more walking and more talking

liam is definitely all boy. he loves to climb anything he can reach. he figured out quickly how to climb into the child sized chairs that i once sat it. he is taking more steps at a time, but he'd still rather crawl. and when we were outside playing frisbee with liffey, i told him to call liffey and he repeated something that sounded vaguely like liffey! he's the smartest baby ever.

we have tickets to the ball game tomorrow night. it will be his 2nd game, but i'm hoping we don't get rained out!

we renewed our home study last week. it is cheaper to renew than to redo, and since we don't know what the future holds for us yet, we'll renew.

not much else exciting going on. looking forward to a get together with our friends in a park. now that most of them are more mobile, it should be fun!

one small step for man.....

liam decided yesterday that he had a bit of balance and could stand on his own, not holding onto anything, for more than 2 seconds. we tried it several times and one time i put out my arms, and he took about 3 steps right to me! i turned him around, and he walked back to bill. he was VERY proud of himself. we kept making him do it over and over again. :) he does look like a drunken sailor, but he doesn't mind.

we have a fun weekend planned with a party on sunday to celebrate liam's friend julia's adoption finalization!

10 mo. old!

sorry for no new updates recently. it's been a busy month. the 5th was lap #3 for me. the 6th was bill's birthday and the 2 yr anniversary of our miscarriage. throw in the st. patricks day parade and a host of work issues, and that's my month.

but liam is a little monster now. he is crawling faster than most people walk. he was unimpressed by the easter egg hunt at our former college. he loved the toy shovel from aunt lynn better.

he has figured out how to feed liffey. this pleases both of them greatly. i expect liffey to weight about 200 lbs in a few months. :)

he can also climb the entire flight of stairs by himself (with his mom or dad hovering behind him.)

and we believe we have heard liam's first word. he said it tues. night twice and wed. night once. all 3 times he was looking at liffey and said ee ee. we have one incidence of it recorded, so i need to watch it again to see if i really heard it.

hope you enjoy the latest picture! it was from our evening out with friends and family for bill's birthday. yes - he went to another brewery. :)

9 mo. old and more fun sounds!

liam turned 9 mo. old on tuesday! we are going to the ped. this afternoon for his 9 mo. check up, which here, includes a blood lead level screening (not sure if it is done everywhere, but when you live in a place where the EPA will pay for your soil and water to be tested, it's a bit more necessary.)

liam has also discovered his high pitched voice! low, growly voice was long ago, but the new high pitched one is apparently very entertaining too. lots of sounds - /m, n, d, p, f, w, g/ to name a few.

we are off to liam's friends' birthday party tomorrow. the babies all start turning 1 yr old now. first lily and olivia, then landon, then liam, then julia and of course the brand new twins harper and jackson have about 11 1/2 mo. to go. :) liam will be excited to see all the girls! (and landon's first word is umbob - sponge bob. not mom. not dad. sponge bob.) :o)

karin's blog

i've added another link over to the right. karin is a friend i met on IVFC who was just a few months behind us adoptiong her son. feel free to check it out!

adoption thoughts....

one of the great things about adoption (i think) is that liam will be able to grow up to be who HE wants to be, not who anyone else expects him to be. he is his own person, and not the product of of anyone's genes around here. if he wants to grow up to be a CPA (since neither i or my brother did!) and ski every winter, he can do that. but if he wants to grow up to be a mechanic, or pilot or senator, he can do that too. his genes are his own. he will obviously be influenced by us, and his birthparents are not that dissimilar to us. maybe he will be artistic, like his birthmother and me. maybe he will be more like his dad and birthfather. it's up to him.

while it's hard to look at his sweet face and see not bill or me, we are so lucky to know who he does look like. and so is he.

turn up the volume!!

liam has been experimenting with whispering for several months now. this weekend, i think he learned how to TALK REALLY LOUD. we were in the car, and bill and i hear liam "talking" to himself then all of a sudden, it was really loud! i think he is impressed with his oratory skills.

bill, liam and i went geocaching on sat. afternoon. liam really likes to hang out outside. on sunday, while bill and grandpa ken went to the woodworking show, liam, grandma pat and i went shopping. liam got a valentines day present from his grandma - a build a bear dog in a fireman's outfit. liam is nearly as impressed with the box right now. oh well.