The World According to Garff

Silly Billy Growing up and Belly Update

2012-02-03T15:04:00.001-08:00

Our Silly Billy has had to grow up fast in the last few months, between bed rest and the upcoming arrival of the twins. Luckily for us, he has taken everything in stride. We’ve weaned him from the binky and (mostly) potty-trained him as well (New Year’s Resolutions: Check and check!).

He is learning new things by the minute, (like how to take pictures of his hand, for example).

Silly Billy is talking up a storm. He is currently into sentences and has an amazing memory, often remembering (and requesting to go to) Disneyland and other such fun activities.

William is also doing a lot of imagination-type play. He’ll talk on the phone (usually to Grandpa), mow the lawn, vacuum the floor, make his toys jump and walk, and turn ordinary cardboard boxes into racecars.

I LOVE hearing my sweet little boy talk. We even have “conversations” now, and he loves to learn about the world and learn all sorts of new words. His current favorites still include bike helmet, little ducky, farmer, Mommy and Grandpa; but he has expanded his vocabulary exponentially, even using words such as policeman, ambulance, pirate boat, wash hair, and even including little words like this and that.

Speaking of Farmer, that toy is definitely a favorite. Farmer is always driving the dump truck or pirate boat, and it’s the first toy (other than sometimes a rubber ducky or puppy) that we play with in the mornings.

Remember how we started calling him Silly Billy all that time ago? Well, the name totally fits. Here is Silly Billy, wearing his bike helmet, with farmer in his mouth, carrying around the little blinking light from his Mickey Balloon. Things like that are an everyday occurrence around here.

I am currently 29 weeks pregnant with the twins.That means I probably have less than 2 months before they get here, and possibly as little as 1 month. Let me just say that I am nowhere near ready and terrified out of my mind for our big change. Between being huge and tired, mandatory rest breaks, and playing with a 2 year old, I just don’t get a lot done anymore. I’m pretty happy if I get my regular duties done, let alone baby prep or projects.

Speaking of huge, here are some recent belly photos. The first is from week 25, and the second is at 28 weeks. Not really a huge difference, but according to the doctor, we were measuring 2 lbs EACH at 25 weeks, and probably pushing 3-3.5 right now (they’ll get measured again next week). That’s nearly as much as my little sister weighed when she was born (at 32 weeks). They’re big for a singleton, let alone twins. My MFM keeps asking if I’m going to have her 9-lb twins so she can finally retire. :)

Random people always ask me when I’m due. When I say I’m not due until April, I see a look of shock until I reassure them that I’m pregnant with twins. It’s almost like I can see them worry about why my belly is so enormous and you can hear a sigh of relief when they find out there’s a good reason for my girth.

And in case you were wondering, I officially weigh MORE than when I delivered William (a 30 pound gain). I’m probably bigger around too, though I’ve been way too scared to actually measure my belly. Maybe before we head to the hospital, just for fun. I’ve heard the next few months slow down quite a bit, and I can’t tell you how glad I am. My only weight goal is to weigh less than my husband come delivery time.

Good Riddance, 2011!!

2012-01-11T15:02:00.001-08:00

Let me just preface this post by saying that 2011 was ~~a little~~ completely crazy. We had some of the best and also some of the worst experiences of our lives. 2 has been our number. This year alone we’ve had:

2 working parents
2 major tests (UT BAR and NASM)
2 unborn babies
a 2 hour drive (sometimes less, sometimes more) to visit 2 different specialists (perinatalogist and hematologist) every 2 weeks (or more).
2 months of bed rest
2 trips to the ER (one for me, and one for a cut on Liam’s hand).
2 layoffs
2 trips to Utah
2 Christmas season stomach flus

I am hoping that 2012 will at least not be any worse, and will hopefully turn out to be quite a bit better, even if just as crazy.

Although I realize our situation is slightly complicated right now (and will likely continue to be so due to our new additions), I have decided to be ambitious and have come up with 12 resolutions for the year.

Pay off our car
Lose baby weight
Potty train William
Wean William from pacifier
Read 12 books (almost completed #1)
Be a better budgeter---I have a goal of replenishing our emergency fund.
Monthly DIY projects (mostly baby/sewing projects, but I also want to try to make foaming hand soap, household cleaners, among other things).
Finally finish William’s baby book---this one has been nearly done for 2 years. Just need to actually print out photos and transfer my notes about his first life into the book
Get a race PR---probably shoot for a 5k or 10k---a half or full marathon may be too ambitious when nursing twins.
Pay off all our debt…mostly just our insurance deductible, but still, it would feel good to be done
Try 52 new recipes---I had a goal of 100 last year, and did about 70. Not bad considering I couldn’t cook/eat for 2-3 months. I’ve already done 2!
Organize our life---monthly organizing projects. This is my current passion. I have always LOVED to organized, but I’d really like to get things organized in a fun, cute, or original way. And hopefully I can get Steve and William to at least sort of keep things that way.

In some ways, I have planned to be less ambitious than in years past, in case the twins prove to be more work than I have anticipated…but I have also wanted to challenge myself and grow as a person. I am excited to see how much I can actually accomplish and am going to try to report when I finish a goal so I feel more accountable. Wish me luck!

Since no post is complete without photos, I’ve included a few of our photo shoot outtakes. It was so hard to choose! We have put some up on the wall…and I love the finished look. We even put up a belly shot where a picture of the twins will one day go. Makes me want to get nice pictures every year.

This photo of William is probably my favorite. It doesn’t quite capture his personality like the one on the sidebar, but as my SIL Catherine calls it, the “GQ Baby” photo, is really something else.

Merry Christmas from the Garffs

2011-12-20T18:18:00.001-08:00

Happy 2nd Birthday William

2011-12-12T21:15:00.001-08:00

William had lots of visitors for is birthday. William’s uncles Arthur and Daniel visited him first and wheeled April around the LA Zoo in a wheelchair for her first weekend off bedrest. William did his best primate impersonation.

We also squeezed in a couple of Disneyland trips.

William’s grandma, grandpa, aunt and, uncle were able to come down to celebrate his birthday with him.

He was pretty exited for his presents.

We had perfect beach and fruit picking weather.

How to Tell Twins Apart: A Tutorial

2011-11-29T17:40:00.001-08:00

For us, it’s easy. We’re getting a boy and a girl. Babies are both looking good and are healthy as can be. As you can tell by my belly, they’re HUGE.

Our sweet daughter was particularly photogenic, though she kept sticking out her tongue and stuck her fingers up her nose as well. Such a lady.

But her twin brother is considerably less cooperative. He kept curling up in a ball and crossing his legs.

Wonder how that will translate into their personalities?

And Baby Girl (Baby B) is already getting kicked in the face by her brother. Guess she better get used to it now.

Grandma and Halloween

2011-11-08T14:41:00.001-08:00

Steve’s mother came to help us out with William this week while I’m on bed rest. Grandma really saved us. While she was here, she (among other things) ran errands, cooked, cleaned the carpets, got new tires and wipers for the car, kept the house clean and presentable (which is not an easy task with me on bed rest and a high-energy 2 year old), took Silly Billy on walks, AND picked up Café Rio for dinner (yum!).

She even let me cheat a little and go to our ward’s trunk or treat. It was so nice to actually get out of the house (other than to see the doctor) and be social again. All my bed rest went to good use and I (with help from Steve) made an awesome costume complete with life-size fetuses. I offered to make Steve one with a burger and fries in the belly, but he declined and wore a bowling shirt instead.

It was also the ward Chili/soup cookoff. I ate 4 bowls. Between that and Grandma Garff’s dinners, I was FINALLY able to put on 4-5 lbs, which is a good start to the 40-50 I need to gain in the next 20 weeks.

Skeletons were by far the most popular costume in our area.

Though we did have a wide variety of others.

Steven even allowed me to walk around with William for a bit---he was a BIG fan of trick or treating, though it did take awhile for him to get the idea. Usually, he just said, “treat” (occasionally throwing in a “please” as well) and then took a handful of candy. It was great fun to watch.

After one row of cars, I was banished to the backseat.

Halloween night was much less exciting. I was allowed to go to 2 houses and was banished to the couch for the remainder of the evening. Steven and Liam had a great time wandering the neighborhood in search of the goods and looking at the decorations.

William made out like a bandit, with several houses allowing him multiple handfuls of candy (luckily, some of these were choking hazards and had to be taken care of by Mom and Dad).

William had a great time with his Grandma here, and Grandma was a good sport, despite the fact that she had to clean up after his messes and other such adventures.

We even lucked out when going to the doctor. Not only did I not have to worry about getting a babysitter, but Grandma thought Silly Billy was cold and got him a new shirt to keep him warm. Go Bruins!

Saturday, everyone except me (since I’m still stuck in bed) went out to Reseda to the orchard to pick fruit. William hadn’t been in nearly a year and had a great time.

It was a hoot to see him discovering the fruit. You can tell he loved it.

He couldn’t help running around exploring. And as a bonus for us, We got a backseat full of oranges, grapefruit, lemons, and avocados.

Which is perfect because we have two little avocado-sized babies waiting to join our family next year.

Reflections

2011-10-25T15:24:00.001-07:00

I’m still on bed rest. For anyone who hasn’t heard, while I was attending the Relief Society Broadcast, I experienced uncontrollable bleeding. I’m on blood thinners during pregnancy and post-pregnancy due to a couple of blood clotting disorders, Factor V Leiden and MTHFR, with a history of low protein C. Usually these aren’t an issue, EXCEPT for during pregnancy and/or surgery. Because of the blood thinners, bleeding is never a good thing with me. I’ve been told I can hemorrhage from something hardly bigger than a paper cut. I had snuck in a little late and was sitting near the door. A friend from the ward, Maria, happened to arrive just after I did and sat next to me. She told me she was ready to go on time, and wasn’t sure why she was late. I am. Without her, this whole ordeal would have been a miserable nightmare. I am forever grateful to her lateness that day.

Since I’m pregnant and have lost two babies before, the bleeding terrified me. I was sure there was no way both babies could still be ok. Maria drove me to the ER, arranged for my car and my husband and son to be picked up and brought to me, and watched William until we were finished around midnight. She cried with us, prayed with us, and was there when I needed someone most. Thank you!

Tayler Price sent her husband to help give me a blessing at the hospital, since he wasn’t home watching kids. This month, he was assigned our home teacher---already going above and beyond. We are so grateful for them and their foresight.

A friend from the UCLA ward who lives about 20 miles away, Rebecca Bode, has been coming over once a week with her two cute girls in tow, bringing us dinners, entertainment, and spending hours cleaning our house. She has made a tradition of bringing rolls that have been the only thing I could eat on multiple occasions.

Cammie Larsen has been amazing company. We’ve spent many hours watching Liam and Logan chase each other while she keeps me from going out of my mind with boredom. She’s brought lots of yummy treats and has not only done the dishes and watched Liam, she’s done it during times I know wouldn’t have been easy.

Scores of other friends called and visited, sent us facebook messages, kept us in their prayers and put our names in the temple, brought dinners, cleaned our house, and helped care for Liam. Steven’s aunt and uncle in Reseda even offered to take us in, my dad offered to come down (we turned him down since he’s on disability and can’t lift William), and my sweet mother-in-law, Karen, is scheduled to arrive on Saturday (missing her anniversary to help us out). Thank you to everyone. We feel so blessed to have such good friends and family. Sometimes you don’t realize how much people like you---until something goes wrong. I have been so amazed and impressed with the thoughtfulness and kindness of everyone. I feel so blessed and inspired to be that kind of person.

The twins are still doing well, as of our last ultrasound. Getting big and moving like crazy. We found out my bleeding was caused by (or created) a pool of blood near Baby A, which also made part of the amniotic sac begin to separate from the wall. I am on bed rest until that is healed. No lifting, walking, ANYTHING, other than going to the bathroom, eating meals, showering, and going to the doctor. Obviously, Dr. Boyer knows this is impossible with a toddler, but that’s the ideal rest until we are sure I’m all healed. Hopefully, only a few more weeks and we’ll be back to our new “normal”.

I am hoping for good news tomorrow. Yesterday we “celebrated” one month of bedrest by cuddling and watching movies and picking up dinner from Vons’ deli. Steven has been amazing. As soon as he gets home, William yells, “shoes, shoes, out, out, go, go!” and rushes to go on a walk. Steven has done as good a job with the housework as you can imagine while working full time and caring for a toddler and 2 dogs. Most days, I either can’t eat anything, or I have to eat only one thing. He goes to the store with William as often as 3X/week to cater to my crazy pregnancy cravings. Already, I’ve “needed” Navajo tacos, yogurt, whipped cream, pasta salad, pudding, chicken noodle soup, spaghetti, chicken tortilla soup, pot pies, chocolate milk, grape juice, tortellini, Indian food, and fried chicken. I wish I weren’t so sick and was actually gaining weight, because then it wouldn’t matter so much. But at this point, I have to eat whatever I can keep down. As of now, I have gained –1 lbs at nearly 15 weeks. That’s right. I weigh LESS than when I started. With William, I had gained at least 5.

Since I’m stuck in bed, I’ve spent a lot of time reading, watching movies, or surfing the internet. I’ve come across several things, that I think will definitely change the way I parent (when I actually get to be a full parent again, obviously) and the kind of person I want to be. I want to be as amazing as all the people who have been so helpful to us, and I want to cherish every moment I can. I visit teach a girl named Mollie (who is an AMAZING photographer, if anyone in SoCal needs one…molliejanephotographyblog.com) who posted this on facebook today. That woman is so strong, so courageous, awe-inspiring. I literally cried for an hour. I was relieved when my sweet William came home (thanks for entertaining him, Lisa!) just so I could give him a hug and a kiss and hold him before bed.

At this point, I don’t know if we’ll be bringing home two babies next spring or not, but I am grateful to have them now. My heart breaks for anyone who loses a child. I have several friends who have lost young children in the past few years, and every time I feel for them. What an awful experience to go through. I am going to try to learn what lessons I can from them now, in hopes that I won’t have to learn it the hard way. It’s been hard enough.

While have always cared about and appreciated the sweet lives I have helped create and love, bed rest has given me new strength to be a better mother, even if life does get a little crazy come next March…

I’ve decided to put an excerpt from this poem, entitled “"Song for a Fifth Child" by Ruth Hulbert Hamilton in the twins’ nursery. I think of it often, especially when I cuddle with my cute toddler or think of the two new ones about to change our lives.

"Oh, cleaning and scrubbing will wait til tomorrow

But children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.

So quiet down cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.

I’m rocking my baby. Babies don’t keep.

Silly Billyness: On Camera

2011-10-08T17:53:00.001-07:00

Usually, you’d think videos are strictly for the grandparents, but trust me, you’ll want to watch these. Coming from my own unbiased opinion, Silly Billy is pretty hilarious.

William body-slams Dad and talks to the fan.

Silly Billy’s favorite song is “Twinkle Twinkle”. Luckily for him, his room is decorated with stars. He knows the entire melody (no joke, even people who haven’t heard him before recognize what he’s singing), but only the words “up above the world” and “How I wonder what…”, though they aren’t always clear. One of these days we’ll get a good recording, but he always seems to get distracted and stop. Today, he decided he’d rather read “How the Goose Got Loose” (the current favorite) instead of singing.

Too bad Steve is allergic…Liam LOVES kitties.

William is going to make an amazing big brother when the twins get here. Already down with changing diapers.

Hope you enjoyed the videos as much as our Silly Billy does. He requests to watch them almost every day.

And if you’re wondering, yes, I’m still on bed rest (just hit 2 weeks), with high hopes to be done before we hit 3 weeks. Babies are growing and doing well. Baby B (top) is already a bundle of energy---if I had to guess, I’d say he’s probably a boy!

Testing, Testing…

2011-09-15T18:33:00.001-07:00

There’s been way too much testing going on around the Garff family the last few months.

It all started with my NASM exam in May to become an official personal trainer. I passed.

May was followed by a VERY crazy June/July in which Steven was studying for the UT BAR and MPRE. He got a 127 on the MPRE (90%+), and we just found out he passed the UT BAR!!!

Last month, I decided to do some testing on my own.

I failed the first two, but the next 6 were a piece of cake. Sometimes you just know. And yes, I realize 8 tests may be a bit excessive, but after what happened with my first 2 pregnancies, I feel better just seeing those two pink lines. And I bought them at $.20/each, so I didn’t really feel like I was wasting them.

I’m almost 9 weeks and I’ve already done all sorts of crazy testing at both my OB/GYN and Hematologist, and so far so good. My latest ultrasound even showed double good results. Yeah, you heard that right. I am having TWINS. Oh baby (baby). The extra sickness and fatigue are really starting to make sense now. On the bright side, Dr. Boyer said she won’t charge us for a second ultrasound since she made a mistake the first time. :)

It appears the twins are most likely fraternal, as they’re not sharing a sac, but we may have to wait it out to know for sure. I’m 9 weeks so far, and my official due date is April 21st, 2012, though we’ve already been told to prepare for a late March/early April birth due to twins being term at 37 weeks.

We had a hunch it might be twins, but after last month’s ultrasound, we figured it was probably just wishful thinking (or masochistic dreaming, pending your interpretation). But when the doctor pulled the image on the screen today, her face got so confused, I knew something was up. Even though I wasn’t totally sure what I was looking at, it looked like 2 babies to me. Apparently, she has almost never missed a twin, even in early ultrasounds (mine was at 6.5 weeks last time, and she even checked for a hiding baby). It was a good thing I was laying down! We’re excited, stressed, confused, thrilled, and already going crazy at the thought of tripling the child population at the house. But it’s a good crazy, right?

Staycation

2011-09-08T16:56:00.001-07:00

We have AMAZING staycations in SoCal. If all of our family and friends lived down here, we would probably never go on a real vacation again. Two weeks ago we were at the zoo, last Saturday was a trip to the beach, and the rest of the week was pure bliss.

Liam and I started off the week by taking a trip to Disneyland with our Rancho friends Leo and Mollie.

It wasn’t busy, so we hit up Dumbo, Peter Pan, and Toon Town.

We only had a 10 minute wait for Mickey Mouse, so we had to take advantage of that opportunity for the boys’ sake.

On Saturday, we hit up the LA County Fair. Opening Day was only $1, and we were able to find free parking so we had a cheap family outing. There was something for everyone, but mostly a lot for William.

A dinosaur and shark exhibit, for the boys,

the sweetest, smallest little lamb in the world. It probably was half the size of my dog. William would “sing” “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep” every time he saw one. *melt*

A madhouse-like zoo for mom and son, complete with cows and llamas.

No joke, you walked in and were swarmed by goats. After what happened with the zoo incident, we weren’t expecting a love of goats. The second I put him down near a goat, William would say “all done” and ask to be held. Funny enough, he knew the difference between the sheep and goats and was fine with the “Baa Baa Black Sheep”, though he kinda warmed up to the goats by the end.

We didn’t get a picture, but William found a hay bale maze that he ran around in for 30 minutes. He LOVED it!

Of course, we had to find a dog on a boat. Took forever to pry Silly Billy away.

and a frosting shot for me (unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling so great and had to share it with my son).

Since we got parking free, we didn’t feel bad about splurging and got a late lunch at Tijuana Tacos---home of the best tortas ever. We are forever indebted to Lisa Anderson for her restaurant tip when we first moved here.

Sunday was spent at Dave and Mary Lou’s in Reseda (sorry, no photos), but rest assured, we had a great time.

But we obviously still had stamina left, as the last day of our Staycation was a full day at Disneyland.

We started off with the Bodes (who had to leave early since Scott had just gotten off work a few hours before we met up).

Then we all met up with the Maucotels,

and ended the day with the Andersons/Larkins.

The bonus of meeting up friends at Disneyland, was that we all got to take turns and go on the best rides. We hit up Star Tours twice, and also managed to sneak in Indiana Jones and Soarin’ as well.

By Liam’s request, much of the day was spent on boats (the current favorite word). As Grandpa Garff says, “It’s in the Garff genes.”

We’d never been on the canoes, riverboat, or Little Mermaid, so this was a good excuse to try something new.We used Silly Billy’s fascination will all things water and motors (some of his other current favorite words are drive, ride, water, and lawn mower) to hit up the fish carousel and Autotopia also. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t let our little boy drive, but we all still had fun.

And of course, the obligitory fuzzy character picture. Liam’s life would not be complete without these characters (though truth be told, he was a little less sure about Brer Fox and Brer Bear).

Thanks to Silly Billy for taking a 1 1/2 hr nap in the stroller to make our day even better. We were there for over 12 hours, so I guess you could say we got our money’s worth.

Though we’re hoping to make next time a grown-ups only date night. Can’t wait!

Hebgen 2011 and Bar Stories Part II

2011-08-29T22:46:00.001-07:00

We spent another nice vacation this year up at the cabin. But before we could go up there I had to get the Utah Bar Exam out of the way. Funny story about that (but not funny at the time). The night before the first day I got almost no sleep, thanks in large part to some recent changes to Utah’s fireworks laws. Apparently you can now set off fullblown bombs and missiles for nearly the entire month of July. Thank you Tea Party. So, going into the first day I was already sleep deprived.

The next night I climbed into bed around 10:00 pm in order to get a solid night’s rest before the second full day of testing. My parents were out of town and April was hanging out with a friend so I was all alone. As I was starting to doze off, the doorbell rang. I got dressed, went down stairs, and opened the door. There was no one there. I climbed back into bed started to drift off. The doorbell rang again. I climbed back out of bed, got dressed again, and looked out again. Nothing but darkness. This could only mean one thing: doorbell ditchers! (either that or the Raven). Let’s just say that these kids clearly picked the wrong house with the wrong guy in it on the wrong night.

I slipped out the back door and hid in the bushes near the front yard. When the teenagers struck a third time, I pounced. I caught up with them after about a block. I didn't know I was in that good of shape. When I finally caught the little neighborhood punks, they were a bit taken aback by the extent of my fury. After a very “nice” long chat that included a discussion of the ramifications of trespassing (I was fresh up on the elements after all) they decided that they would not doorbell ditch me any more. The next day I finished the bar about 40 minuets early. They wouldn't let us leave before time was called so I took a nap right there in the test hall. I was that tired. Suffice it it to say I have never been so glad to get away to the cabin.

This year was particularly fun because we had the entire extended Garff Family up there, including our friends, the Brays, who came all the way from England.

Now that I see the picture, I realize that he didn't like this very much.

William really liked the frog we caught. It hung out on the top of his head.

Now whenever we say the word “frog” he points to his head. He also now puts his stuffed animal frog on top of his head. I guess he has figured out that the top of his head is where frogs go.

While at the cabin William discovered that he loves boats. He has been obsessed with them ever since. He calls everything that looks like a boat, “boat” and he pushes his toys around the carpet making boat sound effects. William’s namesake observed that this boat infatuation is a “genetic flaw,” all Garff’s seem to have it.

Can’t wait till next year.

The LA Zoo, Elliott Smith, and time travel

2011-08-21T00:45:00.001-07:00

We spent Saturday at the LA Zoo. William was happy to see Reggie the famous "LAgator."

But of all the animals in the whole zoo: tigers, giraffes, bears, monkeys,etc.,William’s favorite animal (by far) was the monitor lizard.

It’s true. He waived to it, talked to it, and didn't want to leave. He also liked the goat.

Unfortunately, the goat didn't like him. This next shot was taken just as the goat decided to head-butt William.

William took it in stride, but kept his distance form the goats from there on out.

After the zoo we swung back home through Silver Lake for a couple of pilgrimages.

First stop, the mural on the cover of “Figure 8” by the late Elliott Smith.

Fans repainted it a few weeks ago in order to clean up the graffiti for his birthday. They even added a stencil of Smith's visage.

Second stop, the Echo Park Time Travel Mart.

As far as I know this is the only time travel supply shop this side of the spacetime continuum.

The sign reads, “Whenever you are, we’re already then.”

Silly Billyness: Hoover

2011-08-18T13:36:00.001-07:00

I swear, this kid has crazy obsessions. If William isn’t asking for a banana 4 times a day, he’s asking for me to vacuum. It got to be so much, that we finally gave in and got him a toy vacuum of his own a few months ago. He played with it constantly for several weeks, and “vacuum” (I can’t even begin to describe how he pronounces it, the sounds aren’t actually in our language, lol) was usually his first word of the morning (though, luckily now, he’s moved onto Momma or Dadda).

A belt broke on our vacuum, so until the new one came in the mail, I got out our tiny one that we keep as a spare. Liam would have none of that. He knew that wasn’t his vacuum.

Though oddly enough, whenever we go to someone’s home, Silly Billy can ALWAYS find the vacuum. Sometimes he’s even lucky enough for the vacuum to be out of the closet. He even remembered where the Reynolds’ keep there vacuum, even though it had been a month since he’d been there. Our trip to Grandma Karen’s house in SLC proved to be heaven---not only were there several vacuums Liam found, but also a steam cleaner and dust buster (William was obviously aware of their relation).

Seriously, we vacuum several times a day, mostly just to appease this kid, though it does have the added side benefit of picking up dirt and dog hair.

Sunday, William found an ad in the paper for our vacuum, and couldn’t believe his good luck! He carried that paper around for what seemed like hours. You can see it at his feet while he is “fixing” our vacuum hose.

Our Silly Billy has even started mimicking the vacuum sound. If you listen closely at the beginning, you can hear his “word” for his favorite toy.

Silly Billy and his vacuum obsession

We thought he’d grow out of it, but over 6 months later, the vacuum obsession is still growing stronger than ever. I suppose it could be worse---he could prefer to run around naked or bring bugs into the house like other almost-two-year-olds I’ve known.

Celebrity Sightings

2011-08-10T07:35:00.000-07:00

I’ve never been particularly popular, but every time we go to UT, I feel like a celebrity. We have more things to do and people to see than time to do it. Every spare minute was filled with summer activities and excitement. Even a last minute sick cancellation got filled up pretty fast. Without nap time, we wouldn’t have had any down time at all.

We were lucky enough to be booted from a stay in the condo on the drive up and had to make alternative arrangements----this meant an overnight stay with the Reynolds in Vegas! I love how months can go by and we’re still friends like it’s been no time at all.

Our first few hours in Utah were filled with Kemp family fun. We had a Pioneer day potluck and firework show.

Every single member of my immediate family was there (and also a few cousins, too), with the exception of Elder John in Costa Rica. With 25 of us, this was no small feat.

Unfortunately, none of the pictures from that evening turned out well, but trust me, we had a blast.

But it may have been too much fun. Liam had a hard time sleeping that night and seemed like he had a fever. He would cry unless I was holding him. Since this was the middle of the night and we were both tired, he ended up in our bed (something that hadn’t happened since our trip last summer). I was finally able to sneak away around 7 or 8 am and took this gem of my two boys:

Gotta love the belly on that little guy. I LOVE how cuddly and sweet my toddler is. Even still, he likes to cuddle after he wakes, sometimes we’ll just sit in the rocking chair for an hour.

Between the BAR and other activities, the next few days were totally packed.

My little brother Peter and I ran the Deseret 10K together. The last time we raced together, it was a mile fun run at his elementary school when he was in Kindergarten and I was 14. We won (it was around an 8-9 minute mile from what I remember).

Peter stayed with me for all but the last mile, and finished only a minute behind me. He beat out his cross-country team members he was supposed to run with (guess it’s good we ran together, then). We were able to visit my old cross-country coach as well---apparently, Peter and I do the same head tilt when we get tired.

My brother Arthur and I took Liam to the park while Steven was busy studying. Liam headed straight for some other kid’s bike. Surprise, surprise. It’s no wonder it’s his favorite word. We have to go on a bike ride nearly every day.

No trip to UT is complete without a Man Basket activity. We took the babies swimming in the morning, and met for an evening frozen yogurt and Jordan Landing exploration.

While Steven was taking the BAR, we used our time in Utah to visit friends and family. One of my good friends from middle/high school, Laura, took the opportunity to take our children to Wheeler Farm. It was a big hit. Our next item of business will to be to take Liam to the LA Zoo with our new season pass. Gotta love Groupon---it cost us less than $30.

Liam was particularly fond of being able to celebrate Traci and Abby’s birthday. Normally, he’s an awesome eater, but for some reason, he really only ate junk food on this trip.

We saw almost everyone we wanted to, and to those we missed (i.e. Betsy, Angie, Anna, etc.), we are deeply sorry. One day, we hope to move back here and can see you all the time.

The way home from the cabin (post coming soon) had to be a 3-day trip. Oh joy. I had run out of blood thinners and wasn’t allowed to be in the car for more than 4-5 hours. It was especially hard since Steven had sprained his ankle so Liam and I had to switch off driving so I could prop up my legs.

This lucky break gave us extra time in SLC to see my family, and an impromptu morning with Donovan, Cortney, Elanor, and Stella. We almost convinced them to come back to CA with us, but Donovan figured that he had better go to work instead. Bummer.

My brother Philip and his family stayed at our place in CA while we were at the cabin. Steve had borrowed a watch from my mom and we met up for lunch in Vegas to get it back to her. We had to miss Abby’s baptism that weekend since Steve was taking the MPRE in LA the next day. Liam ate his entire Happy Meal and spent the rest of the time pointing out all the “bikes”.

I probably say this every time, but visiting makes me want to move back to Utah. It would be nice to get to see you guys up there anytime we want instead of cramming it all in a few days of craziness. And being able to afford a house and having family to watch William once and awhile would be a nice perk, too. There are lots of things I love about SoCal, but it’s never really felt like home. Hopefully one day, we’ll be there.

Beach Bums

2011-07-22T07:35:00.000-07:00

The absolute best thing about living in SoCal is the beach. That alone, (and of course, Disneyland and “winter”) make SoCal livable.

I miss having a beach only 4-5 miles from home. 45 miles just isn’t quite the same.

Even if we spend the whole time in the sand or chasing the birds, every moment is sweet, magical bliss with a magnificent soundtrack of waves and gulls and laughter.

We’ve had to resort to coordinating playgroups at the beach, which conveniently give us the opportunity to visit UCLA friends. This week, we were lucky enough to see Karyna and Macy Bouslog and the Hodges (not pictured). It’s always fun to see these two together, since they are only 6 days apart.

Though we will be leaving for our yearly UT/Cabin trip later today, so hopefully we’ll get to have some more beach time at Hebgen Lake after the BAR. Not sure if I can wait that long, but I guess I’ll have to try.

The Blues

2011-07-10T20:49:00.001-07:00

The Blues

Silly Billyness: Animal Sounds

2011-07-08T13:08:00.001-07:00

Periodically while getting dressed, Liam and I will review body parts. He knows all the ones you would expect: eyes, ears, hair, head, teeth, tongue, hand, belly, toes. But the newest one surprised me: Knee (or his word "nnni"). Threw me for a loop since it isn't one we hardly ever talk about---didn't expect that one for at least another 6 months or so.

He is learning to communicate a couple words per day it seems like and always surprises me by what he understands (like the sound a bunny makes "sniff, sniff, sniff" or a what a fan does "blow"). He’s constantly trying to say new words, though usually they come out pretty mumbled, “b-ba” for basketball, “appada” means applesauce, “huh-ma” for help me, and “mk” for milk. It’s a good thing I’m around him a lot---most people would have no idea what he’s saying.

His personality is so funny to watch---he is constantly pointing out animals, making animal sounds, reading animal books, and pretending to be one. It never fails to make me laugh. His current favorites are:

Monkey: “ooh, ooh, ooh”

Dog: “Ba(rk), Ba, Ba”

Cat: “mmmow (as is “ow”, that hurt)

Bunny: “sniffing sound”

Cow: “mmmm”

Every once and awhile we’ll get a whinny or cheep from him, too.

In honor of Cow Appreciation Day, we dressed up as his favorite bovines and went to Chic-Fil-A to celebrate with free meals.

When I put on my headband and told him I was a cow, Liam barked, and then proceeded to make his bunny noise. I think my costume must not have been very good.

We were going to go with our friends Cammie and her son Logan, but we had already left the house when she called to tell me that Logan was ready for a nap.

The time and embarrassment of going by ourselves was totally worth it. Not only for the food (we paid a total of 3.44 for a kids meal, adult meal, and two shakes for tonight’s dessert), but Liam loved everything about the place.

Seriously, this was Silly Billy’s dream. He LOVED every bit of his nuggets and chocolate milk, got to play in the indoor playground, got attention from everyone (he was definitely the best-dressed and cutest calf there), but he also got to hang out with his old buddy, the Chic-Fil-A mascot.

Had I known this would have been so exciting for him, we wouldn’t have gone so close to naptime and tried to convince Steve to dress up with us (wouldn’t that be something?).

Moo.

Silly Billyness: “High Five”

2011-07-06T14:50:00.001-07:00

Silly Billy is OBSESSED with dogs. He sleeps with a little stuffed dog and dog blanket, carries around 2 stuffed Dalmatians all over the house, points out pictures of dogs, and barks whenever he hears or sees a dog. William loves to show pictures of dogs (especially pictures of our dogs) to Kiki, and share his toy dogs with them. It’s really quite amusing and I love that he’s like me in that way (What I don’t like, however, is when he decides to share his food with the dogs by throwing it from his high chair).

Liam recently learned how to give “Hi Fa”s (his words, not mine), and when he saw me telling the dogs to give High Fives, couldn’t be left out. It’s often the first thing he does when he sees the dogs after he’s been sleeping or out of the house.

Enjoy the videos.

High Five

High Five, Nike

What Happens in Vegas…

2011-06-29T14:36:00.001-07:00

Will probably end up on our blog.

We ate (awesome food), drank (lots of water to combat the heat), and had a very merry time.

William and I had never been to Vegas other than the occasional pit stop on the way to/from Utah. We were so excited to spend the weekend with the Reynolds---it had been nearly 6 months since we had seen them and we had a great time!

Julie and I got to hang out just girls (and the babies) while the men went to a fight downtown. It was great to catch up.

We had a pretty lazy weekend, though Steve and William did find some time to lift weights. William and I strength train together 3 times a week, and I really think it’s starting to pay off. You can tell how hard they’re working by all the grunting.

Exercising with Dad.

We didn’t get in as much exercise as usual, so we went hiking in Red Rock Canyon.

We designated the husbands as pack mules.

Steven showed off our son to onlookers.

We played a rousing game of “Hide and Seek”.And the little boys played with rocks and dirt. Typical boys.

Rocks and Dirt

After naps, we went to The Strip.

It was practically Disneyland---though maybe not quite the “Happiest Place on Earth.”

These 2 cute boys weren’t sure about each other at first (6 months is eternity to a one-year-old), but eventually warmed right up to each other. They were running and laughing,

Sharing car snacks,

playing the piano,

(being the musician that he is, Liam would not leave the piano alone).

and being totally silly together.

No, No, No.

We were even lucky enough to have the Titeras join us for a night, to have all 3 Musketeers together again.

Thanks to the Reynolds hospitality, we were able to manage a pretty amazing get-away for around $150 (including dog-sitter and gas!).

Hope to make it back sometime soon!

Oh, What Do You Do in the Summertime?*

2011-06-23T20:41:00.001-07:00

When all the world is green

Do you ride fish in a stream,

Or lazily dream on the beach as the clouds roll by?

Is that what you do? So do I!

Oh, what do you do in the summertime, when all the world is green?

Do you swim in a pool,

and look really cool,

or play frisbee golf when Kevin stops by?

Is that what you do? So do I!

Oh, what do you do in the summertime, when all the world is green?

Do you march in parades,

or drink lemonades,

or have watermelon to try?

Is that what you do? So do I!

We just love summertime! Three more months to do the fun things on our list!

So Long, Farewell

2011-06-09T14:46:00.001-07:00

Liam and I spent yesterday in LA, saying goodbye to two of our favorite people, Shilpa Kedia and Marissa Tate. Both of our friends are moving to Phoenix within the next few weeks (though not together), and we will be sad to see them go---but glad to have a bright side to Phoenix layovers!

Marissa has been our friend since Steven’s bachelor days in the UCLA ward---we will miss her total awesomeness and amazing spirit. Liam couldn’t bear to watch her leave.

Shilpa (far left) was my cubicle buddy for almost three years at Progressive. Her husband just finished residency at Cedar Sinai and they are moving on to the next phase of their life---including a little girl due this September that we plan to line up with Liam about 20 years from now. Liam already loves Indian food and cute girls so I don’t think it will be a hard sell.

It was great to see all my old work friends again, even though most of them have since left Progressive for bigger and brighter things. Liam’s “uncle” Kyle even made it out for a few minutes, though he declined to stay through the girl’s night. Every time I visit, I miss the good times in LA---and the $1 tacos at Don Antonio’s. Yum!

Races and Places

2011-06-05T07:47:00.001-07:00

I didn’t get into the St. George Marathon this year. Though I’m still not sure whether I should be glad or sad about this, I decided to make the Fontana Days 1/2 my last “Big Race” of the year. I’ll probably do a few 10ks and 5ks, and maybe a few other low-key races, but Fontana Days was my focus race.

I spent months training with a friend, Lisa Anderson, logging countless miles on trails, uphill, and in heavy headwinds to prepare. Our hard work paid off as we both ran a fast race.

My two cute boys came to see me at mile 10. It was awesome to have the support of my favorite people. Steve accidently left the camera on video mode, so you folks get to see what 6:45 minute miles looks like. (Summit Ave and Sierra Ave).

Fontana Days 1/2---Mile 10

I was so happy to see Steven and William. I was feeling pretty tired at that point and wasn’t sure I’d be able to break 1:30. Seeing them cheer me on gave me motivation to finish as best I could.

In fact, I ended up beating them to the finish line!

I finished with a 1:28 half marathon---an 8 minute PR!!! Lisa finished with an amazing 17 minute PR---1:33! Unfortunately, I had a hard time finding Steve at the finish and never ended up getting a picture of us cute racing girls before Lisa left.

William had a great time! He loved the balloons, music, and food at the finish line.

Turns out, 1:28 was fast enough for 2nd place in my division (8th OV Woman). That’s my highest placing in such a big race.

Not only did it make me super happy to get such an amazing time, but I also got a really awesome 2nd place medal out of it.

And a very tired and sore body. What a perfect day!

Last Minute Getaway

2011-06-02T15:26:00.001-07:00

Since 4/5 appointments cancelled on me last weekend, we threw all the necessities into the car and drove up Saturday morning to St. George to spend the long weekend with the entire Garff family.

Though it was crowded (8 adults, and two 1-year-olds in a three-bedroom), we did have lots of fun. Except for the part where William decided not to sleep much (he wasn’t a fan of sleeping in the hallway) and a few traffic issues, there were numerous fun activities to enjoy.

Like Café Rio. Yum.

And the new park near the condo:

It was so fun, we went back again the next day. They had tons of spinning equipment that made us all VERY dizzy. William got off and could hardly stand up after. But he LOVED it.

Dizzy Billy

Walking to church---note how handsome my little boy is in his suit!

Hanging with Grandpa Bill:

We also went to Brigham Young’s winter home in St. George. This picture includes the entire Garff immediate family. We haven’t all been together since Christmas, so this was a treat.

We were going to go rock climbing, but it didn’t work out. Luckily, Silly Billy got in some climbing of his own before bed one day.

Our Silly Billy never fails to amuse us. Remember those Cars jammies? He insisted on wearing them when I put on his swim suit. So they ended up as a hat. Every time he sees them, he has to wear them. Usually the shorts go on his arms since he hasn’t quite figured out how to dress himself yet.

No Memorial Day trip is complete without a little swimming. Of course, we couldn’t resist.

These two cute cousins couldn’t get enough of each other last time they were together. This trip, however, was almost too much togetherness. We got them to share the spotlight for this camera, but we had a hard time getting them to share ANYTHING ELSE.Silly Billy decided he wanted to be just like dad. My boys are too cool for this pool!

Just A Perfect Day

2011-05-26T15:03:00.001-07:00

One of “our songs” is "Perfect Day" by Lou Reed. Luckily for us, we have quite a few of them. Saturday was one such perfect day.

For me, a perfect day always starts out with a perfect run. This was no exception. My friend Lisa and I ran a fast 7 miles up in the foothills of Rancho Cucamonga. It was perfect (except for the fact that we didn’t have time for the 10 I was hoping for).

Our good luck continued as we arrived to Disneyland with good weather, no crowds/lines (for a little while, at least), and a special sneak peek of the new Star Tours ride---3X since it was so awesome.

It seems as though all of our perfect days revolve around long car trips (Santa Barbara, San Francisco, St. George, etc.) to allow for good discussion, scenery, trip planning, bonding, and fun. This was no exception.

Liam even got to take a turn driving this time. He’s not as much a fan of driving as I would have suspected, considering his love of all things wheeled (bikes, cars, trucks, strollers, etc.).

William’s perfect days (or any days for that matter), must involve him getting either wet and/or dirty.

Or an exciting new place to run around.

And a nice long nap, over by. His normal naps are 2-3 hrs, but only if he’s in his crib, or on a long drive. A Disneyland nap of 2:15---a record-breaking outside-of-crib nap. With an average stroller/car seat nap of 30-45 minutes and previous record of ~1 hr, that makes it a perfect day for Mom and Dad! Especially since we got to take turns on the big kid rides since our little one was sleeping.

For Steven, no perfect day is complete without a nice mountain hike,

lots of pictures of our adorable son,

And a Mormon Studies Lecture in the OC (not pictured since Liam and I dropped him off on our way home).

Steve even got to study for the Utah Bar while waiting in line for Star Tours. There are no pictures of this because just thinking about studying for the bar is boring, although rather necessary.

I prefer a fun day of laughing with my son and being crazy and silly together.

Or a trip to somewhere exotic and interesting. Preferably with old, tired jokes.

I’m glad I was able to convince Steve to get season passes. I suspect many more perfect days ahead of us.

When Grandma Comes

2011-05-20T16:05:00.001-07:00

We always have a fun time when Grandma comes to visit. Last week, Grandma Garff was in Anaheim for a dental convention. We picked her up and went to Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner Restaurant.

It was awesome (and not just because of this cool chicken statue, but the food was great).

Before dropping Karen off at her hotel, we stopped by Downtown Disney for a stroll. Liam couldn’t get enough of the Lego Store.Karen tried on a new hairdo hat.

And the highlight of Downtown Disney (at least for Liam) was the Lightening McQueen jammies that grandma got for him and his cousin Daniel.

When I went to put them away the next morning, Liam insisted on attempting to put them on himself. After allowing me to help, he was so pleased with his new look.

He was so happy, we let him play in his jammies and with his Lightening McQueen car ALL DAY LONG.

It was a pretty amazing weekend. Luckily for us, we’re getting season passes and going back to Disneyland tomorrow.

Silly Billyness: “Achoo”, and “Lotion”

2011-05-13T13:27:00.001-07:00

I know I’m biased, but I think my (*gasp* almost 18-month-old) baby has the sweetest laugh in the world. Luckily for us, and the rest of the world that is blessed by his happy laughter, Billy will get into laughing fits over the smallest things, as evidenced by these videos. Enjoy!

Dad came home from work the other day and sneezed. Liam usually laughs, only this time, he couldn’t stop laughing; eventually figuring out (in his own little baby way), how to fake a sneeze.Liam’s favorite part of the bath time ritual (besides splashing water everywhere), is the lotion after. I think he may be a wee bit ticklish.

Lemons and Books: A Festivitastic Weekend

2011-05-01T21:50:00.001-07:00

On Friday we went to the Lemon Festival in downtown Upland.

The lemonade was a little sour for William.But the suckers were just fine.

As most of you know, William has has a big soft spot for giant cartoon characters.

The Annual L.A. Festival of books is the largest book fair in the world and is a bonafide Garff family tradition. So, we went again on Saturday even though it moved from UCLA to USC.

One advantage to USC: way more fountains than UCLA and it turns out that William loves fountains.

We followed up with a visit to El Cholo. See you next year.

Easter

2011-04-24T23:27:00.000-07:00

William enjoyed his first Easter egg hunt with our ward at Central Park.

As you can see, he had a pretty good idea of the way things work, although, he also felt that it would be a good idea to collect some sand and sticks in addition to plastic eggs.

He also realized pretty quickly, to his delight, just exactly what is inside those eggs.

He’s going to love Halloween.

On a more spiritual note, my wife shared a beautiful Easter quote from Harold B. Lee in her Sacrament Meeting talk today. But first a little biographical context:

President Harold B. Lee lost his wife, Fern Tanner Lee, and his daughter, Maurine Lee Wilkins to death within a few years of each other. With half of his family of four taken away from him, he suffered profound grief and depression. (L. Brent Goates, Harold B. Lee: Prophet and Seer [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1985], 357.) Within this context, Harold B. Lee shared the following thoughts about how the resurrection helped him to overcome his challenges:

I know … what it means to have the shattering devastation of loneliness with the snatching away of a loved one. Over my years, I have been called and tried to comfort those who mourn, but until I had to repeat those very things to myself that I have been saying to others, then only did I come to sense something that was far beyond words, that had to reach down to the touchstone of the soul before one can give real comfort. You have to see part of you buried in the grave. You have to see the loved one die and then you have to ask yourself—Do you believe what you have been teaching others? Are you sure and certain that God lives? Do you believe in the Atonement of the Lord and Master—that He opened the doors to the resurrection in the more glorious life? Sometimes when we stand in the stark nakedness all alone, it’s then that our testimony has to grow deep if we are not going to be shattered and fall by the wayside…

You folks today, if you know that you have anchored your souls in that divine testimony that He lives and that at the latter day He will stand upon this earth and you will meet Him face to face—if you know that, no matter what the risks and the responsibilities and the tragedies may be—if you build your house upon the rock, you won’t falter. Yes, you’ll go through the terrifying experience of sorrow over a lost loved one, but you won’t falter; eventually you’ll come through with even greater faith than you ever had before. Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Harold B. Lee, (2000) Chapter 23

Happy Easter.

How the West Was Won

2011-04-21T15:30:00.001-07:00

For the first time in months, both Steve and I had Saturday free. We celebrated by heading deep into the old West, to the Gene Autry Museum of the American West at Griffith Park.

Liam’s favorite part was the horse ride.

He cried when we took him off.

It was just a saddle next to a mural and in front of a blue screen.

We loved being on tv.

William enjoyed walking around the Old West.

He did not enjoy jail. Or the actual exhibits, for that matter.

After lunch, William got to ride a full-size horse replica, complete with cowboy gear. I had to act fast to get even the hat on Little Quickdraw, here, though.

Cowboy Billy came to the rescue. Fastest gun in the West.

Since I don’t get many evenings off, we took advantage of a beautiful day last week and rode our bikes to central park. Liam was very busy working in the sand. Steve gets off early on Fridays, so we repeated our ride on Friday for the Healthy RC fair.

We had to keep this little boy on a tight leash since he loves to run EVERYWHERE.

Luckily, William loves this puppy. He’s always hugging it.

Liam had a great time. We got some awesome swag (the rest of the candy not pictured because it was eaten).

And we got to see some remote-control airplanes on our way to Five Guys for dinner.

Makes me love our life. It’s pretty sweet sometimes. All I gotta do now is figure out how to stop working evenings and weekends and it would be perfect.

Life Without Dad and Playdates Galore

2011-04-07T13:48:00.001-07:00

We’ve been busy. Again.

I can never seem to find time to blog. I feel like if I have spare time, I should clean the house, study, go to work, or enjoy time with my family. Unfortunately for whatever readers we may possibly have left, that means blogging is not high on the priority list (hopefully that will change once I pass NASM’s test later this month).

Steve went up to Utah for a job interview last week and but Liam and I stayed home to keep an eye on the house. Though we wished we were with our favorite Steve, we did enjoy our Mommy/Baby extended weekend. We went to the park,

ate broccoli for every lunch and dinner,

and enjoyed the cupcake perfection that is Suite 106 Cupcakery.

For anyone who has heard of Cupcake Wars, Suite 106 won either last year or the year before. The bakery is right by the library, the mall, and the park, so we go there way too much.

Liam has a new buddy that he likes to hang out with, Logan. Here you see Liam feeding goldfish to Logan.

We’ve had some beautiful weather lately, good enough for a couple of swim days. We got our play group together last week to enjoy it. Zeb didn’t want to be part of the picture, so he got one of his own.We all had a great day.

Especially this little girl. She’s about 5 months old. Totally fell asleep in her flotation device.But it made for a totally amazing picture.

I think there will definitely have to be more swim parties this spring/summer.

Disneyland Days and other Recent Adventures

2011-03-25T14:04:00.001-07:00

The worst thing about Disneyland, is that we can’t be there all the time. Our Disneyland annual pass expired this week. Due to the current state of limbo in our lives, we decided not to renew. It was a very sad, difficult decision. Luckily, we were able to spend lots of time at Disneyland the last few weeks.

Last Thursday, Steven didn’t have to work until 1, so I left the boys at home and went to Disneyland all by myself. It was an extremely interesting experience. I got to bypass the lines and use the single-rider option* (only available on certain rides) and could go at my own pace.

It was loads of fun. I would highly recommend it.

This week, Liam and I took advantage of the one day it didn’t rain to spend the day at Disneyland with Rebecca, Gwen, and Audrey Bode, and Rebecca’s brother Greg. It was crowded, but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Gwen and Liam have really gotten to be good friends. Liam just loves to laugh and play with her, and Gwen is always very sweet to him.

The highlight of the trip was getting to see Winnie-the-Pooh and his friends. I’d never waited in line for the characters since I didn’t think Liam would be interested.

Gwen loves all things Pooh-bear, so we decided to brave the wait. It was worth it.

There were a few rough spots during the 30 minute wait, but Tigger and Eeyore thought Liam was so cute they came over to visit and cheered him up. Liam immediately gave Tigger a hug (unfortunately, we were unable to get the camera out fast enough) and the crowd let out a huge “awwww”.

When it was finally Liam’s turn, he went right up to Pooh and gave him the biggest hug.

Again, the crowd was awe-stricken. It was that cute.

Eeyore and Tigger were no exception to the love.

But none of them got quite the reception as our good friend Winnie, so I gave in and got Liam a souvenir of his choosing to commemorate our final Disney Days.

Gwen also ended up with a souvenier Minnie, which perfectly coordinated with Liam’s Mickey (from our first time to Disneyland).But the fun didn’t stop there---Rebecca had made cute little owl hats for all the kids. Trying to get a picture with all of them in it was complicated. And we weren’t successful. At least they enjoyed it.And of course, the obligatory matchy-matchy photo since Father and Son happened to dress alike that day.Wednesday was our last day at Disneyland. Even though it had been raining all week, the weather had been good that day, and we took a chance. It started pouring as soon as we pulled of the freeway about 4 pm and didn’t stop until we left the park around 8. We had fun anyway. No lines! Liam was even able to chase the ducks.

And get caged.The best part, however, was Toon Town. I had never really taken Liam to see it, and now that he’s walking, he had a blast. I regret not doing it sooner.

After too long, William got sick of posing for pictures and just wanted to play.

The real highlight of the day was getting to meet Mickey. Liam has loved his Mickey doll since he was 3 months old and seeing the real thing was a treat for everyone.

We will miss Disneyland. Hope to go back soon!

One nice thing about not having a Disneyland pass, is that we have more time. Our life is crazy busy right now. I’m busy as a personal trainer at Bally Total Fitness so Steve and William have to help out around the house more.

They do a pretty good job. Besides, I need all the help I can get some days. :)

Eaton Canyon

2011-03-13T18:51:00.001-07:00

Pictures from our trip last Saturday to a nice urban wilderness in Pasadena.

Kid Art

2011-03-04T17:15:00.001-08:00

I love children’s art. I think it has to do with the complete lack of rules or boundaries that produces pure creativity, even if it is at the expense of expression and representation.

This unbounded creativity is something that our culture gradually and sometimes painfully exorcises from our youth.

The picture above is William’s first drawing, other than the scribbling that he did in one of my books (that’s what happens when you have the uncontrollable compulsion to keep a pen in hand whenever reading).

April and I will soon be faced with the dilemma of what to do with the impending daily deluge of kid art. From the point of view of the child it is the process, and not the product, that matters most. But that doesn't mean it isn't hard to throw it out.

I think we will probably keep the very best and scan what we can of the rest. I hope that our son never loses this free confidence even as he learns conventions, rules, and boundaries.

Gone to the Dogs

2011-02-28T06:08:00.000-08:00

I’ve gotten a new pair of Nikes.

Special thanks to the Karina, Valerie, and Missy (Steve’s cousins) for the cute Nike tracksuit.

Luckily, Liam seems to have inherited my love of dogs. All day long, every time a dog barks, its “Bah, Bah, Bah” (bark, bark, bark) from this little guy.

Fortunately, he’s got as many dogs as a little boy could ever want.His favorites are usually the little blue puppies that he sleeps with, but sometimes he requests a few extras of which he’s particularly fond. Here are the current favs.

Max: Max is the dog from “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” We got him for $5 at Kohl’s, and there hasn’t been a day since that William has not hugged/cuddled/chewed the life out of him.

“Kiki”: a dog we got from my brother Daniel, and sister-in-law, Karalee. Looks just like the real thing, though I think technically, it’s a wolf or arctic fox.

Floppy Dog: Big floppy dog I got at a garage sale for a few dollars when I was pregnant. This one lives in the pet net above Liam’s bed, and he often tries to jump and get it after naps.

And the most recent favorite, Ride the Dog: A huge Old English Sheepdog that he got from my parents as a newborn. Liam has recently discovered how much fun it is to ride him (sometimes even more fun than riding his cars or mom).

We’re forever trying to convince our Silly Billy that he’s not a dog, but there’s only one way to carry a cracker.

He even likes to go jump on Dad to wake him. Dad’s not a fan.

And we’re headed to the park nearly every day to wear out his energy with new tricks.

Don’t you just love how he holds up his arms when he walks? I know I do.

Excuses for Disneyland (like we really need them) and Baby Sounds

2011-02-09T15:15:00.001-08:00

One really nice thing about staying home with Liam and having a season pass to Disneyland is that whenever people come to town, we get to go to Disneyland!

We’ve had visitor after visitor. It’s been a crazy time here at Casa de Garff, CA. It has led to a lapse in blogging. Maybe that one should have been more have an “intention” than a “resolution”.

Our guests have been mostly family, starting with Steven’s mother, Karen, back at the end of January, who came with his brother, Kevin while interviewing for Loma Linda’s Medical School. We didn’t go to Disneyland this time, but maybe one day.

We went back to an awesome Thai place (thanks, Angie for discovering it!) to celebrate Steve’s 30th birthday. I wish we would have gotten a picture, because dining-in is so much better than take-out. My rice was shaped like a rabbit! I think it hurt the waitresses feelings that Liam devoured it so quickly.

We also took the opportunity to go back to Tijuana Taco’s in Pomona. Awesome as ever. I haven’t had a thing I didn’t like. I particularly liked Kevin’s torta. Mmmm.

Steven’s cousin Derek’s wife and family came to Disneyland last week with the whole Larkin gang. It was a great excuse to go to Disneyland with Captain Adorable and he had an awesome time with his second cousins (and his Incredible Mom, even though she didn’t get many pictures).

My sister, Sherrie, came into town last Thursday, with her son Will. Since Will is tall enough to go on most of the big rides, I took the opportunity to leave Liam at home with Steven on Friday and went to Disneyland all by myself. All day. It was liberating. No diaper changes, no naps, and no one to worry about but myself (at least, that was the idea). Since this was my first time leaving the baby all day, it was a little hard at first, but after I heard that he took a 3 1/2 hour nap for Steve, I wasn’t so concerned and I know it was a fun day with Dad (even if they spent all day in their jammies.

I went on all the big rides and got to stay late to see the World of Color.

Don’t be fooled by this picture, Will LOVED the roller coasters. We went on Thunder Mountain Railroad four times.

The Williams are both big fans of Lightening McQueen.

This push-car is probably Liam’s favorite toy. We found him the other day doing this and couldn’t help cracking up:

Will got his picture taken with the real one.

Toon town was loads of fun. I’ll have to take Liam back sometime now that he’s walking to play around there.

On Monday, Liam and I both went back to Disneyland and CA Adventure for a Sister/Cousin day. They love being together and had a great time.

By midafternoon, though, my William was worn-out. Even his favorite ride, The Jungle Cruise, couldn’t stop the yawns.

And speaking of being tired, Liam is a hoot, even when he sleeps. We took this gem of a video over the weekend when he had a bit of a stuffy nose. Sorry about the poor quality, our video monitor battery was dying.

It’s why I love having a monitor. Can’t believe that sound came out of such a little guy.

So many other sounds come out of him now, too:

Uh-oh (by far, his favorite word, especially when he’s causing problems for mom, like getting into somewhere he shouldn’t or making big messes)

Ba---Bath, usually said when he’s climbing in the bathtub

Bah---bark/dog. It’s his own word for dog, he says it every time a dog barks.

Da/Dada/DADADADA---Dad. His favorite person to wake up early in the morning. Too early for Dad’s taste.

Mama---mom, who he usually wants when he’s sad.

Bu-Bye (only once, but he waved at the same time and it was just so adorably cute).

Nanana---Banana, his favorite food.

Sometimes it also seems like he says “that” and “here”, “Kiki” and “Kitty”, but none of those seem definite enough to add to the list yet, but probably one day, right?

One Year Older and Wiser, Too

2011-01-25T20:05:00.001-08:00

Steven hit the big 3-0 this weekend and we thought it would be a great opportunity to party.

Our party started off with a local 5k (for me, not Steve). I placed 3rd in my division with a PR of 21:08 and got my picture taken with former Kansas City Chiefs running back, Christian Okoye (the man behind the race).

When I got home, Steven left to go skiing. Lucky for us, Mt. Baldy lets you go for free on your birthday. And despite the fantastic 75* weather we’ve been having this January, there was still plenty of snow.

Most of our favorite UCLA friends were even able to attend the party that evening. It was great to get together again, especially since some we hadn’t seen in over a year.

Celia Titera came to celebrate as well, even though it was her birthday, too.

It was a good excuse for Texas Sheet Cake.But then again, what isn’t?

January Beach Day

2011-01-21T18:34:00.001-08:00

We couldn't help but take advantage of the perfect 80 degree weather on Saturday

We met up with Mac and Julie and headed over to their house for some awesome homemade sushi.

The boys had an unbelievable amount of fun together.

Catch-Up from Christmas

2011-01-04T12:52:00.001-08:00

Between Rita, the accident, buying a new car, a wedding, birthdays (Liam's, mine, my dad's, and Mary Jane's and Steven's within the next few weeks), our 4th anniversary, a trip to Utah, and Christmas, we’ve had a busy month.

As promised, here’s a bit of our Christmas catch-up.

Our complex had a “Dinner with Santa”. Basically free OSF dinner and Santa happened to be there. We went for the free dinner. If you know me well at all, you’ll know I’m not a huge Santa fan. Then again, neither was little Liam:

Once he got a candy cane, things were MUCH better.

Rita, the rat we bought when we lost our first baby, passed away on December 15th after a possible stroke. We knew she was getting older, and it was a blessing to have her passing before our trip, instead of during. We will miss her.

Steve’s youngest brother, Kevin got married on December 18th in SLC. Since Steven couldn’t really take much time off work, and finding a dog-sitter over the holidays is practically impossible, we drove to St. George on the 17th after a half day of work/errands. Luckily, Kevin and Mary Jane picked a 1:00 sealing time, so we didn’t even have to wake up particularly early before heading up, stopping at my parents’ house to drop off the dogs and get a quick haircut, and meet Kristi and the temple at 12:30 so she could watch the baby.

It was really nice to go to the temple again, and the reception was tons of fun. Liam especially liked the lights:

And of course, his favorite person in the whole world (after Mom), Daniel.

He also spent about 20 minutes pushing chairs around and eating dinner (he ate a large adult portion of food and lemonade), but we were having too much fun watching that we couldn’t get any pictures.

And we all really like our new sister/aunt, Mary Jane.

Steven had to fly back to work the day after the wedding and wouldn’t be back until Christmas Eve, so Liam and I spent some fun times meeting our new friend Jared Horrocks.

And spending lots of time with his Kemp cousins.

We mustn’t forget the Man Basket Society Annual Christmas Party. As always, a big hit. The theme this year was Fondue, and inadvertently “Domestic Goddess” as evidenced by the apron, soaps, Christmas towels, fancy dish gloves, and cookbook I received.

Not pictured, but we also went to Cafe Rio with Mike, Catherine, and Daniel. Liam ate his own meal (a quesadilla). Luckily for us, a Cafe Rio opens about 30 minutes away next week.

Christmas Eve morning, after a late night flight for Steven, we went out to breakfast with Mike Cook, and Cortney, Donovan, and Stella Wright. Unfortunately, we went too late for Eggs in the City, so settled for our old haunt, Blue Plate. Liam loved it (it was a toss up between the eggs and the tricycle).

Christmas Eve night was spent at the Annual Kemp Family Christmas Party at my brother Philip’s house. As always, a big hit.

Liam especially loved spending time with his “big-boy” cousins:

And playing Christmas carols with Abby.

My brothers Dan and Arthur put on a Christmas puppet show. It was pretty funny. Wish I videotaped it.

Liam thought it was pretty interesting, too.

And so did all the grandkids, who then set out to do their own puppet show.

But they didn’t quite get the idea of hiding behind the stage.

Baby’s 2nd Christmas was a hit. And contrary to popular belief, he did enjoy his presents more than the wrapping paper. But that's only because we are really good gift givers.

But he enjoyed the candy quite a bit more.

After presents, we dropped the baby off at my parents’ house while they kindly watched him while we went skiing with the Garffs.

My parents gave Liam some toys, but his favorite that day were the dinosaurs (seen here featured with his dinosaur suit from Angie, my friend from middle school).

The Garff Family party was on Boxing day, since Kevin and Mary Jane didn’t get back from their honeymoon in time to celebrate earlier. This too, was lots of fun.

It also included lots of sugar. Liam liked to chase the cookies.

After the party, we watched Kevin and Mary Jane open their wedding gifts. Liam couldn’t get enough of the tissue paper.

Liam also decided it was funny to smell my feet. I promise I had recently showered and have on clean socks. Not sure where this came from, but it was pretty funny.

Unfortunately, Steven had to get back to work. After a few hours of work and play, and quick stop at the Ryberg Family Christmas party on the 27th, we drove to St. George. We then spent the first half of my birthday driving home. Better than spending it with Steven at work all day, I guess. Luckily, we made it home without incident (unless you count leaving my wallet at my parents’ house).

Steven got me a pair of Nike Frees for my birthday. I am super excited to use them.

After work that day, my cute boys took me out for a steak dinner at Flemings.

Liam probably ate $10 of my $45 steak and quite a bit of Steve’s mac and cheese and his own truffle (and a good chunk of mine).. This kid has expensive taste.

All in all, it was a good holiday season. I’ll be glad to see it go to have life slow down a bit though. Until next year.

New Year’s Resolution #11, Keep up the blog

2011-01-03T16:03:00.001-08:00

I often end up a few days late, but when I write down my resolutions, and make them public, I tend to do a better job of keeping them. I have picked 11 to work on this year.

1. PR in race (preferably my half marathon on Saturday)

2. Teach Liam to walk

3. Wean baby from nursing and pacifier

4. Lose 9 lbs.

5. Pay off car (ideally by June in case we decide to move when our lease is up)

6. Pay back our emergency fund (after our crazy December, it needs some padding).

7. Go biking/hiking/insert other exercise-related activity at least once a month as a family.

8. Try 100 new recipes---tested #1 yesterday (baked chocolate pudding) from the Barefoot Contessa Cookbook that Catherine and Michael gave me for my birthday. Yummy.

9. Do a better job of staying within the budget

10. Finally make/buy stockings I love (a project I’ve been intending to do for years).

11. Keep up with the blog (i.e. once per week or more as needed)

Baby’s Birthday Week

2010-12-14T11:09:00.001-08:00

In our family, birthdays (especially Christmas birthdays) are a big deal. So instead of one day of celebration, we go for a whole week.

We started off with a birthday party for all of Liam’s 1-year-old friends. Luckily for us, lots of them made the trek from LA to party.

A few of his Rancho friends were able to come, too.

The party had a racecar theme, complete with race. Don’t let Julie fool you, she didn’t win (though Rushton was a close second to Deanna).

There was even a race car cake with real toy race cars

along with tire cupcakes and other wheel-shaped foods. He started off slow, but once William figured out the cupcake contained chocolate, there was no stopping him. Liam’s generous friends gave him awesome gifts that he loves to play with.

And still likes to play with a week later.

After the festivities and a much-needed nap, Liam got to play with a present from Mom and Dad:

He’s not too sure about the helmet idea, though.

After the bike ride, the whole family got a present in honor of the new one year old:

It’s a 2008 Toyota Rav4. Only 35k miles and drives well. So far, so good. Many thanks to Mike and Bri for their input and good taste.

On Liam’s actual birthday, he got to open a few extra presents, this time from Grandma and Grandpa Garff.

Even though I am anti Christmas presents for Christmas birthdays, we gave him a nativity so Liam has his own “decoration”.

Not that it really stops him from taking ornaments off the tree, but we tried.

The following Friday, Steve was able to get off work early due to the company Christmas party, so we took the opportunity to use Steve’s free “Give a Day, Get a Day” pass to go to Disneyland.

It’s kinda sad the only day that Steve could get off to go to Disneyland was just a few short hours, but we did manage to have lots of fun together.

The best part was that the festivities seem to never end! I was able to convince Steven and William to come on my run with me on Saturday before work.

And then off to LA for Lucy and Macy’s birthday where we had lots of fun eating, exploring, and socializing.

What an awesome week+!!! Thanks to everyone who helped make it fun!

Happy Birthday, Baby Boy!!!

2010-12-05T18:27:00.001-08:00

I can’t believe our little guy is already one. It seems like only yesterday that we were rushing across the UCLA campus from the hospital to the Bar Ceremony. Now we’re rushing across the chapel to make sure he doesn’t end up on the pulpit.

We’ve had a lot of fun with this little guy. We knew the day we met him that those bright eyes and round face were the beginning of many months (and hopefully many more years) of fun.

Newborn1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months

5 months

6 months

7 months

8 months

9 months

10 months

11 months

12 months (almost)

We’ve had a lot of fun and a lot of adventures. It’s been awesome watching him grow into his big personality and to see what traits/characteristics are sticking around. He’s still our smiling, creature-caring, binky-sucking, social, sensitive, silly Billy.

I’m also very glad his big, beautiful blue eyes made the cut. But surprised at how he filled out from a skinny little 10th percentile force-fed guy to a 22+ lbs chunker who can be persuaded to eat almost anything (edible or not).

We love you!

The Many Adventures of Garffs at Thanksgiving

2010-11-30T11:29:00.001-08:00

Last week was quite the week.

We picked up a new couch (which, due to the dimensions of our Explorer, entailed William and I running home in the jogging stroller).

I had to sell my car to convince Steven to get a new one, and boy am I glad. This replaces the broken Ikea couch we got when we were first married. It’s so soft and cushy (though we do seem to get attacked by the pillows from time to time).

We then loaded up the car to head up to St. George to meet the rest of the Garffs for Thanksgiving.

We had dinner at the lodge in Zion’s National Park.

Dinner went off without a hitch unless you count the fiasco of no highchair (which entailed a baby eating on my lap for most of the dinner until we could get a booster and an obvious need for both of us to change our clothes).

and a slight fall on the wagon while we were taking pictures of these two cute cousins.

We enjoyed the stuffed animals in the museum.

But Daniel was a little scared

And so was Grandma Karen.

William was so excited at first, because he thought the polar bear was Kiki,

But slightly disappointed when it turned out that the arctic foxes weren’t Kiki either.

The boys took a real liking to old Cousin Joe.The rest of the weekend was lots of fun.

We swam, read, slept, watched movies (including the new Harry Potter, thanks to Grandma and Grandpa), and had lots of fun with our family.

Bill and Billy enjoyed hanging out together.

And the little boys couldn’t get enough of the dogs.And the dogs couldn’t get enough of them. But the way home was less fun than the rest of the trip. My dad and brothers had come through St. George on their way to Kanab point to go hiking and towed down my grandpa’s 1968 Plymouth Satellite (which had been passed around the children in my family and was my car in high school) to bring back to my uncle here in SoCal. Being the nice people we are, we offered to tow the car the rest of the way, since we would pass by my uncle’s home on the way back.

That’s when things got interesting. After dropping off the Explorer at the dealer to get trailer lights installed, this “favor” for my uncle was getting less and less enticing.

We had trouble getting the lights to all work, and things seemed foreboding already.

Even though we drove below the speed limit through the Virgin River Gorge, the weight of the Satellite, steep/winding roads, and slight wind were too much. The Satellite turned us around 180*, we all hit the median, and the the Explorer crashed into the Satellite as it flipped over.

It was a terrifying experience. As we swerved through the canyon, William was screaming, luggage went flying, and I was worried if we would make it home alive.

Luckily, we were all buckled up and I think the Satellite and the median took the brunt of the hit, which probably saved our lives.

We are very thankful for all the emergency crew that was working on Sunday and the kindness of strangers who kept us company, gave us blankets, and held the baby as we tried to sort out the wreckage. My dad even offered to drive down from SLC to drive us home, but we decided it would be better to take the cars to a tow yard in St. George and rent a car to get home.

We all made it out with minor injuries. William’s side-impact protecting car seat prevented him from anything other than a very minor bloody nose and a lack of sleep, and Steven and I just got some slight whiplash and some scrapes and bruising. We are very thankful the accident happened when and where it did, because it made everything work out better than we could have expected. We are very grateful for family and friends who care about us and are concerned for our safety.

And VERY thankful for collision insurance.

Next order of business: buying another car. Anyone have any recommendations for a small, slightly used SUV?

Silly Billyness: The New Dog

2010-11-24T06:26:00.001-08:00

I’ll admit it: I’ve been puppy-hungry since my dogs grew up. Who doesn’t love puppies? I was finally able to convince Steven that we needed another dog in our lives, and the new puppy fits right in.

We brought the new puppy to visit Steven’s Uncle Dave and Aunt Mary Lou in Reseda, and their granddaughter Audrey, couldn’t get enough of him. And Billy followed her around all afternoon.

I think Audrey misses her own dog.

What REALLY happened is that Billy discovered how much fun dog stuff is.

Especially the treats. He can’t decide if he’d rather eat them, or feed them to the dogs . Feeding the dogs is one of Silly Billy’s favorite things to do.Unless you count playing in the water. (Does it make me a bad mom for taking pictures while he’s doing this? I can’t help it, it was way too funny!)Poor Nike has to hide out on the couch to get away from all the attention.

Silly Billyness: Chocoholic

2010-11-18T16:28:00.001-08:00

William earned the nickname “Silly Billy” early in his life. What a ham! Even at his young age, he has the desire (and talent) of cracking people up.

And the first of a series of (probably many, knowing our son) installments in the Silly Billy Collection, I bring you: Chocoholic.

I was intending to wait at least until his first birthday to introduce chocolate and eggs, but when I made brownies (resulting in a small spill on the floor), Silly Billy seized his opportunity for a taste. He liked it so much that he cried when I made him stop licking the floor.

As one would expect from any child of mine, this boy LOVES chocolate.

Oak Glen and Ice House Canyon

2010-11-14T16:50:00.001-08:00

From our recent trips to Oak Glen and Ice house Canyon:

Election Day

2010-11-02T16:10:00.001-07:00

Got this shirt as a hand-me-down from my nephew Will and there wasn’t a better day to wear it than today.

We’re just glad not to have anymore “Don’t vote for my opponent because…” ads.

Halloween

2010-11-01T14:34:00.000-07:00

Had a fun, eventful Halloween weekend.

Kicked it off early with a visit to Disneyland. Made sure to hit Pirates and the Haunted Mansion for some spooky Halloween fun, complete with Nightmare Before Christmas-themed Halloween shirt (for the baby, obviously).

Liam could not get enough of Winnie the Pooh. I’ve never seen him so happy.

The ward party/Trunk or Treat was on Friday. Liam was a “Snugglesaurus” and I was a car crash victim since I had already sprained my wrist. You can’t tell in the picture, but I have tire tracks on my pants and an “I Love Insurance” (like Flo).

We were debating about dressing Liam up as either a nerd, a rocker,

a track star (note the Nike),

The Flash,

or a dog,

but his dino jammies came with feet and a hat, so that won out this year. Luckily, we have years ahead of us in which to spend ridiculous amounts of money on a costume for one day of candy hunting.

Steve declined to dress up, even though I brought him duct tape and a pocket knife so he could be “McGuyver”. But Steve’s friend Dave got him in the holiday spirit and convinced him to dress up as the “Dharma Initiative”, complete with “Dharma Cola” for their work party on Saturday.

And for Sunday dinner, we had blood, guts, bones, and eyeballs. It was fun for all (especially the dogs, who were more than happy to clean up after the baby).

Not very many trick or treaters, though we did have WAY TOO MANY adults/teenagers begging for candy. Next year, we’ll have to get stricter on them.

A Lame Excuse for the Lack of Posts

2010-10-26T12:42:00.001-07:00

We’ve been busy.

Spent a weekend in St. George, with Liam screaming and waking up every few hours like he was a newborn. When 3:45 rolled around, and my alarm went off, It felt like I had just fallen asleep (thought I actually did get to, thanks to my sweet husband staying up with the vacation-hating baby). Luckily, the perk of being awake early in the morning is the view.

I ran about 6 miles and found a volcano (and 20 more miles) that decided to make me question my love/hate relationship with The Marathon. We’ve decided to start seeing other people for the next year. Non-marathon people. We’ll see if I get in next year.

I felt like I should have been fast enough to finish the marathon in time to watch conference.

I wasn’t.

But we did have lots of fun with Steve and his parents.

And after the trip with The Trip-Loathing Son, we still decided to fly up to Utah the next weekend for Kristi’s Wedding.

One of the first times we have gotten to go to the temple since this guy was born (since we still haven’t sorted out the whole babysitting thing in our new place). It was nice.

Lots of trips and milestones.

Take the weekend of the St. George Marathon, for example. The day we were planning to leave, I woke up to William doing this in his crib:

A trip to the pumpkin patch turned mildly disappointing, but made for some nice holiday photos.

We’ve had numerous Adventures in Eating.

As you can see, Liam can now feed himself (and is almost done with baby food).

And he FINALLY learned to crawl (for real). He’s still slow.

And still cute (as if you ever doubted).

Eat More Tacos

2010-10-15T20:16:00.001-07:00

Some pictures of our recent trek downtown to Olvera Street

We especially enjoyed the world’s greatest taquitos at Cielito Lindo.

Baby’s (and Mom’s) Best Friend

2010-09-30T10:57:00.001-07:00

Liam LOVES Kiki. He always smiles when he sees her, even rolling across the room just to play (see video).

I suppose it could also be entitled, “Why We Have Dog Hair All Over the Floor”.Nike tends not to stay put, so he’s less fun to play with. Maybe it’s because he’s getting old. Now that he’s reached the ripe old age of 8, he doesn’t have to put up with that kind of nonsense like Kiki will (she’ll do anything for even the mere thought of a treat). I even found some black hairs a few weeks ago, so I guess that means he’s going grey. Makes me kind of sad, especially that he can only keep up with me for about 3-5 miles (earlier this year, he did 20!). This makes running at 5:30 am a less-than-appealing option. The way I see it, I have 4 options. 1) find someone willing and able to run at 5:30 with me; 2) make Steve wake up at 6:30 to watch Liam while I run before he goes to work; 3) get a new dog; and 4) Run by myself (alone, in the dark, carrying mace; you get the idea). I think option #3 seems the most appealing (and most likely…). If I mentioned #2 to Steve, he might even recommend getting a new dog instead. Too bad we’re only allowed to have two…

Luckily, however, Liam has found another best friend, one who’s always there for him and always makes him happy. And even though he leaves the mirrors a lot smudgier than before, we love having Baby Billy over to visit (with that cute face, who wouldn’t?).