April 17 = Moving Day II

So I took Liam and Malia to the CDC this morning so that I could give 100% to packing and moving.  A couple of weeks ago when we first started dropping them off there, there was a form we had to fill out for each kid and we learned we'd have to fill it out every time we went.  One of the questions is if the child is on any medication.  I thought since Malia doesn't take her seizure medication at the CDC they didn't need to know about it.  Yes, she could have a breakthrough seizure but the only thing to do for her if she has a seizure is to call 911 and that's what they would do with or without my instructions.  Well the second time we took them, Zachary filled out the paperwork and noted that she takes an anti-seizure medicine.  Wellllllllllllllllllll they didn't like that.  So the receptionist gives me a form that I need to fill out.  It's made for kids with allergies or asthma- there are lots of questions that just do not apply to Malia's situation but they don't have a form for seizures so this was going to have to do.  I filled it out to the best of my ability and turned it in.  Well, I get an email the next day saying I had left the physician's signature blank.  I didn't see it.  I also think it's silly that a doctor has to sign a paper saying call 911 if a child has a seizure.  Duh.  I understand you need a doctor to approve if you say stab her with an epi pen or if there was a medication she had to have but the answer is just- call 911.  So I forgot to get the doctor to sign it.  I go to take the kids in today so I can pack and move stuff but I'm not allowed to leave Malia because the doctor hasn't signed the paper.  I take a deep breath, remain very friendly, and chalk it up to getting to give Malia some individual attention.  So now one of my top priorities is getting the printer hooked up and connected to the internet so I can scan and get this paper signed.  Enough of that- here's Malia working on standing in the new place:

And here are the cats freaking out about their rapidly changing environment and hiding where they feel safe in the old place:

I mentioned yesterday that I took a picture of Liam in his room before moving any furniture in.  Well I took a picture of him in his room after moving all the furniture out.  Two weeks short of a year has passed between these two pictures.  Too bad I couldn't get him to stand for this one- the first one was the first time he stood on his own.  It's crazy how far he's come!

April 16 = Moving Day

Zachary took this morning off so we could get started moving a little early.  The original plan was to move on Friday so he had some friends lined up to help us out but then he thought it'd be awesome if we could move all the little stuff so that when our helpers arrived, they just had to worry about the big furniture and the last minute stuff so we started moving in today!  We had been storing stuff that we wouldn't need before we moved in the garage and got all of that moved and we packed up a lot of the kids' toys so that they would be somewhat entertained while we did the boring stuff like put plates and towels and such away.  The new play room is a hit!

 When we moved into the apartment in May I took a picture of Liam in his empty room- so I thought I'd do that again- this room is about half the size of his other one which I do not think is a bad thing- I'm hoping that with a smaller room and not a lot of toys in it, he will learn that bedrooms are for sleeping.  In the old place we didn't have a playroom so his bedroom was the playroom.

 Here's where the kitchen table will go:

Liam's a big helper :)

And Malia is too- that toilet paper really needed to be destroyed.

April 15 = Spoiled Baby Day

So I went to core this morning.  Core is this class at my gym that is of the devil I'm pretty sure.  I went thinking we would do some ab exercises which would have been pretty rough but instead this class works your triceps, glutes, hamstrings, abs, upper abs, lower abs, obliques, everything.  The first probably five times I went I woke up and immediately felt pain in my pectoral muscles the morning after.  Without moving. Just woke up to pain.  It's gotten better now and I can see changes in my body so it's worth it and I get to go with a friend so it's a good thing- I shouldn't have said it was of the devil but... I don't feel bad enough to go back and change it.  Anyway- I went to pick the kids up from the child care and Malia was playing with the same doll she's been playing with every time I go pick her up.  When I took it from her to give to the worker, she burst into tears.  I had been thinking about getting her a doll similar to this one at the gym but today... with those tears... we left straight from the gym and headed to Target in search of a doll.  Here's Miss Priss (a name my grandmother used to use for me which is extremely appropriate for this little lady) at Target.

And Big Brother... just along for the ride.  I've taken trips like this for him too but it seems that every time I get him a toy that he just adores somewhere else, we bring it home and he has no interest in it.

The same cannot be said for Malia.  She's so sweet with this baby- when I give it to her when we come home or when I lay her down for a nap she immediately hugs her baby and even pats her on the back- it's so so sweet.  And apparently Malia is a proponent of co-sleeping like her momma.

April 14 = Sam's Club Day

Since Malia is able to sit in the cart by herself, we took advantage at Sam's club where the cart seat will fit both kids!

 They love each other :)

 At Sam's Club we got lots of berries- strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries- I had gone to dinner at a friends house and she had berries- I let Malia try some and she loved them so I made a mixed fruit bowl and Malia was a huge fan- here she is eating a strawberry before I got a chance to cut it into Malia friendly pieces.

April 13 = More Trouble Day

While Liam is getting himself into trouble:

Malia is feeding herself solids!  She fed herself several pieces of green beans today.  We grilled out tonight because the weather was so nice- so I strapped her in the ErgoBaby carrier not knowing what to expect but she loved it and we really enjoyed breathing fresh air tonight!

April 11 = Baby Shower Day

We had a baby shower for our friends, Brandon & Jessie Bergersen today!  It was at our apartment which is (thankfully) almost empty in preparation for this move.  But here are some of the decorations:

And I've written about Liam's escapades- we caught him in the act tonight:

And promptly rearranged his room.

April 10 = Liam is a Mess Day

I was putting stuff away in the kitchen this morning and accidentally hit this magnetic cup on the side of our refrigerator that holds all my dry erase markers and some pens and pencils.  I said "uh-oh" and Liam came right in, sat down, and proceeded to pick up every singly marker and put it back in the cup.  And when he was done, he just walked off.  He didn't expect any thanks- he just helped out and went back to whatever he was doing.

Later, he laid down for a nap.  About an hour later, Zachary and I were talking in our room and we hear music.  I assume I had paused the tv and it started playing because it had been paused for a certain amount of time or something so I walk towards the living room and passed the noise.  It was coming from Liam's room.  I opened the door and found this:

He stood on his bed to stand on the window sill to get on the dresser and then turned his radio on.  Lord have mercy on us.

And later, he got in a box!

April 9 = Daddy's Gone Day

Zachary left today for Rhode Island.  One of his sailors is becoming an officer- she's completed OCS and she's asked him to commission her- that's a huge gesture and an honor so we are so proud of Zachary for being an awesome Naval officer but we'll miss him!  This has nothing to do with him leaving but we have two really cute kids:

April 8 = Problem Solving Day

First a picture of Liam really enjoying his dinner.

And then a picture showing what my life consists of at the moment: keeping Liam from hurting himself.  He has figured out that if he moves his little chair he can step on it to get to what he wants or if what he wants is still out of reach from him standing on the chair, he can step on the chair to step on whatever else he can reach.  While this is a bit stressful, it does show that his problem solving skills are developing.

April 7 = Chickfila Date Day

It's Tuesday so it's another Chickfila Date Day.  Liam did really well with all his food but he also did really well with his chocolate milk!  He wanted to hold the bottle himself and I was hesitant to let him but I thought- what's the worst that could happen?  He could spill milk on himself.  So I let him hold it and he drank 3/4ths of the bottle all by himself!

And Malia sat in her stroller and looked pretty.

April 6 = Tricky Day

Now that Malia is eating solids, she's given me another strategy for getting Liam to eat.  If I offer his food to her, all of the sudden, he wants it!  I'm writing this one April 26th... ya know, almost three weeks late so I don't have a lot to say about it.  The note about food was written in my planner.  Duke won the national championship- Zachary got Liam up in time to see the end.  

Malia made a funny face:

 Zachary and Liam took a selfie:

And Malia is testing her boundaries- she figured out she can move past the doorway- the amount of trouble I'm in increases exponentially each day!

April 5 = Easter!

Warning- lots of pictures to follow.  Full disclaimer: I've posted a fraction of the pictures I took.  The one thing I don't have a picture of is the before shot of the Easter baskets.  Malia got some age appropriate snacks and a little doll and Liam got some kinetic sand and a music set.  Here's Malia with her mummum.

And then we did a photo shoot:

Zachary even caught one of me and Malia sharing a book called "I Love You Little One."

We really, really meant to make it to church today.  My friend, Amy, invited us to join them for a Easter Egg hunt at the Naval Academy that started at 12:30- we go to the 11:15 service at BACC and there was no way we would have made it in time so we planned on going to the 9:30 service.  That didn't happen.  But I did find a book about Easter and read it to the kids- not quite as good as going to church but it worked.

We headed over to the Naval Academy- it was quite cold! Liam met the Easter bunny:

And Amy got some pictures of the four of us:
 

And then the Easter egg hunt began.  There were a few sections of a field roped off and on the count of three the ropes were down and kids of all ages trampled each other to get to the hundreds of eggs laying on the ground.  Some of the eggs were picked up and thrown back down and those were the ones Liam got.  It didn't bother him a bit.