Fuzzy Love

Liam Had a Party; Kathy Turned Thirty

So much continues to go on around here. First of all, I couldn't fit all Liam's birthday pictures into that last post, so I've got a few more to show you. Liam's main present from Mark and I was a little rocking chair. Here's a picture of a coach potato in the making:

Actually, that's one of the few times he's actually sat in the chair; usually he stands in it. One of these days he's going to take a real header in it. I'm constantly moving the thing around to make sure it is at least a Liam-length from any furniture.

Here are some pictures of Liam opening some presents. A new hat from his great-grandparents:

And a really cute outfit from a great aunt (great in the old sense, although she is pretty great in the fantastic sense as well), great uncle, and great cousins (?).

Yesterday was Liam's first birthday party. Our first time throwing a party too, and thank goodness my mom was here, because parties are a lot of work. It was really fun though and, other than Liam becoming a bit over-stimulated when it was time to open the presents, it went really smoothly. We got lots of balloons, because Liam thinks they are really fun, and they do help to entertain the younger guests (and almost everyone was either a younger guest or the parent of one). Here are the balloons in one of their last happy moments:

Last night we got to see what happens when a whole bunch of balloons (and their strings) get sucked into a ceiling fan. Total balloon carnage. In the ensuing pandemonium, no one thought to take a picture.

Anyway, the party did go well. Like I said, there were lots of babies. Here are the members of Liam's Friday morning play group: Emma, Liam, Drew, Blake, and Lauren.

It was hell to get that picture, by the way, but more on that later. Here they all are again, just after poor little Drew got wapped on the head.

Fuzz was a big hit, until he took a swipe at Daniel and got banished to the basement for the rest of the party.

And there were adults there too. Here are Allison and Eric (the childless), Mark, and Pat:

And here are Chrissy, Kari, and Holly:

I made the cake, but thank goodness my mother was there to decorate it. I found the idea in a magazine, but wouldn't have attempted it without mom. Somewhat Dr. Seussical, don't you think? Mark held Liam back from grabbing the candles at the same time that he (Mark) blew them out. Pretty impressive, don't you think?

That's really enough pictures and choppy text for one day, so I'll continue tomorrow. Besides, did I mention that today is my birthday? It is, I am now 30, and I'm off for some sushi in a trendy halter top that makes me feel young.

We All Moved; Liam Turned One

I know, it's been a looooong time since I last posted. My sincere apologies. Actually, they aren't that sincere. Since I last posted, we've moved, and that was a lot of work. And we did it pretty quickly too. We got an offer on the house (for which we are very grateful) that required that we be out in about two weeks. So we were. I'm glad it's all over. We are now settled into a smaller (read: cheaper) home about a mile west of our old house. Now that we are a bit settled, it feels really good to be here.

Last weekend, my mom arrived here in Denver for a visit. She is here for two weeks, which you'd think would be long enough (or way too long, in some cases), but it isn't. She and Liam are doing some major bonding.

And yesterday, we celebrated Liam's first birthday. It was a good day, although he tried to make it a napless one. He started out with some time on the deck in a playhouse that Leslie handed down to us before she left for Florida. We've been letting our old neighbors use it all this time (they actually had kids, so it made sense) and we just got it back, so it was as good as a present to Liam.

He got lots of wonderful gifts, and he also enjoyed the cards, the envelopes they came in, and the gift bags.

His big present from us (his parents) was this pint-sized chair. He does seem to like it, as he seems to think sitting in any chair (except his high chair) is pretty funny. He has already figured out that he can reach high things while standing in it. Too bad that it's a rocking chair and kinda tipsy.

He also got some new outfits, which he seemed pretty happy about.

And he likes to put his new koala bear in his wagon and push it around (really, he does that).

We are having a little party for him tomorrow, and he'll have a big cake then, but we couldn't resist giving him a birthday cupcake.

Of course it needed a candle, but then what do you do with it? It's not like he'll blow it out. Mom and I both ended up holding his arms while he stared at it in wonder (disgust?) and Mark took a picture.

He liked it.

So this post is mostly pictures. We'll get back on track tomorrow. There are more birthday pictures to show you, but we must pace ourselves.