Happy New Year!

The past few days have been spent celebrating Christmas with the Basye side of the family. Taylor's parents and grandmother came up on Wednesday and Thursday we headed out to his sister's house for some good Christmas fun. Katherine made a great brunch for us complete with french toast and party poppers that had fun hats in them.



After eating, it was presents time. Liam fell in love with a present that Ben had gotten from Katherine and had been playing with it as soon as he walked in the door, so when we put it away to open presents, he began a fun game of throwing his fist in the air and screaming "MINE!" Ah yes, Liam is very much two. He really liked the toy because it is actually really, really unusual for Liam to behave that way for any extended period of time. It was kind of cute. It was really nice to see everyone and have everyone together as that does not happen often. Liam seems to like Ben although he is still a bit young to play still at only 8 months old. The boys were able to play a bit and then break for a photo shoot with the happy grandparents.






On Friday, Taylor and I got a bit of a break to go shopping while Liam spent some time playing with Taylor's parents. They went walking around the neighborhood, which Liam LOVES. He would live outdoors all day if he could.







Today was a nice quiet day with just Taylor, Liam and I. Much of the day was spent at home just relaxing and setting up Liam's new playroom.





We have one day left until I go back to work and it will be nice to just be home and be together as a family. It is amazing what the past 2 + years have brought us and we are so grateful for all that we have. We are so lucky to be able to bring in the New Year together when so many in the military are separated. We hope that all of you have as wonderful a New Year's and that 2007 is as great as ever!

Liam's 3rd Christmas

Well, this year's Christmas has come and gone and it was a big hit! My family came down on Saturday and much of the day was spent lazing around and relaxing. Saturday night, we were able to make it out to a Festival of Lights nearby, which was a lot of fun. On Sunday, we took a trip out to Mt. Vernon. Liam couldn't really handle the mansion tour, but loved running around on the grounds. His favorite parts were probably the "cool cars" (or wagons) and the sheep. Sunday night, we all went to church. Unfortunately, Liam and I had to spend most of the service in the car as he couldn't handle sitting still or semi-quiet at all. Afterwards, my dad made an excellent multi-course meal that included crab, sushi, shrimp, etc.



Christmas morning was full of lots of surprises and fun all around. Liam really enjoyed all of his gifts. He was still a bit young to understand everything, but had fun playing with all the new toys and visiting with everyone. Here are a few pictures from the day:















Taylor made us a great dinner while we lazed around, watched football, and decorated Christmas cookies. This morning, my parents left very early for work and then the rest of us went to Starbucks for a post-Christmas breakfast. After a fun time with Playdoh, it was time for Mike and Bryan to be on the road and for us to reast up for the next Christmas wave...Basye Christmas.

1 Week Until Santa!!

It's been awhile and there is a lot to report, so I'll break it down by category.

Walter Reed: We finally got a call back on the blood test and much to our surprise the test said that Liam is NOT allergic to dairy (or anything else food-related). While this is very confusing and somewhat frustrating, we did decide to test it on Sunday by giving Liam Easy Mac (thanks to Uncle Bryan) and so far, no immediate problems. So, we are cautiously optomistic. He still does have his Eczema and we have a follow-up appointment on Jan. 10th, but we are hoping he has begun to outgrow this nightmare.

New Friends: Last weekend and this past weekend were spent up in New Jersey. Last weekend was Joanie's 50th birthday party and Liam had a blast. While she wasn't there the whole time, Liam's hands-down favorite part of the party was my cousin Billy's daughter, Paige. He instantly took to her and harassed her the entire time she was there. The poor girl must have been nearly dragged to the washing machine to visit, since Liam thinks that it's the coolest thing and truly believes that everyone loves looking at it just as much as he does. From Paige's expression, I'm not sure she's on board with this latest obsession:



"This boy is crazy!"




Yesterday, Liam was able to meet Ryan Rose, my cousin Michael's daughter. Ryan is 4 years old and so there was a bit of an age difference, but they were still able to play very well together. Liam would follow Ryan around for awhile and she taught him everything she knew about Barbies and dolls. This is the first time Liam has seen Ryan and I think they'll be good friends through the years. We are hoping to spend a week this summer at the beach house with them so they have more opportunities to play together.



Growing Up:

Liam has really been changing soooo much lately. I'm sure I always say that, but I am truly always amazed by it. He has mostly given up the paci for sleeping, but still tells us "I need paci" during the day. The past week, he has also really taken to his Grover doll that he's had since he's two months old over pillow. He has been doing a lot of advanced play with Grover, such as having Grover wave "bye bye", holding his hand, hugging Grover, or having him sit at his table and "eat" with him. Liam is also really starting to use his manners a lot more, saying please, thank you, bless you, I'm sorry, and you're welcome. He'll also crack you up with his expressions such as "I'll be right back." "Oh my goodness." and "See ya later!" Too funny! Liam can drink out of an open cup just fine, but we still use the sippy a lot for reasons of ease of use. His therapist is very happy with his progress and says that he is advanced in several areas, such as his play habits.

My family will be coming down Saturday for the Christmas holiday and we are very excited to have Christmas at home this year as we've never had that. Afterwards, the Basye Family will be coming up for second-Christmases. Countdown...7 days until Santa and all preparations are full-force!

Walter Reed: Part Two and Turkey Day

It's been awhile since I've last posted and there's lots to tell. To start off, we had our second Walter Reed visit last week. This one was with cardiology since Mr. Man has a heart murmur. After an EKG where putting all the stickers on took longer than the actual test and a 40 minute ultrasound, where he actually lay still the whole time, we found out that he has an innocent murmur....thank goodness!!

We traveled down to VA Beach for Thanksgiving which was so much fun! We got to spend lots of time with Mimi and Grandpa Basye. They have saved many of Taylor's old toys, which Liam always has lots of fun playing with. He also loves Mimi's kitchen gloves, as you can see here:



We got to visit with Momma and went to the neighborhood playground one day where Liam had a ton of fun going on the slide. He can go up and down all on his own, but it was pretty cute, because everytime he sat down at the top of the slide, just before he went down, you could hear him whipser to himself, "It's okay."





As far as other updates go, Liam's vocabulary has really taken off. He is now saying four-word sentences and seems to pick up a ton of new words each day. He knows all his colors and at least some shapes. At Walter Reed, he kept pointing out all the triangles on the chairs to me. Liam's latest obsession is with machines. He loves any sort of "machine" including the vacuum, washer, dryer, microwave, stove, and his all-time favorite...the MIXER!!!

Liam also loves anything that has to do with cooking and the kitchen. The other day, we were home at night while Taylor was at school. Liam rarely..if ever...watches TV and so doesn't know who Elmo, Dora, Blue, Thomas, etc. are. If anything, he watches his Signing Time DVDs. Anyway, I was flipping channels and came across Thomas, which I dont' like, but wanted to see if Liam was interested at all since he loves trains. He liked it for about 2 minutes and then said "No Thomas." He then had me stop at Rachel Ray and watched a good 10 minutes of it, saying "Rachel Cooking. Rachel Cooking." He loved it!

This week is a busy one as Taylor finishes up finals and term papers, but we're off to NJ this coming weekend to visit my parents up there. We are still waiting on the allergy results from Walter Reed, but will be sure to post when those come in.

Walter Reed: Part One

Well, this photo is not from today, but Mr. Man looked a lot like this by the end of the day. He was wiped out. After a morning of hanging out, we drove up to Walter Reed for Liam's appointments. His first appointment was for audiology. We were following up on a mild hearing loss that he registered back in December of last year. Liam was soooo good and patient and everything tested within normal range. Yay!!

Well, then it was off to the allergy clinic. Not as much fun. We first talked about his current rash and was told that it was eczema...most likely due to his food allergies. He has a rash right around his mouth and has always had a rash around his bum (since day 1) and so it's Triple Paste for him on a daily basis for now. That stuff seriously rocks, BTW. Due to his sensory problem, the doctor decided that Liam wouldn't tolerate a skin test well, so it was off to draw blood. Well, that's not fun to begin with, but add in the fact that Liam just does not bleed, and you have a real downer of an experience. It took the nurse, Taylor, and I all to hold his poor little arm while she moved the needle around. After some serious torture, she got a whopping 2cc's of blood....we are crossing fingers that this will be enough for his allergy test. It is a send-off lab, so we won't have results for around 2 weeks. In the end, though, we are just happy to finally have some testing done so we can figure out what allergies have been bothering my little man for 2 years now and how severe they are. I have to say, I was happy that if we had to do all this, that we were at Walter Reed, so I knew we were in good hands. In addition, a lot of the amputees that were there were hopefully able to be cheered even just a tiny bit by Mr. Social's hellos and goodbyes as everyone got on and exited the elevator.

Tomorrow, I have a half day with my 25 other kiddos and then it's off to VA Beach again for some turkey fun!

Visiting Family

As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, a lot of our time will be spent with family. On Friday, Liam's school had their Thanksgiving Feast. Taylor was able to go. Liam was super excited to see him and mostly wanted to just sit in his lap rather than actually eating. Taylor finally got him to seat in his own chair and they were able to enjoy lunch together:





Friday night, the three of us met up with Maureen and Pat for a great dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. It was so much fun to see both of them and Liam just loved Maureen. You could quickly tell she was very experienced with 2 year old boys.

Afterwards, we traveled down to Virginia Beach. Saturday night, a couple of Taylor's relatives from Illinois came over for dinner and on Sunday, we went to his great-aunt's house for his great-uncle's 80th birthday. Liam, as always, had a blast seeing everyone and was a great traveler. Thank goodness, because Tuesday is one of his appointments at Walter Reed, and then Wednesday, it's back in the car for the trip back down to Virginia Beach to enjoy the holiday. Taylor and I are just too glad that we got Liam used to traveling a lot early on so that he gives us very little trouble now. His comfy seat doesn't hurt either! :)

Liam and Taylor's Birthday Bash

Saturday was Liam and Taylor's birthday party and what a fun day it was. Grandmichaele, Papa, Mike, and Alex came down Thursday night. After a hard day of shopping on Friday, everyone was set for the big day. It was a sign of a great party to come when we got up in the morning and lo and behold, this is what we found right outside our window:



Very appropriate since the theme for the party was construction! Liam absolutely loved it and was glued to the window for a good portion of the day, although at times, dressed rather oddly:



At the party were both sides of the family, including Liam's great-aunt Pat, and great-aunt and uncle, Caty and Mark. It was so nice for all of them to come down. We had so much fun visiting with everyone, especially little Benjamin, who is becoming not so little anymore at 6 months old!:



Liam had a blast visiting with everyone and was seriously hamming it up for the crowd. At cake time, we all surprised Taylor by throwing up 30th birthday decorations while he was giving Caty and Mark a tour upstairs. Liam didn't seem to mind sharing the spotlight, or the cake:



After opening lots of presents and eating tons of food, Liam promised me that he wasn't tired. For some reason, I didn't believe him:



So, it was time for kisses from Papa and then off to bed.



A fun time was had by all and love that so many were able to make it. It made for a truly special day for both of my boys. More pictures can be found both at Liam's picture site, as well as Ben's, which you can get to by clicking on any picture on his website.

Happy birthday, Basye boys!

New Pillow

The title says it all. This morning, Liam was playing downstairs in the playroom and somehow the small elephant that was attached to his yellow pillow (which he carries EVERYWHERE) came detached from the pillow itself. Drama, drama, drama. Liam was traumatized. Taylor and I tried to staple it back on, but that didn't last.

Well, Liam and I decided to go out in hunt for a "new pillow." Nothing suited him at Target, since he didn't want a stuffed animal, but a weird pillowy thing that you can't find at IKEA anymore. So, off to Buy Buy Baby we went and we came up with a pillowy like animal...and it's definitely weird. I honestly didn't think he'd take to it too easily, but Taylor and I both played it up really big, telling him that new pillow as the best ever and so cool.

Here is the end result:



That's right, folks. Liam is sleeping with "new pillow" right now. We had our moments today where Mr. Man was just dying for the old pillow (and we still have it safe at hand, with the elephant still detached) but he hasn't really needed it much today. Yay! Why are we so excited? Old pillow was one that Mimi and Tooey got from IKEA years ago and you can't find it anywhere. Not even on Ebay. New pillow? There are a million of these out there, and you'd better believe I'll be back at Buy Buy Baby later this week to purchase backups!

2 Year Appointment

Since this news is a bit seperate from Halloween, I figured I'd give it its own post. Mr. Man had his 2 year appointment on Thursday. The good news (for him) was that he didn't get any shots, since he still needs to wait a few months. The not so good news is that he will need 3 more doctor appointments. He will be seeing an audiologist to check on a mild hearing loss he registered last December to make sure that improved. He will finally be seeing an allergist. And now he needs to see a cardiologist since we learned he has a heart murmur.

Liam only weighed in at 28 lbs (50th percentile) and it looks like he'll rear-face in his carseat another full year at least. We couldn't get height accurately since he was so wiggly. He HATES getting weighed and measured so they still need to use the baby scale to do both.

Therapy is going well and we really like who he has here. I really think she'll be able to help him. Other than that, Taylor and I are excited since we finally bought a sofa for our so far empty living room (we have 2 living areas in this house). Thought we'd post a picture of that:

Secret Trick or Treats

Well, Liam's 3rd halloween was a great success. Since we are never this close to family and are trying to have Liam around his family as much as possible, we decided to take the opportunity to drive down to VA Beach to surprise Mimi and Tooie (Taylor's dad). I took half a day of leave on Tuesday and we drove down to Mimi's office. She was so surprised her jaw literally dropped on the floor, I think. Afterwards, we stopped by to surprise Mommma (Taylor's grandmother). To say the least, she certainly did not expect us and Liam and Molly both had a grand old time running around her backyard and watching all the Naval planes flying overhead.



Look...airplane!!



Afterwards, it was off to Taylor's parents house for a great dinner of Beach Bully before trick or treating. Liam had soooo much fun walking around the neighborhood with Mimi and us and would talk and talk and talk until he got to an actual house. He would ring the doorbell fine, but when someone answered, he wouldn't say a word. He would however, stare at the candy and all the decorations.



After stopping at maybe half a dozen houses, the gang finally wound up at Tooey's house (Richard wasn't able to walk with us since he had just hurt his leg), and Liam was much more animated and happy to see who answered the door.



I know you!!!



All in all, it was great fun and we were so happy that we went down for the night. It was well worth the trip.

You can see Liam grasping onto a candy bar. He held it all night, even though poor little man couldn't have anything due to his dairy allergy.



BOO!!

Happy 2nd Birthday!!!

Liam is 2 years old now and we all had a great day celebrating. This morning was spent at home just relaxing. Taylor and I have been getting really tired of Baby Signing Times (the only thing Liam will watch and there are only 2 DVDs of it) so we decided we'd get him something new. But what to get since he doesn't watch TV, so doesn't know about Wiggles, Blues Clues, Elmo, etc. Taylor decided he wanted to get him Baby Einstein, but Liam has always hated Baby Einstein. We decided to try one, though, since it was all about things "On the Go". Well, he opened it this morning and LOVED it. So the day started off well, right there. Plus he got to have "awfuls" (Taylor and I call them waffles) for breakfast. Yummy!

Afterwards, we all drove out to a local farm to visit its Fall Festival. Liam had a blast. They had live music, hot dogs, and tons of slides (which Liam cannot get enough of). Plus, we got to go on a 20-minute hayride which Liam just thought was awesome. (It actually was pretty cool....lots of props and funky characters along the way). There were also some live animals that he got to check out. We spent most of the day there, so by the time we got home, Mr. No Nap was a bit tired. Needless to say, opening presents was tough. Daddy gave him a truck first, which took about 15 minutes to get open since it was mounted to the box it came in. Ha! Then we made the mistake of putting a CD in the DVD player for him to listen to. Liam could not understand why there were no pictures on the TV to go with the music and got royally mad! Good thing we got him a Wiggles DVD to try. He liked that since his old school in El Paso played Wiggles CDs, but mostly just listened to it while he played around.

Before long, he was just too wiped out so it was off to bed. He still has a few presents left to open, so there will be more fun tomorrow. Plus, Katherine, Judd, Ben, Mimi, and Grandpa Basye are coming over tomorrow for a brunch. Should be tons of fun.

Liam, we love you so so so much, baby boy. Daddy and I wanted the day alone with you and it was so special to just have so much fun with our little family. Every day with you is such a treasure and I can't wait for millions more days with you to come!
Happy Birthday, Mr. Pants. :)



*you can click photo above to see more pics from today