First peek at the new baby!

Last Wednesday we got our first peek at the new baby. I will get more information at my next doctor's appointment, but the technician said that baby looked good. The heartbeat was 142 bpm, and baby measured about a week ahead.

So here you go - the first pictures of Liam's little brother, Charles (Charlie) Ellis, or sister, Ella Grace!

Some pics to get you through the weekend...

Did you notice the purple popsicle face?

What a difference a year makes...

Fair Fun

What to do on a long weekend at home? Lucky us, the fair was in town! We started out yesterday morning by going to the parade. Liam seemed to enjoy watching all the floats go by and he had a few suckers passed out to him. The highlight of his morning though was the balloon on a stick that the kids were given. He just waved that balloon around, giggling like crazy!

After Liam's afternoon nap, we headed out to the fair. We took Liam to the petting zoo and he had fun looking at all the animals. We also went by the cattle displays and Liam was thrilled with all the big "puppies" as he called them! After checking out all the displays, we finally walked around the carnival. Liam was all eyes looking at the people and watching the rides move around. Finally we made our way to the kiddie area and took Liam for his first ride! We decided that the merry-go-round would probably be the best bet, bought some tickets and got that boy on a horse. We weren't too sure how he would react, but as soon as the ride started the biggest smile came on his face and he started yelling "Wheee!!!". He liked it so much we had to ride twice! After that we bought some fair treats. Liam loved the perogies (no surprise there) but didn't even want to try my cotton candy. I thought he would have liked it, but oh well, maybe next year!

We ended our day with the Canada Day fireworks. Bad parents that we are, we woke up Liam and headed out to find a good spot before the 11pm start time. Liam didn't seem to mind being woke up and I'm sure was wondering what in the world was going on. Well, we found our spot and waited...and waited...and waited... I'm not sure what happened, but for some reason they couldn't get the fireworks to go until midnight! We were just leaving for home when we noticed them starting so we pulled back into our spot to watch the show. Liam thought the first few bursts were pretty cool, but after that was more interested in pushing the dashboard buttons. We liked it though and it was definately good enough to be worth the wait!

This year's first Clear Lake afternoon

Today we embarked on this year's first Clear Lake excursion. We had a great time walking around and browsing the shops, but the highlight had to be the beach. We were telling Liam yesterday that we were going to go to the beach. He's such a little copycat right now that he starting saying "beach" right away - only it comes out sounding more like an inappropriate 5-letter word...can you guess? Anyway, last year Liam was content to just put his toes a bit in the water, but not this year. As soon as his feet touched the water Liam sat right down, giggling away. Good thing I thought to bring extra clothes!

New baby update

I had my latest doctor's appointment on Thursday and everything is great. We also heard the new baby's heartbeat thump-thumping away at about 150 bpm. Now, if you buy into old wives' tales, 140 and above means girl and less than 140 means boy. Well, Liam always measured at 160 and we all know how he turned out...

My new sandbox!

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa J for my new sandbox!!

First bike ride!!

Okay, so I'm a little behind on the posts. About two weeks ago we finally got the bike trailer hitched up. Liam loved going for a ride - everytime there was a bump he said "Ow!" and then giggled like crazy!

Backyard Vacation

We spend a good part of last weekend creating a play space for Liam in our backyard. We bought and set up a swing set (This boy loves his "wheee!"), took out his castle climber and some other outside toys, and because it was such a beautiful day on Monday we inflated and filled his pool. We had a wonderful time relaxing outside, and Liam had a blast in his pool. (unlike last year!)

The big announcement

Baby J is due November 26, 2006!

Hide and Seek

Just a typical weekend afternoon...

Playing at the park:




Raking the front yard with Daddy:

Family Reunion

Yesterday was my Grandma Maud's (Liam's great-grandma) 90th birthday party. Almost everyone was there and we all had a great time. It was so nice to see everyone and hear what they were up to - there were a lot of cousins that I haven't seen in at least 10 years! This was also Liam's first introduction to most of the family. He was so well behaved and he was just ate up all the attention!

Here is my Grandma with her 13 of her grandchildren and 11 of her great-grandchildren. By my count (which could still be totally wrong) there are at least 2 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren not in the picture - and there are 2 more great-grandchildren on the way!! What a lucky lady!!


Of course, we also had to get a generations photo done - Grandma, my dad, me, and Liam.


Last but not least, we finally got a family photo with my dad, my brothers, Liam, and me.

It's not perfect, but at least he's trying!

For a while now Liam has been trying to put clothes on - his, mine, Daddy's, whatever. Today, he had success! He was so excited, I just couldn't tell him that he had his head through the arm hole ...

It's so tough...

It's so hard being a baby. Seriously you guys, you have no idea.

Bathtime baby!

How to eat with a spoon...

1. Put the spoon in the bowl.



2. Put the food in your mouth.



3. Be silly with the spoon.



4. Forget the spoon, just use your fingers.



5. Forget the spoon and the fingers - just lick the bowl!

Peek a boo, I see you!

Long time no see! Or should it be "long time no write"? Either way, it has been way too long. I am really going to make more of an effort to keep this blog updated - I'm planning on posting at least once a week, but we'll see how it goes.

Liam had his 12 month doctor's appointment on February 13. Liam is doing and growing well according to the doc. This time, Liam weighed in at 25lbs 7oz and was 31 inches long. Liam also got his 12 month needles, and as always, took them like a champ!

We are all adjusting well to me being back to work. The first two weeks, Liam would cry when I dropped him off at the sitter's and would cry when I picked him up. Now, he is running off to play before I can even say goodbye! He loves playing with the other kids, and I think he is bored on the weekends without them.

Liam is definately a real toddler now. Very, very rarely do we see him crawling. In the past week he's figured out how to get to standing without holding on to something, so there is no stopping him now! He is even starting to run, and loves it when we chase him.

We are thinking that Liam is going to be a real chatterbox as he gets older. (Just like his mommy! :) ) He yammers away constantly - he obviously has a lot to say, I just wish we could understand him! He does have quite a few real words though - mom, dad, kitties, bath, a "mmm" sound for his milk, shakes his head (and hand) "no", and lately he's been saying a lot of "ah-bee"s. We aren't quite sure if he is trying to say "baby" (which we call him a lot, and which the kids at the sitter's call him) or if he is trying to sing the ABC's (his favourite song). He's been saying it in both situations, so maybe it means both! Who knows!

His other new trick is answering yes and no questions. Somehow he can tell the difference between a yes and no question and any other type of question (must be our voice inflection) and he answers "no" everytime by shaking his head! We've been having a lot of fun with that one!

I'll leave you with another pic of our cute little guy from when we all went out to shovel this morning:

Better late than never...

I'm so sorry it has taken me so long to get to posting about Liam's birthday party on January 28. You've got to realise that this Mommy just finished a stint as one of Dauphin's finest actresses (LOL!) and started back to work yesterday. Between the theatre performance and getting lessons ready for school, I have had a very full plate!

Liam's birthday party went very well. He had lots of fun playing with Hayden and Cali (and Ashton when he visted the night before!), and got neat new toys and clothes. The blocks from Auntie Twylla, Uncle Todd, and Hayden were a big hit with everybody!


Then we all got to have huge pieces of Liam's jungle monkey cake (it was a big cake and it only cost $25!!) - and just like on his birthday, Liam had a blast digging in and chowing down!