Bella, Gabe and Josiah

I woke up way too early this morning (at least, way too early for a Saturday...) because apparently I was stressing about all sorts of things and sleep just wasn't going to happen. I think this is the first time that I've been up before Bella on a Saturday ever... Anyway, I decided to bake, so we had Chocolate Chip Muffins for breakfast. Gabe was the first one up and he was pretty upset that I wouldn't let him have one the moment they came out of the oven. Apparently waiting for them to cool is a tough concept. Once they were cool, we decided to have a muffin picnic on the floor. This may not have been the best plan I've ever had... This afternoon I ran some errands while Pat stayed home with the kids. When I got home I discovered that Gabe has learned a new way to get on the couch.      No wonder he can get out of his crib. Seriously, never a dull moment around here...        

Apparently I haven't taken many pictures lately, which means that I don't have very many random updates today. Gabe is learning how to stall. Now when I put him to bed, I get him all settled into bed with all of his stuffed animals. I'm about to leave and he says "Mommy hug." How am I supposed to resist that? Yesterday I told him it was time to get ready for bed and he said "No jammies. Hug bear." Gabe and Toby are getting used to each other. Maybe I should rephrase that. Toby is getting used to Gabe. He's even let Gabe pet him a few times. Unfortunately now Gabe wants to pet him all the time and is having trouble understanding that he shouldn't chase Toby when he runs away. Gabe loves his Gramps. (Gramps is pretty smitten too...) When we pull into their house he yells "Gamps yeah!!! Gamps yeah!!!" When I pick him up from school, he regularly asks to go to Gramps' house with a "Gamps ball." Gramps has a great ball to play

The weather was pretty reasonable this weekend, so we took a trip out to the beach. Bella had homework, so it was just the three of us. I've realized that I don't have many pictures of Pat and Gabe, so I decided to fix that. We had a quick lesson on how to throw rocks into the water.  Of course, then we had trouble convincing Gabe that it was time to stop throwing rocks...   We were actually really impressed with how well Gabe did walking in the rocks. It's a really unstable surface and he did well. He also didn't fall in the water, so I'll consider it a successful trip!

Every day as we drive to school Gabe comes up with a list of songs that he wants me to sing. We always have to sing "Fosty Snowman Happy Song" (Frosty the Snowman), although I usually cut him off at three times. Then he throws out random things and wants me to sing a song about them. That's actually harder than it seems. I feel like I know a lot of songs, but none of them seem to come to mind when someone says "doggy song." After several requests for "horse song" I finally remembered Old MacDonald, so now I sing Old MacDonald while he comes up with random animals. For awhile he was doing a really good job of naming actual farm animals. Today I started wondering what type of farm Old MacDonald actually had. This morning he had a dragon and a hat. This afternoon he had an elephant, a monkey, a plane, a car, Daddy, a hawk and a frog. In other news, his talking is getting out of control. The other day he actually switched his pronouns correctly. I picked h

We got a cat. Let me back up. The mouse problem is still out of control. We've probably trapped about 15, but they just keep coming. Realistically, we think that there's one big smart one who just keeps having babies. The ones we're killing are the babies and the mama mouse is too smart for all of our traps. It's gotten so bad that I was going to ask one of my coworkers if we could borrow her cat. But then I remembered my Aunt Jan.  Aunt Jan is going out of town for two months and is having trouble finding a housesitter who can take care of her cats. So, we offered to cat sit her cat Toby for two months. Toby will then be able to deal our mouse situation and everyone wins! We picked up Toby last night. Bella is thrilled as she hasn't been too happy not having any pets for the last six months. Gabe was thrilled when we opened the cat carrier and now runs around the house yelling "Toby Toby Toby Toby!" Unfortunately, Toby is not nearly as excited about Gabe.

Ever since Gabe was born, people have told me stories of their preemies. Some people's stories include their cousin's friends niece who was born six week early and is now doing great, which, to be honest, isn't particularly helpful. But then there were the moms who came out of the woodwork to tell me about their little tiny babies, moms who had walked exactly where I was. Moms who had looked at little tiny babies, attached to wires and tubes, sleeping in their incubators and wondered how on earth they'd gotten here. Moms who also knew the sheer pain of leaving your baby in the hospital every day for months at a time. Those were the moms that I needed because they understood it. Since Gabe was discharged, I've become that person. I've reached out to ladies that I don't know (but my sister-in-law does) just to say that I understand. I've walked that path and I get it. Six months ago, my brother Matt told me about a friend of his who had a little boy, Henry

My sweet little crazy haired baby got his first haircut today! The curls had gotten a little out of control. They were getting long enough that their weight was starting to pull them. And he would wake up with the craziest hair that he and I would have to fight to comb out.  This is how he woke up every morning... It was time and today was the day. Gabe did great. He wasn't even that wiggly, which is rather shocking for a two-year-old... And it's a super cute haircut, even if it does make him look all grown up...  

Every year, as part of our Christmas traditions, Pat and Bella build our big Lego Santa's House set. Gabe really wants to help because it has lots of super fun little pieces, but he is not actually helpful. This year he and I watched Christmas movies while they worked on it. Even if he couldn't build it, Gabe loved to look at it and in the middle of dinner (since it was in the dining room) would suddenly point and say "Santa house." Well, Christmas is over so over the weekend I took apart Santa's House, along with the rest of the Christmas decorations. Gabe even watched me do the end of it and we may have had a little fun... This morning we were driving to school and Gabe apparently wanted to go on a trip. He kept saying "Mommy aiwplane. Gabey aiwplane." I told him that no, we weren't going on an airplane anytime soon. Then suddenly he started fussing and crying and cried "Santa house!" I didn't even think he'd remembered it, but he

I've realized that I need to take more pictures of Pat and Gabe together. Realistically, all of my pictures are of Gabe. Bella currently won't let me take any pictures of her ever, so my phone (and this blog...) are very Gabe-centric. Anyway, Gabe loves his Daddy. (Actually, the feeling is pretty mutual!) I know that Pat complains that Gabe prefers me, but he definitely loves his Daddy too. It might help that Daddy will let him watch Blippy, which is his absolute favorite. For Christmas, Gabe got a toolbox. So he and Dad had to compare his new toolbox with Daddy's tool box. I can see many tool projects in their future... Today, we went to the pet store, just to look around. Gabe was thrilled! Between the birds and the "fishies" and the dogs, he thought it was wonderful! The other day we were all in the car and Gabe yells "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" Pat says "yes Gabe?" Gabe whispers "Gabage tuck." Then he yells "D

Yesterday was our anniversary. It's been quite the crazy last few years... When Pat and I started dating, he told me that he had a pretty quiet life, without too much drama. Um, I'm pretty sure that he'll never say that again... The last four years have had a lot of craziness. And this last year has been really tough. I would definitely like to not repeat this year. But I couldn't imagine doing life with anyone else. Our lives might be chaos, but it's our chaos and I wouldn't have it any other way.