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!

4 Months Old

Liam turned 4 months old last Monday and celebrated with a visit to Dr. D for his next check-up. Our baby boy is now weighing in at 19 lbs 9 oz and measures 26" long. On to the 9-month clothes! Doc says that given his size and head control, he's ready for solids... but I think we're going to wait just a little longer.

It was then time for the not-so-fun part of the visit. Although Mommy was seriously dreading those shots, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that they got a new shot that combined 3 of the 4 vaccines he needed in one, which meant we'd only have half the needle sticks. It went so much better! He cried for only a few seconds and then seemed to be fine. Phew!

Liam is grabbing anything within reach (and even things that really aren't but he somehow manages to get anyway!) and is especially finding interest in faces. He is grabbing chins, eyebrows, noses ("no Liam... you can touch the outside but please not the inside!"), and even grabbed his Daddy's cheeks to give him a wet, slobbery, and very cute kiss. He discovered a funny clicking noise he can make by sticking out his tongue and sucking it against his upper lip. He was having fun doing this after his bath the other day (sorry, no audio yet):




Liam's other new trick is blowing raspberries, which he started doing just this past week. He had woken up Tuesday morning at 4:30 am and decided that was a good time to start his day, even though Daddy and I disagreed. We laid him in bed with us in the not-so-secret hopes he would fall back asleep. Instead of falling asleep, however, he figured out how to razz and proceeded to shower us with his spit for the next 20 minutes. You know you're a parent when you find that both funny and totally adorable!

This week marked another exciting event in Liam's life... his first time swimming! We went to the Pocono Mountains for the weekend, where I have gone almost every summer since I was a kid. On Saturday morning, our little Waterbug put on his snazzy new swimming outfit (thanks Grandma!) and was ready to hit the water:




Liam was a little baffled at first, as he tried to figure out how his tub got so big!




Although he mostly studied his surroundings, he definitely tolerated it and maybe even liked it (evidenced by a few big wet smiles). On the way back from swimming, all cozy in his sweatshirt and wrapped up in a big towel, Liam dozed off with Nana:




On Saturday afternoon, Liam stayed in the Poconos to play with Nana and Grandpa while we went off for our first date since my birthday. Daddy's college roommate Chris was getting married in Northern NJ, so we went to help celebrate. Here is Chris with his beautiful bride saying their I Do's:




The wedding was beautiful, as was their incredible reception. We truly felt the Italian welcoming hospitality and had never in our lives seen so much food! Here we are with the groom:




Congratulations Chris and Dana! Although we missed our baby, it was nice to get away for an evening and we had a great time. We also got to reconnect with some old ND friends and found some new little blog buddies for Liam. Check these guys out!!

Back in the Poconos this morning, we celebrated Nana's July 4th birthday a little early:




While Nana opened her present, Liam and Daddy had some play time on the grass:

We got back to KoP this afternoon and are looking forward to a quiet couple of weeks at home before it's time for the trifecta of family fun: SC vacation, Uncle Tim's wedding, and Liam's baptism!

Father's Day Weekend

To all the dads, both new and seasoned... Happy Father's Day!

We spent most of the weekend in York, celebrating with Nana and Grandpa before they left for their vacation in the Poconos. As we drove into town, we were suddenly surrounded by hot air balloons! As it turns out, the York County Balloon Festival (who knew there even was such a thing?) was going on. I caught a quick shot out the window of the car, but this by no means does the sight justice.

Unfortunately, that was the last we saw of the balloons, thanks to some really nasty rain storms on Saturday!

When we arrived, Liam had some fun with Grandpa and his bee (which is Liam's favorite chew-toy of the moment).

On Saturday, after "only" 2 months, we finally got the title and signed the paperwork for our car! The car was the company car used by my dad's office, and other than needing a good interior bath, it's in great shape... and MUCH easier to get Liam and all his gear in and out of! We sold the Alero last Wednesday, so we're hoping this is the end of car talk for a long time.

Saturday night, GG took us out to dinner on the deck at Bogey's. After a stormy day, it ended up being a gorgeous night, and we enjoyed the pretty sights and the live jazz. Liam loves any excuse to be outside and to stay up past his bedtime! Here is our wiggle worm having some fun:

To welcome GG back from her trip to Oregon, Liam showed her how hard his grip is (to be followed by a tasting of GG's fingers...)

The guests of honor:

Our waiter was kind enough to take a photo of the table, and other diners joined in to try to get Liam to look at the camera. No dice... GG is way more interesting!

Liam playing "airplane" with Grandpa:

This morning, Liam wished Daddy a Happy Father's Day, and then they got down to the serious business of playing together. Their new game: Liam pushes the music buttons on his ExerSaucer, and Dad does a funny dance. The little guy was not the only one who found this hilarious!

After breakfast, Liam marveled at the enormity of Grandpa's present!

Liam sporting his proper Father's Day attire:

Back at home, Liam gave a Father's Day card to his pops and called it a night.

4-month check-up tomorrow... dreading that next round of shots!!