pictures!

Now that I'm working for my dad, I've acquired a new laptop that allows me to actually update my blog! Wondrous! We had a lot going on over the holidays, so I wanted to make a quick picture post. Gabe is growing up so fast, and it seems like he's changing from day to day. He loves to mimick us, and he's a champ at saying "mama" and "dada". We're not sure if he knows what they mean, but he seems to repeat "mama" over and over again when he's fussy and wants to be held. Who knows?!

I turned on the TV the other day and saw that Regis and Kelly are having a beautiful baby contest. I figured I'd snap a few shots of my own beautiful child to see what I could come up with. This is one of my favorites.

One of my dear friends, Maria, had a voice recital/concert right before Christmas. She's in grad school in Colorado, so I haven't seen her in a year and a half. Our voice teacher joined her for a few duets, which is how we found out about the recital, so we surprised her! We had so much fun catching up, but I miss this girl so much! Love you Maria (I know you're blog-stalking me)!

She'd never met Gabe before, but he obviously loves her!

This is Hannah, me, Elise, and Gabe at a little Christmas get-together. We were laughing because the power had just gone out and we were in complete darkness. You'd never guess Ross couldn't see a thing when he took this picture!

Hannah matches the blanket on the piano, Elise and I match one another... and then Jordan is just off to the side enjoying a cup of cider. We were trying to sing carols while Hannah played the piano and Elise held a flashlight. We were laughing because Elise ended up proving that she couldn't sing and hold a flashlight at the same time... which is why I'm helping her:)

I thought I could post more than 5 pictures, but blogger isn't letting me. Can anybody give me a few tips on how to load more than 5 at a time??? I still have more pictures to share, so come back soon!

*T

paradise

Our Home Teachers came on Sunday and gave us the lesson based on Elder Uchtdorf's message "Hold On a Little Longer". During the lesson (taught by 16-year old Daniel), we were asked why it was even worth it to endure through trials. The first thing that came to my mind was a scripture found in The Book of Mormon in Alma 40:12 :

"And then shall it come to pass, that the spirits of those who are righteous are received into a state of happiness, which is called paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace, where they shall rest from all their troubles and from all care, and sorrow."

I then explained that, during my mission, we taught many lessons about the Plan of Salvation. This particular scripture refers to the Spirit World and those who will be rewarded with "paradise, a state of rest, a state of peace". Those of us who endure the trials and continue to live in righteousness will be received in this state of happiness. No matter how difficult our trials may become, if we just hold on a little longer, we will know the worth of enduring to the end. I then likened this to childbirth. During my pregnancy, I (like most women) endured just about every pain and heartache typical of carrying a child: nausea, heartburn, weight gain, back pain, swelling, heightened emotions, headaches, stretchmarks, and the overall discomfort of being pregnant. But, like most women, I endured through the pregnancy, labor, and delivery (involving even even more pain and discomfort), only to receive the most wonderful reward: my sweet son. My work was only beginning, but enduring the trial of it all rewarded me with one of the greatest blessings of my life. The same goes for our journey here on this earth; no matter what trials may come, if we but endure them in righteousness we will soon enough rest from our troubles, and from all care and sorrow. I know that there will be work to do once we cross through the veil, but it will be the most important work we can do. Life is a test, but we are not alone. We have help from family, friends, church leaders, and our Father in Heaven. Stay faithful, my friends. Stay strong, and you will receive your reward.

*T

Thank you, Ms. Streep

So I have this fantasy that I will one day meet Meryl Streep. In fact, I had a dream last night that she was at a book signing and I had a one-on-one conversation with her. She asked me what I do with my music degree, and when I told her I teach voice, she gave me a big hug. I literally woke up with a smile on my face! She is my absolute favorite. Yes, she lights up the big screen and is listed as the greatest actress of our time, but I love how she is a Mom. I've seen her give interview after interview and, although she has a passion for acting, she looks at it as her job. That's just what she does. Yet, when asked about her family, her demeanor changes. She becomes gentler, there's a little sparkle in her eye, and her smile is oh-so-natural. I've never seen her talk about her family in a "ho-hum" sort of way, like she sometimes does when she answers the same monotonous questions about her latest movie. You can tell that she's passionate about her family and never tires of talking about them... yet she doesn't exploit them. In fact, she had this to say about the millions of dollars given to those like Brangelina and JLo for the first pictures of their newborns:

"One thing I learned very early on is when you’re famous, you lose your right to privacy. And, if you promote your children, if you have them photographed, then they lose their rights. But, if you do not have them photographed and (do not) sell them to OK! magazine, they have the right to… privacy and citizenship."

"They (paparazzi) can follow me, take a picture, whatever they want to do. My kids, no."

Now, I'm not exactly a celebrity in any sort. But I love my child and I appreciate any mother who loves and respects their children. I appreciate Meryl Streep for her talent, her natural beauty, her passion for her work, and her love for family. I sure hope I get to meet her one day. Here's to you, Ms. Streep:)

*T

October pictures

Now that it's 4:45 am, blogger is finally uploading my pictures. I hope I don't have to make a habit of insomnia just so I can post pics of our little man. He's totally worth it, don't get me wrong, but I do prefer to SLEEP:) However, since I'm awake (against my will), here are some pictures from last month:

I was washing bottles one morning and had Gabe on the counter next to me (I know you're not supposed to put Bumbo's on the counter, but he stays happier for longer when he can watch me). One minute, he was smiling and watching me. The next minute, I see this. He was OUT!

Being a baby is hard work!

This was on Gabe's blessing day. We had pictures with Taylor, Lara, Caden, Catherine, and Julia as well, but I love Gabey's smile in this picture! Ross's mom Theresa is on the left, and my parents are on the right.

This little kid is loved, lemme tell ya!

Okay, so my two favorite things about this picture are 1.) Gabey's cute little smirk and 2.) those LEGS!

Oh, I could just eat 'em up!

We got his outfit from some dear friends of ours at my baby shower in Utah, and we all thought it would be the cutest Easter outfit for him. Little did we know that this kid would be a monster, so here he is wearing it in October... NOT April.

(Also, please note the french manicure. These are MY nails! I've officially stopped biting my nails, and I'm so proud of the outcome!)

Is he NOT the cutest little Tin Man you've ever seen?!? This outfit was a very last minute idea (hence the scotch tape), and we had about 2 1/2 minutes to get it on him and take pictures before his wiggles ripped it to shreds. I love how he has this look of "what the heck are you doing to me?" on his face. Priceless:)

Well friends, I think it's time for Mama to hit the sack. It's now 5am, and I'm hoping to get at least 3 hours of sleep before Gabe wakes up. Hope you enjoyed the pictures! Good night!

*T

i know, i know

Yes, it's been almost 2 months. I know this. The only thing I can say about my blog inactivity is that we HAD 2 functioning computers. We had an older Mac G4 that was my mom's, which is what I used while Ross had my computer, a newer MacBook. The G4 is now taking a sabbatical, and our MacBook is with Ross ALL DAY LONG. He's taking 16 credits and working 3 jobs, so he's gone a lot. Therefore, I have no computer access. And I am NOT about to take my 4-month old with me to the local library just so I can get on the computer. Swine flu is not a joke anymore, so the fewer public places I expose my child to, the better. The end.

Now, on to bigger and better things! Speaking of bigger, Gabe is huge. He's well over 17 pounds now and his head is bigger than every other infant's head in our ward. He is such a fun baby! My sister-in-law, Lara, always told me that her favorite baby age is around 5 months, and now I know why! Gabe loves to smile and his belly laughs absolutely cracks us up. We've started him on rice cereal, and he averages around 8 hours of sleep a night (after about 8oz. of formula plus 1-2 Tablespoons of rice cereal). My favorite thing to do is walk into his room in the morning and peek my head over his crib, in turn to see him smiling and cooing back at me. I've heard that colicky babies turn into the happiest babies, and I agree! He loves his mommy, but he'll go to anyone and we don't have to worry when we leave him with a babysitter. And all Moms out there know that this is a plus!

Two weekends ago, we had Gabe's blessing here in Rexburg. Although he was almost 4 months at the time, it was the first opportunity we had to get everybody together on a Fast Sunday. Ross' mom and youngest sister came out from Virginia, and my parents came up from Alpine with Taylor, Lara, and Caden. It was such a wonderful blessing, and Ross invited my dad, my brother Taylor, Randy Kempton (music teacher at BYU-I), and Brady Hodgson (Ross' good friend and fellow musician) to join him in the blessing circle. Ross said that Gabe was smiling and looking around during the blessing, and he wasn't fussy at all. My Grandma Van Leeuwen made Gabe's blessing outfit out of material she had saved after making my wedding dress, and Ross' mom made his blessing blanket. My mom took a ton of photos that day, so here are some of our family and our darling baby boy:

Well, just kidding. For some reason I can't post photos right now. Dangit! They're really cute, I promise! I'll keep trying. Anyway, baby's in bed, Daddy's home from work, and now it's Mama's turn to relax. Well, by "relax" I mean SLEEP. But before I hit the sack, I'll pat myself on the back for doing Pilates 2 days in a row:) And I have another date with Pilates tomorrow at 11:30. Go me.

Life is fabulous.

*T

we're baaaaaack!!!

I'm realizing that it's been 4 weeks since my last post... and that's too long! In my defense, however, we've had A LOT going on. We've moved 4ish times, depending on how you look at it, and we're just now settling back down in Rexburg. Just after my last post, we were kicked out of our apartment because there was a mess up between Pinnacle and our apartment complex in Indy. Pinnacle had leased all of the apartments until the end of August... except for ours. Supposedly our apartment's lease was up as of August 4th, and a new tenant (who wanted nothing but a view of the lake) was moving in the following weekend. We had about 7 hours to pack up our apartment and move everything to a downstairs apartment, where we ended up staying for less than a week. I flew to Utah with Gabey 4 days after the surprise move, and Ross's office moved to Bakersfield, CA 2 days after that. On his way to Cali, Ross stopped at my parents house to unload all of our stuff before driving the 10 hours to Bakersfield. It was so nice for me to finally be with family again, although it got kinda crazy at times because we had such a full house. My brother's best friend is living with my parents because he's working with/for Taylor (my little bro), my sister Maddy, Bryce, and their son Britton were visiting since Bryce's brother got married, Taylor and Lara and their son Caden are living in my parents basement, and then Gabey and I showed up! Did ya follow all that? It was fun to have all the little boys together for the first time, even if Gabey just sat there and the other two played together. I missed Ross like crazy, but instead of being gone for 3 weeks (like originally planned) he called me 5 days after arriving in Bakersfield to tell me that he was coming back. The office wasn't doing as well as they'd hoped, so they were sending the guys home. SOOO, Ross packed his stuff back up, came to Alpine for a few days, and now we're FINALLY HOME in Rexburg! It's so nice to be here. We missed our friends, our house, our awesome ward... we just missed everything! And it's so nice to be settled. We're still unpacking things, but we're so happy to have Gabey's room set up. When we were in Indy, we borrowed almost everything from friends who had baby stuff (thanks Hiram and Alanna!)... a Pack'N'Play, a rocking chair, a bouncy seat, even baby clothes. But now, Gabey has his own stuff and it's awesome! Mom and Dad helped us get everything up here in Dad's massive truck, and the boys set up the crib and changing table while Mom helped me get things organized and decorated. We love being in our own home, that's for sure! And Gabey likes having his own room and crib:) Here are some pictures from this last week:

Gabey LOVES to be held... which makes it hard when it comes to naptime because he usually doesn't sleep during the day unless he's being held. We're trying to break him of this, but there are lots of tears. Any suggestions?

We put this little duck on the handle of his car seat and he LOVES it! He'll talk to it and laugh and smile, and he stays entertained for quite a while!

Our friends, Brady and Chelse (and soon to be Baby Logan, due in 3 weeks), came to see us when we got home. We MISSED THESE GUYS!

Mama and Baby Gabe. It's hard to believe he's 11 weeks old already!

I LOVE his sweet face. He has stolen our hearts and he makes us smile every day. WE LOVE HIM!

Sorry for the long post, but there was a lot to catch up on! Overall, we're happy, healthy, and blessed beyond measure!

*T

7 weeks!

I can't believe my son is 7 weeks old!  Gabey is growing every minute, and it kinda makes my heart twinge when I look back on his newborn pictures and remember how small he was.  Now he's a total chunk who just keeps eating!  As he's growing, we're starting to hear from more and more people that he looks like a mini-Ross with my chin.  At least my genes popped up in there somewhere!  All of these are from my phone, so the quality isn't great but the pictures sure are cute!

 

I love this sleeper and matching hat.  I remember when it devoured him, and now it's getting too small!

No, I'm not holding him while the car is in motion.  We went to Target and he got REALLY hungry, so we fed him in the parking lot.  He passed out as soon as he had a full tummy, and we just had to take a picture of his cute face (I have a similar picture of Ross making this face after he fell asleep on the way back from Prom back in 2001 (and NO, Ross did NOT fall asleep on my chest). Like father like son, I guess!).  

I find myself stripping him down to his diaper so often now because he spits up and gets his cute clothes all smelly.  This is Gabey's "little Buddha" picture, with an attempt at a smile.  I tell ya, this kid's a CHUB!

He's been pretty fussy still with his colic and gassiness, and I wanted to document him in a peaceful moment.  He was so content just sitting in his chair, but 10 seconds after I took this picture he started crying again.  Oy ve.

I just love this little boy.  He really is sweet, even with the fussiness.  We love him to pieces! 

And now that I've finally found a moment to update my blog, I have a crying baby to feed.  Our lives have definitely changed, but it's been for the better!  

*T