OUR FAMILY

May

2011-05-20T06:09:00.001-07:00

May has been a fun month so far. Lots of memories. Here is Nate "helping" daddy dig deep holes for the poles for a treehouse. He enjoyed getting down in them and hiding.

Here is the treehouse being lifted up onto the poles. Josh did a great job making this for the kids and they really enjoy playing in it....and a pesty robin keeps making nests in their as well.

Here it is all completed!

Happy 2nd Birthday to Nate. He still thinks its his birthday everyday which is so adorable. He loved talking about presents and cake. He is so vocal, loud, and talkative. He is the best hugger ever and I love that about him. He is such a clown and is always making someone laugh. I'm so thankful for the gift of this boy!

Cookie Monster cake and Elmo cupcakes!

Being silly with cousins.

Abby likes only the frosting (just like her mom)!

Another special day was Abby's first dance recital. I will work on getting the video of the dance up so you all can see how cute they were. The dance turned out a little different each time because they are so young and got caught up in the moment at times. It was precious.

Here she is with her cute little friends.

Abby enjoyed dance So much this year. She is still always wearing dance clothes all day long and dancing around wherever she goes.

And last but not least, another incident. The picture actually doesn't do it justice, and I didn't get any other pictures of what happened. Abby fell into the metal part of our swingset and her top 4 teeth went into her bottom lip. Her top front tooth got pushed back up into her gums most of the way and her lip was HUGE! The dentist looked at it and we have to watch it to make sure it doesn't abscess but it will probably fall out sooner that it was supposed to and when she smiles now you usually don't see that tooth at all. It didn't seem to bother her much after the first day either. So thankful she didn't get hurt worse.
So now I'm caught up and we'll see how well I do keeping at it :).

April

2011-05-20T06:02:00.001-07:00

Not much to write about in April. It was still really cold, so not much went on around here. Nate is a sweet boy, but he is CONSTANTLY on the go and into everything. The second (not minute) you turn your head he has done something crazy or destructive. He is needing some majoring "training" in the way he should go!

This was another incident with him. While I was upstairs with Abby who had the worst stomach bug ever, Nate and Will were downstairs with daddy playing chase. On accident Will pushed Nate and he fell right into the corner of a wall and split the skin open on his head. What a trooper he was, I think Will took it worse than he did.

We superglued it and butterflied it and its healing up great. I will eventually get a picture up of what it looks like now. These pictures are of day 2 and 3 after it happened.

Being a parent is never dull or boring. They keep me on my toes, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Praying safety over them more and more these days ;)!

then we come home to this...

2011-05-20T05:49:00.001-07:00

SNOW!
In march and april we had cold cold weather and snow. It was crazy!

We really got sick of this weather toward the end. We did go out sledding a lot, build more snowmen, and made snow ice cream (which was so yummy).

I also got some more sewing time in, since we were cooped up in the house a lot. This was Abby's favorite dress I made her because it twirls!

Why do I always do this?

2011-05-20T05:35:00.001-07:00

Not sure why I always take forever in between posts, but I'm playing catch up once again. Since the last time I posted we made a short and last minute trip to NC in March to visit the family! Josh came with us and stayed the entire week, it was a treat because usually he stays home and works.

We enjoyed the unsually warm weather for them for that time of year!
We went to lots of parks!

And played with their cousins almost every day. It was so nice to get away from the cold and enjoy some time with Mimi and Poppi as well.

Ballet

2011-03-06T11:18:00.001-08:00

Abby started ballet class in January and to say she LOVES it would be an understatement. To get her out of any sort of ballet outfit is a chore. She is in tutus and leotards all day long. She is actually getting a little better and "practices" constantly. She has a recital in May and we'll see if she will actually move on stage or just stand there and suck her thumb. But, for now she goes once a week and looks forward to it and counts down the naps! I'm so happy she is enjoying this and has a special night out with mommy every week.

Not a Lot Going On

2011-03-06T11:09:00.001-08:00

So this is why I haven't had much to post about lately....SNOW! We haven't seen the ground in a while and so we have been doing the same things as the last time I posted with the kids sledding! The kids are ready for the snow to be gone, but while I type this we are having another snow storm where they expect another 8 inches! Will asked me when he can play in grass again, and Abby said yesterday, "I think its almost springtime mommy!" One day it will come :). But for now, this is what its like around here!

Nate couldn't even stand in in this day. The first day we got about 14 inches and then about two days later we got another 9!

Nate is trying to get around me and into the house as fast as he can!
So there it is, snow, it just doesn't want to leave us right now ~ but we are ready for it to!

Sillies

2011-02-01T07:43:00.001-08:00

Will and Abby go to Awanas at a church nearby. They go once a week and have stories, crafts, games and learn bible verses. A couple of weeks ago it was crazy hair night. They had so much fun with this and on our drive over I heard Will every few minutes say, "Mom, can you see if my hair is still ok?" Too cute!

Nate is just silly all the time. Always putting hats on and this time he actually put it on the right way to be playing his music ;)!

Snow Days

2011-02-01T06:30:00.001-08:00

I feel like we've had snow here for a whole year! It's been white here for a while, and its been really cold some days (coldest was -17)! We have tried to get out at least once a day, if not more. Will really enjoys it this year and can stay out for FOREVER, Abby is doing a whole lot better than last year and can last about 45 minutes! Now Nate, he is just like Abby was last year.... can't move much in his huge snow outfit and doesn't last very long. He really does enjoy eating the snow though. Here are some pictures of the last couple weeks outside.

Here is a mound of snow the Josh put in the middle of the yard with one of the tractors from work.

Then he dug a tunnel through it. He said they used to do that as kids all the time.

The kids love the tunnel, and the dogs do too, its funny the dogs are always chasing each other through it.

Josh also hooked up the sled to the back of the gator to pull Will and Abby around while I stayed inside this day with Nate while he had the stomach bug.

They did that for a while until Will flipped over pretty good!

Nate doesn't love going sledding either. He will go once or twice and just because we want him to get used to it, but he cries everytime!

My 3 little snowbabies!

Wills 5th Birthday

2011-01-14T10:13:00.001-08:00

Will turned 5 last week. I can't believe my first child is already old enough for kindergarten. I've been looking at old pictures lately and wishing I could go back just for a moment to rock them as a baby, or squeeze their pudgy toddler legs, or interact with them as little ones again. Each year I look back and don't know where the time has gone. I still love this age, but do miss his chubby little face.

Will is such a sweet, giving, and thoughtful boy. Even though he is ALL boy and loves sports and is always really silly and energetic, he also loves to color, cuddle, and do crafts. He accepted Jesus in his heart on the night of Abby's birthday actually and has really been wanting to learn more and more about God! The other day he cleaned up the playroom and t.v. room without me asking and came in to me and said, "mom, I cleaned up both rooms and I don't want a treat, I just want to obey Jesus!" I love this boy so much and I'm so thankful God blessed me with him!
Happy 5th Birthday Will!

Before his party he looked at me and said, "mom, I can't believe I get to open more presents today, just like Christmas!"

Will and all his cousins on Josh's side!

Will loved his cakes, so excited to see spiderman. He has been loving spiderman ever since his Mimi bought him a spiderman doll that he doesn't want to let out of his sight. He has never watched spiderman, I think he likes him so much because his favorite colors are red and blue!

Happy face ! :)

Excited about all his cool gifts!

Rice crispie treat spiderweb cake.

Spiderman face - Will's request.

Both cakes. Once again Josh did a great job making these and Will was impressed, which is what really matters :)!

O Christmas Tree

2010-12-02T11:02:00.001-08:00

Searching for the perfect tree!

Found it!

Trying to get a picture of the 3 kids while daddy starts to cut down the tree.

Nate did NOT like the sound of the saw, yes we took the easy way out again and went with the loud electric saw.

Love the holidays and family traditions!

We got this tree a few days before Thanksgiving so we could enjoy it some before we went away for December.

All decorated & it lasted till we got home another month later from our travels!

Some Crazies

2010-12-02T11:00:00.001-08:00

Some crazy hair from the trampoline!

Right now we have lots of snow on the trampoline, so the kids are missing their favorite toy, but sledding has been fun too!

Nate is always up to something!

3 Already

2010-11-10T12:18:00.001-08:00

Isn't that such a sweet face??? Abigail Joy turned 3 yesterday! We are moving on up from terrible two's to terrible threes (Don't let the sweet face fool you)!!
I'm kidding... She really is such a sweet girl, when she isn't being a normal toddler! Here is what comes to mind when I think of my Abby girl...full of life, lots of energy, loves giving kisses & hugs on her terms, buck teeth (because of her love for her thumb), crazy hair, quick to get over things, tiniest body ever, & loves her babies (which she calls her "kids").

Here's the birthday girl, in her birthday shirt I made her with 3 scoops of ice cream! She is ready for the family to come so she can eat her cake :)!

About to get up and cuddle with her Pappa. She loves to sit and hug him! And I love Nate's smile in this one!

Since she is obsessed with All things Abby Cadabby.... thats what she wanted her cake to be this year. So, daddy didn't disappoint his girl when it came time for her to see what he did with her cake.TA-DA! Abby Cadabby's face in a huge cake!

Will lifted her up for her to see the cake for the first time. She was SO excited!

She opened her presents in record time. This year she just went from one thing to the next looking for more and more gifts. She played with her presents more today, but last night she went crazy fast.

After presents, we sang and ate the cake. She had so much fun playing with her cousins and being wild (like usual).
With Abby there aren't many dull moments, but she is a keeper. I love her so much and I'm so thankful for a Mamma's girl (unless she's being disciplined... then its cries for daddy). She loves to read and sing to her "kids", twirl like princesses, and play with her bestfriend (Will)!

Happy 3rd Birthday Abby Joy!

Halloween 2010

2010-11-01T12:40:00.000-07:00

TRICK OR TREAT!

Will's favorite show right now is Tom & Jerry, so when I was yardsaling a few weeks ago I found this Tom costume and couldn't pass it up! He was beyond thrilled when I showed it to him. So of course, Nate had to be Jerry the mouse.

Abby has wanted to be Abby Cadabby ever since we went to Sesame Place and met her! So she was so excited to be her and wanted to go back and tell her in person!

All 3 had so much fun looking at all the different costumes and of course getting and eating CANDY!

First house getting the loot.

Will and his buddy Aiden.

Abby and Annie, princesses!

The cousins.

My sweet girlie! She wants to be dressed up everyday now!

My boys look so cute as Tom & Jerry!

Carving our pumpkins. I thought it would be fun to get Josh a HUGE (that is an understatement) one this year! He could hardly lift the thing let alone carve it. He politely suggested I get one a little smaller than that next year :) (my bad)!

We had friends come a couple days prior as well and we did a trick or treat candy hunt at the house! :) Thomas the tank and a purple care bear!
It was a fun halloween and I was thankful there were many creatures out this year. My kids weren't scared at all ~ YAY! It was just a lot colder this year than last so we hurried home toward the end. Now its time for mommy to eat all their chocolate candies!

October came and went WAY too fast!

2010-11-01T08:15:00.000-07:00

In the beginning and middle of October we still had some very warm days that were just perfect. So we basically lived outside.

The kids like to either play baseball, throw frisbee (yes even Nate gets in on the action), or jump on the trampoline.

Nate's hair is getting really long :). Here he is next to one of the window wells on the side of our house where the kids are usually getting frogs, worms or caterpillars.

Mimi came up for a visit just when the leaves were in full bloom and it was beautiful. So we took a drive to the PA Grand Canyon bike trail and took the kids on a bike ride to look at the leaves.

My 3 cuties.

We took lots of breaks from riding bikes because Will wasn't feeling too great and was having a hard time riding his bike for long periods of time.We did lots of jumping...

wrote names in the pebbles...

and walked around taking in the scenery.

Then we got back on our bikes before we headed back home.

We also took advantage of one of the beautiful nights and after Josh got back from work we hiked up one of the mountains nearby that my mom has wanted to every time she has come up but hasn't because I've either been pregnant or had a newborn :). So on our way up we rode a small part of it in the Gator because of the cows nearby. Nate was thrilled to see the cows up close because that is his favorite animal right now.

The kids and daddy on the Gator. Josh took the kids for a ride while Mimi and I hiked the trail and gathered acorns while we needed some "rest" periods to catch our breath.

View from partway up the mountain.

Our fam together on the rock.

Everyone gathering more acorns for the wreath I made. The kids actually loved finding them.

Then one morning before we took the kids to the pumpkin patch we took them out to take some pictures.

I love how they turned out and show lots of their personalities.

I'm so thankful the Lord has blessed me with these 3. They are my joy!

Pumpkin Will @ the patch. We were the only ones there that day!

We walked through the corn maze and got lots a couple times and Will fell in the mud! Good times!

Will and Abby completely confused at which way to go, and so was I.

They each picked out a corn from the maze, husked it, and then put it in this old hand cranked machine that took all the kernals off of it.

The both loved turning that rusty old wheel.

Then we had our own personal hay ride!

Such fun memories with family!

The Long Story Made Somewhat Short

2010-10-28T13:29:00.000-07:00

In attempt to update my blog and catch it up to where we are now... I'm going to highlight each month (or try too)!

Here we go....

The last real post I did was in June when Nate had his first hair cut.
Mimi came at the end of June and we went to a fair, strawberry picking, and did lots of playing!

_________________________________________________________________
July was a packed out month!

We went to the cabin for the 4th (annual Gehman family tradition)

The whole Clan

All the grandkids

Will going down the slip-n-slide

Abby and Will together. (this gives you somewhat of an idea of how long and high the slip-n-slide was) It was crazy.

Nate excited about everything! Josh put him down the first time when I went back to the cabin for a minute.... I never would have let him down. But he loved it!

If you click on this picture and see it larger, its Josh fishing on a tube and holding Nate at the same time. Only Josh!

From there we went down to Mimi and Poppi's for a couple of weeks. (all but Josh did)

Abby was able to attend one of Lilly's dance classes and loved being a ballerina, although she was very shy.

Will was able to go to one of the Charlotte Ealges soccer camps for a whole week! He learned so much and enjoyed every minute of it even in the hot weather.

Most days we ended up here at the Monroe water park. It goes in gradually so its fun for the kids to be able to touch the bottom but also swim. Will learned to swim on his own and underwater here.

Abby got more confident in swimming as well and putting her head under for a while.

They both went down all the water slides there which they were scared of last year.

Will found a salamander (i think) and a tiny turtle. The salamander was in the same spot almost every afternoon sunbathing.

Yes, thats Will's hand holding the turtle... TINY.

Then, Josh met us and we all drove to the mountains of NC for a family vacation at a Lake.

We spent most of our days in the water and were so thankful for nice weather. There was lots of tubing, swimming, and diving going on.

All the cousins. Here is Will about to jump off the two story dock. I didn't even have to coax him. I just asked if he wanted to do it and he said "Yes" with a huge smile on his face. Usually he isn't this daring!

And he did great and went over and over again.

The whole fam!

Roasting marshmallows and making smores. What fun memories!

Then we drove home and a day later my sister Jen and her family came to stay for a week! :)

We went blueberry picking and it was such a beautiful place on top of a mountain. Not to mention, they were the best blueberries I've ever had!

We played lots of games (Bag-o, board games...)

Looked for FROGS!

Had campfires!

Went to a BMX dirt track for the boys to ride their bikes.
We went on many picnics, went to the lake, swam in the creek, and the boys did lots of fishing with their dad and uncle Shaun.
Thanks for visiting us, we had a blast!
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Here's August....

It was nice & hot, so we did lots of swimming in our pool and the creek. Nate is just as much a fish as the other two and not scared of the water one bit.

The wildflowers behind our house were beautiful this year! I love the purple and white combo!

Got a different lens for my camera and this is the first picture I took with it. Love my boys and of course my new lens that I'm still learning how to use.

Abby got a short hair cut. One day when she woke up from her nap, a huge chunk of hair came out on one side of her head and part of the back... so I chopped it off!

I think it fits her! :)

And we went to Sesame Place with our friends.

The men and the kids enjoying the lazy river while the moms were with the two little ones sleeping in their strollers.

Elmo's flying fish ride.

Will going down the water slide.

Meeting Elmo. It was one of Nate's first few words...."thats Elmo"

Meeting Big Bird.

Abby's favorite show watching Abby Cadabby sing and dance.

This was Count Dracula's water park. Every couple minutes they would count down in his voice and the bucket that filled up with water would pour out on everyone.

Elmo's World!

This was the HIGHLIGHT! This is Abby Cadabby (one of Sesame Street's newer characters). My Abby just loves her obviously because they have the same name and because she's a fairy! This was all Abby talked about and still talks about.
__________________________________________________________________
And finally, September.
This turned out to be A LOT longer than I thought.... and I left out a lot of pictures too :).
Not a whole lot going on in Sept. We started finishing our basement and hung around and did things at home.
One of the fun things we did was go to our church's fall festival.

My cowboys!

The kids loved sitting in the fire trucks and trying on all their gear.

Abby and Will both climbed part way up their ladder with one of the firemen. We didn't get a picture of Will doing it because right when he went up, Nate got into a big clump of grease on the bottom of the fire truck that I was trying to get off of him and me.... gross!

Face painting was a hit as well.

Don't know why Will had to get his pumpkin smack in the middle of his forehead!

Abby started riding a larger trycicle (Will's old one) and Will is getting better and better at his new larger bike. He got a new (used) bike for agreeing to stop sucking his thumb. He hasn't done it since - we were surprised at how easy & willingly he gave it up!

And Nate started eating cereal all by himself :), without many spills!

We played with friends...

and played with cousins!

YAY, caught up to October... will work on that one tomorrow. I promise I won't let it go this long again... it was too crazy to get this all done at once. Such procrastination!

Favorites

2010-08-21T18:14:00.000-07:00

These are my favorite updated pictures of the kids! They are hard to take pictures of all together...but I love them so much!!!

Why I haven't Posted in a While

2010-08-21T18:02:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time again and I have a great excuse ..............

My hands are FULL!!!!!
It's a blessing and I'm happy to have my hands full, but Nate at this moment is ALL over the place and into everything!Here is a cassette tape that he got into and had fun dragging it all over the place.

Riding his little car under the kitchen table and hitting his head everytime he tries to get out from under it.

And eating everything in site. I won't even mention 3 of the things that have entered this child's mouth! Way worse than my other two. I think he is trying to build up a great immune system!

Anyways, I will try to be better about updating for the 2 people that read my blog ;)!
We were out of town for a while as well... so I will catch up here sooner or later.

Nate's 1st Haircut

2010-06-10T05:38:00.001-07:00

So we waited the longest with Nate to do his 1st haircut. I forgot to get a before picture of his mullet, but it HAD to go. I only wanted a SMALL amount taken off, b/c I want him to have his "baby" hair for as long as possible.... can we tell I don't want my baby to grow up in any way, shape or form! So, Josh started to cut his hair, and instead of me holding nate's head still, I wanted to get a picture! Well Nate turned his head really fast and this is what happened....

A big chunk of hair missing.... now thats a haircut! Crazy and all over the place! I really almost started to cry, but then was reminded by my sensitive husband... "it's just hair, it will grow." :)

It is already starting to grow in a little and from the front you can't tell!

Look Who's Walking Now

2010-05-18T07:54:00.000-07:00

Nate started taking steps on his first birthday :). Wow, one of the milestones I can actually remember since it was on his birthday. Here are a couple quick videos of him walking. He is getting more and more confident and takes up to 10 steps on his own. Uh-oh - I'm in for trouble!

A whole year already????

2010-05-11T12:27:00.000-07:00

A whole lot of pictures of my Natey boy's 1st birthday! Yes, I do call him Natey a lot or Nater... I'm not sure he'll like that when he's a teenager, but for now he doesn't know any different.

I can't believe my last baby is now 1! I get teary-eyed thinking that just last year he was born and so tiny and sweet...... well, he's still sweet - but not tiny anymore. The morning of his b-day we went and watched Will's t-ball game until Nate got too cranky and I brought him home for a nap. After naps, we went to eat at our favorite pizza place with the kids and Nanna and Pappa. We came home and he opened his gifts and ate cake for the first time!

This gift is a hand-me-down from Abby. He loved it :)!

He also enjoyed playing with his water table, with no water in it yet!

Nanna and Pappa got him this cute baseball set that he had so much fun banging on.

Nanna, Pappa, and the kiddos.

Nate's baseball cake.

What am I supposed to do???

He got the hang of it pretty quickly.

Will and Abby wanted nothing to do with their 1st b-day cakes, so I figured Nate would be the same way. I plopped a HUGE piece of cake in front of him and it was gone in no time. He ate the ENTIRE piece and loved it!

Dig in!

Posing with his birthday shirt on.

My handsome man.

There is not a day that goes by where he doesn't get dirty, so I'm guessing his days are filled with happiness!

Ready to play football.

Happy Birthday Natey!

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On Mother's Day we had the privileged to dedicate Nate to Jesus at church. I was completely emotional about it too. I think because it was on Mother's Day, because it was my baby, and because my family wasn't able to be there to support us. I would have loved to have my mom there too for my last one being dedicated. I held back the tears up on stage, but let it out for my hubby on the way home :)!
It was a nice dedication and we were thankful we did have Josh's parent's there to celebrate with us too!

We had to keep putting Nate's paci in because he was babbling SO loud! I think he was praising God :)!! I am so thankful for Nate and that God has entrusted me to care for him and teach him the Lord's ways!

T-BALL

2010-05-10T13:09:00.001-07:00

This is Will's first year of TBball! He LOVES it! He wakes up early from naps when he knows its either a day for practice or a game. He has only had 2 games so far and they were only 2 innings long :). I love to watch him play. He is so focused for a 4 year old!

Will is #2. That is Josh standing next to him getting him ready to bat. Josh and his brother Jason are the coaches.
I love that Will gets to share this experience with his daddy!

His cousin is also on his team and is hitting in this picture.

Shaking hands at the end of the game. They are all so little and cute in their uniforms.

Will practicing his catching and throwing with his cousin.

They give you three pitches and then let you hit off of the T. Will hasn't gotten a hit yet without having to use the T, but he doesn't seem to be bothered by that. When he practices at home, he hits it from being pitched to, almost every time. So I wonder why he doesn't get it in the games... maybe he gets nervous like I do??

He's a pretty fast runner.

My little sidekicks at the game. Abby is all over the place and watches the game for like 2 seconds.

Nate gets to watch the games and see his cousins too!

Just a random picture of Will. He loves to pick dandelions and loves to pose for the camera right now! What a fun stage in life watching my children grow and watching Will start playing sports!

The rest of April

2010-05-09T12:21:00.000-07:00

Blog Slacking AGAIN! These are a few of the things that have gone on the rest of the month of April.

I got a new camera (Mother's Day and my birthday - EARLY) and so I've just been trying to figure it out and learn it. Some pictures are blury and some are just random pictures that I am learning on! And that picture of Abby is one of them! Silly girl.

Our first flower from our trees we bought last year. Last year they did not bloom and so we were excited to see them flourish and grown this spring.

We had digging going on for a concrete slab for a "one-day" garage.

Climbing the dirt pile.

Nate likes the digging and the rocks!

There is the pouring of the concrete.... Will watched them do this for a WHILE, even though it was bitter cold out.

Cookie making with daddy. This happens alot around here. :)

Thanks Aunt Melissa for the cool car cookie cutters and edible paints.

The kids loved decorating them.

They were both very focused!

Will's finished creation.

Abbys finished creation....a little scary looking!

Lots of flips...

lots of jumping...

and lots of kisses!

Nate is into everything and always climbing!

I can't get enough of his sweet smiles.

Bubbles are a favorite around here as well.

(even when they are being blown in your face by your siblings)

Strawberries are their favorite food right now..all 3 of them.

daddy's done some fishin'...but thats nothing new either.

as big as abby!

There is an update of April.... and May will follow shortly :)!

Easter 2010

2010-04-05T07:35:00.002-07:00

Happy Belated Easter? :) If thats a term. Finally getting our Easter pictures up. We had such a nice weekend up here. It was REALLY warm for this time of year, which was so nice! Last Easter we had winter coats on, and this Easter we were wearing short-sleeves!

Josh and I got to go see the Easter production at our church on Wednesday with some friends and NO kids ! Then over the weekend we had lots of outside time because of the beautiful weather. Sunday was a really nice church service and then we had an egg hunt with Will and Abby in the backyard before naps. After nap time we went down to my in-laws where Josh's two older brothers and their families were all there to do another egg hunt and dinner. We are so blessed to have our trust and hope in a risen and loving Savior who defeated death and the grave!

Up to something - as usual! This is the dress I made her from a shirt of mine. I got it from this website...http://www.dana-made-it.com/2008/07/tutorial-shirt-dress.html

and it was so much fun to do!

Like our fancy easter baskets?

My 3 pumpkins!

My sweet Boys!

Abby trying to get her egg open.

Natey so excited about Abby's dora ball!

Love him - he's getting way too big though!

Here Will hugged Abby and said "I'm going to give you one of my Easter eggs
because I love you so much!"

And Abby takes the egg and runs.... haha. Such a love/hate relationship.

She loves to swing.

Here's my little helper in the kitchen as I was getting food ready for our meal.

Nana waiting with the youngest so they could start finding eggs with a little bit of a head-start.

The newest Gehman family member. Sweet Ansley!

Oops - haha, she dropped one!

Trying to find the eggs that he hid.

Silly Picture!

All 10 cousins minus the 3 little ones who don't stand yet. Waiting to get Prizes.

We had a great weekend of celebration.
Happy Easter - or as my parents say, "Happy Resurrection Day!"

It Was A Messy Day

2010-03-29T04:47:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when he refuses his breakfast and flings the spoon from my hand!

He knows what he did and he's telling me that by the look on his face.... little stinker.

This is what happens when you turn your back for a minute on a 2 year old painting!

She's a picky eater.... but she'll eat paint??

And he can't get messy.... haha, if he does he'll let you know he has to change or be cleaned up right away!

Travels Down South

2010-03-25T04:58:00.001-07:00

We decided pretty last minute to make the trip down to NC, instead of having my mom come up for her spring-break. We made it down late the night before one of my cousins got married. What a neat story... he is 54 and his wife not much younger than that and it is a first marriage for both of them. They were both beaming!! :) My dad was in the wedding - he looked nice all dressed up!

Nate ready to take a nap after the wedding. It was nice to see lots of extended family all at once!

Josh drove us down and stayed the weekend and left Monday morning, then we stayed 2 weeks.

Abby and Will love riding the Harley motorcycle! Abby finally got the steering down.

This park across the street from my parents is great.... because its so close and usually we are the only ones there :).

Always makin' faces!

We spent almost everyday with my sister Christy and her kids. The cousins couldn't get enough of each other. Here is Zac blowing bubbles! He is a character... I nicknamed him "swiper" from Dora, because he was so sneaking about stealing things :)!

Lilly blowing bubbles with her awesome curls!

Love Zac's face when Abby was trying to hug him. He actually loved Abby and was always hugging her and chasing after her.

Baseball time. The little ones didn't do so well! They just stared at the ball flying past them.

Christy trying to show Zac what to do. He just wanted to kick the balls.

A trip to Mimi and Poppi's just wouldn't be complete without going to Monkey Joe's!

My 3 little cuties!

Will did great climbing everything on his own.

Action shot

His favorite - Lightning McQueen!

Mimi - the kids always fought over her.

They loved taking baths in Mimi's deep tub. This time the bubbles were a little too much. Will and Abby loved it... Nate did too, but he splashes SO hard that he falls backwards... and tumbling under this was too much for him... he did a dive and then we quickly took him out!

It was a great time visiting family and friends!

Journal of our first Hospital Experience

2010-03-04T13:10:00.000-08:00

As most of you know, we had to take Nate to the ER Feb. 22nd, for his first time. I know my family was getting the word out to most of you that read this blog so that you all would pray for him. It was a rough few days, but we are so thankful to be home and well now.
All I can say is that I don't like February 22nd..... (I'm not a superstitious person AT ALL)... but that is the day in 2000 that I got in a horrible car accident and totaled my car.... and now its the day we had to take Nate to the ER for the first time.
Earlier in the day I took the kids up to the doctor for Nate's 9 month visit, where everything looked great. He is now 21 lbs. 6 oz. He was such a good boy there and seemed healthy and happy. On the way home (its an hour drive) he started gagging and choking/coughing....and finally I pulled over to make sure he was OK, and he was. So when we got home I started to feed him some of his baby puffs and he threw that up and acting like he was choking again. So I nursed him and he ate great and then threw up his entire feeding, So I tried to feed him two more times..... didn't keep down a thing. I called Josh over from work and I was just panicked... I couldn't find things as we were getting ready to go to the hospital, but we made it out the door in a couple of minutes and were on our way (another hour away) to the hospital in the snow....
It was a long ride up there and I had to take him out of his car seat every 15 minutes or so because he kept throwing up. I called his specialist on the way, who in turn called the ER to notify them that we were coming and give them special instructions. He was definitely getting more and more lethargic on the way up, but thankfully right when we got there they brought us back and had his IV bag waiting for him and got that started within 10 minutes. We got to the ER around 6 and finally got admitted to a room around midnight. Nate only took about a 15 minute nap that whole time! So, we spent 3 nights there and they got his blood sugar stable and made sure he was keeping down his food before we were able to go home. It was extremely difficult for me to be away from Will and Abby (thank you MaryLou for keeping my babies) and also to be without Josh a lot while I was in the hospital. I ended up getting the stomach bug while we were there, which made it hard for me to take care of Nate a whole lot. He was pretty good - considering he was hyper from the sugar in his IV, not sleeping at all, and so wanting to crawl around (which there is no way I was going to let him crawl on the hospital floor). We know there will probably be many more of these trips, but we are praying they will be few and far between. It is emotionally and physically exhausting. It has opened my eyes up to pray for those that spend months at the hospital.... that is a hard thing to do. So, thank you all for your prayers and concern for us. We now want to keep him in a bubble, haha, but know we have to live life. Here are a few pictures from while we were there. They are fuzzy because they are from our cell phone, since grabbing the camera on the way out to the hospital wasn't really on my mind :).

Here is Nate in the ER a few hours after we got there.

Here is Nate in the hospital with his little tiger gown and IV.

This is when he was feeling a good bit better and he was SO ready to be out of this cage (crib) and crawling around.

This & That

2010-03-04T12:29:00.000-08:00

This post is going to be all over the place because I haven't posted in a while and just have some random pictures I recently downloaded from my camera.

About a month ago, Nate decided to grow up way too fast in a couple days time. He went from army crawling, to regular crawling (and a FAST crawl), pulling himself up to standing, and climbing stairs. AHHH, I now know why I haven't posted in a while.... I'm super busy trying to keep after this guy and get the ladybugs and every other thing he finds on the floor, out of his mouth :)!

Trouble!

He is thrilled that he can pull himself up to play with Will's trains!

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Meet, Ceasar snow man. This is one HUGE and weird looking snowman Josh built with the kids last Saturday.

Nater

2010-01-28T09:30:00.000-08:00

Nate is now 8 1/2 months! Time flies! I'm saddened most days that he is not my little baby anymore, although he is SO much fun at this age! He is still SO easy going and almost always happy. That is unless you give him any orange colored food at all. He is sensitive to the sugars in sweet-potatoes, squash, peaches, and carrots. Which means he doesn't get much a variety when it comes to food. Hoping he grows out of this soon, for his sake.
He still reminds me of Will so much as a baby. He is getting chunkier and chunkier by the day :) and still has no teeth.

On the move with my huge thighs

Good lookin' push-up

Messy Face

Me and My sweet boy

Covering Up for the naked picture

Josh came in the other night from work and put his hat on Nate. I had to take a picture because I thought he looked just like Dopey from the 7 Dwarfs!

And here is a video of Nate clapping. Abby repeatedly sings "Baa Baa Black Sheep" and Nate just started clapping to it. Nothing else makes him clap right now, other than her singing this song... haha. And you probably can't even understand the words she is saying, it sounds Chinese!

Will's 4th Birthday

2010-01-28T09:00:00.000-08:00

F-O-U-R

Well, Will counted down the days till his birthday for a REALLY REALLY LONG TIME! He is always asking me, "how many minutes till this?", or "how many days till this?", or "when is it dinner and night time so daddy will be home?" It gets old after the millionth time in a day! With his birthday being so close to Christmas, he counts down for so long till the next time to open presents :)!

Last year for Abby's 1st and Will's 3rd birthdays I started making a special shirt for their special day. This one is a little sloppy because I got the fabric for it the night before and thought I didn't have time to make it. Then I decided about two hours before his party to make it, and so I did it a little too quickly. Oh well, he liked it :). It had a bat and ball on the front, with his name and #4 on the back. (maybe next year I'll plan ahead a little better - his bday stuff is a little last minute because of the holidays)

This year he wanted a Lightning McQueen birthday party and cake. Who would have known??? He has loved the CARS movie ever since we first let him watch it. He has many things CARS! So Josh made him this cake:Will absolutely loved it! And I don't blame him, it turned out great!!!
He had 10 cousins over and his aunts, uncles, and Nana and Pappa.

He opened neat gifts,

Ate his yummy cake on his lightning plates,

And ended with watching "Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs" on the projector.

I can't believe 4 years ago I was having my first baby. The excitement of a first child is beyond anything I've ever experienced. He was such a great baby and so sweet right from the start. He got attached to his blanket from day 1 in the nursery. Seriously, the nurses called it the "magic blanket" because when he cried and they put it on him, he would immediately stop :)! He still is in love even with its gaping hole! I'm so thankful the Lord blessed me with Will. He has such a huge heart and loves people beyond words! He loves to share (most of the time) and is such a people person. I'm praying he becomes a man of God just like his daddy!
I love you Will!!!

Just a Pic of My BOYS!!!

Wedding Weekend

2010-01-26T11:45:00.000-08:00

The first weekend of January, 2010, one of my twin cousins got married. Rachel Dunham married Craig Cooper in NY. I got to go just with Nate and Josh stayed home to finish his Christmas with his family and kept the other two kids for the weekend. I stayed in a hotel room with my sister Jen and her daughter Lauren. It was nice to be with family again :). Missed my other sister, Christy though! It was a little snowy on both ends of my trip, but thankfully we were safe and Nate traveled pretty well. We had a fun weekend.

Poppi, Mimmi, Nate, Lauren and Jen waiting for the ceremony to begin. We sat all the way in the back since we had Nate and I thought I would have to leave during the ceremony since he is pretty vocal now. However, I fed him baby puffs the entire time and he did great :)!

Aunt Debbie (Mother of the Bride) and my cousin Matt (brother of the bride).
My Aunts dress was so beautiful!

The front of the pretty church.

Vows being said!
Can't believe I was doing this very same thing with Josh the next day (Jan 3rd) six years ago!

Mimmi, Poppi, & Nate

Sisters and cousins

My sister Jen and I. Can't tell we are related right??

Mr. Man being held by Mimmi @ the reception!

4 generations! My grandmother (Gigi), My mom, Me and my sister,
and Nate and Lauren (Great grands)

Jen and Lauren

My gram walking in to the reception. Looking great at such a young age ;)!

My cousin Rachel and her dad, my Uncle Peter having a moment of laughter.

Nate and Lauren at the reception.

My mom and dad were SO helpful with Nate all night. It was a LONG day for him and he was a trooper. Being played with all night by his grandparents helped a lot :)!

Lauren thought Rachel was so pretty in her dress and wanted a picture with her, but then when we went to get one she was SO shy !

Jen and I with the twins. Rachel, the bride and her sister Rebecca (matron of honor) with her own wedding in a few months !

Mimmi and Lauren doing their ballerina twirls!

Rachel and Craig, Congrats! It was a beautiful wedding!

New Years Day 2010

2010-01-26T08:00:00.000-08:00

We started out New Years Day, 2010 by going to my in-laws for another Christmas celebration that morning. To celebrate with the whole family, we did the adult presents exchange when Matt and Melissa (Josh's oldest brother and wife) were able to come down from Buffalo. Nana started a tradition of reading this story about giving is better than receiving.

Abby and Charis listening to the story. Abby had major frizz hair!

Some of the boy cousins together on Papa's chair listening to the story, with my two sister-in-laws behind them.

Matt and some more cousins :).

The girls listening in !

My 3 little cuties.

Lovin on Nate

Then we opened presents and Nate enjoyed eating the paper !

Then everyone went on the ice rink while Nate and I left for a family wedding. This ice rink was made by Josh and his brother Jason. It's huge and the kids have a blast on it almost everyday! I will post better pictures of it another time.

All of December in one Post

2010-01-11T13:14:00.000-08:00

This is going to be a LONG ONE!

We started off going a couple miles down the street to cut down our Christmas tree.
This was our first year cutting down our own tree. We had such a fun time searching for the one we wanted and the kids enjoyed watching Josh cut it down and drag it back to the car.

Right near where we cut down the trees we saw a house that dressed up an old car to be Mater, from the CARS movie. Since Will is obsessed with all things CARS, he loved seeing this!

Then we came home and decorated the tree.

Later that night we had to go back to see him all lit up. Too Cute!

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Then we took a ride one Sunday afternoon on the "Santa Express." It is a new train ride in a town nearby. The kids were to dress up in pj's and take a ride on the train to the north pole to meet santa, like the polar express. Being that we don't really do santa up big, the kids still enjoyed it and know that "santa" used to be real.

Us and the kids on the train.

Abby's first time meeting Santa. I'm surprised she wasn't scared or anything.

It snowed the night before, so it was so pretty outside.

Will, holding his ticket and looking out for santa to make his way onto our train.
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The next weekend we went to church for a day called "gingerbread dreams." We got to decorate a gingerbread house together as a family. A first for all of us, including Josh and I. We got to eat cookies, watch the new Christmas Veggie Tales movie, and make lots of Christmas crafts. It was a fun family time.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Then we were blessed to have Mimi and Poppi come to visit. They came for a whole week! That never has happened before. To have both of my parents in for that long. They were up this way for a family wedding, so were able to break up their long drive with a stop in at our place. Lets just say the kids got so attached and were SO sad to see them go.

We made LOTS and....

LOTS of cookies ALL week!!!! :)

We played games upon games, and built lots of towers!

We cuddled and watched movies.

My parents and Will did some yoga :)!!! I just watched and laughed.

And we played in the snow and did lots of sledding.

We went to dinner and then to our church's Christmas Eve service. The kids were all in the service with us and surprisingly, Abby did well. They all did. Nate was jumping around like a crazy man because of all that was going on. Abby loved seeing this one girl do a "ballerina dance." It was nice to worship together as a family, and with my mom and dad too. Doesn't get to happen often.

Then came Christmas morning. What fun. We had Will sleeping in our room all week while my parents were in his room. We were woken up by him singing Jingle Bells :)! Great memories. Will really was into it this year. Daddy started by reading Jesus's birth story out of the kids Bible. Then we let them open their stockings.

The kids got one big gift from us this year and stocking stuffers. Will's was this motorized gator, that he loves!

And Abby's was this kitchen. She really enjoys playing "cook" and feeding us all sorts of stuff. Josh's ecretary blessed us with this set and we were so grateful. Thanks so much Jeanine!!!!

Nate slept through it all, and when he woke up we gave him Will's old turtle spinner toy. He plays with this non-stop :).

We let Will ride his gator in the snow and temperatures in the teens... haha, but he was thrilled.
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Then Christmas mid-morning we took the kids down to celebrate with Josh's family. It was our year with his family for Christmas, so after opening gifts at home, we went down there.

Will and Abby with Nana hanging up their ornaments. Nana has an ornament for each kid that they get to put up on the tree with her Christmas day.

Papa read the Christmas story and each child put up a character from the story into the nativity scene during the reading.

Then we opened gifts and had a meal together. The food was amazing!!!!!

After a bit the little ones, Nate and Ren, joined us!
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Then we had Mimi and Poppi here for a few more days of fun and spoiling.

It was a great December! What a joy to have family together during this season. We are so thankful for the gift of our Jesus to us! He has blessed us in many ways. We are so thankful for health this year, especially for Nate. Praise God for sending us his Son, so we can have hope in ALL things!

Lots of Catching Up To Do!

2010-01-11T12:37:00.000-08:00

This is a short-n- (hopefully) sweet version of highlighting Thanksgiving.
We went down to NC and stayed with my parents for a week. We had such a great time visiting my all of my family. Lots of kids and lots of good food and great memories.
My mom took all of us to get some family pictures made.

Us - hmmm, who is the biggest child in this one?

My sister Christy and her husband Scott and their kids (Eli, Lilly, & Zac)

My sister Jen, her husband Shaun and their 3 kids (Caleb, Josh, & Lauren)

The whole fam.

My boys.. random picture, i just like it !

We also celebrated Christmas together since we didn't get to be together at Christmas this year.
All the kids decorated Scott and Christy's tree.

Then opened presents from, in order from youngest to oldest so we all got to see what they got. I don't think Nate really cared that he got to go first :).

And of course, Josh had to get all the guys to go fishing!

Uncle Shaun and Josh with a fish.

Eli and Poppi with a fish.

Lots of fun with family. We had a great Thanksgiving.

Abby turns 2

2009-12-09T12:15:00.001-08:00

My little tiny peanut turned 2 November 9th. I'm a little late in getting this post up. Abby LOVES everything Veggie Tales. She is constantly singing the theme song, always asking to watch them, and loves coloring pictures of them. We made her a Bob and Larry cake and she was thrilled with it! She is still talking about her veggie tales birthday.
We had Josh's parents and brothers and their families over for her birthday. 12 kids and 8 adults. They roasted marshmallows outside and jumped on the trampoline. Then we all went in the basement and had cake. Abby opened presents and then we pigged out. It was simple and fun.
Abby is my feisty little girl. She is all of 21 pounds (only 1 pound more than Nate). She is potty trained, although doesn't do well when we leave the house. She loves to sing, dance, hug, eat, push, giggle, climb, and run. She doesn't like to listen, get her teeth brushed, share, be quiet, sit still, or smile for the camera! She is a challenge, but I'm praying that strong will turns into strong faith! I love my little girl and I'm so blessed by God to have her!

Listening to everyone singing to her.

Licking the icing off her fingers.

Showing off her cupcake shirt I made her.
(got the idea from a cute blog, fun to make, but time consuming)

Love the faces on these guys. I cut the shapes out and put the noses on and Josh created their "look."

Riding on her new horse!

Happy Happy Birthday!

Another Video

2009-12-04T17:26:00.000-08:00

I just couldn't resist. Nate's laugh tonight was so funny. He was getting blotchy in the face because he was laughing so hard. True happiness! Enjoy!

TAKE I, II, & III

2009-12-03T13:02:00.001-08:00

YES, I DID dress them up in several different outfits, and tried several different days to get a "GOOD" Christmas picture. Nate doesn't like to look at the camera, Abby doesn't like to smile, and Will gets a plastered smile after about 2 pictures. It is so hard to get a good picture of them. Here are a few of the "TAKES"! They definitely got me laughing! Josh was a trooper and tried to help me get a few pictures, although he thought I was crazy for how many times I tried to get a good one. I think I'm a "wanna-be" photographer. Love taking pictures! I'm so glad I'll have all of these memories captured!

Dress Up

2009-12-03T11:44:00.000-08:00

Since we visited family in NC, we were given some dress-up clothes that my niece, Lauren, is too big for now. I didn't think Abby would be into it that much yet.... but she is! She loves wearing these dress-up clothes, dancing like a ballerina, and telling me she is a princess. Oh NO, the drama!

She is potty trained now, and its quite hard to hold this huge dress up while she is going potty... but she doesn't want it off.

"Why are you taking my picture while I'm going to the bathroom, Mom???"

She cracks me up!

Needing to Catch UP

2009-12-03T11:26:00.000-08:00

I have been slacking with the blog lately. I wanted to post things in order, and I guess that may have to wait. Once I get a few pictures of Abby's bday, I will update more. For now, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has been praying for Nate. His last appointment with the specialist was on November 10th and he had a great checkup. He is developing as any normal child would and he is meeting milestones appropriately. He is a big boy just like Will was. He was 19 pounds 3 oz. He was in the 75% for his height, weight, and head. I met with the nutritionist and she told me that I can put Nate on a regular, heart-healthy diet. So, nothing strict - just the recommended fat count that anyone "should" be intaking. He had more bloodwork done to test his carnatine levels to see what dose he should be started on. Will and Abby had DNA bloodwork done as well and we will know those results by January.
I just got his results from his carnatine levels and they are almost in the normal range. They do not want to start him on supplements because they said he is making enough of his own at this point. I'm so thankful for that! Carnatine doesn't taste good and it upsets the stomach a lot of the time in children this young. God is keeping Nate healthy right now and for that I'm thankful. My "Thanksgiving" was extended.... but I guess our "Thanksgiving" should be ongoing - for we serve a mighty God!

We had a great Thanksgiving in NC with all of my family. It went by WAY too fast, as usual though. I will update with pictures of that at some point as well.

Here are just a few pictures of the kids with their pilgrim hats. I taught them about pilgrims and indians before we went down to NC. Will had a blast acting out the roles, singing songs, and making different crafts.

Future Career?

2009-11-03T05:28:00.000-08:00

When I looked over at Abby this morning, this is what I saw....

New Hair Product: Sugary Milk from Cereal = Major Lift!

Looks very modern :)

What do ya think Aunty Christy??? Am I following in your footsteps....hairdresser or maybe not??

Candy Corn and Candy

2009-11-01T04:27:00.001-08:00

So this week we were doing the letter "C", and what better thing does "C" stand for than CANDY! :) (in kids eyes anyways) So, we made Candy Corn crafts and cute Candy Corn shaped cookies that we found on a blog. The kids and I made the dough in the morning, and then after dinner Josh made the cookie shapes with them.

Will and Abby were icing their cookies. They were on a sugar rush that night!

A closer look at the cookies.

Nate wanted to get in on the fun.

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Here are the kids from last night, halloween. Due to the swine flu and regular flu going around up here, we decided to only go to Nana's house and to one neighbor and then back home to do a candy hunt at our house. We are really trying to keep any sickness away from nate. After only going to those 2 houses, Will said, "Wow mom, look at all my candy, I can't wait to go home and eat it. You can have a piece, I can have a piece, and daddy can have one. " It was so cute to see him wanting to share his 5 pieces of candy!

Abby the flower, Will the turtle, and Nate the lion.

Nate kept frowning when I would clap to try and get them to look at the camera.... it made Josh and I laugh so hard! The things we do to our kids :)

Running down to Nana's.

Hope you all had a fun and safe halloween. We enjoyed being together as a family and having more of a layed back year.

Pumpkins

2009-10-29T12:51:00.001-07:00

The other night Josh and I decided to carve pumpkins with the kids. We thought it would be fun for THEM! They didn't like the slimy mess. So Josh and I ended up doing all the work. But they enjoyed watching and seeing the finished productS!

Abby tried on one of Josh's work gloves to give it a second chance, but she still didn't want to do it.

I made Will put his hand in for a picture... haha, mean mommy. He made sure he got it in, but didn't touch anything!

Josh making silly faces as usual.

From left to right...

Will's pumpkin (tractor), my pumpkin (a 'G' for Gehman), Josh's (football with a wing, for the Eagles), and Abby's (bob the tomato, since she loves veggie tales)

Nate just watched everyone and ate some rice cereal :)! That was his second try with the cereal. He didn't care either way. He kind of just let it all come right back out.

October Winter

2009-10-16T11:50:00.001-07:00

Yes, Snow in October. Josh told me that it hasn't snowed in October in over 5 years. Yippee.... or not really! haha. We have enjoyed playing in it today, but man it has come a little too soon this year.

This is what we woke up to this morning, and it has been snowing lightly ALL day!

Abby didn't know what to make of being bundled up. She didn't move much.... such a different pace for her! It was nice for a change :)!

Abby and her friend Kylee.

Will and his friend Cayden.

The kids had fun playing in the snow. I'm glad we had friends to play with because after taking FOREVER to get all their snow gear on, I didn't want them to want to come into the house after only a few minutes. Crazy weather, but they had a blast!

Long Overdue

2009-10-14T12:07:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to post pictures of the house w/ the rock gardens for a while! I wanted my mom to see how her plants blossomed, grew, and looked great! A few things died, but thats because the night she planted them, we had a late frost... go figure!

Corn stalks from our garden - and our painted pumpkins.

The flowers!

This back small rock bed we just put down. We haven't mulched it yet or added much to it.
Just showing our slow progress! Thanks for looking, now you can all come visit to see the real deal :)!

Nathan's News

2009-09-25T05:01:00.001-07:00

So, we got the news on Nate's DNA testing. It is all really confusing to say the least. I've been trying to find more information on the internet and that isn't happening. Before the test, the doctor told us the reasoning behind DNA sequencing is to see whether or not Nathan has one or two of the mutated MCAD genes to show us if he is somewhat of a more severe case or not. So after the test, I wasn't even worried about getting the results. I just KNEW that he didn't have a severe case. I felt in my heart he was just FINE. Also, from how long he was going at night without feedings and how healthy, alert, and active he was.... I just figured he was fine.
The nurse practitioner called a few days ago with the results that came in early, so i was caught off guard right away when she told me they were in. When she told me has has BOTH genes for MCAD, I was absolutely shocked. I really wanted to cry, but I was just silent. Then I asked, "So does this mean he has a more severe case of MCAD?" Her response was, "Theoretically, but we won't know until his first or second illness that makes him not eat or throw up. Every MCAD patient is different." So now I feel like its a waiting game. I don't want him to get a sickness that causes his MCAD to act up at all. However, we will not know how severe his case is until that happens. He has been sick for two weeks now with a nasty cold that turned into bronchiolitis, and he has eaten well through it all... thank you Lord! I am human and sometimes wonder why these things happen to our sweet little babies... and then I also am reminded that he is alive and well for the most part and in my arms today. God is sovereign and I know that He can still heal Nate. I also know this may be His will for Nate's life to bring Him glory through it all. Either way, may your name be praised Jesus. I know Nate is a gift!
Thank you all for your prayers! We still need them and are so grateful for them all. I pray that I will know when to act on his condition.
Now, we take Nate on November 24th for re-evaluation, check up, and carnatine levels. He will be started on carnatine (enzyme that helps him break down some fat for energy) then. Also, we will be taking Will and Abby with us because the doctor wants them to have DNA testing as well. I think its just because of Nate having both mutations to see if they are carriers , but I wasn't totally sure on that one.

He continues to be such a content and happy baby. He really doesn't cry much at all. He loves to cuddle and snuggle, my favorite!!! He is usually smiling, loves jumping in his new bouncy seat, and doesn't like taking naps in his car seat (although he is happy in it). He will be 5 months old next week - going by TOO fast! HE weighs 17 pounds now... a bruiser. Although he almost weighs as much as Abby does currently, he doesn't have Will beat at 5 months of age.

Nate is always chewing on something. Usually fingers and toys, sometimes chins and shoulders...

Here he is getting his breathing treatment. He really just wants to chew on it.

Thanks for following along and being by our side through this.
(oh, and for listening to my ramblings)

BRRRRRRRRR

2009-09-21T04:32:00.000-07:00

Wow, its fall here but starting to feel like winter to me. The leaves are changing (which I love to see), the air smells different and feels crisp, we are pulling out hats and jackets, and have put the air conditioner away. So sad to me. Feels like we didn't get much of a warm summer this year. Season's change, right? It's a beautiful thing (other than forever long snowy months), although sometimes taken with hesitation at first.

Looks like Nate is happy about it though!

Will is still learning that its too cold for his short sleeve shirts. But he has a hard time saying goodbye to his clothes :)!

Will and I built this little fire pit in our backyard and waited for daddy to get home to light it for us. It was so relaxing to sit by the fire and make smores. Will (being the cautious child that he is) would stand as far away as he could to try and roast his marshmallow... sometimes just throwing his stick at the fire... haha.
Nate loved staring at the flames.

Excuse the hair here.... oh wait, it almost always looks crazy like this :). She needs it tamed.
Abby would only eat the marshmallows, wasn't sure about the smore. Which was fine by me, she has enough energy for our whole family combined, without chocolate entering her little body.

And of course Will doesn't want to smile at the camera, but he made a nice looking smore.
Yes, its starting to get cold... but we are tryin' to keep warm !

Pictures For Mimi

2009-09-13T18:09:00.001-07:00

Not much to write about here. Just lots of pictures. My mom wanted a new picture of each of the kids to put in her frames that she updates every year. So here are the best of the ones I took. Not an easy task to get a picture of your children actually looking at the camera with open eyes and not weird crazy faces!

Around Here

2009-09-13T18:04:00.001-07:00

It has been a cool summer this year and we have only gone swimming a few times. Here is one of the times that the kids were in the creek.

Abby is enjoying the fact that she can do it without me holding on to her.

Will has gotten really good at swimming on his own with his life jacket. They enjoyed going down the slide into the freezing water.

This is the corn from our garden. We loved it.
I wasn't big on corn on the cob until this year. I couldn't get enough of it.

Abby with a messy face as usual.

Both Josh and Will could eat corn on the cob for the entire meal!
There's a little taste of whats going on 'round here.

So Last Minute

2009-09-13T17:54:00.000-07:00

It's been a month since I've last posted and its because I went away and since I've been back I have been trying to catch up on things. I heard my dad's soccer team was in the national championships in Richmond, VA - so I decided to make a trip down and see family and the game all in one. Well, before I left I had this uneasy feeling that it was going to be a hard trip and was really close to canceling - but decided to go because Will was so excited!.....Well - it was the worst trip in the car in my life and I'm so thankful I have the best husband every who flew down to help me drive back :)!!!!!

We had a great time staying at Jen's and seeing her family. We also surprised my mom which was SO fun because she was shocked. I just love surprises!!!

This was at a park we played at one day.

Will and Lauren at the park.

My little monkey swinging.

Will and Abby loved playing on this thing... don't even really know what it is called.. but they loved it.

Then going to the soccer game I got lost and was driving circles in and around Richmond.... oh what fun with a hungry baby who NEEDS to eat. Thankfully we made it safe and sound. The game was fun to watch and Will actually had a little attention focused on watching too. He ate his first snow cone w/ his cousins and when it was time to throw Frisbee on the field.. he threw one right into the back of the kids head in front of him...oops.. but really funny!

Sweet Nate hanging out in the pack-n-play.

Will Josh and Lauren playing dress up.
We had a great time. Thanks Jen for letting us come at such short notice.

Bubbles

2009-08-24T11:29:00.000-07:00

Nate was a little crazy about blowing bubbles today.

But he just loved it!

Daddy caught this fish in our creek and Will put it in the kiddie pool. He survived for 2 days. Will named him Bubbles.

Does Nate Look Like Mommy?

2009-08-24T11:14:00.001-07:00

Nate

Mommy

Nate

Mommy

Nate

Nathan's Many Faces

2009-08-18T18:04:00.001-07:00

Say What?

Belly time. Getting so strong. Crazy bug eyes!

Elvis smile.

He is enjoying the bumbo... although it makes his spit like crazy (oh wait, he always does that)... well, it makes him spit more than crazy I guess....

Kissy Lips.

(His hair looks spikey in this picture because I had greasy cradle cap goop in it to get rid of the dry skin)

Getting ready to smile....

There it is!

Big Yawn... enough pictures mom!

I could eat this guy up!!!!

Beach Blessing

2009-08-15T06:15:00.001-07:00

The middle green house is where Josh, the kids and I stayed for a week after leaving my moms. We had such a great family vacation. It was extremely relaxing, which is what we needed! This is my first vacation I felt rested from.
My dad's friend let us use this condo that he rents out. It was such a blessing to be able to go there for free and have an amazing time spending such quality family time.
So, here are just about a million pictures from our trip.... and I didn't even share half of the pics I took.... I know, I'm camera happy!

Josh diving into the waves.

Abby walking with her baby down to the beach.

Will and Abby playing in the sand together.

Love this picture of Will squinting.

Abby and mommy. She is making a weird face though.

Abby and Josh letting the waves crash into them.

A little daddy time.

Will being silly in the water. Finally enjoying the ocean. The kids were scared of the ocean and the waves the whole week, until our last day there. The last day they decided they would give it a try again, and they loved it!

Will loved picking shells.... haha, he takes after my Oma (grandmother).

Nate's setup on the beach.

Trying to get all 3 kids to look at you and smile... not the easiest.

Abby just loves holding baby "date" or baby "deet" and she calls him. He is just about as big as she is.

Me and my sweet Nate man.

Nate isn't happy taking family pictures.

Family picture with the timer. Not the greatest, but it will have to do.

The kids had enough pictures already.

Me and the older two.

Alligators are Will's favorite right now. We went to the zoo one day and there were tons there.

Me and Nate next to the giraffe. One of my favs.

Josh, Will and Abby in the lion mouth cutout.

Beautiful white tiger.

Will with his alligators.

I have never seen a turtle so small. It was so cute. An Abby sized turtle.

The aquarium was only a couple miles from where we stayed - and so we took a trip there one morning.

Looking at the fish and sharks.

Nate slept on and off the whole time.

These seahorses were neat. So tiny and so intricate.

Nice face Will.

This lake was right down the street from where we stayed and it had a playground right there and a walkway around it. We went here several nights to let Will ride his bike and to allow Josh and I to get a nice walk in.

Here is Will riding his bike while we were on our walk. He loved it!

Some playground time, trying to get some energy out before we took them out to dinner.
Surprisingly, we went out to dinner 3 nights and all 3 kids did great....it was such a blessing!

Nate enjoyed the walks as well.

We had such a great time away together as a family. The ride home was a rough 13 hours, but it was worth it.

2 weeks in NC

2009-08-10T05:03:00.001-07:00

So after the wedding, Josh drove home to work and I drove to NC with my mom and the kids. It was almost a 14 hour drive and it was a little hairy at times. Thankfully my wonderful mother drove most of it so I could keep climbing in the back to help the kids during their many meltdowns. There are a million pictures from our time in NC and they are mostly out of order, but oh well.

One night Will and Abby played dress up. They had just gotten out of the bath... thats why they don't have clothes on under their costumes. Will was a naked knight!

And Abby was a sweet little angel. This was my costume once. We had to pin the back of the tutu because she's so tiny it kept falling off.

One night Mimi had ice cream sandwiches for the kids. They devoured them. Can you tell they enjoyed themselves???

Just a little messy... I think that's and understatement. When I picked Abby up she managed to have it stuck to the bottom of her legs and pants...talent!

Will had a sleepover with Mimi one night when Poppi was away with his team. Abby tried to get in on the action, but that wasn't going to happen!

Such a happy baby. Fat and happy is my motto with him :)!

This is Li. She is from Brazil and used to live with my parents. Her husband plays for my dad's soccer team. She is the one who is having her church pray for Nate. It was a pleasure to meet her and she enjoyed Nate as well!

At the pool (where we went everyday- so much fun). This day was our last time there and we had Li and a friend Kari (and her two girls and one boy on the way) come to play that day. The kids all had so much fun together!

Some of the kids sharing grapes together - or should I say all trying to shove as many in their mouths at once so they could eat the most :)!

Abby wasn't sure of the crowds of people, so she wanted to be held a lot.

Will got over his fear of the water splashing on his head and finally went down the slides.

Zac man managing to get one finger up his nose and two in his mouth. He is a snuggler, wants to be held a lot, especially by his Mimi. Abby called him Zach-ie!

Will and Lilly played so well together, especially in the pool. It was so cute to watch.

Abby not so sure again.

Nate slept a lot at the pool, I think he liked all the noises!

Poppi with Eli and Will at the nascar races.

Heading up to the race.

Does Will know whats going on? I think he is in one of his stares!

Buds.

Gigi (my grandmother) came to NC the last few days we were there to visit. She hasn't seen my kids since Abby was 6 weeks old. It was so nice for her to spend time with them. They really enjoyed her. One morning my mom and I went out yardsale-ing for a few hours and she kept them busy... playing chase, reading books, duck duck goose and much more.... they had a blast, and were all worn out at the end !!! This is a picture of her in the way back seat of my van in between the car seats. that is where I was going to sit, but she insisted on climbing back there with them.

Zac eating dirt, AGAIN :)! This boy can eat anything and everything that isn't food and be fine w/ it.

Abby just being Abby.

Christy and I with our kids. Wish we lived closer to each other so our kids could grow up together!

Take two! Love them!

We rarely get pictures of just us.

Will rode this morning, noon, and night! Right when he woke up he would ask to go outside to ride this. He got pretty daring!

We had such a great time in NC this summer. We went to the pool almost everyday, got to visit with some old friends, and got to spend a lot of quality time with family. Couldn't ask for more!
Thanks Mimi and Poppi for keeping us, we had the best time!!!

Long Island for the Weekend

2009-08-10T04:53:00.001-07:00

I know, its been forever again since I've posted. We went away for almost a month and then I knew I had a lot to catch up on, so I've been procrastinating. So, here goes. A lot of pictures are "stolen" from my sisters' blogs because they took more pics than I did since I had Nate in my arms a lot.

Here are Christy's kids and Will and Abby on the golf cart on Long Island. The kids and I went there on Thursday and Josh met us on Saturday. Driving over bridges to get to LI in the traffic w/ 3 young kiddos all on my own actually went better than I thought. I almost had anxiety attacks when I would think about it, but thank God we didn't have too much traffic and the kids did pretty well. We went there for my cousin, Mike's, wedding. It was crazy with so many kids and I was definitly worn out, but it was worth it. We got to see so much family and catch up w/ people that we haven't seen in a while.

Looking Good!

My sweet husband all dressed up, doesn't happen that often!

My cousin Erika with her daughter Faith. Faith was too shy to walk down the aisle so Erika walked her down. Beautiful mommy and daughter! The kids and I stayed at their house for the weekend and it was so nice for Will and Abby to play w/ their cousins.

The cute married couple! Congrats Mike and Melissa! They had such a perfect day!

Will and Lilly hittin' the dance floor.

Lauren twirling her dress. Will dancing w/ Lilly in the background... he looks like an old man in that pose.

A Picture of most of many of my cousins that were there at the wedding.

Abby and Josh.

Looks like a family photo of Josh Me and Will, but its just us w/ Nate this time.

Will and his cousins Eli and Josh. Oh, and I can't forget to mention his "peke" (blanket) .

Nate and his sweet smile and his adorable little black tie!

7-4-09

2009-07-07T04:46:00.001-07:00

Another year at the Gehman cabin for the 4th of July. Every year we all meet at Josh's grandfaterh's cabin for a few days. The guys always put off fireworks, and this year they were the best yet. Here are some pictures of our time there....

The Whole Gehman Clan. 10 Adults, 15 kids!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was SO muddy there from all of the rain we have had up here. The kids had a blast in it though. Made for some interesting clothes and more interesting laundry!

Will and Annie playing in the mud. Will always likes to be clean and usually freaks out if he gets dirty. So Annie was playing in the mud and we asked Will to join her. He was hesitant at first, but then really got into it!

See he really got into it!!!

Mud from head to toe!

Abby and Annie running down the hill. Abby fell on her face at the bottom, but got right up and wanted to do it again!

Papa taking all the kids for a gator ride.

Abby fishing with daddy.

Will caught a huge sunfish!

The huge slip-n-slide! Most of the kids had a blast on this. Mine were a little too scared. Will went down twice and Abby went down the bottom part twice. (but they were helped and didn't like it)

Aiden, Annie, and little Ren (lauren)!

Jason and Kate with their kids. What a great family shot!

Nana with Lauren.

Papa with Nate.

Nate and Lauren. One month apart.

Too Cute!

An attempt at getting a picture of just the kids. Ha!

Abby dressed in her 4th of July clothes for the family picture. She looked too cute in her skirt and boots.

Me and my 3 sweet babies!

Sword fights with the Styrofoam.

Abby chasing after Fritz (cousin's dog). She loves animals, and wanted to follow him most of the time. She also went in his cage, played with his food, spilled his water over and over and stole his toys. What a fun playmate.

Many of the cousins walking around the edge of the pond - it was COLD!

Will pretending to drive the 4wheeler

Happy 4th everyone!

How Sweet It Is

2009-07-06T12:31:00.001-07:00

To Be Loved By You

I just love this picture!!!!
I LOVE.....
a daddy and his baby
a sleeping baby
big baby cheeks
&
sweet kissable lips

Our Friend and Enemy

2009-07-06T11:14:00.000-07:00

If you look closely behind Josh's boat you can see the deer.

This is our deer friend that likes to look pretty and walk around.

This is also our deer enemy because she likes to eat the leaves off of our pear tree that we just got and are trying to let grow :(!

She has a little baby that wasn't out this morning when Josh was taking pictures. She had twins last year. How sweet! I think deer are so pretty - and I try not to think about what I'm eating when I cook with it.

27

2009-07-06T11:08:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago I turned 27. I guess I'm still a youngin' - and I don't feel any older :)! I had a wonderful day with the kiddos and then my mother-in-law kept Will and Abby so I could go on a date with Josh and Nate! We went and ate at Outback (thanks Mom and Dad for the gift card). I got a YUMMY steak and I think Nate wanted some of it because he started crying so loud right when I started to eat it. So I ran to the car to feed him quick while Josh ate in the restaurant by himself... haha, oh well - it was still a great time! After we got home and put the kids to bed, we made a pizza coookie and ate almost half of it ourselves. Calories don't count on your birthday! I wanted to put up a picture of my new Kitchen aid mixer that Josh got me (thanks to good deals on Ebay)! He used it to make pizza dough and I used it to make dessert so far. I'm so excited to use this more and more. Thanks babe!