Tubing!

Today I didn't have to work so we decided to take Gage out for his first time tubing! Although it didn't scare him or make him mad or anything, I don't think it was his favorite thing. Like Derek said, probably next year will be better!

"This isn't too bad, I just don't get why I am stuffed into all of these clothes!"

Stacking!

Gage is so into stacking lately, and I love watching him do it! He concentrates so hard, then gets so excited after! Here are just some cute shots of him stacking... whatever he can find!

YAY! I did it!!

I'm Bad! I'm Bad! You know it!

First of all, I love the fact that Gage and Derek were rocking out to Michael Jackson while I was gone, so cute! Gage loves dancing to music. Whenever he hears it, he will just drop whatever he is doing to rock out! Here is a little video of him getting his groove on with his walker!
(sidenote: please excuse the messy house, we had just gotten back from vacation!)

Christmas!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! I know I'm a little late on the post, we just got back in town yesterday so I've been busy! We had a great holiday. Christmas Eve, after I got off work, we went and had Christmas with Derek's family. Then we headed to our Christmas party with my extended family. Lots of food, family, and fun! We spent all of Christmas day at my parents house.

"Check out this awesome book!!" Gage thought it was pretty awesome!

Opening his "deer" from Uncle Kody and Aunt Cherri! He was kind-of confused because he is used to seeing deer on the wall, not where he could play with them! But he warmed up to it pretty quick!

Yay! Check out my new airplane! He loves being pushed around on the airplane while he makes the music play and the propellers spin. When they stop he will put his feet down to stop it so he can get the music started back up again!
We had such a great Christmas holiday, we hope your family did as well!!

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San Carlos - Mexico

The day after Christmas, Derek and I went to Mexico with Derek's family. We stayed for almost a week, and my parents watched Gage for us. It was so hard to not see him! We "skyped" with him a few times but we decided that made things harder on him. It was really nice to have a long relaxing vacation with Derek though, we really enjoyed having that time together.

Deep Sea Fishing

The dolphins swam along with the boat with us. They were so playful and would whistle back to us when we would whistle!

Out snorkeling! Check out that body suit! :) I didn't even care, it kept me so warm!

Kisses to the "starfish of death!" Really though, check it out! Kinda scary looking, huh!!
We got to go up to the lookout over the ocean, had campfires on the beach, went kayaking out to "honeymoon island", lots of walks down the beach, and of course watching the sunset on the beach with my hubby and fresh chips and salsa!

Look What I Can Do!

We have worked on hand-over-hand spoon feeding a handful of times, but Gage wasn't a big fan, so I didn't worry about it much. Then today, I decided to hand over the reigns completely and he took right to it! YAY! Yes, it was messy, but he enjoyed it!

Happy Heart Day!

Happy Heart Day to Gage!!

It was one year ago today, the dreaded yet much anticipated day, when Gage went in for his open-heart surgery. I took these pictures yesterday remembering the 'santa baby' pictures I took right before his surgery and it is so crazy to see how much he has grown! He is my little toddler now and I can't believe it! I had looked forward to today for quite some time, telling people his "heart day" was coming up, and looking forward to celebrating it! And then tonight my mom text me and asked me how his "heart day" went and I thought DUH! Spaced it! Oh well, we played lots and lots of games today and I didn't have to work so we got to spend all day together, so it was great anyway! I am so thankful his heart is all patched up, what an amazing thing to be blessed with. I love this little toad with all my heart, I'm so lucky to be his mommy!!

Buddy Walk - 2009

This past weekend, we went to our first Buddy Walk! It was a lot of fun to see what it was all about and we had a great turn out! I have been serving as a board member for SUDSA (Southern Utah Down Syndrome Association) so I was excited to see it all come together and be so much fun!

Gage posing with the Road Runner's mascot! He was so confused about the huge bird following him around!

Home Depot came and provided kits for the kids to make different things out of wood, everyone was having a blast! Derek and his sisters were making different things so I was taking a picture, so the bird thought he would join in!

Here is some of "Gage's Gang"! My little brother made us some awesome shirts, I loved them!

On the right is my cute SIL Staci, and these are the girls she lives with. (I work with Staci and all of these girls except one!) They all came to walk with us! Here they are in a picture with Lane. Lane and his wife both have Ds and are celebrating their 16th wedding anniversary this week! They are so stinkin' cute together. Lane has been driving for 28 years now, how awesome!!

Beginning the walk!

Gage was all ready to go, and having fun with everything going on!

But then just walking while snuggling got pretty comfy so he zonked out!

More of the "gang"!
Gramma Jill, Derek, Kasi, Tiff, Lola, Lolo, Papa Jo

Gage and his best buddy, Justin.
Justin came with his mommy, Grandma, and some of his cousins, too! All to support Gage, how blessed we are!

Thank you so much, everyone that came and supported us on Saturday, and for the past year and a half! We are so lucky to have so many people there for us, we love you all so much!


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Gage has been doing really well with his arm. Derek took him to get his permanent cast yesterday and they decided that where his break is, it should heal just as well with a splint thing, so at least we can take it off for baths and things! Gage acts like he really likes the new splint, he is really comfortable in it and doesn't act like he is in pain anymore!
I was sure that having a broken arm was going to slow Gage down, but I sure was wrong! For the first few days, I was sad because I missed watching Gage move around and honestly, I missed all the messes he makes! Not the actual mess, I just love watching his curiosity and watching him explore everything! But luckily he is back to his old self, tearing up the house and everything! I can tell he loves being able to get around again. He still loves to stand up to anything and everything, so I get nervous he is going to hurt his arm or something! But I can tell he knows his limits with it, so I just have to let him do his thing. Thanks so much for all your well wishes, he is doing great, and I think he is going to heal quickly!

These pictures just melt my heart. Can you tell how much Gage adores his Papa Joe?
LOTS!
And he loves hanging out in the den and looking at the deer and other animals. He says "deer" over and over as he points toward the den, and then just LIGHTS UP when you go in there!

So do you notice what is different in these pictures? I'm sure you did! Yes, that is a temporary cast on Gage's arm, waiting for the permanent one coming on Monday once the swelling goes down. He broke his arm... in 2 places.
Gage turns 1 1/2 in a month, so apparently having his tongue clipped, 2 spinal taps, open-heart surgery, tonsils and adnoids removed just wasn't enough all slammed into 17 months, so he went ahead and broke his arm as well! Oh this boy, good thing he is a little angel to take care of with such a sweet personality! It is so sad to see him with a cast on.

I love...

how practically every drawer I open, I find another toy stashed inside! Maybe it's a sign that Gage will be really good at cleaning up after himself! ;)

piCtUrES!!

I FINALLY figured out how to get pictures up on the blog! I'm so excited! For some reason, it just isn't the same when I can't post cute little pictures with my posts!
With Gage's physical therapy, he has gotten down cruising along the furniture. So now we are working on standing up to flat surfaces and standing solo in the middle of the room. He will stand for a few seconds on his own, but we are working on tummy muscles to help with his balance! He also has his own miniature "old person" walker. I'm going to have to post pictures of him using it, it is so funny! This picture is of Gage practicing standing up to a flat surface while doing something else with one hand. I started off with shaving cream, but as you can see, it ended up in his mouth so I changed to whipping cream!

I got this idea of using the paper from Joel's mom, Heidi. I told you I was going to have to try it someday, Heidi! I remember thinking it was a great idea because Gage has such a love for all things paper! :)

And just a little update of some of the pictures I have been wanting to post... Halloween. Gage was a cute little caterpillar. Here he is fueling up on his pretzels for a night of trick-or-treating! My parents were so sweet to keep Gage for the night on Halloween. We had a fun party at the cabin with a bunch of friends.

Hanging out with Lolo and Lola!

Waiting for more trick-or-treaters!

Gage just LOVES his kitty. He kept climbing across the couch to get to her, and then would just snuggle on her. Look how happy he is!