Birthday Celebrations in York

Guess who's starting to celebrate his big first birthday...!



We went to York this past weekend for a big triple birthday party! GG's birthday was Saturday, so we joined Aunt Ellen and Uncle Jim to surprise her on her special day. It was extra fun because several of Grandpa's cousins were also in town, including Cousin Joanne, whose birthday was Sunday. And since we were all together, we threw in a week-early celebration of Liam's 1st birthday as well!

We had reservations at a hibachi restaurant called Fujihana on Saturday evening, so before we left Liam opened a couple of birthday presents. Thank you to all the Voelkers for their sweet and fun gifts!



We had to wait a little longer than expected at Fujihana, so Liam amused himself by taking "walks" with Great (Great) Aunt Jayne and showing off for the people sitting at the bar...



The wait was definitely worth it! This was without a doubt the most fun Liam (and perhaps his parents as well) had ever had at dinner.



Liam was in full party mode. Want to know what was so funny?



Perhaps it was Jerry getting sake squirt-bottled into his mouth (which was the first but certainly not the last for poor Jerry...)!



Or maybe it was GRANDPA!!



(Sorry Grandpa-- we couldn't resist!)

After dinner, we moved on to cake. Here's GG, Joanne, and Liam (who would rather watch Joanne) blowing out their candles:



Liam got to lick his "1" candle...



... and decided to make a grab for the rest of the cake!



Yup... he liked it!



The next morning, we went to Normandie Ridge for a Valentine's Day brunch, and the party continued. Liam opened his presents from Nana and Grandpa and enjoyed more silliness!



Back at home in KoP, Liam opened his present from Aunt Erin, Uncle Thomas, Sarah, and Pierre, and I'm glad he didn't wait! They got him an awesome Liam-sized sleep sack, and he has been sleeping like a rock star ever since! Thanks guys!!



Big thanks to everyone for such a fun weekend!

Blizzard of '10

Ok, so now we are buried. On Tuesday and Wednesday we got pummeled with another 17" of the white stuff, and this time it was a shoveling nightmare. The snow was so heavy that it was hard to lift, which meant you had to shovel every couple of hours just so it was manageable... but it was coming down so fast that by the time you'd get to the end of the driveway, it looked like you hadn't done anything at all. And by this morning, we were running out of places to put it!

School was cancelled for Mommy and even Daddy's office closed at 11 yesterday, so we were both able to be home. Liam was feeling much better, so he got the green light to go outside and play! Getting geared up in his new snowpants and boots:



Outside on the deck Wednesday morning, before the snow really started to pile up:



Liam made his first snow angel:



Ta daa!!



Then it was time for a little snow snack...



... and a little kiss! And then back inside to get warm!



Villanova was closed again today, so we got another fun day at home together. When Daddy came home, we went back outside to survey the final damage. Liam chilling out (literally):



So much fun!



"Yay for snow! Yay for being too little to shovel!"

Nor'easter

Woke up this morning to a little snow...

All in all we got about 20", so we are pretty much buried!

Liam was itching to play outside (as he spent most of his day staring out and drooling on the windows...), but since he was pretty sick for the past week, no dice. He does at least seem to be starting to feel better after getting a nasty virus followed by double ear infections. We had to call in for reinforcements on Thursday so Mommy could get some things done at work. Thank you, Nana!!

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!!