whew it's been a while

Welcome back :) ohhh that's kind of to me, and you...welcome here!
So the last month has absolutely flown by! I'm going to do the most obvious thing here and blame it on the baby, because it's all his fault really.  Gabe has been a handful, mostly good and any bad wasn't up to him. I'm going to do some bullets because it would take me too long to write it all down in my usual Kendall style.

• We celebrated Gabriel's 1st Birthday at a local pizza place. Family and friends came from as far away as Pennsylvania and Florida to see how much he was growing up. Gabe had an awesome time!!! He got loads of presents and money for his college fund.
• The night of the party Gabe got a fever :( we thought maybe too many breadsticks and to many people passing him around just didn't set well with him, we were wrong, bringing me to bullet #3.
• The fever didn't want to go down, even with Tylenol, Gabe started coughing, wheezing and not acting like himself. We took him to the doctor to find out he has pneumonia, possibly caused by RSV (but we'll never know for sure), he also has bronchilitis and a double ear infection.  No wonder he was crabby!!!
• The doctor gave him a breathing machine to keep at home along with 4 prescriptions to get him better. It's been over a week now and I'm happy to report he's feeling like a new man, I mean boy.
• In the week it took to get him nursed back my dad had to have surgery to clear a blocked artery, I got tonsillitis, then got the flu, then Jeff got the flu, then I got a cold, it seemed never ending! 
• Thank God my Mom was still up in Michigan when all this happened or we might not have made it. She came over with Clorox and disinfected the sick house, took care of Gabe, took care of my Dad....really could not have done it with out her! Thanks Mommy Salami!  :)
• I'm taking a writing class online which has proved to be more challenging that I thought, but it's fun and I hope I can learn something out of it.

Other than that, Gabe had his one year well baby visit, the doc says he's in the 20th percentile for weight and 80th for height. We're guessing he took Jeffs tallness and my used to be skinnyness to get that combo. He is walking all the time now and only drinking one bottle of formula a day. As soon as this can is gone though, he's going to be done all together.

I'm pretty sleepy but will post some pictures soon. Not of the flu stuff just the party :)

my kid will never act like that

Gabriel is a very mellow kid. I know he's my first so I don't have a constant comparison, but I know, he's mellow. I can usually take him to a restaurant, shopping, to work and out to see friends with out incident. Today was another story.
Since his birthday is less than a week away I thought it was time to get him some new clothes. We went out like usual to the outlet mall. I wasn't allowed to finish my phone conversation with my Grandma because Gabe no longer wanted to be in his car seat, he voiced this to both her and I. Then his little legs stiffened up making it impossible to get him in his stroller. Three minutes fighting in the snow, I was sweating, Gabe was laughing and we were off. I barely made it in Osh Kosh B'Gosh and Gabe has houdinied his was out and was standing up backwards smiling, a terrible mischievous smile at me. I tried to sit him down but he winged out, cry, cry, cry, bang bang, bang on the stroller :( I grabbed the first pair of overalls I saw checked out and left. I still didn't have what I wanted but was too embarrassed to go back there so we tried Carters. Different store, same scenario. This time I tried to strap him in with the buckles and he did one quick dirty look at me then a quick loud "SCREEEAAAM". I don't like being the center of attention, especially bad attention, so we had to leave there also.
We got home and I realized, I spent 1 1/2 hours in the car and less than 5 minutes shopping. Maybe tomorrow Jeff can have baby duty and I'll try again. Maybe Gabe will wear an outfit he usually wears, I'll let you know next week.

itsnicetohavemyspacebarback

Gabe has a fascination with my computer. I tend to think it's because he sees Jeff and I on it a lot. So occasionally Gabe is allowed to use the computer, but only to look at it when his Grandparents are on Skype. He was given strict orders not to touch or drool on it....he disobeyed.
For 2 months I went without a "F10" key, no big deal as I don't even know what it's for. Then I was missing the "A" key, this was a problem. The BIGGEST problem of all was when he reached up to touch his Grandmas face but missed and stuck his puny fingers under the space key, rip, gone. I had it working for a minute or so after, but then it punked out for good. I didn't want to look at my ghetto keyboard any longer and was forced to buy a new one. You know that saying "you never miss it until it's gone"? ...yea now I have a new respect for my space key :)

Unwrapping

My Mom, Jeff and I took Gabe to our local Conservation Club for a Christmas party. Santa was there passing out presents to 50 sugar buzzed kids. This marks yet another notable milestone. Gabes first wrapped present. Santa knew just what he needed, new diaper bag toys! A squishy yellow ball, a carousel with sliding rings, and noisy puzzle ball.  Gabe wasn't thrilled about opening it but once he found out the paper crinkled he was all over it.

Making the dough

My Grandma makes cranberry bread for Christmas. It's my favorite, really my FAVORITE food. Actually there are a lot of things my Grandma has introduced me to that are my favorites. Pizza rolls from the bakery near her house, sugar cookies (from the same bakery), cranberry bread, peanut brittle..... thanks Grandma. So as I was saying before my stomach started rumbling for delicious junk food. My Grandma always makes this cranberry bread for Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year she's making all kinds of stuff, which leaves her with very little time for bread making. This is going to sound so stupid but I'm very excited that this year I get to make it. Not that I'm taking over for her, but if I'm trusted to make a food that is so important to Christmas dinner, I'm honored. I hope I do her proud. I did a lot of test bakes, tried a few different recipes, experimented with butter (on accident but still). I may weigh 10 extra pounds when it's all done, but it was totally worth it.

I'll just ride my broom

I hate being with out my car. It's like having a disability for me. Jeff took mine this morning because his truck is getting a new windshield on it, and maybe if he's lucky a Christmas present will be installed as well. Anyway, he had more important things to do, like go to work, I'm staying home with Gabe. We don't NEED the car, but my morning seems so incomplete without it. Every half hour or so I look over to see if my phone is still on the counter, it is. I think, what will I eat today? Then, Kendall....there is still food in the house! OK, well maybe I could go get my oil changed today? SEE I told you I needed my car!

Schedules collide

Last week Gabe wasn't feeling to hot, so I kept him home from school. At the end of the week 7 hours of daycare cost me $200 combined with 16 lost hours of work....I feel like I'm throwing money out the window.  On a positive note, Gabe is feeling MUCHO better.  He got lots of sleep, did some exploring, started really walking on his own, mastered the sippy cup and tried milk for the first time. I suppose even though my wallet is a little on the light side this week we have a happy camper on our hands now and that's more important.

This week we got a few inches of snow, possibly more to come, and below freezing temperatures. This means....no school again. Why couldn't this have happened last week? Hopefully it will be just one more paid for, but not used daycare, and one more missed day of work. My Mom offered to watch Gabriel while I went in for a couple hours to get some necessities done, which is a huge help.

Now I'm rolling the dice of life, cummmmooonnnn lucky TUESDAY!