38 weeks pregnant

Here is the one picture that I have of my belly- it's HUGE! I wasn't this big with Liam, and I was able to lay around all day- not chase after a two year old. So while most of Liam's pregnancy was more difficult than this one, the end of this one has been more challenging. Almost there now though...any day!

Liam is Two!

I can't believe our little man is two! We had a great time celebrating his birthday, although we didn't have a party. We didn't want to plan anything big, since I was 37 weeks pregnant at that point, and we weren't sure what to expect! Turns out we could have had a party, because here I sit at 38 weeks, still pregnant! Oh well, we had fun anyway!

We took him to Chuck E. Cheese the weekend before his birthday with my mom. He didnt like the rides that moved, but loved pushing all the buttons and the "steering" games, even with no tokens. Josh and I played all the games, while grandma ran around with him- see? fun for all!

The day before his birthday I made Chocolate dipped Rice Krispie treats shaped like Mickey Mouse and we took them to his friends at my mom's group for snack. On his birthday we didn't do much, but we played whatever he wanted and took him for ice cream after dinner. The following day we took him to have his portraits done.

Snow Days!

We have gotten a few big snow storms this year, but I think most of the country has, so I won't complain too much! Liam HATED the snow at first. The first time we left the house and there was snow on the ground he just looked out the car window and pointed at it and said "Ewww". He doesn't like it on his shoes, or his clothes, or anywhere. We decided that, living in Michigan, this could be a problem, so Josh took him out to play. It backfired at first, as he fell in the snow straight on his face, but then it wasn't so bad. Josh was even able to convince him to touch the snow, even if it was brief. Now he is used to it, and likes to see it and touch it, but still doesn't love it. He likes to run up and down the CLEAR sidewalks, and looks out the window and says "look at the snow".

Big Boy Bed

We knew that we needed to move Liam to a toddler bed soon, since he is a climber, and we didn't want him hurting himself climbing out of his crib. Not to mention we wanted to crib for the new baby, and wanted him out of it long before she arrives, so that he didn't feel like she took over his bed.

It was a little scary at first..


But then mabye not so bad.

The first couple of nights went great- I thought- wow, I was expecting a big deal, but that wasn't so much at all! And then the third night came...that's when he realized that he could get out of the bed anytime he wanted...even in the middle of the night. And so he did. 13 times. I ended up sleeping on the couch so that I could intercept him before he woke us both up! Supernanny says if your child gets out of bed, take them by the had, avoid eye contact, and lead them back to bed without cuddling them or talking much. I did this consistently, and by the 12th time, he took me by the hand, led HIMSELF back to bed, and crawled in. Geez. Since then, he has done much better- we started putting a baby gate over his door when he goes to bed at night, just in case!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas this year was a lot of fun. Liam "got" the idea of presents, and loved to open them. He would open them and say "WOW!" and get very excited, even about things that are not very exciting- like a pair of socks that he opened for me! I thought it was going to be a full-time job to keep him out of the Christmas Tree, but he really didn't do too bad after the first day. He WAS obsessed with the train that we set up around the bottom of the tree, and this "choo choo" obsession has continued.

My family got to come visit us on Christmas day (they traveled in a downpour of rain!) and stay until the 28th (they traveled home in a snow storm, and it took them 8 hours to get less than halfway home!) We had a great time visiting with them. Josh's mom and Grandma came up on the 28th and stayed until the 31st- also a fun time. Here are some photos:


Liam enjoyed helping me bake our Christmas cookies this year, or at least cleaning the beaters.



Here is one of our finished platters- yum!


After eating a little too much fudge! This is what sugar does to a toddler!


Watching an episode of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (another obsession) with my parents

Anxiously awaiting the train coming around the tracks.

Opening his wagon- a gift from Josh's parents. He had the paper ripped off before they even made it all the way through the door!

Putting the star on top of the tree.

Thanksgiving

We were advised not to travel during the second and third trimester of this pregnancy, since I went into pre-term labor with Liam. Because of this, we weren't able to go home for Thanksgiving. We had some wonderful friends invite us and another couple over for dinner, which was wonderful. The day after Thanksgiving, we went to Indianapolis- halfway between Josh's sister's house and ours. We thought it would probably be okay, since it's only about 4 and half hours from home, and they have a hospital with a NICU, should something have happened (The town I grew up in does not have a level 3 NICU, nor does Josh's town, which is one of the reasons they told us to stick close to home). We don't get to see Josh's sister very often, so we thought we would take advantage of the opportunity.

It was a fun and thankfully uneventful trip- just a nice time visiting. One funny thing did happen- we were walking around a mall downtown, and Liam got really excited and started pointing at something. I asked him what he saw, and he said "A-T-T! A-T-T!" There was an AT&T store just ahead of us, and he recognized the logo. Maybe a sign that we were watching too much college football, as AT&T sponsors the halftime shows! Ever since he saw that store, he gets really excited about seeing AT&T stores and trucks, and even got his own phone with an AT&T logo on it, when Josh got his new phone.

Here are a couple of pics from our trip:

Josh, Liam and I with his sister Amy, her husband Brandon, and their daughter Taylor. I was about 28 weeks pregnant at this point.

Josh's dad with Liam and Taylor (Josh's sister's little girl- his only cousin so far!)