House o' Garfields

Christmas of 2011

2011-12-22T14:10:00.000-08:00

Dear family and friends,

The Garfields got better looking in 2011. Yep, you heard it right. You might think that such a thing was quite unlikely, but I am here to notify you that the arrival of a certain baby girl named Zayaa Genevieve Garfield proved that in fact there was room for beauty. She is the best looking Garfield that we met so far. Yeah, if Snow White’s step mother was really afoot she would be in search of our baby girl. She joined us with her beauty and grace on the night of September 23, 2011. You might think we are shamelessly flaunting but she really is a lovely baby. She is calm, happy and very easy going. Her sweetness is a magnet to all who meet her. We are very happy to have her as part of our family.

Buzz, who now prefers to be called Nathan, is growing like a weed. At this rate he will outgrow his big brother in height next year. Zach is frantically scarfing down food in desperate hope to hold his position as the tallest kid in the household, but Nate might still take the title soon. Nathan has also maintained his all-consuming obsession with all things trains. He is still dreaming of trains and preparing himself to be a train engineer. He polishes his train track building skills every day. He is sure that he can build train tracks all the way to outer space and he is looking forward to meeting aliens who steal funny looking underwear (something he learned in a book). He is full of many accomplishments, and is now working on perfecting the schematics of his new space train.

Zach, who is much too grown up now to answer to Snooks, is in preschool and loving every millisecond of it. Just the other day upon coming home from preschool he said, “I loved my school today. I don’t remember exactly what I learned but I just loved it.” He is having great fun making connections of all the things in the world. He is very perceptive and a deep thinker. Sometimes his own chatter distracts him so he practices being quiet. He loves rhyming and thinks of many words that rhyme and almost rhyme. The greatest thing happened in his young life this year besides getting a baby sister is receiving Legos. He loves Legos immensely—even as much as he loves his baby sister, which is saying quite a lot. He loves Zayaa so much that he says he wants to be a dad someday and have ten babies.

I made the mistake of letting Garrett go see a documentary about MotoGP motorcycle racing this year, and he has become completely insufferable. He is convinced that his lawyer gig is only a stepping stone to his true calling riding his motorcycle. He has gone so far as to name his motorcycle Gisele (really), and at the height of exuberance of riding through the beautiful roads of the Columbia Gorge, he imagines himself a professional motorcycle racer and commentates on his performance as an announcer. However those happy moments only last until he remembers that all those banks that loaned us money to go to school now want us to pay it back. So the rest of the time he is happy to be a lawyer and thriving at his profession. He loves to be with his wife and kiddos more than anything.

As for me, I am happily performing my duties as a milk factory. I mentioned that Zayaa is calm, but there is an exception when she is hungry. I think I can remember what it is like to have time to myself, but I am not sure. If I were employed by the household, I would certainly be the employee of the season and receive much overtime pay. My joy and happiness does extend beyond my children and husband but not too much beyond. We all wish you love and peace in the coming year.

Love, Zayaa, Nate, Zach, Garrett, and Bayra

Baby in a jiffy

2011-10-15T13:25:00.000-07:00

Hello loyal readers! G here with a question for you: Have you ever helped deliver a baby right outside on the sidewalk? No? Well, neither have I, but I bet I have come a lot closer than you have. I say this because of an experience I recently had on the evening of September 23rd. As it happened, that evening found me squatting on a sidewalk in front of our local hospital, desperately trying to persuade B that it really would be a lot more convenient if she could just get up off the ground and into the wheelchair that a nurse had been kind enough to bring out. But when I noticed that my rhetorical powers had failed to have the slightest effect, I'm afraid I have to confess that the nurse and I decided to resort to brute force and--waiting first for an opportune moment between contractions--bodily hefted B into the chair and rushed through the front door. And not a moment too soon! We raced into the nearest room with a bed, B managed to crawl up onto it, and within less than a minute our daughter had made her grand entrance to the world amid a flurry of medical personnel running into the room. It turns out there isn't actually an award for fastest delivery of the month, but the doctor said that if there were, B would have had a lock on it.

Well, things calmed down a bit after that, and B and I promptly commenced to burst with pride in our new addition. We and her big brothers are head over heels crazy about her, and we bet that you will be too when you meet her, if these pictures aren't enough to convince you.

Zayaa Genevieve

2011-04-29T18:18:00.000-07:00

Yes, it is true! We are having a girl and her name is going to be Zayaa Genevieve. She is due Sep, 26th, which happens to be Buzz's birthday. I really hope that she doesn't end up coming on that day. I don't want my Buzzly to lose his baby status and lose his birthday on the day she is born. It seems a bit cruel. But if anyone can do that to someone it would be a baby sister.

I was pretty sick the whole first trimester. Now I am just hungry and tired. I do apologize for not telling anyone sooner about our new baby. She is well so far with all the limbs and organs and all. Now we just have to wait.

Love you all!

Merry Christmas to you!

2010-12-23T15:34:00.000-08:00

Dear family and friends,

Welcome to the Garfield Family FIRST ANNUAL Christmas letter event. We hope this letter finds each of you well at the end of the year 2010. As for us, 2010 has been a busy year. After years of living student life, we have moved on to greener pastures. This also can be taken literally since we now live in the Pacific Northwest. I will go as far as to say that this is the prettiest place to live, at least of places not located in Hawai’i. Just to give you some examples: This year, we went to the beach, visited the high desert to go rafting, went to the even higher desert to go dirt-biking, and still plan on going to Mt. Hood to go skiing. The farthest we had to drive to do any of these amazing things was four hours. So we highly encourage you all to visit the Pacific Northwest in the coming year. Please don’t be shy to stop by for refreshments. We will receive you with open arms; especially our two sons (right after they are done being slightly shy at first). Yes, our two sons. They are wonderful children, who immediately turn into tame baby animals and hide behind couches when they meet people they haven’t seen for a while. They truly are remarkably rambunctious and wonderful at the same time. Let me tell you about them.

Zachary turned four a couple of months ago and he goes to pre-preschool. He likes it a lot. He pursued several interests during the year. Some he loves doing like riding his balance bike along lovely lake paths, playing at playgrounds, having play-dates with kids his own age, and going for walks in our neighborhood, but watching dinosaur shows is his favorite thing to do. Some of his activities he tried to tailor to be more to his liking. For instance, he tried swimming while keeping ¾ of his body out of the water. He tried playing soccer using the method of keeping a consistent distance of 15 feet from the ball and he even tried doing it from behind the goal line while watching airplanes going by. He is a lively, lovely little boy, who loves dinosaurs and baby animals.

Nathan turned two in September and is off the charts tall. He is the best eater in our and other people’s houses alike. Whenever he visits babysitters, he leaves them in awe of how much food he can pack down. He is also the most energetic Garfield in this household. He is always going. Actually, he does stop if there are any trains or train related things about. Nate LOVES trains. He loves everything about trains. And please specify a locomotive as locomotive and not just plain old choo-choo-train. It insults his massive train knowledge. He only reads train books, listens to train songs, sings train songs, makes train noises, watches train shows, and his goodnight songs are about trains. He is talking so much, and even though his favorite topic of discussion is trains he has a vast vocabulary for a two year old train loving caveman.

Garrett is happily litigating his little heart out and brings home the bacon. He has a 100% win record in Federal Court. (He won’t tell you that he has only had one argument there.) He has worked enough that he is pretty happy with his billed hours. In his spare moments there is nothing he loves more than to play with his boys. He also managed to fill the gaping void in his soul this summer when he bought a shiny red new motorcycle. As for me, I found suburban life boring at first. I loved our old neighborhood in Chicago and having so many friends all nearby and finding time to do fun things. But I have rectified the situation and found great pals. I started sewing for fun and I enjoy it greatly. I hope that my letter sounded like a travel brochure and I hope it was an interesting one at that! And here we are closer to each other through this letter. What a great medium to keep tabs on old friends and family. God bless each of you in the coming year!

Love, Nate, Zach, Bayra, and Garrett

Family Photo

2010-09-12T23:29:00.000-07:00

So here we are looking at the picture of our lovely family. If I may say so we look pretty dang good considering that it took many tries to get one good photo. Not to mention the mosquitoes that were participating in our photo shoot. Besides it is challenging to command the attention of lively toddlers for such a boring thing as getting pictures taken.

Snooks and Buzz love being brothers. They totally adore each other. Snooks love being the good big boy of the family and instigating his brother for mischievous activities. Buzz is full of energy and he will do anything bro suggested. So when I say Snooks please don't do this or that he will say "Okay mama, I am a good boy." Then as soon as I turn around he will say "Buzzly do it" and Buzz happily obliges his bro's requests.

Snooks is going to turn 4 in a month and he already started pre-preschool. I am doing a preschool co-op with 2 other moms in the ward. So far I really like it and Snookers also like it. I feel like he matured after 2 days of school. He just seems really grown-up. Maybe I am just looking at him differently because he started school. It really is a big deal. He has officially started his formal education just like that. He is a lovely young boy, whom we love so very much!

Buzzly is going to turn 2 in 2 weeks and he growing to be such a big boy. Even though we act like he is a baby he is very much his own man. He is active and lovable. He loves the great outdoors. He is tall and slender and by looking at him you wouldn't know that he is the best eater. His favorite things in the world are trains. He loves playing with them, looking at pictures of them, watching them on TV, hearing their sounds, and viewing them in real life.

We are all looking forward to their birthdays. It is going to be so much fun! What joy it is to be our kids' parents. They are the best kids ever (for the most part).

Fun we had at the reunion

2010-08-12T13:55:00.000-07:00

We had much fun in Park City with our mom's family. They are such wonderful people whom we love to hang out. They play mean (I mean awesome) game of Pit and I found out I am very bad at that game. However, nothing much dampens my spirit and love of playing games so if anyone is playing Pit or any other game be sure to holler at my direction. Snooks liked Park City so much that he still asks if we are going to Park City anytime soon. We went on an awesome bike trip with the family. I had a great time despite a minor wardrobe malfunction. G pulled both the boys so you may have to ask him how much actual fun he had considering that our boys weigh about 70 pounds in total. But since he is such a great sport he didn't seem to mind.

Here is our boys hugging in total harmony, which I don't see often. Mostly Snooks is a bit too liberal and enthusiastic about his hugs that Buzz doesn't always appreciate. Maybe he wouldn't mind it once he is a little bigger in size. Our boys are growing to be big boys. They are also exceptionally good and they are hardly ever up to any antics. We are experiencing full joy of toddler parenting. People say it goes by so fast. I wonder how we can hold on to it. I guess we could keep making more babies. That is a thought for another day!

Here is me having an absolute fun at the resort ride. I went on this with our Aunt Nancy so fast. The trick was we didn't break at all. Really it was truly our of her control since she was just a passenger. That was such a fun day for me. I went on all the rides and G stayed at the hotel with the boys all day long. Oh look at my happy face. Pure enjoyment!

Then one day we went hiking with our dad's brother, who is a lifetime hiker, and other family. One thing I learned that day when someone like uncle Vance says it is a easy hike, it means it may involve scaling against sheer rocks and/or getting lost from your trail that may involve rappelling down aforementioned rocks without any ropes . Since G, Scott and I had enough of the gnats so we descended as soon as we made it to the penultimate pinnacle and thus were spared from the scaling experience. However, I am sad to mention that some others weren't as lucky.

If you can't see, that is a lone male bison. We happened upon it while he was grazing. Then we went passed his den, an area cleared to receive perspective females, which looked pretty cozy. If you want to know we were hiking on Antelope Island in Salt Lake City. We saw a huge herd of bisons and one antelope from a distance. Here is G posing on the mountain on the hike. Here is a synopsis of our fun time at the family reunion, where we always have fun. If you don't believe me, that is too bad! Love you all.

Family Reunion in Park City, UT

2010-07-29T10:58:00.000-07:00

Our Sixth Wedding Anniversary in Sun River, OR

2010-07-29T10:46:00.000-07:00

2010-07-29T10:45:00.001-07:00

2010-07-29T10:44:00.002-07:00

2010-07-29T10:44:00.001-07:00

When Buzzly Turned One

2010-03-03T23:06:00.000-08:00

This is our lovely Buzzly when he turned one year old. He is a very smart little baby. Starting 10 months old he seemed to understand everything surrounding him. He knew where I wear my headband, how to answer and talk on the cellphones, the door daddy comes home to name some. He has very intelligent eyes, which he uses to communicate with less intelligent human beings. He started walking when he was about 11 months old. He took his very first steps in Mongolia at his grandparents home. He loved sharing those precious moments with them. He is very loving and he is a love magnet himself. He was quite the little prince on his visit to Mongolia.

He was 24 pounds and 27 inches tall on his birthday. He is an excellent eater but an un-excellent sleeper. The latter is due to being the second child thus lacking the luxuries of consistent naps. But he does very well in the being pleasant and happy department. He is very curious and an amazing climber. He loves to be outside rain or shine. He also loves to nibble dirt, rocks, mud, tree branches and anything else that would fit in his mouth.

He adores his blankets, especially if it is flannel. He comforts himself by putting his blanket in his mouth. Every once in a while, he will runaway with his big brother's favorite blanket for no reason but to annoy him, which clearly shows his rascalishness. He is a perfect little one year old, who loves music. He likes to sing and dance. He loves music. He loved his music classes in Chicago. He enjoys outdoors in his backyard. He doesn't seem to mind that we moved to a house with a backyard in the Pacific Northwest.

(photos taken by Daniel at Redpearlphotography.com)

We went to Mongolia and lived to tell the tale

2009-09-24T14:11:00.016-07:00

Hello loyal readers! G here to regale you with exciting tales of our wild adventures in Mongolia, from which we have recently returned safely. But to start at the start:

To prepare for his trip, Z started wearing his Mongolian deel around the house before we left. Then he forgot to pack it and wore t-shirts while he was actually in Mongolia.

N limited his preparation to stuffing his face with berries, which he must have somehow intuited would not be readily available on the steppes.

B and I, on the other hand, were both hard at work: I preparing for and taking the bar exam, B packing up and moving the entire house on her own. But needless to say, these burdens were made light to us by the tantalizing prospect of a relaxing, month-long trip to the third world with our two small kiddos in tow. And let me assure you, there is nothing those kids like better than being on airplanes for two days straight! Why, as the end of the intercontinental journey approached they were literally screaming at the top of their lungs, they were so sad to finally leave the wonderful plane behind. But they quickly managed to get over it once we arrived.

I suspect that a primary reason the kids liked Mongolia so much is that they were spoiled beyond their wildest dreams by their grandparents. Bear in mind that this was the first time that B's parents had ever met the boys, and they behaved about as you'd expect doting grandparents to. Of course, this meant that whatever discipline B and I had previously somehow miraculously managed to achieve with the lads went kaput. They picked up remarkably quickly on the fact that they could just get whatever they wanted from their two new favorite people.

Now, the more perspicacious among you are no doubt thinking, "G, if this was the first time the lads met their grandparents, doesn't that also mean that it was the first time for you to meet your in-laws?" And I respond that, yes, indeed it was. Many people asked me beforehand if I were nervous about this first meeting. I guess I was a little, but it went fine, and if seven goat skins are any indication, they liked me well enough. Allow me to explain more precisely what I mean.

B's father wanted to give me a gift, as is customary for fathers-in law to do. B told me that he asked her, "How many goat skins do you think your husband would want? Seven?" Thankfully, I was able to convince him through grunts and gestures that, no really, one goat skin would be sufficient. Even so, I am proud to announce to all and sundry that I am officially a seven goat skin husband, which is something pretty fine, if I may say so.

Here is an interesting fact for all you readers who happen to hail from developed nations: Mongolians are tougher than you. I can say that with complete confidence after an episode depicted in the above picture. In it, I am explaining to Z some of the finer points involved in making a fire for the wood stove in our log cabin. Now, while I do not claim to be some modern Prometheus, I am an Eagle scout, and this was not the first fire I had ever made, if you take my meaning. I'd been at it for a few minutes, and things were coming along all right, in my opinion, when B's little sister walked in, took one look at me and my fire, and laughed right out loud. She shooed me away, demolished my feeble effort and - I am not exaggerating in the slightest - within 30 seconds she had a roaring blaze going. This kind of thing was happening to me all the time. I'm sure that by the end of our trip, I ranked somewhere just behind garden slugs in my elder son's estimation of my capabilities.

We spent most of our time on our trip in Ulan Batar, the capital city of Mongolia, where B's family lives. But we spent a week touring around the country and seeing various sights. Above is a big rock that probably has a proper name but which I call "turtle rock." Here Z had the time of his life riding a camel and we also climbed to the top of the rock.

We visited this very impressive Buddhist temple. I believe the worshipers here belong to the yellow hat sect.

Here we are in the "little" Gobi desert. If you look closely at our minivan, you will see that it is raised up on a sturdy chassis atop some fairly large tires. When we first arrived in the city, where the roads are paved, I saw many vans like this as well as other 4x4 trucks and thought they were a little silly. Then I traveled to the countryside, where not only are the roads not paved, but are often nonexistent, and the scales fell from my eyes. We bumped all around the country in this trusty van, and I soon understood quite clearly that these types of vehicles are necessities rather than fashion statements for people who drive into the country.

This is a picture of a ger (often referred to by westerners as a "yurt," the Russian word for it), which are ubiquitous both in and out of the city. The ger is portable, so families who live in them pack them up when the time comes and move around with their herds and the seasons. While we were driving, we would occasionally stop at a ger and buy airag, which is fermented mare's milk. If you have not been fortunate enough in your life to ever sample fermented mare's milk, let me take this opportunity to offer a candid but fair-minded gastronomic review: It is horrible. I generally found that I could choke down no more than a few swallows before my stomach went into open rebellion against me. Thankfully, B loves the stuff and quaffs it with relish, so I was usually able to slyly swap bowls with her once she was done to avoid offending our hosts. The downside of this tactic is that as soon as someone noticed me sitting there with an empty bowl, they would promptly fill it back up.

This unfortunate fellow was clumsy enough to be caught trying to eat some sheep that belonged to a local farmer. He met a swift demise. I'm not sure what the precise purpose of putting him on display is, but if I were another wolf, I would think twice before messing with this particular farmer's flock.

That same farmer did let me ride his yak, though. Now while it is great fun to ride a yak, they are not exactly sprightly animals. In fact, "lumbering" is the adj. I would apply, and the scenery passes by a little bit slowly from atop a yak.

But we also got to ride Mongolian horses, for an altogether different experience. Once again, despite having earned a Horsemanship merit badge at Camp Baldwin many years ago, my meager skills inspired no small measure of laughter, but I still had a stupendous time. And I might add in my own defense that there are no better horsemen on the face of the earth than the Mongols. I once saw a kid who could not have been older than five riding along bareback at full gallop, then bringing the horse to a screeching halt while simultaneously dismounting, all with a ho-hum expression on his face, as though he did this sort of thing every day. And he probably does.

Speaking of horses, if this isn't the largest equestrian statute you've ever seen, you have seen a very large one indeed. This, of course, is Chingis Khaan, Mongolia's national hero. The level of adulation he still receives in Mongolia even 800 years later is astounding, as this five-story statute attests. He is also an extremely interesting historical figure. I can confidently recommend the book Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, by Jack Weatherford, to those of you who are interested in this remarkable man's achievements and legacy.

Finally, here's a shot of the whole gang in front of the statute. We all had a great time together on our trip to Mongolia. Or at least I think we did. Since I could understand about 1% of everything anyone said to me and speak even less, I spent most of the time smiling and nodding in what I hoped was a comprehending but noncommittal way. I imagine in this way I probably agreed to all sorts of things that I might want to have considered more carefully, but these are the risks we ignorant monolinguals must run in life, I suppose.

Stay tuned for more pictures coming up soon!

Graduated with Honors

2009-07-09T20:25:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to my hard working husband for graduating law school with honors! Wow, it is hard to believe that three years have passed since we pulled into Ramada Inn getting a room for just G and I not to mention being 8 months pregnant. We just knew that this day would come and he did it! He says that the first year was a huge blur. We don't recommend having your first child after two weeks of school in your first year of law school. Unless you are a daredevil or just a bad planner!
But no matter, he did it with two kids!

Garrett has many wonderful qualities that helped him to do well in school. He is a hard worker. Boy! There are so few other qualities that I adore more than pure diligent hard work. He has got it. However, he doubles this quality with smartness. So there you have it a formula for success. I think also sheer determination to do well also adds spice to his diligence. What a great guy my husband is! He loved law school and he is excited to move on to the next phase in life where he gets to use his knowledge!

What impressed me most about his experience in law school was his ability to go beyond his comfort zone and try new things like talk to his fellow complete strangers in his class and make friends. If you know him you probably know that he falls into the shy category of people balancing me on the scale. But when we came to Chicago he decided that he was going to make efforts to be friendly to his classmates. And, he made some of our most dear friends, whose friendships we will treasure forever. Thanks to Garrett we were never sore for company of awesome friends in the friendly game of Settler's of Catan. Thank you our friends for being a great part of our lovely time here in Chicago. In the picture above he is sitting in his cubicle he shared with his friends. Time to bid farewell to the cubicle and hope that it will help bring many awesome friendships!

Also time to bid farewell to the law school and Snooks' favorite water pool. Thanks law school for giving G an awesome experience! Thanks to Hyde Park for being a great playground for Snooks and Buzz. Thanks to Chicago for the wonderful friends we made!

Hello our future beyond school!

Thanks for coming!

2009-07-09T19:33:00.000-07:00

Thanks for coming Genni!

Thanks for coming Granmom and Papa!

Thanks for coming Grandad!

9 months old Buzzo

2009-06-30T09:58:00.001-07:00

Here he is again in all his cuteness! What a splendid site! Buzz is an active little guy at 9 months. He is into everything. The whole world is his and he is there to explore. Well maybe except for the grass that pokes him uncomfortably and a brother that pushes at close distances! Other than that, life is a laboratory for him! He research revealed that all things are edible if not edible definitely tasty and worth sucking on. Latest samples are rocks, wood chips, magnets, papers of all sorts, shoes, stroller wheels, pens, and cell phones. Highly edible items include anything parents give him to eat. He is proven to be the best eater in the house dethroning mom in the family from the food disposal function. So now days we just put the left over food in his tray and it is gone in due time! He truly enjoys eating.

Besides eating he loves to discover every inch of our expanse apartment and much of the blanketed area of the playground. Since he is not fond of crawling in the grass, it leaves him with limited research area. However, he is expanded his territory to cement. He is found it acceptable to crawl even it scratches his lovely legs. He is found out at an early age that no pain and no gain is a proven scientific method.

Buzz is 22 pounds, has 4 teeth, loves to crawl and stands against everything. He is very strong. He is grip will make weak men cry and strong men flinch. His ability to defend himself against his big bro is increasing daily. Now he can make big bro cry by pulling on his lovely long hair. His pop has been complaining that pop's hair thinning out at a rapid pace lately but we have not proven that it is due to Buzz's strong grips.

Buzz loves to dance, smile and laugh uncontrollably when he is having fun with his bro. Some nap times turn into thunderous laughs followed by one crying. He still loves to drool. He makes friends very easily. He is determined and works hard for what he wants. We are very happy to be his family. Drop him a note on the blog. We will be sure to read it to him.

Playgroup faces of Snooks

2009-06-03T10:06:00.000-07:00

Here in our Hyde Park church, we have a playgroup that meet every Tuesday at 10 am rain or shine. Depending on the weather we meet either at the church building or at one of our many playgrounds here in Hyde Park. Snooks has many friends from the group. Sometimes he is friendly and other times not so. But he mostly likes to wander all by himself and play around his own way. One thing he loves to do for sure is to run around. If he sees other kids running around he is right there running with them . He loves to be goofy and silly at play groups.

So these are many faces of Snooks at playgroup.

Conquered the pirate ship face:

Overcame the slide of perilous ups and downs face:

Bet you can't get me face:

It is kind of hard to be a ferocious doggy on the bark face:

And his favorite "Peek-a-boo!"

(Photos taken by Lisa Allen)

More pictures from the playgroup

2009-06-03T10:00:00.000-07:00

Maybe this is why Jacob told me the other day that Snooks was mean.

(Photos taken by Lisa Allen)

30 Monther

2009-05-30T09:50:00.003-07:00

Here at houseogarfields.blogspot.com, we take pride in bringing you the only the best in family photos and news. In that spirit, we proudly present to you these recent pictures of our son Snooks.

Although it was widely believed that Zach had reached peak levels of hyperactivity several months ago, he has defied all predictions and has continued to bring ever greater vim and gusto to activities such as: running away, yelling at the top of his lungs, throwing anything he can get his hands on including his brother, flatly refusing to eat anything remotely good for him, and putting all manner of strange foreign objects into the milk jug, just to name a few...sero;ie#$^grl;k8dfhg95 erg&oi98tu$$%r dlkjdf980...and he also enjoys pounding on the keyboard while someone else is trying to use the computer. Naturally we strenuously object to these sorts of things, with no apparent effect whatsoever. But our child development manual says that he is in a "stage," so we are confident that we will get a little peace back eventually, probably when he moves out to go to college.

Did we mention that Zach enjoys running? Well, he does. He enjoys it a great deal. He especially loves to sneak out the front door into the hallway, where he can charge up and down the length of it to his heart's delight. He thinks that he has perpetrated a great trick on his hapless parents when he manages to get into the hallway, but this makes him start giggling to himself and giggling leads to outright cackling, which generally tips us off that something is going on, along with the thump-thump-thump of little feet outside the door. Sometimes he gets ahold of his stroller, and he pushes that up and down the hallway at breakneck speed. Steering is a bit of a problem though, and he crashes into walls and doors with great reverberating whoomps. Our neighbors have not come over to complain about this behavior, probably because they are too afraid of being mowed down by an out of control stroller to step into the hallway except to make a mad dash for the elevator.

Finally, accounting tells us that we are required for tax purposes to mention the fact that Zach is a very good little boy and that we love him like crazy. Actually, we would mention that anyway, because it's true. We love to have him around and we're grateful that he is a part of our family.

(Photos taken by Danielle at RedPearlPhotography.com)

Buzz seven months

2009-04-28T19:49:00.001-07:00

Here is Nate at seven months old.

As you can see in the picture below, he has grown two little teeth. So far, they have not been very useful given that his diet consists mostly of milk and soft cereal, but Buzz is confident that eventually all the work he put in to growing his new enameled cutlery will pay off handsomely. For the time being, though, he is quite happy to eat bowl after bowl of baby cereal. He is so enthusiastic about it that he sometimes eats four bowls in one sitting. He also enjoys squished-up bananas, and he would do just about anything to get his little hands on a piece of apple to suck on.

Buzz can scoot around on his stomach to get where he wants to go. And where does he want to go? Under the kitchen table, of course! We find him there quite often, although why he enjoys it so much there remains an impenetrable mystery. Maybe he is hoping we will drop a piece of apple for him. Other times he just follows us around wherever we go, dragging himself along as fast as his chubby little limbs can go. All in all, he is getting more and more control over his body. Sometimes he even pulls himself up on a piece of furniture so he can get a better look at what's going on around the house.

Nate has also developed an intense interest in smiling and giggling. He practices daily in hopes of one day moving on to more advanced displays of merriment, such as chortling, chuckling, tittering, guffawing, and cachinnating. He also likes to play with his brother, and the two of them just think the other is the funniest thing he ever saw. The two of them get going, laughing and laughing at each other, and then before you know it, they've gotten bored and moved on to something else. Short attention spans, I suppose.

Finally, Buzz has managed to retain his claim on world's wiggliest person. He just loves to be moving and looking all around. Even when he is supposed to be nursing, he just can't resist twisting all around to see what is going on while still trying to continue sucking away. He gets himself into some fairly ridiculous positions that way, but at least he doesn't miss an instant of the action. Nate is a very nice boy and we are thrilled to have him as part of our family.

This is to Friendship!

2009-04-26T23:57:00.009-07:00

I love friendship. Ever since one of my friends wrote her honest and touching post on friendship http://thewilcoxshow.blogspot.com/2009/02/kindness.html I have been thinking about this very subject. Ever since I came to Chicago, I have found a different take on friendship that I have not given the proper credit that it deserves. It is having a splendid friendship with people who you are casual friends with. You don't have to be the best of best friends with people to have an awesome friendship with. I have come to realize that I have so many awesome casual friends. We don't know each other's deep dreams and desires but that doesn't matter and maybe in some cases best left unknown. However, we share something as special as simple friendship.

Yep, I am talking about those friends who you get to hang out with at early morning exercises, watch your kids last minute, share tips on raising kids, lends you everything from tools to TV shows, hangs out with you at playgroups and playgrounds, shares their kids funny and sad tales and just in general the people who are there for you if you reach out. I love that. It is not only because I am at the receiving end of these simple friendly acts but because it is freely and happily given. So cheers to those awesome friends!

Of course, there are also those friends who actively think about your well-being. You know, like the ones that call you up because they missed you at church, come over with remedies for asthma episode and carrying healthy dose of love and chocolate, call you from Costco when they see something one of your kids likes, leave comments on your every post not because they are related to you but because they really love your kids and you, and call you on the phone when they think about you or email you about the nice thing they thought of saying but didn't think of it earlier. So another cheers to those lifeline friends!

When it comes to friendship, the thought does count but it is better when it is expressed. It doesn't seem to matter that you are both talking about two different subjects maybe sometimes at the same time. But there you are connecting with other people and caring for them and being a bridge-to-sanity for someone else as one of my friends said once. So cheers to doing favors for someone else even if you are asking a favor in return.

BIG CHEERS to a certain best friend who misses church to care for you in sickness, happily takes care of the kids, willingly does your chores, thoughtfully attempts to do the laundry, patiently keeps your company during a dumb movie of your choice, lovingly accompanies you during dull hours of grey days, dutifully goes to school for many years with minimal complaining, puts a happy face and a sunny smile for your enjoyment, purposefully overlooks your minor mishaps, and sincerely supports you in your dreams and goals.

Today I felt very moved by friendship and friends of all types. I guess by writing this I am trying take closer look at my own friendship that I extent to my friends. My dear friends who may or may not read this blog, I like the friendships I have with you. Thank you for being my friend. I love being loved and I think I say that for everyone. It is such a nice feeling to have a friend. I hope I offer some sort of friendship to you that you like. Obviously, we want to be good friends to people but it is just fine to be just a casual friend who shares a moment of friendship with you! So another round of cheers to everyone who are a friend to someone!

P.S. I think the kind nurse at the E.R. was right when he predicted that I won't be sleeping after my tiny treatment for my tiny little asthma episode today. Hence, it is 2 in the morning and I am writing a post on friendship.

Bros

2009-04-15T19:28:00.003-07:00

2009-04-15T19:27:00.002-07:00

2009-04-15T19:25:00.002-07:00

Half a year old!

2009-04-09T15:48:00.002-07:00

Have you seen a nicer baby than our Buzz? Maybe you have. Maybe you are looking at one now. In any case, Buzz is as sweet as nice baby. Since he turned 6 months old he has been sampling life in small dozes. It started with a small piece of peeled apple in his hands. He loved the sweet apple taste in his mouth. He liked the texture of apple in his hands and mouth as well. He went at it with so much ferocity that he made tiny gum dents in the apple. It was not a happy departure as the piece of now dirty apple was taken from him.

About a week before Buzz turned 6 month, he decided that he wanted to experience locomotion. Then he took inventory of his current abilities in the movement department. He can move his hands according to his will. He can turn from his back to his tummy in a split second. Then he realized he is not that great at moving from his front to his back. He wondered whether if that motion was really necessary to move forward and decided that it was not. So he started using his very helpful hands and handy two legs and moved along on his tummy. The result was astonishing he moved at rapid pace to his desired destination. Army crawl is so helpful!

Our apartment is very interesting if you can move about in it and pretty big if you are 6 months old. We find Buzz everywhere like the closet, under the bed, in the kitchen, under the table and everywhere in between. He loves to travel and taste everything. He is the drool king of the Garfields. He is also the smile king, the squeal king and the observer king. He also smells the loveliest of all and showers us with his love. He loves his big bro, pop and mama. He has such a calm nice personality. He likes to socialize. He is always looking for his big bro. He likes to sing as well. When he is very happy, he makes a very long twangy noise like he is singing a song. Maybe he will be a singer!

We waited until his Nonnie come to give him his first baby food. He loved rice cereal. Nonnie had to work pretty hard to keep his strong hand from shoving his spoon down into his throat. He chewed, he tasted and he sucked on his cereal with delight. He is so happy that he is eating some sort of real food. He also tried his luck at some cheerios a while back. He was not exactly sure of what to think of it. Now he just samples it a little and the jury is still out.

Buzz was 16 lbs and 11 ounces on his well baby visit and the doctor thought he needed more food since he dropped 1 and a half curves on his growth chart. So I bought some magic herbs (More Milk Plus) from the Health Food Store and made more milk. A week later he was 17 lbs. And since then he is steadily making progress in the weight department. We are much happier. I almost forgot to let you know that he has a tooth. It came out yesterday morning. Well, I felt it for the first time yesterday morning. Yeah! He is a good baby and we are happy that he is part of our little family!

Our Buzz is 5 months old

2009-03-05T14:17:00.001-08:00

Lovely Buzz turned 5 months old a week ago. He is such a nice boy. He basically takes care of himself as long as we are feeding him, rocking him to sleep and keeping him dry. He loves to smile. About 2 weeks ago he discovered his screeching voice and he loves that voice. He practices screeching just about every day. He truly adores his big brother Snooks and thinks that big bro is the funniest person alive. To his luck that is a mutual feeling that he shares with big bro.

Buzz is a prince of drooling. As a matter of fact it is hard to find pictures that he is not drooling. Pop says that he wouldn't be Buzz if he is not drooling. Just when he was turning 4 months old he had a nasty tummy flu and he lost a bit of weight and it has been a slow go to beef up before he turns mobile. Mama's hard work of feeding him is surely but slowly making him chubbier. He is so cute with a chubby face.

He is always anxious to know what is going on around him so he has learned to rotate around. We often find him moved to another location. He sometimes plants his little toes on the floor and lifts his hips up and moves. It is actually quiet impressive. But he just mostly uses his elbows to rotate. On this very special day he wanted to check his email. Sadly he had no mail but he discovered that pop's desk is a cool place to sit because he could touch the keyboard and love the feeling under his fingers.

He is still sporting some fancy hair. However, it is still thinning. Well, he is a happy and healthy boy at 5 months old and we are very proud of his developmental progress. He makes us all very happy to be around him. Please come and see for yourself!

4 months old Buzz

2009-02-25T18:29:00.001-08:00

Buzzly Wuzzly's 4 month old update. At 4 months he really started becoming much bigger boy. He was so aware of everything around him. He discovered his hands and very much enjoyed stuffing his cute little face with it. He turned into a big drooler. He also discovered his toes and loved them in his mouth. He learned to roll over from his back to his front on the left side. He tries so hard to travel on his belly but to his dismay it is pretty hard to be mobile at 4 months.

Buzz loves taking a bath. He just soaks in the warm water and you can almost hear him sighing "Ahhh!". He just smiles and wiggles contently forever. If he has his way he would just lounge there all day. Well maybe not! Because he loves eating, playing, watching his big brother Snooks, cuddling with his daddy, watching big brother's movies, snuggling with mama, visiting with people, and standing on his feet among many things!

He is also just like many of us. He doesn't like too tight of a hug from certain big brother. He likes his meal on time and diapers changed promptly. He doesn't like to be left alone on the floor without anyone to look at. He likes to be held when he is falling asleep. Actually, he is very easy going!

Here is Buzz sitting in his bumbo and posing for mama. His awesome hair is losing its volume and rubbing off on the back but we are hopeful that it will grow back even fuller and more voluminous! Isn't he just so darling? Well, we think he is so wonderful and we three are very much in love with him. We just stare at him and admire and love him! What else can you do?

Buzz at six weeks

2008-11-19T11:18:00.004-08:00

This is Buzz at six weeks! He is a lovely little fellow with an easy going personality. He is also a pretty big guy too. He was about 10 lbs at 3 weeks and we are imagining him to be about 12 lbs by now. He still eats about every 2 to 2.5 hours. He started sleeping in his big crib however his favorite place to sleep is on his parents. He naps very well. He is very awake and alert in his non-sleeping hours. He loves to look around observe things. He also is a wiggly guy when you are holding him.

He doesn't mind tummy time and works very hard to crawl when I have my hands pushing against his feet. He can crawl like that pretty far. However, it takes lots of effort so he grunts and huffs and puffs as he crawls along. Lately, he started smiling at me whenever he sees me. He has the sweetest smile ever. His little face just lights up like the sun and he looks right at me. Oh, it is so very sweet! He loves his mama and likes to be held a lot. I guess at this age most babies prefer their mama over daddy. They know who has the food storage attached to them.

Now that he is getting bigger we can see him getting fatter. His legs are getting chubbier and he is developing some double chin as well. We have to note here that his mouth area reminds us of uncle Bruce big time. He is very contemplative and serious mostly. In the picture below he is wearing an outfit that used to be daddy's when he was a baby. So it was very special to get pictures taken in it.

We can't love him enough. He is so lovable, huggable, kissable, stare-able, admirable, squeezable, smellable and kissable some more. Big brother Snooks does all of the above about million times a day. Sometimes, he finds that the baby brother is also stepable, pullable, drive your car onable, water pourable, blanket coverable, and lastly very leave him alone in his crib while big brother has mama all to himself-able. We hope that Buzz will overcome all these acts of love and become one little tough cookie. We love him so much. What a joy to have children to adore!

(Photos taken by Danielle at RedPearlPhotography.com)

Our Snooks is 2

2008-11-13T11:50:00.003-08:00

This is our very own Snooks and he is already 2 years old. He is a source of much joy and pride (in a good way). He is many wonderful things including: he is loveable, amiable, smart, funny, silly, friendly, active, adorable, kind and creative.

He loves his parents. When pop comes home at night from his school he is greeted with Snooks running to him with open arms calling out "Daddy, Daddy". He loves to play silly with his pop and I think his most favorite is being a burrito, wrapped in our blanket. He loves pop's office chair and his pens and pencils. He likes the latter mostly to chew off its erasers. It almost seems that he likes anything that is dad's. Pop feels so unforunate that he doesn't get to spend all day with him. However, he puts Snooks to bed just about every night. Pop saus that they have a routine and they follow it every night.

I also get much of his love and admiration by just simply being there with him all day. He gives me occasional kisses and loving hugs throughout the day. When he sees something on my arm or leg that looks like a hurt he kisses me "all better". And the things he notices is amazing I have a tiny little scar about 3 millimeters on my arm and he noticed it the other and kissed it all better. Sometimes he sees me all concentrated on something and he comes over and tries to comfort me thinking that I am sad. However, I am hardly ever sad. Wheh he is bored he brings me my shoes and jacket and urges me to get out of the house. Sometimes he just likes to leave the baby in his crib and leave just the two of us. To accomplish this he goes to the baby crib and points to it and says "Baby" and comes to me and pulls me by the hand and tries to leave the room together with me.

He also loves his brother so much. I wonder how many lucky brothers like Buzz, who gets kissed about million times a day by their brother. He also hugs him all the time and likes to lie down next to him and he giggles and giggles when Buzz's arm, leg, body or hair touches him. He thinks it is so ticklish to be in contact with the brother. He likes to take care of his brother by bringing diapers and disposing of dirty ones. He also tries to feed him his milk and jiuce even though he knows that brother only nurses. Sometimes he doesn't know what to do with all the love he feels for his brother and decides to claw his head, face and arms. Oh well, tough love!

He also loves toys. He loves cars, trucks, books, puzzles and friends. His favorite thing to do lately since the baby brother came along is to watch the movie "Cars". He loves it so much that sometimes he tries to watch it twice in one day. We do try to draw the line at once a day. Lately I have been trying to be a good mother since baby #2 arrived and not leave him time to watch Cars instead we fill the day with other activities. We went 2 days last week without watching Cars. However, he begs for it every morning. Now when he has no time to watch Cars he walks around the house carrying its case and treating it like a book and talks to the cars on it. It is really cute. There are many more cute and awesome things he does. For example last week he pooped on the potty TWICE. What an accomplishment is that!

Lately he learned to say "no" in a new manner. Yesterday, 3 of us were driving to pick up daddy and Buzz was crying pretty hard. Then Snooks held his one hand up in the air and said "Baby! Nnno, Nnnnoo" I guess he had enough of brother crying.

He loves soy milk, juice, his gummy vitamins and pretzels above all things. If he has his way he would live on these things alone. But his pop always says " Man should not live on pretzels alone, son!" He is a master puzzle solver. Well, he has only 2 but he knows them backwards and forwards. Let me tell you that one of the puzzles has no pictures for a clue only the outlines of the cars and he know exactly where each of those 10 cars go. Not to brag but he is so smart. He loves books. We read some of his books so many times that we lost count. What people say about toddlers loving repititions is not a joke. Lastly, he loves his friends. He loves playing with other kids. However, we don't have to mention that sometimes he plays small-time-bully when other kids have what he wants. But like I said let us not mention that.

We are thrilled to be Snooks' parents and and can't seem to get enough of him. We just love him so much. What a blessing to have in our family. As of right now, I can hear him saying "nno, nnoo" in his bed just woken up from his nap. Well, love calls! Gotta go!

(Photos taken by Danielle at RedPearlPhotography. By the way, she is amazing)

Baby Buzz is here!

2008-10-15T21:21:00.010-07:00

Our baby finally arrived on 09/26. He weighed 8 lbs 12 oz. He is simply gorgeous with lush dark hair and an angelic face. Oh, he is a looker! And he is an amazingly great baby. He eats, sleeps and quietly looks around when he is awake. Of course there are moments when he is done being an angel; however, those moments are so rare that we might as well not mention them at all. He looks very much like Snooks when he was a baby but with dark hair and a smaller head.

Snooks is very much in love with his baby. Every morning, the first thing he wants to see is his baby. When he talks to Buzz his voice changes to sweet whisper and it is so cute to watch him interact with his brother. Snooks is such a love bug.

Oh, how lucky am I to have my sons? They are so wonderful. I can't find appropriate words to describe my intense love for them. Pops is also so very in love with them. He is jealous that I get to stay home with them. I fully appreciate his sacrifice to support us.

Pleasant summer

2008-09-10T20:44:00.003-07:00

We had a lovely summer this year at my in-law's haven in the woods. I had such a fine time that I didn't want to blog and hardly checked my email all summer. If you can appreciate that to be a fantastic time we share the same opinion about what a lovely summer is.

Summer really flew by fast. I only cooked 3 times a week sharing the load with my mother-in-law, which was a wonderful thing for both of us. I grew a pretty big baby boy, who is due in about 2 weeks or so. Didn't exercise much but hey can't have everything! Got on my young sisters-in-law's nerves but since they are kind and forgiving they let me be. What a blessing! However, I blame my short patience with people to being pregnant. And I don't even feel bad about it.

Snooks spent some great times with his cousins and enjoyed it tremendously. Obviously, there was some not sharing of toys, food and or attention. But overall, I believe he thoroughly enjoyed being close to his cousins and he will miss them once we go home. Since we are coming back to Portland next fall, I hope that they will pick their friendship right where it was left off and go with it for the rest of their long lives. I am so happy that we are moving back to be close to the family.

Old hubby had an awesome time with his internship and he is glad to have a job when he graduates. He got a new guitar and is super happy about it. We went on a few trips and they were all fun. Well, that is about it for the summer. We had a great time here and thank Heavenly Father for kind parents and fun siblings. Now we are off to Chicago for another year of fun and new baby!

The sun is shining at last!

2008-06-13T21:30:00.007-07:00

Yeah for us
here in Camas, Wa! We were super excited to see the sun this morning. Snooks loved running in the yard chasing after the doggies as he calls them. They are really 2 kittens ( Binkie & Kikie). He loves them. He used to only touch them with the tip of his index finger but today he found new courage to embrace them. I think Binkie actually likes to be carried, touched and petted by him but her brother Kikie is a bit shy. He always runs away from Snooks and he gets to chase after him. he really loves being outside.

However, he does love to run to the street whenever he gets a chance. That is very hard for me to chase after him. Oh well, hard work of mothering one year old. Bye for now! Enjoy your summer days!

Pacific Northwest is cold

2008-06-11T13:35:00.003-07:00

Well, we have been here for almost 2 weeks and saw the sun shining just once in the afternoon for about an hour. So it is super cold here. 60s guys! I packed totally wrong but my mother-in-law says that I packed right but the weather is all wrong. Apparently, it snowed to the east of us in the mountians on Tuesday. 10 inches of fluffy white snow. However, I would rather be cold than blazing hot and humid in Chicago.

Snooks and I got sick with cough ever since we got here. I think we brought it with us since his little friends from back home are all sick as well. But we are feeling better gradually. I went to an urgent care here yesterday and got my asthma episode under control. Thus I can sort of breath now. I love breathing! Well I will let you know when I can really totally breath well. Like I always say: I would rather not be able to breath occasionally than have terminal cancer! I count my blessings!

It is so pretty at my in-law's house. We are surrounded by lush greenery. Everywhere I see I see trees in all their glory. I love it! Add a little sunshine and the surrounding will be positively perfect! Totally pretty here!

Good old hubby started his internship this week and he is loving it. He is going to be an awesome lawyer! He is the awesomest person EVER!!! If you don't know him you should get to know him. Or you can just ask me! He is a gem!

20 weeks ultrasound

2008-05-20T10:10:00.004-07:00

Last Friday, we got our 20 weeks ultrasound and Bumble Bee is healthy and growing properly. Well, his head measures a week bigger than 20 weeks. I guess we are going to have another boy with big head. He now weighs 14 ounces and he likes to have his hands by his face. And he was totally lounging on his back as the technician took his measurements. I think he is as easy going as his brother.

I am getting super excited to have Buzz home. Snooker is going to love him. I just know it. Pop is not as enthusiastic in his predictions. He can see jealousy in the horizon as mom's attention is elsewhere on the baby. But Buzz is going to be such a lovely little thing I think he will love him thoroughly. We have some pictures from the ultrasound but we don't have a scanner so use your imagination and see our cute baby who is mellow as the morning breeze. At least, that is how I want him to be. Mellow and easy going. I love imagining!

Soothing to sleep

2008-05-20T09:59:00.003-07:00

Well, Snooks is into soothing himself to sleep lately. We put him for a nap or a good night and then he talks to himself for 45 minutes to an hour sometimes even longer. He just makes many different voices with different intonations and amuses himself until he gets tired, I guess. He never cries just happy to be in bed but not going to sleep. I guess it is fun for him. Yesterday, he went to nap around 11:30 am and he woke up around 2:45 pm. So I have no idea how many of these hours he actually slept. I have no complaints by the way. This way I enjoy my daily naps and evening time to myself. I just hope that Buzz is as good of a sleeper as his brother.

We are flying to Portland

2008-05-15T11:18:00.002-07:00

Well, we bought our plane tickets today to go to Portland for the summer! It is about $100 cheaper for us to fly than to drive only in the gas department. Then if we drive food and other things will cost us more money. So we are flying. I never thought that gas price will come to this. Our unleaded gas is $4.29 per gallon. We are sad that we won't be able to see some of you for this trip as we planned earlier. But we just can't afford to do it! Sincere apologies!

In regards to flying Southwest doesn't encourage flying after 38 weeks so I am flying on the day that I am 38 weeks! Wish me luck that I won't have our baby on the plane! We are such risk takers! Anyway, we hope all is well with everyone. We love you!

Florida Trip

2008-05-08T11:58:00.007-07:00

Zach and I had a fantastic week in Florida at the hospitality of my good friends Rogers. They are superb people with fun children. Zach enjoyed every moment except for the ones that he had an ear infection. Nevertheless, we love Florida in May. We went to the beach on the east coast and these pictures are the proofs.

Isn't Zach so darling? Thanks for agreeing! He is a love bug!

18 months photos

2008-04-23T18:12:00.003-07:00

A week ago, Snooks and I went to get his 18 months photos taken and it was NOT successful. He didn't want to get his pictures taken. Poor photographer at Target however was gracious and assured me that from now till 3 years old this behavior was not going to change. I wasn't sure if I should take comfort in that or cringe thinking about next year and a half of photos of Snooks not smiling. Anyway, we did get 8 shots taken and I called it quits. It is pretty hard to get his pictures taken when he is attached to my neck permanently with both arms. I have been planning to take photos every 6 months but I might change my tunes now!

Stephen & Lisa's blog is up and running

2008-04-14T19:40:00.002-07:00

Well, as you all know that my in-laws are moving to Guatemala for a year to fully immerse themselves in the culture and in language. They have a blog and I think everyone should live in Antigua with them for a year through their blog. I think it will be very fun. Since Garrett and I can't afford to visit them we are looking forward hearing from them through through this outlet.

http://guatemalagarfields.blogspot.com/

They are leaving on 7/12/08. Have fun reading their blog!

Best cousins ever

2008-04-12T18:12:00.002-07:00

You guys are the best cousins ever. I appreciate the confidence and comments you leave for us. Now I am so encouraged, I will be posting things more often. How wonderful! By the way, we will be driving through Salt Lake area at the beginning of June to go to Portland. Maybe we can all get together for lunch or something. Let me know what you think? But I understand we have many children and it may not be feasible. But it is a thought!

Nickname for Nate

2008-04-12T18:05:00.004-07:00

Well, Garrett has a tradition to give cool nicknames to the kiddos. Zach's NN is Snooker and Snooks for short. We love that name but we had a hard time coming up with a cool NN for Nate. Finally, after vetoing T-Bone, Skip-Bone, Enforcer, and etc I came up with Bumble Bee. He thought that it was not cool name at all. But he wasn't coming up with better options. So, we agreed on Bumble Bee. We will be calling him Buzz for short. So our boys will be Snooks and Buzz. I think BB is an adorable name.

Snooker's new gear

2008-04-07T11:28:00.011-07:00

My parents sent traditional Mongolian outfit for Snooks and he looks so cute in them. I actually think he is cute in everything he wears. He is so handsome.

Snooks loves his hat and doesn't love his boots. Since his clothes are a little too big on him we are going to wait till his second birthday to get his pictures taken in these clothes. I think it will be great!

Here is the info on the new one!

2008-04-07T11:21:00.005-07:00

Yes, we are having another baby BOY! We are super excited. We really wanted a boy so Snookie can have a playmate and I am so excited that they are going to be best friends. Yeah! We are going to name him Nathan Naidan Garfield. The Mongolian name is my grandfather's name. We will call him Nate for short. We are totally happy! He is due 9/27/08. Since Snooksy is a bit on the possessive side we are wondering how he will react to a new baby. He actually really likes other kids so he might think it is pretty cool. At least, I hope so.

I am looking for a good but affordable photographer for my pregnancy pictures for Nate in Portland - Vancouver area. So keep your ears open! Thanks!

2008-02-25T18:59:00.005-08:00

Snooker leading the way for the old timer!

Here is Snooks on a snowy Chicago day! We had a pretty great snow for a while. Anyway, I hope you like this photo!

Totally not attempting!

2008-02-25T18:44:00.002-08:00

Well, I wanted to jump over to blogspot but it failed miserably. Mostly because I got pregnant and I can't run 2 sites. Actually I can't seem to run my household anymore. Oh well, it should pass soon! But let me try again! I need to call Bevany or someone who is into this and have a chat about this. I really see just about everyone here. The problem is I still can't decide whether to drop the MyFamily site and go with this. I just need some push and encouragement! Please help! Love you guys all!

Let's try this out!

2007-11-26T19:33:00.000-08:00

Well, this is our House o' Garfields website's new home. This way there is no need for id and password. I will run both sites simultanously for a while so people can catch on to it. Let's see how it works out. Wish us luck!