A little catch up...

Liam's first snow man! He was supposed to be taking a nap, but we all wanted to play in the snow instead. The snow was so sticky it was great for making snowmen. We are standing in front of the pine tree we had moved to the front yard. It was getting too big for the back yard, so now it can grow as big as it wants.
We decided to take a family photo with frosty, this was almost our Christmas card, but it didn't make the final cut.

I can't get up! I can't get up! Seriously, he could only crawl a little, but loved it anyway.

Snow fun!

I watched Norah a few weekends ago. We had a little slumber party. She did really well going to bed in her own room and she slept through the whole night. This is one of my all time favorite pictures of them! I wasn't going to post it, but I just can't resist!!!

Of course we had to let them take a bath to get some black mail for later. They just love to play together. Norah says "pinch butt" and gets Liam.

This past weekend we went to see Santa and opened presents with Carter.

This is just after we sat with Santa - they both got reindeer hats.

Liam wasn't sure what to think of Santa. At least he didn't cry.

Matching PJ's

Carter came over tonight so his mom and dad could go out on a date. Liam loves to play with him because he shares so nice! We had a little snack and Liam ate his really fast, so Carter shared his. He even gave him one of his blankies.

I had to laugh when I put on Carter's PJ's because Liam has the same ones. So I made sure they matched. Too bad Tim doesn't have a pair.

At this point both boys were like - please stop with the flash - Carter put his hands up and Liam wouldn't open his eyes all the way. So we stopped taking pictures.

It was a fun night, they played so well together and they were both in bed by 8:30 without a fuss. Now, I just have to get Tim to go to bed...

Prayers For Finian

Please Pray! Long story short - Friends of ours had a preemie boy at 30 weeks after 5 weeks on bed rest - sound familiar? Well, he was expected to go home 2 weeks ago, but a "spot" was found on an MRI scan and after much debate, he needs to have the "spot" removed. Liam's little partner in crime is having brain surgery today at 10:30. So I am asking everyone to pray for him - for complete healing and also for his parents to have the peace and comfort only God can give. Thank you to all the loyal blog readers!

A Bears Fan!

I went to Chicago a couple of weekends ago and this is what I bought for Liam - a Chicago Bears outfit. Isn't it just the cutest? Now this is the only outfit that Tim wants him to wear, except when he goes outside to play, it's too nice for that (even though that is what I bought it for - a play outfit that dad could easily put together, you know, the Bears hoodie with the Bears sweatpants). Speaking of going outside, Liam loved the weather this weekend and spent a lot of time outside. He even ate his first worm, or at least half of one. Boys! Can you guess who was watching him? :o)
This is one of our latest tricks, climbing the stairs. He is so proud of himself. We have not put up the gate yet, he doesn't go very far when I'm not looking and he is very careful about it. But, the gate will have to come out soon, hopefully before we have a tumble. My mom said I tumbled at least 3 times and I turned out just fine, right? Or was that my brother... Hmmm... better get that gate out.

And i just could not resist posting another picture of my Jolly Green Giant. This is trick-or-treating in action. We have lot's of layers under that costume and we still ended up puting another hat and coat on. I'm so glad the weather has warmed up for a while. Did we skip winter? I hope so.

Halloween '09

Just a few pictures we took this weekend celebrating fall and Halloween.

It was so nice out on Sunday, we even got to play outside.

Liam loves to watch Uno (our dog) run around. He doesn't even mind a few kisses.

We carved pumpkins too. Liam was way more interested in eating the pumpkin.

The final product! If you can't tell, it is two ghosts with the moon behind them.

And finally, here is the Jolly Green Giant! He had a fun filled Halloween and got lots of candy that mom and dad get to help him eat!

Happy 1st Birthday Liam!

Last week on October 13, Liam had his first birthday. We celebrated with a party the Sunday before. We had a movie theme where Liam was the star of the show. Tim made a video of Liam's first year with pictures and video. It is amazing to think how far he has come and all the things he has had to overcome in the past 12 months. He started out at 3lbs 13 oz, 17 inches and now he is 19lbs 13oz and 28 inches. I love to pull out his preemie clothes and remember when he used to swim in them. Now he can't even get his foot in one of the leg holes. He is such a happy little boy who brings more joy than we could have ever imagined. We love you Liam!

To go with the theme we had movie theater food: hotdogs, nachos, pretzels and of coarse, popcorn. I even made the dessert - cupcakes - to look like popcorn. We decorated the basement and we all hung out down there. I also made the birthday banner you see hanging, it says Happy 1st Birthday. The "thank you's" for coming were boxed movie candy with thank you tags.
Liam was not that into opening gifts, Carter and Austin were way more into it. Liam just wanted to crawl around.

When it came time for cake, Liam wasn't sure what to think of everyone standing around. First we sang to him and then watched him eat. He stared at the cake for a few seconds, but after a little taste, he was totally into it and didn't care who was watching.

He would dig his hands in and just suck on his fingers. He was surprisingly calm, yet consistent - one bite after another.

This was bout the time we realized that he had probably had enough. He sure payed for it the next day too. He had the runs so bad his little butt was raw. He recovered by Tuesday his real birthday.

We decided to skip the cake and just have panCAKES. He really likes those too, but I think he missed the frosting. We hope you had a wonderful first birthday Liam and we look forward to celebrating many more!

Mackinac Island - Finally

It's a good thing you can't get kicked off your own blog - otherwise we would be banned for never updating! Life has just been so busy, but so much fun too. Liam is such a joy and Tim is not so bad either. We have really enjoyed the little bit of summer we had and now, I guess we are skipping right to winter? Well, we did manage to get in a little vacation in with just the 3 of us while it was still nice. Mid September we went up north to Mackinac Island for a weekend getaway. We left Friday and took our bikes, burley and buddy Liam. It was fun riding around the island, taking pictures, throwing rocks, eating a few (Liam) and just enjoying the scenery. Liam fell asleep on our ride around the island. It was really cute, but I couldn't get a picture because the camera was siting next to him! I hope this one of him at Fort Mackinac will do. He is going to fire the cannon.

And what would a trip to Mackinac Island be without ice cream? We got ours to go and we sat by the water to wait for the ferry boat. We drew quite a crowd as we let Liam devour this special treat.
It wasn't long before he got the hang of it. Apparently Tim wasn't feeding him fast enough. Liam thought he could do it better himself.
Ahhh! Brain Freeze! That's what you get when you eat ice cream too fast. He loved every minute of it. Can you believe he actually ate carrots and broccoli after that?
So excited to watch the boat come in. I think he could have stood there all day watching it.

Then we got on the boat to go back to Mackinaw City. We picked up dinner and went back to the hotel (after a little shopping of course). We were excited to get back to go in the water park at our hotel. It even had a lazy river, which was Liam's favorite. I loved the two big water slides. One was like the black hole and the other was more open. They went surprisingly fast and it wasn't busy so you could go over and over again. The water could have been a little warmer. Liam's teeth were chattering by the end. Now quite the same as his bath water. I think he would have liked the hot tub.
After a long day, we retreated back to the room were we all got ready for bed. Here is Tim and Liam brushing their teeth together. Liam slept great in the same room as us. This was the first time he has ever slept in the same room. We put him in the pack and play and he was so worn out that he just fell right asleep.

On Sunday we stopped at the bridge to take some pictures. This is one of my favorites. Liam slept most of the ride home, waking up to eat lunch and play a little and then asleep again until we were about 25 minutes from home. he is a great traveler and I think we will take him again!

Tomorrow is Liam's first birthday! We celebrated on Sunday so I will update those pictures by Christmas time - I promise!

Liam's New Favorite Toy

Liam had a doctor's appointment today - Here are the current stats:

Weight 19lbs 3oz (15%)

Height 27" (5%)

The doctor said he is ahead on his motor skills and is impressed that Liam can walk with his radio flyer wagon. Way to go Liam!

Beach Day

Liam loves the beach. We tried to get a cute picture of him in the dune grass, but he just wanted to eat it.

It was an overcast day at the beach, but we had run anyway. Liam played in the sand and went swimming in the lake.

He gets really excited when you get close to the water. He could watch the other kids play by the beach all day.

He still isn't too sure when you put him in the cool water. He really prefers his warm tub. The waves were good size that day and when one would crash against Tim's legs, Liam would cling on really tight. Here he is pointing to the Sea Doo and asking Tim to get him a ride - only if he can drive.

On Tuesday Liam started to walk behind his push toy. He can cruse around the living room now. He loves to crash into things so our walls and moulding will be all dinged up in a few days! I will try to get some video of it this afternoon. It's really funny to see such a short little guy walking! He is so proud of himself too!