Bubby turns 2!

I can not believe that Liam is 2! We had a great time together as a family. Matt was able to work from home for the day so we were able to spend the entire day together. We set up Liam's gifts the night before so he would see them when he came down for breakfast and he looked at them and walked right past them. (pretty sure he was going to play with his Thomas train set that santa had brought him) He warmed up to the idea of more presents a couple of hours later and was excited to see what was wrapped inside. The activity table was something we never had when he was a "little" guy and he seems to really like playing with them so we picked one up on black Friday assuming he will play with it for a few months then it can be BB#2's. My parents got him the little table. He has liked sitting there for snack times and to color. After opening gifts we took him to Out Of This World Pizza. It is a giant play place that he LOVES! so much that he knows how to get there and he cries when I turn a different direction and he realizes that we aren't going there. Thankfully Matt was able to go because I can't fit through the tunnels and bounce houses like I use to!
After nap we played with his new toys and then met up with our good friends the Smith's at Red Robin for Liam's birthday celebration. Liam was so excited to have them there with us and had a hard time settling down to eat once he saw his best friends Trey and Lucy. He was being very silly and very loud, good thing that place is kid friendly. The servers came out to sing to him at the end of the night and we weren't sure how he would respond. Not much of an expression from him but he did keep the balloons on around his chin and say "yay!" when they were done. We had such a great day celebrating with our little man. He has brought so much joy to us the past two years and we are so grateful to have him as part of our family. It is really hard to believe that two years has passed but we are looking forward to this next year with our Bubby and all of the fun things we will experience with him.

This picture was too funny to not post!

Thanks for the lunch box Aunt Kate and Uncle James!

He loved the balloons so much he wanted to wear them at home too!

Things to remember about Liam as a 2 year old:

• He LOVES trains. Any kind. Any where. We were in a parking lot the other day and a train was coming by...he stopped, waited, waved, then blew it a kiss goodbye as it passed.
• He loves to jump. The landing doesn't have to be soft. He just wants to jump. When he is about to jump off of something he says " Mom! Mom! Wasch (watch) one, two, go!"
•  If he is ever leaving the room he runs to me or gets my attention somehow and says "mom, mom. Bye" while waving and blowing me a kiss. I love it!
• He loves to play basketball and baseball with his daddy. Matt can really get him giggling. 
• He really loves to hide from us and he is good at it. Going to any clothing store can be a scary experience. He hides behind a rack of clothing and will stand COMPLETELY still and not answer you while you look for him. My mom and I had an experience over Thanksgiving in an Old Navy where he sat down indian style on a platform behind thick wool scarves and you could NOT see him. I was so nervous. I can usually see his little feet on the ground but not this time. Thankfully my mom got a glimpse of him while I was looking through the store and she could not stop giggling when she found him. He was not happy to be found! But it happened quick and the child is not let out of my site while shopping anymore!
• He loved Christmas this year and LOVED all the Christmas lights. We heard lots of "Oh wows!" while driving anywhere in the month of December. 
• He likes to drink smoothies and is a great eater.
• He says Mom all of the time. He knows that I am mom and will use "mom" correctly but it is often used as a command to anyone when he wants something.
• He loves to hear the garage door open at the end of the day. And loves when Daddy walks through the door. 
• He does not like his belly or any one else's belly to be showing. He tells me "no, no" when I try to watch the baby kick. And will pull my shirt back down. 
• He likes his space and if you get to close when he doesn't want you there he lets you know bye shaking his hands at you and saying " No! No!"
• He loves to be around other kids. 
• He likes to help around the house but loves to climb in the laundry baskets once we empty them. 
• He is really good at occupying himself and playing quietly when he knows its bedtime and doesn't want to go.
• He loves to take baths and has recently started to really like showers. Which I love! total time saver!
• He is still sucking his thumb...sleeps with his two favorite blankets and his stuffed black sheep. I think they are his best friends. I went to Mexico in October for a week and the night before I left I put the sheep in bed with him. Hasn't had a night without it since :)
• Likes to make us food in his play kitchen and lets us know when it is too "hhhooottt" check out how cute his kitchen is!
• Loved the movie 'The Polar Express'

I doubt anyone made it through this list! I am sure I will think of things to add to this! I am afraid I won't remember anything soon and to avoid this from happening I am determined to be a better blogger/journaler! I need to get into a good habit before this baby gets here.

Dear Liam,

Please don't turn 2.

I love you,

Momma

Browsing my pictures tonight and came across this shot from the Hillsboro airshow in August.

I love my boys!

Ps. Halfway mark in the pregnancy. Go me :)

Paint exploration...

Liam at 22 months 

Pumpkin picking

We are alive

It has been a busy summer and the blog is proof of that! Besides being busy I just haven't wanted to blog. Lots of events, lots of cute pictures, lots of stories about our little man but no desire to write them down. Which is a bad thing. Now that the weather has taken a nose dive and the rain is among us I plan to get back to it. We have made some memories the past fews months that I never want to forget.

08-18-10 Just hanging out with his giraffe friends

3

Happy 3 years My Matt!

Love You-

Hun E

Summer is finally here

It's June 12th and the sun is here. We couldn't be happier.

I am not sure who is more excited about the water table, me or Liam? Although he kept trying to climb in and take a swim. An added bonus was a two and half hour nap after running around in the sun all morning!

Cape Mears May 2010

We went to the beach for the weekend in March for Matt's birthday with Tanya and Travis and we had so much fun without the kids we decided to go back with them. The trip definitely wasn't as relaxing with the kids but we had a great time together and Tanya was able to get some great family shots for us.

A little nosey

This has been an eventful week in the Cope household. I went in for surgery on Tuesday to have my sinus' cleaned out and my deviated septum repaired. All in the hopes that the sinus infections I have been plagued with since Liam was born would subside. My doctor explained that your sinus' are like a small room with a door open for things to pass in and out and my door had been permanently shut in 4 out of the 6 "rooms". Awesome. He said surgery would hurt and so would the recovery and to have extra help with Liam for 3 days. I just thought the extra help would be for a little lifting and chasing. Boy were we wrong. Turns out we needed someone for Liam and someone for me. Apparently I don't come out of a three hour sedation well and my face does not like to be packed with gauze and whatever else may be stuffed in my sinus' right now. I was also able to hear my nurse on the phone saying she was panicked and shaking.

After not being able to keep my eyes open for longer than a 30 seconds at a time for the first 36 hours I was elated to see Liam galloping around the house today pulling every tissue out of the box and giving me high fives. Much better than yesterday when he tried to go for my bag of frozen peas and smacked me in the nose instead. Love that little boy and I wish I had that much energy. Anyways... Doc says the surgery went well and I will have everything removed tomorrow, which wasn't suppose to happen until next Tuesday, but i guess he moves up the removal date when you have his cell number and call frequently :)

I requested that Matt take pictures so I could remember just how terrible it was. Seriously...natural labor from here on out. (but don't quote me on that)

Moral of the story...When the doctor says it is going to hurt...multiply it by 1,ooo.

Thanks to my amazing husband, amazing friends, and amazing family for helping out the past couple of days. i am a blessed lady.

Day1

Day 2

At my most recent dr's appointment they asked me if I was employed. It was so weird to say no and at first I felt a little embarrassed. I was a working girl for over 5 years! It was a fun and challenging 5 years and I am grateful for the things I learned and the people that I met.
I had a few people say "what are you going to do all day??" Are you kidding me? I am going to explore with my little guy and not think about the stack of paperwork that I could be working on. I get to choose to do the best things with him and not let the good things get in the way. I am grateful for the opportunity I have to stay home with him because I know not everyone can. And I am grateful for a husband who works so hard to take care of us. Although I loved my old identity as a working girl...I would choose to be a mom in a working home any day.



I'm grateful I don't have to miss smiles like this...

Mother's Day 2010

I love these two handsome men! Being a mom and wife is amazing thanks to these two!



I couldn't get enough of the little man in his suit today. Can you blame me?

6+6=12

Liam started this month with 6 teeth and will be ending the month with 12! Poor little guy. We noticed a molar on each side coming in a couple of weeks ago and while managing the pain for those 4 I found the "sidekicks" to his bottom two today. One of them has already cut through!How do I not notice these things??? He has dealt with the pain pretty well. Although his shirts might not survive all the drool.

3/30/10



On a side note.... I know I have been pretty lame with updating. I have three drafts in here just waiting to be finished. It will happen. This is my last week of working "outside of the home"! Woo Hoo! I decided to focus more attention to Liam and playing :) And I am only sort of kidding. Working part time from home and part time from the hospital was a huge blessing in my transition to motherhood. But it wasn't as easy as I thought it would be and with Liam constantly on the go it was time to drop something from my schedule. If you're thinking about working from home... send me an e-mail I can give you some pro's and con's. So with that, goodbye to Providence! Thanks for the last 5 and a half years!

way overdue

I have lots to blog about and now the thought of updating is overwhelming me. I am going to take baby steps to get back into the blogging world. I just hope I don't miss something that I would have really liked to remember. We have been really busy the past couple of months. Not always sure what we are busy with but trust me...we are busy. My mom is here from SLC right now and it has been wonderful having her around. Liam adores her and is seeming like he prefers her over me. Today is Matt's birthday and we were able to go the the beach for the past couple of days with Travis and Tanya. We left the kiddos with parents and headed west. It was so great to get away! Thanks to March Madness, Tanya and I were able to shop while the boys were watching games. It was fun. But so nice to come back to a smiling little boy who was happy to have us home. (Except for the whining that followed anytime we left the room)

Liam loves to talk to us and ramble off his own form of language. He started telling us no a couple of weeks ago which is actually pretty funny. Especially when he uses it correctly. He is extremely stubborn and still loves to play outside and go for walks. He can tell when I am getting ready to go somewhere and will grab his shoes, jacket and sometimes even my purse and bring it to me. I must have a routine with getting ready because sometimes I don't even tell him we are going anywhere. But if we do tell him he is the first with his shoes and sweatshirt and is at the door waiting. He is an amazing little guy and can brighten any one's day. I love my boys!

Happy 28th Matt!

This is what happens...

when friends come over... Liam LOVES his friends Trey and Lucy and they love him too.

2/5/2010

Tunnel of fun

1/15/2010

We want summer...

We had a few days of sun the past couple of weeks and Liam loved exploring our neighborhood. We went to the park and he stood still for at least 5 minutes watching the kids run around. He also took me on a walk the other day. We were all over the neighborhood and he LOVED it. Things have changed a lot since last summer and things are going to be a lot different by the time summer gets here. With that said he has been REALLY wanting to go outside lately. He goes to the window or door FREQUENTLY telling me that he wants to go outside. His word for just about everything right now is "Ish!" (while pointing at the object) When I tell him we are going to go, he walks to the door, waits for me, walks into the garage and goes straight to his stroller. The kid is ready for the great outdoors. But since we are stuck in the great indoors I am trying to think of things to keep him entertained. He loves to go through his designated kitchen drawers and pantry shelves and while in the pantry he found a bag of macaroni noodles.

"Ish! Ish!"

I then had a flash back of my old job surrounded by fifteen 12-24 month olds. We played with cooked noodles frequently. So we cooked up those noodles and went for it. This was the result. He loved it. He liked throwing them better than eating them. I loved watching his eyes light up when he dug his hands into the noodles. Inexpensive activity for a rainy day. Happy child. Success.

First real hair cut

1/10/2010

Liam was in need of a real hair cut badly! Luckily we have a fantastic family member with the talent to tackle not only the female family members hair but Liam's too. He was a little unsure but with a little whipped cream and a little bit of his Mommy we got the job done! Thanks Aunt Brittany!

Christmas 2009

12/25/09

12/24/09

We had the opportunity to spend Liam's first Christmas in Utah with my family. Liam had a great time with his cousins and while we were there he started walking! We had a great time playing cards with my family. No Sautter/Olson get together is complete without a hand of rook!

Love him!

1/12/10

More pictures and updates coming soon!

blah....

I have pictures... A lot of pictures... I also have no ENERGY and I am working on my second cold since Christmas. We have a 2 birthdays and 2 Christmas' and one adorable haircut and one ADORABLE walking little man who figured out how to walk in little circles tonight. It was awesome. He is amazing and growing up way too fast.



I'll have a real update soon. Once this cold goes away...

Liam's 1st Birthday

Note- I am hating blogger right now. I have worked on this post FOREVER! First it wouldn't let me upload pictures and now they aren't in the format I wanted them in. At least I'll have the memories...

I am typing this one month after the fact although it is dated at the beginning of January. And since this is also my Liam journal it is going to be really long.

We had two great birthday celebrations for the little guy. We were in Utah with my parents for his actual birthday. He decided to start the party early and when I say early I mean 5:45. His sleeping habits were pretty off while we were out of town and sleeping in the same room as us doesn't help. Matt and I were able to go to the Draper Temple with my Dad and Rob and Crystal to do my Grandma's temple work. It was an awesome experience! Liam was able to spend his birthday morning hanging out with Nana. The other exciting event, for us at least, was the snow that started falling. When we left the Temple it was really starting to come down! I love the snow and loved that it was snowing on Liam's birthday. We hung out around my parents place until Liam woke up from his afternoon nap and then headed up to Rob and Crystals for Liam's party. We made chicken pot pie, his favorite, and enjoyed the meal while my dad watched the snow accumulate on his car and worried about how we were going to get back to their place. After dinner we opened presents then Liam got to eat his own brownie. It was awesome. We had a great time and are always grateful to Rob and Crystal for letting us invade their home.

Pictures from Utah to come, blogger won't upload. boo..

We had party with Liam's favorite foods when we returned to Oregon. Our fabulous friends Tanya and Travis let us use their home for the party so we had a little extra space. It worked out perfectly and we are so lucky to have them as our friends. We had around 25 people their to watch Liam do his thing. He was loving the attention! I laugh just thinking about the grin he had on his face all day. We had croissants with chicken salad, chips, fruit, veggies, cheese, and cupcakes! Liam loved his cupcake! He didn't want to touch it at first so he just kept putting his face in it. After a few nose fulls of frosting he picked it up. If the video wasn't so long I would post it. Pictures will have to do. Happy 1st Birthday Liam! We love you!

I obviously couldn't just pick one. They were all too cute!