I have so much to say about Liam hitting the one year mark, and how emotional it has made me! But that will have to wait for another time.

We handed out goody bags to all the kids and babies that contained tambourines, maracas, flutes, bubbles, and mini coloring books. I was happy to find so many musical party favors!

I used Liam’s musical toys to decorate the food table, and our amazingly talented friend made a smash cake for Liam (strawberry with white whipped frosting), and cupcakes (strawberry and chocolate) with whipped frosting colored the party colors, and with a white chocolate musical instrument standing out of each one. She also made sugar cookies cut into the shape of musical instruments. We also served chocolate-dipped marshmallows on sticks, fruit kabobs, cheerios & goldfish (for the babies), salsa/cream cheese rollups, cheese cubes on party forks, and cheese dips. Planning the party was a lot of work, but I enjoyed it, and was pleased to see it all come together so well!

Liam seemed to enjoy the party, though he was a little tired. He spent his time crawling around, shaking his maracas, eating, and opening the presents. When everyone sang happy birthday to him, he wasn’t really sure what to think. He just sat in his high chair and watched with a serious, and very slightly confused look on his face. Watching him devour the smash cake was great – he really dug into it!

Here are some pictures from the party.

The cake

The smash cake, post-smash

The birthday boy!!!

And again! Hat & onesie by Chubby Cheeks Boutique! (Thanks Lauren!)

Next I am going to be making a photo collage of the last 12 months…will be posting more soon!

His first Christmas experience was last week-end in Evansville, IN. He shared the day with grandparents, great-grandparents, his uncle, a great-aunt, and 2nd cousins. He was showered with gifts, receiving many, many new toys and clothes! Then, on Christmas Eve, Liam opened presents at home, ate a Christmas breakfast on Christmas Day, and then spent the rest of the day with the rest of his family (the Mohr side). He was once again very spoiled (but in a good way)! He enjoyed ripping the paper off his presents. He has also greatly enjoyed playing with all of his new things, and Mommy has enjoyed washing and putting away his new clothes!! I can’t wait to see him in all of them.

In developmental news, Liam took his first steps!!!! This happened on Wednesday, December 21. That evening, Liam was standing against his dresser, opening and emptying his drawers as he so loves to do. I knelt down to try to distract him, as I had already refolded his clothes multiple times (only to have him throw them on the floor again!). Nathan was sitting in his rocking chair in his room. Shortly after I knelt near him, he let go of the dresser and walked the few steps it took to get to me!! I couldn’t believe Nathan and I were both able to see his first steps!! Afterwards, we decided to see if he would do it again. I put a remote in his hands, holding one end of it myself. I walked with him for a few steps, and then let go of the remote, and he kept going! He has demonstrated his new skill many times over the past few days, so I have no doubt that over the next few weeks he will get braver and braver about it.

He is also trying to develop his language skills more and more. He has said “hello”, “banana”, and “toast”. All of these words have been repeated after someone else said them, so I’m not sure how much he understands of what he is saying, but it is still progress!

Another thing he is doing these days is climbing onto boxes and anything else he can! I am not at all excited about the climbing phase!

I’ve been very busy preparing for his first birthday party – I’m going to be extremely busy this week working on centerpieces and blowing up balloons! I can’t wait to share pictures of the event, and I can’t believe it is on Saturday! Even harder to believe is that my little guy will be a year old one week from today! Where has the time gone?

Now, as promised, a few Christmas pictures are below.

A new toy train! At first he wasn't interested in the present until he realized it contained a toy!

Liam enjoying his new toothbrush

Snuggles with Gramma

This mess is mostly from Liam's presents!

He wasn't interested in having his picture taken...

I was trying to get picture of his outfit, but he wasn't cooperating! But so cute!

Well, Liam needs me, so I’ll have to finish later!

Liam had his first Christmas experience this week-end, and one of his gifts was a walker. He hasn’t quite figured out how to turn it, but he sure does enjoy pushing it around!

His Christmas was a good one. He got lots of new toys and clothes. I did take some pictures, but have not uploaded them yet. I am so behind on that, but I should have time with the upcoming 4 day week-end, so stay tuned!

In other Liam news, he has a new word – it’s “hello”! He started saying that on Saturday. He has also started waving “bye-bye” quite regularly – it is so cute! I’ll have to try to get that on video. Finally, he has been a little dancing machine lately – when the musical toys start playing, Liam starts swaying.

That’s all for today!

This week-end, we had such fun with Liam! He seems to get cuter by the day, if that is even possible.

He has been sleeping on his crib mattress on our bedroom floor, with pillows on the floor next to the mattress, so if he rolls off, he rolls onto pillows and not the floor. It wouldn’t hurt him if he did roll onto the floor – the mattress is only about 4 inches thick. But I imagine rolling onto the floor would be quite the rude awakening – literally!

Anyway, when we lay him down to nap, we generally turn on the monitor, close the bedroom door, and leave the room. Usually when he wakes from a nap, he either fusses or starts babbling. However, yesterday he did neither of these things. Nathan and I were standing in the living room talking about something, and the next thing we know, the bedroom door opens up, and out comes Liam crawling towards us with a big smile! It gave us a laugh.

In other news, things are going pretty well. He was sick with a stomach virus last week-end, and ran a fever for 3 days. Thankfully, he is better now. We took him to the pediatrician, and she pointed out that he is getting 2 more teeth (his top 2 front teeth). So once those pop through, he will have 3 teeth on the top and none on the bottom!

We put our Christmas tree up last week-end, and at first, he wasn’t overly interested. But now, he wants to pull on the branches. We obviously don’t allow this, as it wouldn’t take much for him to pull the tree over on himself!

He isn’t walking yet, but he is standing more and more again. He was standing on his own for a long period of time about a month ago, and then he stopped doing that for a while. I am learning this is a pattern with him. He did the same thing with rolling and with pulling up onto furniture – he would do it for a while, and then stop for a period of time before doing it regularly.

I have some new pictures to post, and will do so later.

Before I post the pictures, I’ll give a quick update. There isn’t much new to add this week – he continues to crawl and cruise around the house at a fast pace, getting into anything he can! He cruises effortlessly, barely even holding on to whatever it is he is using for support as he walks. If we are walking with him through the house, he now only needs one of our hands. A lot of people who saw him this week-end said he will be walking soon. He could walk if he wanted to, but he doesn’t have the confidence he needs to let go yet.

I’ve been beginning plans for his first birthday party. I can’t believe that time is almost here! We are going to do the party on 12/31, since 1/1 is a Sunday and not a good day for many of our family and friends. I’m excited to plan it, but sad that my little guy is growing right up.

Here are the pictures!

I’ve always known I wouldn’t keep up with this blog regularly forever. In fact, I’m surprised I have kept up with it for as long as I have, and I am surprised at how much I have enjoyed it. I am hoping to do better, at least so I can thoroughly document Liam’s early years, and also because I need this space when the deep sadness hits, as it inevitably always will, even if those occasions are becoming more and more spread out.

Life has just been…well…busy. Too busy. Make that stressful and busy. I’m ready for things to slow down a little, but I don’t think that is going to happen anytime soon. But there isn’t much I can do to change that right now.

November has been a good month, so far. Liam is growing, growing, growing and learning, learning, learning!! He now has a tooth, although it is still barely sticking out of his gum. It is his upper left tooth. He actually handled the teething process quite well, though not without a little fussiness and difficulty sleeping. But overall, much better than I think I would have handled pain like that!!

He has also mastered cruising. He has been cruising for at least a month, but now he is an expert. He can cruise around the house using only a flat wall as support. He also can walk while only holding one of our hands.

He was standing very well, but then something about the process must have spooked him, because he all of a sudden became afraid to let go of our hands. However, he is getting back to being willing to stand alone. In fact, last night he was standing in the middle of our living room floor, and he put one foot forward! He quickly reached for my hand, but it is the closest to walking he has ever been! I have a feeling walking is just around the corner. I’m not sure I’m ready! Not because of my fear of him getting into everything – he already does that. But, walking makes me sad. I feel like it is the last big milestone of the first year, and I hate that my little guy is growing up so fast.

He eats everything we eat, minus spicy foods and foods that could present a choking hazard, of course. We have even ordered food for him off the kids’ menu a few times! He, of course, makes a huge mess, getting plenty of food chunks all over himself and the floor.

In language development, I have heard him say “mama”, “dada”, “bye-bye”, “no”, and “hi”, along with all of the other baby jibberish he speaks. I am now convinced he says “mama”, “dada”, and “bye-bye” with purpose.

He has decided rolling over while getting his diaper changed is the way to handle that unpleasant situation. Unfortunately, this means it sometimes takes 2 people to get him changed! Especially for the stinkier diapers.

He dances and he sings. The first time he did these things, I couldn’t believe my eyes! The dancing is incredibly cute – he’ll stand at his musical table and shake his butt to whatever tune is being played at the time. I keep trying to get it on video, but so far I haven’t been successful. He also loves to push his musical table around the house, like a push walker. I’m always afraid he is going to end up falling on his face, but he never does!

I don’t have any pictures to share at the moment, but I will upload some very soon! I have taken pictures, but not taken them off my camera.

I think that covers most everything! He is just such a sweet baby and has a very pleasant disposition. His daycare teachers tell me that when someone visits the infant room, they gravitate to him, because he is always smiling and giggling, and will share a good laugh with anyone, regardless of whether he has met them before! He is such a social little guy, and I simply love watching his personality manifest itself. I feel so lucky to be his Mommy!

I can’t believe his weight has fallen to the 25th percentile! The pediatrician says it is a good place to be, and there is no need to worry that he isn’t on the same curve as when he was born. Apparently, it has been a gradual decrease for him, and that is fine. They worry about sudden drops in weight. Of course, as a Mommy, I can’t help but worry about it! I’m going to see if I can get him to eat a little more, but we shall see.

He is doing great developmentally, and his cruising abilities even put him ahead of the curve! The pediatrician was also very impressed that he not only says “bye-bye”, but knows what it means! He said it a little over a month ago to two different sets of friends as we were leaving a birthday party, and we took notice, but thought it may have been a coincidence, especially since he babbles the “ba” sound a lot. But then, on Saturday as the photographer finished his pictures and left the park where we were taking them, he said “bye-bye” to her as she walked away! So now we are quite certain he understands what he is doing. The pediatrician said that most babies use 2-3 words purposefully by the time they are a year old.

The only vaccine he received was a flu shot. It was optional, but after talking to the pediatrician about it, I felt it was the best thing for him, as the flu virus can be very bad for babies and small children. My brave boy didn’t even cry about it! He scrunched up his face for a minute, and then was fine!

I told her that we’d had a little bit of trouble getting him to sleep in his crib, and she suggested putting his pack ‘n play back in our room, letting him sleep in that, and then just gradually moving it further away from us until he is in his own room, and then in his crib. I think we may try that, or his crib mattress on the floor. She said there was no need to feel pressure to use the “cry it out” method – she said there were much gentler approaches and those were fine, too. She recommended we read “The No Cry Sleep Solution” by Elizabeth Pantley, which I actually own! Our pediatrician said she could tell that I was someone who would have a hard time with leaving my baby to scream. She said she was the exact same way with her babies. She was right, by the way. I can handle a little fussing and mild crying for a minute or so at a time. I already knew that “cry it out” wasn’t my parenting style, but it felt good to hear his pediatrician back me up. I’m not saying there is anything wrong with the method or those who use it, but it simply isn’t my “style”. I am a big believer in everyone doing what works best for them and their families.

Liam also had his toe pricked and blood collected to test his hemoglobin levels and to test for lead. Both came back great, which was good to hear.

His next checkup will be his one-year appointment in January. I can’t believe he will be a year old so soon!