Liam v2.5

I've been meaning to do one of these for a while-- But today, after I spent much of the afternoon cleaning up poop off of Liam's bed, the floors & the walls, it seemed a necessary reminder of why 2.5 is such an awesome age (in addition to a tough one)!

When you look at it like that, it's a pretty amazing time.

I'm a lucky mama.

Thomas & The Great Paci Pass Off

There's no denying it-- there's a full blown Thomas obsession in the Blakely house.

It's hard to believe that less than 6 months ago, Liam didn't even know who Thomas was & now he can name dozens of the characters. Admittedly, I think it's really cute. The movies are boring, but I love watching him put the trains together, push them around the track, line them up and announce their names. He's building up quite the collection-- he gets a new train for cooperating at his eye appointments!

A few months ago, I saw an ad for A Day Out with Thomas and immediately bought tickets. We've been building up our visit to see "The Real Thomas" since January & he was so excited.

We've needed to take away his paci for months, but I've been too scared to deal with it. (Taking Jack's bottle away was a bit scarring.) But we really meant to get rid of them by two, and we've already passed 2 1/2. I thought, what if I suggest that he gives them to Thomas? About a week before the big day, I asked him, "Can you give your pacis to Thomas, so that he can take them to the babies who need them?"

He said, "Yes!"

That morning, we packed up all of his pacis in his Thomas backpack, which he insisted on carrying himself.

We played at the train tables, hit up the bubble station & rode the train.

Then, it was time for the big moment... We found the conductor, dug out the pacis and asked if he could give them to Thomas-- Liam handed them over & the conductor told him how proud Thomas was!

Liam was beaming.

That night, when we got home & settled him into bed, he said, "I need my paci!" and we gently reminded him that he'd given them to Thomas... and that was the end of the discussion! No begging, no crying, no big deal. He immediately went to sleep. I couldn't believe that he was so cool about it.

Over the next week, he asked a few more times, but he always seemed satisfied when we reminded them that he gave them to Thomas. I'm so glad that we were able to pass this milestone in a positive way-- he's still talking about getting to see "The Real Thomas!"

Wordless Wednesday: Here we go again.

We've all been well for approximately 3 weeks, so of course, it was time for this.

Liam and I have a date with the pediatrician tomorrow morning-- hoping that, whatever it is, it passes quickly. Liam and I have a trip to SC planned this weekend & we need to be healthy!

Update: Double Ear Infection...of course.

Update #2: Jack has one, too.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

We've been really excited about our minor league baseball team (The Birmingham Barons-- a farm team for the White Sox) moving to a brand new stadium downtown-- we live less than 10 min away. The grand opening was last Wed, and we decided on Fri night to brave the crowds and take the boys to see their first game.

One of my favorite parts of the stadium is a grassy area at the end of the 1st & 3rd baselines-- instead of seats, there are two grassy hills for families to spread out picnic blankets and for kids to run around. While we didn't make it through the whole game, the kids lasted until the middle of the 7th inning (around 9:30pm)-- better than I thought they'd do.

Liam loved the stadium, especially the big digital scoreboard!

Jack had a blast, too: running up & down the hill & checking out the field:

 eating some french fries,

and making friends with the big boys.

 We had a great time and we'll definitely go back-- The bigger kids got a bit rowdy as it got late, so I think we may try an afternoon game next time, but I'm glad we took them. Can't wait to watch more games with them...and can't wait to watch them play in a few years!

Two & a Half.

Call me crazy, but we could really use something to celebrate these days...so why not a half birthday?

Liam turned 2 1/2 today!!

We had a little mini celebration with my parents, with half a cake and a small gift. Liam had a great time and we all had a great day! 

Can't believe my baby is halfway to 3!!

Happy 2 1/2, Liam!!

Running the Rails

Liam is completely obsessed with trains-- it started as a general affinity for all trains, but quickly, he turned into Thomas fanatic.

We have Thomas trains. Books. Underwear. Cups. Shaving Kits. Toys, toys, toys. And while I hate character shirts, the look on his face when I gave him one was totally worth it. (I don't let him wear it out of the house unless it's underneath something!)

We're lucky to have a really active railroad system in Birmingham-- in fact, our house backs up to a track, and we love to take Liam out on our back deck and watch the trains go by. This weekend, the weather was gorgeous and for the first time in well over a month, no one was sick!!

This weekend, instead of making a trip to the zoo (our go-to nice day activity), we decided to take the kids down to the Peanut Depot to get a bag of hot roasted peanuts. We sat on the curb and ate them, the way I used to with my dad and gradddad.

(And no, I don't willingly give Liam Dr. Pepper to drink-- but occasionally, when picks ours up, I'll let him have a sip. I always tell him it's his "special treat.")

 When we were done, we climbed up on the tracks that separate the south from the north side of town and let the boys run. And run. And run. A train came by about every 10 minutes, and since there are about 6 tracks together, we could just move over and let the boys watch it go by.

They were (filthy &) in heaven.

 

It's the little things, you know?

Easter Pics

Smocked jon jons, peter pan collars & knee socks... Oh My!

 Last year, the boys had their pics taken with a live bunny at school-- but I dreamed of having "real" Easter portraits done. I felt like Jack was too little last year, so we put it off... and I didn't think about it again, until our photographer emailed me a few weeks ago to let me know that she was doing some Easter mini sessions with chicks, bunnies and a lamb and wanted to know if I was interested. Ummm, yeah!

The boys are at an age where they won't really pose-- but they were so sweet and cute with the animals & I'm SO glad we did this session. These are some of the shots I took-- I can't wait to see what Lauren got!!

 

It's rare that the boys get super dressed up, but when they do, I melt into a big old puddle of southern mommy.

Last year, we bought these sweet matching baby blue gingham jon jons with smocked bunnies (complete with pom pom tails!) and the boys wore them for Easter. I'm pretty good about buying outfits after the holidays (for 50%+ off!) and putting them up for the next year-- but for some reason, last year I didn't. 

Not wanting to spend a ton of money on new outfits, I crossed my fingers and tried these on the boys last week. Miraculously, they fit even better now than they did last year! You'll laugh-- at 16 months old, Jack is rocking a 3m size jon jon and Liam, at almost 2 1/2, fits perfectly into his 18m size! It can be tough for me to fit them sometimes, but (short) jon jons work so well for us, because there's no waist and I don't have to worry about the length.

I need to find a new pair of shoes for Liam (poor kid squeezed into a pair two sizes too small for these pics), but other than that, we're ready for Easter!