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I'll be getting old pretty soon, too soon. I can hear my husband already making fun of me.

Dad, when's my birthday? I know you know it's in September, but WHEN in September? Just messing with you old man.

Anyhoo, anyone who wants to buy me a gift (or perhaps now), I'd like a Cricut machine. Just a basic one. I found this one on Amazon for less than $110.00. Who loves me? I have LOTS of cool projects I want to do! Perhaps the lucky person who buys me one will get a unique gift personalized with the Cricut machine? Better hurry!

It's never fun to be woken up...Mr. Independent...a Pug lover

He is his mothers son. He didn't like waking up yesterday from his nap and surely didn't like me laughing at him or taking his picture. Sorry baby, it was just too cute.

Another reason G belongs to me... he's turned into Mr. Independent! He doesn't want help eating, which means, he's going to turn into a baby Cheeto (b/c that's all he can feed himself). As I once told my parents, "you are what you eat". Well Gage, you are officially a baby Cheeto. Congratulations.

One last reason (as least for tonight) that G comes from my womb, he sure loves a Pug! He misses his sisters and can't wait until they come back to live with us!

(Dad, notice G is sporting a Beatles t-shirt!)

Never too young for a yearbook photo...

G in 1968

Happy kid?

You think he's happy? And that he enjoys his bath time?

Big eater

G is doing GREAT at feeding himself and prefers to do so. Definitely seeing Mr. Independent coming out... hum, I wonder who he gets it from?

I took this first picture because I love his toes/feet... he's a little monkey and puts them up under the tray when he eats.

Babywise, where you at!?

I type this as my son is screaming/crying at the top of his lungs. Where oh where did my Babywise baby go!? This transition to KY has jacked his poor routine up! According to the book, got to tough it out for 3 or so days to get it back in check. I don't know that I can last that long. It's only been 15+ minutes and I want to give up and go get him. But, NO. I am the adult and I am in charge. It's time for a nap!
Anyways, all is good here. Enjoy a few recent pics...
uHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. BEFORE I could upload those pics, I gave. I couldn't take it anymore. Picked up the little booger, sat down and just held him, and out he was. Poor guy is not only jacked up from the move, but is also cutting this two top teeth and the right one came in yesterday. Poor baby. I don't know WHAT in the world people do with constantly fussy babies. I seriously, seriously think I would go crazy, well, more crazy than I already am. We have SUCH a good baby. I guess the Lord wanted to make it easy on me since I barfed every day for 40 weeks.

Every night and every nap, G sleep like this.




G has very successfully mastered crawling backwards.



Wow, don't ask who I think he looks like in this picture. I have NO clue. He hair is definitely getting lighter!





Sweetest guy, ever.

7 months and growing, growing, growing

As you will see in the below pictures, we are working with what we have in order to get this post out before Gage turns 8 months old! Since all of our things are in storage, we had to make due... we are staying in a hotel that happens to be next to Cracker Barrel (where I got the sock monkey that appears in G's monthly pictures), so we walked over for b-fast and took a quick picture with one of their sock monkeys. Hope they don't mind that we didn't buy him. We pretty much have a sock monkey colony already. But hey, we love sock monkeys so if you see a unique one, send it our way!

What precious Gage is up to:
-2 bottom teeth
-continues to sleep through the night
-discovering opening and closing his hand this week- like he's waiving
-rolls over quickly and turns left and right very fast!
-sits up well
-pulling his legs under him like a crawling position, will rock back and forth then falls forward on his face
-loves crackers, puffs, squash, bananas, squash, apples, mashed potatoes
-LOVES the water and spent his first weekend at Lake Cisco on June 19th
-He's been to NM, TX, AR, TN & KY
-working on picking foods up with his fingers and just now is putting them in his mouth
-He's lived in Austin, TX and Bowling Green, KY
-is 17 lbs 9 ounces
-loves his jumper and is strengthening his legs
-He's a very long, skinny boy
-People CONSTANTLY say, "what a beautiful little GIRL".... we've heard it so much, we just laugh and say "thank you!"... then we get in the car we tease G saying "you're a little girl, you're a little girl!" He doesn't seem to mind. Story: we were @ Staples in Austin and G was in the carseat in the shopping car looking up at Ryan. This girl behind me said, "aww how sweet. She's so in love. She's staring right into your eyes! What a pretty little girl!"... we said "thank you!" I guess people don't notice the red and blue he's constantly wearing.
-LOVES his Pug sisters and we can't wait to get them to KY with us!
-is happy about 95% of the time. He wakes up with a huge smile on his face.

Gage,
You are the most special boy. THE most precious gift. WE are so thankful we get to call YOU OUR son. It's so very exciting to see you grow and discover new things everyday. You are such a trooper and did/do so well in the car as we go through this transition to KY. We are so thankful to have you with us in KY. We LOVE seeing your huge smile with those little bottom teeth shining so bright! Gage, we love you SO very much. You sure are one special little boy.
Daddy & Mommy


I Love You More
By: Laura Duksta

Walking outdoors one day a little boy turned to his mother and asked, "Mommy, just how much do you love me?"
Surprised by the question but with no delay, she replied...
I love you higher than the highest bird ever flew.
I love you taller than the tallest tree ever grew.
I love you longer than the longest path ever wound.
I love you prettier than the prettiest flower ever found.
I love you mightier than the mightiest wind ever blew.
I love you fuller than the fullest moon ever knew.
I love you brighter than the brightest star ever shown.
I love you more, so much more than you've ever known.

So, I'm a little behind

It's not like we just moved across the country or anything!

Enjoy 4 new posts w/ pics below.

Pugs, cheeks and baths oh my!

Gage looks like he's riding a bucking Bronco... I mean PUG! :)

Oh those cheeeeeks! He got those from his mamma. She had the same ones when she was a baby.

Gage LOVES bath time! He ate a few bubbles this evening. Whoops!

Emily turned ONE!

Gage's special little cousin, Emily, turned ONE year old at the end of June. Ryan had already left for Kentucky, but Josephina (Ryan's mom), I mean, Honey (also Ryan's mom), Gage and I went to Mineral Wells for the day. We had a GREAT time with family! We love you sweet Emily!

As you will see in the photos, she probably isn't more than 2 pounds heavier than Gage and she's almost 6 months older than him. She takes toys and pacifiers away from him without a care in the world, while poor little Gage man cries and cries. I keep telling him he needs to toughen up, or cousin Emily will run over him the rest of his life! Ha! They are so cute together.

(Definition: Josephina. noun. A little short lady also known as a grandmother, mother, mother-in-law, housekeeper, nanny, baker, cook, sugar mamma, chauffeur, etc.)

We COULDN'T have survived for the 1.5 weeks that Ryan was gone, if Honey/Josephina wasn't here. WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Enjoy...

The next chapter...

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Jeremiah 29:11



I'll be the first to admit, it wasn't easy letting go of trying to control the situation and trying to make things happen MY way. It wasn't easy at all. I refused to go anywhere other than Austin, Lubbock or Roswell. I refused to move across the county and be miles and miles from home, from all the people I love the most. I prayed about it for a long time. I asked friends/family to pray for me and for what the Lord wanted us to do. One day, it was clear. I just had to give it up. I had to give it to Him (1 Peter 5:7). But once I did, ahhhh, it was a relief and it was calming. I literally felt a weight lifted from my shoulders and from my heart. The Lord had/has a special plan for us. It just took (mostly me) a little time to let the plan work. He opened doors far better than I/we could have ever chosen. He's taking care of us. He's made the path clear that Bowling Green, Kentucky is where He wants us... at least for now. :) It's not easy being 20 hours from my parents, or 13+ from Ryan's parents, but He already knew that. He knew my family situation and knew it wouldn't be easy. But this was His plan and where He wanted us to be. I guess He never promised an easy life... just help living it. We are far blessed than we ever could have imagined. We were so unbelievably blessed to be in Austin for two years; Ryan got a wonderful education, I had a wonderful job and we met some of the best people in the world. We made some really special friendships that will last a lifetime. Some of those friendships paved the way for us to come to Bowling Green. Austin was one step in the ladder. The next step is now Bowling Green... then, Lord knows where! Ha. Actually the LORD does know where! Maybe it's staying here, we don't know. For now, this is where we are, and we are so happy to be here. We know this is where we are to be and are so thankful for this wonderful opportunity and support from family and friends. Ryan has worked hard interning at UT under the best Strength & Conditioning coach in the nation. He now gets to put his mad skills to action! He is the Strength & Conditioning Coach of the Western Kentucky University Men's Basketball team. I couldn't be more proud of him. He stuck with it (even when I wasn't on board). I am so happy for him that he has such a wonderful opportunity here at Western. We love you Ryan/daddy.

(This picture is so sweet... it was the morning Ryan left for Bowling Green. Gage and I stayed in Austin for an extra week and a half while I finished up work and packing.)

Lake Cisco

The weekend before Ryan left for Bowling Green, we decided last minute to run to Lake Cisco for a night. It was a nice surprise and we had such a great time. Gage LOVED the water splashing through the dog dock. Lola the Lake Dog returned. Syd still wasn't sure about the water. I enjoyed a Bloody Mary since I didn't get to enjoy one last year since I was preggers. We will sure miss being able to head to Cisco for a weekend at the Lake, but the Lord has different plans for us right now.