He's a Firecracker!

Ah, my little pyro. Your Daddy has sure gotten you interested in fireworks! It is really cute to see you with a sparkler, and thankfully, you're still afraid of the big stuff, although tonight, I saw you carrying a Roman candle to Daddy.

I'm in for it.

You've been a little challenging lately as far as obeying... I say one thing and it seems like you want to do the opposite. You're my firecracker! But, you have been really affectionate lately - you've let me hold you, you've given more hugs and kisses. I guess that makes up for the, "No Gabe do it!" and the "No, bad Mommy!" statements I've been hearing lately. :) I love you, boy, but yes, it's been a challenging couple of weeks.

Speaking of "No, Gabe do it!", you STILL talk about yourself in the 3rd person. I think that is so funny! "Gabe go potty!", or "Gabe wants a hotdog for wunch", or "Gabe wike AAAAApple juice". And, speaking of potty, YOU are doing GREAT!! You go into the bathroom by yourself and go as long as you can get your pants, and you ask us when we're in public. You really have been a breeze to potty train. We're still working on #2 and during the night, but daytime, you're "trained"! Way to go big boy! Once you're completely potty-trained, we're getting you a fish tank.

I love you, my little firecracker! You're the light of my life.

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.

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!

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!!

'Cuz I'm So Happy...

Concentration

I think my son has learned the cutest thing ever. I SO wish our video camera's battery was charged so we could tape this for you and play it because it is SO cute. I will work on that - we can't find the charger! Wanna know what he does? Today I bought him a Veggie Tales CD that has the most common Sunday school songs on it. It has the one "Down in my Heart" (way down in the depths of my heart *where?* Down in the depths of my heart...") Then they sing "And I'm so happy..." So, while that part was on, I started dancing and singing it to Gabe (yes, I'm thankful our video camera wasn't available for that part!) and Gabe says, "ah so appi!" Oh my gosh. Talk about the cutest ever. I ran us both downstairs and said "Daddy, Daddy, you gotta hear this!" Then, we called Abba and PawPaw Herrman and had him do it for them. Then we called PaPa Smith and left a message with Gabe saying it for him. Then, we called Aunt Ne.

Oh, this kid! Probably one of the most amazing moments is to know that your child is happy. I was able to see that quite a bit this weekend. Gabe's Dad took care of Gabe quite a bit this weekend to give me a little "me" time. I was able to get groceries, get the house picked up (it's already a mess again, but that's ok - it felt good while it lasted!), and even get some things planned for the Momma Retreat I'm going on with my girlfriends. I have the best husband. Seriously. He is so good with Gabe.

Today, Gabe's Dad let me go back to bed and they ran to town to get some things. They came back with an alligator pool that they got on clearance at Menards. $12 sure bought this kid a lot of happiness today. I bet it also had something to do with the fact that he was playing with his DaDa and PawPaw and Abba came to see him. Gabe's Dad also let me run with Tami today too. It was just nice to get out with my friend and have some spontaneous girl time. All of the pictures in this post are from the alligator pool. Wanna see some more?

Had to include this one too - this is how Daddy's morning started out! Yesterday, mine started with Gabe body-slamming me - WWF style.

Somebody's been a good boy!

Gabe got a new playset this weekend from Mommy & Daddy and the grandparents. We were so happy that we were able to find such an awesome one at Sam's Club. For the right price, this one had all the bells and whistles. We wanted to get something he would grow in to. We didn't want to waste a couple of hundred dollars on something he may only play with for a year. This one is awesome because it has a playhouse built in. And, his Daddy, his Papa & PawPaw, his Uncle Dan, and his Uncle Grant helped build it for him! The guys worked so hard today and really got most of it done. Here are a few more pics:

Holy crap... what have I gotten myself into?

Early in the day

Hey guys, I got the next piece!

Gabe & PaPa

Um, guys, did you forget about me?

So, it's been a pretty good weekend for this big boy! All the guys did a fantastic job and Gabe is just thrilled with it so far! He loves the slide and he can already climb the ladder. Why, oh why, did we buy our little daredevil such a big boy swingset? We're going to need to stay on our toes...

It's An Original.

Ok, definitely one of my favorite pics of Gabe. One of my best friends, Tami Lyons made this adorable Cars-Cars blanket and pillow for Gabe. He LOVES it.

We have a funny story about this awesome blanket. When we were on the plane heading to Arizona, Greg was sitting next to a guy that noticed Gabe's blanket and an interesting conversation took place:

Guy: "Wow, that blanket is so cute. My son loves Cars. Where did you find it?"

Greg (eagerly giving a sarcastic response): "Oh, well, they're really hard to find. It's a local artist in Illinois. She's really pricey. She does a great job, but she's in high demand."

Guy: "Oh." (sulking a wee bit...) "Well, what's the name? Could I maybe get one?"

Greg (loving every minute of this): "Well, it's a Tamilyon's original. There's only one like it."

Guy: "Oh".

It was just so funny. Greg couldn't resist calling Tami to tell her that he had totally talked her up to this guy. Tami, it is an original... you da' bomb-diggity. Gabe loves it and we all love you!

Flu 2, Gabes Parents 0

Well, unfortunately, the flu has struck our household yet again. This time, Gabe's mom has it. Greg has been fantastic in helping out. I stayed home from work today and slept. That is pretty much all I did. Sleep. I do have 2 updates though:

Gabers has tooth #9! What a relief! His nose hasn't been running as much and he just seems to be in an all around good mood!

Also, Gabe's Easter present arrived in the mail yesterday:

I ordered Gabe these adorable little animals here. I first saw them when I visited my cousin's baby's website. They live in Rome, so I was a little concerned that I wouldn't be able to get them in the US, but I did a search for them and there are quite a few places online you can order them from. Now, I want them all! I just think they are the coolest. I am going to have to hold on to them for a while because they're really not meant for kids under 3. Gabe's loves to bite things, so I don't want him trying to bite any of the wood pieces off. I got him the farm set, along with the aligator, the lion, and the ape. They're not too badly priced. But, Gabe's Dad gave me a limit (which is a good thing to do... I love shopping for Gabe), so I'll have to buy one here and there with fun money. I hope Gabe will love them as much as I do! Here's the Jungle ones: