Rochelle and BJ

December 2011

2012-01-21T17:17:00.002-07:00

Early(ish) December:

Ward Christmas Party Decorations:

Taylor Family Christmas Party

There were hundreds more pictures from the Arave Family Sing-Along and from Christmas morning, but I have shared those elsewhere. If you are interested in those pix and you didn't get them from the Christensen family blog or email, let me know and I can share them with you.

December Rundown:
We had lots of fun this Christmas! I was a busy bee making Christmas gifts, which was something that really helped me get into the spirit of Christmas. Our ward Christmas party was at the beginning of the month, and my friend and I were put in charge of the decorations. We had a very small budget and very big ideas, and we were able to pull it off pretty well I thought by using things we already had, borrowing where necessary, and in general spending very little. Another friend and I planned a Christmas playgroup for our neighborhood and we did some fun ornament crafts, which turned out to be a big hit with the kids. BJ and I went to a free dance at the senior center featuring a live big band. That was fun. We had a fun Christmas party at the Taylor's house, complete with nativity and musical program, and of course, the present exchange at the end. A couple of days before Christmas, we flew to Oregon, and arrived just in time for the Arave Sing-Along, a 20 year tradition! BJ and I sang a spoof on Baby, It's Cold Outside, which we sang as newlyweds 7 years ago, but this was the "7-year sequel". It was funny. Gabe sang "Silent Night" and did an awesome job enunciating and singing with a big voice. Not shy at all, even in front of dozens of people he didn't know. It was so cute. We celebrated Marissa's birthday the next day by eating at Macaroni Grill and seeing "We Bought a Zoo" in the theater. It was fun, but the kids didn't like the movie much. On Christmas, we went to church in the morning, then came home and took pictures all dressed up, then we got back in our jammies and opened presents. We like to drag it out for hours by only letting one person at a time open a present, and rotating who's turn it is by age. Haha! Tradition... The rest of Christmas break was spent visiting family, shopping, getting to know the significant others of Tayler and Cara (Heather and Dan), watching movies, doing a few crafts, and being sick. Bleh. Also, BJ and I took a vacation from our vacation (thanks Mom and everyone who helped watch the boys while we were gone!)- a one night stay at a bed and breakfast nearby. It was a restored 100 year old mansion- and it was lovely! We would definitely recommend it. We were the only ones there that night, and the lady let us wander around and check out the other rooms. We had dinner at a place called Dundee Bistro and I had the best pulled pork sandwich of my life. I usually don't get that excited about food, but it was amazing and journal-worthy. I need to go back next time we are in Oregon just so I can have that sandwich again. Haha. We made delicious fondue on New Year's Eve and stuffed ourselves silly. We flew back home on New Year's Day, and were surprised with a washed and vacuumed out car (thanks, Mom and Dad T., for that surprise and for picking us up)! We got in so late and were so hungry, that we ate and then went to bed at their house. Fortunately the next day was still a holiday so we had some time to unpack and rest etc. It was also about 55 degrees outside- can you believe it?!, so we had some fun with the kids at the park before going home.

November Pictures

2011-11-30T23:07:00.000-07:00

November was a busy but fun month... we celebrated Cara's birthday, planned and/ or attended several really fun playgroups, spent lots of time getting ready for Christmas (making gifts, helping to plan the ward Christmas party which I was in charge of decorations for), and had a wonderful Thanksgiving with BJ's family.

Funny Gabe Stuff

2011-11-15T14:43:00.001-07:00

Gabe needs a haircut right now, which has reminded me of the last time I gave him a haircut. Now, if you know much about Gabe's haircut history, you might remember that every time we've tried to cut his hair for the past year (at least) he has thrown a royal fit- the worst he can do, with crying, screaming, thrashing, scratching himself in the face, begging, turning red, etc. No bribes would work- no treats, no movies, no toys, no promises of any kind. He would hold still long enough for me to cut a huge chunk of hair off, then throw his fit, so there was no going back, and BJ would have to hold him while I quickly buzzed his head. Sad for all of us. He was scared of the scissors, scared of the buzzer, and he absolutely hated having the hair fall on him, which made him itchy.
So, back to the story... last time I had to cut his hair, I had an idea. It was 7pm, close to Gabe's bed time. I said, "Gabe, do you want to go to bed now? Or do you want a haircut?" Gabe looked at me, puzzled, and very slowly, said "Uh.... haircut?" I thought maybe it was just him talking to get out of going to bed, but I went ahead and got all the stuff out, and told him that we would blow all the itchy hair off, and I would let him take a bath right after, and he could call Grandpa C on the phone afterwards (Grandpa had just called while we were talking about this, so I thought it might be good motivation for Gabe to follow up with him and be able to tell him he was a big boy and got a haircut). So, I let Gabe stand up on the stool in front of the bathroom sink, and had him lean his head over so most of the hair would fall in the sink and not on him, and we talked about what a big boy he was, and he actually let me cut his hair with scissors! Any time some hair got on him, I made a big deal of brushing it off and saying "Get that itchy hair off! Go away itchy hair! Bye bye!" He didn't scream or cry once. He was very cooperative, and so proud of himself once he was done. He even let me touch his hair up around his ears the next day. It just cracks me up that he was motivated enough to stay up later that he let me cut his hair. I'm going to try it again this week.

One more funny story... Gabe is finally to the point where he is doing great at being potty trained. He still has the occasional accident, because he isn't very good yet of being super aware while he plays etc. but as long as I remind him a few times a day, he stays clean and dry. He has even stayed dry during nap time recently. He has earned lots of treats for staying completely clean and dry all day (one treat per day at this point). A while back while we were working with him on only pooping in the toilet and not in his pull-up, he was sitting on the potty and had just gone. Tayler and his friend were visiting and were sitting in the front room. Gabe was very proud of himself and loudly declared "Poop is awesome!" which was followed by snickers from the front room. Haha. I think our teaching that poop is nasty in underpants and on the floor, but it's awesome to use the toilet must have sunk in, at least partly. :P

October pictures

2011-10-31T22:44:00.000-07:00

I don't know how I'll ever catch up, but I'm scolding myself for not doing a good job of documenting our family growing up these last few months. Things change everyday, and I know I am already forgetting things. It's January 2012, but by golly I'm going to post these pictures and updates in order starting with October 2011.

Here are a few of the things we did in October that I haven't already posted.

Family Pictures Fall 2011

2011-10-30T21:19:00.002-07:00

Last Sunday we had BJ's dad take some pictures of our family, and we got some good ones before the boys had completely had it. My favorite one is the new picture on the top of our blog. What you don't see is all the shenannigans we had to go through between every picture- all the silly faces, noises, rock throwing, nose wiping, tickling, etc. to get the boys to hold semi- still and smile. Ha. They were happy as they walked down the path, although Gabe tended to want to drag Luke faster than he could really walk. They're just too stinkin' cute. I love those kids.

October 2011

2011-10-22T15:04:00.000-07:00

I haven't written in months, and I'm not even going to try to recap what has happened right now, but I need to record some things about the kids so we can remember all the funny things they do in the future.

Gabe
3 years & almost 4 months

I asked him what his favorite foods were last week, and here is his answer: "Cupcakes, fruit loops, chocolate, cheese sticks." Funny, we don't give him much of that stuff... at least he listed one semi-healthy thing. He actually eats pretty much everything we give him, as long as it is room temp and not spicy.

Takes one nap, in the afternoon. Learned how to pedal his tricycle this summer, and can mostly keep up with us when we go for a walk. Loves to collect sticks on our walks. Loves to go on walks and visit his friends Kimberlee and Ethan. He's very friendly with all kids, although if it came to sharing his Thomas train, that would probably be a no-go.

Says "okie-dokie-a-chokie". Has been calling me his "baby mommy" and "little mommy". Regularly says stuff like "What are you doing, Mommy?" Oh! Uhhhh... dat's cool, Mom." Gabe knows mouth, nose, eyes, head, hair, ears, hands, tummy, and fingers in Spanish (our neighbor came over and did Spanish lessons for a while during the summer). He also knows a few animals and random other stuff.

Gabe's teachers at daycare (he goes just a couple of hours each week) are always impressed at how smart he is. He knows all his shapes, colors, counts to 20 sometimes, can accurately count objects (less than about 8), knows his ABCs, can identify all of them and most of their sounds, and knows tons of songs.

Sings Thomas the Tank Engine songs and always requests them at bedtime. Actually sings a lot of songs, all day long. Loves Thomas shows, Dora, Caillou, Blue's Clues, and even "the purple dinosaur". Yes, I let my children watch shows (on Netflix).
95% potty trained during the day, nighttime and naptime are another story.
One day at naptime I gave him his Thomas the Tank engine train and he said "Thomas is my best friend!" Another day we had played and I gave him lots of hugs and kisses at naptime and he said "Mommy, you are my best friend!" Melted my heart.

Naughty stuff: Gabe recently dumped a whole roll of TP in the toilet. A few days later, he unrolled a whole roll all over the floor. Not to much later, he pulled out every wet wipe from the wipes box. He sometimes likes to chew on the wipes. (yuck) He and Luke are partners in crime and they like to shred wipes, TP, napkins, anything they can get their hands on. They like to drink their drinks and spit them out- sometimes on each other (this is mostly just Gabe). They like to pull things out of the kitchen drawers and cupboards, sometimes the garbage. I have locks on the cupboards and the garbage, but they always manage to find something semi-dangerous that isn't locked up, so the kitchen is off limits, and we have a gate that closes it off.

Luke
18 months

Sings I Am a Child of God and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (somewhat intelligibly) on his own. Loves music and loves to dance.
Goes to sleep really easily most of the time, as long as he has his binky, blanket, drink, and a stuffed animal. Starting to take only an afternoon nap and not his morning nap. Loves all stuffed animals, but especially his zebra, cow, & blue teddy bear. Cuddly, but he's a screamer- he has an ear-splitting scream that he's not afraid to use at any time if he wants to get his point across. Started nursery last week- ran right in, played, no screaming at all. What a relief for all of us, because church has been... not fun... with him for several months (maybe 6). Hopefully nursery will continue to be a good thing for him.

Blows kisses and waves when daddy leaves every morning for work. Loves cheese, bread, bananas, apples, applesauce, yogurt, all cereal, all sugary stuff (but usually not ice cream), most fruits, all crackers, pizza. Sometimes likes broccoli and carrots (in ranch), beans, mexican food. Currently hates noodles and rice (texture thing), usually peanut butter and most other sandwiches.

Luke loves to give kisses, but this time he was almost eating my cheek!

Says: Peeaboo (peek-a-boo), dit-de (binky), a-wight (alright), ok, ah-done (all done), ah-keen-ow (all clean now), poopoo, bum, eye, nose, mow (mouth), eah (ear), Babe/ Babiel (Gabe/ Gabriel), baby, Guke (Luke), mommy, daddy, Paw (Grandpa), Cah-kin (Collin), Ca-ya (Cara), Sessa (Marissa), Anna, Gook (book, drink, milk), eat, see-yal (cereal), nah-nuh (banana), be-ba (zebra), see ya, hi, hey-o (hello), bye bye, Ay-yuh-you (I love you), safe, don't, mine, want it, nie-ie (night-night), teeeee (teeth- wants to brush teeth), cah (car) goowuck/ cahck (truck), ah-side (outside), no, yes, yeah, uh-huh, uh-uh, no-way, icky, suuuuum (as in- I want some), lion, goggy (doggy), ti-tat (cat/ kitty cat), eh-pane (airplane), tain (Train), wow-ow (flower), messy, one-two-tee (1-2-3), sooooo (show- as in I want to watch a show).

He probably says more but I can't think of anything else right now.

Luke responds to most things we say to him- he understands and follows commands (if he wants to) and replies to questions.

At 16 months he:
Weighed 22.3 pounds (now he weighs about 25 lb.)- the 15th percentile.
Was 30.5 inches tall- 22nd percentile.
Had a head circumference of 19.2- the 86th percentile, down from the 96th when he was 9 months old!

Happy 3rd Birthday Gabriel!

2011-07-07T07:00:00.002-07:00

Dear Gabriel,

It has been a long time since I could say you were a baby, and the other day I realized I can't even call you a toddler anymore. You are a big boy; a bona fide preschooler now. Have I really been your mother for three years? It has truly been a privilege. You have such a sweet temperament; you genuinely care about what the people around you are feeling. When someone is hurt, it warms my heart to see you put your hand on their shoulder and say "You-a-ok? You have-a-owie? I-a-kiss-it better."

You are helping me learn, Gabe. Sometimes you get sent to time out after being told that you can come back when you can be happy, or obedient, or nice or whatever the issue. Sometimes after a minute or two I open the door and ask if you are ready to obey, and through your tears you say no. After a while we realized that we needed a slightly different approach. Now when I open the door and I ask if you need a hug, you almost always run to me immediately for some love, and then when we talk about obedience you are very cooperative. I am glad you could help me learn that love needs to be first and foremost in any discipline.

You are becoming more opinionated and independent. You love to pedal your tricycle without too much help, and you are quick to let me know you'd rather walk than ride in the stroller. Sticks, rocks, and bugs are fascinating subjects, and nothing can distract you when you want to go exploring in the dirt. Most days you don't care too much about what you wear, but some days, like yesterday, you were insistent that you wanted to wear your orange puffer vest, even though it is 90 degrees outside, and only the tie-dyed shirt from your aunt Rhonda was tempting enough to wear instead.

You are just becoming such a big boy with a big personality. Sometimes I miss the times when you were so little, but only a little, because watching your grow and develop is so much fun. I love how well you can communicate and I love all the quirky little phrases that come out of your mouth ("Mom! I want to sing Old McFarmer had a Farm, ok?"). You run off to your class at nursery and at daycare one morning a week usually with no trouble at all, and you are happy to see all your friends and teachers. Sometimes it pains me to think of how your parents are already diminishing in your eyes- I mean, when you were a baby, we were all you knew, and now there are lots of people way more fun and exciting than us! But I know you, you always come back for hugs and kisses and love from your mommy and daddy, and I think (and hope) that is how it will always be.

One thing I love about your three year old self is how keenly you feel things. You play hard, you are delighted and even ecstatic when you love something, and you cry tears that seem like they are coming from a broken heart over things that make you sad. You love music, and singing and dancing are great pastimes. You love your trains, cars, balls, airplanes, playing outside, and water in the bathtub (as long as I'm not trying to wash you). You are a great eater. Although there are a few things you don't like too much (spinach), you will eat just about everything else. I am happy that you love fruits and veggies (including broccoli- cooked or raw). You love your cousins and your aunts and uncles, and your grandparents- dearly.

I am glad that I get to watch you live life the fullest that you know how. I treasure the things I am learning from raising you. I am glad that I could become your mommy three years ago. You are so precious to me, I will keep trying to be the best mother I can be for you.

Luke: May 2011

2011-05-30T20:34:00.007-07:00

Luke is really at one of the funnest ages I have experienced with kids so far. Each age is fun in its own way, but he is at the point where it is all fun from here on out, and way more hazardous too. He is learning to get into cupboards and drawers, tries to climb into the bathtub, and he tries to take Gabe's snacks away almost as often as Gabe tries to take his away.

He is doing things a little earlier than Gabe (though not exactly an early- bird)- just so he can keep up. There is definitely some sibling rivalry developing here, though the boys clearly adore each other. Luke can walk short distances, maybe up to 6 steps on average without getting scared and sitting down. He doesn't fall much yet, but is very cautious, and would rather sit down before taking a tumble. I'm sure he could walk much longer if he wanted, and I think he will be before long! He still crawls with one knee and one foot, which is hilarious to watch.

He says a few words on his own (ma-ma, woof (dog, and the sound a dog makes), nana (banana, and any other food), da-du (thank you- yes, really, he says this after every time I bring him food)) and he mimics a lot of things we say (da-da, puh-puh (poopy diaper), ssu-ssu (Jesus), nuh-nuh (no-no).
Luke loves to be sung to. He doesn't have a favorite song that I can tell, but if cuddling and rocking don't calm him down, just start singing too, and he will relax very quickly.

Nights are finally starting to get better. He is now sleeping through the night- hallelujah! I think we just had to get through some hard stuff and I had to stop nursing him when he woke up. I think as soon as he realized he couldn't eat, and he got over some colds he had for a while, he stopped waking in the middle of the night. Now he goes to bed anywhere from 6:30pm to 7:30pm or so on a normal night, and he wakes up between 5:30 and 6:30 in the morning to nurse, then he usually goes back to sleep for an hour (IF I let him fall asleep in bed with me, otherwise he will just play or whine). I try to get him to take a nap at 9:30 or 10 in the morning, and then another nap at 1:30 or 2 in the afternoon. I think if I am more consistent with getting him down for naps, he sleeps better at night.

Luke has had his 8 teeth (4 on top, 4 on bottom) for several months and a few weeks ago started cutting molars (skipping the canine teeth). He now has 2 molars that are mostly cut through, 1 that is close, and another one that is just starting to be swollen and painful for him. It seems like these things always happen at the same time.

Luke can put food away like no other baby I have seen. We were at a restaurant the other day and Luke ate the entire 2 bottles of baby food I had with me, and then continued to eat a bread stick and two small pieces of pizza, plus drinking his milk. We joked that he ate more than my brother Tayler, who was visiting. I guess he was just really hungry that day. Luke loves fruit, cheese, bread, yogurt, and Hawaiian haystacks (chicken and rice etc.). He is slightly more picky than I remember Gabe being. He is very particular about the textures of foods he eats. Also, just because he has eaten it before and liked it doesn't mean he wont spit a food out and refuse to eat it from that point on. Usually if we can get the first bite in, he will decide he likes it and will eat the food. He cracks me up!

Family Pictures

2011-05-23T14:51:00.000-07:00

After Tayler got back, we needed an updated family picture, and BJ's dad was kind enough to take pictures of everyone. We got some really fun pictures!

When Tayler came home

2011-05-23T13:48:00.000-07:00

Here are pictures from our trip to Oregon at the end of March, when Tayler came home from his mission. Mostly these are pictures at the airport when we picked him up, but there are some of Collin playing tennis and a few other random things.

Catch-up time

2011-05-15T13:38:00.003-07:00

Well, blogging has really been put on the back burner these days. I need to do better at that, since this is sort of the record of our family goings-on right now. This is mainly for documentation purposes since it is all mostly old news, so don't feel like you have to read this! Let me go back in time a bit...

At the end of March, we put our kids in the car, and left at 4am to drive to Oregon to visit my family and be there when my brother Tayler arrived home from his mission, which he served for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He spent 2 years in Australia teaching people about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and although we heard from him in weekly emails and biannual phone calls, we missed him terribly and were excited to see him as soon as he came back! So we all went to the airport in Portland and nervously awaited his arrival. We finally spotted him waaaay back behind security, and we were jumping up and down and waving. He was so exhausted but he was happy to see us too! We bear hugged him and then went to collect his luggage and take him home. We got to spend the next couple of days just visiting with him and then we had to come back home. The drive back was not quite as pleasant as the drive there, but we got through it, with books on tape, Raffi and "Wee Sing", goldfish crackers, "safety chips", and a few hyperactivity-busting stops for the little ones.

Two weeks later, my whole family drove down here to 1. be here for Marissa's graduation (Yay! B.S. in Public Health), 2. Take Tayler to school at BYU-I, 3. Pick up Cara from BYU, and 4. Celebrate my dad's 50th birthday! Ok, they didn't really come to celebrate my dad's birthday, but we were sure glad that it coincided so closely! My dad's brother Bob put together memories and stories from pretty much everyone in the extended family to make a really nice book for my dad as has been the tradition for his siblings (he is the last sibling to turn 50). Marissa and my mom and I made some cakes for my dad's birthday, one a healthy version of chocolate cake (made with teff flour), which was definitely different but still yummy (find the recipe here on SS&GF- a site I really and truly love), and a chocolate pudding cake, which we "frosted" with homemade chocolate almond whipping cream. Honestly. It was amazing, and not at all healthy. I don't think we took pictures, because we were in such a hurry, but it even looked beautiful, with powdered sugar, chocolate shavings, and I can't remember what else on top.

The next week, my family had to go home, which was sad, but life must go on! I started a neighborhood playgroup with my friend Sherilee, who did one for the women in our church last year, but they eventually stopped doing it. So, we started up another one on our own, and as one of our first activities, we took the kids to Jump on it (like Kangaroo Zoo- inflatable playground). Gabe loved every minute of it- right up until we had to leave, which he detested. So did I, because I had to march out the door with one child under each arm, one of them kicking and screaming and begging to stay, and other moms throwing me pitying, knowing glances. (Lesson learned: have a discussion before the activity, about how we can do lots of fun things if we are nice and also obedient when it is time to leave. And possibly only go with both parents at first, until the kid can handle leaving.) Since then, we have had several park days, and playtime at different kid's/mom's homes. I planned a bubbles activity about 2 weeks ago that was outdoors and really fun. I blogged about the planning and running the activity on my other blog. I didn't think very many people would come, because I didn't get a huge response but I think about 17 moms and their children came at one time or another. Good thing it was outside! We had lots of fun. I have some other fun activities planned, and will blog about those afterward.

Hmm, what else? I have been enjoying being a part of two book clubs, one for the women of my church, and one for the women and wives of employees at my husband's work. I have most recently read The Faith Club, a book about 3 women of different faiths who meet after 9/11 to promote better understanding between those of different religions. It was very thought provoking and made for great discussion.

This past weekend BJ took me on a little overnight getaway to Midway. It was for Mother's Day, and he had actually planned to surprise me and take me last weekend, but the kids got sick and so we postponed it a week. I had a wonderful time! It was so needed. We weren't even gone a full 24 hours, but it is amazing what a night away can do for you. We left the boys in Marissa and Richard's care, and they did great- didn't even miss us (Gabe actually looked concerned when we got home, and wanted to just keep playing with them). We stayed at a charming bed and breakfast that we have stayed at once before, a few years ago, and had such a relaxing time. We went out on their big pond in a rowboat and looked at geese, swans, and ducks, and walked around the grounds just enjoying the beautiful weather. We walked through some galleries and actually met Willie Holdman (a renowned local photographer who does amazing work) in his new gallery that he opened in Heber with his wife (she sells very cute jewelery). We also walked through a book boutique (and scored a few great books) and discovered a great authentic Mexican restaurant called Tarahumara. We recommend it! It was a great getaway for me, and I am grateful that BJ went to the effort to plan it for me. We also owe Marissa and Richard a big thank you for taking care of the kids.

I have more to say, but this is long enough already. I will try to do better at posting in a timely manner!

Luke's first steps

2011-04-30T10:35:00.000-07:00

Luke has been walking around furniture for some time now, but he is very cautious about making sure he is always holding on to something. So we were naturally very excited when we got him to take a few steps on his own. I was lucky that I had the camera in hand when all of this started.

Yea Luke! :-)

Pictures from Luke's Birthday

2011-04-29T14:03:00.000-07:00

Letter to Luke on his 1st birthday

2011-04-28T22:30:00.000-07:00

My Sweet Luke,
Today you are one year old. I cannot believe how fast that year went by, and yet how long ago it seems that you were born. Oh, it has been quite a year! You have brought so much sweetness, energy, curiosity and laughter into our home! Your older brother loves you dearly, and I love to see the wonder and adoration in your eyes as you watch and follow him around, wanting to take part in whatever he is doing. I love that you are happy by nature, in spite of rough days and nights from earaches, teething, and your desire to not miss anything exciting for something so trivial as sleep! This birthday marks some happy milestones for you. Today you took your first steps alone. You were holding some stacking cups and you thought I was holding on to you, so you walked and were surprised to realize you had done it without help. This month you have started communicating better with us. It warms my heart to hear you say "mama" and "dada", "up", and even "woof". I am delighted when you sign "more" and your daddy and I were giddy when you mimicked the way we signed "I love you". I don't know how much you understand, but we can feel love just exuding from you. You have so much love to give. I smile every time you reach for me to pick you up and you rest your head on my shoulder for a moment. I love those open mouth "kisses" you bestow, and the morning cuddles that never last long enough! I'm just tickled to see you asleep under your blanket, holding tightly to your stuffed animal when I come to check on you. There are so many things you do to give us great joy, and having you in our family means more to us than I can express. I am still learning what it means to be a mother- a mother of two. I am so grateful for the things you have taught me about patience, forgiveness, optimism, and God's love. I am learning more about these things because of you and because of my opportunity to be your mother. Luke, I love you dearly! Happy birthday, Lukey- pie.
Love,
Your Momma

February

2011-03-06T16:42:00.000-07:00

OOPS: 6/6/11 I just saw this in my posts today. Looks like I wrote it at the beginning of March, but never published it. It's old news now, but for the sake of journaling, here it is!

I can't believe February flew by so fast (well, looking back on it. It seems like during the winter each day drags on so long... is it just me?).

I want to remember some of the things Gabe has said recently (he has really made large developments in his verbalization skills since Christmas):

"Mommy, where's my helicopter?" and "Mommy, look! A yellow helicopter up in the sky!" -But "helicopter" could be pronounced "fly-a-copter", "blue-a-copter" (one of his helicopter toys is in fact blue), or "hey-a-copter"

"This is MY bike" (bike pronounced "bikel" like bicycle shortened.)
"You so hungry, fweet-haht?" (sweetheart)

"This is fun game, Mommy!"

Gabe has quite an imagination and he likes to make his animal toys play and talk to one another. One day this week, he took apart his train tracks and brought the pieces to me as "popcorn", "ice cream", "cake", "peanut butter sandwich" and "phone". I frequently hear Gabe singing to himself too, and he makes up new words sometimes; for example he loves to sing "The Wheels on the Bus" and he will add things like "the dogs on the bus go woof woof woof", and sometimes mix the words up a little, so now "the babies on the bus go woof woof woof". He loves to sing "I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee" and a bunch more from his mp3 player that he doesn't really know all the words for but tries to sing along anyway.

For a while it seemed like Gabriel was done with his stuffed monkey, but now he loves it again I guess, maybe because we brought home a big Curious George book which he loves to hear stories out of. During those stories he has to go find his monkey and hold it while he listens, or he will have a little breakdown. Same for any story about trains, teddy bears, etc. If it reminds him of a toy of his, he must go find it. Heh.

From time to time Gabe gets curious about me nursing Luke. We talk about why I am nursing Luke, and he understands that Luke is drinking milk, and that nursing will help Luke when he is hungry. He usually comes over and points to Luke and says "Mommy nursing Luke" while I am feeding him. A couple times Gabe has climbed up on my lap and said "Gabe nurse now?" I had to laugh and I just said, "No, nursing is for babies to eat; you're a big boy and you drink from a cup and eat with a fork!" He seemed pretty satisfied with that, and went back to playing.

Luke is cruising around the furniture as of last week. For a while he was just standing and playing at the train table, but now he walks all around it, and goes back and forth between the couch and table, sits down, pulls himself back up, etc. He still will not crawl. We occasionally try to have crawling practice in the hallway and I have tried all sorts of things as enticement to get him to crawl, with no luck. He whines and cries until I let him pull himself up to a stand, and he will then walk to get what he wants, while I help him. Sometimes he will roll until he can get to what he wants.

The tables have turned a little bit at naptime. Gabe is now my good napper (this was the baby who would never nap for more than 30 minutes or so at a time) sleeping from 1.5- 3 hours almost every afternoon. Luke was a great napper until the past month or two... now he often wakes up prematurely and is very cranky for the rest of the day, but he refuses to go back to sleep, even if I rock and rock and rock him, which I don't have time to do! (If I try, Gabriel usually takes advantage of the unsupervised time and destroys something in another room or gets into some sort of mischief.) I am thinking about taking away the morning nap and just having him take one nap per day, but it seems so early to do that! He is only 10 months old. I need to figure something out, because the afternoon is no fun for any of us if naps are prematurely ended.

Luke is a smiley, happy kid. He turned 10 months old last week, and I can't believe how much he has changed. He is still very small in size, though. He is in the 19th percentile for height, the 18th percentile for weight, and the 96th percentile for head circumference. I'm guessing that is why people always tell me Luke is so big.

BJ's musings

2011-02-10T22:42:00.000-07:00

So Rochelle has asked that I post my thoughts on life since it has been ages since I have posted anything, and we haven't really posted much about ourselves.

Unfortunately, as I sit here and try and figure out what to say, I realize that I don't really have a lot of musings to speak of. In some ways my life seems to whiz by, each day much like the day before. Off to work in the morning, home in the evening. Dinner. Put kids to bed. Answer a few more work emails, read the news and go to bed. I think sometimes of hobbies and other time consuming things that I'd like to pursue some day, but I recognize that I really can only pursue a very limited number of things like that. Right now, I play basketball and racquetball each once a week, and I spend a little time playing on my computer as well. I met a guy the other day who was doing an L3C, a kind of half for charity, half for profit company, and I thought to myself that I could do something like that in my spare time and it would be a lot of fun. But then I thought of the sacrifice it would mean for my family, and decided that it would have to wait. So someday... if any of you want to start an L3C, you know who to call! Now I just need to figure out when that magical someday when I'll have a lot more time is going to be!

I would also like to take this time and publicly praise Rochelle. I am glad that our kids have a good mom to raise them. I sometimes feel sad that I really only see the kids for a couple of hours each day, and those hours are not really when they are at their best. But I take consolation in the fact that they have a wonderful mom raising them. She loves them and takes great care of them, and is helping them grow up to be good kids. (Gabe really has his "please" and "thank-you" down these days, and when he says "yes" he will often say "yes sir!".) It is nice to know that while I am required at the office for the greater part of their days, they have Rochelle at home with them.

As far as my work goes... I'm not sure that anyone cares to hear the gory details of what it means to be an IT guy. I could really give you an earful of IPv6, linux, crazy employee requests and the like. But I suffice it to say that... well... there are good parts to it and not so fun parts. I think my mom summarized the good parts when she recently said "I LOVE Google. It was made for me :). I love the internet. I love Facebook. I love everything computers!!!!!!". I guess I take after my mom on this one. ;-) The not so good parts? Well... every job has those. No surprise that mine does too.

Well, I think that concludes my musings for today. Maybe someday I'll muse some more but it is time for bed.

Goodnight everyone!

BJ

Rochelle's musings

2011-02-06T21:06:00.000-07:00

I think I will try to get BJ to write his own post about what he has been up to, and here is mine. This is sort of a journal kind of entry for me, so please excuse the ME-ness of it.

Most of my life right now is taken up by caring for Gabe and Luke, and trying keep everything at home running smoothly (which I am sometimes successful at, sometimes not). I have an intense desire to be Martha Stewart and have a perfectly clean home and fresh baked bread, and sweet-smelling children all dressed and fed playing quietly together. I want to feel like everything in my world is organized and clutter free. I find myself wishing that I could have at least 2 more hours in every day (after the children are asleep) that I could use how I please, and that I would be motivated to do laundry and mopping and stuff. Alas, I am not Martha, and my house is far from perfectly clean and organized, and all too often my kids (and myself) remain pajama- clad all day long, or at least until 3pm. I haven't figured out a way to get a couple extra hours every day, and I still have a huge pile of clean laundry that I cannot motivate myself to fold. BUT- I did bake bread today. :D I have been working on the most cluttered spots around my home, trying to get rid of unused, unwanted, and unloved items (Fly Lady, anyone?), and generally just cleaning up the same messes umpteen times a day. I feel good about the fact that I went from being very intimidated by and unmotivated to cook dinner (um, for about 5 years of marriage- ouch) to feeling pretty comfortable and confident in the kitchen (not that I am an awesome cook, just that I am not afraid to try new things and branch out a bit) and putting a hot meal on the table most nights by the time BJ is home from work. It is something I always wanted to do, but just couldn't get the motivation or courage to do. Sounds a little silly, right? I suppose I had a complex about cooking and baking for a long time. But I made a goal last year, a little after Luke was born, and I have stuck to it, and it feels GREAT!

When I have some free time, I usually choose one of my "go-to" activities. Two nights a week, after the kids are in bed, I go to Zumba. I love Zumba. It is good exercise, and it is fun! I don't feel like I am exercising, but I usually go home drenched in sweat. I can't wait until it warms up outside and I can add in some of the other exercise- like things that I like to do. Being outside is good for me (when it is a reasonable temperature).

Of course, my other go-to is anything crafty. I have been blogging about my crafty adventures on my other blog, Home Sweet Homebodies. A few months ago, I was thinking about how I could better meet my goal of being service and giving- oriented all year long (spreading the spirit of Christmas over 12 months) and it hit me that I could connect it somewhat to craftiness and invite others to join me. I decided that I want to do one project each month that is dedicated to "making the world a little sweeter".

For January's project, I whipped out my crochet hook to make hats for the Caps For Good project- a really worthwhile organization that distributes hats to moms and babies in other countries as a part of their newborn survival program. Because I had a really hard time reading crochet patterns, I decided to make a tutorial on making a really simple baby beanie. If you want to see that post and tutorial, click here. I have also been working on several sewing projects, none of which are finished...

The other thing that takes up my time is the Cub Scouts. I am the Assistant Cubmaster. Sounds really fancy and official, right? Not so much. Mainly I get to plan and record and do administrative type work. Right now I am working on the Blue and Gold dinner which is coming up really soon. We are doing a "Scouting through the years" theme with Wild West decorations. I am in charge of coming up with thank you cards and decorations, and I have a pretty small budget to work with. I bought a few materials, but mostly I am going to work with recycled things like cardboard boxes. I hope it ends up looking cool and not crappy. Wish me luck.

Right now my life is all about trying to find balance. How do I be a good mom, wife, and everything else I need to be and develop myself as a person at the same time? It seems like in order to be a good mother you must lose yourself to a degree (but perhaps not such a bad thing after all, as "whosoever will be willing to lose his {or her} life for my sake, the same shall save it"-JST, Luke 9:24 -that's a different way of interpreting that, I know.). I am ok with losing parts of myself, like especially all the less desirable parts, but I don't want to forget who I am, or not know what makes me, well, me. So, it is back to balance- to spending good, quality time with my kids and husband, and taking a healthy amount of time for myself, to do other kinds of things which I also love. I am still trying to figure it all out. It seems like as soon as I start feeling comfortable with the way things are, a change occurs that forces me to re-adjust. Like the births of my children, or simply when they reach new stages in life. It causes me to re-examine my life and what I am doing so that I must constantly progress.

Well, that's all I've got for now. If you are still reading this, are there any moms out there that have thoughts on finding balance between motherhood, wifehood (is that a word?), and personal development?

Luke: January 2011

2011-01-31T14:27:00.001-07:00

I think the stage Luke is at (9 months old this past week) is one of the cutest and funnest stages of babyhood. My Lukie-pie is just so sweet. He is getting very curious about what Gabe is doing, and he wants to be in on the fun. He doesn't want to lay down or sit down, he just wants to stand. He is starting to try to walk (with help). He is super wiggly! This kid has a smile that could melt anyone's heart, and I'm afraid he has got us wrapped around his little fingers!

Favorites:
Foods: Cheerios, any fruit (especially applesauce, apricots, peaches, pears, and fresh bananas), sweet potatoes, and carrots, and rice husk crackers.

Toys: Luke likes toys that make sounds, have wheels, or which can be chewed on, or anything that Gabe is playing with.

He LOVES things with buttons, so any remote, cell phone, or toy with buttons is an Luke- magnet. Bonus points if something exciting happens after pushing a button.

Activities: Peekaboo and Pattycake are very entertaining, as are tickling and cuddling (sometimes). We took this video of Luke about one week before he turned 7 months old, where he is playing peekaboo all on his own. We were so surprised when he started doing it, but he loved all the laughs he got, and he continued doing it for quite a while that night.

Luke loves to watch Gabe run around and play, and he is beginning to want to be part of everything Gabe does.
We recently got out this jumperoo thingy and Luke has got the hang of bouncing in it and he is happy since he always wants to be standing.

People: Luke loves his Mommy and Daddy and Gabe tons, and he recognizes and is delighted to see Grandparents and aunts and uncles. Luke seems to pick up on and react to "love vibes"- or in other words he can sense when someone likes him, and he will cuddle right up- even if they are a stranger. This happened in church last week when a grandmotherly lady held him for a moment while I had to lead some music. He stared at her for a minute, then began smiling and snuggled right up in her lap.

Luke is happy any time Gabe is nearby, and thrives on attention Gabe gives him. He puts up with quite a lot of poking and prodding from Gabe too...

Stats:

Luke began consistently sitting up by himself for longer periods of time when he turned 7 months old.

Luke still has 7 teeth (he had all those by the time he was 7 months old), but I believe that is about to change.
Luke is NOT interested in crawling.
After we came back from Oregon for Christmas, Luke started pulling himself up to stand so that he could see what was going on up on Gabe's train table (8 months old). Maybe he will skip crawling all together and go straight to walking?

I frequently walk into a room and find a picture like this- both boys just chilling together, often in unusual positions, and just content and jabbering to each other.

Gabriel: January 2011

2011-01-30T11:25:00.001-07:00

Gabe is quite a character! He is becoming very inquisitive and opinionated. In true toddler fashion, he is exerting his independence and testing limits. It can be quite frustrating at times, but I keep reminding myself that he is doing what all two year olds do, and that it is a normal developmental stage. He is a bit of a charmer too, so my occasional frustration is tempered by lots of sweetness and delight. Here is a little bit about Gabe currently.

Favorites:
Colors: anything vibrant, but especially green at the moment.
Foods: Pizza, lasagna, raisins, Chex, ice cream, broccoli, ham, cheese, any Mexican food, any Chinese food. He will pretty much eat anything we give him, most of the time!

Toys: His train table set that he got for Christmas, his monkey (still), a little airplane on wheels thingy, magnets on the magnet board, dishes & measuring spoons.

Activities: Singing (Twinkle Twinkle, I am a Child of God, Heavenly Father Loves Me, Eensie Weensie Spider, I'm a Little Pile of Tin, Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree, Head, Shoulders Knees and Toes, The Wheels on the Bus, Saw a Little House in the Middle of the Woods, and MANY others), dancing (to any old music, or Just Dance- a Wii game), throwing balls, unwinding spools of thread or balls of yarn, looking at books, making Luke laugh, and climbing up on things, coloring (for short periods of time), and playing with Play- Doh.

Outfit: Blue Jeans (I love hearing him say that) and his brown or yellow long sleeved shirts. And his Thomas the Tank Engine Jammies and Slippers.

Movies: Thomas the Tank Engine shows, Curious George, The Jungle Book

Cute/ Funny Stuff

Overheard:
A week or two ago: Kissing sound, and "Luke, I love you! Be right back!" and little feet running down the hallway.
Last night: " 'Tinky, poopy bum. Diaper change? No! Mommy do it." (At the suggestion that daddy would change it.)
This week: "Luke, play trains with me! Come on!"
After a loud noise upstairs: Screaming, followed by "Mommy! Scary! You hear boom boom? Scary tiger, Mommy!" (I don't know where the scary tiger thing came from, other than maybe from The Jungle Book movie. He has been really spooked by loud noises lately.)

Common Phrases:
"Yes, sir, mommy" -over and over, every day. (Occasionally it is "Yes, ma'am, but usually everyone is a "Sir" to him.)
"Lukie- pie" -I guess I call Luke that enough that Gabe picked up on it. He understands that it is just a nickname. Last week we were joking together about calling grandparents "Grandma Suzie-Pie and Papa Ronnie- Pie".
Gabe occasionally calls BJ or I "honey", "sweetie- pie", "Sweetheart", or "Love" depending on what he hears us say. Today I dropped something on the floor, and he picked it right up and handed it to me without being asked, and said "Here you go, sweetheart!" (Picture me melting.)
"Hningermails" =fingernails, as in, "Long hiningermails? Cut them?"
"Mommy, want to see show!" "What show do you want to watch, Gabriel?" "Um...... Thomas The Tank Engine!" (enunciated perfectly, of course, after so much practice...)

Gabe and I had fun playing with homemade "instruments" this week- see this blog post on my other blog. So later that night, I just happened to see that my mom had posted a video of Anna playing the guitar and singing at her first ever guitar recital (she just started playing a few months ago), Gabe was mesmerized, and he demanded his toy guitar that we made, and proceeded to accompany himself singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". It was funny, and adorable, and reminded me why toddlers are so much fun. I asked him to do it again a little later for the camera, which he did, but not with as much enthusiasm. Haha. Oh well!

We have reached the point that getting a good picture of Gabe is kind of hard. He will smile and cooperate for the first picture, but it often goes downhill from there (although still cute, the pictures that follow become increasingly cheesy- but at least they are happy in this series!)

I love that Gabe loves to be with his brother. He is starting to be really helpful in keeping Luke happy and entertained. I have to remind him sometimes that Luke is just a baby and he needs to be gentle and use a quiet voice to not scare him, but mostly they just love being around each other.

Toddlerhood is a challenge, but a fun one (almost all the time)!

Christmas 2011

2011-01-24T20:50:00.001-07:00

This year we spent the night of Christmas Eve at BJ's parents' house. BJ stayed up until 2 AM putting Gabe's train table together. It was fun for Gabe (and for us) to wake up Christmas morning and get to open presents with Grandma Sue, Grandpa Ron, and Rhonda (or "Panda" as Gabe still calls her). We enjoyed breakfast and visiting with Danielle and Kirk's family, and also got to see Taylor and Emily for a while. We headed home pretty late-ish and still had to finish packing so that we could leave the next morning at the crack of dawn to fly to Oregon. We got to have a 2nd Christmas with my family after Marissa and Richard also arrived, and it was great! Anyway, here are some pictures from Christmas 2010.

oops

2011-01-23T14:13:00.000-07:00

I don't know why I can't seem to get my act together with the blogging lately. I think it is a case of letting too much time pass so that the prospect of "catching up" on our family's doings is just overwhelming and I am not motivated to do it. It could also be that the only time I really have to blog and have "personal time" is during naptime or after the kids have gone to bed for the night, and there are just so many things to do and catch up on that blogging drops down on my priority list. Whatever the case may be, I have been feeling guilty that I am not recording the things my kids are doing and how they are growing. So, I am repenting! I have some photos, videos, stories and things that I have been meaning to post forever, and now I will actually do it. But not in this post. I will do a post for Christmas, and each kid, and maybe one for BJ and I. But probably not all at once. (!)

Do you hear what I hear?

2010-12-06T19:17:00.001-07:00

Gabriel will often run to find me and ask me if I heard a sound that he heard- "You hear train?" "You hear dump/ garbage truck/ car" "You hear a boom boom?" The boom boom is probably the most common sound he mentions to me. Usually he is delighted by the sounds he hears, but occasionally we hear a really loud sound from outside or the people upstairs, which scares Gabe, and he will scream or cry, and then ask me if I heard the "boom boom". After reassuring him that I heard it, and talking about what might have made the sound, his curiosity is appeased and he goes back to what he was doing before.

Indoor Fun

2010-11-13T21:06:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you don't need toys to have a good time.

But simple, classic toys can hold my attention for a long time, especially at Grandma and Grandpa's house, in a cozy chair.

Building forts in the front room is exciting, especially if that means that Mom will come in too and play for hours...

... and even more when there are snacks involved...

... add in my favorite monkey, my cars...

... a good story...

... and my little brother, and I am a happy (indoor) camper!

Brotherly Love

2010-11-09T13:49:00.000-07:00

This morning as I was getting the boys changed and dressed, I laid Luke down in Gabe's room while it was Gabe's turn to be dressed. The boys are always aware of each other inasmuch as Luke watches Gabe's every move, and Gabe likes to know where Luke is, what he is doing, and he likes helping him be happy and entertaining him. Anyway, when Gabe was done, he became absorbed in playing with his toys in his room, and I took Luke out into the front room with me. A little bit later, I was blow drying my hair, and I heard crying. I quickly turned off the blowdryer, and found Gabe who was crying in his room. I asked him what was wrong, and he sobbed "Luke... where Luke?!" Relieved that he wasn't hurt, I took Gabe by the hand and we went to the front room, where he was able to see for himself that Luke was doing just fine, at which point he went back to playing and all was well.

6 months old (Luke)

2010-11-06T10:13:00.003-07:00

Luke turned 6 months old last week, and I thought I should probably document all the most important things about his life so far...

Some Stats:
Height: 26th percentile
Weight: 17th percentile
Head Circumference: 90th percentile
Teeth: 2

Likes:
Tickling- Luke is soooo ticklish. He gets the biggest grin on his face and just giggles so cutely.
Peekaboo- Lots of delight whenever we play this game (several times each day).
Watching Gabe play (Luke is intensely interested in whatever Gabe is doing, and is not happy if he can hear Gabe but not see him).
Binky- Luke still sometimes goes to sleep with his binky in his mouth, or just likes to play while he is sucking on it. I think Gabe was pretty much done with the pacifier by 6 months old, but Luke seems to like it a lot more.
Diaper changes (truly, this kid never cries during a change, and usually looks very happy to be freeeeeeee)
Rice cereal is starting to finally become a "like". Luke has been a bit slower on the uptake (or intake!) with solid foods, but I think he has caught on and is enjoying eating. I started him on some carrots this week and he isn't sure what to think about them yet.
Water- filled teething toy that has been frozen.

Dislikes:
Drinking from a bottle (but will sometimes take one after a few minutes of cajoling).
Waking up from naps (super grumpy).
Being in his swing, walker chair or bumbo seat for more than 10 minutes. High pitched squealing and back arching start at that point.
Being on his tummy. He immediately rolls to his back when we attempt tummy time. I am pretty sure he can roll to his tummy but he just wont do it.

Luke is sitting up by himself but wobbles over after a little while. Luke likes the bathtub, loves grabbing things and chewing on them, and being held. He is in the stage where he wiggles on my lap when I hold him, trying to get his hands on things, but if I put him down, he realizes his mobility limitations and wants me to pick him up again, until he wants to be put down again....

Luke has the cutest little chubby cheeks that are so nice to kiss! He grins when we kiss him too, which is just adorable.

Luke is a very social baby. He hasn't yet become anxious around strangers; he will grin at anyone and be content in their arms if they want to play with him.

Luke loves watching Gabe play, and he is very entertained by everything Gabe does. Luke is very aware of what Gabe is doing. I think when he is old enough to crawl he will follow Gabe around as much as he can to try to be part of the action.

We all love Luke dearly, and feel that he is a wonderful part of our family. I almost can't remember what it was like (or at least I don't want to!) to not have him with us. It is true about your heart expanding and your capacity to love increasing as your family grows.

Blogging Delinquency

2010-10-26T13:45:00.000-07:00

I have been not so good at blogging lately. Oops. I have posts that I have started and not published. I guess I will try to catch up. Part of the problem I think is that there isn't a ton of stuff going on that I could write about. So I guess that leaves me with writing mostly about the boys, which is fine, since they are pretty much the biggest most interesting parts of our lives right now.

Let's see, BJ has been playing tennis quite a bit this summer/ fall with his brother in law Andy and is looking forward to playing racquetball as the weather turns wet and cold. He has also been playing a little church basketball. He is enjoying the exercise he gets from doing that- it is hard for us to find the time to be active with little kids and busy schedules, but we try!
I have been working a tiny bit in the cancer screening clinic at the Health Department, and also spending time working on things for my craft blog, which will soon move from its blogspot address to its own, new address. My favorite projects from the last couple of months would probably be making a regular shirt into a nursing (breastfeeding) shirt, sewing infant scratch mitts, and recycling shoe boxes and magazines to make great wall art.
I have also been going to Zumba classes for the past few months, and I love it! I can only get away 1-2 times a week to do it, but it is amazing the difference it has made in my energy level. I feel really good.
Gabe is just too cute. He says the funniest things. He often calls BJ "honey" or "buddy". It cracks me up. He also occasionally calls us by our first names, which is also funny (for now). He has a slight lisp that is cute and he has some trouble saying certain short words, like "green", but has no problem pronouncing "dinosaur". He loves Luke, and Luke obviously loves him.
Sometimes it is hard to nurse Luke because he just wants to watch what Gabe is doing. He is very entertained by Gabriel's antics. Luke is a smiley baby. He takes great naps but is not doing so great at sleeping at night. We need to figure something out to help him sleep better. It has been hard because he has been sick for a couple of weeks, so we have a smiley but somewhat grumpy baby. It is kind of a bummer to not be able to use medicine to help him, but some of the things that have helped us make him more comfortable are the humidifier, "Little Noses" saline drops to thin those nasal secretions, letting him sleep in his padded carseat (it keeps him more upright, which makes breathing easier), and The Nose Frida (a kind of weird but very effective tool for aspirating baby noses). Luke hates tummy time. He doesn't cry any more, he just rolls over onto his back as many times as I put him on his stomach. He is getting stronger. He can almost sit up without help- well, he can already do it, but not for very long. It's kinda hard to do when your body is in the 20-30th percentile for height and weight and your head is in the 90th percentile, you know? Haha. Luke loves playing peekaboo and snuggling with anyone who will hold him. His cousin Marissa had him laughing hysterically last night at our family Halloween party (thanks, Danielle and Kirk for putting that together!) just by talking to him in a cutesy voice and pointing out things on his and her costume. I love how cuddly Luke is right now. He is also very grabby and wants to put everything in his mouth! He has been teething like crazy. He has two bottom teeth which came in a few weeks ago. He will be 6 months old in a few days.

We took some pictures of the boys in BJ's parents' photo studio. BJ did a great job photographing them. Gabe knows the drill for picture taking. Luke was tired and on the verge of tears the whole time, but did pretty well too.

Love those boys!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

2010-10-17T19:43:00.000-07:00

I posted this on my craft blog earlier this month, and it occurred to me that I should post it here too, so here it is, read on if you have a minute:

I have posted about breast cancer before, but as October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and the information bears repeating, I am reposting. A part of my life that I don't really share here is that I am a public health nurse, and I work in a women's clinic where I do breast cancer screening and education. Consequently, I have come to feel strongly about early detection/ screening and being aware of your body. I hope you will take a minute to read/ review and maybe make a few changes in your life if necessary.

Breast cancer is a frightening disease. Most women fear that they or someone they love will get it. Our fears may or may not be well- founded, but they are made worse when we hear statistics like:

Over 40,000 people will die of breast cancer this year; about 400 of them will be men.

85% of all diagnoses have no family history.

1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. (Source: http://www.breastcancerawareness.com/facts.php )

Unfortunately, not all risk factors are things you can prevent, but here are a few things that can help you lower your risk of breast cancer:

Exercise and make wholesome food choices. Make an effort to maintain a healthy weight.

Limit alcohol intake and smoking.

Be aware of your family history. Talk to your doctor if breast cancer is in your family. This may affect the recommendations your doctor has for you.

If you are approaching menopause, evaluate with your doctor whether hormone replacement is necessary for you or not. (Source: http://www.cdc.gov/)

In addition, set aside a few minutes each month to do a breast self- exam. Women, if you are at least 20 years old, you should be doing this (as well as getting an exam at the doctor’s office once a year)! I know you may feel uncomfortable, or it may be difficult to remember, but do whatever you have to do to remind yourself! Put a note or sticker somewhere you will see it, or choose to do it on your birthday- date each month. If you are at least 40 years old, you need a mammogram every 1-2 years (every year after age 50). Men, please encourage the women in your lives to do this- it may save their life. When breast cancers are detected early, women have an excellent chance of survival. If you need a reminder on how to do a self- exam, check out this link that has step- by- step instructions: http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/About-Breast-Cancer/What-Is-Breast-Cancer/Breast-Self-Exam.aspx

I like to tell the women I screen that doing a breast self exam isn't really about following a rigid set of instructions or searching for cancer. Thinking of it that way can cause anxiety that may cause you to avoid even thinking about it. I recommend being aware of your body- becoming familiar with what is normal for you. Think of it as a way to have peace of mind. If you do notice a change, whether it be a lump, a change in color or texture of the skin on your breast, a change in shape or appearance of any part of the breast, or anything out of the ordinary that persists and doesn't resolve, you should have it checked immediately by a health professional.

As women, we so often put all of our energy into taking care of other people that we fail to take care of ourselves. If you are not making your own health a priority, please consider that you can best care for those you love by keeping yourself healthy and, well, alive. What I'm saying is that there really isn't any good excuse for not giving your health the attention it deserves.

If money or lack of insurance/ underinsurance is an issue, there are programs that offer free or low cost mammograms to women over 40 each year if you meet certain income requirements. The clinic I work at is one of these programs, and there are programs like this all over the U.S. You can check out the CDC’s website to find out if you qualify.

OK- one more thing. Take a minute to check out this video. It is about a type of rare but highly dangerous form of breast cancer called Inflammatory Breast Cancer (IBC) in which there may not be a "lump", but rather changes in the outward appearance of the breast. This can affect women of all ages, so even if you are not 40 years old yet, check it out, okay?

Happy Birthday BJ!

2010-09-28T13:47:00.000-07:00

So happy to celebrate this day with you! You are a wonderful husband and a great dad!

My "helper" Gabriel

2010-09-24T16:31:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the things Gabe has done today to be helpful:

Doing dishes.

Entertaining Luke.

Feeding the monkey to keep him happy.

Good thing I have a son who does so much to help me (and make me laugh)!

Gabe stuff :-D

2010-09-22T14:11:00.016-07:00

Gabe is at such a fun (and busy) age. I admit sometimes I feel like pulling out my hair when I just can't seem to keep up with his energy on the days that he just runs from one thing to the next (i.e. this week when he sat on Luke, then poured a cup of water on the couch, dumped a box of cereal out onto the floor trying to get a snack, grabbed at the hot oven when it was open and barely escaped getting burned, climbed up on a kitchen chair to wipe his hands on the painting in the dining room, filled his diaper basket with Legos, balanced on the seat of his tricycle to push buttons on the television, climbed up on top of the entertainment center.... the list could go on and on...). By and large though, he is very happy and fairly obedient for a 2 year old, and we seem to have gotten past the stage where he said "no" to everything automatically. He rarely throws a tantrum when he has to stop playing to eat, or have a diaper change, but he sometimes does throw a fit if we try to take away his toy monkey while he eats. He does on occasion have to go to time out, which is sometimes in the crib, and usually he will start yelling "happy! happy!" to let us know he is ready to be happy and get out of time out. He also sometimes says that in the morning after waking up- I think he is a little confused sometimes about why he is in bed. He is communicating so much better, speaking in short sentences, and trying so hard to enunciate. He has a very unique way of pronouncing some things:

Grandma is Ma-hmah
Grandpa is Bappa
Gabe is Babe
Marissa- Sassa
Cara- Caca
Collin- Lollin
Flower- Hlah-hlow
Geek- drink
Nannich- sandwich
Ice hmeam- Ice cream
Ded- red
Neen- green
Lue- blue
Puh-po- purple
Eh-hlent- elephant
Key-key- monkey and blankie
Mah-hmoom- vacuum

Gabe says so many other words, and for the most part they sound just like you would expect- normal pronunciation- and he is stringing more and more of them together. He is learning to pray, and he is starting to anticipate what to say a little bit. He really enjoys praying. Gabe also does pretty good at saying please and thank you. I often remind him to say thank you, and one day after I had him pick up some books that he scattered all over the room, he said "Mommy, thank you Gabe!"

Gabe sings a lot. He loves to sing "Baby Beluga", the alphabet song, "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", "Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)", and a few others that he sings on his own during the day. He also likes to sing along with us for "I am a Child of God", "Heavenly Father Loves Me", "Little Red Caboose", "How Much is That Doggy in the Window", "Jesus Said Love Everyone", "Jesus Once Was a Little Child", "Jesus Loves Me This I Know", and a bunch of other ones.

Gabe likes to point out colors, body parts, objects in the room, people in pictures, and foods. He loves dancing. He likes to try to count, usually saying "One, two, three... six! EIGHT! Nine, nine, TEN!" He knows his name and that he is two years old.

Gabe also recognizes the way to go to Grandma and Grandpa T's house. He gets very excited in the car when we get close, and when we arrive, he is shouting "Ma-mah's house! Bappa's house! Yay!" and he runs into their house saying "Hey!" He loves to grab his Grandma's hand and pull her out of the kitchen, into the family room, down onto the couch, and look at a doggy snow globe with her, or play with the stuffed dog and bear puppet that he has been fascinated with for about a year.

Gabe is tickled and gets so wound up when Marissa or Cara come over to visit. He is just beside himself with glee, and he runs around, jumps, screams, squeals, laughs hysterically, and generally makes a ton of noise at the attention and tickling he gets from them.

Gabe loves giving hugs, playing with buttons and anything that is mechanical or technological. He loves being outside, going to nursery (finally!) at church, reading books, Thomas the Tank Engine, visiting with family, and looking at animals and things in nature. Gabe really loves his monkey. He carries it around for hours, puts it in the high chair, the baby swing, the bouncer chair etc.

Family Pictures

2010-09-19T13:00:00.001-07:00

We took a drive up the canyon yesterday and really enjoyed the changing colors of the leaves- brilliant reds and yellows mixed in with the greens. Gabe loved being up there. We took pictures right before we left, so the kids weren't too thrilled at that point, but I think we got a few good ones. Here are some of my favorites. All photos were taken by BJ's dad, Ron.

August

2010-08-31T13:10:00.003-07:00

Here are a few pictures from the goings- on of August. By way of explanation, we had my family here for almost a week while they dropped my sister Cara off at school. We loved having them stay with us. And we love having Cara nearby now. I will post more updates soon.

4 months old- Luke

2010-08-29T12:50:00.001-07:00

This is Luke in a nutshell:

Loves being tickled, playing peek-a-boo, being held, going for walks in the front carrier, being part of the action going on at any given time, and watching Gabe play. He is a pretty "go with the flow" kind of guy- as long as he's getting attention, he isn't too picky about what's going on.

Likes binky, car rides (usually), sitting upright, being wrapped up tight to fall asleep, the baby swing, playing in the baby gym, trying to put toys and fingers in his mouth.

Dislikes: being cold, hungry (well, don't we all?), um, can't think of anything else at the moment that he doesn't like.

About half the time, Luke sleeps around 7 hours at night, but he also frequently wakes up at 4am to eat. He would probably go back to sleep if I didn't get up and feed him, but you just don't think of these things very clearly in the wee small hours of the morning when your baby is STILL IN YOUR ROOM. (What am I thinking? It is definitely time for Luke to move to Gabe's room.) He is a fantastic napper, however. I love that he takes 2-3 decent naps a day (1-2 hours each).

Luke is a pretty happy guy. It is easy to make him smile and laugh, and he seems to be trying to be happy even when he is not feeling well (like last week when he was super congested and struggled at night for several nights). He, like Gabe as a baby, is serious about eating. He gets hungry and he must eat right now! He is pretty solid, and all that chub makes for delicious cuddling and cheek smooching!

Luke now has a head of fuzzy hair, and I get the feeling he is going to have my complexion: the reddish hair, the freckles, light skin, the whole bit.

It is such a miracle the way babies so quickly entwine themselves into your heart and you almost cant remember what it was like without them. I so love my little Luke, and his smiles just melt my heart. Life isn't necessarily a bed of roses all the time, but those smiles help me get through the crazy puke-and-multiple-blowouts-in-public days when I have to take him home practically naked because he messed every single outfit in the diaper bag while we were out. Not that that ever happens to me. Ha. Really though, Luke radiates love and happiness and is really delightful to have around- we love him so much!

Anniversary

2010-08-22T12:26:00.001-07:00

We celebrated our 6th anniversary a few days back. Time does seem to fly. To celebrate we went out for dinner and to a dessert cafe which was yummy, and I surprised BJ by taking him golfing, or letting him take me golfing, however you want to look at it. He has been saying for some time that he wanted to teach me to golf, and I thought this might be the perfect time, since I was planning the activity and knew that he would never expect me to choose this for our anniversary. I had a fun time teasing him about what we were doing, and at different times during the evening he thought we were going to the movies, to a play, an outdoor theater, and dancing. Haha. It is the first time I have been able to pull off a surprise for him without totally giving it away. Anyway, we did have a fun time golfing, despite a minor sprinkler incident for which we were refunded our money (but that's a story for another time perhaps).

I'm glad that after six years, BJ is still my best friend, my sounding board, my stand up comedian, my debate partner, cooking companion, and a patient and engaged father to boot. There are a hundred more things I could say, but I will spare you the mushy-ness for now and just say that it has been a good 6 years with BJ, and I couldn't be happier about the next 60 (at least!).

Funny Stuff

2010-08-08T20:43:00.001-07:00

The other night I went to check on Gabe and he was talking in his sleep. He kept saying "Hlay. Daddy! Hlay!" "Hlay" is how Gabe says play, and he says that to me many many times over the course of a day; i.e. "Gabe, do you want to eat some lunch?" "No! Hlay!"

I went to an exercise class this week and I put on a brightly colored headband. Before Gabe went to bed, he said, "Mommy! Cool hat!" He also loves to wear his hat I made him this week. It is a big boy hat.

Gabe is finally starting to speak in short sentences at times. When BJ leaves in the mornings to go to work, Gabe usually says "Bye Daddy! I love you! Daddy bye-bye- car."

Luke has been laughing more and more this week. He thinks that blowing rasberries/ the elephant sound is especially funny and he tries to imitate. He blows bubbles and gets drool all over himself but he just grins so big like it is his favorite thing in the world.

We put Luke in the baby gym thing with music and toys and lights. Just like with Gabe at first, it was a bit overstimulating. He was so excited; with his gasping and kicking and flailing he looked like he was going to fly away. Luke has also started grabbing toys with purpose. He has some spinning toys on his chair that he bats at over and over. Gabe tries to get in on the fun too.

I have had a hard time getting Gabe to eat new foods this week. However, he sometimes brings a toy or stuffed animal to his chair when he eats. I have been able to get him to eat something after pretending to feed it to his monkey or bear or cat first. He laughs and laughs and opens his mouth to eat it.

Bumbo seat: Is it worth it?

2010-08-04T13:18:00.000-07:00

Photo from http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3433615

Has anyone used a Bumbo Seat for their baby? Luke is 3 months old and wants to be sitting upright most of the time, but the baby seats we have for him are reclining. I did not have one of these with Gabe, so we have never tried one out. They cost around $40 which seems like a lot for a baby seat that will only be used a couple of months. I guess I am wondering if it is worth it? What are your thoughts?

3 Months Old

2010-07-28T12:25:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my little baby Luke is already 3 months old. That seems so crazy to me, and it makes me wish I could slow time down a bit.

On the other hand, I love interacting with him, and all the grins and coos he gives, and other vocalizations that are so cute. He started laughing a few days ago, not quite a giggle yet, but a more explosive laugh- a ha-ha, like he doesn't quite know what is happening to him. It cracks me up. He smiles a lot at Gabe when he comes close. Gabe imitates me and in his sweet, high little voice says "Hi baby Luke" over and over and pets Luke's head. He will sometimes try to stick Luke's binky in his mouth, or share his toys with Luke. He knows how to work all the buttons and switches on Luke's swing and bouncer chair.

Luke holds his head up on his own and likes to be held upright, not so much cradled, unless is going to sleep. He still sleeps fairly well, although lately it has been not quite as great because of the teething. Bleh. The poor kid and his swollen gums. I can still feel a corner of a tooth popping out, but it hasn't changed much from last week, so I wonder how long it is going to last.

Bottles aren't his favorite things, but Luke takes them pretty well. He also seems to like his binky more than Gabe did. He doesn't want it all the time, but he likes it when he is starting to get bored, hungry, tired, or having aching gums.

I love my little Luke! I'm so in love with him, just like I was with Gabe- it's really true, more kids doesn't mean dividing up your love, it means more of it to go around!

Teeth!

2010-07-22T15:37:00.002-07:00

It makes me want to cry that my almost- 3 month old is cutting teeth. This didn't happen with Gabe until he was almost 6 months old.

It is also weird to me that my 2 year old has 20 teeth. And has for a while. I guess I have toothy kids.

Wah.

2 1/2 Months Old

2010-07-14T12:16:00.017-07:00

I have been meaning to post about Luke; funny how my days just seem more packed with "stuff" and I don't get as many chances to blog as I used to.

Luke is such a great addition to our family. He is so mellow. Gabe adores him, and Luke is so tolerant of all the hugs and kisses he gives him. I love Luke's smiles. They are so radiant, and sometimes he just scrunches up his little nose while he grins and coos and it is about the cutest thing. I love when babies start smiling socially. That has probably been going on for 3-4 weeks.

Like Gabe, Luke loves to be held and doesn't seem to like (actually hates) tummy time, so I'm trying to figure out what to do about that. He has spent a fair amount of time in the front pack when we go on walks, and it cracks me up that he falls asleep in less than a minute after being put in the baby pack. However, if I put him in and we stay around the house (i.e. no constant walking, just doing chores or something), he starts whining and squirming.

He sleeps pretty well; he takes a couple of naps during the day, anywhere from 45 min to 2 hours at a time. At night it depends. Some nights he will sleep about a 4- 5 hour stretch, and some nights he will sleep 6 or 7 hours in a row. It just depends. I try to be pretty consistent in the bedtime routine, so I really have no idea what makes him sleep longer sometimes.

Luke has plugged tear ducts like Gabe did. It's not really a problem, but his eyes sometimes get goopy, and it predisposes him toward eye infections. Fortunately, we keep antibiotic eye drops on hand, so we can take care of it quickly.

We finally got out the baby swing and Luke seems to like it. So does Gabe, unfortunately, so we are doing our best to teach him how to act around the swing when the baby is in it- i.e. leaving it alone. Luke likes being in the swing best when I am very near him, and he can watch what I am doing. It is my favorite place to put him while I clean, cook, or fold laundry because he is high enough that he can pretty much see everything, and he is happier and I can get more done.

Happy Birthday #2 Gabriel!

2010-07-09T19:57:00.001-07:00

We had a fun little celebration for Gabe's 2nd birthday this week (we had one a week or so ago with my family in CA as well, but I wasn't really prepared to do a party while we were on vacation). We didn't do anything particularly exciting in the afternoon, other than Gabe got to eat goldfish crackers in the living room while he watched some clips from 40 Years of Sunny Days (best of Sesame Street). In the evening, we met BJ's parents for dinner at Cracker Barrel and had a nice visit, then we all came back to our place and watched Gabe open his presents. I guess we all chose well, because once he figured out that opening presents got him new toys, he was jumping up and down and squealing with each one. He is crazy about vehicles of any kind, so he loved his tricycle, cars, and train set that he got. Since he is always standing up and making his cars go across the entertainment center, we thought it would be good to get him a little table and chairs that were just his size. He loved it. Kind of a lot of big-ish gifts this year, but he was ready for some big-boy toys, and all our kids will benefit from this stuff, I guess. Anyway, I think BJ and I had at least as much fun as Gabriel watching him unwrap all his stuff. We had planned it for quite a while and we were pretty excited!

Gabe just cracks me up. When I give him a stern look after he does something slightly naughty, he tells me to be "bappy"- which is funny since we tell him to be happy when he is throwing a tantrum (or have timeout). I can't help laughing. Lately his favorite word to say is "no" (welcome to the twos)- even when he doesn't actually want to decline something. So he will say no first, then what he really means. Example: "Gabe, it's lunch-time. Do you want to eat a sandwich?" "NO! Sess..." (Sess= Yes) "Do you want a drink of milk?" "NO! Guk..." "Can I have a kiss?" "NO!..."- he gives me a kiss.

Gabe wants to know what everything is. He brings me an object and says "uhtsiss?" until I tell him what the object is named, then he repeats it several times. He has names for most things he comes in contact with. They don't always sound much like their real name, but he sure tries! He has been really fascinated with letters of the alphabet, and of his own motivation has learned the letters X, O, F, B, T, V, and Y, and identifies them correctly almost all the time. We often hear him singing or humming the tune of the ABC song/ Twinkle Twinkle Little Star- occasionally singing a phrase, then going back to humming. Recently, we wondered if he knew the words to any other songs that we often sing him, so we made up a little game where we sing a song, omitting the last word of a phrase, to see if he would sing the word- and most of the time he does! It was so fun because after doing that for a while, he started singing even more words of the songs along with us.

Gabe continues to love on Luke. He rocks the baby in the baby seat, he pats his head and tummy, puts a pacifier in his mouth (sometimes after tasting it himself), sings the baby songs (usually Baby Beluga- we're not sure, but he may think Baby Beluga is Luke), and occasionally tries to share his toys with Luke. For a while he was calling Luke "Eeeee", then "Lllll", then it was "Doot", and now it is "Guke". Gabriel still refers to himself as "iyel"- sounds like the last part of his name.

The changes I notice in Gabriel's development seem to be coming more and more quickly. Sometimes I feel like time is passing way too fast. Then again, it's fun to see what comes next. I look forward to what the next year brings.

We're back!

2010-07-05T12:11:00.000-07:00

This month (um, I mean June- last month!) has kind of just whizzed on by! Here are some pictures from the last month. We had a few significant events I should probably mention:

On June 6th, we blessed Luke. My parents were able to fly down and most of BJ's family were able to be present, which was great.

We embarked on a 12.5 hour (each way) road trip to meet my family at Yosemite National Park. My parents and siblings still at home were there, as well as Marissa and Richard, who live about 2 hours away from Yosemite. This was our first real road trip with the boys, and they did great. I really couldn't have asked them to do any better. Gabe was obviously sick of his carseat on the way back, so there were a few minor meltdowns, but he did way better than I expected, and I guess that means we may have more road trips in our future. We did some fun things while in California, including: descending 165 feet down a spiral staircase down one of California's deepest limestone caves (we didn't go all the way to the bottom though- it was over 400 feet deep), doing a 1/4 mile zip line at 40+ miles per hour, hiking and sightseeing in Yosemite, hiking through Big Trees State Park with the biggest trees I have ever seen, having a little early birthday party for Gabriel, and lots of swimming, tennis, ping pong and visiting. I love my family! It was nice to have everyone together (of course we missed my brother Tayler, who is serving a mission in Australia)- it seems like it is getting harder and harder for us all to be together.

Anyway, here are the pictures:

Most Common Words

2010-06-23T11:17:00.001-07:00

I made this word collage on www.wordle.net. It shows the most common words I use in this blog... I guess Gabe is on my mind a lot!

Funny Gabriel

2010-06-09T10:45:00.012-07:00

Gabe has been a busy little boy lately! He keeps me laughing constantly. I couldn't possibly write every single thing he does (although I wish I could so I could remember every thing about him at this age) but here are some of the things he has been doing/ saying this week:

This little sunsuit is from BJ's Great Aunt Peggy- had to take a picture of him in it for her.

Words
"ahsiss"= what's this?
"guk- guk"= dump truck, any kind of truck
"leeleelolo"= mini loader (tractor)
"att-ol"= apple
"do-ckie"= broccoli
"ah lo lo"= I love you (accompanied by signing)
"Dute"= Luke
"nu-nu-noh"= no no
"oh-ee-oh-ee-oh"= cheerios, cereal
"annow"= hanger
"ya-ya"= tortilla
"wwwhy"= away
"lallow"= yellow
"c-c-how"= after we say "c-c-cow" -usually says "how" for cow
"hi daddy; hi baby, hi mommy"

"hen! baht-baht-baht"

Singing
-abc song- "a-d-c-d-e-e-e-o-e-o-e-d-e-d-e-c-e-c....", sings the right tune and everything, but gets stuck in a loop and can't remember the tune for the last phrase.
-"lalala" to whatever tune
-Old Mac Donald Had a Farm- "Yi-yi-yo" and animal sounds
-How Much is that Doggy in the Window?- "wuff, wuff"- between each phrase

This picture is priceless! Gabe is wearing some 3-D glasses.

Funny/ Cute Things
-Kisses- All the time. In church on Sunday, he kept kissing me on each cheek and the lips, over and over, and leaning his head on me and making an "awwwwww" kind of a sound. He still kisses Luke many, many times each day. He sometimes still says "muah" but usually he makes a real kissing sound. Also, he is enjoying blowing kisses- it's adorable!
-The other night I was up around 4 am after feeding the baby and I went to check on Gabe and cover him back up, and he sat straight up, said "cheese", and laid back down and was totally asleep the whole time! Haha.
-Poor guy has been teething again. He has 10 teeth, and is working on 12- the last 4 are big molars. (What the heck? He is still only 1!)
-loves wearing glasses
-Gabriel is the kid who throws bark chips at the park. Yep, the swing is a fairly good attraction, slides not so much, but the real excitement is grabbing handfuls of barkdust and throwing them at the play structure, on the slides, or just up in the air. And screaming (with delight).

Gabe with Grandpa C. on Luke's blessing day. Cool dudes! (Gabe always says "coo" after he puts sunglasses on.)

5 Weeks old

2010-06-02T12:35:00.000-07:00

I know I said this when Gabe was a baby, but it's still true- the days seem to go by so slowly, but the weeks and months just zoom by! I can't believe that Luke is already 5 weeks old. He has already changed so much.

He is holding his head up for longer periods of time, and looking around, watching Mommy and Daddy, and of course Gabe as he runs around the room. He takes a bottle and his binky pretty well, which is a relief. He seems to prefer nursing but at least he doesn't reject the bottle. He is starting to smile more, which we love! Those smiles are so precious!

We usually put Luke down to sleep for the night at around 11:30pm after one last feeding, and then he will sleep for several hours, waking up anywhere from 3:30am to 5:30am to eat again. Luke is a pretty mild- tempered little baby. He does fuss a bit in the evenings, not so much crying as whining, grunting, and grimacing as he tries to find a comfy position. He also rubs his face which is not good since he has sharp little fingernails. He seems to have trouble getting burps up, and he also gets hiccups that BJ terms "ferocious" quite often. BJ is really good at helping him in the evenings- Luke cuddles right up to him and calms down better than he will for me at that time.

I made these little mitts to keep Luke's face from getting all scratched up. I made a pattern and tutorial which I posted here for those interested in making some.

Thankfully Luke is very tolerant of Gabriel's love for him. He gets squished a few times a day before I can run over and save him from the hug Gabe is giving him. He also gets lots of kisses on the head and pats all over as Gabe says "sass" (soft) over and over again.

I love watching Luke grow, but it kind of makes me sad at the same time. I love that newborn smell, and the way he just melts into my shoulder when I hold him. I love his rolly-polly chubbiness, and how soft his skin is. He has the same fuzzy hair that is long in the back and nearly bald in front that Gabe had as a baby. His umbilical cord stump finally fell off a few days ago- it took quite a bit longer than Gabe's to fall off, and it was a bit of a shock, since I had just checked it minutes before, then had to change his diaper while we were in the car in the zoo parking lot- and it was gone! I found it in my lap... ew.

Luke in the front pack at the zoo.

Luke loves riding in the front pack. He just relaxes immediately and goes right to sleep. He was happy for several hours that way at the zoo on Monday, and we often go on walks outside with Luke in the front pack and Gabe in the stroller, which works really well for me.

I'm not exactly sure how much Luke weighs now, but I'm guessing it is between 10 and 10 1/2 pounds.

I love this sweet little boy!

Gabe and Mother of Two

2010-05-20T13:55:00.001-07:00

It's time for me to write another Gabriel update... so here's what's new.

Gabe is 22 1/2 months old and definitely starting to act like a 2 year old.

He is such a good eater. He eats mostly anything we give him, including most vegetables and fruits. His favorites are broccoli (cooked or raw), green beans, grapes (really, all fruits), and any vegetable with dressing on it, preferably Ranch. He even eats spinach salad. :D The only thing he is really picky about is that he will NOT eat food if it is hot, warm, or even lukewarm sometimes (maybe with a little coaxing). It has to be room temperature or refrigerated- cold. He also cries if he eats anything remotely spicy. He regularly asks for drinks throughout the day- by signing "water" or milk" or saying "dzus"- juice.

His fascination with animals and motor vehicles continues. He makes the sounds all day. He loves seeing the real things or playing with his toys. Cows, horses, and ducks are his favorite animals. And dogs. And birds. Haha. He loves trucks and tractors, anything that is big and makes noise. Whenever we hear a train passing, he stops and imitates the whistle, over and over until I say "Yes, that is a TRAIN."

Other things that are fun to Gabriel are going outside, practicing jumping, dancing to music, scribbling on paper with a pencil, and reading books. Lots and lots of books. All day, every day.

Here is a picture of Gabe with all his favorite toys. He is almost never without the yellow car he is holding. I don't know if he just loves the color yellow, or if we are forcing that on him by buying all the cool stuff only in yellow.

We are seeing a very sensitive side to Gabriel develop. He seems to understand people's emotions and take them to heart. If you smile or laugh at something he does, he gets very happy and does it over and over again. If he does something naughty and we act really sad, he will cry. For example, a couple of nights ago, Gabe was stepping on BJ's feet over and over again (he does this to us a lot when we are sitting on the couch, and we have been trying to discourage it for quite a while), looking at us and deliberately stepping down to see our reactions. BJ decided to try the sad approach, so he said "Ouch! That hurts me!" and looked really sad. Gabe looked so forlorn that I had to laugh quietly and cover my mouth- Gabe looked at me and must have thought I was crying. Poor boy. He started sobbing, so dejected, and eventually started hyperventilating. It took a few minutes of comforting him, telling him he wasn't in trouble, Daddy was ok, but to not step on his feet etc. until he was calm again. Then he signed "I love you" to BJ. It melted our hearts. If someone is sad (unrelated to anything he might have done) he goes and hugs and cuddles with them much longer than he would normally allow. Also, we finally imported the videos on our camcorder onto our computer, and I watched a few of them yesterday afternoon, including some from Luke's birth. I thought Gabe might be interested in seeing the baby right after he was born, but the baby started crying hard from being suctioned etc. and it showed him with the CPAP machine on him in the NICU, and it was just too much for Gabe. He was crying, and saying "beebee" and started trying to drag me away from the computer. Needless to say, I stopped the video, and we went and looked at the baby in the bassinet to show Gabriel that the baby was ok.

Some of Gabe's recently evolved words:

"hemmee"- help me
"hao!"- help
"doggy"
"ducky"
"how"- cow
"hat"- cat
"coo"- cool
"dats"- pants, dance
"soss"- socks
"suz"- shoes
"suss"- bus
"haow"- car
"tee"- tree
"wowie"- wow!, owie, flower
"sasses"- glasses
"nuh-nuh"- no-no
"deet"- eat
"vaff"- bath, giraff
"oo-oo-oo-ah-ah-ah"- monkey
"duh-duh-doh-doh"- bulldozer
"di-di-doh-doh"- mini loader (from his tractor book)
"dut-dut"- dump truck/ tractor

One of Gabe's favorite places- behind the couch, looking out the window, waiting for cars to pass.

Gabriel seems to love everything about Luke, constantly wanting to kiss, hug, and poke him, and he doesn't show any resentment toward him. That said, I am seeing him go through an adjustment period which I assume has to do with having the baby around (who incidentally comes with a new set of rules) and me spending time taking care of the baby, feeding him, etc. He is acting more emotional, and misbehaving more, testing the limits, and doing things he knows he isn't supposed to do, while watching to make sure I am looking. He obviously wants more attention, and I am trying my best to be patient with him and make sure that I stop what I am doing more throughout the day and give him my undivided attention for a while. Honestly though, some days it is all I can do to hold it together until BJ gets home and gives me a little break where I can disappear for a while. Sometimes I feel so frustrated with myself- I want to be the perfect, fun, patient, educational, multitasking, calm mother. Instead I often feel like the boring, frazzled, frumpy, tired and deadbeat mother. I don't feel like I have postpartum depression, although at times I have definitely experienced the baby blues. I don't want to turn this post into a downer! I am generally happy, and grateful for the way my life is going right now. Luke is easy to take care of so far. I really think Heavenly Father sent me this baby with this personality at this time for a reason. He sleeps quite a bit right now, which allows me to get some things done and take care of Gabe, and when he cries, it is really more of grunting, grimacing, and whining- not screaming, which caused me so much anxiety when Gabe was a little baby. I guess I am just trying to get into a routine and figure out how to take care of two kids and keep myself sane and relatively pleasant to be around.

Some things that I learned from having Gabe which I have been trying to do since Luke was born (some more successfully than others) and which have helped me are:
-Take a shower and get dressed in real clothes every day. No exceptions.
-If possible, do hair and some minimal makeup. Not a must, but if I can manage it, it makes me feel more put together like somehow I can face the world better.
-Go to bed earlier. This one is a "duh" but every night I am so tempted to stay up late after the kids are asleep so I can do... whatever I want.
-Eat better, drink more water. Since I don't have a pregnant body demanding I eat every 2 hours anymore, sometimes I actually forget to eat and drink- not a good thing. I try to remember to do both, and especially drink to prevent myself from getting dehydrated and my milk to dry up. >shudder<

This time around I have also learned not to try to take a nap when the boys nap (at least at this time). Yes, I know it sounds strange. Usually people say "Sleep when the baby sleeps." I found I was getting so frustrated when I would try to nap, and one of two things would happen. Either one would go to sleep and the other would wake up, or I would lay down and just start to drift off into delicious sleepytime, and wake up with a start to the sound of a crying baby. Just plain frustrating. So, where possible, we have been trying to go to sleep earlier, and BJ gets up with Gabe in the morning and lets me sleep an extra 30 or 40 minutes in the morning. That does help. I think things will continue to change and we will figure out other solutions too.

Anyway, lest it seem that I am unhappy or discontent, I assure you I am not; I believe I am adapting to being the mother of two like most moms- with a few growing pains. That said, I welcome any advice on helping toddlers adjust to having a new baby in the family- this is a new experience for me!

I am certainly grateful to have these sweet boys in my life (the two little ones, and one big one- he's sweet too! Although I should say man, not boy...). I love each of them so much. It's amazing (but not surprising) to me how Luke has fit right in and nestled his way into our hearts so quickly.

Luke's Birth Story

2010-05-13T11:00:00.007-07:00

Well, I wrote out the events of Luke's birth as I remember them, and I was about to copy and paste it into this post, but realized it was waaaaay too long. Instead, I will post an abbreviated version here, and for those who are interested/ fascinated with childbirth like me, I will post the link to the whole thing at the bottom of the post.

So Tuesday night I was feeling very anxious to go into labor since Wednesday was my actual due date and I wanted to have the baby before Marissa and Richard left on Thursday, and my mom came to help on Friday. We tried all sorts of things to get my labor started, but nothing seemed to be working, so we laid down to go to sleep, and finally the contractions started coming. We timed them for an hour and when they were 4-5 minutes apart, we called Marissa and Richard over to stay with Gabriel while we went to the hospital. They monitored me for an hour or so then admitted me around 3:00am-ish. We waited for things to start picking up, but instead my labor seemed to stall. We were kind of disappointed but looking back, I think it was a blessing because it allowed us both to get a few hours of sleep that night. I was able to be put on intermittent monitoring so I could walk the halls and try to get things going, and it probably helped a little bit, but in the mid morning I hadn't progressed past 4+ or 5 centimeters (I was 4 cm when I was admitted) so we decided to allow the doctor to break my water. I felt no change for the next hour, and then BJ and I decided to use some of the childbirth hypnosis techniques we had been practicing, and BJ helped me visualize my labor starting up again, and allowing the contractions to become strong and do their work. It worked; almost immediately after we started doing that, my contractions picked up, and things got intense fairly quickly. Things continued to intensify and progress for the next 4 hours or so, during which time BJ was my main support, talking me through each contraction and helping me visualize being relaxed and calm. I also listened to a few hypnosis tracks on my iPod, but mostly I preferred having BJ help me- he had a very calming influence on me, and he was so helpful in keeping me comfortable and relaxed. It seemed like every time the nurse or doctor checked me, I had hardly made any progress, and I was feeling a little discouraged, thinking that I couldn't go on much longer, and I would have to have an epidural. I was also fighting the "urge" to push (eventually not just an "urge"- but a sensation that my body was taking over and overriding what my mind was wanting to do) for about an hour since I wasn't fully dilated. Then, it seemed like all of the sudden the doctor was telling me I could go ahead and push, which was so much more comfortable than trying not to. I pushed for nearly 15 minutes, and Luke was born at 3:42pm, being 9 lb. and 19 inches- quite a chubby baby! It was such an amazing feeling to look at him and know that he was finally here and that I was able to avoid having an epidural and forceps and many other interventions that we had when Gabriel was born and which I had wanted to avoid so badly. The doctor actually said that she didn't think I would have been able to push such as big baby our on my own if I had gotten an epidural, so I was glad that it worked out the way it did. Unfortunately, Luke was not breathing well at first so he was taken to the NICU to be put on a CPAP machine and have surfactant put in his lungs to help them stay inflated better. After a while, I joined BJ and Luke in the NICU for a while, then we headed downstairs and got settled in our new room. Luke finally came down to the well- baby nursery about 8 hours after he was born, and we went and saw him get checked by the nurses and took pictures of his first bath. It was after midnight by the time we were able to bring him in our room with us, but it was sweet to have him to ourselves finally. I was able to get up and walk around on my own, albeit a bit slowly, and I really felt like I was already healing much faster this time. Luke nursed like a champ, and had no further issues with breathing. We feel very blessed to finally have him with us and doing so well.

Gabe came to see his new baby brother the next morning, and he was fascinated for about 1 minute, then was more interested in the balloons and toy tractor in the room. BJ stayed with me in the hospital until Friday, and we were so grateful to Marissa and Richard, and BJ's parents who watched Gabriel so that BJ could be with me and the baby. BJ picked my mom up at the airport on Friday, then came back and took me home from the hospital. It was good to come home and be able to wear normal clothes, and sit in our much more comfortable chairs and bed, and start figuring out a new routine. It was nice to have my mom here to help for nearly a week. We have mostly stayed close to home since Luke was born, and I am getting into a new rhythm of taking care of two kids. So far, although I am definitely busier and more tired, it hasn't been hard. Luke is a really good baby, sleeping quite a bit during the day, eating well, and usually sleeping for a 5 hour stretch at night. Most nights I only have to get up to nurse him twice after going to bed (refreshing! Gabe woke up every 2 hours all night for quite a while). Hopefully that continues! He is also growing well. After loosing 10 ounces in the hospital, he has gained it all back and then some- at his 2 week appointment yesterday he weighed 9 lb. 7.5 oz., and was 20 1/4 inches- wow, over an inch growth in 2 weeks! He is so mellow and easy going. I guess Heavenly Father knows what each of us need individually- I figure he must want me to have more children in the future!

Anyway, that is the story of Luke joining our family. Click here if you would like to read the much LONGER version of the story.

Photos for one and all

2010-05-06T19:21:00.000-07:00

So, these are a long time in coming, but here they are. Lots of photos for our faithful fans to view. ;-)

Welcome Baby Luke:

Brothers:

More of Gabe and Luke (my favorites are in here):

Welcome baby Luke!

2010-05-04T13:38:00.000-07:00

We are a little late in this announcement, but better late than... later, right?

Luke Stanley Taylor was born at 3:42pm on April 28th, 2010.
He was 9 pounds and 19 inches.

Luke is doing great, and I am recovering quickly.

We will post pictures and more about the birth (for those interested) shortly.

Still Waiting

2010-04-24T12:47:00.002-07:00

Well, here's the baby scoop: we are still waiting for this baby to come. We get a little nervous at times as my blood pressure wants to creep up a bit, which makes my doctor want to start talking about inducing me. However, she knows how much I want to avoid that, so as of now, I am on a sort of bedrest. Although every time I take my blood pressure at home, it is normal, so that is good. I think being sick last weekend (bad stomach bug- the first time I have thrown up this whole pregnancy) got me really dehydrated, and kind of spiraled me into this. But I have to say, I feel good in general, other than being 9 1/2 months pregnant. Ha. Anyway, I had the doctor sweep my membranes, hoping that might help bring on labor, but nothing much has happened as of yet. We also made smoothies from all sorts of tropical fruits (supposedly fruits like pineapple, mango, and kiwi can bring on mild contractions etc.) and did some acupressure, but to no avail. I'm not supposed to go on long walks at this point (I've done plenty of that over the past 3 weeks anyway) and I'm really not interested in using castor oil. So now I'm just waiting and thinking positive birthing thoughts. :)

I stopped working this week, which was nice, and allowed me to rest quite a bit more. I also worked on a few crafty projects this week to help the time pass and keep me distracted from wondering when this baby will come. I sewed a diaper bag and some diaper cases, made a basic picture family tree for Gabriel, as well as some picture flashcards of family members. He seems to like looking at those, and he can name quite a few family members. He gets especially excited to point out both sets of his grandparents.

I think it has been somewhat of a hard week for Gabe- or at least the last few days have been hard, as I have had less energy and he has a little cold. That makes for a whiny baby, but he tries to be happy. We have enjoyed the warmer weather on some days, and have tried to take advantage of that. Gabe has asked for lots of walks ("Gok! Mama! Gok!)" outside and we have done that, although more in the evenings when BJ comes home since I haven't had tons of energy for pushing the stroller. Other days we go out on the patio or on the lawn and blow bubbles, or do a short walk around the block and to get the mail. I have enjoyed hearing Gabe's babbling this week. He has been whispering to himself as he plays, something that sounds like "ti-koo-ti-koo-ti-koo". He has also been pointing out various articles of clothing- "souz", "sass" (shoes, socks), "paaatssss" (pants) and he tries hard to say shirt and other things, but they don't sound much like the real word yet. Perhaps my favorite word that he says (this week!) is cheese- "tziiiiz", which he says kind of in the back of his throat, over and over while he eats cheese, or if he sees a camera! I'm not sure how he made the "say cheese!" connection at first, but we are going with it. So funny.

He loves to pretend he is talking on the phone, and he will hold up my cell phone if he can get his hands on it, or his play cell phone, his favorite car, or anything that remotely resembles a phone- even the foot pedal to my sewing machine!

Gabe's antics keep us laughing pretty constantly; as you can tell by the amount of "Gabe stuff" I post on here, he is the main thing that is going on in our lives. There isn't always much other stuff that is interesting to post about. I have liked using this forum as kind of a family journal though, and especially chronicling Gabe's growth and development since I am waaaaaay behind on his baby book.

Speaking of chronicling, BJ and I had some fun reading from our journals about the time we were dating, engaged, etc. and realized that we didn't write nearly as much as we should have. Fortunately, on a road trip we went on early in our marriage, we brought along a tape recorder and some blank tapes, and told "our story" up to that point in as much detail as we could between the two of us, filling both sides of several tapes. A year or two ago, BJ converted the audio on those tapes to mp3s with the intent of transcribing it all some day. This week, spurred on by reading our hilarious but sadly lacking journal entries, BJ began the process of transcribing the first tape. Judging by the eye rolling and laughing coming from his corner, I can only assume the recording must be pretty cheesy. I am going to go in and edit and format the document so it can be easily read. Then we can add it to some of the other stuff I have compiled from that time period (some of our email correspondence- also pretty cheesy and entertaining to read). Anyway, I think that recording a little bit at a time (as opposed to trying to sit down and write all at once) is a good way to preserve some of our memories, and is possibly more motivating when you have a ton of stuff to catch up on! Then you can have a record of what your voices sounded like, and you always have the option of transcribing it. Anyway, just a thought. Here is one more picture that I just barely caught on camera the other day- just one more thing that represents the funny things Gabe does all day that amuses me!

The update and Gabe is 21 months old!

2010-04-13T11:30:00.000-07:00

Ok, well, there isn't really much of an update. This week has just been kind of a waiting game for us. BJ had a 36+ hour day after he had to work a day, then all night, then the next day too (Ironically just after we read in 3 Nephi where the sign that Jesus would be born would be a day and a night and a day as if it were one day).
My doctor's appointment went well... nothing really noteworthy to mention. My contractions have definitely been picking up in frequency, duration, and intensity, but not consistently. I do have my hospital bags all packed though, with my list of everything to grab last minute! On Sunday I had a recurrence of my sinus infection- the one I had a couple weeks ago that the antibiotic never really took care of. It hit me with a vengeance but I went to Instacare and got quite a strong antibiotic which helped immensely and so I'm not in any pain now. Gabe does seem to be fighting another mild ear infection but he is doing much better and I think he will be able to fight this one off by himself.
I am trying not to become too impatient to have this baby, and just use this time to keep preparing, spend time with Gabe, and work on some crafty projects. We have been going on a lot of walks this past week which Gabe loves. He points excitedly to the stroller and says "gok, gok!" (Not to be confused with "gook"- book, or "guk"- milk/ drink.)

Yesterday we went for a drive and were listening to the Remember the Titans soundtrack when Gabe found his new favorite song! When Gabe wants something, and sometimes when he's whining he says "nananananana...?" -so when he heard that in a song (Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye by Steam), he started laughing, rocking back and forth in his seat, clapping, and singing along which really made us laugh.
Gabe has gotten a lot better at going to sleep at night and at nap time. We've been able to put him down for bed after our nightly routine (diaper/ jammies, brush teeth, sing songs in the rocking chair, drink of water, say prayer) while he was still awake for quite a while, but up until a few weeks ago, I was still rocking him all the way to sleep for his nap. Now he is quite the "big boy" as he goes to sleep on his own after a few minutes of rocking and songs at nap time. Occasionally when he is tired he will even sign "sleep". A lot of the things he signs are now accompanied by the word itself, which is fun to hear! Of course he has learned a lot of words without signs too. My favorite words to hear him say are "cute", "cool", "shoes", and "love" (and "mom-my" of course!). Anything that makes an identifiable sound is referred to by its sound instead of its name. He loves splashing in the water and arranging his toys on the side of the tub at "baaaff" time. He does not love the post- bath routine so much. He tends to have dry skin and gets some eczema patches, so we put on lots of lotion and some hydrocortisone cream first thing after drying off.

We usually have some reading time every day- initiated by Gabriel- he brings me book after book after book, and sits quietly on my lap (mostly!) turning pages, pointing to things, babbling, and sometimes requesting to read the same book several times in a row. Gabe still loves cars and dogs (toys, the real things, and the sounds they make) above almost anything else. He seems to be amused by poking my belly and saying "babeeeeeee" or "saaaaaaaahhhhhfffff" - soft. We're trying to do our best to prepare him for having a baby brother, but I don't really think he has any idea of how life is going to change! I'm sure he will adapt quickly though. We are going to try to have him spend some time with his favorite people- aunts and uncles and grandparents! All grandmas and pas are "baba" right now, and he greets them with hugs and kisses- "mmmmah!"
I am excited for the weather to warm up more so we can do some fun things outside. Gabe is up for pretty much anything outdoors, and he especially enjoys going for walks to see the creek or the cows (and any other animal we encounter), swinging, going down slides, running around on the grass, and last summer we discovered he loves swimming and is fascinated by bubbles, so we will have to try to do lots of that this spring and summer. We are all ready with his swimsuit/ rashguard, hat, sandals, sunscreen, and lots of energy (Um, him, not me, currently)! Let's get to it already!

The last two weeks

2010-04-05T11:22:00.001-07:00

I haven't been very good about updating the blog lately, and since this is our family journal in a way, I guess I had better repent of my lazy ways and give an update on the last couple weeks.

My family came to visit us during their spring break 2 weeks ago, and we loved having them stay with us! We did a lot of shopping (only a little buying), visiting with extended family, the boys played tennis and racquetball, some of the family went skiing, others took advantage of my mom's awesome hair cutting skills, we watched some funny and some lame movies, ate lots of yummy food, went on a few walks, put together a package to send to Tayler, visited my Grandma C a few times, got to hear an old time band perform, did some baking, had my parents come visit me while I was working at the Celebration of Light Health Fair, and just generally enjoyed each other's company. Gabe loved all the attention, and started saying "baba" for grandma and grandpa (sometimes bapa). We were sad when they had to leave. Looking at pictures later, Gabe called Anna "La-la", Cara was "Ya-ya", and he just smiled and laughed when he saw Collin. Gabe still sees Marissa all the time, and sometimes he calls her "Eetsa" but usually when we ask him to say Marissa he just claps and says "aaaaaayyy" (yay).

We had a little scare this week when I went to the doctor and found out I had 2+ proteinuria, which meant that I had to do bloodwork and a few other tests to make sure I wouldn't need to be induced early or put on bedrest (for preeclampsia, the same problem I had when I was pregnant with Gabe). However, we found out that the tests results turned out just fine, and I am still up and around and the baby is fine too. So no worries there.
I started having contractions a lot earlier with this pregnancy, and especially the last week or so they have really picked up, but I don't mind, since I am already dilated a few centimeters and 75% effaced (sorry if that is TMI). Also, baby is head down, so things are looking good all around. We have just about 3 1/2 weeks left until the baby is due, and we have been trying to scramble and get the last few things ready.

We enjoyed Easter Sunday watching General Conference and spending time with family. We had a yummy breakfast that Marissa and Richard made, then in the evening we headed over to BJ's parent's house for a family Easter dinner which was delicious. We took a few pictures of Gabe in his new Easter suit- see the web album below. The kids had an Easter egg hunt, and Gabe found about 6 eggs then lost interest and just wanted to eat his banana pudding with vanilla wafers.

This week we are back in the routine of work, work, work. I usually like getting back to things on Monday, but man, I am feeling more tired every day. It's hard sometimes to feel motivated to get myself going. Here we go anyway!

6 Weeks and Counting

2010-03-15T12:41:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that I haven't really wrapped my mind around going from having one child to two children, but I am ready to be done being pregnant! Done I tell you! I am so grateful that this pregnancy has been easier physically than my first, with less nausea after the first trimester, and a little more energy. Also, I haven't had to deal with so much swelling, high blood pressure, and some of the other complications I had last time. A huge blessing since Gabe likes to keep me running. I was worried that I would have to be on bedrest or just feel sick all the time and not be able to give Gabe the attention he needs- but things have been good that way. Not so great have been the emotional ups and downs I've had with this pregnancy. I wasn't expecting that. Fortunately, I have an understanding husband and a sweet son, and that keeps me plodding along. But did I mention that I would like to be un-pregnant sometime soon (as is safely possible for the baby, of course)?

We have been sick (again) with the whole cold/ cough/ ear infection thing. BJ hasn't gotten it so far, and I'm hoping that he continues to be able to fight it off, because Gabe and I have sure been miserable with it. Gabe is a lot better today than he was, but today is probably my worst day yet. So it can only go up from here, I hope. Blech.

As I mentioned, Gabe has been very sweet- tempered (for the most part) lately, even while being sick. It warms my heart that he is so affectionate- giving and wanting in return kisses if he gets an "owie", or if he gets in trouble- he knows how to work the system, because it melts our hearts, and it is hard to be upset at something naughty (how naughty can a 1 1/2 year old be, anyway?) when you are getting baby kisses. Gabe frequently grabs our hands, just to hold, or he puts them on his back or his head for a little back scratch or head rub. Also, when I ask him where the baby is, he signs "baby" and pats or points to my belly. When I say "That's right, we love the baby, don't we?" He kisses my belly. Cute. He has recently learned how to blow kisses too, which I think is adorable.

I think Gabe is a pretty typical 20- month old boy; his favorite things are cars and trains (both real and toys), balls, dogs, and other animals. He likes to make the sounds for each thing. We have been trying to teach him to say please when he wants something, and sometimes I will ask him "What do you say?" and he will usually sign "please". Earlier this week though, he wanted a cracker, and I said "What do you say?" and he said "Mooooooo!" Lots of laughing. He has become a lot more communicative, responding yes or no to our questions, signing the things he wants, and sometimes saying the word, or a combination of those. For example, yesterday he wanted me to reach a toy that was too high, so he said "mom-my!", signed "help", and guided my hand to where the toy was that he wanted.

We love Gabe so much, and although it is hard to imagine loving another child as much as we love Gabe, I believe we will find that our hearts will expand to contain all the love we have for both our sons. It should be an interesting and fun adventure! I'm ready to hurry up and get on with it!

Every day Gabriel

2010-03-05T21:26:00.000-07:00

Gabe is developing quite a personality. He does things and says things that surprise us almost on a daily bases. For a brief example of this, I'll relate a couple of stories that had Rochelle and I laughing.

In the morning, as I get ready, Gabe often takes interest in what I'm doing. As I get dressed, he's usually watching, as I brush my teeth, if he has anything in his hands he often puts it in his mouth and mimics my actions, but the thing that really got us was how interested doing hair he was. I use pomade for my hair, it comes in a little round container with a screw-off lid, and the substance is kind of a oily waxy substance that you need very little of. So in the morning as I do my hair, Gabe often stands about a foot or two away from me and just stares at what I'm doing. So occasionally, I'll take a tiny dab of it and spruce his hair up too. Usually after doing this, he gets a big smile and he walks as tall as he can to go show mom his hair as he runs his fingers through it repetitively. One day, Gabe had a cold, and Rochelle and I had been using vicks to help him breath a little better, but we had accidentally left the jar open and in his reach. Rochelle was in the office, and suddenly Gabe comes in with a huge smile, and smelling very strongly of vicks. Evidently, he saw the jar, and took a not so little dab out of the middle of it, and rubbed it into his own hair. He didn't mind one bit the smell, but oh it was hard for Rochelle to hold Gabe at all until he got a bath.

Aside from learning to imitate us, Gabe has also learned to love animals, especially dogs. He has a stuffed dog that he just loves. It's currently one of several animals that he can make the sounds for and one of the only ones that he says the actual word for (although the word sounds so much like many other words he says, it can be hard to distinguish). One night, Gabe wasn't particularly excited to go to bed. He was whining and crying a little as I put him in his crib. He didn't go down with any difficulty, but he was letting me know he wasn't happy about it. But to try to console him, I decided to leave him his stuffed dog in his crib, and so I grabbed it and put it down in front of him. As I put it in the crib, as soon as he saw it, he said "wuff", and was silent from that moment on as I left and closed the door behind me. I guess sometimes all he needs is a little puppy love. ;-)

Progress and mama!

2010-02-23T16:59:00.000-07:00

We have been busy almost every night working on our lists of things to do and other various projects, and we have made some good progress! We have de-junked a bunch of clothes, random craft supplies, and too- old- to- use electronics equipment, given furniture away, gone through every bedroom and closet in the house and organized/ repacked everything, redecorated our master bedroom, and BJ and Charles built shelves for our storage unit. Whew! It has been exhausting but it feels great to have more room and to know where everything is.

While the menfolk worked on the shelf, I made some wall hangings for our bedroom, out of styrofoam and fabric. I think they turned out pretty well for making it up as I went! And all I did was use hot glue, styrofoam, and cardboard- no sewing. I blogged about how I did it here.

Gabe has been growing and changing quickly. He still uses signs, but he babbles a lot and many of his words are becoming more recognizable. He still loves to make animal and car sounds. Most exciting of all, in my opinion, is that he has started saying "mama"! It sounds more like "muhmuh", and he still calls me "baba" sometimes, (he actually called me "dadda" when I picked him up after work yesterday), but he will repeat "mama" if I ask him to! That makes me happy. We have enjoyed being outside for the few days it has been warm enough to spend time out there, and we are looking forward to the weather warming up so we don't get too stir crazy! Also we are looking forward to warmer weather and the end of flu season and cold season. Gabe seems to catch everything, and if he does, it inevitably turns into an ear infection. So Gabe is on antibiotics again for the 3rd ruptured eardrum in just a few months. Boo. Gabe's pediatrician says there is nothing we can really do to prevent him from getting them. I have heard some good things about chiropractors helping babies and children who are prone to ear infections. Anybody heard anything about this? Anyway, here are some pictures from the past few weeks or so.

Plans!

2010-02-02T14:53:00.000-07:00

We are all feeling much better this week, thanks for all the concern expressed. Today is the first day I really feel like my sinus infection is gone, and it is great! BJ and Gabe are healthy now as well.
We have been working a bunch on decluttering and getting organized around here. We I have a 3-month plan (I just love lists, what can I say?) of the things we are trying to get done before the baby is born.
Done so far:
I have a large, ever- growing bag of things to go to DI.
We have gone through our books, including old textbooks, to determine which ones will be given away, which ones we are using right now, and which ones can go in storage for a while. We consolidated the "keepers" onto one bookshelf, then we boxed up four 18- gallon sized Rubbermaid containers full of books. We are getting rid of the large bookcase that all the other books were on.
I repacked some things in storage including our Christmas decorations to make more space.
We downsized to a smaller, and more child- ~~friendly~~ proof television and entertainment center.
We have installed dimmer switches for our lights in all the bedrooms to conserve electricity. We'll be doing that in the rest of the house soon.

A few things we are working on now or will be soon:
Clearing every non- essential gadget or appliance off the kitchen counter and coming up with an organizational system to prevent junk build-up.
Going through all our closets and cupboards, giving stuff to DI, or boxing it up for storage.
BJ will install a ceiling fan in our room, but probably not until this summer.
BJ is also planning on building shelves in our tiny storage unit outside so that we can better utilize the space.
I am working on meal planning ideas and revamping my recipe binder to be more helpful. We recently came up with a grocery shopping list system that has helped somewhat in meal planning and preparation. It is an itemized list of our most commonly purchased items, that we circle as we run out of. I posted about it (and included the list for people to download) on my other blog here.

Gabe toddles around, "helping" as much as he can. He has become very interested in helping put things away in buckets and containers, and pushing laundry baskets up and down the hall. He pats his chest proudly when we say that he is a "big boy helper". He has been very interested in little babies, although he still points to himself and signs "baby" sometimes. He is finally starting to sign "mommy" when he sees me, and today he started saying "nananana" which is the closest thing I have heard to "mama". I know it isn't banana because he calls bananas "lala"s.

Anyway, that's what we have been up to and will probably be working on for some time. I am trying not to be overwhelmed by it all, but rather to enjoy the progress we are making.

Sickies

2010-01-21T16:53:00.000-07:00

This has been somewhat of a difficult week since one by one we have each gotten sick with a bad, mean cold complete with fever, aches, chills, headaches, sinus pressure, and a perforated eardrum for Gabriel (again). So, for what must be the 12th time, Gabe is on antibiotics (he's not a huge fan, just picture bright pink amoxicillin stains on shirts, pajamas, carpet, etc.) and we are all drinking tons of fluids, taking naps and continuing to take our vitamins as usual. It has been hardest on Gabe although he has improved tons; BJ was sick for several days but is now starting to feel much better too; I am a few days behind and since I can't really take much medicine am just waiting to be able to breathe again. It's hard for me to think of sickness as just part of life. It seems like we are always fighting something, and it kind of gets me feeling frustrated and wondering what more we can do. We try to wash hands, use sanitizer, keep things clean, get all our vaccines and stay away from people we know are sick, but with regular flu season just barely starting (yes, it's late I know, we just got out of H1N1 season and RSV season) it seems inevitable that we are exposed to something. I don't mean to complain so much, but surely other parents out there have felt similarly at times? What do you do to either stay healthy, or to deal with all the sickness with a more cheerful attitude?

A normal week

2010-01-18T12:28:00.000-07:00

This week has been a pretty normal week. I had my 25 week prenatal appointment, and everything is going smoothly. The baby is measuring right on 25 weeks, with a normal heart rate of 154 bpm, and I am not experiencing any swelling or high blood pressure like my last pregnancy. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that that continues to be the case.
BJ continues to be busy with work, occasionally working nights and other random times since he is on call to keep web servers running for his company.
Gabriel has been his normal cute self, getting in to everything and making us smile. We have been working with him on identifying people he knows, and he seems to have regressed somewhat in that he will NOT say or sign "mama" and rarely points to me when asked where I am. He knows how to make the sign, and he has pointed to me plenty of times before, although he has yet to even make an "m" sound. Lately, though, when asked where his mommy is, he just stares blankly, or turns around to play with his toys. What am I, chopped liver? Seriously, I feel like I deserve to at least be properly identified! I keep telling myself that he will learn it soon enough. Right?
We are enjoying our day off work today by doing... errands! Wahoo! I think it is great that BJ and I have the same day off (not always the case). By the way, for those who are interested, I have posted tutorials on my craft blog for a shirt to maternity shirt refashion, and a highchair re-cover. Check it out if you are interested.

18 months old

2010-01-12T11:51:00.000-07:00

Our family has been pretty busy this last week, but I didn't want to wait to long before writing about some of the things Gabriel is doing.
Gabe loves to "talk"! He jabbers all day, with all sorts of gesturing and expression. He says a few words we can recognize, such as "dada", "aaath" (bath), "dud" (good), "ahhhhffff" (soft), "ki- ka" (kitty cat), "fff-fff" (could be hot, fire, or woof), and a lot of other things that sound suspiciously like real expressions (i.e. he will pat himself on the chest while saying "ahdidi"- I did it?!). He doesn't verbalize a lot other than that, but he sure does understand things. He can pick the animal that makes the sound- moo, quack, meow, neigh, woof, and sometimes he will imitate the sound. He waves "bye-bye" and will run for his shoes and coat if I tell him we are going bye bye or in the car. He will come hold my hand and pull me to his room if he has a messy diaper and I ask him if he wants a diaper change. He has also been going to sit on his potty chair (although he doesn't know what to do there yet). He mimes brushing his teeth when you ask him if it's time to brush teeth. He will run to give hugs and kisses when asked (and sometimes without being asked). He can point to his head, hair, eyes, ears, mouth, nose, cheeks, chin, shoulders, belly button, elbow, knees, legs, feet, toes, hands, fingers, arms, socks, and shoes. He will also identify people in pictures, including Jesus, Daddy, Mommy, Gabriel, and occasionally others.
We have been working on better communication when Gabe wants something, and he does the signs for eat, drink, more, please, thank you, bath, mommy, daddy, ball, help, cereal, and baby.
Music and dancing are some of Gabe's favorite past times right now. He also loves to see himself in the mirror, "read" books and be read to, shut open doors and drawers, explore any area that is off- limits, help turn off lights, and push laundry hampers and baskets up and down the hall when I am doing laundry.
We are working with Gabe on being gentle and soft when he touches people and delicate things. He is usually pretty good, but he likes to grab your arm to get your attention, and he sure sinks those fingernails in- ouch!
Gabe is a pretty happy boy, especially when his tummy is full, and he is well rested. We love having him in our family- he adds such fun and joy to our lives.
Here are some recent photos. The ones of our family, where we are dressed in red and green were taken before Christmas by BJ's dad Ron, and the ones of Gabe in his Sunday clothes were taken a couple of days ago by BJ.

Craft Blog

2010-01-06T21:40:00.002-07:00

I just thought I would let you know that I have been and will be posting most of my crafty stuff on my craft blog that I am doing with my sister Marissa. The first half of the posts are actually crafty posts from the last year or so that I imported from this blog, so it won't be anything new, but there are several more recent posts. I will probably still occasionally post some of the things here for those who are interested, or post a link to a certain post on the other blog, in case you're like me and already have a bazillion blogs you check and don't have time/ don't remember to check one more.
Anyway, here is the link: Home Sweet Homebodies

Happy New Year!

2010-01-03T21:00:00.000-07:00

We had a great Christmas and New Year's Eve with my family in Oregon, and now we are back home, in the swing of things. We go back to work tomorrow and life goes on. This year will bring a few changes for our family, most of which revolve around the baby boy coming to our family around the end of April.
With each new year comes the potential of a new start, which is so... refreshing. There are so many possibilities. Which is probably why many people make new year's resolutions. Sometimes I let the time slip by, not wanting to set lofty, unreachable goals that will cause great disappointment after going unmet. Other times I feel like I could do anything I wanted to do, and I start the year with the best of intentions, some of which will be fruitful.
This year I do have some resolutions, and some are even specific, though I don't know if they could all be considered "measurable". I won't write all my goals here, but I will share a few:
-Work on eating more vegetables. The recommended number of servings of vegetables per day is 5. That seems like a lot, but if you consider that 1/2 cup of raw or cooked veggies is a full serving, it seems a little more attainable.
-Learn some new recipes. Cooking and baking have never been strengths of mine, and so I have never done a great job of having "real" dinners consistently ready for my family. I would like to feel more comfortable cooking (and therefore cook at least, oh, three times a week- haha!), instead of completely overwhelmed at the prospect of fixing anything more complex than scrambled eggs and toast. That last part was a joke. Kind of.
-Be more organized. I have been working on this one for a while. I think I would specifically like to find a way to keep the office and master bedroom looking neat. I guess that means I will need to do some decluttering and maybe look into some organizational/ storage solutions. We have a lot of stuff, and not a lot of room. I expect that will become more pronounced with our family's upcoming addition. Any suggestions out there on how to save space and be organized when you have 2 under 2 (or 3) years or age?
-Live gracefully. And by that I mean take a chill pill. I tend to want to have every little detail planned out and to know exactly what is going to happen and when. I have started to learn that that kind of attitude is not very healthy for a single person to have, much less a married person, much less with a baby, and, I'm guessing, much less with 2+ children. I want to be able to roll with the punches (pardon my use of cliches, they just work so nicely!) and not be flustered by every little change in plans. My hope is that by just taking a deep breath and accepting whatever comes with the best attitude I can muster, I will be happier, my husband will be happier, and my children will be happier.
I suppose those are plenty of goals to post. I do have a few other goals that are more personal, ongoing goals, but these are the goals I want to add to the mix this year. I do hope that they will bring satisfaction and not disappointment. I plan to print them out to have them accessible to me to read often, and think about my progress.

Christmas

2010-01-03T19:45:00.002-07:00

Here are some pictures from Christmas in Oregon, courtesy of my dad. I was bad an took hardly any pictures the whole time we were there. We had a great time with everyone there (with the exception of Tayler who is serving a mission in Australia, but we got to talk to him on the phone for an hour) including Marissa and Richard, due to a weather-induced change of plans.
One of my favorite new traditions for Christmas time is the "gifts of the heart" gift exchange. We do this Christmas night, after all the other festivities of the day. All of the siblings draw names and focus on creating a special gift for the person they chose. There aren't any set rules but the idea is that it is something that you spend time and effort on, rather than money. It is very fun to see what everyone does for each other, and this year was no exception. I know I had tons of fun putting a gift together for Marissa, and I think everyone else had a good time preparing and watching each other open these gifts as well. Incidentally, some of the gifts were hilariously funny while still thoughtful. Please indulge me as I share:
Anna gave BJ a fleece "babysitting vest" complete with extra pockets sewed on and stuffed with matchbox cars, board books, snack containers, toys, and even a pacifier on a velcro-removable ribbon.
Collin gave Tayler a recording of some of his songs on the piano (I'm not completely sure about this, because we were not privileged enough to hear it- it was in the mail I think) and a magic tricks kit that he could carry around with him to do for kids he meets as a sort of ice breaker.
Cara gave Anna a beauty advice book, with tips about fashion and beauty tailored for Anna's age and some of the things she already has. She wrote about matching, accessorizing, and face/hair care to look really put together. We all wanted to read what was in that book!
Tayler sent a package home that we got on Christmas Eve, and we opened while we were on the phone with him. He sent an assortment of gifts to everyone. He also included a beautiful pair of hand carved wooden earrings that were representative of the local style for me as a special gift.
Marissa created a custom scent for Collin, called "Eau de Man" (pronounced You Da Man) and it truly was the epitome of manliness. It was made of sweat, pine needles, gasoline, dirt, etc. It pretty much smelled the way Collin smells after working outside for several hours. Too funny.
Richard made some cool earrings for Cara out of buttons that he found at the store. Some of them he even painted, and of course they were safe for sensitive ears. They were definitely a chic addition to Cara's accessories.
I put together a pamper basket for Marissa full of things I made, including scented rice therapy packs for the neck and eyes, a shower cap, a bath mitt, and a manicure kit cover.
BJ made a calendar for Richard, with each month featuring an edited celebrity or superhero picture of Richard. Click here to see what I mean! It was a hoot.
I don't know if we will always be able to continue this tradition the way we are doing it now as our family grows in number, but it has sure been a fun part of Christmas the past few years that we have done it. I think it definitely fosters the true spirit of Christmas.

Ruffles, bows, lace, pink, frills....

2009-12-10T15:56:00.004-07:00

...We won't be using them. Haha. We are having another boy. My guess was that it would be a boy, so I wasn't surprised. The baby looks good, and is measuring only 4 days larger than expected, so we will be keeping our due date of April 28, 2010. I think BJ will figure out how to post our ultrasound pictures tonight. We haven't picked a name yet. We have a few that we both like, but haven't decided on one yet. We are excited that Gabe will have a little brother, and it will fun to watch them play together.

Is it a boy, or is it a girl?

2009-12-06T21:18:00.002-07:00

We invite one and all to make their guesses in our poll on the right. We find out the gender of the baby on Thursday morning. Is it a boy? Or is it a girl? We're excited to find out what you all think (and feel free to make comments too on this post if you like). Have fun!

Gift ideas that won't strain your budget

2009-12-02T08:51:00.002-07:00

I LOVE these sites- what cool ideas! I think some of these projects would make good stocking stuffers for kids. Many of them look really easy and fast to make. You just need paper, perhaps a few other supplies you probably have lying around the house, and a printer for some of the projects.
Fantastic Toys- freebies
Feed Your Soul- free printable art
Free animal sewing cards
The Toymaker- folding paper toys you can make yourself
Gift bags made from envelopes
Make your own gift bows
Let me know if you try any, and how it goes!

My take on the envelope gift bags:

Regular jeans to maternity jeans

2009-12-01T15:39:00.003-07:00

http://www.instructables.com/id/How_to_Make_Maternity_Jeans_Using_Regular_Jeans_an/

On second thought, I won't post pictures of my jeans now. It's just one of those awkward, I look really chubby- not quite pregnant pictures. Maybe later...

Anyway, thanks Alise for sending me the link to this project!

Gift Tags

2009-12-01T12:29:00.004-07:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving last week and I enjoyed the opportunity to reflect on many things I am grateful for. This week I have continued working on different Christmas projects and looking for more gift ideas, and have come across many great resources on some really cool blogs. I thought I would share some of them in a post or two.
Check out these cute gift tags that you can print:

http://www.lindalumdebono.blogspot.com (Top right of the page)
http://nobitingwolfie.blogspot.com/2009/11/tag-youre-it.html
http://www.lollychops.com/ (A favorite of mine)
http://littlepaperdog.blogspot.com/2008/07/big-four-zero.html
http://limegardenias.blogspot.com/2009/11/peppermint-tags-for-you.html
http://aprintaday.blogspot.com/2009/05/downloads-tags-stickers-and-notepad.html
http://cp.c-ij.com/en/contents/3125/list_45_1.html
http://thepaperseed.com/?p=213
http://tipnut.com/wrap-up/

I have printed several of these with great results! I especially like how some of them look printed on brown craft paper, or various colors of cardstock.

Our little buddy

2009-11-22T16:27:00.002-07:00

So Gabriel has been developing quickly lately. His ability to communicate, while still behind the curve is coming along. He uses a mix of words and signs to communicate with us. He uses more signs than words, but the words he now uses are "Dadda" which may mean either Mom or Dad, "Jesus" said with a strong slur. He used to say "kiss" but hasn't for a while. The signs he has learned are "mom", "dad", "more", "drink", "eat", and most recently "bath". It has been fun to watch him learn and grow. He imitates many things we do. I was snapping to some music a few days ago, and ever since, Gabe has been trying to snap when he hears music. Our most sure-fire way of getting him to take a bite of anything is to get his attention, and very deliberately eat the same item, as it is fed to him. He is very much a toddler, in that he loves to toddle everywhere. He has gotten much better at walking, but frequently does not pay attention to his surroundings, and consequently trips and falls. He walk, runs, and goes backward, all while paying no attention to where he's going. It's amazing he doesn't have more bruises than he does. He's been more healthy lately than he was a few months ago, but all the same he seems to be constantly fighting something. He's had a cold for what seems like a month, and had an upset stomach randomly a couple of nights ago. He loves books. He's just flips through their pages and likes to look at their pictures, and feel them if they have textures in them.

I am so excited for Christmas!!!!

2009-11-14T20:04:00.003-07:00

I have been listening to Christmas music all week. And loving it. It has helped me get into the spirit of Christmas as I make highly secret Christmas gifts. :D My family has a tradition of drawing names for Christmas where the giver is to put together a gift for the receiver preferably using their talents or catering to the talents of the receiver. There isn't a rule against spending money per se, but it must be a "gift of the heart". Anyway, I drew Marissa this year, so I have been busy (and having lots of fun) making *something* for her. Planning and working on gifts for others makes the Christmas season so exciting! Marissa and I are also working on a super secret Christmas project together. It is going to be so exciting to give! I can't say what it is or who it is for, but we are really excited about how it is turning out so far! I will definitely be posting pictures after Christmas!
I am a little stumped on what I could make for the men & boys (old and young) in my life. I am not opposed to spending money, but I am really having fun making stuff. The requirements are that it has to be useful and not junky. No trinkets. I have a few ideas, but none that are particularly striking my fancy at the moment. Any suggestions?

16 Months Old

2009-11-09T17:40:00.001-07:00

Cute boy! Gabe is at such a fun age. He is very mobile, getting into everything. He is very aware of what is going on around him. He knows when we are getting ready to leave, and he makes sure you know that he wants to come along! He has been very affectionate lately. As he runs around playing with toys, he runs back to me every few minutes to hug and/or kiss me if I'm sitting on the floor, or lay his head on my knee if I'm on the couch. He does the actions to the "Eensy Weensy Spider" song, as well as "Open, Shut Them". He still doesn't say "Mama" or "Dada" (except for sometimes he signs them) but he says something that sounds a LOT like "Jesus" when he points to a picture of Jesus, which is always accompanied by big smiles. Gabriel likes to talk on the phone, whether he's just pretending, or Grandma or Grandpa or someone else is talking to him. He usually doesn't say anything back, just grins from ear to ear. I have seen Gabe "reading" books upside down several times this past week or two, pointing to words and pictures, and babbling. He has had a bad cold and cough since about Halloween that he is just starting to get over. He has been such a trouper, a really happy boy despite not feeling well. The most interesting things in our house to Gabe right now are the window blinds, the amplifier for the speakers in our living room, and the toilet paper dispensers, plus anything else that is dangerous, messy, or off limits. We keep the TV area gated off right now, as well as the entrance to the kitchen, which Gabe is not really a fan of. The toilet paper dispensers in our bathrooms also have no toilet paper on them currently, since if it is in reach, it will end up all over the bathroom floor. Haha. We have been reaching new levels of babyproofing as Gabe gets more curious and mobile. I'm sure it will only continue as he gets taller, learns to climb, open cabinets, etc. Today I saw something silvery glinting in his hand as he was running around, and after initially dismissing it, I decided I had better check it out. It was BJ's wedding ring! That could have had a sad/frustrating/confusing ending. I don't know why he decided to go pick that up, but I had to laugh out loud when I saw what it was. Good thing he didn't swallow it. Gabe has been trying hard to use a fork and spoon lately. Usually I help him, but he really likes feeding himself. Since he has had ALL of his teeth for a few months now, he eats pretty much everything we eat, with a few exceptions. Gabriel continues to be in general a happy, energetic boy who loves to laugh, and I love it! Now if only I can have enough energy to keep up with him!

Halloween

2009-11-05T12:15:00.002-07:00

This Halloween was kind of fun, because we got to dress Gabe up and he kinda liked it! As I was making his costume, I would periodically try it on him to see how it fit and what alterations I needed to make. Gabe really seemed to like wearing it, and he even cried a couple of times when I took the costume off him to keep working on it. I'm not sure how much he understood of what was going on, but he loved looking at himself in the mirror in his costume and saying "fff-fff-fff" (woof woof). He was also pretty fascinated that people would put things in his trick or treat bag. He got to take a couple bites of his first candy bar, which he thought was pretty amazing, judging from the faces and sounds he made while eating it. We took Gabe to our ward's Trunk-or-Treat party and to BJ's office to trick or treat at all the cubicles. It was fun because everyone was dressed up- some pretty elaborately- and Gabe was somewhat bewildered by it. He did get the hang of picking up candy and putting it in his bag. We dressed him up again on Halloween night although we did not take him outside. We had Marissa and Richard over along with some other friends, Max and Rebecca, to carve pumpkins, eat treats, and watch Ghostbusters. Anyway, we thought Gabe was the cutest little puppy ever to trot (ok, so we tend to be a little biased in these things), so here are some pictures.

Craft Day

2009-10-30T17:02:00.000-07:00

Marissa and I have been getting together about once a week to do a crafty-homey type thing. This project was the result of Marissa wanting to make something in the "home decor" department. We thought letter blocks were cute, but didn't have any wooden blocks. We ended up downloading a paper folding box template and making our non-cubical cubes out of cardboard. (Not recommended, for time management purposes) Then we covered them in paper- black and white scrapbook paper on one set, and brown craft paper on the other. It's all held together with generous amounts of Mod Podge. I love the contrast of the red letters on the black and white. I used wrapping paper to make the letters on the Christmas block set. We traced around enlarged letters from a font we liked on the computer so the letters would match (I don't consider myself an artist in that department at all). Anyway, despite being fairly time consuming (mostly assembling all the little boxes) we had fun putting this project together.

Sweater Love

2009-10-29T20:29:00.005-07:00

I love sweaters, but I always have a few that aren't "quite right". It's easy to give many sweaters a style makeover to make them more wearable.
I had fun experimenting with turning pull-over sweaters into cardigan-style sweaters.

My sister and I added some interest to a boring, plain sweater just by sewing on some ribbon and a few buttons. Sorry, I forgot to take "before" pictures of the next couple!

Similarly, this sweater wasn't working for Marissa because the sleeves were an awkward length- too long for 3/4 sleeves, too short for long sleeves. So we decided to go short!

I have a few other ideas for sweater refashioning, which I have yet to try. If they work out, maybe I will post more pictures.

Long Time

2009-10-26T18:31:00.000-07:00

Yep, it has been a long time since I posted. A lot has happened in the past month or two. I will try to catch up.
Here are some albums and videos that I meant to post when Gabe turned 15 months old. Now he is nearly 16 months. Wah.

This video is from about a month or so ago, when he was really starting to walk around more. Now he is much more stable and just running all around the house, following me from room to room.

My mom came to visit about 2 weeks ago. We had her stay with us the 5 days she was here, and we had a good time! I was terrible about taking pictures, although I got a few. Some of the things we did were: Go see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir rehearsal, make applesauce, lots of baking, visiting my Grandma Christensen, driving up Hobble Creek Canyon and taking pictures, barbecuing, and lots of visiting.

Probably the main reason that I haven't posted in a while is that I haven't been feeling too energetic lately because... I'm pregnant with Baby #2! I am due April 28. I have been very fatigued but the nausea is really starting to decrease. Thank goodness. I am definitely showing earlier than with my first pregnancy, although it is definitely the awkward stage where I just look chubby, not pregnant. Thus, no pictures yet. Haha.
Anyway, more to come on some of the other things I have been working on lately.

Time to blog again

2009-10-25T20:34:00.004-07:00

Rochelle has been asking me to contribute to the blog again. I remember a time when I was doing much if not most of the writing, and I was the one trying to get Rochelle to write. My, times have changed. But I should be doing more of this. I should be recording history better, and journalling better. We've had a good month. My birthday came and went, and it was fun. We had a couple of different little get-togethers with people, and that's kinda the way I think I prefer it. I enjoy small groups instead of large crowds. I can focus more on the people I'm with instead of trying to say 'hi' to everyone, and bouncing from conversation to conversation. We went to Sam Hawk with Richard, Marissa, Charles, and Annette. I always thoroughly enjoy myself there. The food is great. And the company was splendid. And my parents treated us to a dinner at Teppanyaki. Eating there reminded Rochelle and I of a chance meeting we had had there before we started dating years ago. It's a funny story. I'm not going to take the time to post it here though. At least not right now. ;-) And Rochelle and I celebrated on our own some too. Rochelle decided that for my birthday that we could get a grill. I've always wanted one, but it hadn't always been feasible until recently. So now I'm 30, I have a wife, and son, and a grill. Isn't life grand? I tried it out, and promptly burnt the first thing I cooked on it. It seemed fitting and proper that I did. Traditional. Men around the country burn their meet on the grill and somehow love it all the same. I can now join in their ranks. Well... I could go on, but I've learned that if I blog too much in one post, the post won't get read, and I'm afraid I'm nearing or past that point already. But I will try to post again soon. I like to hear myself talk, and this seems as good of a forum for that as any.

BJ

Happy 30th Birthday BJ!

2009-09-28T21:29:00.000-07:00

It's true: BJ has finished his 30th year of life. I am fortunate enough to have spent the last 5 years at his side, and look forward to many more years together.
I could wax profound here, but let me just say that I love you dearly BJ, and wish you the happiest of birthdays!
I will let BJ give the birthday synopsis if he so desires!

14 Months Old!

2009-09-08T19:08:00.004-07:00

Well, the time sure does fly. This has been a fun month as we continually see more and more of Gabe's fun personality emerge. Here is his "bio" for the month:

Gabe LIKES: playing with his toys, unstacking and knocking things down, graham crackers, poking people's noses, playing "chase", exploring anything and everything- rooms with open doors, trying to open the toilet lid, opening and closing cupboards and drawers, climbing over obstacles, and watching people blow bubbles.

Gabe LOVES: Grapes, fruit, cheese, playing with Mommy and Daddy, playing peekaboo and pattycake by himself, having stories read to him and turning the pages, going outside, bath time, playing with real or pretend phones, remotes, etc., playing roll the ball and throw the ball (he has pretty good aim too), and kick the ball (with some help), looking at himself and others in the mirror, making people laugh, or gasp with "surprise".

Gabe does NOT like: eggs, nap time, nose wipes, sitting still for too long, being in confined spaces, strangers trying to hold him.

Gabe hasn't started walking independently, not that I think he couldn't, but he seems to be content with crawling (which he started late as well) or holding on to things as he walks. He will take a few steps, but then he "dives" toward whatever his goal is. We put some shoes on him, which may help, but we shall see!
Gabe is starting to communicate more with us, not so much by him speaking, but in gestures, grunts (!), and a few signs. He evidently understands a good deal of what we say to him. He will sometimes point to his mouth when he wants to eat, and clap his hands when he wants more of something. He looks at the picture of Jesus in his room when I say "Where is Jesus?" and he crawls toward me as fast as he can if I get my keys out and say "Let's go bye-bye." When I remind him to be gentle, he reaches out and strokes my hair as "gently" as he can. He gives kisses when asked to, and sometimes without being asked. This week as I have picked him up, he puts his arms around me and pats me on the back.
Gabe still takes a 1 hour morning nap, but I think we are about to phase the afternoon nap out; we end up with a lot of screaming and lately he is pretty happy to just keep playing- and then we put him down for bed an hour earlier, at 7pm. :D Gabe goes to bed pretty easily though, we lay him down while he is still awake, and although we sometimes hear him crying a little bit (like if he hears any loud noises) he usually goes right to sleep and doesn't wake up until 6:30- 7:30 in the morning.
We have had some concerns with Gabe's health this month. First, we were worried that Gabe might have a milk intolerance because he was throwing up for a week, so we took him off milk completely. We have started giving him cheese again and other things with milk, even making rice cereal with milk, and no problems so far, so we will see what happens with that. Then last week we all got pretty sick with congestion, aches, pains, slight fevers, etc. and Gabe started having difficulty breathing with wheezing so we took him in to the after hours clinic and got him started on breathing treatments, which we have been continuing at home, but with less frequency as he is getting better. Poor little guy is used to the mask on his face and just leaves it alone (for the most part) while we sing songs or read books. Then we found out he is getting another ear infection. Big surprise. The doctor really recommended that Gabe gets tubes put in his ears, so we may be doing that soon.
Gabe is really a pretty happy kid. We love him dearly and think the world of him, as parents do of their children. We have so much fun with him and are really enjoying watching his personality develop.

Happy September!

2009-09-01T16:24:00.004-07:00

Every September, I feel that mix of sadness at summer coming to an end, and excitement about all things fall. Thinking of all the things that were on my summer- to- do list, and exploring all the possibilities of fun activities yet to try. I am excited for the leaves to change colors and the weather to cool down a bit. I can't help but imagine the smell of crayons, erasers, and freshly sharpened pencils (I might just take a little walk down the aisles at Office Depot for fun). It almost makes me long for school days again. Almost. September also reminds me of canning peaches, immunizations, eating tomatoes, and packing sack lunches with apples and peanut butter sandwiches on homemade bread (notice a food theme there?). But I digress.
With the beginning of September, I have scaled back my work hours a bit, so I am only working 8 hours a week now. It is nice to be able to spend more time with Gabriel. Speaking of Gabe, he is cutting his 13-16th teeth right now, two of which are molars. Poor kid. He also has a cold this morning. In addition, he has to sleep in his pack and play, because we took his crib back to Target last weekend (it was recalled) and we haven't had a chance to get a new crib for him yet.
On the docket for today: naps, sorting through piles and piles of papers, sewing some new pants for Gabe, possibly even making my bed. Ha.

Quilted travel jewelery case

2009-08-29T11:16:00.001-07:00

I did a similar case a few months ago for a camera. I used the leftover fabric for this case, making it a little larger, adding a ribbon for easier carrying, and dividing the case so there were two pockets.

This is a quick and fun project. Visit my previous entry on making the case to see some links to a tutorial and some helpful tips.

Update on Gabe

2009-08-26T19:33:00.002-07:00

Today we took Gabe to Primary Children's Hospital to see a craniofacial specialist, and good news: we were reassured that the ridge on his head will not get any worse, his brain development will not be poorly affected, and the ridge may even disappear as Gabe grows. We were pretty much expecting that, but wanted to hear it from someone who could tell us confidently that that was the case. So now we have our peace of mind and are able to lay our anxieties to rest. Yay!

Happy 5 Year Anniversary!

2009-08-25T14:53:00.004-07:00

I would certainly be remiss if I did not mention that BJ and I just celebrated our 5th Anniversary. At the risk of sounding a little mushy, these past five years have been the happiest of my life, and I consider myself blessed to be married to such a fun, kind, witty, patient, cool, talented, smart guy. We have had so many wonderful times, and I still get excited thinking about what our future holds.
So last week we headed out to Oregon to stay with my family for a while. We went swimming (one of Gabe's favorite things to do), hiking to Multnomah Falls, BJ took Cara's senior pictures, and we went to the Portland LDS Temple where we were married. On our Anniversary, BJ and I left Gabe with my family and we drove out to the coast. We honeymooned at Cannon Beach after we were married, and decided we would go back on our 5th anniversary. This time we stayed at a cute, oddly-shaped Bed and Breakfast right on the Oceanfront in Seaside. We had a really nice time, eating at Camp 18 (a really cool restaurant on Highway 26) like we did on our first trip to the beach together, right before we got engaged. We enjoyed walking on the boardwalk and down the beach. It was kind of cool and stormy, just like it was on our honeymoon. We went into a couple of really cool toy shops and bought some fun games- Mancala, Pass the Pigs, and Banana Grams, which is like the game Syzygy, which I love. My family drove out to the beach the next day, bringing Gabe of course, and we headed to Indian Beach. Love that beach. The Oregon Coast is so picturesque! The weather warmed up quite a bit. Anyway, Gabe LOVED the ocean. He is definitely a water baby. We walked him down to the waves (the tiny ones) and jumped him over each one. He loved it. He didn't care that his legs were all cold he was just enthralled the whole time. He was not happy with us when we decided that he had had enough and it was time to go warm up. We ate at Camp 18 again (my family wanted to go)on our way back and had fun playing games at the table and watching Gabe's antics.
We had a great time in Oregon, and it was kind of hard to come back and get back in to work and more work.

Here is another web album from my dad with a few more pictures.

Man's Shirt to Woman's Shirt Tutorial

2009-08-13T20:06:00.003-07:00

Here is my own take on the man's shirt to woman's shirt refashion that has been going around the online sewing/ crafting community lately. There are quite a few different styles out there. Clothing refashioning really appeals to me, especially pattern-less refashioning.
After some hesitation, I decided to share pictures I took along the way with commentary, tutorial- style. I am a little nervous to share; this is the first tutorial I have ever written for something that I made up. If there is anything that is unclear, please let me know and I will try to clarify.
Click on the album below if you would like to be able to see the instructions. They were too long to include in the slideshow here, but you can see them in the album itself. I appreciate any feedback on whether this format is useful for a tutorial, if anyone tries it.

Brief update

2009-08-11T16:02:00.003-07:00

It's been another interesting week so far. We got news on Saturday that my dad had been in an ATV accident and was in the hospital, fortunately, he was discharged only a few hours later, with painful but minor injuries that will heal in time. To read his account of what happened, see this post. We are so grateful that he is alright.
Today Gabe went to the pediatrician to get his ears checked to see if he would need tubes. One ear had some fluid in it but neither ear was infected. Yay! We have not had any sickness or infection for a few weeks. (Knock on wood.)
We are looking forward to seeing my family in the near future, and celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary. More on that to come.

Photos, photos, and more photos

2009-08-08T15:14:00.002-07:00

Rochelle has asked me to post some of my favorite photos from recent activities, and so here it goes. Moving in chronological order, we'll start with Charles and Annette who graciously allowed me to take their pictures for their engagement and their bridals. It was a lot of fun... and they make a great couple. Here's a few of my favorites from those photo shoots.

This next slide show may be a little long, so you may just want to skim through it if you are short on time. Rochelle's mom asked me to take photos of their production "The Music Man". She was vocal music director for the show. The slide show is up for the benefit of the people who were in the show, and therefore every picture that turned out is posted here.

And last, but not least, are some pics I took of Gabe today while he was playing. It is getting much more difficult to take his picture since he is so mobile now. He doesn't stay put. When I get the camera out, he immediately starts crawling towards me, and climbing on me. And so many of these pictures are taken an arms length away. All the same, I really like how some of these turned out. Some of these really make me laugh.

Well, that's the end of the slide shows. Hope you enjoyed them.

What a week

2009-08-07T19:05:00.013-07:00

It's been another busy/ good week. We went to the Orem Owlz baseball game on Monday with some friends of ours in our ward. I hadn't been to a baseball game since high school. We really enjoyed it and Gabe did really well too.

I made my first ever zucchini bread this week as well, from a great recipe I got from BJ's mom. YUM. (Thanks, Suzanne!) We even used some zucchini that we picked from our garden. I froze the rest of the zucchini we had for easy zucchini bread- making in the future. Oh, I got a bunch of flowers (Zinnias) from my garden too, which I love!

Another "highlight" of the week was taking our old white car in for what we hoped was a minor repair, and ending up having to pay nearly $700 to get it fixed. Boo. That was not news we were happy to receive.
On to more important things:
Gabe is 13 months old today. He started standing up by himself with no support several weeks ago, for just a few seconds at a time, and now he is able to stand for quite a bit longer. Last night he took three steps by himself toward me. It is so funny to watch him as he does this. He laughs and gasps, as if he is just thrilled that he is doing it by himself, but also a little scared. Besides walking, he is very mobile, crawling all over the place. He still frequently crawls with one knee down, and his other foot on the floor, if that makes sense. He loves to play roll the ball with us, and crawls after his ball as fast as he can to roll it back to us. One of his favorite toys is still the push cart/ walker thingy. He loves to push it down the hall at a run! When he runs into something and can't go forward anymore, he gets really upset and will sometimes scream until I come turn him around. I guess we will have to work on teaching him to turn himself around. Haha.

Last week he started teething again. He popped three teeth through all about at the same time, and one more is about to cut through. All on the bottom- 2 canines, and 2 molars. He has been remarkably cheerful.
Gabe has also finally consented to holding his own sippy cup while he drinks. For the longest time he would throw his arms behind him and make us hold the cup while he drank, but now he's got it all figured out, and he has even branched out to a couple of new kinds of sippy cups too, although the ones with the straws are his favorites.
One of the sweetest things Gabe does right now is if you tell him you love him or ask for a kiss, he will start smacking his lips, lean forward, and kiss you- sometimes with a smack, sometimes open- mouthed. Then he says "tiss, tiss, tiss." That is pretty much his only word that he says consistently that we understand the meaning for. He understands lots of words and responds to them, but he doesn't use much verbal language himself yet.
This seems to be an age of curiosity. He is in to anything and everything. It is stressful to me at times, as I am realizing I have some more baby- proofing to do, but I am loving watching him develop and learn. Like most babies, he is doing an in- depth, independent study of gravity. Haha.
I love this kid!

Thanks for letting me record this here- I know not everybody likes to read this kind of stuff, but for me, at least right now, it is how I am journaling Gabriel's growth and so it is important to me.

Baby Alert!

2009-08-04T19:09:00.002-07:00

Someone should invent some sort of alarm that goes off when your child is about to get into something they shouldn't. I would buy one.
Gabe is only a year old, but he's at the stage where he is very curious, fairly mobile, and loves to put things in his mouth. Dangerous combination! It means that he needs fairly constant supervision. I am learning not to be lulled into a false sense of security when Gabe is quiet. A few times today I have looked up or around the corner after noticing that Gabe was being quieter than usual, only to find him getting into something he shouldn't. He knows it too, because he jumps when he sees me and puts the thing (whatever it is) down. Usually the "thing" I find is a piece of lint, carpet, kleenex (or what's left of it) or nasty old piece of food or dirt. How does he even find that stuff? Sometimes, though, I find him getting into my purse (why did I leave it on the floor again?), trying to chew on the power cord to BJ's computer or the vertical blinds on our sliding glass door, or reaching into the bathroom garbage. Why do these things hold such attraction to babies? I understand that they are curious and trying to learn about the world around them. I don't want to stifle that. Yet I want to keep Gabe safe and not let him get into things that are going to hurt him or make him sick.
Going outside is a whole different ballgame. Most kids love to be outside, but there isn't much out there that I am thrilled to see him put in his mouth. I've seen parents go to both extremes on this; some almost wont put their kids (babies/ toddlers) down when they go outside, others let their kids pick up, play with, and taste anything that isn't poop or poison.
My questions for you all are:
1. What are the strangest, funniest, icky-est things that your kids, siblings, nieces/ nephews etc. have tried to eat?
2. Did those kids eventually learn on their own not to put nasty things in their mouths, or did it take constant vigilance on the parent's part for the first several years of their lives?
3. Should babies be allowed to pick up, play with, and lick/chew anything that doesn't pose a threat to their safety, whether inside or outside?
Feel free to answer one or all of the questions!
Thanks in advance!

BJ and Rochelle in the 1980's

2009-08-01T22:04:00.002-07:00

>Laughing<

Funny, funny, funny!
If you want to waste time, make your own at yearbookyourself.com I'm still laughing! I may have to post more of the pictures I did at a later date.

Back in the thick of things

2009-07-30T15:08:00.003-07:00

We are back from a fun but quick trip to Oregon. My parents were kind enough to fly us out to see The Music Man performance which my mom directed the music for and my siblings at home performed in. While this musical is not necessarily my favorite musical, I enjoyed watching it immensely. The cast did a great job with their acting, singing, and dancing, and watching it in the outdoor theater was really enjoyable, despite the heat and humidity. (Man, I thought I would be enjoying 70-80* F weather in Oregon, not the 100+ damp degrees we suffered through if we walked outside!) Anyway, BJ took some photos that turned out really well. I am going to ask him to post them. He actually needs to post several sets of pictures he has taken recently.
Gabe did really well on the airplane both times, and he warmed right up to his grandparents, aunts and uncle. We enjoyed celebrating Gabe's and my birthdays, and visiting in general. We look forward to going back next month!
Now we are back in the middle of work. Luckily, we have been able to fit some fun things in this week. Last night we had a couple in our ward over to play games. Tonight after Gabe is in bed I will go to my yoga class at the church (fun for me, not so much for BJ). Tomorrow night is BJ's company party/BBQ up at the reservoir.
Next week promises to be just as exciting as I kick it off at a defensive driving class! (Just kidding. I'm not too excited about that. It is a requirement for all the county employees.) Anyway, pictures to come soon. Promise.

Baby Hooded Towels

2009-07-23T14:35:00.005-07:00

If I have ever come to your baby shower, there is a good chance you received a hooded towel along with other baby goodies from me (Ok, I didn't do this every time, but several times I have). My mom showed me how to make these several years ago, and I've enjoyed making them ever since.

The above picture shows a hooded towel the way I was taught to make it- using a bath towel and a specially folded washrag. This is great for newborns. If you have a big headed baby (like me) who outgrows their hooded towel, you may want to try a different method, like the one shown next!

^This is one of my more recent hooded towels, made with half a hand towel instead of a washrag. You just cut the hand towel in half, fold and sew that raw edge to itself, match the seam you just sewed to the center of the long edge of the bath towel, pin, and sew. You can probably figure it out from the picture. You can see in the picture that I like to fold the decorative edge of the hand towel up before I sew it. This cuff is a nice detail, and also keeps the towel from flopping over baby's eyes. There is plenty of room for baby and toddler heads. There are other methods out there for hooded towels for older kids.

The ties that you see in some of the pictures is a recent idea I got from Martha Stewart- make the towel into a bath apron for yourself- handy when you don't want to be nearly as wet as the baby by the end of the bath! It also gets the towel into position so you can quickly lift baby out, onto your lap, and cover with the towel to keep as warm and toasty as possible.

My cute little guy after a bath!

A cute way to package the hooded towel that my mom taught me. Roll the sides of the towel in to the center, fold up, and tie. This creates a nice little pouch you can fill with bath goodies. Draw a face on a disposable diaper if you want, and put under the hood.

Another cute idea for packaging. This is just a washrag folded in half to be a triangle, then tightly rolled from the corner to the folded edge, then the roll is folded twice and tied with a ribbon. I think it is cute as it is to be a bath scrubber (it is washable as is, but you could undo it to wash it to be a little more sanitary, then redo it), but some people add all sorts of decoration, googly eyes etc. and use it as an ice holder for bumps and bruises- a "boo-boo bunny". You can google that if you want to see way more detailed tutorials on how to make.
My cutie again. I added ric rac as an easy embellishment on the hood.

Happy Birthday Rochelle

2009-07-19T20:11:00.004-07:00

It's time for my monthly post here on the blog, and I would just like to devote this particular blog to my wonderful wife. Rochelle has been a blessing to me ever since I've first met her. Rochelle's birthday has special significance to us as well because it was also the day on which we became engaged. And I can honestly say that every year has been my happiest year yet. As this time of year comes around, and as we celebrate Rochelle's birthday, our engagement, and our anniversary, I think back to our first summer together. I say "together" but really, we didn't spend much time physically together that summer, but rather we spent a lot of time talking to each other on the phone, and sending emails back and forth. We got to know each other from a distance that summer. I remember that I had a hard time saying goodbye as we talked on the phone. At times I knew that it was time to go, but I just couldn't bring myself to saying goodbye or hanging up the phone until I was certain I had heard the "click" on the other end. That feeling has never gone away for me. Even now, as I leave work at the end of the day, I will often call Rochelle just to talk to her for the 15 minutes until I get home. Rochelle has always had a way of making me feel at home in her presence. She is a peace loving person, with a desire to please and help those around her. I am very grateful for Rochelle, and I love her more every day.

It's never easy for me to find voice for my feelings for those who are close to me, but it is especially so for Rochelle. Let me just say that I am grateful that God has sent this angel to be with me.

Happy Birthday Rochelle.

Results

2009-07-17T10:21:00.003-07:00

Gabe's CT scan happened yesterday. They sedated him, which made him really loopy for a while afterwards, and did the scan which only took 5-7 minutes or so. He was also given versed, which is a drug which not only causes relaxation, but retrograde amnesia. So Gabe won't remember the 2-3 minutes before he got it (i.e. the IV insertion, which he was understandably not happy about) or anything about the scan or waking up. So that's good. The whole procedure happened very smoothly, and the pediatric sedation team along with the other personnel, child life specialist etc. were all very helpful and pleasant. The pediatric radiologist wasn't there during the scan so we were told that we would have to wait a few hours before our pediatrician could obtain the results.
I called the pediatrician late in the afternoon to remind him that the results would be available, and he called me back fairly promptly. He didn't give too much interpretation of the results, just what the radiologist found. His metopic suture is fused, which you actually could expect as early as 6-8 months of age (although There seems to be some conflicting information about that). However, you would not expect the craniostenosis (ridging) on that suture. The rest of Gabe's sutures are all normal, as is his brain- no squeezing, pinching, or anything concerning.
Thank goodness.
Because the ridging is still abnormal, the pediatrician wants to refer us to craniofacial specialists up in Salt Lake City.
My thoughts: Obviously the metopic suture closed a little bit prematurely, or it fused abnormally, causing the fairly mild ridging Gabe now has. It seems to me that at this point, it probably isn't going to get any worse, and any treatment would be mainly cosmetic. Part of me doesn't want to go to the specialist, perhaps for fear that we would find out that something really is wrong and he needs some sort of invasive, risky treatment. The other part of me needs to know exactly what is going on, and if there is anything we need to do, at least for peace of mind if nothing else. Of course we will take him in to get checked by the specialist. I don't know when that will be yet, but we will continue to give updates as we learn more information.
On a somewhat humorous note, all the stress of this week (from Gabe and otherwise) must be subconsciously affecting BJ and I (of course!) because this morning we each woke up from stressful but hilarious dreams. I dreamed that we had bought a large house, which had an area for a bonfire in the backyard. Lots of people came over and they lit a big bonfire, which started spewing coals and sparks everywhere, until the ground was covered in burning embers. I was the only one in my dream bothered by this. BJ woke up from a dream in which I had persuaded him that it would be really fun and exciting to participate in venomous snake racing (whatever that is- haha). In the dream BJ was holding the snake by its head to keep it from biting him as we were waiting for the race to start, and was using all his might to control it, but it kept wiggling, opening its mouth and baring its teeth, and trying to bite his hand. In the dream, I was not concerned about the snakes, apparently because I worked with snakes and other reptiles during my time at the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum (PS- none of those snakes were venomous).
BJ, you'll have to correct me if I got any of the details wrong.
Anyone an expert at dream interpretation?

This Week=

2009-07-14T19:43:00.002-07:00

A busy week. Has been and will be.
Not that I mind terribly, it is just going to take some planning.
BJ and I work as usual, he full time, me part time (currently I am working 3 half- days each week for a grand total of 12 hours). Add in the usual stuff- taking care of Gabe, running errands, going visiting teaching, FHE with a couple in the ward, yoga class, seeing family, work inservice, doing laundry, chores, etc. Now add in the wedding of a close friend, with the reception and luncheon, BJ helping to plan the bachelor party, and having taken bridal pictures (a few days ago). That stuff is all pretty fun, pretty exciting, but it's not all. Later this week we are taking Gabe in to have a head CT scan. That's the part I'm not super excited for. I have been told the pediatric sedation team is supposed to take part, but I can't imagine that he would need more than a mild sedative to help him hold still. Still, a CT scan is a series of several X-ray images that give a cross- sectional view of whatever it is that needs to be examined. In Gabriel's case, his head. The concern is that there is a ridge on top of his skull that has become a bit larger. The top of his head should feel smooth, but there is a definite ridge. You can't see it because his hair covers it, but it is obvious when you feel it. It may be caused by the sutures (which allowed his skull to mold when he was born) closing prematurely- called craniosynostosis. Our thought (as well as the pediatrician's) is that while this is not normal, it is pretty mild as of yet. The purpose of the CT scan will be to determine if it is really craniosynostosis, and if any action needs to be taken. We are optimistic that everything will turn out all right. All the same, thinking about it is giving me a little bit of anxiety! Anyway, we will post an update on that when we have more information. Until then, we are just keeping on as usual, and maybe it's a good thing this week is so busy- maybe it will keep us from worrying too much.

Crocheted Dish Rags and Hand Towel

2009-07-11T20:32:00.003-07:00

This was a simple if not quick project for me. It is a nice project to work on when you want to have your hands busy while doing something else that requires attention. I only picked up my crocheting while I was doing something else too, like watching movies, riding in the car (as a passenger!), watching my son play etc. Thus it took me quite some time to finish a little project. I used a half double crochet stitch, with a size F crochet hook, and just started with a chain as long as I thought I would like my dish rags. The hand towel I did the same, just twice as long. I added stripes or a border on some of them. The yarn is 100% cotton. The rags match my kitchen and I am excited to use them!

The promised photos

2009-07-09T13:54:00.002-07:00

I thought we had pictures of Gabe eating some cake, but I guess we only took video of that. Enjoy the other pictures though.

In some ways the cake turned out better than I expected, and in some ways it was a big disappointment for me. The fondant worked great (however two days later, my arms are still sore from kneading it- it was a beast) and I like how it looked on the cake. The frosting design even turned out pretty well except for the space in the middle of the O that I forgot to color. :( The problem was applying it to the cake. I put the frosting in the freezer for a couple of hours and then tried to apply it to the cake and pull off the wax paper, but I didn't realize I needed to hurry and take it off while it was still frozen. Thus, I ended up having to choose between leaving the wax paper on and letting people take it off their own cake slices, or ripping it off and leaving an unappetizing mess of black and red goo. I chose to leave the paper on. The following day, I tried pulling off the paper again, and realized that the frosting had dried somewhat, and the wax paper came off easily without destroying the design. So if you ever decide to do this, consider doing it a day in advance. The fondant keeps the cake inside moist, so no worries about it drying out.
Here are the links I used to make the cake:
The frosting image: http://www.ehow.com/how_4596120_edible-cake-images.html
The fondant: http://whatscookingamerica.net/PegW/Fondant.htm -I found this link to be very informative and helpful.
The Wilton buttercream frosting recipe and instructions: http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Buttercream-Icing

Happy Happy Birthday Gabriel Dear!

2009-07-08T20:38:00.002-07:00

We celebrated Gabriel's 1st birthday yesterday. The time has sure flown. My sweet little boy is cruising around the furniture, babbling, giving hugs and kisses, playing games like peekaboo, splashing and playing with toys in the bathtub, turning pages while I read books, and very intently observing everything that goes on. Other things he does or has gone through that are not as much fun but just part of growing up are mom-separation anxiety, tantrums, lots of colds/ coughs/ ear infections, throwing food and toys on the floor repeatedly, and nap resistance.
The day was a little hard because Gabe had an ear infection (which he started antibiotics for today) and didn't feel good. We tried to make it fun though. We had BJ's parents over for cake, ice cream, and presents. I literally spent hours on the cake, baking and leveling the cake, making (yes, making) fondant and rolling it out to cover the cake, and making and freezing a frosting UNO design to apply to the cake (more on that later). Gabe received several birthday messages over the phone from other family members. I think Gabe got a kick out of ripping the paper off his presents, but was very sidetracked by different toys, especially the bath toys from grandma and grandpa! He also didn't think much of eating cake with his fingers, but liked the ice cream. He also like the clean up, in the tub, with his new toys. I am going to add pictures of all of this when I round them up, but for now, that is the birthday summary.
We love our sweet sweet Gabriel!

Pictures, Video, Update

2009-07-06T10:13:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures we took a week or so ago at a park. The pictures of the three of us together were taken by BJ's dad, Ron. I think I want to frame one of the family pictures and put it up in our living room.

Next up is Gabriel at bath time. Oh how he loves the bath!

Also, here is a video from a couple weeks ago of Gabe's funny wooden- leg crawl. You can just mute the video so you don't have to hear my dorky commentary. ;)

From The wooden leg crawl

For other news, we have enjoyed visiting with Rhonda and the family this week. It was nice to be able to see everyone together a couple of different times, and take part in the festivities of the holiday with them. Gabe has been sick this week, so things have been a bit hard with him as he goes through an only-want-my-mommy phase, but it can't last forever, right? We really want him to feel better tomorrow, though, as he will be turning in to a little-big boy of one year of age!

Independence Day

2009-07-05T20:39:00.001-07:00

Gabe and I watching the parade. He was such a good boy- just sat on my lap watching the floats, and eventually falling asleep.
We got other pictures yesterday, but I don't have them yet. I will post them when I get a chance.
I would like to say that I am truly gratful to live in a country where we enjoy so many freedoms and opportunities. I love America. I am thankful for all the men and women who have fought to protect our freedoms and rights. I am especially grateful for the freedom to practice my religion as my conscience dictates me to do. A big thanks to all our veterans, and especially those who gave their lives.
God bless the USA.

P.S.

2009-06-22T09:47:00.001-07:00

Wow, sorry our blog keeps posting LinkedIn stuff. I have already deleted 2 different posts this morning. See BJ's previous post about accidentally inviting everyone in his address book (including our blog) to LinkedIn.

Quick and easy headband

2009-06-22T09:44:00.001-07:00

This was a fairly quick project, and what I like about it most is that the headband actually stays on, and you don't have to sew elastic in it or anything- you use a scrunchy. Way cool.

The tutorial for this project can be found at bluebirdstudio.blogspot.com or by clicking here.

Video of Gabe playing Peekaboo

2009-06-22T07:32:00.000-07:00

From Happy Father's Day

A few pictures from the past couple weeks

2009-06-20T18:31:00.002-07:00

There is a video here (you will probably have to click on the album and actually go into the web album to see it) of one of the first times Gabe pulled himself up to stand all by himself, and pictures of him standing holding on with just one hand. Also, in some he is holding his rubber ducky- one of his very favorite toys right now. We have got this kid trained to grin for the camera!

Also today Gabe played peekaboo for the first time where he actually hid behind something and popped up after a couple seconds, over and over. It was so cute! We got some video of it, and I will try to post it after we get if off the camera.