June 21, 2009: 10 months old and 1st Daddy's Day!

School is out and life is getting a little more normal...or at least becoming a new normal :) Liam does something new every single day and his development is just amazing. At 10 months he has 3 key words: dada, mama, and "dah" which is his word for dog. Thanks to his buddy Linus, Liam now recognizes dogs at the park, on TV, and in his books and flash cards. It's so cute and he get soooo excited to see a dog in real life. Other than those words, its just a lot of babbling but he sure is a sweet talker :) He's crawling everywhere and standing up on anything he deems sturdy enough-however these objects are not always ready for him. His good size head seems to be taking the falls well and he usually just pops back up again. His favorite place in the house is the front door, with the door open and screen closed (see pics below). He loves to sit here and call out to neighbors walking by and listen for the street sounds like the ice cream man. You will find him here every afternoon waiting for his daddy to come home. Once he hears Nick, he pulls up and starts banging on the screen calling out "dada!" It's too precious for words, and I will have to film it one day. He also loves sitting in front of his bookshelf, pulling out and flipping through all his books. I can't wait till he brings them over to us, asking to read them. Liam's still eating baby food, but is much more excited about feeding himself which he's doing pretty well with. His favorite finger foods are Cheerios, carrots, peas, mozzarella cheese, pears, pasta with olive oil, veggie puffs, chicken, Arby's fries...Yeah, he loves anything we put on his tray. Our little man is just growing up so fast!

Nick's 1st Father's Day was low-key, but nice. We went to church in the morning where Nick was presented with a pink carnation in honor of the day which he LOVED :) We had Arby's for lunch (his choice!) Liam made him a pencil holder with his hand/foot prints for his office and the boys did alot of wrestling and playing that day. We did sushi for dinner and Liam enjoyed the edamame and orange slices they served. Here's our week in pics...

A day at the park...playing on the see-saw and swings and feeding the ducks!

Here he is in his favorite spots!

My boys...their bond is so sweet and I can tell how much Liam loves his dad. They are always wrestling, reading books, snuggling in bed on weekend mornings, playing outside, chasing each other (now that Liam can move!) or just sharing belly laughs as they entertain each other.

Another thing that is coming soon...temper tantrums!! I know Liam's a little too young but he has thrown 2 when he didn't get his way-they were full on throwing his head back on the floor and kicking! In this picture it's because I wouldn't let him play with the computer cords. It's so hard not to laugh at him, and it lasted maybe 20 seconds before he got up and started playing again. I just can't get over this picture though because he looks so much older than 10 months. I'm interested to see how he's going to be as a toddler. I know that right now my mom is going "you reap what you sow..." We better get ready!

June 13, 2009: Graduation!!

We did it!! I say we because I could not have finished UCLA without Nick (and Liam's) support and love. It was truly a family celebration yesterday. Liam was a trooper and made it through the whole 2 1/2 hour ceremony. We missed sharing it with our family, but had a lot of love from our LA friends. After the ceremony, we had brunch at the W hotel with my classmate, Jennifer, and her family. They were so sweet to incorporate us into their celebration. After brunch we came home and took a long, 2hour family nap!! Very important since we had been up since 5:30 that morning. Then last night Nick planned a surprise dinner with Liz and Jamie with our friends at C & Os. Then we went back to Jamie's for dessert and a playdate for Liam and Linus. Here's the recap in photos...

Here we are with Laynie, Jen, and Stacey

Family pic! Liam was way more interested in my certificate...

On our way to brunch...

Yum...Liam's enjoying his meal. Liam was very well-behaved during brunch.

Still enjoying his diploma...

Before our dinner out last night, Liam tried out his shoes for the first time!! For a while he just kept looking at them, like 'what's stuck on my feet?'

These shoes came in handy though since our restaurant was on the beach and Liam could walk around outside.

Here is Liam on a particularly cute and smiley day...

I think we can put this last one in his modeling portfolio :)

June 11, 2009: Liam's been busy...

So in the past week Liam cut his 2nd tooth, had a 2 fun playdates with Matteo and Linus (the dog), got a new bathtub, learned to stand in his crib, Nick and I had a night out to attend my graduation party.....oh and Liam has hand, foot, and mouth disease :( !!! Let's start with the good stuff...

So again this is a close up but you can just make out his 2nd tooth on the bottom. It's totally coming in crooked, which makes Amelia's nickname for him, Snaggle, even more appropriate!

On Friday night, we did dinner at the Jotas. Of course Liam is so excited to play with Linus, but sadly the feeling is not mutual. Now that Liam can crawl, Linus better watch out!

On Saturday we had a fun evening with our friends Ben and Yasmine and their little boy, Matteo. He shared his car with Liam and we took the boys to the park. Liam LOVED riding in this car...guess who's getting one for his birthday? :)

Liam was too big for his baby tub, but too slippery to sit on his own in the tub...so he got this cool transition tub...perfect for right now! Those are his current favorite toys...the ducky, keyboard, cups...and of course his water book :)

We had to drop the crib down to the lowest position since Liam has started to stand against the crib and other furniture. He'll be cruising before we know it...

Yay, I'm graduating in two days...I can't believe I did it! The graduation party was last night and even though Liam was sick we still made it, thanks to our babysitters Drew and Liz.

Now for the bad stuff...So Liam started a fever two days ago at daycare. He's had MISERABLE nights and none of us have been able to sleep. The next day he started refusing to eat and I noticed the blisters in his mouth. Poor baby, this virus is awful! He got the blisters especially bad on his tongue and it's been a struggle to keep him hydrated. He wants to eat, I can tell, but it's just so painful. He won't even swallow his own saliva and has been drooling worse than he ever did before (note the bib in picture below). Needless to say, we've had alot of Tylenol and Motrin, Pedialyte popsicle slushies, and magic mouthwash (Benadryl/Maalox/Tylenol). He's drinking a little better today, but basically is just irritable and cranky. Thank goodness this is not a serious virus, but I've really never seen Liam in so much pain. Nick stayed home with him so I could finish my clinical days (and graduate on time!) which was really helpful. I'm hoping Liam will be up for coming to graduation on Saturday, but we'll see. Here is him today flipping through his book, which pretty much sums up his mood :) Yeah, it's Mr. Grumpy.

Speaking of Liam and his books, I just had to take this picture...While Nick and I had dinner one night, Liam sat in the corner "reading" himself books! He's so cute flipping pages and babbling!

And of course I'll end with some cute pics of Liam playing. Can you tell he loves his little baby tee-ball set?? I love his expressions when he's eyeing the ball and then after "we" hit it!