did i ever tell you?

11 months old!!

whats new with gabe this month?

1. crawls around chasing and annoying his little dog Bo.

2. stands up by himself, but no walking yet!

3. has 6 teeth.

4. has a cold AGAIN!.... shocker!

5. smiles ALL. THE. TIME. even when he is sick. which is a lot it seems.

6. says "mamma, dadda and doggie" and knows what they mean.

7. L.O.V.E.S. mandrine oranges.

8. still takes two, two hour naps a day, praise heaven above! (i feel this might end soon)

9. claps and waves bye-bye. i'm not real sure if he realizes there is a difference between the two, they are kinda a package deal with him.

10. adores playing with other kids.

11. and my favorite, he loves being read to, you can get out a book and he will crawl over to you as fast as he can with a big smile and sit on your lap clapping and laughing the whole time. 

FETCH I LOVE HIM!

did i ever tell you about this blanket arron made while on paternity leave for 2 weeks after we had the above mentioned little one?

yea, its a quilt! he went to the fabric store, picked out the fabric, put it on quilting frames and tied it. but his mom bound it for him. 

if you're questioning his masculinity, i understand, but i assure you he is still a mans man. 

he is just getting more domestic in his old age. 

broccoli, carrot, lemon drop.....GOLD FISH CRACKER!

 Those are the 4 things i have dislodged from different peoples esophagus by doing the

 heimlich maneuver!

FIRST..the broccoli, was at a high school dance, my friends date went into the bathroom because he was choking (huge mistake). one of the other boys in our group came running out and said that "sam"* was chocking. so heals, gloves and all i went in and gave him the heimlich, by the time i got the broccoli out he was blue! it was pretty dang scary, i was pretty shaky for the rest of the night.

SECOND.. the carrot, was at a family dinner and arrons Grandma choked, again, pretty freaky!!

THIRD.. the lemon drop, my niece was strapped in her car seat and the adults were standing outside the car talking when i looked over and noticed that she had her whole hand in her mouth and was kind of red, i jumped in the car undid her seat belt handed her out to her dad and then jumped out, took her and did the heimlich. This one was the scariest for me, she was only about 4 or 5 at the time and she was so little, i couldn't sleep that night.

FOURTH.. the gold fish cracker! i always wondered if i would freak out if i ever had to give my own kid the heimlich, i mean i realize i'm a nurse and probably should not freak out in emergency situations, but when its your own kid its different. well i found out today! he was shoveling the food in, since he has decided he no longer eats baby food and MUST feed himself i had a spread of canned beans, canned corn mandarin oranges and gold fish crackers on his try and he was going to town. and.... he started choking, NOT GAGGING, full on chocking, no air movement. and luckily i didn't freak out, i just grabbed him out of his high chair and flipped him upside down. it took 3 thrusts and that fish came shooting out. he was fine! i was fine!....until about 1/2 hour later when the PTSD set in and i started to feel a little shaky and light headed. but at least i know that during an "emergency" i was able to keep it together, now lets hope i never have to do it again.

i made this print out for arrons scout group and i thought if anyone wanted to they could print it out and hang it somewhere in the house, its a good cheat sheet, just in case. and here is a website to review tips for doing the heimlich on an infant!
http://firstaid.webmd.com/tc/choking-rescue-procedure-heimlich-maneuver-baby-younger-than-1-year

**UPDATE**

SWEAT, TEARS & 10 MORE YEARS


update #1
Well my friends, if you don't remember the previous post about the running fiasco, you can check it out here.  but i'm pleased to report..."I'M BACK BABY"!!! if you think this is a post about me tooting my own horn then you're dang right it is {although i like to think of it more as a humble brag} and i'm not even sorry, because people, there was a time that i didn't believe i would ever be able to run longer then a mile without breaking down in tears. I mean i'm no marathon runner {yet} but i feel pretty dang good about my progress.

arron and i participated as a relay team with my mom and dad in the legacy duathelon {run, bike, run}

 i ran a 5k then my dad biked 22 miles then i ran another 5k

(side note.. i averaged a 10min mile and was still 6th to last during the first 5k, sheesh, there are some fasties out there)

arron ran a 5k then my mom biked 11 miles and arron ran another 5k

me and my handsome dad took 2nd place in the relay category.
{there was a total of 4 relay teams. haha}
{he's really handsome if you can look past the outfit}

i've been training for the wasatch back relay that is coming up here in a couple few weeks and i'm pretty sure i'll survive now. 

my jogging partner tiff and i after we ran our first 6.2 miles on a beautiful saturday afternoon. we never needed to stop and walk and alas, there were only tears of joy ;-). we are pretty proud of ourselves. 

{and no i'm not sun burned, i just get that red when i run}

So i like to think that i've joined the group of you moms out there that keep on tuckin' even when growing and birthing those little bundles of joy threaten to take away our ability to function let alone run a mile or two.

update #2
again if you missed the plant blog post and your a little confused, you can catch up here.

remember how this little buddy wasn't looking so hot, well i did some pruning and gave it a little extra TLC and now its thriving, proving to myself and all of you that were worried..gabe has a chance. i mean what is the average life span of a house plant? i think 10 years has exceeded that..no?   

april showers.....

we all got umbrellas from the easter bunny!

Fetch, april flew bye before i could even bat an eye {i did not mean to rhyme, i'm just such a poet by nature it slips out, haha}so needless to say i got a little behind on my blogging.  So here is what happened in our lives during December i mean April. i got confused with all the snow.

 i'm not sure if he is going to kiss her or eat her?

great grandma and grandpa wilson!

the easter egg hunt with the felman family is still all about the adults. :) gabe and mia are the only kiddos on my side of the family, and since they are too young to fight for easter eggs the "big kids" still get to have all the fun!!! and i tell you what, we fight and push and run, and punch if needs be to get those eggs.  

my mom and dad hide 75 eggs with quarters and a few even have dollar bills in them. you would think they were filled with 100's the way we scrap and claw!

on arrons side of the family there is now 9 grand kids ranging from 10 months{gabe} to 15 years old {danielle} so "unfortunately" its all about the kids with the echols clan. :o) every year arrons parents pull a roll of yarn, one for each grand kid all over the yard around the house, threw the house, over the house, and at the end you find your basket. this was the first year for gabe so dad had to help him, and even though his sting was only about 20 yards long he still got a grip of goodies!

he is so proud of himself!

i guess i don't need to do a paternity test!

we took gabe swimming for the first time, i figure, he LOVES the bath, he'll love the pool... well, it took him about 10 minutes to warm up to the idea of this new bigger bath tub. and i'm sure he was wondering why he couldn't be naked, because who doesn't love being naked. but then he was all about it....splish splashing away!! he didn't even cry when i dunked him under the water or when i made him practice floating on his back. :) i figure he's got 2 months to be ready for wake boarding season. ;)

so all in all april was more then just snowy!

a day at the spa...

Dude, i need a hair cut, i really need a hair cut! 

we were out running around town and decided to have an impromptu visit to the beauty salon aka cookie cutters, to trim up his shaggy do.  this is the first "real" haircut he's had. his other cut was by me at 3 weeks old when i was sick of looking at his weird monk looking old man hair that was all different lengths, so i laid him over my lap and took the electric hair trimmers and evened things out. and i didn't even save his Blondie locks....gasp. i mean really what was i going to do with them, they were like 

3 millimeters long. 

at 3 weeks old he loved the sound and vibration of the hair trimmers..... at 10 months old... not so much!

but he got to sit in an airplane and got a balloon, so that made it OK. 

 

  

 

does this make me look fat?

* 9 Months *

weight: 23 lbs - 85%

length: 29 3/4 - 95%

lets be honest who really cares about the head circumference?

as you can see our little man has dropped in weight from the 95th percentile to the 85th! 

the strict diet and cardio routine we have him on is really paying off. 

you can tell by the picture above how slender he is looking! ;-)

a little bit country.....

This post just would not seem right if i didn't give a shout out to my friend who is more then just "a little" bit country! She would be so proud of my little country store outing!

(its you amgar, in case you weren't sure)

I have always wanted an excuse to go see the spring chicks, and now that i've got a little dude, i can totally justify an outing to the local country store for no other reason then to get my country on and soak up the simple things in life. 

Gabe couldn't get enough of those little yellow puff balls, at first he wasn't sure about them but then he wanted to "cuddle" them. however, to avoid a scene from Of Mice and Men, we observed the {do not touch the chicks} sign.

you know your in a country store when the cost to ride the mechanical horse is a whole 10 cents! i mean one measly dime, are you kidding me. i felt like i was ripping someone off. i gladly dug through my wallet for the silver. Of course i couldn't catch a smile on camera, but he loved the ride.

as we strolled through the country store i found myself wishing i owned a pair of cute cowboy boots. i've always thought of myself as.... a little more "rock'n roll, if you will, but lately i wish i could slow down time, because it seems to be rocketing past me at a break neck pace. Gabe is already 9 months old, he has been out of me for as long as he was in me, and THESE past 9 months have seemed like the blink of an eye, compared to the prior 9. So for now the only thing i can think to do is adopt the country way of life, it seems slower and calmer and those are two things i could handle a little more of.

.... and a little bit Rock n' Roll!

you can still be country and wear an AC/DC hoodie and monster energy motorcycle beanie right?

its always the same question...

.... what is your favorite stage?
and up till now, the answer has always been. "this one"!! i've loved every stage of "Gabes growth and development." But these past few weeks... my answer is about to change! so go ahead ask.....
Q: so what is your favorite stage so far?
A: this one.
Q: i thought your answer was going to change?
A: this is also my least favorite stage.
Q: huh?
A: .....

Gabe turned 8 months old and has been going non-stop. i swear he learns something new everyday.

 But... he has been sick a lot as well! The RSV bug found us at our house and he was not a happy little guy for a few days. this is him cuddling up to his mamma at the doctors office at 8 PM. he is such a sweetie!

he is really good at playing by himself...

but he is curious about everything. and i mean everything....hahaha! 

... but then sometimes, he doesn't want me out of his sight, so he is right there being my little "helper", making my 2nd job as {maid} a little more difficult.

 he finally started flipping himself over and sleeping on his belly, i love the butt up in the air, isn't that just the most classic sleeping pose of all time. 

 he started "parallel" play. you know when they just sit by another kid and they take each others toys, but just play by themselves. 

{my smart friend tiffany taught me that term} 

and that just happens to be her delicious little paisley "playing" with gabe.

 Oh, and Yes!!! thats a tuxedo T-shirt. he likes to party, what can i say.

he is supposed to have "stranger danger" but he pretty much just gives you the death stare if he isn't sure about you. this is his Great Grandpa Wilson. he knows him, he is just wondering why he has more food on his face then he does.

he still loves the bath, i've given him a wash down in the kitchen sink a couple times and he LOVES it, splashing and making as big a mess as possible is his goal!!

...goal....achieved!

he started drinking out of a straw, today actually, and it was so stinking cute. he was so proud of himself.

 he's started to eat a few little finger foods, and has even managed to get a cheerio in his mouth on his own. although it takes about 5 tries to find that little "O" in his big fist and get it into his face.

he LOVES his dog. oh my heck, he just see's bo and starts laughing. in turn, it makes me laugh. He has not learned to crawl quite yet, but any day now he will be on the move, changing that poor dogs lazy lifestyle as he knows it. 

Q: i thought this was also your least favorite stage?
A: he is just so much work right now, he wants to be able to do things on his own, like crawl around but cant yet, he is sleeping less, which means he is awake more! and so i have to entertain more, sing more, play more, i feel like a one man primary song broadway musical somedays. and its exhausting. I know all you moms out there with older kiddos are just thinking.. "exhausting, you don't know exhausting" and i'm sure you are right, but as for this moment in my life. this little 8 month old is running me ragged! So like i said, its my most favorite and my least favorite all at the same time.

is that crystal clear?