Liam's First Birthday Party

While Liam's first birthday is not actually until Tuesday, yesterday we had a birthday party for him. Here are some pictures leading up to the big day.

Liam has just recently figured out how to pull to a standing position in his crib. He now knows how to stand up, reach for his monitor video camera and shake it King Kong style. It doesn't help that he cries into the camera, grunting, tears and snot streaming down his face all Blair-Witch style.

I am the worst gift giver because I don't know how to wait until the big day to present the recipient with a gift. After we bought this riding Lion, I had Eric put it together so that Liam could take it for a spin. Liam watches cautiously from the background.

I can't believe what a little man he has become!

So glad we spent money buying Liam gifts which he promptly
abandoned to go check out his imagine in the trash can.

Breakfast the day of the party.
"What?! Do I have something on my face?"

Liam's Candy Bar. Lucky for our guests that Eric didn't eat all the candy beforehand.

My good friend, Deanna, helped me cut out the pieces of this banner with her handy Cricket.

The day of the party it rained before AND after the party.
Lucky for us, we had a break in the weather for the actual party.

Yummy Petit Fours from Say it With Sugar.

By the time we had eaten the mini sliders, Liam was pretty tired.
Needless to say, he was a little frazzled when we brought out his smash cake.

He mostly just poked his cake.
I tried to get him to taste the icing at which point he really melted down.

Surrounded by the ladies. While I like to think that they were concerned with his well-being, I think that they were more intrigued by the barely touched cake. I too understand ladies.

As a result of fussing during his entire morning nap, Liam was overtired by the time his afternoon party began. Sadly for him, he was put down for a bottle and a nap while the guests we still there.

Taking his new Cozy Coup for a spin.

Gracie and Tristan decided to give in a try.
So cute to watch the twins take turns pushing each other around!

At a certain point they couldn't decide whose turn it was, so they both climbed in! I joked that it was a glimpse of the future when they are 16 and fighting over the car.

Gracie and Liam take a stroll in her Radio Flyer wagon. I love Liam's expression here. It is very Don Corleone from the God Father.

Liam was so overtired the day of his party, that we postponed gifts until today. This was an awesome gift from the Gragerts. "Scout" allows you to go online and program personal things about your child so it can play their favorite lullabies, say their name, favorite animal, food, etc. Super cool.

Cooper checking out Liam's spoils.
We caught him trying to steal pieces later on.

Liam's cool new mower.

Since today was rainy and cold, one of his favorite new games is driving around in his Cozy Coup.
His expression is very, "Mothers watch your daughters."

Now the only thing he needs for his birthday is a tooth!

Mamacita needs a margarita!

Ha! Now I have your attention. Check out these cute tees from a company named Darling Mummy. TGIF! Now pass the margaritas!

Neighborhood Watch

Weekend fun

This past weekend was a wonderful opportunity to finally be at home. But the weather was so beautiful that we had a hard time staying inside. Our friend, Amy took some shots of Liam for his first birthday, we had amazing Indian food and saw Up in the Air (although pretty depressing for our current situation), we went to a great church service, visited Target several times, and spent time with great friends.

The G-Twins invited Liam over for his first time on a swing, which he LOVED! However, I think part of his infatuation came from chewing on the straps which has become quite a favorite pastime for him.

Liam loves to go over and play with (aka eat) all of Tristan and Gracie's toys.

Gracie taking a trip down the slide. Can you believe that Joannie gave birth to twins?! I don't know that many people who look that fit after having babies.

Liam and Tristan hanging out.

On Sunday we went to the arboretum for the last weekend of the "Dallas Blooms Festival" with our dear friend, Will. He is not only my hairdresser, he is also our oldest friend in Dallas.

Liam chillin' on the lawn with Mommy. For those of your have never been to the Dallas Arboretum, it is beautiful! They had a live jazz band playing and families were having picnics.
It is a great way to spend an afternoon.

Liam splashing in one of the many water features.

The Arboretum overlooks White Rock Lake where a regatta was taking place.

My favorite tree, the Japanese Flowering Snowball.

A totally organic peat moss and flower sculpture of Ferdinand the Bull.

After playing in the frog fountains, Liam was pooped.
We stopped for froyo (much cooler than frozen yogurt - although Eric thinks I am a dweeb for saying it) on the way home. We had such a great time at the Arboretum we are thinking of getting a membership. What a great spring weekend!

The little things

So...ok. I have an obsession that not many people know about. Cleaning. It calms me. It relaxes me. It makes me at one with the universe. It is also further proof that I am turning into my Mom. Now don't get me wrong. My house isn't the cleanest house on the block and I don't claim for one minute that taking a white glove across any given piece of furniture would render a dustless touch (especially the places that I can't reach!). However, if our home starts feeling too cluttered then Eric and I feel like the walls are closing in on us. Enter cleaning.

When Eric and I first got married and moved to Dallas, we rented a quaint old Tudor house built in the 1920s. The kind of house which would take a fortune to bring up to code, but that was charming nonetheless. However, as all old houses inevitably are, it never seemed to be fully clean after years of renters.

I think my obsession may have started in law school as a way to calm myself amidst the neurosis around me. A way to have some kind of control over life. I would vacuum until I started to feel like my head wasn't going to explode with knowledge and stress. Then it spread to cleaners. The commercials for the latest and greatest cleaners would make me giddy with excitement. I nearly jumped out of my seat the first time I used a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. Pretty soon I knew how to remove soap scum and discoloration from the dirtiest grout. I could clean the gunkiest grime from toilets. I knew how to make wood floors shine like they hadn't been around for almost a century. And cleaning those little diamond shaped leaded glass windows was performed with a painstakingly slow reverence.

While motherhood has taught me that I can't control the level of cleanliness in our home, and I can't remember the last time I made it through the day with a clean shirt, every time I want to bring a little zen into my world, I vacuum. That being said, our current vacuum is 11 years old and has made it with me through A LOT. A lot of dirt that is. The front panel broke two years ago and is currently pieced together with a piece of blue painters tape. But the past year it has been slowing down. I knew that we would need to replace it soon. But it felt like replacing an old friend. Katie B. - I think you understand this!

Yesterday I reached my breaking point when I spent several minutes trying to vacuum up a blade of grass on our breakfast room rug. Finally, Eric gave it a try. Who knew, maybe it required a little manly elbow grease, but to no avail. But as fate would have it, we had been preparing for this moment for weeks. Online reviews, Consumer Reports (CR) articles. It all came down to this moment. We decided which categories most important to us (price, ability to vacuum hard surfaces, noise emissions, attachment availability, weight, ease of use, etc.).

I had spent years convinced that I wanted a Dyson vacuum cleaner and that I would have to sock money away for months to pay for one. Heck, I might have even have to sell one of my less needed organs off. After all, it is described as the Mecca of vacuums. However, as fate would have it, not only did the Dyson not do well in Consumer Reports and online reviews, but our budget would not have allowed for a $400 vacuum anyway! So after a careful process of elimination, we had a winner! A CR recommended best buy...and it was on sale!

Our faithful Eureka Boss. Perhaps we will bury it in the backyard. Or perhaps something more symbolic. Having it destroyed and vacuumed up with our new vacuum?

Our fabulous new Hoover vacuum.
And because I am the sort of gal who has a fascination with before and after pics...

Here is the bagless barrel. Believe it or not, even though we vacuum at least once a week upstairs and more often downstairs, this is what we picked up after two rooms and a hallway! Need I remind you that this entire cylinder is supposed to be completely empty? And our dogs are poodle mixes that don't shed? And I like me some cleaning? Craziness.

More D.C. fun

With the warm temperatures in D.C. we decided to go fly kites on the National Mall (we missed the Smithsonian Kite Festival by one weekend). Only we forgot the kites back at the apartment! We consoled ourselves with the fact that there was not even a slight breeze.

But to compensate we later went to a neighborhood park to make an attempt to catch wind. While we didn't have a lot of luck (Liam and I stayed in the grass and watched), I think Eric and his parents had a lot of fun trying to make the kite fly on a still spring day.

While there were no winds, the weather on the Mall was just perfect.

Liam and Eric watching the fountains at the WWII Memorial.

They did an absolutely amazing job with this memorial which was only constructed a few years ago. This is an amazing sculpture that flanks both sides of the memorial.

We even saw Marine One (we think).
Supposedly they always fly in threes for security purposes and we saw three helicopters.

The real unexpected treat was the cherry blossoms which were in full bloom. You never know from year to year when they will be in bloom, and they were expecting it to fall later this year because of all the snow earlier in the year. But we were in luck!

When the blooms start to fall, it is the most beautiful sight. Sort of like a fragrant snow.

Liam had a little bit of a meltdown after all the sightseeing.

After a bottle he was in much better spirits.

Ron and Becky

We even climbed up in a tree to get a family picture. Sadly, upon viewing our pictures, in every single shot Liam was trying to take Eric's sunglasses off.

Liam was once again upset when Eric wouldn't let him eat the sunglasses.

Later, we treated ourselves to the most amazing gelato at Boccato Gelato in Clarendon. I just had to take a picture of the guy making a fresh batch of chocolate gelato.

I had the canoli gelato while Eric had a scoop of Guiness Beer with chocolate and a scoop of XXX chocolate. Did I mention that my husband has a hollow leg?
And the metabolism of a 12 year old boy?
Ron had plum and Becky had strawberry gelato.
Liam even had a few bites of the fruity frozen treats.

The grandparents even got Liam a few Easter goodies. While he did not really understand Easter this year, next year we look forward to making some fun new memories!

Finally, Happy Birthday Mom!
We wish that we could be in Albuquerque to celebrate with you, but we send you our love!

Mr. Liam goes to Washington

Well the trip to visit Eric's parents in D.C. started off a little rocky. We were bumped from our original flight on Wednesday night and had to take a later flight which got us in around 1 a.m.

Might I also say that American Airlines is probably one of the most unfriendly family airlines we have encountered. Even though we were told initially that we could bring our car seat with us on the plane in case an extra seat opened up, minutes before the flight they made us check it at the gate. Ironically, the seat in between us was completely open and we could have used the car seat for the 3 hour flight. I had to grit my teeth when I heard someone say, "They really should have brought a car seat to use." Sigh. I could go into the other adventures that ensued that night, but I will spare you the details.

The weather in D.C. is just amazing this time of year. Everything is in bloom and with the weather in the 80s, it is definitely the best time to visit. The spring semester of my junior year of college I interned here, so it is definitely a walk down memory lane to be here again.

I have to hand it to Ron and Becky. They are in the super cool Clarendon area of Arlington and live in a sheik apartment building that has a really urban vibe to it. They are a stones throw away from great restaurants, bars and shopping. Definitely cooler than their kids who live in Texas, past the propane park and the pet cemetery (if you pass the Dollar General store you have gone to far).

Liam was in much better spirits after his night sleeping in the closet. In these big cities where space is a valuable commodity you take advantage of every square foot. Lest you think we are bad parents for putting the pack-in-play in the closet, many of our friends in D.C. and New York set up entire nurseries in their master bedroom closets! Ha!

Grandma Becky catching up with Liam.

Reading "Where are Baby's Easter Eggs?"

Hanging out with Grandpa Ron

Flipping over!

It won't be long until he is walking.

Floor time

Recently Liam has started this scrunchy-eyed shriek of delight.

Waiting for his first Metro ride. More adventures to come!