Christmas and the New Year

We spent Christmas in Littleton this year with my whole side of the family.  That's a lot of cool people in one place at one time.  It was especially fun to see Aaron, Harry, and Liam together since they are only months apart.  Of course I failed at taking pictures of Liam with all his cousins, but at least I got a few.

                                               

Hannah's birthday gifts to Liam.

Liam abiding in his field keeping watch over his flock by night.

Liam and Lucy.

                                          Harrison taking his Baby Jesus role very seriously.

Harrison peeking around Liam who stole Maddy's gift.

                                                             The boys with Grandpa.

                                                                     Cutie pie, Harrison.

Lucy and Liam playin' some Christmas tunes. 

Liam opening his presents at home before we left.

It's strange/exciting/lovely to see my family explode in number and noise.  I sure love and miss you guys!

Fostering an Environment of Learning in the Home

I was feeling guilty about boring Liam with the same old toys and the same old schedule, so I decided to surprise him with a couple ingenious ideas I found on Pinterest.  The blog I got the ideas from (http://www.imperfecthomemaker.com/?s=toddler) is adorable and I was excited to give them a shot.  Here are the two I tried:

And here were the results:

 Pulling the tube off the wall to chew on.

Bypassing the Sock Tunnel Cave of Wonders for the electrical outlet (don't worry, they're child-proof)

Finding more important things to do.

Terrorizing his parents.

Sorry Liam, but I am never taking you to Disneyland.

Baby Sign Language

Experts say babies can communicate well before they can verbalize.  As such, parents who teach their babies sign language can actually communicate with their little wordless wonders.  I think I have an advanced child, because I've never taught him sign language and yet he signs to me all the time!  Just watch.

Liam can say "All done!"

Liam can say "All you do is talk." Rude, I know.

Liam can say "Want some?"

and Liam can say "More."

I always knew I had a gifted child.

Parental Supervision Required

Well, I've been a stay at home mom for a good 1,680 hours and 43 min. now, so I guess that makes me an expert.  I spend a lot of time on Pinterest.  A lot of time.  Mostly, I read articles like, "How to be a More Productive Stay at Home Mom".

Mixing work and pleasure can be difficult, so I've gradually limited the "work" portion of my day by eliminating one chore for each idealistic notion I once had of housewifery.  As of now I feed Liam, play with Liam, change Liam, put Liam down for a nap, change Liam, feed Liam, play with Liam, cook dinner, put Liam to bed.  Sometimes I want to call a babysitter so I can get my stay at home mom jobs done.

Over the hours, I've experienced much that leads me to my sage advice:

• Don't close the bathroom door when you're in there and don't leave it open when you're not.  I turn my back for one minute (yeah, I sooo get that phrase now) and Liam's chewing on a ufo--unidentified floor object.  I once pulled four little wads of toilet paper out of his tiny mouth.  I shouldn't have told you that.  
• Set aside a good day/day and a half to get ready to leave the house.  
• Dress your baby head to toe.  Hats, sweaters, pants, socks, shoes.  Otherwise, old people talk to you passive-aggressively about your child freezing to death out there.
• "Browsing" the Internet is the new "Cleaning"
• Pacifiers are more elusive than the Fountain of Youth and twice as miraculous.
• Don't think about the fact that diapers cost about 25 cents each.  It'll just make you long for gumballs.  Lots and lots of gumballs.  
• Most importantly, tending babies takes a lot of watching.  I've already finished watching all the episodes of Nanny 911, Animal Hoarding, and Who the Bleep Did I Marry?! that Netflix has to offer.  

Every day I find myself loving my mom a little more.

Teen Trends

As a high school teacher, I like to pretend I'm in the know with everything popular right now.  BTW, saying "in the know", so not popular right now.  Here are my observations for anyone who wants to stay awesome.

Things trending right now:

1.  The term "trending"
2.  Using the word "epic" as a synonym for "awesome".  So much so that I finally made my students read The Odyssey, so they'd stop thinking epic meant awesome.  I, however, think The Odyssey is quite epic.
3.  Mustaches.  Even for girls.  Why have I been waxing mine all these years?
4.  "Like a boss."  I'm glad bosses are finally getting the credit they deserve.
5.  Energy drinks.  Especially during my class.  Hmm...
6.  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  They were before my time, but not before 90s kids' time.
7.  The Zombie Apocalypse.  For some, more pressing than a high school diploma.  I guess small brains would have the advantage, though.
8.  Tattoos
9.  Procrastination as endearing.
10.  Ninjas
11.  Chuck Norris.  Although, he knew he was trending even before hipsters knew he was trending.

And, that's all you need to know to have a conversation with a teenager, like a boss.

Little Fatty

My question to Eric? "Uh...did you know having a baby was going to be this hard?" His answer, "Yeah (obviously)." Well, thanks for the warning, world! I never had to live with a baby before! I AM the baby! My realizations?

-Sure, you can sleep while your baby sleeps. Oh, and babies sleep all the time. That is, when they are in your arms or at 10:00 in the morning or 6:00 at night.

-If you don't formula feed, you are the bottle. That means they are crying for you and while hitting dad at 4:00 AM seems satisfying, it won't do anything.

-Little teeny tiny clothes can actually overflow a laundry room within hours.

-Babies have the midas touch, if you replace gold with spit up and other pleasantries.

-I think I have what you call an "easy baby," which frightens me.

-The strangest realization is that the very things that make babies hard make them the most endearing, adorable, lovable creatures on earth. Motherhood has been the best part of life so far besides wife-hood. I highly encourage baby hunger.

In fact, my more viable realizations have been:

-If Liam's arguments are half as charming as his smile, I'm in some trouble.

-Babies can even make toots seem cute.

-The biggest reason why I don't get sleep is because I want to take in every moment of that little guy.

I recently went back to work. I had forgotten how much I loved being in the classroom, so it was fun to reenter the working world, but leaving Lamb-ee has been really hard. I managed to convince some students that I just left Liam home alone with some bottles in the fridge during the week. I can't decide if I should be offended by how easily they believed me. Luckily, we have an excellent babysitter who lives just around the corner. While I'll miss teaching, I am counting down the days to when I can just be Liam's mom. It's too hard to balance both!

My fatigue shows at school and home. More and more often, a student will wave at me to break my wide-eyed sleepy trance while I'm watching them complete assignments. At home, I can't stay awake past 8:30 and have finally come to value sleep over food... unbelievable.

I'm lucky that Liam makes everything worthwhile. Just look at him! (Disclaimer: I realize that this video clip is probably not as entertaining to you as it is to me. But, as a mom, I receive the right of passage to show long, boring videos of my baby that only I could watch over and over)

A Christmas Story

Our little dumpling came just in time for Christmas and exactly one month early. Not yet too comfortable with life outside the confines of the womb, he struggles to see the practicality of clothing. Every non-nightgown outfit we try on him results in a survival-mode starfish position. He looks just like the famous snowsuit boy on A Christmas Story.

Ya see?

Even in Grandma's arms.