Week 49

Its been a week of party planning - this past Saturday was Granny Ev's 50th surprise birthday party and we celebrated in style. First we sent her for a day of pampering at the spa, then suprised her with a night away at a nice hotel & topped the day off with a dinner party with family and friends at the Canoe Club. She had absolutely no idea so it was a great surprise. We dressed Liam up for the occasion in his shirt, tie & wingtip shoes and of course he stole the show with his cuteness. The nice thing about him eating just about anything is that we were able to give him tidbits off our plates supplemented by foccacia bread & garlic mashed potatoes which he woofed down. We paid for that later when it came out the other end but it was worth the convenience of not having to lug around a cooler bag full of broccoli & bite-size chicken nuggets.

Since Liam's hair was getting to the point of shaggy dog status and my camera is now working again we trucked him off to Magicuts for his first official haircut. They propped him up in a special booster seat and put a baby sized animal print apron around his neck - everything was fine & interesting until the hairdresser came at him with the scissors and all hell broke loose. Inbetween Ian desperately trying to keep him entertained, the hairdresser working feverishly on his bobbing head and me hopping around taking a gazillion pictures while grabbing chunks of hair off the floor and shoving them into a ziploc bag for a keepsake, the fussiness turned into full blown screaming and eventually we had to abort the mission. Fortunately most of his hair had been trimmed although a bit chunky in spots. We'll just stick some gel in there, spike him up and call him trendy.

As consolation for his big ordeal we went party shopping and picked up a carnival tent & some more loot bag items for the kids as well as a musical billingual learning table that he can stand at & a hokey pokey Elmo (couldn't resist getting him some early birthday gifts). You squeeze Hokey Pokey Elmo's hand and he puts his arms & legs in and out, wiggles all about & turns around. Liam loves to push him over because he asks to be picked up and then says thank you. Plus I think he just loves to push or throw anything he can get his little hands on.

The upper teeth have now pushed through so he is a much happier camper - it was definitely the longest fussy teething streak we've been on yet. Can't wait till the eye teeth come - apparently they're the worst. Good thing I have my pharmacy of teething products ready. So now we are at 8 teeth total, 4 on the top and 4 on the bottom. Makes him look much more like a toddler than a baby. Bites like a toddler too. Better keep the frozen peas on hand. Better yet, I should invent nipple guards for the teething stages - may look like bionic woman but who cares - you're little critter can gnaw away all they want and it wouldn't phase you one bit!

Week 48 - Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! Another first for Liam. Being so little still we didn't stuff him full of sugar although Granny managed to sneak in a marshmallow chocolate puff without me knowing and he broke out in a mysterious rash later on. Apparently he devoured the puff so I'm not surprised. We had a nice family day with a light lunch followed by a walk along the beach and then a big turkey dinner. Liam loved my mom's butternut squash soup & mashed yams (although he did get a bit farty later on and then produced some nice orange coloured poo).

Monday was St. Patrick's Day and in true Irish fashion we all dressed in green - Ian with his "Who's Your Paddy" t-shirt & "Kiss Me I'm Irish" pin stuck to his chest, me with a green shirt and Liam sporting green overalls. Very festive. Since Ian's work was having a potluck he brought out his creative Irish streak and made a pot of gold out of a watermelon that he filled with cubes of yellow jello.

So my single mom gig continues. A couple of days after his return from his trip Ian started complaining heavily of a sore shoulder and rapidly went downhill from there. On Tues his shoulder was so bad he could hardly move and was having major spasms all over his back. He would basically get into a position and then get stuck in that position until I came to his rescue. Luckily I had 6 days off work with Easter holidays since I've now become a full-time sherpa. Not only was Ian in total agony, Liam decided not to be outdone and started cutting some more teeth (the upper ones this time) so he has been equally as miserable & wanting to be held every waking moment. Since Ian couldn't hold a dinner plate without going into spasm its been an interesting week. On Fri we had to get some groceries so I packed Ian & Liam into the car, drove to the store, got both of them out the car, dumped Liam in the cart & pushed it around while getting Ian to hold the grocery list and dictate, packed the items into the grocery bags (Ian still dictating), packed the items into the car, put Liam in his carseat (now screaming), drove home (Ian whining & Liam still screaming), got Ian & Liam out of the car & inside, transferred the groceries from the car to inside, unpacked the groceries and then made lunch. The sherpa routine had been going on for about 4 days by which time I thought I was going to go beserk, not to mention my own back was going to give out from constantly lifting Mr. Fussy while waiting on Mr. Spasm. Bye bye 6 day off break. The only thing about to break was my aching back. Mr. Spasm starts physiotherapy next week & is now on some potent anti-inflammatories so hopefully he'll be back in action soon. In the meantime I'll just keep on pumping him full of painkillers & Liam full of Tylenol so I can keep my sanity.

Liam is right into imitating the cat at the moment & is pretty good at making the same meowing pitch that the cat does. Pretty funny listening to the two of them - don't think the cat knows quite what to make of it. He seems to tolerate Liam still who has an undying fascination with him and smiles & makes grabs at him whenever he gets close enough. In addition to immitating Liam now seems to understand the concept of cause and effect and is interested in things like pulling on tabs to make wheels spin and watching the dishwasher spit water out the pipe. You only have to show him a couple of times how things operate and he's got it. he particularly likes door knobs & latches, but his ultimate favourite is the stereo. He loves it when I turn it on and the radio station is playing songs - he gets right into pushing every button. Same with his car seat, he likes seeing the seat belt click into the holder and tries to push the red release button. No surprise there - he hates his carseat and it's only a matter of time before he plans his great escape!

Week 47

My house is falling apart - literally. First the computer went, then the attachment to the vacuum cleaner broke off, then the monitor started acting up & switching itself on and off and now my camera has decided to give up the ghost (I also got that at Future Shop - damn them!). To top it all off my hair straightener has been showing signs of potential suicide - hope big hair is in because I've got it.

Today we were just about out the door to take Liam for his first haircut (he looks like a little long haired hobbit - his hair is over his ears and his bangs reach the bridge of his nose), when I decided to check my camera and discovered it was dead. Apparently this triggered an emotional meltdown and I collapsed on the floor bawling my eyes out and mumbling something about the failing appliances relating to my life falling apart. Ian promptly picked up Liam, stepped over my miserable ball of a body & mumbled something about giving me a break (ya think?) - so I got some much needed alone time - could have just asked for it but decided that a meltdown was more effective. What a drama queen I am sometimes!

Monday Liam & I met up with Tania from my mommy group and her little girl Kai for a shopping day at the mall. I decided to try Liam out in one of the little car strollers since he still does not seem to want to go in his own stroller without a huge fuss and he loved it! His little car said "Team Starfish" on it, was painted with starfish all over it and had a steering wheel for him to hold onto and play with. He hung out in his "Team Starfish" car for almost the entire time. The only problem with the cars is that they don't recline so napping was out - by the time our 4 hour shopping spree was up Liam's eyes were completely red and he had reached maximum cranky mode. His little buddy Kai fared better since she was in her pink stroller and obviously accustomed to shopping long hours - didn't phase her one bit. Girls - they show signs of love for shopping even at 10 months old. It amazes me how much more stuff there is for girls that boys, especially in the clothing department - you look at the girls side and three quarters of the store is packed with cute little outfits. Then you look at the teensy tiny boys section in "surprise surprise" blues, greens and yellows and you wonder why boys don't get enthusiastic about shopping. Boys get the short end of the stick! Well at least their mommies do.

Ian managed to get an early flight on Wed & was home by lunch time instead of 11pm at night which was originally planned. Good thing - I was done with the whole single mom gig. Liam was wide awake until 11:15pm the night before and I was definitely limited in the patience department - I figure I was hovering between "highly irritable" and "core meltdown" status by the time I reached Wed morning. Liam was in full drool mode on Wed and rather cranky so being the nice mommy that I am I offered him his favourite bedtime booby snack - only bedtime booby turned into bedtime teething toy and without warning Liam sunk all of his 6 pearly whites into my soft nipple & bit as hard as he could. I screamed my head off which scared the daylights out of him and he promptly started screaming too - Ian ran to rescue Liam while I ran for the bag of frozen peas to rescue my nipple. God it hurt. I'm telling you, with bites like that, the days of breastfeeding are numbered. If my nipple could think for itself it would retract everytime it saw that little pint sized mouth coming for it. Or at least play dodge.

Thurs Halli the housekeeper started - she's fantastic! My house has never looked so good. She spent 4 hours doing a super deep clean - something that hasn't been done since Liam was born (yuck). Everything just gleamed after she was done - made me want to saran wrap Ian, Liam & the cat just to keep things clean. Why I resisted the idea of having a housekeeper for so long I have NO idea. Thank God I came to because having someone else clean your house while you relax and do other things is fantastic with a capital F. To hell with my Martha Stewart Homekeeping Handbook - Halli the housekeeper is here to stay!

Week 46

Our computer is back! Finally! Only took 5 weeks & countless phone calls, but it's back baby. First thing I did was make multiple copies of all my pics - Future Shop accidentally missed backing up 1023 photos & after Ian got on the line trying to figure out why they weren't there (with me sobbing in the background thinking all our precious memories of Liam were gone), they realized their mistake & made us an extra disk - IDIOTS. I will never buy from them again. Ever. Cheap prices & crappy service - welcome to big box store shopping. My next mission is to make albums which involves printing off about 500 photos & a whole lot of work but I don't care. Never trust anything that thinks for you.

I think my child is a bat - he has become totally nocturnal (has 1-2 hour naps during the day & goes to bed as late as 11:30pm some nights), loves to hang upside down & his three favourite foods include bananas, avocados & toast = B.A.T. Plus he's starting to gnaw on everything again so I'm suspecting a few more teeth are coming - the drool & lack of interest in food usually gives that one away.

Whatever I said I would never feed my child before I had a child has once again gone out the window (with everything else I said I wouldn't do as a parent). I feel giulty when he watches me eating like a puppy dog so I end up giving him samples of whatever it is I happen to be munching on. Life is just so much more pleasant when he's happy so who am I to argue? Ian's just as bad I might add - he's no getting off the hook on this one.

I have finally come to terms with the fact that I am not Martha Stewart, a Stepford Wife or Super Woman and that I cannot do everything while holding down a full time job and being a mom and running a household. Soooooo.......after a few (just a few) meltdowns I decided to cave in and get a housekeeper. Hallelujah! She starts next week and I'm getting excited at the prospect of my house getting a good deep clean. It has been almost a year since Liam was born. Yuck.

On Fri Ian set off for Ontario on business, so for 6 days I'm flying solo. Luckily the grandparents are around the corner and chipped in to help. Plus I took some time off work so it's not too bad (we'll see where I'm at by day 4 or 5). It's only day 3 but who's counting? I have deep admiration for single moms - it's hard enough when you have a partner! I know I'm a bit of a whiner but seriously, how do they do it?

Speaking of sharing the workload - I now have a countertop dishwasher & a housekeeper - my dream of becoming a country club is one step closer! Now if only I could work on that nanny.........

Week 45

We have a chatty one on our hands (surprise surprise) - Liam is now talking non-stop and saying things like doh-dee-ga-gee with much expression. He has the gift of gab for sure, just like his mommy & daddy except that we don't try to stuff everything into our mouths. Speaking of stuffing in the mouth, Liam has a total fascination with Neo our cat and usually just reaches out and touches him. Monday we were hanging out on the couch when Liam all of a sudden grabbed Neo by his hindquarters with both hands, yanked with all his might and try to stuff kitty into his mouth. Took a bit to try and free poor kitty from his iron fists and kitty has kept his distance since then although didn't seem overly traumatized by the attempt at being sucked on.

Speaking of putting things in his mouth - he has turned into a mini garburetor - he eats everything. The only things we haven't given him yet (due to age and allergy scares blah blah blah) are peanuts, honey & cows milk. Other than that anything goes. I've noticed that he gets fussy when we try to feed him from a bowl and way prefers being served chunks. Makes life way easier now that I don't have to cart arounds jars of food, bags of cereal and hand blenders to mush things up. Now it's chunks ahoy! I've been practicing recipes from my Deceptively Delicious book by Jessica Seinfeld since I'm anticipating (unless I truly get lucky) that as he gets bigger he will get fussier in the food department. The book is fabulous as all the recipes hide veggies & fruit so your kid (supposedly) doesn't know they're eating somethings healthy. So far I've made macaroni & cheese with butternut squash (Liam woofed down the noodles in record time smearing cheese sauce all over his face), peanut butter & banana muffins with carrot (unfortunately couldn't try that due to the nuts) and oatmeal raspberry bars with spinach. Next week I'm trying spaghetti & meatballs with carrot and mini pita pizzas with spinach. The cooking skills are improving and so far no major flops, although the oatmeal bars were a tad chewy. Ok, maybe more than a tad but we won't go there.

Liam's front teeth are now clearly visible and we have progressed from just chewing on his rubbery teething brush to now using a rubber tip toothbrush that fits over your finger and comes with baby apple & banana flavoured tooth paste (no rinsing needed). He loves it except that he's a biter and tries to gnaw on my finger - bit of a challenge.

Yesterday we took Liam to feed the ducks at Beacon Hill Park and for his first visit to the petting zoo - Ian has been dying to take him there to see the animals and it was a gorgeous day so we decided to stop in. Armed with a big bag of bread Ian & I threw chunks at the ducks and were soon surrounded by tons of waddlers while Liam watched on totally fascinated. After a while a few seagulls joined the throngs but after the geese arrived we decided it was time to high tail it out of there in case we got pecked. Not to mention Ian had duck poo on his jeans and was starting to get grumpy. The animals at the zoo were really tame and friendly & consisted of minature horses, pot bellied pigs (Liam loved the grunting noises they made), peacocks and a petting area where the kids can roam around freely and interact with the mellow goats. Liam a.k.a. goat boy made buddies with one of the goats which promptly sucked on his finger and then gave him a big fat germy goat kiss. Desperate to get the perfect "first pic with goat", I got Ian to put Liam on the ground next to a rather docile older goat who was looking directly at me. The entire area was covered in sawdust so as soon as Liam hit the ground he started playing with the flakes (with all the goat pee - yuck!!!!) and completely ignored my "Liiiaaaaaaammmmm look at mommy!" pleading (like an annoying parent), while the goat kept staring at me completely motionless. Bugger. Oh well - at least I got a pic - even if Liam was looking at the ground with pee flakes.