Bella, Gabe and Josiah

Our little Gabe continues to grow and change. It's hard to imagine sometimes that he was the tiny little bundle in the incubator attached to all of those tubes. It seems like he's hit some sort of developmental milestone because we've seen some major changes in the last few days. 1. He suddenly smiles all the time. He had been smiling, but you has to work pretty hard to actually get a smile. Now he's started smiling at pretty much anyone who smiles at him. Yesterday he smiled at my knee. I'm pretty sure my knee wasn't smiling at him... 2. He's started to hold his pacifier in. He doesn't do it very long, but anything at all is better than us having to hold it in all the time... 3. He's discovered that he has toes. He really wants to touch them, but he can't figure out how to make that work, so instead he just stares at them. Actually, he's started looking at a lot of things. Before, he was mostly fascinated by lights and walls. Now he's st

This summer, Bella and I have a plan.  Each week we spend one day working on house projects, one day exploring, one day on baking projects and I go to work one day.  The last day just do whatever.  So far, it's worked out pretty well.  I don't spend every day thinking about projects around the house that we should be doing, but we are slowly getting things done.  Also, we're making it a point to get out and about. This week, we spent Monday putting Gabe's room together.  Yesterday we wandered around Dredge Lake with Gram. Today was baking day, so we decided to make Cream Puffs.  It was going well until we put the dough in the mixer.  As I pulled it out, I saw a spider run out and crawl under it.  Since Bella is afraid of spiders, I didn't say anything.  However, then I pulled out the beaters and discovered that there was an egg sac attached to one of the beaters.  Apparently the spider had been living in my mixer. Needless to say, I had to wash the mixer and k

It's been an exciting couple of weeks around here. Last week we were on vacation and this week my entire family was here. My brother Nathan and his wife Cassie were here for a wedding and my sister Katilyn came up to visit just for the fun of it. They were all here for Gabe's baptism, which was really nice. On Monday we were all eating lunch at my parents when my brother Matt showed up. Mom and Nathan knew that he was coming, but the rest of us got to be surprised. It was a lot of fun to have all of my siblings together again. We aren't all together very often, mostly due to the fact that we live in four different states, so it was good to be together. In fact, on Tuesday, Pat had to work and Cassie was with her family, so it was just the original 6 of us (well, 8 once you add Bella and Gabe). I'm not sure when the last time was that that happened... Oh, and it the midst of the crazy week, Gabe decided to roll over. It was acomplete accident and really only happened bec

I took Gabe to the doctor this morning and he weighs 11lbs 4oz! That means 2oz more and he'll be up 10lbs from his birthweight! He's also 21 3/4in long. Seeing as he started out at 11 3/4in long, he's nearly doubled his length. No wonder he seems like he's getting so big!

Since we were out of town last week, we had to take Gabe's two month picture today. He's getting so big! Clearly, the moose is his favorite person ever... He's all dressed up fancy today because he got baptized at church this morning. My aunt took pictures for us, but I don't have then right now, so I can't post any.  A few short months ago I didn't know if my son would survived, but today we got to baptize him and welcome him to the family of God. It was a really special time.

Last night we got back from a week long vacation in Oregon. It was a pretty short trip, but it was what we needed. We got to see lots of friends and family, but we also got to spend time together, just the four of us. First we visited my grandparents, Gram and Gramps. Gabe took a nap on Gram's chest and sang him songs that I remember her singing me when I was a little kid. I have a picture from when I was a baby and it has Dad, Gramps, Great Granddad and I all sitting on a couch. I think that I should stick it next to this one. We're just missing Dad. We met up with Uncle Matt for a day and went to OMSI. Bella really likes science, so she really enjoyed it. We also hiked up Multnomah Falls. It was a lovely hike up, but them it started raining right at the top, which made for a very wet trip down... The highlight of the trip was Liz and Clay's wedding. It was fun to get to watch such a dear friend get married, plus, it meant that we got to spend lots of time with my college

Yesterday the kids and I, along with two of Bella's friends, explored Treadwell, the old mining ruins just outside of town. We explored old buildings and got to play at the beach. It was a lot of fun!

Happy 6 Month Birthday Little Man! You've come a long ways and I'm so glad that you're here!

As of today, our sweet little man has been home as long as he was in the hospital. Starting tomorrow, the majority of his life will be home with us. Soon those long months in the nicu will be a distant memory.

Gabe is doing so well. He's interacting more often, watching what is going on around him. He really likes his mobile and follows it with his eyes, perfectly happy. Well, he's happy until it stops. Then he squalks until someone turns it back on for him... He's trying to imitate us as well. The other day he was in the bathtub and Daddy splashed him a bit. He tried to imitate it and discovered that he really liked splashing. In fact, he kicked his feet and waved his arms and splashed for a very long time, with a grin on his face. It made quite a mess in the bathroom and was totally worth it. It was hilarious! Overall, he's turning into a baby rather than a sqishy-faced newborn. I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be happy or sad... Here are a few pictures from the ladt few days.

Two exciting things happened today. First, Bella got a good picture of Gabe smiling. He's starting to interact with us a bit and smiling, particularly when you make funny noises, is his newest trick. Secondly, Pat and I got to go out on a date! We left the kids with my mom and had a lovely dinner just the two of us!

Someone came to work with me today! He was very focused!

Bella adores her little brother. Today was the first day home for summer break, so she spent the morning entertaining Gabe by decorating his bassinet and reading him stories. (Don't worry, I undecorated it before I let him sleep in it...) Then this afternoon she created an entire curriculum for Baby School, including spelling words, an alphabet and instructions on how to count to 20 (since he's little). She holds him when he cries and if I ask if she wants help, she tells me that she's fine and keeps trying to quiet him down. It's pretty adorable. Plus, it's really handy to have her around to help...