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!