12.1.12 ~ Liam Fest 2012: Four-Year-Old Edition

It's the middle of the night. I've been working and drinking coffee. So what better time to post pictures from Liam's Birthday.

As always, we were in Baltimore for Thanksgiving and Liam's birthday. Like last year, we threw Liam a party there. This year we had an Octonauts theme and Aunt Bar made another memorable cake. This might be the last year we get away with throwing Liam a party with our Baltimore friends and their kids. Liam clicked very well with all of his party guests  - but they aren't the usual crew he hangs out with in New York. One day he might realize he wants to celebrate his birthday with them!

These pictures do zero justice to the level of chaos that my parents' house absorbed - or the amount of presents Liam got. We have generous friends and family. Liam has an toy problem in his bedroom.

On the 25th, Liam's actual birthday, we went over to Gram's house in the morning and then hit the road back to NYC. This, unfortunately is not in focus - but I love it anyway.

Back in NY, we took Liam out to lunch and then he played with all of his new toys.

Today we celebrated Liam's birthday again with his friends at school. First they ate pizza, then we sang Happy Birthday to my very embarrassed little boy, then they ate the HUGE Crumbs cupcake we brought, and then Liam handed out goody bags to everyone.

And that concludes Liam-fest 2012. It was a good year for three-year-old Liam. I'm hoping the coming year has just as many good things in store.

11.29.12 ~ Genetics at Work

This is a baby picture of Marn, Jason's Mother's Father. And Nora. 

It's clear why Jason calls her Little Marn. 

11.29.12 ~ Funny Without Trying

After a long day I always appreciate the Preschool Room email which includes a full transcript of the daily meeting with the kids. Liam's participation always provides a much needed laugh: 

(Note: Oscar was the kids' soccer coach this semester)


Meeting

Kuan: We have been working on signing a card for Oscar. The only one who hasn’t singed in Annabelle. So Annabelle, can you go with Mary F to sign the card? We also made chocolate chip cookies yesterday and put them in this special box to give to Oscar. We also have extra cookies, enough for one per customer. We are going to write a letter to Oscar and put it in the envelope and while I write I will call on you. How do we start the letter?

Danil: Dear Oscar

Zoe: Thank you for teaching us soccer.

Kuan: Yes we are saying thank you. Thank you for teaching us…

William: Soccer.

Liam: Thank you for taking a water break.

Kuan: Thank you for giving us a water break?

Liam nods.

11.25.12 ~ Happy 4th Birthday, Liam!

Our baby boy is four. How did that happen? My. Baby. Is. Four. Our beautiful, tricky, talkative, forgiving, naughty, clever, independent, affectionate, empathetic, focused baby is four.

Here's his year in review. It was a big one. 

Liam, we're only four years in... but it feels like much longer. I love you forever. Love, Mommy

11.19.12 ~ Parenting Face

My Aunt took this picture at Vera's house and I like it. I like the carpets and the sun, I like my long hair, I like my mom smiling in the background, and I like that I look like I'm really parenting and Liam is really listening.

11.13.12 ~ Tricks

I have zero time (I cannot wait for this semester to be over). But Nora is doing so many new things that I had to jot down a quick list before I forget everything.

-She is finally babbling! (albeit, not much)
-She claps when others clap
-She pats the table when Liam pats the table
-She dances with one hand in the air when she hears music or singing
-She's been army crawling (as evidenced in the last video)
-She laughs hysterically when Liam plays peekaboo with her
-She gives open mouthed, slobber kisses
-And within the last two days she figured out how to get into the sitting position from her belly.

She also has pink eye. Boo.

11.10.12 ~ Pre-Crawling

In the last couple of days Nora has gone from a roller to a scooter/army crawler/legit mobile baby. Real crawling isn't far away.

What's that racket in the background, you ask?  Liam was acting out the entire Cars movie while listening to the soundtrack. Since our trip to Radiator Springs, he is now the proud owner of the entire fleet of Cars characters.

11.9.12 ~ Cali Through the Eyes of Jason

And Jason's got quite the eye too. Maybe next time we'll equip him with more than just a camera phone. 

 

11.9.12 ~ Cars Land

After the wedding, our little faction drove back north to Corona Del Mar to see where Hannah and Toros live and then continued on to Cars Land at Disney.

Monday morning we woke up at 4am again (our kids did that every day in Cali - the time zone and the end of daylight savings really screwed us on the sleep front). So, we showed up at Disney bright and early. Liam was being weird though. He wasn't nearly as excited when we got there as we thought he'd be. He sort of stared at everything with a dead pan look on his face. We asked him if he was ok, if he was overwhelmed, if he was underwhelmed, if he was tired, if he was hot (it was 90 degrees!), or if he felt sick. He just kept replying that he was fine. Eventually, sometime after lunch, he perked up and started getting excited about things. He really liked seeing the life size Lightening McQueen and Mater characters. He was also excited to go on the new Cars ride which we had been waiting all day for. It takes you on a journey through the mountains and then ends in a race through the dessert. Nora was too small for the ride so I waited with her while Jason took Liam. When they got back Liam reported back that the ride was scary. Inside the mountain you get to see some of the characters from the movie including the scary combine tractor, Frank. And the racing at the end is sort of fast and dippy like a roller coaster. We had gotten a parent "switch pass" which meant that I could take Liam a second time with out standing in line - but Liam didn't want to go on the scary ride again. In not my proudest parenting moment, I guilted my scared little guy into going again so that I could go too. He resisted at first, but then went along with it. Because he is awesome and willing to face his fear for the sake of his mother's entertainment. He buried his face in my side for the majority of it and was very happy when it was over. I was glad I got to see it. So, win win, right? No? Next time I will try to not exploit the child's love for me.

11.9.12 ~ Vera and Chas got Hitched

Our trip to San Diego went as well as it possibly could. We drove to DC, flew to Dallas, connected to Irvine, and then drove to San Diego. Our kids were awesome. Liam watched movies, played with toys, annoyed fellow travelers by running around and bumping into people in the Dallas airport, and was generally happy. Nora got a little fidgety and fussy at times, but mostly enjoyed sitting in her Mama's lap. She slept for almost the entire second flight which was great for me since I got to sleep too. I documented the trip via Instagram:

Hitting the road and leaving hurricane-destroyed NYC behind. 

Found a Starbucks on the turnpike that had power.

Checking up on the safety instructions.

Waiting to board in Dallas. 

Sleeping on the plane.

Sleepy kids at the baggage claim.. but we made it to Cali!

Glad we made it!

After our long journey we settled into our hotel room and woke up the next morning to the beautiful San Diego sun. Well, to be fair we woke up at 4am about three hours before the sun because our jet lagged kids wouldn't stay asleep. But anyway - once the sun came out we forgot all about our long trip and sleepless night and enjoyed seeing Vera and Chas's new house, getting our nails done, rehearsing the wedding for the next day, playing on the beach (where we discovered that Liam and Chas are kindred spirits), and partying it up at Chas's parents' beach house.

The next day, Nora and I went over to Vera's house to help get ready for the wedding while Liam and Jason hung out with Jonas, Brittany, and Heiko. Nora was such a delight the entire time. She took a little pre-wedding nap on Vera's climbing crash pad and played around on the floor while we all did make up and hair. The child is extremely serious and doesn't hand out smiles easily - but she is also extremely content. Throughout our whole trip she let all kinds of people she didn't know well hold her.

And Liam - he bonded immediately with Heiko (who we shared a hotel room with) and my cousin Patrick's son Ciaran. Then Liam proceeded to have the most fun at the wedding out of everyone. He ate, he danced, he played, and then he crashed.

The wedding was beautiful. It was truly a DIY wedding. Vera and Chas pulled the whole thing off in their backyard. And the food came from food trucks which is cooler and yummier than any caterer. And it was so wonderful to have my family together. It was also cute to see all of the cousins together in one place. I miss all of my siblings and their kids all the time. Now Helki needs to get married so that we have another non-Christmas excuse to all be in one place! Helki and Justin... come on!

And we got another decent family picture: