Fall Photos

Last weekend we met my sister-in-law and her family to take fall photos. It was a great day with great children who smiled for the camera and a great photographer, Ellen, who was able to keep everyone smiling. I don't know how she was able to get a 4 1/2 month old baby to grin for the camera but Caroline was more than happy to cooperate. Enjoy!

BFFs

Tonight after insisting Liam use the bathroom and having to hear about how "I really, really don't need to go" we had this conversation,

L: "You're NOT my BFF!"

M: "Okay."

L: "Do you  know what that means Mommy? BFF means really good friends. So, you're not my BFF! Daddy and me are BFFs!"

M: "Sounds good"

L: "Only me and Daddy! Not you!"

I think he was irritated that I didn't care that we are BFFs.

Honestly? It's better for him to figure that out now at the age of 3, instead of at the age of 14. I am soooo not his BFF.

Porcupine legs

Many times while Liam takes his bath I will roll my pant legs up and soak my feet while we play with his toys. He loves when I "take a bath with him" and tonight was no exception.

Until we had this conversation:

L: rubbing my leg with his face "Ouch Mommy! What is that!"

M: "What is what?"

L: "All those dark, sharp things coming out of your leg!"

M: "Hair."

L: "Well, you need to fix that. That hurts!"

It hasn't been that long since I've shaved. I think....

Wedding time!

Liam got to go to his very first wedding this past weekend.  Lindsay, Liam's babysitter, was the bride and Liam was so excited to go to her wedding. As it was his first wedding we had to explain a few things to him.

1) You don't get to wear your shark shirt to a wedding. Nice clothes are a must.

2) The wedding is not at Lindsay's house.

3) You will see your friends and can say hi but there is no playing with them during the ceremony.

4) The bride will be wearing a fancy dress. Not her usual attire at daycare-yoga pants and sweats. As she was coming down the aisle I told Liam, "here she comes!" To which he said, "Where? I don't see her." "Liam, she's the one in the white dress."

5) Giving of the rings. Liam was actually paying quite a bit of attention to the ceremony so during the ring part, I pointed to my wedding ring and then to Evan's. I'm not sure if he got it but it was worth a try.

6) After the wedding it is perfectly acceptable to go around to all of your friends and lift up your sweater to show them that you are wearing your very awesome shark shirt.

7) Tell the bride she is beautiful. Always.

8) Remind your Mom that if you see any of your friends that she can't hold your hand anymore. (yes, he actually said this, and yes, I wanted to cry)

Some good rules to remember for your next wedding that you may go to. You will see your friends but can't play with them until after the wedding and go ahead and wear that favorite shirt underneath your church clothes. Just remember no one can know about it until the reception.

A special kid

Because I don't want to forget all the things that make Liam who he is at 3 1/2...

He will say ba-lue for blue. Every single time.

He loves scary stories. He loves telling them and he loves hearing them.

The stories always start with "Once upon a time, there was a haunted house...."

Lasagna is always sagna. But used in the context of "I don't like sagna!"

He always wants to play superheroes. Girls can only be Wonderwoman, never a boy superhero.

He loves the mixed CD's that Evan has made for him. His favorite songs are still Rumor Has It by Adele, The dinosaur  song, the superman song and any of the other superhero anthems as well. (batman, spiderman)

He always wears socks at bedtime regardless of how warm it is.

He is perfectly content after taking his pull-up off to pull his pajama pants or pants back up with no underwear.

He thinks Mater's Tall Tales is the best show ever!

During bedtime prayers, we have to say, Dear Jesus, Liam prays for....then he will say, EVERYONE!

The only song he wants before bedtime is 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star'

After I sing this song to him and start to leave the room, he will act like I left out part of the song and insist that I sing it again.

His favorite stuffed animal is bear. Bear always sleeps with Liam, sometimes other animals get to join but always Bear.

He is a great kid and an amazing big brother to Caroline!

Four months

Caroline is now four months old. She is a very happy baby with occasional crying when tired, cold or hungry. We see lots of sweet baby smiles at the Walles house now and its beautiful!

Weight: 12 lbs 3 oz.  (17%)
Height: 24 1/2 inches (48%)

She is even smaller than big brother at this age! He was 12 lbs 9 oz at 4 months.

Likes: Caroline loves all of her baby toys, with her favorite still being the crawl ball that moves on its own in different directions. She can reach her hands out and pick up a toy in front of her, enjoys looking in mirrors and really loves books. Yay! She adores her big brother and any time he talks to her, sings to her or plays with her she just beams. It is so very cute! Caroline still loves bath time and is also still quite content sitting in her bouncy seat and laying on her play mat.

Her music preferences still consist of anything relaxing but the last couple of nights before putting her to bed she has become very irritated that I have waited so long to feed her and say good night. So at 8 o'clock when I try to get her to eat one last time she is already exhausted and will not eat resulting in lots of tears and screaming. Evan will come and save the day by taking her to listen to Kenny Rogers, 'Just Dropped In', from the Big Lebowski movie. She immediately calms down and falls asleep listening to this:

So we are now trying to put her to bed between 7 and 7:30. Not that the song isn't great and all. 

Dislikes: Well, clearly being tired, hungry or cold. These are the top three culprits of any fussiness. She will also voice her opinion if she is bored looking at her toys. 

Skills: Beginning this week Caroline can now blow raspberries. When Grammie was here on Monday she started blowing them at Liam, he would laugh at her and she would keep right on doing it. She is very good at scooting herself around so that she is facing the complete opposite direction of where you laid her. Rolling over from tummy to back is still possible but she doesn't do it often. She still loves her two middle fingers and puts herself to sleep almost every time. She now takes a morning nap around 9 or 10 and sleeps for 1-2 hours. Then also taking another nap around 1:00 pm and again sleeping from 1-3 hours. 

Caroline wants to eat every 3-4 hours during the day and every 4-6 hours at night. We moved her into her own room a couple of weeks ago thinking that maybe she would sleep longer during the night but that has not been a successful experiment. 

I think she's got the Liam stare down pat!

Always munching on those fingers

Picking your battles

For awhile now, Liam has started to blow his nose until snot is dripping down his face instead of asking for a Kleenex. This is the new way that he tells us that he needs a Kleenex. Despite every single time he begins to do this, we ask him to stop and to go get a Kleenex first before he starts shooting mucous out of his nose, he continues with this disgusting habit.

This morning:

(Liam blowing snot out of his nose)

M: Liam, that's gross. Go to the bathroom and get a Kleenex from Daddy.

L: Noooooo! I don't need to!

M: (ignoring my rebelling child while I pay bills online, because it's only 7:30 am and it's way too early to start this fight)

Cue Liam who begins kicking my chair that I'm sitting in making it make a very annoying noise.

M: Liam, don't do that. That's annoying.

L: But it's not blowing my nose. See? I listened Momma.

This could be a very long day.