Merry Christmas!

One of these things, is not like the other...

My babies, who shared a womb, a birthday, and every cold in existence, could not be more different. Even though they have the same parents, and are the same age, it still surprises me how unlike they are. They even take turns being the "good sleeper" (1 month-4 months and 7-10 have been Caleb) and the bigger one (Caleb I think has Taken over forever On that one!). Here's just a starter list of what we have discovered so far.

Caleb:
Manly Little Man
Is a lefty
Has no teeth
Can't figure out how to get from sitting to laying down and vice versa
Walking with mom or rolling is preferred transportation method
Thick blondish hair
Total Momma's boy
Very dependent on mom, not motivated to do things for himself
Likes to make loud noises
Binky boy (which, surprisingly, he wouldn't even hardly take one for a month.)
Rakes up his food and 25% ends up on the floor/high chair, another 25% on his face/clothes/bib, and the remaining half in the mouth.
Loves to move his legs
Square face, chubby cheeks, thick thighs, round belly
Fusses at minor things
Big smiles all the time and at everyone
Loves everyone
Only says Dada, and occasionally Baba
Obsessed with Baths
Can't maneuver around that big belly of his
Can't keep socks on to save his life
Crazy, droopy, eczema face/hand
Loves to hit things together, shake rattles.
Cries for things he wants


Lily:
Girly Girl
Right-handed
2 teeth at 7 month
Can get around the room strictly by changing position from sitting to laying with the occasional roll.
Likes to crawl and/or stretch to get from place to place
Thin, brown hair
Daddy's princess
Tries to figure things out on her own
Relatively quiet
Finger sucker (index and middle)
Picks up all her food daintily and puts it right in her month
More interested in working her arms
Heart-shaped face, thin body
Mellow
Smiles have to really be worked for and earned.
Not a fan of strangers
Says, Dada, Mama, baba, Lala, wawa, and a few other things we can't pronounce.
Baths are a sometimes a big hit, other times, a disaster
Nicknamed elastigirl because she is so flexible, she can reach anything within a2-foot radius without crawling or rolling closer.
Can keep socks on just fine (hair bows, however, are a whole other story)
Sweet, perfect baby skin
Puts everything in her mouth and bites it (newest obsession: toes)
Gets everything she wants (either by force or "persuasion"

Don't worry, there are some similarities. Like those big, blue eyes and dainty facial features. And the crazy hair, of course. They are both fast eaters and only nurse for 5 minutes, 4x/day. Both of them love to eat...we haven't found anything they won't eat. But it means we spend a small fortune on food.

And they both are silly, love to pull hair (especially mine, William's, and each others). They love noisy toys and their family and 100% attention (though Caleb demands it more, lol).

And both are pretty good sleepers (after way too many sleepless nights and lots of effort on our part) and take 2 naps (10-12 and 3-4) and sleep all night (730-700) most of the time. They go to sleep awake and I usually don't hear from them until it is time to get up. And both are cuddly if you catch them at the right time.

Last, but not least, both are absolutely adorable.

Our Budding Genius

Liam has developed an amazing amount of skills lately that has given us lots of opportunity for pictures.

He studies law books on a regular basis,

Solves the Rubix Cube,

Plays the keyboard,

Recognizes Kiki,

and sits up all by himself.

Visit from Grandma and Grandpa(s) Kemp and Baby Blessings

My parents came into town this week to get away (and because my mom was finally able to get off a few days in a row).

We spent Saturday with the my parents, which also included a first meeting of William's Great-Grandpa Kemp who lives in West Covina.

 Now that things are starting to settle down here, we were able to enjoy a nice barbeque (Steve's birthday present was a grill) and have a nice afternoon together.

Life with Liam has become very entertaining. I love spending time with him at home (even if he doesn't always nap) and we have great times laughing at each other and learning new things about life. He has taken to obsessing over his hands.  He will stare at them for hours and has recently gotten into licking them when he can't figure out how to suck his thumb. We have a baby book, (DadLabs), that compares life with a newborn to hanging out with a friend on a mushroom trip: "Wow, look at all the colors.  Have you ever just looked at your hand, Man?"

Sorry these pictures are so late, but back when we were in Utah over the holidays, William Gary Garff was blessed in my parents' ward and we had an open house at the Garff's to celebrate his blessing and for extended family/friends to meet this little guy.  Both sets of grandparents were very excited for the new arrival (baby #1 for the Garffs, #9 for Kemps)

My dad doesn't smile often in pictures, but I think he was pretty excited to have his name as the middle name.

And of course, his life would not be complete if we didn't get a picture of William Gary Garff with his namesakes: William (Bill) Garff and Gary Kemp.

Exodus

It's been a hectic couple of weeks. We moved out to Rancho Cucamonga to be closer to my work. I stared working at the beginning of the new year for Wood, Smith, Hening, & Berman in their RC office. One of the major advantages to living in the suburbs is that we can afford to rent a house for only a little more than what we paid for our one bedroom apartment in West L.A.

An now, more pictures of William.

William started smiling about a week ago. It's been hard trying to get a good picture, but this is the best we've gotten so far:

These Little Limbs

These little limbs,

These eyes and hands which here I find,

These rosy cheeks wherewith my life begins,

Where have ye been? behind

What curtain were ye from me hid so long?

Where was, in what abyss, my speaking tongue?

...

Long time before

I in my mother’s womb was born,

A God, preparing, did this glorious store,

The world, for me adorn.

Into this Eden so divine and fair,

So wide and bright, I come His son and heir.

A stranger here

Strange things doth meet, strange glories see;

Strange treasures lodged in this fair world appear,

Strange all and new to me;

But that they mine should be, who nothing was,

That strangest is of all, yet brought to pass.

From "The Salutation" by Thomas Traherne

Perfect Timing

William entered this world with perfect timing. I had just completed all 98 items on the "pre-baby to-do list Thursday night, went to the UCLA Ward cookie exchange, and went to bed fairly certain we would have a baby before the weekend was through. Friday morning, I woke up and ran the dogs about a mile, and came home to take a relaxing bath before starting the day's tasks. As I was getting dressed about 8 am, my water broke, with contractions starting soon afterward. Steve was incredibly nervous as he realized this means we would be having a baby very soon and frantically set to work scrubbing the kitchen and cleaning the bathroom. We timed the contractions at every 3 minutes for over an hour, attempting to finish last minute errands like returning a movie to Blockbuster and picking up some new shoes (we had a $25 cash card that had to be used by the next day) for Steve (coincidently, he picked out the men's version of my marathon shoe, the Nike Air Pegasus) before heading to the hospital ready to have a baby. Steve gave me a blessing before we left that all would go well with the delivery and our baby. I felt such peace and reassurance that all would work out well and did not fear the road ahead and felt very calm and at ease despite the contractions.

We felt pretty lucky that the contractions weren't really feeling that bad by the time we got to the hospital a few hours after contractions starting. Since they were 3 minutes apart, we were certain we would be parents by the end of the day. Unfortunately, Baby Garff had other plans. When they checked me at about 9 pm, I was only dilated to 3 cm; exhausted and in excrutiating pain. I wasn't originally planning to get pain medication, but after a conversation with a member of the bishopric on Sunday about his wife's labor, I decided to get an epidural to allow me to sleep. That was the best decision I could have made because our son was not ready to come until late the next afternoon, after several rounds of pitocin and a disappointing discussion about a possible cesarian due to labor failing to progress.

Steven's parents had just left Utah to come into town for the CA Bar ceremony the next day My OB was completely supportive of our desire to attend the swearing-in as a family. If all went well with babe and mom, we would be allowed an early discharge if I promised to push hard to get him out fast. When my OB came back to check on us, we were ready to go. One and a half hours later, at 4:00 pm exactly, William Gary Garff arrived, shortly after his grandparents arrived at the hospital.

The birth was an amazing experience. After receiving the epidural, I hardly felt any pain, and had been able to get enough sleep to feel well rested for the next stage in our lives. I didn't even realize he had come out until I looked down and saw his sweet little face and the doctors placed him on my chest to cut his cord. I couldn't believe the miracle with which Steven and I had been entrusted to assist. I'm not sure exactly what I was expecting, but I was pleasantly surprised at how amazing it felt to become a mom. He was perfect.

Since Grandma and Grandpa Garff had just come into town, they were able to see their first grandson shortly after he had come into the world. It seemed that despite the long labor, William still has an impeccable sense of timing. Both of us were feeling well enough by the next morning, that both the pediatrician and the OB arranged for an early discharge just in time to get wheeled out of the hospital and hurry across campus for the bar ceremony at Ackerman 10 minutes later.

Mac Reyolds later asked how I would compare labor to a marathon. The work of labor (sans pain medication) was tremendously worse than running a marathon, but the recovery was much easier (not considering the obvious lack of sleep due to demands of an infant). The doctor cleared me to start running 1 week postpartum (that means possibly this Saturday!). I couldn't ask for a better doctor or one who understands my needs more perfectly. She was a great push coach, awesome motivator, and a woman who really understands and respects her patients, coming through when we needed her most.

We couldn't believe our good luck in the timing of the weekend. After our miscarriages over the past year, we were thrilled that little William did so well, despite the patience it took to get him here. It was a long, hard road, wrought with much sorrow waiting for the child we so desperately wanted. While I didn't understand it at the time, it seems our Father in Heaven understood what we needed and what would work out best for our family was a timing different than what we were originally hoping for. And even though it made for a busy and complicated weekend, it couldn't have been any better than the way it worked out. It seemed a perfect completion to our path to parenthood. Steve remarked that he felt that his swearing in felt so much more significant with his son present. It seemed that the weekend could not have been more ideal. What a perfect way to start a family. Thank you, William. We love you.