Molly...Gabe...Gabe again

I remember before I had kids looking at certain families and thinking man their kids get sick a lot. Sadly, now it's the story of my life. When it comes to sharing germs with each other Molly and Gabe are the best. Molly got a cold a couple days before Halloween. She passed it to Gabe. Gabe started getting better and then he got worse. He had a fever all weekend. I brought him to the doctor Monday. They said he had some kind of virus. Ok. We went home to wait it out. His fever broke, I thought we were in the clear. Tuesday morning he woke up with a rash all over his face. Poor little guy, he looked terrible. I thought the fever was to blame. Wednesday he woke up at 11(after keeping us awake all night ARGH) with the rash all over his tummy, and upper thighs. I called the doctor feeling a little dumb as we were just there. The doctor checked him out asked the usual questions. Is he eating? Is there any diarrhea? My answers, yes and no. The doctor got another opinion and they decided he has Roseola. A virus, the rash should go away within the week. Then today, right after his bath I might add, diarrhea everywhere and he hasn't been interested in eating... What is going on? I'm done with the kids being sick and not getting any sleep. Hopefully this goes away quick and they don't pick up something else.

Good one Eric

Nothing really bums you out like a test. I had a test tonight, at 6 pm, and I got done at 8. So now I am waiting for Jenny to get done at her Primary Presidency meeting so she can pick me up. The crappy part of all this, I have been at school 12 hours..... :(
Speaking of the test, here is a funny story (Obama fans beware). I was in class Wednesday (the one I had a test for tonight), and some one asked the professor if we needed to know complex numbers because he didn't mention to study them. He said, of 'course you need to know it, but no, it won't be on the test.' So of course, someone else (an undergrad of course) says, 'well if its not on the test we don't need to know it.' The prof. comes back with, 'well, you need to breathe during the test, but you won't get any points for it. Same thing with complex numbers.' So my friend Eric leans over to me and says, 'wait, didn't we just elect Obama, so we do get points for breathing...'
Hilarious. Now don't turn this into a huge political debate in the comments, just enjoy a funny story.

here comes winter...

I've been making clips for Molly. She likes having things in her hair. Randomly throughout the day she'll give me things to put in it like bows, headbands, pony tail holders etc. A few days ago I made flower clips. They're huge... I think they're cute, Drew thinks their ridiculous but, Molly really likes them. In this picture she's really decked out. I think she has on all the necklaces and bracelets she owns. We were dressing up and she couldn't share with me...

Gabe has found a new love for his toes... Maybe they taste better than they smell? :) Everything finds a way into his mouth.

He has really been liking rolling around and playing on the floor. He's recently started scooting a lot more. He can do his legs like he's crawling, but he hasn't figured out the arm part. He uses his head and arms together. I hope that he doesn't rub a bald spot on the top of his head... I remember Molly had an ugly crawl a few weeks before she figured it out.

It has been so nice here the past week. We've been playing outside as much as we can. Gabe likes being outside, but he really doesn't like being on the grass.

Molly has no problem with grass.

Molly likes to wear my flip flops outside. She's a shoe lover and doesn't discriminate.

Gabe having a stare down with the grass.

Being sick isn't all bad when you get to snuggle with dad...

Our kids are just getting over the colds they had. yippee! But, today it's dropped 30 degrees. They're talking about snow this weekend. How does it go from 78 to snow in one week??? I'm not very impressed. I'm hoping the sudden weather change doesn't make them sick again.

On a sad note. My parents had to put Isabelle down last night. Her back legs stopped working, she was in a lot of pain. She was a dorky dog, but she was loved. Maggie my parents pug died early this summer. It'll be strange visiting my parents without the two of them. Drew's dog Baily, Isabelle's mom, died not too long ago. I've never thought much about losing a pet but, they do become part of the family and they'll be missed.

pictures pictures and more pictures

Gabe might not be crawling yet, but he can still make trouble. I was getting the tub ready for bath time. As usual Gabe's in the bouncy chair and Molly's leaning over the tub messing with the water. Somehow Gabe got the tp from behind him and thought it would taste good? When Molly saw what was going on she quickly grabbed the extra out of his hand, blew her nose with it and threw it away. They're tag teaming me!

Trick or treat!

Molly was a cute little lady bug. Her costume had a hood with antennas, but it was pretty warm. So I made her little bows.

Molly was such a ham. She was very hesitant at the first house. But once she got the candy she smiled and ran down the driveway to show Drew and Gabe. She conned a lot of people out of candy. Most people would hold the candy bowl low so that she could pick the piece she wanted. Molly would take one, usually a Kit Kat, and then she would look up at them with her big brown eyes, smile, raise her eye brows, tilt her head and reach for another piece. I would say just one, but the person handing out the candy would always let her have another. I think she got four pieces from one lady. She's lucky she's cute... She doesn't say a lot, but she knows how to work it. I think she's going to be a handful when she's older.

It was entertaining watching the transformation. Toward the end of the block Molly was knocking on doors and trying to open them. There were a couple of houses that had dogs. Whenever she sees a dog she woof woofs at it. There were a few houses with dogs. If I wasn't standing with her I think she would have invited herself in. She had a great time. Molly a fan of anything involving chocolate.





Gabe had fun watching Molly trick or treat. He likes the stroller, and Molly would run over to him and tickle tickle his feet. He did great, until the last little bit. He started getting tired and wanted Daddy to hold him.







Molly dumping out her spoils.
When she's in the bath she likes to fill cups with water and dump them down her belly. She did the same with the candy. She would dump it, put it back in and repeat.






mmmmm...








She was pretty tired after all that walking. We got home around 7:30. Pretty close to her 8:00 bed time.

Yikes! It's our vampire pumpkin. Although I think he's too cute to be scary.

Drew and I were pretty lame and didn't dress up.

We tried to take some pictures of us with both kids, but Molly wanted no part in that...

I think this is a sweet picture of Molly.

Happy Halloween!

This video doesn't fully capture what Molly is like on the phone, but it's close. She loves jabbering on and on to herself. Then she'll laugh. I do a lot of talking with my hands, which is evident while watching Molly. I think it's cute. Interestingly enough she isn't interested in talking if there's actually anyone on the phone. She'll listen intently, smile and often try to hang up on them... My favorite part is when she hands the phone to me waves to it and says bye.

Molly had a doctors appointment on the 29th. She got a flu shot and her 18 month shot. (I know Molly is 19 months. What can I say besides I'm a negligent mother...) I love Molly and Gabe's doctor. Everyone in the office is very fast and efficient. They have a great play area in the waiting room, but the longest we've ever had to wait is like 5 min. There's a different feeling there from the pediatrician's office in Az. Molly didn't even freak out. So the stats are in... Molly is 32 inches tall and 26 lbs 4 oz.

While we are on the subject of Molly... She's never been a great sleeper, at night or during the day. It's always been a struggle, until now. It's fantastic! I stopped rocking her and started putting her in the pack and play for naps. She would cry for a minute and then lay down, eventually falling asleep. This has been going on for the past few weeks... Today she handed me a blanket and walked me into her bedroom. I turned on her music and fan, and then put her in the pack and play... She laid down without making a noise or even giving me a second thought. We've gone from one 1 hour nap to a 2 hour nap, and maybe a short afternoon nap. Again it's fantastic. She's figuring it out. Sleep isn't a four letter word anymore. It's amazing what a change has taken place in her personality. We aren't having the struggles or tantrums we used too. She's even going to sleep by herself at night and more importantly staying asleep. In the end sleep = happy baby. happy baby = happy mommy. happy mommy = happy family.

I don't have pictures of the kids in their costumes yet. I'll get some pictures of them all dressed up tonight and post them sometime this weekend. I'm not exactly sure what our plans are. There's a party at church, but Molly hasn't been feeling well. We might make an appearance, or we might just go to a few houses and call it good. We'll see.

root beer milk?

One thing that I love about Drew is his willingness to try new things. I'm not very adventurous and if something sounds/looks strange 9 out of 10x I'll keep walking.
One of Drew's friends was telling him that root beer milk is really good, but hard to find. Low and behold, Drew found some at our local grocery store this afternoon. I was skeptical... It's actually not bad. It tastes like a root beer float. It's pricey, but I could see us getting it again. Thanks for broadening my horizons Drew, and thanks to Tanner for recommending it.

Drew carved our pumpkin today. I thought that Molly would like helping him get the seeds out. That couldn't be any farther from the truth. Molly thought the whole thing was very gross.

She did enjoy stirring and later washing the seeds. We'll see tomorrow if she likes eating them.

The final result. I think he did a great job.

I told Drew the other night that I blog about myself and the kids, but I never really say anything about him. He said "oh, you noticed that too?" Well I just want everyone to know that I do love and appreciate my husband. He's great with our kids and I'm really proud of all the work that he's doing in school. He got his first test back not too long ago. He got one of the highest grades in the class. Not too shabby. Even though I miss all the time he got to spend at home when he was teaching high school. I'm glad that he's in school and doing what he loves. Hopefully he won't want to be a student forever. :)

This was Gabe watching Drew and Molly as they worked on the pumpkin. I gave Gabe a mo hawk today. I thought it was cute, Drew thinks I'm a bad influence...

carrots anyone?

Drew and I decided before Molly was born that we'd make our own baby food. I think it's cheaper and we know exactly what's in it. I was excited to introduce some new food to Gabe. It's always been fun introducing Molly to new foods. Gabe on the other hand isn't as excited when something unfamiliar enters his mouth.







Here he is eating carrots for the first time. He kept sticking his tongue out, making a nice little mess.








While I was distracted feeding Gabe I gave Molly some play dough. I wanted her contained and not trying to get a taste of Gabe's food. This is not what I was expecting to find. She figured out how to get water to leak out of her "no leak" cup. Who wants dry play dough when they can have a pond of it? She then decided that it would make great eye shadow. Very cute. I haven't washed her shirt yet. I'm hoping it comes out... I have my doubts.





Here she is again with her blue stained face.... Molly Molly Molly is all I can say.









Gabe went in for his 6 month check up today. He's 26 1/2 inches and 18lbs 10oz. That's the 75th percentile. He isn't so little anymore.
I don't put much stock in scales. But, I was pretty excited when I weighed myself yesterday. I've lost all but 5 lbs of the baby weight. I'm nursing, but other than that I haven't really done anything. Although I do think lugging both kids around all day is like weight training...



I know this isn't a good picture, but I think it's cute none the less.









Gabe and Molly love each other so much. Gabe lights up when she's around. She's a little mom and is always aware of where he is and what he's doing. Very sweet. Their personalities are very different, but they get along better than I had hoped for. I love this picture. I think Molly looks a little nervous. Gabe's a hair puller and she knows better than to have her head so close.