Vermont - still summer 2010!

The second last portion of our US adventure was spent in one of James' and my favorite places - the Strohmaier farm in Bennington, VT.  With all the moving around we were doing we decided to try and consolidate Boston and Vermont, and thanks to Shirin, Mims and Nana's willingness to spend a little time on the farm, we managed to see everyone.  It also feels more relaxing and peaceful up there, and James and I absolutely love spending time with Gigi and Sonny.  This time was even more special because they were able to meet Liam and on top of that, part of my family was there too.  We were there a total of 9 days, with 5 of those including Nana, Shirin and Mims.  I'm disappointed we have no evidence of Liam chasing down the cats, but they were always quicker than us.

On the drive up to VT.  He's really quite a careful driver - look how attentive he is of the road!  (just incase SS is after me, this was taken in a STATIONARY vehicle, in a parking lot.)

The classic painted Moose picture from Bennington

Liam meets his grandpa Sonny!

Liam with Grandma Gigi

Introducing Liam to the calves

We call this video "Liam's first Cow Lick!"

Liam and Shirin hanging out on the lawn out front. This was Liam's first chance to move about and crawl in grass.  He loved the texture and of course ate many blades of grass!

Shirin lets Liam have his first organ lesson (on some antique 1700's show piece in Manchester). He is a very enthusiastic pupil.

One day we came home and saw this little rocking duck - a genuine piece of the 50's.  Sonny had gone scouting around and found it in the basement somewhere.  He cleaned it up nicely and brought it back for Liam to use.  How sweet is that?

This is a sweet one of Nana and Liam.  She was showing him pictures in a magazine, and though he won't sit still to look at books with me or James, he seemed just fine doing it with her.

Introducing Liam to kiwi for the first time.  Shirin brought a ton of fresh fruit with her and Liam loved getting to suck on some peach, a mango seed, and this piece of kiwi.  Truthfully, as long as there's fruit in his food, he's been a pretty good eater.

Before we left VT we made sure we swung over to Brattleboro to visit Josh, Shan, Oliver and their newest member, Calvin (just 3 weeks old at the time).  I am embarrassed to discover we took no pictures of their kids, so all I really have as proof of the event is this photo of Josh with a grumpy Liam!  Sorry Josh!

Mas Mexico!

I can't help but post a few more pictures from Mexico.  Like I said, I'm really trying to limit the number but it's hard!

Four Generations - too bad Liam isn't a girl!

Love this one of Nana and Liam

Liam going for my chocolate shake at the swim up bar

A sweet one of Mims and Liam hanging out and playing with Nana's cane

This is a funny story that must be told - We were sitting down for lunch and Liam was on Grandma Gail's lap.  Our food arrived and we were just chatting for a second and next thing I know, I look up and see Liam with a piece of bread stuck to his lip!  This is the incriminating evidence of his first bite of bread:

Who can resist squishy baby feet with sand between the toes?

Talk about a bad hair day for me, but I had to post at least one picture that showed we made it to the ruins in Tulum.  It's quite a spectacular place, but boy was it a hot afternoon!  This was the occasion that Liam also took it upon himself to ditch his hat.

Another sweet moment - this was the day that Liam discovered how to pull himself up to standing, and below is the way it happened - right on his dad.

Family picture after a swim

Liam in his sunglasses was quite the sight.  Everyone commented on him.  I guess the really surprising thing was that he was willing to wear the sunglasses and didn't try to take them off!

Mama and baby in the sea

This last thing is a video of the first time dunking Liam under the water

Viva Mexico!

We spent a fabulously decadent 9 nights on the Riviera Maya in Mexico.  After our great experience at the Dreams resort in Puerto Vallarta I was thrilled that we were able to find a decent deal at their newest resort just south of Cancun - Dreams Riviera Maya - all inclusive.  It just opened in the fall of 2009 so everything was brand spanking new, and it really was beautiful.
To add to the perfection we were able to convince Grandma Gail and Nana to come for 5 nights while we were there and so we got some family time in as well as a lovely holiday.  This was also the first time Nana got to meet Liam, so it really was special.  Our days consisted of nothing more taxing that figuring out where we wanted to eat for each meal, and when to order our first frozen drink.  We sat, lay and swam our way through the days!  We have a million photos so I will try and pick out as few as I can to give a sense of the trip without overdoing it!

James and Liam chilling out when we first arrived in our room.  We did have a crib for him as well.

Our most challenging task was to secure a pallapa (or bali bed) at the start of every morning.  Thanks to Liam being an early bird that was no problem!

James and Liam enjoying the infinity pool.  Liam really had a good time in the water!

Probably my favorite photo - my two boys on the beach

Taking Liam into the sea for the first time

Grandma Gail and Liam reunited and happy to see each other!

Liam passed out for a nap while we had lunch at the restaurant right near our pallapa

A perfect moment

Liam loved meeting his Great Grandma!

Grandma Gail taking Liam in the pool for a swim - the sun was a bit strong at this time so he's wearing a T-shirt and hat to protect that fair skin of his

Summer in New York Continued

While visiting in New York we were happily surprised to hear that Mike was coming up from North Carolina with the kids, so we had the unexpected good luck of getting to see all of them this trip.

Liam meets some of his cousins - Samantha and Michael

We were up in Saratoga Springs for a conference that James was attending and as luck would have it we managed to meet up for a dinner with a couple more of Liam's cousins as well as Dawn.  

Here's Liam hanging out with Isabelle and Connor.  Both were so eager to read to him and entertain him.  It was pretty cute to see.

This is a noteworthy photography because it marks the very first time Liam was in a swimming pool which we had access to during our time in Saratoga

Family photo in the park - Saratoga Springs

Back in New York Liam spent some more time meeting family and friends.  We stayed with James' parents in Brooklyn for the most part, and it is in their apartment that Liam practiced and perfected his crawl.  He also had his first opportunity to play piano.  (I hope to put a clip up at some point!)

Here he is with his Aunt Christy at his cousin's (of some sort) Christening party

Liam was finally in a good enough mood for Matt to get to hold him.  Matt should have met him when he was a newborn, but since Liam came a week late Matt had already left.  This photo is from brunch at  Dizzy's with Karen and Matt.

At yet another brunch in Park Slope Liam got to meet Sandy and David.  We are all excited about the gift of an automatic bubble blower for Liam!  

Liam hanging out with grandpa Jim

Liam examining Grandma Cathy's necklace 

Liam was absolutely enamored with Grandma Cathy.  She has such adorable songs that she sings to him and he finds her animated facial expressions and enthusiastic sounds to be so funny.  His face would light up every time he saw her! 

The Rest of Summer in Many Parts

Oh goodness!  Letting 7 weeks slip by without posting has left me feeling overwhelmed at where to get started.  So much seems to have happened in the same span of time that I feel like I'm already confusing events and when they occurred.  So before things get even more mixed up in my head or completely forgotten, I am going to attempt the impossible - to trace through and pull out the highlights of our 7 weeks of traveling this July and August.

In these short few weeks Liam has become an expert crawler, a proficient pull-myself-up-on-anything-er, an enthusiastic assisted walker (holding onto your fingers of course), and a much better solid food eater.  He has experienced and enjoyed swimming in pools, and even tolerated being in the sea.  He has squished sand between his toes and sat patiently in an inordinate amount of restaurants.  Together we explored Brooklyn, Manhattan, Saratoga, Riviera Maya in Mexico and Bennington and Brattleboro in Vermont.  He also attended his very first wedding and went from first time flyer to frequent flyer!  He has also had first hand experience with rabbits, cats, dogs and even cows.  It certainly has been a lot to take in - for all of us.  He has now had a chance to meet more of his family including his only great-grandparent - Nana, as well as meeting numerous aunts, uncles, cousins and family friends.  It's no wonder we returned home to Lugano exhausted!

I'll have to divvy up the photos, so here are the first few:

Liam's first Trans-Atlantic flight - He's looking rather comfortable and chipper for a 6 month old on an 8 hour plane ride!

Liam did really well on most of the flights.  It wasn't till our final flight coming home that we had any difficulty with him and traveling.  To be fair, our flight out of JFK was delayed 3 hours and so that used up his "good" time and left him overtired and unable to sleep well.  It also meant that we missed our Lugano connection from Zurich and had to hang out in the Zurich airport for an extra 4 hours.  On the up side, we discovered that Zurich airport has a pretty fancy nursery area with lots of space, changing tables and toys for little ones.

This isn't a great photo, but it shows everyone out for James' birthday on the day we arrived in New York.  I can't believe we managed to keep Liam and ourselves awake till after 9pm that night!

Karen and Liam reunited for the first time since his birth

In our few days staying in Manhattan Karen came and hung out with us and as we walked the upper east and west sides it was a pretty common sentiment that I must be the nanny and Karen the mother of this little guy.  This feeling was confirmed when we were together with a couple in an elevator and though my hands were on the stroller they directed their question of "how old is he?" to Karen.  She looked at me and I replied: "6 months" to which they responded, once again to Karen: "what's his name?"  To which I once again replied: "Liam".  So I'm sure they just think that she's such a busy upper east side mom she can't remember such minor details!

TASIS in Manhattan!  Getting together with Jen, Dan and Courtney for dumplings in Little Korea!

We had great fun seeing Swiss friends in NYC.  Besides our meet up with the people above we also had a chance to meet up with Sarah.  

Our little family in the big apple

Liam, meet Barley.  Barley, meet Liam

Liam's first introduction to pets was with sweet Barley, Karen's rabbit.  Lucky for Barley he was quicker than Liam because all Liam wanted to to was catch his ears or tail and bit them!

They grow up too fast

pparently I am no longer needed to post on the blog as the job has been taken over by Liam. (James suggested sending these photos along to Mac to get some freebees in exchange for free adorable advertising!)

Who says you can't start them young?

Hard at work

Ok, since his spelling is always a bit off I will help out a bit. Here are some tidbits from the last week or so that we just don't want to forget.

A few mornings ago I was awakened by a head butt, then another, then a hand swipe across my face, and a couple of feet to the ribcage. Valiantly, I tried ignoring him, but next thing I knew Liam was literally CRAWLING on top of me. As tired as I was I couldn't help laughing. This is not an exaggeration. You can ask James for confirmation. I think if I left him he might just have gone ahead and fed himself!

He has been so desperately trying to move in the last couple of weeks and so in the last week he has figured out a bizarre scooching technique that actually manages to get him to his destination (albeit not the most elegant way!) Often at night we now find him asleep in various new positions - on his side, along the headboard, or belly down and one knee up. I think it's definitely time for him to transition full time into his crib, but I guess since we are traveling in just a few days that will have to wait till we return.
This video isn't a great one, but it does show him making his way to an object.

These pictures are from dinner at the Ulku-Steiners a week ago. Otto, Keith and Char were there and it was one of the last times Liam and Otto got to play together before Otto left.

Toys under close examination

Lucy and Liam - both of the Ulku-Steiner's kids absolutely love the babies and spent the whole evening entertaining them.