Fearlessly learning to do new things

Liam has learned to do a few new things in the last week that i wanted to write down before i forgot.

Last week he started stepping to stand up instead of just pulling himself up. This means he is now able to stand on objects that he doesn’t have a full grip on, such as my leg.

 

He also learned to go from holding onto the storage cube, turn and hold onto the play yard with the other hand and then turn and walk to it. This morning he cruised around the whole inside of his pack and play holding on.

The picture below just cracks me up because he just looks like a mini Alex with his build and outfit…..like father like son!

Last night Alex and I were putting clothes away and filled a bin up with all the hangers. Liam has a blast standing holding onto the bin and emptying all the hangers out one by one. He also repeatedly tried to stand on his own last night. The longest he was able to do it was about 5 seconds and then he plopped on his butt, which i was very proud oh him for doing. We have been practicing falling and sitting for about a week now because he is having trouble figuring how to get down from standing. He usually bends over far enough that his one hand will touch the ground and he will let go or he will kneel back down and turn to crawl away.

In the last week or so I have been giving Liam more of what we are having for dinner to try, just a little so he get used to eating more and more table food. After the initial gag on the difference in texture he has liked everything he has tried.

He has also started to become super vocal and it constantly babbling, yelling, or singing. Yes, signing. We will be those parents on American Idol in  15 years talking about how he used to sing to us since he was only eight months old. **he really was singing in this picture**

Here is a video of completely random things he has done within the last few weeks.

Liam’s Twin

This is Liam’s friend Case who we met in our play group. They were born only eight days apart. As you may remember last week Liam and Case went to the zoo together and looked like twins in the backseat of the car with their matching Alfalfa hair do’s. Yesterday at Baby Jam they had matching outfits on and we just could not help an impromptu photo session.    

I think they are just the cutest thing!

Just Pictures

We went for a walk last night and took some really cute pictures of the little man.

Liam rocking the aviators.  

 

The boys at the pond.

Having a seriously good time on the swings. He wanted to lean forward and fly like superman.

Just posing.

To play with grass you have to stick your tongue out.

Crazy hair…hmmm or more like crazy peach fuzz.

Mama and Liam

Happy Adoptaversary to Little Miss

Five years ago today we adopted Little Miss Kinsey.

She was a teeny tiny 6 weeks old fluff ball

who loved to snuggle and lay in sock drawers.

She is now a full grown fluff ball

who still loves to sleep in drawers, on top of boxes, or on her back in the sun. 

Happy 4th of July

Happy 4th of July from Indianapolis.

My brother is visiting us for the weekend and we celebrated the 4th tonight with an awesome rib dinner. Liam got to try ribs for the first time and loved them!

While i cleaned up..

the boys wrestled.

 

and did lots of playing.

 

The big boys played with trains while Liam explored.

Liam and I finally got a picture together right before he went to bed.

For dessert we had awesome sugar cookies with red, white and blue icing and are currently watching Zach Galifianakis’s stand up and laughing so hard i am hoping it is not us waking Liam up instead of the fireworks.

Friday Night Randomness

Our DVR is bursting at the seams tonight because all week Alex and I have been hooked on a different form of entertainment. We love listening to audio books together at night and this week we finished up Catching Fire, the second book the The Hunger Games series. It was awesome! So now the book is over and we are back to the tv and internet for the rest of the night so i thought i would to a hodgepodge post of a lot of random things.

I saw this today and laughed so hard.

 

On Thursday Liam and I went to the zoo with two of his friends from our play group. The weather was perfect, in the upper 70’s, and we went later in the day. Most of the animals were awake and about, which you don’t see very often.

The cheetahs are a new exhibit at the Indianapolis Zoo. The last time we were there they were all napping and you could barely see them but on Thursday there were two just walking circles right next to the glass. I am fairly certain my two house cats would out weigh this thing, it was so skinny!

This afternoon Liam was having lunch and we didn’t have any bibs downstairs so i used one of Alex’s shirts instead. Liam was really excited.

 

This morning i cried for Liam. I cried because of a fear i have of him feeling pain in his future the way i sometimes do. I get migraines. They are few and far between but when they come they are terrible. On Thursday evening i knew it was coming. I started getting achy and not feeling so well and at 5am i woke up from a dream about having one only to realize my dream was reality. I went downstairs to warm up my “hot thing”, which i would not have survived the last 10 years of my life without, and take some Excedrin (on an empty stomach that was already nauseated from the pain…..great combination). I had almost fallen back to sleep when Liam woke up. I had to wake Alex up (which i have only done on a weekday one before in the eight months Liam has been with us) because it was hard for me to lay in bed and not get sick, my energy was only focused on keeping the pain medicine down. So he brought Liam back into the room and proceeded to let him scream at the top of his lungs until i got up with him (after 10 minutes of me grabbing my head so tightly to block out the screaming which has intensified the pain ten folds)….(thanks Hubs) oh and then he went back to sleep. So i took Liam downstairs, fed him with all the “Mama strength” i could muster up and laid down with him on the couch. Surprisingly he did rest for a few minutes which is when my thoughts drifted and i cried. I cried for the thought of him having to ever feel pain like that in his life. I can remember so vividly being a child, a young child, wanting to cry but knowing it would only make the pain worse, needed to be sick but know that my mom wouldn’t let me take more pain killers even though i had just seen them again. It was awful and it scares me to think he could one day feel it.

So we ended up sticking to the cry it out method **thank you so much to all the ladies who gave me words of encouragement** to help Liam sleep better and I am so happy to report that he has slept straight through the last two nights, something we have not seen since he was four months old. Now that being said, knowing Liam, he is bound to sleep terrible tonight just to prove me wrong…let’s hope not. He definitely still woke up a few times during the night (he is very loud so i was able to wake up and watch him on the monitor) but was able to put himself back to sleep. He gets himself into some of the strangest positions. Right now he is laying on my belly with one arm bent the other straight behind him and his tush in the air.

Show Us Your Life – Show Us What You Make

::Post updated 11/4/2010::

I few months ago I took the plunge into opening an etsy shop. While I think etsy is a wonderful thing I have had a hard time finding my nitch because I find so much joy in custom making items to match exactly what a customer is looking for.

I have had the pleasure of creating so many wonderful items for friends and friends of friends (click of links to read what others are saying about Aspire to Be) and today would like for every one of you reading this to be one of those friends and feel free to contact me  so that we can work together to create the perfect item for you or gift for someone else. I love making items to match nursery themes and customizing items with children's names.

Here are some examples of items I have made.

Burp Cloths

Baby Shower Sets. This small travel blanket is by far my favorite thing that I have made for Liam and for others. We use it all.the.time!! There is a strap that makes the blanket easily secures to strollers or shopping cards or can be used to attach a toy or pacifier.

 

Hand embroidered bunny lovies!

   

Crayon Rolls

Velcro baby and toddler belt! A life saver for those with tall skinny babies!

 

The universal pacifier/toy tie which works with every kind of pacifier!! Yay for all those Soothie Mama’s and Babies!

 

Custom birthday and holiday shirts

Birthday and holiday cupcake toppers…I would love the opportunity to make some of these for a themed party!

 

 

Thank you all for taking the time to look at the stuff i have enjoyed so much creating.

Please feel free to email me at shopaspiretobe.gmail.com