First Thanksgiving and more

Well little Liam just keeps growing up. It's just amazing to think that in just over a week he'll be 10 months old. The last few weeks have been filled with different activities. We've been working on trying to get Liam to take solid foods. He's done great with pureed foods but has had serious trouble taking anything with any texture to it (as in projectile vomiting sort of trouble). We made sure the doctor knew he was having so much trouble, and she wasn't concerned. She said he just wasn't ready and to keep trying. Same thing with the sippy cup. He's not too interested in really trying to drink from it. He can drink from it, but doesn't like to. Well we're finally having improvement with these two things. Although, there's definately been more improvement with solids. Liam is now feeding himself Gerber Puffs and eating rice, chicken, and had a turkey on Thanksgiving. We're working on the sippy cup, but oh well. At least he's drinking his formula just fine from the bottle (a problem we've had in the past).

Another new thing for Liam was getting sick a couple weeks ago. The 19th poor Liam woke up with a 101.2 fever :( Thankfully he wasn't too unhappy. He was definately not feeling great, but he did ok. Shortly after the fever came a red rash ALL over his body. This lasted for about three days, but thankfully the fever was just that one morning. We went to the doctor, but she said it was just a virus. Here's a picture of the rash on Liam's face... it may be a bit hard to see.

Next, the 22nd we had a baby dedication at church. We were really excited about this. We go to a small church called Journey Church. It's been around for 2 years now, so this was the first child dedication for the church. Liam got a picture Bible from the church. Below is a picture of the dedication. (sorry its so far away).
Then of course there was Thanksgiving! Shawn and I had to work Thanksgiving night so we weren't able to be with family. Instead, we went to our great friends John and Amy Mills' house. We did the same thing last year, and again this year was a success. They also babysat Liam Thursday night while we worked. They have two girls of their own and the girls enjoy Liam (or "baby Lamb" as their daughter Rachel says). Liam tried some turkey, sweet potato casserole, and mashed potatoes. He did ok with this. Below are a few pictures of Thanksgiving.

We're really forward to a visit to Indy starting on Friday! As some of you may know, we've decided to try to move back to Indy. Basically, it just comes down to family. It's really hard not having family around to help, and also we just really don't want Liam to miss out on growing up with family around. Our house went on the market the 23rd. So far we haven't had any lookers, but then again it was Thanksgiving last week. We'll leave the house on the market til March and if it doesn't sell, we'll just try again later on. We've been praying for God's direction and are just leaving it up to Him to open doors for us. Do be praying, while in Indy we both have interviews at Methodist Hospital for jobs in case the house sells.

Below are some pictures of Liam doing his new favorite activity... playing by the sliding glass doors.

9 months old

It's hard to believe that Liam is 9 months old aready! We went to the doctor yesterday for his 9 month check up. He was 17 pounds 4 ounces (10th percentile), 27.5 inches (25-50th percentile), and his head circumference was 18 inches (50th percentile). Everything looked great! She's pleased with his growth; he's just a little guy. He's moving right along with his milestones too. The beginning of this month he learned how to cruise along the furniture. Standing and cruising are his favorite things to do! He will hardly touch his toys anymore because all he wants to do is stand and walk. We got him a little walker toy, and he can do some wobbly walking on his own with that.

At the end of October my parents came through to see "us" (we all know they came to see Liam) on their way to Myrtle Beach where they were celebrating their 30 year anniversary! They babysat Liam while Shawn and I worked. They LOVED it. I couldn't believe it, but my dad even changed Liam's poopy diaper, picked out his clothes, and got him ready for the day all by himself while my mom slept in after taking the night shift! He sure does love his grandson. After they went on to Myrtle Beach, Liam and I made the 2 hour trip to stay overnight with them midweek. Liam enjoyed a trip to the IMAX theater to watch an Under The Sea movie. He really did quite well and only got scared once and cried a little. But other than that he sat through the entire 45 minute movie quietly. We also went out to dinner at PF Changs and enjoyed a nice walk on the beach. My parents also came through on their way home and watched Liam again while Shawn and I worked on Halloween night. I wish I had a lot to report about Halloween; however, since we both had to work we were unable to celebrate it with Liam. Oh, well there's always next year when he'll actually be able to walk and possibly enjoy it some.

We're all looking forward to a trip to Indy the beginning of next month! We'll be in town December 4-9. We'll be celebrating Ethan's first birthday, hopefully seeing family in Chicago, and celebrating Christmas early with my parents and Joel and Tiffany. We absolutely cannot wait!

Moving along!

Wow! Liam is on the move!! In the past two weeks Liam has gone from not even being able to get up on his hands and knees to being able to crawl a little and walk with help! He also has learned how to pull himself up to standing and how to sit up from a laying position. It is just amazing to see the change! He still prefers the "army crawling" but he has done the "real crawl" a couple times. Liam also went to the doctor for a weight check. At two days shy of 8 months he was 16 pounds 4 ounces. This is only the 10th percentile, but he is up from the 3rd, so the doctor is pleased. We go back the beginning of November for his 9 month checkup. Below are some videos showing his newfound movement, enjoy! (go to www.mayle.smugmug.com to enjoy several more videos!)

Visit with Mimi and Bubba

Shawn's parents (Mimi and Bubba to Liam) came for a visit September 25- October 4. It was an awesome visit! They had not seen Liam since June! Needless to say, he had changed quite a bit- and he continued to while they were here! The first full day of their visit Liam got up onto his hands and knees for the first time. We were hoping this would progress to a crawl during their visit, but nope- oh well. We enjoyed wonderful weather during their visit- mid 70's to 80's with clear skies! Bubba spent a lot of time at the pool and Liam joined him too! We also had an outing to Sullivan's Island (Liam's first trip to the beach). We were able to get some wonderful family photos. Then we went to Poe's Tavern, one of our favorite local spots, and Liam charmed the waitress and other patrons as usual. We had a wonderful time and can't wait til the next time!

I spoke too soon!

Well last night I mentioned how Liam was still toothless. Well that changed today! Both of Liam's bottom two teeth started poking through today! I felt his gums this morning and looked- nothing. Then this afternoon he was jumping in his jumperoo and I could see his gums- and something looked different. Go figure, I touch it with my finger and I could feel TWO teeth poking through! How fun! Guess that explains the runny nose, excessive drooling, and crankiness of the past two weeks :)

September so far

Well there's really not a whole lot of new stuff going on. Things are still going well with Liam. This last week was a little rough on all of us. Liam had the sniffles (still does a little) and was quite needy and fussy for a few days. Then all of the sudden last Thursday I got sick and am just now better. I even missed work all weekend. I don't think I've ever missed work for being sick, let alone for three days in a row. I guess it was some sort of nasty cold. Shawn got it a little too, but thankfully not as bad as myself. Liam just enjoyed lounging around with me watching the start of the NFL season and the US Open!

Liam is still learning a lot. He now is able to communicate with us a little better. When he wants to be picked up or snuggled with he reaches out towards the person he wants attention from. This is so sweet and melts your heart! If you don't get him soon enough he'll just throw himself onto your lap if you're sitting next to him! The evening is now his favorite time of day to play. He loves to give kisses. He also loves getting kisses and usually ends up laughing histerically. It's really quite fun! He's still toothless and is not crawling. These are two big milestones we're anxiously awaiting. He is not on all fours yet, but he does pull his knees up under him (especially this week). We did discover though, that he can stand by himself while holding onto the coffee table. He's not pulling himself up yet, but he can stand after we put him up. 

 

We're looking forward to next week when John and Pam (Shawn's parent's) come to spend 9 days with us! They haven't seen Liam since June so they will have an absolute ball! He has changed so much and can interact so well now. 

Way too long!

Sorry it has been over a month since the last post... I guess I've been kind of busy. Things are still going great with Liam! He is such a bundle of joy. He's at a great age and his personality is really coming out. He's such a happy little guy! The month of August has been wonderful. We've done a lot this month. Liam got a visit from his Uncle Curt, Aunt Melissa, and Melissa's mom. 

Shawn went to Honduras on a missions trip with our church the 3rd through 11th. My mom came down while he was gone to help out with Liam. While she was here, Liam sucked on his toes for the first time. We also went to the South Carolina Aquarium in Charleston for the first time. He really loved it! He really loved visiting with grandma too! 

After Shawn got home, we took Liam in for his 6 month check-up. He was 14 pounds, 5 ounces (3-10th percentile), 26 inches (50th percentile), and his head circumference was 17 1/4 inches (50th percentile). The doctor was ever so slightly concerned about his weight. He had been in the 10-25 percentile and dropped down to the 3-10 percentile. So we are going back for a weight check the beginning of October. However, Liam is almost the EXACT same size I (Angie) was when I was six months old. I was 14 pounds, 3 ounces and 26 1/4 inches. We're just going to make sure Liam is still gaining weight. It certainly isn't an eating problem, because this boy LOVES his food and milk. 

Another big development was Liam learning how to sit up on his own! It's amazing how quickly he learned and how quickly he got better at it. Now he can sit up on his own for quite a while! He's even trying to pull himself up to sit on his own. He's just not quite there yet. Next thing we

know this kid will be crawling around the house and pulling himself up. He's already standing up on his own with very little help from us! 

Lots going on

Well a lot has happened since the last post. We did take our trip to Indianapolis, but it turned out differently than we planned. My grandmother Hope passed away the morning we were to leave, Monday, July 6. She had been sick for quite some time. On July 7, 1999 she had a stroke and then went on to have another large one. At that time the doctors told us she was going to die. My aunt and uncle even flew home from the Philippines for the funeral. However, God had other plans. She lived one day short of ten years since the first stroke. It was a bit of a shock, as she had not been really going downhill. Regardless, we are saddened but rejoice that she is no longer suffering. The viewing was Wednesday and the funeral Thursday. It was a wonderful service, and it highlighted my grandma's extraordinary life. Just a few neat things: she played collegiate basketball and semi-pro softball and her and my grandfather taught in Papua New Guinea and the Philippines. My grandfather, Leroy, is coping well. It was a little difficult at first as my grandma passed away right in front of him, but he seems to have turned a corner and is doing better. Pray for him. His past ten years were spent caring for my grandmother 24-7. He was a wonderful example of what commitment in marriage is! 

 

On a lighter note, our trip was still wonderful. We ended up staying in Indy through Saturday. It was wonderful! Liam was able to meet so many friends and family. He met all of his great-grandparents, his Uncle Joel and Aunt Tiffany, my dad's side of the family, "Uncle" Jonathan and "Aunt" Kristen and "best friend" Ethan, Michele and Abby, Leah, and he got to see his Uncle Curt and grandma and grandpa Rapp again! It was a busy week, but we had a great time!

 

Since coming home from Indy, Liam has started solid foods. Monday we started him on rice cereal. The first feeding did not go so smoothly (at all), but the next day he was eating like a champ- opening his mouth when the spoon came and even grabbing for the spoon wanting to feed himself. Thursday, we introduced carrots. He has ended up liking them, but at first he wasn't quite sure what to think and made some pretty funny faces. It's amazing how much he's growing up, but really, I'm enjoying every minute of it! It's so much fun to see him learn new things!

A Week Of Firsts

This past week was a lot of fun for us. First, my mom came for a week-long visit. It was so nice to have her around. Of course it was great to have her here for all the help she offered, but it was also great to see Liam with is other grandma! Liam sure must've been excited to see her, because he decided to unveil two "firsts" for her. For a while now, Liam has been SO close to rolling over from his back to his belly. On Monday, my mom was able to be the first to witness a successful roll over from back to belly! She yelled for me, and I quickly joined her and Liam, and he rolled over again for me. By Tuesday he was an old pro! He loves rolling over! He gets a huge smile on his face and plays on his belly for a long time. The second "first" was that Liam is now finding his toes and playing with them. He hasn't started sucking on them... yet :) 

  

We also decided to take Liam to the pool for the first time. (There are pictures up on the smugmug site). He really enjoyed himself! We went late in the evening so that it wasn't too hot (its been consistently about mid-90s here for a while). He probably thought he was just in a big bath tub cause thats how warm the water was! We took turns helping him float/swim, and he also enjoyed sitting in his floatie. Grandma enjoyed getting to play with him in the pool. We stayed for about an hour and afterwards Liam was all tuckered out!

  Its been amazing to see Liam's growth and development even in just the last week or so. He's now mastered the rolling over, and he's definately not there yet- but he's looking like he's wanting to crawl. He can get up on his hands momentarily, and today Shawn found him in the crib on his tummy with his knees brought up all the way underneath him. He also enjoying kicking his legs a lot. These things are all new within the last week! Its so exciting to see him getting so much stronger. 

  Next up for us, in this busy summer, is a trip to Indianapolis next week. We're very excited about this! Liam will get to meet his Uncle Joel and Aunt Tiffany, his great-grandma and great-grandpa Hunt, and great-grandpa Rapp all for the first time. We're also so excited for him to meet Kristen and Jonathan (our best friends from college), and for all of us to meet their son Ethan. As some of you may know, Ethan was born in December and was over three months premature. It was so hard for me not to be able to be there for them in that hard time or get to meet Ethan. Well, now he's doing great and we couldn't be more excited to finally get to meet him! We also get to meet Abby, who is my friend and old college roommate Michele's daughter. She is about a month younger than Liam. We also get to see a whole lot of friends from high school/college/church. We're really excited! 

First Trip to Erie

  Well this week we made our first roadtrip to Erie. We left Monday morning with Liam and the two dogs in tow and drove all day. The trip went fairly well, and we arrived in Erie around 8pm. On Tuesday Liam was able to meet his great-grandma Dorses. We enjoyed the beautiful day with a ride down to the Pennisula and dinner at Sara's, a 5o's style diner. After dinner Shawn and Pam rode motorcyles around the Penninsula. We spent the rest of the evening enjoying the outdoors, sitting on the back porch. 

  On Wednesday evening John and Pam had an open house for friends and family to come and meet Liam. The party was great, and it was really nice to see so many familiar faces and family members. Liam got to meet his great-grandma and great-grandpa Mayle, along with great-aunts and uncles and a lot of other people, that quite frankly, I'm not sure what the proper titles are for how they are related :) Liam did pretty well with the party, although it was a lot of stimulation for him. By the time the party was over, he let us know he had had more than enough! (by screaming, screaming, and some more screaming).

  Our short trip came to an end with us leaving Thursday night. We tried something new with Liam and decided to drive through the night. Although it didn't go quite as well as we had hoped, it still worked out. Enjoy the pictures from the trip on the smugmug site!

Grandma and Grandpa Rapp

Liam enjoyed another visit from family this week. Grandma and Grandpa Rapp came down from Indiana to visit for a few days. They sure did enjoy their time with Liam! They kept saying how good of a boy he is (which is the truth, we're so lucky!) They enjoyed helping take care of him. Grandma and grandpa both helped feed him his bottles, play with him, and hold him.

The weather has been rainy for a couple weeks now, so we couldn't get out and enjoy the outdoors too much. We did get to enjoy an evening of shopping and a great dinner out on Memorial Day though. We also were able to get out and take a nice long walk with the entire family and the dogs Tuesday evening. Liam received some more gifts from grandma and grandpa- more clothes, sandles, and a book. I think Liam has more clothes than Shawn and I combined! He's one well dressed boy! He's also one growing boy! He has been eating like a champ, and I can tell he's gaining weight. He's starting to fill out quite quickly. Although, I do think he is still on the thinner side for a baby (he doesn't have the roles anywhere). 

Well, my parents left this afternoon, and Uncle Curt and Aunt Melissa will be in town for a wedding this weekend and will get to see him! We're so happy to be spending time with family!

 

Mimi is in town!

Well Mimi (Shawn's mom) came into town last Wednesday. She came to see Liam- oh wait I mean "all of us" haha. Liam and Mimi are having a blast with each other. Mimi has been helping feed him, change him, and bathe him. They're also reading and playing together too. Its certainly been heaven for Mimi to get to spend all this time with Liam. She also brought Liam a lot of new clothes, which we all love. 

Its been so nice to have family around (and not just because of the extra help). We really enjoying Liam being able to spend time with family because we don't live around any, so its special when he gets to. Mimi leaves on Wednesday and then my parents come into town Saturday. Then next Friday, my oldest brother Curt and his wife Melissa will be in town for a wedding and will get to visit with Liam as well! We will for sure be visiting Erie in June, and we're really excited about the trip!

Three Months Old

Its hard to believe, but Liam is now three months old! He really seems to be growing and changing so much. This month we are going to have visits from Shawn's mom, my parents, and my brother and sister-in-law, and we can't wait. We're excited for them to get to see him and how much he's changed. We're also planning a trip home to PA in June and to Indy in July! We're hoping our plans work out! 

 

Liam is doing pretty well. He's been a bit more fussy than usual... we're suspecting he may be teething already. I guess we'll keep you posted on that. He's still becoming more and more interactive. He loves to smile and "talk" to people. He's discovering how to make new noises with that mouth of his. Its quite fun. Since Liam is now holding his head up quite well on his own, we got out his jumperoo for him to play in. He's still a little small for it, but he seems to enjoy it well enough. I think as he gets bigger he'll like it even more. I added more photos to the smugmug site... enjoy!

A Day in the Life of Liam

 Well another week has gone by and really not too much has changed. Liam continues to do very well. He's sleeping through the night about once or twice a week, and by through the night I mean from 10pm - 6 or 7am! We are blessed! The other nights he sleeps from 10pm - 8am but always wakes up around 5am to eat. We're trying to teach him to go back to sleep on his own, so we'll let him cry. Unfortunately, he never stops on his own. We'll let him go for about 20-30 minutes, and then I'll go feed him. But we're still very pleased he does so well.

  We've really gotten into a pretty good routine with Liam. It really does feel like normal life finally. Liam likes to get up around 8 or so and he eats. Then we let him "play" for as long as he likes. He likes to play the most in the mornings. To play we set up his play gym and tummy time mat. We'll have him do some tummy time- which is just spending time on his belly so that his neck and various other muscles strengthen. He really doesn't like this much. He'll do well for about 5 minutes max and then SCREAM! He likes to lay on his play gym and swing at the hanging toys. He's getting more coordinated and hits them a lot now. He's also starting to open his hands more and intentially grasp onto things. He also likes to sit up on the couch. Usually we prop him up between cushons so that they hold him up, but sometimes we sit him up so that he has to hold himself up. He can do this for a short period of time, but he's still not quite ready to sit up on his own. After he tells us he's done playing (by screaming of coarse) we usually put him in the swing for a nap. And generally speaking the rest of the day is a rotation of diaper changing, eating, playing, and napping. He eats about every 3-4 hours. I'm still breastfeeding him, which is still going great. At night he gets a bath (which he loves), one final feeding, and goes to sleep quite easily around 10pm. Its wonderful.

    I added some more pictures to the April 2009 album on the smugmug site. Enjoy! Oh, and we will eventually post more videos. They just take a whole lot more time to do. Shawn is recovering this week from a root canal on Monday. Perhaps next week? We'll see!

Ten weeks old

Shawn taught me (Angie) how to update the blog, so hopefully between the two of us we'll update it more often. Well Liam is doing great. Monday he turned 10 weeks old! It's so hard to believe. Time really does fly by. 

This past weekend was the first Saturday that Liam was with the babysitter. All went very well. She sent home a little "report card" of what he did for the night. Jenny (the babysitter) has two kids, Joshua- 3 and Emma- 15 months. Evidentally Liam loved to sit in the bouncy seat and watch the kids play. He did great with the bottle (which is sometimes a struggle) and he slept 8 hours straight for her! She said he  was such a joy (which is no suprise to me). Shawn and I had good nights at work, but weekends are going to be very tiring now for the both of us. But we're happy to do it so we can have more time together and more time with Liam. 

Today, I went crazy with the camera and took a bunch of photos of Liam (hey I'm a new mom, what do you expect!). I added them to the gallery. Today I decided to sit Liam up on the couch and see how he liked it. He really did! In fact, he started kicking his legs around and "found his feet". He would just sit and stare at them as he kicked his legs- almost like "Wow, look what I can do!" He is a wonderful little guy and we couldn't love him any more!

Roll Over!

Liam has been growing in to such a big boy! He is now 2 months old (almost 10wks) and at the pediatrician on Wednesday he was 10lbs 13oz and 23.75 inches long. This puts him in the 75-90th percentile in length but 25th percentile for weight. The pediatrician said he is a long lean baby! She was happy with how he is doing. While we were at the pediatrician, she placed him on his tummy to see how he is using his neck muscles. While she was doing this he rolled over onto his back for the first time! He is a early starter, normally babies begin to do this at 3 to 5 months. Liam is finally starting to pack on some weight. So his clothes are now fitting. His newborn pants had become too short, but the larger size was way too big around his waist. He looked like he was swimming! But finally some of those larger pants are fitting him.
 

Liam is getting more interactive by the day. He is awake more during the day, smiling, cooing, and playing. He also has found his hands and is sucking on them too. He found the left one first, so hopefully he'll be a lefty! Another big accomplishment was that he slept through the night this last Wednesday night. Hopefully he will do this more and more. This Saturday Angie starts her first normal weekend work schedule. This will be the first night he goes to stay at the babysitter's. Pray this goes well. We do have a video of Liam rolling over. I'll be putting it up after my stretch of days at the hospital is over.

6 Weeks Already

It is hard to believe that 6 weeks has gone by. I'm sorry for the gap with no posts, life sure has been hectic. Lots has happened in the last few weeks. I returned back to work for two very busy  weekends! The hospital was hopping and Angie was just as busy at home with Liam....But obviously all three of us survived. We also started to give Liam milk via the bottle. The first attempt at this was difficult and we had to trick him into taking the bottle. After that first time, he has taken to it like a pro. This has been a blessing to Angie as it has given her opportunity to go out, get longer periods of sleep, or just to take a break. It has also been fun for me to get to take care of him a little more.

This past weekend Liam took his first road trip. We went down to West Palm Beach to see his Uncle Curt get married. It was supposed to be an 8 hour trip there. Liam did absolutely wonderful. He slept the majority of the way and woke up at about feeding times. We bottle fed him in his car seat and then stopped to eat, gas up, burp him, and change him. All and all having Liam along only added about a half hour. The problem was that someone decided that I95 would be a great place to shoot someone! We were no where near the trouble......because they shut down the whole interstate. After we figured out a new route and took it, it had added about 2 hours onto the trip down.

Liam seemed to enjoy West Palm, his Uncle Curt (who may I add was QUITE excited to meet Liam), his new Auntie Melissa, and his new extended Columbian family(Melissa's family). They were wonderful and just loved Liam. He got so much spanish baby talk to him I think he'll automatically have Spanish as a second language! Also, Liam got to see Grandpa and Grandma Rapp again! Or should I say that the other way around! Liam definitely enjoyed his time with Grandma and Grandpa, there is a video on the smugmug page.