The picture says it all

I had one sad little baby when it came to taking the group baby picture on Sunday.  It's hard to tell from this picture, but if you look closely you'll notice a band-aid on the left side of Liam's face.  He got his first big boo boo at Aunt Kimmie's last Thursday.  No one ever said being a new walker is an easy thing.  Now I know why they call this the "toddler" stage.  For Liam it should be the "faller/face plant" stage.  Needless to say, he scraped his face on the stone on Kim's mantle.  Ouchie, ouch, ouch.  He started picking at it so we decided to put a band-aid on it.  Surprisingly, he didn't even realize it was on his face.  I thought it would drive him nuts, it was so close to his eye.  But as soon as Shailia spotted it, it was all over.  She started picking at it as soon as we tried to take the picture, hence his face.  Liam doesn't get upset often, it broke my heart to see his little face in this picture.  And by the way, this was an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party.  That's why he's wearing that hideous sweater!  Other than this sad picture, the party was great!  Fun getting to know all of the husbands of these little babies better.  I know I say it all the time but I'm so thankful for this group!

Christmas is next Sunday?  Weird.  I've decided December needs to be about 55 days instead of 31.  There is always way too much stuff to jam into 31 and still be able to enjoy the simple things (Christmas movies, baking without stress).  I guess I better just face the reality that time isn't going to slow down for me.  Apparently it will start going even faster.  Rather than trying to figure out how to slow it down, I think I need to figure out how to be more productive?  Yeah, that's probably my problem.

A question to all of my baking readers:  does anyone have a UNIQUE and/or unsual Christmas cookie recipe you can share with me?  I suggested having a cookie exchange with my mama friends next week, now I'm on the hunt.  I want something new, no chocolate crinkles, sugar cookies, thumb prints, etc.  I spent most of last night searching and just got totally overwhelmed.  If anyone has a good one, ideally one that doesn't require decorating, email it to me at katie.vincent@gmail.com.

Happy Wednesday!

My new morning love

My new morning love is The Daily News, delivered at our door step. Although todays paper is pathetically small, there's something about having a real paper in hand to read. It's just not the same online. I feel good supporting it after reading Lee Enterprises is filing bankruptcy. And I couldn't pass up the price. Twenty weeks, 7 day a week delivery for.....$15. That's a little less than 10 cents a day. Excuse me while I go enjoy my cup of coffee, paper and last few minutes of quiet for the day. Happy Monday!

My little walker

We were able to capture him walking on video. Which makes me realize we really need to video more often. I feel like we take massive amounts of pictures, but I never want to forget these firsts. It's so much different when you can hear his voice, see him toddling around. These are the types of things that will be on my New Years Resolution list. I should start writing a list. Come December 31, I'll have forgotten most of what I wanted to be on it!

Ahh, TGIF. This week, as always, flew by. I'm frustrated that November is already here and gone. I feel like I didn't get to savour it as much as I had anticipated. I wanted to take pictures of Liam at the lake, roast pumpkin seeds, cook and bake lots of fall'ish foods. I know I'm not the only one who feels like time is flying, everyone seems to be saying the same exact thing. Maybe time is really speeding up!? Last night they were talking about the crazy weather and how the weather fronts are going the opposite way they should be. Maybe the world is about to end and time is speeding up so it happens faster!

Busy weekend ahead and I couldn't be more excited. Love having a calendar full. The whole month of December is pretty much booked, yippee! George's birthday dinner tonight, Christmas Festival with our friends Carly and Jeremy tomorrow, birthday party tomorrow and making Christmas at our house on Sunday. We decided to forgo getting a tree this year. It's usually a big enough battle with trying to keep Subie away, Liam will be even worse. He's in to everything and I can just see him trying to climb it, eat it, un-decorate it. I just don't feel like dealing with it. And I don't want to put an ugly-tacky baby gate around it. So, we are settling with a table top tree. Does that make me a lazy mama? Maybe so...

Happy Friday, Happy December!

We have a walker!

Liam is walking! Actually, talking lots of steps. He'll walk when he wants, crawls when he needs to get somewhere fast. It is the cutest thing I've ever seen! It happened for the first time at his friend Gavin's 1st birthday. Everyone was asking me if he is walking yet and I had just got telling everyone no. Then out of nowhere, he stood up, turned away from me and took off. I couldn't believe my eyes! Luckily Carly had her video camera out so we were able to get some on video. I haven't been able to video any since. Need to have it ready at all times I guess!

Thanksgiving was so perfect this year. Everything was so delicious, company was great and my parents started a new after-dinner tradition, BINGO! Sophie absolutely loved it and it was a fun thing to do after. I was the big winner, McDonald's gift card. Vanilla cones, here I come! Liam loved all of the food, especially stuffing. Mmmm. Still sounds good to me, even after all of the leftovers I've consumed! Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I think it should be celebrated more than once a year! On Friday we went to Tacoma for our annual Un-Thanksgiving weekend. We've been doing this since Joe and I started dating and we always look forward to it. We had our feast on Saturday and we spent all weekend with Joe's parents. I know Liam is going to love this tradition, he had a blast!

Monday was spent recovering from the weekend and Joe had his final marketing paper to write. YAY! Only 2 more classes and he's done for the semester. He's doing awesome, has gotten A's in every class so far. I know it will be worth it in the end and I am so proud of him!

Liam is battling a cold AGAIN. I can't figure out what the deal is. I have a feeling all of the babies keep passing it around. We took him to the doctor yesterday because he sounded so wheezy and the first thing the doctor said was, "Oh my, how long has he been breathing like this?" Mom FAIL. I felt horrible. I thought she was going to send us to the hospital by the look on her face. He has been acting so chipper, I didn't think it was that big of a deal. Especially since every other time we've taken him in they don't do anything for him. She said almost all of his airways were blocked and she was surprised he was in as good of a mood as he was....he still managed to flirt with all the ladies! He's such a little trooper. He has such a good disposition. Even when he's miserable he's still a good baby. Anyway, they had to do a breathing treatment for him and we have a little inhaler for him now. He hates it, hates it, hates it. It takes both of us to get him to do it and I'm pretty sure most of the medicine isn't going where it should be. Please let this pass soon. So worried about him.
He's napping now so I better get busy. He's been taking 3 hour morning naps for the past week. Hope everyone has a good week and a great last day of November! November, you went WAY too fast. I didn't get to enjoy you as much as I had planned. The story of my life!

Search keywords

Ok, totally random blog but I just happened to look at the "stats" section and saw that someone searched the phrase "blue moon peanut butter soup" and was directed to my blog. Random!

Now, on to Google those words and see if there is such a soup, it sounds like it could be a new favorite recipe!

Whew!

TGIF! Happy Friday! It's been a great week. Wednesday my mamas group decided we should have an art day with the babies. It was really fun but let's just say it didn't go how I had pictured it! I imagined us all sitting around the table, babies on lap and being able to have them cooperate with the project we wanted to accomplish. Not so much! I guess I forgot that none of them like to sit. Throw paint into the equation and all ya have is babies bucking (at least Liam was) to get down but I couldn't let him down because he had paint on his feet. Haha. It was still fun though, I know I say this all of the time, but I'm so thankful for this group of girls. It's been so fun watching all of the babies grow and it's so nice to have the support and friendship. We are having an Ugly Christmas Sweater party, husbands included, in December. Can't wait!

Since the project with Liam didn't turn out how I had hoped, I had an "Auntie Date" with Sophie yesterday and attempted it with her. Turns out, it's still hard to do when they are almost 3! She thought it was fun though and we were able to get one of the Pinterest projects (picture below) I wanted to try (kind 0f) accomplished. I underestimated the size of her hands so we didn't have enough room for a star at the top. It looks more like a Charlie Brown tree. Oh well, it's still pretty cute! After our painting project we went to the Dollar Tree (her request) and then for ice cream. I love being able to do things like that with her! She's at such a fun age.

Alright, better try to make morning nap time a productive one. Happy weekend!

It's officially official...

I'm failing big time at blogging! I don't know what's wrong with me. Lately it's as if the littlest tasks seem so exhausting. I mean, how hard is it to sit down and write a few words or post a picture of Liam? Seriously. Hello, lazy. I hope you don't stick around in my life long! Or is this what it feels like to have a "toddler." Which, by the way, I almost cried when my weekly emails changed from "your baby" to "your toddler." Who has a toddler? Me? Really? How can that be?! I feel like Liam is at such an awkward stage right now. He still isn't walking but he wants to so bad. He wants to feed himself but he hasn't mastered it without having to take a bath after. So many things he's trying to do but isn't able to. I feel like he's frustrated. I think I would be if I were in his shoes! It's like he's wanting to be a true toddler but he's stuck in a baby body. He wants to be able to play and run and jump like Sophie. Soon enough, little guy.

Last Friday I was able to get away from the ENTIRE day. First. Time. Ever. It was so nice. I came home feeling totally energized. I haven't really been able to leave for more than a few hours because of breastfeeding and Liam refusing bottles. Now that he's slowed down so much on breastfeeding, I took advantage of Joe being off for the day and took off with my mom and sister. We had the best day. Had a long, relaxing breakfast at Tasty N Sons (SO good), then went to a Christmas Bazaar. It was nice only having to worry about myself. No diapers to change, no little person to feed. And I think it was a great day for Joe. He doesn't get to spend much one-on-one time with Liam so it was perfect. Even came home to dinner almost ready (just leftovers heated up, but still...it was something)! I think it's really important to have days like that more often. Everyone needs a break. I feel guilty for feeling that way but considering that was really the first day I've been away from Liam that long since October 20, 2010, I think I need to get over the guilt. Ok, I'm over it. Already planning the next getaway! Haha.

Alright, gotta start working on dinner while naptime lasts. Happy Wednesday, happy November, happy birthday to JOANNA, happy everything!