Swimming Lessons

Last Monday started Mommy and Me swim lessons.  I made my schedule at work so that we could attend most of the days.  The only day we are missing is Wednesdays.  The classes are 2 weeks long so we have one more week to go.  I am really surprised at how well he is doing for a 7 1/2 month old.  He loves the water!  We start out by singing some songs to get them used to the water.  He splashes and giggles, it is so cute!  The class is only 30 minutes long but it definitely wears us both out!  I am so glad that Liam and Landon are so close in age.  It gives Hollyn and I a chance to catch up since our lives are so wrapped around our children now.  I have enjoyed getting to know Jenny and Maddie too!  Baby James isn't too far in age from Landon and Liam, so there is another ball player to add to the team :)  The funniest thing that Liam started doing Thursday was when we would have him float on his back, the first thing he would do was automatically put his hands behind his head! It was too funny!  I got the guts to completely dunk him Thursday too!  I was totally against it when we first started but after talking to some other people and reading up about it I decided that it probably isn't so bad after all.  Well I decided to and Hollyn told me I better just do it before I change my mind.  So I did, and he loved it!  He definitely wasn't expecting it but he didn't cry or get upset about it. I'm so glad he is a little water baby!

The 4th of July

Liam's 1st July 4th went much better than I psyched myself up for.  I had to work that day but I got off just in time for the festivities.  I picked him up from Nana Jo's house and Ryan and I met up with my parents at Mr. OD's house across from the Rec Center.  We were right beside where they lit the fireworks.  By the time it was firework time, it was also bedtime.  He was starting to get a little fussy so I warmed up a bottle but there were too many people and too much going on to eat.  Finally, the fireworks started.  I was expecting screaming, but to my surprise he sat there and watched them with no fuss at all.  He would flinch every once in a while but he did really well with them.  I held his ears at first and at one point when I didn't have his ears covered, he put his little hand up on his ear and snuggled up to me trying to go to sleep.  The moment the fireworks were over, he was out!  Today was also a special day for another reason.  I was my Granddaddy's birthday.  We went and saw him the Monday before his birthday and brought him ice cream and strawberries.  He was surprised to see all of us there and I think he would have licked the ice cream bowl if we would have let him.  That's Grandaddy, he never leaves a thing on his plate!  I have to get better at taking pictures since I didn't take any of the the special time we had with him :( But here are some before the fireworks started and it got too dark!

Pulling Up!

Oh my! The past few days have been busy busy! No more laying him down and knowing that there is nothing he can do to hurt himself.  Nope, not anymore.  He is pulling up on everything.  Once he did it the first time, it was over from there. This morning I had folded clothes and put them in a basket and left them on his play mat in the living room.  Well he decided to pull up on it and start unfolding the clothes. 

To my surprise he was even pulling up on the couch. 

 I can't believe our baby is growing up so fast!  We lowered the bed the other day when we realized that he was starting to try to pull up.

 Today when he got up from his nap, this is what we saw....

I guess we are going to have to lower it down even more!

I'm 7 Months Old!!!!

Watching Liam learn and grow has been such a joy.  This by far is my favorite stage. I know that I will say that every time I blog.  He is on a pretty steady schedule now.  He eats pretty much 4 times a day.  First thing in the morning he gets solid food.  He gets some type of cereal and a fruit or yogurt and then part of a bottle.  For lunch he gets a full bottle.  For dinner he gets solid foods again.  We give him veggies and sometimes a fruit.  I decided to kind of veer off from the Super Baby Food Diet book and I boiled him some chicken and pureed it up.  He loves it, especially when we mix it with a veggie! And at night before he goes to bed, he gets another full bottle.  We have increased his ounces again so "part" of a bottle is 5 ounces and a full bottle is 7 ounces.  I am having to supplement with formula which was something that I didn't want to do.  My body has pretty much decided to only produce about 15 ounces a day which is not enough!  I'm okay with formula now, it just wasn't part of my plan.  I keep telling myself that I am lucky to get as far as I did.  He is starting to get some rolls on him and he is definitely getting heavier!  He is getting easier to travel with.  Now, I can just get him out of his car seat and sit him in a buggy or a highchair at a restaurant.  As for teeth, well.... he has been trying to get teeth now for a month it seems.  There are days when I can feel a sharp little area on his bottom gums and then there are days when they are swollen and I can't really feel much of anything thing.  Lately we have been having to give him ibuprofen or tylenol and keep orajel on his gums.  That has kind of been a routine before bed.  He was wearing me out waking up every 2-3 hours every night.  He seems to sleep better at night now that we do that.  He usually goes down between 8-9 and wakes up around 6-6:30 or I wake him up around 5-5:30 on days that I have to go to work.  I am going to have to start baby proofing the house here pretty soon.  He is crawling around but he is still slow and I can keep him contained in the living room but that isn't going to last too much longer.  He loves jumping in his jumper and cackles when we play peek a boo. We spend at least one day a week on the new boat and he LOVES the water!!!  His first birthday will be here before we know it so I guess I need to start planning! We love you monkey!

The Party Barge

Last Sunday we took the new boat out for its first debut.  John, JoAnn, Mark, Margaret, Ryan and I all went in together and bought the "Party Barge" as a family boat.  My parents got rid of their pool last year and some friends of ours sold their boat, so for Fathers Day Ryan and I went looking for boats.  The Tim's Ford Marina had some 2011 demos for sale so we went to look at them.  It was too good a deal to pass up so we went for it.  I have to say that it is one of the best investments yet! Liam loved it.  Liam and I stayed under the canopy pretty much the whole time.  I brought a comforter for him to lay on and play in the floor. He got out in the water a few times and loved every minute of it!   Ryan was the captain of the boat with the help of Liam every once in a while.  My parents came out and brought their jet ski.  We met up with some friends and hooked onto their boat and swam with them and just hung out.  It was such a good way to relax and spend our hard earned money!

I'm 6 Months Old!!!

Happy 1/2 Birthday Liam!  I can't believe that you are 6 months old.  That means you are half way to your birthday.  If the next six months go as fast as the first then I need to slow down and take in every moment I have with you.  You are growing so fast and learning so many new things.  We are so proud of you and love watching you learn.  He is sitting up all by himself.  He is still a little wobbly and I usually have to keep his boppy around him when he is playing.  He transfers from sitting to laying on his belly and is starting to scoot across the floor.  He is eating twice a day now and is starting all kinds of new foods. He is still sleeping in his crib and I can usually just lay him in his crib and he will fall asleep on his own.  Lately I have been rocking him to sleep just because I have been working a lot and I don't get to see him as much as I would like. He wakes up about 4 in the morning and I put him in the bed with us.  He usually eats and then we snuggle and sleep until I either have to go to work or he wakes me up ready to play. 

 At Dr. Eastham's office for our 6 month check up.  Weighing in at 15lbs 7.5oz (11%) 26.75in long (46%) and head circumference was 43cm (33%).  He got 2 shots :( For the past few months he has been running a low grade temp.  Dr. Eastham seems to think that he just runs high all the time and that is normal for him.  So 99 degrees is his normal.  Dr. Eastham was not worried about his weight.  He said that he is a healthy boy and that if low weight gain is all we have to worry about then we are doing good. 

 Here we are scooting around.  Having to block things with pillows so we don't hurt ourselves!!!

 When June comes around that means Bonnaroo time!  Liam didn't get to go this year but he rocked out his tye-dye t-shirt that I got him last year from Tye-Dye Mary! My cute little hippie baby!

New Foods

Wow, so it has been a while since I have been able to blog.  Our life has been crazy this past month.  So many new things have gone on, especially all the new foods that Liam has been eating.  Since the last food blog we have started Peas.  Not our favorite but mixed with other veggies he eats them. 

We have also started Peaches, Carrots, Homemade Rice Cereal or "Super Porridge", Yogurt, and today we started Prunes.  All have been a success!  I have to say that this mornings breakfast was his favorite.  He had vanilla Yo Baby yogurt and Prunes.  I couldn't shovel them in fast enough.  I try to mix things up so that he isn't always getting the same foods over and over again.  Its hard because there are only so many foods that he has tried, and you have to wait 4 days before you can introduce another one to make sure that he doesn't have some type of allergy or reaction.

We met up with uncle John Hardy the other day and had dinner and ice cream.  Liam's favorite part was the ice cream! 

 I have really enjoyed this whole eating process with Liam.  I am usually just as excited as he is.  I love introducing new foods just as much as he loves eating them! Here is to all the new and exciting food ahead!!!