Thursday Thoughts

My little guy woke up from his nap this morning in such a sweet mood! Liam is definitely responding to quite a few words and phrases- he understands: where is the doggy/kitty, do you want a bottle, stand up, open wide, and Daddy's home, to name a few. He's also trying to mimic sounds. Last night he did the funniest cat's meow when the cats were nagging Greg to feed them.

We've had a nice day so far (though it got off to a bad start for me when I stumbled into the bathroom this morning and stepped on a disgusting soaked bathmat and opened my eyes to a flooded toilet in the master bathroom.... but to my surprise, Greg manned up and dealt with the mess. Lord, I love that man!) I had to laugh at Greg last night because he expressed concern that his students might somehow stumble onto this blog and read yesterday's entry. You see, he's a stickler for homework and teaches difficult courses without curving the grades, so they call him "Hardcore Holland" - a title he relishes. I think he's concerned that the image of Hardcore Holland might take a hit if students read about his wife living the Little Kisses Lifestyle....

Living The Little Kisses Lifestyle

I call him Gregor Dan. Have I mentioned how much I adore my husband? He pampers both of us. (Figuratively in my case!) When I'm grumpy about something, he can always fall back on his one surefire way to sweeten me up- he takes my face and gives me 20 or more little kisses on my forehead. I just inhale him- I think he has pheremones in that beard or something, because it does work its magic, probably through some neurotransmitter pathway in my brain. The funniest thing, though, is the last 2 days we discovered that Liam also soaks up the little kisses. Greg will have him in his lap, facing forward, and he'll arch back and tilt his face up to get his forehead into that beard, then close his eyes and smile blissfully as the kisses start. After a minute Liam breaks away by leaning forward, looks around the room, then throws his head back for more! I can totally relate to it- they're addictive! I used to require little kisses before I could get out of bed in the morning. I guess that ended when I was pregnant- I didn't have time for little kisses as I was in too big of a rush to get to the toilet!

A Day Off Work

Liam and I went to Walmart and Sam's Club, where he has so many friends and admirers. Little traffic stopper... he was so full of himself today. Giving great cheesy grins to cashiers and shoppers and other cart-riding kids. I treasure this time when he's so sociable, knowing that a time is probably coming when he'll develop stranger anxiety. Thanks to Aunt Deb for the cart cover- it even fits the wide-load carts they have at Sam's Club and he loves to mess with his toys. Today he was chewing those extra vigorously because another tooth is in- another lower incisor for a total of 4 in a row down there! At the end he slumped over sideways and fell asleep until we stopped at the register and he realized there was another cashier (and the next cashier over) to charm, so he sat back up.

To Do or Not To Do: Project 365

My cousin Natalie is doing "Project 365" where she posts a new photo in her blog every day. I feel that this could be too ambitious for me, but what the heck. If I fail, my friends and family can flog me with spagetti noodles. I will have to make an effort to include some variety rather than Liam, Liam, and more Liam. I think it's probably breaking some Project 365 "rules" to post a photo taken by your spouse the day before, but I'm going to go with it anyway, because this one is just too cute. It was actually taken by Greg yesterday while I was at the hospital or off to see the little old couple with the Great Dane...but the photo is new to me- I just found it on the camera tonight and had to upload it. Just looking at it gives me the strongest urge to go wake him and smother him with kisses! (BAD IDEA....)

Take me OFF CALL!

I'm so relieved my weekend was quiet on the on-call front. I did make a housecall yesterday to help an 80 year old couple with a Great Dane who had been shot. They of course could not lift the dog in order to bring him in (neither could I)... nor could they safely drive even if they could have loaded him. He was at least 150 lbs just eyeballing him, nice dog, luckily I didn't have to put him to sleep. But this is why 80 year old couples should stick with chihuahuas.

I have one more night on call then a day off tomorrow with my precious boy. I really don't like Mondays because I'm always on call and we don't close until 7pm. By the time I get off and maybe see an emergency or 2, then drive 45 minutes to get home, Liam's bedtime already passed, so I missed the full day with him. Then I have to stand over his crib and watch him sleep and look forward to Tuesday when we can laugh and play. I could just EAT HIM UP! Thankfully we're hiring a new graduate as soon as she, well, graduates. In May. Then she's the low dog on the totem pole and stays until 7pm on Mondays!

My Beautiful Boy

I have a sneaking suspicion Liam Alexander Holland will figure prominently in my blog. Here's one from yesterday... his first time in the grass. Pray to God he didn't get chiggers. I didn't even think of it. Another of Greg's observations as I was happily reminiscing about how much fun he was having trying to get a mouthful of green. I just about choked on my crabcake!

First Entry

My blog. I've titled it aptly and assigned it a web address under considerable duress. I'm not sure I'm going to be a wonderful blogger, considering I sat for about ten minutes trying unsuccessfully to come up with a title, and then finally accepted Greg's sarcastic suggestion. I'm sure that's not original though, because the web address matching the title was unavailable, indicating that prior frustrated new bloggers have resorted to this title. All in all, I thought it was a rather inauspicious beginning, so I used that for my web address. If this winds up having six or eight entries, ever, then at least the web address will have been accurate!