Liam update

We received an update from Courtney on Liam Sunday. Everything is going very well. She reports he reacts to stimulation now—if Daniel puts his hand on Courtney stomach and presses down, Liam will kick back. My favorite part of the medical section of the update is the information that Liam’s skin is transparent. Personally, I think that would be a really awesome super power.

Emma Wiggle

Lyla is deeply impressed by Emma Wiggle, from the Australian kid’s show. Emma is a red head who dances ballet, signs, and plays drums- she also wears bows in her hair. Lyla loves to wear bows now—sometimes as many as five or six at one time. She also enjoys dresses and skirts and loves to wear them when she “dances like Emma”. It’s pretty cute!

Coconut!

We got an update from Courtney last week that Liam is now the size of a coconut. It must be the small kind of coconut because if he’s the size of a big one, it’s some kind of record. Courtney is due in early June, which is about the same time they should know where they’re moving to after Daniel’s internship in Huntington is over. We worry a lot about that—It’s been a real joy to see Lyla and Stas so often, I know Courtney and Daniel need to do what’s best for them, but I really hope they aren’t too far away so we can see Liam often.

Maizy and Lyla

We have a fuzzy little Golden Retriever puppy named Maizy(Who Lyla calls Mimi). Maizy loves Lyla and Lyla loves Maizy but they can’t seem to play together. Maizy loves to bite and play fight, but inherently seems to know not to do that to Lyla—still Maizy gets up in her face and can’t seem to leave Lyla alone. Lyla, on the other hand, gets all excited to see Maizy and yells and waves her hands, which just gets Maizy more excited. I’m sure they’ll end up buddies, but it’s a difficult relationship. Lyla’s favorite dog is our decrepit old dog Butters (who she calls ba-ba), for reasons I cannot really figure out.

Uncle Pee-Poh

During the last family get together, Lyla cried at first when she saw Kurt, Samantha, Courtney and Daniel. Oddly she seemed more concerned about Kurt and Daniel. She learned to call Daniel “D”, and Aunt Cooper “Gokky”, but the real winner was Kurt who somehow became “Uncle Pee-poh”. Not sure how that happened but we’ll see how long his name remains “Uncle Pee-poh”.

Snuggly Stanley

For the first few weeks, Stanley was all snuggles. I think he was growing so fast (and eating so much) that he was just exhausted. Now we’re starting to see Stanley’s personality come out—you can tell that he share some of his sister’s spicy attitude. He does seem more laid back than Lyla- which isn’t saying much. Lyla is a little high maintenance, like her Dad and her Aunt Cooper.

Lyla counting

Lyla, at 19 months, has become a very interesting person. She enjoys fake counting and enjoys counting to 3 while waving her hand in the air (imitating us raising 1, 2 then 3 fingers). She can’t really count yet, but seems to enjoy the concept of counting. She like the Wiggles song “Dr. Knickerbocker” where they count to 9 and she laughs while she waves her hand in the air while they count with their fingers.

Liam Thomas Jones

In a rare, pre-COVID almost-all family get together (only Tot missing) we had the gender reveal for Courtney and Daniel’s baby. It’s a boy! For the first time, I incorrectly picked the gender of the baby (I was right on both Lyla and Stas). They let us know a short time later that they picked out the name “Liam Thomas Jones”, Thomas being Daniel’s grandfather. I was a little surprised because June has had a list of baby names for years and “Liam” was never on it.

Stanley Daniel Biem

We were all very happy to welcome Stanley Daniel Biem to the world on January 12, 2021. He's a handsome little boy with dark hair, but I think it'll turn light later. Sadly, little Stanley was born during the lengthy COVID pandemic and we weren't allowed to go to the hospital to see him. We had to wait three days until he got to come home with his mother--- even then he had very few visitors-- Kris and I and our kids, Brian, Collen and Alex (the Biem's by looking through the front door window only, the Grossman's in person being much less cautious people).