Happy one-month, Gabe!!

He lived it up in an effort to celebrate the big day. For example, the kidd-o decided to eat every two hours all day long, insist on being held during and in between said feedings, and even projectiled a couple spit-ups to boot! If only we'd made a cake and lit a candle, the celebration truly would have been complete!!



Autumn still can't get enough of him. She loves holding him and stroking his head. Here she is holding his hand between hers. What a sweet older sister! And his older brothers love him lots, too. I love hearing Micah sing made-up songs to Gabriel about what a cute baby he is, etc.


Notice the spit-up spot left on his onesie...he has become quite accomplished in this arena lately. It's ironic because, two weeks ago, I was sitting in the mother's room during church nursing him. Another mom came in with her baby boy and preceded to tell me about his spitting-up woes. She wondered aloud whether or not to take him to the doctor to see about reflux. As we discussed it, I was thinking to myself how glad I was not to share this problem and how nice that Gabe doesn't spit up much at all. A few moments later, I found myself (sweater, blouse and skirt) covered in spit up. And it hasn't improved any since. So I got a dose of humility to go along with the spit-up! Anyway, here's another picture of Gabriel, all nice and clean! :)



Hope that's enough of a fix for now, Wendy!! (My first hyperlink...hope it works!!)

P.S. I'm actually a few days late with this post, a-la-Eve. (Thanks for giving me reason to believe I didn't need to worry about posting on his actual one-month date.)

P.P.S. Wow... two hyperlinks in one post!! I think I need to go take a nap or something.

now i lay me down to sleep... our reverent baby :)

sweet dreams...


sooo relaxed...



just a little more shut-eye...

thanks for taking so many cute pictures of our newest little guy, Nana!! And THANK YOU SOOO MUCH for being such an amazing Mom & taking care of me the past week & a half!!

More Gabe!!

Gabriel has been such a good baby so far...as you can see in these pictures, the kid's big on sleep!! He's just starting to occasionally come out of his newborn hibernation, so we'll post some open-eyed shots soon. His older brothers & sister (esp. Micah & Autumn) just can't get enough of him; they love holding him and just admiring his cuteness.

Micah lending some helping hands


a photo taken by Micah while i snuggled with Gabriel



and a close-up of the tired kid.

i've been REALLY enjoying having my Mom around to help; we're looking forward to Papa's arrival tonight, as well. How will i survive come Monday, when Clint goes back to work from the weekend & my parents are back in sunny California?????

Our little angel

Introducing...

Gabriel Whitacre

Born Monday, August 27 2007



7 lbs. 4 oz.

20 inches long

bits of blondish hair


...a real angel!

Busy as Bees

So I haven't been blogging in a little while. It's not that I haven't had stuff to write about; I've just haven't found the time to sit down and get it all out. Between doctors visits, Clint's new job, the new school year, and the impending baby birth, I'm one slightly worn-out mama.

Anyhow, the first major event is that Clint is a high school math teacher. He's been working on a teaching certificate and a friend from church told me that some districts in Utah are hiring teachers without certificates. So he registered on a teaching job website and , a couple days later, he had a phone call asking him to interview....only catch is that the school is nearly two hours away. Anyway, they offered him the job the next day. We felt it was too good to pass up, and he started the job the following day. Thankfully, he's commuting with another guy who lives nearby. That helps a lot...with gas, companionship, not falling asleep, etc. For now, we're planning to stay put. We really love where we live and hope this will lead to a job opportunity closer to home in the coming school year(s). And I'm so proud of my husband...this has been a goal of his for years now and it's fun to see it finally happen for him!!

We miss having him around...we've been really spoiled the last couple of years. And I am apparently incompetent without my hubby around, because Autumn broke her arm on the 3rd day he was gone. She was walking downstairs, tripped on one of the steps, and tumbled down five or six steps. Her elbow is fractured. All the doctors and nurses have been so sweet with her. They let her choose this awesome cast, to which they applied gold sparkles:


She has adapted SOO well to losing use of her right arm. I'm frankly amazed. We are praying hard for her this weekend; the doctor is going to x-ray her arm on Monday. If the bone has moved (which is a real possibility with this particular fracture), she'll have to have surgery so they can insert some pins in the elbow. Ouch!! But hopefully, she'll be OK.

In other news, I've been worrying myself sleepless that this baby will come while Clint is at work. He wouldn't have time to get here (unless he were already about to come home), so I've had visions of driving myself to the hospital in active labor, birthing all alone & then hoping the doctor and nurses believe me when I say I AM married. ;) My Mom and sister think I'm crazy for not just planning to have a neighbor take me to the hospital. But would YOU feel comfortable dropping a lady in labor off at the curb!? And me delivering a baby is more than any neighbor of mine needs to see, or than I want any neighbor of mine to see, thank you very much. SOOO... I asked my Dr. about inducing me and he's scheduled me for this Thursday. YEA!! I'll be squeezing until then. :)

The kids have been asking all sorts of questions about the whole birthing thing, lately. We have a book called How My Body Works, and reading the requested page about birthing to them the other day has opened up a whole can of worms. In our favorite ice cream parlor last night, the conversation went something like this:

J: Mom, how can a baby come out your PRIVATE PART!?!!
Me: Shhh...this isn't the place to talk about this. (...and it stretches.)
J: Oh. ....But what if it came out your BUM-BUM!?
Me: It won't. (looking around to see if anyone is eavesdropping on this unfortunate conversation) ...How's your float?
J: (Belches.) REALLY good!!

So, in short, life is keeping me humble. And we'll be sure to post when the little guy comes to stay.

Fun Weekend

Friday, we took the kids to the County Fair & rodeo. The biggest hit was probably the giant scone the boys shared. In their benevolence, they even handed over a couple microscopic pieces to their little sister.


During the rodeo, Jonah asked if he could do mutton racing next year. For all you city folk, that's when conspiring fathers set their little ones atop a sheep who races away at top speed, often dragging the kid through the dirt until said kid lets go, at which point he/she is trampled over until aforementioned sheep gets completely free. i said he could if he wants to, but made sure he noticed that nearly every child ran crying to his/her father after their performance. Clint may have been disappointed at my approach, but then he gets into rodeos much less than do i.

Yesterday, we went to a nearby reservoir so that i could make believe we still live near the beach. The thick stench of dead fish greeted us upon our arrival, reminding us that we do not in fact live near the beach. We still allowed the children to frolic in the water, which they greatly enjoyed. It was only on our way to the car that Clint noticed the sign: "By order of the Health Department -- No swimming allowed." Maybe that's why Jonah's back broke out in a rash almost as soon as he entered the infested water. It was an innocent mistake, but i don't think we'll be going back anytime soon!

But today was, in J's estimation, "a VERY lucky day." First, he has his first loose tooth! Then, a summer thunderstorm turned into this beautiful display:


Hope that put a smile on your face, too!!

Sum-sum-summertime!

Jonah loves to concoct ways to earn money. Since his AFV scheme, to rig a funny video and win thousands of dollars, hasn't panned out yet, he settled for a lemonade stand the other day. Two hours later, he felt rich after his three customers (one being his own daddy) paid him a little over $2.00. The sun was in their eyes, so this is the best picture I could get: