This has been a moment with sleeping Liam!

Do ya ever get so caught up in stamping veggie art and taking pictures of powdered bunt cake that you forget to stop and take in the simple miracles of life. Yes? That's what I thought...me too. You see, I fancy myself a task-oriented person. I wake up early to pluck away on my laptop and throw in a load of laundry. During nap time I do some accounting, edit a book I'm helping write, work in Photoshop. After bedtime I catch up on reading and straighten up the house. But every now and then I stop and glance over and my sleeping baby toddler (what the %&#*@!) and just soak him in. You know, really look at him and have one of those strange out of body experiences where you realize that this little human depends fully on you (a totally imperfect human) and that you had better not screw this up. One of those moments. And then I realize, I am one lucky duck. Truly. A few days ago my grandma Facebooked me and was like "keep posting pictures of that growing baby" and I thought, hmmm...it has been a minute since I chatted about Liam. Enter stage left: a little list about what Liam is up to now:

- Liam takes every meal in his highchair. He prefers to feed himself, after all he is grown up enough to do so. The very second he decides he is done eating he goes directly from chewing his last bite to screaming like a maniac while flinging bits of toast at Jada (who willingly eats all dropped morals). Once the highchair hysterics begin I have about 1.2 seconds to wipe him down and get him out before a breakdown ensues. Let's just say Liam is a man who knows what he wants and wants it right now.

- This kid is walking everywhere. Let me rephrase: This kid is running everywhere. In the pantry (dumping out chips) to the living room (dancing with Ellen-I kid you not) to the bathroom (in the toilet). With how quick this kid moves I have become quite to the pro and baby-proofing. I think I will add that to my CV.

- Better out than in is Liam's motto. And I'm not talking bodily excretions (yuck). Little nugget prefers outdoors to indoors always. As we walk and walk and walk he narrates and I nod my head, listening intently and appreciating his little dialogue. Yesterday he removed 4 flags from our neighbor's yard (in about 5 seconds) and I had to go back and determine where the Century Link flags and Comcast flags belonged. Ooops. Cross your fingers for me (and my neighbor's internet services).

- Liam is practically talking now. I mean, he says pee-do (peekaboob), dain-do (thank you), janda (Jada), and uh-oh (uh-oh). My personal favorite is thank you. He will march around with a toy or strainer or broom in his hand and chant "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

Yep, he's pretty adorable. Pretty freaking adorable.

Tweet

Why I am happy to be worrisome

Getting a blog post out this week has been horrendously difficult and as I quietly type next to a snoozing almost-one-year-old (gasp) I am forced to interrogate myself...Why has my blogging been slow moving? Why am I so tired and a little uninterested? Why can't it stay light outside until 9:00 pm so that I can get one photoshoot in!?
After a little bit of meditating perhaps I'll share a few things that I am working hard on so that you can stop judging me for being lazy ;) (ps I know that no one is judging me...except for me).

Okay so this week you could say I have been working really hard as a momma. This kid has kind of photo-bombed my life as of yet, but I kind of think that photo-bombing stared June 2011 when he became a little peanut in my womb. The past 7-9 days he just so happened to be more of a bomber than the previous month or so. I mean, these photos pretty much describe my blogging efforts lately :)

Does he not have the cutest chubby fingers this side of the Mississippi!? (That got a little western)

Another thing that has been a focus of my efforts and worries has been sleeping arrangements. Liam and Clint and I co-sleep, which has actually been a very positive and uplifting experience. Plus thousands of years of parenting would suggest that it is natural for many parents and babies to want to sleep in close quarters. So I am not sure why I picked this week to stress about sleeping situations and schedules and routine. Perhaps its because I am sleeping, um, too much. Is that weird? Most nights I sleep from 12:00pm to 9:00am with little interruption. Now I hear you sleepless parents out there thinking Sounds like a tough life Alix...too much sleep is your problem?
Strangely I think that is part of it.
I think in order to get the shiz done, I need to wake earlier and make a habit of it. Woe is me!

Also...some exciting blog-related things are in the works 'round here that have seriously consumed my creative energies. Which is a good thing in many ways...but I must remember that first and foremost I am a quality content creator! (that last sentence should be read as if declaring a significant manifesto!)
What's in the works, Alix? You may ask.
Oh I just got a little job with Vivint's blog The Neighborhood! That's right...Starting March I am contributing content to a blog that I adore and this has made be very happy.Very very very happy.
Also The Neighborhood and I have some mini party plans in the works so that is pee-your-pants exciting!
And not to mention I am busy designing and creating items for my etsy store which will launch March 1st!!!! (I hope...cross your fingers and say a pray for me that I will be able to get it all done)
Oh and PS I am still busy tackling my 100 rejections list because, dammit, I will make money blogging and love it all the while.

To be honest and truthful and fair...I am deeply in love with my life. I can't remember ever being as happy doing anything as I am being a mom and blogger.


Well this post has successfully balanced a stream of contentiousness with a journal entry, so lets wrap it up with well-wishes...happy weekend!

Tweet

They call it attachment parenting...

They call it attachment parenting... or so I hear. I think it has to do with skin-to-skin contact after birth and breastfeeding and sleeping patterns and bonding...and I'm pretty sure I am doing it. Attachment parenting, that is. Because my little Nugget it very attached, bonded, breastfed, and (ahem) sleeps while literally attached.

Mid-night feeding sessions are kind of like sleepwalking...your not sure how you got in the kitchen with a mayonnaise and hamburger sandwich in your hand, but your pretty sure it's your own doing. That's kind of what I feel like at 4:00am when I wake up to Nugget sucking on my elbow and my boob is just hanging out there. And I'm like, What the freaking heck is going on here?

I can't be alone in this. There has to be other "sleepwalking" moms out there. Parents who say to themselves, "Cribs...what a waste of money." And if you are not out there...I will make you up in my mind for self-reassurance purposes.

Either way, Nugget crawling around and on me in the mornings is seriously the most wonderful part of my day. Wouldn't trade it. Not even for a good nights rest. Well, maybe just one good nights rest would be okay.

I'm going to go nap now :)

Tweet

Liam's Party Tricks

When I was younger, more limber, and in...ummm...better shape than I happen to be now, I could do this trick where I lay on my back and whip/flip myself up into a standing position. You know, like Jackie Chan does in Rush Hour (and every movie Jackie Chan was in...ever). Whenever we had guests over my dad would be like, "Alix, do that flippy thing!" and then he would turn to our guests and be like, "Watch this". It was always a bit awkward and made me feel a little like a dog performing party tricks for a piece of dog jerky, but I just couldn't disappoint my proud father.

And ironically I think I have become that parent. The one who turns their kid into a monkey playing the organ grinder. That's who I am now, I guess.

Liam has three party tricks I'm proud of...

1. He claps furiously when you say "Patty cake, patty cake, baker man"...but he also claps if you start clapping, which I am not sure if that makes him more or less smart? You should see his eyebrows furrow when he gets it arms flapping in a clap motion...dar-ling!

2. Did you know that when you place your tongue on the roof of your mouth, suck in, and then pull your tongue down, it makes a clicking sound? Well Liam knows that. And he makes a little click all day now. All I have to do is make any sound that remotely resembles a click and he is happy to follow suite.

3. He also waves goodbye. This one is a personal favorite and always a crowd pleaser. But when he pumps those tiny chubby fingers up and down, it's usually at himself-which makes it all the more adorable. Why not wave goodbye to oneself?

Every now and then, when a crowd is coaxing him, Liam decides he is nobody's puppet. And try as we might-hands clapping, tongue clicking, waving waving-Liam just looks at us like we are a bunch of idiots. I bet we sure look the part :). I don't care though...I'll keep prying those party tricks out of my kid because, well, he's mine, and I like him...a lot.

Tweet