Merry Christmas, from Santa & Laim

Liam met Santa for the second time. Last year he was only a day or two old and happily met Santa at the hospital where we were recovering.  This year was a different story. The typical mall Santa set up, hustling (and frankly, not that nice) elves, a little line with kids all dressed up and then the shocked little face upon seeing this white bearded man that quickly turned into a wail that likely scared all the kids behind us away.

Don't worry, he recovered 2 seconds after I picked him up.  And really, this picture is pretty sweet. Bless his heart.

Merry Christmas!

Liam's Got a Move

Liam has been mastering his "move" lately.

This is his very dramatic, I'm-not-completely-enjoying-myself "move." 

Or I hate that you are making me sit here to take photos.

Or that every time I crawl away, you put me back here.

In other words, this is how he throws a fit.

And it's kinda cute.

Ten Months

Our little baby is all grown up and a full fledged toddler these days. He added 4 new teeth this last month, all on top - joining his 2, now much taller ones on the bottom. These 4 teeth really gave him some problems. I felt like he was trying really hard to be happy, but the slightest thing just knocked his spirits down. You could tell he was so uncomfortable, and nights were the WORST. Nothing could distract him from the teething pains then... So, we depended on baby Tylenol and Ibuprofen (as approved by our doctor).  There was pretty much 2 weeks of sleep deprivation in there for us all.

Then, once we were getting through teething a bad cold came!  A sad cough that would wake him up, gunk in his throat and running into his tummy to make eating hard.  Just when we thought we were through a rough patch, this cold came and robbed him of more sleep and made getting over this current bout of teething that much harder! Dang. 

Through it all, lack of sleep and not great eats, we had some good times, too. Not feeling good brings more cuddles... he likes to be held when sleepy, and while that's hard for me in the middle of the night, I try to cherish it, because these days he is on the go with no time for hugs!

Pumpkin Patch

Before Halloween, Liam picked us out some pumpkins at Johnson Farms Pumpkin Patch. He went for the biggest ones, of course.  It was a cold day, so we couldn't stay outside too long, but he had fun walking around all the pumpkins. I can't wait to see how he loves the other activities this farm has to offer when he's a little older... a maze, hayride, play areas, etc!

Mimi and Papa got to come along, too!

Back at it, for a new reason...

A confession & a new purpose: I was feeling unmotivated and uninspired by this space. Not really sure what I really wanted to do with Chasing Babies. So here it's sat, pretty boring.  Then I was having lunch with the amazingly talented Heather of Hocus Focus and she was telling me about her blog for her sweet girls. Then it hit me. Duh.

That empty scrapbook I keep telling myself I'll get to one of these days for my little guy is just gathering dust... Oh, don't get me wrong. I want to remember EVERY SECOND of Liam's life, but I'm not a scrapbooker.  I can think of a million things I'd rather DIY than cut away at paper and paste things into a book Especially these days, when all my photos are digital and there are great photo books you can make.... And thanks to my Mom's One Line A Day book, I have been jotting down all those little Liam moments.

So my new goal is to put all those moments into a pretty visual with a little more of a story around them and then about once a year, blurb it up into a book (a digitally done for me, hard bound, Liam's own kinda book). This is my scrapbook for Liam where I'll share his milestones, sweet (and hard) moments, things we're loving and things we're doing.

See? Liam doesn't care about paper either. Digital all the way. So hang it there why I have some backtracking catching up to do.

Thanks Heather for the inspiration!

Nine Months

This is pretty much the face of foreshadowing... teething is not fun. This particular month, it was ok. Liam just loved to put everything he could in his mouth.

 (band-aid from his 9 month check up with flu shot)

He's turning into a very active little guy and we like to keep him entertained!  We hit up our first KU Football game, tailgate and all. Liam did great!  We made it through the first quarter and then went out to the tailgate to play with all the other kids. 

Mr. vocal over here has found his voice. Loving the "babababab" in all kinds of tones. He just babbles to himself. If I imitate him, he laughs and makes another noise, then I'll imitate him again, and we go back and forth for a bit. This is especially fun while at Target or the Grocery Store.

He's also just getting stronger and stronger: falling gracefully, crawling very fast and pulling up onto everything to stand.  Definitely a mover on our hands.

His 9 month check up stats: 23 lbs 12 oz (80%) / 30 inches (90%)

8 Months

With thicker thighs and a constant smile, the last month was a good one!  Liam was healthy and happy.  He's doing a lot of rocking back and forth on all fours, getting really close to crawling!

He loves to be outside, watch the dog, play with any toy that makes noise and lights up and chewing on everything.

Liam tries to eat the eight! 

Eight months already, baby blues?

The first 6 months

I've been avoiding this blog and specifically, this post.  It's a little gut wrenching to see my baby boy growing so fast.  Don't get me wrong, it's amazing watching him grow and discover new things, but each day he looks a little older and gets a little stronger and I realize how fast life is going.

For instance...

 Seriously... how did these first 6 months go so fast, and how can he change and grow that much in such a short amount of time? It's mind boggling!  Not to mention... we're really almost at 8 months!

Visit me and my mothership blog - Chasing Davies

Seven Months

This last month was a big one for us... and rough.

We went on our first Clifford family vacation with little Liam, and he got to experience the beach! That was a great time, but he also had croup right before the trip and then some sort of weird virus that looked like chicken pox when he got back.

From 6 to 7 months, Liam spent probably 3 weeks sick. He was so uncomfortable, couldn't sleep, couldn't go to daycare a few days and had a hard time breathing.  Thankfully my mom was home with him one of the days his croup really spiked up and he got to the doctor for some meds.

Liam really worked on his sitting this past month becoming very good ad it!  He doesn't like to lay down for long, doing sit ups almost every time. He likes to sit up in bed sometimes too and forgets that it's night time. I heard that whenever a baby learns a new trick, it can distract from bedtime as they perform it in bed.  Once he gets use to his new trick, he settles back down.

Happy 7 months, baby love.

Clifford Family Vacation

2012 Clifford family vacation took place down at the Gulf of Shores in Alabama, on Orange Beach over the week of the Fourth of July. Liam got to hit the beach for the first time and experience the sand, ocean and the best naps he's ever taken.

There is just something about sleeping to the real sound of the ocean (vs. his Sleep Sheep which we love every night inland) with the salty air to help clean out the remnants of crup. We were able to all enjoy our time on the beach thanks to this pop up tent we brought along. It protected L from the sun, heat and sand and allowed for long afternoon naps while we all took turns hitting the waves and laying our next to him. Since coming home, we've found numerous reasons to use that tent here, too. Definitely a good buy.

 We had so much fun with my great big family and time down south. We wish we could go back, if not for the beach for all that close time with family. It's so fun to have everyone in one place. We sure are a rowdy crew and boy do we have fun.

Liam with his Gramma & Papa 

 More from Liam's 1st Fourth of July here!

Until the next family vacation....