Snowbound...

We got home last night after after a relatively uneventful trip home. Liam fortunately slept most of the way but he - like us - got a bit cranky when we landed and had to wait on the tarmac for over an hour to get to our gate. There is a massive snowstorm moving through Colorado and it hit a few hours before we landed. We got home safely though and are happy to be back home.

Below are two pictures though that I think illustrate the change that we have experienced. One is at the beach and the other is out our front door!

This weekend we have a few Christmas parties - one at the local recreation centre (yes, we're old!) and one with my work. Liam is being baby sat Saturday night with a friend so hopefully he behaves himself for her sake!

Heading home tomorrow...

We are doing well here in Redlands, CA and I went to work today while Annette and Liam went to explore Palm Springs. He's been great and really seems to enjoy being in different places and exploring with Mom and Dad. We head back to Denver tomorrow so are getting ready this evening for the trip home.

My Dad sent me this below which I thought I'd share - it's very amuzing and VERY true! Worth every penny.....

The Price of Children : The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle income family. Talk about sticker shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition.

But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates into:
* $8,896.66 a year,
* $741.38 a month, or
* $171.08 a week. * That's a mere $24.24 a day!
* Just over a dollar an hour.

Still, you might think the best financial advice is don't have children if you want to be "rich" Actually, it is just the opposite. What do you get for your $160,140?

* Naming rights. First, middle, and last!
* Glimpses of God every day.
* Giggles under the covers every night.
* More love than your heart can hold.
* Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.
* Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.
* A hand to hold, usually covered with jelly or chocolate.
* A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites
* Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.

For $160,140, you never have to grow up. You get to:
* finger-paint,
* carve pumpkins,
* play hide-and-seek,
* catch lightning bugs, and
* never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to:
* keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh,
* watching Saturday morning cartoons,
* going to Disney movies, and
* wishing on stars.
* You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay or Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For $160,140, there is no greater bang for your buck. You get to be a hero just for:
* retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,
* taking the training wheels off a bike,
* removing a splinter,
* filling a wading pool,
* coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream regardless.

You get a front row seat to history to witness the:
* first step,
* first word,
* first date, and
* first time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great grandchildren. You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.

In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God. You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits, So . . one day they will like you, love without counting the cost. That is quite a deal for the price!!!!!!!

Hanging out in the O.C.

We had another great and long day out at the beach and along the coast. We'll be doing more of the same tomorrow and perhaps heading north a bit as we went south today to Laguna Beach.

Here are a few more photo's to show you the beach!

Beach bum...

Today we took Liam to the Newport Beach Pier and walked along the boardwalk. He had a whole series of firsts all in one morning - first time at the beach, in the sand, on a boardwalk, hearing the ocean etc. We had a great time and everything was great until about 30 seconds before our lunch was served at a local restaurant.

Liam had his first ever meltdown for reasons we have yet to determine. He cried and screamed like never before and we tried all our usual tricks to calm him down when he occassionally gets momentarily fussy...nothing worked. Soon we were back at the car trying to calm him for over an hour with no luck.

Fortunately he's back to his normal self but we certainly got a taste of what a colicky baby is like. Thank goodness he isn't normally like that or he'd be an only child :)

We plan to head out tomorrow for a harbor tour and a drive up the coast.

Happy Thanksgiving...

We had a really uneventful flight from Denver to Ontario, CA today and Liam once again was fantastic without making a noise the whole flight. He slept pretty much the whole way ...and when he wasn't sleeping he was being cute and getting lots of compliments from the folks sitting around us.

Our Thanksgiving day dinner wasn't really what we expected to have today as we arrived at the hotel about 4pm and starving. The only restaurant open in the area (in Newport Beach) was - if you can believe it - Denny's! We decided to pretend that tomorrow is Thanksgiving and to find a nice restaurant that we could have a nice meal at to make up for our disaster of a dinner today.

We took a drive after 'dinner' and went down toward the beach where Liam visited his first beach.

Tomorrow we are going to explore the coast and look forward to having a real dinner in the evening!

Liam's cousins...

We are getting ready this morning to head off to California for our Thanksgiving day trip. Hopefully Liam will enjoy the ocean views as much as we do. We are both looking forward to a few days away without my blackberry as things have been really busy lately and I need a break!

My parents were in Hong Kong for my old(er) brother's 40th birthday through Oct-Nov and I've included a few pictures that they passed on. Liam has 2 cousin's - Devon a lovely little girl with lots of personality; and Keiran- and easy going little guy who hopefully will become fast friends with Liam when they first meet.

12 Pounder...

Liam was at the doctor today for a check-up and he's doing really well - twelve pounds! He's a big boy now and growing by the day.

We are getting ready now to head to California for our Thanksgiving trip and looking forward to showing Liam the ocean.

I have also been looking at the developmental milestones and so far our bright young man is well above the curve!





Check out http://www.babycenter.com/general/baby/babydevelopment/6476.html and you can follow along too :)

Liam's first dinner party...

Last night we had a few friends over for our first official 'dinner party'. Annette went all out and made homemade butternut squash soup, baked brie and a few other desserts. Liam was uncharacteristically fussy for most of the day but fortunately once our guests arrived he slept like an angel and didn't wake up until they left!

Today we are just relaxing and cleaning up after yesterday - and doing some home DIY (teaching Liam how to be a handyman like his Dad :)

Liam's Professional photo shoot...

This week has been a busy one but unfortunately for me it was overseas as I was in London for a few days for work. Annette and Liam had a good week, despite missing daddy and they kept busy as Annette now has several different groups of friends (book club, Mom groups, neighborhood friends etc) and they stay active with lots of activities for both Mom's and babies.
These photo's were taken by a professional photographer and they are the proof's that we received (well, a few...we have over 200 but I thought that was a bit much for the blog!)

This evening we are having a dinner party to christen our new dinning room table and break it in for Christmas. Annette has been researching recipes all week and I'm looking forward to a social evening that has nothing to do with work!

We are also preparing for this Thursday as we are off to California (Newport Beach area) for Thanksgiving. I have to be there on the following Monday and Tuesday for work so we decided to make a long weekend out of it and spend 6 days together in California. We're both looking forward to walking down the beach with Liam. This will be his second flight in his first 9 weeks of life...so already traveling as much as his Dad! :)

Liam is 8 weeks old today!

Liam turns 8 weeks today!!

Things are going well with us and we are laughing a lot with Liam as he is a very happy baby!

Almost 8 weeks old...

Yesterday was a relaxing day where we took care of a number of errands. Liam and Annette went to a Mommy & Me session where the two of them do a lot of stimulating activities (sing songs, play with colorful toys etc). Annette was a true proud Mom when she pronounced that he was the best in his class and ahead of another baby that was 4 weeks older! I'm looking forward to going to the next one with her as she found out that Dad's can go too.

We finally got our new camera to replace our old Canon that broke so we've been taking pictures again. I've attached a few here to show you all how he's growing!


We also think that he's starting to look more and more like his Mommy every day!

Back in Denver....

We arrived home yesterday after a pretty good flight. Fortunately I was upgraded on the flight back so Annette and Liam got to sit in business class for the 3.5 hour flight.

The best thing that happened when we got home though was that he laughed! He actually laughed for the first time instead of just the big smile. It was the best!

Now that we're back we are trying to get back into a schedule of sorts as Liam decided to wake us up several times last night. We are hoping that tonight he sleeps through for at least a 3-4 hour stretch. Perhaps he's just adjusting to the altitude.

We also got our new replacement camera as our Canon that we've had for years broke. If you were wondering where all the pictures are of our trip to New Jersey..well, there aren't many for that reason.

New Jersey visitors....

This week Annette has been enjoying spending time with her family and having a few of her girlfriends over to meet Liam. I've attached a few pictures that one of her friends shared.

I unfortunately am currently stuck in DC on my way back from Atlanta thanks to the east coast weather (rainy & cold). I will be taking a train from DC back into Newark today instead of a flight since most of the flights have been cancelled.

Tomorrow (Thursday) we head back home to Denver so hopefully Liam will be as good as he was on the way over and sleep most of the trip.

New York Wedding

We had a great time last night at the wedding last night and Liam did pretty well on his first night with a baby sitter. Our friends Marisa and Evan who looked after him may well have been put off kids forever! It wasn't actually that bad I don't think and they did very well to keep him entertained while he tried to figure out what was going on in a strange hotel while missing his Mom and Dad.

We on the other hand ate, drank and danced and really enjoyed ourselves. It was our first night out without Liam since he was born and it was a fun wedding and our opportunity to spend some time together.

Here are some of the pictures of the day:

Monica the Bride









Proud Grandpa Baran on the right...

Below: Annette and her cousin Yola with her daughter Ava, who is 7 months old.

Liam's first flight....

On Thursday morning we left the house at 5:30am to catch a flight to New Jersey. We packed up the stroller and a huge suitcase (with many things I suspect we don't really need) and headed off for what we thought might be a painful flight...for us, him and the people around us!

It turns out that the was great and slept pretty much the whole way! We got through security with no trouble and I wasn't required to drink Annette's breastmilk to prove it wasn't bomb making liquid...which was fortunate. When we arrived in New Jersey I stood up with him and several people sitting around us made comments to us about how they never even knew there was a baby on the plane (yes, I'm bragging at what a good baby he is)

Liam then got to meet his Grandma & Grandpa Baran...and Auntie Adriana. He smiled on queue and everyone was great.

Today we are off to Annette's cousin's wedding so it's sure to be a rather hectic day. I've already told everyone that anyone who even looks like they have a cold will be told to stay 10 paces away from Liam. I suspect some of the wedding attendees will be talking about what a crazy father I am....so be it!