a day trip to SALT LAKE!

Two spontaneous weekends in a row?? Who are we?! haha Saturday morning while eating breakfast we decided to pack the diaper bag full of all the necessities and off we went to Salt Lake! Liam slept most of the way down there which made for one relaxing drive singing along to some tunes and talking with my favorite guy.

One of the biggest reasons for the trip was to go to IKEA so our first stop was Draper. Neither of us had been before and our jaws literally dropped to the floor as we walked through the sliding glass doors. That place is ginormous!! We spent the next three hours {yes you read that correctly} meandering display room after display room just beyond amazed. We almost walked out of there with the whole store. ALMOST. Good thing we have a RAV and all we fit back there was a bench to fix our shoe situation. No laundry room/mud room = a shoe cluttered entry way all the time! Naturally we weren't paying close attention to the time and shopped through Liam's nap. He will not, despite every effort, sleep anywhere but in his crib, a pack n' play, or while driving in the car so by the end of our shopping experience he was one cranky boy. Right before hightailing it out of there we discovered Liam had dropped his elephant along the way and after a thorough search and attempt to find it, we deemed it lost and bought him a dragon named Puff on the way out the door!

While taking the short 20 minute drive back in the direction of Salt Lake, we realized it wasn't going to be a long enough nap for our snoozer in the back seat so we took the opportunity to grab a treat at Sonic and drove up in the foothills above the capital building. The houses were amazing up there and the view was even more incredible! When we heard stirring in the back seat we headed for City Creek Mall. We had only been there oneother time and loved it just as much as the first. We wandered through a few stores and then walked across the street to Temple Square. It was fun to take Liam there for the first time. Clearly his favorite part was splashing in the reflection pool. ;)

We made the drive back just as the sun was setting creating the most gorgeous colors painted across the sky. Until next time Salt Lake! We would love to take Liam back when he is just a little bit older and go to the Hogle Zoo!

nine months

n i n e   m o n t h s   o l d

stats

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

about 22 pounds

 about 27 inches long

loves

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

feeding himself ham and fruit.
puffs.

Rue.
walking.

dislikes

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

car seat.
getting his nose or face wiped.

vacuum. 

cold foods.

baths without the water running.
reading books with me. :(

My little Liam,

 You have now officially been in my arms the same amount of time I carried you. While sometimes I miss those tiny kicks in my tummy, I definitely prefer having you in my arms and playing with you all day! You have become my side kick and best friend over the last couple months. I wouldn't have it any other way, I love it! We had to lower your crib last weekend because you are getting closer and closer to learning how to pull yourself up and bail over the side! We joke that you don't have any survival instincts because you always find dangerous ways of being a total dare devil. You absolutely hate being put in your car seat, most likely because it already seems too small for you. All three of us can hardly wait for that new one on the way in the mail! You moved back your bed time all on your own and go to sleep around 8 now instead of 7. Every day you  become more and more mobile. Your favorite method to date will always be walking with us but second best is army crawling. You love to feed yourself! Some of your current favorite foods are ham, cheese, and any kind of fruit. Sunglasses on anyone used to make you nervous but now they don't seem to bother you at all. We are waiting on pins and needles for your first word although I'm sure it will be "dada" despite my many efforts for "mama"! We love you so much!!!

Love, Momma

last weekend

Why do weekends go so FAST?! I'm thinking we need to switch things around, 2 day work week, 5 day weekend instead don't you think?? ;) We love having daddy home to play with us. It is really easy for us to get in a rut on the weekends because we are such routine driven people but it was fun to do some things out of the ordinary this last weekend and change it up a bit.

SO FRIDAY! 

We brought along the ergo baby carrier and decided to walk around the ISU campus. It used to be a place where we spent most of our time together and we rarely spend time there now, living across town and no longer in school. We parked on lower campus and just started walking. We didn't really have any plans but decided as our path took us toward upper campus we decided to hike up to "the pillars". It has SUCH an incredible view of the city. All you see are trees and skyline. Bonus, I think Liam had a blast chewing on the straps of the baby carrier the whole time. haha On our way back down it started to rain so our leisure walk ended pretty quickly as we hurried back to the car. Snuggled into Nic's chest with the sound of the rain around him, he fell fast asleep. It was the sweetest thing.

SATURDAY!

Well it started with a run, breakfast, and yard work, pretty typical. Okay I didn't say we deviated from the routine the WHOLE weekend! ;) We've been working on tearing out a large section of grass in our yard to extend our patio and we finally finished it so we were feeling awfully productive by noon. As we came in to shower and get ready for the day, Nic turns to me and says, "Want to go to a movie at 2?!" Um mister, I think you miiiight be forgetting we have a baby. Who would last all of 5 seconds sitting in a theatre. Mother-in-law to the rescue - thanks again Grandma! We went and saw Jurassic World. IT.WAS.INTENSE. but a great movie just like the first one. It was only our second date since Liam has been born and it was wonderful. It is easy to forget there is an "us" when we are in the constant throws of parenthood and all our time and energy become focused on our little guy. I loved the alone time with him though and we have already made plans to go again in a couple weeks! I made homemade pizza for everyone when we got home and Liam LOVED it! All 20-something inches of him was covered in pizza sauce head to toe. After she went home, we went on a family walk to the grocery store for spray n' wash. Romantic at its finest! But oh my goodness, how in the WORLD do you keep baby clothes from constantly staining? I'll tell you how... diaper only at meal time, that's how! Since we have introduced more self-feeding with him lately, he dominates his clothes by the end of it! Notice the WHITE onesie below... face palm. That was before I caught on.

SUNDAY!

We have 9 A.M. church on Sundays and it has been hard on Liam's sleep schedule. That is the time he usually goes down for his first nap but doesn't sleep well when he isn't in his crib so he completely skipped it on Sunday and it threw off the rest of his day. It is a great thing that Sundays are a day of rest because heaven knows we all needed it and didn't accomplish much that day. It was a great weekend. So about those 2 day work weeks.... ;)

Liam's Library Faves

As I mentioned HERE, we've been going on trips to the library at least once a week, if not twice, and it has been fun to find new books to read to Liam on a quiet afternoon or before he goes to bed in the evenings. We've already come across several of our new favorites that we love and I thought it would be fun to start sharing them here periodically. Here are just a few of our new favorites over the last few weeks ...

Oliver by: Birgitta Sir | This is such a sweet story about a boy who feels and acts different than everybody else until he meets someone (a girl) who is different too just like him.This would be the perfect book for a child who is having a hard time making friends or feeling out of place.

The Napping House by: Audrey Wood | This book is really similar to a book like Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Suess where it repeats a lot of the same phrases that continue to pile up throughout the story. It is about a bunch of tired people/animals who live in the same house and decide to take a nap piling on top of one another until someone wakes them up and chaos breaks loose. ;) Sound like your house after kids wake up? haha It sure sounds like mine and I only have one napper at the moment.

The Hiccupotamus by: Aaron Zenz | This book is so silly and fun! Definitely a challenging tongue twister type read with a play on made-up words with similar endings. It is about a hippo who is stuck with the hiccups and tries just about every way imaginable to get rid of them... don't we all! Those darn hiccups!

The Pigeon Wants a Puppy! by: Mo Willems | This comes from a series of books about this quirky pigeon who tries to convince the reader of something, in this case, that he REALLY wants a puppy. That is, until he actually sees one in person! It is a crack up for sure!

That's Not My Dinosaur by: Usborne | This one is PERFECT for Liam right now. We are reading a lot of board books with him since ya know, he tries to put every last page in his mouth. It also has different textures to touch on each page which is also perfect for him at the current stage he is in because he always wants to scratch everything Mr. tactile sensory overload. It also comes from a series of books that begin with "That's Not My...". There is a mermaid one that is adorable for little girls!! They all end with finding the dinosaur/mermaid/etc. that belongs to them.

Not Me! by: Nicola Killen | This book has the most adorable, creative pictures! It is a rhyming book with different children's names who make a big mess but always say that it was't them who did it. Again, does this sound like anyone's kids?! I would say mine, but he can't talk yet. However, it sounds exactly like all the students in my class whenever they did something naughty. "Oh it wasn't me Mrs. Williamson!" haha

The next time you head to your public library, you should definitely give some of these a try. You won't be sorry you did! :) We highly recommend them! I'm thinking next time it would be fun to share some "mommy favorites" along with ones I read to Liam because I love to check out books for myself and read too. Have you been reading any good books lately? I'm always looking for great ones to try so let me know in the comments below! 

Fourth of July weekend

Three day weekends in a fun place, with family, good bbq food, games, and fireworks are at the top of my list for some of my favorite things! We woke up at the CRACK of dawn on Friday morning because that's when the rooster crows (Liam, side smirk emoji included) and squeezed in a quick run before taking off for Boise. I was nervous about how Liam would do in the car but that little angel baby of ours slept the ENTIRE three hours. I can't make this stuff up! It was truly amazing and a fantastic way to start the trip! 

We spent Friday shopping and hit up a fraction of the stores that the wonderful world of Boise has to offer, especially when nap time is involved. We had a belated birthday dinner at Olive Garden and stayed up late playing rummikub and eating Reece's ice cream (mmm I'm still dreaming about it). The next morning was evidence that we are clearly getting old because we were feeling the lack of sleep from a certain blue eyed baby boy and sugar crash from the night before. 

On Saturday we put on our most festive red, white, and blue apparel. We ate lunch on a patio at the Village which is an outdoor shopping mall in Meridian. A friend of mine and her adorable son met up with us there. It was so great to see her and fun to catch up considering it had been about a year since the last time we got together! Also to note, Grammasita was in HEAVEN the entire weekend.  

In the afternoon we had a BBQ complete with chicken burgers, salad, and cheesy potatoes of the best kind. It is starting to sound like all we did was eat our way through the weekend doesn't it?! haha Liam missed the fireworks with his 7 P.M. bedtime but next year! After he went to sleep, we had a fire and made s'mores. We finished off the night watching the line-up of fountains in the street from the good ol' $50 box at the firework stand, playing with a few sparklers, and watching TONS of illegal fireworks (the best kind) being shot off into the sky all around us from the comfort of my mom's driveway. 

I woke up on Sunday feeling really nostalgic that Liam's last "first holiday" was over. Wasn't he just born?! :( It sure was a good one though and it has already gotten me all excited about his second Halloween! My head is swimming with potential costume ideas as we speak. haha But don't worry, as much as I love fall and I mean LOOOOVE it, I'm not rushing the time one bit because we still have a lot of summer left to enjoy!!! And Fall comes with a certain baby turning one and that can definitely wait. Speaking of summer left to enjoy, this week has finally been a little bit cooler (high 80's instead of 90's and 100's) which means more time outside! Love it! Hope you had a wonderful Fourth of July!
XO

P.S. Past Fourth of July's ... 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011 here & here.

baby details

The Peter Pan quote, "Little boys should never be sent to bed. They always wake up a day older." has never hit home more than now. My little boy's sweet baby details feel fleeting so I wanted to capture them while I still could.

Baby feet and toes...

Wild fluffy hair...

Tiny little lips...

And my most favorite, baby blues...

Now stop growing right this instant!!!