Merry Christmas from Liam

Let's Talk Turkey

Liam tried some turkey today for the first time. He wasn't really that in to it, but he loved his old standby...sweet potatoes!



He most enjoyed his new favorite activity...crawling under the table.

Happy Halloween!

We were going for a spooky look. Thanks to cuz Henry for the cute outfit!

Liam and Luca

Katie just sent these and they were too adorable not to post. Buddies already!

North Country

Liam and I went to visit the girls this weekend in Chicago, and then we went up to Door County, Wisconsin, for a little R&R at Katie's cabin. Too bad traveling with a 9 month old is not really relaxing! But we still had fun.

First, we stopped off in Highland Park to see Julie, Peter, and Pablo's new digs.



Then we headed up north to explore Door County. These pictures were taken at Peninsula State Park.

Liam and his ladies...



The firetower (Jen, Katie, and Jessica pictured at the top)...

The firetower was absolutely covered in lady bugs. Here is Liam trying to pick one up like a Cheerio.

Liam and I on the middle platform of the tower. We didn't make it all the way up because I was scared. From the look on his face, Liam's inherited Mommy and Daddy's fear of heights (Mark is even worse than me!).

Posing for a photo session with Aunt Jami...

The cabin comes complete with transportation...scooters! For any of you out there that loves the show "Scrubs" like Mark and I, the scooters gave me many giggles.

Out to breakfast...wherever we went this weekend, Liam charmed the room. This breakfast spot was no different.

All and all, a great visit. Now back to work on my thesis!

Pictures from a great Great Aunt

Mark's aunt Lee Ann came over for a visit yesterday and took some great shots of Liam, so I thought I'd share them with the rest of you.

Posing with Aunt Lee Ann...

Showing off his teeth (eight!) and his new favorite activity...clapping!

Swooping in for a kiss from mommy...

Less than thrilled over his cute new hat (but I love it!!)...

Our friend Henry

Described by his parents as "an Elton John pirate with a concern for dental hygiene", we love this photo and found it to be blogworthy.

We miss you, Henry! We hope to see you and your parents soon!

More birthday greetings

All these birthdays make Liam hungry!

Celebrity Sighting

Liam made his way on to the Louisville Courier-Journal's web page after visiting the farmer's market on Saturday morning. We've only been here two weeks and he's already taking the city by storm!

For more pictures of the farmer's market, check out the Kentuckiana Moms web page.

Happy as can be!

I can't find the cord that hooks my camera to my computer...and to be honest, I haven't taken a single picture of Liam in the last two weeks. Moving has made me a poor blogger. I've borrowed this one from our friends Ryanne and Jono, who baptized their young daughter Adele this weekend. Liam was clearly excited to be there!

Breakfast with the McCarter's

Yesterday, Mark and Liam spent the morning with our good friends Ben and Erin, who are newly married and about to embark on an awesome adventure. Erin (a lawyer...they both are...but the good kind) has taken a position as the clerk to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Palau. Palau? You ask. Where is Palau? I thought the same thing. Learn more about it here (disclaimer: as an academic and the wife of a teacher, I don't usually endorse Wikipedia as a reliable reference, but for this...perfect). It has been helpful having friends move to exotic locales, because it has improved my geography. An interesting fact about my American education--I am about to get my Master's degree, and I have NEVER EVER been required to take a geography class. Isn't that crazy? When my friends Mary and Joey moved to Singapore two years ago, I learned how awful my knowledge of Asian geography was, so I boned up a bit. Then Ben and Erin had to go and move to Micronesia...I had to learn Asian geography all over again!

Anyway, Ben took some awesome pictures of Liam and I wanted to share them. We'll miss you, Ben and Erin! Best wishes and happy trails.

Liam gets a snuggle with Erin.

Liam is learning to drink water out of a cup.

Trouble is...sometimes it leaves a ring around his nose and cheeks.

He's also becoming quite the chatterbox, as evidenced below. I'm not sure where he gets that from...

Liam is a thumb-sucker. At this stage, it's not a worry for us, just another thing that makes us think he's super cute.

More evidence to support the super-cute claim.

Alas, some photos

Okay, so our camera ran out of batteries mid-trip, so I stole all of these from Emily's Flickr. I'm not sure if she's going to sue me for copyright infringement, but I'll take my chances.


Team Iconic Bond sets out for Day 5 from Cedar Falls


Jon & Egan, Mark & Liam

Finished (that there is the Mississippi River in Bellevue, IA)!

Support Crew does breakfast at Perkins in Dubuque.

Emily takes an unintentional abstract photo of herself and Liam

These are for you, Allison...

Camping outside of Dyersville, IA (where Field of Dreams was filmed)

Prunes.

Stale Blog

Disclaimer: This is a blog without photos, though I will provide links to photos on other sites/blogs. Liam lovers, you can get your fix that way.

We have been busy the last three weeks, first out of town on vacation, then recovery from vacation this week. Why is it that taking a vacation almost requires another vacation when you get home to get yourself back on track? Nonetheless, we had a great time on our two-week family adventure, hitting Ohio, Illinios, and Iowa (and driving through Indiana twice) for the Bryan family reunion, time with my gals in Chicago, and then to Iowa City. We then set off on a driving/biking tour of the state of Iowa as Mark participated in RAGBRAI, an annual bike trek across Iowa. See Josh and Tara's blog for more information on the boys and their RAGBRAI adventure.

Liam and I spent most of week two of our vacation in Cedar Falls with Emily and her brood, hanging out and driving around Iowa in the Sprinter with a U-Haul trailer. Good times. Julie also came to visit Cedar Falls mid-week, so we got to see her twice in the span of two weeks! (Liam lovers, here's where you'll hit the photo motherload :))

All in all, great fun. I'll try to post some new photos soon, but we are moving two weeks from today, so don't hold your breath. I haven't even started packing yet.

Holy Sit!

First Feeding

Liam tried cereal today. He seemed to like it, particularly the spoon. We also gave him his first sippy cup with water. I don't think he actually got any water, but he seemed to enjoy gnawing on the cup!

Father's Day

Early Sunday, upon return from our first date night in three months, Mark went to go check on Liam. After talking to Carla (thanks again!) for a while, I wondered where he was...

We had a nice day with both grandpas and Daddy on Sunday. Liam got a kick out of wearing Grandpa Kim's hat.