Happy 3 Months Gabe!

Wow, it is so hard to believe that 12 wks have gone by since our 2nd little man arrived! I had to pull his little gown up to show you his little, or should I say not so little body these days! He is really filling out and I could just eat him up! I love chubby cheeks, and he sure does have those! And my what a long way his little tooth pick legs have come!
Jayce told me yesterday that he loves Gabe's "piggies" (this is what we call feet around here...) as I was sitting on the couch feeding Gabe and watching "scoobs" (Scooby Doo) with Jayce... i look down about 20 minutes later, and Jayce is holding Gabe's foot.. and had been ever since he said that, it was the sweetest thing...

We all love our little Gabe so much and are so thankful to have such a sweet, happy, "smiley," good sleeping little man! You are growing so fast! The only thing mommy wishes she could change about you is that you'd slow down! I am SO enjoying you this size, you are precious!
I thank God for giving us such a beautiful boy! We love you!

fair fun!

We took the boys out to the county fair on Sunday and had a blast! We had tried to go that Friday morning, got all dressed and ready, Jay took off work, I skipped the gym, and we told Jayce we had a special treat for him... we get there, and they are closed until 3... what? I'm used to the state fair and they are ALWAYS open... anyhow, it was quite a dissapointment for us all, so we were so glad to get to go on Sunday... Jayce rode the pony, as you can see... he did great! He did not cry or get scared, he loved it! I was so proud of my little man! Then, Jay and I took turn riding the SLOWEST rides we could find, as neither of us do great with a whole lot of motion....Jayce loved looking at all the animals and as always, Gabe loved strolling and sleeping!

So last night, I had Jayce and Gabe by myself, as Jay had to head to Columbia.. so it had been a pretty long day... we are eating dinner, Jayce finishes up and says, "mommy, tank you for dinner!" with a big grin on his face... It made me smile so big! I was so impressed by his manners... I can remember my dad having to remind me to tell my mom that when I was in high school... and here my 2 year old says it to me with no prompting at all, he's so darn sweet!

Jayce is very proud of this pumpkin that he picked out!

Gabe slept his first night in his crib last night, we made the big move, and let him move upstairs for the night and he did super... slept 9:30 through until I woke him at 7 to eat... yea! He will be 12 weeks tomorrow, my how time has flown!

Thanks Aunt Lorrie!

Aunt Lorrie has let us use her double stroller... which she is not able to use much b/c she has 2 SETS OF TWINS... all boys I might add... and it's hard to keep them contained long enough for her to use it! Anyhow, she let us try it out... Jayce, Gabe, and I went for our first walk around the neighborhood and they LOVED it! Gabe always loves to stroll, but Jayce had gotten a little impatient lately with not being able to move during a walk... but this was the answer... he LOVED it! (Hopefully that will last)... he liked looking back to check on his little bro and he liked telling me which way to go and barking back at all the dogs along the way...

I'm also putting a picture on here of our day at the park last week with Tara and Wallace... Jayce had a blast... and Gabe, well... he ate, watched the boys and slept, so I think he had fun too! There is one picture I love of Jayce and "Ms. Tara" helping Wallace walk... Jayce loves to "help Wallace walk" and you can see he is trying to get him to walk a little faster than he's probably ready for... practically pulling his arm off...

Speaking of eating... I've had a problem lately with not being able to get him to take a bottle... so we are really trying to practice this skill that he used to have down pat... not sure what happened... but at the park that day and then his cousin Joseph's bday party he would not take one and in several other public places... which makes life a little more challenging... The gym nursery tried yesterday for 30 minutes and he refused... but daddy was able to give him one right when he got home... Jay says it's all about the way you hold him... I think Jay just has that magic touch... the problem is, I need a sitter to have that touch! Hopefully we'll get him back to taking one well soon....It's a wonderful, yet sometimes suffocating feeling to know that I am providing ALL this baby's nutrition... It would be a much better feeling for him to be able to eat from a bottle sometimes when I need a little break! He is still nursing super well and we have moved to between a 3-4 hour schedule, 6 feedings a day...and he's pretty much cut out his late night feeding... which means Jay and I can get in bed by 9:30 or 10... and not get up till 7... SO NICE... we are working on moving his last feeding back each night and eventually to get him to going down around 8 or so...things are definitely getting easier and better with nursing... if we can just keep the infections away and get that bottle skill back!

I am attaching one other picture of Gabe smiling, that I couldn't get my camera to download the other day... it's a better smile than the last one, a FULL smile! He is so sweet and content...

Oh, on and on I go... but since I just do one entry a week or so, I have to get all caught up...one last story for you all to laugh at me about... I told this at our girls night the other night and it reminded me I needed to post it on the blog... I'm going into TJ Maxx last week while Jayce was at mother's morningout... I pull out the stroller, put my diaper bag and bag of returns in the bottom part... and start b bopping into the store... wondering why I am getting such strange looks from all the "passerbys"... I get to the door and realize just how light my stroller feels today... I look down and NO GABE... he is still in the car, waiting for his scattered mommy to pull him out... The worst part, is walking back past all those people, loading their cars... to get my poor child out of the car... I just looked down and made NO eye contact! I wonder if I'll ever get this new exciting life down pat????

Happy Birthday Wallace!

Jayce's good buddy Wallace turned one last Thursday! Jayce loved sitting by Wallace as he dug into his personal layered cake and yelled across the room several times, "I want one daddy." We had a great time at the party and Jayce enjoyed helping Wallace explore all his new toys... Wallace is such a good sport!
Happy Birthday Wallace and thanks for letting us share your special day with you! We know you and Jayce will have many more fun times together!
I finally caught Gabe with a half smile on camera... he is smiling so much, it's just so hard to catch with my delay!

Jayce has made a big accomplishment this week! He can put his shirt on and take it off all by himself! Jay taught him how to do it and he is so proud, and boy does that make things easier ! I just hope he doesn't try taking it off in public... now that he knows how...

Lately we've been working on teaching Jayce obedience and we will say, yes, that makes mommy (or daddy, or Jesus, or nanny...) happy when you obey... his Bible verse he's memorized for the month at church is "children obey your parents"... so we repeat this over and over again... Well, his knew thing is as soon as he does something good, he says... that makes mommy happy? All day long... it's so cute! And then, as soon as he does something bad, he puckers out his lips and says "sugars..." and gives me a kiss, and says, now that made mommy happy? He's trying hard to make up for whatever he's done... and I must admit sometimes it does work...

Gabe's a Big Boy and Jayce's Monkey!

Well, we finally had our 8 wk appointment today, 2 wks late, as Gabe is 10 wks today... I had called last week to be sure I had the right time for the appointment, and we were not even in the system, so we had to wait until today to get him checked out. Dr. Whitehead says he looks great and is very healthy! He weighed 13 lbs, 2.5 ozs and measured 24.5 inches! He is in the 90th percentile for weight and 95th for height... Wow! Jayce has never been more than the 50th for either, and usually is in the 25th... so he'd better be careful how he treats his little bro! Gabe might be able to beat him up real soon! Gabe had to get shots and did really well... I should not have looked, boy that was a long needle... but I was so proud of myself... I did just fine! With Jayce, I made Jay hold him and I left the room, these boys have really toughened me up apparently to have been able to handle that today! On a side note, taking a toddler and a newborn for a dr.'s appt. that lasts 2 hours, is not a good idea... While there, Jayce rearranged the chairs in the waiting room, locked the nurse and Dr. Whitehead out of the office, and dropped and ate 2 raisins off the floor... as I was nursing Gabe and could not reach him in time to stop him... oh my, I just had to pray over those raisins... The picture of Jayce sitting in the filthy parking lot is at the dr.'s office too... I asked him to squat down beside Gabe and this is what he did.

Jayce has an imaginary monkey friend who he has been talking about quite a bit these days... I am not sure how this came about... but he has told Jay about him on several occasions. Today, he acted like he was trying to climb the wall in the dr. office and told me he needed to climb up to get the monkey off the ceiling... and then he'll tell the monkey to go away, or tell him to get in the car to ride... it's quite funny!


One funny thing Jayce said this week... Jay was driving past the movie theater and as always, curious George asked "what's that daddy?" and Jay said that's the movie theater, and Jayce said, that's where the moo cows live? It would make sense... he's a funny little fella!

Gabe at 8 1/2 wks...looks JUST LIKE big bro!

Now, not to sound vain AT ALL, b/c I have absolutely NOTHING to do with the way this child looks according to most... but I think my little man is going to be quite a handsome little fella! And, I pulled out an old album of Jayce's ... at this same age, wearing the same outfit, and it is astonishing how much they look alike... As soon as Jay will download my old pics onto my new computer, I will post these side by side... its' unreal... the only difference is the hair...
I am still so in love with both my boys! Jayce went to stay with Nanny again today, and to spend the night as mommy is still recovering... but before he left this morning... we were in the bathroom... he rubbed his little chin, and said, Mommy, I have a beard..." I said you have a beard? He said yes, mommy has a beard too? I said well, I don't THINK you have one and I certainly HOPE I DO NOT!
Then before leaving, he kissed me so sweetly and said "be careful mommy..." makes me melt every time! All over the weekend, as I was acting as if I was on my deathbed... Jayce would come in and give me "sugars" and then say..."mommy feels better?" And I could honestly reply yes, I feel better... b/c that somehow would always lift my spirits!

Today, I have had the best time hanging out solo with little Gabe... he is not used to all the attention and I'm not used to being able to give it to him, but I think we have both fully enjoyed our day with "just us!"

I am feeling better from mastitis, flu like stuff gone, but the pain is still really bad and I'm starting to get redness on the other side now too, which worries me... has anyone else experienced getting it on both sides? I am now on my 3rd day of antibiotics, so I'm hoping that if another infection is developing, the meds I'm already on will knock it out...and that I won't have to start all over with another infection... any comments or advice would be great !