She Nailed It!!

George is a very serious baby. No joke. Everyone comments on it. Although, I never really figured out the right words for his most common facial expression until I saw the following caption that my sister-in-law, Katherine, used for a photo she took:

"George looks at us like we're idiots..."



She nailed it!!!

Seriously?!

So, Bryan got a new camera at the end of September and said that this was his favorite picture he's taken with it so far:



Granted, it's a wonderful picture and I love having it hanging, nicely framed by my brother, in my family room; however, CLEARLY, he never saw or noticed this one:



HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!! Gotta love that kid. This is the same child who had this little conversation with his father this morning when he came into our room:

Taylor: Good morning, Liam.

Liam: Good morning, Daddy.

Taylor: Do you want to watch Maisy?

Liam: I seriously do!

Seriously....where did this kiddo come from. Gotta love him!

Breathe!!!

I feel like I need to keep telling myself this. Christmas with Liam has been fun, but quite a whirlwind. I don't know if it's still jealousy issues with George, an overload of excitement, or a sense of a big change coming up, but Liam is definitely a challenge these days.

First off, Liam is now a full-fledged Oriole and doing REALLY well. He has almost no accidents anymore and did not want to leave school the other day. When we got there, he was sitting at the computer with a couple of his friends "checking his e-mail". He seems to be warming up to his new teacher, Miss Patricia and enjoying being around kiddos closer to his age. Plus, as he constantly reminds us, "they have a boys bathroom and a girls bathroom." Apparantly, this is huge. :)

He did celebrate Christmas with his old class. Taylor and George were able to make it to the class party, which Liam LOVED. My sweet child, of course, did not want to have anything to do with Santa or sing Jingle Bells with the other children, but still seemed to have fun nonetheless. One thing that was really cute was that his teacher gave all the kiddos VHS tapes of Disney movies and none of the children seemed to know what a tape was. It totally blew Liam's mind. Here are a couple of photos from the day:

Yay...Daddy came!!



What is this?!



Opening Gifts



This past weekend, we traveled to NJ to visit with the Wezwick side of the family. Liam traveled really well. We drove at night and he pretty much slept both ways. He LOVED seeing everyone and, of course, enjoyed opening all his wonderful presents (he got spoiled!) Two of the biggest hits were a Thomas cup on a strap and a dino rocker:





Mr. Man also enjoyed Christmas at Julie's on Sunday and eventually passed out from all the excitement:



Christmas Eve and day were spent at home with the Basye side of the family. Liam was full of meltdowns, but still seemed to have a ton of fun. He really enjoyed seeing his Cousin Ben. Another fun thing was giving him his new PJs on Christmas Eve (a tradition Taylor and I started for him since his first Christmas). He really liked them because they were "jacket" jammas and therefore, super fancy. You can see how proud he was of them:





Christmas morning, Liam was kind enough to sleep in until around 7:15 a.m.!! When he got up, he ran downstairs and asked where Ben was (he had only come over for Christmas Eve). Once we explained that Ben had to go home, Liam ran over to the tree and began tearing open the first gift he could get his hands on (it happened to be one for George). Big hits that morning were a Geotrax set that George got him and some new Thomas PJs. As you can see, once he opened them, he instantly stripped so he could put them on:





Liam enjoyed having his Mimi and Tooey here, even though he had a few meltdowns. He'll be returning to school tomorrow and then next week, we'll have to sit him down and try to explain to him as best you can to a 3-year-old that Daddy is deploying. I'm sure some of his behaviors will get worse before they get better, but he's a sweet and strong kid with a ton of family that loves him and I know that he'll get through this just fine. Besides, how can you get too down in the dumps with a kiddo like this around:

George's First Christmas

I started with this photo since this is pretty much how George spent most of his Christmas. Our first Christmas with Little G was really good. We went up to NJ to have Wezwick Christmas this past Saturday and then at Julie's on Sunday before heading back home. George traveled great in both directions, sleeping the entire way. It was nice to see family and for them to get to see George and how big he's gotten. He received a lot of wonderful gifts and seemed to enjoy himself as much as a 2 month old can. LOL!

Christmas Eve was spent with the Basye side of the family at our house. Cousin Ben seems to be fairly accepting of George and was giving him "nice touches" and kisses. It was really cute.

Christmas day was with the Basye grandparents and turned out to be a nice quiet day...well as quiet as it gets with Mr. Man around. George didn't seem to mind though as he slept through most of it and has been doing so for the past few days. I think he's beginning his 3 month growth spurt a bit early. At his appointment last week, he weighed in at 13.2 lbs and 24 inches. He is already beginning to grow out of 0 - 3 month clothes!

I'll end with a couple of photos from the past few days. Not too much thrilling here. Katherine is coming to babysit on Saturday, so we'll see how kind G is to her. :) He is still getting up several times a night, so I hope she's getting her sleep in while she can. Other than that, Taylor and I are just enjoying this week home with our little man.

Christmas Morning



Hamming it Up



Baby's First Christmas



What Did I Get?

George and his "Manny"

Why the concerned look, you may ask? Well, you would think it was because George's first week away from Mama was spent with Tooey. Really, it was just cold outside, though. It turns out that Tooey is a fantastic babysitter, or "manny" as Daddy likes to call him. Richard was so kind to come up last Monday to help out with watching George as I returned to work and Taylor finished up grad school. He stayed for most of the week and took fabulous care of George. Not a huge surpise, though, as Tooey has always had a magical way with his grandsons. He can get Liam to do things that we are never able to get him to do. It's really amazing. He can calm George and put him to sleep better than most. At one point today, George was really fussy and crying. Tooey walked him around and then put him on the ATV and George instantly got happy:



Later on, he just had George sit on his lap and here is what happened:

Sleepy



Sleepier



Sleepiest



All in all, it was a great week with Tooey, full of lots of cuddles, snuggles, and naps. Tuesday will be George's late 2 month appointment, so I will post after that. This week will be spent home with Daddy and then up to NJ for Wezwick Christmas. Here's to hoping that Daddy has as much luck and magic as Tooey does:

Let's Hear it for Underwear!!

This past week, Liam has gone full-force with underwear (really the past two weeks). The only time he wears a diaper now are at night, long road trips, and for shopping. He has also decided that he'd rather pee standing up...ya know, like a boy! His aim is really good, so far, and I'm definitely training him big-time to put the lid down when finished. :) He still won't sit on the big potty, which is why we still have issues with the store. We bought a potty ring to try and get used to at home before we tackle shopping trips and the public restroom. For now, though, this is major progress and we are happy with how he is doing.

Liam has been visiting the Orioles room at school. This is the room for the 3-year-olds and is something that he absolutely has zero interest in. It wasn't even a consideration until recently since you need to be potty-trained to go there. Well, this week, they began transitioning him...slowly!! The first day or two, he mostly just threw a major fit and cried saying he hates it there. On Thursday, he spent the entire morning until naptime there, so that was good. We'll see how it goes tomorrow.

This weekend was spent at Mimi and Tooey's house. Liam had a bit of a tough weekend, behavior-wise. We're not sure if he's not feeling well or if he can sense that something big is coming (Taylor leaving). We haven't told him yet, but I've no doubt he is showing us signs of things to come. He did have a blast though raking leaves in the yard on Saturday with Daddy and Tooey. Sunday was spent hanging around the house since it was raining. He did have a chance to relax, though, as you can see:



(yes, he's the one hiding under Snoopy).

Not much going on this week. School as usual and then up to NJ for Christmas with the Wezwick clan.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Wow! The past month has kept us very busy. Liam is growing up so incredibly quickly. This month, we had to put him back in school full-time since he simply would not leave Taylor alone to get his work done. It's like he knows that Taylor is leaving soon (no, we haven't actually told him yet) and is trying to soak up every second of him that he can get until that point. It's really cute, though.

Liam has actually thrived with being back in school full-time. His big thing right now is potty training. He is pretty much in underwear all the time with very few accidents. The one huge caveat, though, is that we need to have him sit on the potty every hour or so. He still hasn't figured out to tell us he needs to go yet, unless it's for #2. If we forget to remind him each hour, we tend to have accidents then. We are also using pull-ups for sleeping and shopping since Liam is still terrified of the regular toilet and I haven't figured out how to handle this while we're out. Baby steps, though. The other problem that is delaying him from being totally trained is that he understands that once he's trained he will be moving up to the Orioles room at school...the class for three-year olds. He DOES NOT want to go there!!!! This is the first week that he has been pretty much accident free at school, so they'll be trying him in the new room for about two hours on Monday. We'll see how that goes. His teacher has already said that if he throws a major fit, she won't push the issue.

Over Thanksgiving, we headed down to VA Beach. Liam LOVED it because his cousin Ben was there too. This was the first time that the two boys really played a ton together. While they definitely had their moments with sharing toys, they generally had a great time and raised the noise level quite a bit. Both boys love the outdoors and had a chance to play in the park near Mimi and Tooey's house:







It was so great to have the whole family there as this really happens. We even took the opportunity for Aunt Katherine to capture everyone together:



Liam is getting really excited about Christmas. He is fascinated with both Santa Claus and God and Jesus. I've been talking to him about all these things and reading books about them so he can understand both aspects of the holiday. He really loves the Christmas tree and driving around at night to look at the Christmas lights. We just have lights up on our tree and hope to decorate it tonight. Other than that, not too much going on this week. This weekend is our last alone as a family before Taylor leaves, so we are going to try to get some good quality family time in.

Two Months Old!

Well, I haven't written much lately for two reasons. 1...we've been pretty busy and 2...not much to say. George is doing really well. His reflux has improved a bit, so that is good. He has had a terrible rash on his face, so we are testing the hypo-allergenic formula. It has cleared up a bunch since using this, although I'm also nursing a bunch, so hasn't gone away completely. I am trying to give him as much breastmilk as I can, but with going back to work on Monday, we'll have to see how it goes. He has done well with the hypo-allergenic stuff, so that is good for times that I can't get him enough milk. Either way, he is eating well and it shows. According to the scale, he is already around 13 lbs and quickly growing out of his 0 - 3 month clothes!

George has rolled over three times. Every time I think it's more by accident than anything, but it's still pretty fun to see. As you can see, little G is also smiling a bunch. He LOVES to just watch Taylor and laugh at him. When you get a minute, head over to the video site for a really cute video of this. LOVE it!

George is still sleeping in the bassinet in our room as he is waking up at least every 3 hours at night. He is sleeping in the bassinet, though, which is good since he was sleeping in my arms or our bed. We started swaddling him, though, and he tolerates being put down a lot more now. Now if I could just get him to stay asleep for longer. :)

Well, as I've not much more to say, I'll leave you with some recent photos:

Here We Go Again!

First off, let me state that George is growing like a weed. We visited the pediatrician yesterday and he weighed in at 11 lbs and was 21 1/2 inches!! Yowza!

Well, the reason we were there is that George is having some issues with reflux. We went through this with Liam and pretty much thought we knew what they'd say, but decided to get him looked at anyway. Sure enough, they believe he is having reflux due to a dairy allergy/sensitivity. Their recommendation was to cut all dairy out of my diet. Ugh! I had to do this with Liam and it is very difficult. It's not just milk, cheese, ice cream, etc. You have to read labels and anything that has dairy (including whey) needs to be avoided.

So, we are at a crossroads of sorts. Taylor and I are thinking that cutting dairy out is not extremely practical since I would need to prepare separate meals for Liam and I once Taylor leaves and there will already be enough to do already. Our other option is to use some soy formula. Our only problem with this is we did not want to give him formula already. That being said, I won't be able to pump at work, so he may need it eventually anyway.

So, we are working on deciding if we should try the soy or just hope the reflux improves soon. Unfortunately, Liam had a dairy sensitivity until well beyond the age of one, so this may not go away anytime soon. One thing that has helped is a sleep positioner that keeps little G at a slight incline. He is finally sleeping a little bit more at night because of this.

The good news? George is eating well and gaining weight!! And, he gave Daddy a real smile today as a birthday present!!

Trick or Treat

For Halloween this year, we traveled down to Mimi and Tooey's house for Trick-or-Treating. This was a bit stressful for us as Liam had refused to wear his costume up to this point. Over the past month, every time we would ask him what he wanted to be, he said a "train" but when we finally got the costume he freaked out and just downright would not wear it.

Well, Wednesday morning, we sent the costume in with him to school as they were having a Halloween parade that morning. I warned his teacher that he might not wear it, but left it anyway. Well, we picked him up and she said that he LOVED it and had a total blast. Sure enough, when it was time to put it on again that night to go out, we couldn't get it on fast enough. Liam was sooooo excited and proud of his costume and told every single person that gave him candy that he was Thomas and a choo-choo train and made the "choo choo" noise. It was so cute. He would also say while we were walking down the sidewalk that he was "puffing down the track."

Some pictures from the night:







Needless to say, Halloween this year was a hit!! Liam loved all the displays in the neighborhood and ended the night telling us that his bag was full and he needed to go back to the shed to sleep.

This week is fairly uneventful. Mimi and Tooey are coming up this weekend for Taylor's birthday, so we are looking forward to that.

One Month Old!!

I cannot believe it has been a month already. Little G is really growing fast. Taylor and I both weighed ourselves and then weighed us holding him 3 different times and it looks like George is already around 11 lbs!! Obviously, he is eating well, which is good. George is still nursing 100% and getting one bottle of breastmilk a day. I am also pumping as much as I can since I won't be able to pump when I return to work and am up to 223 ozs. It is very strange to have a one-month old that is so "big" since Liam wasn't this size until closer to 3 months. We almost have to remind ourselves that George is only a month old.

This past week was another first for George as he took his first road trip. We went down to Mimi and Tooey's in Virginia Beach for trick-or-treating. George slept the entire ride up and down and slept fine while we were there. We took him trick-or-treating with us and he was awake the entire time.








Not much exciting coming up for this week. Mimi and Tooey are coming up this weekend for Taylor's birthday, so that should be fun. Plus, there's always the Skins game, which the boys thoroughly enjoy each weekend, although yesterday was a bit rough for Taylor as George peed on him twice during the game. :)

George Goes Trick or Treating

This past weekend, Mike came down to visit George for the first time. We had a lot of fun, although little G, of course, slept through most of it. We did get to take him out with us last night to the Air and Scare event hosted by the Air and Space Museum. George was dressed up as a little cat. Kids kept asking Taylor if he had a pretend cat with him and then would realize as they got closer that it was a real baby!! George looked so stinkin cute and Taylor found him to be a real asset to getting candy for himself.






Little G is doing well...eating lots and sleeping lots. We are really enjoying talking to him when he is awake as he is beginning to respond to our voices and stay awake a bit more.

First Bath

And with the arrival of the bee-bo comes George's first real bath...



He really enjoyed it and didn't cry at all!

Mr. Man Turns 3!!!!

Well this weekend wrapped up a month of celebrating that Mr. Man has officially turned 3!! Due to various family members visiting each weekend this month at different times, Liam has had the opportunity to celebrate his birthday every weekend (yes, that's 4 times!!) Because of this, we have come to learn that Liam HATES to have the birthday song sung to him. According to him, "it makes him angry." If you avoid that and just give him presents and cake, then he is fairly happy. :)

We began the first weekend with Uncle Bryan. It was our first weekend home from the hospital with little George, and Bry did a fab job of making Liam feel special and equiping him with the tools to help around the house:



The following weekend was celebrated with Papa and Grandmichaele. He got a Thomas ice cream cake (which he LOVED) and, amongst other things, a cash register and shopping cart which he totally adores. If you haven't yet, you have to check out the video of Liam opening the shopping cart on his video site....he was totally overwhelmed and it is one of the cutest things ever.







The 3rd weekend was his actual birthday. Friday, we had a party at school for him. I made him a Thomas cupcake cake (made of all cupcakes, but decorated as one big cake). Liam did not like all the attention on him, so he wasn't thrilled with the party itself and insisted on eating his cupcake at home.





That Saturday, we went to Cox Farms, which was a blast (we also took him there for his second birthday). Mimi and Tooey came and it was a great day all around:







On Sunday, we met Cousin Ben and family at the park for a train ride and time to play at the playground before heading home for presents:







This past weekend was spent with Mike. On Saturday, we went to the Air and Scare event hosted by the Air and Space Museum. Liam LOVED this as it involved airplanes and candy...what could be better. We could not get him to wear a costume, but he was able to trick or treat and check out lots of neat things:







Today was a big day because it was Liam's first road race. Taylor and I really like this 5K race near us (we ran it first in college) called the Goblin Gallop. Well, they have a kids fun run 1K for kiddos up to 12. While it took quite a bit of coaxing to get going since Liam got freaked by the crowd a bit, he finished the race and won his first medal:









All in all, I think October was a hit with Mr. Man. He was able to see all of his family and enjoy a really special month that will be hard to forget. It will be fun to see how he does with Halloween on Wednesday. They have a parade at his school, so we are praying he'll actually wear his costume. Either way, should be fun!!

Happy birthday, Baby Boy!!! Daddy, George, and I love you VERY, VERY MUCH!!!!