Merry Christmas!

We had a great first Christmas with Liam! Of course, the wee man got spoiled rotten but that's to be expected, right?

Grandma and Grandpa J. came for a three day stay, starting on Christmas Eve. We all shared a Christmas Eve supper (quite literally, you should have seen Liam begging everyone for food - you'd think we never feed the boy!)before setting out treats for Santa and the reindeer. Then we bathed Liam, got him into his special Christmas jammies, and had him in bed in good time so Santa wouldn't have to skip our house. :)

Our little mooch

Treats for Santa - check!

Christmas morning we were all up bright and early thanks to Liam, and had a great time opening gifts. Santa brought Liam a sled, and a Fisher Price "popper" - which is still his favourite new toy. It didn't take long though, before Liam was a bit overwhelmed by all the activity, toys, boxes, and paper. It wasn't until after we had cleaned everything up that he started to realise that he had all sorts of new playthings.

This toy is so cool!

After having a traditional turkey dinner, we all had a little rest before heading over to Liam's Great-Grandma and Grandpa's house for supper with extended family. Unfortunately, Liam was quite crabby as he did not have an afternoon nap, and a strange house full of unfamiliar people did nothing to help the situation. Still, we had a good visit until we had to take our screaming little boy home to bed.

Boxing day we ventured out to the mall to score some great deals - we came home with a new top for me, and shoes, a shirt, and a snowsuit for next winter for Liam. (Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!) Then we headed out on one last excursion to Auntie Teresa's for Boxing day dinner. Liam got to play with his cousin Max, and recieved yet some more gifts. Again, Liam was less than thrilled about the unfamiliar surroundings so we didn't stay very long. We got home with just enough time for Liam to have a little play before bed.

Do I really have to share my Goldfish with Max?

It was a very busy few days, and we were very glad to have today to stay at home and relax. Liam was very happy too, and took a good long nap this morning to prove it!

Thanks everyone for the wonderful presents, the great food, and most importantly the excellent company!

11 Months

Liam continues to learn more and more every day. He will now stand on his own for very short periods of time (10-15 seconds) and is getting very good at walking and running with his push walker. He has really gotten to be a chatterbox this month - in addition to his baby babble, he constantly says "mama", "dad", "daddy", "num" (for food), and we have even heard a few "key-ey"s (kitty). He has started mimicing us as well. There have been more than a few times that we have had to stop and ask "Did we just hear him say...?" Exciting stuff!! He is also going through a clingy stage at the moment, but Mommy doesn't mind because it makes her feel special! :)

As always, our little man continues to eat anything and everything in sight. The baby food is pretty much gone - every once in a while we give him some just to get rid of the jars in the cupboard. His favourite foods are cheese, peas and carrots mix, and most of all mandarin oranges! Liam will inhale those faster than you can put them on his tray! He is also starting the transition to whole milk - at the rate of one feeding a week. It took the past month to get used to the taste, but now Liam will happily drink a sippy of milk.

Sleep - ha, ha, what's that? We still have a very poor sleeper over here. We are making slow progess, although I hope to have him down to one waking by the end of the month. (We'll see if that actually happens! :) )

All in all though, Liam is doing great. Only one more month before until our baby is one! Yikes!

Liam's holiday decorating tip

Every night before Liam goes to bed we round up all his suckies (he has 4) so we don't have to scramble in the dark looking for one if he wakes up during the night. Well, last night one suckie was missing. We looked all over his bedroom and the living room - we even went through his toy box - and couldn't find it anywhere. We had pretty much given up on it. Well, a few hours later I was ready for bed and I got up to turn off the T.V. - and what do I see, the missing suckie! Where was it you ask.......

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Did you know suckies make great tree ornaments?

Pictures with Santa!

This first picture was done on December 5, by Carol's Photography. We got a 5 X 7 in a frame, and I was really impressed with the quality. (Keep in mind what you see has been scanned) But, what we really wanted was a picture of just Liam with Santa. So...


On December 10 we had Liam's picture taken again - this time at the mall. I am not impressed at all. It is not professional quality, it is just a regular 3 X 5 picture size and you can't even see Santa! And guess how much it cost? $10! Way to much in my opinion for such a crappy product. I KNOW I could have taken a better picture and it would have cost me 23 cents to print the same size at Walmart. Luckily, Derek picked the picture up or they would have gotten a piece of my mind. Actually, they might still - I just haven't made it to the mall yet!

Christmas is on its way!

We had a wonderful "holiday" family day yesterday. In the afternoon we took Liam to get his picture taken with Santa. He cried his little eyes out, so Mommy had to get in some of the pictures with him. The pictures will be ready for pick-up next Saturday, so I'll share them then!

Then in the evening we got all bundled up and went out to watch the Santa Parade. Liam enjoyed looking at all the lights and hearing the music, and he was a real trooper waiting out in the cold. When we came home we all had some hot chocolate. Liam's was mostly milk, but he loved it! Derek had the great idea that next year we should start the tradition of putting up our tree after the parade and make a really festive evening out of it.

Our Christmas preparations are coming along nicely. We have all our presents purchased, which is great. Our tree will probably go up sometime this week (we are wating on a super yard to put around the tree to keep Liam out) and then we just have to wrap those presents and put them under the tree where they belong. Of course, the rest of our Christmas decorations will come out when we put up the tree - where exactly they will go will be another question! I'm not sure how we will keep all of the Christmas things out of Liam's hands!

Here is Liam with his hot chocolate - really, there is hot chocolate in that cup, I swear!

On the move!

Slowly but surely, Liam is getting the hang of pushing and walking behind his walker. He doesn't go very far, but he goes a little further and walks a little better everyday. Usually, Mommy or Daddy have to put him behind the walker to practice, but lately he's been pulling up and taking a try on his own!