Two Years Old!

Two year ago today, life changed forever. Happy birthday, Liam!

One Month In

It is one month into my new occupation as a full-time mom, and I have to say I think things are going rather well. Sure, the days can be exhausting and intense, but that is to be expected. Daily irritations and frustrations aside, so far this arrangement seems to be working for us. I miss certain aspects of working, naturally, but I've not had one moment where I thought, "Man, I wish I was at work!" When I'm with my son, I know I'm just where I need to be right now, and I've found that thought overrides any professional pangs.

Liam at UCLA. His shirt says "Future UCLA Grad."

In fact, if it's possible I think spending more time with my kid has made me even crazier about him. (Note: It's the "about him" in that last sentence that makes it an expression of love and not a simple factual statement... Just keepin' it real.) While close proximity and a constant marathon pace should be a formula for thin nerves and a short fuse, so far I've found it mostly reinforces the positives. Not that both Liam and I don't have our moments, of course--it's just that the positives ultimately seem to win out in the daily battles. That lesson has been a lovely, pleasant surprise.

Liam's first trip to the library.

Thus far my daily goals have proved to be a useful guide for our daily activities, as I hoped they would be. Liam is up with the sun (if not before), and while I caffeinate and peruse the morning news online, he gets his daily allotment of "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" (a.k.a. "Mi Mow How"). After breakfast--Liam usually eats his and mine--we get dressed and head to the park around 9 o'clock. Nine has proved to be the golden hour for us at the park. Most days we have the place completely to ourselves, as most people don't start to show up until 10 a.m. or so. By that time, Liam is comfortably ensconced in his stroller with his sippy cup and morning snack while I push him up and down the sidewalks of our neighborhood hills and get in some decent physical exercise. I know this time isn't wasted because the hills are getting easier for me each week, but I won't be sorry when the temperatures around here finally cool off for good around Halloween.

Liam loves to chill with the iPad.

After our morning time at the park and a walk around the neighborhood, it's usually time for lunch, followed by naptime an hour or so later, around noon. God willing, Liam naps from 12-2 p.m., and I have a chance to do chores, each lunch, and/or collapse as I see fit. In the afternoon we do some reading or coloring, and have lots of playtime. If Liam is antsy and if it's not too hot out, we sometimes go for another walk before suppertime ushers in the evening routine and daddy's return.

Slide!

Painting in the Children's Gallery at LACMA.

All of these activities vary from day to day, depending on what errands or chores need to be accomplished, but as you can see we fell into a new rhythm fairly quickly. We even threw in some fun outings last month--we went to UCLA and had lunch with Eric, visited the zoo and LACMA, and made Liam's first visit to the library. There are still some kinks I want to work out, like finding some social activities for us, and learning how to make the best use of my (very limited) time without Liam. 

In other words, the Great Balancing Act continues, job or no job.

Liam loved running through all of the lampposts of "Urban Light" at LACMA.

A New Chapter

September 5th marked the end of the one chapter in my life and the beginning of another. Even though the course of this new season is as yet completely uncharted, I'm happy about the prospect of a fresh start and a chance for renewal and reinvestment in areas of my life that suffered inevitable neglect due to the realities of being a full-time working mother. For me, the past two years cast in sharp relief the challenges and frustrations a working mother and wife faces--many of which I didn't fully understand or appreciate until I found myself confronting them on a daily basis. I now have an unexpected opportunity to clear out the cobwebs of neglect in those challenge areas. This sense of purpose led me to outline a few of the broad goals I have for my time as a full-time mom (however long that proves to be). I say "broad goals" intentionally. After all, I want to be realistic--life happens. Not every one of these goals will be reached every day, but they will provide a good framework to go on.

1. A new routine. While sometimes one can become a slave to routine, I've definitely seen the benefits of having a family routine, and I don't want to lose too much structure now that my life is no longer ruled by a time clock. Everyone likes the comfort and feeling of productivity a routine provides, and I've found it a great survival tool as a parent. Also, a little structure to the day will go a long way in helping me meet the goals I have in mind. Generally speaking, I'd like our new average daily routine to include:
     a) Some time outdoors and physical activity--preferably before naptime... (see also: goal #2)
     b) Preschool educational activities for Liam:  reading, art making, music, etc.
     c) Daily family time--with two working parents whose commute home is over an hour, this one has always been our ideal, but hard to pull off in the past because Liam often falls asleep before Eric gets home.
     d) A little time at the beginning and/or end of the day for mommy-decompression

2. Get physical. The remaining three items on this list are mostly about me. As parents (especially mothers) I think the first thing we cut out of our lives when a baby enters the picture is everything we used to do for "me"--all of our energy goes into everything but taking care of ourselves. I have certainly been guilty of that, and I want to use this as an opportunity to work on striking a better balance. So, shooting for some physical activity each day is not just about giving Liam time to play outside or at the park, it's also about keeping me active, healthy, and feeling good as well.

3. Mental & intellectual health. Again, this one is about keeping me happy, healthy, and sane. I want to take time each day--even if it's just a few minutes--for stress-relief and decompression, and ideally some intellectual engagement (reading, writing, etc.). This new existence is a real change for me, not just in terms of  what I do every day but also in how I see myself and where I am in my life. I fully realize that keeping up my mental game is going to be key, and although it will be tough on some days to carve out time, I plan to take this goal very seriously.

4. Refocus and reinvest. There is no question that in the past the never-ending spin of the hamster wheel that is working motherhood got the better of me more than I would like. One of my hopes for this time is that mommy and daddy can find more time to be husband and wife now and then. "Date nights" certainly don't happen as often as they should. I'd also like to invest a little in some odds-and-ends improvements around the place to make it even homier and some organizational features that I haven't had the time to get to since we moved in last October. I'm not going to go "This Old House" on the place or anything, but I think a few small, inexpensive changes will go a long way.

I don't feel I'm over-reaching with any of these goals, but check-in with me a year from now and we'll see what I have to say about it! My first week of the post-Villa era was busy and activity-filled, thanks to a visit from my mom. Liam was more than happy to enjoy being spoiled by Grandma for a week, and I was thankful for a chance to do some of those odds-and-ends tasks I mentioned above and get organized. It was  nice to have some company and keep so busy this first week after being laid-off--it made for an easier transition and kept me from dwelling on the anxiety and sadness. It will take some time for those emotions to fade, I know, but this first week was a good start.

All right then--here we go!

The Tail's End

Liam had almost no hair when he was born--except that tail!

My sister came out to California for a visit at the very end of June. Sure, she wanted to spend some time with Liam, Eric, and I, but she also had a mission--to eliminate Liam's mullet. The tale of my son's tail is one well-known to our close friends and family. When Liam was born, he had little to no hair, except for a tiny little tail of hair at the base of his head. As he grew, the hair on the rest of his head just couldn't keep up with the thriving natural mullet in the back. Although he's almost two years old, I resisted cutting it for a long time. After all, it was practically the only hair he had on his head and was a reminder to me that, as much as he's changed over the past twenty months, this bounding little toddler and the tiny newborn that came out of me were one and the same. Also, I admit to having hopes--faint as they may have been--that at some point his little tail would begin to grow into cute curls. Alas, it was not meant to be, and recently even my loving mother's eyes had to admit that it was time to reduce the party in the back to an acceptable level.

Before his first haircut, Liam's mullet
reached his shoulders.

So before she hopped a plane for California, I told Erin--a long-time proponent of ending the tail--to pack her clippers. Considering Liam is hardly of an age to sit still and have his hair cut, she did quite a good job giving her nephew his first haircut. We put him in his highchair and distracted him with some yummy chicken taco chili, which served to keep Liam occupied enough to almost ignore Aunt Erin, who cut his hair while he ate. As you can see, by the time he was done with his supper his tail was at an end and he had his first cute little boy haircut.

Ta-da--no more tail!

And what do a mommy and auntie with access to a fancy digital SLR camera do with a cute little boy who just got a snazzy new haircut? Why, dress him in an adorable little outfit and take him out to for a photo shoot, that's what! Check out my next post to see some of the hard won results of our efforts.

What's Next?

A little over a month has gone by since the layoffs were announced at work and my long goodbye to the place I've worked for the past five years began. There are still a lot of emotions stirring around in my head about my changed circumstances, but the storm has passed and I'm determined to make the most of this unexpected turn of events. Just how I'm going to do that is, in many ways, yet to be determined, but it is going to start with me using this time as an opportunity to take a leap of faith and try something I never thought I would--full-time motherhood.

Before marriage and motherhood, if you asked me if I'd ever consider being a full-time mom, I'd have said no. The thing is, I like to work, and most of my adult life has been devoted to finding a career identity for myself--not an easy task for someone with an advanced degree in ancient Near Eastern Languages and Cultures. And if I may say so, my progress wasn't too shabby. After earning my Master's at UCLA, I joined the staff at LACMA during the blockbuster King Tut exhibition, and my success there led to a recruitment call from the Education Department at the Getty Museum--a department with a nationwide reputation for excellence and a best-of-the-best staff. A foot in the door at the one of the preeminent cultural institutions in the country, I thought, meant I would be well-positioned to earn my stripes and advance my career at a steady pace. And what's more, for the second time since grad school, I was in a position in which I could directly apply my specialized knowledge of the ancient Mediterranean--again, not an easy thing to come by!

The position and the opportunity seemed ripe with potentiality. The bases were full. All I needed to do was deliver and send the pitch headed over home plate back over the wall. ...Uh, not quite. The economy tanked shortly after I was hired on at the Villa, and instead of the opportunity to advance, the Great Recession resulted in a stagnant wage and the elimination of career opportunities across the board, not just at my home institution. The Getty ultimately experienced two rounds of deep cuts to its staff, the second of which found me among those holding one of those infamous blue folders from HR containing a "letter of separation."

By the time I was handed that blue folder, I was already frustrated by the lack of room for advancement in a down job market. For a brief moment at the end of last year, I thought my willingness to take on duties and tasks beyond the scope of my position had finally paid off when I was reassigned as a coordinator for Teacher Programs. In the end, of course, the change never fully materialized. The new leadership of the museum froze the paperwork because they knew massive layoffs were coming to Education this spring. As frustrated as I already was, the layoffs this April were the final *head-desk* moment of despair and aggravation. As crappy as having a door slammed in your face is, the finality of it is freeing. You can't go this way. Move on.

So what's next? I've been asked that question a lot lately, and the more time passes, the more confidence I feel in my decision. I have the chance to explore an option I've been thinking about more and more over the past nineteen months and spend some time as a full-time mom. After this most recent lesson on the folly of making plans, that's about all I'm willing to say with any certainty at this point. For several years now I've been looking for the bigger and better career opportunity because I assumed a bigger and better salary (read: greater financial security) would ultimately serve my family best. But the lessons of the past nineteen months and especially recent events have served as a wake-up call that that assumption may not be true at this moment in time. All that has happened obviously got my attention in a big way and has made me rethink where I am most needed and how I can best serve my family right now, a time when professional opportunities are hardly blossoming beneath my feet. Reflecting on the last ten years, this experience has also reminded me that it's okay to follow my instincts--even when they are leading toward an uncertain and unknown path rather than a more certain, well-traveled one.

Sure, maybe we are wrong and will find that we can't quite get by on one income--that's part of the uncertainty. But even if that is the lesson we eventually learn from all of this, what I do know about this decision is that I'll never look back and regret choosing to spend more time with my son.

As uncertain as these times are, of that I have no doubt.

A Morning at the Pier

Looking toward Redondo Beach pier.

Yesterday was another gorgeous, sunny SoCal morning, and Liam and I took full advantage of it. We are lucky to live within walking distance of Redondo Beach Pier and the Veteran's Park and Memorial. The pier provides a scenic ocean-front walk with plenty of sidewalk for the stroller and the opportunity to do some wave watching, which Liam loves. When Liam grew tired of the confines of his stroller, Veteran's Park provided plenty of wide-open space for him to run around in as well as a little playground area. 

He had a blast climbing all over the playground equipment, playing in the sand, and chasing squirrels around the park's grassy knolls. In short, it was the perfect way to tire him out for naptime! If he had his way, he would probably never leave, but the promise of some graham cracker cookies and a sippy cup full of cold water persuaded him to get back in his stroller. While he munched on cookies and sipped on water, I got my workout for the day in by hiking us both back up to our neighborhood. The walk down to the beach is lovely (i.e. downhill), but going back is an uphill slog all the way. Even so, there's no question that the hot, sweaty return trip is totally worth the opportunity to get out and enjoy the sunshine and outdoor activities. At the moment it appears most likely that I will become a full-time, stay-at-home mom in early September when I'm laid off (more on this in a later post). If so, Liam and I will definitely be paying regular visits to Veteran's Park.

Squirrel chasing.

Liam loves watching the waves.

Easter Egg Hunt

Compared to last Easter, when Liam was only a little over five months old and could barely sit on his own next to his Easter basket, this Easter was action-packed. Although the idea of an "egg hunt" still escapes him, he totally got into the idea of running around the backyard with his cousins, basket in hand, and (occasionally) picking stuff up off of the ground. Luckily Mommy and Daddy were there to help him out, and there were even a few times when he followed through, picking up an egg and putting it in his basket. But for Liam, the hunt was mostly about running back and forth across the grass with his basket. He had a blast, and all of that running around helped tire him out for his nap--score!

As I mentioned in my last post, Liam is doing his best to test out his new sense of independence, which for me is simultaneously exciting, amusing, and frustrating. My frustration is mostly a result of my limited ability to communicate with my tenacious toddler, but there are signs that things might get a little easier very soon. For awhile now Liam has been able to follow basic verbal instructions or directions, but in the last two weeks or so he has started answering questions with a nod--that's a full-body nod, leaning back and forth--or a "Nooooooo!" or even "No, no, no, no, no, no!" Clearly, the boy has "no" down. As much as I try to introduce the word "yes" into his vocabulary, I think "no" will continue to dominate conversations with Liam for now. Consequently, when he answers a question I'm not sure if he truly means what he says, but we are at least one step closer to breaking through another verbal communication barrier. Until then, we'll take what we can get, and try our best to give "yes" a fighting chance to break into Liam's ever-growing vocabulary.

IN-de-PEN-dent

I took this photo not all that long ago, and when I finally had a chance to sit down and add it to my photo archive, it struck me once more that my cute little baby is rapidly becoming a little boy. The occasional word is turning into a veritable (toddlerish) vocabulary, and he is already starting to test out a fierce streak of independence that is clearly going to be a hallmark of his burgeoning personality. (He got it honest.) So far he mostly prefers to assert his independence at mealtimes--he absolutely refuses to be fed with a spoon or fork anymore. If he is going to eat it, he's going to put it in his mouth himself. What choice does a weary mother have except to hand over the spoon and let him have at it? He still uses his hands, but he prefers to use a baby spoon or fork if possible. While his dexterity definitely leaves something to be desired, I've been rather impressed with how well he's done. As long as the spoon starts out in the right position, the bite usually makes it to his mouth successfully. However, he hasn't quite figured out how to manipulate the spoon back into the proper position if it gets turned sideways, and he's not all that good at shoveling food onto his utensil yet. Even though I can tell this problem frustrates him, it clearly irritates him more if I try to help him out. He squawks and pushes my hand away, leaving no doubt about how he feels about my help. If he had the ability to form a sentence, I'm sure this emphatic gesture would be accompanied by a "Me do it!" My only regret is that he doesn't seem to have the same motivation for independence when it comes to baths and diaper changes... Oh, well. I'll take what I can get!

There you are! Playing at Aunt Erin's house.

Happy boy.

A March Trip

Liam has a thing for rakes, brooms, and mops--
they offer hours of endless entertainment for him right now.

Last week Liam and I returned home from a trip to Illinois to visit my family. For only having a few days, I think we made great use of our time. We were able to meet up with many family and friends and enjoyed our visit very much. I was most concerned about how I would manage flying alone with a 16-month-old, but I was well-prepared with snacks and entertainment for the plane and Liam handled his second plane trip like a pro. He's such a good-natured little guy and he takes most things--including traveling around with his mom for a few days--in stride! Aside from visiting friends and family, we managed to spend some time at the St. Louis Zoo and swing by SIUE to visit an old friend and professor of mine. Unbelievably, come May it will have been ten years since I graduated SIUE and moved to California, so it was nice to roam campus and remember what it was like to be an undergrad. A lot has changed for me in the last ten years!

With Liam being so young and my new position at work being more demanding, my trips home are few and far-between these days, but I'm thankful for the times I do make it back for a visit. I've posted a few of my favorite pictures from our trip below. Enjoy!

Liam with Grandma and Grandpa Myers at the St. Louis Zoo.

Liam and Mommy.

Look at that hair!

I call this one, "Big Monkey, Little Monkey."

With Aunt Erin and Uncle Ethan.

Liam absolutely loved riding the carousel at the zoo.

Check out my new hat!

With Great-Grandma Orsborn.

It's tough being little.

With Great-Grandma and Grandpa Myers.

All of the Orsborn grandkids and great-grandkids
in the same place at the same time!

Liam and Mommy at SIUE.

Aunt Erin and Liam at SIUE.

Catch Him If You Can

As I mentioned in my last post, Liam is picking things up at an amazing pace. His words aren't always complete or articulate, but he's learning. "Dah" for dog and "Cah" for cat are coming through pretty consistently and clearly. We also hear "yaaaaay"  and hand-clapping a lot during playtime. Naturally, he chooses to do cute things when my video camera is no where in sight, but over the weekend I managed to capture a few moments on video. I'm afraid these videos aren't of the best quality--even when I have my camera in hand, Liam often complicates things by trying to grab the camera or becoming cranky and frustrated with Mommy because she won't surrender the camera--but there the best I could manage.

It was fleeting, but I managed to get him to "blow kisses" for this video.

Liam does some "jumping" in this one. Don't get excited--his version of "jump" is to just kick his leg out. He may not get off of the ground, but he has fun with it!

Here I was attempting to get him to hold my cell phone to his ear and say, "Haaaaiii," which he's fond of doing, but since he already had the cookie I suppose there was no real incentive for him to be cute for the camera...

Leaps and Bounds

Liam's development continues to move ahead in leaps and bounds. Last week he suddenly started doing a number of new things, and it became clear to us that he now understands much of what we say. The new development that I appreciate the most is his budding sense of humor. He has started giggling (on his own, without prompting) at what he thinks is funny or looking at us for a laugh when he does something he thinks we should find funny. Baby giggles are a great cure for work day grumbles. He is also fond of standing next to furniture or a doorway and "hiding," then telling us "Boo!" This game is one of his favorites because when he says boo, we say "Ahh!" Something else he recently picked up is kissing his hand and saying "Mwah!" when he sees someone leaving. The other day he sent me off to work with a "Mwah!" and it totally made my day. (Yes, I have tried to get it on video, but as soon as the camera comes out, he is far more interested in the camera than doing what I'm asking him to do. Just give me some time...) Of course his "no" is getting even more discernible and emphatic. He also waves and says "hi" or "haaaeee" sometimes, and it has been fun to see him start mimicking things like talking on a cell phone or wiping the coffee table (he sees Mommy do that a lot). Now is the time to become a lot more self-conscious about bad habits...

It's hard to believe all of that was just last week! Who knows what this week will bring? Pretty soon he will be picking things up so fast I won't be able to keep up an inventory on his new skills. If he continues at this pace, we may be able to hold little one or two-word conversations with him before long. He recently had his 15 month "well baby" check-up with the pediatrician, and she seemed pleased to see that Liam was right on schedule with his development. He checked in at 22 lbs. and 31.5 inches, which means he gained 3 lbs. and grew a whopping 1.5 inches in the three months since his last appointment. If the boy didn't burn so many calories buzzing around every day I'm sure he would have gained more--he eats like he has two hollow legs. Liam may be long and skinny, but he is still a force to be reckoned with. Since he hit the 15 month mark we have entered another round of teething, which means Eric and I are sleeping less. Those almost nightly rounds of pacing the floor with a crying baby are a continual lesson in patience and sleep deprivation. They have also convinced me (yet again) that caffeine was specially invented for exhausted parents!

Game Time

Going through Mommy's backpack--he loves to play with earbuds.

It's hard to believe the first month of the new year is nearly in the rearview mirror. Liam is growing like a weed and becoming more and more the curious, exploring toddler everyday. Just as he was a happy baby, he is a giggly, happy toddler who is (mostly) even-tempered. Right now everything is a game to him. Bathtime becomes "Trying to Catch and Eat Bubbles," tooth brushing becomes "Catch Me If You Can," and any time he manages to breach the baby gate and gain access to the kitchen becomes a game of "How Fast Can I Empty the Cabinets Onto the Floor Before Mommy Catches Me?" As you might guess, he keeps us on our toes and routinely tests our reaction time. Still, I can honestly say I (mostly) love every minute of it. While it is bittersweet to see babyhood fade and give way to toddlerhood, I look forward to watching him become a little boy.

Hmmm...what else do we have in here?

Last week brought a new development--I played "with" him rather than alongside him for the first time. (Up until recently, he's still very much been a "parallel" player, meaning he does his own thing and plays alongside others rather than engaging playmates directly.) We rolled a little ball back and forth between us for about five minutes or so. The ball was just the right size for his little hand to get a good grip on it, and he enjoyed it when he discovered that if he rolled the ball in my direction I would roll it back to him. It was really fun to be able to play a game with him, so I hope this is the start of a new trend. 

In short, Liam is doing wonderfully. I wake up everyday wondering what Liam will do to surprise, entertain, exasperate, inspire, or...make me swear he will be an only child. It's pretty great.

Liam hardly ever looks up when he's outside.
He's way too curious about what's on the ground!

Opening and closing doors is
 a favorite pastime.

Daddy hasn't put the shelves in his bookcase yet,
which is just fine with Liam.

Mmmm. Spaghetti.

New Challenges

Teaching a school group in the galleries.

Way back when, before my life was consumed by motherhood and the desire to use this space to keep friends and family updated on how Liam is changing and growing, I used to write about my work more often. Take, for instance, this post on my teaching philosophy, this post on how to look at art in a museum, and this post on things visitors do that annoy me as a museum educator. There was also this little gem of a post, relating the story of how one very young museum visitor was stumped by Heracles' pubic hair. As I scrolled back through my archived posts, I realized just how often I used to write about my job. A goal I have for this year is to start throwing in more work-related posts like I used to, if only to temper all of the mommy-related posts with a few stories about what it is I do when I'm not being Liam's mom.

As it turns out, the new year marked some significant changes for me at work. Up to this point the central focus of my job at the museum has been to teach--every thing from school groups and public programs in the galleries to gallery courses for visitors who would like to explore specific topics on the ancient world in-depth. However, beginning this month I began a new job coordinating teacher programs for our division. While I will still be teaching students and teachers, this new position is primarily a programming position; a major responsibility of the job is to generate programming and resources for teachers. This includes things like organizing educational workshops for teachers, generating curricula they can use in the classroom to teach their students about the ancient world, and getting involved with long-term projects dedicated to creating online and other technology-based resources for teachers. The museum is strengthening its school and teacher programs, so there will be plenty of work for me to tackle. What I find most exciting about my new role as project coordinator for teacher programs is the creative aspect. I will be creating programs and resources rather than just implementing them, which offers a new kind of intellectual engagement and challenges that my teaching position did not.

It has only been a few days, so most of this first week was spent getting organized and familiarizing myself with the current line-up of projects. Having taken this week to get my proverbial ducks in a row, I have no doubt I'll be fully immersed in my new role in no time. This new position also requires that I change to a Monday-Friday schedule--something I have not had for almost five years. During my time at the Villa, I've worked a Wednesday-Sunday schedule because teachers need to be at the museum on weekends to teach weekend programming. So, I've not  had a traditional working week in quite some time. Although there are things I will miss about being off on weekdays (e.g. fewer crowds at the store) I look forward to the change, since my regular days off will now be more in sync with Eric's and we will have more time off together. (Up to now, we've had staggered work schedules and as a result have only one day off together every other week.) Moving to a more normalized work schedule is great, but I will also be spending much more time at work. Not only will there be plenty of days that I will need to stick around after hours to oversee programs, I will still be coming to work on the weekend a couple of times a month to serve as the supervisor on duty for our department.

I'm sure it will be a little rocky and stressful over the next few months as I get used to my new job, but I am armed with a good sense of humor and the knowledge that this is an excellent opportunity to gain some new professional experiences and broaden my qualifications in a program area that is always in high demand on the museum education job market.

So Long, 2011

The last two weeks of 2011 were busy ones for the Wells family. Aside from celebrating Christmas, we spent our time visiting with family and (when I wasn't working overtime at the museum) spending time with each other. Eric was off and I had some time away from work, so it was nice to have a pause in the relentless pace of our day-to-day routine and just hang out together. As with last year, Liam still doesn't yet have any idea what Christmas is about, nor did he take much interest in other holiday traditions like opening presents and decorating. However, I saw glimpses of what future Christmases have in store for us and just how much fun it's going to be when Liam finally catches on to the excitement.

Liam's "2nd Christmas" ornament.

On one of our days off together, Eric and I visited Sea World in San Diego with the entire Wells clan. Even if he's too young to be excited about seeing sea creatures, there was a lot for Liam to look at and point to and generally be overstimulated by. He's a pretty observant little boy, but he's still going to be more interested in a baby mum-mum hidden in my hand than a shark swimming by in the tank overhead. Even so, I think he enjoyed himself. Obviously with a little toddler we weren't into the rides, but we did play a few games. At one point Eric challenged me to play the basketball game (buy 3-5 balls and if you make a shot, you win). This was a significant challenge because ever since he took me to Santa Monica pier on our first date I have beaten him each time we've played this game. Initially I said no thanks, since I'm happy to rest on my laurels and hold on to my record, but Eric bought five balls and challenged me anyway. He took three of the five shots, missing every one, and then offered one ball to me and one to his Uncle Mike. I stepped up and took my ONE shot, fully prepared to shatter my unbroken record, but what do you know? She shoots, she scores!--and my perfect record against Eric in the basketball game remains intact! (Mike took his shot after me and missed too--Amber FTW!) My prize was a cute little stuffed Shamu, which I of course gave to my baby boy. It was a tiring but very fun day. We got a year pass with our one-day entrance fee, so I'm sure we'll be back in a few months for another family fun day.

It was a sunny yet chilly day in San Diego--hence the hoodies!

The last week of December my parents came out for a visit. It was Dad's first visit with Liam since last April, and I think he had more fun with Liam the unceasingly active, walking, running, giggling toddler than Liam the baby. Mom, of course, enjoys any and all time with Liam, and I enjoy having someone around to give me a break from constant mommy duties like diaper changes, feedings, and baths. It's amazing how much even a little break from that constant parent-mode can help recharge my energy. I took advantage of having live-in babysitters for a few days and went to the movies, which is one of the things I miss most from my life before motherhood. (In case you're curious, I saw "War Horse" [alone] and "Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows" [with Eric]. Two thumbs up on both.)

My dad, mom, me, Liam, and Eric.

Now it's time to say "So long," to 2011. Here's hoping that 2012 will be as blessed and full of adventure as 2011, and that all of the lessons I learned in the past year stick!