Bella, Gabe and Josiah

"Mom, I'm going to help you unload the dishwasher." "Maybe this will be easier." "Nevermind, this is too much work."    All of this is going on while I was trying to make him his lunch. No wonder it takes me so long to get out of the house... And yes, he made it out of the dishwasher just fine. He did bonk his head, but I don't think he even noticed. The kid has a hard head!

I finally got a picture of the new tooth... "Mom. I think these jammies are too big." We took some pictures at church. It's really too bad that he doesn't like hats because he has some super cute ones! Bella has the best shirts to play with!            

Last year, I told God that if He saved Gabe's life, I would tell Gabe's story. Well, when you make a promise like that to God and He keeps up his end of the bargain, you definitely need to follow through.  Every year the church brings up a special speaker for the weekend sometime in February or March. As part of that weekend, different members of the congregation share their testimonies. This year, I will be sharing Gabe's story at 6:30 on Friday night at Chapel. If you are in town, you are welcome to come. Friday night, all of us that are sharing got together to go through what we're going to say. I've been thinking about what to say for a long time, but this was the first time that I'd gone through all of it in front of anyone except for Pat. It was good. Since the whole story is pretty emotional for me, I did a lot of crying, but it was really good. It was good to finally share the whole story in one piece. I'm really glad that I'll have the chance to

My kids are pretty funny. One of them is a little crazy man. He's getting faster and more determined to explore the world. This morning while I was getting ready for work, he managed to spill my coffee all the way down his front. I also had to pull cat food out of his mouth. (To be fair, I was watching him and he stopped before he got to the cat food so I thought he was safe. Nope. He found a runaway piece that I had to rescue out of his mouth...)  The other one put together a report card and a report file for Gabe this evening. It includes all of the things he eats and plays with, as well as his grades. It's hilarious! She even put a list of sponsors in the back. There was also some definite brother/sister bonding this evening. It was pretty sweet.      

This morning Bella and I were working on things in the kitchen when I realized that I hadn't heard Gabe in a while. I stuck my head in the living room and didn't see him. I did, however, see Max sitting on the top of the couch looking behind it. When I looked behind the couch, I saw this: Apparently Max isn't the only one who likes looking out that window... My Dad just happened to come over right. It looks like we have a new welcoming committee. It was a beautiful day, so Gram and I walked to the park with the kids. Gabe had never actually played at a park, so we figured it was about time. He liked the swing. He wasn't quite sure what to do with the slide. Luckily he had a big sister to help him.        

Mom. Are we really still doing these moose pictures? I have so many more exciting things to do. Like eating the blinds! Maybe I'll just wrestle the moose for a bit. Oh look! A train! Maybe I don't want to play with the train.. Wait, where's the train go? I'm way too cool for all of this...                

We have a tooth! It's a top tooth, which my baby book says should come in around 7.5 months. Today Gabe is 14 months old... Well, we all know that Gabe does things on his own timetable... I went in to put his laundry away last night and I found him sleeping like this. How is this comfortable???  

Normally when I go to the grocery store, I put the whole carseat into the cart. It's easier to not have to get him in and out of the carseat, plus he's contained. However, you cannot put a carseat and a box of diapers in the cart at the same time. So yesterday I decided to let him sit in the cart like a big boy. It went really well at first. He was completely overwhelmed and he held on tight and didn't move. However, by the time we were done he looked like this... He really was strapped in! At the next store, things were a bit better. He insisted on eating all of the food. By the end, though, he was completely turned around again. He did keep a death grip on those chocolate chips. He was not happy when I had to pay for them. Luckily the lady gave them right back. He actually snuggled with them all the way home. At least he's got good taste!      

Today Bella and I went on a girls date to the Wearable Art Show. I've only been to it once before (interestingly enough, I went with Crystal and Debra...). I've wanted to go again, I just usually don't find out about it until everyone starts posting pictures about how great it was... It's fun that Bella is old enough to enjoy things like this. That said, I'm glad that a lot of it went over her head...      

I woke up this morning to Gabe playing, which is pretty normal. But this morning, he was not playing in his bed, but in the kitchen with Bella. She'd gotten him up this morning, which is wondeful, and I could hear him jumping in his jumper while she ate breakfast. They played for a half hour while I laid in bed and it was lovely! I only have two questions. First, how come I didn't wake up when he woke up? And second, why wasn't he hungry???

This week I pulled out all of Gabe's 9-months clothes. Seeing as he turned 10 months adjusted this week I really shouldn't complain too much that he's finally wearing 9-month clothes... It also means that he suddenly gets to wear super cute clothes like this: As a side note, it's getting significantly more difficult to take pictures of Gabe because he never wants to hold still... This week has been a bit interesting as three of the four of us ended up with the stomach flu. Even Bella ended up with it, which is rather odd. The kid has an immune system of steel. I'm not sure how many bugs both Pat and I have gotten and she has just skipped. It's crazy! Gabe hasn't dropped to his belly to army crawl for well over a week now. He's now straight crawling and it's adorable. He also sat in his high chair for a half hour this evening chewing on a lemon that I'd juiced and zested. Apparently he's taking after his daddy and his sister on that one. Oh, a

They've changed some of the policies at daycare, which meand that I now get a daily report on my phone about what he's been up to all day. It also means that I get daily pictures like these: Apparently my son is very happy right before he eats... Also, he's a bit of a ham. Yesterday he was crazy hungry. I'm not sure what was going on, but he was sure that he did not have enough food. They gave him his bottle (which was the same size that I make him every day) and when he finished it, he shook the bottle and then got a super sad look on his face. Then he started to cry.  I kindof wish that they'd gotten a picture of the super sad look. He has such a cute sad face!    

We've had a pretty rough week up here. Last Sunday was Matt, the associate pastor, and his families last Sunday here. They've taken a job in Colorado and while we're all excited for this opportunity for them, it's lame that they're leaving. Not only are he and his wife Holly good friends, but Matt has walked our family through a lot. He did Bella's birth mom's funeral. He officiated our wedding. He was the first non-family member to hold Gabe when we got back from the hospital and he baptized him three months later. Apparently our family is not allowed to have any more significant life events now that Matt is leaving. Sunday was a pretty emotional day for all of us. Then on Wednesday, Debra, a lady that I've known for over 20 years, suddenly passed away. Her daughter Crystal and I are good friend and Crystal and I are now family as she married my uncle. Her son Jesse works with Pat and Jesse's wife Julie was our nurse when we had the cerclage surgery

"Why can't I get back here? All the fun stuff is back here, Mom's computer, the cat toys and the cat!" "I know! I'll go this way!" "Almost there..." "Wait. Now that I made it back here, where's the cat go???"