Week 14

We have had quite the week of shopping for Liam - he is growing like a weed and even with the gazillion outfits he has in his closet there is still a need for more. He's kind of in that "in between" stage where he has outgrown the itsy bitsy outfits and is still too small for the big boy outfits. On Wednesday I carted him off to a kids store and loaded up the stroller with everything I could find. Of course I needed to fit him which is no easy task when a)your child can't dress himself and screams when you try and put anything on him and b)when the kids store has a change room smaller than a broom closet. I ended up barricading the entrance to the change room with the giant stroller (now packed with a mountain of outfits and Liam hidden somewhere in the middle)and attempted the impossible task of "trying" on outfits - this involved balancing Liam on one arm, trying to pull off and put on various shorts, t-shirts and overalls with the other arm with a hanger dangling from my mouth at the same time. My ability to multi-task has definitely reached new heights. After an hour of playing Mr. Dressup and changing one poopy diaper, I was sweating, Liam was sweating and we were both cranky. I did however manage to pick up eight new outfits so it was worth the pain. Liam was rewarded for putting up with his clothing fiasco by getting Mr. Turtle - a soft vibrating, dangling little toy - the minute I put Mr. Turtle in front of him he grabbed onto it and held on tight the rest of the way home. It was love at first sight and now Mr. Turtle travels everywhere with us.

Liam's brain is growing as fast as his little chubby body and needs constant stimulation - hence our second purchase of the week yesterday of a cool activity mat that he lies on and looks up at 2 arches dangling with every kind of fluffy, soft, squishy, colourful toy imaginable. He lasts about 5 minutes chatting to and batting at whatever takes his fancy and then starts to try and roll onto his tummy (his latest ambition)which of course frustrates the heck out of him - he can almost get completely over by rocking himself and propelling with his chubby legs while keeping his giant head stationary, but gets stuck on his left arm (can't figure out yet how to get it out of the way). After about 10 tries the crying starts which eventually elevates to full blown screaming and the mission is promptly aborted by mommy. At least the activity mat is more of a success than the lady bug tummy spinner. We're still working on that.

I am guessing our little tub of love is almost 16 pounds now and my back is starting to give out. I was promptly told by my doc on Friday to stop doing everything I had been doing the past 3 months (is she kidding me - have you tried to break a child's learned habit?)including carrying the infant car seat (that I was fine with, the thing weighs a ton). This led to our third purchase of the week today of his new fancy car seat that stays permanently in the car and goes up to 40 pounds. It took 2 hours of trying various seats by daddy (his turn to sweat) and all but two of them did not fit in our new small car (who knew?). Of course Liam screamed when we put him in it, but it sits higher up and has padded straps so it's an improvement to the old one. We have put a turtle toy mirror in front of the seat for him to look at (we have a thing abou turtles and apparently so does he)so that keeps him more entertained. We decided we needed to be cool again and bought a plain black sunscreen for the back window - a big improvement from the dorky red & blue elephant sunscreens that were previously plastered all over and screamed "we're new parents with no style at all".

Liam has started the drooling phase and gums on everything he can get his little inquiring mouth on. Luckily I have about 30 bibs just waiting to be used. His favourite "chew toy" in addition to Mr. Turtle's head is his flannel animal print blanky (strange a baby would gum on a blanky but oh well, whatever keeps him happy). At the moment he is napping in his bouncy chair holding onto his blanky and I can guarantee you the minute he wakes up he'll shove it into his mouth. I still have his soothers planted all over the house though for when dire straights hits. I must say he is far less fussy as the weeks go by, but when he's mad he's really mad. I mean full on screaming tantrum mad. It only lasts for a minute or two but comes with flailing arms and kicking legs and definitely equals an instant headache. I'm not looking forward to the day when he has one of those when we're out and about but that will be another story to share! On the flip side of the tantrums is his wonderful happy side which is so much fun - he is so chatty now and eager to interact with us, it's lovely to see your baby want your attention and enjoy your company so much. Makes you feel so needed and loved. Awwwwwww........I'm having a moment. Can't wait for the first laugh - not long to go now!!!