summer

These last five weeks have been full of slow mornings, sweet sunshine, so many smiles, silly stories, swimming, and snuggling with my little guy. Basically my kind of heaven on earth. His personality comes out more and more every day and it has been so fun spending my days with that little character!

The only thing that I am not completely loving about summer is the heat with a baby but we are trying to make the most of it! We've already had a few days of 100+ degrees and it isn't even July yet! We were given this Munchkin duck bath at one of our showers before Liam was born. It is meant to actually be used for support in the bath tub but since he likes sitting up on his own in there, it has become the perfect pool! :) Most days it gets too hot for Liam to be out in the direct sunlight so I've learned to get creative and find any shade I can. Trying to protect that little pale skin ya know.  Rubber ducky, you're the one!

Another one of our favorite summer activities to avoid the heat is the library! We have a public library only a few blocks away from our home so I try to time our library outing right after his morning nap before it gets too hot so we can walk there. We have already found and read so many cute ones I'm excited to share. Our library also allows you to check out movies/TV series. Since most of our favorite shows stop airing in the summer time, it has been a fun alternative to find some from there that we haven't seen before. We've been wanting to try The Big Bang Theory for a while now but couldn't find it on Netflix or Hulu and were excited to find that our library has it! It is seriously as hilarious as everyone has told us it would be. Sheldon MIGHT be my favorite.

We spend a lot of slow mornings before Liam's first nap in our jammies together in his nursery playing with toys. He loves anything that makes noise and is in tactile overload these days wanting to touch and scratch everything around him.

Summer has finally given me the time to try some new recipes. While we usually end up eating the same things over and over again, it can get old after a while. I didn't branch out much while I was working but since I've been home I've tried making my own taco seasoning mix, sweet potato muffins, and spaghetti squash to name a few but our favorite so far was my very first loaf of homemade wheat bread a few weeks ago and we've never looked back on store bought bread since.

While you can't tell in this picture, riding the swings is one of Liam's FAVORITE things to do! A bonus is the wild hair afterwards. ;)

Last but not least we have some fun trips planned coming up, one to Boise for the 4th of July this weekend and one at the beginning of August to Washington. It sure will be interesting traveling with a baby in tow! The last time we traveled with him in the car he was only 2 months old and still sleeping quite a bit. He definitely doesn't love being in his car seat as much as he used to. One of the trips even requires a plane ride so I'll be reading all the advice I can get on traveling with a 9 month old before then. I'm excited to take Nic around Seattle though! Walking out on the docks over the Puget Sound and sightseeing at Pike Place Market are some of my favorite places to visit! I can't wait! Until then, we have several house projects to keep us busy and are finally getting a fence put in along the back of our yard so we don't have to look at our neighbor's ever-growing weeds any longer. Yay! Liam and I definitely still look forward to the weekends when we have dad home with us too. ;) Summer has been good to us so far! Hope yours is going fabulous as well! XO 

eight months

e i g h t   m o n t h s   o l d

stats

..................

about 21 pounds

 about 27 inches long

loves

...............

pulling my hair.

chewing on blankets.

bath time.

CONSTANTLY walking.
talking, smiling, and giggling

stroller rides.
eating puffs!

toys.

scratching the carpet.
Rue.

dislikes

...................

getting his nose or face wiped.

sitting still and not being able to move on his own.
getting his diaper changed.

My little Liam,

 You are such a happy little guy! Everyone who meets you tells me that too. Boy you have a temper though when things are going your way! haha You LOVE walking. Especially when someone is looking at you, you little show off. Crawling? Who does that! You are able to get up on your hands and knees and rock from here to tomorrow but still haven't quite figured out the arm movement yet. In fact, you don't typically get up on your hands and knees unless you have a blanket to chew on that is underneath you or you are on a mission to get a toy. You are fantastic at laying on your stomach and scooting forward with your left foot to reach a toy we have carefully placed just out of your reach to try and encourage you to crawl. You'll also roll over on a dime and scoot backwards using both feet on your back. We have had many laughs over that! I have finally got you on a nap schedule where you sleep 1-2 hours in the morning at 9 and 2 hours in the afternoon at 1. As much as we have tried to push back your bedtime to 8, you'd rather go to bed at 7 which is fine with me  because you sleep right through the night most nights. Eating is your second favorite pass time next to walking. Still anything with bananas, especially your new favorite puffs as we try and transition into some non-pureed foods. The last month or so you have been sticking your arms and legs out of the bars in your crib so we got breathable mesh bumpers to protect you from getting your limbs caught all the time. You have started to love me reading to you so we made our first trip to the library together this last week. You'd still sit in front of Rue's cage all day long if I let you, even if it is a love-hate relationship on her end. Sorry bud! You've grown to only tolerate your bouncer for about 5 minutes at a time these days because it is so stationary to you now. You have graduated from the baby seat in the bath tub and sit up all on your own now. Your favorite part is when the water is still turned on and running out of the faucet. You dunk your hands and your forehead underneath it the whole time. We love you to the moon and back!

Love, Momma

Happy First Father's Day!

No one makes him giggle the way you do. I'm so glad you're his dad and I hope he grows up to be just like you someday. We sure adore you!!!

four years

Cue the sappiest love songs you've ever heard, or in my case, our two wedding songs {I Believe in You and Me and More Than Anyone}  ...

Two weeks ago, Nic and I celebrated our fourth anniversary! With every year that goes by, I'm even more certain marrying him was the best decision I've ever made. Over the years, I've had several people ask me how I knew he was the one for me and I've realized it is because of these two reasons ... the first is the hardest to explain and that is, I JUST knew. It was a feeling that was deep within my soul, a love for someone that is beyond anything you could ever know until you have experienced it for yourself. The second, I asked myself if I could ever live without him, that if one of us were to walk away, if I would be able to move on. It didn't take either of us long to answer that question. We've spent almost every single day together since the day we met apart from the summer we worked in different cities and Nic traveled to see me on the weekends. The even more magical thing about marriage is, that love only grows stronger every single day.

This year, there weren't two hearts, but three. Adding Liam to our family has been like having a special little piece of heaven with us every day. I remember telling Nic the other day that this point in my life RIGHT NOW is exactly the stage I looked forward to the most in my life. So with that said, I'm living and enjoying every moment to the fullest with my two boys! There is nothing more fulfilling for me than being a wife and a mother. I thank God every day he gave me these two. They are the bees knees. My bees knees! 

Happy Anniversary handsome! Love you!! XO

one year |  two years | three years

seven months

s e v e n   m o n t h s   o l d

stats

..................

about 19 pounds

 about 26 inches long

loves

...............

his bouncer.

constantly standing, jumping, or moving.
talking and squealing.
smiling and giggling.

stroller rides.
sweet potatoes and bananas!

riding on a swing.
toys.

having momma home.
scratching everything.
pulling on my hair.
Rue.

dislikes

...................

getting his nose or face wiped.

sitting still and not being able to move on his own.

My little Liam,

The day you turned 7 months old was quite the special day because it was the last day of the school year which meant I would be able to start staying home with you. It has been heaven for the both of us so far! You definitely are a little busy body and keep me on my toes all day long wanting to walk everywhere. Rue has officially become your best friend. You B-line straight for her cage any chance you can get and all you want to to do is sit there and stare at her with your chubby little fingers gripping the bars tightly. Right now she loves the company but I'm sure she is going to be thinking very differently when you can chase her everywhere! You have 2 little toofs now and that smile of yours has never looked cuter! They were miserable for the both of us while they were coming in. You were just finally starting to sleep through the night until they came and you were in too much pain. It threw off your whole schedule. I felt terrible that there was very little I could do to comfort you besides motrin and nursing. Surprisingly enough, you even wanted to suck on a binkie after many of months of hating it. It just so happened to be my last ditch effort after trying teething tablets, teething rings, etc. and none of them proved to be helping. You still smile and giggle all the time. You learned how to get up on your knees and rock back in forth. While you don't do it very often, you get better and better at it each time you try so I don't think crawling is too far in your future. We've both had a cold the last couple of weeks and mine has caused me to cough. You began mimicking me and now fake cough all the time. haha It is hysterical! You have gotten quite a bit better at sitting up on your own so we graduated you from the car seat to sitting up in the shopping cart. I personally did not think there were enough baby wipes in the world to make the shopping cart sanitary but your germ-a-phobic mother made it through and then proceeded to buy a cover the very next day! You also started riding facing forward in the stroller this month. Toys are your favorite but you are happy grabbing anything and everything in sight, including most of all my hair! So many changes. Every single day is an adventure with you and I couldn't be happier that I don't have to miss any more now that I get to be home with you. Love you!  

Love, Momma