Octopus and Baby Showers

My, my, how the time flies!

Lots of things have 

happened and lots of

things are going to happen still.

The weather has begun

to warm up,

which is GREAT.

Tyler is all done with his

thesis project!

He defended this past week

and kicked some major

butt.

I was really impressed 

with him and it 

seemed like everyone else

was, too.

But, I mean, who wouldn't be?

Well, who would like 

some pictures of Kale

enjoying the warm

weather?

I knew it.

Kale. LOVES. Popsicles.

And I am conditioning

him to love 

the banana flavored

ones above all others.

 

 

Kale also loves to 

play in the water.

And by in the water,

I mean, around the water.

Or, controlling the water.

He loves to be in charge

of the hose...

 

Or pointing his octopus 

sprinkler at others...

 

Or throwing a ball through

the water...

Or running around the sprinkler

and using the hose

as a finish line...

We also had a day

where we went to my friend

Kristen's house and 

Kale played with

her son Bauston in their 

kiddie pool.

There's nothing like watching

two silly boys

play in the water together.

Sorry, no pictures of the event, though.

Speaking of Kristen,

she threw me a baby shower yesterday!

It was wonderful

and SO many people came.

Kristen went ALL OUT

and it was a great time all around.

Here are a few pictures:

The next picture is of the 

surprise Kristen had for me.

Her son had been excited

for weeks to show 

me the surprise.

He ran out to meet me at my

car when I got there and 

made me close my 

eyes and took my hand to lead me

to it.

It was so adorable.

And totally worth it,

as you can see:

Did you see the Nike socks???

My mom couldn't be

here, for obvious

reasons, but she

sent a card that I opened at the shower.

Love you mom!

This is Kylie, Kristen's little sister.

She was one of my 

Activity Days girls

and she helped out a lot.

Thanks Kylie!

And, of course,

this is Kristen.

She spoiled me so much

with this baby shower

and I just can't thank her 

enough.

I'm really going to miss 

her when we move.

I value her friendship so much.

Thank you thank you

thank you Kristen!

 I also want to say a special

thanks to my friends 

who came to the shower

and gave me presents:

Mindyn Clark, Emily Hall, Rachel Smith, Valerie Calaway,

Tawny Winn, Kristina Jakeman, Jessime Robinson, Glenna Grow,

Georgia Arnold, and an especially

big thank you to Tally Wyatt (Kristen's mom)

for letting us have the shower

at her house.

Everyone is so kind and generous

and leaving them all

is not going to be fun.

Well, that's about it.

We've got less than 2 weeks

until Kyle and Heather's wedding.

3 weeks until Tyler's graduation.

and 4 weeks until my

due date!

Life is good :)

Happy Birthday Grandpa Gerber!

Happy Birthday to 

one of the 

goofiest Grandpas

around!!!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone!

Here are some pictures.

So, my parents and my
mother-in-law love to

spoil me,

and they love to spoil

their grandchildren

even more.

It's awesome.

Therefore, this past week

we have received 

many packages.

Some are things we needed

for Baby Girl,

and some were presents for

Kale.

Kale has loved all his 

presents,

but he might love the boxes

the most....

We turned one of the boxes

into a space ship.

I know, it's amazing how

much it looks like

a space ship.

What can I say, I have a gift.

The day before Easter some

friends came over and 

we dyed eggs.

This was the first time in my life

that I've boiled eggs.

I was too embarrassed

to ask my mom.

Thank goodness for Pinterest.

Everything turned out great.

Thank you Nana Gerber for the

awesome No-Spill egg dying kit!

Today, we went to our friend's,

the Wyatts,

to have a little Easter egg hunt.

I brought 13 eggs to hide.

Tally made like.....76.

Plus they put their dyed eggs 

out there.

And ours, because we gave them ours

since we weren't going to eat them.

The Wyatts are crazy about

their develed-eggs.

Eventually Kale's basket got 

so heavy that Tyler

had to follow him around with it.

That's probably because

Tally put change in

her eggs.

I love the Wyatts.

 Look at that haul!

 

Kale was really excited

about the dollar.

And then he remembered

there was CANDY 

in front of him.

And, of course,

we had to take a family

Easter picture.

Because I grew up doing that.

And now you all can see my tummy.

You're welcome.

31 weeks down!

 

If you think Kale looks a little

off in the above 

picture, 

you would be right.

We hadn't realized it yet, 

but he was sick.

He fell asleep on Tyler 

watching Toy Story 2

and woke up with a temperature

of 101.

And he was so out of it.

I guess it's only appropriate

for him to feel 

a little loopy on 4/20

(hahaha I couldn't resist!)

He seems to be feeling

a little better right now but

there is every possibility 

I'll be in for a long night with this 

cutie pie.

Happy Easter all!

Kale. Is. Taking. A. NAP.

Sooooo, in case you didn't read the title,

Kale is taking a NAP!!!

I don't have much to say right now,

I just saw an opportune 

moment and I thought,

hey, I'll put some

pictures on the blog that really 

aren't that old!

First up, 

Kale and I had a little 

picnic.

I love picnics.

And hot dogs.

And watermelon.

Kale seemed to enjoy himself as well.

After we'd finished our hot dogs

we had m&ms 

on the blanket.

Kale also seemed to enjoy

this part.

 This next picture is the 

result of me and pinterest.

I made Kale some 

finger paint.

The finger paint sucked

but he enjoyed getting all messy.

For our final event,

my very good friend Brittany

sent Kale and Baby Girl

a package full of fun things.

She is the most thoughtful

person!!!!

I love her.

Anyway, among the gifts

was this really cool

bubble blower thingy

that Kale and I play with 

just about every day.

Here's one of those days.

And that's it!

The weather has taken a turn

for the beautiful the

past few days, 

and later today

(after Kale's nap!)

I might take some pictures of him.

Or maybe I'll take some 

later this week.

Who knows?

Quick baby update:

I've hit 29 weeks!

Crazytimes, I know.

She's doing great!

She is quite the mover,

just like her big brother was.

My tummy is quite

definitely a prego-looking one now.

Sorry I'm not sorry 

that I haven't posted any 

pictures of said tummy.

No, we don't have name

picked out.

Not even close.

Maybe we'll just be one of those

people who wait

until she's old enough

to pick her own name.

And until then we'll just call

her Baby Girl Patterson.

Problem solved.

Anywho, time to enjoy my 

down time!

A Day to Be Celebrated

Something happened today.

Something amazing.

Something that I never thought could 

make me so very happy.

And it's something that should be celebrated.

There are a lot of firsts for 

babies.

First smile.

First laugh.

First roll over.

First blowout poopy diaper.

It seems an age since Kale

had a "first".

But today, he had one.

An epic one.

Today, after 4 frustrating days of 

potty training,

Kale pooped in the toilet,

and none of it started in his

underwear.

Now, I am not stupid enough

to think that he will

forever poop in the toilet

and I will never wash

another pair of gross undies.

But this is a victory

nonetheless.

Is the potty training still super frustrating?

Absolutely.

Kale is doing this thing right 

now where he says he has to go potty

so I take him,

and he does nothing.

So we leave,

and then 30 seconds later,

very urgently,

says he has to go potty.

It has taken me 20 minutes to write

the above because of this

lovely little routine of his.

I think that if this was my life ever

day for eternity - 

in the middle of writing the previous sentence,

Kale pooped his pants.

Well, 

that was short-lived.

It was my fault.

He told me, 

for the 7th time,

that he had to go potty.

But I was writing this thrilling stuff

and was annoyed that 

he was only gonna sit there

for a few seconds and hop 

right back off.

I had time.

So, he started pooping.

Boy, did he show me.

And now, he hasn't said 

he has to go potty again.

Guess I'm learning

as much as he is.

I refuse to lose my optimism.

Otherwise, I'll give up and 

put him back in diapers until he's 

in Kindergarten.

So, to end on a happy note,

take a look at the 

pictures we took to celebrate his

earlier poop in the toilet.

Kale's poop coincided with 

the filling up of his

sticker potty chart.

So, he got one of his big prizes

which was this shirt:

 You don't want to be 

in the way when

his laser goes off.

And his reward for pooping

in the toilet was

ice cream.

Which he loved.

And wanted more.

 

 

He was just as excited to take

pictures as he was

to eat the ice cream.

This is his "cheese" face:

 

All in all,

it's been a good day.

It's all new to me

and I am finding just how

very impatient and selfish 

I really am.

I love Kale more than anything.

But I will love him more

than infinity when 

he's completely 

potty trained.

Christmas in Utah and Also January and February....

Well, now that February is almost over,

I thought some pictures

from our Christmas vacation might 

be an appropriate blog post.

I've been postponing because I wanted

to get the pictures Tyler took 

on his phone on here,

but it's a big pain to do that

and I'm in super lazy mode due to the

new 24/7 job I have of growing

a human being.

No biggie.

Anyway, here are the pictures:

First up is Kale enjoying bath time

with his two adorable cousins,

Sadie and Allie.

I seriously think that Allie looks like she could 

be Kale's sister.

 

Nana and Grandpa Gerber got Kale

a little Tablet for Christmas

(which he calls his Kindle).

He LOVES it and was really good

about sharing it with Sadie.

Had to snatch a picture of how 

cute Allie is.

We had Kale open up a present

on Christmas Eve while we 

were at Grandma Pam's house.

Cousin Addy and Aunt Laura

were happy to cheer when he FINALLY

got all the wrapping paper off.

And then Kolby and Addy proceeded

to attack their Uncle Tyler.

Playing Name Ten Candy Bars.

Classic. Uncle. Move.

Kale's new pajamas!

and a flashlight...

 

Christmas morning was at 

Grandpa Pat's house.

Grandpa Pat spoiled Kale.

And Tyler.

And Me.

What a great grandpa!

Merry Christmas!

Grandma Pam had all the grandkids 

over for a little Christmas party

and they all got cute

little stuffed animals.

As a side note, Kale LOVES Josh.

So...that was Christmas!

Obviously a lot more happened

because we were there for 17 days.

Tyler and I celebrated our 4th Anniversary.

Shane and Rea watched Kale for us

while we went to dinner

at P.F. Changs with my brother Kyle and his

FIANCE Heather. 

(They weren't engaged at the time

but now they are.)

We got home in time to celebrate

Tyler's 27th birthday.

I made him Gyoza and I just took 

a picture because the table looked nice.

Go me.

So it took a while, but Ellensburg

finally got some snow.

Naturally, Kale and I went to play in it.

Kale is the WORST snowball 

fighter ever.

He is also the CUTEST snowball

fighter ever.

And like any other normal kid,

all he really wanted to do was

eat the snow....

Look how cute we are!

A few days later the snow was gone

and it was kinda nice out.

So we went out to ride

Kale's bike.

But Kale was more interested

in putting rocks and pinecones

in his "trunk."

And, of course, he remembered

his beloved game of sending

cars down the slide.

Monday was my mom's birthday!

And I made this little collage

and sent it to her on her

birthday, so it's not like I forgot.

Now, I'll share it here:

It recently snowed again here.

Kale and I went out and 

made a little snowman.

 

Look at those beautiful

blue eyes!!

 

A few weeks ago my friend

stopped by to get some 

swim diapers from me and so 

Kale got a little upset that we

weren't going swimming.

So....I put him in some underwear,

filled up the tub,

added some blue food coloring

to make it look like

the pool,

and gave him as many toys as he wanted.

He loved it.

 

I have recently discovered that

Facebook is magic.

There have been more than one

occasion where I have 

expressed my desire for a certain food,

and then someone brings it to me!

It's amazing.

My most recent experience produced this

incredible cake:

 

Seriously, I have the nicest

friends out here.

I don't know how I always

manage to be friends

with the best sorts

of people,

I won't complain!

Okay, we are all caught up 

on pictures!!

On a side note, 

the pregnancy is going great.

I'm starting to show

and Baby Girl is quite

the little mover.

No, we have not agreed on 

a name.

It is likely that won't happen until

after she is born.

We are excited to add her

to our little family!