Liam in Lucca

A week ago we took Liam on his first little trip to Lucca, Italy for a visit with Sonja. We had some beautiful weather interspersed with thunderstorms which I think we were grateful for because it helped cool things off a little. Highlights included walking around the wall of the old town, looking out the apartment window and seeing the duomo of St. Michele, some good old Italian cooking, and some of the best gelato around.

Sonja, Liam and me in front of the Duomo

Liam and me outside the wall of the old town

James, Sonja and Liam taking a walk along the wall

This is the view from Sonja's living room window

See?

Yummy Gelato

Lows for the weekend included me getting sick (And passing it along to James and Liam), and our car battery dying and having to call our version of AAA to get a jump start. All in all it was a lovely 4 days and we managed take one route down along the coast, and drive up another for lots of scenic driving. We even made a quick (and by quick I mean not even 15 mins) stop in Pisa to see the requisite leaning tower.

Family portrait at the Leaning Tower

Leaning papa 

Liam hanging out with Sonja just before we left

The aftermath of feeding Liam blueberry, banana and vanilla puree on our drive home (he wasn't a huge fan)

Food, Glorious Food!

We started a slow introduction of solids with Liam over the past month. He's still mostly on milk, but we have been trying to have one solid food only meal a day. For our own memories I'm just going to write down what we've tried and how he responded, feel free to skip to the video!
We've primarily been making our own baby food with fresh produce and a handy steamer and sieve, but we also had a couple of Plum organic baby foods to try out from Nassim.
On a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being the least enjoyable and 10 the most) here goes:

Pear - 7 (it was his first taste so he was a little hesitant on that account)
Apple - 10
Banana - 10
Peach - 3 (he made such a face (see video below)! We ended up mixing it with banana so he'd eat it
Nectarine - 3 (same as peach, once mixed with apple or banana he was good to go)
Carrot - 7
Parsnip - 3 (again, mixed in ratio of 2 apple spoons to every parsnip, he was alright with it)
Squash - 5 (he was more willing to eat it mixed with apple on a 1 to 1 ratio)
Sweet potato - 9
We mixed many of the above with an organic rice cereal for a little more bulk. He was fine with it.

Of the bought foods we have been less successful. It may be partly due to the fact that he's been sick the past few days, but he has not shown any interest so far. We tried one that sounded lovely -
Blueberry, Banana and Vanilla - 6 - he grimaced every time but ate at least some of it.
Mango, carrot and pumpkin - 4 - haven't convinced him to have more than a few bites of that one so far.

Summer Time and the Livin' is Easy - Sort of

I feel such relief to finally be moving away from work and into our summer.  Gratefully we are able to stay in our house for the summer so we are spending this month decompressing after the school year, and hanging out with Liam and friends who are still around.

Liam is now at his 5 and half month mark (almost) and at his doctor's appointment he weighed in at 7,480g and has grown to be 66cm long with head circumference of 44cm.  All are within the 50-75% which is just fine by us.  We have been working over the past month on trying to help Liam sleep better.  What an adventure that has been!  Our grand plans to have him out of our bed at night have not come to fruition yet, and so often it feels like we've taken 1 step forward and then 3 back.  Some days his naps are better and he sleeps for more than the usual 30 mins in one go, and other times the night seemed ok with just his feed wakings around 11pm and 3am.  Then there are other nights (like two nights ago!) when he somehow seems to wake up every hour or so.  I have been keeping a sleep/feed log for a while now just to see if things are improving, and I'm not convinced at this time.  Not to worry though, we have now purchased another sleep solution book!  (actually, we borrowed two from Char and Kat, and this is the only one we will actually have bought.)  Let's see what happens with that.  Here goes: "No Cry Sleep Solution"!

Mostly, though, he is a cheerful and inquisitive little guy. He's so interested in everything (his method of exploration is pretty much all through taste!) and now his communication is reaching new heights.  A few days ago he started a new stream of sounds that consists of Dadadadagaagaanana.  It's so awesome to watch how quickly he starts new things and then how comfortable he becomes with them.  Of course James is pleased as can be that he is saying dada, though we both know it's not yet associated with him as a person.
Liam has graduated from his little bathtub to the big bath.  Here he is with part of his new octopus bath toy, lying on his back in the water.  He's been loving kicking and splashing around!

Our feisty little guy was having a go at chewing on daddy's nose.  When I tried to catch him in the act of course he stopped to pose instead.  When you try to hold him he often feels a bit like a squirmy hamster, always trying to get somewhere!

Perhaps we could get some money from sprite for this endorsement.  Along the same "has to chew on everything" lines, Liam decided he just had to play with this super fun green bottle.  I'm not sure who has a handle on who in this picture!

End of School Year

As the school year finally comes to a close we have been blessed with gorgeous summer weather and busy with lots of social events.  One of the bittersweet occasions was a farewell party for Keith, Charlene, Otto and our good friend Dan.  We waited for the students to leave and then held an afternoon party (baby friendly) on the patio of one of the dorms.  With lots of good food and company and babies everywhere (well maybe there were just a few!) we had a great time.  We are sad to see such good friends leave and next year will be strange without them here.

Who wouldn't miss this family?!

Jen Bendel hanging out with Liam - or maybe it's the other way around?

The Walser family and Courtney and Jen!

Char and I somehow ended up matching (not planned!)

These next two pictures aren't related to the party, but were taken a week or so before that and are just along the lake here in Lugano.

Liam sporting James' sunglasses

Hanging out by the lake

Azalea Garden Party

A few weeks ago with the weather warm and a few weeks of rain over, we headed up San Salvatore to Corona where they have a beautiful Azalea garden that was in full bloom.  We spend a lovely few hours with Keith and Charlene picnicking on blankets and playing with Liam and Otto.  Otto is so absolutely adorable, and of course so is his good buddy Liam!

Charlene gets them both to smile!

And here they are in rapt fascination over a rattle

Otto looking so sweet

The Reimer/Kasdorf family portrait - I absolutely love this photo and how it suits them so fully

Our family picture - we managed to all smile at the same time!

Liam and Charlene 

Carrying Liam as we walked through the gardens

Just Because

Here are some fairly recent pictures of Liam and his growing independence. It's amazing that within a few short weeks he has become so confident rolling over from back to front. He is also into holding onto his feet (and sometimes sticking them in his mouth!)


This is what I call Liam's Gerber Baby shot!