Kiddo update

It's been awhile since I posted so I need to give an update on the kiddos.

Will

Will is doing great in preschool. The first few times I took him he wanted me to go with him to play outside, but now he lets me say goodbye to him at the door and he runs off to see his buddies. His best bud is a girl named Katryn. They play together all the time and he is always talking about her. When I pick him up in the evening he is always with her and he never wants to leave. Last week they had their school pictures and I can't wait to see how those turned out.

Every Wednesday they go to Chapel and I think he enjoys seeing Pastor Lassman since he has Chapel at our church. The last two weeks at church I taught Sunday school and will teach again in November. It was fun but I'm still trying to get the hang of it. Will does really well in Sunday school as long as he doesn't sit by Destiny. Those two together are trouble.

Will is growing like a weed and seems so tall to me. He's doing really well on his letters and numbers and Dr. Nohle was impressed with how well he can write. He saw him writing in a book at Gabby's doctor appointment. He's getting better at playing by himself. He started getting better once Gabby was born and I had to do things with her, and ever since he started preschool he's even better. His imagination is growing and he doesn't need me to guide him in play all the time. Neil and I are trying to make time to play with him so he doesn't feel left out. He also loves the Wii that I got for my birthday. At first he had a hard time with it, but now he beats Neil and I at games! He's really good at bowling.

Gabby

Gabby just had her 1 yr. appt. and weighed almost 21 lbs and is 30 inches. She is about 70% for height and 35% for weight. She has been doing really well, except that last week she was sick and had a bad ear infection. It took a full week for her to get over being sick but now that she feels better she is very fired up. She is in to everything and thinks she is pretty dang funny.

She is starting to say some words. She can say daddy very well and kind of knows things like book, again, more. She knows the signs for More and All done and uses them a lot, especially More. She's always wanting more food. I think she has a hollow leg like her brother. Her hair is getting long and she's really starting to look like a toddler. She's starting to figure out how to play with her brother and with us and is running all over the place. She can go up and down the stairs and quite often I'll go up to do something and discover there is a baby in the room with me.

All in all the kids are great. They keep us very busy and often times we live for bed time. But they are fun and cute most of the time and we are really enjoying them. Except when Will is whining or Gabby is pooping in the bath time. Then I want to ship them off to grandma and grandpa's house.

My baby...

started preschool. Where did the time go?! Seeing him with his back pack and lunch really hit me what a big boy he is. He did so well too. He didn't cry or anything and went right off to play. I think being in daycare really helped him. I asked him what his favorite part of the day was and he of course said "snacks!". If you know my son that is not at all surprising. He's only been to one day so far and today is his second day. Here are some pictures from my little poser!

Birthday weekend

This time last year...

I was at home, asleep. I was trying to catch up on my sleep after having gone in to the hospital the night before. I knew I wasn't in labor but I guess I was hoping, maybe hoping that by going there it would get it started. We had an awesome nurse named Shauna, and when we left she said I'll know it's real labor if I feel like I want to cry.

I spent the rest of the day at home with Neil and my mom. Will was at daycare. Neil and I went and walked the mall and the contractions kept coming, but it still wasn't time yet. Finally around dinner time they started getting pretty strong. I remember sitting at the table and Will was asking me what was wrong. I told him mommy's tummy hurt. He then started making fast breathing and moaning sounds like I was then said "my tummy hurts". What a ham! At that point we decided Neil better take him out of the house for awhile so he didn't see mommy in pain. They left and Neil got him a Matt Hasselbeck jersey which he came home wearing proudly. By this time the contractions were a lot stronger and closer together.

Neil got him to bed and around 10pm we decided to head upstairs, knowing there would be no sleeping. I laid down on the bed and had a major contraction (and discovered my cat had peed on the bed!). When I got up the pain was so bad I ran to the bathroom thinking I was going to throw up. At that point Neil decided we were heading in. We left for the hospital and when we got off the elevator I started crying from the pain. I guess Shauna was right! I could barely walk but I made it to the room. When we got there Shauna walked out of one of the rooms, took one look at me and said "now that's more like it!". She wasn't assigned to me but asked the nurse that was if she could switch and be our nurse.

I made it into the bathroom to change and almost threw up again from the pain. I finally made it to the bed and the pain was really intense this time. I didn't think it could be worse than the back labor I had with Will but it was so much worse. They checked me at 10:45 and I was at 5cm. About 15 later the doctor came in and checked me and I was at 8cm! She started talking about breaking my water and pushing. I thought, "holy crap, I just got here!". We hurried up and called Rhonda to go over to our place to sit with Will so my mom could come. We did not expect it to be so fast. And the pain was getting really bad. I wanted drugs and I wanted them now! there were a lot of people there that night and some "VIP" doctor lady who wanted the epi first, even though she was onlyl at 2cm. Shauna fought for us and I got the drugs first. Good thing she did too because I found out later that 30 min more and I wouldn't have gotten them at all!

The drugs helped a lot, but I only got the initial dose so I still felt the contractions a bit. My water ended up breaking on it's own and around 12am I started pushing. I remember being able to feel the pain and I kept telling Neil I couldn't do it. He kept telling me I could, that she was so close. I kept insisting that she wasn't, that I couldn't do it, but he kept telling me she was right there. Every time he said that I wanted to punch him! I honestly didn't think I could get her out. But at 12:19am, with one last push, she was born. It was so different than with Will, because with him I had been there for 12 hours and was groggy and tired and had a lot of drugs. But with Gabby I had been there less than two and wasn't drugged up that much. I just started laughing I was so happy. I felt like I was on cloud 9 the rest of the night. I didn't sleep at all until the next night. I loved just holding here and showing her off. I was on such a high that I never even got pain medication after having her.

And now my little girl will be one tomorrow. I never could have imagined how she has changed my life. Seeing her and her big brother together and realizing the kind of friendship they already have warms my heart. Gabby is walking and talking in her own way. Her and Will dance together and she frequently wakes him up in the morning. She plays peek a boo by turning her head from you and then turning back to look at you. She knows when she is getting in trouble because she starts laughing and does it anyway! I think I had forgotten how much they change in one year. I can't wait for the next one.

Happy Birthday little princess!

Then



Now

Our little walker

Here is a video of Gabby walking, with Will providing the background music, LOL!

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v257/berscky/?action=view¤t=MOV04518.flv

We have a walker!

Gabby is offically walking. She still likes to crawl because she can do that so much faster, but now she can walk across the room. it still looks strange because she is so petite. She doesn't look old enough to be walking. Sometimes I really miss my baby, but she is so much fun right now, I just love her to pieces!

Here some pics that Neil's dad took this weekend at a park

Close to walking!

Gabby is sooooo close to walking. Last night she took a couple of steps towards grandma. Then she always sits or falls down. i don't think she's realized that she can keep on going. I take her hand all the time though and have her walk places and she does really well.

This week Will is in vacation bible school. Grandma is taking him there and picking him up. He loves it, all the singing, crafts, snacks. It's right up his ally. After VBS today grandma is taking him to the aquarium. I sure didn't get to do everything he does when I was his age!

Fourth of July!

We had such a wonderful 4th of July.

Neil's parents were up and at 6pm we got a picnic dinner ready and headed over to the park. We put out our blankets and ate there. After that John and I took Will over to the kids area where they had all the bouncy toys. He had a good time there, though I did have to convince him to take his shoes off. He's got this weird thing with his shoes and socks lately. He doesn't want his feet to get cold so he always wants to leave them on.

Later I went back and hung out with Gabby while the rest of them went to get chocolate covered strawberries. Gabby was all over the place, trying to crawl on to other people's blankets. That little girl is a spit fire! At around 8pm I put Gabby in her stroller and walked around with her and was able to get her to sleep for an hour. The fire works started at 10pm and they were great! Will loved them and Gabby kept "oohing and aaaahing" at them. I thought she might be afraid but she thought they were really cool!

It took us awhile to get home, but we finally did at 11:30pm and everyone went to bed immediately. It was a great day.

Cabin

This past weekend we made the trip to the cabin to pick Will up. He had been with grandma and grandpa all week. We had a wonderful time. It was very hot there (about 100!) and trying to keep the kids cool and sunburn free was a bit of a chore. But we succeeded! Will played a ton with Beau and McCall, the neighbor's grandkids. There were many hours spent on the water slide, and I was the designated driver of the wave runner for all three kids. Gabby really enjoyed the water, but we shall see how she does when she is a bit older. I remember Will enjoying it when he was young, but now he is very reluctant to get in the water too far and get his face wet. I think swimming lessons are a must very soon.

10 months going on 3

Gabby has decided she doesn't have much use for baby food. She'll still take it once in awhile, but what she wants is big person food. And she wants it now! Heaven forbid you eat something in front of her and don't give her a bit. You will get screaming, grunting, and a lot of pounding on her tray. Her new favorite food is Mac n Cheese. I felt bad giving it to her knowing it's not that healthy, so I bought some of the Annie's Organic stuff. Um, there is a reason why the bad stuff tastes so good I think, LOL!

She is standing up all the time now and is so close to taking her first step. Any day I think it will hit her that she can let go of the couch and keep on walking.

Will is gone this week with my parents. They took him to Silverwood Theme park in Idaho in their camper. He is having soooooo much fun! I miss him a ton though. it's so quiet around the house without him. It has been nice at night though since Gabby is in bed by 7:30. I almost don't know what to do with myself with all the extra time!

not much going on

I need to be better about posting. not a lot is going on, except my kids keep growing! Gabby is babbling all the time now and is starting to mimick us. The other day she attempted to give her first kiss, which consisted of her putting her forehead on Will's cheek. She still isn't walking but is crawling really fast all over the place. We have to really watch her because she is putting anything she can find in her mouth.

Will and her are starting to play together a bit. They do ok for awhile until she gets upset over something, usually something minor, and starts crying. Will sometimes has a hard time understanding that she isn't even a year and, no, he can't tackle her!

I'll have more to post later. Have some new pics to upload.

My little girl is growing up

And way too fast for me. It really hit me what a big girl she is becoming when she started playing peek-a-boo with us. And it wasn't us playing with her, but her playing with us. She went over by the railing in our house and "hid" behind it, though we could see her through the spaces in the railing. Then she'd lean around the side and start laughing. She kept doing it over and over. That, more so than the crawling, the crusing, the claping, and the waving, shows me how big she is. I hate that she's growing up, and I love it. I love seeing her and Will interact now and I love how her face lights up when we walk in the room. How did I get two awesome kids?

Don't Destory me Mommy!

so last night Will grabbed some of the weather stripping on the door and pulled it off. We told him he had to be nice to our house because we worked really hard to make it nice and we don't want him to destroy it.

So a minute later I start tickling his belly button. He says "stop destroying me mommy. God worked really hard to make me and doesn't want you to mess me up"

Our first race!

I shouldn't say first race because we have both done races before, but this was our first together. Amy organized a breast cancer walk/run and we went over for it. It was a lot of fun and Neil and I ran the whole thing in under 30 min.!

Over the river...

This weekend we went to the Tri-Cities for a visit and Grandpa Strege took some pics of the kids. Ian isn't in this pictures because he was taking a nap. I think they turned out pretty cute!

Gabby stats

Gabby had her 9 month appt. on Friday. Her stats are:

Weight 17.12 lbs. (what a little bean!)
Heigh 27 1/2"

I can't believe she's not even 18 lbs yet.

sick

Gabby was sick again this weekend. Poor thing, I think it has to do with her teeth. Last time she was sick and had an ear infection it was due to teething. She slept most of the day on Saturday and just wasn't herself. She is so much better now though, and even when sick she is such a trooper. She is so mellow and even keel about everything. She really just goes with the flow. And she loves her big brother. Whenever she sees him her face just lights up. He's finally getting better about being gentle with her and gives her the sweetest kisses on the cheek. As hard as it is to watch them grow up and see the time go by, it's also exciting to see how they are growing up together and how much they love each other already.

Payton's 2nd Birthday

This last weekend we went to Portland for our friend's Jeff and Lisa's daughter's 2nd birthday. We had a great time and the weather couldn't have been better. The boys spent a few hours on Saturday putting her present together, which was an outdoor play set. The kids had so much fun on it, even Gabby, who now loves the swing!

Toofers!

Last night I saw that Gabby has two teeth coming in on the bottom! That's three months before Will did so I was a bit surprised. Luckily for me she is a good teether like Will was. She doesn't fuss and it doesn't seem to really bother her (knock on wood).

Go Speed Racer!

Go, go Speed Racer!

So Will is now doing chores around the house to earn money. He has to feed Chester, wipe down the table after dinner, and on Friday's he has to dust. If he does all of that he gets $3. $2 is for him to spend however he wants, $.50 goes into offering and $.50 goes into savings.

So what does he want to save for? A Speed Racer toy! It's going to take him awhile, but he's working for it! Yesterday I had some of his money in my pocket and he wanted to ride a toy at a store. I told him I didn't have any quarters but he could use his if he wanted. But if he used his that was less money that he would have for his speed racer toy. He chose not to ride on the toy! By golly, I think he gets it!