I think...

This ranks up there as one of my all-time favorite pictures of the Gabraham:

This was taken through his basketball hoop.

Happy Friday!!

Random

Sometimes random is fun:

• Gabe LOVES megablocks. LOVES them. He must have one for each hand and one for his mouth. He does the same with cookies, crackers, fruit snacks, etc - one for each hand. You cannot give him only one.
• The boy loves snack time.
• He will not give up his "babajuice". Apple juice has become a comfort for him. He just loves it. I guess he can have it a little longer...
• Gabe likes to eat eat eat apples and bananas!
• He LOVES his room. He can now climb the stairs and the first place he goes is his room. When he gets there, he immediately stands in front of his CD player saying "uh, UH!" Translation: "Turn on my radio - NOW"
• Gabe has started throwing small tantrums. So far, they're not too bad. As long as we ignore it, he very quickly forgets about it and gets distracted with something else. Boy when he gets mad though... look out!
• He is a boy's boy. He loves hanging out with his Papas and his Daddy right now. Mommy's kinda chopped liver sometimes. But, that's ok... he goes in phases. It hurts my feelings sometimes, but then when he reaches for me, I forget all about it.
• He's started hitting again. Not sure why that's resurfaced. That's been a tough one to try and break. We basically tell him no and then try distracting him.

Well, that's all for tonight. Good night loyal readers! I appreciate the comments!! It's so nice to know someone's reading this and enjoying it besides me. I am having a lot of fun keeping these memories for Gabers.

Jesus Loves Him - this I know.

I think I have mentioned in a previous post that Gabe is learning to "say" his prayers. At supper time, we say "Gabey, let's say our prayers" and he folds his hands with me and Daddy and we say the prayer I grew up with as a child:

Come Lord, Jesus, be our guest.

And let these gifts to us be blessed.

Amen.

I love that when we ask him to say his prayers, he knows to fold his hands. God must be smiling when he sees a child learning to pray. I know I am. I can only hope this is the very beginning of a lifetime relationship with God for Gabe. Although, it would be a better start if we could find a church that we like. We'd probably be able to find one if we didn't sleep in on Sundays. It's so hard to get back into the swing of things when you're used to sleeping in (Ok, I'll admit, Greg usually lets me have Sunday mornings to go back to bed - he's so great!)

So, if any of you out there are pray-ers - like little Gabster, please pray that we get our butts outta bed and find a nice church family. (Eloquent, I know) We're certainly missing that in our lives right now. Until we get back into the swing of things we'll keep praying with little Gabe and we'll keep singing "This Little Light of Mine" and "Zacheus" during bathtime... I'm really trying to teach him how to hold up a candle... he doesn't quite get it, but he likes the "don't let Satan *wooooh* it out..." part. I love this little boy. It's time we start teaching him about Jesus - the One who loves him, this I know.

I Cannot Disappoint

I have a request to know what the "tatt" is - if you have a tattoo, you can call it a "tatt". Just a little FYI. Welll..... Dumdadadum....

This was taken not too long after I had it done, so it was still pretty bright... and I may have photoshopped it a little to hide some imperfections (eh hem, cough, maybe a couple of leg hairs I may have missed while shaving... It happens to the best of us! Don't worry, I wasn't Amazon woman or anything...) This is on my ankle and I love it. I got the tattoo because we took a very memorable trip with our parents to Hawaii. I will always cherish that vacation with them.

Well, Gabers, just wanted to let you know, if you do consider getting a tattoo and I say "No way, mister!" You now have proof - in print - that I would do it all over again. I do love my "tatt". However, if you do decide to get one, make sure it is exactly what you want and you're doing it because it means something to you. You don't want to look back and say, "Doh! What was I THINKING?!"

Tattoos don't nearly have the stereotypes today that they used to, but when people find out that I have one, I get this reaction a lot: "YOU have a tatTOO?" I love how they emphasize the TOO. No, I have a Tat-one. Or, a Tat-only... Ok, that's dorky. But, my point is, I no longer look at someone with a tattoo and think "oh my, they're wild". I assume their tattoo is a way of remembering something. Something very special to them. When my dad was talking about our tattoos to another friend he said something similar to "...In my day, we planted a tree when we wanted to remember a significant event!". Times have changed, I guess. Maybe, my next tattoo should be a tree... Wouldn't that be funny?

The Things about Gabe's Folks...

• We have tattoos. Yes, just one each, and do we regret it? No way.
• We have been together since high school
• We share a love of Rat Pack music
• We love museums
• We love Family Guy, South Park, House, American Idol, and Growing Pains (you know you love it too)
• I (Gabe's Mom) always say "Be Careful!" to which Gabe's Dad must respond "I will be!"
• Gabe's Dad hates when I say "anyways"
• We both love music from Cake - we fell in love while "The Distance" & "I Will Survive" were popular... oh, and they have a song called "Frank Sinatra"!
• We share the same friends
• We play 20 questions before going to sleep
• We laugh every day
• We are raising a handsome, wonderful, strong-willed, intelligent little boy
• We can't give up pop
• We can't diet together
• We can sit and cuddle at concerts
• We can share a bathroom without fighting
• We both like popcorn fixed on the stove
• We both love sugar in our spaghetti sauce

Sometimes, it feels good to list the things you and your soulmate share. I could probably list a lot more. It's a nice reminder that we are who we are. We are US. We are Gabe's parents. We are happy. I miss you, Gabe's Dad.

xoxo.

Big Boy Part 2

Go Go Gadget Gabe!! Check out this big boy trying to make a basket! Daddy taught him how to play some basketball. I was sitting at the computer desk in the playroom - thankfully the camera was near by - and Gabe walked over to his basketball and thought, "Hey, maybe I'll shoot some hoops!". It was just so cute. I love to see him "remember" things and pick up with a game where we left off. He's so stinkin' smart. Like my boss says, "They're like little sponges!"

Tonight, Gabe's Dad is taking me on a date! I'm so excited! Papa Noisy and Nana are keeping Gabe tonight so we can get a full night's rest and sleep in tomorrow! Ah.... Heaven....!

Big Boy

Only a few new things to report...

Gabe has a couple of new tricks! He can sign "more" at mealtime. He can also fold his hands to pray at mealtime. It is the most precious sight. I definitely need to get a picture of that. It just seems like lately there just haven't been enough hours in the day!

One of his newest facinations is playing in his room. It's very sweet. He's just so curious about everything. He saw his little table and chairs and he wanted in them. One more room to baby proof though! He also loves the CD player in his room... I turned it on and he started to dance. I was cracking up.

At least the little man likes country music! He was jammin'! Oh, man, he's just getting to be so big. I love seeing all of these new "tricks" and I love watching him try to figure things out. He's just so smart. He continues to amaze me every day. Oh, he also walks around tilting his head back and forth saying "Hahahahaha". Very cute. People at work must think I'm crazy... I talk about Gabe all the time. I'm sure no one else thinks the "hahaha" thing is very impressive, but dang do I think it's cute!

Then & Now

Then & Now

I had very good intentions of taking a picture of Gabe each month with his duck pillow (from me) and his puppy/bear (from his birthmom). It just didn't go so well! I made a few of the months, but some months I forgot. With all the scrapping (& blogging!) I've done, I doubt Gabe will be too scarred by it when he's older.

This little guy has grown up so much. I couldn't really get him to sit still long enough to get a smiling picture, but hey, that's ok! This is what life is now - toddler life. We run at Gabe's pace. We take pics when he wants to. He's a good boy... but man, he's getting to be a handful. Last night we went to a shower for a friend of ours and he was all over the place. It was like undiscovered territory! The hostess had marbles out on their coffee table... what do you think the first thing was that Gabe went for? It's just a lot easier to watch your child at your own home. We survived though. Gabe had some ice cream and life was good.

Have a great weekend everyone!

From Us

As an adoptive mom, there are few things I'm certain of in raising our son, Gabe. One of them is he will never have my eyes, or Greg's hands. He won't inherit the things we both like and dislike about our appearances. He won't inherit our medical histories. I'm really fine with all of that. But, I have learned that he does have traits and qualities from us that he will pass down to his children, if he decides to become a parent, no matter if they're genetic or not.

See what he's doing in the above picture? This duckie watering can also doubles as a horn. He learned that from me. Let me say that again... he learned that from ME. He laughs all the time - you know what Greg and I always tease eachother? "We laugh everyday" - you know, like those match.com commercials. Our house is a home filled with laughter, that's for sure. We're giving him that. We're passing that on. We're giving him traditions and memories, just like any other parent would do. Wow. Being a parent is such an amazing thing when you stop to think about it. As Dr. Phil says, (I'm paraphrasing here) "When you raise your children, you are writing on the slate of their lives forever". Wow. Again, Wow. What a responsibility. What an honor. What a gift. To be there - for everything. First smiles, first teeth, first friend, first car, first girlfriend, first child.

So, maybe we won't look the same, or have the same physical conditions. Maybe we don't have the same blood. But, we do have eachother. We are family. My hope is that Gabe will always know that we are a family, no matter how we got together, we are a family.

Products of a Busy Weekend

1. Scrapped. A LOT. It was a great time. I arrived at Marya's at 2:00 in the afternoon and I left at 10:30. She is too fun to scrap with - had a blast.

2. Found out that Greg and I are TOO old to go to the bars. Lindsey turned 21 and we thought we'd at least to go the first bar with the "kids" and we found out very soon that we are not very cool. We ended up playing electronic Baggo - yes, we really are that lame.

3. Shot my first engagement session of photos! I had a blast. I'm not a professional by any means, but DANG was it fun. Immediately when we got home, I started playing with all of the photoshop actions I have. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Oh, it was so much fun. I was so honored that they asked me to do it. They actually asked me to do their wedding too! I had to turn them down. There is just NO way I'm ready for that. I always said I just wanted to do this for fun, and I really don't think a wedding would be that fun for me...I know I would stress out - Big Time. But, man, what an honor to be asked. Someone trusting you with one of the most precious days of their life! WOW! I am going to be making their save the dates too.

Gabe sure is doing well. He got to meet a couple of dogs with Dad today while I was taking pictures... those poor pups are probably worn out tonight! He kept chasing them and trying to give them a kiss. One of them was a greyhound. Can you imagine!?

Gabe's learned how to sign "more", he's learning to say his prayers (folding his hands), and we're working on getting rid of the bottle. He can show you he's one and he also can tell you what a monster (or a lion) says! Rarrrrr! My little boy is growing ... too quickly!

I Scream, You Scream, We all Hate Teething!

Yes. Yes, it really stinks. Gabe hates it, we hate it, man it just stinks. The first 8 teeth that came in arrived with minimal problems (of course, that may have to do with the fact that he was at Grandma & Papa's house when those came...). These have been tough. Fevers, waking up during the night, arching his back, kicking his legs, baby tylenol, baby motrin, ice cold bottles, etc...

I think we're over the worst of it. I think I'm starting to get my baby back!

I talked with Gabe's birthmom last night and again, I felt like we had a great conversation. I feel like we're developing a friendship. Last night she said something like "Oh, my gosh, I gotta tell you this..." and "I almost called you when we were talking about this..." It just feels great to know that we're forming a good relationship for Gabe. And for us too... I think since this experience has been so positive, we are encouraged to maybe adopt again in the future, God willing.

Well, we've got a busy weekend coming up, so I probably won't be blogging again until Monday. Tomorrow night, Gabe's mom is scrapbooking, Saturday we're having lunch with Lyonses, Saturday night is my sister's 21st birthday and my other sister's birthday as well (but they are not twins), and Sunday I am taking engagement pictures for a friend's sister. Busy busy! But, it will be fun. I'm excited and I'm thankful to have a busy weekend.

A Dog's Life

Do you ever think about what a dog thinks about when there's a baby in the house? Not just any baby, but a Gabey baby? A baby that likes to "ride" Jinx when ever she's sitting. A baby that likes to pull on her ears. A baby that doesn't ever let her just sleep?

I feel bad. Guilty is more like it. We have not been good about giving Jinxi some undivided attention. She used to be "it". I mean, before we had a child, while we were going through infertility, she was really a comfort to us. She filled a void that we felt. I remember one night after our miscarriage, Greg didn't know it, but I went in the nursery, laid on the floor and just cried. I cried and cried. Jinxi came in there and laid right next to me. Just thinking about her loyalty and her empathy, well, it makes me feel guilty.

This poor dog has had her world turned upside down. For the most part, she is handling it very well, with only the occasional snip, but it has to be hard.

I love this dog. She has been a part of our family. She has comforted us, she has brought us laughter, and she has loved us, unconditionally. Maybe we need to remember that more often.

Gasp/Hmphf (Momma pout)

Love this little man. This is the best we can do as far

as mohawks go at this time. The boy's hair will not grow.

Daddy - aka Bob - is home! I have never seen Gabe smile as big as he did when he saw Daddy walk in the door! Seriously... He even gasped! I'm sad to admit it... he's never gasped for me! Wow Gabe's Dad - you should feel special, very special. Daddy and Gabe sat down to read/sing Snuggle Puppy.

Gabe's Dad is catching some z's now, glad to be back from his trip. Gabe' s Mom is tired and going to bed.

Have a great weekend, everyone!