How do nicknames like "Bup" start? Who knows. It just seems like he bups along, happy and laughing.
Nox we don't use much, but I called him that after he was born on the Spring Equi(nox). Little Vampire? He gets that at 1 a.m. from sleepless mom after he plays for two solid hours in the middle of the night. In the dark. By himself. His teeth are coming in, we are checking for fangs.
As for "thelittleguy," that's no mystery, he's a little guy. But we say it so often it sort of runs together into a name of its own.
Soon enough, though, he'll be Little Houdini, Chatterbox or some such, as the crawling and talking phases are coming on strong.
It's been a great summer. Savvy and I have both been working very hard, but we did take some breaks, including an overnight stay near Government Camp in a cozy creekside cabin and numerous walks to parks around Portland. We did a longer hike up to Mirror Lake and even got lost - for about 15 minutes.
We hope you have had a good summer as well. Here are the latest photos! Just click to see them super-sized or to print one up.
This image was on Liam's baptism announcement. The "big dip" went well. We have no photos of the event, just video (shot by Angela), and, uh, even we have not seen it yet. But I will post it to YouTube this weekend.
Guess who's turning 3? Ella is a great dog - the best. Liam pulls out handfulls of her hair, pokes her in the eye and yanks on her tail. She doesn't move a muscle in anger. He favorite spot during the day is anywhere close to Liam. Here she is relaxing in the car after our Mirror Lake hike. That's a happy dog.
Liam sits up now. We have to get him there, and he still topples over, but less each day. Here he is exploring the field at Rose City Park.
That boy has a way with the girls - already! While playing in the park, a gaggle of kids from a birthday party happened by. This girl, Ariel, was instantly smitten. She just had to hold him.
It's a Liam attack! Actually, this behavior is called "birding" or "flying," and is a prelude to crawling, except all the landing gear is up. It's still pretty funny to see.
Liam cried for his first home bath (captured on video). I think that was the last time, though (for the crying, not the bathing). This kid loves to get in the tub with mom or dad and kick, splash and laugh.
Uh oh, you know what's coming when all the gear is down. At this point he's frozen in place. Not for long, I'm sure.
This one of my favorite photos so far. He looks ready to pounce!
This was taken during the sequence I shot for his baptism card. It was not what I had in mind for the card (the one I used was), but this was an unexpected treasure from that photo session, which took 5 minutes at most. Be sure to take lots of photos of your kids. It's important.
Here's our little hiker on the trail in Mt. Hood wilderness in August, actually on the Pacific Crest Trail, which stretches from Canada to Mexico. We took a lunch break and during that time a guy came by who was doing the whole trail. Nice guy, too. He was 62 and had been on the trail since April. Now that's impressive.
Back at the park, sittin' in the grass. Man, these summer days go by so fast.
Here we are at Mirror Lake near Mt. Hood. Liam is getting some hands-on with the local timber. Gotta have a hat or the sun at that altitude (4,000 feet) with burn baby skin in just a few minutes.
Our friends have a house with a big pool and threw a swell party. Liam loves the water. Swim lessons will come early.
Back out on the Pacific Crest Trail with Savvy and Ella. Savannah and Liam are traveling to Texas and Florida soon to visit Savannah's family and take a much needed vacation. Bill will be stuck all alone at home to work and be lonely. Gotta go, I think the beer truck just pulled up....
See you again soon!
