Moving on

The last post seems like a season ago. Our lives have changed that much in a month. You never know how life will surprise you and take the normal away.it just happened. Everything is different and I have no idea what normal is anymore, or at least my normal is gone. My dad, Jon, is sick. He had a heart attack June 13th and he is still in the hospital. He had a triple bypass procedure to fix his heart and today the dr put a pacemaker in today. Dad is doing better, slowly. Everyday there is a surprise or an event. No more simple and it makes me hold my breath. I went there, Tacoma WA, for 12 days. Gabe went with me.

I came home on a wednesday and by Saturday Gabe came down with hand foot and mouth disease. For the next weeks I stayed home with a sick baby. At the end of the week we've had enough and needed a break. Everyone was healthy and it was safe to rest.

<<SORRY BUT I HAD TROUBLE EDITING THE PICTURES AND SOME ARE DOUBLED OR OUT OF ORDER>>



"Youre not going to eat that, are you??"

"You did it, you put it in your mouth..."



House make over



We took the family to Branham Lake in the mountains outside of sheridan, mt. It was everything that we needed to recall rate and function again-the alpine lake, wildflowers, fish jumping, sleeping on the earth and being together without any distractions.



Tree lover 1





Tree lover 2




So happy to be camping!!



"Hello-this is me, is this you?"



Happy to be outside



'milo' and Gabe are forming a nice sleep bond-finally!




Then we came home and the next day I got a call that my dads heart stopped and we were all on a plane again to see dad. When we got there, they were able to get him back. Another successful procedure towards having dad back-another chance for Jon. Gabe turned 1 while we were visiting and we got to have my dad see him on his birthday and took him to the zoo. All of our plans were out the window but we did get to enjoy a simple day together celebrating life and a great start to a little boys life.

 



We made it through the first year!!

 

Happy Birthday To You!

 


More cake




Not interested in the cake-interested in the implement



finally having some cake

Cousins




Gabe with Papa Don



checking each other out




Frannie with Papa Don




Brave Girl





Beach time with Cousins


  

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up-up-up Gabe likes to be UP on things!



just

Life lately has been about life-no plans just doing and going about the days. We've had snow, rain/hail/thunderstorms, sunny days and grey days. It seemed best to go about them casually and see what happens.

Memorial Day was spent, you guess it, at home. simple. no plans, no stress no goals. We got the house in order and put the chicks out in the coop. We are having the house painted (finally) and that is taking a lot of our time and money but needs to be done if we ever want to move. We also are trying to get Gabe to sleep all night. I know-bad Mom-but there have been conditions that were out of my control that dictated his sleep and I just went along with his needs to survive. Now, 10 months later and not surviving so well, Lou and I are trying to get our sleep back. It isnt working so well yet but we are trying...Frannie was a lot better at sleeping and teething and drinking from a bottle than this little guy but he sure is sweet and happy!

Frannie is a big kid! Her mind and body have made the leap from baby-toddler-preschooler-big kid! She is so creative and imaginative and funny. Four is the hardest age for her so far but the most explosive. We are reading to her for the second time The Trumpet of the Swan by EB WHITE and she stopped the reading to tell me that Louis cant talk b/c he came out of his egg too early...see exploding! Her mind and body are growing and developing so much right now that I cant take it all in. I went in the play room the other morning and saw this on the white board.

When I asked Frannie about, I expected an elaborate story about how the house faiery did it but she said that she did it and that it was a spider with egg sacs. she said that you can tell that it is a spider and not a jelly fish b/c it has eight legs!! My heart exploded with pride-my four year old knows that a spider has 8 eight legs!! I guess we need to keep the new info coming and take advantage of this learning period. Sorry Gabe, you'll just have to run around the house naked some more.

Gabe has this top teeth in now and is eating up a storm. He also runs around with his walker and goes up stairs, opens doors and gets into everything, flushes the toilet, screams and throws balls, etc...how will I manage once he turns 1? I need to start getting some sleep or it is the end of me...boys!

bringing up bebe - 10 months

10 months has passed by since Gabe was born and it really doesn't feel possible. I remember the days of last May and caring for Luna. I don't remember anything specific about Gabe but I do remember that I was huge. I look up at our crabapple tree in bloom and I remember how she would sit under it and just take it all in. It is a nice memory during a hard time. We saw some puppies at the farmers market and I didn't feel compelled to get one. I still need time I think. Time will be good. Time will give me more chances to play with my kids and keep my life together. Just like I did this weekend.

Gabe is moving ahead as a 10 month old and is wild and crazy. He is a happy baby and is getting his third tooth (super slow with teething). He loves to explore and destroy and yell (in a good way). He and his sister have made underneath the table the wild fort and will go in there together and bang on things and play. Frannie is doing great as a big sister. We try to find safe places to keep Gabe and the swing works well for a little bit. He has blisters on the tops of his fingers from army crawling on the carpet at school and is now subject to any bandages we have lying around. Sorry Gabe, but we have a lot of Hello Kitty bandades....you'll have to get used to things like that.

Mossyoak Jedi

Heading into the wild fort

Go Frannie-she is actually running and paying attention!!!

Mothers Day also passed over the weekend and my little family really pulled through for me! no fighting and crying!!! Frannie was on good behavior and so was Lou. We went to the farmers market, Frannies soccer game, to the archie bray mothers day event, and worked around the house. We wanted to get out and hike or enjoy the sunny weather away from the house but we have work to be done before we get it painted. Hubs and I really do well with projects now that we have remodeled an entire house!! Hope all the moms out there were able to take some time to reflect on their little ones and what it means to be a mom. Mothers day is my new official favorite holiday.

Exhausted but happy

Big Brother Murf

Getting Out

sick sick sick
lets just say that people around here have been sick. I have a sinus infection and am feeling whole again. Gabe is getting top teeth and the poor thing feels anything like himself. Frannie is super sassy and difficult and acting like a 4-year old. Lou, he is sick too. sick sick sick sick.

amidst the sickness we took a trip to Missoula over the weekend. With me having a head full of mucus I barely packed what we needed (no baby carrier, no camera, no heavy baby jacket) and we pulled through and arrived in one piece. Gabe was in my arms the entire time b/c hotels arent baby proof and neither are rockin cities like Missoula. It was great to get out and away and get a new perspective on life this spring. Lou was in a training the entire time so I enlisted the help of my friend Aubrey to act as a sanity control device. We managed to arrive in MIssoula the same time as a brewfest, college rodeo, first day of the farmers market and the International Wildlife Film Festival Parade. It was a busy town and I have to admit that on our last day I opted for ice cream from the big dipper for lunch. I needed it...

When we got home, I let Gabe get some energy out. He really let it all out. He had fun ripping apart the cubbard and the toy box. Frannie enjoyed spending time at home again and probably needed some alone time. It was fun but traveling with an infant and preschooler is not a way to get over a cold!

IT IS ON!!

Squirel watch

If Frannie was a chicken she would be a Buff Orpington. They have the same color eyes and plummage and both can be cuddlers

Tilda

assessing the contents of the cubbard

dismantling the cubbard and preparing it for fort transformation

The ultimate goal! Baby hide-out

Kickin it

Frannie has made it to the big time-she is now officially driving our saturday schedule. Saturday mornings are no longer about enjoying time together and heading out to garage sales. This spring we will be heading to the soccer field. Francesca didn't realy understand the whole stealing the ball and scoring a goal thing. She liked watching the other kids run into each other and get hit in the face with a ball. She was okay not being the leader and taking the hits. She did have fun and feel pretty special. That is all I had hoped for...

We had a phenomenal weather weekend and the kiddos were enjoying time outside and splashing in the dog/kid pool. Today is in the 80's and I am in tears. What happened to our spring??Wait, next week it will be back-thats how spring works here: summer temps one day and winter snows the next. Gotta love Montana!