Sitting Up, Birthdays and Prayers

Guess who is sitting up on his own now?

He has been teasing us with it for a week or two, but last night was the big night. Of course by the time we got the camera out he was done. I'll try to get some pics this weekend. We plan to head to the mountains tomorrow with Gavin and enjoy the fall leaves and beautiful weather.

Happy Birthday this weekend to my sister Jenneah and Steve's dad Dave.

Also, please pray for my long-time friend Jill. She had a precious baby girl yesterday, Lily Rose. But there were some complications with her c-section and she is currently in ICU.

Sparky the Puppy

Here he is...the latest addition! (Is anyone out there? No one even commented, texted me, etc. telling me I'm crazy to get another dog!) Anyways, Gavin's costume came in the mail, and I must say, I'm happy with the decision!!!

New Puppy

Guess What!? We got a new puppy! His name is Sparky, and we couldn't resist how cute he is so we had to get him, even though we already have 2 dogs and 2 kids at home!

He's a mixed breed. I'll upload a picture later tonight. :)

Not me! Monday

We did not get a babysitter Friday night so we could go out, just the two of us.

And we definitely did not stay out too late and drink a bit too much.

When Gavin woke up at 6:45 a.m. I did not grumble and curse myself for not going out the night before.

I most certainly did not contemplate skipping Paige’s 8 a.m. t-ball game and staying home with Gavin.

And I definitely did not wear a hat and sunglasses to the game and count down the minutes until I could go back to bed.

Last but not least, it was not me who fell more in love with her baby boy when he decided to take a two-hour nap with mommy that afternoon while Steve was at work!

T-Ball, Football, First Foods and Fun in Boulder

Here are some pics from the last couple of weeks.

Someone loves his new car seat!!

First bite of sweet potatoes! Yum!

About 2 seconds later Gavin spit up all over Steve's head

Coach Steve telling the kids what position to go to

Daddy coaching Paige

Sissy feeding Gavin

Go Bears!

Daddy has a jersey too!

He's beginning to love bath time...chubby monkey!

Paige took this great pic of Bo

Gavin's shirt says "I watch the Bears with my Daddy!"

He's looking in a mirror. He learned that from watching Daddy 

Lucky my dad was allowed in the house with that jersey on! I love this pic because of Gavin's face

My mom and Ter got these jammies for him. I love them...he looks like such a little man in them

First bite of squash!

Paige reading Gavin a book...so sweet

LOL. Multi-tasking

My Bears fans at the Boulder Festival

Street performer in Boulder

Paige got her face painted and some balloon flowers!

This bus has Boulder written all over it. Peace, love and kindness.

Watching the Bears game today. They're not too happy about the score, as you can tell from the expression on their faces.

Bubble-Up Enchiladas

I found this recipe on one of the blogs I read. It’s a Weight Watchers recipe so it’s not bad for you…and it’s pretty tasty! I made it last night.

1 lb. ground turkey

1 8-oz can tomato sauce

1 10-oz can enchilada sauce

1 can low-fat biscuits

1 ½ cups shredded Mexican blend cheese

Brown ground turkey, drain. Mix in a bowl with tomato and enchilada sauce. Cut biscuits into fourths, add to meat mixture and stir.

Pour into greased 9x13 pan. Bake for 25 minutes at 350. Sprinkle cheese on top, bake for another 10 minutes.

Serve and enjoy!

Note: Next time I make this I will add some jalapenos or peppers to make it a little spicy.

Have a great weekend!!

Random Updates

-          My little baby is not-so-little anymore. We got rid of his infant car seat and upgraded to the Britax car seat that will take us thru the next 5 years or so. He looked so huge in his old car seat, and now he’s back to looking tiny. He loves it so far, which is a good thing! We had decided to use Paige’s old car seat as our second one, then decided to share the new one, and now we decided to bite the bullet and just order another one. Steve drops Gavin off every morning and I pick him up, so sharing would be a super pain!!

-          Paige is playing t-ball and doing great! Her games are early in the morning on Saturdays. It’s nice and chilly so I get to bundle Gavin up in all his fall outfits that I’ve been waiting to put him in! She is so good about getting down in her form and waiting for the ball…we just need to get her to run to the ball instead of waiting for it to get to her! She’s one of only two girls on her team. It’s so cute to see them out there. More often than not, the dirt, grass and waving hi to the parents trumps actually paying attention to the game. J

-          We have our Halloween costumes ordered! That’s a little surprise I’ll save for when I have pictures to post. But they are going to look so cute!

-          I also ordered Gavin’s first Christmas present. It’s a Chicago Bears pillow pet! I got an email from NFL.com introducing the pillow pets and I couldn’t resist. It arrived last night and daddy was pretty excited about it!

-          I think I may have already mentioned Gavin’s journey of finding his voice. He screams at the top of his lungs!!! It’s a little embarrassing in public because people look at us like we’re bad parents for laughing at our screaming baby. But if they could only see his face they would realize these are happy screams, not mad or sad screams! He also discovered he can snort last week. So now he screams and snorts and laughs all the time. So funny. Steve found his ticklish spots and we are constantly tickling him so we can hear that sweet laugh. Poor baby!

-          Gavin can now eat sweet potatoes, green beans, carrots and peas. Yum! He hasn’t given us any footage for America’s Funniest Home Videos yet, but we record and take pictures of his first bite of every new food.

-          I’ll end this post with a word to the wise. Don’t put a humidifier in your baby’s room and shut the door, unless you want to be woken up 18 times by the fire alarms. All I can say is Gavin is a hard sleeper, because those alarms go off in every room in our house and they are NOT quiet! Steve, aka Genius, figured it out finally, opened the door to Gavin’s room, and we finally slept the rest of the night.

"Not Me!" Monday (posted on Tuesday)

It's already been a week? Oh well, on to things I didn't do last week!

It was not me who got home from Paige's game at 11 a.m. on Saturday, put my pajama pants back on, and stayed in them all day and wore them to bed that night. I definitely would not waste a day, forget about all the errands I needed to run, and spend the lay lounging around spending time with Gavin. Not me!


I definitely did not drop my phone on the concrete outside and crack it again. And I definitely do not plan on keeping it this way, continuing to get little slivers of glass in my fingers, simply because I don't want to stand in line at the phone store!

It was also not me who reorganized Gavin's room again. I definitely have not spent hours in there going thru his clothes, folding and re-folding them, organizing and re-organizing. I have better things to do with my time than just sit in his room, reminisce and pick out cute outfits for him!

It wasn't me that ate that pepperoni pizza lunchable that was meant for Paige's school lunches. I have no idea what adult would eat a tiny cold fake pepperoni pizza and drink the Capri Sun. I'm way too sophisticated for something like that.

What about you? What didn't you do last week?

Black Asian

Most of you have heard this story, but for those of you who haven't, you're in for a treat.

My parents adopted little Noelle from China when she was 8 years old, almost 4 years ago. She was dropped off on the orphanage steps when she was just a few days old. It was a few days after Christmas, so the orphanage staff guessed she was born on Christmas day. She grew up in the orphanage until my parents went and brought her home. They named her Noelle because of her birthday, and they made her Chinese name, Jie Ling, her middle name. She is the greatest addition to our family and we are very blessed.

Naturally, the fact that she moved here 4 years ago not speaking a lick of English, mixed with the fact that she grew up in a very sheltered life, there are some things she doesn't understand still.

For example, I went home for a quick weekend last December. My mom made dinner and we all sat around the table to eat. The tv was on in the background, and Driving Miss Daisy was showing. The movie was at a point where people are being mean to Morgan Freeman because of racism.

Noelle asked, "Mom, why are they being mean to him?"

Mom said, "Because in those days, not very many people liked black people."

Seeming satisfied with this answer, Noelle simply said, "Oh."

We continued eating.

A few more bites in, she thought of another question. "Mom?"

"Yes, Noelle."

"Am I white or black?"

The rest of us tried to keep our composure. It was the sweetest, most innocent thing she had said. It was so cute!

"You're neither, Noelle, you're Asian."

Noelle looked puzzled. "Well, I know I'm Asian, but am I white or black?"

I chimed in at this point. "There's not only black and white, Noelle. Some people are white, some are black, and some are Asian."

She rolled her eyes at me. "I know I'm Asian, Katie. But am I a white or a black Asian???"

No matter how we explained it, she still thought she either needed to be categorized as a white Asian or a black Asian.

We finally made it through dinner and moved on.

A few days later, in the car with my mom, Noelle brought up racism again.

"Mom, why are some people racist?"

My mom said, "Well, some are because they don't know any better. Like here in Nebraska, racism sometimes happens because there's not much diversity here. Do you notice there's not very many black people here?"

To this, Noelle grinned. "Except me! I'm a black Asian."

So proud.

Last time I was home, I said, "Noelle are you white or black?"

With confidence, she said, "Black."

So there you have it. My sister is a black Asian.

My little sisters Akaela, Noelle and I.

Businessman Just Like Daddy

I'm a little partial, but isn't this the cutest picture ever?

Thanks Kristin for such cute pics! Can't wait to get them printed and framed :)

"Not Me" Monday

I’ve been following www.mckmama.com for years now. I do not know her, I heard of her blog thru a friend. On MckMama’s blog, she does a “Not Me Monday” post, and the point is to confess to things you did throughout the week that you aren’t exactly proud of, but to do it in a “Not me” sort of format.

So, I’m going to join in the fun. Feel free to add comments to not confess…or to start this on your blog too!

I definitely did not do laundry over the weekend and continue to re-start the dryer for 10 minute increments over and over, so as not to get wrinkles in the clothes, because I was too lazy to fold them. Not me!

I most certainly was not texting while feeding Gavin…which forced me to hold the bottle with the same arm I was holding him with. And the bottle did not keep falling out of his mouth as I continued my text-discussion. Not me! (Texting while feeding…I just coined a new phrase for moms!)

I have not been addicted to pistachios ever since buying a bag in bulk at Costco. And I definitely have not eaten almost 6 lbs of them over the past month!

And last but not least, I am most certainly not writing this at work! Not me!!!

9/11

Ten years ago today, I was in my dorm room at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. I was a freshman. Jenni was my roommate. My mom called at around 8:45 ish our time and sounded frantic. "Turn on the TV!" was all she could get out. I turned the TV on and was horrified. Jenni walked in a few minutes later from class and I asked if she had heard.

I had class shortly after, so I walked across campus and was one of only a few people who made it. It was a writing class, and our professor asked us to write down whatever we were feeling about the attacks.

I don't think I really grasped what was going on and the magnitude of it all. Now, 10 years later, I've grasped it. And it gives me goosebumps.

Where were you that day?

Shhh...

Daddy is at work. The Hawks lost in triple overtime. The Huskers play in a couple hours, so Gavin decided to put this shirt on. (I couldn't get this to post last night...so it's a little late. And the Huskers won!)

Can you read the shirt? It says "I'm too cute to be a Hawkeye fan!"

I'll add the caption: "Hahahahahahahahaha the Hawks lost!!!!" 

Happy Birthday!!

Happy 5-month Birthday, Gavin!

Happy 12th Birthday, Breanna! (My niece, Kenny's daughter)

Happy 28th Birthday, Kami and Tessa! (Classmates from Elm Creek)

Hope you all have a great day!

Another Week (almost) Gone By

Whew! What day is it?

Last weekend was great.

Gavin and I left Friday afternoon for Arizona to see my sister. Steve and Paige dropped us off at the airport, and I was so stressed because I thought we were going to miss our flight because we were running late. We did curbside check-in, then headed to security. We made it thru security ok. It’s pretty stressful with the bags, taking off your shoes, taking the car seat off the stroller, folding up the stroller, holding a baby, etc. But we made it thru. I was sweating!

We hurried our way to the train and took that to our concourse, up the elevator, and to our gate. By this time there was a torrential downpour, so the flight was delayed about a half hour. For some reason, I decided to look thru the diaper bag (I opted out of bringing a purse and just put the important necessary items in our diaper bag) to make sure everything made it. It was then that I noticed I did not have my ID. I looked thru everything. I lifted Gavin out of the car seat. We ran back to the bathroom. Nothing. I went back to the podium and told the attendant that I must have lost my ID going thru security. I asked if he could call down there and ask. He said no, that I would have to go back down there.

So, trying to remain calm, Gavin and I went back to the elevator, back to the train, and back to the main concourse. We made our way to the security entrance and I told the guard I had already been thru, but that I must have left my ID in the process. They had me wait there, and luckily they came back with it. Good thing, because if it wasn’t there, I wasn’t going to get on that plane. I wouldn’t have been able to come back!

Then they proceeded to tell me I had to go BACK THRU security again. All I can say is, God made that storm happen at that point for a reason. We went back thru everything and made it back to the gate with time to spare. If the flight had been on time, I would have missed it.

Gavin did ok on the flight. He was screaming bloody murder while we waited on the tarmac for a half hour or so, but once we got in the air he slept the entire 2-hour flight.

My sister Jenneah, her husband Alex and their sons Kai and Kannon greeted us at the airport. We headed to their house in Florence, about an hour away. My sister and I stayed up til 3 in the morning chatting.

The next day we woke up for a few hours with the babies, and took advantage of their nap time and napped with them. Alex made a large breakfast for lunch, and we just spent the day hanging out and I got to know my nephews and niece. My sister has five kids. Michael, Kayden, Anthony, Kai and Kannon. They’re great!

 Kai woke up early with Gavin and I on Saturday 

 David and Goliath

 Kayden and Kannon...hasn't he changed so much since two weeks ago when he was visiting us in Colorado?

 All five of my sister's kids...Michael is in back, Anthony is in yellow, Kayden is holding Kannon, and Kai is in front (Kai wouldn't smile because he was sad I was leaving the next day!)

Kai wanted a picture of him with his auntie for his bedroom. Since he and Kannon share a room, we all took one together

I'd catch Michael playing with Gavin when no one was looking. He loves babies! 

On Sunday we went to church and to lunch and watched a couple of movies. Monday Gavin and I headed home. We had an early flight and luckily he slept thru the whole thing again. Daddy and Paige were there to meet us when we got off the plane, we were so excited to see each other!

We headed downtown to a new burger joint for lunch, then home for mommy’s nap! After I woke up, we headed back downtown for the opportunity of a lifetime…a free Boyz II Men concert!!! I know you’re jealous. It turned out to be a very popular event, so we were so far back that all I could catch a glimpse of were some legs on occasion walking across the stage. But I could sure hear them! I was singing along at the top of my lungs…and so was Steve! Brought back some memories!

 Steve, Paige and Gavin at the concert 

This is the best I could do for a pic of Boyz II Men. For all we know, they were just playing a CD! 

Since it rained last night, Steve and Paige did not have T-ball practice. (Did I mention he’s her coach?) My aunt Sherri called yesterday morning, she’s a flight attendant and had a layover in Denver last night. So we went to have dinner with her. She has met Gavin but this was her first time meeting Paige! Paige was fascinated with the fact that she flies all day long. Sherri even brought her and Gavin some wings!

 Favorite Aunt Sherri and Gavin even dressed alike! (She whispers "Favorite Aunt Sherri" in his ear over and over!)

Gavin saw some food on the table he was interested in...we couldn't get him to look at the camera!

Gavin turns 5 months old tomorrow!! Wow. We are trying sweet potatoes tonight for the first time. He is almost ready to sit up by himself. And he is discovering all of the different octaves his voice has by screaming and fluctuating his pitch. It's pretty funny. We are now in 9-12 month clothes. And we also have a nice tribute to Billy Ray Cyrus...a mullet! 

 Gavin screaming in his bouncer. He can touch the bottom! You know you want that hair style!

He was smiling the split-second before I took this pic, I promise!

We have Paige this weekend…and I plan to enjoy a weekend home with not much to do. She has a game on Saturday morning, but other than that, we will just be enjoying our time together. Can’t wait!!

Cookies

Last night, Steve took Paige to an informational meeting about Girl Scouts. It was simply to inform parents of what they are all about, and then the parents can decide from there if they want to sign them up.

Before the meeting, Paige ate dinner and then ran and got green construction paper, scissors and markers. (Thanks April for the supplies!) It was almost time to leave, so Steve told her she didn’t have time to do crafts. She was running around like crazy and we weren’t really paying attention to what she was doing. She finally came into the room holding a little cut-out piece of paper that read “Cookies.”

She said “Dad, can you get me the tape?”

“For what?”

“I want to wear this so they know what I’m selling.”

Steve and I looked at each other with confused looks. It finally hit us.

“Honey, we’re not selling cookies today,” he said.

She looked at him with this surprised, confused look. “Oh. We’re not?”

It was the cutest thing ever. She correlates Girl Scouts with Girl Scout cookies. So when he told her where they were going, she thought that meant it was time to sell! She was a little disappointed, but we assured her she will be able to sell cookies soon enough.

Finally, a reason to justify all of the Girl Scout cookies I buy! J