Thanksgiving 2009

Hello all,
Hope your reading this after you have stuffed yourself with the delights of thanksgiving. Brody is still in Coldfoot so Liam and I went to the farm for Thanksgiving this year. We missed Brody a lot but we had a good time. There were four little girls there for Liam to play with and he had a blast. He ate so much food I was impressed. We started the day off pretty easy. We outside for a walk and then Liam played in the snow while I did a little shoveling (it snowed about 5 inches last night and its snowing again right now). Liam gets really excited when we talk about going outside and he always wants to help to go out. This morning he found his gloves and was trying to put them on. Then he stands by the door and says eh, eh, eh, like he is saying, "Hurry up mom, times wasting." He is such a good little helper too. He always wants to shovel or sweep, what ever I'm doing. I hope that last through his teenage years, right.
So after we came in the house we had a lite lunch and read some stories. He is getting so he likes to play in his room a lot and I came in to see him sitting in the rocking chair looking at a story by himself. He is growing so fast, I can hardly believe that he is becoming such a little independent person. This is an all time favorite for him to read, Goodnight Moon. Thanks Gingin!!
I baked an apple pie during his nap and then off we went to the Thanksgiving Feast. The pie looked beautiful but cut very poorly so once it was cut the pretty pie was done. I also made stuffing and green bean casserole (one of my personal favorites). Liam had a super full day so he was very tired when we got home. I had to fight him to clean all the sweet potatoes off his face but after that he fell right to sleep. Speaking of sleeping I am headed that way as well.
One last thing - Calling all family and friends - I would really like to send out holiday cards this year, I have a beautiful picture of Liam to put on them. Please send me addresses via e-mail jennifer.sundquist@mail.sit.edu
Hope you all had a happy Turkey day!!!

Halloween, what a difference

I thought I would post these 2 pics of Liam. One is from last year at Halloween, we were at my parents house. The other is from this year at the Halloween Carnival at the Fair Grounds. What a difference a year makes!!
Yesterday was Liam's first day of daycare outside our home and it was much harder for Brody and I than it was for him. He hit the ground running and didn't look back. He did great but no nap which we expected. He is having a great time and this morning when I took him he was visibly happy about it. He is with a few other kids that she watches 2 boys and a girl. She told me today he is good at defending himself. The older boy tried to take a toy from him and he just took it back. That's our boy!!

It's been oh so long!!

Hello to all you Liam fans out there. Sorry its been so long since I posted last. Whoa so much has happened. Well....the summer just flew by. I spent a lot of time at the elementary school keeping up on the garden which went really well. We had a Harvest Fest with all the veggies from the garden, the kids loved it.
Brody has been working in Anchorage which is nice. He likes the job and the people but hates the commute. One day maybe we will both have jobs close to home.
At the end of the summer I went to Idaho to see my grandparents on my dads side. Mom and Dad came and so did Liam's cousins Noah, Neci and Naomi. Here is a great picture of Liam and Noah playing with some blocks of wood they collected. Liam got stung by a wasp while we were there and he didn't even cry. He tripped and his hand landed on it. I was right there and flicked the stinger out right away. His pinkie swelled up a bit but he was fine.
After we got back school was in full swing and it was back to the normal school year schedule. Of course Liam and I both got the flu and I had an extra fun infection 2 weeks later....that was great. Brody somehow managed to get through the sickness unscathed, that lucky duck. Then it was on to Halloween, one of my favorite holidays. Liam helped me make chocolate cupcakes for the kids...actually he just licked the whisk. I think that was his first real taste of chocolate, he loved it. This is his box that he likes to sit in. He kept trying to climb in and falling over, it was very frustrating for him. So I decided to cut out one side so he could get in easier and it was a big hit.
For Halloween we went as Zombie Farmers. We had a great little party at the farm for the Farm School families. It was a lot of fun to organize. We had a pin the nose on the scarecrow, a fish pond, a 3 legged race with parents and kids and a pumpkin carving contest. Liam had a blast chasing the kids around all night and being crazy. For the actual night of Halloween we went to the Fairgrounds where they had a Halloween Carnival. It was perfect for him. The weather was really bad and he isn't really old enough to trick or treat yet so it was a great way to spend the evening with him. We ate all the candy he won at the different games. Yes we are those kind of parents, Ha Ha. That pretty much brings us up to the present. Brody has been working really hard on the house up at Lazy Mt and still working in Anchorage. I am still at the farm but I'm starting to think about what the next move should be. I'm going to sub in the public schools for the rest of the year and hopefully have a teaching job in the Fall. We are having a mellow Thanksgiving this year just staying home and I will be cooking dinner. I haven't had the chance to cook a turkey for a while so I'm looking forward to that!! Liam is 17 months old this month and crazy as ever. He is starting to talk, just the first sounds of a word but its a start. We love you all and thanks for reading our blog.

Liam's First Birthday

We had a very low key birthday for Liam this year. We started of the morning with a present. We let him open one before breakfast. Its really funny but he is totally in to trucks and making the noises that go along with the trucks. We did not intentionally teach him that, he just picked it up. He had a blast all day with the little rubbery tonka trucks my mom got him.
After we opened a present I made French Toast with some sauteed cinnamon apples. Brody went to work a little late and we had a nice family breakfast. After that it was off and running for the rest of the day. Since our nanny is on vacation I have been taking Liam with me and he has been doing really well. We went and did some watering at the elementary school garden where I teach and while we were there we played on the slide, which he really liked and on the swing, which he did not. He took great naps today and while he was sleeping I made him a carrot cake with cream cheese icing for his birthday cake. We had a nice dinner outside and opened presents after.
Brody and I joked that we should have all the things he likes for dinner like fish sticks, mac and cheese and eggs with avocado, maybe a smoothie or some spaghetti. I settled on BBQ. He liked it and ate like a champ.
He really liked the hammer and ball toy that Monty brought with him so we found some other toys we liked by the same company. The toys are not plastic and are make with dyes not paint. The rubber wood is super durable too. This is a picture of him playing with the banjo toy. He watched us play with it for a minute and then put all the parts in his mouth then tried playing it. I love this picture, our little musician.
We also found a little drum set for him, mostly he likes to take it apart and throw it around but he drums on it too. His Mimi and Poppy got him a really cool wooden plane, he doesn't fly it around yet but he drives it on the floor and makes his motor sounds. Such a smart little manny we have. Wish you all were here for our boy's birthday. We couldn't have ask for a nicer evening to celebrate it.

Could it be Spring?

Happy Easter to all of you readers. We here at the Sundquist-Shuck house hope your spring is shaping up nicely where ever you live. Muddy season is quickly approaching here in AK or as we like to call it break-up season. Its time to get the rubber boots out and get used to the huge puddles and pot holes. I have been seeing some really cute rubber boots for little ones at the store and I have to remind myself that Liam is not walking yet and he doesn't need them, but they are soooo cute.
Today we went into Anchorage for an Easter Brunch at a friends home. We brought Cardamom Coffee Cake and Spinach dip (they are always a hit with the crowd). Liam was the star of the show, he was the only baby there so that made it easy to get all the attention. Unlike Keegan my friend Kates dog Fern loves to follow Liam around and lick him when ever she could get the chance, she loves babies. He also had food in his hair, probably eggs from breakfast so that was extra incentive for Fern to lick him, she is a Labrador after all. Liam had a great time crawling around and looking at the different people that were there.
Things at my job have been picking up with the season. More and more schools want to set up tours on the farm which is great but we don't have room for all of them and they all want to come at the same time. Our nanny had to go into Anchorage on Friday so Brody stayed home with Liam and I couldn't believe it but that little bugger took a 2 hour morning nap for dad. I think it is because Brody plays with him so much that Liam was exhausted.
One of Liams new found joys in life is spaghetti. He loves the marinara sauce too. I know it is really messy but he likes to feed himself and it does lend it's self to good pictures. He has a good set of choppers, as you can see from the picture above. Liam still has about 8 teeth and we haven't seen anymore for a while now which is ok since teething seems like such a drag for him.
He is so tall that he can reach the top of the table. He likes to get up on his tip toes or pull himself up by his hands to try to get anything I slide out of his reach (which is a lot of stuff). I finally set some of his toys there so he would have something to reach for that he could actually put in his mouth without me having a heart attach. He loves the game and will play at getting things off of the table for a while. He can reach things on the edge of the counters too so we are extra careful to put everything away from the edges.
Well Liam is waking up from his afternoon nap so until the next post we wish you all well.

Mt Redoubt Alive!!

Here is one of our resident volcano's, Mt Redoubt. We haven't seen any ash yet but there have been warnings for days now. Ash was supposed to get to Anchorage yesterday. Mt Redoubt isn't close to us, it is down on the Kenia Peninsula across from Ninilchik. Down in Homer people have been getting up to 1/8th of an inch of ash. One guy said that he let his dog out and could see where the dog had walked because of the ash on the ground. Lots of flights have been canceled and people aren't able to leave. The guys who are working up on the North Slope are stuck too. No flights are coming in and out of there either. Our nanny told us a story about how when the volcano erupted before, the oil companies decided to bus guys up to the Slope. The buses stopped in Fairbanks for a break and a lot of the guys bought booze (not allowed on the Slope). Chaos ensued on the buses, there were fights, singing and general mayhem. The oil companies deiced not to do that again. Now if your up there your up there until your replacement comes through. At least they get paid for it.
We have been doing ok. Brody had a cough and a sore throat for a while and then Liam got the bug. He was not a happy camper. When the chest cold started with the bad cough we took him to the doctor. He is doing really well now, a cough every so often and a little chest rattle but happy and sleeping through the night, mostly :) . The poor kid had a really hard time sleeping for a few nights and there was some projectile vomiting. Liam and I had to take a shower at 11 pm one night because of the throwing up. We felt so bad for him, he looked so tired but was having such a hard time sleeping. I got the bug and went to the doctor yesterday. Today I actually feel like I'm turning the corner and getting a little better. But not before I I missed some work and generally felt miserable for a while.
Can you all believe that Liam is almost 10 months old. He is getting so big. He crawls everywhere, gets into EVERYTHING and is not just pulling himself up but walking along the couch. He really loves to play with his dad and his personality comes out more and more everyday. They laugh and have a great time, Liam loves to joke around and he also loves his books. He has a book that Brody got for him that is big and very colorful (its all about spring), its a board book with flaps and Liam will sit and look at the book. He pays really close attention when you read to him and lift the flaps, he is just soaking it all in. He is eating everything as you can see from the picture and he is very independent about it. He wants to hold his own spoon, and just generally make a big mess. In this picture he has squash all over his face. That's our good eater!!!

Almost 9 Months Old

Can you believe it our little guy is really almost 9 months old. I took him to the doctor yesterday to make sure his ear infection had healed up and he weights in at almost 24 lbs. The nurse said, "Just look at that healthy boy and those feet, he has big ones." She said he is big for his age. His ears have cleared up but there is still some fluid in there. He is getting another tooth and the doctor chalked it up to that. He is handling it really well but drooling a lot and he tries to bite you if you get to close. He tried to bite our pediatrician last time he was there and this time he tried to pee on her. That's our boy.
He is so mobile these days its hard to stop him from getting into everything. He loves the shoe pile by the door and he really likes my big hiking boots. We have started putting them all in the storage room cause it grosses me out. I know that dirt is good for him but I just can't let him chew on our shoes.
I have also given him a cabinet. Every boy should have his own cabinet in his mothers kitchen, right. He loves it. We put some board books in it an all of his plastic bowls and cups. He loves to climb in to it and pull all the stuff out. Its perfect for when I'm making something and need to keep an eye on him at the same time. He's entertained by this for at least 15 minutes and that's a really long time for a baby.
So Brody starts his new job on Monday and he is both nervous and happy about it. I think he's going to do great.
I've been back in the working world for 3 weeks now and things are going well at the farm but I miss being at home with Liam. I wish I could just be a stay at home mom, I really love it. I start teaching farm ed classes at one of the local elementary schools this coming week and its going to be fun. They have a great school garden that was put in by my predecessor so it will be fun to plant it with the kids. Speaking of....I have work to do now that the baby is asleep. Hope you all are well.

Happy Valentines Day!!

Well We finally got a picture of him in the hat. I hope your all happy now. This picture will be used for black mail later in life. We went out for a nice family Valentines breakfast this morning. It was very nice and as you can probably guess Liam had a lot of admirers and generally had a swell time. The rest of our day was spent quietly at home. Liam is moving around so well these days and its just fun to watch him grow and change so much so fast. He was just learning to crawl last week and now he is totally mobile and pulling himself up on stuff. Its a whole new world of things to get into and a new phase in baby proofing. He still loves the walker but I caught him leaning over with his feet totally of the ground reaching for something yesterday morning. The walker is going to be a thing of the past soon. This is a picture of Liam and I reading his first magazine. I ordered him Babybug and we read it twice today. He seems to really like it and we will get a new one every month. I really like it because its like a little board book that he can be rough with and the pages wont rip or anything. We went to story hour the other day and really liked that. Its so good for him to engage with other babies his age. I tried to get Brody to go this week but the thought of singing scared him. I tried to tell him that everyone sings but I understand. It is all moms after all. Every once and a while a dad comes but its mostly a mom thing. His little red outfit that Sarah and Penny got him works really well. That's what he has on in this picture. I really like it because it has little built in mittens and he cant take them off and lose them. Thanks you guys!!! As you can see by picture of him in the high chair, he is getting a little sassy about eating. He likes to do it himself and shows it to. He is getting so good at eating stuff. He really likes cheese and salmon too. Ok well I thought I'd throw some text in this blog since Brody did the pictures earlier today and was having a hard time with the finer points of blogging. I'd say it was a fine job for his first time. Hope you all are well and having a very happy V day.

Dads Home!!!!

Sorry I have been a little lax about updating the blog but I think we have a good excuse. Brody is home and we are soo happy that he is. He had a job interview this week that went really well and we are thinking about the pros and cons of the job and what it could mean for our family. I am starting my job at Spring Creek Farm on Monday and am a little nervous. This is my first foray into the working world since Liam has been born. I think its going to be a really fun job and I can take Liam with me on some days. My official tittle is Farm Education Coordinator, sounds important doesn't it. We will see. Wish me luck on that.
Liam has been a little sick lately with a fever and runny nose but generally in good spirits. He still loves his bath time and is getting into it more and more. He is such a happy baby, isn't he. He started crawling for the first time yesterday. Not the army crawl but really crawling on hands and knees. He only goes a short distance and is a bit wobbly but he is getting more and more mobile every day. He loves his floor time upstairs. He has his favorite toys of course and has even grown out of playing with some of them. Tonight I put a bandanna on him and thought for sure he would take it right off, just like he does his hats. He wore it all through dinner though. Such a little ham!!!

Birthday Boy

After a rough landing Liam is finally asleep for his afternoon nap. First he was poopy then he had his leg stuck in the crib and then hurt his mouth chewing on the bars. Finally asleep!!!
Today is Liam's 8 month birthday, can you all believe we have an 8 month old boy. Bigger update and pictures later. I promise.

Milestones in the life of...

The weather has finally seemed to stabilize a bit here. Its been in the 20's for a while now which is nice walking weather. We try to walk everyday, Liam and weather permitting of course. This picture from the upstairs window looks drastically different from the last one I took, thought you all would get a kick out of that. Our weather just changes so fast up here. Its a total ice rink up on Lazy Mt., but sunny.
Now on to the reason we are all really reading this blog. Milestones in the life of our star have been happening in quick succession. Tonight he ate Cheerios for the first time. No choking just lots of attentiveness. As you can see from the picture he is very focused on the task at hand. He probably dropped more than he got to his mouth, much to the delight of Keegan. He worked very hard though and was defiantly ready for the challenge. I must admit watching him was kind-of hard because I just really wanted to help him, I knew that it would be best for him to do it him self though. I should learn this lesson now with something easy like Cheerios right. He is also getting a 7th tooth. I noticed tonight on the right lower side another one is coming in, can you believe it. Our friends little girl who is almost a year old doesn't have any teeth at all!!! We are going to her birthday party in a couple of weeks, lots of little ones running around a gym. Sounds like a good time to me. Back to the milestones...he is starting to get the hang of being mobile a bit more. He can move army crawl style at a surprising speed but he is working on the hands and knees more and more everyday. Its coming soon, I know. One of his other favorite things to do is this sideways thing when he is on his tummy. I think its a prelude to going from stomach to sitting but who knows, could just be a phase. He loves his Bob the Builder books. Well have a great week and check in with you all soon.

On Eating and Outside Time

This last week seemed to creep and fly by at the same time. My friend ended up coming out to spend time with us anyway. We spent time knitting, cooking and of course playing with Liam. She made Liam a really cute pair of mittens with a string to put through his coat so they don't get lost. If you look closely you can see them in the stroller picture. He is really decked out in the homemade goods in that picture. My mom made the quilt, I made the booties and hat and Michelle made the mitts. What a lucky baby. I also took this picture of him outside in his sled, the snow was mostly gone and slush had taken its place unfortunately. Right now there is almost no snow and our yard has a small lake in it, at least our driveway isn't flooded like our neighbors is. He is sporting a toasty warm outfit made out of organic cotton from Michelle. She does great work.
We are making progress with eating and moving at light speed it seems through the stages. It seems like yesterday I was feeding him his first bit of rice cereal and now he is starting to experiment with feeding himself and picking up soggy O's off his tray (he still doesn't have it down but its fun to watch). He makes more of a mess than anything and sorry Gin gin those are indeed carrots on his face. You will be happy to know though, he doesn't want to eat his beans unless I add something sweet like apples!!
This afternoon we are going to the Library to sign up for their baby story time and pick up some audio books for Brody. As you can see he loves his books. Right now we are reading Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White. We also read lots of board books like this one. He likes to carry them around when he is in his walker.
I just peaked my head outside and its raining again and 37 degrees!! Crazy weather. Brody said this morning up on the slope it was in the 20 below range. Keep warm thoughts for him.
Swim Lesson sign up is on February 3rd, more on that to come.

Traineau pour bebe

I had a friend coming out this weekend but she had to cancel. It made me sad and a little lonely. Then before I knew it I got a phone call from a dear friend in Seattle who just had her own baby and a call from the head of the Moms Club in Palmer. Its amazing how things just happen like that. The weather has been really strange lately. After the crazy below zero weather we had it is now over 20 degrees and the wind is blowing very hard. School, buses and pretty much everything else was canceled today because it was so icy outside. Liam and I stayed in today, no unnecessary travel you know. We are supposed to go to our first Moms Club play date in the morning so hope that goes well. Staying in has given Liam and Keegan time to bond or more time to for him to chase her around the house in his walker, I guess. I bought Liam a baby sled last night, the traineau pour bebe in french. We came home and tried it out in the house. He loved it. I cant wait until its not so windy and icy, then we can go for a walk. We also found a new game that Liam loves. If I throw the frisbee for the dog in the house he laughs hysterically, he really likes it if she catches it in the air. I'm not sure whats so funny about it but baby wants what baby gets.

Busy Baby

Liam has now figured out how to open the drawers in the kitchen so we are off to the store to pick up some childproof locks for the drawers. Its his new trick. He loves the walker, cruising all over, even up and down the hall. He likes to follow my old yellow lab around the house much to her dismay. Gingin and Cici will be happy to know that even though he pulls off all the hats I put on his head he loves to carry the polar bear hat around with him when he's in his walker. He is still sleeping well and his teeth are coming in nicely. No fever or problems lately.
Liam is now old enough for swim lessons, just parent tot classes of course but I will be happy to get him in the water so you all can look forward to those pictures.
I was looking through my pictures of Liam and found some from when we went to Superior. We had such a nice time there. I really enjoyed cooking for the grandparents and I know Brody really liked visiting with them. Liam took to Grandpa Willett very quickly, you can see how comfortable he is in the picture. I hope we can come back soon.
More to come later, our little prince is waking from his morning nap.

What Baby's Do Best

Brody and I always joke that we have a new boss and he drives a hard bargain and expects a lot of work from us, I guess its his strong work ethic. We sure have been working hard for him lately. Brody just took a job up on the North Slope of Alaska, really at the top of the world, in Oliktok Point which is outside of Prudhoe Bay. He's going to be gone for 6 to 8 weeks and Liam and I already miss him. There isn't much to do up there except for work, eat and sleep. I talked with him tonight and he is already a bit home sick. If anyone wants to send him a book or something just e-mail me and I will give you his address.
Now on to the star of the show.....He is doing great. We are on our third night in a row of really sleeping through the night. No crying at 12 or 3 or even 5. He wakes up but just talks to himself a bit, gets comfy and falls back to sleep. Now we just have to work on our nap schedule and we will be golden. We had a well baby check-up on Monday and everything was great. He is meeting all the milestones he is supposed to and his head has grown almost 1/2 an inch (that Shuck head). He seems to be leveling off on his weight for now but getting taller, about 281/2 inches. He got a couple of shots so he was a little sleepy and cranky today but none the worse for wear. I just started feeding him avocado the other day and he really likes it mixed with banana. He is doing well with all the food I've introduced so far. He loves beans to his GinGins dismay. This is his one of the moves he's started. He lays his head on his arm and looks at you when he sits in his high chair. Too cute!!!