Helmet Head?

So I start the title of this post as a joke, but I think it is just because I am trying to cope with the issue at hand.
We took Liam to see a craniofacial specialist today. One side of the back of his head is kind of flat. They recommended that we get Liam a helmet to help out. It is purely cosmetic and everything with him is fine. Due to the way Keith's insurance works, we have to give Liam a month of "repositioning therapy" before we start the helmet therapy.
So basically we have a little over a month to see if his head gets any better. If it doesn't, Keith and I will have to decide if we want to go to helmet therapy. I am having a really hard time figuring out what I want to do. I realize that this is probably just the first of many hard decisions I will have to make for my son over the next 18 years. But if anyone wants to weigh in on the issue at hand :), go ahead and post me a comment.

Highly Recommend..

I highly recommend taking a couples cooking class at Kitchen Conservatory.
http://www.kitchenconservatory.com/CookingClasses.aspx
Keith "surprised" me on my birthday with the Gulf Coast couples class. I put surprise in quotations because I figured out where he was taking me the day before. I had to get a babysitter so I asked Keith when we would need one and he told me the thing we were going to went from 6-8:30. Well my mind never stops and pretty soon I came to the conclusion that it was a cooking class. I jumped on Kitchen Conservatory's website and there it was on the 24th from 6-8:30. So being the butthead that I am, I ruined my own surprise, but it was still a great night.
We made fried oysters over spinach with cream sauce and crispy kale, creole crawfish cheesecake, orzo, grilled snapper with Greek salsa and tort with fresh fruit and Greek brandy glaze.

Thanks to Uncle Bill and Aunt Karin for babysitting for us last minute.

If anyone is interested in doing one of their classes, let us know and I am sure we will join you!

Happy Fathers Day

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there! Here is a picture of Liam and daddy yesterday in their new shirts! (A gift from mommy of course :)).

Our Weekend and My "Defining Mom Moment"

So I am sure you are all on pins and needles after reading the title of this post... My "defining" moment came Friday night, but I think I will talk about the rest of my weekend first.
On Saturday morning, we decided to beat the crowds and headed out at 8:00 am for Liam's first trip to the zoo. It was so nice to be there with hardly anyone else around. And it wasn't 95 degrees which was awesome. He is of course still too young to appreciate much there and he slept most the time, but he was pretty amazed by the waterfalls in the River's Edge. Here are a few fun pictures from the day.

Saturday night Uncle Bill and Aunt Karin came over to babysit so Keith and I could have a night out with friends. It was much needed! We went to the Heritage Brewfest in Forest Park and it was a perfect night. Although I drank too much too fast and needless to say we only lasted till about 10:00. :)
On Sunday we headed to the Bueltmann's for Avery's 1st birthday party. I wish I would have taken a picture of Liam and his future girlfriend. She looked so cute in her pink tutu!
So now, let's back track to Friday night. My Dad asked us to come over and since they live just a couple blocks down the street, it always seems like a good idea. They ordered Sage take out and Liam had his first taste of rice cereal. Let me tell you, the kid loves the stuff. He figure it out right way. He was smiling and "laughing" and kicking his feet and would open his mouth ready for the next bite. I can't wait to start trying all sorts of new foods!

After dinner, we put Liam to sleep in his crib over there and enjoyed some cocktails on the deck. Now for the "defining moment".
A couple weeks ago I got an email from thebump.com asking me to enter to win a Mexican get away. Since I am constantly entering sweepstakes, hoping that one day I might get something fabulous, I clicked on the link. In order to enter you had to write a quick sentence about your defining moment as a mom. I thought about this for a while and really couldn't come up with anything. I read other people's post and most of them said something about the moment their baby was placed on their stomach in the hospital. I mean of course when this happened to me, it was amazing and I knew I was now a mom and my life would forever be changed, but I don't think it necessarily defined me. So anyway, I wrote something silly and set off my entry.

When we decided to leave my dad's house, Liam was asleep. I knew if I got him up and put him in his carseat, he would wake up and the both of us would probably have a rough hour or so ahead of us trying to get him back to sleep.We got him out of the crib and laid him on my shoulder. And I know I might get some mom criticism for this next statement, but I decided to not put him in his car seat for the three block drive we had ahead of us. There was just something about carrying him out to the car on a hot summer night with the cicadas is full swing that felt to nostalgic, comforting and rewarding at the same time. As I sat holding him in the back seat, I just knew this was the kind of mom I was going to be. Exactly what that means, I don't think I am able to put in words yet, but it is a feeling I have.
When we got home, I tried to explain it to Keith, and I didn't have to because he already knew. I am glad we are on the same page. :)

Hope everyone had as great of a weekend as I did!

4 Month Check-up

Liam has his four month check up today. Came in at 15 pounds 2 ounces (39%) and 26 and 1/4 inches (86%). Way to grow little sprout.
We were also told that we would need to visit a craniofacial specialist to look at some flat spots on his head. Appointment set for June 29th. Stay tuned for results! :)
Here is a picture of him on the exam table really enjoying himself.

Memorial Day Weekend Again

I was able to steal a few more pictures of Memorial Day Weekend from Karin so I wanted to post. Enjoy!

Baby Toys/Contraptions - How Did We Get Here? ;)

I have come to the conclusion that most baby toys/contraptions are insane!
Liam has been kicking his legs a lot lately and when you stand him up he is able to bear weight. So this weekend we decided it would probably be a good idea to get him a jumperoo/exersaucer whatever you called it thing-a-majig! I did not realize what an adventure this would be. We first went to Target on Friday night, not happy with the selection and prices (nothing cheaper than $90), we went home empty handed.
We decided to go to Babies R Us the next day thinking they would have endless options there. Not so much! They only had about 5 options and all of them were $100+. Aggravated at this point and not wanting to go back to Target we just bought one for $100. Seriously? I can't remember the last time I spent $100 on something for myself. :)
The story does not end here though. Putting together this monstrosity was the next hurdle. Keith started by opening the box and each individual box inside which took about 15 minutes. I then tackled the first phase of putting the thing together. When my fingers couldn't take anymore and I had scratches up and down my legs, I passed the rest of the project on to Keith. And about 1.5 hours later, our $100 contraption was finally put together! But of course the little boog loved it. We placed him in it and I could hear him banging all the toys from a couple rooms away. Here are a few pictures of him enjoying himself.

Now to the "how did we get here" part of the post :)...
I wish I would have taken advantage of walking around our living room without tripping over anything prior to the baby arriving because now our living room looks like this.

Are you kidding me? We have the swing which was great for the first 3 months of his life. We can still stick him in there every once in a while, but it does not work the same miracles that it first did. We have the playmat which is actually still highly entertaining to Liam. Although we have only had it for a little over a month so I am sure it is coming to the end of its life cycle. We have Bumbo seat which, if I am using it correctly is only used while Liam is learning to sit on his own. Once those ab muscles allow him to do it on his own, I am sure the Bumbo sit will be put away. We have the car seat, which yes, is highly beneficial, especially considering all the car trips Liam's crazy parents take him on, but even that is only good till he hits 22 pounds. And then we have the newest contraption which according the box has to go into storage once he reaches 25 pounds. I won't even let you all know how much our mini Babie's R Us totals up too. It is just a good thing that half this stuff came as gifts.
My point is although everything is absolutely wonderful, it all has such a short time frame in which it can be used. I am guessing this is just how it is going to be the rest of our lives. One toy/contraption/trend/hobby in and another one out. It is a good thing we should be able to use all this stuff for our next child. :)

And just because I thought Liam looked so stinkin' cute in his outfit this morning...

How'd We Get Here?

I thought for today's blog post, I would back up a bit and tell the story of how we got to where we are today.
Keith and I decided to start trying to get pregnant after our trip to Florida in April of 2010. We thought this would be "one last hurrah for us". So we headed to Naples with some of our closest friends and had a great time! Here is a picture of all of us.

As soon as we got home, it was game on! :) Lucky for us, that game did not last too long. I think we were pregnant a week later. I can't imagine it lasting any longer than that because it was stressful enough as it was, as I am sure many people can attest to.

So started my nine months. I have to say, it was easier than I thought it was going to be. Although I had my fair share of nausea, migraines, back pain and vision problems.

My due date of January 29th came and went and an induction was scheduled for February 2nd. That happened to be the day after the biggest snow/ice storm in history hit St. Louis or at least that is how the newscasters made it out to be. The night before we got phone call after phone call from everyone we knew making sure we were okay and wondering how we were going to get to the hospital. Keith being Keith informed everyone we would drive. And that is just what we did the next morning.

We got to the hospital around 7 am and at 9:44 pm our baby boy decided to grace us with his presence. (Not without a bit of resistance though :)).

So after two days curled up in the hospital, we headed home to start our journey as a new family. And four months later here we are today. :)