Watkins

Just a quick note: I'm a Watkins associate now! I've got my own website and everything. Anyway, I've decided to blog about the products as I use them so that everyone can hear about it and maybe even entertained by the process. ; )

Keep an eye out since we should be getting the big "Watkinize Your Home" package next week and I'll start when we use the first product. Woo hoo!

http://www.watkinsonline.com/dhamm/
Check out my all official-like website!

Dede

It's officially official.

Liam is walking! He started taking a few steps at a time a few weeks ago, but now he's walking across the living room. In fact, just today he was standing in the middle of Steve's office, bent down to pick up his bottle and stood right back up. Look ma, no hands!

So we are off the Toys 'R Us or Home Depot next week to finish babyproofing the house. He's already spilled half a can of soda, terrorized the cat and tried to push over the end tables. Needless to say, we need to strategize. Or as a former president said, use strategery. I guess we'll be strategerizing? ; )

Our big boy just keeps getting bigger. And the picture at the beginning is of Liam, Max and I yesterday. The utlimate in multi-tasking: I was letting Liam nap, the cat nap, reviewing the text for my class and checking emails during this picture. In fact, I used the webcam on the computer to take the picture since I was totally stuck. But it really was a lap full of cuteness. These are the days...

Dede

We made it to 10 months!

Here I am late again! Shocker. sshhhh...want to know why? Because I'm so busy enjoying him that it's hard to stop to take pictures and write about it. ; ) Honestly, that's our problem. So while he's peacefully sleeping (pretty much the only time he's truly quiet now), thought I'd post some info and pictures.

Liam is still doing great and just about the best baby ever. He had one day last week where he was cranky for absolutely no reason and could NOT be consoled. Seeing as it was only the second time in his entire life (and the first time was at six weeks), I think we're doing okay.

He's taking three or four steps at a time now, standing without weaving most of the time, and cruising the furniture non-stop. The cutest thing is we'll walk slowly behind him and tell him we're "going to get you" and he'll run along the furniture squealing. Then he'll collapse right before we get to him and just giggle and wait for us to tickle him. How cute!

We've given up on being so picky about introducing foods every 4 days to check for reactions. We are feeding him from our plates a lot of the time, but being careful about some stuff. He still loves his fruit and now we can pasta and yogurt to his list of loves. Yogurt especially - he'll "mmmmm" in between bites. His new favorite, I think.

Also in the news - Steve turned 35 on Monday and I'll do the same on 10/4. Kind of a big one but not at the same time. So my fabulous husband is 35 and I get to make fun of him for being older than me in age for 12 more days! Then it won't be funny anymore.

Anywho, gonna go check on Boo and see how he's sleeping. Pretty sure he's trying to get molars since he keeps sticking his fingers all the way to the back of his mouth to chew on them. Whee.

Dede

Liam's 9 month post...way late

Well, we're late yet again. Our little boy is getting bigger every day and discovering things and moving on to new ones before we can capture it on film. Keeping up with him is getting fun! ; )

He had his 9 month check up and all is well. He was at 1/2 an ounce shy of 21 pounds and 27 1/2 inches long. So he's right in the middle on the scale for weight, but a little on the short side. With Dad's genes, though, we don't think he'll stay on the short side for long.

He's into "big boy" food now since he has eight teeth. His favorites are peaches, cheerios and scones. (He had scones today and loved them.) He's not sure about chicken yet, but we're going to try it again soon. We've also tried cheese in very small amounts and he's a big fan. He gets excited to eat from our plates now instead of just pureed everything. With that many teeth, he should be eating steak!

The new thing is Mr. Comedian squints at you to make you laugh. Too cute. He also loves an audience and coughs or makes a noise to get attention. His new noise is TV static or hissing. What a hoot.

All in all, he's still a riot to be around and sleeping like a champ finally. We're very fortunate and thankful everyday for him and everything we have. Hope to write again soon. Maybe more timely next time...

Dede

Liam is 8 months!

Our little boy is eight months old and as you can see, very mobile. I have actually already starting having pangs and flash-forwards to the days when he doesn't want us around and get teary eyed. He still really wants to be with us and I know I need to store up these days to take back out when he pushes us away.

He is an absolute hoot! He's saying "mum", which is an improvement on "mmmmm" when he wants me. He has six big old teeth and one almost through and another on the way that we can see. We go in for a check up at nine months and can't wait to see how big our "hoss" really is.

We also started doing Gymboree once a week about a month ago and it's a blast. It's like a little gym and preschool for infants. His teacher is great about getting everyone to interact with each other and challenge the babies to try new things. The first day he was good for about the first 15 minutes and then he got overwhelmed and just wanted to hug Mom. Now he's enjoying playing with the other kids. One little girl screams happily almost the entire time which is hysterical. During the second class, Liam talked over the teacher during what is supposed to be "grown up" discussion. Too cute!

We're enjoying every minute (okay, not every minute) and looking forward to him being able to communicate with us. I say it every day and know I'll regret it soon, but I can't wait for him to talk!

We'll let you know how the check up goes...

Dede

Really late 7 month post

Sorry it's so late! We've spent the month of June trying to get Liam into a routine and sleeping in his crib, which doesn't allow much time for blogging. ; ) He is still sleeping only 2-3 hours at a stretch and eating every time he wakes. I'm pretty sure he has his father's metabolism and isn't just wanting to eat, he NEEDS to eat that often. Anyway, we're slugging along trying to help him figure out how to get himself back to sleep but not much luck so far. What I would do for about a six hour stretch of sleep...

Other than sleep challenges, he's great. He has six teeth as of today and is working on two more. He seems so young to have that many already, but who am I to say he can't have them. They just keep coming! He also made a new friend: Beasley the stuffed bee. He picked him out at the state park gift shop and he's the cutest. I'll add a pic of him to the slideshow!

Food loves: sweet potatoes, apples, pears, bananas, avocados

Food dislikes: squash, mangos

Apricots are still TBD as we just introduced those last night

We just got back from a trip to New Orleans but I'll write about that on the 8 month post (um, yeah, that's Sunday)!

Dede