5 Months Old!!!

Ok-so technically he's now 5 and a half months old....but who's counting? Liam is getting to be such a big boy! He now weighs about 16 lbs, and it's getting very VERY hard to carry the baby carrier around.  Time to shop for a convertible seat.  How did he get to be a whole 16 plus lbs, you ask?  Well, this kid can EAT! His favorite is still the oatmeal with bananas, but he loves his fruit and veggies, and the new and intriguing biter biscuits.

Aside from eating, Liam loves to play in his jumperoo and exersaucer.  He's grabbing toys, transferring them from hand to hand to mouth, and turns himself around.  He also loves to sit on the floor and play with his toy piano, or look (and mouth) at books.  At this point he can sit unassisted for up to a minute at a time.  While tummy time is still a struggle, Liam can now flip from tummy to back, and from back to tummy (though he still has a hard time pulling that arm out from under him.) His special talent is turning himself 180 degrees every night in his crib.  Without fail, we wake up in the morning, look at the baby monitor video, and see feet instead of a cute little face.



We're hearing a lot of language now too!  Bababa, mamama, dadada are the favorites (his and ours).  His favorite time to talk is when it's time to eat!  Below is a video to demonstrate:

And of course, he's becoming more and more mischievous by the day.  Check out the photo below:





Liam is 4 Months Old!

Halloween...I wasn't too happy.

Bathtime!!!

We've all been really busy, so this post is a couple of weeks late, but better late than never! It's amazing how quickly time passes, and more than four months have gone by since Liam was born.  At 4 months and 11 days, he weighed 15 lbs. 4 oz (50th percentile) and was 25 and 1/8 inches long (50th percentile.)  His head measured 44 cm. which was 87th percentile.  So when you think about it he's nearly tripled his birth weight at 4 months! 

It's not surprising though-this kid LOVES to eat!  At this point he eats fruit (loves bananas), and veggies (his Safta Tova makes him vegetable soup and puts it in the blender).  He's tried baby yogurt but is not crazy about it.  He also really like oatmeal with banana flavor mixed in with formula and thickened up so he eats it with a spoon.  Sitting in his high chair is one of his favorite things, and he joins us for meals!  But just TRY to have him sit in his chair with only toys.  If he sees us eating he'll yell until we feed him something.

Liam is developing quite a personality!  Even at 4 months, he's developing stranger anxiety.  He'll only smile and laugh at people he's familiar with, and only likes to be held by people he knows.  He doesn't nap much during the day, but in return he'll sleep about 10-11 hours every night!  We'll take it!

He's getting a lot more playful as well.  He bats at toys and tries to grab them.  He loves sitting in his jumperoo or exersaucer and is now learning to spin and manipulate the toys on them.  He's also discovered Barney!  So once a day when we need to get stuff done or need a shower (imagine that!) we'll sit him in his swing and put a Barney DVD on.  It's very cute to see him try to "talk" to Barney!  But his number one favorite thing is still being outside.  So we go out at least once a day and go for a walk either in the stroller or in the Moby Wrap. 

Big brother Coby is a great help too, and Liam just adores him.  Coby can always make him laugh, and helps entertain him when we're in the car.  I wasn't sure about this 9 plus years age gap, but it's turning out to be a great thing. 

I can't wait to see what new things Liam learns next!  Every day there is something new!!!

The eight dwarf! Isn't he cute????

Liam is 3 months old!



Mommy made me smile!



I love taking baths!





Ok-so it's a few days late, but we've been busy!  I can't believe Liam is 3 months old.  He's such a joy!  He weighs close to 13 lbs at this point.  We found out how much he weighs because a week ago he developed a double ear infection!  Poor little guy...but thanks to antibiotics twice a day he's now feeling much better and is back to his normal self.  Because the antibiotics were giving him the "runs," the doctor said we could give him a little banana to see how he liked it and to stop the tummy issue.  Since Liam has been very interested in food and is holding his head up really well, we gave it a try.  He LOVED it!  We mixed some banana with a little apple to make it softer, and he now eats that mix every morning in his high chair.  And the diarrhea stopped too.  The funny thing was that the one day I didn't give him fruit he DID have the runs.  I guess the banana really was helping!

So finally, Liam is now sleeping through the night.  HOORAY!  He usually goes down around 9, and sleeps until 6 or 7.  We're ALL very happy about this new development, though he sleeps very very little during the day.  Nothing more than a 15 minute power nap here and there.  In between power naps he loves to play, as long as it's not laying down.  He loves his jumperoo (at grandma's house) and is getting used to the exersaucer at our house.  Bathtime is still a favorite time of day, as well as anything that has to do with being outside. 

Every day brings something exciting and new....I love this age!

Coby's Corner Again

It's Friday!!!  I am so excited about this.  By the way, Liam here, is so cute and getting daily exercise.  He literally dances to music he hears.  He can smile widely and he can surely love.  He has a habit of loving the outside.  So here's the thing.  I finally took him for a walk.  It was a Saturday and I was right outside Brasa.  We did a short walk and he stayed quiet the whole time.  So that proves it.  Looks like both Schoolman kids love the outside.  See you late-r.


COBY SCHOOLMAN

WAAAAAAAAAH!!!

Oy!  There is nothing that leaves you more helpless than a helpless crying, screaming baby.  We've been so fortunate up until now because he's been such a happy baby!  Really only crying when he's hungry or tired or needs to be changed.  (On that note, he's SOOOOO different than Coby was, in a good way, because Coby couldn't have cared less if he was wet or dirty, which carried on to mean taking forever to potty train.)  But I digress.  This afternoon/evening did me in!  He cried and screamed and nothing calmed him down.  He ate a little bit, then screamed.  I changed him, rocked him, put blankets on, took blankets off.  Nothing worked.  We went outside, which he always loves, and he calmed down immediately.  But the stupid mosquitoes ate us alive!  So back inside we went, and I decided a bath was the answer.  He did calm down after that.  I gave him his reflux meds, another couple of ounces of formula, and he finally relaxed.  Now he's asleep in his room, hopefully for the night.  It makes me wonder if he needs more of the reflux medicine; but who knows? But this afternoon's experience made me feel very lucky, because I know so many people who have babies with colic who just cry non-stop.  I now know full well what "purple crying" is, and while I could never ever hurt my baby or shake it or be anything but tender and loving to him, I can see how hours and hours of this can drive a person batties.  I'm SO GLAD this doesn't happen often!!!

My Mistake

I made a mistake today.  I found an old book I had gotten when Coby was a baby- Your Baby's First Year Week by Week.  Granted, that was almost 10 years ago but I don't think a lot has changed as far as developmental milestones, right? It's a terrible thing to compare your kids. But I don't think any parents can help it.  I was looking at the different milestones and was thinking "Liam can do this, but not that.  Coby did this at this age...."  How awful!  And it's going to get worse, I just know it!  First of all, because Coby has Autism, I am constantly already looking for signs.  I'm driving Brian and my mom nutso!  Second, because Coby has such a high IQ and started reading around age 3, and is AG and all that, I'm going to have a hard time if Liam is "typical."  It's sickening to think this way, I know.  I love both my boys equally.  They're my heart!!!  I need to get out of this mindframe.  Each child is different and special in his or her own way!!!

...bestest boys!

My two...

      

He SMILED!

When you catch Liam in a good mood, he'll give you a smile that'll melt your heart! It's too bad my phone camera is so slow, because most of the time by the time I got his picture the smile was gone! But here's a great one:

Liam is 2 months old!

What a difference...

...a few weeks make!!!

Wow, how time flies!  It's amazing to think that Liam wasn't here just a little over 2 months ago.  It seems as if he was always a part of our family.  And what a big boy he is!   He has nearly doubled his birth weight.  At 8 weeks old, Liam weighed 10lbs 13 oz, was 21 and 3/4 inches long, and had a head circumference of 40 cm.  That put him at 35th percentile for weight, 6th for height, and 55th for head measurement.  He's a great eater, and has now sort of gotten into a routine.  He wakes up around 6:30 in the morning.  During the week he goes to Safta Tova's house while Mommy's at work.   There, he gets spoiled rotten by Safta and Saba.  We get home sometime in the early evening, have playtime, bathtime, and then Liam goes to sleep between 9 and 10 pm.  He wakes up usually once a night at this point!  YAY!  Liam is now a lot more social.  He smiles and loves to look around to see who's there.  He loves to listen to music too!  But his very favorite pasttime is going outside.  He likes to either be in the stroller, or in his Moby Wrap, or just in someone's arms as we walk around.

UPDATE:  At 9 weeks 2 days we had to go to the doctor for reflux issues.  Liam got some Zantac to help him (we were running out of clothes due to so much throwing up-our washing machine is still trying to catch up!) But they did weigh him and he was 11lbs 2 oz.  I guess he was still taking in more than he was giving back! :)

6 Weeks Old!

I went from this....

To this!!!

It's hard to believe that 6 weeks have passed.  Liam got weighed yesterday and he's now 9 lbs 3 oz!  Whoa!  No wonder he doesn't fit into his newborn clothes anymore.  No sirree bob!  We're now in 0-3 month clothes.  Woohoo!

He still doesn't sleep very well at night, but he's such a good baby!  He hardly ever cries, and is very easy going.  He's starting to hold his head up more, and look around.  He makes great eye contact too, and tracks objects really well.

I go back to work full time on Monday.  In a way I'm looking forward to it because I miss adult conversation (though what adult conversation do we have as pre-k teachers???) .  But I'm dreading leaving Liam, and dreading the logistics.  How the hell am I going to have time to get anything done around the house? I got spoiled this summer.  The good news is that Liam will stay with my mom, and I trust her a million percent.  So no worries over how he'll do there.  He already slept better at her house than here!  I told her she could adopt him!!!

I can't wait till Liam smiles.  I know, I just know it's coming soon.  I can't wait to share it with everyone!!!!

How Did a Month Pass So Quickly?

So Liam is a month old today.  I'm living in a sort of haze.  I was cleaning up around the house and found the pregnancy tests I took back in November!  It was so unreal then!  And now he's a month old.  He eats a lot-about 3-4 oz. per feeding.  But last night he slept fairly well.  Maybe we're starting a trend!  He tracks with his eyes AND moves his head to follow an object!  What a big boy! :) 

I'm feeling very VERY possessive of Liam.  This surprises me.  I was sure that this being my second baby I'd be more easy going, willing to let anyone help me.  Not so much!  Since my mom is going to take care of him when I go back to work, and, it IS my mom and I trust her with my kids' lives, I don't mind her helping.  I even let Liam spend the night there when Brian and I need extra rest.  And Brian is amazing with Liam.  It's so not a matter of trust!  But even when it's Brian's turn to take Liam for the night I do the last feeding most of the time, and just have a hard time handing him over.  I just want to hug and kiss and touch his soft skin all the time, and to feel his formula breath on me.  I'm nuts, I know!  I chalk it up to the fact that Brian very adamantly states over and over again that Liam is our last baby, and I just can't accept that.  But just in case, I want to spend every possible baby minute with him!  I can't wait to see what he does tomorrow.

I'm 4 Weeks Old Today!

What a big little guy I have!  He's grown so much in just 4 short weeks.  I can't believe how quickly time flew by.  I have to say that I LOVE my pediatrician.  We took Liam to get weighed and he's up to 7lbs 7oz!  He's gained 22 oz in 11 days.  But he's been eating around the clock and driving us batties.  He was up every hour to two hours during the day and at night.  No one was getting any sleep!  So when we went to the pediatrcian, I jokingly asked if I could add some rice cereal to the formula, and he said YES!  He admitted he was "old school" and that most doctors wouldn't recommend it, but that a little bit at night is fine.  And Liam's been sleeping so well since then!  And when he's awake he's a lot more alert too!  Woohoo!

On another note, Coby has been an amazing big brother.  He reads to Liam every night, and holds and cuddles him.  I'm so proud of him for stepping up and helping!  After such a long time of being an only child, he got over his jealousy pretty quickly!  WTG big bro!!!

Coby's Corner!!!

Hey all u people. It's Coby with an up to date thang on Liam. Basically, i am lovin' it. Anyway, I am so ready for the time he first talks, walks, and who knows what i can think of. He is purrfect 4 mi. This is yur showt owt 2 u Liam!

Oy!

Dearest Liam:

Please please share your secret with us! Why do you stay calm and happy during the day and then get fussy at night? We know it's not colic, because you don't cry non stop at night. It can't be the formula because why would it be ok during the day but not at night? According to what everyone says you're too young to be "manipulative" and cry just because you want to be held. But we hold you and rock you and just beg for sleep! Please enlighten us my darling child, or both your daddy and I will end up in an insane asylum.

Love you to pieces,

Mommy and Daddy.

He's HERE!!!

Never in our wildest dreams did we ever think we could have another child. Coby, our oldest, was going to be our one and only after trying for a second baby for seven years with no success. Then, randomly and totally out of the blue, I "got a feeling." I took a pregnancy test, and the double pink line changed our lives forever! On July 1st, 2010, Liam made an appearance. At only 5lbs 11oz he was tiny, but perfect in every way. He looks just like his big brother! Liam's a great baby, but has his days and nights mixed up. So right now, we need sleep! Badly. But we're so happy he's here! Our family is now complete.