Trey

Cute pics of Trey. That is a 6 month sweatshirt!!! Isn't he adorable?

picnic

Monday night we went to Riverfront Park for the annual fire department picnic. It's a potluck BBQ dinner put on by the officers (which Jerry is now one of!) for all of the firefighters and their families. There was lots of good food, and we were on list for a dessert this year...finally! I'm a baker and we never seem to get off the hot dish list, but I guess it was my year! There were barbecued hamburgers, hot dogs, steak and shrimp, along with 4 potato dishes, salads, bread, and yummy desserts.

The kids all received some fun goody bags with toys and a few treats. Abby's bag included bubbles and crayons...two of her favorite things! There was a bouncy house for the little ones to play in as well and a slip-n-slide tarp set up down the hill for those willing to get wet. I didn't think Abby would be at all interested in the bouncy house since there were a number of kids already in it. She's more of a watcher than a do-er when other kids are there but lo and behold the child whipped off her shoes and bounced right in! I managed to get her out long enough to eat two bites of hot dog and a spoonfull of fruit salad. Then it was back in for more bouncing. She was pretty interested in the waterslide too but we were not about to let her go down that. I'm sure in her mind it looked like fun but I don't think she realized that it would mean getting wet and that would've made her VERY unhappy! Trey did fabulous, he stayed in his carseat and was ooohed and aaaahed over.

Abby and her new buds

falling down is so fun!

Dancin' Abby

Abby was distracted while jump-roping by the dancing on one of her favorite shows, Hi-5. After dancing along she was back to showing of her mad jumping skills! My favorites "Rusty, I dancing!" and when she 'runs like a dingo'...you'll know it when you see it.

another day done!

Jerry left for his 48 hour shift this morning so it's just me and the little ones until Monday morning. Thank goodness it was a gloriously uneventful day. Trey was still recovering from the doctor visit and shots so he slept most of the day. Abby took a 4 hour nap (not uncommon for her) and I managed to get the house cleaned and do 6 - yes 6 - loads of laundry. Trey had a mega-puke episode last night, which resulted in Jerry having to steam clean the recliner...so I was a little fearful that there may be a repeat today. But someone thought Mom deserved a good day so not an ounce of spit-up flew from his mouth! Both kids are asleep and I am off to watch another episode or two of Mad Men. I'm trying to watch the entire 1st season before Monday when season 2 starts!

kiddos

I am in awe of myself. I killed a spider last night...not a little one...a big one. I whacked it with Jerry's giant shoe and it didn't stand a chance. Anyone who knows me knows that this is a big deal. Spiders are my phobia. Gross.

In other news, Jerry and I had the pleasure of taking both kids to the doctor today. Abby went for her 2 year check-up and Trey for his 2 month. Our regular doctor is on a long vacation so we saw a fill-in doctor today who was not my favorite but got the job done. Abby did not enjoy getting weighed, measured, looked at or anything else that needed to be done. And by not enjoy I mean scream bloody murder. She is now 35 inches tall and weighs in at 28 pounds. She's still a long and lean lady and only had to get one shot. No more shots until she's 4. Trey did very well. If you talk to him or smile at him he thinks you're his buddy. He has grown 3 inches since birth and is almost 25 inches long and weighs in at...get this...a whopping 15.1 pounds!! He's gained 5 pounds in the last 7 weeks and 6.5 since birth! Now I know why my arms get tired so fast! He had to have two shots and an oral medication but unlike his sister, he took it like a champ. Oh yeah, and I had to wake Trey up this morning to get him ready...why is that the one day we have to be somewhere he decides to sleep in??

Now for some pictures...

the famous sheepy jammies

"Is there something on my face?"

wearing daddy's red hat

rusty...he wants to be a baby so bad. maybe then we'd give him some attention. free to a good home!*

sidewalk chalk is serious business

her cute "cheese" face. P.S. 1976 is calling and wants it's hair back!

first time painting

Since I know you all want to see it....Trey's cradle cap. Pretty isn't it?

my big boy

and we shall call him FLAMINGO! Yes, he is doing this on his own, it's how he stands when you hold him up.

*no we are not really offering up the dog (and by "we" I mean Jerry...you call me and we'll talk!)

Boys will be boys!

We had a Gardner family dinner tonight. With 4 adult boys who have a variety of jobs (none are 9-5'ers) and live in three different towns it's not often that they all show up for the same meal. Tonight was the exception. All were present and accounted for and it was a super fun evening. Abby is in love with all of her uncles and they are more than willing to walk around with her and play games, feed the fish, go on kitty hunts and whatever else the bossy little girl wants. Jerry and I love it too because there are enough people around that we get a parenting break. I didn't see much of my two children tonight and it was super relaxing. Abby loves her Bumpa and he is wrapped around her little finger (possibly her whole hand) and Grandma is a Trey-hog. So great food, good company, a parenting break and ice cream to end the evening, does it get any better??!

they're alive!

I had a doctor's appointment in Bellingham today and as any mother knows, even when you don't take the kids with you, leaving the house still requires some planning. I pumped a bottle two days ago in anticipation of leaving Trey alone with Jerry for a couple hours today. It turns out that a few days ago we (Jerry and I) ate something that did not agree with us. We think it may have been some lunchmeat that was bad, since the only thing we ate that Abby didn't was grilled ham and cheese. She didn't get sick and we did so that's all we could come up with. Of course Trey got sick too, since everything I eat he does as well. So my fabulous pre-planning had to be poured down the sink and out came a frozen bag of milk to thaw for the morning. I got Trey up early, brought him into our room, fed him until he fell asleep again, then closed my eyes for another blissfull 15 minutes. I showered and did my hair (an accomplishment these days!) then went to get Abby up. Jerry wanted to sleep a little longer so I put some cartoons on for her and she was happy to stay in her room. I was running late by now and hustled out the door got in the car...no kids, no diaper bag, no extra cups of juice, blankets, toys, or snacks required!! WOO-HOO!! I must say that driving alone is such a luxury these days. I got to listen to whatever I wanted, as loud as I wanted to and nobody was pestering me! After a quick appointment I hopped back in the car for another 35 minutes of pure pleasure. A stop at the coffee stand for a delicious drink and some chocolate milk for Abby and I was home. The kids were alive, Trey had eaten a little (quite the feat since he HATES the bottle) and the house was in no worse shape than when I left. 20 minutes later both kids were asleep, I got to enjoy my still-hot coffee and am still enjoying the quiet!

On a side note...I was watching the news the other night and heard about a website called Twitter. If you are having a customer service problem with a company (comcast, home depot, etc>) this is the place to complain. Representatives from companies constantly monitor this sight to see if their business is mentioned and a quick reply from someone who has some authority is the result. Jerry has already given it a whirl...and gotten a response.

random thoughts

I've decided that cradle cap is gross. Not just wet-worm-on-the-ground gross but disgusting gross. My poor little boy has terrible cradle cap over the whole top of his head. It creeps down his forehead and around his ears and even his eyebrows have not been spared. Lotion, oil, baths, scrubbing, scraping, airing out...nothing cures it. I still think he's adorable, I just hope it goes away soon.

I pick my battles with Abby. Today she is wearing her "sheepy" jammies again. She LOVES them. They are winter jammies but it was cool enough for her to wear them last night. It's 4 pm and she's still in them. I made her a deal...wear the jams and get pigtails (I love them dearly!) or no pigtails and put clothes on. At least the pigtails are cute.

Love/Hate

Let me just say that I really do love being a mother. There is no greater joy on earth than having a child and helping them discover the world. That being said, there are days when it truly is a love/hate relationship. Here's a few of my thoughts for today...

1. I love being around my kids...hate peeing with an audience
2. I love the bond that breastfeeding brings...hate being rudely awakened at 3 am
3. I love to foster Abby's creativity...hate the mess it makes (we tried painting today, what was
I thinking!?)
4. I love little tiny clothes....hate the ENDLESS loads of laundry that must be done to keep said
clothes clean
5. I love to chat with Trey....hate that he pukes on me EVERY time he sits up
6. I love that Abby loves to be near me....hate that she won't let me leave the room without a
long discussion about where I'm going, what I'm doing, and when I'm coming back (sounds
like my teenage years all over again! who's the parent here?!)
7. I love that I am the one who can provide my son with all his nutrition...hate that he is so
ungrateful as to puke up said nutrition 10 times a day!
8. I love Trey's smile....hate it when he smiles just as let-down starts thus getting milk sprayed
all over everything (leading to more laundry, see #4)
9. I love that Trey is so soothed by his swing...hate that batteries don't last very long!
10. I love that I get to stay home for 2 more weeks...hate that I have to go back to work soon!!!!

I do have lovely children and an awesome husband...a maid, free time, a private island, or just the freedom to go potty alone would be lovely too!! :)

Silly Abby

Abby was quite the funny girl yesterday.

First she found a pair of rubber fireman boots (her size) in Trey's closet, She has recently discovered a love of boots and promptly claimed these as hers. They are black with yellow stripes and as we have watched Bee Movie about 50 times in the last week she decided they were Bee Boots. They are worn often and with pride now! She spent the rest of the morning running around like a crazy woman and was down for an early nap.

She woke up cheerful ate a great lunch, a meal she normally doesn't eat, and got a piece of licorice (shish as she calls it) for dessert. After a while she decided that she wanted to hold baby Trey. I let her hold him (with a pillow for assistance) all by herself. She talked to him, kissed him a ton, patted his belly and was so darling. We got most of it on video which I am so pleased about! I just don't think she has ever been as cute as she was at that moment!

Lastly, for eating most of her dinner I let her have a cookie for dessert. It's one of those Western Family sandwich cookies and she pulled it apart licked all the frosting out and put it back together. She put that cookie on top of mine and went to get a new one. I told her that if she ate the whole cookie I would let her have one more but that she couldn't just eat all the filling. So she sat on the floor and I saw her take a few bites. A little bit later she said she was all done. I asked her if she ate it or just put it somewhere. She told me she ate it so I gave her another one but took the top cookie part off. She ran over to her chair, ate all the frosting again and then walked over to her bee boots, lifted on up and put her cookie in it. I could see the other parts to her first cookie were also in the boot. I asked her if she put her cookies in her boot and she just started laughing this great big belly laugh saying "silly abby. silly abby". Oh how clever she is becoming!

Ocean Shores

Ahhh, there is nothing like a good vacation! We arrived home yesterday afternoon from our weeklong vacation to Ocean Shores and although I'm glad to be home, I sure miss hearing the ocean. We left Friday morning, our plan was to leave by 8:30 and it was just after 9 when we shut the garage door, not bad considering we have two babies! Every nook and cranny in the car had something in it...Jerry is a packing master! It's unbelievable how much stuff the littlest person needs! We purchased a portable DVD player for the car which was a lifesave for us! Abby watched a movie plus some WordWorld episodes and was quiet for nearly all of the trip both ways. Trey also did very well, he slept as long as the car was moving but any stopping would wake him up. Thankfully there wasn't much stopping.

We drove down to Edmonds and took the ferry over to Bremerton so that we could visit my brother and his family. We missed the 10:45 ferry by 4 cars!!! So aggravating but the next one was only 30 minutes later. I fed Trey in the car and then we all went up on deck to see the water. Abby thought that was pretty cool. It's a short ferry ride and we were soon back in the car to Matt's house. We stayed there for about 4 hours and had a lovely time. I got to see my new nephew Easton. He's so tiny! It's crazy how fast they grow, Trey looked so big compared to him! Abby and Sophia played a little bit together, neither girl is good at sharing yet so it's generally a lot of squabbling over toys. Bethany's mom was there and had a nice lunch spread ready for us. Trey got in a nap and a couple feedings and was nice and tired for the next leg of the journey.

We took the back highways from Bremerton to past Olympia and then caught up to our usual route the the beach. It was fun to see some new sights. Lots of tiny towns down there! We arrived at the condo in OS about 7:30 after a quick stop at KFC and got everything unpacked and the kids settled down for the night.

The next day was beautiful and we went swimming in the pool. Trey got to dip his feet in which he wasn't too happy about. Abby had a good time...until her face went in the water and she swallowed some. But I got to lay out and get some sun so I was a happy camper! We spent most of the day just relaxing and having some quality family time. Sunday we drove around OS and checked out the dream houses (maybe when we win the lottery!) and since both kids fell asleep it was a very pleasant ride. Our friends Tony and Shauna arrived that night after the kids were asleep and it was so nice to catch up with them without interruption. Monday we relaxed some more. Then we decided to go to the beach for a bit. As it happened, that was the windiest day we were there. Our beach experience didn't last long. Abby was already cranky since it was naptime but she was a trooper and let us get her footprint in the sand. I took a picture last year of her footprint next to Jerry's and again this year. I think it will be fun to look back and see how much she grows each year. Tuesday we all took a trip into town and spent several hours shopping. Abby spent most of the time with Tony and Shauna which gave Jer and I a nice break. Trey slept in the front pack the whole time. He's just too easy. We ended our shopping with a trip to the ice cream shop and that was super delicious! Wednesday the Torrettas packed up and left so we were down to just the four of us again. It was nice to get that last bit of family time together. I started what hopefully will become a tradition....girls time by the fire. Abby and I got showered/bathed, into jammies and then had chocolate milk and cookies sitting by the fire. She's too young to think it's as special as I do but hopefully in years to come she'll think it's a neat thing.

After the kids went to bed I packed most everything up. We got up early on Thursday, finished packing and were out of town by 9. It was a very quick trip home, probably the fastest one I've ever had. I had such a wonderful time, it was very relaxing to be somewhere besides home, even though it's a lot of work. I love my kids so much and treasure all the memories we're making. I told Jerry on the way home that if our kids love me even half as much as I love them, then that is pretty awesome!

mommy's helper

Abby got some bathtub crayons for her birthday. The first day she colored ALL over the tub. It was quite a masterpiece. The next night I cleaned out the tub for her bath and she colored all over again. Last night she got in the tub and started cleaning it off herself. She wiped down the entire tub and then asked for the crayons. She would color with just one color, clean it off, then start with her next color. Same thing happened tonight too. She's my OCD wonder child...if only this would continue when it's time for real chores!

lazy day

We are leaving for Ocean Shores early Friday morning. So far I have made a list of all the stuff I need to pack...it's long. And as of right now I have done no laundry or even attempted to start packing or getting the house clean. Tomorrow will be a long and busy day!

Abby is 2!

It has been a busy few days around here. I packed up the kiddos and went to the parade Friday morning. We met some friends there and had great seats thanks to Jerry. It's quite a long parade but Abby did great. She sat in her chair next to Grandma the whole time. The horses, dogs, and tractors were her favorites. Trey did well. He spent most of the parade in a front carrier asleep. He got hungry near the end and Grandma fed him a bottle (he won't take one from me). It was naptime for Abby when we got home and then later our friends came back over for a BBQ and then we all went over to the golf course to watch the fireworks. We got home around 10:30 and got the little ones to sleep. I cleaned up a little bit and then it was off to bed for me too.

The next day we had Abby's birthday party. Thankfully both kids decided to sleep in, so I managed to get a quick clean in and get most of the party preparations done. It was just family coming so I didn't have to do a major cleaning job. We had sandwiches, fruit, potato salad and cake of course. Abby had a good time, she got lots of bubble presents and stickers, two of her most favorite things. Jerry worked a 24 hour shift Sunday so it was nice that Abby had a bunch of new things to occupy herself. I was home all day with the kids but boy did the day go by so fast. Before I knew it bedtime had arrived and off to sleep the babies went. Today is Abby's actual birthday and we got her a tricycle which she loves. She hasn't figured out how to pedal but she likes being pushed.

We have a few days now with not much going on. We leave for vacation on Friday so I'm spending the next few days getting all the laundry done and working on my packing list. It's is amazing the amount of stuff you need for two tiny little people!

pics

my little husky

Miss Abigail Grace

little swimmer

Abby 23 months, Trey 1 month old

Trey Gardner, 1 month

bubbles, bubbles, bubbles

driving Uncle Glen's boat

A few pictures of the kiddos, more to come of the 4th and Abby's birthday party.

sleepy

Ahhhh.... not sure what happened last night but whatever it was it wore the kiddos out. Abby slept in until almost 8 and Trey is still asleep. He went to bed at 10 woke up at 4:45, was up for 30 minutes and hasn't woken up yet! I have no idea if this will happen again for awhile but even just once is fabulous!

New nephew!!!

Whew! It was quite the day of shopping for us today. We had a short list of things to get/look at and turned it into a three and a half hour event. First we went to Wal Mart to look at tricycles for Abby's birthday. But who goes there for just one thing?! After we looked at the bikes Jerry wandered off to electronics and I took Abby and Trey on a jaunt to get new beach towels for our vacation. Abby was seriously indecisive about towels...fish or pink flowers...she finally decided on pink flowers. I got a pink striped one to match hers just for fun. Then it was off to Costco for cheese and muffins. We love Costco and tend to wander the aisles to see what else we "really need". A number of things ended up on that list. We also checked out the cupcakes to see if that's what we wanted to get for the b'day. Abby was sure they were coming in the cart with her but we're waiting until Saturday to pick them up...boy was she bummed! But all she knows about birthdays is that you get cake, so not getting it right then was a big deal. Finally we went to Fred Meyer and needed milk but wound up with a cartful! The kids did awesome, Trey barely fussed and Abby (in desperate need of a nap) also was wonderful. So good that she got a piece of licorice. She calls it "shish" which cracks me up. Not as funny is her saying "damnit" in the car a whole bunch...whoops!

I left when we got home to my doctors appointment and left Jerry alone with the two kids for the first time. Abby went down for a nap and it sounded like Trey was pretty well behaved too. I got to do a little shopping afterward...ON MY OWN!!! I desperately needed a new swimsuit and after many attempts finally found one that works...the post-baby body is so fun :(

And the best news of the day...I'm and auntie again!!! My brother Matt and his wife Bethany had their little boy today. A very fast delivery for her which is wonderful and everyone is happy and healthy. Now both my kids have cousins their same age!