Free Standing

Dear Gage,

We have really been working with you to stand on your own. You have been walking along the couch and chair and cabinets and anything you can pull yourself up on for several months now, but you haven't really stood unassisted. Until today! You were able to stand by yourself for several seconds today and even had a run at a minute! You'll be walking before we know it! You are such a big boy!

I love you,
Mommy

Walgreens Pharmacy Christmas Party

Dear Gage,

Last night, you were my date to the pharmacy Christmas party. You were a little shy at first, but you soon warmed up to everyone and smiled and played. Baby Charlie and Dylan were also there, so you had some other kids to play with. You all are at different ages and different levels (Charlie - nearly 7 months and Dylan - 21 months), so it was a lot of fun to watch you interact with them. Before the night was over, I was able to snap a couple of photos of all three of you together. Such cuties!!

The Three Muskateers

Charlie, Gage and Dylan

I love you,
Mommy

Visit(s) with Santa

Dear Gage,

A couple of Saturdays ago, we took you up to the mall to visit with Santa. I think I was more excited for you to meet him than you were. In fact, I know that is the case. When I handed you to Santa to sit on his lap, you were anything but excited. Needless to say, you didn't get to tell Santa what you wanted for Christmas.

This past week, while we were in the mall, we decided to give you another opportunity to tell Santa your little heart's desires. This time went much better than last! Thank goodness. I don't think Santa could have handled another round of sad Gage. I know it was a little frightening to be thrown into the lap of a white haired stranger, but thank you for being a trooper. You made Mommy very happy!

I love you,
Mommy

Christmas goodies

Dear Gage,

Each Christmas season, your Dada and I make lots of Christmas goodies to give out to our friends and family. It's our special way of celebrating with everyone. It can be a lot of work, but we really enjoy preparing all the sweet treats. This year we made the usual, but added a few new sweets. We made buckeyes, Oreo bark, Peppermint bark, Snow Clusters, Ritz sandwiches, chocolate covered pretzels, shortbread cookies, bourbon balls and the newest thing - Oreo balls. I made two different varieties, regular and golden. The treats were a big hit and everybody loved them.

On Saturday morning, we made our traditional sugar cookies with Madeline and Jett. You were able to help with these by cutting out cute little Christmas shapes. We made angels, trees, stars, stockings, snowmen and candy canes. All the goodies turned out really well and there was fun to be had by all!

Helping Dada cut out the sugar cookies

The finished cookies, decorated by Jett and Madeline

All the yummy Christmas goodies

I love you,
Mommy

Madeline's Christmas Program

Dear Gage,

Your very talented sister Madeline performed in her school's Christmas program on Tuesday. The band played a selection of songs and Madeline even got to play Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer as part of a clarinet trio. She played so well! We are very proud of her. After the band's performance, the choirs performed. The seventh grade group went first, followed by the eighth graders. It was a very fun night and you really enjoyed all the music. It definitely put us all in the Christmas spirit!

Clarinet Trio

8th Grade Choir


I love you,
Mommy

Santa Baby

Dear Gage,

I got you some Christmas Jammies last week and was going to wait until Christmas for you to wear them, but I couldn't resist. They're so cute, and you look super cute wearing them.

Baby Santa riding his horsey

Precious gift under the tree

Thank you for the present Santa!

I love you,

Mommy

Boyce Christmas Parade

Dear Gage,

Yesterday we went down to Boyce and watched their 3rd annual Christmas Parade. Why the Boyce parade? Well, it's only 2 miles down from our house and your big sister Maddie was marching with the Allen County marching band! The weather forecast was calling for a 40% chance of rain so we kept our fingers crossed that it would wait until the parade was over. The clouds looked gloomy and the wind was a little strong, but we got lucky and the rain stayed away.

You went with Dada, Granny and Pa and I rode with Dowwoe, Jett and Kady. The parade started off with some police cars and fire trucks, followed by the Patriots band. They played the song from the Grinch as they marched by. Madeline was by far the star of the band! We are very proud of her. We saw several tractors and ATVs. There were floats with angels and singers and elves and clowns. We saw Santa and Mrs. Claus. There were old time cars and trucks and antique roadsters. I saw one of my fellow Walgreens pharmacists Jamey Wimsatt and his wife Stephanie in their classic car. I embarrassed the family and committed a parade faux pas by chasing down their car and stopping them to chit chat.

There was candy and music and lots of fun. Jett told us before we got to the parade that he didn't like parades. We told him to give it a chance, and once the candy started to get tossed, he changed his mind. He loves parades and so do you!

Ready for the parade to start

Maddie playing the clarinet

Jamey and Stephanie Wimsatt

Minature horse

Minature horse pulling a sleigh

You and Pa fighting over some candy. Pa won. You don't eat candy yet :)

I love you very much,
Mommy

Rubber Ducky II

Dear Gage,

I know you're probably going to really hate that I did this when you are older, but I made a video of you playing in the tub with your rubber ducky. You were saying "duck," so I had to get it on film. You really love bathtime and you love playing with the ducks. Sometimes, even when it is not bathtime, you go into the bathroom and stand by the tub. You like taking a bath and that makes it a lot easier on Dada and me!

I love you,
Mommy

Happy Birthday, Madeline!

Dear Gage,

Today your big sissy Madeline turned 14 years old! It's hard to believe. Needless to say, your Dada is a little beside himself. Next year she'll be going to high school, and in just four and a half years she'll be off to college. She has grown into a beautiful, intelligent, and wonderful young lady. We are very proud of her and all her accomplishments. She's been very active in band and extracurricular activities, such as academic team, science olympiads and piano, just to name a few. She loves you very much and you love her too! I love to watch you both play together. You have so much fun with her, and she knows just what to do to make you smile.

We were wanting to have a big party for her this weekend, but she was playing in a parade with the Allen County band in Scottsville today and will be playing in another Christmas parade tomorrow in Boyce. We were able to throw together an impromptu shindig last night, but it wasn't the spectacle I had wanted to have. We were able to prepare her requested meal: bbq ribs, roasted brussel spouts and chocolate chip cookies. I threw in some mashed cauliflower (which you loved, by the way), wheat rolls, and cake pops to round out the meal. By cake pops, I should say cake balls. I didn't have enough sticks, but we made do with what we had. They might not have looked the way I wanted them to, but they tasted yummy, just the same.

After dessert, Maddie opened her presents. Dada had taken her to the mall and she had picked out some clothes, so there were no surprises from us. Sarah K got her some pins for her hair and we spent a good amount of time putting each other's hair up in various up-do's. Your Dada even got in on the action. All I can say is that he shouldn't pursue a career in doing hair.

We had a wonderful evening celebrating her birthday and continued the fun this morning with a birthday breakfast. We didn't go to the parade today, but are very excited about watching her march with the band in the parade tomorrow. Happy birthday Maddie! We love you very much!

Beautiful birthday girl!

Yummy cake balls!

Dada and his babies

Dada doing Mommy's hair

The finished product. Not quite like the picture.

Sarah K fixing Maddie's hair

I love you very much,
Mommy

O' Christmas Tree

Dear Gage,

We put the Christmas tree up today along with all the other Christmas decorations. I was very worried about how you would behave around the tree, and you didn't disappoint. You were amazed by the tree at first, but then you got more comfortable. So comfortable in fact, that you decided to play with the ornaments. I tried to place all the breakables midway up or higher so you couldn't reach them, but once you were in the walker, they were well within your reach.  So we had to resort to our back up plan - segregate the tree with baby gates. You were not happy about this, but it really is your best interest and the best interest of the tree!

Shiny wonders!

I love you,
Mommy

Happy Thanksgiving

Dear Gage,

Last week, we celebrated your first Thanksgiving! I had to work on actual Thanksgiving Day, so we celebrated a little early with a family dinner on Sunday. Madeline, Granny Dowwoe, Auntie Weesha, Jett, Auntie NeeNee and Kady came over for a yummy dinner. We had quite a feast: Baked turkey, dressing, broccoli casserole, green bean casserole, chive mashed potatoes, marshmallow sweet potatoes, roasted brussel sprouts, cauliflower salad, stuffed mushrooms and rolls. Of all those wonderful things, you got to eat turkey, steamed broccoli, and sweet potatoes (minus the marshmallows and brown sugar). This was the first time you tried turkey and you really enjoyed it!

The yummy feast

Yay Thanksgiving!

Dessert table!

 On Thanksgiving Day, in between my naps, we went over to Granny and Grandpa Taulbee's house for another Thanksgiving feast. You ate green beans, corn, turkey and mashed potatoes. The mashed potatoes were a success this time around. Remember how you didn't like them several months ago? This time they were mixed with milk and butter and that seems to have made the difference!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Num Num!

It was such a great Thanksgiving week this year. This is a time to really reflect on all the things we are thankful for, and it goes without saying that you're on that list. Gage, I am so thankful to have you in my life. You have truly been a blessing to your Dada and me!

I love you,
Mommy

That is NOT for eating

Dear Gage,

I know it is a baby's nature to explore things. You are a very curious creature and you want to discover all the wonderful things you can uncover in our home. But this doesn't mean you have to put everything in your mouth. It is not necessary to taste all the things you come across. Or is it? You truly think so.

The camera lens cap is NOT for eating

The side table is NOT for eating

Dada's flip flops are NOT for eating

Your night time lotion is NOT for eating

The dogfood bag is NOT for eating

The mini blind cord is NOT for eating

The fold out chair is NOT for eating

This is not an exhaustive list of all the household items you have decided to taste. It's only some of the ones I've had a chance to catch on camera.

I love you, Pica-boy,

Mommy

Happy Birthday, Jett

Dear Gage,

On November 7, your oldest cousin Jett turned 6 years old! I remember the night he was born like it was yesterday. Time seems to have really flown by, and I can't believe 6 years has passed since he joined the family. We celebrated his birthday at Granny Dowwoe's with a little party. His meal request: Cheeseburger Macaroni and macaroni and cheese. Dowwoe added a broccoli apple salad for a little color. We had a lot of fun at the party, and you got to see all your cousins. This was the first time we had all the children together in one place!

Family photo - Jude, Molly, Gage, Kaydence, and Jett. Notice how everyone is leaned away from you. It seems they all have the gift of foresight! This was before you scratched Molly's eye. Poor little Molly. 

Jett wearing his new helmet!

Mommy's first cake pop attempt. They were yummy!

I love you,

Mommy

Reflections: Your birth story from Dada's Point of View

Dear Gage,

Your mom asked me to write about the day you were born, and this is what I remember about your birthday. We had an appointment with the doctor on Monday to get you induced, so it was going to be a busy weekend, getting things ready for you. On Friday, January 28th, your mom had gotten up before me, which was pretty typical of most days. When I got up, she told me she was having contractions. I tried not to panic and we just stuck to the plans we had made if she went into labor at home, and cleaned the house and continued preparing for your arrival.  By noon, or so, we decided to pack things up and get to the hospital.

We went up to the second floor and rang the little bell like the tour guide had showed us during one of the classes your mom signed us up for.  The nurse hooked your mom up to the monitors and asked a bunch of questions. She acted a little concerned looking at the monitor, but never said if anything was wrong.  After a little while, the doctor came in to check on her and bluntly stated that he needed to do an emergency C-section! Your heart rate was dropping with every contraction.

One of the nurses brought in the surgery suit and told me to put it on. I went into the bathroom and started to take off my clothes, but the nurse quickly instructed me to put the suit on over my clothes! Glad she got to me before I was down to my boxers :)  We were impatiently waiting, then more bad news came: Your mom was going to have to be put to sleep for the c-section because her blood platelets were low. On top of that, I was told that I couldn't go back to the operating room with her. I went out to the car to grab the camera among other things and to make a few quick phone calls. Your Poppa Joe assured me it was standard procedure that I wouldn't be allowed back there with her, and the same thing had happened when your Uncle Matt was born.  I felt a little comfort in that, but was still very worried.

As soon as I got back up to your mom's room, they were ready to take her to surgery. The doctor asked me if I was going to go back to the operating room, so I quickly grabbed the rest of my surgical attire and started to frantically put it on. I thought they were going to make an exception for me! But the nurse stepped in pretty quick and told me no, I couldn't go in there. So I stopped at the operating room door and waited with your Granny Dowwoe, Uncle Matt, and Sarah.

Twenty minutes later the doors opened, and the nurse brought me a beautiful baby boy! I got to hold you and show you off!

The first time I held you! I was so happy to finally meet my baby boy!

They then took you  into the nursery to check you over and get your weight and height. In the mean time, I ran to check on your mom. The nurses said she was fine, but I was worried because I wasn't able to see her. I then rushed back to the nursery, because we had decided to participate in "skin to skin." Ideally, your mother would have done it, but I had agreed to since she was still in recovery. So I took off my shirt and held you next to my chest with a blanket wrapped around us for over an hour. It was so sad, because I knew you wanted your mom. You were rooting around trying to find something to eat! I told the nurse you were trying to eat and she said, "Well honey, don't let him!" She then assured me that you were not starving. You never did cry. You just curled up and fell asleep. We just sat there together in the nursery, and made fun of all the other babies who were crying!

Skin-to-skin with my precious baby boy

The nurse took you then and gave you your first bath. I took that opportunity to go check on your mom. The doctor had come in while we were doing skin to skin to give me an update. He didn't want to upset me while I waited, but there were some complications during the surgery. Due to the low platelet levels, your mom bled more that usual and the surgery took longer.

It was nearly 3 hours before they brought your mom out of recovery. Once they got us into a room, they brought you to us. Your mom was still in a bit of a daze from the anesthesia, but she said you were beautiful. It was great to have our little family together. Madeline came to the hospital and our little family was complete! We had a lot of visitors come see you, and we were happy to show you off. We ended up staying two nights in the hospital and we were able to keep you in the room most of the time. On Sunday we were discharged from the hospital and we were so excited to be bringing you home. It was hard to believe they were letting us leave with our baby boy.

Me and my babies!

I love you so much Gage,

Daddy