Happy Birthday Lauren!

Forgive the lack of posts this past week or so - nothing really interesting has been happening around here. That is until this past weekend when we celebrated a very special birthday of a very special sister.

Lauren turned 21 last Thursday so we all traveled over to Cincinnati for a celebration weekend. We were all there, including Kayla who told Lauren she wasn't coming, but showed up and surprised her anyways. It was a good weekend complete with lots of time together, gifts, beer (the girl is 21 now after all!) and lots of loving on baby Liam. For her actual celebration Lauren wanted to go to a German restaurant across the river in Kentucky. A lot of the extended family came and it was a great time, minus the almost two hour wait to be seated (thank you party of 90 who came in before us to a restaurant that doesn't take reservations...). Liam did pretty well until the end when he fell apart and we had to leave. Thankfully it was really loud in there so no one could hear him screaming. He did however wear a look of terror most of the evening. I think it was a bit overwhelming for him.

However, we would not have missed celebrating with Lauren for anything! We love you Lauren.

The birthday girl with her favorite nephew.

Another highlight of the weekend was taking Liam to meet his great-grandfather, Robert Bedinghaus. This is a really special picture of four generations of Bedinghaus men.

Of course Roctopus had to travel with us.

Our little family on our way to dinner. We somehow often manage to color coordinate without trying...

In honor of his aunt Lauren's birthday Liam wore his "My Aunt Rocks" shirt. It is almost too small for him and it really should say "My Aunts Rock!"

Yes folks, this is how I stay so skinny. Bouncing this kid to sleep in a very noisy restaurant lobby while waiting to be seated. It took a loonnggg time, but it worked eventually for a little while.

Aunties and Mama and Liam make a happy family.

Recent Photos

I promise this blog will not always be about Liam. I have other things inside my head I'd like to blog about and I suppose I will get to them eventually. However, the reality of everything is that my life really does involve a lot of Liam these days so I guess that's what I'll blog about again today! I also realize a lot of you (ahem, grandmas & aunties) come here to see pictures of Liam and today that is what you shall get. Here are some from the past few days. Enjoy!

"Hey, hey, I'm a cool baby chilling in my Bumbo seat."

What a big boy! He's still deciding what he thinks of the Bumbo seat. I think right now he's indifferent to it.

"Haha mama! You are hilarious!"

"I want to give you a hug!"

Hanging out in one of his favorite places - his changing table.

A rare smile during tummy time. Probably because Roctopus is involved in tummy time too.

Two of Liam's favorite things - Papa and Roctopus. Together forever.

Liam | 3 Months

I'm a day late, but Liam turned three months old yesterday. I say this every month, but I really can't believe how fast he is growing up! He really is turning into a sweet, happy little boy. We now can let him sit in his bouncy seat or lay on his play mat and he is so happy and smiling. We are still working on him being happy outside of the house and when his schedule gets messed up, but he's little yet - that will come (I hope!) We're also trying to help him sleep longer at night, but he still thinks he needs to wake up several times a night. I am seriously waiting for the day, hopefully soon, where I wake up at 7 am and he's slept through the night. :)

This month he is loving his stuffed octopus that hangs over his playmat. We've officially dubbed him "Roctopus" because he rocks, ha. Liam talks to Roctopus more than he talks to us. He also loves, loves, loves his bathtub. He seriously squirms in anticipation before getting into the tub.

He also loves to sit up like a "big boy" and hold his head up.

He still hates his carseat, nothing new there. It's like we're torturing him when he has to sit in it. He is not a fan of going out in the cold either, which is mostly fine with mama because she doesn't like cold much either. He is doing better with tummy time, but it's not his favorite either.

We love our little boy so much and are so thankful to see him grow up. Here are some recent pictures. Enjoy!

I'm a three month old big boy!

Papa and Liam are such good friends

We went to visit friends this morning so we had to bundle up. Amazingly Liam was happy in his snowsuit. This is probably a first.

The other night when he got out of his bathtub his head got caught under his hooded towel and we thought he looked so much like a pharaoh or a jedi or something. His eyes just added to the magic of this photo. He is seriously the silliest little baby!

Brother Bragging

I have great brothers. Seriously, they are the best. I thought it was about time I dedicated a blog post to them, especially since we didn't get to see either of them at Christmas. So here's to brothers!

My brother Ben is becoming quite the craftsman. After Liam was born he asked what kind of gift he could give us for Liam and I suggested he make a sign spelling out Liam's name that we could hang in his room. He went above and beyond my suggestions and created a sign using found objects and old tools to spell Liam. He gave it to us at Thanksgiving and it is now proudly hanging in Liam's room. It is the kind of thing I am sure he will always have hanging in his room as he grows.

Uncle Ben displaying his sign with Liam

A close up of the sign hanging on the wall in Liam's nursery

And I thought this was so neat too on the back of the sign. It's an old saw blade with Ben's message to Liam written on it.

When we visited at Thanksgiving Ben was also working on making a marble board for our other brother Luke and his fiance Logan. This marble game is a game Ben's girlfriend Heidi introduced our family to a few months ago. It's played in teams and is somewhat similar to Sorry and Parcheesi combined into one game. It's a blast to play and we've all gotten really into it. Heidi got Ben a board from an Amish man in Ohio where she is from, but Ben was convinced he could make a nicer board himself. With a lot of work he figured out how to make one and gave it to Luke and Logan for Christmas. Little did we know he also made a board for us! We were thrilled to open it on Christmas night at my parent's house and are already teaching some of our Indiana friends how to play.

He worked so hard cutting and staining the wood and then individually painting the holes.

I'm already anticipating future gifts from Ben because as he has been saying recently he is planning to never buy anyone gifts ever again. Why buy when you can make amazing things?

My brother Luke is a great guy too. He has made some beautiful things out of wood too (I am seriously jealous of the bedside table he made for Logan out of wood from our old tree house) but Luke uses his hands for other things. He is currently studying in St. Louis at Logan Chiropractic (ironic we know!) so he can become a chiropractor. He has wanted to become a chiropractor for awhile now, but just started the school work this past fall. It will be a long three years for him to finish, but in the end I know it will be worth it. He worked so hard this past semester taking about 27 credit hours including hands on labs with a cadaver. This is all on top of planning a July 2nd wedding and making the long drive to see Logan at Indiana Wesleyan in Marion, Indiana.

I honestly could not be more proud of Luke for the hard work he is doing and all the studying he has to do to reach his goals. You can do it Luke!

We are thrilled to welcome Logan into our family too. Did I mention she is studying to be a graphic designer? She makes the most beautiful cards and gave us as a gift when Liam was born a family tree she made out of scrapbook paper. It's beautiful. It will be so fun for me to have another sister very soon.

Logan's older sister got married on New Years Day so here is a picture of Luke and Logan at her wedding. Aren't they the most beautiful couple? Can't wait for their big day soon!

It's hard sometimes living so far away from family, but we're actually closer to my brothers now that we have been for a few years which is great because they can come and visit us. Right guys? :) Love you both and hope to see you soon!

Papa and Liam

I couldn't resist posting these photos from when we were visiting my parents the day after Christmas. I walked into our bedroom there and Rob and Liam were propped up on pillows like this looking out the windows. They are good buds. (and ps. Rob is not naked for the record - he has shorts on. :)

Christmas Comes But Once a Year

Home. It's such a wonderful place to be. While we had a really great Christmas break, there is nothing like coming home to your own space and sleeping in your own bed. But, I do want to backtrack a bit and share about our travels.

We started out in Cincinnati at Rob's family's home for the few days before Christmas. We had a great time playing games, hanging out with family, entertaining Liam and enjoying Christmas traditions like the Festival of Lights at the zoo and Christmas Eve festivities. The highlight for me though was going on a "real" date with Rob to see the new Harry Potter movie and out to dinner. Rob's parents were gracious to keep Liam so we could spend an evening together without him. Whew. You don't really know when you're in it how exhausting an infant can be (well, maybe you do!) and how much you need a break just to be with your husband. So that was really great.

Christmas morning was special with all of us being together even if Liam slept through the whole thing. Oh well, he didn't know what was going on anyways! My big gift was a computer that I am currently writing this blog post on. Yay! Finally I don't have to share a computer with Rob and that is really good.

Rob and Kayla are two peas in a pod

Mama and Liam hanging out

Liam loves his new playmat, especially the octopus who hangs down and smiles at him.

The Bedinghaus and Green families (plus Lauren's boyfriend Memo) together before heading down to the zoo

We got in the car again after Christmas morning and drove to my parents house in Pennsylvania. Liam did great in the car and was happy to help us open gifts with grammy and pops when we arrived. It was a bit silly for us to drive all the way to PA because we only spent one night there, but I still haven't wrapped my mind around not being at my parents house at all for Christmas. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

On Sunday we drove to Harrisburg to my aunts house for a big Christmas gathering with my mom's extended family. It was so good to spend the day with everyone, especially since some of them hadn't met Liam yet.

Liam with my cousin Shari

Every Christmas my Aunt Millie gets a photo with her great nieces and nephews. This year Liam made the photo even if he wasn't very happy about it!

My cousins Jeni & Naomi

After the day there we drove to my cousin's cabin in central Pennsylvania. We've vacationed there between Christmas and New Years for the past few years and it is always a great time. We spent most of the time eating and playing games and just spending time with one another. Liam did so well there and was definitely the center of attention, especially with my youngest cousins. It's great to see Liam growing up and being able to entertain himself for longer periods of time.

Liam with Mattias and Rio. They are two of the sons of my first cousin Kendall so I guess that makes them Liam's second cousins. But really, who cares! We're all close family.

Our little family

We drove home Wednesday and had a fairly uneventful trip back. It was good to be home and have the craziness of Christmas be over. We've been hanging out at home mostly and spending time together as a little family which is how we wanted to spend the rest of Rob's break. He has another week off before a new semester begins....

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your families and are ready for 2011 to begin. Happy New Year!