No More NUK!

So we finally got Liam to give up his pacifier (which he calls a Nuk) on Monday night.

We told him that the Tooth Fairy would come and get his Nuks and bring them to crying babies who need them. So we wrapped them up and put them under the Christmas tree.

We thought this would be a horrible night and couple days for everyone involved, but it was the opposite. . . Liam did great! He asked for it a couple times but has gone to bed without it and without crying every night this week. Unfortunately, Liam seems to be giving up his daily 2 hour afternoon nap. Without the Nuk it's hard for him to relax in the middle of the day for a nap. After a few days without napping, he must have been exhausted because when I left for the grocery store, I drove half a mile and turned around and he had passed out:

But never let go of Buzz.

Thanks to my Mom for meeting me at the grocery store so Liam could sleep while she sat in the car with him and I ran into the store.

Happy New Year!

Snow . . . not his favorite thing

This morning I bundled Liam up in his snow pants and boots that I bought back in September and we headed outside . . . Daddy was off at Grandma and Grandpa's using the snowblower and didn't really shovel us out yet. I had already got us all dressed, so we ventured out anyway - I had to carry Liam over the snow piles in front of our door and we pretty much played in the street since there were no cars and a little less snow.

We were outside for about 5 or 10 minutes and Liam wanted to make a snow angel and then we had a snowball fight. . .

After that he told me it was too cold and asked to go to the beach instead :)

He is definitely my baby! We'll be in the Florida Keys in 23 days. . . can't wait!

"Best Christmas Ever"

Liam was so excited this year. He kept saying "This is the best Christmas Ever!" . . . we're also happy that he does understand that we are celebrating Jesus' birthday and that he was born in a manger with animals all around - he does say "I love Jesus", so we're on the right track I think.

We had Casey's little sister and her family stay with us, and Liam and his 4 year-old cousin Rachel had a great time playing together!

He recieved lots of great presents and his favorite was the Rescue Pack he has been asking Santa for since October . . .

We did a lot of running around from our house to Casey's parents house, back to our house so Liam could nap, then off to my parent's house and back to Casey's parent's house . . . Exhausting, but worth it to see everyone!

Liam opened lots of gifts in the morning and Casey got to put together lots of stuff

Liam and his cousins at Grandpa & Grandma Scallons

Showing PopPop and Nana his Rescue Pack!

Santa left a Buzz Lightyear PowerWheels at Nana & PopPops!

Murray Family Photo

Finally okay with Santa

Tonight we went to dinner with Casey's sister and her family at a restaurant near us that has fun stuff for kids on Tuesdays. This week Santa was there.

Liam has not been a fan of seeing Santa this year, but he made a lot of progress tonight.

Getting into the spirit of the season . . .

Mommy and Daddy with Santa . . .
Liam's cousins with the big guy . . .

and finally at the end of the night . . .
Liam as close to Santa as he would get, his face doesn't look too sure about it, but he told us on the way home that he loves Santa

Goodbye to Murr Murr

Unfortunately, Liam is allergic to dogs, and Murray happens to be quite a large and affectionate dog. . . We tried for a year to deal with this and hope Liam would grow out of it, but recently Liam went 23 days in a row coughing all night long and barely sleeping. We were lucky that we found a good home for Murr at one of Casey's friend's houses with 2 other dogs. It's very weird without him here and Liam asked for him this morning.

I told him he lives at a new house with other dogs and Liam said "but I love him"

So it's going to be interesting to see how we all move forward, but now Liam can breathe and Murray has some new friends to play with.

Liam giving Murray a goodbye hug :(

Some photos of Murray from 5 years ago:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AauHLly5ctmU4

More Museum Fun

Wednesday I had off from school so Nana and I took Liam out to Philly. Before we left he kept saying how Uncle Adam lives in Philadelphia - so weird the things he remembers and says without being asked first. . ..It was a great day to go and Liam had fun like always.

Playing "pinano" with Nana

figuring out how to move the space stuff

even though he couldn't reach the pedals with his feet . . .
Being silly with Nana

and playing some hide and seek

he doesn't stay still long enough to get many photos, but we had a great time

Storybook Land . . . and Almost a photo with Santa

Last night we took advantage of the warm weather and headed down to Storybook Land near Atlantic City with Nana and Aunt Jaclyn. Nana used to take me, Jaclyn, and Adam here all the time so it was Liam's turn to join in the tradition. The park is all lit up with Christmas lights and Santa is there too.

There were tons of rides and fun things to do, but Liam LOVED this igloo more than anything

Driving the Olde Time cars with NanaGoing on his first roller coaster with Mommy & Aunt Jac . . . he is actually tall enough to go on this alone - who would let a 2 year old go on a roller coaster by themselves? He didn't cry but when we got off he said "That was not fun"

Near the end of the night he actually said he wanted to see Santa and sit on his lap - this was surprising because all week when I asked him if he wanted to go see Santa he would say "no thanks", so we waited in line and Aunt Jac brought him up to talk to Santa. He told him what he wanted for Christmas and when we tried to put him on his lap, he was over it.

One of our favorite rides . . .

We walked in the door at 10:15pm, so needless to say, he was tired . . .
See you soon Storybook Land . . . Liam loved it!

Thanksgiving 2010

I didn't do a great job taking picture on Thanksgiving, but I didn't ruin the meal either, so I guess it's a good trade. We had everyone at our house for the first time ever.
We had a great time and no kitchen disasters (which I was fearful of)

Liam made placecards for everyone

Me and my first turkey ever . . . stuffed with Grandma Murrays stuffing recipe
The best attempt at a family photo
After dinner Liam put on his pajamas and then entertained us with a search for his imaginary friend . . .

Museum Time

Last Friday I was lucky enough to not have swim practice, so Aunt Jaclyn Liam and I headed out to Philly since we haven't been to the musuem since June. . . We invited Tara and Jackson to come with us. . .

Liam was happy to show Jackson (who just turned 1) all the fun cool stuff to do . . .
Jackson loved the tunnels and once he's walking he's going to love the museum

Playing piano

Then we went to visit Uncle Adam in South Philly at his house . . .

We had a great time walking through the streets and Liam loved seeing all the people walking their dogs. He would go up to the owners and say "excuse me, can I pet the dog" - it was so cute.

We had dinner at the P.O.P.E (Pub on Passyunk East) and Liam was great all day long!

Namaste

I decided that we need to find another way for Liam to burn energy between bathtime and storytime with something other than him running laps around the family room. . .

I went to the library today and picked up a Yoga for Kids DVD. I do yoga at the gym once a week and love how relaxed and peaceful I feel afterwards so I thought I'd try it with Liam.

Here is a modified standing half moon pose

He loved doing it, but he wasn't as zen as I hoped.

Cobra stretch (we weren't always following the video)

He was great at downward dog, Murray looks pretty zen - at least that's someone

Warrior 2

an attempt at bridge . . .

We are going to try to do it each night this week. He's also decent at tree pose, but I didn't get a shot of it. Hopefully each night he'll relax a little more. At one point I was doing dolphin pose and he hopped on my back - not so peaceful.

When we came upstairs to go to bed he was upset that yoga was over and showed Daddy some of his poses.

At least he likes it- my little Yogi

Big Crazy Kid

Liam seems to be losing more baby fat by the day. He looks like a kid - not a baby anymore.

Here is my stylish guy . . .

This is from the other night before bed. First he was running laps back and forth through the family room. His favorite thing is to make us smell his "stinky toes" even though he just took a bath. He thinks its hilarious if we act like his feet smell bad. Boys are weird.

Off to Nana and Pop Pops for Sunday night dinner and some Eagles football

Happy Halloween

This is Liam's 3rd Halloween and he has the whole Trick or Treating thing down . . . except for when he starts running circles around peoples' yards after they give him candy . . .

Trick or Treating with his friends from the 'hood . . .

Arrr Matey . . .

Jaclyn and I decided that we would turn his wagon into a pirate ship about an hour before leaving for Trick or Treating . . .

Meeting up with Daddy

Liam lasted about 2 hours and then near the end he kept taking off his hook, eye patch, and hat and throwing them on the ground . . . Here's hoping for a good night's sleep

Super Why

Liam loves his new Super Why costume . . . for those of you who might night be familiar - SuperWhy has the power to read and is a show on PBS

This is much better than a few months ago when he would strip naked and call himself Super Liam. . . .and much more socially acceptable
The first day we got it, he fell asleep and took a nap in his cape

Resting up to save the world

"Enjoying" the Cool Air

It was a cool, but sunny weekend and when I say "enjoying" the cool air, I'm not really the happiest person, but I can't sit inside all fall and winter waiting for the beach days to come back, so we're "dealing" with the cool air.

Liam "The Bulldozer" Scallon (I'm thinking this might be his nickname when he's a linebacker in the NFL), has a new hobby - tipping over the recliner and then laying on it to watch TV. He's obviously very happy about this new discovery. . .

Saturday I took Liam to this "Pirate Festival" thing in town and it was pretty lame, but they did have a fire truck . . .
and the firemen asked Liam if he wanted to sit in the driver's seat
He of course was very excited - they just had fire prevention week at school so he was really into the whole firemen thing. . .

Behind Liam here is the Pirate Band that he actually sat and watched for about 20 minutes

Looking forward to a stress-free week