Father's Day

I have been married to Brad for over six years and we have been together for over 11 years. We started dating when we were 22 years old and have been through a lot and have grown together through the years. I have always loved Brad and have always been proud of him, but never so much as I am now. Although Brad tries to conceal it, he has a very tender heart. This is something our son, Gabe, will surely know.

Brad is the best father I could ask for for Gabe. He is gentle and comforting and infinitely patient with Gabe. He can make Gabe smile and laugh like no one else can and he has a knack for making any tears go away. He has changed the most diapers and been up as many hours as I have. When Gabe cries at night and I get up to feed him, Brad gets up also...just to keep us company. Those middle of the night feedings at the beginning can be kind of lonely....not for me. A special thanks to Sandy for that as well.

As excited as we have been to welcome our sweet boy into our lives, this has, by far, been the most challenging life change we have been through yet. Brad has risen to the occasion and then some. I am not surprised that Brad would be an excellent father. I knew he would be. I am just so thrilled at how special he makes every moment. I am so happy and excited for Gabe to get to grow up with a dad like Brad. Brad will always be someone that Gabe can count on. This is something I think Gabe already knows.

Happy 1st Father's Day, Brad! I hope it was as special as you are! To celebrate the event we went to the Gospel Brunch at Stubb's BBQ. It was fun and worth going to. The food was good...great migas!... and the gospel band was very entertaining. We had a great table by the balcony looking down at the band. We all enjoyed it.

For a gift I gave Brad some framed portraits of Gabe. The Friday before Memorial Day, Gabe's school closed early so I thought we would make good use of our time. We headed over to Sears and had portraits taken. I had the intention of having three 8X10s done to have framed and hung on our stairs. I ended up buying a whole package since it was only going to be about $25 more to have triple the pictures. Ya, I know...I fell right into Sears' trap. They know you can't say no when you see beautiful pictures of your kid. Anyway, totally worth it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also got a frame for Brad for his first father's day and put the picture that we took at Stubbs in it.

Gabe had a special surprise planned for his dad as well....with a little help from his Grumpy (my dad). Brad had mentioned possibly wanting some golfclubs. Well, one mention of that to my avid golfer father and you know where he is going to end up...the golf store. I mentioned Brad's interest to my dad on a Saturday night and on Monday afternoon I got a call from him asking for permission to buy clubs for Brad. The kicker is how the clubs would be purchased. Since Gabe was about two weeks old, Grumpy has been putting his change in a piggy bank for his grandson. In five months that piggy bank had accumulated about $90. My dad thought it would be fun to use that piggy bank money to pay for part of the set of clubs. That way those clubs would truly be from Gabe. So, that is what we did. Brad woke up that morning and went to check on Gabe and found a set of golf clubs propped up against the crib.


The funny thing is, Brad had been selling some of his music gear on ebay and at the same time found a set of clubs that he liked so he used the money he made selling his old stuff to bid on the set of clubs....the bidding closed on Father's Day and Brad won the bid. O'well, that is the only trouble with trying to surprise someone...sometimes they beat you to it. It was a fun idea and Brad was very touched by the gesture anyway. Thanks for your thoughtfulness, Grumpy.

You rolled over!

Your daddy was playing with you on your activity mat and I heard you crying. I came to see if maybe you were hungry, but it was the other thing that makes you cry...daddy was making you do tummy time. Then it happened, you had finally had enough and managed to roll yourself back over onto your back. The look on your face was pretty funny. You seemed relieved that you finally figured out how to get out of that uncomfortable position. You instantly went back to happily kicking and punching in the air.

Seeing you roll over completely made my day. Your poor daddy was looking the other way and missed it. You were on your tummy, he looked away, and when he looked back you were on your back.

Five months

Gabe you are five months old as of June 8th and you now look more like a little boy than you do like a baby. We can't believe how fast the time has gone by and how big you have gotten. Your dad and I got you some new clothes last weekend because you really only had about 4 outfits that fit you comfortably. The funniest is the pajamas with the footies...you have gotten so tall that you have not been able to staighten your legs completely. Since we don't want to stunt your growth we decided to go shopping. You were wearing clothes that are sized for six month olds and are now into clothes sized for nine month olds...even though you are only five months old. You are also in stage 3 diapers.

As far as your development goes you are right on track. You haven't rolled over yet, but I think it will be any day now. You can sort of get on your side so I think you are close. You have gotten pretty good control of your hands and you grab your toys and put them in your mouth. You track things with your eyes really well. Although you still hate it, you have gotten really strong with lots of tummy time. The latest thing that you have started to do is push your lips together to do raspberries/zerberts. You do it all the time. It is very slobbery. Cute though. Also, we have expanded your menu to include oatmeal, rice cereal (eh), and sweet potato. You seem to get pretty excited when you see us get your spoon out. Next we will try sweet peas.

Eating oatmeal...sort of.