Gone Bananas!

Moms and Dads tend to do things a little differently. Mom cuts bananas up into smaller pieces to avoid any choking hazard. Not Dad though. He likes to save time and give his kid the whole banana.





As you can see, Liam doesn't mind one bit!

Liam's new bench.

Liam's Grandma Nancy thought he needed his very own bench to sit on. He loves it! Of course, within a week he'd learned how to climb on top and now he gets stuck and can't figure out how to get back down. It's pretty darn cute though.

Almost 14 months old...

Incredibly cute, I know!

Liam is growing up so fast and changing so much. It has been crazy to watch the changes this past month. Every day he learns new things, finds new ways to express himself, and learns new babbles too. When he drops something or spills water, he says "oh!" He's starting to mimick our behaviors more. For instance he'll try to brush his head with my hairbrush or pick up a pen and touch it to a piece of paper. He's learning to eat with a spoon (a messy process indeed!) and he tries to help put his socks and shoes on by touching them to his feet. When I put his shoes on or say something about going "bye-bye" he walks straight over to the door and reaches for the handle. He's started giving stuffed animals kisses and he blows kisses to us and to our friends when we ask him to. He loves blowing kisses to Daddy when it's time for bed. My favorite new Liam behavior is when he's playing and I reach out my arms and smile and him and he comes walking up to me and gives me a big hug. There is nothing better than that.

We are pretty sure Liam is going to be Mr. Independant and we know we've got our work cut out for us. He's already started shaking his head no, and we're pretty sure he's working at saying the phrases "uh-uh" and NO!

I'm really loving this new phase of life with Liam. It's secretly fun to get to be the mom who is chasing her son down the church aisle, and I love walking beside him, holding his tiny hands inside mine. I'm looking forward to many spring afternoons where we'll spend hours exploring the great outdoors together. And even though I know he'll be running soon and I'll spend all of my time chasing him, how cute will he be? I'm eating up these precious moments of watching my baby turn into a little boy. I'm so lucky to have Liam and daily I tell God thanks for this beautiful present he's given us.

Walking Liam.

Liam just started walking last week. It's been cute to watch him gain confidence over the past week. He's already walking across the room. I think he's realizing he can get places faster if he walks instead of sitting down, crawling, and standing back up again.

Here's a short video of him. He walks like my 95 year old grandpa! I love his happy noises. So cute!

My new slide is AWESOME!

Grandma & Grandpa Lamkins bought me this slide for my
birthday and it is so much fun. I love sliding down into the leaves!

1st Birthday Bash - At the Lamkins

My new birthday swing!

Playing at Lake Medina

Captain Liam and Uncle Cole sail the world together.




Posing for a picture.




Sheer excitement to find out what's at the top of the playground.



Liam spent countless hours walking up and down the cabin walls.



Liam and Dad play with the new toy Grandma bought. The singing, lights, and colorful balls were pretty darn exciting.

I'm so cool I spit my food...

Or something like that.

Just weeks ago, my little angel was scarfing down anything and everything we'd feed him in the way of baby food. Now, all of a sudden this week Liam has decided that he's too cool for baby food AND that he does not like everything we give him. So, if he does not want to eat something he SPITS out the food. I'm not just talking polite, push the food out of your mouth business either, but when he spits he actually sprays it at you. This is slightly funny, but it also ticks me off and I'm not sure how to make him stop.

I will not raise a picky eater like my mother did with all three of her children. I sure hope this is just a phase Liam is going through. I know part of the deal is that he wants to feed himself. I'm cool with that it's just hard to prepare finger foods that he can actually eat. The kid's been working on the same two front teeth since August so he doesn't have much to work it.

Drum full of blocks

Today I noticed that Liam's block basket was almost empty and I started looking around for where he might have put 30+ wooden blocks. Then I saw Corey's djembe (drum) and laughed out loud because Liam had dropped all the blocks inside. When Corey got home I told him about it, so he pulled all the blocks out and for the next 30 minutes we watched Liam pick up each block and drop it inside. It was funny to watch him because he would drop the block the look inside the hole to see where it went.