Someone has to be Expecting in our Family

Now that Brianna has had her little Owen (who is adorable, by the way), I guess I'll take the job. We are expecting our new little one in October. We are very excited, but nervous, as we had a miscarriage nearly a year ago. However, I'll be 12 weeks this week and leaving the first trimester. We have had several ultrasounds and everything looks great. We are just praying it stays that way so we can have another October cutie.

Liam is doing as good as always. We had a nice weekend just relaxing before some visiting we will be doing in the next few weeks. Taylor has been practicing counting with him and he can count to 4 now. We also had a lot of fun coloring and playing in his new tent.

Not much going on this week. My last week before spring break. :) :) :) :) :) :) :) Liam does look like he has some crafty ideas on his mind though. Hee hee.

Big Update

It has been forever since I have posted, so thought I would take everyone through one big update.

Sad News

On February 20th, we lost Taylor's grandmother, Momma. Taylor was able to see Momma two days before she died, although she was not awake at the time. It was nice to be within driving distance so we could do this and travel down to Virginia Beach for the funeral. Momma was just one of the greatest people I have ever known and we are missing her so much. It does help that Liam was able to get to know her even just a little bit and it was always so great visiting with her and watching her get so much joy from spending time with both her grandson and her great-grandson. While Liam will miss out on more time with her, we have these memories that we'll be able to share with him when he's older.



Family

We have been lucky enough to spend a ton of time with family lately. It is so great to see Liam enjoying his family so much. He LOVES spending time with all his grandparents. We were able to see Katherine, Judd, and Ben the weekend of the funeral. Liam is really starting to take more interest in Ben and vice-versa. One morning, I had Ben on my lap on the couch and Liam was sitting next to us and bouncing around being silly, showing off. The two boys would just look at each other and crack up laughing. It was really cute. Liam was also to spend some time with Taylor and Tooey working on a shed that Tooey is building. He LOVED that as it involved spending the majority of a day and a half outdoors, which Liam cannot get enough of. Here are some pics of recent family visits:

Goodnight Moon with Mimi

Visiting with Mike

Development

Liam was exited out of Early Intervention this past month. While he still struggles with a couple minor things, he has improved tremendously. Any delays he does have are minor and he has actually caught up in most areas. Liam is running full-force and can jump over things now (like a stick). He is also going up and down the stairs on his own (although supervised).

He talks all the time (I mean, nonstop!) and will speak in sentences up to 6 words. He is also starting to sing. He tries to sing the ABC Song (he pretty much just gets up to D) and can sing the first line of "Twinkle, Twinkle", but just sort of peters out on the rest of the song. He knows what numbers are can count to 3. The other day, he also counted (out of the blue) "5, 6, 7." He knows his colors and some of his shapes (triangle, circle, square...working on rectangle).

Liam is finally sitting still to listen to books, which seems small, but is actually huge. He still doesn't really like TV at all. The only shows he'll tolerate for short periods of time are Rachel Ray and Sesame Street.....although his Baby Signing Times DVDs are always an option, as he LOVES those still. He is getting really creative in his play. He loves to play in his kitchen, mop, sweep, and vacuum. Washing machines are also a really big thing with him. He cannot get enough of them and insists that we visit the machines whenever we are in Costco or Sam's Club. Cars, trucks, planes, trains, etc. are always big, of course. Especially as we recently went on a plane and bus....very exciting and Liam now loves make the noises of these vehicles.

Liam is still sleeping a TON. Bedtime is at 7:00 p.m. and he wakes up between 6:30 and 7:00 most mornings. At school, Liam sleeps 2 - 2 1/2 hours in the afternoon. At home, he takes a 3 - 4 hour nap. He is still in the crib and LOVES his sleep sack. We will probably move him from the crib soon as he does well with his travel bed, although he had some issues with our latest trip (hee hee).



It has been so much fun to see him grow and learn. We think a lot of it has to do with his new school. He is doing REALLY well there. His teachers are amazing and they keep him so busy. You can tell he is learning so much. All the activities they do are so much fun. They've been working with money, rainbows, planting shamrocks and are working on Shopping this week. We are so happy we moved him there

Travel




We recently took a trip up to VT for a Wezwick family ski trip. We all stayed at my uncle's ski house with my uncle, aunt, cousin, his wife, and their daughter, Ryan. Liam had a blast. My dad, Johnny, Mike, Liz, Michaele, Bryan, and Taylor would all go skiing, and Liam hung around the lodge with Mary, my mom and me. Probably his favorite part was his first time sledding. Liam named the sled "the whale" probably because it is blue. We would walk him around the street, but the most fun was probably taking him on the snowmobile trail. My mom, Taylor, and I took turns running and pulling him on the sled. Liam (as you can see) had a blast:







Liam also enjoyed time with his aunt and uncle:






Coming Up

We are finally starting to catch our breath and slow down a bit. We were able to spend our first weekend home in the past month. Liam is getting to be such a little boy now and loving all his time with Daddy doing boy things. We are really happy we are getting this extra time together with Taylor being home more since it seems that he will be deploying after he graduates in December/January. We will be visiting both sides of the family soon and look forward to a visit from the Easter bunny. We are also hoping for warmer weather during spring break so we can go camping. Only two more weeks!

First Day at Goddard

Well, Liam's first day was a success! We dropped him off around 8 a.m., which is their free choice center time. Liam was a bit timid, of course, but I brought him over to the bins of manipulatives that he liked at the open house and he pulled out the lacing cards that you see above and instantly got busy. He gave us a kiss and said goodbye with no tears or anything.

At his old school, pickup time was always mass chaos. It was loud and the kids were wound up beyond belief. Liam was always off on his own looking at the crazies and playing quietly. When we picked him up from Goddard, the 5 children that were there were quietly coloring with their teacher. It was sooooo nice. I asked him if he liked his new school and he said, "I like it."

One of the best parts is that they actually tell you about his day. At schools we've been to before, they just write down any diaper details, what he ate for lunch, and maybe one thing he played with. Here is what we got from Goddard:

Theme: Water Animals

Lunch, Nap, and Toilet details (which you surely don't need/want to know)

Language Arts (participated): Today we read Dear Mr. Blueberry. After reading the book, we started back at the beginning of the book again and the children named familiar objects they saw in the pictures.

Cognitive Development (did not participate): The children completed the frog puzzle they began in creative arts by gluing it and putting it together on a separate piece of paper.

Creative Art (participated): By freely choosing what process they wanted to use, the children colored their frog puzzles.

Music/Movement (participated): During circle time, the children sang the song "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" while at the same time touching the appropriate body part.

Motor Skills (did not participate): We played leapfrog in the gym today. Instead of leaping over each other, they lept from hoola hoop to hoola hoops that were laying on the floor.

Social Science (participated): In the activity "Vet's Scrub" the children practiced washing their hands.

Science/Nature Study (did not participate): Today we squirted shaving cream on top of the water. The children see that even if you push the cream down or break it up, it still floats.

Social Enrichment (participated): Today we practiced the sign for fish.

Special Message: Liam had a good day. He enjoyed coloring his frog. He is a sweetheart.

We get a new daily report like this each day! They're actually teaching him, having fun, and not doing any of it forcefully. Finally, a school I can agree with!!!

Hanging with Family

Haven't written much lately since it has been fairly quiet here. The past couple of weekends have been spent hanging out with cousin Ben and family. Two weeks ago, Ben, Katherine, and Judd came over for a nice lunch and the boys got to play in Liam's playroom. It was the first time that Ben was old enough to interact a bit more with Liam and play, although mostly they still played side by side. Also, Liam got some good playtime with his aunt and uncle, which he hasn't had a lot of until now. As you can see, Mr. Ben had fun:



Last weekend, we met up with the Weltons again for some superbowl fun (well as much fun as you can have with a large screen TV and three kiddos under 2 1/2 years old). It was really nice to see them again and Taylor got a start on brainwashing his favorite nephew:



Liam and Ben also had a blast playing together once again:



Liam had a physical last week and we found out that he has hit the rearfacing limit of 33 lbs for his carseat. We turned him forward facing. Liam believes that we threw out the old carseat and got him a new big boy carseat. He seems to really like it and continuously asks Daddy to "spin the wheel." Who knew all that action was happening all this time?! I'm a bit sad about it since it is just sooooooooooooooooooo much safer to rear-face, but he has hit the limit and there is no arguing with that.

Tomorrow marks the start of Liam's first day at Goddard...his new school. I took Liam last Thursday to an open house that they hosted and he LOVED it, which is good. It is a brand new school and their first day tomorrowso, as always, I'm a bit nervous for him, but I really believe it is a good change. His teachers are highly qualified and the center is brand new and has smaller classes. Plus, Goddard has an impeccable reputation. One new thing is that Liam will be bringing his own lunch, so I'm going to have to get creative on what to send for him. When does that new mom feeling go away? LOL!

Anyway, I will update tomorrow to let everyone know how his first day went. Until then, here's a big smile from Mr. Trouble:

Big Boy Beds, Make a Mess, and Breaking Uncle Bryan's House

Well, life has been busy in the Basye household and many changes are afoot. The first is that last weekend we went to visit Taylor's parents in Virginia Beach and found that Mr. Man had grown to the point of having netting prints on his face after a night in the pack and play. He's just getting too long for it. While he did not complain, Taylor and I decided that we needed to figure something out. A friend of mine had recommended the Kids Aerobed and said that it was on sale through Amazon, so we bought it. It arrived Wednesday night and Liam was sooooo excited. He insisted that we set it up immediately and begged to sleep in it that night. To our surprise, sleep he did with absolutely no trouble at all. He slept the whole night and stayed in bed when he woke up until we came in his room. When I told him what a big boy he was to sleep in a big boy bed, he said. "I LIKE it! It's nice!" Needless to say, it was a huge hit. Here are a couple of pics of the big boy and his new travel bed:



First night sleeping out of the crib:



The bed takes literally 30 seconds to set up and comes with a cozy fleece coversheet. I highly recommend it if you have a little one who travels. It's also a good size and will last him years and years.

This weekend, we traveled up to New Jersey to break Uncle Bryan's house. Well, actually, we helped him replace all the windows in his house. Liam wore his Home Depot apron and brough his hammer so he could help out.





He was soooo good despite all the craziness and cold weather. He mostly just walked around and talked to everyone and watched all the work. We thought that there was no possible way he would nap with all the noise, but he managed to fall asleep on Uncle Bryan's bed, thanks to a heated room and an Ipod for music.



It was so much fun to see everyone and break stuff. Ha ha! All windows were replaced and a lot of progress was made on the basement. I even got to use a power saw and break down a wall. :)

Today, we drove back to VA and found this waiting for us:



This is pretty much Liam's first realy snow that he is able to experience. He kept thinking it was raining, but eventually got it when we went for a walk to get the mail. He seemed to like it until he fell in the snow and got REALLY mad when he hands got cold. After that, it was straight back inside. I did manage to get a few pics before that, though:

Walking to the mailbox

Checking on Mama

After the fall, but before the screams

It is still snowing and sleeting outside, so we are hoping for our first snow day. Not much else going on this week. We are in the process of looking at a Goddard school opening up, so may look at that for him. Taylor also goes back to school this week. Looks like it's just Liam and me again!

Don't forget to check out all the pics posted at Liam's flickr sight and video site. There's a really hilarious video where Liam tells you what a fish says and more pictures of this past weekend.

My Very First Gift!

Okay, Liam totally made my day today. I have taught him (of course :) ) to say "Mama rocks!" Well, when he went down to the park with Taylor today, he picked up a rock and said "Mama's rock." He insisted carrying it around the whole time and then bringing it home for me and kept telling Taylor "Mama's rock."

This is the first gift that he has picked out for me all on his own and is already sitting on my desk in it's own special spot. I included a picture of him showing me the rock he picked out. :)

To top it off, we were playing tonight and I pretended to make a sad sound and he stopped dead in his tracks, ran over to me, and began rubbing my back saying "You okay? You okay?" It was the first time he has done something like this.

And as a finale, he sat in the rocker with me and let me read him two books beginning to end. He NEVER does this with me...which just about kills me as a teacher. It was the best end to a day ever!!

My Mr. Man is just so sweet.

Quiet Weekend

Not much to report here as we stayed home this weekend. Yesterday morning, all three of us headed out to the garage for some organizing fun. We sorted out a bunch of Liam's baby toys and contraptions to sell on craigslist and put aside several bags of clothes for cousin Ben to go shopping in. It's always a little bit sad going through some of Liam's baby things as I miss the newborn stage so much! While every age is fun and new, in some ways it was nice when Liam was tiny and cuddly.

Mr. Man spent the rest of the weekend keeping us on our toes. One habit that I am really happy about is that Liam is really using his manners A LOT! He says "Thank you," "Your'e Welcome," "Excuse Me", and sometimes "Please." What's really cute is when he doesn't want to do something (like go to bed) is now he'll say "No thanks!"

This week should be a quiet one. Liam has therapy this week and we'll be finding out about transitioning him to the school system since they do that at 3 years old (although I don't know that we'll go this route since we're putting him in private schools). Taylor will enjoy his last week off and I'll be busy teaching and meeting like crazy (I have 5 meetings and an assembly this week...ugh!)

Anyway, not many new photos, but thought I'd share a couple of Liam and I out walking tonight and blowing bubbles. Have a great week!