Gage is a walking man.

Yep. It's true. Gage is walking more and more everyday and is almost past the whole crawling stage. Here's video to show:

Breath...

Dan came home last night around 9:30. I have to admit I was a little crabby - but not bad. I told Dan about my "wonderful" evening with the 3 little rascals. It took me about 2 minutes to feel like a million bucks. Dan shared with me how his trap shooting went and how much fun he had. Just him being happy made me feel tons better. Anyway, the fix for now is to lock the puppy up if necessary. I'll then work on controlling her whinyness.

After work today, the boys and Ava went on a short walk. Then we came home and I threw dinner in the oven and read to Logan for a while. The whole time, Ava was pretty good.

Well, I'm off to TKD.

I'm going nuts!

OK. I spend all my energy just trying to contain Logan. And then add Gage... And then add a puppy. Then make it nice outside... I would so love to spend time outside but Logan runs away (walking in the woods, Logan will even take off and run anywhere he can). And Ava can't stand the leash. And Gage isn't walking yet so instead, he eats everything he touches, including grass and dirt. It's a disaster. Logan is hyper already and now with Ava, he's out of control. I let the puppy outside once every 45 minutes all evening and she still peed on the kitchen floor. Since we got home from Logan's PT, all I've been doing is hollering at either Logan or the puppy, except when Logan's in a time out, which he's in right now for pulling on Ava's ear. Now, I just holler at Ava. She chews on everything... And every day I get home from work, I'm greeted with chewed up magazines in the bathroom, or toilet paper, or anything else she manages to drag from the counter.

I don't think I can do this much longer. The puppy has to go outside, or she has to grow up pretty darn quick... or we need a fence now. I didn't bargain on being a puppy sitter as this puppy is Dan's birthday present. Dan has been clay shooting all evening as he's in a league, so now I'm beinging to think I need to have a talk with him.

On better notes, Gage is nearly a full-time walker around our house. He teeters everywhere he goes and falls often, but then he tries to stand up right away.

I have to take care of business around here. Logan NEEDS to go to bed.

Here's a video - my first on a blog. This will introduce our new family member. She's a sweety.

We need a fence.

I can't do it anymore. We need a fence. So begins the journey. I picked up a building permit today and this evening, Dan met with our neighbor to get the ball rolling. Hopefully, it will be up by Logan's birthday. It would be soooo nice to just go out side and relax, rather than chase after Logan every second. He is unable to stay around me and ventures off frequently, and he doesn't listen when I ask him to come back. It's definitely something we have to work on. And now that there's a puppy in the picture, it is that much more difficult to enjoy the weather. I definitely can't chase a puppy, a one year old, and a rammy 3 year-old. We need a fence. Can't wait for it.

I'll try and attach more pictures soon, especially of Ava, our new puppy.

Pictures, finally.

The boys, thankfully, have been healthy lately, and Gage has even started sleeping through the night. I would say he makes it all the way through about 1/2 the time. Also, we have teeth!! Two on the bottom. I think they came in about 5 days ago or so. I guess we can stop saving for those dentures we thought we might have to buy.

Gage is almost walking. His max is five steps without falling. He does, however, prefer to walk places and spends most of his time on his feet. He has also started imitating lots of things. He tries to put his hat on by himself, holds the toy phone up to his ear... things like that. He isn't all that vocal which I think is because he has two fingers in his mouth all the time.

Logan, Gage, and I went to see Iain and his family yesterday. Iain and Logan were NICU roommates. Both were 13 in. long at birth, both weighed 1 lb, 11 oz., and both his mom and me are named Heather. Logan was born at 25 weeks and 5 days and Iain was born at exactly 25 weeks. They spent a considerably more amount of time in the NICU than us due to lung and feeding issues, but today, Iain is doing great! It is obvious his 2 older brothers are keeping him on his toes.

Later today, we are going to visit Jacob and Madison. Logan loves Jacob but we haven't visited them in quite a while. It is supposed to be nice today so hopefully we can spend some time outside. Dan is in Iowa picking out his new puppy. Another German Wirehair for hunting.

Well, I will attach some pictures below. :)

Gage (1 day old) and Daddy

Gage (1 day old) and Daddy



Gage's first birthday


Notice the two fingers in the mouth - with frosting as a bonus!


Daddy reading to the boys (nightly ritual)


Rusty

Will the illnesses ever go away?

We were pretty excited a few days ago as Gage was finally seeming like he was on the mend after nearly an entire winter of ear infections and colds... then BAM! He's sick again. I have not brought him to the Dr. yet nor do I intend to at this point, but I am hoping he comes around. Since getting his immunizations last week, he has been pretty irritable and working on kicking a cold. He was doing well the last couple days, and even spelt though the night two nights ago... Yes! But now, he looks a little off, has a runny nose, cough, and is quite crabby. Poor guy. I have tomorrow and Monday off from work and I hope the extra sleep he'll get will help us out.

On a more positive note, Gage is approaching the next big milestone: walking. Yesterday, he was walking about 4 steps with confidence and control. Now that he's feeling under the weather, he's slowed a bit. I'm still hoping for some walking this weekend. We'll see.

For Easter, we are staying home and doing it as a family. We'll color some Easter eggs and hide them. Should be fun. I'll definitely record it, and once I get recording, I'll start dumping some videos to Youtube and linking them to this site. That will be nice to share. Daycare colored eggs today and Logan brought the 4 of them home. He got a hold of one and took a bite right out of it, shell and all. He had just watched me peal one for him a few minutes before.

Dan has spent the last 2 hours searching for another puppy... a female German Wirehaired Pointer to go with Rusty. Dan really wants a companion for him and wants to do some breeding. Dan's been looking constantly for quite sometime now... 2 weeks probably. They're just so hard to find.

Logan and Gage are all over the house right now. Logan's running around scaring Gage and Gage is chasing him around. Logan's laughing the whole time. And laughing hard, especially after he scares Gage. Gage is totally into it too as he continues to chase Logan everywhere. Logan will say, "I scare me". Logan's not quite the perfect big brother like he used to be. He pushes Gage over often, especially as he's trying to walk. He takes every toy away that Gage plays with. He won't share his toys with him... The list goes on. But I guess that's typical. There is no doubt though that Logan loves his brother.

Well, Logan just came up to me whiny and saying, "I poopied" and "You're all done." I guess he wants me off this thing.

Nothing new but...

It seems Logan may have my ears, I hope. And I'm talking musically. Last night, he sang Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and although he messed up the words here and there, his relative pitch was spot on. Very exciting to me. Now if he can get Daddy's rhythm, we should be set to go.

Gage has been exceptionally crabby this weekend. Today has been the worst. His nap was by no means peaceful, and after 1.5 hours, I went down to a crying baby and spent about 5 minutes trying to calm him. Eventually, he went back to sleep but I laid with him for the next two hours with him waking here and there. Poor little boy. He doesn't have a fever so I am thinking this is all teeth stuff combined with his cold (coughing, runny nose, sneezing). I hope he snaps this cold soon.

Right now, he's playing at my feet contently while his brother and dad are at Wal-Mart getting more diapers. Before that, Logan and Dan went on a short 4-wheeler ride around the yard. Logan didn't want to get off, I guess.

I went through the toys in the toy box earlier today and took out all the baby toys (rattles, mini-blankets) as I try to make more room for Birthday gifts. I've also spent the last week or so shopping on eBay for flap books and 2-piece puzzles for Logan. I think I won about 5 items and will get them soon I hope. Logan is attached to flap books we've discovered as every time we arrive in St. Cloud for PT, he picks up the exact same book in the waiting room: Frosty the Snowman with little flaps that have pictures hidden underneath.

My friend Denise called me up yesterday to share her new purchase with me. She bought a 2004 BMW Z4. Nice car. Now if only she would just give me her Harley.

Also, with Dan's birthday around the corner, we are looking for another German Wirehaired Pointer as a companion for Rusty.

Hopefully, I'll get some more pictures on here soon.