Ten Years

Will and I are about to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary in a couple of days. That's right. TEN years! I know this blog is about Liam, but there wouldn't be any Liam without Will and Jennifer, so it counts!

I dug up some old pictures, scanned them with my cheap scanner, and now I'm posting them here. I will also share a little of our story along the way.

This is what I looked like in the Spring of 2001 when Will first noticed me in the college Sunday school class at our church.

I guess I stood out with my pink hair! I originally started with bright red chunks, but since the dye wasn't permanent, it got a little lighter each time I washed my hair, leaving me with progressively lighter pink hair.

I had noticed Will as the cute guy who sometimes came in late to church.

We didn't officially meet, however, until June 26, 2001. We met at a summer Bible Study at our college pastor's house in Ruston, LA. We ended up in the same discussion group, and we were the only two in the group who actually talked. Afterward, we were standing around talking in a group, and I mentioned that I was in the process of moving and that every muscle was sore from lifting heavy stuff. I expressed my desire to move my huge stereo but I couldn't lift it. (It was 2001. Stereos were large, in charge, and important.) Then Will offered to move it that night. I told him that wasn't necessary, but he persisted. We then left together (crazy!) and he moved the stereo. I probably shouldn't have left with a guy who was pretty much a stranger, but I did. Thankfully, it all turned out fine!

Over the next couple of weeks, we talked on the phone some, and hung out together maybe once with other people. In July, I invited him to go with me and some of my friends to "Presents," which is a program put on by the Tech orientation leaders. It's for the incoming freshmen, but anyone could go, and it was an entertaining show. Will accepted the invitation, and came with me and my giggly girl friends!

While they were giggling and whispering about us (ha!), Will was asking me out for our first date. Thanks to one of my friends who was there that evening, I have a picture taken minutes after he asked me out.

Our first date was July 21, 2001. It lasted over 12 hours and involved attending a wedding, playing Scrabble, and eating at the Olive Garden in Monroe.

The words "I love you," were said September 11, 2001. That was an extremely emotional day, but we meant what we said!

I knew we would be together forever in January 2002. A friend asked me (probably jokingly) if we were going to get married. I really thought about it for several minutes, and I told him that yeah, I thought we would get married one day!

We spent a lot of time together over the next year. A lot. Will graduated from LA Tech in August 2002.

Many of my friends got engaged that year. Then on November 20, 2002, Will proposed to me. It happened early in the morning. He had borrowed a key from my roommate (she wasn't there at the time), and come into the apartment while I was getting ready for the day. I thought it was my roommate, but it was Will. I thought that was strange, but didn't question it much. I had ruined his plan of waking me up to propose by already being awake. Oops. After I was ready, we were sitting on the couch talking. We were talking about getting married, which was actually a common topic of conversation for us. Then Will slid off the couch onto one knee and asked me to marry him. I said yes! (If I hadn't, you wouldn't be reading this.) It happened in this room:

We had already decided to get married in February 2003, which was just 3 months away at the time. I might have done a little wedding planning before the proposal. That was the best time for us because I was graduating March 1, and so was my roommate. She was moving back home and getting married in March. We didn't want to live together before we were married, so if we hadn't gotten married then, I would have needed to either move home or find another roommate. Instead, we just had a really short engagement!

In that three month span, we planned the wedding and I finished my last quarter of college (Tech does quarters instead of semesters). I took my finals the day before the wedding. One teacher let me skip it since I was getting married! We also went to pre-marital counseling because we got a covenant marriage. It was a busy three months. I also was given two wedding showers and had my bachelorette party during that time. It was hosted by my friends Jenn and Naomi. They did an amazing job, and to this day I still think about how fun it was! It was retro-themed (people did dress up) and featured karaoke and Will and Jennifer Trivial Pursuit (since that's my favorite game). Yes, it was super tame compared to most parties, but it was perfect for me. Jenn and Naomi dressed up as me and Will and invited people to the party. Here is Jenn (dressed as Will) "proposing" that I come to the party!

Our wedding rehearsal took place after church the Sunday before the wedding. It was super casual, and we all ate at Ryan's (the buffet place) afterward.

We were married on a Friday night, and our wedding was very casual. Many people were invited by word of mouth. Most of the attendees were our friends from college! We were married at the church we both attended, even though it didn't look like a traditional church. I think it had been a dress shop before. However, the place meant a lot to us, so we didn't consider getting married elsewhere just so it would look good in pictures. The next year, Christ Community moved into a brand new facility, so we can no longer go back to the place we were married.

I remember that it was really rainy that day. Will and I saw each other before the wedding. I think we were just determined to not be super traditional about it all. My sister was my maid of honor, and our friend Ryan was Will's best man. That was it for attendants. There were 5 other friends I wanted as bridesmaids, but that seemed like way too many. So we chose to keep it simple. The music was just two acoustic guitars played by friends (who happen to be really talented musicians). I walked down the aisle to Blackbird by The Beatles. The processional song that played when everyone except me entered the church was Patience by Guns n Roses. Sounds like a strange choice, right, but it's a beautiful song on acoustic guitar. Will and I walked out to God's Romance by Delirious!

Our reception was held at the Association of Baptist Students center. Once again, we chose a place that meant a lot to us, since we had spent a lot of time there while in college! Since our wedding was small, it worked out!

I'm still having a hard time believing we've been married ten years. We were really young, so we've been together a third of our lives. Marrying Will was the best decision I've ever made. The past ten years have been amazing, and it's all because of him.

That's from our wedding scrapbook that is still not finished ten years later.

Liam at 21 Months

Valentine's Day, Liam turned 21 months old! In three short months, I will be the mom of a two year old. Wow!

At 21 months old, Liam is a very busy and curious toddler. I think I write something along these lines every month, but goodness, it's the truth! He wants to check out and touch everything. When we go for walks, part of the time he's running as fast as he can, but most of the time, Liam's bent down playing with acorns, rocks, sticks, and all the other various choking hazards found in nature. He also loves to dig in dirt. I'm pretty sure he could be happy doing that all day long.

As previously mentioned, Liam now says "Please" and Thank You" when he wants something ("Peas. Dee Doo.") He had started to do it without prompting anytime he wanted something we had to give him, like colors or stickers. However, in the past month he did figure out that he could use this phrase as a tool to try and get what he wanted, even things that we maybe didn't want to give him! However, I want to keep teaching him to associate please and thank you with asking for something, so as long as it's not going to harm him, we give him what he asks for. He's had a few extra "pips" recently as a result of this.

In addition to please and thank you, Liam has started adding the word "Yes" to his requests. So a typical request would be, "Colors. Peas. Dee Doo. Yes." Ha ha, he's letting us know what answer he wants to hear!

Lately, "yes" is actually a word we hear a lot. He correctly answers yes or no questions, which is making it a lot easier these days to know what he wants and what he wants to do. He gets better at communicating all the time.

As far as the alphabet goes, Liam now knows them all! He still loves to call out letters when he sees them. He can recognize them all by sight, but he can't sing the ABC song. The alphabet puzzle is still a hit with him.

We've started taking Liam for walks around the neighborhood where he actually walks with us, instead of being in the stroller. We just follow him for the most part. If we let him out the door to our apartment, he pretty much always walks straight to the street anyway (unless he gets distracted by the playground slide). Now we just direct him down a street and go! This is what typically happens: Liam runs for a few seconds, then stops, sits down and plays in the dirt or messes with acorns. So we have to expect the walk to take awhile, because he's always stopping to mess with something! Yesterday, the three us walked around the neighborhood. Liam actually walked a long time, but wanted to be carried eventually.

Liam has also mastered the slide outside our apartment. It's smaller in stature, so it's just the right size for a toddler. He does a great job walking (at first he climbed) up the stairs, sitting down, and sliding. He could do that all day if he could. That and playing in the aforementioned dirt. He recently went down one of the big slides at the park by himself. I followed him to the top, and someone was at the bottom to catch him. He did fine, but it still made me nervous. So I held him and we slid down together after that. However, Liam put his foot between me and the slide while we were going down, and it got caught and twisted. He was crying when we got to the bottom, and he couldn't walk on his foot. I felt so bad! Liam is a trooper, and kept trying to walk and keep playing, but he plopped down every time he tried to put weight on his foot. We left the playgroup at the park then, and thankfully he started walking on it normally after his nap. It was never swollen, and I'm thankful he was ok.

January 27th, Liam's ninth tooth popped through. It was the last of the four middle teeth on top. He also has a molar that has partially popped through, so that will be his tenth tooth. He has really taken all this teething like champ. Before last night, I could have written that he's had no noticeable pain with them. However, he did wake up several times last night with teething pain. Poor little guy. I hate teething pain for him!

These days, art is actually more popular with Liam than toys. He always, ALWAYS, wants to color and play with stickers. Paper, crayons, and stickers pretty much stay out all the time these days. Thankfully, I found a stockpile of stickers in my teacher supplies box, and he got some for Valentine's Day from his grandparents. Stickers are everywhere now. There's pretty much always one (at least) stuck to the bottom of my socks. I even pulled one out of my hair the other day that Liam had stuck there. He loves placing stickers on my clothes.

Liam got his second haircut a couple weeks ago. His bangs were getting in his eyes all the time. Our friend Nikki cut it while Liam sat on Will's lap. We distracted him with Nikki's iPad, and hair got all over it! Part of me does wish we could grow out his hair, but I also think he looks pretty handsome with a traditional haircut. Either way, he's the cutest kid ever.

Liam has eased up on his love for Curious George this month and given Elmo some space in his heart. I think he might love Mr. Noodle and Big Bird as much as Elmo, though. I much prefer Curious George, though.

A very new thing is that Liam has had several day where he refused to nap. I went through the naptime routine with him every time, put him in his crib, and left the room. As long as he didn't cry, I left him alone. This only started this past week, but so far he's skipped his nap 3 times. I don't know what's going on with him. Today, we were outside for an hour this morning, and he took a great nap this afternoon! I think as long as we can get outside and play, he will be worn out enough to nap.

These pictures were taken on the church playground yesterday morning. Man, it was so tough getting ones of his face. Constant motion. I took way too many pictures.

Protesting being helped while in the big kid swing. He is not ready for the big kid swing on his own!

Walking up the slide on his own. Will is cool with it, but I've spent too much time tellings kids not to do that in childcare situations that it just feels wrong to allow it!

Breeze blowing through his hair

Mid stride

The only one I got with him looking at the camera. It's too bad that I cut his head off.

Real talk when it comes to Liam

Liam and daddy. One day, Liam will be that tall!

365: February 8-14

Looking back at the pictures, I realized we had a very uneventful week. I even forgot to take pictures for this purpose last weekend. Thankfully, I took some pictures anyway that I was able to use. As usual, most of these are pictures of Liam, but this blog IS about him after all.

Also, Liam is 21 months old today! That monthly post will happen in the next couple of days.

On to the pictures:

February 8: I would say it's pretty rare to get a picture of a toddler sleeping without them waking up. If I hadn't gone in there to wake him up on purpose, I wouldn't have chanced it! He was worn out after playgroup at the park. Poor Noel the Bear can't breathe!

February 9: Liam trying to eat a thread hanging from his shirt sleeve. He will put anything stringy in his mouth, including my hair (yuck). I've caught him trying to floss with/eat strands of my hair way too often.

February 10: This was definitely one of those days where I didn't take any pictures for this specific purpose. I just noticed the upside down froggy potty looked like a koala bear, so I took a picture. Doesn't it, though?!

February 11: Our daredevil child. Although, this is pretty tame compared to some other stuff he's attempted. He handled himself pretty well standing up on this thing. About the outfit: At home, I don't care if he matches or not. If we're staying home all day (which happens a lot only having one vehicle), it's pretty likely Liam will spend the day in one or both parts of his pj's. However, I think this outfit came about because of a massive diaper leak that required a clothes change, and these were the closest two clean items of clothing around.

February 12: Liam playing with the toddler lock app on my phone...and giving me a "Get out of here. I'm busy." face. It's a handy app to keep toddlers still during a diaper change.

February 13: We took a walk down a street in our neighborhood, and Liam just wanted to dig in the dirt between the cracks in the sidewalk. He was still wearing his pj bottoms, too! This was right before we met a neighbor who was arriving home with her young granddaughter. We talked for a few minutes, and then Liam tried to walk on in to her house. She seemed nice and all, but I opted for us to not go into the stranger's house.

February 14: My two wonderful guys on Valentine's Day with the card Liam and I made for Will. I actually took their picture with the regular camera instead of my phone, and I was able to get just one picture (this one) before the battery died. Lovely that Liam is wiping his nose, huh? I love these two!

365: February 1-7

I am a month late to the party, but it's better than never showing up, right? I'll just take this 365 photo challenge to January 31st, 2014. Here's the first week!

February 1: Dropping Liam off at the church for Parent's Night Out. Will and I had a nice dinner (alone) at Sushi Robata, followed by the sweetest vanilla milk tea we've ever had at Best Thai in Addison. I don't really think there was any tea involved, just liquid sugar.

February 2: A picture of a house we looked at while house hunting. Liam's favorite part of the houses we've looked at: the backyards!

February 3: Liam's new monkey backpack. This has replaced the big diaper bag. I've had my eye on this monkey bag from Skip Hop for awhile online, and when I saw it at Target, I bought it. I think it's adorable!

February 4: Playing at the nearby park, which is our backyard. However, it takes about 10 minutes to walk there. Look at those sweet cheeks! You can also get a glimpse of his second hair cut he got Saturday afternoon.

February 5: Liam eating broccoli. It's his favorite vegetable, and one I can count on him eating pretty much everyday. Real talk: this picture was taken after 5 p.m. and he was still in his pajamas.

February 6: Sliding on the slide that's right outside the door to our apartment. Liam decided that would be the day he could handle walking up the stairs and sliding down all by himself. We also spent a good 20 minutes sitting at the top, throwing rocks down the slide. You can see the dried snot on his nose and a little bit of dirt around his mouth because he decided to take a little taste earlier. This is life with a toddler! It's pretty awesome.

February 7: Liam wearing his hat (turtle shell shape sorter), on the verge of taking every single toy out the bin. I love his expression in this one.

January Randomness

It's the last day of January. Tomorrow, February starts, and I'm pretty sure it's my favorite month of the year. There are several things to look forward to in the coming month, so I'm excited!

I'm stealing an idea from my friend Jenny and starting a 365 photo challenge. I should have started January 1st, but I didn't know about it then, so February 1st will be the start date. I'll just go through January 31st, 2014 instead! Still counts. Plus it's an easy weekly blog post that will also chronicle our life. I will try to include some non-Liam pictures, even though he's awesome and pretty much the focus of every picture I take.

Speaking of Liam, I'm about to write about Liam speaking. He's a chatty toddler these days. These are a few things I want to remember about how he speaks at this age (20.5 months).

Liam finally pronounces "book" correctly. He had been replacing the B with a G.

He pronounces stickers as "gahkers."

He calls chips "pips." Don't worry. He doesn't really eat chips, except the occasional veggie straw (which are probably just as bad as regular chips).

Liam loves to throw balls around, and he always says "tatch" before he throws it. That means "catch." He's getting pretty good at "tatch"-ing them himself, too. He loves to kick his soccer ball around as well. I think he would enjoy something like Soccer Tots!

Coloring is still his most favorite thing to do, and he asks to do it all the time. He usually just starts randomly yelling, "cuhyur! cuhyur!" We do, however, remind him to ask nicely. He's gotten pretty good at saying, "Peas" (please) then and doing the sign. However, he's now just decided to say please and thank you all at once...I guess to save time! So now he does the signs and says, "Peas. Dee-doo." all at once. My goodness, it's cute! He sounds so sweet.

Liam pronounces play as "pay." He also looooves to "pay," especially outside! Thankfully, the weather has been decent a lot of the time lately, so we've spent more time at the park.

I love his toddlerese language! It still amazes me that words come out of his mouth at all. His cute pronunciations and sweet, sweet voice just make it that much more awesome.

Let's see...what else is going on?

Well, he sometimes asks me, "Where?" when I tell him we're about to go somewhere. Usually whenever we put him in his carseat, he says, "church." Ha, I guess that's usually where he goes! He also asked me "Why?" one day when I asked him not to touch something.

Despite all the talking and words he knows, we still have trouble understanding him at times. Then Liam gets frustrated because we're not acting on his request...because we have no idea what he's requesting. However, he does occasionally take my hand and lead me places to show what he wants me to do or get for him.

He's also starting to occasionally let me know when he needs a new "biper" (diaper). It usually happens after he's been put down for a nap or for bedtime! Were starting to talk about going potty more, and I got him the cheapest potty Target carries. However, I really don't have plans to attempt potty training him anytime soon. I just want him to get used to these things before I do.

He's also asking me for hugs these days. Talk about sweetness!

These are just a few of the things I want to remember about this stage. :)

Recent phone pics: (Liam is usually a blur in them!)

Coloring. (I think daddy had been helping.)

Hanging out at Whole Foods

Drawing lines

The curls occasionally come back!

Potty head (It's clean! Never been used.)

Reading

Playing with a stick

This happened in literally 2 seconds

Playdate with a friend

Big hair

Coloring on himself

Cool dude

Post-nap hair

Reading again...well, calling out letters he knows

Tired after many attempts to climb up the slide the wrong way

I think he looks older in this picture

Grumpy Liam on the swing (He was actually pretty happy...just tired at that point!)

A little glimpse at the silliness of Liam!

The table (and the crayon marks on the couch) were removed shortly thereafter!