Happenings

Liam is 6 mos! Half a year, I can't even believe it. He's crawling all over and getting faster every day. Stands up in his crib. Everything goes into his hand and promptly to his mouth. No teeth yet, although he drools quite a bit. He likes being tickled and we love his little laugh. He's also starting to notice when we leave the room. He LOVES Ani, have I mentioned this? His face just lights up when he sees her. She plays very well with him too.

Ani had her 1st friend over to the house (w/out friend's parents present). It was a success! Clara and Ani got along great and had a lot of fun. They are two peas in a pod - they know each other well from preschool. Tears only popped up when Clara had to go home that afternoon.

Monte volunteered at the Urban Assault Ride this year. I stopped by with the kids to hang out for a bit. This picture was taken T-minus 3 hours before unfortunate bicycle mishap which led to an ER visit. Separated shoulder, lots of pain. Angriest about possibly not being able to race cyclo-cross this season. Bummer all around.

Laughter

This may be my favorite video of our two nuggets so far. Love their laughs.

Kiddos

Liam is 5-1/2 months old. Sits up by himself now. Eats everything in sight. Drinks water from a cup. Loves bath time. Is completely enamored with his entertaining sister. Things seem to be moving so much quicker with the second one! :(

I took Ani to Valleyfair today for a little "mommy and me" time. We both had a lot of fun. She was scared of the people dressed up as Peanuts characters, like Snoopy, but did take her picture with the Snoopy statue. She said her favorite ride was the Spider (although when we were on it, she was telling me she wanted off the ride).

4 Months

4 month stats for our lima bean Liam Dean:

• 13 lbs. 15 oz. (has nearly doubled birth weight).
• Ate rice cereal for the 1st time last night - was very interested in it and tried grabbing the spoon from my hand to feed himself.
• Smiling, cooing, and belly laughing quite often.
• Rolls over from tummy to back.
• Loves to stand on our laps w/ assistance.

Enjoying a day a Lake Harriet beach

Photos

We so loved our photo session gift we got for Ani from Tim & Eric when she was 8 weeks old that we went back to Eldridge, IA to Mark's Place to get more taken for Liam. Ended up getting a few of all of us, plus some of the kiddos together. These are scanned in from a computer print out so obviously not the best quality, but it's all I have so far because we have not placed our actual print order yet.

First Haircut & Tummy Time

Ani got her first haircut from Katie last night - friend and hair stylist I've been going to for 11 years! We saved a lock of her hair too.

And Liam has been enjoying lots of tummy time lately - working those neck muscles!

Liam Dean

Liam's 2-mo well child checkup was Friday - 2 good things came out of it -- 1) we are still blessed w/ a very healthy young boy, and 2) YAY! no more co-pays for well checkups. The not-so-good things were minor in the scheme of it all -- doctor was 30 mins late (even though we had to have had one of his 1st appointments of the morning at 8:45 am) so by the time he rolled in, my happy little baby had turned into a screaming, sobbing mess.

He was almost calmed down, aka, had basically cried himself to sleep, when the nurse came in for his shot. (Yes, shot as in singular - at 2 mos old, they recommend getting 5 different vaccinations for 8 different diseases. I cannot be convinced of the safety in that!) So as I laid him down on the table so she could give him the shot in his thigh, he looked up at me with these sad, sad eyes like "what now, mommy?" Then we both started to cry. The nurse looked at me and said "Happy Mother's Day!"

So aside from a not-so-enjoyable doctor visit, Liam is doing great! He has started smiling and cooing a lot in the past week. He has been sleeping for a few hours in his crib at night, but then when he wakes up to feed, I am just plain too lazy to get up to put him back in the crib, so he ends up sleeping the 2nd half of the night in our bed.

Siblings

1 Month Old Nugget

1 month old! Many changes throughout the last 4 weeks - fillin' out and gettin' chunky!

1 month

2 weeks

1 week

Brother & Sister

Welcome Slideshow

Slideshow of Liam

Taken at the hospital.

Baby Boy

We have been so blessed to welcome a little boy to our family! Liam Dean was born 3/2/11 at 8:58 pm weighing in at 7 lbs 10 oz and 20.5" long. He is a mellow little guy and so darn cute.