caught on tape!

Finally! We got video footage of Liam walking! He's been very sneaky about his walking (only doing it when at someone else's house or if we're at home he'll take steps until we get out the video camera). Enjoy some of the steps we've caught on tape.

birthday party!

We had a small party with Brian's family to celebrate Liam's first birthday. It was originally scheduled for last weekend, but the whole family was sick...so we postponed until today. Liam loved his chocolate cake, balloons, ice cream and all of the presents (well...mainly unwrapping them).

trip to the zoo

We celebrated Liam's 1st birthday by going to the zoo. Liam loved seeing all of the animals (especially the animals from his favorite books). We saw the gorilla, lion and elephant from Goodnight Gorilla, the tiger from Zoo Picnic, and the hippopotamus from But Not the Hippopotamus. Liam was very quiet while taking in all of these new sites and sounds...but as soon as we started to leave he chatted up a storm as we passed the animals we had already seen (it was like he was telling us all about what he saw!) The coolest part of the whole day was we were in the Gorilla house just 1/2 hour after a new baby gorilla was born! It was amazing to see how small he/she was and to wish a happy birthday to a new life on Liam's birthday.

LIAM'S 1ST BIRTHDAY!

WOW....Liam's 1st birthday...we can't believe he's 1 year old. It seems like only yesterday we were headed to the hospital with two gym bags and three names (since we couldn't settle on one until we saw our little guy). As soon as we saw him we knew his name was Liam. The first moments of his life he showed his personality (by squirting his nurse in the face and then cuddling into his daddy's shoulder). He is full of surprises and love. Having Liam in our lives has definitely changed us...but we wouldn't go back to life without him for anything. He is such a joy and a blessing. To know him is to love him.

Liam had a great first birthday. He woke up super happy (and slept all the way through the night!). After breakfast he took a long nap and then we went to the zoo. We had some of his favorite foods and cake for dinner and read all of his favorite stories before bedtime.

Guess who's walking!

Liam has been on the brink of walking for the past week...he was only taking one step before sitting down or diving towards Mommy or Daddy. Saturday night at our Christ Care potluck dinner he decided he was ready to take his first steps. He was holding Brian's hand and decided that he really wanted to get a piece of apple off of the fruit tray. Since Daddy wasn't moving...he went by himself! 5 good steps!!! (Karen's aunt was right...food is a great motivator!)

*video clip to be posted when Liam is willing to walk at home while someone has a camera handy

Happy New Year!

Liam, Brian and Karen celebrated New Year's Eve in Pennsylvania with Karen's cousins, aunt and uncle. Liam had a great time playing with Susan, Gary and Michael. He also helped Susan find more things to baby proof in their house (coffee table with greased hinge underneath=baby with greasy head). We also visited with Brian's aunt and uncle where we met Liam's 2nd cousin Hannah for the first time. (amazing that she's half Liam's age and about the same size!)