January 2014 – Casa de Murphy

It’s been quite a while since I posted an update on Liam’s age or a monthly update, but since we’ve hit another milestone today, I thought it would be fun to do so. On this last day of January, our little man is a whopping TWO & A HALF…how is that possible, really?!?! Weren’t we just celebrating his birthday, and now we are half way to the next one? Good grief, time is going by at lightening speed!

Ever since this last birthday, I have pretty much abandoned referring to his age by months, but in honor of the occasion, AND to continue our teddy bear pic tradition, here we go:

2014-01-31_30 months

It’s definitely hard to get an active little man to sit still for a pic these days….

2014-01-31_30 months collage

Below is a recent cute Sunday morning pic of Liam coloring. I think he looks so grown-up here just soaking up the rays with his little feet in the air and crayons in hand. Care-free! 🙂

2013-01-20_coloring collage

AGE:30 months / 2 1/2 years old

WEIGHT: last check, 33 lbs…my back definitely feels every bit of that!

HEIGHT: he’s definitely grown in the last few months. We need to measure him again. It’s terrible but I don’t remember his exact measurement…next post 🙂

CLOTHES: He’s in a solid 3T now. I’ve even started to buy 4T for some brand shirts {like Carter’s} that run small on him in order to get more life out of any news clothes {most of his wardrobe is hand-me-downs…huge $$ saver!!}.

FAV FOODS: Lucky for us, Liam is not a picky eater. Although, I would say he is a very decisive eater. Meaning, when he knows what he wants to eat, there is pretty much no changing his mind. Sometimes, that’s a big pain in the a$$. I am sure that is a big part of his age, too. He likes a lot of fruit, especially bananas. I would like to see him eat more veggies but we are working on that. He is a huge fan of the Entemann’s popper doughnut holes {terrible, I know…but tasty, for a little guy}. He also likes to eat COLD mini Eggo pancakes. I cannot even begin to explain why our child likes to eat cold {e.g., frozen} pancakes, but he does. To each, their own! Ha! He also is a big fan of chicken nuggets and mac-n-cheese.

FAV WORDS: Our little chatter box….what doesn’t he say? He has become very good with using his words and pretty darn clear with speaking. Definitely very thankful for that. We went through a brief period a few months ago where he was stuttering a bit but that seems to have gotten better. We still hear it at times, but everything I have read says it is normal development so we have never called it out to him & that definitely seemed to help him. “I want a snack” is heard frequently throughout the day”. “Uppey” …but we then look at him until he will actually then say, “Pick me up please”…lol.

He is getting very independent these days, and quite frequently you will hear him say, “I do it myself”. When we went to the Bengel’s birthday party a few weeks back & he had a ball with the bouncy house/slide, we were amazed that he was going up the slide by himself toward the end of the afternoon.

2013-01-11_bouncy house collage

FAV ACTIVITIES: Liam is very good at entertaining himself. I think that comes with him being an only child. Even from what I have observed of him at school, he currently likes to do his own thing a majority of the time, and that’s okay. He really loves to play with his toys, or if we are at home, watch cartoons {Disney Junior…all the way}. He also is been having a great time driving his Power-wheels Jeep and riding his new tricycle that Santa brought. Last drive time, he was even catching on to finally navigating the steering of the jeep…that was cool. No more just driving in circles. haha!

2014-01-19_tricycle

FAV THINGS: Recently, we acquired a train table from a friend and that has opened a WHOLE NEW WORLD to Liam. He is loving his “choo choo’s”. Below is a pic of him with his new loves:

2014-01-25_train table

Some of the trains that we got with the table set are the Thomas the Train brand. Super cute! We are slowly learning about them. They have the names on the bottom of them, and unbelievably, he remembers who each one is. He was walking around the house last night going, “Now where did you go, Gordon??” hahaha…so freakin’ cute!

MILESTONES: We have been practicing potty training! In my book, that is a HUGE milestone, and let me tell you, this kid has been training himself. He is awesome at it. He goes on the big potty and we have had success with both #1 AND #2! He is usually the one to ask us to go, which is unbelievable to me. I know that he is probably ready, at this point, to give up the diapers. For those familiar with the 3-4 day method of full-on potty training, that’s what our plan is…we just have to take a few days off work and commit. My plan is to take a Friday & Monday off and do it over a long weekend. It’s been a big topic of conversation with Liam for a while now and he knows it’s coming. I wish I could capture the big smile he gets when he actually goes potty….he is SO PROUD of himself!! It seriously is the cutest thing ever. And, he always tells me, “I did it!” and then we high five. LOL.

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In many ways, I wish I could freeze time and bottle it up…these moments are precious!! But, we definitely look forward to all the new memories yet to be made and special times together.

Happy Half Birthday, Little Man!! ~~ Mommy & Daddy Love You SOOO MUCH!!!!

I was hesitant to post this for awhile. Mainly for fear that I would cave & give it back or buy another one more than anything else, but I can now confidently proclaim that we in Casa de Murphy have been PACI FREE since December 11th 2013. For those of us counting, that’s a whopping 4 weeks, today!!!

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!

2013-09-13_lone paci

Liam has slowing been destroying (biting through) paci’s and/or losing ’em over these last few months, so we had been trying to talk to him, as they disappeared, to let him know that once the last one was gone…that was it. We told him that he would be a big boy & not need one anymore. I had been stressing so bad that he would freak out once that day came. And, of course, it came on a morning that Stephen left for work early and I had little man solo. I went to wake him up for school. When I knelt down by his bed, he sat up and handed me paci and said, “paci broken”. I looked down at it and sure enough…almost the entire top of it was bitten off. Thankfully, he didn’t eat it or swallow it or whatever. Clearly, he wasn’t impressed by it.

In that moment, as dramatic as this sounds, a million thoughts ran through my mind. Mainly, “this is it” …”paci’s gone”…”let’s do this”. Oh, and “don’t freak out on him!” ….LOL. So, I told him, “Ok, dude, if paci is broken, then let’s go into the kitchen & throw it away. No more paci. You’re a big boy now.” Crazy enough, he said ok! We changed his diaper, and then he walked into the kitchen, opened the garbage can & and threw it away. As he dropped it in, he said, “bye, paci!” LOL

That was the end of it for the morning. Nothing special. No tears. No questions. Regular routine.

Now, after school, was a different story. He wanted paci immediately at pickup. So, we had to talk about what we did that morning and I simply discussed the events step-by-step. He remembered, but wasn’t happy. He fussed but was okay. Bedtime was not cool. I admit that I couldn’t do it. It’s funny that he’s been able to do naptime at school this whole last year and never ask for paci but forget about trying to go to bed at home without it. Stephen had to be the strong one for bedtime the first few nights. There was crying people. Funny, though, because even then, there wasn’t and hasn’t been a whole lotta asking for paci…he just fights to go to bed.

Even now, a month later, he will ask me for paci and laugh…he knows it’s gone. So I laugh back. At this point, he’s making it a game. Silly boy!

However, since Paci has been such a staple in our household these last 2 1/2 years, and literally little dude’s BFF….I thought it only fitting to share some of my fave pics of them together over the years. Corny, I know…but ya gotta admit…pretty darn cute!

2011-08-25_love my paci