MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Liam celebrated his first Christmas today. The celebrations started last night - we went to Dave and Sandy Demarest's house for a little Christmas party. Liam received the cutest winter hat complete with an "L" on the front. We then traveled over to Omi's house (Jamie's grandmother). Liam was very good as he got passed around by family members. We then went home to Jamie's parents house and we each got to open a gift. Uncle Derek got Liam a music table - looks very cool, but Liam started crying. It was WAY past his bed time at this point. We will try the music table again tomorrow. Liam didn't sleep to well the entire night. We would like to think he was so excited for Christmas, but we know he has no idea what is going on besides the fact he gets to play with a lot of different colored paper and rip it and it is okay. Liam opened all of his gifts this morning and played with the wrapping paper the most. Jamie individually wrapped many jars of baby food for his stalking. We usually make Liam's baby food, but there are some things (peaches - out of season and prunes- just don't want to attempt) that we need to buy. Colin was a little less than thrilled to open all 20 containers. Jamie giggled the whole time. We then traveled over to Ogdensburg and opened presents with Grandma and Grandpa Merna and Uncle Brendan. Then, we all packed up and went to Hammond to spend the day with the Schermerhorn's and almost all of Colin's cousins. Tomorrow, we will head to Jamie's grandparents to have a Regan Christmas celebration.

SOCKS

Liam has had a lot of trouble keeping his socks on. Especially the right sock. I do not think that is all that unique for babies.

Today I have him at home because our sitter has some sick kids and we don't want him to pull up ill right before going home for Christmas. Anyways, it was time for some experimenting. Right now I have my dress socks on his feet... and legs. They stretch all the way to his upper thighs and look like ugly black tights. Now they are starting to come off but I'm estimating that the amount of time they are staying on is roughly 500% longer than normal. This is a fantastic improvement and now I have a reason to get new socks.

(Dad was right. I would prefer to receive, at a minimum, one comment on a post to feel as though someone out there is still reading. Liam's blog is intended to be interactive and we would love to hear what you think.)

COUSINS

Liam has a kiss and a hug for his new cousin. Baby shower is this Sunday.

YANKEE BABY

I dress Liam every morning and I am not a Yankees fan. However, I can only dress my boy with the options available to me in his closet. If you are not a Yankees fan and you're not happy with this? Well, until I see a little Cleveland Indians shirt in his closet it just isn't going to change. (Bills fans, please don't even bother.)

PEACHES

got milk? Yeah, we got milk. We've always had milk, but now we have peaches! (Not to mention bananas and apples.)

THANKSGIVING DINNER

Liam had a seat next to his soon-to-be cousin after Thanksgiving Dinner. The baby shower for Caitlin is coming up in early December.

FRONT TO BACK

Liam had his first rollover this week. Nothing too special about it but he did rollover 4 or 5 more times that night. I guess once you start rolling it's hard to stop.

He went from his belly to his back each time and came close to going to other way but couldn't quite make it.

The best part about all of this is that he is now very capable of rolling off his changing table if we forget to buckle him in. Can't wait for the massive guilt I'll be able to carry the first time I let him roll his way into danger!

MOUSE EARS

At Disneyland the smallest size ears, called INFANT, would fit around Liam's head twice. They must assume you wouldn't really be carrying an infant around the park. He still likes them.

ELECTION DAY

No mandatory naptime!

Two pacifiers in every room!

No bathtub peeing restrictions!

More breastmilk for everyone!

BREAKFAST

Unfortunately Liam's cute habit of sticking out his tongue is just not that helpful when it comes to eating breakfast. There is a constant duel between the tongue and spoon that really does remind me of a sword fight.

BEARS ON HALLOWEEN

I thought I had read somewhere that the male polar bear never goes into hibernation but Liam didn't get that message in time for Halloween. He spent a good portion of our time visiting friends asleep. One highlight of the night was meeting up with our friend Krystal who was also a polar bear and she held the sleeping bear for a nice photo.

4 MONTH CHECKUP

Status Report: Liam went in for his four month visit yesterday and weighed in at 16 lbs 10 ounces with diaper on. Length, not height, was just shy of 25 inches and head circumference was 43 cm. Why we switch to the metric system when measuring the skull, I do not know buy I will research that today. Liam must have been looking very cute yesterday because he was referred to as 'she' by three different people. Of course at the end of the visit it was time for immunizations. The first was given orally and may have been actually been the worst for him. The look on his face was the same one that Mom gives after she opens up a full diaper. Next up were three shots in a row. First shot... no reaction! Second shot... a slight squirm. Third shot... OK, we are crying now, however that only lasted for about 15 seconds. Quite a tough showing and it was rewarded with silver sparkly band-aid. After all of those injections he got home and went directly to sleep for two hours, which got me to thinking, can't we give these shots at about 9pm when it's bedtime?

MY MORNING

"Now that I can eat real cereal my mornings are changing a bit. Here is my new schedule." - Liam

5:45 "I can't take it anymore, I need some food now! BREEEAASSSTTTT MIIIILLLLLKKKKK!!! YEEEEOOOOOOOWWWWWW!!!!"

5:55 "Mom, you look tired. I never understand why you and Dad try to sleep through the entire night. It's so boring."

6:10 "Mom offloads me onto Dad. She's always held a grudge that he gets to sleep in longer than she does so lately I've been helping her out by getting into her side of the bed to squirm around until he wakes up."

6:25 "Dad appears to be alive but I can't understand what he is grunting. No, I don't want that pacifier in my mouwwww...." *Spit "WAKE UP!!"

6:35 "I get to start eating cereal for breakfast now. I'm a rice man so far but I was hoping to try a banana soon. I've also been eyeing the left over chocolate cake lately."

6:50 "A kiss goodbye from momma even though Dad has me covered in rice cereal. Go bring home the bacon momma! Preferably in a processed mush that I can eat?"

7:00 "Dad is in the bathroom and I like to take this time out of the day to laugh uncontrollably to myself."

7:15 "Dad smells better and is dressed, which means it's time to play Bear Attack! I'm the victim and the bear always wins by TKO after a series of raspberries."

7:25 "Don't put those clothes on me yet Dad, you might want to check my... yeah, you can smell it."

7:35 "Dad, you realize I'm sitting on the floor between two bags? WHAT AM I?? YEEOOOWWWWWWWW!! HURRY!!!!"

7:35 "What hat am I going to wear today? Teddy bear with flaps, check! Let's roll!"

7:55 "OK, in the car, time to take a quick..." *snore

8:05 "Arriving at Julie's house. Time to start giggling. What are we going to do today?"

LITTLE PUMPKIN

I'm glad they had a pumpkin that was Liam size. It made him a very happy baby.

MORNINGS

"Mom is great about bringing me my paper in the morning but she still won't let me drink coffee."

GOLF

Liam was hoping to get a round of golf in before winter came. Unfortunately he never bothered to learn to walk.

LEG WORKOUT

We're not dilusional enough to think that Liam is ready to start walking but he does seem to enjoy supporting himself on his own legs. If he's in a bad mood normally you can make him happy by standing him up and letting him wobble on his own a bit. A few nights ago he was standing up for his Mom with a only a little support to counter that questionable balance.

CLEAN

"Clean" normally doesn't last very long so we capture the moment to remind ourselves that it does exist.

FAMILY GAME DAY

1. Not much chance of embarrassment in wearing your team colors when you are playing the Kansas City Chiefs.
2. We were not outside, we just have a fantastic plant in our living room.
3. We were also not talented enough to setup the camera to take this automatically, Uncle Brendan took it.
4. Yes, that is a Phil Simms tee shirt.
5. Jamie and Liam thought the new Strahan/Jared/Tuck Subway commercial was hilarious. I'm not so sure about that.

FAMILY IN TOWN

Aunt Sue, representing the West Oregon side of the family, was in town last week and got to hold Liam for the first time. Aunt Sue's grandchildren Jake, Mackenzie and Emerson are Liam's second cousins. Jake and Mackenzie live in Rochester while Emerson is a west coast man.

RIGHT TOUNGE

Baby Sign Language - Stick out tounge to the right side

Your baby is telling you he was happy with his breakfast.

FATTENING UP FOR WINTER

Through my precisely calibrated method of weighing Liam we can determine that today he weighs exactly twice his birth weight. 14 lbs and 14 ounces. I like to weigh him by picking him up by the scruff of the neck but I think Jamie would make me stop that if she ever found out. (That's a JOKE everyone!)

Seriously, what we really do is pick him up and time how long it takes for his thighs to stop jiggling. It's less scientific and so I do reserve the right to be off by 2-3 ounces. What is clear is that 75% of his total body weight has concentrated between his hips and knees. I would say that he can almost stand up but I think it's more accurate to say that he CAN'T fall over.

This does mean that 15lbs is just around the corner and for anyone keeping track down under he's right around 6.6 kilos. He has started to out grow a few of his clothes and last night as I was cleaning some of them out I realized I had become more attached to his baby clothes than I thought I would.

For example the Darling Duck onsie is the smallest item that Liam ever owned. I became very attached to the Darling Duck over Liam's first few weeks but I always knew it would be one of the first to go because of it's size and because of Jamie's non-fascination with water fowl. She would admit that it was cute but it was no suprise to me when I found it had been selected for the first cut of retired onsies. Goodbye Darling Duck.



The next onsie that really hurt was Bird on Rhino on Elephant. I loved this one because of how ridiculous the idea was. Not just that the Rhino stands on an Elephant but that the gradual increase in size of the participants was completely ignored. This wasn't little, medium and big. It was like putting a cup cake on top of a bulldozer on top of a dump truck. Was the Rhino offended by being placed in the medium spot? Anyways, I remember once we were trying to cut Liam's fingernails because he had been scratching himself and he was wearing this onesie. He was thrashing around uncomfortably and when we cut one nail too close it clipped him and he shed his first little drop of blood on this onesie. The stain from the little drop of blood is still there next to the Rhino's butt and I always think about that when I see this onesie. Goodbye Bird on Rhino on Elephant.



Of all the retied onesies those two hurt me the most. It really made me sad to think I wouldn't ever dress him again in the Duck and then say, "Good morning Darling Duck!" But despite how much I loved those the next one is going to hurt me even more. Betweeen month 1 and 3 the Big Animals onesie, which features big Lions, Monkeys, Giraffes and Elephants with brown trim, became my favorite onesie. I love the colors and the oversized smiling animals. As I was sorting through the clothes last night I realized that it was too small and that there were too many more onesies in the 3-6 month range that he needed to start wearing. Instead of retiring it last night I decided that Liam had to wear Big Animals one more time and I set it aside for him. This morning I put it on him for the last time. Big Animals will be retired tonight when Liam gets changed for bed.



The next onesie that I'm going to have trouble letting go of is Little Peanut. Baby blue trim with a little blue elephant who looks strikingly similar to a young Dumbo. Little Peanut goes great with Liam's blue pants and because it is a long sleeze he has had it on often lately as the weather has gotten colder. Little Peanut has some time left but sorting through all these clothes, and emotions, last night I couldn't help but think how we would possibly replace it.



As I start seeing things that Liam will never be able to wear again and they catch me by suprise and it truly is shocking. The only comfort I could find last night was in my back-up plan to use these onesies again sometime in the future. We obviously don't plan to keep having kids forever just so I can dress them in mini clothing but at least today I'm OK knowing that I'll get to use these at least one more time. What happens when I have to REALLY retired Darling Duck for the last time someday, I don't know. I'll probably have to learn how to quilt so that I can save them somehow.

BUNDLE

The temperature in the mornings is starting to drop a bit here in Rochester. It's time to start bundling up.

3 MONTHS

Liam has now passed the three month mark and the event was celebrated with cupcakes on Sunday. We visited Captain Don's house to watch the Giants that day and Liam saw his first Giants victory. (He was awake for no less than 5 minutes of the game.) Unfortunately his first Epic Bills Collapse came one day to late to make it under the 3 month mark.

LABOR DAY

Liam dressed up nice for all of the Labor Day parties he and his handlers had been invited to attend. (I wish I had blue bears on my shoes.)

ROCHESTER ZOO

Liam took his first trip to the zoo yesterday and came away with this gem. Obviously, from my point of view, the trip could not have possibly turned out better.

FACES OF LIAM

I have had a few interesting discussion lately about 'what babies think?' In the end of course no one can say for sure. All that I can really offer is a sample of Liam's different faces and then I believe we're all left to judge for ourselves.

EXCEPT FOR THAT...

Cute photo, except for that Yankees shirt. Although I was told on this day that even a RedSox fan could be charmed by that face in a Yankees shirt.

AVA'S BABY DANCE

Last week at our kickball game Ava hosted a baby dance party behind the backstop. Liam does a good Robot but an even better Worm.

BIG SHOT

Liam had his two month docs visit today. He weighed in at 12.1 lbs and was looking good, but of course the two month visit means it was time for shots. His first vaccination was actually a drink but the final two were shots. The nurses gave them simultaneously so that he only had a single painful experience. We found out that he does indeed have nerve endings in his thighs because he broke out into a good solid cry. Actually, we think that he shed his first real tear. Came out of the corner of his right eye and quiver a bit on the edge as he sobbed. The crying only lasted about one minute though and then he was back to being happy Liam. That made Mom happy because she wasn't very excited about his shots either. She took it well though and kept him happy all day. Throughout the day he was a bit groggy and wasn't happy unless he was being held. He's fallen sleepy a tad early tonight and we expect him to be tired and under the weather for a little while.

PLAYTIME

Some pictures from playtime with Katherine on Sunday. Liam visited his friend while Dad was golfing and Mom was at work... what a country!

Geez, holding hands already?

The Super Baby outfit is one of my favorites but unfortunately Liam took a Super Deuce while wearing it which resulted in a Super Stain. Not sure if the material has Super Repelant powers.

FAMILY ACTIVITIES

Apologies to the creationists out there reading but it appears clear now that we did evolve from apes. Hey, at least we evolved! (A little bit.)

QUIET NIGHT

Although Liam didn't move to his room last night he took a step in that direction. Monday was the first night that he slept through the entire night, 10:30pm to 6:30am. And, actually, I've never seen a baby go that long without breast milk. Quite a performance.

This was one of the moments where you wake up because something is different and unfortunately all you can think is that something must be wrong. After we checked in the bassinet and saw that he was still snoring away at 6am then we were just as happy as he was.

BOYS ROOM

Liam's new room is almost ready. Momma has been working hard on it and most things seem to be in place.

Last week Liam got his first tree which is a sort of tropical fern tall enough to give him a good view from his crib. Whenever we go outside or near a window trees always seem to grab his attention. It's now sitting right next to his crib after a good watering outside yesterday.

I originally thought that the room Liam is going to have would be our room in the new house but found out shortly after moving in that I was wrong. The reason? It has a blue carpet and blue is for boys. This is why I spend most of my time doing the outside type work.

So far Liam's room as served as a guest room for the many visitors we've had. Jess has been here to visit along with my friend Kyle from Australia who was making a lap around the world. Of course grandparents have also been down for overnight stays to help us with the house. Once the inflatable guest bed is aired out I think it may be time for the little man to take over the room.

Maybe tonight?

BATHTIME WITH OMA

Liam got a bath from Oma last week.

WALK OF FAME

Carter and Liam provided a good reason to repair part of the walkway at camp last weekend. They are now immortalized like Hollywood stars along with some friendly footprints from Carter's big sister.

LITTLE CAPTAIN

Liam captained the Canandaigua Lady for the first time this weekend. He took Mom, Dad, Aunt Mairin, and part of the Oregon family (Linda, Sara and Ian) on a cruise around the lake with Captain Don keeping watch.

Judging by the photo we think that he found it was a pretty simple task.

The Canandaigua Lady

THINGS THAT MAKE LIAM HAPPY

This is probably true for a lot of babies but it's funny to see the things that make our little 'man' happy.

• Burping: If Liam is crying I can put him into his burping pose to instantly silence him. The burping pose is sitting on one leg facing sideways with one hand holding him in a semi-choke hold while the other hand pats his back. When he gets to this position he will go into a surprised stare straight ahead as if he can feel the massive burp working it's way up. He'll keep that same stare and composure until the gas is release at which point he'll return back to the former Liam and resume his calls for milk.
• Passing gas the other way: We've been told many times that when infants smile it's because they have gas and we have found that this is absolutely true. Liam has smiled many many times at us but every smile has been followed by a big rip. At first if he delayed a bit after his smile we would start to get excited thinking that maybe he was smiling at us but now we've learned to just wait and counts the seconds after the smile to determine just how big the upcoming release of gas is going to be.
• Passing solid waste: Most deuces are accompanied by a wide-eyed "oooohhhhh" face which was cute at first but now appears to be mocking. "ooohhhhhh!! guess what you're cleaning up!"
• Climbing: In my opinion Liam has not shown a great amount of strength in his arms but his legs are built like that a 9 month old. Anytime he is lying on my chest and not sleeping he is constantly making an effort to climb up and over my shoulder. As long as I give him something to push off from for his feet he will always end up curled up around my ear and calling out in disappointment because there is nowhere else to go.
• Drinking too fast: At one point during every bottle feeding Liam will drive himself into a coughing fit because he drinks too fast. I've taken to pulling the bottle away every 15 seconds to help him slow down but it doesn't always work. The thing is that he doesn't mind. Even as he's coughing and I pull the bottle away he starts swinging for it with his arms and throwing his head towards the bottle.

Maybe little girls are the same way but these all seem likely masculine traits to me.

GREAT GRANDPARENTS

Liam is fortunate enough to have six great grandparents. They have all had a chance to get their hands on him and for the most part they have not wanted to let go.

DIRTY BATH

Caption: I just pooped in the bathtub!

LIFE LESSONS

"... and now Liam, we're going to learn about DHCP. Are you still awake?"

LIAM AND CARTER

Liam got to meet his cousin Carter Howard Schermerhorn for the first time this past weekend. The had a little photo shoot which you can see at Carter's blog.

http://theschermerhorns.blogspot.com

CUP HOLDER

Not only is he Jamie's progeny, light of her life and link to the future, he also doubles as a nifty cup holder!

LIAM'S FIRST BATH

This took place the day after birth in our hosptial room with the help of our nurse. Unfortunately the real action didn't take place until after the camera cuts out here. Just as the bath was wrapping up we found that Liam's backside had mysterious become soiled again. It seemed to appear from nowhere!

He's continued this trend regularly on his changing table as a fresh clean diaper seems to provide the added comfort to pass what still needs to be passed.

Anyways, this portion of video is clean.

ONE MINUTE OLD

This video is of baby Liam at one minute old.

PLAYTIME

Last night Katherine and Liam met. They had a chance to play (nap) together for the first time while the adults did boring adult type things.

Of course the most common comment about kids is "I can't believe how big he/she is" but when 4 lbs makes up 35% of your body weight it can be shocking how change happens from week to week. I had not seen Katherine since before last weekend and after holding Liam for 7 days she felt like a two year old as I hard her in my arms. They were born exactly two months apart.

Also, I now know that I do not need twins at any point during my life.

HOSPITAL SMELL

Over the course of our five days in the hosptial we had a odd thing happen over and over again. It seemed as though everytime a new nurse came into our room the first thing she would say is, "It smells so good in here!"

If you have never lived with me I want to make it very clear that this does NOT normally happen.

The flowers we had accumulated from friends and family were giving off a fantastic smell and aparently we had the sweetest smelling room in the hospital. Even I had to admit that we were smelling good despite the best efforts of Liam and myself.

LIAM WEIGHS IN

This video was taken in the OR just a few moments after Liam was born.

WE HAVE NEW PHOTOS

Obviously we've taken a bunch of photos in the last few days. I have them uploaded to our Flickr account which you can get to anytime using the link over on the left side of this page. You can also click http://www.flickr.com/photos/regan-merna/sets/

Thanks to all the visitors who have stopped in.

TANNING BOOTH

We expected to be heading home today but Liam has started out a little bit dehydrated and the nurses want to keep him for an extra day to ward off any jaundice. Right now he is down the hall getting light therapy in the tanning booth. Jamie is jealous that is already more tan than she is. We'll be evaluated again tommorow morning to see if he can depart on Wednesday.

The room seems empty here without him and now the only person left to talk to is Jamie.

Liam had his first bath on Sunday and I would like you all to save this photo so you can show him in about 15 years.

DAY OF VISITORS

This morning we had a hearing test and found that both ears were working well. That means Liam heard his first Lakers championship last night.


All of his other parts appear to be working as well. He has started to nurse a bit more reliably and the diapers have been flying left and right. He can urinate about 3 feet when needed. The boy also dropped a deuce during his first bath yesterday in front of about 10 people.


He got to meet a large bunch of his family on Sunday. I need a bit more time to post all of our photos but here is a small preview from Sunday.

Grandpa GovAunt Mairin
Rico!