Time with the cousins

Gabe had so much fun with his cousins last week!!! He loves them and loved having time with them, and with other family. We feel so blessed that he has time to see them and do fun stuff with them. Thanks to everyone who made it possible for him to have so much fun! And thanks to Aunt Ashley for thinking to take pictures and send them home with us! It was great for us to get to see the fun he had!

Thanksgiving Point

Part of our little trip up north was to take Gabe to Thanksgiving Point's Farmland. They have animals, exhibits, stuff like that. And we ended it all with a pony ride. Gabe LOVED riding on the horse!

Happy Happy Birthday!

Happy, Happy Birthday Chase dear.

Happy days will come to you all year.

If I had a wish than it would be -

A very happy birthday to you from ME!

We hope that yesterday was a fantastic birthday for you. We love you and are so lucky to have you as a brother, uncle, brother-in-law, and friend. Lots of love!

A little depressing

So today I had a visit to the doctor - just a regular old routine visit. However, as the nurse came in she said, "Wow - you hit 32 weeks today! That's great!" I looked at her like she was nuts.



Wasn't I at 32 weeks last week?!? Wouldn't today officially mark 33 weeks?!?



She checked her chart, and sure enough, I am 32 weeks pregnant as of today. What a bummer. It's like having a birthday and finding out you're a year older than you thought...

Vacation from vacation?

Have you ever felt that after a vacation that you need another vacation to recoup? That is totally how I felt this time around. Last week Cory and I went to Boston on an incentive trip we earned through one of our blind suppliers. I had really been looking forward to the trip before I found out I was pregnant. In fact, Cory didn't really care much about going to Boston, but picked the trip because he knew it was one of the few places in the United States I REALLY wanted to go, but had never visited. (My family went to Boston and the New England area for their first family trip after we got married...without me...I've always been a bit sad that I missed that trip - it really meant I was growing up)

Anyway, after realizing that I would be ENORMOUSLY pregnant at the time of the trip, the novelty of it started to wear off. Everything I researched about our trip pointed to the fact that Boston is a "walking city". Yup - you can get to anything if you walk to it. Between the heat, my back, and the lovely job of swelling that my body does - I was pretty miserable. I felt bad that Cory had to be there with me while I was so crabby. Mostly I was just upset that I couldn't run and run around like I wanted to. I hated having to take breaks, put my feet up, and deal with swollen feet/legs/hands at the end of the day (or all day really).

We did see some great stuff though. The highlight to me was probably a whale watching cruise we took. I had never seen whales in the wild, and it was AMAZING! We took a boat out about 1 hr from Boston, and then watched the whales for about an hour - seeing TONZ! I'll get some pictures up soon. It really made me grateful for the beautiful world Heavenly Father has blessed us with - so awesome to enjoy something new like that!

Gabe had a GREAT time while we were gone. He stayed with his Mullen cousins for a couple of days, and then Grandma and Grandpa came down to pick him, and his cousins - Lexie and Lincoln to come up to Logan to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa for a couple of days. He had so much fun with his cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles. He keeps talking about them with the biggest smiles on his face. He got plenty spoiled with attention, loves, and fun books.

Speaking of Gabe - what a character! He just says and does the funniest things. I can't wait for more of his antics - becuase I'm sure that they'll just keep getting better as he works on putting sentences together.

• Today I was talking to Cory on the phone. Cory was at Walmart and was picking up some stuff. I looked at Gabe and said, "Do you need anything else at Walmart? Can you think of anything you'd need if you went to Walmart to go shopping?" He looks at me with a huge smile on his face and yells out, "MONEY!" So either he wanted Cory to pick him up some money, or knows that we always end up dropping a lot of dough when we hit Wally-world. (speaking of money - Gabe LOVES change. One of his favorite things to do is sit down with a pile of change and his piggy bank to play. He loves the sound it makes when he places money in the bank - he is his father's child...)
• Yesterday he kept telling me that he wanted to wear "alligator shoes". I could not figure out what he meant. Then he went into my closet and bought me out a pair of my "CROCS". They have a little picture of a crocodile on them - but seriously, how can you tell the difference between aligators and crocodiles? I even have a hard time. So I pulled out his pair of crocs we bought him a while back - but they're still too big. He insisted though, and actually figured out how to put them on himself. He was pretty proud of them as he sloshed around the house trying to keep them from falling off.
• Colors. Gabe is really getting a hang of his colors. He goes in phases where he'll point to a color (orange for instance) and know what it is - then a week later if you ask him to point to something ORANGE - he'll look like you're crazy. But for a few days at a time he knows colors really well. The color of the day has been green and brown. Oh, and I asked him to pick up the BLUE crayon and he handed it to me and said, "Wager" (water). So he's catching on! He loves crayons, but more than that he loves to draw with pens. In fact, I can't even take a notebook and pen with me to the grocery store with my list becuase he insists on checking off things on the "wist" with the pen. He loves lined paper and pens. Maybe he'll be a list freak like his mommy. Gotta keep an eye on the little guy!
• On the night we took Gabe to Ashley's house - before we flew out of Salt Lake City on Thursday - he would NOT sleep! He wouldn't go to bed at all. Finally, since Ashley's kids were all asleep we settled him down with us on the airmatress to watch a movie. We don't have Peter Pan yet so I thought that he'd go to sleep. But as soon as it started Gabe yelled, "Pan! Pan!" Then I realized that we'd read Peter Pan books - so he was 'hooked' and had to watch most of the movie before going to bed. (And then later woke up for most of the night...little stinker!) It did make me happy that he's remembering the things we're reading though.
• On our trip up north we took Gabe to Thanksgiving Point in Lehi to go to their petting zoo/barn. He loved seeing the animals. I think his favorite was the Donkey - he thought it was like the donkey from Shrek. He also go to go on a pony ride and loved that. I felt bad that our trip there was probably his "summer vacation" (with the baby coming and all) - but he had a good time. Plus we ended the time by letting him pick out a tractor and dump truck at the gift shop, so what could keep him happier? That kid loves any kind of farm equipment - must get it from Uncle Coby. He loves his "umper" (dumper), "woader" (loader) and the multiple tractors we have running around the house. He is really all boy!

Well I will work on getting some pictures up to share up on the site shortly.

One of the best days ever

Last week we had an evening that I think might go down in my memory as one of the best evenings ever. Seriously - one of those nights that just bring the biggest smile on your face when you think about it.

I don't remember what we had for dinner (definetly not something fancy....), or what I was wearing. However - I will always remember the shrieks of excitment from a little boy who discovered the sprinklers for the first time.

We were watering the front yard and Gabe approached the sprinklers as if he hardly even saw them. He got wet, shrieked with excitment and ran back. Then he did it again and again - getting closer to the actual sprinkler every time. By the end he was drenched head to toe, and loving it. Had it been warmer I think he would have sat on the darn thing. He was so chilly when he finally came back in, but a warm bath warmed him up and he was happy as a clam.

I wish I had my camera with me when he started getting wet - it was precious, but I'm glad he was still interested when I ran into the house to grab my camera. It will go down as one of my favorite mommy moments.

I love seeing Gabe get something new, learning to be spontaneous (something I'm not very good at most of the time), and finding joy in little things. Something we can all learn from! So if it's warm enough where you are - go turn on your sprinkler and enjoy a little run through the chilly water. Look how happy it can make you!

Where's the baby?

Through this pregnancy we've continued to talk to Gabe about "the baby" and how it's in mommy's tummy and how he's going to be a big brother. There are days that I really think that Gabe gets it - and it's so sweet. I love how he'll pat my tummy, talk to my tummy and kiss the baby goodnight. He's really sweet.

But then there are the days (which are frequent) when he's pretty convinced that he also has a baby in his tummy. If we talk about "the baby" he will lift his shirt up, puff out his tummy and say, "baby!" I like to think that maybe he's just being sympathetic to mommy....but more than likely he is just a kid, and doesn't quite get it. Anyway, I had to snap a few pictures of him telling us all about his baby.

(and I'm sad that I didn't take these pictures at a better angle....the arm of the chair is in the way of his cute little belly....)

Mother's Day

I am going to regret posting these pictures....because quite frankly they are some of the worst I've seen of me lately (although I have yet to find a pregnant picture of myself that I'm pleased with...)

Anyway - I was going through my camera this afternoon to clear off pictures on my memory card and make room for new ones. I came across these ones and it made me chuckle a bit (and kind of sad). These pictures are taken on Mother's Day. We were running late for church, everything was hectic, and I knew if I didn't take a few pictures before church, that there would be no way in the world we'd get any taken after. So I wrangled Cory into taking a couple. Mistake.

Now my posterity (and I guess anyone who looks at this blog) will think that I hate mother's day. By the look on my face, and on poor Gabe's face - this is not the greatest holiday, nor do I enjoy it. I feel so bad that these pictures don't even begin to capture my love for motherhood. Instead they scream, "take the darn picture - we're going to be late for church!" Not to mention the glare created by looking right into the sun while we posed.

I hope that there will be better mother's day pictures in the future, ones where the real joy I feel for this calling of being a mom can be captured. Until then, I guess I'll have a somewhat realistic view of how things sometimes are on a hectic Sunday morning.

layouts

I got to scrapbook today! It felt great to play with paper and pictures. I do however wish I had a 12X12 scanner - because these pictures don't really show the layouts the best....but oh well. You get the general idea.

(Edited to add: I'm sure my mom would also want me to point out that her hair doesn't usually look like it does in those pictures. She was on vacation, it was humid, and she had a perm....)

Feeling so blessed

I've been running around yesterday and today to get ready for a Bunco party we're having here tonight - about 15 other couples. I've been racing from one cleaning mess, to another, trying to get treats, prizes and everything together. But just a few minutes ago I just had the thought that, "I AM SO BLESSED!"

The fact that what I've been busy doing is getting ready for friends to come and have a nice night in our home - what a blessing. The things I have been "stressing" over are so silly in comparison to what so many people in the world have to "stress" about. This is a blessing.

I am blessed with an amazing family. Wow are they awesome! Siblings, parents, in-laws, grandparents, cousins, nieces and nephews, I am truly blessed beyond measure. I think I have the best family in the whole world.

And Cory and Gabe - I don't even need to expound on that, since I brag about them almost daily on here - but they are the lights in my life. Gabe's personality has come out more and more everyday. I may just be his mom - but I'm pretty sure he's a genius :).

Speaking of Gabe - today I was resting for a moment inbetween cleaning chores and I laid down and closed my eyes on his floor while he was playing puzzles. He got very concerned and said, "Mom? Eeep? (Sleep) Up! Up! Help!" He didn't want me to sleep - he wanted me to get up, and wanted to help me. I tried ignoring it for a second but then he asked for my hand and said, "Hand? Help." So I handed him my hand and he helped me up. What a cutie. He also was insistent on helping with the household chores today. He was wiping down tables and chairs, vacuuming (and our vacum weighs a ton - so he needed help....needless to say vacumming took about 5 times as long as usual) and trying to help in any way possible. I told him, "Sweetie, I don't need your help with those things today. Today all you have to do is play - aren't you lucky?" But he started pouting and got all upset becuase he wanted to "HELP!" Cory said to him, "Doing chores is way more fun than playing, isn't it?" I guess we do have teaching moments all along the way - even if they do make things take a little longer than normal.

Anyway, I still have some last minute things to get ready around the house...and it might be a good idea if I do something with my hair...but I wanted to just say that I'm grateful for life - all of it!

It's started...

Tonight when Cory came home and I was complaining about all the trouble Gabe got into (within the last 1/2 hour). He looked at Gabe and said, "I think you're too smart for your own good, and being so smart is getting you in trouble!" And ya know what - I agree.

It seems like the more he understands, the more he knows to say and do - the more he gets into trouble. Take TIME OUT for instance:

Time out worked wonderfully for about a month. I would warn him not to do something - and tell him if he did that he would have to go sit on the couch for time out. If he did it again I would place him on the couch, go set the timer for around 2 minutes and he would sit there really feeling bad for what he did. Sometimes he's actually look like he was about to cry. When the timer would go off I would tell him that he needed to say he was sorry - he would give me a hug and kiss - and wouldn't do that thing again. He was really good about it.

Today however - not the case. He figured out that there wasn't anything holding him on the couch other than mom's guilt.

Today he was getting into the dog's water dish. He was throwing all kinds of things in it, splashing in it - making messes over and over again. I put him in time out - he laughed at me before I could even set the timer - jumped off the couch as I turned around, ran over to the water dish and did it again. This went on for quite some time - repeated a couple of times. I was SO frustrated. I said very firmly...(some could consider it yelling), "Gabe - PLEASE stop it now!" He looked at me very seriously and said, "No Mom". (and I was hoping he would get better about putting words into phrases or sentences....I am rethinking that wish)

Then he ran over to one of the drawers in the kitchen and proceeded to throw all of the lids that were in the drawer on the floor.

So he disobeys me, talks back, and creates even more messes....I am hoping and praying this isn't the trend for the next 17 years...

New Favorite!

Here is my new favorite picture of Gabe. He was leaning down towards the camera and it was just too cute. I am so glad he loves having his picture taken!

CHEESE!

I've told how cheesy Gabe can be when the camera comes out. Here are a couple of his latest. He gets this funky smile on his face and squeezes his eyes closed. Sometimes he even squeezes the rest of his body - crouching down. What a funny kid!

Time outside

Tonight we enjoyed some time outside. Gabe LOVES playing outside, and the last couple of days it's been hard to get him to do much else. He loves swinging (as long as mom or dad - or both of us - are swinging next to him), sliding on the slide, pushing his lawn mower around to help mow the "wawn", playing in Grandma Ellis' toy car, or kicking the soccer balls around.

Today we added a new favorite to the list of things Gabe loves to do outside - driving the tractor! Cory rented a little tractor for the day to work on some yard projects and Gabe LOVED it. Cory first asked me to take some pictures of him on it, "to make Coby jealous" (Cory's little brother LOVES tractors - even more than Gabe!). But then Gabe wanted to climb on and wanted me to take his picture. It was hilarious, he was trying to use the levers and switches. He kept saying, "eeach" (which means - I can't reach it!) and trying to get to things. I have a feeling Uncle Coby has passed his love onto his nephew, Gabe seemed like a natural! Gabe loved driving it around with Daddy!

And last, but not least - the dogs. I sure haven't posted much about them have I? The poor dogs took a bit of a back seat since Gabe has been born. They're pretty good about it for the most part. They are taking Gabe's lead and are LOVING the nice weather we've been having. Daisy won't even come inside during the day - just wants to lay around the yard. Speaking of Daisy - she is getting so old! She looks (and even acts) even older than she is. We got her in 2000, so she's almost 7 years old. Anyway, she's been a good dog - I sure love both of our dogs!

(Edited to add: The formatting on this is really screwy, and the pictures and spaces are all over the place. I'm sorry....don't know what the deal is...)

Gabe's weekend with grandparents

Last weekend Gabe got to spend time with Grandma Tammy and Grandpa Kim while Cory and I headed up to Boise. He had so much fun! He fed the ducks (2 times!) helped the boys mow lawns, and went to the hot-springs! He loves the time he gets to spend with his Grandparents and is excited to head up there again at the end of the month when he gets to have a birthday party for his twin cousins!

3 months from today!

Hey - I noticed earlier this evening that I'm due 3 months from today. That's the official due date anyway....

I however would be perfectly happy with an early delivery. Gabe was 8 days early, and I'd totally go for that again! Actually I have a due date picked out that I would love to see....

7/25/07

If you take 2+5 it = 7. So 7 7 7.

I think the #7 i a lucky number, and I also just think that July 25th has a nice ring to it...

So send happy thoughts to us on the 25th that maybe we'll have a super lucky day!

26 weeks

So this is what it looks like to be 26 weeks pregnant. However, from looking at this picture, and then looking down at my belly today - at almost 27 weeks (6 days after this photo) - I feel like there is a HUGE (pun intended) difference. I look roughly like an elephant right now. The last week I have really started to waddle, feel more pregnant and uncomfortable and just feel like I'm growing by the moment.

I think that this little guy has really grown too - he has started kicking me in places he hadn't explored before - getting pretty close to my ribs and stretching out so he's managing to kick (and hit) both sides of my tummy at the same time. He's getting tall it feels like! He has also decided that my bladder can double as a trampoline....I am not quite a fan of this new game.

Oh - and I haven't had any contractions today. YAY! That has been a relief for sure.

some favorites

I was reviewing some pictures this afternoon and I came across one of my very favorite pictures I've taken of Gabe. Artistically it's not a fabulous picture - but as far as sentiment and emotion goes, this one takes the cake! This was from when my mom and I took Gabe to Oregon in March. The Oregon Coast is my mom's favorite place on earth, and she's passed her love of this beautiful place on to her children, and as you can see in this moment - her grandchildren!

Gabe and my mom were watching the waves "CRASH" against the rocks, as well as the seagulls and he was loving every minute of it. I love how he looks at her like, "Yeah, I think it's pretty fantastic too!" Pretty sweet picture....

stuff

1. Well I've officially started having contractions. Seriously though, I don't know if they're REAL contractions or Braxton Hicks. I do know that the few I've had have put me on the couch having lost my breath and needing a glass of water....I don't really remember that happening much with Gabe. It seems that the contractions are associated with working too hard around the house (which really just means normal everyday stuff - laundry, cleaning, nothing heavy) and the fact that I haven't had enough water to drink. So I'm working on taking it slow, and drinking an obscene amount of water. (Which for a pregnant woman means an obscene number of trips to the potty...) Since I'm not even 27 weeks yet it worries me a little. I was about 28 weeks with Gabe when I ended up at the hospital with pre-term labor (due to dehydration) - so we'll hope I can avoid that again. When I was pregnant with him we took care of the problem and got the contractions to stop, and I just had to keep hydrated and take it easy. So I'm following that advice again.
2. Gabe is currently obsessed with the movies CARS. He loves McQueen "Keen", and all the other characters. He'll even sit through most of the movie as often as I'll let him. He has to play with the toy cars, read the books, eat out of his Cars plate/bowl/cup etc. I actually saw some really cute "Lightening McQueen" pajamas this weekend, but decided that I wasn't ready for him insisting to wear the same pair of pj's for the next several months - so I left them at the store.
3. Last weekend we took a quick trip to Boise. Cory had a meeting up there on Friday with one of his window coverings manufactures and so he took me with him. We dropped Gabe off at Grandma and Grandpa Ellis' house on the way, so it was just time for the 2 of us. It was really nice (although a VERY long drive!) We stayed at the Ameritel Hotel - which I would highly recommend to anyone. The company we were up visiting for covered our room, which lucky for us had been upgraded to a king suite. It was super nice - a jacuzzi tub and all. While Cory was at his meeting I read a great book and relaxed - it was heavenly. Then we did a bunch of fun shopping, getting stuff for the baby and for Gabe when the baby comes (new bedding and stuff for his "big boy room", and a double stroller). It was nice. We even found a Cheesecake Factory restaurant in the mall - so those of you who know me well know I was in heaven! We got to spend some time with the family back in Logan Saturday evening and we headed home on Sunday. I was totally exhausted from the drive, but we enjoyed time together.
4. Did you see American Idol last Wednesday? They did a special called "Idol Gives Back". It was SO touching! I cried a good part of the show, having to pause it from time to time to stop sobbing. If you can get ahold of a copy of it - it would be worth watching. It made me grateful for the place I am in in this universe, if not feel a little guilty for all the blessings I have in my life. It made me want to run over to Africa and adopt 100's of children.
5. Yesterday Gabe and I had to go run errands while our carpets were being cleaned (while we were gone our poor dog Daisy got sick all over the floor. The kid who was house sitting for us tried cleaning it all up, but used all the wrong cleaning stuff and pretty much ruined our carpets...so we had an emergency visit by our carpet cleaner to help us out - which he did a pretty good job. Still can see things, but it's mostly clean). Anyway, we were at a local craft store - that Gabe thinks is a balloon store. (I tend to bribe him to be good with a balloon at the end of our trip). Yesterday we were buying some pink girl stuff for a project I'm working on and Gabe kept saying, "GINK" for the color pink. He'd point to other colors every once in a while, and got a lot of them right too - but he was fascinated with the pink stuff I was getting. So when we were leaving he wanted a balloon, and had been really good so I agreed. But he wanted a pink balloon. I knew his dad wouldn't be thrilled if he came home with a pink balloon (his manly-ness on the line I guess.....) so I pulled out 5 different colored balloons to see if maybe he would be intersted in a red, or orange one instead. He looked at me and said, "Gink Ba-woon!" So I told him that would be fine, and told him to pick which one in the pile was pink (hiding it under the other colors) and he picked it right out! He was pretty proud of his purchase. I had to laugh. I could care less if he wanted a pink balloon, and teased Cory about it when we got home.
6. Last night I was exhausted and for some reason I couldn't go to sleep until I scrapbooked. It seems like I've had a lot of ideas buzzing around in my head lately, with no time (or energy) to get them done. I didn't have any particular idea in mind - but I was just really wanting to scrap. So I did a quick digital layout (which looks like all the other digital layouts I've done lately....) Here ya go!