Our Family Blog: Kids we Love

This morning started out very slow. I finally got rid of the headache I'd had for 3 full days, but I took Excedrine before bed, which apparently was a very bad idea. I was awake most of the night! I was up for the day 2 hours earlier than usual, and so was Dawson. Therapy came at 9am so we snuggled for a while and I finally just decided to start a project while I waited. I also decided to invite a friend over. Fridays can get very long for us all. Dawson gets very frustrated with therapy sometimes because he has back to back sessions from 9am-3:30pm. So it's a full day for him.

I got a cupboard designated for Dawson's gluten-free foods and snacks that he can have. So now I don't have to tell him no for everything else he's pointing to because everything in his cupboard will be ok for him. My friend arrived and Gabriel was so happy. He gets bored during therapy because Dawson is in the playroom with the door closed. So having a friend to follow around really helped with that. They are new friends, I just met them at ECFE class and we've had lots of fun getting together. She's a single mom who's been through a lot and I admire how dedicated she is to her little boy and what a great job she's doing. Her little boy is adorable too, in some ways he reminds me of Tyler, the way he says certain words, or that mischievious look he sometimes has. He even lays on the floor while playing with his cars. Mostly typical 2 year old stuff, but so much of it reminds me of things Tyler would do and brings up memories. It can be a good thing though, it often makes me smile thinking of how cute it was when Tyler did those things. :) Here's the adorable little guy.

They left early afternoon. The little guy needed a nap and Dawson was getting quite crabby about therapy. She left and then I got a call from a friend having a freak-out moment that only an experienced hospital mom could talk her off the ledge from. It means a lot to be thought of and I like to be able to help out somehow. Her sweet boy might be rejecting his new liver, and also has some infections, but they sent him home with meds which is a good sign! He could use some prayers, his name is Dallas and he has Cerebral Palsy. Here's a pic of him and Gabriel hanging out at the hospital in late October. He loved seeing the baby! Such a cutie.

These kids we do babysitting swap with. They watch our boys when we go skating and we give them breaks too. It's been tough this winter with illness, but we try to keep on track. Dawson loves going to their house. He always says "go see girls?". Tonight they came to our place for a few hours. They have 3 girls and a boy and another boy on the way. Ages are 1, 2, 3, 4 and due in 6 weeks. I'm pretty excited for the baby, and their mom is thoroughly exhausted at this point. I thought it was hard enough keeping up with 2 kids while pregnant. I'm glad I can give her some breaks now and then. They are (of course) pretty well behaved for me, since I'm not their mom. ;)

Here's Gabriel and her little guy having some crackers. They look so cute sitting together.

He's a good climber!

Gabriel decided he needs to figure out how he did that! No luck though, he's a bit shorter and a few months younger. I love the look on his face and how he has those monkey toes on the chair leg trying to get up.

Suppertime! It's so cute seeing them all sitting around the table. Dawson didn't want to at first, but he eventually did settle down and sit for a while.

I'm pretty sure the UPS guy now thinks I'm crazy. We had a buzz at the door and I thought it was our therapist. So I took Gabriel and opened the door a bit, having him peek out the door and waving his hand. So when a bearded man came around the corner instead of our therapy lady, it was just an amusing moment. I couldn't remember what I'd ordered, but opened it to find the goodies from our Chocolate Party!

That is a lot of chocolate!

All layed out so I could get the orders together into bags. Looks so yummy! I happily called everyone to let them know. It's always fun giving good news. 3 orders got picked up today already. People are pretty excited about their chocolate. :)

One of the friends who picked up her order also brought her daughter and she played with the kids for a while. Then she even cleaned up all the toys, which was a lot! The girls did a pretty good job cleaning up a lot of it too thankfully. I still need to work on that with Dawson.

Thursday we went to ECFE and Dawson wanted me to take the camera. I always get such cute pics there, the lighting is good and there's many things to hold them still for a bit!

Gabriel looks so cute and older in jeans! I also wonder how much longer I'll be watching his butt crawl across the floor. He's getting so close to walking.