Up, Up, and Away!

The big news since our last post - Liam is officially walking!  I've got a ton of videos of him just starting to walk, getting more comfortable, and really cruising around.  I was actually lucky enough to get video of his very first solo steps, here it is:

The most incredible/surprising thing to me about his walking is how fast and sudden it's been.  I really expected more of a gradual progression, but it's like he just woke up that day and decided he was going to walk!  Fortunately Kristen and I were both there for his very first steps, which happened on Saturday 11/12.  The very next day he also started using his walking cart that we've had for him for over a month.  We had tried to get him to use it before, with absolutely no success.  This particular day, he saw it, went over, stood up, and started shooting around the house!

He's really fast on this thing - a few times it's almost gotten out from under him, but so far he hasn't had any major wipeouts (knock on wood).  Now it's been a few weeks since those first unaided steps, and his confidence is way up.  Here's a clip from last week:

It's just so fun to see him standing up like a little man.  Crawling was definitely a fun milestone - we could tell that he was so much happier when he was able to move around wherever he wanted to go.  Walking has been like that, only better.  He's so happy and proud of himself to walk around just like everyone else, and his general mood has improved even more.  I find most parents' reactions about Liam walking hilarious - most say some variation of "uh oh, now you're in for it", but we couldn't be more excited because he's so much happier and fun.  I can't wait to see what our little man does next!

On a somewhat related side note, I love the camera on my iPhone (iPhone 4).  All of the video I've shared here was taken on it, and the quality is really very good.  We have a dedicated video recorder that I've been using as well, but you can't beat the convenience of pulling the phone out of the pocket, shooting some video, and sending it via message or email in minutes.  Such a cool age we live in.

Birthday update - Liam turns 1!!

Ok, so I totally fell off the blogging wagon.  But I'm using Liam's biggest milestone yet as my inspiration to get back to regular updates.  That's right, Liam is offiically one year old!! (almost to the minute as of writing this)  I don't mind saying that there were plenty of times, especially 9+ months ago, that Kristen and I didn't think we'd ever make it this far.  But while some days (and nights) dragged on here and there, the year has completely flown by, and life has been getting better and better as Liam has gotten bigger, more mobile, and more personality.

So, since I haven't written any kind of update since April (!!), here's the month by month blow of what's been going down:

April (Liam at 5 months):  Life was really starting to take a turn for the better.  Liam was finally sleeping better (5-6 hours at once!!), Kristen and I were starting to feel like semi-normal people instead of half comatose zombies.

May (Liam at 6 months):  The dreaded teething began.  We probably should have known by this point that Liam doesn't do anything by halves.  The crazy drool factory - no problem.  Pretty much constant fussiness/screaming during the day - not fun, but nothing we hadn't handled already.  Sleeping for only 2 hours at a time at night again - uncool.  It's a particularly cruel trick to give new parents a taste of decent sleep and then yank it away again.  Pictures start to fall off dramatically.  We also discovered that Liam absolutely loves swimming (and water in general - check out this album for more).

June (Liam at 7 months):  We finally see the first two teeth!  Right around the start of June the first two bottom incisors poked through, and we finally got a break.  For about a week.  Then we started on round two of the teething.  We didn't think it would be possible, but this bout was even worse than the first.  Up to this point, Kristen had still been pumping to give Liam breast milk - unfortunately, right around this time she had a horrible case of mastitis, and was completely knocked out of commission for the better part of a week.  Really not a fun time overall.  Still, some cute moments captured on film (well, digital film) - like this one.  Who needs toys when you've got a box?

July (Liam at 8 months):  More teeth come in!  We finally realized why this second bout of teething had been so bad - he got all 4 upper incisors at once!  No wonder the little guy was so fussy, and he was pretty young to get all these to boot.  After these teeth pop in, we get another break.  For about a week.  Again.  And then it's back to crazy fussiness and no sleeping.  Again.  On the bright side, we also discovered infant Ibuprofen around now, and let me tell you, that stuff is way more effective than plain old Tylenol when the really serious teething starts.  Still a dearth of pictures as Kristen and I do our best impression of the walking dead.  Really can't remember too much from this month, to be honest, except that it was hot as Hades.  Aunt Hannah continued to make regular visits, keeping us sane.  Liam started to walk around while holding our hands for support.

August (Liam at 9 months):  More teeth!!  Liam got his last 2 incisors in (bottom outside), and with these came a true break in the teething madness.  Typically children get the molars next after all the incisors, and those don't usually come until much later, so we hoped against hope for a break - and got it.  With the cessation of teething came a renewed interest in eating solids on Liam's part.  Kristen and I mostly spent the month recuperating and sleeping.  Still a bit of a blur.  Somewhere in here he really started to crawl pretty aggressively too, if I remember correctly.

September (Liam at 10 months):  Blessed sleep!  For the first time in his life, Liam suddenly started sleeping fantastically.  By the way, whoever came up with the phrase "sleeping like a baby" to mean sleeping long and soundly clearly never had a baby.  I digress.  Kristen and I were despairing of ever getting sleep, or of looking halfway decent - seriously, when co-workers remark to you that they don't remember you not looking tired, that's just wrong.  I digress.  We were even contemplating the "cry it out" method, which we've never personally been fans of, especially given how strong willed Liam can be.  The thought of trying to out-stubborn him still gives me the shakes.  But magically, he just started sleeping 6, 7, sometimes even 8 hours at a stretch at night.  We suddenly remembered what it was like to feel human again.  It was like being transported to another planet.  The planet Awesome.  Where you can sleep.  Picture taking started to resume.  One morning Kristen captured one of the best set of shots we have of Liam to date - this is one of my favorite.

October (Liam at 11 months):  It might have actually been in September, I can't remember exactly, but somewhere around here Liam had his awful bout with a stomach virus.  In general we've been really fortunate with Liam regarding his health - he's really never had any serious sicknesses yet.  That changed with the stomach bug.  One evening we decided to take him out to dinner (as long as there's a patio we're generally ok).  He usually always nibbles on whatever we're eating, but he wouldn't eat a thing at dinner, which we thought was weird.  Then on the way home came the projectile vomiting.  It was seriously like something out of a movie.  I have no idea how he could even store that much liquid at one time.  It was a very scary thing - it's absolutely terrifying when your small baby can't keep anything down, even water.  Fortunately we have a good pediatrician and we got through it mostly unscathed.  There were good and bad things out of that episode.  On the one hand, Liam suddenly took his bottle wonderfully - prior to that, it was always a struggle to try and feed him.  On the other hand, he would pretty much only take his bottle - we couldn't get him to eat almost anything solid.  But we kept at it, and he's mostly back to eating solids pretty regularly, although he has his days where he doesn't seem to want anything.

Liam's physical dexterity has been improving by leaps and bounds lately.  For a good 4-6 weeks he's been cruising really well (pulling up on things and then walking along them, e.g. couches, chairs, etc.).  Just in the last 2 weeks Kristen and I have been seeing lots of times when he'll pull up on something and then let go and stand unaided for a few seconds before he sits back down.  I think he's so close to walking on his own, I can't wait to see it.

So that pretty much brings us up to date.  We just had a Halloween/First Birthday party for Liam this last weekend and I posted a bunch of photos from that - be sure and check out the album!  Now that Liam is sleeping through the night pretty regularly, Kristen and I feel like we can actually stay up for an hour or two after he goes to bed, so I'm planning on being better about updating everyone on what's going on.  Hope this post finds everyone doing well and enjoying life.  Drop us a note sometime and fill us in!

A Long Awaited Update - Spring Edition

I knew it had been a while since I posted anything, but didn't realize until now that it's been almost two months!  It's been a whirlwind for us, and I've definitely slacked off on the photography, but there was also a good size backlog of photos to get off my camera and post, too.  I've posted a selection of my favorites from last month (Liam's 4th month of life) on our Picasa album - check it out here to see them all.

There are a bunch of great ones from March, but my favorite are from the end, right about a month ago.  At that time we had recently bought a Bumbo chair for Liam, which he loves because it lets him set upright and see the world.  My morning routine had evolved to setting him in the seat on the bathroom counter with me while I brushed my teeth, put in my contacts, and generally came back to the world of the living.  He loves looking at himself in the mirror, and one morning he was in a particularly good mood and I got some great shots.  He was extremely photogenic that day (as always, just like his mom), but I also loved getting shots of him and his reflection in the mirror.  These are still some of my favorite pictures of him so far.

Life had been steadily improving - Liam was getting less and less fussy, Kristen and I seemed to be finding our groove as parents, and most importantly, the holy grail of parenting (as far as we're concerned): we were getting more sleep.  But, as many experienced parents have already told us tends to happen, just as we were getting comfortable Liam decided to change the rules a bit, by starting to teethe.

We've read and heard from some parents that some babies who teethe have a few days, maybe a week or two of fussiness before they cut the teeth they're working on.  To date, Liam is working on 4 weeks, and still no teeth.  His symptoms seem to wax and wane from week to week, but he's definitely been more cranky, fussy, and is back to a newborn sleeping pattern.  Prior to this he had been sleeping for 5 or 6 hours straight at night, usually followed by another 2 or 3 after that, and Kristen and I were loving catching up on much needed sleep.  For the last month, however, he's been back to 2-3 hours at a time, and won't take naps as often during the day like he was before.  I feel like the waking dead most of the time.  It's pretty bad when someone at work tells you "Wow, you actually don't look exhausted today, did Liam sleep last night?".

Still, there have been some fun milestones with Liam this last month.  We got him a bouncing seat that makes music and lights while he bounces in it, and he absolutely loves it.  Check out the video for a snippet of bouncing action (excuse my crazy falsetto that I seem to permanently use with him).

We've also made inroads on eating solids.  He surprised us one day by nomming on an apple that Kristen was eating!  We were sitting out on the front porch one fine spring day, and one of our neighbors stopped by to chat.  Kristen had eaten half of her apple and was just holding it in front of him, and next thing we knew he was drooling and licking all over it!  We got some great pictures from that.

And just the other day, we had our first successful solids meal.  We had been trying a few different foods to see what he'd like, and met with limited success, at best.  Lots of grimacing and spitting out, and looking at the spoon like it was something evil.  But this particular night we tried some carrots that Kristen had made for Liam, and he loved them!  We were amazed to see him down two small bowlfuls of the stuff!  Kristen was able to snap a few shots while I was feeding him, and some of the photos turned out fantastically.

Sorry it took so long for any updates, I'm going to try and be better about taking pictures and keeping people up to date a little better.  Let us know how everyone else is doing!

The Evils of Gastroesophageal Reflux and...A New Hope?

Last we heard from our intrepid new parents, they (we) had been battling what we thought was a particularly horrible case of colic in Liam.  While the colic was definitely in full force, it turns out that there was something worse lurking in the background, exacerbating the issue at hand.

A little over a month ago, I came down with a pretty mean 1-2 winter illness combo: a full on sinus infection and strep throat, all at the same time.  This pretty much knocked me out for the better part of four or five days.  Luckily I caught it pretty early, got a quick meet with the doctor, and got some pretty rad antibiotics that kicked all that to the curb.  Unfortunately, Liam got pretty sick a few days later.

We got in to the pediatrician pretty quickly, and determined that he had a run-of-the-mill cold virus, probably the same one that had been running rampant in our community.  Desperate for help with the non-stop fussiness that Liam had been exhibiting, Kristen and I had been reading up on all sorts of other things, including acid reflux.  When we told our pediatrician about the symptoms he had been showing, he agreed that reflux was definitely possible and prescribed a mild, baby form of Zantac to see how Liam responded.

After a week we were fairly certain that he was responding well and better - after a little more than a month, we can't believe the change in our baby boy.  I'm happy to say that while he still has his moments, and remains a particularly challenging little dude, the bouts of completely inconsolable crying have all but disappeared.

We first saw evidence of this when Kristen's parents and sister Amy came to visit back on January 22, probably no more than a week after being on his medicine.  Instead of the fussy little boy they had seen before, our visitors found a cute, happy, bubbly little man who was all too happy to smile and laugh!

(plenty more from this visit in this web album)

I think word must have gotten around quickly that Liam was feeling better, because we had a whole smattering of visits in February.  First, Liam's Aunt Amy came for another visit, and had a lovely time with him.

Next was another visit by Kristen's parents.  Liam was sporting his cool new Snoopy onesie and had a great time playing with his Poopaw and Memaw.

 

A few days later Liam's Aunt Hannah came to visit for the weekend.  Liam had a wonderful time with her, though when I was taking pictures he was just starting to edge into a fussy mood.

Then towards the end of the month Mama Kamp (Martha) and Aunt Sadie came over in the evening, giving Kristen and I a lovely night out to go have some dinner at a favorite local place.  Liam was in fine form, giving me some of the best pictures I've gotten yet of him in a great mood.

 

 

(Tons more of all these and more pics in another recent web album)

So life has definitely improved, and we're having a grand time with our lovely baby boy.  He's also been growing in leaps and bounds - at last measure, he weighed in right at 14 lb and measured 25 inches!  (he started at 6.6 lb and 19 inches - that's 32% gain in height and a whopping 112% gain in weight!)  We figure he's always had a big personality, it just took his body a little while to catch up.

And bonus points for anyone who smiled at the title of this post.