Cabin Fever

We've had snow on the ground for over a month, and with no end in sight (another storm in the forecast for the coming week- ugh!), we've been going a little stir-crazy over here. So far in 2011, I've had 3 delayed openings and 2 snow days, which I'm grateful for only because of how slippery it has been out there-- and I'm accident-prone enough, even without being almost 8 months pregnant! God bless our "mystery neighbors" though, who shoveled our driveway and sidewalks on Tuesday simply because they heard I was expecting. Whoever you are, thank you!!!

Our poor Sentra isn't doing so well in all of this, as Daddy found out the hard way when trying to get to work on Tuesday in some seriously nasty weather. He is fortunately fine, but the car needed some expensive TLC from our dear mechanic. At 11 years old and over 100K miles, it surely doesn't owe us anything... but it would be nice to get through the rest of winter before having to shop for a new car!

Being cooped up indoors has led to some.. um... interesting behavior from Liam, which we think mainly stems from not being able to burn off enough energy during the day. Naptime antics are at their worst, between the finger-painting with diaper contents (which has now been cured by dressing him in one-piece jammies with the feet cut off, put on backwards-- just try to get out of that, Liam!) and now with climbing out of both his Pack-and-Play at Miss Doreen's and out of his crib here at home! Do they sell a lid for these things?? So needless to say, the little bugger has been more tired than usual and is falling asleep in some strange places. Such as...

So, we've been finding ways to pass the time. We played hide-and-seek with best bud Brigid (while little Lucas tried to find them-- gee, who could this giggling mess be behind the pantry door?!):



We practiced being a big brother by crawling around with adorable baby Kara ("Hurry, Kara-- try to catch me!"):



We watched some old Disney movies on VHS in Mommy and Daddy's bed (running fave is The Aristocats, aka "Dats"):


Note the number of Liam's Favorite Things all in one pic. Milk, check. Lilly, check. Movie, check. Unnecessary hat, check! Also note the new paint job in our room, courtesy of Daddy and Marc! They sent us to Nana and Grandpa's house for MLK weekend and knocked out a heroic amount of painting upstairs. Our bedroom and the new nursery are lookin' good-- and we can't wait to have all the carpets replaced in the next couple of weeks. That project is long overdue!

Fun hasn't been totally limited to the indoors, though. During my Snow Day last Thursday, Liam and I finally got a chance to get outside and play a little. Could he be any more excited?!



No job too big for this guy, or so he'd like to think!

Happy New Year!

Happy 2011!

A few weeks before Christmas, Liam got his portrait taken (can't believe the last one was a year ago already!).

While we had a great experience last year, our photographer this year was unfortunately devoid of any semblence of personality or enthusiasm for working with kids. And since I was flying solo that day, it didn't prove to be easy! We did get a couple of good shots out of the bunch, though... but we'll let you decide for yourself. You can check them out here.

Merry Christmas! Part 2

On Tuesday, we left for a weeklong visit to Grandma and Papa's house in Illinois. The trip was so much fun and full of so many great memories, so I'll attempt to highlight some of Liam's Especially Favorite Parts:

A surprise visit from DANTA at the airport! Liam met him with Daddy while I got us something to eat-- and by the time I came back, they were on a first-name basis. Shocker!


One-on-one time with Grandma and Papa, which they enjoyed a little extra of as Daddy and I snuck off to Chicago for a quick overnight. Liam really loved the Christmas e-card that Grandma had on her computer.


2 favorite things in 1 photo: hats AND playing ball!


Playing nekkid. This was the first (but oddly not the last) time Liam decided to strip down to play. We don't get it either!


Buddy time with Owen and Grandpa German:


Reuniting with Fox (aka DOX):


Trying to inch his way into photos that have nothing to do with him, i.e. the photo of a whole-lotta-buns-in-the-oven at the Ronna Family Christmas. We are in order from latest due-date to soonest-- Brittany is due in June, me at the end of March, Nikki at the beginning of March, and Shay any minute!


Fun times with cousins-- this was on Christmas Day with Aidan, Afton, and Antonia:


Outright silly times with cousins! These guys were a riot wrestling around on bed full of coats at the Ronna Christmas. From l-r, Antonia, Ava, Liam, Afton, Drake, and Aidan:


Opening his stocking with Grandma (yay!):


Opening presents on "Christmas Day" (really the 26th, but like he knew!):


Aidan, Antonia, and Uncle Andrew:


Aunt Surabhi and Uncle Jake:


The Team:


Toasting the holidays with a little eggnog:




Finally meeting his future bride Ava Fanning... or at least opening a present with her!


Watching Mickey Mouse cartoons with Aidan on the portable DVD player (could he be any more enthralled? We could have waved mangos and crazy hats and probably even Lilly in front of him, and it would not have torn him away from this thing!):


Playing DS with Toni. It is also worth mentioning that Toni and Aidan are awesome cousins to Liam! They were so patient and willing to share all their cool presents with him whenever he asked (er... demanded) them to!


Singing karaoke with Toni (Uncle Andy also has a great clip of this-- click here):


And I think one of the favorite moments for all of us this Christmas was this moment!

We truly can't thank everyone enough for all they did to make our trip so special. We love you guys!

Merry Christmas! Part 1

To all of our faithful readers, family, and friends, we wish you a very Merry Christmas and many blessings in the new year!

We kicked off our Christmas celebration the weekend before the 25th, when we enjoyed a visit from Nana and Grandpa before they left to spend the holiday with Aunt Erin and her family in Strasbourg.

(Side Note: Travelocity is currently at the very, very top of Santa's Naughty List for what they did to Nana and Grandpa, and the only difference between them and the Grinch himself was that I'm pretty sure it took less time for the Grinch to make right on his mistakes... but I digress!)

Since we were spending Christmas in Milford with Grandma and Papa, Santa made a special stop at our house on the 19th:


Liam was far more interested in Nana and Grandpa's presents than he initially was with his own-- note the silly hat (silly for Liam, not for Nana) and the obsession with Grandpa's new electric shaver!


Yay for new boots! Little did we know these would come in handy rather quickly (and notice that Liam still would not part ways with that electric shaver...)


Liam showing Nana his new Leaptop:


The best part of all was seeing Liam open his new tricycle from Nana and Grandpa-- I just wish we would have caught that on film! It was an "assembly required" toy, but Liam grabbed the seat and knew just what to do with it!


Helping Grandpa put it together:


Thank you, Nana and Grandpa, for such a great start to the holiday!

We were also excited to get news from Strasbourg on Christmas Eve that our little nephew and Liam's newest cousin had arrived-- welcome Augustin Thomas!! He was 6 lbs, 12 oz, and 18.5 in, and we CAN'T WAIT to meet him this summer. Here's the first pic of the little guy:



Congratulations Aunt Erin, Uncle Thomas, Sarah, and Pierre!

Day at the Museum

Since it is too cold these days to play outside, Jen and Mommy took Liam to Philadelphia's Please Touch Museum in Fairmount Park to burn off some energy on Saturday morning. It was so much fun! Liam loved it (so much so that he napped for almost 3 hours that afternoon) and we had a great time playing in all the different exhibits throughout the museum. And we only even saw half of it! Definitely recommend this for toddlers (and adults who are kids at heart)... just be sure to bring a big bottle of hand sanitizer :)

Jen and Liam playing with the very-baby grand piano:



Liam on the carousal-- one happy camper:



So glad we brought an extra shirt... Liam had a blast playing in the water exhibit. Anything not covered by his apron was soaked!



Fans of the movie Big will appreciate this one. Liam was too light (shockingly) to activate the keys when he walked on it, but after observing a baby crawl over it, he decided to change his strategy. He had fun going back and forth... back and forth... back and forth. Anything to make noise!

We've been enjoying a visit from Nana and Grandpa (whose unbelievable travel woes have at least given us a little extra time together!) and celebrated Christmas with them yesterday. Photos to follow in the next post. Then we're off to Grandma and Papa's tomorrow!

Little Drummer Boy

He must have amused himself for 20 minutes last night with this. It cracks me up that he insists on wearing that hat! What will he do when the holidays are over?!

Visit with "Danta"

... that's "Santa" to all who may not yet be familiar with Liam-ese!

Since it's been a year (and more than half of his lifetime) since Liam last saw Santa, Daddy decided to take him to the KoP Mall to scope out the Big Guy after work one day last week. Dad did an awesome job getting Liam completely and totally psyched for this event! Instead of actually visiting Santa on that trip, they walked around where Santa sits and checked him out from afar (and as a side note, they even ran into one of Liam's friends Emily who he plays with every day at Miss Doreen's-- whose parents were doing the exact same thing!). By the time they returned home, Liam ran in the front door yelling "DANTA!!!!" with such excitement that from that point on, he insisted on wearing a Santa hat around the house until bedtime! This also came with the insistence that Mom and Dad wear Santa hats as well...

The promise of getting to see Santa over the weekend turned out to be a fantastic incentive to get Liam to be a good boy for the rest of the week. On Sunday afternoon, it was finally time. No surprise that his Santa hat was his must-have accessory for the trip (in case you couldn't tell, he really likes hats... and bonus when they're a little ridiculous). I don't think we will ever forget watching Liam running full-speed through the mall in that funny hat, yelling "DANTA!" at the top of his lungs while he searched for ol' St. Nick.

And finally-- a sighting from the second floor!



When it was his turn to meet Santa, he walked right up to him with wide eyes and whispered, "Danta..."! Santa put out his hand to give Liam a high-five, and Liam was all over that! It was such a sweet moment-- soon to be ruined by the over-zealous "elves" who busted out all these squeaky toys and turned Liam's excited smile into a totally forced "what the heck is going on here?" smile. The camera snapped on something somewhere in between:



Mission accomplished!