another busy weekend....

liam had another fun filled weekend. saturday liam and i met up with friends from our old infertility support group. he got to see his friend landon, who was adopted through the same agency as liam, and he got to see lily and olivia, his "girlfriends," with their moms, of course. we also got to see "aunt" carrie's belly with her twins (along with "aunt" susan's horse impersonation, which liam was laughing out loud at) and got to meet abbey, who is just starting the adoption process with our agency.

on sunday, liam hung out with his grandma karen while we did a flyball demo at a fundraiser. sunday night liam went to his first cardinal's game! they won, so liam must be a good luck charm (either that, or they didn't want to listen to him scream any longer.)

liam also started rolling from his back to his stomach last week! he is a man on the move! he turned 4 mo. old yesterday. he goes in for his 4 mo. pediatrician visit tomorrow. we're hoping that he gets to start cereal soon. i think the little porker will like it.

on the move!!

liam started scooting across the floor last week. he's trying hard to figure out how to move better than that. if it was up to him, he'd be walking by now. he has to be able to see EVERYTHING. he loves to sit outside and look at the trees (glad some of them are growing back after the tornado!) :) he already likes to pet liffey and lincoln (especially very soft lincoln.) we are teaching him how to be very gentle with lincoln.

liam went to the balloon glow friday night. he liked looking at the balloons light up and didn't miss anything because his cousin andrew made sure to point out all the cool balloons. sat. night liam went to a bbq and had fun there (except when everyone laughed at his hair. but his hair is pretty funny last night.)

got good news that an online infertility vet friend is now a proud mom (yeah spike!) she had a very short wait from her match to her son's birth. gee, sound familiar? spike is the lovely person who sent liam his dog "rug" that he is laying on in the previous picture. she deserves this!

a local infertility vet friend is waiting for her potential birthmother to give birth next week. hoping to be able to sneak upstairs to take a quick peek - since she is scheduled to give birth at the hospital attached to our medical building!

and jenna - the one who appeared on oprah and the today show - is also matched. she's written on her blog about how nervous she is. i understand COMPLETELY.

what else - liam had his parents as teachers visit recently. it is confirmed that he is a genious. :) his 4 mo. pediatrician check up is next week. we're hoping to be able to try some cereal! he already loves to sit in his big boy high chair (mostly because he likes to bang on the tray.)

guess that's it from here!

more flyball....

liam had 2 weekends in a row of flyball! he LOVES to go to flyball because he has so many friends there he can't keep track of them all. aunt shelly loves to hold and kiss him, aunt tammy loves to talk to him, aunt barb is getting more brave holding him while standing:) and aunt paula loves him even more because he doesn't wake up in the middle of the night anymore!

he can now roll over from his belly to his back. he has started to bat at/reach for things, including his liffey! (watch out liffey!) he loves to smile at everyone and loves to talk to himself. he's not real crazy about the long ride to iowa, but neither is his mom.

had a little issue with my life insurance co. today. they have a juvenile 1 time payment plan. when i called to get some answers to a few questions (like do you want his name or his legal name) they said (essentially) that i wasn't his parent and not qualified to purchase the policy. i assured them that according to the county courthouse where his guardianship hearing was held that i was indeed his legal guardian and had papers to prove it. i would either get the policy now or not at all. after a brief consultation with her manager, the rep was more than happy to sign him up. adoptive parents expect hurdles along the way, but this was not one i saw coming.

to end on a happy note, liffey and her teammates rocked the last 2 weekends playing flyball. liffey got a new title, as did several of her teammates. liffey posted her fastest racing time ever and had fun playing flyball with her friends (and against her friends!) hope you like the picture of liam, too.

liam update

liam has decided that there are too many THINGS TO SEE to take time to eat. we're hoping the heat is aggravating this "issue" and that he returns to his normal piggy self soon. he doesn't seem upset by this at all, except when we try to convince him that eating only half of what he was eating last week is not enough!

we also brought out the exersaucer. he LOVES to sit up, look around and swat at the toys. he's still not very good at sitting up (the exersaucer is supposed to be for 3+ mo) but he can lean on it like he's at a bar, waiting for a drink. :)

we took a family dip in the not-hot hot tub. liam liked that a lot too. he also likes to watch liffey swim in her "pool." so many things to see! like his lamp! (he laughed at it yesterday.) and his wallpaper! (it has puppies on it too.) and, of course, himself in the mirror. :)

jenna's book & oprah show

http://epilogue.inconceivablejourney.com/2007/08/14/ready-set-mail.aspx

that is a link to jenna's blog entry from today. she is sending a copy of her oprah show appearance (and i think the today show is on there too) to anyone who wants to see it. it will be passed from person to person to whereever it might go. i tivo'd the rerun of the oprah show. if anyone close wants to see it, let me know. if you are far away, go to jenna's website and sign up for the DVD train. jenna did an excellent job of representing infertility, and oprah was completely lacking in empathy. completely.

and just another plug for jenna's book - the empty picture frame. you can follow the link to her website or you can order it from amazon. for anyone who wants a first hand account of infertility treatment, from both a female and male perspective, it is an excellent book.

first non-flyball campout

we decided to try out our camper on a NON-flyball weekend of camping. it was nice not getting up at the crack of dawn for a captains' meeting and the 2nd race of the day. :)

the WHOLE family went - bill, liam, liffey, lincoln and me. liam really seems to like being outside. liffey was excited because we went camping with our friends beth and dwayne, their 3 kids and their 3 dogs (marvin is liffey's hero!) bill has a new girlfriend though - blond hair, blue eyes and 2 yrs old. :) kyleigh kept giving bill "the look" all weekend.

everyone had fun on our little hike (which was more fun after we got in the air conditioned car) ,and we all loved the pool, even liam. bill was smart enough to bring our rollerblades. liam likes going anywhere in his stroller, so i just pushed him while i skated. bill took lincoln and didn't even have to do any work because lincoln just pulled him the whole way! lincoln LOVED it and wants to rollerblade more often. we'll have to see if we can find a place to do it again. liffey tried it, but she was too scared of the cars going by.

and yes, it was 100 degrees, but we have a/c in the camper! we're not as dumb as we look!!

swimming

Liam went swimming for the first time yesterday. he has his very own teeny tiny pool that looks like a frog. he didn't like the fact that the water wasn't as warm as his bath, but after a minute or 2, he got over it and really enjoyed being in the water. he smiled and talked to himself a lot.

bill and i also (finally) finished the nursery. what most people don't think about is that most of the world has 9 mo. to prepare a nursery and that many adoptive parents won't do anything until the baby is home (imagine an empty nursery, just waiting...) so we put up his puppy wallpaper border and his puppy wall hangings. we moved out the things that didn't need to be in there too. he also got rid of the girly furniture (my old furniture) and got his uncle's old furniture. the changing table is due to arrive tonight!

and yes uncle, you wore a dress. i'm sure mom and dad have proof somewhere...