Liam's 1st Haircut

After getting tired of constantly tucking Liam's hair behind his ears, we finally decided a couple of Sundays ago that enough is enough-- it's time for a haircut! I guess it was more like Liam got his "hair cut" rather than that Liam got an actual "haircut", since all I did was trim around his ears. Nonetheless, the result was a lock of hair added to his baby book.

I decided that the best place to do this was the bathtub (which had both pros and cons. Pro: hair is already wet, and you don't get hair all over the place. Con: wet squirmy baby). Here is the "before" pic, which really doesn't do his mop justice. His scraggly hair over the ears was getting out of control.



At least there were lots of distractions...



As soon as I made the first cut, Liam grabbed my comb and squirmed away to get a better look at what I was up to:



Ta da! Squeaky clean and extra handsome for bedtime. Liam posing with his psuedo-hairdresser (who will definitely not be quitting her day job...):

Next up: tackling his growing mullet. I think we'll leave that one to the professionals!

11 Months Old

Liam turned 11 months old on Friday! He is turning into quite the funny little boy, and we have enjoyed having the last couple of weekends at home with nothing on our calendars but to play. He is a very active (and often mischievous) baby who is definitely keeping us on our toes!



Liam could have a million toys in front of him, but will beeline for the entertainment center, an outlet, or the stairs in the blink of an eye. Necessity is the mother of invention... so what do you get when you have 2 couches, a toy box, and a carseat box?



Hey, it worked for us! He actually had a lot of fun, cruising from couch to couch to pillows to box and back around again. I even brought out a crayon for him to decorate the box, but that was short-lived since after about 30 seconds, he tried to eat the crayon. Oh well...

I also had to post this pic of our lastest bathtime fun. Who doesn't love the Bath Mohawk?!



So here's the latest:

Liam loves to clap. He claps for everything. Take off shoes? Clap. Eat your dinner? Clap. Put toys away? Clap. Push the Mickey Plane? Clap. You get the idea. He is a proud little boy.

He is also waving hello and goodbye. And if you're really lucky, he'll do "Soooo Big!" with his arms in the air.

"Daa" (Dad), "Mummm" (Mom), and "Baaaa" (we don't know what the third one means either) are his favorite words. He is chatting up a storm in Liam-ese... can't wait till it starts to make sense!

Liam is cruising all over the place and has recently started experimenting with standing on his own for short spurts. By the way, he can now reach door knobs... yikes! We finally gave in and put cabinet locks in the kitchen. No sooner did we do this, however, when we discovered he could open the drawers right above the cabinets. Sigh.

Liam has said good-bye to his last bottle. After being bottle-free for 2 weeks around the holidays while I was off work, we decided to send him back to Miss Doreen's in January with his milk in sippy cups, and to our surprise, it actually worked!

Teeth 9 and 10 have arrived, and these were quite the ordeal (seriously, this has been going on since Christmas). We really thought it was 2 teeth on each side coming in, only to realize they were just ginormous molars. Needless to say, he is eating quite a bit of regular food these days!

That's the news from here!

Photoshoot

We had Liam's first studio portraits taken back in early December, but because these were also his Christmas presents to family, we had to wait until after the holidays to post or we'd ruin the surprise. So 6 weeks later, here we go!

And our absolute favorite...

Liam was in the middle of an army crawl when I got him to look up with a little noisemaker. Love it!!

Right after Christmas, the G-willie family also got together for a little photoshoot. Not sure when we will all be able to be together again, so we were glad to have this opp!

Cutie pies Pierre, Sarah, and Liam (where's Waldo??)

Ringing in 2010

We got back to KoP on the 28th with Grandma, Papa, Toni, and Aidan, and celebrated Part II of our very special Christmas. It was so great to have them visit, and especially to welcome Toni and Aidan to our house for the first time. Liam had so much fun with his cousins! Here they are helping him open a present from Grandma and Papa:





A definite favorite was this cool Mickey Mouse airplane riding toy! Liam did nothing but laugh as soon as he sat on it.



Liam loved his time with his Illinois family and spent the last few days of 2009 with lots of smiles, fun, and cuddles from his grandparents and cousins. Here's Papa on New Year's Eve with the 3 muskateers:



Liam sporting his new shirt from Papa, which reads, "What happens on my tractor stays on my tractor"). True that! As a side note, Papa also got him a little rubber Tonka tractor that Liam seriously loves. That thing goes everywhere with him these days!



Team Derry saying goodbye to 2009:



Goofing around with Aidan and Toni before calling it a night:



After Liam went to bed, a few friends came over to (quietly) ring in the new year. This photo was a "must-post" so that Liam can someday see what goes on after he goes to sleep! Here's Daddy and Marc sporting some pretty sweet 2010 glasses...



...which which eventually made their way to Jen and Toni:



We had so much fun with everyone and were proud of Aidan and Toni, who somehow made it all the way to midnight. And we were very surprised that through it all, Liam slept through the night! When he woke up in the morning, though, it looked like he had had quite the party in his crib... check out this rockin' bed head:



Happy New Year!!

Liam's 1st Christmas

This is long overdue, but Merry Christmas, everyone! Between the craziness of the holidays and a busy time at work, I am obviously behind on my blogging. I have lots of fun pictures and updates from our holiday adventures, so I'll get to them a little at a time.

On the Monday before Christmas, Aunt Erin, Uncle Thomas, Sarah, and Pierre arrived and we all met at Nana and Grandpa's house in York. Daddy had to work until Christmas Eve, so he joined us later in the week.

While we were all preparing for Christmas, Liam had a great time playing with his cousins... and especially with his compain Pierre. Those two were an absolute riot. There are about a million pictures of them playing together throughout the week, but I'll spare you the slideshow and offer a couple of my favorites. Here they are in Liam's Pack-and-Play together, watching Elmo and playing with some toys:



Liam and Pierre comprised the Booster Seat Brigade and shared many fun meals together. Pierre was even so kind as to share his food several times with Liam, whether it was something he was able to eat or not! They both got quite a kick out of this little snowman toy that plays music:



We spent Christmas Eve with Aunt Jackie and Uncle Tim, who was able to get leave for the holiday. It was so great to see them!



Liam with Daddy, Mommy, Nana, Grandpa, and GG on Christmas Eve:



Christmas morning... Santa came! Nana and Grandpa's tree (we must have all been good little boys and girls this year):



Because there were so many of us, we had to hang a few stockings on each hook to make room for everyone!

Mommy, Liam, and Daddy on Christmas morning. Liam's hat was from Uncle Tim and Aunt Jackie-- it said "Baby's 1st Christmas" and had a shamrock on it!

After scoping out the tree, Liam went looking for other evidence that Santa had been there...

... and he found it in the living room, where Santa had left a tent with a crawling tunnel for Sarah, Pierre, and Liam! Believe me when I say this provided hours of fun for everyone. After watching his older cousins' example...

... Liam finally figured out how to get through the tunnel!

And look-- even Nana had a go!

Time to open presents! Uncle Thomas and Aunt Erin amidst the kids (with Mommy and Daddy cheesing it up in the background):

Liam figured out how to get through wrapping paper pretty quickly:

Hurricane Christmas hit the family room:

All the excitement wore Liam out early, so he caught a little nap while Daddy checked out his gift:

When he woke up, though, he was ready to play. Forget all those new toys... Liam and Pierre wanted to play with Nana's piano:

It was a beautiful day, and we can't thank our family enough for making it so fun and special!

The next morning, when things were a little quieter, I caught this sweet moment on camera:

That night, we were sad to say goodbye to Uncle Tim and Aunt Jackie, but we were also excited to say hello to Grandma, Papa, Antonia, and Aidan, who drove all the way from Illinois to join in the festivities! We all met up at Damon's for drinks, and it was so wonderful to have both of our families together again.

I'm not sure, but I think Liam was happy to have everyone there...

Nana and Grandma catching up back at the house:

This visit marked the first time all of Liam's cousins met, and we couldn't believe how well they really hit it off. Within minutes, it was like they'd been buddies forever! Here's Aidan, Sarah, and Toni hamming it up:

December 27 marked Mommy and Daddy's 6th Anniversary, and we started the celebration with a big brunch at GG's. Here are Liam's favorite foursome:

We left the next morning with Grandma, Papa, Toni, and Aidan to head back to KoP, where the adventures continued. Stay tuned!

Snowed In

We had planned to go to Atlantic City with Nana and Grandpa for the weekend before Christmas, but Mother Nature had other plans! With a major snowstorm in the forecast, we decided to forgo the trip and be snowed in together in KoP instead. And although we were all disappointed our trip was cancelled, we ended up having a great time baking Christmas cookies and playing in the snow.

As the snow got started, Liam loved to stand at the back door and watch:



He also had some fun pulling on Grandpa's hair.



Before the weather got too bad on Saturday, we went out shopping for a little while. It turned out to be a great time to shop-- the mall was a total ghost town, which is unheard of for the Saturday before Christmas. Here's Liam ready to brave the elements:



By Saturday night, it was really coming down!



Once we were snowed in, we got busy with baking. Nana and Daddy hard at work:



On Sunday the snow finally stopped, so we got to work shoveling and digging out cars:



Afterwards, it was time to play. Liam LOVED being in the snow! I think he ate as much as he played with :)



Grandpa left that afternoon, but Nana stayed until Monday to pick up Aunt Erin, Uncle Thomas, Sarah, and Pierre from the airport for Christmas. More pics to follow!