Days Go By

My mom gave me some papers I had written back in high school and it was like reading something that someone else had written entirely. I couldn't remember writing it, reading it, being proud enough of it to turn it in as an assignment - nothing. And high school is not far enough in my rear view mirror to be a blurry slate, nor am I old enough to be losing my memory. It made me realize how valuable our memories are and that they are not as sharp as I once thought. Not in the slightest.

So, it's time to start remembering. And if that's done electronically and through words - so be it! At least this way, I can log-in and recall whatever I want, whenever I want, anytime. No digging through papers, no worrying they will burn.  And no reader will ever know how terrible of a speller I am.

My sweet Max is about to be 16 months. This sounds so much older than 15 months. In fact, I find myself saying "15 months" when people ask instead of rounding up like I usually do. He's turning into a toddler, a little boy, before my very eyes. Not  really classified under "baby" anymore, he's just an amazing thing. He's smart and strong. This Father's Day can atest to that...

For Father's Day this year, I thought I would plan the perfect day for Nate. He had gone to lunch with his buddy the day before and mentioned his friend said he wanted to do "nothing" for Father's Day - just sit and not be bothered to move. I thought, "How sad! He wants to sit and do nothing! Not my husband, we're going to have FUN!"

So, the day started by Max flailing backward half-asleep while I let Nate sleep in, giving me a black eye. Thankfully it could be covered with makeup. Next up was the PERFECT breakfast of muffin-french-toast which really just turned out so small that Nate was hungry by 10am. And after that, and 3 trips to the grocery store later for forgotten items, I had a homemade picnic prepared to take to Eagle Island where we would watch our happy boy frolic in the beautiful lake. We arrived to an overly-crowded river, where we were nicely booted from our freshly laid out spot by a forest ranger, had to endure second-hand smoke from a stranger nearby, and a very overly tired little Max who only wanted to squirm and scream and run toward the crowded, dangerous river. I felt sick in the sun (5 months pregnant here) so Nate spent his relaxing picnic chasing our screaming baby away from the water...

Fast forward to dinner! In my infinite wisdom, I invited my whole family over for a BBQ! Not thinking that 1) this would mean cleaning our house (before AND after) and 2) Nate BBQing for everyone. Whoops. So, as we're quickly cleaning and making trips 7 & 8 to the grocery store for forgotten items, Max ran full-speed into the table and turned his entire cheek purple.

Somewhere in the middle of all this, Max also ripped THREE kitchen drawers apart. THREE. Rendered un-usable and had to be completely removed, leaving holes in the cabinets. (THREE OF THEM!!!!) And somewhere in the middle of that, a big ol' bird decided to commit suicide on the front windows in our house, leaving a massive bird on the porch, feet high in the air. Happy Father's Day, honey! Could you fix these three drawers and scrape the dead bird from the porch before my family arrives...?

 My family finally arrived right about when Max smashed his face, causing confusion and me to forget to put half the food in the oven (what a waste). And also to burn everything I did have on the stove (repeatedly) until when the smoke alarms went off for the 9th time & I handed my brothers some towels and told them to fan the alarms next time it happens. Meanwhile, I burned my hand in the oven.

Nate BBQ'd beautifully and we had a great meal, until I got sick in the middle of it (pregnant) and he had to come see if I was dying in the bathroom.

And finally, by the end of it all, I was so tired and hurting, Nate offered to clean up the rest of the big mess I had so lovingly created.

Happy Father's Day to him. The most wonderful husband and father in the entire world. Next year, maybe we'll be really boring and do "nothing." :)

Three Years!

We've officially been married 3 years today. The past 365 days have brought a lot of wonderful things...namely this little guy:
Maxton Carter Gamel - born March 3, weighing in at 7lb 6oz and 20.5 inches long. Luckiest girl in the world to have these two guys...

Exactly 1 month to go!

My due date is exactly one month from today - which is so easy and yet so hard to believe at the same time. January absolutely flew by & I'm thinking the baby is going to come early which probably translates to 2 weeks late, I'm sure. Everything we do seems like it's the "last time we do _____ before we have a baby!" so it all seems very momentous. :) We cannot wait to meet this little guy!

Macy like you've never seen her before: The Model!

One of my favorite new purchases in prep for the new baby (besides all the adorable little baby things) is a new camera (Canon Rebel T3)!! So fun to mess around with. Here's Macy like you've never seen her before! :) I see a lot of baby pictures in our future...I'm not even going to pretend like I have any self control with that.

Oh Boy

It's going to be a boy :) We can't wait to meet the little guy. The most amazing part so far has been the switch from feeling jabs to actual little body parts. When we were heading into a class one night at St. Luke's, Nate was grabbing a coffee and I was standing there waiting with my hand on a spot the baby was kicking and instead of a little jab, I felt the outline of a foot! It almost floored me. As silly as it sounds, it was the first actual realization that "There's a little baby in there!" :) More real than any ultrasound or reading material...it was a little foot. It was incredible. Most memorable moment so far :)

Our son will make his first appearance Feb. 27th, or sometime around then. Time is ticking down! About 10 weeks to go...love love love it.

Catching Up

Writing to just catch up on some happenings before all the holiday madness hits in a week! The pictures are usually the best part of any blog, in my opinion, so we'll go with some pics. We've mostly just been hanging out and enjoying the last couple months before we are full-time parents! Although we can't wait for that either...

In June I went to a vintage fashion show and got to finally see what it'd be like to be brunette. Which was a lot of fun actually!


We went to a bunch of weddings over the summer - all while no one really knew I was pregnant which is not an easy little secret to keep! Especially when you're wearing nausea bands around your wrist :)
As soon as the Fall colors started coming in, we got to sneak away for a relaxing weekend in Sun Valley. It was a nice, easy way to do a babymoon and it was perfectly relaxing and full of great food. We stayed in a B&B for the first time in our lives and actually really liked it. We had the whole place to ourselves, got to pick our room and enjoyed the company of the woman running the B&B and the two old golden retrievers there. The first night, we came back from dinner to a bonfire in the backyard with hot chocolate and cupcakes. You don't get that in a hotel! :) We had a lot of fun. Note to self: when in Sun Valley, go back to Raspberry's for the chocolate mint icecream. I've never had anything like it - the woman who runs it grows the mint in her garden and the icecream tasted garden fresh. It was delish! I was definitely "showing" by Sun Valley - hence the picture below! I think I'm 23 weeks in that pic.


The Fall colors in Sun Valley were absolutely incredible. It looked like the whole area was glowing amber and red. We were in love!

Then came Halloween. We carved some pumpkins and passed out candy. Funny to think next year, we'll have a little baby with us!


Nate was a "pumpkin" too.


And by then, I was 24 weeks and looking like the pic below. I don't think I look super huge, but man, I feel like it! Cannot wait until Feb. 27th!


All my family comes into town next week for Thanksgiving. I cannot believe that's already here. Although I'm super stoked because that means Christmas is just around the corner!

New additions!!

It has been quite the year! Almost exactly one year ago, we got a new house. About three-ish months later, we got a labradoodle pup:Macy keeps us quite entertained! She has the biggest personality ever. She's only chewed 2 corners, a hole in the wall and a set of blinds. I'd say that's not too shabby considering we both work full time. Until recently...

About six months after we got the dog, we found out we are expecting a baby!!!!!!!!!!!!
The first three months were quite brutal. I was nauseous from about 4am to bedtime every single day. Since I was waiting to tell work, I powered through with plenty of Vitamin B6 suckers and SeaBands on my wrists. It. Was. Awful. You start to forget what "normal" feels like...but then at about 14 weeks, the nausea and dizziness had complete and totally vanished. I felt like a brand new person! Until two weeks later at a routine doctor visit where the doctor put me on bedrest.

So now, the dog doesn't have any opportunity to chew anything because I'm here all day long. It's been good knowing I'm doing the right thing - kind of nice to have someone tell you that you HAVE to relax for awhile. I hadn't done that in far too long! So, I'm making the most of it with ample time on the couch.

We are so stinkin excited - we just want the day to get here. February 27th, 2012 is the supposed big day! 2012 is a leap year so we are hoping the baby isn't born 2 days later...

We'll find out if it's a boy or girl exactly 3 weeks from today!

One more wonderful addition to the last year - our great friends invited us to join them at their family timeshare in Kauai in June. Since enjoying Kauai in 2010, we had been dying to go back. We accepted their invitation (whole-heartedly!) and had an ammmmazing week. We love them to pieces for inviting us! We saw whales this time on our sailing trip too. I just love this island!!







Thanks, Erin & Pat!!