Birthdays are great!

Liam turned 2 on the 11th but his birthday party was just this past Saturday so I decided to combine my posts to include the actual day and the party into one entry.

Growing up in the Fink house on our birthday meant streamers on your door and down the stairs, picking out what you wanted to eat for you birthday meal and of course what kind of dessert you wanted as well. I want to do the same for Liam so at 7 am I was standing on our little step stool outside his door hoping that he would not wake up while I taped ribbon on his door (as I was out of streamers).  I found some balloons and decided that we would have them on his floor for him to play with and of course party hats (which did not go over as well-see below). I may have not been as quiet as I had hoped and in the midst of my blowing up the balloons Liam awoke. So Evan threw the balloons in his crib with him! Even better!

We met Staley and Aunt Ellen at the Children's Museum here in Normal and the kids had a blast! Painting, playing dress up and watching an impromptu performance by another little girl were just some of the things that we did in the morning.






                                                                                       

















Staley stayed for naptime so once the kids woke up we played with the balloons! And as Staley says: "We hit them and go CRAZY!"

Liam's birthday party went great! Breakfast food, fruit and cake were had by all! Our theme was "things that Liam's loves." so that includes trucks and The Muppets! The kids made puppets out of brown paper sacks and the adults played guess that muppet or truck! Of course Uncle Blair won by guessing all of the muppets correctly and most of the trucks. (we should have skyped Uncle Ethan and Aunt Adriane in to play the game as well, it would have been a close game!) Liam loved all of his presents and especially loved all the people who made his special day so special!

Dancing while eating his cake!

Musical taste

The other day Evan asked Liam if he wanted to listen to some music while eating lunch. Liam of course said yes so Evan asked him what he wanted to listen to.

“Bob Dylan”

You can bet your months salary that Evan was one proud papa after that statement!

Being 2

Liam will be turning 2 on Friday and I want to document all the things that Liam does, likes and doesn’t like. Be warned, this post may bore you.

Liam was born at 8 lbs and 4 oz-a big baby, but since than has become our little guy. At 25 pounds and 33 inches in height he is the runt compared to his daycare friends and cousins. Liam is extremely agile and quick. Always running to the next thing and goes up and down the stairs all by himself. Constantly talking about how he is going to “fall down” the stairs but never has in the past. (we’re still not counting  that time at Aunt Stephanie’s) He climbs into his highchair at mealtimes and his carseat with no assistance from Evan or I. (and we better not even try to help him or he will start screaming) Liam also has begun to show an interest in the potty and will occasionally tell us that he needs to use it. The most recent being today where he peed and pooped (same time) and also at his daycare on Monday where he pulled down his pants and told his babysitter that he wanted to “pee”.

Liam has never tried to climb out of his crib and so therefore we will not be moving him to a big boy bed until he asks for one. Here’s hoping he stays in his crib until he’s 5.

Liam loves to play and has recently been doing lots of pretend play. He wants Daddy or Mommy to sit with him and will give us one of his animals or little people to begin the dialogue. We always start with “Hi dinosaur/tiger/bus driver, how are you? and Liam will always say “good”. But we can’t do anything that is not approved by Liam first. If we want to take our polar bear and send him down the water slide or have him climb the tree we have to suggest that Liam’s animal does it first. I guess making him feel like he thought of it before we did. (This is new for me and I am much less patient than Evan when Liam doesn’t let me free play. I think Evan is more understanding because he says that that was the way that he played when he was little as well, always getting upset when Ethan killed his superheros or changing the storyline of their playtime)

Liam can count from 1-10 but most of the time will go from 3 to 8, 9, 10 skipping the numbers in the middle. I believe that he knows his colors but whenever we ask him what color something is he will always say “green” and than look at us with a sly grin like he is playing the biggest trick on us. When we tell him that he is incorrect the second answer will always be “white”. And again we will see the sly grin creep back on his face. He is a whiz at his puzzles and has begun to identify his letters and also has started singing the alphabet song.

Liam still loves to read. I don’t think that he has a favorite book at the moment but he will pick out book after book and sit on our laps and want us to read to him. It’s one of my favorite times of our day together.

Naptime is still at 1:00ish and lasts for 1 1/2 to 3 hours, depending on the day. Bedtime is still at 8 and Liam usually does not wake up until 7:30 or 8 the next morning. A great sleeper! (and one reason why we are in no hurry to switch him to that toddler bed)

Liam is also a great eater. Usually eating whatever we place in front of him. But refusing to eat tuna, vegetable soup or most recently beer cheese soup. (which I cannot blame him, I do NOT recommend that recipe to anybody) He loves bananas, peas, corn, salmon and fruit snacks.

Liam does not like when he thinks he can do something by himself and we try to assist him. He definitely has tantrums, many times we have no clue as to why he is screaming, and visits the time out chair 3-12 times a week. (depending on the day) He is at the age where he is testing everything we say and do to see what we will really do when he disobeys us. So far he is losing in this trial and error period.

Liam loves watching TV (much like his parents) but we limit his time to one show or less a day. He LOVES the Muppets, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and watching Hickory Dickory Dock on YouTube.

Most recently Liam has begun to talk quite a bit. He repeats many words that we say and most of the time we can understand him. It is amazing to me how quickly his vocabulary has tripled in the last month! It is even more entertaining for Evan and I to watch him during pretend play. He will be talking up a storm with his animals/little people and it is all jibberish to us. But looking at him, he knows exactly what is going on in his pretend scenario.

We are still enjoying every single minute with this precious little boy from playing in the snow, building a snowman with Daddy or getting his first taste of hot chocolate. He brings so much joy into our lives and neither Evan nor I can remember what our life was like before him. We love you so much Liam!

2 year check in

Today Liam had his 2 year old wellness visit with his pediatrician. Liam now weighs in at 25 pounds (28th percentile) and is 33 inches in height (10th percentile). He has gained 4 pounds since his 18 month visit this past July and grown 3 inches!

The Dr and I are very happy with his growth but Liam was not too happy with the flu shot he had to have. (the only shot today) He was however extremely interested in the finger prick for the lead test, since our house is so old. The nurse was warning beforehand that I would need to hold his arm and him tightly while she squeezed the blood out of his finger to get a good sample. Liam was so relaxed and didn’t cry once while she was “milking” his finger. When he received the flu shot he cried like there was no tomorrow.

To top things off while I was getting my coat back on before we headed outside he ran into the full length glass window hitting his knee in the process. Think people running into glass doors and windows that you’ve seen on YouTube or America’s Funniest Home Videos; yep, that funny and than I remembered that I am his mother and should actually go check on him to make sure there were no broken bones or bleeding anywhere.

Don’t worry, he’s fine, and apparently only hit his knee by the “trick” wall.

To celebrate the great Dr.’s visit we went and got donuts. Cause that’s how I roll.

I rock!

Well apparently my awesomeness cannot be denied nor contained.

After my subwork the week of Christmas I got two calls on New year’s Day to fill in at both of the offices that I had just worked at. Apparently the flu is going around again and some hygienists were ill and they needed me to help fill in!

The pediatric office had called first and so that is where I worked this past Wednesday and Thursday. They wanted me on Friday as well but my schedule was already full with other appointments. On Thursday when I was getting ready to leave, the dentist wanted to speak to me about definitely having me back and how much they like me! He also wants to pay me more (um, yes please) than what they had been paying me for the last three days! The office manager has already offered me two days of subbing when one of their hygienist goes on maternity leave in 2-3 months. Also stating that all the staff really like me and the dentists feel I am very competent and do excellent work.

I mean, I know how awesome I am but doesn’t it always make you feel good to have someone else tell you as well?

I love working at this office and seeing children is a nice change of pace. Evan and I will have to sit down and figure out how many days I can really take for this maternity leave. If I took both days that they are offering plus continuing my three days at my current job that would mean I would be working 5 days a week. Something I don’t feel physically I can do.

But this is something that is very exciting for me and I had to share the good news!

The winter blues

Christmas is so over. I am more than sad. I love Christmas and all that it brings. I love the way my house looks with all the decorations up and how it makes my house more beautiful.

Today I am trying to put away Christmas. Evan is sad. He now apparently shares my love of Christmas decorations and how festive our house can look. He didn’t want me to take down the garland along our stairwell. He didn’t want me to take down the decorations above our kitchen cabinets either. He also didn’t want to get rid of our tree yesterday but that may have just been laziness.

Now that it’s January there is only springtime to look forward to. (maybe also two January birthdays will be celebrated very soon) Two more months of coldness and snow and than hopefully by March we will see the grass again. The leaves will come back on the trees and all will be well in the world again. I have never been a winter kind of girl. I love summer and all that it brings. My birthday, swimming, no coats, shorts, tank tops and flip flops.

Two more months to go. I can do it!

Happy New Year!

New Year’s Eve for our family consisted of me playing with my new IPhone and trying to figure out how to use it.

Liam played with his new toys and took a nice nap.

Evan played video games after I fell asleep on the couch.


What party animals!

Seriously though, Evan and I feel so blessed at what God has given us. A sweet loving little boy, a semi-obedient dog, a roof over our heads and a lot of love between our little family. We will continue to remind ourselves of all of our blessings and hope that you do as well.

Happy New Year! May 2013 continue to show us God’s love.

Sub work

After Christmas I was able to find some subbing jobs at a couple different offices here in Bloomington. Since the office I normally work at 3 days a week was going to be closed for two weeks at Christmas/New year’s I decided it would be nice to put myself out there.

My first job was at a pediatric dentist’s office and I was very excited but also a little nervous. I have been a dental hygienist now for 9 years and worked for the first 4 1/2 years at a general dentist working with many children. Now for the last 5 years I have worked for periodontist which has meant I only see adults. I remember loving working with kids but at times it can also be very stressful. I had my kid books packed just in case we would be waiting for the dentist but we had no time to use them! I believe I heard the front staff say that we would be seeing 86 patients that day in 8 hours time. Wow! We were so busy there wasn’t even time to get a drink of water!

It was great though! I really enjoyed working there, the kids were great (I only had one 5 year old boy cry), the staff was very helpful and the dentist was very nice. I really hope that they call me back to work with them again!

The second job was at a general dentist’s office which was also very nice. Again a very nice staff and great patients. This day was much slower paced with myself only seeing 6 patients. I also hope that they call me again to come fill in when they need me.

In case you are confused as to why I am filling in at other offices, my current job has a lot of “vacation time.” And while at the moment I am still allowed to come in and work I thought it would only be beneficial to get myself out there and meet other offices and dentists. I am not looking for another job but if I ever need to, it will be nice to know some people.

Since I worked the Thursday and Friday after Christmas in Bloomington that meant that Liam stayed in Canton with my mom, sisters and his cousins. I’m pretty sure that he did not miss me or Evan one bit!

Christmas 2012

What an amazing and fun Christmas this year for our family! We were so busy but it was really awesome to watch Liam open up his presents this year. I am about to bombard you with a million pictures so here’s hoping that I can put them in the correct order.

Christmas Eve was a fun night in Canton where we went to Christmas Eve service and my family plus Katie Rude, a family friend, played the handbells. This was the second year that we have done this at the church I grew up in. A lot of fun! Beforehand, Grandma decided to give a gift early to the kids, their very own keyboard. It may have been noisy but once again a lot of fun!

Thankfully, Liam slept through the night, unlike last year, so Christmas morning was enjoyed by all. We opened stockings together followed shortly by all the Christmas presents. There were many favorite toys at the Fink Christmas but its possible that the dinosaurs that Aunt Adriane got Liam and Eli were the most played with during and after Christmas.

One thing that I wanted to do this year for my nieces were to make them each their own apron. With my mothers help I was able to complete this project, and I think they turned out great!





















The Walles Christmas was also fabulous with lots of laughter and love between cousins (and the rest of us). Since Evan had to work the next day he went back to Bloomington while Liam and I came back to Canton so we could spend some more time with family. Liam was exhausted, fell asleep in the car and only allowed me to brush his teeth once we got to my parents because his aunts were making silly faces at him. The rest of the pictures are of the rest of the time in Canton and also one fun picture of Elliott using the binoculars that we got him for Christmas. It was a wonderful holiday and I am reminded of all the blessings that God has given us as a family.