Liam -- Week 10

• He weighed 11 lbs. 3 oz. at his two-month check-up.
• He got his first shots, and subsequently ran his first fever.
• He tagged along for a girls' night out (dining out, painting pottery, and Baskin Robbins).
• He survived a shopping trip with Mommy and Ashley.
• He got to see Nana and Pa, along with several other relatives.
• He found his thumb. Now it's just a matter of getting those pesky other four digits under control.
• He visited Daddy's school. 

Such a serious baby.

Many people comment on Liam's almost constant "serious" expression.  I have to admit that he is a fairly serious little guy.  Except for the half-hour or so after feeding. 

I was thrilled that Liam went on a "smile-frenzy" while we were having lunch with my mom!  My sister handed me her camera, and I went to snapping.

My little guy has such a great smile.  He just melts my heart.  :)

Happy Friday Monday -- 10 Things

1. Jeggings. I never thought I'd wear them, but the salesperson at Maurice's convinced me to give them a shot.  They're fantastic!
2. Vintage twin-lens reflex cameras.  In two weeks, my collection has grown from one camera to six.  (Thank you, Ebay.)  Big, big Art Walk plans for these guys.
3. Walks in the park.  The weather and the boy finally cooperated on the same day, so we went for a two-mile walk on Thursday.
4. Sandra Boynton.  Her books are so cute and quirky.  We love reading them to Liam.  But Not the Hippopotamus is one of our favorites.
5. High-Contrast Books.  Another recent book discovery.  Black and white images that are easier for babies to see.  Liam seems interested in the pictures, so I guess it's working.
6. Oatmeal with cranberries and glazed walnuts.  It's like a liquefied cookie.  In a good way.
7. Angry Birds.  I tried to avoid getting into the Angry Birds fad, but alas, I could not resist.  It's just as addicting as I thought it would be.  Yay!
8. Liam's Easter Basket.  Technically, it's a bucket.  A really cute bucket.  I had so much fun shopping for said bucket's contents. 

9. Sunshine on Thursday?  Oh please, oh please, oh please let it be true!
10. This amazing video by the Dave Crowder Band.  Yes, a Lite Brite made me cry.  

Happy Easter, Liam!

Liam got to celebrate his first Easter today!  It was such a great day, despite the fact that his adorable outfit I originally had in mind was comically large.  So we settled on a cute overalls outfit that I picked up for $3 at a consignment shop.  The ivy hat (just like Daddy's) was a nice touch. 

I'm so afraid of the true meaning of Easter getting lost in all the other stuff -- the bunnies, eggs, baskets, and outfits.  During his bath, I made sure to tell him that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and that while Easter baskets and eggs are fun, they aren't what Easter is all about.

Church was great!  Liam was a sweet, sleeping baby through the entire service.  (This doesn't always happen.)  We had to step out of Sunday School class when he started crying.  Bummer, because I'm pretty sure I missed a great discussion.  Ashley invited us to Easter dinner at her parents' house.  We had a great time, and it meant a lot to us that they would welcome us into their their home. 

We came home, and finally gave Liam his Easter basket.  (I'm pretty sure this will be the only year I can delay the basket.)  We also took a few photos of him with his basket and/or awesome hat.

 I hope you all had a wonderful, blessed Easter!  Christ is risen! 

Liam - Week 9

• He turned 2 months old!
• We went to school with mommy.
• He brought on a chorus of "oohs" and "awwws" from the girls' softball team.
• He went on his first road trip (two hours to Papaw and Grandma's house).
• He met lots of mommy's family members (Sue, Charles, Brian, Katie, Jessie, and Lauren).
• Aunt Britt Britt bought him lots of new clothes. 
• He slept for six straight hours at night.
• He tried really hard to suck his thumb.  (As our Sunday School teacher put it, "The thumb is an elusive creature...who can tame it?") 

Liam - Week 8

• We made another trip to Applebee's, this time with Dan, Stacy, and their kiddos.  Again, very successful!
• Liam laughed...once in the middle of a crying fit.
• He went to the scrapbook store.
• He moved up to a size 1 diaper.
• He let mommy listen to Patrick's sermon on Sunday morning...the two Sundays prior to that he started crying as soon as the message began.  
• He got lots of time with Daddy, thanks to Daddy's Spring Break.

Liam photoshoot

I took a few pics (okay, a lot of pics) of Liam the other day, and just wanted to share a few of my favorites.

Happy Friday -- 10 Things

1. Getting through a long night with Liam.  (His 2-month vaccination appointment was Thursday.)
2. Cute little polo rompers.
3. A new blog banner...check it out!  Thank you for voting.
4. The round of applause I received when I visited my 1st period class this week.
5. My cousin getting through his kidney surgery.
6. Bizarre, unexpected things...like looking out the door to see a stray cat licking the porch railing.
7. Twin lens reflex cameras.  
8. My guys.  :)

9. 5 consecutive hours of sleep.
10. Raspberry muffins and coffee on a rainy day.

My new photography experiment.

Don't forget to vote for my new blog banner.  You have until noon on Friday to cast your vote.

I mentioned in my Summer Goals post that I wanted to experiment with some TTV photography.  I already have one twin-lens reflex camera (a Kodak Duaflex II) that I found in an antique store in Lexington over the summer.  Ideally, I like to happen upon these cameras...it's more fun that way.  But because the Art Walk is in June, the chances of me finding a variety of twin-lens reflex camera on my own is pretty slim.

Last night I bid on a few cameras, and won each auctions!  I will soon be the proud owner of an Anscoflex, an Argoflex seventy-five, and a Kodak Brownie Starflex.  The Anscoflex is already in the mail.  I'm still looking at a couple of other cameras.  I have this vision for my Art Walk display, and it involves several TLR cameras.

Ideally, I'd like to add a Tower Phantom, an Ansco Panda, a Golden Shield, and a Spartus Full-Vue to my collection.  My wishlist.  But since I now have four cameras for TTV, I can be patient and wait for the right price.

I'm hoping to have some great photos to share with you in the near future!

Blog Banner -- you choose

It occurred to me the other day that my blog banner is still stuck in winter.  I am so through with winter (at least for now...I'll be ready for it again come fall).  After playing around on Picnic over the last couple of days, I've narrowed it down to six options.  I'm going to leave the choosing part up to you, because I really like them all.  Just respond to the survey at the bottom of the page

Banner #1

Banner #2

Banner #3

Banner #4

Banner #5

Banner #6

Thumb-sucker...sort of.

My little guy has been working so hard to suck his thumb.  The coordination isn't there yet, but I don't think it will be long before he gets it. 

Summer goals

Check out Danielle's post from earlier today.  Even though we're just getting out of the cold temps around here, she inspired me to make a list of my own summer goals.

• Have a picnic lunch.  When we got married, Mom gave us this great picnic basket that I've never really used.  It's time to pack some sandwiches (and a bottle or two) and put it to good use.
• Go for a hike.  I didn't do much outdoors last summer, what with it being ridiculously hot and me being pregnant.  I intend to make up for that this summer.
• Have lots of firepit nights.  Mike is going to redo the firepit next weekend (a little expansion, plastic ground cover, and new gravel are in order).  It's one of my favorite parts of summer.
• Take lots of pictures.  Now is not the time to slack on photography.  In fact, I spent last night and this morning downloading actions to use on my photos.  I have some really great ones of Liam from yesterday that I'll post shortly.
• Scrapbook.  I'm so out of practice.  Time to get back into one of my favorite hobbies.
• Read.  So far The Hunger Games series, The Walking Dead vol. 14, Radical Together, and The History of Love are at the top of my list.
• Buy a new bedspread.  We're waiting on our tax refund for this one.  I really like some of the styles I've seen at Target lately. 
• Zumba and running.  I can't wait for this one!  The weather or our schedules haven't cooperated yet, but this week I'm planning on going to my first Zumba class.  And when the weather clears up (and Mike gets home early enough to watch Liam), I'm going to get back into running.  I miss it.  In the meantime, we can take walks at the park together.
• Take some day trips.  The zoo, the aquarium, a state park or two.  I know he's not really old enough to enjoy these things, but we like them too.
• Go to a Reds game.  I really enjoyed my first Reds game last summer, and I'm ready to do it all over again.  
• Enter my photos in the Art Walk.  Last year, I had the best time entering my Hipstamatic prints.  This year I would like to include some TTV photography as well.  Which means I need to get started on both. 
• Ring in 31 in style.  Because I forgot to do that when I turned 30 last year.  Oops!  I think I'll have a 30+1 party, so as not to confuse it with a certain brand of purse parties. 

Liam @ two months

Liam is two months old today!  It's so hard to believe...it doesn't seem like he's been in our lives for that long.  After his attempt to keep life interesting yesterday, we took advantage of his clean and happy state, and took his two-month old picture a day early.  I'm amazed at how much our little guy has filled out in just one month. 




Here's his one-month picture, so you can see the difference for yourself: 

I have a new appreciation for Saturday mornings.

This morning, I woke up around 7:30 to feed Liam.  He was almost finished with his bottle, when he grunted.  A poop grunt.  Certainly not uncommon for my child to do this during a feeding.  But this time I felt something...um...warm in my lap.  I looked down and questioned for a moment if he was even wearing a diaper.  So I called for Mike, who gave him a bath while I treated and washed my robe.  So funny watching him spray Liam's lower half down with the removable shower head. He just sat in his bath seat so patiently.

Because he was clean and happy, we took his 2-month photo a day early.  I'll share it with you tomorrow.  (But if we're facebook friends, you get a sneak peek today!)

Then we had something I like to call "Pancake Saturday". Pancake Saturday makes you forget about the poopy morning you just had.

Then Liam said "BU!", which we decided was Liam-speak for "book".  Mike read him I Am A Bunny, and he smiled at the page with butterflies.

I thought Saturday morning were great before Liam was born because it was a day to sleep in.  Now I don't sleep in, but they're so much better!

Happy Friday -- 10 Things

Here are 10 more things that made me happy this week:

1. Cute salt and pepper shakers.  My mom has started collecting them for me...I don't know why she started doing this, but I'm glad she did.
2. Cooing.
3. Similac coupons.  And pre-mixed formula.
4. Having Mike home this week. And not only because he took on several 2 AM feedings.  It's so much fun watching him interact with Liam...makes me excited for the end of the school year.
5. Finally visiting my LSS after about a year...and stocking up on some cute scrap goodies (because, you know, I needed more...).
6. Nichole and Grayson.  :)
7. Wind-up toys.
8. Jiffy muffin mix.  The oatmeal muffin mix makes some seriously amazing cookies.  The raspberry muffin mix makes some very yummy muffins.
9. Visiting Grandma and Papaw...I mean Mom and Dad...I mean...I don't know what to call them anymore!  Haha.
10. Excellent test results for my dad!

A few baby pics...of me!

Today Liam and I took our first road trip to Grandma and Papaw's house.  Aside from a series of minor meltdowns for the last 40 minutes of the trip home, it went really well.  (By the way, some mommy advice -- have a static station programmed on your radio. The white noise works wonders!) 

While we were visiting, mom pulled out an album of my baby photos.  I took a few pics of the ones I thought looked most like Liam.  (Because if you remember, I kind of promised these a few months ago.)

But first, a refresher.  This is Liam. :)

And this was me as a baby.

He stares off into the distance like this a lot.

I had big cheeks, just like his.  (Also, I had a dolly named Lolly.  How cool is that?!)

I think this one looks most like him...minus my Lisa Rinna lips.

We have the same eye wrinkles.  And hair line. 

How we settled on Liam's name

I don't think I've ever told you the story of how we decided on naming our baby Liam.

We knew the middle name would be Michael (after some dude I met).  We had a short list of boy names that included Liam, Gavin, Rowan, and Donovan. 

• Rowan (ROH-an) is spelled the same as a county in Kentucky, but the county is pronounced ROW-an.  And we knew that would be an issue because even we had to hesitate to think before saying it.  I suppose we could have spelled it Rohan, but that had too much of a Hobbit-vibe for our liking. 
• Gavin was a good name...our only argument against it was that kids might call him "Gaggin'".  Weak argument, I know.   
• Donovan was one of my favorites, but there was a good possibility of it being shortened to "Don" or "Donny".  Unacceptable.  

Which left us with Liam.  Here's what clinched it for us:

Michael Lawrence
Rebekka Ann
Liam Michael

See the pattern?  :)

Fun things from the internet

I haven't had much time to play around online lately, but I wanted to share a few things I've come across in the last couple of months.

• I want to make some of these adorable plush dinosaurs for Liam.
• Here's a clever tutorial for making a shadow box from a candy box.
• Baby monster amigurumi!
• This gorgeous quilt from Kim's blog.
• A neat idea for storing punches.
• And while we're at it, a twine dispenser.
• Chocolate cups = genius.
• Cute Instax photo display idea.
• Little edible teepees!
• Brownie bunnies in a jar.  I would love to make these as gifts.

Liam - Week 7

•  Liam got to see Noel (mommy's midwife) again at her 6-week appointment.
• Liam loves the plain, tan bear mobile that came with his Pack 'N' Play, which is hilarious because Mommy and Daddy spent a lot of time trying to find a mobile that had bright colors, interesting objects, and classical music.  Also, Liam "yells" at the mobile when it stops.
• He's much more "talkative" this week.
• His personality is starting to take shape.  He's definitely a morning person!
• He slept six hours one night (11:00 pm - 5:00 am), after a very long Sunday.
• He went out to eat for the first time.  He was so good at Applebee's...hopefully Daddy will be willing to take us out again soon.
• He loves riding in Mommy's Moby Wrap.  Another amazing baby innovation.
• He let Mommy go clothes shopping...such a patient little boy, as Mommy had not shopped for skinny clothes in a very long time!

Liam - Week 6

• Liam was the cutest little bunny in Target!
• He started a new formula -- Similac Alimentum seems to be much more agreeable to his little digestive system.
• He was circumcised.  (We really wanted to do this in the hospital, but the pediatrician on call wouldn't give the go-ahead.  His regular pediatrician gave the go-ahead at his first appointment only a couple days later.  Ugh.  Really wish we could have gotten that out of the way while there were nurses there to help out.)  But my little guy was very brave.  The first 12 hours were the most difficult, but he was such a trooper throughout.
• Papaw, Grandma, Aunt Britt Britt, Uncle Zack, and Amanda (Zack's girlfriend) came for a visit.  
• Mike took the day off (a rarity for my husband) to help me out after a long night with little sleep (my fault -- not Liam's...I kind of forgot that spring break had ended at my school, and had to get lesson plans together).
• Liam went to Target and Whole Foods with Mommy and Miss Jenny.  He was really great up until it was time to check out...then hunger and a dirty diaper overcame him.
• Liam's friend Kayson came to visit.  I had to laugh when I turned around to see him with Liam's pacifier in his mouth and my iPhone in his hand.  Oh, the things I have to look forward to...  :)

Happy Friday -- 10 Things

1. This pic of Liam.  I'm amazed at how much he's starting to look like a little boy now!
2. A shopping trip to Maurices.  And a son that lets me try on lots and lots of clothes with relatively little fussing. 
3. Cartoon Network's annual April Fools Day airing of The Room.  So fantastically bad.  
4. Cookies.  Homemade.  With dairy-free, soy-free butter and chocolate chips.
5. Feeling productive.  Laundry washed, folded, and put away.  Clean dishes and bottles. Woohoo!
6. Hearing a parent tell you that you're making a difference in her child's life.
7. Mike's spring break!
8. Roast beef from the deli counter.  
9. The Boppy.  Quite possibly one of the greatest inventions ever, right behind the baby swing.
10. Finally updating my iPhone apps.