WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU LEMONS.....

Or in other words

"When life gives you snow....

make snowmen!"

It snowed here off an on all weekend, and so Nate and I decided to make a family of snowmen! As you can see, we used up most of the snow that was there, but it was fun! Can you tell who is who?

As sick as I am of the snow, we thought we would make the best of it and have some fun!

10 THINGS I AM GRATEFUL FOR...

This month has been one crazy month for our little family. One night Nate told me that I was looking at all of the negative things that were happening and not focusing on the positive. So I decided to think of one thing I am grateful for a day for this past week to keep my perspective on life! And you know what, it really helped!!! I thought I would share all of the random things that I am grateful for from 10-1.

#10 gabe's toy room

The reason I say this is because there have been numerous occasions that I have put gabe in his toy room while I do "this" or "that" and it truly has been such a life saver! I don't feel guilty for leaving him in there because......well look at it! There are a ton of things for him to do!

#9 Thanksgiving Point

I ABSOLUTELY love living next to thanksgiving point now that I have Gabe! It has been such a fun place for us to go numerous times a week! We love it so much! Every time I put gabe in his car seat he says "MOOOOOOOOO!" and when I pass the street where we would turn to go to the petting zoo he freaks out because he wants to see the cows!

#8 A Great Home

There are so many times over this past almost 2 years that I have been so grateful that we own this amazing home!

#7 Great Neighbors

I don't have pictures of all my neighbors but they are truly amazing! They are always looking out for each other, worried when things are going bad, helpful in watching gabe, and when I go outside it is so much fun to just sit and talk to all of them! You guys are amazing!

#6 My Dayna Time

I am so grateful when I get a second to sit and do something that I want to do! These are some of my most recent frames that I have created...nothing too fancy but still fun! I love to have my time to be creative!

#5 GOOD FOOD!!!!

How can you not put food on your list of favorite things! Especially lately with being pregnant there are just certain foods that hit the spot....and this is one of them! SO YUMMY!

#4 Sunshine and the Outdoors

We were blessed to have a couple days of warm weather this past week and I am so grateful for that! It really helps to get outdoors and have the sun shining on you! I feel like that instantly boosts your spirits and makes anyone feel better!

#3 FAMILY

I am not going to put pictures of my family on here because that would take way too long to get them all (I don't have recent full family shots!) but I am so grateful for the love and support from both sides of my family. They are truly amazing and would do anything and everything for nate and I, and I am so grateful for them!

#2 My Little Buster Brown

We have so much fun together! He truly is such a happy baby (when he has had enough sleep!) and I am so grateful for the smiles and laughter he brings into our home. I have no idea what I would do without my little buster brown! He truly helps me get through those long days when nate is out of town! LOVE YOU BUDDY!

#1 My Best Friend and Hero

I took this picture the other day when Nate was asleep. He told me to wake him up after 45 minutes because he had so much to do....but how can you wake him up like this! Nate is the hardest worker I have ever seen, and he does it with a smile. He is the most positive person I have ever met and he truly is and always will be my better half. He has so many things going on in his life right now but he still takes the time to love me and also be the best father I could ever have imagined. There is no way I can make ANY list of things I am grateful for without him being on the top! I LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART NATE!

I am so grateful for this opportunity I have set for myself to think of positive things daily. You should do it! It is fun!

I am also thankful for all of you for reading my blog. ;-)

WITHOUT FURTHER ADO....

WE HAVE GABE'S 2 YEAR PICTURES!

So not much has to be said about these other then...

our child is a ham!

I swear he was trying to pose, we would try to get him to smile but he would get this 'serious' face and....well you will see for yourself!

We were able to get a few family shots in...

Thank you Brooke for these amazing pictures! You are the best!

ITS OFFICIAL!

Last week was my first dr. appointment for our new little baby. I was very nervous to go to this meeting because I wasn't able to keep any food down and I had a temperature of 101 for 4 days straight the week before because of the swine flu, so I had no idea what would happen to my little baby.

At first I was nervous, very nervous, because they couldn't find the heartbeat with the little monitor so the nurse wheeled in the ultra sound machine so the Dr. could check.

At this point Nate was able to join me and we just sat in anticipation for the Dr. to come in to see if everything was ok with our baby.

After about 15 agonizing minutes he came in and I went onto the table. He dabbed that gel on my tummy and we were about to see if all was well.

The Dr. took a minute to find the baby, but then once he did he said

"oh, it looks like this baby is going to be a mover!!!"

At first I have to admit I was like "oh no, not another mover! Gabe is a mover enough!!" but then the reality hit me that the baby was moving, and it was REALLY moving so that means that everything was ok!

Relief washed over nate and I as we took the next couple minutes looking at the baby and watched it move.

Nate and I walked out of the Dr. hand in hand happy that everything was ok with our little mover and our due date is the end of september! Also, a positive is, if this baby is a little mover then he/she can definitely keep gabe entertained when they are older!! PHEW then I don't have to do it! This could end up being a good thing......I hope!

So I am currently 13 weeks and all is well!

SWINE FLU

I have the swine Flu

Don't ask me where it came from and how I got it, because I have absolutely no idea.

But on top of having Swine Flu, I am 12 weeks pregnant. Yes, this isn't how I was planning on announcing it to everyone, but nonetheless, I am.

So you can only imagine how I can feel at this precise moment feeling both nausia accompanied with fevers, aches, chills and everything else that comes with Swine flu and you have me.

I would curl up in a ball if I could but my belly won't allow me to do that.

I am stuck.

When I was younger and I was sick I would always go into my parents basement, get a milk shake or a smoothie and then turn on the most comforting movie anyone has ever seen.

I feel like when I watch this movie I start to feel better almost instantly just because it is so dear to me. No matter how many times I have seen this movie I can always laugh at Anne Shirley's way of speaking. I watch Gilbert desperately seeking Anne's attention to only be pushed away again and again

until the last 20 minutes of the series

then you get what you waited the 8 hours to see

they kiss.....

and all is well.

But for some reason, this time I didn't want to watch my favorite movie of all time. I am a succor for those classics such as Anne of Green Gables, Pride and Prejudice or Emma, but this time I wanted something different.

I knew I wanted to watch a series because I knew I was going to be sitting on this couch for a very VERY long time

So I scrolled through all I could think of

Indiana Jones? Star wars? Bourne? None of them sounded good to me. But then I saw it, and for some reason it stuck out to me. Maybe because Nate and I have recently started watching LOST together and one of our favorite characters just died....Charlie.

So I started it.

I have to be honest, the movie itself was just ok, but there was one character that made the whole entire show worth watching.

His character is something that I wish I could be myself.

He is loyal, optimistic, light hearted and most of all....

he is probably one of the best characters in a book or a movie that has ever been written.

Now, if all of those leading clues didn't give it away then how about this picture

In this scene I literally started to cry. Call me sick and pregnant but he is truly an amazing character. Time and Time again Samwise Gamgee comes to the aid of Frodo Baggins and this time he not only helps him, he carries him into Mordor to finally be rid of that stupid ring.

He never gave up

He never uttered a negative word when everyone else around him was in despair

He is the true hero of the story

Thank you Samwise Gamgee for helping me get through the Swine Flu.

WHERE THE MAGIC BEGINS

"Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose."

~From The Wonder Years~

In life we do not remember days; we remember moments. That is how I feel when I take a trip with my family. This past weekend we were able to escape for a few days and go to Disneyland just the 3 of us. Disney has always been a part of Nate and my lives and so we wanted to start sharing the "Magic" with Gabe as well.

As we were flying home yesterday I looked over to Nate and asked him what his favorite memories were from this trip. We talked about how excited gabe got when he saw Goofy for the first time and he surprised us both and just pointed and screamed "GOOFY!!!" as clear as day.

We loved his anticipation when we took him on the NEMO ride for the first time and so every time after that he was just so excited to get on the ride because he knew what was coming.

We loved how he just giggled when Nate took him on the teacups multiple times (bless his heart) and how he just couldn't spin fast enough

We loved how were were able to get the Magical Morning Pass 2 days in a row and there was absolutely no on in the park that early

We loved how we took gabe on his first roller-coaster and we were nervous how he was going to take it, but when we got off he ran around to the entrance and got back in line again

We loved how when we saw Mickey Mouse he was SO EXCITED, but the when we got close to take a picture he was so nervous, and then when we left he turned around and kept waving to mickey saying "bye bye! Bye bye Mouse!" (he can't say mickey)

So after all of the exhaustion it takes to bring a 2 year old to an amusement park, we are so grateful for these wonderful memories that we will take with us forever!

Here are a few pictures of our trip. Now, on a side note.....When you are at a Disney park there are certain fashion rules that you just have to throw out the window. I am not going to be running around the park in heels or even designer flats because by the end of the day my feet will be throbbing like you wouldn't believe. NO NO NO...at disney....you wear tennis shoes and loose fitting clothes, end of discussion. So don't mock the outfits ok!

We had to get a picture of MICKEY MOUSE!

Disney has a train that takes you around the entire park and Gabe would always hear it and say "CHOO-CHOO!" So we had to take him on it!

Thank goodness to Nate who is such a trooper, I would say the teacups were one of gabe's top 3 rides that he had to go on over and over. He loved them!

In California Adventure they had this fun playground place for kids to run around and this had a 3 story rope course and gabe thought it was fun to walk with daddy.

Who can resist waiting in a 30 minute line to get that smile?!? Nemo was by far his #1 favorite ride and we had to ride on it every day!

Gabe's first roller-coaster ride. He LOVED IT! At first he was wondering what was going on but he absolutely loved it!

I am nervous for this boy to be tall enough for the big rides because this boy can't get fast enough and high enough! He loved dumbo!

You can't go to a disney park without getting a turkey leg....and gabe just happens to be double fisting it with a churro. Rotten life isn't it!

The first ride we went on when we got to Disneyland. Can we cram anything else into the car? NOPE! My feet were so smashed!

We had a lot of fun and can't wait to go back someday!

Night Night

Yesterday was one of those precious moments mothers have that make everything worth it. It was one of those moments that almost brought me to tears just to see how grown up my little gabriel has become.

One minute Gabe and I were playing in the living room and then the next minute saw him sneak into his toy room and grab Buzz, Woody and Jesse; then sneak into his room. Curious, since lately he has wanted me to be a part of everything he does during the day, I decided to follow him. I slowly opened his door to find him putting his toys down for a nap. He gingerly laid them down on the pillow one by one. Then he grabbed the blanket and pulled it just right up to their heads (he actually pulled it too far and then pulled it back down), and then he proceeded to give each one of them a 'bacio' as he knows it, but that means kiss. Then he went to turn on our humidifier and then went back to the bed and gave them another 'bacio'. After that he saw me in the doorway and raised his fingers to his lips and went "Ssshhhhh" and then walked out of the room!

It was so precious for me to see that because it is what nate and I do to him. We give him numerous kisses before bed and we pull his blanket up just right then turn on the humidifier. I love how adorable and precious he is becoming. I also love how much he loves his toy story characters. He gets so excited to see Buzz anywhere that he giggles, and when he sees woody he yells "DI, DI!" (he can't quite get the "woo" part of it yet) and I swear he has a secret crush on jesse. These are the moments that make me love being a mom.

On a side note, I have absolutely no idea how to turn my blog private so for those of you who have done that before can you tell me? I tried putting the email addresses in and it didn't work.......