Luau for Aunt Ellen

After all the festivities on Thursday and Friday, what were we to do for the rest of the weekend? Luau of course! On Saturday we went to Baltimore to celebrate Aunt Ellen's 60th birthday with a surprise luau party. Check out Liam in his grass skirt!



Seeing 9 little kids all in their grass skirts and leis was a riot. Here was our attempt to get all the wiggles onto the couch for a photo. Liam had a blast with his cousins Sarah and Pierre, and with his second cousins Dillon (holding Liam), Gilbey and Anya too! He also enjoyed meeting their cousins Lilly and Emmy, who hosted the party at their house.



Finally, the guest of honor. Aunt Ellen was really surprised!



The birthday girl with Uncle Jim, Grandpa, Nana, GG & Aunt Jayne:



We had such a fun time! On Sunday morning, we all went to GG's for brunch. Liam decided to forgo breakfast in favor of munching on some of Grandpa's hair.

Back in Philly, back at work, and enjoying a visit this week with Grandma and Papa who will be here until Liam is baptized this Sunday. Liam can't wait to have all of his aunts, uncles and grandparents together!

Uncle Tim & Aunt Jackie's Wedding

It was such an exciting weekend for us, Liam included! We just had a couple of days from when we got back from Edisto to get ready for Uncle Tim and Aunt Jackie's wedding. Liam knew we were a little frazzled trying to get everything done, so he decided to help us with the laundry. Thanks buddy!



On Wednesday evening, we drove to Nana and Grandpa's in York where we met up with Grandma and Papa, who drove all the way from Illinois to join in the festivities. First things first... gotta have a Yuengling! Apparently Liam agrees!



Thursday was Rehearsal Day, and thank goodness for Grandma and Papa being there to help watch Liam! Here they are with two of their favorite boys:



Aunt Erin and Mommy stole the groom for a quick photo at the rehearsal. Glad we snapped it before the rehearsal started, because we were admittedly emotional watching our "little" brother practice for his big day!



Wedding Day at last! Here's cousin Sarah the flowergirl and Aunt Jackie the gorgeous bride before heading to the ceremony:



Mommy and Aunt Erin were bridesmaids:



The ceremony was beautiful! (No pics... we were all in it!) Liam got to see the whole thing with Grandma and Papa and was very well behaved-- hooray! Afterwards, Liam left with his grandparents and we piled in the limo to the reception. Here are the very happy Bride and Groom:



A proud Nana and Grandpa posed for a photo in the lobby before the reception got started. Lookin' good!!



Daddy and I finally got to see Liam again at the reception (luckily he was assigned to our table!) and we watched Uncle Tim and Aunt Jackie's first dance. They are so in love that it made Liam smile!



Liam had so much fun at the reception! He even partied a little in his jammies:



When it was time for bed, he made his rounds to say goodnight. He even had a sweet goodnight kiss for Grandma:



Congratulations Uncle Tim and Aunt Jackie!! We love you!!

Vacation!

We just got back from a fun and relaxing week at Edisto Island, SC, with the G-willie side of the family. It was Liam's first vacation, and better yet, he finally got to meet his French fam-- "Tante" Erin, "Tonton" Thomas, and cousins Sarah (4) and Pierre (19 mos). It had been a year since we've all been together!

There were several cameras going all weekend, but here are a few highlights from my pics.

Aunt Erin holding Liam for the first time, with Pierre in on the action (who was only 7 months old last I saw him... what a change!):

The two cousins hugging it out:

Liam having some teething time with Uncle Thomas. This, by the way, is not fun. Liam now has 2 teeth! Both of his bottom teeth are now through, and it hurts when he captures your finger in there. He won't stay still long enough for us to get a photo of his new chompers, but I'm going to keep trying! In the meantime, we are pretty sure tooth #3 is not far behind. (We heart Infant Tylenol.)

Cousin time with Pierre, Sarah, and Liam:

Liam showing off for the Bride-to-Be, Almost-Aunt Jackie:

First time in the ocean (with Grandpa looking on):

He seemed to enjoy the beach! We think he ate a minimal amount of sand, which wasn't too bad all things considered. There was, however, more than a "minimal amount" in his diaper at the end of the day. Yay for outdoor showers!

Liam practicing sitting up (and laughing at Grandpa's antics). Love his fun Hawaiian shirt from the Anderson family!

G-willie family photo on the deck at the beach house:

It was a great week, and we can't thank Nana and Grandpa enough for their planning!

Liam turns 5 months old tomorrow, and we're off to York... Uncle Tim is tying the knot on Friday!

Happy 4th!

And Happy Birthday, Nana!! Liam was especially patriotic this weekend, thanks to this cute outfit from Aunt Annette and Uncle John. Here he is with big Happy Birthday smiles:



The secret got out that we have a great view of our township fireworks from our front yard, since they're only set off about 1/4 mile down the street, so some friends came over on Saturday to take advantage of the good spot. Ever the party lover, Liam stayed up to catch the show. This ended up being a good thing, because they were so loud they shook the house, and he surely would have been woken up anyway. He was fascinated by them (gaping mouth and all):

We enjoyed a quiet day at home on Sunday after another long night of Liam's teething woes (does this ever end?!). Liam has discovered that if he wants to get an out-of-reach object, since he can't crawl to it, he can get on his tummy and manipulate the mat to bring the toy to him. Because of this, we sadly had to put his gym mat away after he figured out how to scrunch it up enough to make the toy bars come crashing down! Instead, we just put a blanket on the floor, which gives him more space to move around-- although it doesn't take him long to gather the blanket into one big heap. He loves the tags on this blanket that Whitney made for him!

He also figured out how to roll over consecutive times to get from Point A to Point B... Point B apparently being the leg of the coffee table that he wanted to give a little hug to!

Bring on the Solids

Liam had his first food yesterday! He had been giving us signs lately that he was ready, so we decided to take the plunge. As soon as we sat him in his highchair, he was all smiles and doing his little hungry dance (ok, so it's a bunch of twitching and flailing... but that's not much different from his daddy's dance moves! I joke because I love!)

His first food was a very thinned-out rice cereal, and I only made a couple of teaspoons worth just so he could get a sense of the new taste and texture. He seemed pretty excited and kept trying to grab the spoon.



I learned quickly to hold his arms down with one hand while I fed him with the other. We really expected him to spit the cereal out and were surprised to watch him gobble it right down. I guess he was ready for food!



"Hey, that was fun!"



So we went with Round 2 today, and this time I made it quite a bit thicker. The first couple of bites were met with furrowed eyebrows, but he ended up diving right in and downing a good 2 or so tablespoons of it.

When he decided he was done, he let us know by razzing cereal all over the place. I think I may wear a poncho and some goggles next time!

PS- Liam's bottom left tooth finally broke through a couple of days ago. It's just barely through his gums, but it's already pretty darn sharp! Ouch!