Bradshaw Reunion

We have an annual reunion with my grandmother's side of the family. It's all of her sisters and cousins and their families.
We went while Gavin was just a couple of weeks old.

Gabe and all the cute things he says

I don't want to forget the following:

We talk to Gabe a lot about being happy or sad. He was throwing a temper tantrum the other day on the stairs after his nap and I said "maybe you need to go back to bed if you can't be happy."

He said, "happy doe?" which in english means where did happy go. I laughed out loud. He again said it today. Casey was upset that Gabe was not obeying and Gabe told me that daddy sad. I said, "Oh is daddy sad." He said, "daddy happy doe?" translation: Where did daddy's happy go? He is so cute, funny and smart! And he really obeys really good most of the time! We went to the JBF sale today and he obeyed so good. I mean this place is covered with 2-year-old temptations from ride-on toys to a sea of little people, fisher price and other toys....he really did good considering how much there was to "play" with.

I had promised him that we would go to a pizza place called Double Dave's if he would obey mommy at the sale.
I digress but there's a funny story about Double Dave's. Casey first took Gabe and my 2 nieces there back in July. At that time they were able to ride on this race car game they had. When we went back the race car game was broken. So Gabe came home talking about how the race car was "brokey" and "we go to nother pissa pace ride race car." Over and over he would talk about another place with a race car. So we went back to Double Dave's 2x and the car was still "brokey." We finally went to Chuck E cheese and they had a race car he could ride.
So today we are on our way to another Double Dave's we saw near the mall. I had told him we were going to another Double Dave's. On the way there we saw a Chuck E Cheese and he wanted to go there. So we went to CeC instead. He loves the Bob the Builder ride there. That's all he does when he goes to CeC. I actually bought him a Bob the Builder costume today. I also bought a dragon that he can wear for Halloween and bought Bob costume just for fun since it was so cheap. I bought Gavin a Pea in a Pod costume. Cousin Abby's b-day is in mid October and she loves Halloween so they always do a Halloween-themed costume party. That's all for now. There are other things I want to write about but am so tired...and need to rest while I can. Gavin will want to eat shortly. He went on a 3 hour eating spree this evening so I'm hoping he won't be hungry for a while but I have a feeling it will be a long night. :)

Gavin's arrival

We started Saturday off by going to the mall. We had a few things to return/exchange at Gymboree and we promised Gabe he could ride on the "motor psyche." I also went to the mall with the intention of going to get a picture of Gabe with my belly. I had wanted to do this but hadn't gotten around to it...and I was fast approaching 40 weeks. :) We walked from one end of the mall to the other and ended up not getting the pictures with the promise from Casey that we would take some at home that evening (famous last words). We came home and Gabe and I took a nice 2 hour nap. Later I decided I wanted to go to Half price books. I wanted to get a certain nursing book that I did own but had lost and then also look at Lamaze/birthing techniques books. I bought a Lamaze video, lamaze book, bradley method book and a cute baby book. That evening after we ate dinner around 8, I started having some "braxton hicks" while I was reading the Bradley method book. It was talking about breathing normally through contractions by getting completely comfortable in your bed and relaxing every muscle in your body. So as I was getting ready for bed, I started breathing through these "braxton hicks" contractions I was having. I was seriously just practicing. I didn't really time them but they had started to come more frequently. So all of that was about 8:30 -9 p.m. I laid in bed and at times would get up and gather things together for my hospital bag. Around 9:15 or 9:30 I found Casey working on Gabe's motorcycle he got for Christmas. I said, "You need to pack a bag for you and Gabe. I will be really mad if I go into labor and you are packing your bag." At the time I truly did not think I was in labor. So I continued to have contractions but they were not painful. But they did seem to be coming consistently. I was in bed around 10:30 or 11 and Casey came to bed and fell asleep immediately. At the time he went to bed I said I might be in labor. He asked, "are you timing them." I said, "no." But at this time they were a little painful and the Bradley method I had just learned was really helping. Since we didn't take a child birth class this time around, I couldn't remember how far apart the contractions should be to warrant going to the hospital. At 11:30 I called the labor and delivery desk at the hospital and told the nurse, Lydia that I was having these contractions and was having to breathe through them and they seemed to be coming between every 10 minutes. She said to drink a bottle of water and if after 30 minutes I was still having them, to come to the hospital. My biggest concern was getting Gabe out of bed and going to the hospital and it be false labor. S0 I called my parents to have them come watch Gabe so we could go to the hospital. In the next 15 minutes the contractions got very intense and I would have to lie on the floor they were so painful. I called my parents and told them to just meet us at the hospital. It took us about 15 minutes to get to the hospital and I had 4 contractions in the car. They were so incredibly painful. I think that is possibly the worst place to have contractions. So we go to the hospital and my parents were there waiting for us with a wheel chair. We get checked in and they check me and I'm dilated 5 cm. We checked in at 12:57. From this point in between contractions they are having me give blood and sign paperwork. At first when I got there I said I wasn't sure if I wanted an epidural and I definitely didn't want demoral or staidol. After the next contraction I changed my mind and definitely wanted an epidural. After they draw blood they have to wait 30 minutes to get the results. While I would have a contraction I was yelling for Lydia, one of the nurses to help me and at some point yelled, "where's my epidural???!!!!" :)
The anesthesiologist finally came, was at the door ready to give me the epidural and they checked me and I was ready to push. The nurse said, "I'm sorry honey you're not going to get your epidural. It's time to push." WHAT??? I was not happy but my mom said, "the worst part is almost over." And that made me feel better. And she was right. The contractions before the pushing were the worst. When they came and it was time to push I hardly knew I was having a contraction and it was a different kind of pain. After it was all said and done I was glad I didn't have any drugs. It was the best experience of my life and I couldn't believe I was holding this precious, healthy baby boy in my arms. He latched on immediately and nursed for several minutes. It was the most precious moment!

In hindsight I think labor started at Half price books around 7 or 7:30. It could have been a little earlier, but I had been having braxton hicks so much that I hardly paid attention to them.

Casey and I both realize that we really held back from getting too excited about this pregnancy. We were so worried that something might be wrong, even up until the last several weeks. We had even had a conversation about asking the doctor more specifically of different tests that we could do to see that the baby was ok. I was afraid that the doctor had maybe missed something, since he wasn't a specialist, maybe he didn't see a defect that our other doctor would have. It all seems so irrational now. And I can't believe the lack of faith we displayed. However we never really talked about our concern until the last week or so. Before one of our final appointments, Casey came to me with tears in his eyes and said, "I've really been worried and think I haven't allowed myself to get attached, but I can only imagine how worried you've been and how hard this has been for you." I was worried but as the mommy it's harder for me to not be attached. He was always with me, with his constant hiccups and kicks. He made me very uncomfortable there at the end. I was ready for him to come. :)

Gavin was born at 2:51 a.m. and both my parents and my older sister Steph were there with Gabe. We tried calling Casey's parents but they did not answer their phone. They felt terrible they missed it but came promptly the next morning. Gabriel went home with Nana and Papo and they brought him back that afternoon. In the hospital I stayed Monday night with Casey while Gabe went to stay with Mimsey and Grandpa (Casey's parents). The next night we thought about keeping Gabe at the hospital with us but decided with the nurses bringing Gavin in every 3 hours to eat, it would be better if Casey went home with him. In the middle of the night when they brought Gavin in to eat, I looked at him and fell in love. Here was this precious miracle and he was mine. I couldn't believe it. I was in love! All babies are miracles but I consider that last September we were getting ready to do another round of IVF and did all the standard pre-testing. At that time according to the tests we were still going to need to go through IVF. So the plan was to start IVF in January or February. And then we ended up conceiving in early December. Amazing. And now it looks like we may need to do IVF again if we decide we want more children. So looking back, Gavin is a true miracle and I am so humbled that God would bless us so immensely.

He has arrived

Gavin Nathaniel Moore made his appearance this morning at 2:51 on August 31st. I was able to have a VBAC and he came so quickly that it was "au naturel." Here's the cutie pie. Will post more later about my first labor experience.

Can't sleep again...but good news!

I went to bed early tonight so at midnight after a full 2.5 hours of sleep I felt rejuvenated. So now when I go back to bed at 3 a.m. I'll still get a full night's sleep! yippee! I wish I could enjoy the sleep I'm able to get right now...it won't be very long I'll be up and down all night, but not by my choice. (Any grandparent or aunt who wants to volunteer to come and sleep over is, of course, more than welcome once the new baby arrives). hee hee

The good news is that we are scheduled to be induced on Sept 5th at 5 a.m. if the little guy decides to not join us earlier...READ anytime would be good, Baby brother!!

Being pregnant with a 2-year-old

I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. I will have to say that this is rare, even since I've been pregnant. I may be tired in the morning but truly am not cranky most of the time. Well not today. I was tired AND cranky. I'm at that point that getting comfortable in any position is hard but especially lying down. I am 39 weeks pregnant and did not think I would be going to this Doctor's appointment. Baby brother was supposed to already be here.
So Gabe and I headed to the Doctor. We had to wait at least 30 minutes to get in for what is normally a 5 minute appointment. The nurse practitioner said I had not progressed since last week and really should wait till my Dr. gets back in town (she was half way joking, I think). Then we headed back home. While we were out I just kept thinking, "Why does it have to be so HOT!!!???" Once back at the house, I had to muster up the energy to clean up which included sweeping and mopping the kitchen floor. I was so tired and DID NOT feel like doing this but kept thinking of my reward of taking a nap afterwards.

So I swept and got the bucket and mop out. Gabe immediately decided he wanted to "Help." He took the mop and was dragging it across the floor. I cannot discourage this kind of behavior! Hello, I love it that he wants to help and will utilize his help for many years to come.
So I'm encouraging him and praising him for helping mommy mop and trying to instruct him on how best to help.
He wants to make footprints on the newly cleaned floors and I tell him that is not helping. :)
(Have I mentioned that he has 1 million toys that are far more interesting than a mop and bucket?)
Anyhow, he finally stops making footprints and goes over near the bucket to inspect the bubbles. He keeps saying, "Dup it out?" Which is a phrase he has learned to ask when he wants to dump out boxes of his toys. And most of the time the answer is, "Sure go ahead and dump it out." (I should mention here that he has learned to ask because I have gotten so frustrated with his dumping of the toys that when he does this my reaction is, "why do you have to dump ALL the toys out?" I know how silly this sounds asking a 2 year old a question which he will have no answer for.) But I digress...
I respond, "we will dump it out in the bath tub and Gabe can help mommy dump it out, but not right now." He repeated this a couple more times over the course of 5 minutes or so and I continued to be sweet and say "No, not yet." When there was just about 5 more minutes of mopping I turn around to see Gabe dumping out the bucket of soapy water all over the kitchen tile. There's at least 1 gallon of water spreading quickly. Wow! Was I upset. Did I already mention I woke up cranky? I did not use a nice voice and told him to go to time out. I then proceeded to get some towels and try to figure out the best way to clean it all up. Did I also mention how worn out I'm feeling these days? I'm super tired and did not feel like mopping to begin with, but was mustering up just enough energy to hit the high spots.
Well, I stood there mad, upset, frustrated...and thought I could really cry over this. And then thought, "No, I'm not going to cry." But then thought, "But I'm entitled to cry...I'm 10 months pregnant, tired and miserable and now I have to deal with this." So I quickly convinced myself that crying was the best option. Oh goodness. Sometimes you need a good cry, I guess. So I spent another 15 minutes cleaning up the water mess with the mop and then the towels all while having a good cry. Gabe eventually gets out of time out and comes over on his tricycle to see me crying. He says, "Dabe ty." as he points to his eyes, indicating that he can cry too. But he soon shuffles off on his bike and is a happy camper.

I do have to say that my floor is really clean now.

And then later we went to the Mattel toy store and the man in front of us insisted on purchasing our toys for us. I have no idea why he did this but I was very thankful that God acknowledged my bad day by sending a sweet person to do such a nice thing. It wasn't about the money, but about the very kind gesture.

Gabe is so sweet and so cute and has always been very compliant. He is almost 2 and a half and has just started to blatantly disobey. We have been very fortunate. Unfortunately, it could not come at a worse time. I've already heard stories of what the older kids do while mom's nursing the baby because they know mom can't get up to stop them. :)

Can't sleep

Pathetic, right? I should be super tired and have no problem sleeping.

I'm thinking I'm in the nesting stage. My mom has been asking me about this over the past week. She says it will be semi-ridiculous what you do in terms of cleaning or having a strong need to get something done. Her example: When she was pregnant with my younger sister, Lauren she felt a strong need to plant marigolds in the front yard.
Well I have been talking to Casey over the past SEVERAL months about how I wanted to have the carpets professionally cleaned. Granted we own a steam cleaner, but I didn't think this would do the job as good and I knew I would not ever have the time or energy to steam clean the carpet. Well last night Casey took Gabe to the grand opening of the new Brewer Bears Stadium, our High school Alma Mater. :) As soon as they left, I got out the steam cleaner and for 4 hours cleaned the living room carpet, stairs and baby's room. Now I did take a break to eat dinner for about a half hour, but I moved all the furniture off the carpet and steam cleaned! This would fall into the category of ridiculous if you ask me...and where did I get that kind of energy? Last week I couldn't muster up enough energy to take Gabe to the store...and I'm moving couches! Wow...hopefully this means it will be any day now. :)

Pictures of Baby Brother

I got behind and didn't post these when we went in but here they are now. I will relocate them to the appropriate date later.

We went in for a 3-D sonogram on July 3rd. We were 31 weeks and at this point it's probably too crowded in there to get the really good shots. Our Doctor spent a lot of time with us and got a few good ones.

Here's a 2-D profile.

This is a picture of the left side of his face. His eye is closed. It's hard to tell what it is but hopefully you can make it out. :)

This shot is of his face straight on and his arm and hand are partially in front of the right side of his face. This picture looks a little like Nathaniel. So sweet!

Birthday

We celebrated my birthday today! The big 33!
Everyone came over and we had BBQ catered from Cousin's and Casey got me an ice cream cake. My friend Celeste was in town from Houston so her and her daughter Cadence came to celebrate. Cadence is 20 months old so it's fun to watch her and Gabe play together. The running joke is that they will have an arranged marriage. She won't even have to change her last name. :)
We had a really nice time and everyone left except my sister and her family. The kids watched a movie and we sat on the back porch and visited. So fun!

And Gabe has gotten very good lately at singing happy birthday! Somehow we only got part of the song but here's a video!

One Minute

Gabe has gotten very good at negotiating...some may call it manipulating.
We have always tried to give him warnings before we make him stop playing or before bedtime etc. We'll say, "Gabe you have 10 more minutes....5 more minutes...2 more minutes...1 more minute." Well he has started to negotiate the number of minutes left and it's so cute it's hard to refuse giving him an extra minute. He'll hold up his fingers and give a cute little look and say, "pive mo minut." "two mo minut." But with two he can't do the finger gesture so he says, "hep mommy, hep." And I'll help him make the number 2 with his fingers. So funny!
Here's a video of him negotiating!

Update

Went to the Dr. today and we are 2 1/2 cm dilated and 30% effaced. woo hoo. That's progress. Not very much, but progress nonetheless. :)

My Dr. leaves town next Wed. the 27th and doesn't return until the 31st. Really?? My only concern is that we want to have a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean). And there is one of 4 or 5 doctors who is on call for my Dr. who will not do VBACs. I aksed my Dr. what recourse I had if I went into labor when he was on call and he said I had none. I would have to do a c-section. What? That seems ridiculous. Anyhow, we cleared that up today. This Dr. will not be on call while my Dr. is out of town so I should be okay.

So I've thought from the beginning about when the baby would be born. God has always seemed to use dates for significance for Casey and I. It's possible He has done this even more than I realize but I just started noticing this about 5 or 6 years ago because of the significance.
A few examples: Casey was diagnosed with cancer and had surgery on May 14th. Five days later, on May 19th, on his birthday, we found out it was malignant. For a year he went in every 3 months for scans to see if it was spreading. For the better part of that year we thought it had spread to his lymph nodes. On Casey's birthday May 19th the following year, we found out that it was a misread on the scan and it had not spread, but in fact he had been cancer free for that entire year since his surgery. AMAZING!
Casey was hired into Motorola on April 5th, 1999 And 5 years to the day he was offered a position with the Motorola in Carrollton. We were getting to move back to Fort Worth! yippee!
My grandfather passed away on my birthday, August 27, 2004. Not exactly a positive example, but a date of significance, nonetheless.
Nate and Gabe were born on My grandmother's birthday, March 23rd and of course this is the same day that Nate passed away.
And without any intervention, or plans Casey and I got pregnant naturally (complete MIRACLE) and the baby is due Sept. 3rd. Which means he could be born a week early on my birthday, August 27th. Which would make what was most recently a negative with my grandfaher's death a positive!

We will see. I'm not pretending to know what God has in store for us! It's just interesting to me how he has used dates to show us His power and glory. He is in control...and that is something that we have always needed to be reminded of. :)

Baby Shower and Baby Brother

Casey's co-workers had a baby shower for us on Wed. Gabe and I got to go and see Casey's new office and had fun visiting with his co-workers. Everything was so nice. They had our lunch catered with chicken parmesan and pasta and salad. Yummy. I brought a gift from Baby Brother to Gabe. We just had to have something for Gabe to open that was actually his because he's already started becoming very possessive. He's even possessive for other people. I digress but I took a bite of Casey's snow cone while we were driving in the car the other day and Gabe says, "No mommy. Daddy's no cone." :)

Anyhow, Baby brother got him a "peace car." He loves that toy and I'm so glad that my sister and friend Holly made the suggestion to get a gift from baby brother.

Here's Gabe at Daddy's desk.

Baby brother received a Bumbo chair with a tray. These had not come out when we registered the 1st time around, but I think came out shortly after Gabe was born. We never bothered to get one but it looks pretty neat. The minute we opened the Bumbo chair at the office, Gabe wanted to open it and try to sit in it. He called it a potty and stood on it....in front of all the co-workers. :)

When we got home he decided he wanted to sit in it with his snack. So cute!

We received a ton of hand-me-downs from a friend of my sister who has a 5 month old little boy. I washed all the clothes and while I was folding them Gabe came up and grabbed a couple of the shirts. He said, "Dabe's?" I said, "well, no they are actually baby brother's." (I haven't learned yet). He said, "No! Dabe's!" And indicated he wanted to put the shirt on. The particular shirt he grabbed was a newborn so I explained it wouldn't fit him. But I found one that would. It was a 6 month onesie. We couldn't button the bottom but it fit him like a shirt. I'm ashamed to admit it but he wore this shirt for 3 days. :) Notice the tail in the back.

Getting ready

I have now put the pack and play up and the bassinet is ready. With Gabe we used both so I assume we will do the same this time around. I actually have decided I'd like to have a co-sleeper with this one because I remember what a pain it was to use the pack n play last time. The only caveat is that our bed sits really high off the ground, 35 inches to be exact. So this makes it difficult to find the right co-sleeper.

I put together the bassinet and put some newborn diapers in the basket on the bottom. Gabe proceeded to get the diapers out and I said, "Oh Gabe those are baby brother's diapers. Let's not get those out please." His response:" No Dabe's dipers." Oh dear! Sibling rivalry and the sibling isn't even here yet. :)
So then he decided to roll the bassinet in the living room and wanted to get inside of it. I could not refuse. He's a light weight for a 2 year old so I figured it wouldn't hurt and I could keep him from having resentment about the baby. So he laid in the bassinet like a little baby, except he's about a foot too long for it. Then he proceeded to put the newborn diapers on his blue teddy (with Mommy's help, of course) and put him in the bassinet.

We had to change blue teddy's diaper about 10 times because "bue teddy go poo poo."

More funny stories

Gabe is just so cute! Yesterday we celebrated his cousin Emily's birthday at Justice for girls. It was an allgirl party so yes, he was the only boy at the party, but he just loves to be around cousin Em and Abby so I couldn't not take him. They fixed everyone's hair including Gabe's. They played games and then we were able to get a mini webkinz figurine as a party favor. We went for pizza after the party and met up with all the guys. After that we went back to cousin Em and Abby's house to play for a few minutes before heading home. Emily had gotten lots of neat Barbie presents and was playing with some of the accessories when Gabe came up to her and wanted what she was playing with. She said, "say the magic word." (the magic word in her mind was please). Gabe looked around and smiled and said excitedly, "Meestay Moostay Mickey Mouse clubhouse!" He was so proud of himself! For anyone who does not know about Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Mickey says, "Hi everybody, do you want to come insisde my clubhouse? Oh I almost forgot. To make the club house appear, we need to say the magic words. Meeska Mouska Mickey Mouse."

This is the only magic word he knows! So cute and hilarious!!!

Dr. update

I went to the Dr. yesterday and he said I was dilated 2 cm but not effaced. He also said that the baby was not engaged meaning his head was not down in my pelvis. Well with the pain I've had today I can say I think baby brother is engaged now. I feel a dull pain in my pelvis that won't go away. I am 37 weeks and ready mentally for him to come anytime. We don't have a name and do not have the beds/bassinets ready but otherwise we're good. It's kind of funny how unprepared I am for this one. I haven't done any laundry for the baby as of yet. I guess I assume he's not coming anytime soon.

Speaking of fire trucks...

Casey just had to get these pictures since Gabe loves them so much. Gabe did get a very big kick out of seeing these pictures!

He loves Fire trucks

Gabe loves everything having to do with Fire trucks. My friend Karen posted pics. of her boys on her BIL fire truck which reminded me that I needed to post about this. It's been in the past couple of months, probably April that this all really came about. We discovered this show on our cable's Sprout's Video On Demand. It is Fireman Sam. It is made by the same people that produce Bob the Builder (I think) but is based in the UK.
Gabe cannot get enough of Fireman Sam. He even likes it when Casey and I sing the theme song. (It's Fireman Sam or Bob the Builder).
Mommy on the other hand gets tired of it pretty quickly. They have only about 5 episodes to choose from so over the course of a few days/week I am pretty tired of Fireman Sam. Gabe calls him "Firetruck sam." So cute!
We also have a book "Firefighter Frank" that he loves. I picked this up at Half price books and he has had us reading this to him every night at least twice. I've learned to improvise the story to make it go quicker. I hit all the high pionts. There is one page in the book where it shows a picture of all the school children who come to visit... well here is the story..."When school children come to visit, Frank loves to show them around..." There are several children on the fire truck and others standing around the truck. Gabe always slaps the page and says, "NO, NO." very angrily. I of course say, "no we are happy that the cildren get to sit on the fire truck." Well after many attempts at this I finally pointed to a boy in the picture and said, "Look, there's Gabe." He's been happy for the children ever since and now when we read the story he points to several of the boys and says, "Dabe." Sure, why not? We point to other little boys aand say, "Look there's Noah. and cousin Abby and Emily." Kids are so funny. Now he points out Noah, Abby and Emily. At least he isn't hitting the page anymore.

Well, all this to say that last night as Casey was putting Gabe to bed, I looked into the family room and noticed torn pieces of paper all over the floor. At closer inspection, it was the Fire fighter Frank book torn to shreds. He must have been angry with us at some point in the last day. I can't even recall when he had been up there by himself in the last couple of days. Who knows. Needless to say, the book is in the trash. I'm not sure we'll replace it although I am sad about it since it was his favorite. Casey reminded me that he is only 2. I wasn't that upset about it but was really just inquiring as to why he would tear up his book. Well, I always remind myself about the time I got mad at my sister and cousin Lang at my Mamo's house in Ardmore. I was about 8 and I was so mad at them that I carved into a wooden bench the words "I hate you." My Mamo found the bench and her feelings were hurt. I can remember that like it was yesterday. She still has the bench and she never refinished it or tried to fix it. It's funny now. Gabe reminds me a lot of myself and my mom thinks so too. He doesn't like it when people watch him play or look at him for that matter. (Of course this really depends on his mood). But if he catches someone looking at him while he's playing, he'll say "No." in a growling voice. I remember being this way when I was 4 and 5. I'm not sure why but I didn't like people to watch me play. I guess I thought they were making fun of me.

I can't believe I went so long without blogging. Hopefully I can keep up.

Cleaning out toys

The other day I was in Gabe's "choo choo roooom" with him while he played. He has given his play room this name ever since he could start talking. We got him a train table at Christmas and I suppose that is the focal point of the room. I was attempting to clean up and cull through the toys without him noticing. I had a small plastic bag that old toys went into quickly. Before I go on I should mention that he doesn't like it when I clean up his room. Somehow it is not a habit of Casey's to make Gabe clean up at the end of a night of playing in the choo choo room. So in the morning, I'll go up and the place will be a complete wreck. Every box or bin has been dumped. If I try to clean up while Gabe is in there playing, he will come over and dump whatever box I've filled with toys and walk back to wherever he was playing. ugh. I don't understand the desire to have every toy you own on the floor. :)
Anyhow, I inconspicuously was able to go through most of his toys and gather up a box full of trash/junk toys to throw out or give away. I put the toys in a box in another room and halfway closed the box so he couldn't see what was in it. Later that day I was catching up on the phone with my good friend in Houston. I was downstairs chatting it up while Gabe played upstairs. He would come to the top of the stairs occasionally and I heard him playing in the family room and in his choo choo room. At one point in my conversation, I see him run to the other side of the upstairs where the bedrooms are. I then see him cross the top of the stairs pushing the box of trash toys across to his choo choo room. He looks down at me and says, "Bye Bye, Mommy. Bye Bye." I laughed out loud then and now every time I think of him doing this. If it wasn't so funny, I would have been very frustrated. Because you know what he likes to do with boxes of toys, right? Yep, that box was dumped into his choo choo room and all those toys were strewn across the floor.
He is so precious! Wow I love being a mommy.

Counting

Gabe woke up in a good mood this morning. Gabe and I were out in the back this morning playing. He came up and said "sweeng high." He loves to swing but doesn't always like to use the swing at home. So I put him in the swing and was moving chairs out of the way. All the while he had started to count which he does a lot. In Galveston he counted to 10 or 12 for the first time. Today I noticed he had gotten to 16, 17, 18, 19!

It was so precious!! I said, "Gabriel! You counted to 19! I'm so proud of you!" He got the biggest smile on his face. He had his Diego sun glasses on. So sweet. I took a picture of him but with the old camera that takes film. So I'll have to wait to post when the film is developed. I love being a mommy and have recently been thinking about how blessed I am to have Gabe and be able to spend everyday with him. He is the sweetest boy!

And there is another precious boy on the way. He moves a lot and has at times made me 10x more uncomfortable than I was when pregnant with the twins. He has gotten the hiccups a lot and I never noticed the hiccups with the boys. His head is positioned right next to my left hip bone so it is a strange sensation when he hiccups. Weird but he is so sweet! We have yet to agree on a name. None of the names either of us has come up with is one we LOVE! yet. Although Casey may disagree. He does have a name that he likes a lot but I do not like it. Maybe I'll come around. Per a friend's suggestion (she is planning on doing the same if she has a boy next time) we are giving this little boy the middle name of Nathaniel. I loved the idea of Nathaniel's name being carried on. That's all for now.

July 4th weekend

We went to Mimsey and Grandpa's lakehouse for the 4th which has become our annual tradition. All the family, including my parents and siblings go out fo the day and enjoy the lake and fire works. We stayed the weekend to enjoy some time with Casey's parents and visited Fossil Rim Wildlife Park. You drive through and get to feed the animals from your car. I think Gabe enjoyed it!
Here's a picture of Emily and Abby with Gabe. These are his 2 favorite people in the world besides Mommy and Daddy. :)