Liam's first plane trip.

It's been a while since I've updated--Sorry! We've been very busy- we've had visits from both sets of Liam's grandparents, Josh had been studying, and I've been working, playing with Liam, trying to get ready to move, and taking care of the day to day.

Liam and I flew to St. Louis on June 17th where my mom picked us up and took us to Carbondale to visit with my grandma's (who are both sick) and my Dad's sisters (and some cousins!) who were in town from far away. I have been warned about flying with an infant so many times, but Liam did great! On the trip home, he cried some on the plane, because he was over tired from being up and out the whole time we were home, but it was MUCH better than I expected.

The only downpoints were 1. Getting trough security by myself with Liam, a stroller, a car seat, a diaper bag, and my purse. I had to fold the stroller, hold Liam, put EVERYTHING (except Liam!) on the conveyor belt to be scanned, and take my shoes off- yikes! Luckily the line wasn't too long, and everyone was patient with me.

2. The STEWARDESS on the flight to St. Louis!!! She was SO rude! It was the first time that I had flown with a baby, so I didn't know the rules. I didn't buy him a ticket, so he was supposed to sit on my lap, but the flight wasn't full, so they let me take his car seat with me so he could have his own seat. I was literally the first one on the plane, so I got a good seat- the very front one so that I wouldn't be bumping into anyone and I had a little extra leg room. THEN I had a few encounters with the flight attendant:

- The plane was still boarding, and I was digging in the diaper bag, and she came buy and said "WHAT are you doing?? You can't have that bag out on the flight". Yeah, Got it. I told her I'd put it away well before take off, and I did.

-Literally two minutes later, she walked by and again, I hear "WHAT are you doing??" Is this a joke? I said "What do you mean?" and she said that Liam cannot sit in the middle. The lady next to me echoed my sentiments when she whispered under her breath "She could have told you that when she was yelling at you for the bag". So I found out that he is supposed to be seated near the window- In a car, you sit them in the middle.

- The flight went well, until the fasten seat belt sign came on before landing. Then she came buy and said (in a really rude voice) Is he buckled. I told her no, and she looked at me like I was an absolute idiot. She said he HAS to be buckled "You wouldn't take him in a car unbuckled" and I told her "No, but I wouldn't sit him on my lap in a car either, and that's what I was supposed to be doing on this flight". She said well buckle him in now. So I did. The wrong way. It's a rear facing car seat, and since she was comparing everything to a car, I buckled him in rear facing. She said "Not THAT way!" and I said okay, the how? And she informed me that he had to be bucked facing forward.

Thanks for the pleasant flight lady! Here's a picture of Liam at the airport on his way home, and a few photos of the trip:

Liam's 4 month photos

These photos were just taken today-- His 4 month old photos

Liam's 3 month photo shoot

These were taken a little over a month ago- his 3 month photos- at Sears. There were more, but these are a few of my favorites.

Rented---YES!!!

We haven't sold our house, and with the economy in Michigan, it's not looking like we will (I know the economy is bad everywhere, but it's worse in Michigan because all of the auto factories are up here and are not doing so well right now). The good news is that we DID find renters--they move in August first- yeah!

Liam's First Kiss

On our trip to Carbondale, I went to visit my friend Kelly, who was babysitting for her cousin Shyanne. Shyanne is 8 months old, and she thinks Liam is handsome! She decided to give him his first kiss. How cute are they?? (And how big is he- she's 4 months older than him! :0)

Update on Josh

When I talk to people on the phone, some ask "What is Josh up too?" so I will update you. He's studying. And when he's done with that, he studies some more. He's studying about 13 hours a day trying to get ready for the first step of boards--he takes them Monday, so wish him luck!

A Tribute to our Neighbors

As the time to move gets closer (just two more weeks!) I think about our neighborhood. It's not a bad neighborhood. In fact, our realtor tells us it's up and coming...but it's not quite there yet. We have friends whose neighbors babysit their kids and make them cookies and things like that. I'd like to share a few of our neighbors with you:

At the end of our street, there is a convenience/liquor store. Across the street from that store lives a middle aged couple who are drunk pretty much all the time. You can drive past their house on the way to work at 7:30 a.m. and they are sitting outside drinking 40's. One day the woman was alone standing in our street (it's not a busy street) yelling at cars as they passed and flipping them off. Every once in a while, there will be an impromptu yard sale- it looks like they just went inside and said hmmm...what can we sell? Our theory is that they ran out of beer money.

In the middle of our street is a nice lady. One day she decided she wanted flowers in her yard, so she went out and bought a whole BUNCH of plastic ones and stuck the stems all over her yard. I mean all over--not just in little flower bed areas.

A guy that lives a couple of blocks away was waiting for aliens on Memorial Day. How do I know this? Because he had a big neon sign that said so. This same weekend he decided that he wanted to spray paint his house using neon green, yellow, and pink. It looked like a mini-golf course building, which is ironic, because he also constructed a make-shift mini-golf course in his front yard. Wish I had a picture of this one :0)