Where's Liam?

Can you find Liam in each of these photos?

Favorite Things

Liam definitely has preferences now.

He enjoys banging on laptops

The swing is great fun

Peek-a-boo is still a favorite

He loves the cat, but I am not sure the cat returns the sentiment.

Nurser(y)

I took some time off to watch Liam while Annika went back to her office today. Liam slept for two hours and then woke up hungry, so I put him in the Moby and gave him a bottle, which he chugged like a frat boy chugs beer. Now, he only drank about 3-4 ounces, not a pint (or yard), but still, he was hungry. After some activity time, he got tired and eventually fell asleep in the swing. It went very well and is the longest Annika has been away from Liam so far. He's got enough of a routine that we were confident that he'd sleep for most of the time she was at the office and only need one or two feedings (which we had enough milk for). I'm sure that once we get a routine down, he'll change it on us though.

Liam's activity times are still getting more interactive by the day. He "smiles" more each time and is more fun to interact with. Chicken Dance Elmo is still a favorite of his (thanks Beth) and, of course, he loves to stare at lights (and don't we all... we just switch from bulbs to LCDs and Plasma).

My mom bought a crib bumper and bed skirt from the Pottery Barn collection we used to decorate the nursery and worked with my dad to create a window valence and curtains for the nursery window. The valence is a section of the bumper pad that shows scenes from the Hey Diddle Diddle nursery rhyme. They look quite professional and custom-made to fit our window and the decorations of the room. They also got us a diaper stacker and sewed a section of the bumper on it to tie it in with the theme as well. Thanks mom and dad!

One Month

Its been one month since we met Liam for the first time on his birthday. He's already grown so much! If he continues growing in length and weight like he has been, he'll be 131 feet tall and 1,568 pounds by the time he's 30! If he maintains his current length-to-weight ratio, he'll weigh only 36 pounds when he's 6 feet tall! That gives you an idea of how quickly babies grow at this age.

Over the past three days, Liam has gotten much better about sleeping. Its probably due to a combination of us figuring out how to meet his needs better, and him getting old and big enough to handle longer periods of sleep. Our friends Nate and Kris came over Saturday night for a wonderful dinner they prepared and a fun round of bridge. Liam was terrific throughout their stay. My parents came by Sunday and also brought Mexican take-out for dinner, which was delicious. As always, Liam was generally very sweet with the occasional crying fit. He seems to be cranky as we transition up to the bedroom at night and downstairs in the morning. He also seems to have an afternoon crankiness sometimes. Having just those 2 or 3 times a day is much more manageable than the less predictable patterns before.

We're also getting more competent and confident in soothing him. We've got the swing, Moby, rocking chair, pacifier, swaddlers etc. all ready to go as needed :) Taking him on a daily walk in the stroller also seems to help him calm down and sleep, and it helps us by giving us time to just talk like we always used to on walks. I think we're also finally starting to differentiate his hungry cries from his other cries which is helpful in quickly addressing his needs (and thus minimizing the crying). I'm very impressed with Annika's ability as a mom and I feel really lucky to have her taking care of Liam so much.

Relativity

How long does 25 minutes seem? Really short if its your lunch break. Really long if you're trying to continually make shushing noise while hunched over a crib. Its all relative.

Speaking of relative, we had a few over today for a visit. My parents and grandmom (now a great-grandmom) and Annika's dad and aunt come over today to see Liam. Liam was on his best behavior throughout the visit and was either quietly sleeping, or happily nursing almost the entire time. And, characteristically, he started crying sometime between when they left the house and all got into their car to pull out of our driveway :) He's been generally very good today though so I don't complain, its just funny how impeccable his timing is.

Although I intended to take pictures of the visitors with us, I have none. Annika's family just popped in for a very quick visit but my family brought lunch and stayed for a while. Our lunch was facilitated by the great swing our neighbor gave to us. That swing has enabled a few meals now and we appreciate having it - thanks Jen!

Sometimes I'm more tired than I realize. Yesterday, we went to Great Beginnings to pick up a couple things and Annika came and stayed with Liam in the car. She was hankering to get out of the house for a bit and this worked out well. When I came back out of the store, I told her that I ran into a couple people in the store. She asked who I had seen in there that I knew and I said "No, I literally ran into two people by accident."

A+ Baby

Liam had his first visit to the pediatrician today. His doctor officially pronounced him an "A+" baby (its his blood type). Surprisingly, Liam is already back up to his birth weight after just six days. Babies usually lose about 10% of their birth weight in the first couple days and then put it back on over the next two weeks. Since Liam's been such a good eater, he's put it back on twice as fast. While this same pattern might be troubling in an older person, this is a good thing for a baby so the doctor was happy.

Liam was much better last night than on his first night home. He slept for 3 hours at a time throughout the night, just waking up for food and a diaper change. Annika and I were much more refreshed this morning as a result. A baby his age doesn't have a big enough stomach to hold more than about 3-4 hours of food, so this is as good as it gets at this stage in terms of sleep.

Annika's sister and dad came over tonight to cook dinner and eat with us. While we ate, we put Liam in his swing for the first time and it worked like a charm. One instant, he was crying hard and the next (when I turned on the swing) he was sleeping. We have to resist using it as a crutch to get him to sleep all the time, but its nice to have such a powerful tool when the need arises!