"Pumpkin Pie" Yogurt

Ingredients:
1 Tablespoon pumpkin puree
2 Tablespoons plain yogurt
1 dash pumpkin pie spice
1 baby

Instructions:
Mix first three ingredients in a blue bowl. Give to baby. Hope he uses a spoon. Forget about the spoon.

There's Been a Sighting at Our House...

... of something elusive...

... and solitary...

Ohh, the humanity!

Liam's FIRST TOOTH made it's first appearance at dinner on Wednesday of last week. We could just feel it and just see it under the skin. It broke through the next day and is well on its way to being a Real Grown-Up Tooth! (Until it falls out, of course.)

Could someone fill us in on teething and the accompanying fussiness? There have only been two evenings when Liam was fussy for no apparent reason and we chalked it up to teething. At what point in the tooth-cutting process does the fussiness peak? When the tooth is breaking through the skin, or all through the tooth-growing process? Because if this is as bad as teething is for Liam, then we will count ourselves lucky.

Quick, Mommy! Knock on wood!

And stop counting those chickens!

Gastroenteritis... Or, Don't Read This Post at the Dinner Table

It has been a rough couple of days.

Seriously.

Sunday night Liam kept waking up wanting to nurse. About 1am Mommy and Liam were dozing in the living room, when Liam sat up and upchucked all over Mommy. Then he barfed again, and again. Mommy was covered in sour milk, and peas, carrots, corn... and a green bean.

Awesome.

The rest of the morning was more of the same, especially after nursing. (He is just too efficient at drinking, and it all came right back up.)

We visited the doctor at noon, who confirmed he had gastroenteritis. "A stomach bug," she said. "It's going around, and it's a nasty one."

Great.

Well, the puking ended Monday afternoon. In related news, there is now a really clean spot on the living room carpet. Yay for having a steam vacuum!

Let's see, what day is today? Thursday? The diarrhea seems to be finally tapering off. Liam has been subsisting on mama-milk and a few Cheerios since Monday, so we are back to those wonderful, barely-stinky, machine-washable breastmilk poops. (Remind me why we can't ONLY nurse until he's potty-trained??)

As horrible as these past few days have been, we did learn a few things:

1. Mommy is surprisingly OK with getting puked on. Grandma J was right - "It's different when it's your baby," she always says.

2. Don't bother about buying Pedialyte. Breastmilk is just as good... as long as the baby doesn't eat too much too fast. Besides, the baby still doesn't take a bottle or drink from a cup, and using a medicine dropper elicited screams of terror.

3. Best of all, Liam slept in bed with Mommy Monday night and Tuesday night. There are few things nicer than waking up in the night next to a sleeping baby.

Catching Up on a Quiet Afternoon

It has occurred to us that we did not measure or weigh Liam on his 7-month birthday. In a week and a half he will be 8 months old. Those numbers are now gone for time and eternity, just like his furry monkey ears. The time has gone so fast; Mommy must make a renewed effort to record everything. EVERY. THING.

Ok, seriously - who has that kind of time? Raise your hand! Bueller?

Daddy has promised to write a post to you dear People of the Internetz about Halloween. He hasn't yet, if you hadn't noticed. But Mommy will give you a little taste. After all, Mommy's a giver.

What else has been happening, you ask? Well this baby has been practicing his pulling up on the furniture to standing. He is an ACE at standing. If standing were an Olympic sport, he would get the gold.

But this week... THIS WEEK... Mommy has had several heart attacks. Now once he is standing Liam lets go of the furniture. He freezes, looks shocked / surprised / proud, and in sloooow motion sits down hard. It's almost like he is trying to grow up! And walk! Like a big boy!

Anyone know how to freeze time? Because there it goes, getting away from us again.

And now, a parting video, from 1977. Why can't Sesame Street have more of this and less of Elmo's World or Abby's Flying Fairy School? (Have you seen Abby's Flying Fairy School? It is ridiculous. Where is the life lesson in using the Spice of Life to bring to life a macaroni-saurus? Idiots.) But THIS we love:

Like Daddy, Like Baby

Two peas in a pod, eh?

Also, yes - Liam is not wearing a shirt because it makes cleaning him up after meals MUCH easier. And it cuts down on Mommy's laundry.

Bath Time

Tonight in his bath, Liam sat there and splashed around for a couple minutes, and then decided that he wanted to grab the side of the tub and stand up. This is a big no-no, so whenever he does this bath time is over. Of course, as soon as he was dried off he wanted to get right back in.

Is it just me, or does he look like he got caught doing something and is trying to act innocent?

Project Mayhem 2: Liam Attacks

This baby has been hanging out with Snickers. She has taught him how to be mischievious. Verrrry mischievious. And as it turns out, when a baby can crawl - and when a baby can pull himself up - he finds lots more things to get into.

The past couple days have been exceptionally challenging. Take today, for instance...

Liam took off his diaper all by himself:

(Thankfully, this was after the day's poop, and not during.)

Later in the day, Mommy found the baby pushing the stroller into the living room:

Each morning Liam and Mommy share a bowl of oatmeal. Today Liam took the spoon, wiped the oatmeal on his chair back, and squashed his head in the oatmeal. Did you know it is difficult to clean oatmeal out of ears?

And Daddy has been teaching Liam a thing or two also... like chewing on the woodwork.

And Liam's new favorite, getting into the TV cabinet. This is our life, every day, all day. Daddy nees to find a better place for the stuff in there, before the Wii-motes are ruined, the instruction books are soggy, and the little odds and ends are swallowed. Does anyone out there in Internetz Land have suggestions for baby-appropriate things we can hide in the cabinet? Liam is currently more interested in non-toys than his toys.

Question of the Day: What was / is your baby's favorite mischief?