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!

Happy Birthday Dear Liam...

I think Liam had a great day! We went for a swim, and then once Derek came home from work we opened presents, had supper, and ATE CAKE!!!

We bought Liam a Fisher Price Rock, Ride, n' Roll Trike. It is a huge hit! He loves to ride while we push him, then he gets off and pushes the trike himself!


Of course, the cake was a big hit too - although I think he got a tummy ache later.

Here's Liam's cake. Can you believe we got it for free from the Co-op bakery? That's right, free. They hand out certificates in the hospital for a free birthday cake for your child's first 5 years - isn't that awesome?


Now, on to the part you've all been waiting for - the eating of the cake!

Here we go...




And here's the end result...


Saturday is Liam's big party, so we'll be doing this all again! I'll post pictures as soon as I can!

Happy Birthday Liam!

One year ago today, at 12:56pm, our beautiful baby boy was born. I'll be posting some pics of Liam's special day tomorrow - until then take a look through the archives and see how much this little boy has grown!

It's Coming...

If you're going to be a big boy, you'd better look the part

Liam had his first haircut yesterday! Bye-bye baby curls...hello big boy haircut!

Coolest baby on the block...

We really do feed him! Really!

With the lengths that Liam will go to in order to eat any food he comes in contact with, you'd think we never feed the boy!! It's not enough to get all the applesauce out of the bowl - he's got to try to lick the sides clean too!

Here he is!!

Okay, so I took the picture as Liam was on his way down - but you still get the idea!

First Steps!!

The past week:
let go and stood on his own

Yesterday:
let go and attempted to take a step, but fell on the floor

Today:
12:00pm: let go, moved one foot, then fell on the floor
6:00pm: let go, moved one foot, moved the other foot, then fell on the floor
6:30pm: let go, moved one foot, moved the other foot, moved each foot again, then fell on the floor

I think it's official - Liam's first steps!!

Cheerio

How Liam got this Cheerio hanging off of one of his curls, I don't know. I guess he was saving it for later...