9 Month Birthday

Happy 9 Month Birthday!!

As you can see Bubs, your 9 month picture is not like your previous birthday pics. You are not lying down and I am certainly not trying measure you. You would not have such a thing. Around our house now, if you are not standing, then you are crawling to place where you can pull yourself up. In this past month you have gone from my cute stationary cherub to a lightning-fast howler monkey of doom. And please know, I say that with all the love in my heart.

I am not sure where the past 4 weeks have gone but I can probably guess that you had something to do with it. You love taking things that you shouldn't have and either shoving them DIRECTLY into your mouth and crawling away with them and throwing them across the room. Your chubby little fingers always seem to find something the grab and then cling to with a grip I can only compare to the Jaws of Life.

You are fixated on my hair, my cellphone, my jewelry, the remote control, and about any beverage that we leave out. And of course, the more we say "No" the more you seem to want it. And once you grab it, believe you me, we have to pry your five Anaconda Strength fingers from around it all while trying to avoid getting bit by your 2 sharp teeth. And when we finally are able to force you to let go, you scream like you were just forced to look directly into the sun for five hours straight all while the "It's a Small World" song plays on repeat in your ears.



You have become stubborn and are gaining a certain amount of independence. You want what you want and you want it RIGHT NOW DAMN IT! DO NOT MAKE ME TELL YOU TWICE WOMAN! But you laugh more too. And it is becoming easier to make you smile. As you learn and grow you are beginning to see the world in a whole new light.

You are learning more and more each day. You can now wave Hi and clap your hands. You definitely are familiar with your name and know when we are talking to you. And you say "Da da da da da" like it is the only word that you will EVER need to know. Your father loves it when you say this-he feels so special. And I will admit here, that as cute as I find your babbling, I wish you would say Mama too. But I know that day is not far away.

You are growing bigger and stronger too. And are eating so much and losing that baby fat that I love. Your chubby little legs are getting more muscle and thinning out. I knew this was going to happen but it is a little sad to see them go. You are becoming a little boy and less of my tiny baby. And because of all this moving and growing, you are beginning to really value your naps which remind me that no matter how big you get, when you sleep, you will always look like my precious tiny baby.

You love exploring your surroundings. You want to climb over, crawl into, and look at everything you can. This past month you have really started figuring out your world and how things work. And sometimes this works to your advantage while other times you get yourself stuck and are not quite sure how to get yourself out.

But no matter how much you grow and how smart you get, I have realized that you will forever be my little boy.

So happy 9 month birthday Gabriel. You are crawling like mad, standing up, "talking" all the time, and I simply cannot get enough of you! You have taught me so much about love and I cannot wait to see you grow even more. Please never stop smiling at me and always continue to learn. You make me proud and have given me the best 9 months of my life.

Happy birthday Bubba!

Love always, Mommy

He's a Real Mover

Hello again Internet! Another week down and not much has been going on. I will mention that today is Ryan's 28th birthday. Sera picked out a new shirt and jeans for him. Gabriel bought him the last expansion for his Killer Bunnies game. And I bought him tickets to the CAKE concert for June 19th. He did not have to work today so he spent his time relaxing with Gabe and playing with his new Droid phone. I will admit that I am worried he's going to have an affair with his new phone.

Now that I have said all that: TIME FOR BABY PICTURES!!!

This is a picture of Bubs with a wipe on his head. For some reason this wipe was really freaking him out. And the look on his face says it all!

A little later that day we gave Gabe his first real taste of an Otter-Pop. He loved the whole thing except he did not want to hold it-I think it must have been too cold for him. I also find it FREAKING ADORABLE that his food matches his eyes.

And finally this video is for Grandma Linda, Grandpa Scott, Great Grandpa Willard, and Uncle T. Let me start by saying sorry to Linda for not getting this loaded sooner. It seems like every time I went to take video, something went wrong with my camera or Gabe started screaming. But tonight I finally got it right and I give you Bubs On the Go! The quality isn't perfect but I hope you enjoy it anyway. Much love to all our all family and friends from Montana, Utah, and everywhere else!

Big Events

This past week has been very busy for my family. With mostly fun and happy moments but also a sad one. I will start with that because I feel it is the respectful thing to do.

On Monday morning my Grandma Diane's older sister, my Aunt Ruth, passed away. I didn't know my Aunt Ruth as well as my sister or my brother did, but the moments I did share with her were often filled with laughs and fun. I mean, how can it not be fun when you hear a woman in her late 80's talking about Auto-Erotic Asphyxiation? She was intelligent, kind, and hard-working. And I know that she will be missed by many people.

That being said last week was crammed with BIG events. Starting with my sister graduating from the University of Utah with...are you ready for this Internet? HER MASTERS! I KNOW! HOLY SHIT! I am so incredibly proud of her and all the hard work she has put into this. She is smarter than she gives herself credit for. And I know that she is going to take her MSW and change lives. She truly is making a difference and is doing good in this world.



But of course this night was really about me...



And of course, it wasn't just me that was there-Gabe and Ryan came along to show their support to Becca. I mean look at Gabe stare at his Aunt Becca in awe!



And then Saturday marked a HUGE moment for my parents as they were married in the Manti Temple. I am happy for my parents to reaching this goal that at one point in time, seemed like it would never happen. I know how much this means to them and I cannot truly express how happy I am for them. They have both worked very hard to get here and that says A LOT about them.

After they were sealed in the temple, we all went to my Aunt Wynn's dairy farm in Sterling, UT. Sera enjoyed all the cows and climbing on the hay. I was worried that she was going to have allergy issues but she did just fine. She played and ran so much that she slept almost the whole 2 hours for our drive home. I only hope that we will be able to go back before she gets so old that a day on the dairy farm won't be so cool anymore.

And of course Gabe had fun too. Here we see one baby bonding with another baby. Shortly after I took this picture the cow licked his face. NASTY! He didn't seem to care about it nearly as much as I did.

And here is a picture of my family outside the Manti Temple. I know this picture is a little out of order but oh well! My blog! Sadly this is the best picture I have of all of us together that. Please forgive the blurriness of the photo. But just look at how happy my Dad looks? That right there is priceless.

Thanks to everyone for a great week! I love you all and will post again soon!

Can You Hear Him Now?

Why yes, I always buy cell phones to match my Baby's eyes.

It's Full of Lots of Brains

This was the same sweater that I brought him home from the hospital in. Yes it still fits him because my sister bought a VERY LARGE size for him. Well it mostly fits. LOOK AT THE HOOD! I put the hood up and his giant head almost didn't fit in it. And for those of you who are wondering, yes I am addicted to that smile.

Set the washer to the Extra Cute cycle

While working on the MOUNTAIN of laundry that I have in my room, Gabe decided to help me out by playing with the laundry basket. Now that he is growing up, he wants to help all that he can.

Happy 8 Months

Happy 8 Month Birthday Little Man!

Eight months...I can hardly believe it. I look at you with your two bottom teeth, chubby little legs, and bright blue eyes and I still see a tiny baby. But then I go back and look at the photos from the day you were born and I realize how big you really are. And I am sure that this will happen for the rest of your life. Everyday I will see you as my sweet baby boy and every day you will do something to remind me that you are growing up right before my eyes.

This month has been jam-packed with firsts. It started with your first long car trip to Montana where you met your Uncle Todd for the very first time. You did such a good job being in the car for 7-8 hours. Both your Dad and I were surprised and grateful that you did so well. And we are VERY GRATEFUL for your big sister Sera who was so willing to play with you and keep you entertained during those few moments that you started to get bored.

And in just these past few days, you have learned how to crawl. Now I will say this, you can't crawl well. In fact, it is more of a scoot that you can only do for short distances and then you have to stop. But I am still excited to see how you progress with this.

I will never forget the first moment your Dad and I saw you crawl. I had just finished making dinner. You Dad had just finished feeding you your dinner. He got up and came into the kitchen to grab his plate and as we both turned to corner to come around and into the living room and there you were. On all fours and you scooted forward-first your left knee and then your right. I let out a sqeal and it startled you so much that you stopped. I looked at your Dad and said, "DID YOU JUST SEE THAT?!?!" All he could do was smile so big and nod. We were both so proud of Gabe. You make us so happy.

You have also learned how to sit up all on your own. Now you can roll from one end of the room to the other, stop, and sit up. You don't sit up by lying on your back and sitting straight up from there. Oh no! You get up onto all fours and sort of back into a sitting position. This has become very useful for you because now you can roll to an item and sit up to play with it.

You are becoming so very expressive! Your actions are really starting to let your actions do your talking. This can be adorable like when you eat something yummy and you smile and wave your arms all around. Or it can be frustrating like when you eat something not so yummy and you try to slap the spoon away. Or like when I am trying to change your butt and you fight me every step of the way. You will roll away, kick your legs, or arch your back and this causes me stress. You get poop on yourself, on me, and on the floor. I guess we need to start trying to teach you what "NO" means now. DANG IT!

But despite the fact the sometimes you are a grumpy little stink, you are the sunshine in my day. You smile at me and your blue eyes light up. You lean in and give me "baby kisses" which are slobbery and sweet. And you will still fall asleep in my arms at times and snuggle up against me. I love you so much Gabriel Scott. You bring me a level of happiness I never knew I could reach.

So Happy 8 Month Birthday Chunky Monkey! Number 9 is sure to be even better! WE LOVE YOU!