my sweetness

It's taken me just a few months to figure out how to upload more than 5 pics at a time, but now that I've got the hang of it, ya'll have to suffer through my picture overload:) I LOVE this boy. He has stolen my heart time and time again, and his smile makes my day (as I'm sure you'll understand when you see these pictures). I recently read a blog written by a mom I don't know. Her 3rd son was diagnosed with cancer when he was 6 months old. They noticed that he wouldn't move in certain ways, and he always got fussy during tummy time. They found out that he had a tumor growing on his spine, and it had branched out into the nerves around his vertebrae. During the last weeks of his life, all they could do was make him comfortable. They decided to take him home to spend time together as a family, and he gently passed away in their arms soon after. As I read this mom's blog, I cried. Hard. There are days when I get frustrated with my son, especially as he's teething and going through a "mommy" phase. Yet as this mom talked about her baby boy teaching lessons of love and blessing everyone who knew him, I realized that I need to truly cherish this time I have with my son. Once he hits a certain age, he'll never have another "mommy" phase again. He won't let me squeeze his little cheeks or tickle his chubby legs. I won't be able to hold him as he falls asleep in my arms. These are things that I do every day now, and I don't want to take them for granted. He loves his mommy and daddy, and we love him with everything we've got. He gives the best hugs, he's crawling EVERYWHERE, he's got a goofy personality, and his smile is contagious. See for yourself...

He seems worried for some reason... I'm not sure why.

CHUB!

He puts everything in his mouth.

This is Mr.Bedhead. I LOVE this face!

Bonding time for Daddy and Gabey.

Another face I love.

Gabey loves chewing on wrappers. Is this normal?

I don't even know what this face is, but it's funny!

I love Gabriel. He gives me purpose in this life and he helps me to be a better person. I don't take him for granted, and I love being his mommy. He is one of the greatest blessings in my life, and I thank Heavenly Father every day that I have a strong, healthy, goofy son. Life is good:)

*T

Cabo

As you can tell, we're back from Cabo and missing the sunshine. It snowed off and on today here in Rexburg, and the once-visible grass now has a light dusting of the cold white stuff. Thankfully, my skin is holding on to it's sunkissed glow and I'm still feeling my vitamin D boost from the week. Although it got a little chaotic at times with the 3 boys and houseful of people, it was a much needed vacation. Our Idaho winter has been long and cold, and we're REALLY looking forward to springtime! My mom will be making me a picture CD of all the pictures we took during our South of the Border vacay, but here's a little sneak peek for what's to come:

This is Gabe's first pool experience. He absolutely LOVED it!

This was our last night at the house, and I was soaking in as much pool time as possible. Gabe even enjoyed the hot tub!

As soon as I get more pictures, I'll post them. Gabe is now an international traveler AND a crawler! He just up and crawled the day before we left, which was a total shock to me. He'd been rolling around like crazy up until the night we got to Utah, and when he was sitting on the carpet and saw something he wanted to play with, he just started crawling! He sometimes forgets that he's mobile and will get upset if I walk away while he's on the floor (which I think has to do in part with his recent separation anxiety), but he sure is fast once he starts moving! We've already moved a lot of our stuff down to Utah, which has helped us with baby-proofing our house until we move next month. Why must babies grow up so fast?! I don't know if I'm ready for this!

*T