Liam is 11 Months

Can I just say that I’m not ready for Liam to be approaching one year old?  I know that he is my last baby, which is probably why I just want to keep him little for much much longer.  I have not even planned a party for his one year, which you know, is so unlike me.  When I do, I will want it to be a small celebration, with just family… I think.  On Liam’s official birthday, I will be in the hospital with Ari recovering from her surgery.  I kind of feel like crying just to think about it… I am no good at thinking about Ari’s surgery or planning for it.  I have done nothing to mentally or physically prepare myself or anyone in the house, other than to pray, and I am bracing myself for the backlash of my avoidance and denial.  I also feel huge mommy guilt to be away from him for at least most of his big day.  Ugh, I just really want June to be over, to tell you the truth.  I’m getting queasy right now.

In other news, Liam is still wonderful and loveable and feisty.  Yes, he is a fiery one… just like his mommy.  With a stubborn streak… just like his daddy :).  He still loves music, and prefers making it over passively listening to it.  His favorite toys are bells, with hairbrushes and my IPhone tying for a close second.  He loves bells of every variety (hand bells, jingle bells, bells on instruments, little sleigh bells from the North Pole).  He will throw a fit if I ever attempt to take one of these items away from him.  He has been known to carry the same hairbrush with him all day long, attracting the amused comments from people passing by about how he much he must need it for all the hair he has.  Liam doesn’t get the joke yet.

However, Liam does understand a lot of jokes and seems to be developing a great sense of humor.  It’s a good thing too, because this is needed in our family.  Liam has a marvelous fake laugh that he’ll call on whenever he sees other people laughing at something.  He makes a high pitched sound and wrinkles up his nose and grins a toothy smile.  I love it.

Liam has been moving along on his tummy, but I wouldn’t call it crawling.  He does get around though… with his combination bum scooting, forward reaching, pulling knees in, rocking, commando crawling, reaching again, tummy pivoting, movement combination.  He had his first session of physical therapy, which was very informative (more on that in next month’s post). 

I am happy to announce that Liam has also started bearing weight on his legs, which is a first for him!  Up until now, his legs have been like noodles or permanently in the pike position so as to avoid letting his feet make contact with the floor.  Now, I can’t hardly get him to sit down in his high chair or flat on the floor, because he’s always intercepting me by putting his feet in a standing position.  Now, he still doesn’t have the balance or the desire to go it on his own, but I’m still happy to see him making progress in this area.

Liam has been starting to drink water and a little bit of milk from an open cup.  He is not so good with the sippy cup, and he’s inconsistent with the straw, but he drinks like a pro fairly well with an open cup or water bottle.  Holding it is another story altogether.  I have thought about starting to wean off the night feeding, because of the upcoming surgery, but I can’t stand the thought… of weaning or the surgery.  I’m starting to feel another anxiety attack come on…

Liam has been boycotting baby food except for the fruit and the sweet potatoes.  He won’t eat the fruit mixed with baby cereal either.  Baby food dinners have been out for a while.  At first, I thought it was his double ear infection and his head cold that was making him averse to eating.  But I have just had to come to terms with his distaste for bland pureed food.  We’ve moved on to a toddler diet for every meal, with the exception of a pouch when we’re out and about… yes, the gourmet organic $1.69 for 4 oz. of food… that kind, he’ll still allow.  Normally though, he’ll eat whatever we’re eating with gusto.

Liam has started enjoying playing in the company of his sisters and brother.  He sometimes squabbles with Ari over toys, but that’s to be expected.  Sometimes, he’ll even forget I’m not on the scene and just happily squawk away with them while playing with blocks or whatever else they’re doing.  Gabe and him sometimes even get into trouble together.  I’ve caught them sword fighting each other with a hiking stick and a long shoe horn from Korea.  Not my proudest moment, nor my calmest, but the point I’m trying to make here is that Liam is starting to fit right in with the others… mischief and all!

Easter

I am so tardy writing this post.  It seems like Easter was just last week, but I am well aware that it was almost a full two months ago.  *Sigh*. 

We dyed Easter eggs like every year in preparation for our egg hunt in the lawn, but this year we got to dye them with the Stoten kids, which made it even more fun.  My kids only hunt for the hardboiled dyed eggs.  The plastic ones are already in their baskets when they come downstairs in the morning.  We don’t make a big deal out of the Easter bunny, but I don’t take all the credit either.  It’s just kind of unspoken how those buckets baskets get filled with such an assortment of wonderful treats. 

I made these cupcakes that were supposed to look like eggs nestled in grass and chocolate covered strawberries that were supposed to look like carrots.  Some, but not all, of my ideas were gleaned from Pinterest.  Feel free to reuse them!

Their baskets do contain some candy, I’ll admit, but I try to be a little creative and throw in a variety of good things they don’t get everyday.  They got peeps and bunny tails (cotton candy) on a stick, fruit snacks, and bags of Cheetos that looked like a carrot.  Cheetos are the favorite forbidden snack in our home, so I had to give in for Easter.

Liam just got Puffs in his eggs, but he was just as excited as the older three!

The egg hunt is a huge competition for who can wrangle the most hard boiled eggs from the lawn.  Ari gets a head start, but other than that, all is fair in love and egg collecting.  My littles are so intense about it, you would think that those colored shells contained more than just overcooked eggs.  This is the third year in a row that we have done it this way, and each year they get more serious about the hunt.  After it’s all said and done, they actually eat every last egg.  I’m not exaggerating when I say that they eat at least four hard boiled eggs each, and for Gabe, the consumed count might exceed a half dozen. 

We usually save the spiritual and portion of the day for after the egg hunt (during and after church), but this year, it was Gabe’s idea to “act out” the story of Jesus’s death and resurrection before we could be allowed to enjoy any pagan rituals.  Gabe is and has always been my most religious child.  He reads bible stories for fun in his free time and he is the kind of kid who, when I’m trying to teach him a lesson, will relate the event at hand to a parable or a bible story.  He knows nearly every character in the Bible and the Book of Mormon (thanks to the books Grammy gave him :)) the way I used to know every kind of dinosaur.  And that’s saying a lot.  Of course my childhood dinosaur obsession never gained me any favor with the Lord.  He truly has a gift.

That said, under Gabe’s direction, I played the part of Mary Magdalene.  Jake was Jesus.  Ari and Bella were the two angels in Jesus’s tomb.  Marci and Leah were Jesus’s disciples (I’ll have to check with Gabe what the names were), and Gabe and Brian played Roman soldiers.  I messed up my part a little, but Gabe was really nice about it and gently informed me of what my correct lines were.  I’m making fun a little, but I was sincerely impressed.  I had no idea that he would initiate this, and I do think it really brought meaning to the morning.

Thank you to my sister, Marci, for being my back-up photographer and helping me document the holiday (I did not forget to plug you!).  No, seriously, I would never be in a photo ever if it wasn’t for you.

After we cleaned up, we went to all three hours of church – yay us!  And it was really good!  We then came home and had Easter dinner with just our little family of six ;).  They told me they wish it could be Easter every day.  So, I guess that means it was a great day :).