Van + Scary Animals + "The Freak" = Vacation!

We just got back from our huge summer vacation of a weekend trip to Winnipeg - how exciting! Actually, we had a great time and Liam really surprised us with how well he behaved away from home. He did not sleep well, but generally Liam was in very good spirits the whole trip. He even did really well on the car trip, thanks to a kid's music CD we made before we left.

We spent 3 days in the city, so we didn't have to rush around to get both the fun and essential things done. Since we may not be in the city again before the new baby comes, we did a ton of shopping. Mostly it was things for the fall for Liam - we've finally run out of his baby gifts and had to start building him a fall/winter wardrobe.

One of the trip's highlights was taking Liam to the Manitoba Children's Museum. He absolutely loved it! He had a blast in the forest area (although he was afraid of the animal statues! LOL!) and loved the tree slide. A good half-hour was spent playing with blocks in the infant room, and he kept on returning to the sweet world display (although I think that had more to do with wanting to eat the jelly beans they were using to make a craft than actually playing...)

We also took Liam to visit his Great-Grandma Chris. We haven't seen her since last summer, so it was a real treat. Liam was a bit crabby because he didn't nap too well (and he was afraid of Grandma's dog statue), but he did manage to entertain us all for over 3 hours. By that time it was a little hard to get him to pose for a picture with Grandma - but for that matter, it was a little hard to get Grandma to post too! She said she didn't want to have pictures because she looked "like a freak!" LOL! For those of you who remember, last year she said she looked like a "wild witch woman!" (Click here and scroll down to see last year's pic!) When I reminded her of this, she launched into a tale of her worst "picture" ever - apparently 10+ minutes of video of her removing tape from a package! (I had to stick that in here for any of you Ikerts/McQuakers - Jason, I don't think she'll ever forgive you! LOL!)


Our last main stop was the zoo. Last year when we went, we said "wait until next year, Liam will love it!". This year we said "wait until next year, Liam will love it!" At first he seemed to like it - he was thrilled with bears (or "puppies" as he called them)and liked some of the birds. However, by the time we got to the Monkey house he became a little afraid of all the animals. He kept on saying "Kunkey's go!", "No kitties!", and "a-malls go!" The one thing he did like was the fish pond in the tropical house - although he wanted to go swimming!


Overall we had a great trip and it was so nice to spend the family time together. In fact, even though he was originally dreading this trip, Derek even brought up the subject of a return visit on our way home!

Liam's First Fort!

Silly Sleeper

If you look closely at this picture, you may pick up on Liam's odd sleeping habit. Every nap and bed time, Liam goes to bed with his "Nigh-Night"s - a Monkey lovey (the yellow blanket with the satin trim) and a tag blanket (you can see a blue tag sticking up behind him). Does he hold them in his hands, or cuddle them in his arms? No, he sleeps on top of them. The same goes for his blanket, too - there's no keeping a cover on this boy. By morning it (and everything else) is always underneath him.

Tag! I'm it!

I've been tagged by Brandy at Getting Through Life!

I WANT: my kids to be happy
I HAVE: everything I really need
I WISH: I had the money to be a stay at home mom
I HATE: people who get everything they want with no effort
I MISS: my friends who live far away
I WONDER: what Liam (and this baby) will be like in 10 years
I REGRET: nothing. Mistakes are only tools to teach.
I AM NOT: good at geography
I DANCE: with Liam in front of the windows
I SING: Liam's Backyardigans songs in my head over, and over, and over, and over..
I CRY: when I watch A Baby Story
I AM NOT ALWAYS: as smart as I can be
I MAKE WITH MY HANDS: scrapbooks and sewing projects
I WRITE: not as much as I used to
I CONFUSE: my husband on a daily basis, I'm sure
I NEED: to enjoy my holidays and not worry about work
I SHOULD: call people more often
I START: all sorts of house and craft projects
I FINISH: most of them...eventually!

I tag Amanda and Jill!!

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: