Super Snappers

Celebrating New Years a little early with Grandpa Dave!

Christmas 2012

We had a very busy Christmas this year but it was so much fun! You could participate more this year and you understood more of what was going on. My favorite part was watching your reaction to everything! You loved opening presents and were happy with just playing with the bows and wrapping paper. After you'd open your gift you'd want to play with it for a little while and then would move onto the next one. It was the cutest thing to watch! Grandma Terry also made you your very own stocking. She's made stockings for all of us so it was great she got your stocking done in time for this year's Christmas!

We spent Christmas Eve with my side of the family going over to Aunt Staci and Uncle Mike's house. Aunt Sandi, Uncle Jay, cousins Kody and Alex; Aunt Jenn & Uncle Jesse; and Grandma Terry and Grandpa Dave were there too. We had a blast! We ate a lot of great food, opened presents, and played "Jeopardy" which was put together by cousin Dani.

Hanging with cousin Kody

Matching hats!

Oh don't worry you'll grow into these eventually!

With your favorite playmates and cousins, Dani & Alex

Christmas morning we went over to Grandpa Mike & Nana B's house. But before that we had a little family get together with just you, daddy, and I. After all, Santa did come to our house in the middle of the night and he left a few goodies for you. So as soon as you got up that morning we brought you over to the tree where there was a little "Elmo" with a drum set, tambourine, and microphone. I pressed a button on it's foot and it started to dance. You just stared at it and kept staring at it. Then after a couple songs you got up and started to dance with it. It was the cutest thing ever!!

Up at Grandpa Mike & Nana B's house we had a fabulous breakfast and were spoiled once again. We had eggs Benedict and hash browns! Yummy! You even got to try some and did okay eating it. We gave you some fruit which you scarfed down too. We had a very chill morning opening a couple presents, drank mimosas, and hung out by the fire. It was perfect! We were able to put you down for a nap too.

Ready to go sledding now!

A little help from Uncle Josh

Next we went over to Grandpa Tom's house where we had another fabulous meal. It's not the holidays if you don't eat a lot of great food! Grandpa Tom and Grandma Pam made us steak tenderloins, potato casserole, spinach quiche, and homemade rolls and then we had huckleberry pie for dessert. You got to open some more presents too. Your favorite was "Jingle" the talking dog. He responds to a book when certain phrases are read aloud. He'll bark, sing, etc. You loved it and would cuddle with Jingle after he barked.

Merry Christmas Liam! We look forward to the Christmas's to come and the traditions we've now started with you!!

Santa Claus

We took you to see Santa Claus last weekend and you were not enthused at all! You were more intrigued by all the other kids running around and the BIG Christmas tree behind Santa. 

We got there early enough that we didn't have to stand in line too long and when it was time for us to walk in to see Santa you kept hold of daddy real tight. Daddy stood next to Santa with you in his arms hoping this would help you get use to him. We were wrong! When daddy tried to hand you to Santa you grabbed daddy really tight and started to cry. Daddy and I thought for sure we'd have to be in the picture too! But Santa said the best thing to do was to hand you over to him quickly. So that's what daddy did! You didn't cry but you didn't smile either. You weren't a happy camper and had a really concerned look on your face. But it's another one for the books, to look at later and laugh!!

Xmas Tree Hunting

Last weekend we took you into the woods to find the perfect Xmas tree. It was a perfect weekend for it too because we just got a bunch of fresh snow. We stayed pretty close to home just going up the highway a little ways. We went with Robby, Kate, Heather, Mike, and Mike's two kids Kya and Trey. There were a lot of people out doing the same thing we were doing but we found a good spot farther up the road where nobody was at. We got you all bundled up and then headed out into the woods. We sure lucked out this year!! The first tree we saw was the tree we wanted! So while everyone else was finding their trees we played in the snow with you. You had a blast and it was such a beautiful day!! We ended the day with lunch at the Lumberjack. We hung out by the fire and had some GREAT food. The burgers were amazing!!

On the hunt

Playing in the snow

Taking a break with Aunt Kate

Daddy getting ready to cut down our tree

Winter Wonderland

The Gang

Month Fourteen

Liam,

You are now fourteen months old!

This month has been so much fun too! You're talking a lot more and you are using more hand gestures to express yourself. My favorite is if you want to be picked up you’ll raise your hands in front of you and slouch your shoulders and say “uh uh uh”. It’s almost the same kind of gesture you would do when saying “uhh-o”. And speaking of “uhh-o”, it is your new favorite word. You say it all the time and even use it in context! It’s so cute!! You’ll drop something and look down at it and say “uhh-o”. I've tried to get it on video but so far have been unsuccessful. You do a lot of pointing too and if we don’t listen you’ll come over and grab our hand or leg and direct us to where you want to go. Lately you've wanted to go outside and will point at the door or even pull us to the door so we can open it for you.

 Other new words you've said this month are banana, hi, and hot. When you see a banana you’ll point at it and say “nana”. You know hot really well too. If the oven is on you’ll point and say hot. If we’re holding you by the stove you point and say hot. My favorite though is if your food is too hot you’ll say hot and blow on your food. Or you’ll look at us and say hot and want us to blow on your food. It is so cute watching you blow on your own food!

You love to bring us stuff especially your books. You love when we read them to you. If we’re sitting on the floor you’ll hand us the book and then turn around and back yourself into our laps. I laugh every time! Then you’ll point at the book and help turn the pages as we read it. You've really taken an interest in books especially the ones that make noise or have different textures in them. Right now you’re favorite book is “Old MacDonald had a farm”. All daddy has to do is start singing it and you’ll go grab the book. You love to count all the different animals and feel the different textures! We've also caught you sitting on the kitchen floor reading the book to yourself. You were pointing at things on the pages and talking to yourself as you were turning the pages. It was so cute! Your daddy and I were peeking over the island watching you and laughing to ourselves.

You love to play with your keyboard too. When you want it turned on you’ll drag it over to us and point at it until we turn it on. Once it’s turned on you’ll hit the demo key immediately and start dancing! It’s not just little hand movements either; it’s full on twirling, bouncing up and down, and some hand pumping!! This I did get on video!

You've taken some interest in the TV but it’s only for short periods of time and then you’re ready for something else. Yesterday we rented “Brave” and you were really intrigued with it but for only the first thirty minutes! After that you were ready to play! But when you were interested you were watching it non-stop smiling at it and even clapping with it. You’d look at daddy or me and say something and then turn and watch it again. We couldn't believe it! You’d never really wanted to watch anything before and now you were snuggling with us on the couch watching this movie with us.

You are doing a great with everything else. You have no problem taking one nap a day and sometimes on the weekend no nap depending how busy we are. You’re sleeping through the night still but do have an occasional night or two where you’ll get up in the middle of the night and will want a bottle. You're pretty much like clockwork when you want to go to bed and when you get up in the morning. Right now you seem to get tired around 7/7:30 pm so we try to put you down close to that and then you've been waking up around 6:30/7 am with the occasional 6 am. On the weekends sometimes we luck out and you’ll sleep in until 8 am. You are growing like a weed and are eating more and more. From what I can tell you’re not too picky either so you’ll normally eat whatever we put in front of you. Right now you weigh 22 lbs but you have your fifteen month checkup the beginning of next month so we’ll be able to see exactly where you’re at.

Happy fourteen month birthday sweet little boy! This month has been a blast and can’t wait for what else is in store.

Love,
Momma