A night at home with Daddy

**WARNING: Long post. Make Coffee.**

About two weeks ago we had a heat wave in Bellingham.  We really do like the heat but Liam had a hard time getting to sleep, especially the first really hot night. I left for Bible study about 6:00 PM, which is a half an hour before Liam's bedtime. The usual program is as follows: 6:00 PM bath, 6:15 PM bottle, 6:30 PM bed time, and Liam usually falls asleep within about 5 minutes. So, lucky Edwin would have the whole evening to himself at home. Unfortunately for Edwin that is not what happened! This video starts over an hour after Edwin put Liam down for the night. Turns out he fell asleep about 15 minutes before I got home from my evening out. This is what an evening at home without Mommy looks like...

For all of you who are now concerned about our parenting skills, that was the first time Liam was able to reach the curtain and it has now been taken down!

And because I have not had much time to blog lately I am going to cram some other stuff into this post.
The heat wave lasted about 10 days and Liam adjusted pretty well. He spent A LOT of time in nothing but a diaper, which I loved. He is just so stinkin' cute!

Wednesday of the heat wave was the hottest day ever recorded in Bellingham history! It was 96 degrees here (I know that's nothing for many of you, but it's a big deal for Bellingham!) and people were melting. Lucky for us we had already planned on spending the day at the lake. Edwin's cousin, Darlene, and her family were passing through town for a few days to visit us and an old roommate of hers (who also happens to be a friend of ours) and the Chamberlin family graciously opened up their home and beach. I can't think of a better place to play in the heat!  

And here is a short little video of the battle of wills during bath time. 

Clowning Around

This kid is really funny.

And for those of you (Papa) who really like the toy bin video from the last post, I just found this one as I was downloading pictures from my camera. Oh how he loves his toy bin.

The latest video

Here is some of the video we have taken lately. The first one is Liam playing in his favorite spot. The second one has a few clips from our time in Chelan with Mark, Renee, Merritt and for those of you who don't know Merritt's new sibling due December 27th! You'll notice we think our kids are quite exciting even when they are just sitting on the floor playing with toys. I mean, what could more fun to watch than that, right?

Bad Blogger!

I have been a horrible blogger this last month! I guess we have just been busy and I kept meaning to download our videos to the computer and haven't had a chance. So I decided that a blog without video is better than no blog at all.

Liam is growing up so fast. He is really on the move now. He can crawl anywhere and crawl quickly. He also started pulling himself up to standing, so we are making a lot of changes around home.  I'll always remember the day that I walked into his room to get him from a nap and he was standing there looking at me, so proud of himself. I'll also remember the next day when he stood up and grabbed onto his mobile and couldn't get himself down. I walked in to find him swinging from the mobile like an ape. The good thing is that he already understands what "no touch" means and is so far pretty good about obeying. We'll see how long that lasts! He has six teeth now, two on the bottom and four growing in at different rates on the top front. It looks a little interesting right now, but he is still super cute!

We went to Lake Chelan at the end of June with our friends, Mark and Renee and their son Merritt. We had a great time and most important to me we got to see the sun! We ate a ton of food, went for walks, played cards, jet skied (the guys did anyway), and swam in the pool. Liam still loves water and had a great time in the pool. Here are some pictures of our trip...

Liam's first taste of waffle. He loved it!

Toy thieving. A common occurrence with these two.

I love this picture because my dad has been making that exact same face for as long as I can remember and Liam looks just like him!

Edwin walking with both the boys.

Hopefully I will get some video on here soon. Stay tuned!

Breaking News!

It's official, last Friday Liam started to crawl! I can't believe it. We were just sitting the living room watching him, as per the usual, and he started crawling.  He looks a little bit like Bambi starting to walk right now, but he is progressing quickly.  So that's it. I can no longer put him down and know that he will be there when I get back. We are on the move and life is kicking into high gear fast. I don't feel ready for it, but I guess I don't have a choice! In went the gate at the top of the stairs, all the outlet covers, everything. As I am sitting here typing he has crawled over to me and started pulling my computer chord, eating my computer case. Nothing is safe from here on out! Here is a little video of his progression over the last few days.

And for those of you who haven't seen him in a while I put together another little video of some takes we have gotten of him in the last month. We had really slowed down on video for awhile, but here is what we have!

And here are a front and back shot of our not so little baby. He is wearing his Huehue soccer team uniform in the first one (Daddy's favorite), and not much in the second one.

Daddy's Little Girl

I think from the moment I was born I have been Daddy's little girl. I don't know exactly why, but I have some ideas. I know not all girls have this privilege and that there are many who don't want it, but it is something that I have always treasured. I will always be my Daddy's little girl, no matter how old I get. And I know he will see me that way no matter what I do. It is a special gift, the relationship between my dad and I, and I will be forever grateful that it was given to me.

Dad, thank you. Thank you for loving me so fiercely. Thank you for protecting me so completely. Thank you for believing in me beyond reason. Thank you for supporting me unconditionally. You have been a solid foundation for me to grow on. You have challenged me to always reach for more than I think I can. Thank you for always putting family first, no matter what, and teaching me to do the same. Thank you for all of the humor you have poured into my life. Thank you for being a man who is loyal, serving, and generous to those he loves. Thank you that you are a safe place for me, that I know I can count on you no matter the circumstance. Thank you for giving me the best of everything you have even when you have to sacrifice much to do it. Thank you for working so hard, with such integrity, for so many years, so that I could be comfortable, even when I was ungrateful.

Thank you, Dad, for sitting through every one of my sporting events, no matter how boring, no matter the weather, no matter where or when it was. And for cheering me on and encouraging me whatever my performance. Thank you for indulging my dreams and picking me up when they let me down. Thank you for pushing me and disciplining me. Thank you for always making time to play with me. Thank you for loving my Mom so well. Thank you for loving my husband, and now my son, with the same intensity that you love me. 

I could go on and on about you Dad (don't pretend like you don't want me to!). But, I don't think that words can do justice to the connection that we share. It is different, special, remarkable. I need you, Dad. I always have and I always will. I am your clone in so many ways that I need you to help me understand me. I love you with all of my heart and then some. 

Happy Father's Day from your one and only little girl,

Das

This may seem like a funny picture to choose, but I love it! It makes me think of all the fun that I had with my dad growing up and I know that Liam will have similar stories with his grandpa.

Beautiful June

June has been beautiful this year.  We usually se a lot of rain in June, but this year has been sunny and warm. It is so nice to see all of the flower in full bloom with the sun out. We have kept busy and so has Liam. He changes every minute! It seems like it is going so fast.

Liam started sleeping on his knees some of the time. It looks so uncomfortable to me, but he seems to love it because I find him like that about every other night. Daddy used to sleep like this too!

Nina went out today and bought flowers for the barn. We are trying to make it look a little more welcoming and cheerful, which is hard to do with a metal pole building.

Liam loves to be outside. And we have a lot of outside to play in at our house. He loves to go for walks in the field and is totally happy sitting in a patch of flowers and weeds. But he is hard to photograph because he is always scrunching up his face and breathing like a charging bull through his nose!

Liam is definitely going to enjoy water sports. We have a little pool that we set up on the deck and he loves to be in it. We have also hit a few pool parties. Some of the babies are not so sure about the water, but Liam just leans over, sticks his face in it and laps it like a dog!

Liam started clapping in the airport in Spokane and now claps all of the time. The only time he isn't clapping is when we tell him to clap!