Happy Halloween!

Wasn't he the cutest Toodah ever? I wanted to make sure I got this down... This is how Gabe sang trick or treat:

"Twicked or Tweet, smell my feet, give me somefing good to eat. If you not, I don't care, I'll pull my underwear down!"

He learned this from his buddy Will last year, and this year he started singing it again. It was so funny! We had a great Halloween. Gabe and his friend, McCarthy (my BFF's grandson), went trick or treating together. We drove them around in the suburban, or as I like to call the "super ban". We had a really great time. It was another one of those moments where I just stopped for a minute and remembered a time when I wondered if I'd ever be doing this. If I'd ever hear a child say, "C'mon, Mom! Let's go to diss house!" My heart was warmed so much by this excited little guy tonight.

After trick or treating, we headed over to Poke's house for the 6th Annual Hurloween. Gabe and I stayed for supper and visited for a bit, and Daddy stayed to hang out with the guys. Gabe had a busy day today, so he pretty much crashed as soon as his head hit the pillow. Hurloween was fun... I had a really nice compliment from Poke about my photography. We love Poke and Cari. They are great friends and it's nice to know we've got an ongoing get together each year with such great people.

Well, I have to say, shocked... two posts in two days?! Wowza!

Oh, and.......... we're leaving for Disney in 7 days!!!!!!!!

Yes, We're Still Here!

Ok, so I've been like the worst blogger ever. I haven't updated in so long. Life has been so busy for us lately. Fall has been CRAZY busy. My photography business has really been picking up - I already have 2 weddings for the beginning of next year. And, when I say next year, I mean I have one on January 1st and the other on January 2nd! One of them is rather small, so it shouldn't be too much work, but the other one will be a full day. Am I nuts? Yes, I think so. The good news is, I'm learning more and more with each session that I take and I'm liking each session better than the one before.

Ok, now onto the Gabers! He's really growing and changing so much. He's saying things like "I have an idea!" or "I pet Jinxi so she more comfortable!". He is doing great potty training. We still put a diaper on him at night, but daytime, he never has accidents. Right now, he's REALLY into his M.A.S.K. guys. M.A.S.K. is a cartoon Greg used to watch when he was little. Honestly, the animation is pretty crappy, but Gabe (and Greg!) love it. I love watching Gabe play with Greg's old toys. Greg's mom had saved some of them and gave them to Gabe. He just loves them.

This year for Halloween, Gabe is going to be Woody from Toy Story. He looks SO adorable in his costume! We took him out to my mom and dad's tonight since my mom has to work tomorrow. He even sang, "Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat... if you don't, I don't care, I'll pull down your underwear!" But Gabe says, "if you not, I don't care, I'll pull my underwear down!" Too funny.

Well, I did just want to get an update out there because it's been almost 2 months exactly since I've posted. I'll try harder. I'll make it a priority, I promise!! :)

Love him.

Just love this kid. That's all I gotta say.

To You, My Easter Bunny

We had a great day today, buddy. Today we went to Abba Smith's work for their Easter egg hunt. You fell asleep in the car because it was right at nap time, so I carried you in. Everyone was ooing and ahhing at you as we came in because they thought you were so precious, asleep in my arms. I was really enjoying it because you don't stay still that long and want to cuddle much!

As soon as Abba saw us walk in, she woke you up to get you in with the other kids so you could find some eggs. You did great! You probably got 12-15 eggs. As soon as you found one, you wanted to sit down and open it up to see what was inside. Since they all had candy, you wanted to sit and eat it! We had to keep telling you to go find more eggs!

After the Easter egg hunt, we headed to Abba & PaPa's farm to go see PaPa and Uncle Dan. You had a great time with PaPa and Dan and talked them into giving you several treats. Including some chocolate-covered pretzels to take with you on the ride home. REALLY? Chocolate-covered pretzels IN THE CAR?? You can definitely tell when your parent has become a grandparent. Oh, and all of these treats right before SUPPER?? (I can definitely tell I've become a parent!) The treats didn't stop you... when we got home, you ate 3 pieces of pizza! All I can figure is that you're going through a growth spurt or something. Your appetite has really increased. Here are some of your favorite foods:

hotdogs
chips - you love chips - your favorite right now are baked BBQ
ce-dil (cereal) - you love Special K, Frosted Flakes, & Frosted Mini Wheats
Bacon - you LOVE bacon. This is a treat you like to have the most at Abba & PawPaw Herrmans.
Fruit - you still eat fruit very, very well - pretty much any kind
Ham
Pizza - pretty much a food you're guaranteed to eat.
Whoop - (Soup) You like Progresso's Chicken & Wild Rice - you can eat a whole can.

Those are just some of your favorites. Your appetite is increasing to more foods, but you love to snack. We have to keep a lot of animal crackers and those 100 calorie food packs around. "More Tweat Mommy!"

I love you little Gabers. Thanks so much for a great day together. As I say so often, "You make Mommy laugh".

Sugar Crash on the way home from the farm...

When we got home - you were all giggly - and chocolatey!

I just blogged to say...

I love you! Gabers, you and I have had a great week together while Daddy's been on his trip. On his way back, you wanted to talk to him on the phone. I love watching and listening to you talk on the phone! It's the cutest thing. You love talking to your Daddy, your Abbas and Pawpas, and you love talking to whoever Mommy is talking to! ("Uh say Hi!") You also talk to your birth family and they love hearing that too. You're just growing up so fast, my little guy. I love you.

Gabe Fix

Last night, my mom called me because she and Dad needed some "Gabe Time". It had been a week and she was starting to go into "Gabe Withdrawals".

"I need to see my Gabers."

I'm very thankful that all 4 of Gabe's grandparents love spending time with him (what's not to love?? :) ) It really warms my heart any time I see him with his grandparents. I love watching them laugh at him. I love when Greg's dad teaches him to say things. I love when he goes to Abba Herrman's and he has a favorite toy. I love that he associates tractors and machinery with my dad. And, I love that he knows he can talk my mom into anything. ("More tweets, Abba")

This is one loved little guy. And, we are very thankful, blessed parents.

Getting Ready for Christmas

Gabers is starting to get ready for Christmas. It's been a little difficult keeping him out of the other kids' presents! He saw a Nemo gift I got for my cousin's daughter, Hailey, and he about flipped out! I actually may give it to him instead since I got her some AWESOME kitchen stuff from Ikea and Pottery Barn. She'll probably enjoy that more than Nemo.

It's been really hard not to buy Gabe everything under the sun! You just see all this stuff and you want to buy it all! I went a Pottery Barn store this week and it was like torture! :)

I'm so excited to spend this Christmas with my little family.

Here's one attempt at a Christmas Card picture for my Mom & Dad. Gabe didn't want to get his picture taken!

Too-Dah

Ok, so this is just one of those moments that I didn't want to forget, so I had to get it down...

Gabe is kind of obsessed with "Shish" (Finding Nemo) and "TooDah" (Toy Story). A lot of the time, he just generalizes Toy Story as TooDah... meaning he'll call the movie TooDah, or he'll call the individual characters TooDah. Poor Steve and Tami didn't know what he was talking about when they babysat him for us!

Anywho... While on vacation, we went into like the hugest Disney store ever. I wanted to bring Gabe back a "prize" but didn't know what it would be. Then, I saw TooDah. That was the prize he was getting... no doubt about it! I gingerly carried TooDah through the airport so his cowboy hat wouldn't get bent up. I got a lot of looks from people there... like they thought it was my toy - like a comfort thing I couldn't live without or something! Come on people, I'm 29 years old... I do not need a woobie! So, TooDah made it home ok. Yesterday morning, after Gabe woke up, we thought we'd give him his TooDah. Here's the adorable part that I had to record (his response to TooDah):

"OH, BIG TooDah!!"

Greg and I just looked at each other and burst out laughing! It was SO stinkin' cute! We love you, Gabers... it's so good to be back home with you.

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween from our Punkin'! Can you tell his Dad is a computer geek? (and I mean that in the most loving way possible!)

Eh Hem.......

We have a big boy bed!! After many, many (yes, many) nights of struggling in getting this big boy to bed, we broke down and purchased a big boy bed for him. Gabe was not liking his crib at all any more and always wanted to sleep in the spare bedroom ("daddy's bed!" as Gabe would say). Well, Mommy and Daddy sleep upstairs and the spare bedroom is downstairs. So, we'd let him fall asleep there, and then ever so carefully, I'd carry him upstairs to his crib. Most of the time I was successful in keeping him asleep. The nights I wasn't, he slept with me.

So, tonight is the first night in the big boy bed. Greg was gone when I put him to bed, so I took a few photos. When I showed them to Greg, he said, "That looks like a blog post to me!"... he knows me so well. Oh and guess what?! That bedspread is from Pottery Barn! I found it at a garage sale for $22 and it's in fabulous condition. And, it washes up great!

Also, I wanted to share a few "dactur" photos of my big boy. Notice here, he has the "bue dactor"... Ok, so it's really red, but all colors are blue, all numbers are 2's, and all letters are b's. I don't argue with him...

Anywho, this kid loves tractors. Loves them. My mom got him a small set from Big R and he seriously won't even put them down when he eats. He hates putting them up when he has to nap. We literally have to kiss them goodnight and put them up. Each one of them. It's too funny.

See these two little guys? One time, I pretended they were PaPa & Russell (Grandpa Smith and his hired hand Russell) while Gabe and I were playing. Now, he doesn't part with these either. At any given time during the day, he can be seen holding a mini pickup truck, a mini anhydrous tank, and these two guys. He calls them PaPa and Ussell. Can't wait for PaPa to hear that.

Well, better get to bed... Not sure if we're going to have a long night or not!

Playtime

Today, we watched Gabe's friend Will for a few hours. Usually, when Gabe sees Will, he's with Greg doing Daddy/Son stuff, so I don't get to see them play together. It was too cute to watch them play. Will acts just like a big brother to Gabe and loves on him when Gabe gets mad about sharing toys. I got out the camera to try and get the two of them in a couple of pictures. They were hamming it up.

You Been Farmin' Long?

This has to be one of my all time favorite pictures. I love love love that Caleb's Mommy wanted to come out to the farm with us to take photos of the boys. They were SO photogenic (for toddlers!!) and we got some AMAZING pictures. I am absolutely thrilled with how they turned out. This season has been one that I've been waiting for. From the time Gabe was really little, I knew he was going to be into trucks and tractors - he's always been a true boy. So, I knew when he was old enough to be walking and talking, that harvest was going to be a fun one. And it sure has been. Thursday night, we surprised Papa and stopped by the field to ride a couple of rounds in the combine. Gabe didn't want to leave! Then, Friday, we took Caleb and Darci out to the farm to get some pictures. Here are a few more:

Hey, Papa's down here... maybe if we keep walking, we can hitch a ride back in the combine!

See, Caleb, when I'm bigger, I'm going to be a farmer like my Papa.

Couldn't resist trying to get a picture of the boys' feet in overalls. I was hoping to get one with them walking in the grass, but that didn't work out so well. I'm happy with this one! And, it's gotten the most Flickr views! That's kinda cool! If you want to see even more of these pics, you can visit my Flickr photos here.

Darci and I are so blessed to have these two awesome boys. These boys were prayed for together. Darci felt Caleb move for the first time on the day we brought Gabe home from the hospital. When Darci held Gabe for the first time, Caleb kicked. God has truly blessed us with having boys that can grow up together.

Cute Stuff

Excuse the poor quality of this picture, but it was taken through our very filthy front door. I've tried, but it is impossible to keep clean with a dog and a toddler. Gabe LOVES pears. We have a pear tree here at the new house and Gabe just loves them - skin and all. He walks around the house saying "apple" and holding it just like a grown up would hold an apple. He's so stinkin' funny.


Gabe also LOVES the movie The Lion King. Seriously... Greg and I probably have the first 20 minutes of that memorized - word for word. It is SO cute to see him sit there in a trance watching it. We usually play it in the kitchen while we fix dinner and he sits in his high chair in a daze. He also does some of the actions (holding the cub up to the sunlight, silly faces Nala & Simba make, etc...) He also says "Scar", "Daddy!", and "It is TIME..". I just love it. Sometimes I'll stand at our kitchen island and just smile and watch him. He has no idea... he is so entranced.

Well, Gabe's Mom is exhausted. That is all for tonight!

Gabers Mini Photo Session

One of my favorite things to do is to just grab the Gabers and go on a spontaneous photo shoot. Usually we take Daddy with us too so he can help me get Gabe's attention. Today, we went out to a farm and got some neat photos of Gabe by a wrought iron fence and in one of my dad's bean fields. He looked so ready for fall today in his brown courdoroy jacket. My little boy is growing up so fast. People say that happens, and some days it feels like they just grew by leaps and bounds over night.

I like this one - I just hope this is the only time I ever see him behind bars! :) I love the look on his face too.

Here, Gabe is tasting the beans to see if they're ready for harvest yet. We had to call PaPa tonight to let him know Gabe probably owes him some money for the beans! Gotta tease that PaPa.

I so wish I lived at this house - I love the wrought iron fence and the serenity of the place.

My lovely assistant, Greg, is doing his very best to get Gabe to smile for me. The tickley things work really well!

One of my favorites. My happy boy in the bean field getting ready for harvest. I can't wait to see him in the tractor with PaPa.

The little man.

And another favorite. Daddy taught Gabe how to pick flowers today - "you don't pick off just the petals - you pick them down lower and then give them to Mommy!" It was too cute to watch.

Gabe's Mom is Still Here!

Ugh... I have not been a very good blogger, have I? I'm still here... In the past 2 weeks, I've had the following things going on:


A hubby on a camping trip.
A wedding.
A Gabers with a cold.
Planning, preparation, and attending of the first annual Momma Getaway.
A jam-packed work schedule (our new girl resigned).
Getting garage sale items ready.



So, yeah... it's been a pretty busy time for me! Anyway, on to the Gabers! I hope the picture at the top has given you a clue about the post. When Gabe was just a baby - a very teenie-tiny baby - my friend Tami and I went garage-saling (Nah! Not US!) and found this awesome Radio Flyer bike for Gabe. We've had it put up in the garage and we finally took it down this past week to see if he would like it. He really wasn't too interested when he found out he had to work at it a bit and Daddy wasn't going to keep pushing him! He hopped off and returned back to the "cauk" (sidewalk chalk) he was playing with. I had not gotten my camera out yet, so we persuaded him with a juice box to get back on so I could capture this on my camera. Ah, the powers of parental persuasion... If only it always worked! Would you like to see that picture? I thought you might...He's so cute, isn't he? This weekend, I held the first annual (possibly semiannual!) Momma Getaway weekend. My fellow Momma friends and I headed to a nearby church camp to rent out a cabin-like building to scrapbook, sew, talk, eat, and sleep as much as we wanted for the weekend. It was so much fun. I was able to share the weekend with 5 of my dearest friends. They are just the best. We had games and prizes, we had a couple of really late nights (3:00 am!), and we had a blast. I love these ladies so much. God has truly blessed me with some amazing friendships - I am so fortunate that my closest friends could all be in the same place for the weekend. You can read more about it on my other blog Greg's Wife if you are interested. Speaking of which, I'd better go so I can update that blog... it's been even longer since I've posted to that one!

Celebration of Life Day

Today, we celebrated life. Nine years ago, my brother & sisters were in a near-fatal car accident. I blogged a bit about it here. We always try to get together as a family on this day to celebrate life - life that was saved, life that has changed, and life that didn't exist before. I just can't believe it's been nine years. So many memories come back from those days when Jenny & Dan were in the hospital. So many moments where we didn't know if we'd have them. So many uncertainties. When those thoughts come to mind, I do my best to push them away and remember that they're here. They're living a life that is so special. Life can forever be changed by a single incidence and my family is proof of that. Because of the accident, we don't take life for granted. Because of the accident we are so unbelievably close. Because of the accident, my family has formed a strong, loving bond with Greg's family. As much as that day devastated me, it has helped form me into a better sister, daughter, and mother. I am thankful for my suffering - it truly has shaped me and added beautiful colors to my tapestry. However, I can say that it was painful - so unbearably painful at the time. Praise God that only He can make something beautiful from it.

My awesome nieces and nephew with Gabe. They are so great in always willing to pose for me!

Gabers with his Abbas and PawPa's (we spell PawPaw (PaPa) 2 different ways!)

Today, we had a wonderful time. Greg's family - brothers and their families, as well as Greg's parents - all came out to the farm. We all had a great time. Good food, good fun, some photo ops, eucure, and a very well-behaved Gabers. What more could you ask for? Here are some pictures from my impromptu photo session:

My FAVORITE picture from today - Lindsey & Matt

My adorable niece, Julia

My other adorable niece, Katie

Aunt Lindsey, Gabe, & Uncle Dan

Grandma & George

Introductions

Internet - Happy. Happy - Internet. This is Happy Gabe's favorite toy lately (well, depending on the day... he also LOVES his Handy Manny Toolbox and well, really anything he's NOT supposed to be getting into!).

Whenever Gabe plays with this bear, he brings it to me and says, "Happy!". He wants me to push the button. When you push the button, the bear sings Happy Birthday. The cool thing about this bear is that you can record your voice on it, so it says "Happy Birthday to _____". Well, when Gabe recorded it, he recorded "Mama". So, whenever he plays it, it sings Happy Birthday to me! Pretty sweet to have everyday as your birthday!
Internet - M&M mini's. M&M mini's - Internet.

Parents - I cannot stress enough, children (well, my child anyway) will do anything... let me rephrase... ANYTHING!!!... for M&M mini's. I've gotten this kid to pick up toys, put jammies on, eat dinner, etc... He loves these candies. Want to know a trick? Oh, this is bad... Only give them like 1 or 2 at a time and space it out quite a bit and they really think they're being rewarded a lot. And, one container lasts a few days. Is that bad? Only a few extra calories and sugars a day instead of a whole bunch. Oh, it is also a really good grocery store trick too! "You be good and we can get some CANDY!" I just hope I'm not enabling a sweet tooth...
Extreme close up... WAAAAAHHHH! Oh, yeah, and here's the Gabers! Isn't he getting to be so big?! I was trying to get him to lay on his belly and put his head in his hands, but he just kept getting really close to my second baby (um... my camera) and wanting to touch it. So..... This was the best I could do! He's so cute though, isn't he? Maybe I'm a little biased, but he's stinkin' adorable.

Gabe's Mom is headed to bed. Have a great holiday weekend!!

Little Lamb

Wanted to share this picture of my little lamb sleeping. He's just so precious. I love how he just fell asleep and it looks like the bottle just fell out of his mouth. This kid was tuckered out. He got up at 5:30 this morning and only took a mid-morning nap - no afternoon one. He was an excellent little guy today.

Also, had to share this. The quality of the picture isn't the best, but I had to blog about the latest toddler entertainment. When we're sitting at the computer, Gabe will come up to our chair and say "Dactur!" I guess I should explain a bit... A few weeks ago, to keep Gabe entertained, I pulled up Google Images. I searched for tractors... Thus began an addiction for Gabe. Now, anytime we are at the computer, he wants to see tractors! It's so very cute! When he sees a bigger picture, he'll say "OH, Dactur!" (Translation: "Oh, Big Tractor!")

Well, Gabe's mom is going to turn in for the night... Heading to the couch to watch Design Star! Yippee!

Behind

I'm really far behind right now. There are so many new things that Gabers has been doing. One of the funniest things is he says "Uh Oh, Spaghettio!" Except it comes out like "Duh oh, Dada!" He also says "Oh, Big tractor!" But, it comes out like, "OH, Dactur!" It's just the cutest thing. In fact, the other night, we had to call both sets of grandparents just to have them listen to him talk. Papa Smith got a big kick out of "Dactur". He also says "I love you" and that comes out as "Dah Doo". I don't think I'll ever get tired of hearing that. It really is just the most precious thing.

We're getting our Gabers back. He's been behaving a lot better than he was. He is still having some behavior issues, but at least now we feel like it's just normal behavior - that he's not sick or anything. He had a fever last week when the tantrums were going on, so we think he just wasn't feeling the best. Poor guy. They don't know how to express themselves at this age, so they kinda throw these little fits. I guess if I was trying to tell people I didn't feel good and they didn't get it, I'd probably throw a fit too!

We have just really been enjoying watching him do all of these new things. He's so funny. He's recently learned his colors - this totally shocked me! He will point to the wrong color when you ask him to point to one and then he'll laugh because he knows its the wrong answer! How smart is this kid! He definitely has his Daddy's sense of humor and mischieviousness! It's so funny how I can see a lot of Greg in his personality. He's smart, funny, a prankster, and gentle. If Jinxi's laying down, he'll come up to her and just give her a hug. Adorable!

Well, I've got a busy couple of days coming up... I'd better head to bed! Ok, one more picture... if you insist...

PS: Yes, we did have him on the train tracks... I hope this doesn't show bad parenting skills... We do have good listening skills. He was completely safe!

Out on the farm

So, I had all intentions of shooting Gabe's 18 month pictures myself tonight, but it didn't quite happen. Let's just put it this way... Right before we left home, he had just ended a 30 minute tantrum. So, that was fun. We almost didn't go to see PaPa at the farm! I love this picture of him at the bridge. Check out my Flickr account to see more pics!