Anybody seen Tim Simons?

I found him!

Liam's so adorable! He's becoming cuter and cuter each day. He is starting to do this thing at night, right when we're changing him for bed, where he'll start kicking and acting like he's running or dancing on his changing table and he'll just squeal in delight! It's absolutely adorable! It kills me every time! He's sitting up on his own really well, too! I had him sitting up last night, with a blanket behind him, just in case he fell, and was tickling him and he'd laugh and laugh and laugh. He's the most adorable child ever. In my humble opinion.

We went to LaSalette on Saturday with Jill, Pam, Brian & Emma. Emma seemed to enjoy the lights more than Liam. He was a bit cranky, but not too bad. I don't blame him, though. It was a different environment, cold, and a little blah. And we kept him up too late. But it's all good. He got his revenge by waking up at 6:10 AM on Sunday, when he knew that mommy had to drive to NJ on Sunday afternoon. Not fun. Was very tired!

Went to NJ on Sunday, so that I could do inventory at one of our warehouses on Monday morning. I stayed at my aunt's house, which was really nice. I got to see my cousins and went out to dinner with my cousin Kelly. We got to catch up, which is nice, since I won't see her at Christmastime. I should get down there more often, but with a baby, it's so hard!

Mom and I make our traditional Christmas cookies tonight. We'll probably make 300 - 500 tonight and then another bunch on Friday for Christmas Eve at my grandmother's house and the day after Christmas at my in-laws. It should be tiring, since we won't be starting our cookie making until 5:00 PM. I will be sufficiently dead on Wednesday. But my end of year vacation starts on THURSDAY!! Yeah! No more work from Dec 22 - Jan 3! Not that's going to be particularly restful, since we're going up to Maine for four of the days, but it will be great to spend so much time as a family, since Bill has Dec 23 - Jan 3 off. So nice!

I will definitely try to post again before Christmas, but if not, have a very merry (happy!!) Christmas and we'll catch you in the New Year!

The Fastest Six Months in Recorded History!

Look at him... completely buried in a book, just like his daddy.

Anyway, hi folks! Erin's husband Bill here. Erin went to bed super early tonight, so she wanted me to go on her blog and write an entry commemorating the fact that today is Liam's six month birthday.

Six months. Wow. I cannot believe how fast the time has gone by. It's really amazing. But even more amazing is how far we've all come in that time. Six months ago, they handed us this wrinkled, wiggly little guy and basically said "hey, here ya go, don't screw up!" You'd think a major life upheaval like that would come with instructions or something, but no, you'd be wrong. The early days were manic, frightening, and very, very tiring. Any first-time parent who tells you differently is lying. But gradually, we got used to him, and he got used to us, and now the whole parenthood thing is just another part of our everyday lives. An amazing and blessed part, but still... this is what we do now, it's just another aspect of life. But - and I can only speak for myself here, though I'm sure Erin does this, too - every now and then, it all still takes me by surprise, the daily reality of it all slips away, and I just have to say to myself, "wow." And I hope I never lose the "wow-ness" of this whole parent/child thing, because even if it does just make up another aspect of your life, it's still a pretty miraculous happening when all's said and done.

Okay, enough philosophizing; as Erin can attest, I'm tend to get a bit sentimental. Today wasn't only Liam's six month birthday, but also his six month doctor's appointment, so here's the tale of the tape on that. The boy weighs in at 19.6 pounds and is 28 inches long, putting him in the 90th percentile of kids his age for height and weight (meaning 10 percent or fewer children his own age are any bigger). I don't remember the exact head measurement, but it's somewhere in the neighborhood of 45 centimeters; considering the size of the rest of him, this is a little smallish, which I'm hoping means that maybe he won the genetic lottery and didn't inherit my enormous noggin. But still, all around, he's a big kid. As big as a lot of 1 year olds, in fact. Though it's not like he's fat, either... he's just a big boy. There's a lot of height on both sides of the family. And as one of my aunts likes to remind me - entirely too often, in fact - I was the biggest baby she ever saw, so genetically speaking, Liam comes by it naturally enough.

So happy half birthday, Liam. Mommy and Daddy love you very much, always and forever.

And thanks for reading, folks! Erin will be back with the next entry, and she'll most likely spend a lot less time waxing philosophical than I just did. She's good like that.

Jill & Her God Babies

So Jill, the pagan/catholic/witchy/religious/faithful best friend, has three God babies now! We went to Emma's baptism yesterday, which was really fun! Liam was such a good boy. No breakdowns! He hung out at the church and played with Dino. He kept tapping Jill's Dad and Lise on the backs, like he wanted to play. He's so cute! Then he fell asleep for a while (I don't blame him!), and then we went over to the Pump House for the reception. He had some lunch and then took a little nap. Emma was so cute in her heirloom baptismal outfit. Apparently, though, she had to basically be stuffed in it, since she's so big! But I think that Liam is going to end up being huge, as of Friday. We go for his 6 month visit on Friday and I swear... I think he's going to be over 18 lbs. He's huge! Emma's 21 lbs and she's only 9 months old! :-) I love chubby babies!

Less than two weeks til Christmas! Yeah! We're going up to Maine for Christmas, and hope to visit some friends that we haven't seen in, well, at least a year! It should be a fun, if not incredibly stressful, time.

Skip this one if you're on dial up, because it's "A Very Christmassy Liam"

Liam, Lindsey & Lucas at Lindsey & Lucas's combined birthday party on Sunday. They're so cute together!

Our tree!

Damn Mrs. Claus. Screwing up Liam's first photo with Santa! Oh well. At least he isn't freaking out!

Liam can kind of sit up on his own now and this is him being very proud of himself!

Happy Christmas!

The British are so cute with their "Happy Christmas" instead of "Merry Christmas!"

Well, I survived yesterday. My mom and I went to the Citizens Bank Children's Christmas party in the early afternoon. Liam got to see Santa and he didn't even cry. He actually held Mrs. Claus' finger! Like he does with the fam! He cried a little bit while we were waiting in line (for like 30 - 45 minutes... poor planning, Citizens!) to see Santa, but right before we went up on stage, the woman standing next to us had a reindeer ears headband on and Liam was completely mystified by how they worked. He just stared at her for like five minutes before we got on stage. So he was chill once he sat down with Santa and Mrs. Claus.

He got a cute toy - a little ball that has a mirror and balls rolling around inside of it. He thought it was cool, but totally just wanted to hang with Dino. After we fed him at the party, we drove over to Coventry for my cousins' birthday party. It was Lucas' 1st birthday party and Lindsey's 6th birthday party. They are SUCH good kids. Lucas was standing up and even walking a little bit on his own. By Christmas, I'm sure he'll be walking all around the living room! Lindsey was adorable. She's so good natured! I've got pictures of the Lindsey holding Lucas and my mom holding Liam, but they're at home, so I'll have to post tomorrow, when I'm trapped inside, due to the obnoxious amount of snow we're supposed to get. My rule stands. If the flakes fly, I don't come into work. I have a cable modem and wireless networking, so I stay home and chill.

Bill and I took this picture on Saturday when we were putting up the tree. Liam was in his swing and Bill was singing to him and he was just smiling!! So we're going to use it for our Christmas cards, which I've already stamped and gotten completely ready, except for the photo. So I'm going to Wal Mart at lunch to try and get a bunch of pictures printed down, so that I can finish putting the pictures together while I'm snowed in tomorrow night.

Isn't he the most adorable child ever!!! I'll also post pictures of my tree tomorrow too! It's so cute. Oh yeah! And Liam (5 1/2 months old) is ALREADY bigger than Lucas (1 year and some change). It's so funny! I went to pick up Lucas, to have him sit on Lindsey for the picture taking time, and I almost threw him through the ceiling, since I was expecting him to be so heavy! He weighs about 17 or 18 lbs. Liam probably already weighs 18+ lbs. We're going for his 6 month visit on 12/16, so I'll be able to CONFIRM how much he weighs, but he's a tubba. But he's not, like, a fat baby. He's just big-boned. I don't want to give him a complex. But Bill was a tubba baby too! I saw a picture of him when he was a few months old and he looked like he weighed about 40 lbs. Now I know this isn't true, but he was a HUGE baby.

More tomorrow!

Videos of Liam

Check out my cute kid (and husband), laughing their arses off over the weekend.

Or Liam & my dad hanging out on my birthday.

Or more Liam & Bill laughing over the weekend.

This post is actually about Thanksgiving!

This is Liam on Thanksgiving. He was kind of pooped by this point. He wanted to eat before we went over to my Aunt's for Thanksgiving, so we fed him the requisite (how the hell do you spell that word??) sweet potatoes and peas (along with the rice and oatmeal cereal), so that he could feel a part of the celebration.

All in all, Thanksgiving was fun. We ate lots of good food and spent time with the fam, which is always important. Bill and I hung out with Liam in the morning and let him play in his Exersaucer (he loves to poop in his Exersaucer) and just relaxed. Bill and I both had Wed - Sat off and I had Sunday and Monday, as well. It was so nice to have some time to relax. Only 15 more working days until my Christmas vacation! I think I can make it!

Happy Thanksgiving! Eat Lemonheads!

So I just discovered that MTV is good for something. I know, I know. It's certainly not music videos or songs by white people, but it has a little something I like to call mtv.com. Yeah! mtv.com actually shows music videos! By white people! Like Juliana Hatfield and The Lemonheads. It's not all bumpin' and grindin' and crunkin' and dunkin'. And whatever. Do you all remember when white people used to make music. It was 1994, I believe.

So yeah... And The Lemonheads have some big celebs in their videos! Angelina Jolie and Amy Smart are in "It's About Time." Chloe Sevigny is in "Big Gay Heart."

I really would like a Lemonheads DVD to come out with all of their videos. I'm on a Lemonheads kick lately!

I think that Evan Dando rules. It's just too bad that he was/is (?) such a druggie. He had such a sweet voice and a cute country-type sound to him, that is refreshing in some of the hard-grungy type music of the day. I like to think that he and Juliana were truly meant for each other, in a sort of poetic Romeo & Juliet, destined for bad things type of way, but all in all, lovers in a dangerous time, type of thing.

Off to watch more videos! Come see!

If you like Sarge - Comment me!

I was looking at my counter stats (I'm now mildly obsessed) and I saw that someone found my site through asking for lyrics to "I Took You Driving" by Sarge. Well - I love Sarge! And no one has ever HEARD of Sarge... So please - comment me, if you have heard of Sarge and indeed, enjoy their music. I'm sad they're no longer around. All of the good things go away - Like "Covington Cross" and "Swan's Crossing." Damn it.

I would really like Juliana Hatfield to become my friend

I am so impressed with Juliana Hatfield. She's got to be the most talented singer/songwriter/guitarist/rockin' chick ever. Screw Janis Joplin and all these other drugged out people who "died before their prime." No... Try killed themselves with drugs and were always losers (ie. Kurt Cobain - loser).

But not Jules. I love her. She has the cutest little voice that just reminds you of a little girl asking for candy and holding her dad's hand. But she's also ferocious when she wants to be. And timid. And confused. Above all else, she's human. She has never come across as anything but herself.

I've seen her live numerous times. From 1994 through 2004. She did a Newbury Comics in-store performance, where I got to meet her. I was shell shocked. She is my idol. I couldn't speak. Luckily, I had Bill there with me (Jules is partly the reason why we even became friends in the first place) and he helped me gush that she had been my most FAVORITE singer ever since I was 16. I was totally star struck. We took pictures of her and her dog. We went to see her at T T the Bear (I think) in Cambridge two (?) years ago and she walked right past me. She's sooo thin. Like a china doll. A tall china doll. I want to feed her hamburgers and give her a hug. Bill and I used "Might Be In Love" as our wedding song. I want to sit down with her and find out about her life. I want to know who she loves and what she hates and how she comes up with the hooks and swings in her songs.

Juliana, if you're out there. I'm a good person and I think you are a good person and I think we should be friends. You're beautiful.

The cup smelleth like pee

My water bottle smells like urine. It's making me kind of nervous, so I'm not drinking out of it today. I left it at work all weekend. You never know with these crazy banker types.

So we went over to Pam & Brian's on Saturday night for dinner. It was an enjoyable time, save my complete and total allergic reaction to their cats. I don't know what it is. With cats I'll usually have a slight reaction... An a-choo here, an a-choo there, nothing too bad. With their cats, I have a complete sinus breakdown from the minute I step in their house to the minute I leave, gasping for air and needing to go home and go right to bed. But it was still very enjoyable. Emma is 3 1/2 months older than Liam and they are SO ADORABLE together. Here are some photos for your visual enjoyment!

Emma was very interested in Liam's Dino toy. Yes, this is the infamous Dino! Liam loves Dino!

Emma is a very aggressive little girl and immediately took Dino - Liam kind of looked up at me like, "mommy?" But they ended up sharing very well.

Liam & Emma are such good friends! Emma likes to hold Liam's hand.

Happy Un-birthday to Liam!

I'm not terribly creative with my blog titles. I guess I could call the blog something completely random, like "Feuding coffee cups" or "The crosses on a calendar," but that's all I can think of when I look at my desk. I'm not terribly creative anymore. I used to be. I used to write poetry (really really BAD poetry) all the time and little short stories and make up scenes in my mind, but I've turned unbearably analytical. Give me an Excel document with a bunch of data and let me go to town. I'll turn it into a Pivot table faster than you can say "what the hell is a Pivot table?"

Anyway! It was Liam's five-month birthday yesterday. I was busy with work related items yesterday during the day and got to take a bunch of pictures of him last night, so here are some updated Liam photos for your pleasure!

Liam was just maxin' and relaxin' in his pack 'n' play when I got home from work.

Dad found it incredibly entertaining to take a photo of Liam trying to "eat" from a big ladel (ladle?) spoon. Liam is adorable.

This is Liam sticking his tongue out, while I'm trying to take a nice photo of him. I'm getting stressed, because I am making our Christmas cards this year and I want to take a nice photo of Liam to put on the front of the card and he HATES the camera. Like ridiculous. Either that, or he's watched too much ANTM with me and is instead trying to feign indifference in the hopes of becoming America's Next Top Model.

I find this photo to be completely adorable, except for the devil eyes. Oh well. My son is Damian. But at least he's a cute Damian!

Best Friends!

Yeah! It's my dad and Liam on my birthday. We had just given him a bath and I put him in his hippo outfit. It's so cute! Liam's been doing so well. He loves to eat! He's had rice and oatmeal and now we've introduced applesauce and sweet potatoes and now we're starting him on bananas. It will be peas next week! I think he's going to lose his mind on Thanksgiving... All of these people eating food and he can't take part!! I'll have to bring extra baby food with me, just so he doesn't freak! He just stares at you, if you're eating. He absolutely loves to watch people eat. He's so cute!

Happy Un-birthday to me!

Yeah! Yesterday was my birthday, but since I never have the inclination to play on my computer at home (nevermind trying to find the time to put the baby in the exersaucer and NOT have him flip out when I leave the room for 5 seconds to check my email), so I had to wait til I got to work.

My birthday started off rather wretched, but have no fear, it got better.

I went to North Conway on Friday with my mom to do a bunch of Christmas shopping. We stayed over Friday night and took MAJOR advantage of the sales tax free shopping. Wow... My mom has a Volvo with a HUGE trunk and large backseat and it was COMPLETELY FILLED with Christmas presents. So we came home on Saturday afternoon, so that we could celebrate my birthday that night, since Bill has to work on Sundays.

So we left North Conway at around 12:07 (I'm particular) and were making great time down 16 heading home. Then we got past Ossipee and we see a few cars stopped and a little further up, an ambulance. Okay - people are gawking. I'm from RI, I realize this happens. No... They had STOPPED TRAFFIC on the ONLY ROAD TO AND FROM NORTH CONWAY on a HOLIDAY WEEKEND, because there was a three car accident in the ditch. Apparently there was also some glass in the road. So we sat... and sat... and sat... and sat... in the car... for... an... HOUR! What the Christ? Seriously people. I've seen tractor trailers flip over on 195 and spew gas all over the road and I still got by in like 15 minutes! What... Did they have Michael Brown managing this accident? Good Job, Brownie! So I walked up a bit to see the accident, as did many other people, and apparently they had cleared a way, but still weren't allowing any cars. My efficient nature was severely punished that day. So after sitting for an hour, we finally got moving again.

So we finally got back to RI around 5 and we met Bill and Liam at my parent's house. We had a nice dinner, take-out from Gregg's, with The Giving Cake for dessert. Then we got home. Well... It was a bit chilly - no Maine/New Hampshire butt-ass freezing, but still... pretty chilly. So I went to turn up the heat. I got changed, fed the baby, watched some ANTM, and an hour later, as I'm getting ready to go to bed, I look at my clock, which has a thermometer, and it says 59. It was 59 degrees in my house? I have a newborn! This can't be! So I look at the thermostat and I had put it up to 68 and it was still around 60. Not good.

So Bill went downstairs and re-booted the furnace. It made some horrible noises, came on for a minute and then turned off again. Shit. So I went down - handy-girl that I am (NOT), pushed the reboot button, heard the horrible noises, accompanied by a PLUME of WHITE SMOKE out of our furnace and panicked. My child is going to freeze to death tonight, the house is going to catch on fire, there are lima beans under my fingernails... You know. My normal panic attack. So I'm freaking out and I'm pissed off, because I just want to sleep and enjoy my night before my birthday.

So we give up and I go to put a blanket and hat on the baby and he's nice and snuggled and warm, so I really don't have that much to worry about, but I still do. I wake up at 6:30 in the morning and it's 54 degrees in my room, according to my clock. Jesus. So I call my dad and he comes over to tell us we're screwed. Thanks, Dad. So Bill calls the landlord. I don't call the landlord. I hate the landlord. He tells us that he's on his way out, but we should call Charles o'Moron, the ass who (ha... I wrote whole at first) first installed the furnace. So Bill calls Charles o'Moron and we get his answering machine, which again, sends me into a panic and I put Liam into a winter suit, so that he resembled the little boy in "A Christmas Story" and was supremely unhappy about it. So I got my stuff together and went over to my parents with Liam, after Charles o'Moron finally called back to let us know that he would be over in "about an hour." Bill stayed at the house to play the role of concerned father figure. I don't play that role well.

So Charles o'Moron found that the oil filter was all shitted out and it should be cleaned once a year. Did you all know that??? Apparently it blocked all of the oil from actually getting to the furnace, which was what was causing us to have to re-boot the house every five minutes.

So I had a very stressful birthday morning. Then Jill came by and took me to see "Jarhead" and have lunch at Smokey Bones. "Jarhead" was VERY GOOD. Not just because Jake Gyllenhaal is a god among men, but because the acting was phenomenal and the story was intriguing. It is certainly a movie that will spark discussion... Discussion such as... "When did this movie take place?" "Was it 1990 or three days ago?" "I forget... Who is our enemy now?"

Then I spent more time with the boy at my parent's house. I was bloody tired and had to get into work a butt-ass o'clock this morning to do an upgrade, so I went to be early after watching "Reunion." Damn, that's a good show!

Wow... This is probably the longest post EVER in the history of blogs. I'm sorry.

Angry & Unrepresented

Okay - I'm officially angry at these terrorist assholes.

Yesterday was my anniversary, as stated in the previous blog. Bill and I have been happily married for two years. So I go to my dad's yesterday after work to pick up the boy and I see that there's a whole bunch of bombs that went off in Jordan. I don't really think all that much of it... See, I'm of the opinion that that whole region is screwed and I'm never surprised when bad things happen.

But yesterday was different. The bomb went off at this couple's wedding. They have the same anniversary as me. And during their wedding/reception, the bomber came in and killed their fathers. That pisses me off. I have no problem with these psycho assholes killing themselves, but don't take innocent lives. These dads were just trying to enjoy their son and daughter's wedding and they are viciously murdered. I'm pissed.

I can't imagine if that had happened at my wedding. What would I do without my dad? And Bill without his dad? My dad is one of my best friends??? And my son's best friend! I'm pissed.

I think that public castration is a good form of punishment for these assholes.

I'm angry and unrepresented.

Grrr.

It's My Anniversary!

Yeah for Bill and I! We've made it! Two years and counting! I must say, this has certainly been the best two years of my life. I married my best friend and we have the most wonderful child in the whole wide world. It's pretty great. I'm just sad that I don't get to go to Iceland and Scotland every year!

And on that note (not really)...


You are Mike Teavee! There is nothing that can
match your logic; at least, you think so. While
you may have higher grades or have more book
smarts then others, you shouldn't think that
your better then others. Also, try to use that
brain of yours on something other then
electronics. "Why don't you try simply
reading a book? Or do you just stop there to
look?"

What Child of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

I find this quiz suspect.

You're Spike! You're definately one foxy
beast!You're smart, but you're too impulsive.
Try and think things through.You're really
lovable and just... neat!

Which Angel character matches your personality?
brought to you by http://quizilla.com

Some of my favorite lyrics

So I just downloaded three Lemonheads CDs onto my iPod and started listening to them. The song "The Outdoor Type" has one of my new favorite song lyrics, so I figured that I would post a few of my other favorites as well:

The Lemonheads - "The Outdoor Type" - I can’t go away with you on a rock climbing weekend. What if something was on tv and it’s never shown again.

Sarge - "I Took You Driving" - I'm just so sick of boys in bands with all these egos out of hand. Sure as hell not gonna sit around and wait. If he wants some girl to understand, turn adoration on demand, I think it's time he starts looking some other place. - Where was this when I was in college????

onelinedrawaing - "Bitte Ein Kuss" - It's time for a bit of in the bed disco.

Juliana Hatfield - "Forever Baby" - I hold him like a loaded gun, I know he might go off with anyone.

The Lemonheads - "Alison's Starting To Happen" - She is the puzzle piece behind the couch, which makes the sky complete.

More to come... Any favorite lyrics of yours???

The Ride In iPod Playlist

So I thought that it might be interesting for all you bloggyverse people to know what I listen to on the ride in to HELL (East Providence, RI) every morning. It's not that I hate my job, I just hate the location of it. Bloody Washington Bridge!

The Sound of Settling - Death Cab for Cutie
Bitte Ein Kuss - onelinedrawing
I Took You Driving - Sarge
Beverly Hills - Weezer
I Wonder Why the Wonder Falls - Andy Partridge
Alex Chilton - The Replacements
All For Swinging You Around - The New Pornographers
Am I Wrong - Lovespitlove

This is the point when I normally get to work, so this second part is technically "The Ride Back"

Best Imitation of Myself - Ben Folds
Back and To The Left - Texas Is the Reason
If I Can't Change Your Mind - Sugar
Green Light - Jeremy Toback
Guernica - Brand New
Movies - Alien Ant Farm
Alec Eiffel - The Get Up Kids
Wave of Mutilation - The Pixies

I just need to add "Sugar, We're Going Down" by Fall Out Boy and I think it will be perfect!

I hope you have enjoyed this installment of Erin's iPod playlist... Brought to you by the letter I and the number 4.

Halloween with Liam!

So Halloween was fun. Bill had the day off (in exchange for working on Columbus Day), so I left work early and came home to have lunch and watch "The Great Pumpkin" (or as the kids pronounce it, punkin) with my "baby" and my baby. Then we got Liam dressed and went back up to my work to show him off to my colleagues. Now, did I mention that I LOATHE the location where I work. It took us 45 minutes to get there, at 2 PM... No one should be on the road at 2 PM. Then on the way from my work to Bill's work, Liam started freaking out, because he was hungry, so Bill hopped out of the car and fed Liam in the back seat, while I navigated the back roads of Providence. Then we visited Bill's colleagues and then went to my parents house. Liam was amazingly good throughout the day. We went over to my best friend's dad's house at night, to visit with her family. Jill's sister Pam has a daughter, Emma, that is about 3 1/2 months older than Liam, and she was so cute. She dressed up as a flower and HATED EVERY MINUTE OF IT. She cried and she cried! I've got cute pictures to prove it!

Liam and I before we started our Halloween festivities.

Grrr... I'm a dinosaur. I'm going to eat you!

Liam and Bill hanging out at my parents house.

Liam eating Dino.

Emma having a nervous breakdown and Liam not caring. He's such a boy... :-)

Getting ready for bed that night.

Bizzare, but I'm bored...

You're The Enter Key!You're the grounded, focused one. You have goals
that you always strive for, and you aren't
afraid of a little self-discipline. You're a
true friend who values loyalty. Just try to
loosen up a bit.

What computer key are you?
brought to you by
Quizilla

What Essential Indie Rock Album Are You?

You are Belle & Sebastians If Youre Feeling
Sinister.


What essential indie rock album are you?
brought to you by Quizilla


This is kind of neat, since I really enjoy Belle & Sebastian and Bill and I were just listening to this on my iPod in the car last night!

The Exersaucer!

We got Liam an Exersaucer (well, Baby Einstein stationary entertainer... bah) last weekend for him to play in. Take a look at what a big boy he is!

His feet just barely touch the bottom on the lowest setting, but he's still a big boy. At his four-month check up he was 16.3 lbs (75th percentile) and 26 3/4 inches long (97th percentile). He's long and lean, just like his daddy!

Aww, he's playing with the sun. He really liked the sun. He kept laughing at it, since it has a rattle inside.

Now he's declared war on the sun! I will kill thee! Never surrender! Attica!

Anyway - he's doing really well. He's such a cutie! He loves hanging out with my dad during the day. I watched him eat his cereal with my dad this morning and it's amazing. He'll eat the cereal and then look at my dad and open his mouth, like "gimme more!" And if you pause to, say, clean off his face, he FREAKS! He's like "no! I want more cereal now!!" Ahhh... A boy with no patience. Just like his mommy!

Cereal!

So, we gave Liam cereal for the first time this weekend. Here is a visual story of his first meal.

"Um, Mommy. This stuff is kinda gross. Can't we just go back to the bottle??"

"Well, I kinda like the spoon! This isn't so bad!"


"Hey, now that I'm a big boy, do I get to stay out late at night and party?"

"Nevermind! I stick to my first assertion. This stuff sucks!"

"Ahh... Much better."

He's done much better with the cereal. Apparently the trick is to basically shove it down his gullet as fast as you can. He's up to around 2 Tbsp of rice cereal twice a day and my dad loves feeding him. More to come soon! I'll put together a new post tomorrow about his first time in his Exersaucer!

Fallish Weather

I love fall. Plain and simple. I could honestly have just finished my blog with the first sentence. I love the crisp breezes, the leaves (not raking them, though), the sweater weather, the jeans. The only remorse I have regarding fall is the fact that I really shouldn't wear my Crocs anymore. That probably won't stop me from wearing them, but I really shouldn't. I love them.

Next week is Halloween. Liam's going to dress up as a dinosaur. He's going to be so cute! Bill and I will be boring parents, but I'm okay with that. I'm too tired to think about Halloween costumes. My mom bought a new car this weekend. Very fancy schmancy. I did a bunch of chores and errands on Sunday, while my dad watched the baby. It was nice to actually feel like I was getting things done. I started my Christmas shopping and like everything else, I became obsessed with finishing what I started, immediately. I got stuff for Emma and Lily (my friend's babies), Lucas (my cousin's baby), Pam & Brian (my best friend's siter & brother-in-law), Bill... It was wonderful. Stop me before I shop again.

Apple Picking

Yeah! Liam is 4 months old! So to celebrate, we went apple picking with Auntie Jill. Wow. Never go apple picking with your 4 month old without husband/baby-daddy back up. It's hard. You can't pick up your son, a pumpkin, a bottle and his Nuk at the same time. It's just not physically possible. I also suggest going on a day when there hasn't been flood warnings and 50 mile an hour winds possible.

But regardless. It was a fun day. Here are some of the highlights!

I am tempting Liam with a refreshing apple treat! He wants none of it.

This was taken moments before a complete Liam breakdown, in which he decided, in no uncertain terms, that he wanted his bottle NOW!

Here is Bill and Liam at Bryant, when we went to visit Bill after the apple picking debacle.

So... All in all, it wasn't the worst day in history. It was just really stressful to have Liam in the front-pack, which he doesn't really enjoy to begin with, and have him be hungry and have to feed him whilst sitting on a bale of hay and taking a hayride. Then to be around really annoyingn families who are also apple picking, but have 2349782049857230498 kids with them. So I think that it would have been much more enjoyable if Bill had been able to come with us. But oh well.

Liam stomp puny Spider-Man & Dino!

I WILL KICK YOUR ASS, SPIDEY!

YOU TOO, DINO! DON'T THINK I'VE FORGOTTEN ABOUT YOU!

This actually IS a good band name!

Your Band Name is:

The Crispy Geishas

Band Name Generator

My kid is a punk rocker

Look at him throwing the devil sign. He's punk as f*** in his "I love big hugs" sleeper. What up!

I made myself laugh again. It's like crapping the futon, thinking about my beautiful little boy as a punk rocker.

So yeah... We had a nice long weekend, though it was not long enough, even with having Friday as my "not really working" day. I worked out with my boss to work four days a week at ten hours per day, so that I can stay home on Friday. Bill and I bought a new computer on Monday! It's beautiful. We still have to name it. And I put it all together myself. It helps that computers are basically prepared so that they are out of the box onto the internet in two seconds. But still. Me! I did it myself! Then I put together the wireless network for the house. And it works! Kind of. I can get onto my work outlook on my laptop, but then it keeps dropping the connection. But I don't think it's me. I think that they did something funky on my laptop to not let me access the VPN client via wireless network. So I've got to call my helpdesk and find out what I've got to do. I'm annoyed by this.

Wow. So I was just going to write, "so yeah..." And looked up and I had just written that in my last paragraph. I guess "so yeah..." is the blog version of "like." Oh well.

So I've gotten into reading other people's blogs (I don't know if there was supposed to be an apostrophe on the "people's blogs" thing... Bill, Annie??) and since I have no idea how to post that sidebar thing (BILL!!), I'll just namedrop them here.

My hubby - Trusty Plinko Stick
Jocelyn - Desperately Seeking Sanity
Annie - senselessness
Dan - The Jimmy Gatz Conspiracy
Jim - Jim doesn't have a name to his blog (that I can see), so I'll just call it Jimville

Look at me, breaking out the hyperlinks. I rule!

So go visit them - especially Jim's - at least he writes everyday! Gives me something to do when I first get to work and am annoyed that I am in fact at work!

Let's Try This Again... Go Sox!

Alright... I understand that the Red Sox are playing a very good team in the White Sox, but come on. Let's get it going, guys! They come on in five minutes, so I'm hoping to sit with my hubby and baby and watch the game. We'll see how that goes.

My work email keeps shitting the bed (or as Dan would probably put it, crapping the futon) (that made me chuckle), so I haven't been able to check my email since like 10:30 am. Oh well. Citizens will go one with out me.

I'm going to use that... Crapping the futon. That's really funny.

Per usual, here's a cute new picture of the boy:

Go Sox!

I put Liam in his Red Sox outfit yesterday and they clinched the AL wild card spot! Go Sox!

So, like I said to my parents yesterday, it's like Groundhog Day for the Sox. The Indians choked, so we get another month of baseball.

This is scary true...

Your Birthdate: November 13

Being born on the 13th day of the month should help make you a better manager and organizer, but it may also give you a tendency to dominate people a bit. You may be more responsible and self-disciplined than you realize. Sincere and honest, you are a serious, hard working individual. Your feeling are likely to seem somewhat repressed at times. You are apt to be much more practical, rational, and conscious of details. Your intolerance and insistence on complete accuracy can be irritating to some.

What Does Your Birth Date Mean?

The baby's first cold

I can honestly say that hearing my baby cough and sneeze is the most horrible sound I've ever heard. He's got his first cold. My dad scared the life out of me on Tuesday when he called me to tell me Liam was sick. I called the doctor and they told me to get him a decongestant and some saline drops. He's just so miserable sounding. He can't sleep in his crib, because he's too stuffed up and he won't breathe through his mouth. So I've had him sleep in his car seat on the floor in our bedroom. That way, if he has a problem breathing, I'm right next to him and can help him. Other than not being able to breathe, though, he seems fine. We brought him to the doctor's and had to sit on the "sick kids" side, which freaked Bill out. She said that his lungs sound good, so it's just the same cold/sickness that literally everyone I know has.

I went back to the doctor's yesterday and she put me on a different anti-biotic. I still have a wicked ear infection and can't completely hear out of my left ear. The whole family is just a mess.

Oh well... Only 7 or so more hours and then I can go home and spend the next three days with my little buddy and my big buddy. :-)

It's time for a bit of in the bed disco....

Yes, the title is obscure and has nothing to do with baptism, but I'm currently obsessed with the song "Bitte Ein Kuss" by Onelinedrawing.

We did it! We made it through! Liam was baptised and didn't even scream!

Liam woke up at around 7:00 AM on Sunday and was in a really good mood, even though he had the stinkiest poop diaper I think I've ever smelled. It was truly gross. So I made the decision to leave him in comfy clothes that he could poop all over until about 10 minutes before we had to leave for the church.

He was such a good boy in the morning! He was all smiley and able to sit up all by himself. It's so cliche, but he's growing up so quickly!

So we got him ready for the church and he promptly fell asleep in the car. He slept for the first part of the ceremony and then once we got him out of his car seat, he realized that he was, in fact, hot as hell and got really fussy. So I tried to take off his little jacket and his slippers, to make it a bit more comfortable for him, but it was still warm in the church. The priest baptised him and he actually didn't cry at all!

I think he actually felt relieved, since the water was probably cool for him.

So after the church, we had approximately 35 people back at our house for a celebration of Liam. He got fussy, so Bill and I hung out with him in his room for part of it, just to make him feel more comfortable. We got a beautiful cake from Scrumptions.

And even with the multitudes of different people, no one got into a fist fight or anything! The Red Sox won (yeah!!) and Liam fell asleep around 7:30 PM. All in all, it was actually a really great day.

However, I am still sick. I still can't hear out of my left ear, so I think I'm going to have to call the doctor again soon. It's all messed up.

BTW:

The baby is doing so well with tummy time. Look at him... He's the most adorable child ever!