New Year, New Me

It's time for annual resolutions!!! I've decided to do things a bit differently this year. I've decided my priorities and aligned my goals to match.

Priorities: Me, Steven, Kids, Family, $, Organization 

Here's the breakdown.

ME

1. Running PR: I'm training hard for the Ogden Marathon, with SOJO as backup. I'm following an advanced marathoner plan (the same one I was following when I got pregnant with Jane!) and hoping to get 3:15 or lower. I'd also be ok with a half marathon 1:22 or lower. So far I haven't missed a day of the schedule despite all the snow! And it's intense! Often 8-9 miles on weekdays and 12-22 on the weekends!

2. Weight: I'm hoping to lose 10-15 lbs this year and limit the junk that comes to our home as much as possible. So far, I've already lost all the weight from Christmas and I have high hopes to be done with this goal by June.

3. Reading: 17 books. Not particularly ambitious, but I have 3 little kids at home all day so this isn't my priority for this season of life. I've already completed Dune and The Stranger so only 15 more to go!

STEVEN

4. Dates: 1 date OUTSIDE of the house every month. With 4 little ones and few local babysitting options, this is proving to be a challenge, but February is complete!

5. Visit the temple: Again with the babysitting, it's complicated, but we have a goal to go 3 times this year.

We also have some non-official goals of completing a marriage book club just between the two of us and to keep up the fun and positivity we had from our first real getaway without the kids.

KIDS

6. Dates: we have a goal of getting each kid a one-on-one date each month. I've even made a schedule. 

7. Wean Lily from fingers: she's been a finger sucker since a tiny infant. happy to say this one is complete!

8. Teach Caleb and Lily to read: they know all the letters and sounds and a few sight words. Caleb is pretty good at sounding out words but I wouldn't say he can quite read yet. Hoping to complete by summer.

Reading "I Ain't Gonna Paint No More" for the millionth time...

9. Swimming: I'd like William to make swim team (if he wants) and Caleb and Lily to be proficient in the deep end. I think we will make it by summer and if they do, I promised to buy a pool pass!

Caleb at the bottom of the pool. He was terrified to do this a few months ago!

10. Potty train and Binky wean Jane: can you believe she'll be 2 this year! Hoping to ditch the binky around 2 and potty train when all the other kids are in school.

FAMILY 

11. Vacations: we've been saving hard! Big plans for vacations this year!!! Disneyland, cabin, UCLA reunion, a girls' trip, and Hawaii to visit Grandma and Grandpa Garff!

12. Read Harry Potter: is like to read at least Book 1, perhaps Book 2. Movie nights when we finish!

13. Blog: At least once a month, but I'm going to try weekly if I have anything good to say or pix to charge.

14. Summer Camps: This was such a hit we are making it a tradition! A couple of options we are considering: repeats of Star Wars, Lego, Princess, and cooking camps. Other new ideas: Harry Potter, inventions, Ocean, Animals.

15. House Projects: I want to do one bigger project a month to improve our house and get ready for a remodel next year.

$$$

16. Emergency fund:  I'd like to have a solid amount. At least 2-3 months worth of house payments. After all the emergencies in the last year, our emergency fund is pretty bare---though we've been lucky enough to always have enough!

I also have some non-official money goals of not spending money when the monthly budget is up and paying our house ahead to only have 9 years left on the loan.

ORGANIZATION

The house projects also fit under this priority. But my final goal is more fun!

17. Pinterest Projects: I'm shooting for once a week. I have a long list of ideas I'm dying to try. Things for me, the family, and also for fun. Here's a picture of my most recent one.

 

I'm usually pretty good at getting a lot accomplished with my resolutions. I may not complete every one, but I'll come close and definitely be happy with the results. Here's to a great 2017!!!

The Caleb Man

Since birth, our Cal has earned the nickname Caleb Man. He started out much like a little old man (he had the most ridiculous receding hairline for ages!) and seemed to get a little grumpy if left alone.

We sing a little song to Caleb and have been having fun adding new verses. It goes to the tune of "The Muffin Man".

The Caleb Man, the Caleb Man
The Caleb Man, the Caleb Man
The Caleb Man, the Caleb Man
He is a real small size.

The Caleb Man, the Caleb Man
The Caleb Man, the Caleb Man
The Caleb Man, the Caleb Man
He is one of our favorite guys.

We've been having great fun coming up with new and exciting verses. Some our favorites include:

He lives on Glenmare street...he likes to kick his feet. (Or really likes to eat, lol).

He likes to just sit...please don't throw a fit.

He likes to eat his food..cuz it is really good.

He has a happy face...he jumps around this place.

He lives around the bend...he is our real good friend.

We just love our roly poly Caleb Man. He is happy and lovable and cuddly and cute. Though he does get fussy if he doesn't get enough attention, he is generally a good baby. Goes to bed within 5 minutes of putting him down and usually sleeps through the night. And thank goodness all he wants to do is sit and play or kick or jump in his jumperoo---I could not handle mobile babies just yet.

And boy, does he love to eat. Considering he took weeks to get a good latch and was always under the 5th percentile, this has been a great blessing. he went from my skinny little man, to a guy with thighs bigger than my biceps. Especially since he discovered solids he has been ever increasing in size and girth---and I LOVE it. At over 17 lbs, he is well over a pound heavier than his little sister, and finally pushing 25%.

We are so happy to have Caleb in our family!

Life as a Single Mom

Steven and William spent the week up at Hebgen, while the twins and I decided to forgo the fun of packing up all of our baby necessities (X2), finding a dog sitter, and potentially driving home with just the twins.

 

And honestly, it did feel more like a vacation than the vacation was seeming to be.  As long as I made sure the babies were fed and rested and otherwise happy, we got to do whatever we wanted. There were obvious difficulties (i.e. church, burping two babies at once, not being able to leave the house during naptime, etc.) but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  

We had a visit from our good friend, Angie.  She went to Universal Studios back in November and picked out these onesies before Caleb and Lily were only 20 weeks gestation. They fit perfectly.

 We were also able to go to a couple of family parties.  There was the annual Traci/Abby birthday celebration (we got a great picture of Caleb in a party hat, lol. I'll try to get a copy), and also a coming home party for my older brother Dan (who has been in Texas for the military since the babies were a week old) and coincidentally, his son Matthew, who just got out of the hospital the day after Dan came home; after several heart surgeries and a nearly six-month stay, we're glad he's done for now.  He is only six weeks older than Caleb and Lily, and probably outweighs them by at least a couple pounds and several inches. The twins would have been happier to meet him, but it was WAY past their bedtime.

The Man Basket Society came over for the monthly meeting and we all shared our favorite items under $2. Mostly, there was chocolate (surprise, surprise), but we all got a notebook and a bottle of the best purified water (compliments of Kristi's store).

Saturday night, I was even able to convince my brother Arthur to stay with the babies after bedtime so I could go on my first run this week. I had to cut it short due to the report of a creepy guy up the path, but I did run into a deer in Research Park.  My cell phone doesn't quite do it justice, but I tried.

I've started getting used to it being just me and the babies.  I had WAY more free time than in years, and got to eat broccoli and mushrooms to my heart's content.  Though I've barely left the house, so it will be good to get out again; I'm looking forward to having some adult company and toddler entertainment. My two big boys should be home in an hour!

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

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?

The Many Adventures of Garffs at Thanksgiving

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?