You have got to be kidding me...

I woke up this morning and saw that a friend had posted this.


Thinking it was a joke, I went directly to the Channel 7 website.

And you know what?

It WASN'T a joke! They actually ARE predicting 10-15" of snow for us!

We just got 13" on Wednesday night, and now a week later, we'll have a repeat of that.

Hopefully this time, we won't have to shovel it by hand in order to get to the Emergency Room. We'll just wait for the plow!

There's no place like home...

We got home from the hospital early this afternoon. After a bath and a good nap, Liam was happily playing with his sisters.

It is so good to be back to "normal." I am still processing the past few days and you have no idea how good it is to see Liam returning to his old self. He is literally getting better by the hour!

Museum and Cake

We celebrated Liam's 1st birthday with a trip to the Cape Cod Children's Museum and then dinner at Cancun Restaurant.  What a fun way to celebrate!

Eva

Amanda

Liam

Sibling love

Li'l Drummer Boy

Piano Man

Daddy and Liam

Cake!

Thanks, Grandma Jo!

Mom, you'll be happy to know that Liam loves his new Stand N' Play Raceway! We haven't put batteries in it yet, but that makes no difference to him. After just a few minutes with it, he seems to be getting the hang of it!

Happy Birthday, Little Buddy...

I have such a flurry of emotions going around in my head as I try to grasp the fact that my BABY turned 1 today! It has been an incredible year... where do I even start?

I can remember this exact day, one year ago, in such vivid detail that it just doesn't seem possible that 365 days could have passed! Does time really go faster as you get older?

Dave and I talked last night, remembering what we were doing at this time last year, reminiscing about Liam's birth and the first time the girls met Liam.

Those first moments as Amanda and Eva bonded with Liam will forever remain one of the best memories of my entire life.

It was love at first sight when the girls came to meet Liam in the hospital. Even Liam, just a few hours old here, looks like he understood the meaning of love.

The best part is, the novelty of having a little brother has yet to wear off!

I cannot imagine two sisters loving their brother more than these two. They still get excited to see him every single morning. When Amanda gets home from school, she often goes straight to Liam and says,"I missed you SO MUCH!"

Just for the record, I feel the same way. I told Dave last night that I really can't remember what it was like before Liam was here. It just feels like he's always been with us.

He has got to be the luckiest baby in the world. Oh, excuse me. "Luckiest toddler", not baby, because as the girls have reminded me, once he's 1, he's technically not a baby anymore. (Despite the fact that he isn't yet toddling??)

Liam woke up at 5:10 this morning, probably in pain from the molar that's coming in. Sure enough, his cheek was pink and looked a little swollen. I brought him back to bed with me, and as he always does, he managed to snuggle his little body as close to mine as possible. When that wasn't good enough, he tried to work his way onto my pillow.

I found this pretty fitting, since he was born at 5:30 am on this day last year. How ironic that one year later, we were cuddled in a bed... under completely different circumstances. What a difference a year makes.

The first words I heard this morning as I drifted in and out of sleep were "birthday present", the words enthusiastically shouted from Eva as she reminded Amanda what day it was. Although it's not like either one of them could have forgotten this day. They have been watching the calendar every day for the past two weeks, saying,"10 more days til Liam's birthday.." and "3 more days til Liam's birthday!" Etc.

As the girls crawled into bed with us this morning, they each gave Liam birthday hugs and kisses. It was very sweet.

Today we'll be spending the afternoon at the Cape Cod Children's Museum, followed by dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Then we'll come home for an Oreo ice cream cake and presents.

Here are the cards the girls made cards for him.

From Amanda:

Click to enlarge.

From Eva:

If you look closely, you can see that Eva almost spelled Liam's name.
The only two words she can write are "Eva" and "Liam."

And now I hear him crying, awake from his nap already, probably due to more tooth pain. Poor guy.

How do kids know this stuff?

When Amanda was around a year old, Dave and I distinctly remember her picking up the TV remote control and pointing it at the television.

At the time, it struck us as funny because we rarely had the TV on... yet Amanda knew just what to do with that remote.

This afternoon, Liam did the EXACT same thing when he spotted the remote with his sharp eagle eyes.


One minute, he was happily drumming away on an empty box.

And then... he saw the remote.

He made a beeline for it, picked it up and pointed it right at the TV, mounted in the corner of the room.

And here's the real shocker. Out of the 20 different buttons, he managed to press the right one to turn it on!

I love how he does his little dance when the music comes on... followed by Emeril's commentary about olive oil. The two channels we watch: PBS and the Food Network.

And for the sake of comparison, here is the photo and video of Amanda at 9 months old doing the same thing with the stereo remote. (Ahem, excuse the mess... apparently cleanliness was not as important to me then as it is now!)

Amanda, 9 months old, finds the stereo remote...

P.S. When I showed Dave today's video of Liam, he immediately started laughing and said,"Oh my goodness, Amanda did the same thing."

Two peas in a pod.

Tooth #7

Liam got an early birthday gift tonight - a new tooth!

His first two teeth were his two bottom central incisors. Then came the two top side incisors. If you recall me mentioning this, he looked like a jack o'lantern!

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, his two top central incisors came in at the same time.

I noticed yesterday that he seemed to be putting everything in his mouth again. That was Sign #1. When he woke up from his morning nap today, I noticed that one of his cheeks was pink. Also, he was very clingy, wanting to be held and cuddled. The cuddling is nothing new, but when he prefers cuddling over eating, I know something is up! He was drooling more too, so I checked his mouth for a new tooth but found nothing.

After Dave and I got home from our dinner date tonight, Omi told us that his new tooth had cut through. I was surprised when she said it was on the TOP! A molar!

That means the last five teeth have all come in on the top... and he still has just the original two teeth on the bottom. However, as I have said before, Liam seems to do things on his own schedule so I guess this shouldn't really come as a surprise. He makes me realize that there is no "normal" with kids.

I found this chart which gives a guideline of what to expect as far as teething. This may (or may not!) come in handy. At the end it states, "teeth come in when they are ready."

http://www.babyworld.co.uk/information/baby/teeth/order_appearance_teeth.asp

Another Snow Day!

Thanks to this morning's 6 am phone call from the school superintendent, we have just been awarded another three day weekend. Yes, another snow day.

They are only predicting 4-7" for us this time. Apparently the roads are pretty bad already and that has resulted in 500 school cancellations this time around.

Another storm is supposed to hit on Wednesday or Thursday of next week and they are predicting that it will be worse than this one.

At this rate, the kids will be going to school until the end of June!

I hope the snow ends by early afternoon because I have a doctor appointment about 15 miles away and a long overdue dinner date with Dave this evening!

Right after breakfast, the girls got into their snow gear and started rolling giant snowballs. They are working on an igloo so they can show Brady and Ella. Although I can guarantee theirs will never match the mansion-sized fort those Wisconsin cousins built!

Crawling?

We have an unconfirmed case of crawling!

According to today's babysitter, Liam was spotted crawling this afternoon.

When I was finished teaching, the babysitter said,"So Liam is crawling now?"

My response was one of complete shock,"What?!"

Apparently she saw him crawl about two feet. She even checked to make sure he wasn't just dragging the other leg behind in a half-crawling attempt like he usually does.

Leave it to Liam to demonstrate a new skill during the only 2 1/2 hours that I was away from him all day!

We'll see if he can repeat it tomorrow!

It has been really interesting to see Liam's rapid development this past week! It seems like his brain is making some significant connections.

He is able to stand much more confidently now and has even stood without help for about 2 seconds. He is starting to "talk" a bit more, saying "Dee dee" (Daddy) a lot in the past few days. When we praise him for something by saying,"Good boy!!", he will smile proudly and clap. His sign language for "more" actually looks like sign language, not just moving his hands together in a clapping motion. He can sit still for an entire storybook without trying to tear the book out of our hands or turn the pages prematurely. Today after I was showing the girls some Zumba moves, Liam began waving his arms in the exact way I had just been moving. And he can scoot across the room on his fire truck toy now faster than ever!

This is the dump truck he received from Omi for Christmas. Dressed in his brown construction jumpsuit, he looks like he's ready to go to work. All he needs is a hardhat!

I had always assumed that Liam would be walking by his 1st birthday (which is this Sunday), simply because the girls did. But he is doing things on his own schedule, seemingly in no rush to grow up. This is fine with me, but I just wish he would start sleeping though the night! We are still struggling with multiple wakings and it is exhausting.

Unfortunately Liam's birthday is a small blip in the radar. Why is that!? When Amanda turned 1, we had a party with lots of guests, a mix of family and friends. For Eva, we had a party with immediate family only. For Liam, we will celebrate with ice cream cake and a single gift rubber frogs for bathtime play. (Thank goodness Grandma Jo sent a gift so he'll have something to open!)

Poor kid... Not only is he the third child, but his birthday also falls right after Christmas. Talk about getting the short end of the stick! But whatever we lack in fanfare will undoubtedly be made up with an abundance of affection and love.

We have warned the girls that Liam probably won't get many gifts because he got plenty of new things at Christmas time. Amanda's eyes filled with tears and she pleaded,"But Mama, you can't SKIP his birthday!" (Amanda keeps telling me that she is knitting him a scarf, with the help of Omi, but I have yet to see it. Maybe by his 2nd birthday?)

We're planning to spend his birthday at the Cape Cod Children's Museum though, so if nothing else, he'll get plenty of family time.

Take Your Kids to Work Day

The kids had the day off from school on Monday because of Martin Luther King Jr. day. It coincided with the annual Take Your Kids to Work Day at Dave's office.

The girls had a blast last year and as soon as he asked if they wanted to go again, they were screams of excitement all around.

Here are some photos from the day.

There were cupcakes to decorate... and eat!


Crafts to make. (Don't mess with Eva when she is busy creating! She does not like to be interrupted. Amanda, on the other hand, is always up for getting her picture taken.)


And faces to be painted. Both girls chose to be painted like butterflies.


Amanda shares Dave's squeamishness when things get near her eyes. Eye makeup? No thanks.


They had a really great time! Next year, maybe Liam will get to go.

Our Snow Family

We just got in from playing in the snow. It was GREAT packing snow, the perfect kind for building snowmen. Or in our case, snow animals.

First we made a snow ladybug... with plantain chips for eyes and dates for the nose and mouth. (I think the blue tarp works really well for ladybug wings.)


Then we made a snow baby and a snow dog.


Now, we need to put all of the wet clothes in front of the toasty wood stove so they dry before we go out for Round 2!

Snow Day!

I received the RoboCall from the school superintendent last night at 7:00 pm, declaring that school had been canceled for today.

Twelve hours after that call, I turned on the morning news and this is what I heard:

Nor'easter Snowstorm

Blizzard Warning

2-3 inches of snow per hour

Predicted snow totals: 12-16" for Boston; 9-12" for us

Thunder, lightning, multiple power outages

Tides astronomically low and Winds 25-50 mph

682 school closings

I shoveled the porch and walkway once at the crack of down, which may sound pointless when the worst of the storm isn't supposed to happen until midday, but the snow is so heavy that if we don't stay on top of it, it could be like shoveling cement.

Note all of the snowplows across the street at the little convenience store, the drivers probably warming up with hot coffee. Also note the broken tree branch directly over our two cars. Yikes!

The girls are out playing now and could make one heck of a snowman, assuming they can lift the snowballs! Also on today's agenda is making a batch of crab chowder, hot chocolate, playing lots of games, and reading. (We stocked up on books at the library yesterday, and also got the BBC version of "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" on DVD and the first three Boxcar Children books on CD.

Lots of branches down!

Now we just have to hope the power doesn't go out! The center of town reportedly is without power and multiple crews are working to fix it, so it's a very real possibility.

Conversation

Tonight after dinner, I had a humorous conversation with Amanda.

We had been talking about how the day went at school. Among other things, today was Library Day, something she looks forward to each Tuesday, and she got to check out a new book.

The conversation went like this.

Amanda: "Most of the kids in my class forget to bring their books back when it's Library Day, so they don't get to check out a new book. But not me! I always remember my book."

Me: "Yes, that's because your mama is prepared and remembers to put the book in your backpack."

There was a brief pause in the conversation, and then...

Amanda: (in a very serious tone): "Half of today's Kindergarteners enter school unprepared."

Me: "Where did you hear that?"

Amanda: "On Omi's TV. But I'm not unprepared... because I have a good Mama."

I'm sure that's not exactly what "Omi's TV" (aka "the news") meant, but it's good enough for me.

Weekend Pictures

Here are some recent photos, taken this weekend.

A silly one of Liam with his mesh food holder... "Look Ma, no hands."


We had a group of friends over yesterday so the kids all had fun playing together. Here they are with my friend Kate's daughter, Maisy, who is about 6 weeks younger than Liam.


The girls also had fun doting on Nickolas, their 8 week old cousin, and playing with little 1 year old Elle (Mike and Erin's daughter.)


Dave and I even got a chance to hold Nickolas, now that he's awake for longer periods of time.


Now that more and more of our friends are having kids, get-togethers are so much more fun - - for everyone!

Piano Performance - Amanda

It's been a few weeks since I posted a piano performance.

Here's Amanda, performing a jazzy, syncopated piece called "Alley Cat Choir" along with the CD accompaniment.

Free Workout Music

In case you are looking for some new fast-paced and motivating workout music to load onto your iPod or other MP3 player, here is a link to six songs from The Biggest Loser/Subway workout mix.

I do not watch The Biggest Loser, but the music is good. All of the songs are 128 bpm (beats per minute), so if you're walking at a good pace, this should keep you moving. After all of my marching band experience, I have a really hard time walking to something that doesn't match up with my steps so this works well for me.

Simply enter your email address and your download will start immediately.

http://subway.workoutmusic.com/

Recipe: White Chicken Chili

I happened to come across a new recipe on a blog this morning and decided to whip up a batch for dinner tonight. It turned out to be so delicious that I will be adding this into our rotation of meals!

I just hope that it won't be too spicy for the kids. If they don't like it, I'll just save it for Sunday's Book Club gathering... so it's a win-win situation.

White Chicken Chili

3 cups chicken broth
2 cans great northern beans, drained
1 can creamed corn

1-2 cups cooked and shredded chicken

1 Tb olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

1 4oz cans diced green chiles, drained

1 tsp cumin
1 tsp cilantro
1 tsp adobo seasoning (This is not called for... I just threw it in for fun because I had it.)

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (I substitued chili con carne seasoning instead.)

1 cup Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (I used a combination of pepperjack and Colby.)

1. Heat olive oil in a skillet and saute onion and garlic until onions are translucent (about 10 minutes). Mix in green chiles and spices. Add the beans and broth. Stir in chicken, corn and then cheese. Stir until thick. Garnish with cheese and cilantro. (I will add crushed tortilla chips and maybe a dollop of sour cream instead.)

Update: The kids LOVED it! Both Amanda and Eva asked for seconds. Amanda's exact words were,"Do you know why I like this soup? Because it's a little bit spicy." (I tried to hide my shock at that remark.)

I served the soup with buttermilk biscuits and homemade applesauce. This is definitely a "keeper" meal.

Liam and his Fire Truck

Liam really likes his fire truck ride-on toy from Grandpa Clint and Grandma Reda.

Just in the past day or two, he has learned how to make it move.

He is also starting to get steadier with his standing ability and his confidence is building. This morning he managed to stand behind his fire truck, holding onto the back of it, for quite a long time without falling, even as it started to creep forward.

Here's a little video I took this morning.

For Kids: Free Online Storytime

Each month, Barnes and Noble sponsors an online storytime in which a popular kids' story is read out loud by the book's author.

Last month, it was The Polar Express written and read by Chris Van Allsburg.

This month's featured story is Strega Nona, written, illustrated and read by Tomie dePaola.

This ten minute video made it possible for me to get the morning dishes done while the girls sat side by side on the piano bench and watched quietly. (Click on the arrow button to make the screen larger.)

I have bookmarked the site and highly recommend it if you have kids.

Here's the link: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/storytime/index.asp

2011 and First Sled Ride

Happy New Year!

We had a very relaxing and low-key night.

After putting Liam to bed, we finished watching the Barbie "Mermaidia" movie with the girls, and then played Memory and Trouble. (The girls won both games!)

Once the girls were in bed, Dave and I watched an oldie but a goodie: "Planes, Trains and Automobiles." We were in bed long before midnight. The thought of staying out til the early morning hours just doesn't appeal to us!

We are enjoying a beautiful sunny and mild day. It is supposed to break 50* today! The snow is melting so quickly that it sounds like a steady rain as the drops fall off the roof onto the back deck.

It was the perfect day to take Liam out for his first sled ride.

I got him dressed in his comfy blue snowsuit, which he loves. (In fact, he likes it so much that he cried when Dave took it off after we were finished outside!)


Amanda was only too happy to hold onto Liam, while Eva took over the responsibility of "steering."

"Boy, that sun is BRIGHT!"

With a combined weight of around 90 pounds, I wasn't sure the sled would even move! But with the nice frozen glaze on top of the snow, the sled zipped right along.



The verdict?

Liam liked it!