Week 23: Liam Has Baby Friends

For the last few months Rachel has been taking Liam to Gymboree and so far he has made two friends.  Preston and Hudson.  Two or three times a week the group gets together to sing songs, blow bubbles and drool on each other as new friends are wont to do.   


Outside of Gymboree their mothers make them share a chair.  Liam likes that.   

The Art of Baby Making

Rachel created this collage of our family at 5 months old.  I'm on the bottom circa 1984, Rachel's on the top circa 1987 and together, in 2013, we made the vibrant little boy on the right. 



It is a beautiful piece of Americana and a friendly reminder that Liam looks exactly like his mama. 

Rolling With the Homey

You want to see my child rollover?  Of course you do.  Everybody does. 

   

Press play and enjoy the next nine seconds of your life.  

5 Months of Handsome

It used to bother me when people would mistake Liam for a girl.  "He has a dick," I'd want to say. "Circumcised by one of the best in the game!"

But I never did. 

To the average passerby Liam looks as much like Sinead O'Connor as he does Justin Timberlake.  Without the appropriate accessories he is simply a pearly hued, eighteen pound baby androgen.
    

 

So it is with sincerest apologies to my child that I keep posting pictures of him in a white onesie with a neutrally-colored timestamp.  It was his mom's idea.  My only contribution was to arrange the images as to make it look like the bottom half of the diptych is getting pooped on by the top.  For that I have no regrets. I nailed it.

A Vision in Red

Pictures courtesy of Michelle Able Photography and the generous wallet of Phil Haines.

Rox & Phil Get Engaged

With a head full of romance and a heart full of love, my former Practice Court partner asked my sister-in-law to be his wife. It was the grandest display. The cabana was prepared with flowers, candles, cards and music. A one-of-a-kind ring was paired with food, wine and a photographer to capture it all.

Phil is a master romantic gesticulator and an excellent addition to the family.

 Welcome to the team.

Young William: Cute as a Meaty Button

Liam has aged dramatically over the last few weeks.  He sits up and stands tall, grabs things when you aren’t looking and hops like a spastic bunny if you put him in a bouncer.

 

When the joie de vivre fades, he still manages to sleep a solid 9 – 11 hours a night and we love him for that. 

Week 18: A Vision in White

Liam’s days are evenly divided between being covered in poop and waiting to be covered in poop. He loves it. He smiles every time he farts. He laughs every time his shit smells like rotten death. Our job as parents seems to be cleaning his butt cheeks, powdering his balls, and then patiently waiting for the sludge from his ass to find its way into the back of his onesie.

My favorite part of the day is this brief moment when he is perfectly clean, happy and still debating whether he'll poop in the towel.

Our Child is 4 Months Old

One third of the way through a year and Liam is still drinking in life like a thirsty man.  A tall, thin, thirsty man.  At his 4 month doctors appointment he measured in at 16 lbs 4 ozs (70th percentile) and  two feet three inches in length (99th percentile).     

Week 17: Liam Experiences Blended Cuisine

I've been in NY since Tuesday and wasn't around to see my child's first attempt at eating baby food.  While the thought of this makes me incredibly sad, Rachel captured his efforts on the YouTubes and the process seems to have gone swimmingly.   

If you turn up the volume you can hear him lovingly cheered into a life of adorable, airplane inspired obesity.    

Week 16: To the Moon and Back

I’m a little late accounting for my weeks but here are pictures from today’s Mother’s Day celebration at Brenner’s.

I'm a very lucky person.  Not only did I marry the most beautiful, loving, caring, woman, but she has given me the most wonderful family.   There's no way I could show her how much she means to me but I'll always keep trying.

Baby Mugging is Happening

The internet is a magical place where lovers of cats, babies, porn and the arts come together to create memes.  One of the latest is baby mugging . . . a planking equivalent for overly proud parents.

Liam was born into a complicated world.

Week 15: Going to the Zoo

This weekend we took Liam to the zoo. There were lions, tigers, elephants, giraffes, bears, birds, lizards, rhinos, and all sorts of other things that he couldn’t have cared less about.  It was fantastic.

Here we are staring at a lovely bunch of lemurs.

Here Liam is observing an eel in its unnatural habitat.

And here he is with his mama and a gorilla.

When we weren't making him look at animals, we stuck his face in picture holes.

And taught him how to save money by screen grabbing family images off the zoo website.

Liam learned a lot this weekend.  Both about animals and his parents.

Liam Gets a Quilt, Smiles

My Aunt Barbara made Liam a quilt. An amazing, incredibly detailed, elephant quilt and we can’t thank her enough. The amount of effort and skill that went into the stitching is unfathomable. The pictures don't do it justice.

Regardless of whether we let him destroy it as he does all things or put it on the wall to observe from a safe distance, this quilt will be the nicest thing Liam owns for many years to come.  We are sincerely grateful to have received such a beautiful gift.

Week 14: Pictures for Tummy Time Enthusiasts

I’m sick and Liam is losing his hair so here are some week old pictures of the young man flopping around, vacillating between happiness and the realization that we placed him on the floor.

LOL

WTF?

JK

Liam is a fickle beast.  

Still Watching, Waiting

When Liam first came home we learned that Kip wasn’t a big fan.

Soon.

Not much has changed in three months.

3 Months of Baby

After a quarter year of life our child's tricks are still limited to laughing, crying, grabbing his feet and growing.  He can rollover when you push him but Rachel says I'm not supposed to push him. 

Liam Giggles, Rachel Loses Her Mind

The title pretty much sums up everything that happens in this thirty second video but here is a step-by-step breakdown for those with no intention of pressing play:

• Rachel sets up a camera 
• Rachel repeatedly hits Liam in the face with his feet
• Liam giggles
• Rachel loses her mind

It's a really good one if you are into this sort of thing.  

Week 12: Liam Goes to the Beach

This weekend we were invited to stay in John Bott’s guest condo at the Palisade Palms in Galveston.  Rachel and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves while Liam made the same indifferent face in every picture. 

He is a hard, beautiful man to impress.

The Two Faces of an 11 Week Old Child

There are about fifty pictures that look like this . . .

For ever one picture that looks like this.