Kitchen Progress

Here is a preview of what the back splash will look like once we get it up. So far, new appliances, new hardware, new window treatments and new counter tops. Next comes paint and decoration.

Master Bath Progress

Well, the girls had school today and Liam finally took a nap so I had some time to post again. Here is where we are with the master bath. The next step is to repair the rotted wood and start putting it back together! Yeah!!!

Front Bath Progress

This is the front bath. We are going to pick paint this weekend and hopefully paint the next weekend. Will post pictures again after we paint, put up a new mirror and decorate. Don't you love the old wallpaper?! I guess the last time anyone looked behind that mirror was just before they hung it up 30 years ago.

Big Blue

Here is a not so great picture of Liam, but it captures his two front teeth and his big blue eyes. I haven't posted in a while because of major remodeling and a sick baby. Liam had a fever of 102 for 3 days and after bringing him to the doctor yesterday we discovered his first and hopefully last ear infection. Poor guy won't eat or sleep, he just wants to be held and cry on my shoulder. I have never seen him this miserable before. At the doctor's office he weighed 16 pounds 12 ounces and that was after not eating for 3 days and the pedi was very pleased with his weight gain. We started antibiotics last night and am hopeful that tomorrow will bring some peace and rest for all those involved!

Sushi

Page's swallow test went well on Monday. There were no blockages and Page did so great! She was such a brave girl. I took her shoe shopping and got sushi for lunch after we were done. Sounds odd for a 4 year old, i know, but that is what she wanted. I get the California rolls for the kids and they LOVE them. After the kids and I eating 24 rolls I decided that I spend so much money on sushi that I should start making my own. Last night we went to the Hong Kong Market and bought everything we needed to make sushi, a lot of sushi! I will let you know how it goes, but I think it will be so fun for the girls and I to do together.

Happy 8 Months, Liam

Liam is now 8 months old! This past month he has made so much progress that I don't even know where to start. He got his first 2 teeth, he started crawling (combat crawling), he has started pulling up to stand and says mama, dada and baba. He loves to throw things on the floor and wait for us to pick them up and has major separation anxiety, but only from me. He adores his big sisters who cater to his every whim and he only eats what he can feed himself. He is no longer willing to eat anything that requires a spoon or a person to feed it to him. I had started putting blackstrap molasses in his bottles for the iron and he had an allergic reaction to that. I did buy some goat cheese this weekend so we will be trying that this week. He gets such a sparkle in his eyes when his daddy gets home from work! He is quite the fire ball. He can get worked up in a matter of seconds and will yell until he gets his way. Bed time has become a major struggle and so have diaper changes; see older post. He has finally weaned this weekend as well. I am so sad and so happy at the same time. I have been enjoying coffee, tea, cheese, chocolate and so many things I haven't been able to have for 8 months. But, I really love nursing (after you get through the first 3 months) and really miss those feedings. It makes me want to cry right now just thinking about it. Anyway, my baby is quickly approaching the BIG 1 and I can't seem to figure out where the time has gone.

A New Blog

Here is a new blog that we would love for each of you to check out and share with friends. It is: http://givefocus.blogspot.com/

No Camera, Updates Anyway

I am sorry to say that we have lost our digital camera again. (When I say lost what I really mean to say is that some small creatures in our house play monkey games with it when they aren't supposed to and break it.) So, since we just bought a new computer and had our pipes cleaned in the kitchen and are doing home renovations, it is going to have to wait!

Liam is crawling, sort of. Two weeks ago he started doing a boot camp crawl where he pulls his whole body across the house by his arms. I thought he would start pulling his knees up under him any minute, but no. He is completely satisfied with the dragging and gets around just fine, and mighty fast! He has two teeth and started saying Dada and baba for his bottle. He is so smart!! He is a real stinker too. I would love to hear from moms of boys about how interested their sons are with a specific body part. Liam grabs his at every diaper change and bath without missing a single opportunity to play. (I hope I am being as polite about the subject as possible!) He also screams and throws a fit if I try to finish the diaper change before he wants to let go of it. Is this normal? He is still not sleeping through the night and I am so ready for him to.

Emma has become such a sassy little girl. I can't even count the number of times a day she says "I don't care" when I tell her to do something. Yesterday she said it so much I put her in time out and told her to stay there until she started caring about something! Seriously, she uses the phrase about every little thing. If I tell her we are having spaghetti for dinner she looks at me and rolls her eyes and says "I don't care." If I tell her I love her, "I don't care." Be nice to your sister, "I don't care." I think you get the idea. I dare say that I have never met a moodier child than the one she is quickly becoming. Fortunately she is absolutely hilarious so these mood swings and sassy remarks are quite funny when she says them. I just need to get a better poker face so that I can nip this in the you know what! Other than the major mood swings her last 4 molars are coming in. Poor baby, all at once and she is in a lot of pain. She has taken so long to get all of her teeth, I am so glad that she is finally getting the last ones in! She loves school and taking care of her babies, all 15 of them. Depending on her mood she will have all of them, 3 of them or just 1 that she is taking care of. She is getting taller too. Her 18 month pants are now too short on her. The only bad thing about that is that she still needs 12 months in the waist, so having to move to a 2T pant is never going to work. Glad she like dresses and tights!

Page is having a Barium swallow test done on Monday. She has been complaining of chest pain for several months now. The doctor initially told me that it could be growing pains. We went back two months later and they said to try heartburn medicine. Still not getting any better they now think something might be lodged in there. So we are going to find out on Monday. She is getting so big! She wanted to write every single one of her Valentine's for school. She wrote every child's name and her own. She is adding and subtracting and even starting to read a little. She knows what all the letters sound like and she really tries to put them together. She does great with the smaller words that don't have any weird sounds to it. She really wants to learn how to read a clock so we are working on that a lot right now. She doesn't leave the house without a purse and lipstick (chapstick) and only wants to wear dresses and black patent leather shoes, even to the playground. She did not get that from me! (I haven't carried a purse in 4 years and I wear lipstick about once a month these days.)

I know it is a long update, but since I don't have any pictures to write about I thought it was a good time to catch up on what's been happening at our own personal zoo.

Demolition Time

We are doing renovations on our master bath right now and Will's parents came up this weekend to help us demo the bathroom. It actually looks better torn apart then it did with walls. I didn't get a picture after they were done, but here are some of the work in progress. (Our digital camera is broken and I forgot to take one with Mrs. Cynthia's camera before they left.) It is now down to the studs and a toilet, lol!!

Tiny Dancer

Finally! Here are the pictures from Emma's first ballet class. As you can see in the pictures, she is the tiniest girl in the class of all 2 1/2 year olds. It is always crazy to see her around kids her own age and see how small she is where as Page is always one of the tallest kids in her age group! They are exact opposites in every respect!

Computer Problems

Well, we have been having a complete meltdown with our computer so. Sorry for the lack of posts. I will post pictures when we get it back up and running. I am using Will's laptop to do this and can't download pictures to this one.

This weekend Liam hit some major milestones. He got is first tooth!!! We never thought he was teething because the girls didn't get their first tooth until they were 1, but he got his on Saturday and his second one is trying to make it's way out right now too. But, the biggest news is that Liam said "mama" and has continued to say it over and over when "dada" first, so this is major!

I hope everyone is enjoying some king cake for me!! Happy "Fat Tuesday"!