Halloween

Halloween is now a special day in our house. We always remember that today was supposed to be Liam's birthday. We didn't do much this year for Halloween for two reasons. First, Liam is too young to appreciate it. Trying to get him to wear socks and hats is a battle enough so the idea of a costume just seemed like a big battle for no reason. Since he doesn't eat candy we didn't feel a big need to get into trick-or-treating this year. Next year we will attempt Halloween with Liam.

Second, Liam seems to have caught a cold (or has allergies) or something. He is very hoarse and has been coughing a lot. He was OK this morning, but this afternoon from 3:00 PM on was hard work. He was very irritable, clingy, fussy, etc. We thought it might be fun for him to see neighborhood children trick-or-treating, but we only had ONE child come this year.

On top of all this, today is the day we go back to standard time. In addition to everything else, we wanted to keep Liam up another hour to try to get him adjusted to the time change. We will find out tomorrow morning if we have been successful or if we just cost ourselves 2 hours of sleep. Here is a picture of our little guy when he was not fussing today. Oma, as you can see, he still loves his Sandmaennchen.

For comparison - Liam on his due date last year

Call me Bubbles!

When we went to give Liam his bath tonight we realized that Tobias' tub was not working. One of the faucets is stripped and we could not get the water on. We had to go back to the old way of bathing Liam in his tub on the counter. It was a messy, fun time. We have been teaching Liam to splash in the normal tub, so we couldn't easily change the rules now that he was back on the counter. You can imagine how much water was on the counters before we finished bath time!!

Call be Bubbles!!

It's like Tobias told him to put it there. :-)

Exploring the world

The Fall weather has been lovely the last couple of days. This morning we took Liam for a walk. We went to the overlook at Williams Field and he had lots of fun exploring the Noland Trail. (BTW - thank you Win, Wes, and Charlie for my jeans, jacket, and shoes!!)

(The resolution isn't great because these are cell phone pics,
but if you look hard you can see Liam's top front teeth in this picture.)

Something old and something new

First the 'something old': No matter how many times he goes to time out, Liam cannot resist some of the cardinal timeout offenses. Right now touching the TV and electrical equipment is his favorite vice.

Now the something new: Yesterday Liam's new find was the spoon. He played with the spoon for most of the evening. Tobias and I were not sure if we should punish him or reward him for touching the TV and receiver with the spoon and then looking at us to see if it counted. (It did.)

Yard work - in style!

Tobias is always so diligent with stuff around the house. It is not unusual to see him working every day on something. What I had not seen before was yard work in formal dress. I have to admit, this sight made me chuckle when I got home yesterday evening!

15 year reunion

Last night I had my 15 year high school reunion. It was great fun catching up with several people I had not seen in years. The most fun, though, was spending time with some of my favorite people.

Still my favorite German exchange student

The Papa John's Crew

Alex's mom, Beth, got us all jobs at Papa John's in high school. She died of cancer a few years ago. Her favorite drink was Wild Turkey bourbon. This was a toast to Beth. Gone but not forgotten!

Yesterday was also a big day for Liam. He stayed with a babysitter for 5 hours when Tobias and I went to the Norfolk Wine Festival. Thankfully, he did really well!!

I might be cute but I can ROAR!!

Since the weather has finally decided to cool off, Liam is now moving into his fleeces and sweaters. This is a jacket that GG gave him for his birthday. I think this is too cute for words. It's the only head covering he will leave on!!

What sound does this animal make??? RROOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRRR!!!!!

Rain, rain go away!!

Yesterday we had a miserably rainy day due to some weather off the coast. Liam needed a rain coat for the first time. He was not happy about a hat he could not remove so it was difficult to get a picture of a wiggle worm!! These were as good as I could get.


Liam is also very interested in fingers foods. After about 15 failed attempts, he is finally eating scrambled eggs. This morning he ate a very large (and messy) breakfast of scrambled eggs and and an English muffin.

Look, Oma!

Oma, look what I wore to the store this morning!! It's finally cool enough. I loved it. It was perfect for our Autumn weather. Thank you again for all your hard work!

Beaver boy

How much wood has Liam chucked, 'cause Liam can chuck wood!! Remember when Nanna joked about Liam becoming a beaver once his top teeth came in? She was right! Liam's top front teeth came in last week and his top eye teeth are about to pop through. If things continue, we won't have to worry about him climbing out of his crib . . . he will eat his way out first!

Feet, cousins, and Nutella

Liam is now gives himself his bottles. We love that he has found a nice, comfy position for his bottles. He now always kicks his feet up. Wonder if we are gonna have to address the issue of putting his feet on the table while he eats . . .



Ann and Abby came over Friday night to spend the night. Here is a little play time with his cousins.

Another 'like father, like son' moment . . . Liam loves Nutella!! At this point he just loves playing with the jar, but one day he will get to try it.

GG

Ever wonder what GG does to fill her time?? . . .
How about 4 great grandchildren over to play? :)

Bigger and bigger every day

Liam is in another phase where he looks bigger to us. Here are some pics of our growing boy!!

Papi T and Liam playing 'auf & zu' (open & close)

Auf

Zuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!

Liam now wants to sit with us in a bar stool.
He was my company when I was cooking today.
(The drool you see is due to another round of teething.)

Look what I can do, Oma and Opa

Oma and Opa - look what I can do now!! I finally figured out how Opa Wilhelm's police car works.

Evening entertainment

After several days of having a very fussy and irritable son, it was nice to see evidence of our sweet little boy again!! Liam's top two front teeth have now broken through the gums and he seems to be working on his top eye-teeth. We figure this is what has been bothering him all day and all night. Last night he was up every 2-3 hours. We are hoping for a better night tonight!!

Tonight he finally started playing and laughing again. We always enjoy finding out what Liam finds funny. Tonight it was Mom cutting sweet potatoes. He has also moved from being afraid of Tobias' helicopter to being fascinated by it. Tonight he was mesmerized by it. Onkel Dodi, this is for you. :)

Homecoming: 1 year later

Today was the anniversary of Liam's homecoming. It is amazing to think how much things have changed in a year's time. When Liam came home this time last year he was so tiny and helpless . . . not anymore!

Liam gave Nanna and all of us a bit of shock today!! When he got up from his nap, Nanna put him in his high chair (with tray on) and gave him his juice. She then walked down the stairs from the breezeway into the den and went to the laundry room to get some laundry. Not long after she reached the laundry room, Liam crawled up behind her!!! None of us can figure out how he got out of his highchair and onto the floor. Mom never heard him fall or move. He has navigated stairs for a while now, but he still tries to go down the stairs head first instead of feet first. We have been working on teaching him feet first. Tobias said to me, ' . . . and how much do you want to bet he didn't got down the stairs feet first?'. So, as best we can tell, he somehow escaped his highchair, crawled to the stairs, went down the stairs head first and met Nanna in the laundry room.

I think it went something like this . . .

Mission: Possible, Mom!