Mother's Day Festivities

My very first Mother's Day was spent relaxing and enjoying every second of the day playing with my two boys!  Conor woke up with Liam in the morning, so I had a chance to sleep in!  There is no better gift than that for a sleep deprived Mama.  Added bonus: Liam took a big ol' poop while on Dad's watch; it's the little things that make me happy.  ;-)

I woke up to the table set and an omelet bar that Conor had whipped together!  Since being pregnant, I absolutely love breakfast!  I can't believe I used to skip this meal most of the time... I was missing out.  And then I saw something new on the counter... a new Keurig coffee machine!  I have had my eye on this for awhile now!  Now I can be one of the cool kids with all my K-cups!  ;-)  While pregnant, I switched to drinking decaf coffee and have kept that up while breastfeeding.  And since I'll most likely breastfeed 'til I'm pregnant again, looks like decaf will be my thing for awhile.  I don't mind it though, I never really responded to caffeine anyways; I just really like the taste of coffee!  Now I need to perfect my Keurig recipe, which is taking a little tinkering since I like it iced!  Now, I have a cute little coffee bar, that gets me so excited to make coffee in the mornings! ;-)

I opened up my Mother's Day cards from Conor & Liam, as well as a package my Mom (and Dad) had sent!  She's always so on top of things!  Conor also surprised me with a massage that I need to schedule sometime soon; it sounds amazing right about now!  I also received many Mother's Day wishes from friends & family throughout the day, which made my first Mother's Day extra special.

I wanted to spend the day just relaxing with my two boys!  Too frequently we are so busy running around on the weekends, that I feel like we don't get in as much quality time as a family as I would like.  After breakfast, I wanted to go check out a farmer's market close to our house which I was so excited about!  The weather was perfect (80s and sunny) for buying some fresh produce and flowers!  Well turns out the farmer's markets don't start until June, ugh!  So instead we went to Whole Foods (farmer's market-ish right?) to pick out some things for dinner and then went to a park for some playtime!  Liam loves being in a swing and having the freedom to crawl around everywhere...even if he isn't a huge fan of grass right now!

It was a perfect day!  I spent some time reflecting on being a mom and how Liam is the reason I get to be celebrated!  I am so in love with my little boy; my heart is full!  I'm now looking forward to June, when we get to celebrate Conor for being the amazing father that he is! 

Thanks Mom!

Mother's Day has a whole new meaning for me now that I have become a mother myself.  My appreciation for my mom has reached a whole new level in the last year.  I look back on my childhood fondly and love the close relationship I've always had with my mom.  Since the day I left for college, I have talked to my mom on the phone every day...sometimes twice... or more.  I feel so lucky to have her as such big part of my life!  Our relationship grows deeper each and every year (which sometimes seems impossible). Now that she is a grandma she also shares a special bond with me through Liam.  She offers me guidance when I ask for it, listens when I need to vent, and respects the choices that I have made in how I raise and care for Liam.  She's pretty much the best!

As hard as it is to watch Liam grow so quickly, I'm also excited for all the fun times we have ahead.  I can't wait to recreate many of the memories I had with my mom, with Liam.  She made each and every day special for me.

My mom made my lunch every day. Even through high school!  When I was younger, she would put stickers on my brown paper lunch bag and always wrote a note on my napkin.  Once I was in high school, the napkin notes weren't every day, but she would always write me a special note on "game day". These were a masterpiece made out of construction paper, stickers, & inspirational words all coordinated with the colors of the opposing team I was playing against that day.  I saved all of those notes and still have them to this day in a box back home.  On game days, she also made my brother Ryan & I a huge breakfast; she knew how important a well rounded meal was to help fuel us for that day.  He liked pancakes but I was more of a french toast girl, so she often made both!  I can't wait to do this for Liam when he becomes sports star I'm sure he will be! :-)

I also have that mom who would always share a Twix, giving me half, or her box of Good 'n Plentys every time the sweet tooth struck!  She often let me pick out a treat when we were grocery shopping or let me have an italian soda when she went for coffee.  She spent hours on swing sets with me and was the one holding my hand through my many visits to the ER (let's just say I had a lot of stitches when I was younger).  She let me stay home from school anytime I wasn't feeling well and would spend hours on homemade chicken noodle soup to help me feel better.  When I was a little girl, she would brush my hair at night to soothe me to sleep, and did the same from time to time up through high school like when I suffered from that first big heart break.  She took me on special lunch & shopping dates... sometimes even sneaking me out of school to do so.  She drove our morning carpool for school and many of my sports teams; even stopping at Wendy's for the occasional Frosty after practice.  She coached my soccer & volleyball teams in grade school and was always my biggest fan!  Her life was very hectic with the three of us, but she always had a healthy home cooked dinner for our family to enjoy together every night. She is one of the busiest women I know, and she did it all for her family!  She is such an inspiration!

She did all these things for us "back in the day" before the age of cell phones, the internet, and digital cameras. Her ideas were unique... long before Pinterest. She didn't think to share anything with the world... like posting her greatest parenting moments on Instagram. She just did it all just for us! I often think of this when I share Liam and my special moments online with family and friends. I am grateful for that technology helps me "share the love", but I know from my mom that it is the memories that are most special for Liam, Conor, and I.

My mom was so amazing in my eyes, that I grew up always eager to be a mom myself.  That has been something that I have always longed for, and now here I am with the cutest little boy making my heart so happy every day.  Being a mom is not only the best thing but it is every thing to me.  It has permeated every part of my being.  I never knew how much I was capable of loving until Liam was in my life.  It truly does feel like my heart is outside of my body just crawling around and smiling at me.  Becoming a mom is like being welcomed into the best club there is!  You're not in it, 'til you're in it!  Liam makes me want to be a better mom, wife, friend.... a better person, every day.  I now see the world through such different eyes.  I watch the news and many of the sad stories going on in our world and think to myself, "that could be my child".  I am so thankful to have been blessed with Liam.  My life feels so complete...that is, until we decide that Liam's status needs to be upgraded to big brother! :-)  But for right now, I am soaking up all the days with Liam that I can give him all of my attention.  I have so many things I can't wait to share with him, and fun surprises to make an ordinary day just a little more exciting.

Thanks Mom, you have shown me love in so many ways, and I am just getting started sharing them to my little Liam!

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's out there, this and every day!

Liam's Baptism

Last weekend, we finally baptized Liam!  This is something I had been wanting to do for awhile, but with the holidays and then our move, it kept getting postponed!  We wanted Liam's baptism to be a small event, so I didn't go into full party planning mode; I'm saving that for his birthday! :-)  We opted for a private ceremony on Saturday morning, which was perfect!  I liked the intimacy of the private ceremony much better than having it done during a mass with tons of strangers watching and wondering how long it was going to take...  Not that I ever do that!... :0)

The baptismal gown that I was baptized in was also worn by my father, my Grandma, and maybe even my Great Grandma!  I was excited for Liam to wear it as well, but it took a little convincing to get Conor on board.  I just love the tradition behind it all.  The gown barely fit him (we couldn't button the back), but hopefully nobody noticed!

Liam's Godparents are Christina Scribner (my childhood friend and my go-to for mommy advice) and Paul Tinker (husband of my high school friend Gretchen and a really good friend of Conor's)!  We decided to choose non-family members; nothing against his awesome Aunts and Uncles! We just wanted to share the love and bring even more people into Liam's life!

I thought Liam would be quiet for most of the ceremony since there were so many faces to look at (sometimes he gets a little shy at first), but he was quite the opposite!  He babbled almost the entire time, which made focusing on what the Deacon was saying a little rough.  It was especially funny when we were all trying to have a moment of silence!  He was also super squirmy because I'm pretty sure he wanted to be splashing in the water in the baptismal font!  And in between all the babbling and the squirming, he was trying to nurse...  My busy boy!

The lighting in the Church wasn't great, so the pictures turned 

out a little interesting... But at least we took a bunch!

Right after the baptism, we went to my parents lake cabin to celebrate! The afternoon was filled with food, drinks, family, friends, & a few rounds of darts in the man cave. I had really been hoping for warm weather, so we could take the party boat out for a booze cruise; unfortunately, it was super windy and quite cold. Half the group went into the town of Spirit Lake for a pub crawl, while the little ones and a few others stayed back. Liam & his cousin Hadley got in some good playtime! I loved having them together & watching them interact! Hadley kept giving Liam lots & lots of kisses which he was okay with at first.... and then all of sudden burst into tears, oh my! Some of the cutest stuff I've seen! Here's a precious video of the two of them... ignore all the banter in the background, we were all pretty into watching them:

While some partied late into the evening, I hit the sheets with Liam somewhat early!  And those that stayed up late paid for it in the morning.  I was obviously feeling great (can't drink much when you're nursing a baby), so I enjoyed our tasty brunch of Conor's Quiche Lorraine Quiche Liam (my current obsession), maple bars (who knew Miller's Foods in Spirit Lake, Idaho makes the 2nd best maple bars ever?!  Doughnut Parade in Spokane makes the best!), & Ramos gin fizzes!  I loved having everyone together, which made flying back to Utah that afternoon tough.  Can't wait for our next visit back to WA and MT, which we are planning as we speak!

"No Panda in bed!"

9 Months Old

9 Months Old

Height: 29.92 inches (93 %)

Weight: 19 lbs 11 oz (35%)

Head:  17.9 inches (57%)

Clothes:  I have been having way too much fun shopping for Liam lately!  Bring on the summer clothes!  He's still in the 12-18 months size and probably will be for awhile.

 

Eating:  Still a nursing champion!  I really can't believe how much milk this little boy eats in a day!  We're still introducing new foods to him all the time, and he'll try most things.  However, he still likes to play & squish his food and drop it off his high chair.  This month's favorites are blueberries & cherry tomatoes; he likes to suck all the juices out and sometimes eats the skins.  Silly boy.

Sleeping:  I would love to say we've made lots of progress in this department...but we haven't.  There have been some ever so slight improvements (he'll sleep slightly longer stretches without me) since he started crawling, but nothing significant.  We are still trying to power through this stage.  It will get better... it will...

Diapering:  We still love cloth & finally found a night time solution for my heavy wetting, belly sleeper!  Again, I still plan on doing an updated post on this.  But for now, at night we're using a S'bish Organic Bamboo Fitted with a hemp doubler all in a Rumparooz cover!  You should see the size of his butt once he's ready for bed! :-)

Adventures:  Lots of adventures & visitors this month!  Conor's parents & youngest brother came to visit us for a long weekend!  It was a treat to have them here.   The weather was amazing during their visit, so we went to Zion National Park & Bryce Canyon for a day!

We also had a visit from Conor's other brother, Kyle!  He came with us for Liam's 1st trip to the zoo, which he loved!  Salt Lake City's zoo obviously doesn't compare to San Diego, Portland, or Seattle's...but it still had a lot to offer.  We bought a pass so that I can take Liam whenever I want!  I see this becoming a weekly activity when the weather is nice.  Liam's favorite animal was probably the sea lions.  We sat right next to the glass, and he went nuts whenever the sea lions would swim by.  My favorite part: we saw a baby elephant nursing...too cute!

Playtime:  Now that Liam is on the go, any object within reach has "play" potential!  I give him different kitchen gadgets while I'm trying to cook dinner or this fun little toy idea from Pinterest.  However, books are still his number one go-to activity.  I keep them in a soft bin that he likes to empty on a regular basis.  Sometimes he looks through books by himself or just turns them over in his hands, but other times it's all about reading!  The other day he dragged a rather heavy copy of "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" over to me while I was folding laundry.  Love my little book worm!  Lately Costco has been carrying some awesome books, so I just keep on buying them...  We have quite the collection!  Our new favorite: LMNO Peas!  It's a fun read; keep your eye out for the lady bug hiding on each page!

Likes:  Hanging upside down.  Little L likes to "pop off" during nursing sessions and hang his head upside down frequently.  He thinks this is sooo funny!  We also "pretend" we are going to drop to the floor when we are holding him, and this really gets him squealing too!  Smacking his lips.  This is just hilarious!  Throughout the day he starts smacking his lips and then smiles at us.  "Lip smackin' good" has become a frequent phrase in our house.  He loves do anything for us that warrants a fun reaction.  Dropping things off the high chair.  This one NEVER gets old!  He takes whatever is in reach and sticks his arm way off his high chair, and then ever so gently watches it fall.  He likes to see what things roll, what makes a sound, etc.  Always a curious boy.  Luckily he doesn't do this with food too often....for now...  Ripping things apart.  My strong boy is always using his muscles!  Paper is his most favorite item to rip into lots of pieces, but he'll try his hand at anything including cardboard, clothes, books.  However, we have to keep a close eye on him, because too quickly those pieces of paper will end up in his mouth!  Paper is just too "lip smackin' good!"

Milestones:  Crawling!!!  He has entered a whole new world or exploring every corner of our house.  He likes to crawl under the kitchen table, but then frequently finds himself "stuck" under a chair.  Here's a cute video of him in action if you missed it!  He loves climbing all over us and "wrestling".  He is all boy and busy busy busy!  He's also pulling up on everything, but isn't quite cruising yet.  Liam also tries to stand up on his own in the middle of the room which results in a bear crawl until he gives up.  I'm interested to see if walking is in our near future... He definitely has some balance issues he still needs to work out before then!  He's also starting to give kisses, which is just the best!  He'll do it on command about half the time we ask.  I'm talking full-on, open-mouth, slobbering mess
kisses!

I absolutely love the stage he is at right now!  Sometimes, I feel as though I'm always waiting for the next step or next milestone, but right now I am so content!  I just want him to stay this way forever.  His 1st birthday is still 3 months away, but I am already getting sad that my little boy is growing up!  Please slow down Liam, I am trying to treasure every little moment with you!  You won't be sleeping on my chest forever...   I remember saying this MONTHS ago... And guess what, he's still sleeping on my chest!  I love it though, I know it won't last forever and I'll be wanting these days back!

Liam's Nursery Redo

When moved to Salt Lake City, I decided I wanted to redo Liam's nursery.  I loved what we did for him in Seattle, and it flowed with our house there perfectly; however, our new house was a completely different style, so I wanted to make a few changes (but of course keep the stripes).  Our new house is much bigger (about 1,000 square feet), so there's much more space for Liam.  Here, he pretty much has the entire top floor as his domain!  Upstairs is his bedroom, playroom, bathroom, & loft space (soon-to-be taken over by a teepee).  It's all a work in progress, but his nursery is finally maybe finished. :-)

Since he has a separate playroom now, I wanted the nursery to be a calm & cozy space that is just for sleeping and relaxing...  Pretty funny considering the fact that he barely sleeps in there right now!  Nonetheless, it's ready for him at some point!  I chose the smallest bedroom for his nursery because of the walk-in closet (hell ya!) and that way his playroom (where we spend most of our time) would be bigger.

Although I absolutely love it, his room will always be a work in progress for me!  We currently still use the changing table, but he is growing much too fast and will quickly outgrow it!  Then I'll be able to add some fun new things on top of his dresser.  I always keep my eye out for things that might make any of his spaces just a little more fun!  So... here is his warm & simple nursery:

 

I Didn't Just Pin It, I Did It!

Wipe Container into The Best Toy

Liam is getting busier by the day, so I'm always trying to find new fun things for us to do!  I also like having different items around that will keep him occupied while I can try to cook or clean (difficult tasks with a crawling 8 month old).  I saw this on Pinterest awhile back and made my own version a couple months ago.

All you need is a colorful wipes container, fabric, & pinking sheers.  I made a quick trip to JoAnn Fabric where I found some different colored fabrics already packaged together and on sale, perfect!  This saved me the time of having to draw a number and wait in line behind 5 or 6 ladies that were getting entire cart fulls of items cut!  JoAnn's has pinking sheers too, so this was a one stop project.

I made mine as simple as possible.  I didn't put any appliques on my fabric squares, because I most definitely don't have time for that right now.  Maybe when Liam starts taking long naps by himself, I'll spruce these up a bit.  I didn't even do much measuring when I cut the fabric; I simply cut squares roughly the size of baby wipes and considered my project done.  I have about 20 fabric squares in my wipe container and it seems to be the perfect amount.  Make sure to use pinking sheers because this prevents the fabric from fraying.  You don't need to sew the edges either..because again, who has the time?

I made this toy for Liam when he was about 6 months old, and he was completely uninterested.  So it sat on the shelf for awhile, and then I recently pulled it out again.  He LOVES it!  Goes absolutely nuts for it.  He really enjoys pulling them out and playing putting the fabric squares on his head or trying to rip them apart.  At first, I was perfectly folding the squares so a new one would pop up each time, but this was a huge waste of time.  Now, I just stuff them all in there and let Liam get after it.  Sometimes I have to pull a little bit of the fabric out to encourage him, but I know he'll be shoving his hand all the way inside in no time.  Because of this, make sure your wipes opening has soft edges!  I highly recommend making one of these for all your babes.  It is so easy & cheap and provides hours of entertainment!

Just look at how much fun Liam is having destroying these fabric squares:

 

 

We Have A Crawler!

Last Friday, Liam officially started crawling!  He's developed his own style (one knee and one foot), so it's half of a bear crawl.  Occasionally he uses both knees if he's not concerned about speed, but apparently this is the best way!  He went from just scooting around a room to doing laps around the island in the kitchen in a matter of days.  I am absolutely loving this new stage!  I can spend hours just chasing him around as he squeals with delight.  Having him be able to follow me from room to room is about the cutest thing ever.  He never likes to be too far from Mommy but has gained a lot of independence as well!

Now, he can choose what he wants to play with instead of me guessing what he may be interested in.  I have his playroom set up so that he has access to everything because it's at his level.  I'm slowly starting to adopt some Montessori ideas into our home and especially his playroom.  (More on this later)  His personality is showing much more as I watch him pull things off the shelves or out of bins and start his own imaginative play.  He also picks out what books he wants me to read with him (unless I have hidden one that we've read a few too many times)!  I recently had to put all our paper books away, because he was just to rough with them.  Liam is all about turning the pages, so he would destroy the paper if given the opportunity.  What can I say, the kid loves his books!

Charlie (our cat) better watch out, 'cause Liam is always after him!  Luckily, Charlie seems to really enjoy Liam and lets him be pretty rough.  We continue to practice "gentle" petting, but that is a work in progress.  I'm beginning to wonder if he thinks the cat's name is Gentle!  We shall see...

As fun as this new stage is, it has already come with its fair share of bumps and bruises.  Liam has absolutely no fear when it comes to moving around and pulling up on everything and anything.  I constantly have my eye on him, but sometimes he still manages to hurt himself.  It breaks my little heart when he starts crying because something hurts.  Nothing a quick nursing session can't fix though! ;-)  The other night, he cut his upper lip and gum on the Zany Zoo (first time there's been blood) and I had a slight freak out!  I thought we were going to be making our 1st trip to the ER for some stitches, but luckily we wiped away the blood and realized he was going to be okay.  Phew!  Being a mom is emotionally tough sometimes!

Enjoy this quick video of Liam on the go!  He's been helping Dad practice his putting: