WHO DAT Superbowl Champs & Liam's 9 Month Stats

We had a wonderful time celebrating last night as the New Orleans Saints won the 44th Superbowl versus the Colts! It was a great game, and the Saints played really well against an amazing team and quarterback. We had a fun time with some friends and neighbors, enjoyed tons of food, and plenty of shouting and black and gold! It is still really hard for me to believe that THEY WON!

I was on the phone with my parents and my sister, Emily, who lives in New York! My dad was so excited, not just that we won, but that such great things were happening in New Orleans after so much devastation. At one point, he told me, "This city just needed this!" It's been great for the morale and for the economy down there! I just wish I had been down there for the weekend to celebrate with my loved ones! Oh well, there's next year! HAHA!

Anyway, my boy turned 9 months last week, and this morning was his appointment. Here are his stats:
Weight: 20 lbs., 1 ounce (50th percentile)
Height: 28 1/2 inces (50th percentile)
Head Circumference: 18 1/2 inches

Dr. G. said that everything looked great with our little man! He has 5 teeth (two on bottom, three on top), and the fourth on top should break through any time! No shots today (YEAH!!!!), but he goes back at one year for more. Only three more months!?!!!

A Mother's Reflections from Lunch at Chick-fil-a

Chick-fil-a is one of the only "fast foods" we eat these days. If we are going to do something "fast," typically that's where we end up because (A) Jonathan believes it's the best thing since sliced bread, (B) Nora thinks it's the best thing since frozen waffles, and (C) I think they make the best milkshakes in the world.

Anyway, today I had to run a few errands with the kids, so to liven up our day, I decided we would eat lunch at CFA. Me. Nora. Liam. Just us three.

Now, this may be a surprise, but I've never done this before. Usually if I go to CFA during the week it's to meet up with someone to visit and eat and socialize. In fact, I don't know that I've ever gone out to eat lunch with just me and the kids. If it's just us, we usually just stay at home. I would say that before today my reasoning for just staying at home is to save money, but I now have other reasons why I don't go just us.

Here are some of the thoughts running through my mind while we were eating:

- "Okay, I made it inside with both kids. What to do, what to do? Order with both of them with me or get them situated in high chairs and then order? Hmph. Wouldn't look too good to leave the kids in high chairs ALONE at the table while I order. Take them with me."

- "What to order, what to order? Baby in arms, toddler hanging on my jacket....the less food to carry the better. We'll just split a combo meal."

- "Thank you, LORD, the man who took our order sees that I desperately need help getting myself, two kids, my monstrous and apparently dumb-bell filled diaper bag to a table, not to mention a tray of food."

- "We'll just get in this here booth. Nora can just sit in the booth next to me and Liam can sit in a high chair. That'll make things less chaotic." (WRONG)

- "Climb in, Nora, I'm about to drop your brother on his head."

- "Seriously, climb in, Nora."

- "Dear God, please let this high chair be somewhat sanitized. Amen."

- "I am so thankful for these cute little place mats. Here Liam, stuff yourself with some Puffs while I try to get your sister her lunch."

- "Scoot over, Nora."

- "Dang it. No knife to cut up these nuggets."

- "Man, I love the people at CFA who are so helpful. Thanks for the knife. And ketchup."

- "These nuggets are cold. I bet they are left over from the chicken mini giveaway this morning. Hmmmm."

- "So thankful for sweet tea."

- "Why does Nora keep rubbing her fingers on my jacket?"

- "We will not eat pieces of nuggets that have fallen on the booth seat. Man down, nugget, man down."

- "Turn around Nora."

- "Don't touch that lady's hat! They are trying to eat their lunch in peace."

- "Why do I have Chick-fil-a sauce all over my arm?"

- "Sanitize, sanitize, everybody everywhere!"


In all seriousness, we really had a great little lunch. Things were just a bit more hectic than normal. It makes me thankful for a husband who helps so much and for friends who have kids who just know what to do to lend a hand or keep an eye on a kid in a high chair so I can get up for a straw.

Liam Piper: 9 Months Old

Warning: This post written by a very emotional mother who is trying to come to terms with the fact that her children are growing up way too quickly. Proceed at your own risk.



Yep. You read it correctly. Not only are the NEW ORLEANS SAINTS GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL, but my baby boy Liam is now 9 months old! What what!? Nine months just seems old to me. He is definitely not a newborn anymore, and I just don't know how I feel about that. On one hand, he is so stinkin' adorable and fun at this age, but on the other, he's so big. I can't carry him to run into Walgreens for a measly 5 minutes without feeling like my arm is going to fall off. He's a moose! We go for a check-up on Monday so we'll get to see then just how much this chunker boy weighs.

Here are some things going on with Liam these days as a nine-month-old.

Sleep: Liam has been sleeping so well through the night the past several weeks. Since he's gotten over his last cold, we really haven't had much nighttime sleep disturbances. Thank you, Jesus! Naps are officially two times a day. He usually goes down between 9:30-10:00 and will sleep anywhere from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours. Just depends on how sleepy he is and how adventurous he is feeling (more on that below). I will keep him up until his 2:30 p.m. bottle then lay him down for a nap after that which is just about the same time that Nora goes down for her nap. I am so thankful that I am getting them on the same nap schedule (for now anyway) so that I can have a little time of sanity for myself to rest, read, blog, or clean. Liam will sleep close to 2 hours for that nap, if not longer! So nice! He goes to bed around 8:30.

Food: Liam is completely on bottles these days. He has a bottle every three hours....yes, I know, every three hours. However, he only takes 4 oz. at these bottles, except his last bottle of the night where he takes 6 oz. Nora was taking 8 oz. bottles at this point, and she was eating every four hours. She drank more milk than he does, but he definitely eats more "solid" foods for his three meals than she did. This boy can EAT! For breakfast he will eat some puffs/cheerios and pieces of banana. In addition, he will have a bowl of pears or apples mixed with oatmeal. At lunch he will eat more puffs, some chunks of sweet potatoes, and a jar of a vegetable AND a jar of a fruit. His next "meal" is at 6:00, when we eat dinner, and he usually has a vegetable mixed with rice cereal, a baby jar of fruit, and some puffs or scraps of whatever we are eating.

Self-feeding: Liam has made some vast improvements in this area in the past month. As I stated above, he eats chunks of banana and sweet potato on his own, as well as his weight in puffs and cheerios. Seriously, I buy Puffs in bulk at Sam's. They are addicting, apparently. Liam seemed to have had a sensitive gag reflex that he seems to be getting better with. He rarely chokes up with pieces of food, and believe me, no one is happier about this than me. There's just something disturbing about watching your baby lose his entire meal while sitting in his high chair. (Not fun to clean up, plus you have the debate with yourself: Do I feed him all over again? Is he still hungry? Will he sleep through the night now that he doesn't have any food in his belly anymore? Where's my maid service to help clean this yucky stuff up?) So, now that I am confident in his ability to handle eating small pieces of soft foods, I am trying to slowly introduce things to him so we can expand his menu.


Mobility: Liam is everywhere! His army crawling is taking him anywhere and everywhere he wants to go. He can maneuver all over the house and tries to get into anything he is not supposed to: the fireplace, the garbage cans, outlets, CD player, etc. He is getting close to crawling on his hands and knees. Just this week he has been getting up on all fours and crawling a few steps, but inevitably he decides he's much faster on his belly so he slumps down and continues on his quest. Liam pulls up to his knees on many things, and in his crib, he can pull up to standing. Just last night we lowered his crib to the lowest level to make sure he doesn't flip out. Plus, I am secretly hoping that he will lose interest in trying to be Captain Adventure in his crib and nap longer. His naps have been interrupted lately as he stirs and then decides to play instead of going back to sleep. Tsk. Tsk. One of Liam's favorite activities these days is chasing a ball around. I can roll a ball to him and he'll go get it then push it along himself and just chase it around the floor. So cute! He can also clap, but this skill is still in the early stages. I've got to get all of these things on film!

Clothes: Liam is almost exclusively in size 12 months clothes. There are a few 9 months that we have that he'll wear, but it won't be for much longer.

Talking: His favorite word is definitely "Dada" but he can now saw "mama." As far as I can tell, he is not using them on purpose. This week Liam has started talking in "sentences." It's as if he is trying to have a conversation or relay something very important. It sounds like "di di da da ba ba di di." Although we obviously have NO clue what's going on, it's so sweet because we definitely know he is trying to express himself. Also, Liam's little personality is coming out and he can be QUITE opinionated sometimes. QUITE the temper! Jonathan and I both agree that he'll be stubborn and determined which will most likely result in many disciplines in coming months. Oh, boy!




Well, there it is folks. My baby is practically a grown man. I'm very upset.

Baby Food: Sweet Potatoes

My child LOVES the orange vegetables: sweet potatoes, squash, carrots. So much so, in fact, that his nose is tinted a slight orange color. Permanently.

I do buy some of those vegetables from the grocery store for at home and for on-the-go, but I have started making carrots and sweet potatoes for him since (A) they are really easy to make, and (B) they are less expensive to make on my own. Here is my process for making homemade sweet potatoes for my 9 month old.

Tools:
Vegetable peeler
Steamer pot and basket with a lid

Ingredients:
Sweet potatoes
Water

Directions:
1. Start by washing and peeling the sweet potatoes.

For this batch, I used four large potatoes.

Here are my two cooking "tools."
Vegetable peeler

Pot and steamer basket.

*Let me just say that this is such a wonderful kitchen tool to have. I steam all sorts of vegetables in here for our dinners.

After your potatoes are peeled, cut them into cubes. The size is up to you, but remember two things: keep them close to the same size so they will steam evenly, and remember that the smaller they are, the less time they will take to cook.

I don't like to cut mine too small, because I don't want them to totally lose their shape. I am planning to cut mine into small bite-sized pieces for my boy since he is learning to self-feed, but for earlier batches, I would simply puree them, so the size of the cube didn't matter as much.

Put about 1/2" of water in the bottom of your pot. You want to be sure that you have enough water to steam your vegetables. Not having enough water will result in scorching your pot (I HAVE DONE THIS AND IT WILL SMELL UP YOUR HOUSE AND RUIN YOUR VEGETABLES).


Place your cubed potatoes into the steamer basket.

Place basket in pot filled with 1/2" of water and cover. Cook on medium-high heat until sweet potatoes are fork tender, approximately 8-10 minutes. If they aren't fork tender, just continue steaming until they are.

Ta-da!


At this point, you can do one of two things:
1. Transfer the sweet potatoes to a food processor. Pulse until they reach your desired consistency, adding water to thin them out. Thinner foods for babies just starting out on solids, thicker/pastier foods for more experienced babies.

2. As I mentioned above, Liam is getting the hang of self-feeding, and I find that soft sweet potato chunks are a great thing for him to eat and practice with. So, I dice my cooked sweet potato chunks into little (Liam) bite-sized pieces.


These four sweet potatoes provided a LOT of baby food. More than Liam can eat in a matter of a few days, so I freeze them by putting them into ice cube trays.

Look how many cubes these four sweet potatoes made! Liam will be so excited!
Cover with saran wrap and place in freezer for several hours. To store, remove cubes from tray and place them in a freezer-safe storage bag. Remove as needed, and defrost in the fridge, on the counter, or in the microwave. Enjoy!


**Using ice cube trays works great for the pureed sweet potatoes as well.

So...

Not only does Nora feel that she needs to announce when she has peed or pooped in her diaper (or right as she is doing....too late to make it to the potty at that point), NOW she feels that it is appropriate to announce when she poots (our word for fart). Today at Kroger she felt compelled to tell me so many times that I started keeping count. I got to seven before we checked out. And, no, she was not discrete.

Baby Dedication

Photo Courtesy of Suzanne McNeil

Yesterday, Sunday, January 25, 2010, we had a Baby Dedication Service at our church where we dedicated Liam. Basically, this is just a way for Jonathan and I to declare publicly our desire to train our boy in the instruction of the Lord and to raise him in the knowledge of God. We strive to teach our children, to the best of our ability, about the Gospel and God's love. We know that ultimately, their lives are in God's hands, but we believe that He has given us our kids--Nora and Liam--as gifts, and we have a responsibility to love them, teach them, and care for them, in a physical sense and in a spiritual sense. We pray that one day Liam and Nora will come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior and will come to understand all that he has done for them!

I love my kiddos so much, and every day I feel the weight of the responsibility of teaching them about the Gospel. However, I am so thankful for God's mercy and kindness and faithfulness. Where I am weak, HE is strong!

In Case You Haven't Heard....

THE SAINTS ARE GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL!

That was seriously the most intense football game I have ever watched. We are SO thrilled that the New Orleans Saints are finally going to play in a Superbowl Game. They have had such an amazing season. I only wish I was home in New Orleans tonight surrounded by family and friends to watch the game. We are there in heart!

We can't wait to watch the game on Sunday, February 7, 2010!

GEAUX SAINTS!

Oh, and just for fun. Our friend from home, Josh Lincoln, rewrote some lyrics to a song called "Party in the USA." His version is called "Party in the MIA" and is about the Saints going to Miami for the Super Bowl. This song has turned into quite the hit!
Great job, JOSH!