A Weekend Without Daddy

Keith was gone all weekend. He left Thursday after work to go on a guys golf weekend at the Lake of the Ozarks. So Liam and I were "all by ourselves" all weekend. Although really the only time we were without company was from around 5 at night till 9 in the morning.
It really was an interesting thing being without Daddy for that long. While Liam and I kept busy and had lots of fun, the nights were very quiet and lonely. And since Liam decided this would be the weekend he didn't want to take naps, I had a hard time getting a shower in or anything else done for that matter.

And in my true horrible mom fashion, I did not take many pictures other than a few shots from my phone, but here is a re-cap of our weekend together.
Thursday night Liam and I went over to my Dad's for some porch time and dinner. Liam enjoyed playing outside, digging in the pots and sweeping up after himself.

On Friday night, my mom came over and we made fish tacos for dinner. After Liam went to bed, we watched "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo." It was pretty intense. After my mom left, I let Turner outside. When he didn't come back right away when I called him, all I could picture was him dead outside somewhere with all his legs cut off. (Watch the movie. :))
On Saturday, (after I had to go to my mom's to shower because Liam wouldn't nap), we headed down to the Botanical Gardens and enjoyed lunch outside. After walking around for a bit, Liam decided the stroller was a good place to nap, but that only lasted about 45 minutes. We then headed to Target and Sams. Liam and I capped off the night with another walk at home. Once he went to bed, I enjoyed some Pinot Grigo and Sex and the City 2.

On Sunday my dad and Ceil picked us up around 8:30 and we headed to Courtesy Diner for some breakfast. Afterwards we went for a long walk around Forest Park where we meet Uncle Bill and Aunt Karin's new dog Koda. This is what I really wish I had a picture of. Talk about cute overload. A 9 week old puppy and Liam together!! During our walk, Liam decided to fall asleep again and again it was short lived, only about 30 minutes.
Later that night we headed over to my mom's where we got yet another walk in. Keith got home around 4 and headed over and we all had corn beef and cabbage for Uncle Bill's birthday.
Keith and I ended the weekend watching a highly entertaining episode of Shameless.
All in all it was a great weekend. I am very happy to have my husband and my helper ;) back home with me though.

And one more picture of Liam for good measure...

Monster!

Liam has been what I can only refer to as these days, a monster. Just when I think the child can't be more active or in to more things, he decides it is time to show me a new trick. Most of our days together are spent half dressed because he is not the biggest fan of sitting still for more than 2 seconds. I've always looked at pictures of kids running around in their diapers and wondered why their parents couldn't get clothes on them! Well I am so sorry I second guessed you all. Putting clothes on a 13 month old is quite the challenge. It usually leaves me sweaty, out of breath and my hair disheveled. (Liam has also discovered how fun it is to pull my hair and slap my face during changing time.)

In the past few days, Liam has showed me that he now can crawl up onto chairs, couches, tables etc. Once on top of those, he usually wants to stand and not "sit on his bottom" making it that much more dangerous. He has also taken his fast paced walk to a full dead on sprint. Putting obstacles in his way no longer deters him as he knocks them over with ease and continues on his way. He wants nothing to do with you feeding him as he wants to hold the spoon and container on his own which results in Turner getting more table scraps then I would like. He opens every drawer or cabinet, wants to go in every closet door and continually pushes his limits. I feel like he has grown like a weed because he can now walk up to the table or kitchen counter reach up and grab something sitting on the edge. He no longer goes to sleep with ease. The 7:00 pm bedtime has gone to the wayside and is now more like 7:30. Okay let's be honest, after he cries in his crib and is consoled a few times, it is more like 7:45/8:00 before he falls asleep.

And although he has been a monster lately, he has also been soaking up everything like a sponge. Even though it is impossible to get him to sit still for a moment to teach him where his nose is or how to clap, it is the things that we don't actually "teach" him that I see him picking up everyday. For example, yesterday he walked right into the kitchen, reached up to the counter and grabbed my keys. He then proceeded to the front door, holding one key out and pointing it towards the handle/lock. Yup, he was trying to open the door with my keys.
 He has also been so vocal lately. While I don't think he really knows any words yet, he is constantly talking with an array of das and bas and numerous grunts.

Needless to say, we have been exhausted. We are also battling the stomach bug in our household, so running around after him has not been our number 1 favorite thing to go. We were all able to pull ourselves together yesterday though and enjoy a lot of outdoor time.
Next weekend Keith is going on a guys golf weekend, so it will just be Mommy and Liam. We hope the nasty weather all happens during the week so we can have some more outdoor time this weekend.

Here are a few pictures of the monster for your viewing pleasure.

This is how we roll these days, half dressed, trying to escape, sucking on our nose cleaning out thing (it was cleaned out, dont get too grossed out. :) )

Lounging in his chair, eating snacks on his own.

Pulled himself up in this chair all on his own just to lounge for a second.

Our St. Patrick's Day attire.Again half dressed and into everything. There was a moment he was sitting in that drum but I couldn't get the camera out in time.



March In Like a Lamb?

The saying "March in like a lion, out like a lamb" is not holding true this year. So far March has come in and continued quite beautifully. I am probably jinxing everyone by saying this, but I am so glad to not be worrying about severe weather right now and instead enjoying 80 degree temperatures each day!

With that being said, we had the most perfect day on Saturday for a "girls getaway". Miranda, Heidi and I meet up around 1 and headed out to Cedar Lake winery. It was absolutely gorgeous outside. We each had a wine tasting and then enjoyed some lunch before we headed out to the patio. It was crowded so we had to spend some time sitting in the grass, but eventually got ourselves a table.

I could have sat out there all day. It really was perfect and the company wasn't too bad either!
I wanted to get the girls something to remember our littlegetaway by so...

What?? You wouldn't treasure green, plastic light up glasses forever?! After the winery, we head back to Innsbrook for the night. We made pizza and drank more wine and enjoyed some Taboo. While some might think that the three of us could get pretty crazy... I think we all ended up asleep by 10:00. And rightfully so because I woke up feeling like I had been run over by a truck. I just can't handle it these days. :)

The week's amazing weather has continued and I am so happy to have an extra hour of sunlight now. We have been stir crazy and it is nice to get out of the house at night with Liam. He is happy just walking around our cul-de-sac but on Monday we took him to the park and last night over to G&Gs for a bit to hang out.

I take a picture of this tree right outside our window every year. It is just so pretty and is a true sign that spring is here. And although it seems really early this year, I hope it decides to stick around for a bit. I don't think I would be able to handle being stuck in the house because of the cold again. We are so excited to start talking Liam every weekend to the zoo, Botanical Gardens, etc. Let us know if you are interested in joining us sometime! :)

Happy awesome weather week!

What Liam Does at the Sitters

I traveled for work early this week. I actually only spent one night in a hotel but it threw my whole week off. It felt like I had been gone for 4 days! On top of that, two of our normal sitters were out of town this week leaving us with a little bit of a mad scramble trying to find replacements. On Monday, my dad watched Liam in the morning and my mom in the afternoon. Today I took him to my friend Heidi's who so graciously agreed to watch him even though she has two of her own running around and Monday Keith is taking off work to stay home with him.
I am so happy that Liam gets to spend his days with family and friends. On the the huge advantages of that is everyone that watches him sends me pictures and texts of how his day is going. If we decide to switch to daycare when he turns 2, I am really going to miss that!

So here are some of the pictures I get to see that bring some sunshine to my work day.

Here is Liam napping on the couch surrounding by dogs!

Here he is enjoying the day. This picture came to me with the following text "This is how Liam rolls. Biting off lids, dragging around his own seat and sweeping, spooning and what not." I LOVE it.

And here he is this morning. He found the cookies at the Haarmanns. I love how Olivia is looking over his shoulder like a big sister and he has only been there a few hours. :)

On a side note, I am so excited for tomorrow. Heidi, Miranda and I are taking some time away and leaving tomorrow afternoon for some winery and Innsbrook time. Hopefully I have some fun pictures to follow!

My Friday Morning Smile