August 17, 2009: LIAM'S 1ST BIRTHDAY!! and Nick's Bday too :)

Oh my gosh...Liam is a year old. I can't believe it's gone this fast...and that's it's taken me this long to post about their birthday weekend! We did a bowling party since technically that's what we were supposed to do last year for Nick when I went into labor early. The party was great and we had alot of friends come to celebrate with the boys.

I almost forgot to take a picture before cutting into Liam's red velvet cake! Nick's was coconut...both courtesy of James (and Susie Cakes)! Of course Liam had to have a designer cake for his bday, he's an LA baby. We all enjoyed the cake, esp. Liam :)

They both got so many wonderful, generous gifts. Liam got more of his favorites....books and a bat! His friends sure do know him well :)

Yes, Liam woke up so excited the next morning when he realized he had 2 bats!! (Thanks Dempseys!) Now he just has to figure out how to crawl holding both of them :)

On Sunday Liam went to a BBQ with 5 dogs, a big yard, and a trampoline! Needless to say he barely ate anything there, he was too busy...here is "jumping" with James and Linus (the dog)

On Monday we went to Disneyland!! Here is Liam getting ready for the visit...he doesn't even know what he's in for I guess :)

Liam and I picked Nick up at work since his office is right next to Disney...

We're here!! I gotta be honest, we were so worried about leaving our stroller just parked somewhere while we were in line and on rides, but everyone does it. It's like the Disney honor code, nothing gets stolen. It's nice that you can still have that kind of faith somewhere in the world...and of course the happiest place on earth is totally appropriate :)

Here is Liam's rating of the rides...LOVED the carousel, liked Dumbo, tolerated It's a Small World, and whimpered through Pirates of the Caribbean.

Both Nick and Liam enjoyed naps at Disney...Overall it was a pretty memorable day!

So Liam went for his one year check up at my office :) He's 29.5 inches tall (35%), almost 23 lbs (50th%) and his head is 50 cm (>150th%). So his weight and height did plateau somewhat in the last 3 months but his head just keeps on going. To put it in perspective Liam and I can now share hats :) He didn't get his shots because he has another ear infection and bronchitis, but who could tell cause he's always smiling! Overall, his development is just booming. At one year old he's walking holding on to just one of our fingers...sooo close to doing it on his own. He plays peek-a-boo with us...

and points to everything...favorites are his soccer ball (like the one in his book!), his bat, balloons, and dogs. When I'm getting ready in the morning I send him on "missions" to collect certain objects around the room and bring them back to me so I can do my make-up. Some people (Mallie!) call it playing fetch with him, but he's so much smarter than any old dog :)

He is just still the happiest baby. He is loving the toddler room at school and comes home with lots of new sounds and expressions. He's still way into reading...he flips through his own books in the morning and when he's riding in the car. And of course we go through at least 10 before putting him to bed. He loves pushing his cars and trucks up and down the hallway and is cruising along pretty fast on his push-toys George (the lion) and Dorothy (the giraffe). He's drinking whole milk and trying all our food as well. He's still not a huge eater so we do about 5 mini-meals a day. He loves music and we sing lots of silly kiddie songs throughout the day, including pattycake which he now plays with us. He still loves the park, esp. swinging, climbing UP the slide, and feeding the ducks. We go on a walk almost everyday in his Step 2 car visiting either the park or his other favorite, the dog grooming salon where all the dogs are in the window! He has still 2 bottom teeth, but 3 teeth are cutting on the top..all on the left side...yeah, it looks a little funny but oh well :) He is FINALLY sleeping through the night and wakes up at 6am calling out for his daddy who's usually just about to leave for work. It's been a whole year and we're still just as smitten...maybe a little more actually. Happy Birthday Liam and Nick, the loves of my life!