Liam's first swim lesson

If you follow me on Instagram, you've probably seen some pictures I posted of Liam's first swim lesson. Before Liam was born, I saw a video on YouTube of little babies swimming in the water. I was so amazed I started researching baby swim and found out that there were several places in Utah county that offered baby swim lesson. I looked into a couple of them and was ready to sign Liam up when he was six months old. I forgot why I hadn't.

When the new Provo Rec center opened, I learned that there were some parents and tots swim classes that we could take there. I signed Liam up and he has now completed his swim course. He even got a little certificate for it, which I thought was super cute.

Liam loves water. He did really well during the lessons. He learned all kinds of water survival skills. I also learned a lot about how to rescue my baby if he ever falls in the water. He never  once cried or complained during his lessons, which I was so grateful for. I think it helps that we took him to Hawaii and took him swimming in the hotel pools and the ocean with us every day for two weeks straight.

I  only wish that the course was longer than 2 weeks. Not only was Liam okay with being dunked in the water, but he could now swim a really short distance, like maybe 3 feet. We tried that by making him swim to a goal/toy, and swimming from mommy to daddy and vice versa. He kicked kicked kicked really hard to get to his goal everytime I let go of him. He did so so well. The one thing he kinda disliked was back float. I think he just generally hates laying down on his back. We taught him to turn from his tummy to his back. We still need to do more practice on that skill. He'll eventually be able to do it.

Bits of our Memorial Day weekend

We went to St.George for Memorial Day weekend. It was a spontaneous decision. On Thursday morning, my neighbor asked me what we were doing for Memorial Day and I said nothing. It was true. We really had nothing planned. Then my sister-in-law, Jordyn, came by our apartment to say hi on her way down to Toquerville. While we were talking, a thought came to me, "Why don't we go down to Toquerville for Memorial Day?!" I immediately asked Mr.L if we could go the next day and he thought it was a good idea. So we drove down to St.George on Friday afternoon.

We had the funnest time that weekend. Summer in Provo had been fun, but it did feel a little mundane sometimes. That was why I was SO excited for a change in scenery. We always love going to visit St.George area because we get to see Mr.L's grandparents in Toquerville, and our friends in St.George. This time was a lot more fun because we also got to spend some time with Tyler and Jordyn, whom we miss a ton ever since they left.

On Saturday, we went to Sand Hallow reservoir as a family outing. We got to paddle across the lake in a small boat. It was a little scary at that time but it's a little comical now that I think about it. Imagine a pregnant woman and a woman with a baby under a year old, all without life vests, trying to paddle a small inflated boat that was leaking in water, and had no idea where they were supposed to go to. To make matter worse, the baby was screaming half of the time and trying to climb up on his mother, and this mother had to hold him with one arm and try to figure out how the paddle work with the other arm. Fortunately, we have semi-fit husbands who jumped in the cold lake water and basically pulled/pushed or boat to where we were supposed to go. Note to self: buy a baby life vest for Liam!

Apart from Sand Hallow, we went and got snow cones and went to the Hurricane splash pad. We laid out on the grass under some trees at the park while Liam was asleep in the car seat (we rolled the car windows down and were only a few steps away from the car). We saw a cop drove up behind our car and arrested some guy on the sidewalk a few feet from us. Being the busybody that I was, I couldn't take my eyes off the whole thing and my heart was beating very fast. I felt like I was in a movie. LOL!

On Memorial Day, we went to St.George park to have a picnic with all of our family down there (the grandparents and Aunt MaryAnn's family were there too). We also invited our good friends, Paul and Nikki, to come. Mr.L also got his friend, Nate, whom he hadn't seen in years, to come. I had a great time!  I love picnic and I love that so many people were there with us. I love the splash pad and got myself and Liam all wet even though I didn't have my swim suit on. It felt so good to be splashed when it was 100 degree out.

A picture with his great-grandpa, Clark Stratford, who was a veteran of Korean war. 

Found daddy's lunchbox when he was little

I love that he loves gnawing on his toe! 

He slept in his pack and play the whole time we were down there. I was worried that he'd not like it but he actually didn't mind it at all! 

First time being bathed in the sink. Totally ghetto fab. 

First time on a trampoline. He loved bouncing. 

Playing in Uncle Tyler's tent

Baby Liam: 8 months old

Liam turned 8 months the day after Mother's Day! It definitely sneaked up on us because we've been telling everyone who asked that he was 7 months old when in reality he was closer to being 8 months old! This little bug had been learning to eat solids during our vacation to Hawaii. It was easier for us to give him a teeny bit of what we were eating than to give him baby food. We also started giving him baby puffs and he totally loved them.

Liam went on his first flight trip about 2 weeks ago. I was really stressed out about it the week leading up to the day of our trip because Liam loved to scream when he was tired and I had no idea what to expect. I was scared to attract stares from other passengers and feared that people would think that I was a useless mother who couldn't pacify her baby. But he did a lot better than I had anticipated. On our way to Hawaii, we had 2 layovers and 3 flights in total in one day! We flew from SLC to SFO, then from SFO to Honolulu. Our last flight of the day was from Honolulu to Hilo. We were SO tired by the time we got our rental car and drove to my friend, Julie's apartment. Like I said Liam did pretty well considering we were traveling all day long and he had maybe a total of 2 hour nap the whole day!

Liam is showing his personality more and more nowadays. He's a super curious baby. He just wants to touch everything. He also likes to put everything in his mouth. We tried countless times to stop him from eating sand on the beach but to no avail. He is also interested in everything he hears. He knows exactly which directions the sounds he hears come from. It was amazing to see how accurate he is! He is also a super sociable baby. He loves smiling at people. I guess that was why we attracted so many "Oh, he is so cute!" and praises like that when we were in Hawaii. He just smiled or grinned at people when they make eye-contact in the elevators, on the street, on the beach, and everywhere we went.

He's learning to stand up and he'd push himself up on anything. He likes to crawl up to us, use our thighs to push himself to a standing position. He loves doing this a lot and I think that he wants to practice this new skill any chance he got. Every morning I'd wake up seeing him standing in his crib watching us and waiting for us to go pick him up.

I love this little baby more and more each day! I wish so much that I could slow time down and that he'd stay little forever. It breaks my heart to think about when he becomes a teenager, leave the house for college, go on his mission, get married, and so on. I just don't want him to leave me, ever! Everyday I kiss him many many times because I know he won't stay little for much longer. I welcome the separation anxiety and enjoy the fact that he wants to hold on to me. I also pray every night that he knows how much his mommy and daddy love him.

I posted a lot of iphone photos of our Hawaii trip on FB, but here are some that I took with my DSLR that I didn't post. See how cute Liam was in all the pictures? I love him to bits!

On Hilton Resort Waikiki beach

He loves his daddy. 

Diamond Head crater in the backdrop

Playing hide and seek under the covers

Aloha!

China Man's head in the backdrop. He has sand in his mouth!

Scared by the waves, he crawled to his daddy for refuge.

At Sunset Beach

One thing I discovered while on the trip was Liam loved rubbing his face on our faces when he's tired.

Tongue out

I wuv my baby SO much!