2 years, 2 months!

Dear Son,

I am two days late writing your monthly birthday letter. I don't think I've been caught out of town on one of your birthdays before. So here I am at your grandparents' house in Indiana writing this.

I have been so anxious all of December about traveling with you as a two year old. We were fortunate to have Daddy with us on our way here. I had prayed that you would be especially obedient as we traveled. I also prayed that we would be patient and especially understanding parents on this trip. My prayers were answered more fully than I ever could have imagined! I felt such releif after a long Christmas Eve in the sky with you. You were easily entertained, listened to us and the most important request I had of Heavenly Father is that we never lose sight of you... you were always safe and in our sight all day long. What a blessing!

It was neat, on our last leg of the trip, the pilots met you as we boarded the plane. They wanted to show you the cockpit and let you wear the pilot hat. You were intent on pushing all the buttons and climbing up the side window. Despite the added perspiration for me, I was delighted you got to explore and make a couple pilots smile on Christmas Eve.

Christmas day was so much fun for you! You opened all your gifts, played with your cousin Sierra and you even got to go swimming after nap time! We had a great holiday!

You are saying more and more 3 word phrases. The most reoccurring are "I did at" and "don't do dat" and "no, no, no" (as you correct your meaning when we obviously don't get it).

I have to report that your interest in coloring and drawing has only increased this last month! You are crazy about coloring with markers only. Crayons are for the birds. You concentrate for long periods of time when you are at the table drafting up your artwork. Your favorite gift this year was the aqua doodle (second to your guns). You can't get enough of it. You like us to draw something for you to color in. Sometimes you'll add limbs to the smiley face we draw and sometimes you'll just make lines and circles on your own. It really is something to see you at work! Well done, my little Picasso!

I continue to adore your darling face and sweet demeanor. You have had more of an attitude lately, but you still try to do your best in being obedient. I received many compliments on our trip relating to how handsome you are, how smart you are and how funny you can be. It was fun to introduce you and reintroduce you to so many friends and family. Most everyone seemed taken by your charm. It's sweet to see how appreciated you are by others. I already feel honored and blessed to be your mother, but it's taken to a new level when others see what I witness daily.

I love you, son. Thanks for being the great little man that you are!

Love,
Mom

Random Memory

Today, in the wee small hours of the morning, Liam woke. He couldn't find his binky, so I went to help him. The way his tired eyes blinked up at me after finding it, was so so sweet! He said, "thank you, Mom" ---in the middle of the night. Then did those tired sweet blinks as I tucked him back in.

Here is the memory it reminded me of, with the cute tired eye blinking.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Trimming the Tree and other Christmas Fun

Liam helped me trim the tree last Saturday. He was so excited when he woke up from his nap to find all the Christmas stuff ready for him to help unload and spread all over the place! We started with the lights. He dragged them around for awhile and then tried to help me put them on the tree. Then he was delighted to try to hang the ornaments up. "Try" being the key word. He mainly just handed them to me to put on because somehow they didn't fall when I would do it.

Earlier in the day we had gone around Southern Salt Lake area shopping for a piece of furniture to house the bigger TV. While riding around, we found a sign for Gardner Village. We noted the address and went to find it.

We found it, but we found it was an outdoor shopping experience and it was a bitterly cold day. So we put Liam in the stroller and hoped he'd stay happy. After going in a few shops with lots of wonderful treasures, we finally let Liam have a break as we walked to the bakery to get him a reward for being so good. He carried our bag of treasures all the way there and held tight to it as he shopped the bakery goodies. He had a couple small gingerbread men and was pretty content as we drove to IKEA to scope out another furniture idea.

IKEA was busy busy, but we scouted to our destination and found the piece set up in the showroom. We sat on the comfy furniture as we mulled over the price verses the work to put it together ourselves. All the while, Liam found some kids china set and started dropping the pieces one by one. We put the stuff back, glad that it wasn't broken and bolted out of IKEA.

Liam fell asleep on the way home and transferred well to his crib so I could try to get a nap in too. That didn't work too well for me since I woke up after 20 minutes thinking of all I needed to get done before we leave for Indiana on Christmas Eve. AND I really wanted to run to JC Penney to return a sweater and get a better one for our date that night. So I did just that... and I got Liam an outfit too. (After fighting the parking lot traffic at the mall for 25 minutes... Wowee crazy people holding up the rest of us while they wait 5 minutes for someone to walk to their car, unlock it, load it and load themselves, then leave... I would never do that! Though we do tend to go real slow when we know someone is waiting for our spot because they couldn't possibly park a little further away...)

So, after going to the mall, Liam wakes, we trim the tree. After playing around for awhile, it was time for Liam to try out a new babysitter (Brittany) while we headed to the Energy Solutions Arena for the Jazz game. This little teenage girl did great with Liam and I was so glad we tried her out since our regular, Meagan, was sick and couldn't do it for us. Brittany couldn't believe how well Liam did and how easily he went to bed too! I was just pleased that things went well. I had a list of house rules and Liam's bed time routine written out... I had Shari on call 2 blocks away just in case something happened... I am sure Miss Brittany thought I was a complete basket case, but she smiled and happily said, "No problem!"

It was a great day all around! Liam is such a prince! ...And so is my hubby! We had a great night out!

Finding THE Tree

After visiting Santa on Friday night, we went to go pick out a tree. We hoped the pricing would be down a bit since it was the 14th of December.

After we put Liam's mittens on, he bolted for any lick of snow he could find. He started throwing all the bits of snow at us! We enjoyed his squeals of delight as we shopped for a tree. It didn't take long for us to find one similar to last year's tree.

It was only $26!

Liam and Daddy played in the snow while I paid for the tree.

The next morning Liam woke to the bare tree and exclaimed, "TREE!"

I am just as excited to have another beautiful Alpine Fir in our home this year!

The Chain of Events

Visiting Santa Friday Night -








Liam actually gave Santa a high five though!
_

This is how Liam colors

Really. Every time, he about loses his grip on the chair.

Kiss Mom

This morning after family prayers, Daddy asked Liam for a kiss good-bye. Liam obliged and then pointed to me and ordered Daddy to "kiss mom"...

"You want me to give mom a kiss?"

"Yeah!"

He knows that we all get kisses before Daddy leaves and it was darling that Liam wanted to remind Daddy to make sure I got mine!

SWEET!

Manly Men

We generally watch Two and a Half Men on Monday nights. Liam has learned the theme song since we all sing along at the beginning of the show right before we put him to bed. It's so cute when he sings, "men, men, men, men, men, men..."

Sorry

Liam has gotten good at saying sorry when he hurts someone or something. This morning when we were cuddling, he accidentally head butted me and I said ouch. He immediately said, "Oh saw-wee." Then he rubbed my head and said he was sorry a couple more times. So sweet.

In other news: Daddy got his big Christmas present this weekend... a new LCD TV. So Liam got a big present too... a HUGE box to play in. He's been having fun stacking the foam wedges and diving head first into the box. He even figured out a way to make a slide out of it. "WEEEEE!"

Liam's requests

I have to report how Liam asks for a few things:

Pick me up - "Hold you"

Please help me - "Peez help you"

You wanna get me some sugar? - "Treats?"

It's funny each time he says each of these things -- multiple times a day.

I was especially amused this morning when I said, "Can you say 'help me?"

And he replies, "HAPPY!"

Even when I said it slower and with extra annunciation he still replied, "HAPPY!"

P.S. I have to write down that each day when we put Liam's puffy coat on, he taps his belly or rubs the front of his coat and says "coke" real proud. He loves his "coke", ladies and gentlemen. Good thing because it's "koe ow-sigh".

Christmas last year

I watched this montage last week and it made me so excited for the Christmas season! I look forward to compiling our 2007 season this month!

Enjoy~

December First's Snow

The boys woke up to a winter wonderland this morning. Ian gets just as excited about the snow as Liam does. It's so cute how they both just sit by the window and watch. It snowed all day long. Liam was beside himself as we ran errands, wanting to touch the snow and take off running in the deep sections if I didn't have a grip on him.

Time didn't permit us to take Liam out to play in the snow any sooner than sun down. He spent the afternoon with his future babysitter. Laura says she is on board to tend him the first of the year. YAY!

Liam and Daddy had a great time in the snow! The pure delight on Liam's face and the snow-ball-throwing chuckles were priceless! Those boots were so big that he couldn't stand up when he'd tip over and watching him walk in them was equally as hilarious! I'll have to post video later.

Liam December 2006 <--------------> Liam December 2007

See all photos HERE.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com