Not freaking out about Monday

Would you care for some grass?

Perhaps a folder divider?

Never mind, I'm going to read my magazine.

Liam is taking morning naps LONGER than an hour, and it is really messing with my head.
I'm almost finished with my latest paper for school.
I finished my bag o' muesli this morning.
Everything is falling into place for

GÖTTINGEN

IN 72 HOURS

FOR SIX WEEKS

Yikes! I'm just hoping that by vacuum-packing our clothes that we will have enough room for the toys and baby medical supplies and baby tent and my coffee maker and shoes and blah blah blah list of hundred things to fit in one suitcase.

It's going to be quite an adventure-- our beloved babysitter Miriam is coming for the first two weeks, then Jeremy and Kathy, then my parents. I'm going to be working A LOT, but usually there is an hour and a half lunch break for some nursing and cuddling. It's Adventure Time people.

10 months!!

The big thing this last week:

Crawling!

Sitting for more than three seconds at a time! Completely voluntary sitting (as opposed to when I will place him on the floor in a sitting position)!
He sits a lot with one leg stretched out and the other tucked behind him in a vaguely uncomfortable looking yoga-like pose.

The sleeping at night still has its ups and downs, but it is still soooo much better than a month ago. He wakes up at 5am pretty regularly FAMISHED, and I'm enjoying that one snack and snuggle time so much better than 11pm, 1am, 3am, 5am, etc.

random, part 386

Liam is sleeping on my lap with a bit of a grumpy fever--- we blame the tooth that is lying in wait while the others have dutifully popped out. Mr. Upper-Front-Right, he's a sneaky one. I'll take him to the doctor tomorrow if this keeps up...

But what I really wanted to write about is how happy we are that playground-BBQ season has started. Liam, on his second outing to the sandy playground, no longer shoveled handfuls of sand, rocks, and sticks into his mouth, deciding instead to harass the unfortunate other baby who wanted to play with us. Well, whose parents wanted to play with us. The little guy (not really that little-- his head was probably twice the size of Liam, and he must have weighed 10 pounds more...), at 7.5 months, was just chillin' on the sand on his tummy with his pacifier. Liam proceeded to pull out his pacifier, stick his finger in his mouth, and crawl all over him. (I tried to prevent the first two, but he is so darn fast!)

He's also started giving me the bits of finger food he no longer wants-- picking something up and putting it into my outstretched hand.

Uh-oh-- waking up!

Here are some various and sundry pictures, including

The One Time He Ate Beets

And Then He Looked Like My Brother!

BBQ Licking the Tent, Reading, and Papa's Shoulders

Goat Cheese and I Love Me

Videos from the last couple of days:



Liam makes a new friend



and eats goat cheese.

current culinary delights

Sand

Goat Cheese

Sleep Success

Ok, the big news is

LIAM SLEPT 10.5 HOURS STRAIGHT LAST NIGHT!

He slept through the night!!

Of course, I woke up at 4 and was pretty much awake until he woke up at 5 to nurse--- but we both snoozed after that until 7:30. IF thus becomes a regular deal (IF IF IF--- I'm jinxing it right now), I'l be able to get used to sleeping ALL NIGHT again. And then bluebirds will braid my hair and unicorns will serve me breakfast. You might be wondering what worked for us after 3 months of elusive sleep-lengthening efforts? No Mama. I pumped some milk and Jer gave it to him when he cried. Wheeee!

He's also clapping, apparently crawling for real (Miriam witnessed it yesterday while I was at school!), and reading like a maniac. In the past few days he's been making a bee-line for his bookshelf, and he actually flips through the books when he's not chewing on them.

Here are some pictures from our super-warm weekend bike trip:

Lazy mom's video time

(I should be reading some Hayden White narrative history Annal vs. Chronical blah blah blah for school on Monday, but I decided to update the blog-- while Liam sleeps on my lap AGAIN--because it's been a long time. I don't want to lose my faithful readers...)

The baby gate was a pain, so we thought empty water crates would do the trick. WRONG.