8 months and 22 days.

That is how long it took for Liam Xander Henry Daigle to sleep 8 hours straight during the night. HOLY COW this is a BIG deal. He has not slept longer than three hours in the past 5 months, he has never slept longer than 6 hours straight, never ever ever. I do not know what did it. Was it because it was the first night of his life where his reflux was not bothering him?, or gas pains?, or teething pains?, or growing pains? Was it because I put his pajama bottoms on first rather than his top like I usually do? Was it because he saw his cousin Bailey that night for dinner? was it because this Sahara that we live in actually cooled down enough so the air condition did not have to come on all night? was it because he took a shower instead of a bath? was it because ? was it because? was it because? We will probably never know. And tonight might be totally "normal" at our house. We might forget what this felt like to have woken up in the early morning and say "is he still breathing". Oh, if only I knew what we did that worked it's magic on our baby, then I could bottle it up and give it to him every single night.
Sweet Dreams Liam.

I will miss this.

Liam you are a little man filled with speed and screams and giggles that warm my heart. The world is your oyster right now and I love seeing you feel and learn all about what surrounds you.
I will miss how you love feeling the water come out of the spout.
I will miss how you claw at my face to feel every inch of it, including up my nose and in my mouth.
I will miss how you crawl to the dog bowls just to pick up the dog food.
I will miss how you sit and carefully pick at the carpet.
I will miss your first reactions to your first feels....the disgusted look on your face after touching your first feel of a tennis ball, the look of concern as you maneuver from carpeted ground to tile floor, the exasperation on your face when you felt your first wet noodle, the terror in your eyes when you were introduced to sand, or the silent cringe from your first feel on grass.
I will miss how you crawl to the tile in the kitchen just so you can slap it over and over and over.
I will miss how you turn over every little car or train you have, and you sit and play with the wheels because you like making them turn.
I will miss your first reactions to your first feels.... the look of delight as you squish pureed food through your fingers, the pleasure on your face from cuddling with a silky blanket, the shriek of happiness when having a handful of dog fur, the amazement at what a straw felt like in your hand.
I will miss how you let the doggies lick your hands over and over and you laugh out loud when it tickles.
I will miss how you love our Eskimo kisses, my hair tickling your face, your hand being kissed repetitively fast by my lips.
I will miss how you love your cheeks being nibbled on and your cheeks caressed and your forehead kissed and your back tickled and your bum patted.
I will miss the sense of wonder that is found in your finger tips.
I will miss these days when you felt your way around your world.

Cousins

Lor Lor, Libby Lu, Little Liam, Jilly Bean, Reesey, Siddy, And Georgie.



These are my favorite kids in the whole world.

Olives and Avocados

Yes that is right! Liam love O's and A's just like his mommy. His father can not believe that now he is living in a house with two people who eat ewwie ewwie tasting foods. I do not think Sam can be around while Liam eats either of these two items because the look of disgust on his face might influence his son. And I just wont have that.

And because I said he couldn't, he started crawling 3 days ago. A little weary at first but now he is determined and picking up speed. We have had a few head plows into the ground with wails they can hear in space. I am so proud of my son.

Independence day

Happy 4th!.

First I must say that I Loathe living in the desert. Second I must say that I loath summer. Third I loathe my body in a bathing suit. Fourth I loathe public swimming area's.

So I sit here independently appreciating my freedom indoors with air condition and a cold soda. If the 4th was the 4th of October, I would be parading around the beach wearing stripes and setting off things that go Boom in the Night.

I can not be patriotic in the dead of summer. I can not.

It is not my fault. I do love our country, this is not meant to sound like I don't appreciate what today stands for....I just can not do summer holidays. I would not be happy about Christmas if it was in July. It's nothing against the holiday, I am against the month. I am against how hot it is where I live in the month of July. So really, this is just me saying I don't like where I live.

Sorry.


Now for the actual point of blogging today, My little Man is 8 whole months. And he is sporting his first tooth. His lower right central, (I looked it up ) :) And that thing is sharp, keeps him up all night (one of about 7 other issues), feels really pleasant on my boob, and warranted a trip to Babies R Us to pick up his first tooth brush. A milestone. Eeeeek.

He is doing so much around here, he maneuvers himself around and always ends stuck underneath the coffee table or the bed or with his hands in the dog bowls. He crawls like a madman. Only backwards though. It drives me crazy and breaks my heart. He will look at something in front of him and you can see that he wants to get to it, so he starts crawling but backwards and the whole time he is crawling further from the object he just wails in devastation. He has been crawling backwards for a month now, and if you were a fly on my wall you would see Liam's mommy and daddy on all four's trying to show him what to do. I think that is why he does not do it, he knows that once he does, mom and dad won't look as stupid. I think he looks so much like his daddy in this picture.

Irene Dorothy

Today marks the one year anniversary that my Grandma has been in Heaven. I still miss her so much, I have a bazillion memories of her but as I was thinking of what to write nothing felt as real and heartfelt as what I wrote in her program at her funeral.'


"My Grandma was a collection of Angel decorations, she was spaghetti dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory, she was Christmas mornings, she was a baseball game on T.V., She was country line dancing at the Moose Lodge, she was the "Henry Wave", she was fresh tomatoes, she was house slippers, she was dentures that didn't fit quite right, she was smooth legs, she was in love with my daddy, she was making silly faces, she was coca-cola, she was a yellow VW bug, she was gardening in the spring, she was turkey gravy, she was a hot pot of tea, she was Grandma Got ran over by a Reindeer, she was ticklish knees, she was a comfy reclining chair, she was a crochet pattern and needle, she was twirling thumbs, and she was the sharpest set of ears. I am blessed to be a part of who my Grandma was. She will be missed every day this side of Heaven"


My Grandmother had Alzheimer's, I was her Granddaughter and at times I was also her Daughter, her Friend, her other Granddaughter and a stranger.

I am so happy to know that my Grandma is in Heaven and not confused anymore with who I am, and when we meet again I will always just be her Granddaughter.

Joyfully Remembering
Irene Dorothy Henry
September 16, 1918 - June 23, 2009

Aloha!

At the beginning of this month we took our first family vacation to Maui. We were so looking forward to it. Sam and I had been there together 4 years ago and had a wonderful time, we went parasailing and scuba diving and went to a luau. This time we stayed up all night, went for long scenic drives, and avoided the sun.

Our nights were not out and about enjoying the night life, they were in our little condo with a baby who could not sleep in his strange crib, in the room with the weird air condition unit humming a different sound than normal, and his mommy and daddy in the room with him. The kid is a light sleeper and so every time we turned he would hear the sheets rustling and would wake up screaming. The first morning we woke up and were so angry we flew to hawaii on vacation with a 6 month old. He promptly woke up every 45 minutes on the dot that first night. It did get better after that well anything is better than 45 minute naps all night long.

Our long scenic drives were not necessarily by choice we would head off to the beach or lunch or shopping and Liam would fall asleep in the back seat, now Sam and I have this rule that we never wake a sleeping baby, and most definitely not our sleeping baby. When Liam sleeps we take each moment as a gift from God and then sigh in exasperation that we are in a car and not able to go to sleep ourselves. So we would head out and Liam would fall asleep and we would drive and drive and drive. And drive and drive and drive. Seriously. 2 1/2 hours almost every day. At least the kid got some good naps in. And we saw almost every inch of that island. Yes even the roads that the rental car place forbids you to go on. SCARY roads. They are forbidden for a reason. I thought the road was going to kill me. And Sam thought I was going to kill him with all of my terrorizing gasps of fear. We lived. And we kept on driving.

We really had a wonderful time, and I am pretty sure that my husband is going to buy me a house there one day. As soon as they build a Target. ;)Liam hated the beach. Screamed and shook all over. Convulsed. Hated the sand. So we went in the pool. Hawaiian pools are much more tropical than ones in California so we did not mind. And I myself loathe sand so I am quite tickled that my son has one of my traits. The only one to date. I will take what I can get. Now when People say "oh he looks just like his father" I can respond with "yes but he hates the sand like his mother".