Liam is 9 Months Old!

**P.S Sorry for my pictures...I can never get them lined up....motion sickness might occur.

-Liam is a monster at 26ish pounds!  I'll have a more accurate weight amount after his well visit next week.

-He had some trouble sleeping this past month because of teething and a growth spurt that was making him wake up to eat a few times, but other than that he is doing well sleeping!!

                                                

-He is a super stander and is even trying to stand on his own.  He will stay up about 3-5 seconds before his toosh hits the ground!  He pulls himself up on EVERYTHING.  And because he is such a chub, he will sometimes pull whatever it is on top of him because he's heavier (canvas toy bins, his bumbo, his table toy, etc).

-He still only has one tooth...I thought he was popping another one, but I was mistaken.  But soon two more will be coming!!!!  I can see them through his gums!

-He is still a little piggy, but isn't too fond of meat.  I think it's a texture thing, so we'll just keep experimenting.  Other than that, the only extras that have been incorporated into his diet are finger foods, crackers, gerber cheese puffs, etc.

-He is starting consonant sounds more frequently.  "NiNi" is his new sound.

-He's getting really flexible with his schedule as far as naps are concerned and bedtime, too.  Syd was always really good about that since I had a different school schedule every semester.  He will fall asleep if he's tired enough while we're out running around, and bedtime is a breeze now.

-Naps are switching between 2 and 3 when we are home.  He used to always fall back asleep around 8:30am (after he woke up around 6am), and sleep until 10:30 or 11am, but now he skips that sometimes. So instead he will just nap around 12/1pm and then sometimes around 4pm depending on his mood.  Sometimes he will just do the 12/1pm nap and only have 1 a day!  We'll see how this turns out next month.

-He now knows our food is edible, too.  So anytime we're eating, he'll rush up to us and just stare at the food waiting for us to offer him some.  He does the same thing with drinks.  Syd had a bottle of water and he saw it, spit his binkie out and opened his mouth! HAHA!

-His new thing to do is to start crawling around on the hard floor and then sprawl out.  It's so funny because it's so random!

-He also is obsessed with crawling all over everyone!  Most of the time I'm sitting on the floor and the moment I do, he crawls over to me, crawls all up on me, and stands beside me holding my shoulder and pats my back. HA!

-He is still wearing mostly the same size clothing.  I am already ordering some winter clothes and I chose 3t shirts.  They will shrink and he'll have room to grow.  I haven't bought pants yet so I'm not sure on the sizes for those.

-He is still wearing a size 5 diaper.

-He is still using a binkie, but not every second.  I'm not worried about it.

-He now feeds himself his bottle at every feeding.  Such a big boy!!

-He LOVES cats.  Let me explain...we have a Hello Kitty metal poster and every time he sees it he gives it a big kiss.  He also has an animal book, and whenever he sees the kitten inside he gives it a big kiss, too!  AND he follows our cat around everywhere, and I'm sure that's why he likes them.  It's just so cute that he kisses all of the pictures of cats he sees!

-He's still obsessed with Monsters Inc.  I think that will be is Halloween costume!

-He's becoming more open to strangers, and by strangers I mean people he's seen, but never let hold him before.  Hopefully that gets better.

-He likes to pull out wipes from his wipe box and smell them.  It's so funny.  He pulls one out, looks at him, crumbles it in a ball, and then smashes it up to his nose and gives a big sniff.  It's hilarious.  It's complete coincidence, but he will also pull a wipe out while he is leaning forward in a crawling position, and then swipe it by his side...totally looks like he is trying to wipe himself.

-He is obsessed with the vacuum.  Syd was terrified of it!  He just follows it around.  Sits on it, touches it.  Pretty much loves the vacuum.

-Bath time has become playtime.  He loves it and can now enjoy some toys in the tub without landing face first in the water.

-He seems to have really great fine motor skills...i.e, picking up really small pieces of food, turning pages on board books, etc.

-He's been having some pretty bad eczema problems, but it seems that I am starting to get it under control with magic California Baby Calendula Cream.  Expensive, but AMAZING.

              

-Sydni is still his bff/playtime bud.  Too bad she starts school in less than 2 weeks.  He's going to miss her so much!  He always leans forward in his car seat when I put him in to check to see if she's sitting beside him.  Love it.

 -He is SUCH a happy baby!

Liam is 8 months old!

-Liam is tipping the scales at 23lbs!  Can you believe it??

-He took his first road trip.  We went to Iowa for my grandparents memorial service and he did amazing.

 -He loves listening to Jimmy talk on the phone.  It's hilarious!  He just smiles from ear to ear!

-He's still a great sleeper.  He gets between 10-12 hours a night.

-He has now surpassed crawling and is pulling himself up and standing with assistance.  Before I know it, he will be walking!!  I'm so not ready for that!

-He got his first tooth!!  The bottom right central incisor.  Specific huh? HA!  He didn't even really get fussy popping the tooth....I was surprised because Sydni was HORRIBLE when she was teething.

-He's started eating meat.  He eats chicken mixed with rice, and he just started turkey mixed with pasta this week.  He loves them both!

-He still eats like a little piggy.  He has a 6-7oz bottle when he wakes up, then a 4-5oz bottle with fruit and cereal.  Then he has a 5-7oz bottle with veggies and cereal.  And then he will have a 7oz bottle and fruit and turkey & pasta, or chicken & rice.  Sometimes he has an extra bottle in there and sometimes he doesn't.  He still has yogurt and gerber puffy stars for snacks.  And of course lots and lots of water!

-He says or I like to think he does, "mamamamamama maaaaa mama!" When he is in his room going to sleep and upset.  HA!

-He loves sitting in shopping carts now.  He seems to really the cart cover!

-He went to the zoo for the first time!  He did great!  He really was really paying attention to the hippos and elephants!  He rode the carousel with Sydni and LOVED it!!

-He is still bff with his sister!  They play everyday all day!  She's always helping him find toys, or she makes sure he is staying safe if I have to walk out of the room for a second.  She will feed him, help with baths, the whole nine!!  I'm so lucky!

-He is going back and forth between 1 and 2 naps a day.  He will either nap from 12-3, or 12-2 and 4-5. I'll take it either way!

-He likes to crawl and then sporadically go up on his toes!  It's so funny!

-He's figuring out more and more each day that he can use the rails on his crib to try and stand up.  He hasn't succeeded yet, but I'm waiting.

-He likes to sit on his knees.  He will act like he is going to stand up, but instead he just stands on his knees and then sits back.

-He is now officially napping in his crib! YES!!!!!!

-He is still wearing 18-24 month clothes, but they are starting to get a little snug.  The 2t, 3t, and sometimes 4t are nice and roomy for my big guy!

-He's still in a size 5 diaper.  I think he will be in those for a little while still.

-He still is a binkie baby.  We do have a few long binkie breaks in the middle of the day and he doesn't seem to notice.

-He's now a pro at his sippy cup.  The one that works best for him is the Dr. Brown sippy cup.  It doesn't leak and he can drink really well out of it.

-When forced, he will hold his bottle and feed himself.  The little turd knows how to do it, but prefers that we do, so unless I refuse to do it, he won't!

-He is such a happy baby.  He is always laughing and smiling and having such a good time!

-His hair is getting REALLY long.

-Liam had his first 4th of July and saw the fireworks for the first time!  He loved them!  He love

-No shots this month!

Surprise in the mail!

So, yesterday I didn't get the mail because it was SO HOT outside.  So Jimmy went for his nightly run and came back into the bedroom with this...

Okay.  What is it and wow it's huge.  I didn't order anything...I was quite confused.

So I started opening it and while I was trying to get the plastic off I saw on the bottom of the box it said "Vocal Point." <----- It's a survey/sample trying/message board place.

So when I opened it, this is what I found.

Isn't that HUGE?  It's full size!  Not even sample size.  SCORE!  It even came with this pair of socks to use with the product!

I don't even remember signing up to get this sample...so it was pleasant mailbox surprise!  I love getting stuff in the mail!

Okay, so what is it?  It's called Downy Upstopables in-wash scent booster.  You just put some of the bead/pellets into the washing machine and it infuses the scent into your clothes for more than 30 days!  The scent they sent me is called "fresh" and it smells....well fresh!  It even works with washers that require "He" detergents, which I was worried about because that's what our new washer uses.  So the socks they sent were to use for when you try the unstopables for the first time so that you can see if the scent really does last.

My results are that when the clothes are dried (or in my case I did towels) they smell YUMMY.  Now I just have to see how long it lasts (that is, if we don't dirty all of the towels before 30 days, which we will).  I only used like 1/4 of a capful and you can use up to a full capful (which seems like a lot to me) and it was smelly enough for me.  Maybe for sheets I'd use more.  Anyways, I can't wait to get more samples in the mail!!

Randoms

1.  Liam popped a tooth. OMG.  My baby is so old!!!!

2.  I still can't find a job.  It bums me out.  BUT I do get to stay home with my kiddos and what could be better than that?  I should stop complaining.

3.  Jimmy is going to LA for his Birthday to see Rage Against the Machine at LA Rising (a concert) with a friend.  My mom bought him tickets, his dad gave him airline miles and....well it was my idea!  I am jealous, not because of the concert because I could care less about Rage (but I do enjoy how often sirius plays their songs), but because I've always wanted to go to CA!!  I always wanted to move out there and go to hair school and be a celebrity hair stylist!!

4.  I can't wait to see soooo many movies!  Let me just list them to you.

~~Horrible Boss: Feat. Jason Bateman (love him), Ryan Reynolds (yum), Jennifer Aniston (love her, too).  It looks HILARIOUS.

~~Transformers 3 Dark of the Moon: Feat. Lots of people.  Let me just say, Sydni LOVES Transformers.  Her favorite is Bumble Bee.  When I took her to see the second one and she thought Optimus had died, she turned to me and whispered, "umm, okay we can go now.  I don't want to see the rest."  When I told her that it wasn't going to end with Optimus dying she said, "oh...okay!  We can stay!"

~~Bad Teacher: Feat. Cameron Diaz (eh), Jason Segel (LOVE!), and Justin Timberlake (surprisingly enjoyable as an actor).  Again, a comedy....my favs.

~~Cars 2: Okay, who didn't loves Cars 1??  I did!!!!  That's the only reason I need to have to see the second one!

~~The Smurfs: Feat. Neal Patrick Harris (Love him!), Katy Perry, and George Lopez.  I watched the Smurfs growing up and LOVED them!

~~Happy Feet 2: Again, who didn't love Happy Feet 1????  The music was AWESOME, and Happy Feet was a.d.o.r.a.b.l.e.

~~The Muppets: 2 words- Jason Segel.  Enough said.

~~The Vow: Feat. Channing Tatum (o.m.g) and Rachel McAdams (Love her).  Seriously...sappy Notebook like romance??  OF COURSE!  Watch the trailer.  I'm seriously obsessed.  I love those Notebook/Dear John/P.S I Love You squishy movies.

Wow, maybe this post should've just been about movies!  HA!

One last thing.  Sydni is having a sleepover this weekend with a total of 6 girls! OMG.  Am I crazy?????  I hope I survive!

Liam is 7 months old!

I'm posting late!!  Liam turned 7 months on June 4th.  I can't believe it is going by so fast!

-I don't have Liam's weight this month :-(

-He is still an awesome sleeper.  He goes to bed between 6-7pm and sleeps until the same time the next morning!

-Not only has he mastered army crawling.  He is now a full-on real crawler!!!  YAY LIAM!

-He's also learned to sit himself up from a crawling position.  I thought maybe because he was such a big boy he would have trouble, but he proved me wrong!

- He has such a weird eating pattern recently.  He eats 7oz at his morning feeding.  Then between 10:30-11am he eats fruit, cereal and 3-5oz.  Then he eats again between 2-3pm and he will eat veggies, cereal and a 3-5 oz bottle.  And between 5:30-6pm he eats a 7oz bottle and fruit.  Sometimes he will have pear yogurt for a snack and of course water throughout the day.

-He now eats apples/prunes, prunes, apples/bananas/pears, apples/vanilla/mixed grain, pears, squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, and green beans.  But he doesn't like green beans. He didn't like peas at first either, but now he does.  He's also tried little puffy gerber snacks.  He didn't like the sweet potato flavor, but he likes the banana ones!

-He's a stroller boy these days.  We just use the umbrella stroller whenever we run errands.  It's so much easier than carrying the big guy.  

-He has this new thing where he talks with his mouth shut.  It sounds so funny! 

-He is such a sister's boy!  He LOVES Syd so much.  She can make him laugh all the time.  She can get him to stop crying anytime.  I'm so happy they love each other so much!

-He's obsessed with remote controls!  If he sees one, he's there in .5 seconds!

-He still takes 2 naps a day.  He naps around 12pm between 30 minutes to an hour.  And he naps around 4 for about the same amount of time.  Sometimes in his crib, and sometimes he falls asleep on me in the big chair and I put him in his pack and play. 

-He is wearing 18-24 month, 2t clothes as well as 3t and 4t jammies.  Love my chubby bubby.

-He wears a size 5 diaper!!!  AHHH!  He better potty train early or he'll be squeezing in those diapers!

-He still is a binkie baby.  For now that's fine.  Hopefully we can break him of it when we need to!

-His hair is getting SO LONG!!!!!  He has WAY more hair than Sydni had when she was 1!

- We're still working on the sippy cup and him holding it and a bottle!

-He loves spending time outside.

- He is starting to stand up!!!!!!

- No shots this month!

Oh the things I have running through my head

First of all let me just say....when am I going to find a freaking job?!??!  I have been job searching FOREVER.  And I've applied for probably 50 teaching positions and I haven't even gotten an interview.  I must have the worst resume in the world.  Did I mention that this is at the front of my mind everyday!?  Luckily, I don't need a job financially for our family right now, but it would be nice to get one....I'd like the extra money, I'd like to put my degree to use, and it would be nice to be paying for my student loans for a reason!!  So...anyways....I just applied for a job that I REALLY want....so shoot your nice thoughts this way and let's hope that I at least get an interview.

Second...my baby big girl is.....well...a big girl!!!!!!!!!!!!  Tomorrow is her last day of Kindergarten.  Her "graduation" was yesterday and she was also recognized for having outstanding character and being a great student and friend to her classmates.  Her class voted, and she won!  There was only one student from each class that got the recognition.  I'm one proud momma.  Let's just stay...those statistics can eat it because this teen mom (and teen dad) did an AMAZING job raising an AMAZING daughter.  So boo!  Yes, I was patting my self on the back and rightly so I think.

Next....my other baby is growing up so fast!!  He'll be 7 months this week!!!  I can't even wrap my brain around it.  I feel like it was yesterday that I was trying to keep him in as long as possible!  Guess that means I'll be ready for #3 in a few years!  HA!  We'll see!!

I've also been thinking about next weekend.  Jimmy and I will be celebrating our 6th Wedding Anniversary...but not in a typical way.  Next weekend is also my grandparents joint memorial service in Iowa, where they will have a burial service....on my wedding anniversary (June 11).  It's a little weird, because I want to be excited for that day, but I'll also be so sad, too.  Whenever I think about going to Iowa, I'm like "Oh yay!  I get to see Grandma and Grandpa!  They'll be so excited to see the kids!"  And then I'm like....oh wait...  Ugh.  Such a weird feeling.

Well.  I think that will catch everyone up on my thoughts lately.  I will be posting again soon for Liam's 7 month!!

It seems as though I've been MIA

Whoa.  I feel like I haven't blogged in weeks.  OH WAIT.  I haven't.

Let's see.  What's been up with the Marshalls.  Ummmm I got sick.  Yuck.  Sydni got sick.  Yuckier.  My eye exploded...OH NO WAIT I'm just a moron.  I put the wrong contacts in the wrong eye.  Wow.  What a moment that was for me.  AND I went to the eye dr so that I could admit that and get a new prescription. Embarrassing?  Absolutely.  So that would be a total of $195 in co-pays in one week.  OMG.

Oh, and included in those dr. visits was my trip to the hepatologist.  Did I mention he is the best?  Like seriously.  He worked at the NIH, is the head of the research dept at SLU, is the EXPERT in chronic hep b, knows everything about anything to do with it (which he should) and is top-dog awesome.  Did I mention he's super nice, too and listens to everything I say and doesn't blow it off as babbling?


Anyways, that visit was good my hep b dna is up (not the best news, but it wasn't high), but my liver enzymes were even better than last month (the most important to detect liver damage), so that was good news.  Now instead of going to get blood work every month, I go whenever I do my clinical research stuff.  
FYI- I'm doing clinical research stuff.  That just means that I signed up to give them my blood for future research.  A fool would say no, I mean it will either help me or someone like me, so why not??  So I will go back in 3 months, and then every 6 months after that unless I have a super flare up in my dna level.

Ummm.  OH!  Sydni's dance recital is TOMORROW.  I can't wait!!  Good thing she is fever free!!  Here is her dance picture.

She got a certificate from her dance teacher for "pretty performer" and after class her teacher asked me if she was taking dance again next year because if she wasn't she needed to because she's a natural and will grow up to be an amazing dancer because it's so natural to her.  AWWWW.  Super mom moment.  I was  like, "OF COURSE!!!!!"

Big Li is being such a good boy!!!  Here's a picture of him just for fun!!  

Also, totally random, I've been obsessing with Crackle/Shatter fingernail polish.  I have found that OPI is way better than the Sally Hansen kind for you nail ladies out there.  

Thanks for catching up!!!!!