A big thanks to everyone for helping us out with our bathroom remodeling.  Two sinks and a set of shower fixtures removed and installed - not bad for a day's work on a Sunday!  It feels good to be able to check so much off of our to-do list.

Speaking of that to-do list, I went back into the master bathroom after everyone left to tighten down the new shower head and the lightbulb above the shower decided to burn out.  Shortly there after I discovered that the old bulb had rusted itself into the light socket and was not coming out.  Long story short... we now have a new item on the list: install/repair can light above shower :(

I was going to post a few pictures, but the only ones I have on our camera are shots of backs & butts of people crammed into showers and vanities.  Nobody needs to have that published to the world...

Thanks Again!

Unswaddled!

Well today Liam is officially 6 months old! Two nights ago we decided that we had to make the executive decision for Liam and unswaddle him. It became a battle of wills at 3 in the morning for far too many mornings to try to keep Liam swaddled. He thought it was great fun to break out of his swaddle immediately and play... no indeed little man, no indeed.

So Liam is officially unswaddled! He did well his first week... any who knows Liam can guess what the biggest struggle for him and his teachers was... ahh, sleep. Wednesday he took a total of a little over an hour in naps in an eight hour day at daycare... not a happy liam :( I kept him home with me for our last day of summer vacation on thursday and today he took some not so good attempts at morning naps, but a really nice 2 hour afternoon nap...

They love him at daycare! He is a ham and for three days a week... the only boy in a room full of girls! Next week will be a full week of 8 hour days for him at daycare and full 8 hour days for mommy at work. Yuck.

Allergy Testing

I talked with Liam's pediatrician this morning. She got the results of his allergy tests. All clear... no allergies to anything. This is great news... although still a bit puzzling as to why Liam is getting hives still.

The doctor is not overly concerned since the hives go away on their own and do not seem to be bothering Liam. We have our 6-month check-up in three weeks and until then... status quo. Both her and I are in agreement that Liam just has a sensitive system and may need additional time and exposure to things before his system can handle everything.

Ahh... the honeymoon is over

A bit of the real Liam showed himself at daycare. Apparently my angelic child decided he didn't want to sleep for his morning nap at daycare. Here's how pickup went:

me: "I see Liam didn't want to go down for his nap"
teacher: (think innocent voice here) "Yeah, I just don't understand. You could see he was so tired, but he just wouldn't go to sleep. I don't understand why he wouldn't just fall asleep if he was tired. We tried everything we could think of. Finally he just fell asleep.
me: "Yeah he does that"
teacher: "what should we do to help him fall asleep next time?"
me: "if I only knew..."

Liam did sleep his normal 40 minute nap... after protesting for about an hour and half. Good to see some things don't change! Other than that, Liam had a good half day at daycare! Tomorrow is all day. Wish mommy luck and Liam sleepiness :)

Swimming Pool

We figured since it was already the 23rd of August, maybe we should inflate Liam's pool and give it a try:

Here we are getting ready for our swim - he looks so big in his swimsuit!

And now we're in the pool - this is definately NOT the warm bath water we're used too!

Maybe it would help if Kaycee climbed into the pool with Liam (note the lack of swimsuit - that's a mother willing to sacrifice for her son!) - nope, still terrible!

And the grand finale - sitting down in the pool - which you can see Liam thoroughly enjoyed!  As always, check out Picasa for the full photo shoot :)

First Peas

Liam ate his first peas today - mixed with some peaches - not bad!

Daycare

Well... I did it... I dropped Liam at daycare this morning for a few hours. Picked him up around 11:30. He took a 40 minute nap (the usual), drank a bottle and played. He of course did wonderfully, smiles all around. I did... ok. I came home, took a long shower, vegged for a half hour and headed off to school to try to unpack my room. Picked him up and went to lunch with a friend and her two little boys. Liam is now taking his afternoon nap and I am reading a book... enjoying my last days without work stressing me out!

I am going to try to set up Liam's pool for a quick dip tonight... pictures to follow if all goes well :)

Zoo

We went to A la Carte at the Zoo today. We had a lot of fun eating, relaxing and looking at animals!

Daddy and Liam looking at some tigers!

Mommy and Liam watching the penguins... he loved them!

He would watch them swim by and goo at them!

Mommy and Liam watching the Flamingos!

Relaxing in the grass... what a sweet picture!

Do you think he had fun at the zoo?

Daddy and Liam nap afterwards... wore those boys right out!

New Favorites

It seems that overnight Liam has developed a new list of favorite things! Although he still loves some of the old standbys - here are some of the new things!

Pepsi, Pepsi, Pepsi... anything with that great logo on it!

Paper (especially when Mommy or Daddy have one!)

Dotty book... a comeback! He used to love the checked butterfly when he was a couple months old... now he is twisting and turning until he can grab that book during diaper changes!

Ahh... electronics. Remote, Ipod, cell phone - he wants them all... daddy's boy!

Also, Liam is in love with all straps and fasteners. He loves playing with my bra strap, his highchair fastener and most especially the big red button on his carseat... stares at that for quite awhile in the car... you can almost hear him "I know they push this... and then I am free..."

Bang Bang Bang

Cuteness...

Liam had a fun last week at home with mommy. Liam has been sleeping a bit better... taking some solid afternoon naps with just a little help from mommy even though he still waking up throughout the night, he is going down much easier! We will have to see what happens to his naps at daycare next week. He is going monday and tuesday mornings and then all day from then on out... :(

In other news, today at lunch daddy put him on the counter and he stayed on his hands and knees for almost a minute! Such a big boy!

This is one of my personal favorites from this week:

We ate pears this week. Liam seems to like them and even though they have vitamin C added to them, Liam hasn't had any adverse reactions thus far! Pears are supposed to be good for constipation... which we are still battling... guess we will have to wait and see!

Liam went down last night with only one session of rocking and then slept the entire night - way to go little man!  The fact that he did this on one of my nights was also much appreciated :)

New favorite toy!

Big boy sitting up with no help from mommy!

Bloodwork

We went to the lab at children's hospital this morning for allergy testing. The tech was very good and Liam only cried a little bit. He got a bandaid and a sticker! I think he liked the sticker best! We should have test results early next week.

Almost rolling over!

24 Weeks Old!

Liam was 24 weeks old this saturday! What a big boy!

Liam tried to eat his moose... but the moose survived!

Busy Weekend

Busy weekend for Liam this week - Bacon family reunion on Saturday and more Bacons visiting the house on Sunday! 

Another 4 generation shot - this one with Great Grandma/Grandpa Bacon.

Some Liam cuteness:

 

Liam deciding which bowl he wanted to slime - the correct answer is the green one...

Another shot of Liam with his great grandparents and their dog Missy

And finally, Dad and Liam getting ready to sleep it off (Dad more so than Liam)

Fun with great grandparents

Liam had a wonderful day at my parents today with my grandparents! Lots of laughter, smiles and fun to be had. We are heading to a family reunion tomorrow in Adams and then more fun playing on sunday! Pictures to follow...

Ahh sleep

I remeber sleep or maybe that is just a halucination from lack of sleep! :)

Jon did jinx it a bit... not a terrible night, not a great night... we will see what Liam has in store for us tonight!

I did take Liam to the doctor today. He weighs 18lbs. 10 ounces, which is slowing down, but still well within the normal ranges of growth.

Talked with his pediatrician regarding the on-going hives, constipation, poor sleep, and reflux. No concrete answers, but we are pursuing several different avenues at this point.

We are going to split his medicine (1/2 in the morning; 1/2 in the evening to see if that will maybe make any difference)

We are going to get allergy testing (ick... blood draw) done to see if there are any allergies causing the hives and possible other symptoms (poor sleeping, slow digestion, etc.). This will tell us for sure if Liam has a dairy protein allergy as well as let us know if there are any other allergens he may be reacting to...

We are going to keep a log of food/sleep/poo to see if there are any correlations. Does he sleep better after poo... no difference? Same with food, etc., etc.

Once we get the test results, try the medication split and see if we can find some sort of connection between everything... we will go from there. We may be in store for a formula trial run or a trip to a GI specialist...

I don't want to jinx it, but it is now 9:00 and Liam is still asleep without any assistance from his parents :)

Bathtime!

Liam is now big enough and strong enough to be in the non-reclined part of the bathtub. He loves it! He can play with his toys (and boy parts)!

Feeding Himself!

Door County Vacation

Kaycee and I spent a long weekend away last week up in Door County.  Thanks to everyone who watched the various members of our family (Grandma & Grandpa West for taking Liam, Grandma & Grandpa Schmitt for taking the dog-beast, and Katie & Nick for stopping by to feed Buckley).  Kaycee and I had a relaxing trip - ate lots of good food, read some good books, and lots of relaxing on the beach.  I'd post some pictures but we never got around to taking any :)

All packed up... almost...

I have packed most everything I think Liam needs to have a fun time at grandma and granpda's house... it fills up most of our car! I had a "pep talk" with Liam tonight and he is going to have A LOT of fun and get some sleep (he agreed with me... drooled on it and everything!)

Now I just need to go pack myself... ugg.

It's not all fun and games!

Liam telling us... he had enough! Hives are still here... although not too many today. Did a breakfast instead of lunch and didn't get any hives until 8+ hours later. I don't think it is the food giving him hives... we will just wait and see.

Getting all ready for Liam's 4 day stay at grandma and grandpa's house while Jon and I enjoy some time in door county. Once the tears stop (mine!), it should be a nice vacation!

Food Again

Still getting a few hives in the past few days (as I write more hives breaking out in the bathtub...), but we made the decision to start food back up again. Today we started with prunes since Liam is having a little constipation from his sweet potato addiction!