Guatemala Part 1

I am writing from Guatemala and we are over half way through our trip here. We left on the 23rd of February and will be heading home on the 11th of March. We have already done so much here and there is much left to do.  The main purpose of our trip down was to introduce Liam to the other half of his family and heritage. The last half of the trip will be dedicated to the business. 

We spent the first few days in Guatemala City visiting with family.  The 26th was Evie's birthday. For those of you who don't know, that is Edwin's mom. The day before we had a big family fiesta at the house. On her birthday we went out to a beautiful restaurant and then toured a part of the city. Friday, a bunch of us went out to a pool on the coast for a BBQ and some swimming. 

Saturday, Edwin's parents came with us to Antigua to spend a few days relaxing.  We stayed in Edwin's uncle Luis' house, which is beautiful, and did some touring around from there. All in all we have had a great time and have really enjoyed the family.  

Liam has been a big hit here. He has acquired several new nicknames and is working on a lot of new tricks.  Everyone down here thinks he's huge! And they are very taken with his white skin and blue eyes. He has not suffered for love in the least! He started rolling over from his back to his stomach, but then he gets stuck and can't get back, which is very upsetting for him. He also started moaning while he falls asleep, which I love.  It is the sweetest sound!  He is such a happy, content little guy.  He has traveled really well, is content in anyone's arms and smiles all of the time. 

Now we are out in Huehuetenango for the rest of our time in Guatemala.  Sunday we will head up to the plantation for a night, which should prove to be interesting with a baby.  We'll let you know how that goes. But for now, here are some pictures of the last week and a half.  I am not on my own computer so I couldn't do much, but at least you can see a little of what is going on down here!  You'll have to wait until we get home to see the rest...

Make a Smilebox slideshow

What's up in January

January seems to be flying by for us!  We have been busy and so has Liam.  He is growing so fast already.  We went to the doctor for his four month check up today and things look good. Liam is 14 1/2 lbs. and 25 1/4 inches long.  That puts him at the 50% for his age, for both height and weight. Perfectly proportionate! Our only worry is that his soft spot seems to be too small, which means it is closing prematurely, so we will be going down to Children's Hospital in Seattle to see if he will need surgery or not.  Please pray for all of us regarding that situation.

Liam is smiling all the time and has started laughing too.  We love to hear him laugh!  He is grabbing for toys and starting to put things in his mouth more.  He holds his head up pretty well and is starting to stand on his legs a little longer.  Liam is no longer addicted to being swaddled and is sleeping from about 9:00 PM to 8:00 AM, praise the Lord! Nina and Edwin are pretty much the same developmentally, in case your wondering.  Well, if I'm being honest we're slowly declining, but that's another story.

For some reason Liam thinks it is really funny to have his shirt on top of his head...

But then again, we do too, so I guess it can be genetically explained.

Another thing we love about our little one is that he is always pointing his fingers. We are trying to figure out what this will mean for his personality.  Will he be bossy, or just really profound?  He does it when he stretches, when he is drinking his bottle, or just playing around. Check out this double point...

The problem is that he also points his finger when he is trying to eat his fist which means that he keeps gagging himself.  We are hoping he will catch on soon, but it doesn't seem to bother him.

This last weekend Edwin's aunt Delmi, uncle Carlos, and their kids and kids kids came to visit us in Bellingham.  We had a great time. Ceci and her husband Julio have a three and a half year old son, Sebastian.  And Pablo and Mady have a son, Alek, that was born three days before Liam.  Pablo and Edwin grew up together and are only about a five weeks apart in age, so it was really fun to see our boys together.   We went up to see the snow on Mt. Baker and spent some time in Seattle as well.  I put together a quick little video with a bunch of clips from the trip.  I am going to make more of a movie out of it later, but that will take a lot of time and I wanted to get this blog done!

Here are some pictures of our time as well...

Liam and Alek

Julio, Sebastian, Ceci, Nina, Liam, Edwin, Alek, Pablo and Mady

Carlos and Delmi (It was Carlos' first time in the snow!)

That is all for now, but we still have a lot to do in January, so we will keep you posted!

Liam's Family and Friends

Liam was so glad Grandpa came to hang out. Nina was so glad he came to cook and to wash bottles...and to hang out...

Grandma and Liam are both very good nappers.

Great Grandma had been waiting for this for a very long time!

I think Grandma Nancy is certainly in the running for who will spoil Liam the most.

If you want to hold Liam you will have to fight Papa for it!

Nana loves her Liam

Learning to love floor and tummy time

Uncle Jeff came for a short visit and promises to buy Liam his first Audi...how generous!

We love our best buddies Renee, Mark and Merritt. Will Liam ever catch up to Merritt's size?

Liam's first date. That Johanna Allen is quite a looker, huh?

Boys always say the wrong thing!

Going for a walk with Merritt in their matching strollers.

Holy Cow!

Oue New Nephew

Our new nephew, Alek Nicolas was born yesterday, 9/19/08, in Atlanta, Georgia to Edwin's cousin Pablo and his wife Mady! Congratulations you two! As you can see he is beautiful and came with a very full head of hair. He is completely healthy and much loved.

We have been so excited about this little one. Pablo and Mady were 6 weeks ahead of us and we can't wait for our boys to meet! Edwin and Pablo grew up together and are also 6 weeks apart. It has been fun to be a part of their pregnancy and to talk about the differences and similarities. I can't believe we will have similar pictures in just a few short weeks. I am expecting to see the same full head of black hair on our little one. Well soon see if I am right.