Liam eats Snow

Here's a video of Liam munching on the snow!

First Snow of the Year!

I honestly thought we were going to get through this entire winter without snow.  But yesterday it started with a little sprinkle and we ended up with probably close to a foot of snow by this morning.  Everything looks beautiful and coated in white, and the best part is that we can finally make use of all the snow gear we got for Liam.  I felt so prepared this year, getting his long underwear, snow pants, gloves and even snow boots - it would have been a shame for it all to go unused.  Lucky for us, despite it being January 29th, we can be out and about and enjoy the snow.

Liam has had an absolute blast in it.  From stomping  in it, to flopping down, to being thrown into a pile, even eating it.  We made a snow man and in the back yard and he enjoyed digging with his shovel and filling buckets full of it.

Getting ready!

Ready to head out with Daddy

Having a snow snack!

Sort of snow angel?

Working on the snow man

View from the backyard

Daddy and Liam with Mr. Snowman (soon to be knocked down)

Mummy and Liam and Mr. Snowman

Mostly Liam's Second Birthday and some other random bits

We got back from Istanbul on Christmas Eve and it was really great to have a few weeks at home before James had to return to work.  James couldn't have been more pleased with a Christmas present from Christy and family, of a Jets jersey.  He also managed to convince him to wear it one of the last few days the jets were playing this season.  Too bad they are such a losing team! 

Go Jets!

Sonja and Sham came to visit on the 26th but were off for a few days, returning on the 31st for a good week and a couple of days to just hang out with us.  I'm sorry to say I didn't get a lot of pictures of their time here, mostly because perhaps it would be less than exciting have photos of them at the gym or us all watching Top Chef, or Sonja baking something yet again - we were not terribly adventurous!

We did manage one excursion to Como on Liam's actual birthday, and it turned out to be a chilly but enjoyable day out.  We wandered the streets a while and then headed to our favorite pizzeria place for lunch.  (Sonja and sham did manage to find some paleo friendly fodder too!)

Sonja, Liam and Sham in Como

Liam literally ate almost the whole plate of pasta! Birthday lunch in Como

Sham and I 

Liam laughing after lunch

On our way back to the car after a good day in Como

Stirling and Leigh came by after nap time to wish Liam a happy birthday.  They also brought a couple of exciting presents, one of which was a noisy digger book - clearly a winner for Liam.  The rest of the afternoon was spent on skype with family, and hanging out at home with a few new gifts.  The funniest thing about his birthday was every time someone wished him a happy birthday he'd say " no, no happy birthday!"  In fact it was amusing how right around the actual 2nd birthday "NO" became a big deal to say.  Thankfully it has worn off a little, but we had a few days of "No, I don't want..."  followed by whatever you just said.

Reading the new noisy digger book together

As part of his birthday celebration Sonja also whipped up a sugarless, carb-less cake.  It was quite delicious and a real success with Liam since it was all about the berries on top.

Me after eating the whole pie - just kidding - this is randomly here to mark my 33rd week of Pregnancy

And back to the main event - Liam and co celebrating with the tart/cake!

All set to dig in!

We have also been meaning to cut Liam's hair for some time, and unfortunately we only got to it after his birthday.  Here's a shot of a freshly trimmed Liam.  I feel like I did a slightly better job this time around, probably because I had James assist me with distraction videos of trains and diggers on youtube.

Cutey-pie!

Other major accomplishments over the break were the application of the wall art decals for Liam's room. Baby 2's is not finished yet - I hope to get there before she comes!  But Liam now has a really sweet set-up in his room, and it feels much more like a finished product.  He's enjoying his 3 monkeys!

Liam with his big boy bed and wall of monkeys!

A week and a day after his actual birthday we had a birthday brunch so we could celebrate a little with his friends.  Since everyone was away on his actual day it just made sense to wait, so we had a lovely Sunday brunch here with all the people nearest and dearest to Liam here in Lugano.  We had lots of little peoples running around, but chaos was minimal and I think everyone had a good time.  I didn't get to take any photos so James managed just a couple to at least capture the day.

Liam, Sam, Stirling and Drake playing legos downstairs

A few of the adults - Josh, Kat, Carolyn hanging out with the small people

After all the birthday stuff I am happy to have things quiet down a bit.  I think my hosting days are numbered, at least till after the birth.  I think making 2 dozen bagels was enough for a while.  So we're now back in the swing of things - Liam is getting to know his new babysitter Sarah, and I am testing out how long I can be back at work.  In all of that, Liam has become curious again about the whole potty thing.  He asked to sit on it a few times last week, and even twice sat on it with his pants and diaper off.  Then this past Sat (Jan 21st), James was using the bathroom and Liam decided he would too.  And he really did!  I think we all were surprised to see the poop at the bottom of the potty, but we had a little celebration and Liam felt pretty pleased with himself.  Nothing since then, but little by little we may just get there!

Istanbul - Christmas 2011

After being in Europe for almost 5 years and having Istanbul as one of our "need to see" places, we finally made it there.  Perhaps it wasn't the most perfect timing given that we were traveling with an almost 2 year old and a 30 week pregnant me, but who knows what we'll be able to do once we have 2 little ones to worry about, so it seemed as good a time as any.

Something that made our lives easier was definitely getting a flight from Lugano on Swiss Air and not dealing with delays, major airport waiting times and shoddy baggage issue airlines.  Unfortunately where we have always had really good luck with apartments in foreign cities, we landed a dud in Istanbul.  Without rehashing the whole thing, the place was actually lovely looking and clean, but the smell of cigarette smoke kind of seemed to seep out of the ventilation, and we only noticed it after we got back from dinner on the first night.  We also were not expecting a rowdy party to be taking place just across the street and going until 3am.  The combination led to a bad first night and a decision to move the following morning.  We booked into the Doubletree by Hilton right in the Old Town, and splurged on a suite to allow Liam his own sleeping space.  Breakfast was included, and the location and space were perfect.  We could either walk or hop on the tram to get to all the major sights that one needs to see, and it was easy as can be to pop back to the hotel for Liam's nap times.

Weather was also not on our side, though the prediction of rain every day was a slight exaggeration and we managed to have a glimpse of sunshine on a day or two and a good amount of half days without any rain.  In the short 5 days we had we managed to fit in the Hagia Sofia, Blue Mosque, the Topkapi Palace, Spice bazaar, grand bazaar and a walk from Taksim square down the main pedestrian drag one evening.  That included finding the second best food of the trip - a deliciously delectable Belgian waffle with ice cream and fruit.  Yum.  Best meal of the trip was definitely the Turkish food we had with a former student of James'.  He took us to a fancy place past Taksim somewhere and picked out his favorites.  It was definitely heavy on the meat items but everything was absolutely delicious!

One of our favorite little areas to walk around in was behind the blue mosque in the sultanamet neighborhood.  They had some very sweet shops and boutiques as well as the most curious wood sided buildings that looked straight out of some town in the USA.  Our pictures aren't great because with the rain and my general tiredness I wasn't able to get a lot of fantastic shots.  I guess our memories will have to serve us!

Liam and me inside the Hagia Sofia

Hagia Sofia

James and Liam near the spice bazaar

At the spice market

Just a cute picture in some rare sunshine

The Hagia Sofia in sunshine (not the day we actually went in)

The Blue Mosque

Liam and the Bosphorus taken at Topkapi Palace

Buffet breakfast at the hotel - Liam held out for olives as often as possible

Our souvenirs from the trip included two modern styled kilim rugs (one small for the wall and a slightly bigger one), and 2 hanging mobiles for the kids.