Pictures of Gabe Michael

Rachel and Oren's little sweetheart!

Buds

Erin and her big man Alex on Halloween. The clan misses you!

If you're happy and you know it...

Okay so Mom hasn't let me at the computer in a long, long time. She says I don't sit still long enough anymore to actually type a post, but I'll show her.

For all my peops, I'm crawling, creeping and almost standing alone. Because of all those things I bang my head a lot and I mean a lot. Mom, Dad and Gramma Sonny have a penguin ice pack on hand for my bruises and bumps. I think it makes me look tough Mom worries about someone called "DCFS". I can say dadda, hi and hey. They keep harassing me about momma so I keep stringing them along.

Also, I recently acquired the skill of clapping and man do I love it. My toys and Mom and Dad like to sing this song, "If you happy and you know it clap your hands" and darned if I don't clap my hands. I just can't help myself. Today I picked up the phone and said, hi. Hey they do it, why not me.

Oh and I got another tooth. Mom and Dad think it's funny because I didn't get the top front upper, I got the one on the side called the lateral incisor not the central so I may be chewing on the side of my mouth.


Like Dad I love cheese. I've been eating it a lot lately. I also like crackers, raisins, bananas (always have but know they're chunky) and bread. This food thing is pretty cool. Mom said that I can have some turkey and mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving. I can't wait.

Speaking of Thanksgiving I get to see my cousins Sophie and Shelby again. We had so much fun the last time I can't wait till they get to see my pad.

Well I showed Mom and updated y'all so hopefully I'll be back sooner than later. Peace out...Elias.

Packers win and Elias claps!

Shout out!

Rachel and Oren are pleased to announce the birth of their bouncing baby boy Gabe (Gabriel) Michael, 7 lbs. 6 oz. 20 inches long. We can't wait to meet him and

Elias is so happy to have a new friend!

Pictures to follow...

Creative Mommy

Okay, I actually can't take credit for the wonderful idea of Babysitter Notes but I did copy the idea. I saw these notes on Cool Mom Picks but of course didn't want to shell out the $8.00 plus shipping and handling so I got to work. Here's what I came up with.

It looks a little weird since I couldn't get the formatting correct but you get the gist of it. If anyone would like my ingenious document I would be more than happy to email it to you! Of course I would actually have to leave Elias to use this note but Brad is bound and determined to go see the new Bond film so I may be using it sooner than later.

I voted!

Elias and I just got back from voting. He had me up at 4:45 a.m. so why not hit the polls at 6:00. Guess what, there still was a line! Instead of being upset I was happy. Of course we live in Illinois which isn't a battleground state but it is so nice to see people voting. In Cook County they're expecting an 85% turn out. It's my opinion that you have absolutely no right to opine on politics if you don't vote. Thankfully we don't know many people who don't vote but if you do not vote, don't speak.

We're back

So it's been a long time since I posted pics and updated everyone. Couple of things prevented my blogging. One of course Marbs. It was very painful (and still is) to sit down and try and be clever, witty, funny, you know all the things I usually am. The loss was very hard on our family. I still cry when I think about him. The worst is going in the back yard. I spent 13 years worrying about stepping in poop. I never thought I'd miss it. Brad and I did plant an oak tree for Marbie right along the fence line that he loved to walk by. Elias and I are going to go and get a garden stone and put Marbie's name on it so it can go under the tree. It's next to the other tree Marbs used to eat all the time. So Marbie's got his own little grove in the back yard.

I thought I'd want another dog right away but I don't. I miss Marbie too much and I think I'm not ready to move on. Brad and I joke that when we do get a dog that poor dog will constantly be saying to itself, "who the hell is this Marbie guy and why do they keep saying, Marbie would never do that! Jeez!" Like licking. Marbie never gave kisses. Well if you had some meat on your face maybe, but otherwise no kisses. In a way we always wished for kisses but it really wasn't too bad. He didn't lick people. I think he didn't want to lower himself to that ;

Also our laptop died. We lost everything on it and it took a couple of weeks to get up and running. It's not too easy to tie yourself to a desktop long enough to post.

Anyway, I didn't post any pics from Vermont, Halloween or anything so here's a quick recap. Vermont was fabulous. Beautiful, relaxing, and all around fun. It was so great to see our nieces Shelby and Sophie. Shelby is a pre-teen, or as the kids say tweener. Ah it brings back the memories of me at that age. Reading, sulking, sleeping, and making fun of people. Well, I still kind of do that. Sophie is your typically two-year-old, full of energy, smart and too cute. We loved visiting.

Then this weekend was Halloween. Of course we really didn't trick or treat but had to put Elias in the obligatory laugh-at-your-baby-costume. He was a skunk and surprisingly he didn't mind the costume too much. He kind of melted down at the Great Grandparent's house but he had just spent three hours in the car (most of it not sleeping) so it was warranted.

We also went to my cousin Cory's wedding this weekend. He married a wonderful girl, Hannah, and the wedding was beautiful. Elias was very talkative during the ceremony but was very good at dinner. Our friend Katie came over and watched Elias sleep while Brad and I enjoyed ourselves at the festivities.

Finally, daylight savings time is a bitch. Trying to push back a nine month old's bedtime is hard. Elias is now waking up at quarter to five, yes that's right 4:45 a.m.! Not cool. Tonight I actually got him back to 7 p.m. It was a little dicey at time's but we prevailed. On that note, Elias is crawling, commando and now regular, he pulls himself up on everything, he eats everything, he has two teeth and smiles all the time. He is just the greatest and this pictures proves it!

Go vote, or you'll be left with your pants down!