‘bout Halfway

We have made it about halfway through Rob’s time away and I’m pleased to report that things are going really well.  I’m exhausted as silly things keep waking me up throughout the night (who knew there was a Zhu Zhu Pet tucked under the blanket at the foot of my bed?  I discovered it when it went off at 3AM last night) but otherwise we’ve been keeping busy and having a good time.

We went to play group where I got an adorable shot of Elias’ little bottom and his chubby toes.

 

I “forced” Gideon to endure a brief photo shoot so I could capture the color green.

 

Gabe won an award at AWANA.

 

There was one beautiful sunny day on which I plucked my dying tulips and used the bowl we received for our wedding to capture some really interesting shadows.

 

There has definitely been some playing going on.

And I’ve lost count of how many little bickers I’ve mediated.  (“Mommy, Wiason (Elias) toucha my stoo’.)

 

I stood in the rain with an umbrella and my camera to get a shot of a rainbow.

Jamie and I surprised the kids with a visit from her.  They were super thrilled!

I finally got a somewhat OK shot of Maisy’s ginormous feet.  Six toes on each foot instead of 5 on each front and 4 on each back.

 

And more playing and fun.  When Gideon tries a piece that doesn’t fit he says “Not quite.” and tries again, then says “TADA!” when he finds the right spot.

I can feel all the prayers you guys are sending up.  Thanks so much and keep it up!  A little more than a week left before Rob comes home.  I’m hoping the second week will be at least as fun as the first.

More puzzling.

Gabe seriously loves the United States puzzle that he got for his birthday (thank you Tantie Jamie!). Tuesday he did the puzzle three times and he's done it at least once a day since then. He has fallen in love with certain states. Washington but not for the reason you think. It has a picture of apples on it and he says "that's where Applebee's is", Applebee's is his favorite restaurant. And Oregon because "that's where Daddy is", yes Daddy has been in Oregon a lot lately. And Arizona "that's where I want to go on vacation next" he says. And for some reason Maine "that's where the beach is". The puzzle piece for Maine has a lighthouse on the sand so naturally, that's where the beach is. Tuesday he also broke out into spontaneous laughter while washing his hands and said "it sure is funny to see all the silly places I haven't been yet". I haven't timed him yet but he can whip this puzzle out in minutes. This one is a 51 piece large floor puzzle. He also got another puzzle for his birthday, a Thomas picture, that is 60 pieces and he's pretty quick at that one too. Where to next I wonder? We've looked at bigger puzzles but the pictures are uninteresting even for us so we keep looking.





Gabe has been tremendously helpful and sweet this last week, even more than normal which I didn't think was possible because he is generally helpful and very sweet. When I ask him if he can do something for me he jumps up and chirps "of course!", he hasn't been arguing at all, he cracks up laughing even more than normal and the other day I gave him a juice box at lunch (a rare treat) and I caught him holding it for Zion to take a drink. Zion herself has been particularly sweet but at the same time she has been practicing some new tantrum techniques and boy is she good! Most of the time she's so over the top that I just have to laugh at her. Of course, everything about Zion is over the top so I wouldn't expect anything less. I caught her playing with the cat tree the other day, soon she will be climbing the darn thing.




I pretty much only have a cough left of my cold and that is good and bad. Good because I am feeling better but bad because I'm still exhausted and can't catch my breath. That means that those symptoms are pregnancy related not cold related and will be with me for a while still. Oh well, it was bound to happen and I actually have felt really good this pregnancy so I can't really complain. One good thing to look forward to is that tomorrow is the start of March. Which means that when people ask when I'm due and I say April they might not tell me how huge I look. They don't need to know that it's the end of April and that I still have around 7 weeks left, almost two months not one. What they don't know won't hurt me.

Gabe is Puzzling

A couple of weeks ago Gabe pulled out one of his puzzles, he loves puzzles, especially ones with trains. The puzzle that he pulled out was a Thomas puzzle and his biggest at 36 pieces (I think). I noticed a little while after he pulled it out that he had picked one corner piece out and was doing the puzzle down one side, then over one, up that row, then one over... I realized that if he was having to give himself new challenges with his old puzzles (not that that's bad) that it was time to get some new puzzles. So we went out last weekend and picked him up a new 60 piece John Deere puzzle at Walmart (heck, only $3.96). At first he said it was hard (compared to the other ones which he's had memorized for a while it probably was a bit) but after a little of reminding of some puzzle making tips he persisted and completed his new puzzle. He's very happy and I need to get some more new puzzles. He was also very excited that some of the tractors had faces. That's his favorite because then he can give them voices and pretend with them. If you are playing with Gabe and try to give a voice to a toy that doesn't have a face prepare to be corrected. According to Gabe only toys with faces can talk. Makes sense I guess.