Gone to the Dogs

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

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?

6 months and 13.1 miles Later...

William is now officially a 6 month old baby! 15 lbs, 2 oz; 26 inches long, with a 17-inch head circumference. Still our little 10-25% guy. Where did all that time go? In celebration of his half-year birthday, we gave him a fancy lunch of solid foods. He'd been begging for food for months so we figured now was a good time to start. He LOVED rice cereal! The video is kinda long, don't feel obligated to watch it; it was mostly for the grandparents, anyway.

Yum, yum, yum!

Also to celebrate making it through the first 6 months of being a mom, I ran the Fontana Days 1/2 Marathon. It claims to be the fastest half in the world. At least that's what the t-shirt says.

1 hour, 36 minutes, and 18 seconds later, it proved that way for me despite the 90* heat. This put me in 8th place for my age group (would have been 4th for my old age group; how I miss 19-24!). Another 10 minutes and I would have won. Not bad for still trying to get back into shape! Makes me want to do more of them to see how well I'd do with peak training. Liam and Steve even came out to see me at mile 10. Liam had to fight away the paparazzi (sorry, but they didn't get a picture of me running).

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.

There Were 10 in the Bed and the Little One Said:

"Roll over, roll over."

The First of Many, Many Firsts

The last few weeks have been jam-packed with new experiences for Liam.

We went swimming (he loved it!)

He had his first St. Patrick's Day, which included his second holiday-themed "flirt shirt"

He also had his first real laugh (kind of a squeal, with a "ha") and rolled over for the first time, both of which Liam has refused to repeat on command so we have been unable to catch it on video.

And the big fun, first trip to Disneyland

This happened to coincide with my brother Philip and his family coming to town. I loved spending time with my niece Abby, and nephew Spencer.

Liam even got his very own pair of Mouse Ears to match Mommy.

We also got ears for my neice and nephew.  

The above picture is one of my favorites. The kids look so cute as MousetEARS! Abby earned her ears by going on Tower of Terror twice and also Space Mountain. She was so scared that she even wanted to say a prayer for courage before getting on the ride. Lightening McQueen especially loved his ears. It made his day.

I especially loved Spencer's face in this photo. As you can see, he is VERY excited to be here. He made this same face when he found out he was getting Lightening McQueen ears.

Liam, unfortunately (for him), slept through many rides.

but he was awake for "It's a Small World" and "Monster's, Inc."

We went to CA Adventure with my friend Jen and her little boy, Matt as well as with my brother's family. Sorry my face looks kind of weird in this photo.

Disneyland also included Liam's first date with Kate and her mom, Dagny. Dagny is a friend of mine from college.  We had all our classes together for a few years.

With the first date was Liam and Kate's first time holding hands. They really hit it off. Dagny said that she isn't opposed to arranged marriages, so we might even get to be family one day...

Liam also got to take home a souvenir Mickey.  We were going through the gift shop to get a gift for Steve (who had to work and couldn't come) and his face lit up when I showed him this Mickey.  I couldn't resist getting it for him when I saw how happy he was.

Needless to say, our Disneyland adventure left him pooped.  Good thing we have season passes.  We'll be back soon!