Life Lately

Ok.  I'm bad at keeping this thing updated.  Clearly.  In my defense, life has been a little busy.  Here is a BRIEF, photo assisted recap of the events in our life since my last update 7 months ago.  It was really hard to choose just ONE photo from each event to post, FYI.

Halloween.  Luke wasn't impressed.  Sam loved his Knight costume...HATED having to walk the neighborhood. 

My best friend got married in New Orleans.  Truth be told, when I first discovered I was pregnant, one of my first thoughts was how I wouldn't be able to 'enjoy' this event as much as I would have liked to.  But I paraded my belly down Bourbon St anyway!

Sam turned 4.  I don't know how.  I tried to keep it from happening.  Alas, he is getting bigger everyday and it's one of those things out of our control.  My baby is 4.  We celebrated in Mobile with family and hometown high school friends, and many of our friends own children.  It was strange and sweet to see kids we grew up with now growing kids of their own.

We attended Kids at Heart's Christmas party, something we look forward to every year.  Here is Sam and his sweet heart buddy Emery.

We hung out with Santa.  Luke wasn't a fan.

Christmas Morning.  Love this photo of them wondering around, still in shock over the new stuff packing the living room.  My parents and sister were with us for Christmas.  Although they really just came up to await the birth of our new little man.  I really tried to have him before Christmas but again, out of my control.

Gabriel Matthew did finally arrive on December 29, minutes before midnight.  December 30th is our wedding anniversary.  This photo is Chris and I having a take-out dinner and tv-movie date in my hospital bed with our new lil babe to celebrate 6 years of marriage!  Gabe was 7lbs 8oz, and his little face was a near identical match to Luke's.  From the time I walked into the hospital to the time he was born was only about 4 hours, and I got my epidural about 25 min before he was born.  Good thing we didn't wait to long to go in to the hospital!

Brothers.  Luke and Sam loved Gabe right away.  Luke wasn't a fan of the hospital, but was fine with Gabe once we got home.  They love getting right in his face and talking to him.

Chris got a last minute call that he was on the list to ride with his Mardi Gras association.  I took the boys to his parade and (with the help of Chris's family and sweet friends), the boys got to see Daddy on the float.  I'm not so sure they understood what was going on, but Daddy did get to throw them some special toys which they appreciated.

Chris's brother and sister-in-law came up for a visit with their daughter, Penelope.  We all went to the Atlanta aquarium.  Sam and Penelope really do look similar (although this photo isn't the best, but it was the only one where both of them were looking and smiling). 

"The Walking Dead" fans - we live about an hour from the town where they filmed a great deal of this last season's show.  We made a lil visit.

Gabriel was baptized in Mobile in February.  Chris's brother is the Godfather, and my BFF (from highschool, my college roomie, and my bridesmaid) is the Godmother.  Fr. Savoie, who was assigned to Chris and my gradeschool for his first assignment out of the seminary when Chris and I were in 7th grade performed the Baptism.  Fr. Savoie has known us since I was taller than Chris. 

We took the kids to see Yo Gabba Gabba Live in Atlanta.  We didn't tell them until we got in the theatre.  They were SO excited.  But when the REAL DJ Lance Rock came onto the stage, Luke FREAKED out.  I don't think his brain could really process how this 2D character just jumped out in 3D onto the stage.  Luke spent most of the concert in shock.  Sam LOVED every second.  We had great first row balcony seats, and Sam danced in the aisle the whole time.

In March we drove from Macon to Virginia to spend a week with Chris's sister and her family.  It was a nightmare.  Luke was sick the day before we left, but seemed to recover by the time we got to Virginia.  Unfortunately he brought the stomach bug with us, and it hit nearly everyone in the house.  We spent a week cleaning vomit from kids in both families.  But looking back I can ALMOST laugh about it.  We did get to see snow, and we took the kids to the Museum of Natural History in DC.

On our way back home from Virginia, we met my parents in Gatlinburg at their cabin to celebrate Easter.  We (barely) made it through Easter Vigil mass, dyed eggs, had an egg hunt, and played with toys care of the Easter Bunny.  We left Sam with my parents for a few extra vacation days, and we took the other kids back to Macon.  Luke got some much needed (almost) one on one time with us at home, and Sam got spoiled by Nana and Pop Pop.

We took a whirlwind weekend trip to Savannah to see some friends who live in Chicago.  We took a trip to Tybee Island.  The boys LOVED every second.  Sam cried and sobbed when we had to leave the beach.

Just a quick note about Gabe.  He is an angel.  This kid is so laid back.  And Thank GOD!!  I don't know how we would survive if he wasn't.  He smiles at everyone and is hardly ever fussy. 

While Gabe is laid back, Luke is a wild man.  We decided to build a fence around our backyard to help contain him.  Additionally, you really can't see our backyard from any functional location in our house, and I want to be able to send them outside to play without me necessarily having to be right there with them.  Here is Luke 'helping'.

Sam played t-ball this Spring.  It was a little scary for us, as I didn't want to find out he physically couldn't manage it.  But we ended up on a great little team, with coaches who were super relaxed and not at all pushy about winning.  Sam enjoyed batting, and running the bases (although he is not an overly skilled runner).  He greatly disliked playing defense, and got bored quick.  But we really had a great time watching, and I see many baseball seasons in our future.

There were a handful of other occurrences over the last 7 months: -I now work as a PT in our public school system. I love working with kids again, but often have to deal with kids who have very difficult home lives.  It reminds me daily of how lucky I was growing up, and how much I want to continue to provide my kids with all the love I can manage.  -We had to make a tough decision and put our sweet dog to sleep.  He got a tumor and gradually seemed less and less comfortable.  It was tragic, but we will remember our many many good days with him.  -Our hot water heater (located in the attic) busted and flooded our master bedroom.  We spent half a week in a local hotel while a crew cleaned the mess.  The boys LOVED the hotel.  I nearly went insane, as Chris was out of town on a business trip and missed all the 'fun'. 

Summer has started for me!  I am spending the next week deep cleaning the house, organizing, throwing things out, etc.  Then I will have all three boys home with me for a whole 8 weeks!  We have lots of plans. Swim lessons, story time at the library, a trip to California...it will be a good summer.  I will do my best to update a little more frequently!

~Kathy