Oh Bee-have ! ! !

I think Liam is having flashbacks in some of these pictures, from when he got stung by a wasp. Remember that? One week out and he gets attacked. So wrong! Luckily, he and the bugs made peace and now they are the best of friends. I am almost done with my Christmas shopping, can you believe it? I am so proud. Well gotta go, til later!

Oh Deer ! ! !

Hope this picture isn't any indication on how the holiday ones will turn out! Working on some home-made Christmas presents today, wish me luck. Chris really liked the stew I made last night and I am so glad. Lately Liam has been all laughs and smiles when Chris leaves and comes home from work, which is so cool. This morning Chris says, "Can't you cry or something, you're always making me late for work with all these smiles!" Speaking of funny things Chris has said to/about Liam: When asked about Liam by a co-worker Chris replied, "He's just like me---don't know how smart he is, but he sure is strong!"
I'm going to put Liam in the doorway of the bedroom/bath while I get ready for the day. Every day during this time there are two distinct faces that he watches and talks to on either side of his bouncy chair. Sometimes I just stand in the doorway and watch with out him seeing me. He very obviously focuses on each face and talks to them. I tell his angels to keep my baby safe.

Jingle Bells, Batman Smells, Robin Laid an Egg! ! !

I'm so in the holdiay mood. It was only slightly dappened when Chris walked in the front door and said it looked like an elf had pooped all over our living room. Apparently elves poop garland and silver bells.... I will take some pictures when it's all finished. I am soooo sad, the doggie elf ears were discontinued! Boo hoo! So instead I'll have Santa and his reindeer, oh well! Today we went Christmas shopping and Liam was soooooooo good. They have these things at the mall called "family restrooms" so Liam, his ride and I can all fit, then I can nurse him in private, and away we go! Totally cool. I got some more decorations for the house at Big Lots and the dollar store, so I was quite proud of myself, I love a bargain!
I am making homemade stew right now: carrots, meat cubes, celery, green onions, white onions, potatoes, mushrooms, Guiness Stout and seasonings. THIS TIME, I will not burn it! Even though the food that stuck to the bottom made an oh-so protective coating and the stew tasted delicious, last time, the house smelled horrible, like burnt rubber. Wish me luck!

Yay, Pictures !

Not much to say today, just going to add a really cool "montage" Mama C sent me. Those are great pictures and the top middle one, you can really see Chris in Grandpa C. I also added Great Grandma C's picture to the earlier post about her arrival. Thanks Mom for commenting, it makes me feel like doing this matters! Loving you guys.

Working Out on the Baby Gym

So Liam has this cool baby gym and we are spending a few minutes each day with him (supervised of course), on his tummy. Usually he just lays there chewing on the mat or his hands but I am confident by the end of December, he will have pushed up. ONLY 2 MORE WEEKS UNTIL WE SEE THE "C" CLAN!!!!!!! We are so excited!!!!!!!
Speaking of excited I have dug out the Christmas decorations. My neighbors put me in the mood. Everyone around here is putting up lights and lawn displays. Tomorrow I am going nuts at the dollar store. On Chris' next days off, (8 days from now, wah!) I want to go get a tree! After I post this I am going to buy the above ELF EARS for the dogs, I hope. Last year they sold out, but I hope I am in time, this year. I really need them for my holiday pictures. I will get the antlers if they are sold out but I have my heart set on the elves. I have had a mental image of these pictures for years. "Baby Santa surrounded by doggie elves." Has been a project in the making, for a looooooong time. Wish me luck!

This Is My Foot. There Are Many Like Them, But This One Is Mine

New things happening every day! Today I got Liam a touch feel book and one that crinkles when you touch it. He played with the crinkly one for almost a half hour. So last night was a bust. Not only did Liam not fall asleep until almost two, (swaddled by the way), Chris and I weren't ready for the empty cradle next to our bed......so we slept in Liam's room. We are such smooshies. Poor Chris is working 10 days straight, yuck! That is another reason I can't bear to push Liam's bedtime forward yet. Chris really needs the Liam time. When he transfers to graves in January it will be perfect. He can put Liam to bed and be there when he wakes up. Chris is really looking forward to that. Well, that is all for now, loving you!

Thank You Cousin Denise!

Doesn't Liam look adorable in this outfit? My cousin Denise gave him this and many other cute outfits. The label says 6 months. What a big boy! Truthfully, I think I shrunk it a bit! I mean I am the one who is not allowed to iron Chris' clothes and remember last week's pink shirt snafu! Not a big stretch to think I shrunk something!

Just Amazing

These are not posed pictures. Liam was looking at this book, touching the pages and THEN I decided to take his picture. I can't believe how interested in the pictures he was. I am going out first thing Monday to buy him some of those touch and feel board books. Tonight we are experimenting with sleeping in the crib and not picking him up during the night when he fusses. By "we" I mean Liam and I. I will pick him up in a heartbeat if he is doing his hungry cry, but not if he is just fussing. Half the time he drifts back off to sleep or sucks on his own hands for a while. He has been fussy crying a lot these past few days due to the fact, he just figured out he can cry whenever he wants to. Wish us luck, it maybe a long night. Next up: to swaddle or not to swaddle.... To Be Continued...

And A Few More....

I couldn't make these all fit in one entry.

Too Much Pressure for Little Man

So 67 pictures later, this is the best we could get. I dressed Liam up in an adorable outfit and we pulled out all of our best tricks to make him smile but he was just not happy. And Lord forgive me, he looks mildly retarded in that top photo. Not to mention Xena kept jumping in front of the camera hoping for her moment with the "flashy-thing-that-gets-me-praise-if-I-just-sit-really-still." It was still alot of fun and I am (unrealistically??) optimistic his Christmas pictures in his Santa suit will be better. Loving you all!

I'M JUST KIDDING!!!!!!

I wouldn't leave you hanging with just those pictures! Here are a few good ones from the "photo shoot." The one where I am holding him and he is looking of to the side laughing is really neat because he was watching and listening to a video of himself. And the one where he is close up and in his overalls looking down is neat because that one he is watching Xena. Chris made me take the shoes off right after we took the pictures, because, "He looks too old in those shoes!"
Our turkey said it would take 3 hours to cook; but it took 8!!!!! Boy was it delicious though. Each of the dogs got their own dog chow turkey dinners. We try to do that every year. They are so spoiled! Til later loved ones!

Today I Give Thanks

I am so very blessed. I often say, "If this is all a dream I don't ever want to wake up. Every day is like Christmas now." Last year at this time I had the surgery that fixed me, and now look what I have to look forward to every single day. Thank you Jesus for my perfect life, thank you for my wonderful husband and my beautiful baby. Thank you for my parents who raised me to be a good wife and mother. Thank you for my in-laws, who couldn't be better if I had sat down, made a list and special ordered them. Thank you Lord for Great Grandma C, even if she may be a terrorist, because I love her more than I can say. Thank you for our wonderful new home and for every day I can stay home with Liam. I have so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. I love you all.

"Who am I, Lord God, and who are the members of my house that you have brought me to this point? Yet even this you see as too little Lord God; you have also spoken of your servant for a long time to come: this too you have shown to man, Lord God! What more can [ I ] say to you? You know your servant, Lord God! For your servant's sake and as you have had at heart, you have brought about this entire magnificent disclosure to your servant. And so---Great are you, Lord God! There is no God but you, just as we have heard it told." [2 Samuel 7:18-22]

Thanks be to God who has brought my family so much and knows me so well!

The Things I Do For That Kid

I am going bald. Yep it is official, I am soon going to have my dad's hair line. Nothing wrong with my dad's hairline...IF YOU ARE A DUDE!!!!! Chris and I noticed two almost bald patches on my head last night and I just freaked! OK, they aren't really bald patches, just a little thinning, but geez! So this morning I called my doctor and she said it was totally normal post pregnancy hair loss. Um, couldn't someone have warned me? Oh well, luckily it is winter and I always looked pretty decent in a good beanie. Lest anyone actually worry about me, the doc is checking my blood and thyroid just to be safe, but she is not concerned. She said all hair should grow back in about a year. So just in time for my 31st birthday. Sigh. Kid, you better be worth it. You better cure cancer or something! Just kidding, he can just sit there and drool happily and he is worth it. For now. I really hope he isn't drooling like in a few years. That's neither here nor there. So, new topic, Thanksgiving. I am making a turkey tomorrow and Chris is making the mashed taters. I am so excited he is off for the holiday. Well, I gotta go. If I am lucky, I still can clean a few rooms before the king wakes up. Loving you!

Get Your Popcorn, It's 3-D Movie Time!

Last night we watched a 3-D movie, Xena and Liam really enjoyed it. Both were soooooo patient with us as we posed them with the glasses!

The town of "B" called me tonight desperate for me to work and I said yes. Then I called and talked to Chris who was on his way home, but totally stuck in traffic, and decided I just couldn't do it. Who knows when Chris will finally get home and I really miss him. Money is important but so is he! The dogs next door broke the fence, this time their fault, not my dogs, and Riley got bit again. I was just screaming at them, because last night I had a dream that Gabby was in the yard next door and Bailey had been killed. When I went outside, (thank God I heard a commotion), Gabby was next door in their yard. She was unharmed. So not only is Chris stuck in traffic, but he has to stop at home depot for more wood planks. THIS time the neighbors should help with expenses! Riley is OK by the way. Just superficial bites and she is already on antibiotics from the last time. Sigh. What a pain!!!! We tried to tell our neighbors they needed to take care of their side of the fence, now that it is their fault and it may co$t them, maybe they will listen.
I went over and introduced myself to the neighbor who goes to Lighthouse Church and who has the 9 month old baby, Caleb. I think I may have found a new friend!!! I sure hope so. I have to remember their service is at 10:45am Sunday. See how I snuck that in their so I wouldn't forget! I am so clever.
So it is official, we are coming down December 12th!!!!!! We are so excited and can't wait for the "C" Clan to see how much Liam can do now. Today he reached for something for the very first time and caught it in his hand. I had set my diaper bag/back pack next to him, and I saw him watching it and looking at the reflective strip on the straps. Next time I looked at him, he was holding onto the part of the bag he had been looking at! I think I scared him when I yelped, but I was so excited! OK, well that is all for now. Bye guys!

Various Goings Ons.....

Liam and I talked to the Grandmas and Auntie Carolyn last night to spread some good cheer: The whole family is coming down to visit in a few weeks! Chris got a few days off in a row, so we will all drive down, then Chris will drive back and Liam and I will take the train home after a few days extra! We are so excited!!!!! Liam was so good at church yesterday. He pretty much slept through the whole service except when someone singing hit a bad note...Maybe he will be a musician like Daddy?! Chris is on his way home from work. He will stay here with Liam while I drive Xena an hour + to her chiropractor appointment. I really want Chris to go with me but he is so tired of that drive! It is a long way for a dog appointment but it so helps her back and I will visit Alicia and Sean while I am over there. I am going to take them to dinner to thank her for always being so willing to watch Liam when I desperately need help. She has only watched him once so far, but she has been my back up in a pinch more than once and I am so thankful!

I wrote the following entry on Saturday while I was at work:


So I am working in the town of "B" today, taking 911 calls, answering the business lines and dispatching the officers. When I first got here I was in way over my head. I work for SC and the two cities are side by side and they do share the radio, and the computer screens are mostly the same, but boy is this different! I feel a little more sure of myself now, although something is beeping and I have no idea what...I was supposed to be re-oriented before coming back to work here because it has been almost a year and a half. They have a brand new communications center and equipment, some of it is familiar, some not. Heightened security measures, door buzzers, and tons of cameras monitoring all the corridors, the cells, etc. "JM" who bumped me out of a job resigned originally has just resigned. Oh cruel irony, if he had just done that over a year ago, I never would have had to leave, in the first place! Anyway they were so desperate for a dispatcher, they called me and I saw it as quick easy money and a way to bypass waiting around for them to fit me in for that re-orienting. That kind of backfired on me, but over all I am doing fine. I keep saying the wrong call sign; 23 instead of 24 though and in the beginning I really wanted to answer "my" guys. I hear them talking but I have to tune them out. I am working "across" from the shift I used to work, so it is pretty confusing. I feel like I have mulitple personality disorder, and what on earth is that beeping!!!!!
Chris was a little unhappy earlier when I called to check on him because Liam didn't want to be held, he just wanted to sleep in his vibrating baby bark-a-lounger, and really, who wouldn't? Now he just called me because Liam doesn't want to drink from the bottle, he has only drank one ounce since noon, but he is happy so I guess he is OK. I really feel like Liam just isn't nursing/feeding enough, but as the pediatrician says, the proof is in the pudding and he is pooping and wetting plenty so I guess I shouldn't worry...
My new favorite picture of Liam is the chubby cheeked smiling one that I took of him laughing at his Grandpa B, (red sleeves, white bib?) soooo cute!!! I have that one and a few others sitting in front of me. They makes me smile. Chris laughed at me when I was grabbing pictures off the mantle to take with me, he said it wasn't like I was leaving him for days!
In SC you have to get a police officer to relieve you so you can go downstairs to the restroom and relieve yourself (ha ha ha). Here they have a bathroom right here in dispatch, it is so cool! Of course if you take the portable radio in there with you and have to answer the guys, they laugh because it totally echos and they know you are in the bathroom! Earlier it was so funny because after I flushed the toilet, I was trying to hurry in case the phone rang, I brought my foot down right into the trash can and slung it across the room when I tried to take a step. So typical of me, huh? When I told Chris that he just shook his head because after all, this morning I actually got stuck in the mini-blinds.....
This has been really fun, only one hour to go then about an hour 15 min drive home. it will be cool because I will get to spend time with Chris tonight and neither of us will be too tired to go to the 9:45 am church service tomorrow---finally!!!!!!
Today Chris took Liam with him to Gabby's vet check up to see how Gabby's suture looked. There was another dog in the waiting room and it tried to smell Liam in his carseat and Gabby ferociously growled and charged at that dog. The owner laughed and said, "A boy and his dog" and made sure his puppy stayed on his half of the room. However, EVERY SINGLE TIME the dog even just looked at Liam, Gabby growled at it. Isn't that awesome? Chris says Gabby loves to rest her chin on Liam's feet. Remember she was the one I had no idea how she would react to Liam, and what a wonderful surprise she has been. Since we have had to keep her inside it has been fun to watch. If he cries, she runs from the room, but when he is asleep she wants to lay next to him. When she is let in from outside, the first thing she does is goes and finds him. It is really too neat. Well that is all. I love you!

Not Much to Report...

Hello all. Not much to say here. Update on my dad--all looks pretty darn good. It does not seem to have shown up else where and he is going running, today I think.
You all remember how I was laid off from that dispatch job in the town of "B"? Well the guy who bumped me out of my job just resigned so they've come calling to see if I can help them out, to which I excitedly replied, "Heck yeah!" Not only do I love that town, those officers and 911 dispatching in general, but they pay more for per diems. I am working for them tomorrow from 1pm until 7pm and I am totally excited.
Gabby is doing fine today and Liam is doing great. Right now he is just hanging out in his swing watching me type. Chris is at work and Xena is wondering why she is not inside on her comfy bed. All is well. Loving you guys!

A Big Week Already

Hello all! Liam and I have had a really big week already. I have added pictures that shows how he follows things with his eyes and laughs and talks to them. He is so much fun. I so hope I get to be a stay at home mom, I am really loving it.
So Gabby's left paw was the one she injured by running into an SUV. Yes, if you remember, when being taken care of by Grandma and Grandpa C, it was she who dented the SUV with her head when she escaped. That poor left paw. That poor SUV...Yesterday Gabby dug under the fence to go "meet" ( more like eat), the dogs next door, and when she stuck a paw through she got bit bad enough to need stitches. She is fine and just needs to stay inside, with her little blue bandaged paw, until Saturday. Riley has a bite on her nose but it wasn't that bad. Anyway, the whole time I was tending to the bleeding dogs outside, Liam just played all by himself on the bed, happy as a clam every time I checked on him. Then at the vet, ( thank the Lord Mike was able to go with me so I could hold Liam and he could dog wrangle), Liam was sitting in his car seat, on the bench right next to me and Mike could hear him out in the hall yelling, "Whoooo!!!!" and having a grand old time by himself. Such an angel. I am so blessed. Today after nursing, Liam sneezed and shot milk out his nose! I didn't know he could do that! Such a little man of talents.
Today I went to my M.O.M.S. meeting (making our mothering significant), at Calvery Chapel and that was so nice. I met a lady who lives only 2 blocks away. We exchanged info so we can help eachother out if needed. That is a big relief to me because sometimes I feel a little isolated. If Mike hadn't been able to help me yesterday, how on earth could I have wrangled two VERY stong dogs and a baby? Riley weighs 72 pounds!!! A lady saw her in the waiting room and said, "Wow! That is not a dog who goes hungry!!!" I found that very funny. We don't call her Fat A$$ for nothing!!! I had to take Riley back to the vet to get her shots and was so lucky that Mike and his girlfriend Nicole were able to watch Liam. When I dropped him off he was sound asleep in his carseat and when I picked him up, he was sound asleep. Only difference was he was without his bib. Mike said, "It was strangling him in his sleep, so I took it off. No way was I going to let that happen. Not on my watch!" Apparently Liam woke up, watched 3 Popeye cartoons and went right back to sleep. It went very well!
I don't know if you can tell, but in that first picture up there of Riley, her tongue is hanging out like 5 inches on the floor! I couldn't stop laughing when I saw her.
Yesterday I bought Liam his little Santa suit for the Christmas pictures I will send out. Liam will be Santa, and if I can get them to sit still, the dogs will be his elves. I hope it comes out as wonderful as I have imagined for years that such a picture would.
Well, we are awaiting my Dad's test results, he is still in with the doctors. We are getting kind of worried because he has been in with the doctors for a while, my mom left in the waiting room, and everyone has gone home it seems. I will update here as soon as I know something. Loving you all, --Me