. this is huge!! thats the largest amount of consecutive sleep i've had in 7 months (if you can believe it & you should, b/c with a baby you just don't get to sleep anymore).. except that i did! last night! 9 hours!!

its bright & sunny outside & i slept for 9 hours. today is already the best day ever.

*****

i spoke too soon!! aunt flo is a mean devil of a woman; she is giving me a huge ass headache, achy everything & weak feeling knees. its like i have the flu. i need to go lay down in a sun beam...

aunt flo

well, she found me... its the first time since Dec 06 that i've had a visit from the witch & let me tell you, its shocking to have it agan. really really shocking. its because we're going +8 hours between breastfeedings now. so many of my mommy friends have warned me this would happen once he started STTN & we are lucky b/c he is STTN, which is wonderful. but still... i'd forgotten how this feels, the pain, the mood swings. earlier i sent an email to my husband telling him how all i wanted to do was curl up on the couch & watch crap TV & eat crap food, but that i can't b/c of liam ... ahhh liam...

... liam is cutting his 2nd front tooth so we've literally got a house full of the grumpies today!

in cool news, my sister Kim who is expecting has just had her due date adjusted to June 14th, which means she is 8 weeks away from being full term. its very exciting to know that we're going to have another baby in the family so soon. i can't wait to meet him/her :)

my friend aimee

always has the cutest crap on her blog that i just love, love to steal!

What Jennifer Means

You are fair, honest, and logical. You are a natural leader, and people respect you. You never give up, and you will succeed... even if it takes you a hundred tries. You are rational enough to see every part of a problem. You are great at giving other people advice. You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals. You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start. You are loving, compassionate, and ruled by your feelings. You are able to be a foundation for other people... but you still know how to have fun. Sometimes your emotions weigh you down, but you generally feel free from them. You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something. You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense. You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun.

What Shaun Means

You are the total package - suave, sexy, smart, and strong. You have the whole world under your spell, and you can influence almost everyone you know. You don't always resist your urges to crush the weak. Just remember, they don't have as much going for them as you do. You are truly an original person. You have amazing ideas, and the power to carry them out. Success comes rather easily for you... especially in business and academia. Some people find you to be selfish and a bit overbearing. You're a strong person. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are a very lucky person. Things just always seem to go your way. And because you're so lucky, you don't really have a lot of worries. You just hope for the best in life. You're sometimes a little guilty of being greedy. Spread your luck around a little to people who need it. You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals.

What Liam Means

You are relaxed, chill, and very likely to go with the flow. You are light hearted and accepting. You don't get worked up easily. Well adjusted and incredibly happy, many people wonder what your secret to life is. You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start. You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection. You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive. You have the classic "Type A" personality. You are confident, self assured, and capable. You are not easily intimidated. You master any and all skills easily. You don't have to work hard for what you want. You make your life out to be exactly how you want it. And you'll knock down anyone who gets in your way!

What's Your Name's Hidden Meaning?