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

HELP!

I know, I've been bad at posting since we brought Gabey home.  He's dealing with colic and gas problems, so we've had some rough days this last month.  He had his 1 month appointment on Monday, and this little chubster has gained 3 pounds in 3 weeks!  At least he's eating well!  We got a prescription for Zantac for him, which will hopefully help with his upset tummy.  Now, I need some advice from moms who've dealt with this before.  Baby Gabe has pretty bad baby acne that started about a week ago.  It's gotten worse these last few days, and I don't know what to do.  I'm actually not sure if there's anything I can do, but there HAS to be a mom out there who knows how to at least lessen the severity of the acne.  I know it doesn't hurt him, but when he gets angry or impatient, he has a bad habit of clawing at his face... and with all the acne, he's made himself bleed a couple times (no worries... they're tiny little scratches).  I try to keep his nails filed down so he can't scratch himself, but he still finds a way to scratch his face.  I feel so bad because there's not much I can do to help his colic, and the anti-gas drops don't help his poor tummy.  BUT, if there are any of you who have any pointers as to what I can do to help with the baby acne, do tell!  I'll do anything at this point!  Muchas gracias:)

*T

today WAS the day

I woke up this morning (after another long night of minimal sleep) and realized that today is July 5th.  What a realization, right?  Well, today was my due date.  Today was the day that has been marked on every one of our calendars for months now.  Yet here I am, holding my sweet son who is now 15 days old and growing cuter by the minute.  It seems like just yesterday that we had the ultrasound that determined my induction, so it's crazy to think that it was over 2 weeks ago when we packed our bags and headed for the hospital.  Gabey is a great sleeper, although he sleeps better during the day than at night (much to our dismay).  He's a good eater too, even though I'm having to pump because he refuses to latch on (I don't think any men read my blog, which is why I have no problem sharing this tidbit of info...).  And what I LOVE is that he hasn't lost any of his hair!  He still has a good head of dark hair, which I was told he might lose so I didn't want to get my hopes up.  He's already been to church, a barbecue, the movie theater (if you haven't seen the movie "UP", you NEED TO SEE IT!), and he's a pro when it comes to doctor's visits.  His jaundice got pretty bad the first week home, so we had to take him back to the pediatrician EVERY STINKIN DAY so that they could do more tests.  Thankfully, after lots of heel pricks and a few days on the biliblanket, Gabey is doing just fine.  Even without the added measure of color from the jaundice, he's still much darker than his mommy and proving to take after his daddy's coloring.  Of course, after dealing with a lifetime of sunburns, sun spots, and SPF 70, I'm okay with him having Ross' darker skin:)  No matter what, this is one cute baby!!!  Here are a few more recent pictures (although he's changed even since these were taken while my mom was here). 

Okay, lemme explain.  We went downtown to the canal walk and Mom was snapping some photos.  This has now become one of my favorite photos because Ross sneezed RIGHT when my mom took the picture and she caught the moment perfectly.  I laughed so hard when I saw this the first time that I almost peed my pants... really... 

Oh, our sweet little man.  He still had jaundice in the pic, but just look at how much darker he is than me!

What can I say?... he loves being close to his mama :)

He does NOT like to have his arms tucked into a blanket.  Even when he was just a few days old, he would wiggle his arms out of it.  His hands are always by his face, whether he's sleeping or awake.    

This is the sweet face I get to look at every day.  This little man has completely snatched up my heart, and just like my dad said to me the other day, "there is no greater love than that of a mother for her son."  I love my son more than I ever thought imaginable, and our lives have truly changed for the better.  

Other than the severe lack of sleep, Ross and I love being parents.  I couldn't imagine doing this without the constant support and help from my sweet husband, who gets up in the middle of the night to help with Gabey EVEN THOUGH he works and stays busy during the day.  Ross changes diapers like a pro, offers to feed Gabey so that I can have a break, and will watch him (when he can) so that I can take a nap.  We've grown closer as a couple, and it's such an amazing feeling to know that we are a forever family.  And this is only the beginning!  

Life is good!

*T