Liam and Santa

Liam really surprised me. I thought he was going to have  fit when I put him on a stranger's lap. He did just fine! Not exactly smiling, but no tears either. 

Liam & Aunt Lacey

My sister came to visit last week. I would say she came to visit us, but I know she was really here to see Liam more than me! She hadn't seen him since the summer. Liam seemed to remember her though because he was completely comfortable with her. Liam likes my sisters.

Drinking the Green Monster kool-aid

I've been hearing about Green Monster smoothies for a long time now. I finally took the plunge and created my own blend.

2.5 cups fresh spinach, chopped
1/2 pouch Jamba Juice "Orange Dream Machine" smoothie blend
1 cup spiced apple cider

This was good! Liam hated the sound of the blender, but insisted on trying some.


For more info and recipes, check out Green Monster Movement.

Little Climber & some Thanksgiving crafts

I turn may back for one second...

It would have been nice to post my Thanksgiving crafts a bit earlier, but I barely got them done in time for turkey.

The googly eyes on this shirt lasted all of 5 seconds.

Liam's New Noise

He has been making this noise for a few days now. He was doing it so loud on Monday that I had to have my insurance agent call me back during nap time. I'm kind of proud though. I didn't teach him this, he figured it out on his own.

Family Pictures

I got my family pictures from our photographer this week. I love them.

This one was funny. The photographer tried to get him to walk holding our hands, but Liam just wanted to take off!

Can you tell I am holding Liam's arm down so he doesn't put his hand in his mouth? 

Liam and "doggy."

I love Liam's toothy grin in this picture.

An old gem

I was looking through photos from our family reunion this summer and came across this gem that I don't remember seeing before.

Happy Thursday.

Liam practiced eating with a spoon

and he kind of sucks at it.

Trunk-or-Treat

Liam was an adorable dragon for our church's trunk-or-treat party on Saturday night. He wasn't a big fan of the hood part though. Thankfully a cold front came through that day so he wasn't too hot in his costume and there were no mosquitoes outside.

I was a princess and Dan was a knight to go along with Liam's dragon costume. I had my costume from when I was Marie Antoinette a few years ago. Dan bought his costume and made the sword himself.

The funniest thing was when we were sitting in the trunk of my SUV handing out candy. Liam kept getting into the candy bowl and mauling pieces of candy.

Sneak Peek

Happy birthday to my sweet, one year old boy! I will post the rest of his cake smash pictures after I send out thank you notes from his party. Don't get too excited though. Liam doesn't like stuff on his hands, so the cake was not a big hit.

Nap Time Crafting:Birthday Invitations

(Blurred for privacy.) I hand made all of the invitations for Liam's birthday party. I took his photo at the pumpkin patch at a farm that our play group visited last week. I learned how to use the "cut and print" feature on my Silhouette machine. It is kind of awesome. I saved the tutorial on Pinterest on my Silhouette Projects board, though I do not have the available brain cells to track it down and link it right now.

In other crafting news, I have completed 6 trick-or-treat bags and have several others in various stages. I also have all of the pieces to the body of Liam's costume cut out and the front of the romper has a zipper in it. I hate working with the fabric that I chose, but it is perfect for the costume.

Here is a larger image of the photo I included in the invitation. I know you are just here to see pictures of my adorable baby anyway.

Tristan

What a handsome little guy! I have never seen such a head of blonde hair on a newborn.

A funny for your Wednesday

This is a shameless copy of one of Message With A Bottle's posts. At least I linked it, right?

Liam doesn't do rage very well on command. I tried to get him to do the ogre face, but he was far too happy this morning.

And far too silly.

He has never been put in his crib to play before. He discovered jumping on the mattress. I love my silly boy.

An Update on Liam (lots of pictures & videos)

Liam slept through the night for the very first time on Tuesday night! Of course I woke up a few times wondering why he hadn't woken up so I didn't sleep through the night, but it was nice not to have to get up. My boobs were about to explode by the time he got up. He hasn't repeated this yet, though he slept for 6 hours straight last night.

He is also walking! He can take about 8 steps at a time. He is really good at going back and forth between the dining room chairs and the china cabinet.

He gets into everything these days. I didn't know that he could get into the cabinet in the laundry room until I discovered him making angles in a pile of laundry detergent. Oops!

Is that a guilty face or what?

He also likes to take thing out of their containers. This includes all of his toys in the toy bin, pots and bowls out of the cabinets and all of the contents of my wallet.

He also has an affinity for hiding out with his toys. We have a large, empty box in our living room that his car seat came in. He goes into his little baby cave with his cars and alphabet magnets. The other day he also took the iron (cool and unplugged of course) across the living room and into the kitchen where he ironed the tile underneath his jumperoo.

I should also update on my recovery from postpartum depression. After 6 months of Zoloft, I started weaning myself off of the medication at the end of September. It's one of those things that will make your body freak out if you go cold turkey. I am taking one dose every 2.5 days now but have struggled with that long. By the time I am ready for another pill, I am stressed and angry. Not fun. Dan has tried to be patient and understanding, but he has had a lot on his plate lately, too. I'm trying not to push myself with the recovery. I had in mind that I wanted to be off the meds completely by Liam's birthday, but I just have to let that go.

I really can't complain too much. Liam is my joy. He brings me laughter during the day and peace at night. I cannot believe he isn't a baby anymore, though he will always be my baby.

I love this face!

Happy Boy!

Nap Time Crafting: Trick-or-Treat bags

Have you read the children's book If You Give a Moose a Muffin? It is a pretty accurate description of how my minds works. Since Liam's birthday is so close to Halloween, he is going to have a Halloween themed birthday party this year. I decided to make trick-or-treat bags as favors for his little friends. Then I decided that it would be even nicer if I could put the kids' names on their bags. Then I let my crafty friends talk me into sewing the names on instead of just using heat-n-bond. This doubled the time that it takes for me to make the simple tote bags, but they are adorable.

I used this tutorial to make a small tote bag. I found some really cute fabric.

This fabric is for the bags for the girls. 

I made a test bag to see how long it would take and how difficult it is before I started adding the names. This will be an extra for anyone who shows up without RSVPing.

Cute right? Even cuter with a name on it.

I really liked this project, though I hate making the handles because it requires so much ironing. I was able to get quite a bit done since we had a houseful of teenage boys playing Rock Band and Liam was fascinated with them and their game.

Hopefully I will be able to finish all of the bags before the party. Plus I am going to try to make Liam's Halloween costume and a bunch of decorations. I better quit blogging and get back to work!