Merry Christmas, Baby!

Here are some pics from our Christmas in Norman with just the three of us. Liam had fun pushing around the boxes.

Once he figured out how to open the gifts, he had even more fun.

Then he really had fun playing in the wrapping paper.

The big blue box in all of the above pictures was Liam's new, convertible car seat. Liam and I spent all day Wednesday traveling from fire department to fire department trying to make sure it was installed correctly. We finally found a station that had the swim noodles to put under the car seat so that Liam was leaning backwards instead of sitting straight up...I think he loves his big boy seat! Liam still has not hit the 20 pound minimum to be forward facing in the car. When I mentioned this to the firemen who helped us, they explained that babies should continue to face backwards until they are 35 pounds. Wow!!! Liam will be 3 before he gets to face forward! Haha!!!!

As soon as David got off of work Wednesday, we headed to Bartlesville before the big storm. Here's Liam sitting in his Papa's recliner...he thinks he is so big!

Liam's favorite gift so far is his Kawasaki Nana and Papa got him. He loves pushing the buttons and is almost tall enough to push himself around on it.

Santa brought Liam a lot of great stuff!!! He got $100 for his savings account, a new jacket, Pumas, books and a ball pit. Most of all, Liam loved the tin his money came in. :)

So excited about his ball pit......Santa forgot to get an air pump to blow it up. Oops!!! Santa still has a lot of learning to do!

I love this pic I took of Liam while he was watching his new Yo Gabba Gabba DVD. I guess he wanted to show off his two teeth and the tooth that is on its way in. And, check out those eyelashes!!!

On Christmas Day, David and I snuck out to watch Blind Side. (A must see!) Liam and Nana had a blast playing while we were gone.
My brother got Liam the coolest gift. It's his very first stock! So clever!!!
I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe Christmas. We still have one more celebration to go!!!

And the best toy is.....

Wrapping paper!!!

Due to the possibility of a winter storm, we aren't sure of when we are going to begin our Christmas travels. So, we decided to do our Christmas tonight just in case we hit the road tomorrow night. I made a delicious breakfast casserole and hash browns for dinner and then it was time to open presents! Liam loved tearing the paper off of his gifts, but he really loved playing in all of the wrapping paper once it was in a pile to be thrown away. Here is a looooong video of Liam playing in the pile of wrapping paper.

Why did I spend money on gifts for him?!?!

Did you notice the box that Liam is pushing around? Yep...it's a Wii Fit box!!! Thank you, D!

Shake Yo' Bootie

Liam loves to dance! The other day when I picked him up from the sitter she said, "We noticed today that anytime someone says bootie, Liam starts dancing." Haha!!! I'm proud to say that I taught him that. Here is a short video of him shakin' it. I can't get a video of him really getting into it, because as soon as the camera comes out he forgets about dancing and goes for the camera. (I apologize ahead of time...I do not have a good singing voice and I cannot believe I'm sharing a video in which you can hear me singing!)

I love the way he bobs his head! I'm not so proud to say that I taught him that too.

Birthday dinner

We decided to go to Cracker Barrel for Liam's birthday dinner. Liam loved it! He had some dumplings, green beans, macaroni and cheesy potatoes followed up with a sundae. He ate a ton!

I just love this pic! His expression cracks me up. If you click on this picture and look at it closely, you'll see a tiny red spot on his eye. Poor baby popped a blood vessel coughing or sneezing. We called his doctor to make sure they didn't need to see him and the nurse assured us that it looks worse than it is. It seems to be getting better by the minute.

Liam finally figured out that crayons weren't for eating and that they make some pretty cool marks when you put them on the table.

He was so proud of himself for coloring that he had to clap, but he wouldn't let go of his crayon!

After dinner we headed to the mall for a few gifts and to see Santa. Liam was wonderful while we waited in line. As soon as I handed him over to the big man in red, he started screaming and didn't stop until we turned a corner and Santa was no longer in sight. We're going to give it another try this weekend...maybe we'll catch Liam when he's in one of his more adventurous moods. Ha!!!

Happy First Birthday!!!

My precious baby is one-year old today! It is so hard for me to believe that an entire year has passed since the day Liam was born. As I look back over the year, my heart is filled with precious memories. Memories of the first time I saw his face, held him in my arms, the first time he rolled over, smiled, sat up on his own, crawled, danced...I could go on and on. Along with the precious memories came the hysterical memories, like when we finally left the NICU. David and I were terrified! I swear it took over an hour to drive home that day, and the entire drive I sat in the back seat staring intently at Liam, looking for any sign that he might not be getting enough oxygen. Then there was the first time that Liam sprayed across the room during a diaper change and David jumped out of the way, staring in shock. And then the first time Liam really threw up, and we were in the ER within 15 minutes, sure that something was seriously wrong. We were such messes! We made it, though. We now have a happy, healthy one-year old little boy.

As we prepare for Christmas this year, I am reminded of how blessed we are. I have always loved everything having to do with Christmas...the hustle and bustle, the crisp air, the lights, the smells, the food, and most of all, the magic. Last year on this very day, the Christmas season almost lost its magic for our family, the day that we almost lost Liam. We were terrified. We had no idea what was happening, only that our baby was too small and had an unstable heartbeat. We sat through test after test for what seemed like days only to be told that our baby was struggling and that if he survived delivery, he would be unable to breathe on his own and incredibly weak. But, God answered our prayers and delivered to us a strong baby, who was full of fight...He delivered to us our miracle baby.
Every morning the fist thing Liam does is point and say, "That, that!" (He means, "Tree, tree!") One of us walks him into the dark living room to the Christmas tree and turns on the lights. He stares with wonder and excitement, clapping his tiny little hands and we know that the magic of the season is still alive.
And that God is good, all the time.
Happy first birthday, Liam! We are so blessed that we were chosen as your Mama and Dada. Thank you for making the last year the most amazing year of our lives. We love you with all of our hearts!!!

Winter ONE-derland

Liam's first birthday party was so much fun! We originally decided not to have a party. But, after some thought we decided that our little man would only have one first birthday, so we decided to go for it! And I am so glad we did! The theme was "Winter One-derland" and it was so easy. All of my Christmas decor this year was blue, white and silver, so I carried it over into the birthday decor. Here is a picture of the centerpiece I made for the table. I just took tree branches, broke them into smaller pieces, stuck them into a styrofoam brick and painted it all silver. I hung a picture from each month of Liam's first year on the branches. I think it turned out so cute!!!

For lunch we served chili, cheesy potato soup, pigs in a blanket and cheese and crackers...all wintery foods. After lunch it was time to open gifts. Liam was not excited about everyone watching him, and he was SO ready for a nap.

You can tell how tired he was in this picture. Poor guy was not even a little bit interested in opening his gifts.

And then it was time for the long awaited gift, the Dancing Brobee. Liam loves Yo Gabba Gabba, so when we saw this on Black Friday for half price, we had to get it. We used it the weekend before Liam's party during our family pics. It was the only thing that would get him to smile for the camera!
Our happy, little family right before cake time!

My mom and Grandma...

David's mom, sister and dad...
My mom, brother and dad...

Ready to eat some cake....

He wasn't too sure about it at first.
It didn't take long for him to decide that he liked the cake.

He eventually decided he loved the cake.

My favorite picture from the day.....
After eating the cake, Liam suddenly had enough energy to play for a couple of hours. Haha! Talk about a sugar rush!!! Liam and Owie loved playing with Brobee!
Thank you to everyone who made the trip to celebrate with us! We had so much fun and Liam is a busy little boy playing with all of his new toys!!!

Thanksgiving Post...a little late

Liam was still a little under the weather over Thanksgiving, but he was a trooper and had a blast on our trip. We headed to Bartlesville the night before Thanksgiving and then to Missouri with my mom on Thanksgiving. We decided a few days before our trip that we would start introducing Liam to more table foods, so Thanksgiving dinner was a lot of fun! (Is there anyone else out there whose doctor told them to keep their baby on baby food until he or she is 18 months? Isn't that a little late?) Liam liked the mashed potatoes, cheese and noodles. But.......he LOVED the chocolate mousse!

Begging Nana for more of that chocolate stuff...
Liam had a lot of fun playing while we were at my grandma's. He loved having everyone's attention.
Liam thought he needed some of my Blistex, which I am addicted to. I don't know when it happened or how it happened, but I cannot live without my Blistex!
The next day we headed to David's mom and dad's house where Liam made a new best friend, Buddy. Buddy is David's parent's yellow lab who was so sweet to Liam. I didn't have my camera, so we didn't get any pictures of Liam and Buddy playing. :( I'll have to get some at Christmas.

We took our family pics today...I'll post some of those soon along with some pics of our Christmas decor. One week from today is the BIG FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY!!!!!!!!

The calm before the storm

A few weekends ago, my parents came down to celebrate my dad's birthday. After they left on Sunday, we headed to the park in our neighborhood. Liam wasn't sure about the swing at first, but ended up having a blast.

Then he gave the jungle gym a try. I loved, loved, loved playing on the jungle gym when I was a kid!
We sat Liam by some trees in the park to do a quick photo shoot. This is the first picture we got. Liam wanted to play in the grass and Ross just had to go. Haha! No worries, though...nothing got on Liam!
This is the tree in our front yard. Our house sat empty for two years before we moved in and we were the first people to ever live in it. I guess the people who landscaped it forgot to tie down the tree, because it is very crooked! So we propped Liam up against it. It looks like he's pushing it over! He was such a happy boy when we were playing outside.

After we went inside, Liam started acting really tired, so we put him down for a nap. David ran to Wal-Mart and I enjoyed a little quiet time. When Liam woke up, he felt feverish. So, I took his temperature and sure enough he had a fever. We monitored him all night long. Monday morning he woke up with a slight fever and I had the worst headache ever! We stayed home for the day and as the day passed, Liam's fever got higher. We called the doctor and made an appointment for Tuesday morning. Monday night at about 10:45, Liam woke up coughing like a seal and gasping for air. We called the on-call nurse and she immediately diagnosed him with croup and told us to take a walk outside. Within a minute of being outside, Liam was FINE! The croup lasted for a few more miserable days. Just when he started feeling better, he got a cold that turned into a sinus infection and bronchitis. He has been sick now for three and a half weeks. It hurts my heart to see him sick. He seems to be feeling better, so hopefully we'll have a few weeks to enjoy our happy, healthy boy before the next cold hits!!!