Bella, Gabe and Josiah

Last night Gabe needed a bath. So I filled the tub with water and then got him down from the high chair. He went straight for the bathroom and I followed him. When he got to the tub, he tried pulling himself up on the side of the tub to get in. Since he was only wearing a diaper and doggy slippers, I thought it would be a super cute picture of him, trying to get into the tub, so I pulled out my phone. However, instead of getting stuck on the top of the tub like he usually does, he went all the way over, face first in the water with the little doggy slippers straight up in the air. It still would have made for a cute picture, but I chose instead to rescue him from drowning in the bathtub, take off the diaper and the slippers and let him take a bath. All is well. But that is why Gabe never gets to be alone in a bathroom with a full bathtub...

We went fishing! It was raining a bit, but the water was flat, the wind wasn't blowing and the fish were biting, so it was a great day on the water! Unfortunately Gabe was not so happy to  be wearing a rain jacket and a lifevest... The fish were biting, which made for a fun day on the water. At one point we had fish on three different poles. Most of them were pinks, which we threw back, but we got some coho and we all had fresh salmon for dinner! Poor Gabe refused to sleep on the boat (who doesn't sleep on a boat???), so by the time we got back to the dock he was done. He walked around the dock a bit, but then there was a lot of laying on the dock crying. Once we were finally in the car, he was out. Silly kid. This is why you sleep on the boat!            

Laurie is home!!! Laurie and I were inseparable for years. We were the only two single girls in a group full of married people for a very long time, and we spent a lot of time together. She was the maid of honor at my wedding. When she moved south, I helped her drive all of her stuff, driving through the wilderness for four days. (I wasn't happy about it though, since it meant that she was leaving me...) She and I each other on a level that no one else does and I miss her terribly. This week she is back. She brought Nathan, her new husband. He's never been up here, so we're doing our best to show him everything. I'm hoping that he sees how wonderful it is up here and decides to that they could move back. That's probably a pipe dream, but I'm trying! I'm off work this week since Bella's friend is here, so we have spent the week exploring. Sunday we hiked to the waterfall. Monday we hiked up Perseverance. Yesterday we hiked out to the ice caves. I took Gab...

Yesterday we went whale watching with all of Pat's coworkers. All of the families were invited too, so there were a lot of people on the boat, including a lot of babies (all of which were boys...) It was a potluck too, and my potatoes even won a prize for the best side dish! We saw a pod of orcas, which I've never seen around here. I've seen the occasional lone orca, but humpbacks are way more common. So seeing a pod of orcas was a lot of fun. Two of them played right next to the boat for awhile and even breached a couple of times. I don't have good pictures of the whales, just the kids on the boat. Apparently my priorities have changed...      

Things have been a little crazy around here, so I haven't even posted that Bella got to go camp this week! She's in the same cabin as two of her best friends, so I know that they're having a wonderful time. The two little brothers were not so excited. They wanted to go to camp too. Soon boys. Soon.    

We've had a rough couple of days around here. On Saturday I woke up with mastitis. I did alright Saturday, but by yesterday I was so sick and in so much pain that we went to the ER. I got iv antibiotics and an oral prescription and when I woke up this morning, I was feeling a bit better. I'm certainly not well yet, but I'm not in as much pain and I'm able to function. When the nurse came in to take out my iv, she brought in a machine to take my vitals. She hooked me up to it and turned it on. I looked at the screen and realized that it was the exact same screen that Gabe had in the nicu. It was the screen that I stared at for months, a screen that I haven't seen since we left. It hit me pretty hard and I started to cry. I've been trying to process a lot of stuff since we left, trying to work through all of the emotional damage that the nicu did to me. I thought I was doing pretty well. But apparently I still have a few more triggers... Antibiotics are wonderful ...

Pat rented an excavator today to do some yard work. This was clearly the most wonderful thing that could possibly happen today, because all Gabe wanted to do was watch Daddy. But then, it got even better. He got to drive it! Isn't that every little boy's dream??? Even Bella got in on the action. Our yard looks so much better too. We've still got a ways to go, but Pat got a long ways today. Unfortunately, all of the rain this summer has been making yard work rather complicated...