Liam & Mr. Monkey...A Year in Review

While they were about a week late, we did get the official 12 month photos with Mr. Monkey in early January:

Squirreling away Cheerios

Such a happy kid!

It is amazing how much our baby has grown over this past year.  We can definitely see it, but in comparison to Mr. Monkey, the contrast is even more impressive!  Here is a photo history of Liam and Mr. Monkey, months 1-12 :)

Month One

Month Two

Month Three

Month Four

Month Five

Month Six

Month Seven

Month Eight

Month Nine

Month Ten

Month Eleven

Month Twelve

Just keep growing, growing, growing...

January has been another month of growing and learning for Liam.  He discovered the fun that is Finding Nemo (although mom and dad may have enjoyed that more than Liam, at least for now!), and is loving all his new toys from Christmas and his birthday.  We spend a lot of time playing on the farm, typing on the laptop, playing the piano and reading.  Liam LOVES his books, and he's almost as happy to sit and "read" to either himself or you as he is for you to read to him. 

Discovering the joy of Barnes and
Noble at an early age :)

He does have a clear favorite when it comes to an author though - Leslie Patricelli.  Quiet Loud was the favorite book, but it has somehow disappeared (OH NO!).  Luckily thought, Big Little was there to save the day, and since then we've also added No No Yes Yes and Yummy Yucky.  As Liam learned to shake his head no no no no no (and sometimes yes yes yes), that one is starting to become a favorite as well.  If you haven't seen these books before, I highly recommend them, they are very fun, and you can make them interactive with the opposites.  :)

Little guy not feeling so well

Liam started off 2013 with a bang, managing to hit the trifecta in early January - the flu, pneumonia and an ear infection.  It was along week, but he recovered quickly and seems to be doing much, much better.  We're hoping it stays that way, a few weeks of a healthy kid would be welcome at this point.  The fun right now is teething, as each of the past two weekends we had another tooth pop through.  Slowly.  And apparently painfully.  Poor kid.  We're up to SEVEN teeth though, four on top and three on bottom.  I suspect we're going to see a few more shortly here though the way those gums look!

We are starting to recognize more and more words, and he does like to babble away.  "No" is quite clear, and "Harley" is at times.  He is a little mimic though, and it's a fun game to get him to try to say or do what you do.  This works for animal sounds, talking, dancing, and even eating at times.  We have so much fun with him, and Liam keeps us both on the go and very entertained.  Now if we can just keep him healthy, we'll be on a roll!

Celebrate!

A small group of family and friends gathered today to celebrate Liam's first birthday!  Lots of food, and of course some cake (cupcakes for everyone else) and the usual amount of fun and craziness made for a fun afternoon.  At least until 3 of the 4 kids here had to go down for a nap.  That tends to cut a party short :)

He wasn't all that excited about his cake, especially at first, and was actually relatively "neat" when it came to eating.  Liam would only eat the cake with his spoon, silly kid.  The one time we want him to go all out and make a mess, he insists on using his manners :)  He got some fun toys, awesome clothes, played hard and then crashed for a nap.  All in all, I think he had a pretty good day.

Happy Birthday, Liam!

Liam Turns ONE!

It has been one year since Liam Wallace entered this world and joined our family and made our lives even more joyful.  I have a very hard time believing that it has been a year already, and when I look at how much he has changed and grown and learned over this past year, I'm simply amazed.  We are so blessed to have such a sweet, happy and loving little boy.  Liam is always smiling, and loves both books and computers (taking after both his parents!).  He's quick with a high-five, always up for a snack, and loves to share his Cheerios with Harley. 

So where are we now?  Liam has 4 teeth (3 on bottom, 1 on top and another 1 on top so close to popping through!).  He's toddling around and while crawling gets him there faster, he's starting to prefer to walk.  He babbles and tells fabulous stories.  He loves to Skype and play peek-a-boo (even if he has to play it by himself).  His new favorite things are forts and he loves to see if you are paying attention when he heads over to try to tip over the dog's water and eat her food.  The kid eats like a HORSE and there are very few things he doesn't like.  Broccoli appears to be a favorite :)  He loves to play with his cousins and adores his grandparents.  Liam has always been a bit of a Daddy's boy and still lights up when he sees Jay.  He now also adds a "dada" to the smile. 

Right now he isn't a very happy boy as early this morning we had our well-baby check, including 3 shots and a finger prick blood draw.  It's been a rough go since then, but I'm hoping the birthday improves for my monkey.  A bottle and some Tylenol already seems to be helping, now we'll settle in for some of his favorite PBS shows and some cereal. 

We got our measurements today, and I thought I'd so a little comparison :)

Then:                                                                                            Now:
7 lbs 12 oz                                                                                     23 lbs 6 oz (80th percentile)
20.5 inches                                                                                    29.75 inches (47th percentile)
a big head :)                                                                                  19.25 inches (99th percentile)

I'm so excited to see what changes and adventures this next year brings.  This past year has been the most wonderful, exhausting, amazing and unbelievable experience.  Our little monkey is growing up to be a special kid, and I can't wait to see that continue.

Just a few more photos from his one year photos/family photo shoot earlier this month:

Liam's First Christmas

This year we spent Christmas with the Zwagerman side of the family up at the lake, visiting Grandma and Grandpa. With all 3 grandkids there, it wasn't exactly a quiet holiday, but it sure was fun!  It was busy weekend, full of family and friends, which is the perfect way to spend Christmas.  Liam not only got to celebrate his first Christmas, but also his first Festivus!

While he still hasn't quite figured out the whole "opening gifts" thing, he certainly enjoyed all his new toys, and he was only a *little* spoiled :)  It was wonderful to see all the family and friends and Liam had so much fun.  He played HARD all 4 days and was so tired that he slept 13 hours through the night after we got home on Christmas day!

He needs to get his rest though, we have a big week ahead of us of playing and visiting, his 1 year checkup at the doctor, and his first birthday! I still need to figure out how to do an album on here, but while I do that, here are a few Christmas highlight photos

I hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas and that the spirit of Christmas, sharing and giving, stays with you throughout the year.

Attempting to sneak up on the presents while Harley enjoys her new toy from Santa

Opening up presents from Santa (with a bit of help from his cousins!)

Stealing one of Amelia's gifts from Santa -- Thor's hammer

Already learning how to drive

New book!

His very own microphone

Cousins!

Playing paper dolls

These two are going to be trouble!