Snakes and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

My little boy is all boy. He loves dirt, juice, and throwing hard objects at fragile items. And, of course, Mac and Cheese. I'm excited for Christmas, because I have a wonderful gift picked out for my two little men. The littler of said men will not care right away, but give him a few months. Nope, you won't pry it out of me; wait for the pictures.

We have a Halloween Party to attend Saturday night at Johnny's ballroom. We just decided on our costumes this evening. Johnny's will be very funny.

Our house is removed from any neighborhoods, so we don't expect any Trick or Treaters. That makes me sad; I love to see the costumes. As an alternative we'll head over and have dinner and candy with Grandma, then we'll hole up in her basement and watch a scary movie. Halloween is the first holiday I spent with Johnny. We weren't quite together yet, but we were already best friends. That Halloween brings back fond and not-so-fond memories. One involves a punched wall and another a party cut short by Heather dramatics (I wonder if you remember that one, Heather, dear ;). Good times. This is our 4th Halloween together.

We made a glorious discovering yesterday! A small, locally owned supermarket in town has a huge gluten free section!! I couldn't believe my eyes. I wanted to buy everything, but GF food is like gold, so I had to select three items. But it's nice to know that Heaven is just down the street. :)

My little ones sleep and my big one visits the gym. So I am enjoying a little solitude while I wait for my Love to get home. Although I never like to be away from Johnny, this alone time is welcome. I didn't have one moment of quiet time today, because Zachary and Gabriel timed their sleep and wakefulness just so.

Goodnight, sleep tight!

Sleep!!

Gabriel slept 8 hours last night!!! Sleep, glorious sleep. It's so nice to get in a full sleep cycle. I feel so rested; it's incredible. The only problem with him sleeping so long is that I get about 4-5 oz. of milk in each breast and that HURTS!!!! It's just not cool to wake up drenched in milk. Yuck.

Zachary also slept through the night. He had been for sleeping like a champ since he was two months old, but he stopped around 9 months and seems to finally be getting on track. I think it's because he started popping out the really painful teeth: molars and cuspids. But the cuspid he was working on popped through a couple days ago and he's been an angel ever since.

The leaves are cascading off the trees, the weather is getting colder, and the air is getting crisper. We have a freezer full of deer and a space heater for Zach's room. Winter, do your worst.

Ok, really, please don't. I'm just saying we're ready...

A Navel Idea

Zachary made an astounding discovery yesterday; he found his belly button. We poked it and said, "boop" and now every time someone says "boop" he lifts his shirt. He is very proud of his belly button. He has also accomplished the great feat of climbing onto the couch unassisted. This speaks of future horrors for the upholstery.

I remember why I decided never to argue politics or religion over facebook. It's so completely fruitless. Who are you going to convince on Facebook? And if you stand no chance of making a difference, why argue? It only causes unneeded stress. So, I now reinstate my vow and apologize to the Facebook gods for breaking my oath.
In further retrospect, why would I argue with a liberal at all? They've proven time and again that they can't think, anyway. So pointless.

Finally got a picture of Gabriel smiling! Well, sort of...it's more of the Harrison Ford side-smirk, but it counts, ok?

I had the worst headache I've had in ages last night. It's still lingering, but now it's bearable. Waking up with a headache kills the whole day. Even Advil at 2 am didn't cure it, but my wonderful husband got me a Dr. Pepper before he went to work and the caffeine helped a lot.

Last night we ate deer that Johnny shot and butchered himself. What a man! :) It was delicious, but I remember why I don't eat red meat. Ugh. So sad.

We have a very important dinner tomorrow night. I'm very excited!!

Growing Up

Johnny and I had a great talk last night; we hashed some things out and made some promises. There's nothing quite as satisfying as a good, long, serious talk with your best friend. Nothing makes you grow and mature quite as much as a solid commitment. My marriage just gets happier with each passing day. I'm so in love and so blessed.

My boys are growing at an alarming rate! Zachary has sprung up at least an inch this month. The little weasel can reach onto table tops now, and, subsequently, reach whatever is on said table tops. Gabriel is almost kind of starting to fill out his newborn sleepers. He's still swimming in them, but he can poke his hands out now, and stretch his feet into the legs without getting lost. He fills out his preemie sleeper and has advanced to newborn size diapers.

Those two are so different. Zachary is the mischievious one. He has a twinkle in his eye that lets you know he's up to something big and he's always off on an adventure. Zach would be the happiest kid in the world if he could be outside all the time.
Although it's a little early to say for sure, Gabriel seems to be the quiet one. He is very serious and thoughtful. His little face tells you he's working through something big. He seems to be such a gentle little soul.

Excitement is brewing on the job front, but that's all I'll say for now. :)

My brain is still pretty fried from pregnancy. It's amazing how scattered one becomes; I blame the hormones. I have to keep a daily "to do" list just to make sure I complete necessary tasks, like ironing Johnny's shirts or taking out the trash. Honestly, I even have to write down who I owe phone calls.

Heather's dream story from a couple nights ago was one of the best I've heard in a while. Still chuckling over that one. Now there's another best friend who's talks mean everything to me. A phone call from Heather is always a highlight of the day. I wish I had more time to talk to her!

And I know I just said "another best friend." There's a big difference between husband-best-friend and girl-best-friend. They are both my best friend and I'm sticking to that! :)

I need to start another blog for political rants. This socialistic mess is getting out of hand.

Nothin' to Do But Smile

Another happy and uneventful day. Zachary had a great day; he even tried to share his peanut butter cracker with Gabriel. We had lunch with Daddy at the ever-classy Micky D's and spent the afternoon addressing birth announcement envelopes.

Gabriel smiled at me tonight! He's smiled before, but completely randomly. Tonight he responded to my smile and his name with a big grin of his own. He's such a little doll.

I put Gabriel's birth announcement up on the refrigerator next to Zachary's and it's unbelievable how alike they look. Gabriel's complexion is quite a bit darker, but they both have big, blue eyes, a dimple in the chin, the same nose, and perfect little faces. And people still think they're both girls. They're just too pretty to be boys. :)

Simplicity

I look over my blog sometimes and feel inept. My writing style is very simple, almost juvenile. I wish I could write beautiful prose, posts that inspire and warm the heart. I wish I could write like Stewie, but if I tried it would seem forced and pretentious. So, I will simply write like myself, simple, sweet, and, at times, childish. That's me; take it or leave it.

Honestly, my whole life is pretty simple. Today, for example, I felt very accomplished as I tucked my babies into bed and lay back with a mug of hot chocolate, collecting my thoughts. No, I wasn't involved in any big business deals; I didn't save lives; I didn't even drive a car today. But I did laundry, made some phone calls, washed my hair, cooked dinner, and cut up apple and hot dog into bite-sized pieces. Golly, I even took out the garbage. But, best of all, I woke up beside the man I love and kissed my babies goodnight.

Yes, I lead a simple life, but it's beautiful. I wouldn't trade it for the world. God is truly great.

Godsends

He answers prayer. I've prayed and hoped for the perfect job, and we've waited through very difficult times, knowing that this is just a stepping stone. We've reconciled to living in Sheridan, WY, keeping the faith that God has a spot for us and, for now, this is it.

Johnny had planned on applying to more jobs sometime this winter, thinking that nothing would turn up for a few months and we could have a better job and move on by late Spring. All that seems to have changed.

It all started with babies. Babies, you see, require lots of equipment, particularly when traveling over night. Along with bags for clothes and such, one has to pack strollers, beds and bedding, car seats, and toys. Our cute little Yaris just doesn't have that capacity. So, Johnny headed over to the Toyota dealer to get us a bigger vehicle. We expected to be treated well and receive a good deal. We did not expect to get handed a dream job. But that's what happened.

This dream job was offered by a Montana venture capitalist cowboy who happens to hail from a wealthy family from Lexington, KY. The man has led one of the most fascinating and fulfilling lives I've ever heard of. Just as an example, the first horse he ever rode was the 1958 Kentucky Derby winner. He has walked the Sahara Desert, ridden broncos in the rodeos, and run a charity to benefit cancer patients. And now he wants to open a resort in Montana and wants Johnny to be his Operations Manager.

The job has been offered, but details are still a little up in the air. At the moment we're just trying to figure out if this actually happened or if we dreamed it. The perks with this job are unreal.

Details to come. Praise the Lord!

Beautiful Gabriel

He's here! My beautiful little boy was born on October 1st at 6:59 pm. He was 5 lbs., 7 oz. and is just perfect.
Zachary is coping decently well. I think it would be much easier if I were allowed to pick him up, but I'm not supposed to lift anything heavier than little Gabe. So showing Zach that he's still my little man is a lot more difficult when he reaches for me and I can't hold him. :( Usually I end up sitting on the floor and letting him crawl into my lap.

Recovery has been incredibly fast. I'm already down to a size 4 and hope to be back to my old size in just a couple weeks. I haven't even started exercising yet.

Johnny is amazing.

Here's the new little angel: