Bella, Gabe and Josiah

My dear sweet little baby is growing up right before my eyes and I'm not okay with it! At daycare they are ready to move him into the toddler room. It's a month long transition, and it looks like we're going to start that next week. I told them no because my baby is never going to be a toddler and he will stay little forever, but apparently that isn't a good enough reason. I pulled out his 12 month clothes this week and tried putting them on him. They weren't crazy big on him. And today I packed him his lunch for school in an actual lunch box, rather than just throwing his food in the diaper bag. He even carried it into school by himself. My baby is growing up!!! :( How do I stop this???  

Yesterday was one of those horrible days when you want to wake up and find out that the whole thing has been a terrible dream. My dear friend Teresa, my friend since 7th grade and one of my bridesmaids, lost her husband Jason yesterday. He was out sheep hunting and his plane crashed. They'd been married for three months. I don't have any words. I'm not sure how to even respond. But I wish this was all just a terrible nightmare.

Random Gabe news from the last few days... He is growing and changing so much. Every day that little personality comes out more and more! Bella taught Gabe to march. It's adorable! On Saturday I was making dinner, but Gabe was so hungry that he found his diaper bag and dug around until he found a baby food pouch that was in there (for emergencies) and brought it to me.  He's gotten to the point where he understands what we're saying and can follow directions. Yesterday he kept handing me an unopened waterbottle because he wanted a drink. There was a partially drunk one in the kitchen, so I told him to go get that one. He disappeared into the kitchen and came back a few minutes later with the waterbottle. Yesterday he had a little wooden robot with moveable legs that he was playing with. He got it to stand up on one leg and then proudly yelled "TaDa!" He's started dancing! His feet don't move, but he bends his knees and waves his arms and grins. It's pr

We learned something important last night: Gabe does not like the dark. Gabe's nightlight is a giraffe made out of a coconut shell that came from Thailand. It's really cool. Unfortunately, it has a long cord which certain people who shall remain nameless like to pull on. After a few too many times being pulled off the changing table (or being kicked in a moment of diaper changing exuberance) one of the legs has fallen off. We now have a three legged giraffe which is even more unstable. The weight of the cord by itself can be a bit too much to stand up to, although the plug is right above the toy box, so the toy box absorbs the weight of the cord and the giraffe usually survives just fine. Unfortunately yesterday someone knocked over his toybox. I'm not sure when it happened, but I wasn't about to clean up the whole mess at bedtime, so I just left it. This proved to be a mistake. About 3am, Gabe woke up crying, which he never does anymore. I sent Pat in, assuming that Ga

Today was the Beat the Odds Race. It's my favorite race because they give out these really great long sleeve t-shirts. Plus, all the proceeds go to a really great cause. Bella and Gram and I have been doing the race for several years now. Usually I run, while the two of them do the walk. This year they pushed Gabe too. On a running note, I know have definative proof that all of the stroller running is really good for me. I set a PR (personal record) for my 5K, running 9:55/mile, which is crazy fast for me! That stupid stroller really is good for me! After the race, Bella went to my Aunt's house to hang out with the cousins and Pat was doing yard work. He'd rented a skid streer, which Gabe thought was the coolest thing ever. He'd run from one side of the house to the other just to watch Daddy. And really, do you get a better view for lunch??? He's definitely convinced that his Daddy is the coolest ever. On another note, doesn't everyone play with an ear of corn i

Today was Bella's first day of middle school! How has she possibly gotten old enough for 6th grade?? Here is her post-school picture. She had a great first day!    

I took the kids to the library today. Bella found a book and did this: This is the only picture I have of her because she hardly moved... Gabe, on the other hand, found his new happy place. There were books everywhere! We did a bunch of reading. Then he found the computer. They also had toys. And they have great bins to stand in to look out the window. I'm  pretty sure we'll be going back there a lot more...  

Someone told me that once kids start walking, they suddenly start talking. It's like their brains can only handle doing so many things at once and once their brain figures out how to walk, then it's freed up to do other things, like talking. It Gabe's case, that has definitely proven true! He now regularly says "day-due" (thank you) whenever he hands you something. He says "aye" (hi and bye), "doggy", "daddy", "mom", "ah done" (all done), "nonono" (no), "wow" and "uh-oh". If he sees a duck he'll say "kack!" He also has a bunch of words that he'll say every once in awhile, like "go", "goat", and "chees" (cheese). He still babbles constantly, so he clearly has lots to say, but we can't identify most of it yet. I'm sure that will happen before too long... I discovered this evening that he's popped tooth number 7. This might expla

So I wrote this big "running is awesome" post this morning. Then I went on a run tonight and it was terrible. Absolutely terrible! Clearly consistency is my middle name... But Gabe was cranky tonight and it got us both out of the house, so I guess I'll take it.  

I've started running again. My life is better when I run and after a hiatus for over a year, I'm working on getting back into it. At the beginning of the summer, Pat and I started doing a Couch to 5K program. I figured this would be a good way to get back into things. Unfortunately, Pat's knees had issues, so he only made it a week or so before he had to quit. So, I decided to keep going. However, Pat runs faster than I do, but I was in better shape, so I was the one pushing Gabe and we were running in the 9 minute-mile range. I'm generally more of a 11-11:30 minute mile sort of runner. So, I decided to keep up the pace, figuring that it will help me be a faster running. While that all sounds good in theory, running that fast, while pushing a stroller is hard! Many runs I'd come back discouraged because I can't run for 2.5 miles straight at that pace and I'd do a lot of walking. But I'd get further each time, so I know that I am making progress. Plus, it

For the first time this summer, we had a sunny weekend! Our weather has been epicly bad this summer, so rather than doing projects around the house, we had to get out and enjoy it. Friday night we walked down the beach. Gabe got to play in the sand for awhile. Saturday we hiked up to a cabin. We'd never been up to that cabin before and it would be a great place to camp for the weekend, but we just went up and turned around again. We'll try cabin camping again when Gabe is big enough to carry his own pack... When we got home, Gabe decided to paint the flowers, which was very helpful... On Sunday we hiked out to another beach with Gram, Gramps and Hilary. Gabe and Gramps worked on throwing rocks into the water. Gabe tried very hard to get a rock to stay on his head. And Gabe got to figure out how to walk on sand! It was a pretty great weekend in the sun. Hopefully we get at least one more of these!  

Last weekend, my cousin Tim got married. Since I go to all of my cousin's weddings, I couldn't pass this one up either, so Gabe and I flew down. Katilyn and Bryson flew up, and Gram and Gramps flew in also. So not only did we have the fun of the wedding, but the boys got to play together. The last time they were together Bryson was only three months old, so he wasn't really into playing. This time he's 10 months old and they're starting to he able to play together. Here, Gabe is trying to go This Little Piggy. Clearly Bryson is not impressed...   Gabe did get a new kangaroo from Gram that he loved! He still snuggles with it. The wedding was beautiful and I'm excited to have a new cousin. Both boys managed to stay pretty quiet during the ceremony, which was a huge plus! Gabe, still loving his kangaroo. My cousin Stephanie has a bunny. Gabe thought Checkers was wonderful! On Saturday we spread Grandma and Grandpa's ashes. Grandma died in 2003 and Grandpa died