6 months

These pictures are about a week late, but I guess, better late than never :) Here is my handsome, smiling, almost crawling, six month old little boy!

Merry Christmas!

Forgive the sideways video, but this was to precious not to share :) Wishing you all a very merry and blessed Christmas!

Wedding Pictures

Finally I am getting these made and posted... :) The website I use to make them was giving me fits yesterday...grr... Anyhow, enjoy :)

Baby Food

Someone ate his first baby food today :) Mashed banana's were a big hit. Sweet potatoes, carrots, apples and peaches to come. My boy is growing up way to fast!

My baby sister got married yesterday! It was beautiful, wonderful, sweet, and completely perfect. :) More pictures to come...even though this one is pretty dorky, I still really like it :)

Stressed and Blessed

That is how I have been feeling lately. We have had a lot going on around here as of late, with my sisters wedding this weekend, getting ready for Christmas festivities, and the semester winding down at work. Most days I have felt like I am barely keeping my head above water, and I hate that feeling. I want to be that super mom who never lets anything bother her, who is super organized, and whose house is always spotless and laundry is always clean. And while I know that it is a bit unrealistic to have those expectations for myself, sometimes it is hard to keep those feelings at bay.



But aside from being stressed, I am also incredibly blessed. I was sitting at the computer tonight editing pictures that I took of Gabe while he was sleeping and I just felt so peaceful and blessed. Pictures of my sleeping babe were just what my heart and mind needed to feel peaceful again.

Finally...

We got a decent Christmas picture! And yes, Hannah and Gabe are wearing matching Christmas PJ's...I am soo that mom :)

My Baby Boy

I made an attempt at Christmas pictures of the kids last week. It did not go well. I took 121 photo's and this is the only one I really like. At least I got one though :) And he really is ridiculously cute :)

Wordless Wednesday

Just because she is cute :)

Busy, Busy, Busy

Oh me, oh my have we ever been busy lately. I keep thinking of things that I want to sit down and blog about, but by the time I have the kids in bed and actually have time to blog, I am too worn out to actually do it. However, I had some Coke Zero at my mom's house tonight, so I am all caffeinated up and ready to blog. Be forewarned, this will probably be a long post :)

The first, and biggest thing that has been keeping us so busy around here is that my husband has changed jobs. Anyone who knows my husband knows that he is very adverse to change, so this has been a really big thing for us. After working for his old company for almost 10 years, we made the decision as a family that it was time for him to move on. Things fell into place ridiculously quickly, and one week after resigning from his old job, he started working at his new job. The biggest difference is that he is now working from home. Since what used to be our office is now Gabe's room, and the computer is in the playroom/basement/family room, we have have been busy transforming part of the laundry side of the basement into a home office for Nick. Its not done yet, but here are some pictures of the progress we have made so far.

This is the before shot. As you can see it was fairly gross and a bit of a disaster.
Hannah and Grandpa working on painting. Hannah really thought the painting was fun, and for being only three, she did a decent job :)
Number one painter :)

Framing the new wall and doorway.
We now have drywall! Since this last picture we also have insulation in the drywall, a new phone line and new electrical wiring...and it all works :) Still some things to do, but we are getting there. :)

We also had family Thanksgiving with Nick's family this past week. We did Thanksgiving with my side when my sister from PA was up two weeks ago. One of the big traditions that Nick's family does is shooting trap on Thanksgiving. While I was a loser and didn't take many pictures at Thanksgiving, I did take some of my studly husband shooting things :)



We also put up our Christmas tree this past Sunday. I have to say that it was by far the most fun I have ever had putting the tree up. Hannah had an absolute blast doing it. She kept saying that the lights were sooo, beautiful, and I think that since Sunday she has rearranged the Christmas ornaments on the tree about 16,000 times. :) Christmas through the eyes of a three year old is a ridiculous amount of fun!

Daddy thinks he is funny :)
Hannah hanging up ornaments.
She wouldn't look at me so this was the best I could do. :)
Gabe hung out on the boppy and enjoyed the lights :)
He is so stinking cute!
I love my kids...and they love each other :)

And the final thing that has been keeping us busy is that my little sister is getting married in just a little over two weeks. It is such an exciting time! But did I mention that she will be moving to Northern Ireland (where her soon to be hubby is from) after they get back from the honeymoon...SOB...we already have our skype camera, so hopefully that will help...:(
Krissy and Geoff...aren't they cute :)

This girl....

Has been cracking me up lately! She is just full of funny things to say. Here are that latest, for your reading pleasure:

Hannah: "Mommy, I want to have really long hair like Kiki" (My sister in law has really long hair)
Me: "That would be nice Hannah."
Hannah: "But mommy, how will I poop with really long hair?"
Me: "Ummmm...."

Hannah: "Mommy, did you know that God got a camel, and rode it to the stable to see the baby Jesus?"
Me: "No, I didn't know that. Are you sure it wasn't the wise men who rode the camel to see baby Jesus?
Hannah: "No, it was God. Mommy, is Gabe the baby Jesus?"
Me: "No honey, he is just our baby Gabe."

*For this last one to make sense, I need to explain that we were at the Dr.'s office. I had taken Gabe in because he kept fussing and pulling his ear, but it turned out that he did not have an ear infection, and the NP thought that he was probably just teething.*
Nurse Practitioner: "Well, it looks like his ears are fine, sometimes kids will pull their ears when they are teething. You can go ahead and get him bundled back up, and head out."
Hannah (to the NP): "But aren't you going to check his nutter-butters?"
NP: "His what?"
Me: (Red faced and trying not to laugh, because being a nurse, I always call everything by the correct anatomical name....) "Do you mean his boy parts honey?"
Hannah: "Yeah mom, his nutter-butters."

*She has gone to all of his well baby checks with me, and they always check the diaper area, so I am thinking she just assumed they would check again this time....Oh me oh my.... :)*

Hope you enjoyed that as much as I did!!

5 months

I can't beleive that my baby is five months old today. Gabe you are already turning into such a big boy! You are rolling from your belly to back and your back to your belly. You love being in your exersaucer, and playing with your activity gym. You still have your blue eyes, and your smile and giggle melt your mommy's heart. You think that your big sister is sooo funny, she can make you laugh better than just about anyone. You love to snuggle with your daddy, and when you end up sleeping in our bed at night, you always wiggle your way over to his side. I love you very much precious boy, you bring your mommy so much joy! Happy five months little man :)

Cutie Cousin

My sister, her husband and my niece were up to visit this weekend. It was completley wonderful! Isn't my niece just the most beautiful little girl?! She is so sweet :) Steph, you guys seriously need to move closer! Oh the fun we could have.... :)

Wordless Wednesday

Practice, Practice, Practice

Practice makes perfect, right? :) I have been practicing learning to use Photoshop to edit my pictures. I feel like I am starting to make some progress, although, it is still kind of intimidating. I like taking pictures, especially of my children (the poor things probably get sick of having a camera in their faces all the time) and I really like the challenge of trying to make my pictures better. So here is my latest effort.

Original picture

Color edited version. I am not sure that you can tell much of a difference on blogger, but it did look better to me in Photoshop than the original.
Black and white edited version. This is my favorite. But I am kind of partial to black and white.

What do you think? What is good and what is not so good? Any pointers or thoughts to share?

Also, does anyone know how to make your pictures look better on blogger? I edit them and like how they look on my computer, but when I upload to blogger, I always think they look fuzzy. And it annoys me...

Wordless Wednesday

A Bumblebee and a Dinosaur

That's what these two cuties were for Halloween :) We had Trunk or Treat at our church on Saturday evening, and it was lots of fun.
My sister and I were in charge of handing our candy. :)
While daddy took care of taking our little bee around to fill her basket with candy.
And this little guy did a good job of staying bundled up and snoozing the evening away :)

Wordless Wednesday...Fall

Silly girls and smiling boys...

For your Saturday afternoon viewing pleasure :)

4 months!

Gabe is four months old today. It's crazy how fast the time is going! He is such a good baby...he smiles all the time, and really only fusses when tired or hungry. He is sleeping great, nursing every 3-4 hours during the day, and he is even rolling over. He loves being on his belly and he loves being held. And he is growing up WAY to fast for his mamma's taste :)

He doesn't seem to be as bothered by it as I do though....hmmmmmmmm... :)

Here are his other monthly pictures, just for a fun comparison.

One month

Two months

Three months