Christmas at the Powers!

A Special delivery from Grandma and Grandpa Homan!! Thanks so much!

He couldn't watch those Buckeyes win the National Championship on the 7th without sporting some OSU pride! Thanks Grandpa Bob and Rene!

All decked out for the morning! We took him places with the hat and everyone loved the antlers.

Giving us a little smile.

Christmas Eve.

We were truly blessed with all of the presents! Brian could barely contain himself until the morning.

Christmas eve and Liam is ready for bed. We loved just sitting and listening to Christmas music and looking at the tree.

Christmas Eve with mommy!

The toy drive. There were over 200 volunteers to help walk the kids through the toys to pick out lots of goodies!

This past week and last weekend was just a wonderful time for us in Los Angeles. It was busy, but full of lots of good things. I truly love the season of Christmas the most in the whole year.

Last Saturday was the Toy Giveaway at church. We partner with another church and raise money to buy presents and/or have them donated for a big giveaway for the kids in the neighborhood. It is never advertised, but for years now, they come! Last year the church served around 600 kids. This year, I believe it was more! My friend Shalom basically runs the organization of this event for months leading up to the day. It was our first year to volunteer and experience the shear mass of toys and kids receiving toys. It was quite a spectacle! Enjoy the pics.

Sunday Sara finished up her shopping and Monday was one of the most relaxing Christmas Eve's I can ever remember. We listened to music, watched a movie, cooked, played with Liam and just enjoyed each other. At the last minute we decided not to attend a Christmas eve service, but instead stayed in, cooked a simple dinner (that we used our China on for the first time!), prayed a lot, read the Bible, and prayed some more. It was thoroughly enjoyable and special and a wonderful memory as our first Christmas eve as just us. That night when I woke up to feed Liam at about 1:30am, Brian said "Can we open presents now?" He was such a kid! He begged me over and over again to open them before the morning. He did open one on Christmas eve. I suppose I gave in a bit.

Christmas morning Liam was awake and happy as we opened presents. He is really going to enjoy all of the fun things his grandparents, great grandparents, and aunt and uncles sent him! We dressed him up in his garb and took lots of pictures. We had fun opening up presents and taking our time and enjoying our family time. It was wonderful and such a great time! He got fun books, DVDs, play things, clothes and lots of love from all his family. Thanks!

In the evening we had a potluck style Christmas dinner at our friend's house. There were about 13 people there and it was fun and enjoyable.

Enjoy the pictures and the video! We are truly blessed and want to thank you all for your thoughtfulness! What a joyous rememberance of our Savior we had this Christmas.

hustle and bustle!

This week has been great - it has been a little cool and little rainy and feeling a lot like Christmas! Monday we accomplished the feat of shipping all of our family's presents to arrive in time for Tuesday. It is great having had most of our shopping done over a week before Christmas. There have been many years we have been making last minute trips out, but hopefully not this year. And in LA I have found that it is truly crazy everywhere at this time.

I went to a cookie exchange party on Wednesday which was my first and very fun too. We are going to be helping with a toy drive at our church this Saturday. Toys will be given out to many many kids! I think last year about 600 kids received toys from the drive, and this year it is expected to be much more! Much planning has gone into this event and it all culminates on Saturday. Should be a good time for all.

Well Liam has been kind of like a night owl this week. Since he is spending more time awake during the day (hopefully during the day) I am just now realizing that it is important to have him on some kind of schedule. This came about when all this week he has not fallen asleep before 10pm. That is not a bad time, but the night before he was wide awake until midnight. That is not cool. So, I am trying to keep him up more during the day to help with an earlier bedtime. Easier said than done! He is asleep in the swing now as I write...

But overall he is doing well and growing and growing more. He is also smiling more and looking at things that hold his interest. It is fun to see him change - I realize it is happening all too quickly! He is getting better at controling his head and hopefully will continue to gain that strength with each day. Sleeping is still not predictable and last night he only went 4 hours between feeds. Oh well, it is hit or miss with long sleeps. However, he is such a joy to watch and care for and I feel very blessed.

So eventhough our tree is turing brown and is very brittle, we have fun presents underneathe! Brian can be just like a kid as he pleads with me to open presents before Tuesday. He says
"it is so long until Tuesday. I can't wait!" How fun. :)

Hope everyone is getting things done well and enjoying their days. I hope we all take the time to remember and reflect on the magnitude of God's greatest gift to us.

A couple of smiles for you!

This video is the best I can do now for smiles! He smiles when he doesn't have a camera in his face, which makes most sense! Please excuse the crazy talk by me and if the video isn't as clear as the last one. Enjoy!

Much to share...

Wearing some of the gifts from Miss Lisa and Aunt Amy! Thanks Ladies!

Griffith Park and the Getty Villa

At the Getty Villa in Malibu with Beth and Jason

Hello everyone!

I know it has been a little while since posted, but we have been busy! Our friends from Columbus Beth and Jason came and visited over the weekend. It was supposed to be rainy much of the time, but it ended up being just a spectacularly clear and beautiful (yet quite chilly too!) weekend. What a blessing. On Friday we just hung out in the afternoon, and then met them up in Pasadena for some yummy dinner (Liam behaved so well!). Saturday we went to the beach and all of the way up to Malibu and later in the evening went to a Christmas party. On Sunday it was Sunset Blvd and Griffith Park with fabulous views. We had a great time just reconnecting and laughing and exploring LA. It had been awhile since Brian and I got out so much, but it felt good and Liam did great. The car sure does lull him to sleep :)

Sunday night was also a special night. We had Liam dedicated at church. There were three other little ones being dedicated. Our pastor prayed over each of the kids a prayer that reflected the meaning of each name. It was beautiful and very good. Dedication is just an open acknowledgement that we are going to raise Liam in a godly way in the church and those that are close to us and in our lives in the church committ to helping him along the way as well. It was a nice time.

Liam once again has a little cold, but so does Mommy! I usually don't get sick, but I think that the persistant lack of sleep has finally taken a noticeable toll on my body. However, just this week, Liam has been sleeping 5 1/2 - 6 hours at a stretch at night! Yay!!!!!! I have had about 7 hours of sleep each night this week. It has been wonderful. He still sleeps a bunch during the day, but is slowly spending more time awake. He had a doctor's appointment on Friday and he weighed 11lbs 9oz. I am sure he is now just about 12lbs. Catching up, for sure! He gained about 3lbs in one month.

On Monday, two little fun gifts found there way to our home for Liam!! I finally got out to pick up the package from Miss Lisa at the post office. May I say, Lisa, that I LOVED the card (I read it to him) and loved the fun gifts. He definitely needed a Christmassy colored blanket, warm too since our apartment is freezing. And the hat looks really really cute on him. And the burp cloth, bib and booties....so cute! I tried so hard to get some good pictures and even a video that day, but I will post only one picture right now, since he didn't really cooperate. Look for more, especially a video in the coming days of him in his garb. Also, Aunt Amy sent a little onesie that he wore for about 2 hours (before he peed on it) of which a picture is posted too. Very timely for me, I must say! What thoughtfullness from both of you ladies! He is ready for the holidays, thanks to you both.

Well it is pretty chilly out here still and the apartment doesn't warm up very easily. Lows still in around 42-44 each night which is chilly in a drafty apartment. But we keep the bedroom nice and warm. We are busy shopping and even got out to the Grove shopping area on Tuesday night which was really fun for us. That is my favorite place to shop. Plus they were blowing snow off the roof (fake snow that still "melted") and it was so fun to walk through. I loved it, and will need to go back for sure. We are hanging in there and are enjoying our family at this time. Our tree is already pretty brittle (oops!) so we will be leaving half of it on the floor by the time Christmas comes around. Oh well. Last year we lucked out, but apparently not this year.

Hope everyone is well. I will be hopefully posting more videos soon since everyone commented that they liked the video. Look for one shortly, hopefully by tomorrow.

Tis the Season

Liam is kind of smiling at Daddy!

Bringing in the tree and Liam and Mommy waiting outside in the cold!

The decorated tree and Liam all bundled up in the chilly morning apartment.

We love December and getting ready for Christmas in the Powers' household!! This past weekend was actually a rather chilly one, which made it perfect for finding a great tree at the HomeDepot downtown. Actually, by the time we made it over there, the sun was setting, and it was actually pretty cold! But, it made it feel much more like Christmas to be cold. We picked out a lovely Douglas Fir (which smells amazing!) and decorated that night, had some yummy dinner, and just enjoyed the start of the season. We hope that the needles decide to stay on long enough, but after looking at some on the tree skirt, I am not quite so sure. We decorated with our few ornaments that we have given each other or have been given over the years of our marriage. We just have a handful non-ball ornaments, and are enjoying the gradual growth of them over the years. Liam has two on the tree now - a pair of shoes with his birth information on it, idea compliments of Lisa Racek. And another one for this year. My mom always had little ornaments that had our names and the year inscribed on them when we were little. I thought I'd start the same tradition with Liam.

So, now that we have begun such a busy season, we are trying hard to take the time out to enjoy it and not be overwhelmed by any of it. We want to remember what Christmas is all about, admittedly hard in our culture sometimes. But I think this year more than any other, I have had a glimpse of the humanity of Jesus incarnate. I am amazed as I hold my little boy in the wee hours of the morning or while he cries as he tries to poop, that Jesus too was a baby. He was completely dependent upon Mary and Joseph, and he also acted like a baby in all the various ways babies act. Born a baby and yet a King. Amazing...

Liam is doing great. We have his 3 month check up this week, though he is just now a little over 4 weeks post term. He is spending more time awake, though sometimes his awake periods are coming during the night for about an hour and a half (eek!). He has started to smile and just this morning he has smiled several times at me without me working too hard for it! What a gratifying thing, a baby's smile. He still doesn't have much of a schedule, still isn't super fond of his crib, and still loves to be held. He is a great baby though, and we adore him. Brian often comes home from work and immediately wants to hold him and play with him. He is a great dad and continues to be a fabulous husband, as he helps me in the night if I need a break from an overactive baby. He is good at getting Liam to fall asleep.

This weekend my friend Beth from college and her husband are coming to visit! I am so excited as I haven't seen Beth since my wedding. I am really looking forward to laughing with them and catching up.