We Love Adoption!!

Congrats to my cousins, Lynzie and Danny whose beautiful baby girl was born last week!! Her birthmom was awesome and we feel blessed to have another happy adoption story in our family.

I have to admit though that I am a little envious. I am grateful to have the opportunity to experience pregnancy and childbirth first-hand, but it really was completely amazing when we held Gage for the first time right after he was born. I just don't think it will be the same when I am the one who has to do the work to bring our little boy into the world. I am afraid that I will be distracted by the pain and suffering of childbirth and won't get to really enjoy those first moments with Brigg that I cherished so much with Gage.

Caramel Apple Cupcakes and a Poop Story

I made these cool cupcakes from the cupcake blog for the girls at my enrichment committee meeting. They didn't turn out as beautifully as the cupcake lady's, but they were fun to make anyway. I didn't taste the actual cupcakes until the day after I had given them to a few people, and I am feeling very bad now because the cupcake part was totally horrible! But I ate a lot of the delish caramel while I was frosting them (probably not such a good idea the day before I had to take my glucose test at the doctor's office... gestational diabetes here I come...).

Then while I was busy getting ready for my meeting, Kyle and I noticed that Gage had been quietly playing by himself for a while (never a good sign). So I went to check it out and found him standing in his room, completely naked. I picked him up and went to get a diaper when I realized that he smelled pretty bad. Then I noticed the poop that was smeared on his foot, his leg, his bum and now my shirt. I found the rest of his load on the carpet in the hallway. Lot's of fun...

Halloween Party

Thanks to the Sly family for throwing such a smashing Halloween party! It was a huge hit complete with excellent Mexican food, spooky decorations, apple bobbing, caramel apple making, pumpkin and face painting, and lots of great people. We had a great time catching up with our friend Lacee who moved to Queen Creek a while ago. Rich, you missed out. It's been so long since we have seen you that I can't even remember what you look like (although that could be the pregnancy brain kicking in...I can barely remember what I am doing at any given point in time).

We had a dilemma this year when picking out a Halloween costume for Gage. He refuses to wear anything on his head, so hats, masks, hoods, etc were all out of the question. And he doesn't like restrictive clothing or anything protruding from his attire. So most cute animals, monsters, dragons and dinosaurs were out. The only thing we could think of was a punk rocker. He refused to let us get any good pics of him with his guitar and full ensemble. But at least you get the idea...

Gage freaked when I drew this tattoo on his arm. He cried for a good five minutes until I pulled his sleeve over it and told him I had washed it off.

Autumn Fest

We spent Saturday at the Anthem Autumn Fest with Katie and Jeremy and their kids, Anden and Taylee. Taylee was a dream and slept pretty much all day. I am already trying to talk baby boy #2 into being so agreeable when he's born. Something about positive affirmations while he's in the womb... ;)

Anyway, the festival was great for the kids. They had pony rides, a little petting zoo, a few bouncers, a pumpkin patch, food, live music, a train and all kinds of carnival rides. Gage was too tired and cranky to enjoy it as much as he should have, but it was a fun day anyway.

Gage & Anden enviously watching other kids ride ponies.

Gage loved the animals, but almost got kicked out of the petting zoo because he kept hitting them.

Gage hasn't quite learned the concept of "sharing" yet.

We went on a little train ride around the park. Gage was NOT a fan of the train ride. He wanted to go back and drive the race car.

But after the train ride from heck, Gage found this little splash pad and was incredibly happy soaking his clothes.

He had to ride home in just his diaper.

After a change of clothes and some dinner, we went back to check out the carnival rides.

But the boys had the most fun just running around the field.

Gage's Trademark

Gage is rarely seen without some sort of facial injury. I guess it has become his trademark. His bloody lip during our photo session was the tenth in his short 20 months of life. And he recently acquired his 4th black eye. Though he hardly cried when his face smashed into the chair (I think I was more distraught about it than he was), this one was probably his worst. This pic was the day after it happened, but it got even darker over the next two or three days. I can't believe we have yet to make an emergency room trip with this boy (knock on wood). I have had several people ask me if he needs glasses because he's remarkably uncoordinated. But maybe he just takes after his daddy. Kyle survived 6 broken bones and too many stitches to count during his youth...and he's still alive. However, I am a bit worried that some well intentioned person is going to report us to CPS if Gage keeps sporting such awful looking injuries.

Family Photos

We recently had our family photos taken. Here were a few of the highlights...

Gage really didn't want to have his photo taken,

so he cried through most of the session.

We let him play with the cell phone to stop the crying,

but then he wouldn't look up from the phone.

When he did look at the photographer he had this nice scowl on his face.

Then, halfway through the session Gage fell and split his lip open
resulting in the bloodiest injury he has ever had.

So which one do you think we should we use for our Christmas card?

The Great Outdoors

We took Gage camping up the street at Usery Mountain Park this weekend. It was Gage's first time camping in a tent. We have camped before with him but always with a toy hauler or cabin (okay, that's not really camping, but a campfire was always involved so it almost qualifies...) Gage loved being outside, but was a bit more of an explorer than we expected. He wanted to check out every tree, bush, cactus and piece of garbage around our campsite so we were constantly chasing him to keep him from getting a hand full of cactus spines.

We got lucky and had a campsite right next to this playground.

Gage tried the "big boy swings" for the first time. He only fell off once.

We made tinfoil dinners. Yum!

It was so nice to hang out and enjoy the cooler weather.

The next morning, Gage got up early to help Daddy start the fire for breakfast.

Gage was terrified of our tent when we first set it up, but by the next morning he realized what a fun little playhouse it really was. :)

We have lived!

This weekend we finally made it to Pizzeria Bianco with my cousins so we can now officially call ourselves Arizonans. The pizza was amazing...totally worth the two hour wait.

I ordered the Rosa: red onions, parmesan reggiano cheese, rosemary and pistachios, and I ate all but two slices (which I finished in the car on the way home).