Oh, Hi!

Oh yeah, I have this blog.  Sometimes I forget about it.

Anyway, I need to do better about remembering it, because everyday I think to myself, "I should write that down... I'll probably remember it though.  Hmm, what was that funny thing that happened yesterday?"

Nothing extremely funny happened today... just the usual types of stuff, but I had better write that down in case one day I can't remember what was normal when Gabe and Luke were 3 and almost 2.

Luke got very upset with me today as soon as he realized he was hungry, and started "bossing" me around: "Mommy, I want to eat!  I want wunch.  Wight now Mommy!  Stand up now!  Go!  I wanta eat wunch!"

When he needed a diaper change, I asked him if he was poopy, and he said, "No, I don't want a diaper change, I just clean, Mommy.  It's play time."

When I handed Luke a toy he was struggling to reach, he took it and said, with gusto, "Oh, tank you, Mommy!"

Gabe is also very good about saying thank you, and he will often add "Good job pouring the milk, Mommy, you did that so great!"

When I told Gabe it was almost naptime today, he at first said "No, I don't want a nap!"  But then started saying, "Mom, is it night time?"  I told him it wasn't night time, but it was sleep time, to which he responded, "Oh, ok Mom, but I a-better eat a snack first, and then take a nap.  Maybe playtime first."

Gabriel is especially fascinated with my sewing machine and serger, which are off limits, but he gets into anyway.  If (when) I catch him opening little doors and turning little dials, I give him a little reminder by saying "What are the rules?"  and he will say "Don't play with Mommy's 'chines!  But I just want to close this door, Mom.  Can you close it for me?"


We just got back in town from Tayler and Heather's wedding.  We were so glad we could make it.  It was a crazy trip, but we all had a good time.  We didn't actually get to see much of Tayler or Heather, but I guess there will be time enough for that.  Heather is "Hedder" to Gabe and "Heddow" to Luke, and a princess to both of them since they saw her in her wedding dress.

While we were in Washington for the wedding, we were able to stop by and visit BJ's grandparents.  We only had about 2 hours with them (plus 4 hours of driving) but we made the most of it, the kids were pretty good, and I am so glad we were able to have that time with them.

Speaking of that trip, I wrote about the crazy part of the journey and the tender mercies we experienced as a result on my other blog.  Read about it here.

Conversations...

Gabe: "Mom, I just spelled my name!"
    Me: "You did?"
"Yeah, at Grandma C's house.  I did it on Anna's computer. Anna helped me,  Anna is so nice, huh Mom?"
    "Yes, she is."
"Anna loves me.  I love Anna.  Anna loves Mommy."
    "I love Anna too."
"Anna is so, so pretty.  I love Anna.  Anna is a nice... aunt.  I just want to give her a hug, and fives."

Gabe: "Mom, is that picture of you and Daddy?"
    Me: "Yes Gabriel, that is a picture from the day we got married."
"Mommy, are you a princess?"
    "Why yes, I mean, ahem..."

Gabe: "Mommy, I want to do prafts with you.  Can we do a train praft?  And a boat and airplane praft?  Please?" (praft= craft, FYI)



Luke: "Mommy, I all done now.  Want to get down, right now Mommy! I can't do it, it's too hawd (hard).  Help Mommy!  Help!  What doing?  Wheah ah you (Where are you?- even if I'm standing right there!)?

After time out for hitting.... Luke runs out of the room and says "Sorry Mommy.  Sorry hitting.  Sorry mommy.  I kiss it better.  Hug!"

Luke: "Coat on!  Shoes on! Go a walk!  Go a bye-bye car!  I wanna go home (meaning I want to go out- yes, really.)!"

October 2011

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!

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.

February

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.

Gabriel: January 2011

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)!

Do you hear what I hear?

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

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

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.

Blogging Delinquency

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!

My "helper" Gabriel

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

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.

Funny Stuff

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.

Happy Birthday #2 Gabriel!

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.

Funny Gabriel

 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.)

Gabe and Mother of Two

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.

Still Waiting

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!