Last Sunday

I forgot to post last week (March 8th) about our Sunday drive and duck feeding session. It was a nice relaxing Sunday as a family.

First we went down to see Drew and Tyler for awhile. Liam and Wyatt about wore themselves out playing and chasing. I got video of them running in circles after each other. Liam's squeals were so funny as Wyatt would lap him!


All of us took a nice long drive to find a house that Grandma and Grandpa had found online. They wanted us to take a closer look and take some more photos.

After that we stopped to feed the ducks. We had put the stale bread in the car thinking we'd go after we went to see the uncles, but the delay was welcome. It was a relaxing day.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Another Saturday with Liam

Liam continues his entertaining position in his swim group. Or maybe he's just trouble more than the entertainer. As distracting as he can be for the rest of the class, at least he's having fun for 45 minutes each Saturday morning. I caught some video from the balcony. On the first clip he sees me and goes under water to show off. Booger.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

After his class he apparently had worked up an appetite and asked for a cheeseburger for lunch. So I took him to McDonald's. He ate the whole thing! Plus he got a spiderman toy! Sweet!

After that we went to a school with a clearing so we could fly his kite. He had a great time running around and then taking a break on the play equipment. We got tired of that and started flying the kite again and then he decided he was tuckered out and ready to go home.


I put him in his room with a movie and 5 minutes later he was out. I took a nap too. Very nice.

After naps, we went on a walk to Joslyn's house to feed her fish. It was such a pretty day, we didn't even have to have jackets on. When we got back to the house, he got out his tricycle and rode that for awhile.

We went grocery shopping as a family and Liam was so good! He was very helpful too! In the pasta/rice aisle, he saw some ramen packages had fallen on the floor. He asked if he could get off the cart to go pick them up. I said, "yes, thank you" and off he went. A stocker was working nearby and thanked Liam profusely for helping out like that. He was so impressed that Liam noticed some help was needed.

We all came home and ate a late dinner together. Then Daddy read Liam a book and he was off to bed. A great day!

Zoo Trip with Dad

I went to a bridal shower on Saturday after Liam's swim lesson. Ian had planned on taking Liam to the aquarium while I was away, but when they got there the line was going around the building. They apparently marketed the new anaconda exhibit better than we thought.

So they trekked on to the Hogle Zoo instead. Ian said all the animals were out and about. A much funner experience than in the summer when all the animals are too hot to play outside.

Here are some of the photos that Daddy took.

Liam carrying around a bag of Cheetos in his hood - Daddy's clever idea.

Prowling tiger.

Melman got up close to say hi to Liam.

Marty (ie-Smarty) was there to Liam's delight!

My cute boys.

His father's son - picking the gorilla's nose.

What a big kid!

Our Little Stingray

Liam's first swim lesson was on Saturday morning. He was trying to push us out the door all morning, he was so excited! His class didn't start until 10:30am so we finally left at 10am to get there a bit early.


Liam had a false sense of security as he jumped into the pool. He's been so used to wearing a life jacket each and every time he's been in contact with water. Thankfully there were only 4 total kids for his "Stingray" teacher, Alissa, to keep track of. 2 obedient ones, 1 entertainer and 1 wanderer. Liam was the entertainer. He had it in mind to splash, dunk and blow bubbles (from what we could see from the balcony).

We need to figure out some signs to communicate with Liam from the balcony. (When he looks up at us as if to say, "I should be in time out for that stunt!"). Such as, "Pay attention to your teacher!" and "Be careful." and "Stop that!"

Alissa seemed very patient and good at engaging all of them pretty well. She reported afterward that Liam is really brave and it's a good sign that he'll do well with swimming.


Kudos Liam!

Because we all need a hearty laugh

I found this in my archived videos and laughed at my then 20 month old laughing. The sound effects (by Daddy) still to this day make him laugh the same way. It was hilarious watching this again with Liam and hearing the same reaction.

I'll have weekend photos up soon... laugh while you wait...

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I remember this

I am sorting through old photos tonight and found these.
Liam at two weeks old. So so precious!

"This is our Song!"

Ian took Liam to run some errands on Saturday morning. (Insert happy mama face here.) Over the course of the weekend, Ian would tell me different stories of their outing. My favorite gem is when they were in the store the "I'm Yours" song by Jason Mraz came on and Liam said,

"Daddy this is our song!"

As soon as they got in the car, the song was on again and Liam exclaimed the same thing!

"Hey this is our song!"

Ian was impressed because he recognized "their song" by just the strumming intro.

Jason Mraz is a fave of ours. Apparently we've bred another fan with our excitement over "I'm Yours" in particular.

Thursday Night with Joslyn

Thursday night, Kara and Jered were able to go to a Rascal Flatts concert so we got to have Joslyn over! She and Liam played really nice all evening. I was very pleased with them. They chased the bunny around, play with the Mr. Potato glasses and telescopes, read books, sang songs and Joslyn even said prayers for us before bed. Liam was asleep by 8:15 and Joslyn by 8:45. I was pleased with how well they let go of play time and went to bed so easily.

Here is Liam reading his Madagascar book to us:

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

3 years, 4 months

Dear Son,

Another month slipped by and you are continuing to making us laugh, drive us nuts and grow our hearts. We enjoy you so much these days. Sitting at the dinner table never was this entertaining before. The things you say during our evening family conversations makes us grin if not chuckle under our breath. You are a delightful conversationalist and jester.

You've continued to be a great big kid, going to the bathroom by yourself and staying dry most nights. It's very impressive to me how you became so grown up the minute I toilet trained you. You suddenly can totally undress and dress yourself. You can wash your hands on your own, brush your teeth and get the shoes on the right feet without our help. You are even obedient most of the time. You've recently added a "yes sir" when we ask you to do something and YOU DO IT! It's awesome how helpful you can be and, in turn, it helps Mom and Dad relax a little in the mornings and evenings.

You've been a bit demanding on some things this last month. In the mornings you demand to see your Daddy before he leaves for work. We've learned that if you sleep in and miss saying good-bye to your Dad in the morning, a full on crying fest will ensue. It's extremely sad and tender how heartbroken you are when you miss your Dad. You cry for a good 10-15 minutes and then we give him a call and you say how sad you are that you didn't get to hug or kiss him good-bye. So, the new routine is for Dad to get ready for work then come into your room and carry you downstairs for breakfast and your choice of movie. He is able to get your hugs and kisses and you are happy to say good-bye to him. So these days Mom gets an extra 30 minutes of rest thanks to Dad and we have a happy Liam in the mornings.

The other thing that you seem to expect the last week or so is a shower in the morning with a parent instead of a bath at night. This morning I sneakily said I was going to get ready for the day and I got in the shower alone. 5 minutes later you came crying and said you wanted a shower. So you hurried and stripped down and got in with me. It's common for 3-year-olds to be learning what privacy is all about, as the parents need to be enforcing it, however, I am not sure how to get around this. I can't seem to even get dressed without your company. Something we need to figure out and hopefully sooner than later.

In other "true boy" news, the big struggle this last month has been your incessant name calling. Everything is a "da da head" or any kind of something "head" and it's getting old. We put you in time out, repeatedly, and you still seem to let "cry baby" or something "head" slip out. Even after you sincerely apologize. When you don't know the answer to a question, you fill in the blanks with baby talk...da da, bo bo , etc. I am hoping this is a short stage as you are rubbing off on other kids, much to their parents' chagrin. Being the boy you are, it doesn't stop there... you are now finding it funny to stick your bum out and toot on us. We also struggle with controlling your spitting. All of which is hysterical to you, you nutty kid!


All monthly reports aside, you truly are a great kid to raise. You are extremely bright, Liam. Even the babysitter, Kate, told me that she considers you one of her big kids. You associate better with the 5-year-olds than the other kids your age. You do 50 piece puzzles, write your name, color in the lines. You are so amazing, kiddo! Granted, when you want some rough and tumble, you go to your 3-year-old buddies. You are a boy through and through. We love your energy and zest for life. You are a forgiving and loving person too. I feel so blessed to be your Mom!

Love you always,
Mom

P.S. You've been saying prayers all by yourself and also reading books to us this last month. We love it!

Yeah, he's back

Here's a shot of my little GQ man coloring while he waited for me to finish getting ready for church this morning.




And tonight after a crash nap on the couch...









wouldn't you say he's feeling more himself?

Can't stop staring

I love this photo. His little profile is just so perfect and sweet. Can someone please stop him from growing up? It's going too fast.

In other news, the poor kid has some kind of respiratory infection. He's been sleeping like crazy, running high fevers, and not himself this week. Now he's on antibiotics, probiotics and IB profin to keep his fever at bay. He's been a champ at taking all the yucky medicines.

Valentine's Day Report

On Saturday I wanted to do something fun with Liam in the morning since Ian and I had a hot date planned for that night. I decided we'd take him to the Bean Museum (i.e. the dead animal exhibit or Liam called it the jungle place) and then to the dollar theater to see Bolt.

Liam loved the museum and we were all actually pretty enthralled with all the taxidermy animals, insects, fowl and reptiles. It was really cool. What was even more cool was the free price tag. We could go every week and learn more!

Here is Liam with a Liger. I looked this species up online and learned they are bigger than tigers and lions. Rare and monstrous beasts.


Liam and Daddy looking fierce.

Marty from Madagascar was there! (Liam calls him Smarty.)

Melman was there too!

After the museum, we went to lunch and then found that the theater parking lot was jam packed. We didn't end up seeing Bolt (to Liam's major disappointment), but we took him to the movie rental place and he picked out 3 DVD's. He was so darling reaching each one of them up to the check out counter. A very pleased kid to get THREE movies for himself!

At 4pm, we went and picked up Megan to come play with Liam so we could go on our date. We went up the canyon to our favorite restaurant and had a fun evening of chatting and eating amazing food.



You gotta love our window view... SNOW! We couldn't have eaten on the patio if we wanted to.

Liam started getting a fever when we got home. He did manage to have a blast with Megan while we were out and we were glad he had such a fun evening like we did.