Beautiful baby

We went for our 20 week ultrasound this morning. Liam was thrilled again to see the "baaaaybeeee!" All looks very good--the doc was happy with how the baby is progressing. He/she is measuring a day bigger, so we are right on track. Our ultrasound technician was the same from our last ultrasound at this office--very sweet lady. She was really fixated on the baby's face, in particular, his/her mouth--she said the babe's lips were beautiful ("textbook perfect!") and she took quite a few pictures of them. You'll see a few below. The doc noticed how many pictures our technician took of the mouth and commented that usually she focuses on the genitalia--well, since we aren't planning on finding out the gender, we steered clear of that part. She did tell us that all was well in that area. ;)
Here are some pictures of the wee babe.

Head and torso with view of spine

Wee arm and hand

Beautiful face


Nose, mouth (open), chin


Little leg and foot

Hand, arm and head

Our next appointment with this group, for the fetal echocardiogram to check out the babe's little heart, is in about a month. We're over the half-way mark, baby! Keep on growing and getting stronger and smarter!

love

b

A Wednesday in the life...

Man, I'm just a posting fool these days! I owe it all to my friend Kristin. She seems to be able to find time to post every few days and we all know how often I usually post. Ahem. So, she has inspired me to do better! Thanks, Kristin! ;)

Today, we went to the licensing bureau to get my drivers' license renewed with our new visa which lasts THREE years as opposed to the one year visa we were on. Yay! Since it went so smoothly, I decided to take Liam for a haircut. Knowing that it was going to be a bit of an ordeal, I chose a kid-friendly hair-cuttery with toys and climbing things and chairs in the shape of cars and trains. But all that? And he still screamed bloody murder. Ah well, it was either take him here or try to do it myself, and still end up with tears and snot and hair everywhere. At least his haircut looks better than when I attempt to do it. And Liam got a free balloon!

We came home and played with our new! car! toy! that we got from our next door neighbours. They've outgrown it and kindly passed it on to Liam. I think they felt sorry for us since our outdoor toys consisted of a ball and a shovel. Hey, I take hand-me-downs. I'm not proud. ;) Anyway, it was super sweet of them and they are also taking pity on us lonely two and having us over for a barbeque tonight. Mmmmm!

Well, Liam seems to have fallen asleep for naptime, I'm going to try to do the same. My evenings have been filled with cleaning (well, last night was...) and I need my energy to keep it up so this house will finally get clean. Tonight it's the kitchen! Beware dried up cheerios under the high-chair! Your days are numbered!

Another beautiful day today--here are some pics of the new haircut, the new car and the shovel--still a favourite toy!

love

b

Pretty Boy

Such a beautiful day! We spent the afternoon, after nap of course, at the park with our friends Lisa and Ethan. Ethan is one week younger than Liam and Lisa is expecting a baby two weeks before ours will arrive! Liam had a great time at the park near their house. Here he is watching the big boys play on the play structure.

We've pretty much been spending as much time outside as we can and it has been a wonderful week, weatherwise, for it. Here's Liam enjoying the slide at our neighbourhood park. It's just his size!

And here's the little man taking his new trike (thanks Auntie Sarah!) for a spin outdoors for the first time.


Aaaaaand, back at the park, again! Ride 'em cowboy!


All that park playing requires some good food! After eating his dinner, Liam likes to play, "Is it a hat?" Whether it's a spoon, a muffin wrapper, a bowl, a plate, a sippy cup, the answer is always, "Nooooooooo."



And this last one is of Liam being Momma Duck, saying, "Quack, quack, quack!" when her little ducklings go off to play, "over the fields and far away."

Bring it on, summer. We are ready for you.

love

b

Happy 19-monthiversary, Liam!

love,
Mommy & Daddy

The explosion of language

Liam has gone from Mr. Crankmaster McStinkerpants to Angel Child from Heaven in a matter of weeks. Just around 16-17 months, he went through a developmental spurt where he was a tad ornery. He couldn't communicate what he wanted to say, eat, play with, etc. and he REFUSED to use his signs, to my utter frustration. He woke up earlier and fussed at bed and bath-time more, he didn't want to let me out of his sight, he had less patience for reading books, painting, colouring, playing with trains, and all of his other fave things to do. All the normal growth/developmental spurt stuff, but man, were those days long. Luckily it only lasted a couple of weeks and now, NOW, he is just talking up a storm. Almost everything has a name, we may not be able to understand it right away, but he tries to pronounce the words for objects in his daily life. For example, waffles are 'vava', his stool is 'ool', stop is 'bop', doggie is 'goggie' etc. Thank goodness, a cow can now 'mooo' and a horse can now 'naaaaayyy'. I was getting worried there that the only animal who would get to have a voice would be the beloved sheep, who has been baa-ing since before Liam turned 1.

Other words that are clear as day are 'byeeee!' 'no' 'onnnn' 'no' 'me' 'mamma' 'dadda' 'no'...oh, and did I say, 'no'? One of Liam's favourite times to say 'no' is in the car, while we are driving. DJ Mommy plays a tune, Liam says 'no'...DJ Mommy starts a new song, Liam says 'no'...this can go on for about 10 songs before Liam decides that the one that is playing will just have to do. The waitress at the restaurant this morning commented that Liam sure knows what he likes (when I asked him what he wanted he said, "vava"). Yes, thankfully, Liam definitely can express his likes and dislikes much more easily these days.

Liam has also begun to say a few short sentences: "I'm tall" which sounds like 'I taw' and "Mommy, catch!" which sounds like, 'Momma, kek!' I almost heard an, "I do it" today, too. I'm sure that one will be a favourite phrase.

Liam has also astounded us by beginning to read words. He can now read no (ha big surprise), go, stop, me, Mommy, Daddy, Liam. He's working on a few more that are easy to read and have sounds that he is confident with. He loves to play with his letters, numbers and word cards--which I made from construction paper and markers. They aren't very durable, but easy to replicate when they get lost or crumpled. One game that Liam likes to play is the stop-go game. He has his stop card and his go card in each hand and I tickle him until he says stop, then he will say go again and I'll continue until he says stop. He loves to say go really quietly and yell out stop! But, the word cards get quite banged up as he is clutching them for dear life during the go phases. :)

Well, tomorrow is Liam's 19-monthiversary, so I'll be posting a picture of him and Puppy (who has become Pup-pup, lately). Scott has flown off to Florida for the biggest race of his career, he's indicated. The 12 hours of Sebring race will run next Saturday and should promise to be an exciting show. Liam and I plan to keep ourselves busy, busy, busy this week to make the week go by quickly until we can see Daddy/Scott again next Sunday night. On Monday morning after, we have our 20 week appointment and we *may* get to see the little one again! We have an ultrasound at 23 weeks, so it may get bumped for that one, but maybe they will just want to take a little peek.

Here is Liam contemplating the meaning of life.

Errr, or wondering how the sponge would taste with a coating of chalk...

love,

b

Making Da Pizza

The key to a happy child? Hanging out with Mommy and keeping busy, busy, busy!
:)

A few points of interest:
-No children were harmed in the making of this video;
-Yes, I have a head;
-Er...the camera adds 10 pounds...or the baggy maternity clothes...or the chocolate that I've been inhaling...same thing ;)

Distraction

Liam loves the camera. He loves (even more) watching videos of himself on the camera. To entertain him, I'll shoot a little video of him and he'll watch it over and over and over! I guess it's good that we don't ever watch TV, or he would never turn it off!!