Our Holidays

As I said in my last post our holiday visit in Hanford began early this year. While I enjoyed the time with my family, I truly wish it had been under better circumstances. I'm so heartbroken over losing my grandmother. I thought after two miscarriages in five months NOTHING could be worse. And I convinced myself to stay positive through those times. But, I was terribly wrong. Things did get worse and now there is no positive outlook. I can't even look forward to a better year because she won't come back now or then. I'm in such a dark place.

So I apologize in advance if our holidays don't look as "cheerful" this year. My mom and I are a lot alike... we did our best to enjoy the holidays, but deep down inside they just weren't the same and they never will be. I do hope you find some joy in this post, I must admit looking at these smiley photos of my little guy is what is pulling me through right now.

Liam watching his video from Santa Claus! Too cute!

Being a mama forced me to take hospital breaks to be there for Liam, which I admit, was a nice distraction. Liam sure can bring me smiles, even in the darkest of times. Here he is having some fun at Grandma's (this also happened to be his 18 month photos!)...

Jumping on the bed!

This little man turned 18 months old on December 13th. Hard to believe he's getting so big. His favorite things are anything Thomas the Train, books and animals. He makes a lot of animal noises (horse, duck, cow, bird, dog, cat, monkey, etc). He continues to say mama and dada. He also has started saying Papa, GG, Auntie and Cousin. He can identify all of his family members. He is becoming quite the helper, as you can see in the video below. He is extremely smart, very sweet and extra special.

His stats were: 24lbs... yep, he has lost weight, once during a visit for illness and again during his well baby. So instead of having a 24 month check up, we have to go back in a couple months to make sure he's still gaining weight. He was 31'' and 19" head. So he went from 40% in weight to 10-25% and still in the 10-25% for height. His head falls into the 50%-75% range. Regardless of the numbers, we think he's absolutely perfect!



Some fun we managed to have during the visit...

Feeding ducks, Liam was a bit scared at first!

 

He finally came around and started feeding them

Sliding

Swinging

Making pizza

Dancing to Thomas! His FAVORITE! Watch this all the way through, you won't regret it!



Christmas celebration at Grandma and Grandpa Snowden's...

Liam loved passing out gifts

 

So proud of himself for being a helper!

 

Seriously after his first two Thomas gifts... he was satisfied and done!

Certainly knows what to do with a shoe!

After EVERY gift he wanted to sit and play/study it, but this one was/still is one of his favorites!

 Family photos...

Grandpa with his mini Sharks fans!

Sorry for the sideways video. Not sure why I keep doing this!


The next morning...

Surprise! Santa visited...

Yummy treats from his stocking

The loot Santa delivered to Grandma's!

Liam's special Christmas breakfast courtesy of Grandma

Yum!

And this was so cute. I packed Liam's new toys into his new Thomas bag before heading to my in-laws. When we told him we were going bye bye he grabbed his bag and pulled it all the way to the car.

We celebrated Christmas at my in laws on December 26th (which also happened to be Kev/my 8 yr anniversary--don't worry we celebrated with a night out on our own a couple days before... my first night away from Liam). Anyways, here are some photos of the festivities at my in laws!

He dug right into opening gifts, which was weird. At my parents he made us do it for him!

Present #1... Thomas the Train book. Christmas is officially over now!

These last two photos are the best we did at family photos :(

Two crazy cousins having a BLAST!

I truly didn't want to leave last week while my grandmother was fighting for her life, but knew my Vava would be so disappointed if I didn't get home and celebrate Christmas with my family. Reluctantly, we returned the evening of the 26th and on December 27th Liam was finally able to see what Santa dropped off at our house!

Being silly after getting home!

He is obsessed with this singing Thomas toothbrush, thanks Santa

Their matching shirts!

Thanks grandma, better late than never!

Finally, as you can see from the "Liam excited dance!" in this video, Liam had a wonderful Christmas. And that truly warms my heart. Thank you to EVERYONE who made his Christmas so Merry and hosted our family. Your love, support and generosity is very much so appreciated. We are so grateful. Have a Happy New Year.