A Good Laugh

This had me laughing out loud tonight despite the fact that I dealt with two non-nappers today (I guess technically 3 since Gabe didn't nap either) and the realization that our microwave is busted. Great. Just what I need. Anyway, check this out here Totally Looks Like and here Totally Looks Like - Vote.

Joy and silliness!

Two words that describe Zion to a "t' (among others). While Gabe was down and out (really, really down) Zion kept up all our spirits with her usual joy and silliness. I updated the POW (picture of the week) with a photo I got out of shear luck. Zion had just put on Gabe's sweater and could not contain her excitement. She really is a girl, absolutely loves to play dress up. This is now one of my favorite pictures of her, it totally captures her spirit and how she careens through life exuding smiles and happiness. Then there are these.

Zion can be pretty silly at meals. I caught her with her spoon in her mouth like a dog would carry a stick. She also likes to push her high chair back (we don't use the tray but she sits in the chair at the table with us) and then puts her feet up on the table. She sits there with her feet up like an old man in a recliner. Then she can't figure out why she can't reach her food anymore. More silliness.

One of her new favorite sillinesses (I'm sure that's a word) is to lift her shirt and tickle her own belly at random times. No one even need be there, I've seen her do this with no one else around. Sometimes she laughs so hard at herself she doubles over. I've probably contributed to this activity because her belly is one of my favorite things, too. Now we all just need to learn to love our own bodies that much and we'd all be much better off.

While this isn't a silly photo I felt I needed to add it on for the cuteness factor. Brother and sister working side by side, both so serious. Zion has no idea how to play the games on the laptop and in fact the one she was using had dead batteries (they were both birthday gifts for Gabe last year). Shortly after this was taken she shut the top and banged it on the table. When it's working she just likes to push the buttons to make noises.

Well that's pretty much us for the last week. Gabe did not get to go to his first Valentine's Day party or to AWANA's that night. He did seem well enough on Valentine's Day that we kept our schedule (my women's Bible study, Rob and I got to go to lunch and then we all went to church later for a Valentine's Couples Dessert with the kids in the nursery). But since then he's been a little down again and is still maintaining a temperature of about 100, sometimes a little less, sometimes a little more. We're praying for us all to be better for this week since it's his birthday on Wednesday and his party on Saturday. Until later!

A Tale of Two Messes

We chose to have a quiet weekend at home since Rob had to leave for work again tonight. He left a little while ago for Oregon (hopefully he won't have a problem with snow since it started about an hour before he left) and will be back Friday. Yep, just in time for him to leave for his Reserve weekend and we expect that he'll have to leave again on Tuesday for a three day trip to North Carolina. Needless to say, I'm not exactly thrilled that he will be gone for almost the next two weeks solid not to mention that if he does go on the last trip he'll get back very late on Valentine's Day and will be missing the couple's Valentine's Day Dessert at our church. :(

So, in light of the quietness at home and looking to find humor in something, I think I'll write a bit about Gabe and his phobia of messes. We knew pretty early on that Gabe had issues with mess. He wouldn't eat things that left his hands messy and didn't like to get dirty when he played. When he was a couple months shy of turning two we bought him a Jo Jo's Circus video for Christmas. We were celebrating the holiday at my sister's house so we set him up by himself in the family room to watch the video while we all visited in the living room. After about ten minutes we heard him scream - loud! I ran in there along with my sister to find him seemingly terrified to the point of visibly shaking, when I picked him up he clung to me like a little monkey. A terrified little monkey. We could not figure out what had happened but he would not finish watching the video. Later when we watched it at home I thought that he was afraid of the show because a pie throwing machine throws a pie right at the viewer. I thought he didn't like something coming right at him. It wasn't until months later that I figured out that he was terrified because the pie throwing machine goes crazy and throws pies all over Jo Jo's school room making a HUGE mess. To this day he still talks about the pie throwing machine making a mess in a very disapproving fashion.

Fast forward a few months after Christmas. Gabe is 2 1/2 and we are at my baby shower shortly before Zion is born. My sister hosted so we are once again at her house and my younger niece had just had her birthday party there. Jessa's birthday cake had had a toy car on it that Gabe was playing with. At one point my sister took it from him and drove it around on her leg to make him giggle. What she didn't realize was that it had a bit of frosting still left on it so that it left a trail behind. When Gabe saw that he turned white (yes, he actually turned WHITE) and took a step backyard to distance himself, his eyes got huge and his face was scared! Very quickly I picked him up and assured him that it was OK while my sister frantically cleaned off her pants. We're lucky that he didn't pass out. Whew! That was a close one!

While Gabe is getting better about messes, he no longer picks up his sippy cup with closed fists if it gets messy at meals and he will touch food that makes his hands messy (though he doesn't like to) and doesn't faint at the sight of frosting, he isn't completely over his phobia. A few months ago we were once again at my sister's house (he is actually afraid of messes outside of my sister's house as well) and Gabe, Jamie and I were hanging out around her kitchen table when my brother walked through carrying a paint gun. Gabe asked what it was and we explained that it's a toy that makes a mess - kind of like the pie throwing machine. Gabe stopped what he was doing, looked up and in a hushed, disbelieving voice whispered "No." Yes, Gabe, there really is a mess making machine.