10.30.11 - Pre-Halloween Bash...in more ways than one

Sitting under the great caterpillar in the lobby at MCCH

We had a really great day yesterday as a family.  We went to our annual Amazing Little Hearts Halloween party yesterday morning and it was so great to see our heart buddies and all the CUTE costumes the kids wore!

Liam is going as a puppy dog this year, but it may be hard to tell, since he refuses to wear the hood on his "puppy jacket".  He was so excited to finally get to wear it.  He would ask me everyday, "puppy jacket on?"  I would have to tell him we had to wait until the Halloween party.  We have never been too big on the Halloween celebrating, but I guess as our kiddo gets older, that may change!!

Playin a game..he loved throwing the bean bags and watching the X's and O's turn!

Jumping on the color changing steps

They had such cute decorations!  Liam's favorite thing right now is going "through" and in and out of doors

The cute photo set-up they had for pictures!

Wont' sit still!

One of the few "posed" pics we caught!

Oh yes, and I am now realizing it is IMPOSSIBLE to get Liam to really sit still for a picture...These were the best we could do, but he just won't pose or stay still for long, so most of our picture turn out blurry!  He gets really frustrated that we try to pose him for pictures and he figures it out pretty quick when we ask him to do something so we can get a cute shot!  He purposely tries not to look at us much!

Later that day, we ventured out to a nearby city square where we enjoyed one of our favorite restaurants, Babe's!  We had never been to this square, but are definitely returning as they have perfect picture spots.  The square is set up like an old western city, complete with an old train engine and caboose that are awesome!  We only took our little powershot camera, so we didn't take too many pictures because we knew it wouldn't do the place justice!  But nevertheless, we had a great time walking around after an early dinner, watching the sun set and enjoying the outdoors and scenery!

Our dinner guest we named Jose.  He was a little quiet...and kinda creepy...

It was dark in the restaurant and the flash caught Liam in the headlights!

Can't believe we got this shot with our little camera...I love it!  The sunset was so gorgeous!

You can see the black train engine a little in the background...I can't wait to go back and take some good pics!

Startin to get chilly!  Loving this weather we've had lately...really feels like fall!

And last but not least, our literal "bash" for the weekend....our second busted lip...Liam is falling quite a bit and very randomly...probably because he has so much energy and just plain runs everywhere he goes now.  And leaving socks on without shoes in our house is now a big no-no (we have an unusual amount of tile in our house!)!  Poor guy...I can see this really hurts!!  We were going back and forth whether we should take him to see if he needs stiches, but it stopped bleeding fairly quick and all the teeth were still intact, so we opted to let it heal on its own.

His lip was SO big...he kept licking it and feeling it...poor thing!  At least the crying was short-lived!

You can also see a nice bump he got too on the right side of his head (left side of pic)...this was a totally separate injury from earlier!  The floor (and furniture) keeps winning these fights, unfortunately!

10.26.11 - Finished!

Not much new around here, except for this happened the other night...

Do you see the EMPTY plate??  Liam finished his WHOLE dinner the other night!  I always serve him an appropriate toddler portion, event though 100% of the time, he won't eat all of it.  But he ate it ALL and even asked for more chicken!  AND, there was none to be found on the floor or in his chair.  I was SO excited!!  Small steps, but huge leaps with eating!  Had to share our milestone!

10.22.11 - Birthday fun and more pumpkins!

My brother and sister-in-law are here visiting this week, and we got together for my twin nephews FIRST birthday yesterday! It was so good to see them, they recently moved, so it's been hard not having them close by! The boys have grown so much - can't believe they are a year old already...

Birthday boys!

Ready for cake!

Josh was exploring and savoring the moment!

Ryan was so cute, he LOVED his icing!!

Having fun getting messy!

Mimi and Baba with the grandkids!

We also got to sneak in a visit to a pumpkin patch together too!  The weather has been beautiful here, starting to feel more like fall!!

Liam thought the gourds were pretty cool

CUTIES!!

Silly boys!

He's not big on posing for pictures, but I take what I can get!

10.19.11 - GI Update

Liam's GI appointment today went great! We met to discuss possibly taking out his tube after his cardiology check up scheduled for December 2. We hadn't seen the GI since Liam was 4 months old...which I guess is a good thing! We talked for awhile about his eating, drinking and "output" and then she asked me if he had been sick since we weaned him last April. I initially said no, but then remembered he did have a period of about 4-6 weeks of a cough. She said as long as he has experienced some time of illness that would cause him not to eat, and he did ok, then we should be good to go on taking it out! This was GREAT news for us! 2 doctors down, and 1 more to go! I can't wait for December to get here...this day has been so long coming for us...PRAISE GOD!

Things have been busy busy around here, as usual! I have been working a few more hours the past couple weeks helping out at work (usually it's only 1 day a week), so Liam's been at Mimi and Baba's quite a bit. I am hoping for some more normal weeks coming up though. I've noticed Liam gets a little cranky when his schedule is thrown off...he has been a little more devious and ornery more so than normal and VERY clingy. It's strange to me how aware he is of the smallest things and places now. He is SO sharp...very smart and picks up on things very easily. I feel very blessed to be called to stay home with him.

Speaking of home and family, Dustin and I had a date night last night and went to see the movie Courageous. It was amazing...life-changing. Unlike any other Christian film I've seen...beautifully acted, very well produced, just an awesome movie. If any of you get a chance to see it, it is well worth your ticket. I will warn that you need a box of kleenex out of your purse and sitting in your lap, before you get into the first 5 minutes of the movie =)

10.10.11 - Pumpkin Patch and Well Visit

First, I'll start with the well visit...since chronologically speaking, it was last Wednesday!  Liam had his 2 year check up at the Ped's.  I have been anxious about this appointment since his 18 month check-up, in which doctor wanted to see Liam around 26 pounds by now...and, while we didn't quite make it to 26, Liam did weigh in at 25.4 pounds - which is GREAT!!  She said she was very happy with his weight gain, given he is so mobile now and getting all his calories by mouth.  So, with that said, I asked about his tube and what her thoughts were.  Happy to say that she gave us the OK {pending checks with GI and Cadio first} to pull the tube!!  Our follow up with GI is scheduled for next Wednesday and Cardio will be December 2...Oh, the only time I wish the Cardio appointment was sooner!!

Everything else at his well-check went, well!  He is growing on his curve and the Pedi mentioned how well Liam speaks for his age, very clear and with an amazing vocabulary.  This made momma and daddy very proud!  We are just so blessed that Liam is doing SO well! 

And now on to the fun stuff!  We got an early start on the season and visited the Pumpkin Patch on Friday.  Liam and I talked about it all week, so he was so excited!  Here's a short video clip from the car ride there:

He had a ball - loved running around and seeing all the wonderful pumpkins and fall decorations.  They also had a TALL playground with slides he loved too.  Our pictures weren't the greatest, as it was hot and very windy and hot, blowing up all sorts of Texas dirt everywhere.  We may go back once this crazy weather decides to mind itself and learn that it's FALL now!

Don't you love that face?  LOL

Other than that, it's been busy around here as usual!  I have so many projects going on, and some big changes are happening around here, which I hope to post about soon! Hope everyone had a blessed week!! 

10.5.11 - Birthday Celebration and a surgiversary

2 years ago today, we handed our newborn baby boy over to a miracle surgeon to fix his heart.  With hope in our hearts and prayers on our lips, Liam's surgery was a success and we could finally work toward bringing him home.  2 years later we celebrate...the birth of our child and the new life given to him by God through his surgeon.  We are so very very blessed...what a miracle we have experienced!

This past weekend was Liam's 2 year birthday party - quite a difference from his 1 year party!  He was so excited, we had talked about it all week, and he knew it was his special day.  All of our friends and family came to celebrate at our house with us - it was such a wonderful day!

Such a beautiful day outside!

We poured bubbles in the water table!  A good idea at the time...until Liam started wiping his eyes with more bubbles!!

Fun with bubbles!

These little cuties were our impromptu marching band and parade!

Friends and family

Coloring with our homemade train crayons!  Oh, and yes after the bubbles-in-the-eyes fiasco, his shirt was soaked, so of course we had to put him in his Cowboy jersey for game time!!

Hmmm...what other goodies are in here?

Look at that face!  He LOVES his new Hot Wheels wall toy!!  

Hours and hours of entertainment!

I want to say a BIG THANK YOU to Icing Smiles and Cakes Amore, in Plano, TX for providing Liam's Train cake....it was such a big hit and was SO yummy!  It was perfect...we could not have asked for anything more!  This was a huge blessing to us, so we are deeply grateful there are charities out there to provide things like this. 

Awesome cake!!  And oh so very yummy!!

Liam was a little freaked out by our loud voices singing him happy birthday!!

Trying so hard to blow out his candle...he did it...with a little help from mommy!

I want to say a BIG THANK YOU to Icing Smiles and Cakes Amore, in Plano, TX for providing Liam's Train cake....it was such a big hit and was SO yummy!  It was perfect...we could not have asked for anything more!  This was a huge blessing to us, so we are deeply grateful there are charities out there to provide things like this.

Lots of books and blankets for our children's hospital!

And also a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who came and brought blankets and books to be donated to our children's hospital.  We have been on the receiving end of this type of blessing before, and it really makes a difference in the lives of families that are facing chronic or terminal illness with their child.  SO thank you!!!

It was such a special, special day for us, celebrating Liam's birthday.  Thank you for sharing in our memories!

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Special prayer request - Remember my friend Vanessa, from last week's post?  Well, she had a small setback, and surgery was rescheduled for tomorrow morning.  Please pray for her surgery to be successful, her recovery to be smooth and for Gary's body to accept her kidney.