theburleys.org

Liam is entering that stage! He’s still a very sweet little boy but he’s definitely entering the terrible two’s! His favorite word is No, but he says it in such a cute small voice that it’s still hard to resist (yes, I’m aware that will change!). He’s finally talking more, we were just about to get a little worried, but he’s trying harder and mimicking more.

We’ve been going to Disneyland lately since we have an annual pass, and made a trip to the Wild Animal Park too! But Liam’s favorite place is still in the sand at the park, with his bucket and shovel. And now instead of zoning out in front of Sesame Street while I cook dinner, Liam brings over the stool to stand next to me and help me cook! It’s so cute, he helps me measure and pour and stir, peels and crushes garlic, squeezes lemons, and also nibbles on everything too! He’s a very good helper with everything including getting the groceries out of the car and putting things away.

We’re still in the Music Together class which Liam really loves; we did try a gym class, but Liam wasn’t really into it because he’s pretty timid in that he doesn’t like climbing and hanging or jungle gyms etc. In fact while all the other kids were jumping off steps and balancing on beams, Liam was underneath them trying to figure out how to undo the screws holding everything together! He’s our little engineer, always trying to figure out how things work. I can’t believe that he’ll be two years old in less than three months!

We had a great holiday season! My Dad was here visiting and Liam had so much fun playing with him and following him around. There are too many cute photos from the last month, so I made a summary album that isn’t so large!

Christmas Eve was spent at our house with family and close friends, lots of food too! Christmas Day was so fun- Liam was in heaven with all his new toys, he loved absolutely everything Santa brought him. Some favorites being a harmonica, a shopping basket with fake food, a set of new blocks from Grandad, a tricycle from Nonnie, Elmo’s tool bench from Grandma, Curious George from Aunt Con Con, and all the books from his friends. We even got a Tickle Me Elmo sent to us from Cousin Jackalynn and family! He plays with every new thing he got, making time for each toy (etc) during the week.

We celebrated New Year’s again this year at Greenwich Mean Time (4pm) so that we didn’t have to stay up until midnight. We had a few friends and kids over to join us, it was alot of fun.

Watch this of Liam dancing with his little girlfriend Mia.

Liam turned 18 months in December, and he has now entered the “terrible twos.” He’s into everything and has alot of energy and personality. He’s still very affectionate and sweet though, so it’s okay. He likes to stand on a stool at the counter now and help me cook. Liam babbles more, but hasn’t started talking as much as his friends; he’s a little more concerned with how everything works and is very gadget/technology oriented. He has no problem getting a dvd out of its box, opening the dvd player, putting the disc in and somehow hitting Play on the remote! I am having so much fun being with him every day; and Josh is really enjoying his work at Google.

Liam is almost a year and a half now and changing rapidly. He has a lot of personality, and makes us laugh often, which he enjoys immensely. He still loves animals and music (he’ll dance to anything!), and I’ve recently discovered that he really likes to watch Sesame Street, which means I can actually cook dinner in peace now!!

For Halloween this year Liam was a purple dragon and seemed to really enjoy wearing his cotume and making dragon noises like “Raaaaarrrr!” He hosted his 2nd Annual Baby Halloween party and almost all of his friends were there, so we had 11 kids at our house (5 couldn’t make it) which was chaotic but really fun. HERE are the photos of the party.

Halloween day we went to the lunch party at Google with Josh and went trick or treating at a handful of houses that night. Liam really liked it when all the kids came to the door and we gave out candy. Next year will be even more fun, when he can be more involved!

Happy Anniversary! I love you! 4 years: check. 1 cute kid: check. 1 lucky husband: check.

For those that haven’t already heard… I’ve accepted a job at Google. It was a pretty crazy interview process. I found myself studying more for the interviews than I did while in college. I studied trees, linked lists, O-notation, sorting and searching algorithms, recursion. However, I can’t actually tell you if any of those subjects actually helped, because of the NDA I signed.

My first day is on September 18th!

Liam FINALLY got his first tooth today! It’s not even the top front one that seemed like it would come first since the lump was getting bigger and bigger. It’s the bottom right molar, very strange that a molar came first. But there are a few more lumps; we knew he’d get them all at once. His friends (same age) have 8 and 9 teeth already! But at least the process has started, at age 15 months. Hooray!

We’ve been having a fun summer, lots of visitors, dinners, playdates, we’ve even used the pool alot! It’s better now that we have a solar cover to warm it a little. Liam loves to be outside and he’s gotten very brown, despite the liberal use of SPF 50. He has a little diaper tan line!!

Liam is much better at walking now, I’ll have to upload a new video soon, but here’s a short recent one. He’s into everything and has developed quite a little temper. He is still obsessed with dogs and kisses the photos he sees, screams with laughter if one passes us by, and watches the show “Dogs With Jobs” intently.

My little one will be 15 months old soon! He loves to kiss and cuddle, and is more affectionate than ever! He’s a happy little thing. I got him a toy laptop and he sits next to Daddy on the couch and they type away. Here’s the adorable video to show Liam already following in Daddy’s footsteps!

At the beginning of March we all headed to Philadelphia. And I mean all. Grandma Ginny, Uncle Andy, his girlfriend Tara, Clare, Liam and myself. We went for my cousin Jennie’s wedding, to see all of the family coming to town for it, and to see Philly itself.

Liam was very well behaved on the flights, eventhough we were on a cramped little plane, near the back. Everyone on the plane (ok, not EVERYONE), commented on how well he was behaving. We checked in at the Downtown Courtyard Marriot. It was the nicest Courtyard we’ve ever been to! It was fairly chilly out, but we did take a look around the city.

The day after arriving was my cousin’s wedding. We had a great time. It was held at The Union League in Downtown Philadelphia. The UL is two hundred years old, and Abraham Lincoln was supposed to be there two days after he was shot. It was the original club for proponents of the Civil War. Gorgeous, old. Unfortunately, children were not invited to the wedding, so they all congregated up in a suite my Aunt booked. Pure chaos up there, let me tell you.

The next day we had brunch with the whole family, and then we all went nearby to my cousin’s house to visit with everyone. They had a birthday cake (two, actually!) for my mom. It was a great time, but too short.

Our last day in Philadelphia was spent sight-seeing. We took a narrated trolley around the city, which showed us all of the sights. We toured Independance Hall, where the Declaration was signed, saw Benjamin Franklin’s grave, the Liberty Bell, and Christ Church, which George Washington used to attend.

For our flight home we were in the very last row (though we had requested a few days earlier to be nearer the front), and Liam wasn’t feeling too well. It was a pretty miserable flight, and we were all glad to be home! We loved Philadelphia though, and had a great time with our family!

We had a great Christmas and New Year’s with Liam! He had so much fun ripping up wrapping paper and inspecting all his new toys and getting lots of attention from his family. His Grandad was here from London for three weeks and Liam loved playing with him. He was pretty overwhelmed on Christmas Day and had to take a nap almost every hour! There are too many adorable photos, so I gathered the best into one folder HERE. His favorite new toys are his big red fire engine from Nonnie, his black skater onesies from Trina, his LaDanian Tomlinson football jersey from Grandad, his gumball machine from Daddy, his silver rattle from Mommy, his drum from his girlfriend Mia, his camo pants from his best friend Jameson, his puppets from Grandma, a book from my Aunt Mary Delle, a soft puppy from Uncle Butch, and his basketball hoop from John! He has almost as many toys as he has clothes now!
He’s getting closer to crawling although he’s much more intersted in standing and walking. His favorite item is the remote control and he looks at the TV when he plays with it!