I am a bad blogger

Wow, I have not done this in a while, and a lot has happened!!!

On October 22, Thomas officially became a Dean! It was a really fun day. Gabe's Parents and my Dad and Tracy came as well as my brother and Gabe's aunt Betty! The judge was very sweet and this was his very first adoption. He came down from his podium and shook Gabe, Thomas and my hands! On Nov. 7th, Gabe's parents threw Thomas an adoption party! I think pretty much most of nampa attended. :) Both of our families, Gabe's motorcycle buddies and a lot of friends came to celebrate with us. It was a great party.

I went to a coupon class with Gabe's cousin Anneke, and have not been the same since! I now receive 5 sunday papers, and have trouble buying anything that is not on sale or that I do not have a coupon for. Our pantry is very stocked as well as our freezer! I don't think I have saved money yet, because I have been "stock piling" but I think we will start saving soon. Pretty much all I have to buy now is produce, and occassionaly meat (when it is on sale) Anneke and I have had tons of fun shopping and clipping coupons! Gabe is sort of getting into it, he is enjoying the more variety of food, and will enjoy it even more if he gets a bigger allowance. :)

Gabe and I are starting to look into getting on the list to adopt another baby! We want Thomas to have a close sibling, so we have started looking at A new beginning adoption agencey in Boise. We want to start early in case it takes a year or two. I still can't believe how blessed we are with Thomas. He is getting more and more personality every day. He has almost tackled crawling. He likes most to scoot towards the remote, my cell phone, or the lap top. To keep him away from my comptuer I got him an old keyboard from work that he loves to bang on! Thomas also loves to coupon with me. On Sunday mornings I give him all the papers I don't want and he has a ball rolling in them, throwing them, and eating them. When we go to the store, he sits in the shopping cart, smiles, and then hits my coupon binder the whole time we are shopping. He loves it! God is good and we cannot wait to see what else he is going to do in our lives!

More like my mom everyday

The older I get, the more I become like my mom. I never appreciated my mom's love of thrift stores and garage sales until recently. I am addicted to them now. I use to hate going with her when I was little, I wish I didn't! Another thing I have inherited is her moles....

My mom use to say when God created her, he meant to say make her very holy, but he messed up and said very moley! I have had a total of 6 moles removed because of all the cancer in our family.... I recently just got one removed that they just called and said it was pre-cancerous, so I have to go get more of the same area removed. I am at least glad to have some attributes of my mom no matter what they are.

Our happenings

Thomas is more active than ever! He is rolling all around the room, getting up on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth! He is five months old tomorrow, and I think he might be crawling soon! We gave him rice cereal for the first time a few days ago. After a few disgusted faces, he decided it was food, so he would eat it. We are going to try out some bananas tomorrow! Even though we are still a ways out from another baby, I am already starting to stress out about how and where we are going to get Thomas a sibling. We really want one close to Thomas's age, so we will probably start looking or something by his first birthday. I know I shouldn't be stressing, and that whatever baby God decides to give us will be perfect! I am still amazed at how he blessed us with our little Thomas. He is so perfect, and could not fit into our family any better.

This coming Saturday Gabe is going to Men at the Cross and I am going on a required field trip. I am a little annoyed that we have a field trip all day on a Saturday that is 5% of my geology grade. I am sure it will be interesting, but since Gabe is busy we have to find a baby sitter. Luckily Gabe's mom is great with watching him, and offered to watch him on Saturday! Also, tomorrow night, our cousin Anneke has started a small group from church for young married couples. We are hosting at our house, and I am looking forward to meeting other young married couples from the church.

House Sitting!

Gabe, Thomas and I are going to house sit for Gabe's parents next week! They live on a little farm and have cows and chickens that Gabe will have to take care of. They also have a WONDERFUL gourmet kitchen!!! Since I married a gourmet chef, we are going to have some fun. I am obsessed with the show on bravo, Top Chef. I love all the creative things the chefs make and all the different techniques of cooking. So far this is what we want to cook.

Potato Leek Soup w/ gnocchi
(gnocchi is kind of like a noodle made from potatoes, we have never tried it before)

Chicken Picatta w/ sun dried tomato risotto
( I have no idea what this is but Gabe is excited)

Chicken Sous Vide w/ Yukon gold garlic mashed potatoes
(this is a special way of cooking the chicken, kind of like poaching it in a vacuum sealed bag)

Kahlua Pork w/ rice
( Gabe usually makes huge portions of the pork for catering, but we are going to try smaller portions)

Peppercorn crusted steak w/ either potatoes or cous cous

We are very excited!!!

Obamacare

There was a facebook status floating around that got me all riled up... Here it is:

No one should die because they can't afford health care and no one should go broke because they get sick. If you agree, please post this as your status for the rest of the day.

This is what I posted as my status:

No one will die because they can't afford health care. There is medicaid and welfare RIGHT NOW. With health insurance, no one will go broke because they get sick. I do NOT agree with Obamacare. When I get cancer, I want to be able to go to the d...octor and get medical attention immedietly. I don't want to be put on a waiting list and wait to die.

I don't understand all the complaining about people not getting healthcare because they can't afford it. This is bull crap. If you can't afford it, you can get on medicaid, welfare and tons of other programs ALREADY out there. There are some stupid people, i.e. my brother, who had health insurance, but then was too lazy to pay the measly $40 a month. He is now wishing he did pay that money he could afford because he has about $15,000+ in medical bills from his motorcycle accident.

There are some people that abuse the medicaid system, but it works. For example, Thomas's birth mom was eligable for medicaid, so Thomas was delivered by c-section with no cost to her or us. I thought we would end up having to pay, but since he was technically under the birth mother's name, he was covered. Lucky for us!

Obamacare is crap. There is a reason Canadians come to the US for our health care! My chances of getting cancer at some point in my life are very high. So, when that time comes, I want to be able to have my OWN health insurance and get medical attention. I don't want Obama to put me on a waiting list. Also, this new health care basically screws over children and elderly. Has anyone seen Obama's polls? Listen to Fox news. They give the truth. They are not as bias as all the other stations!!!!!!!!!!!!

4 months!

Thomas is 4 months old today! I am LOVING this age! He is the sweetest little thing. He is laughing, smiling, jumping, standing (with help), rolling and chewing on everything! Gabe and I have so many nicknames for him it is ridiculous. Probably the one we call him the most is Mr. Moo. Then there is Mr. Magoo, Tom Tom, Tommy tippy cup and so on.... I am having so much fun with him as his personality progresses. We are so thankful

3 years ago today

3 years ago today my mom died. What a crazy three years this has been. I am happy she is in heaven, but wish she could have met Thomas. She would have loved him so much and been the best Grandma EVER.

Miracle

Tuesday was an interesting day. Gabe, me, Thomas and our friends Anneke, Justin and their baby Hudson were heading back from the cabin in McCall. I text my dad to ask him something about work, and he text back and said that my brother had been in a motorcycle accident. He said he thought he was okay, but we didn't know much. He had gotten in a wreck on the freeway. We were about to get on the freeway, but figurd it would be stop and go, so we turned around to find a quicker way home. I kept calling my dad and we still didn't know what was happening. We finally found out my brother was taken in ambulance to St. Al's. This freaked us out because we thought trauma only went to st. al's. We finally got home and I sped to the hospital. My brother was in the ER, but was doing good! He had a neck brace when I went in just for a precaution. OH! And another weird thing. As I was driving to the hospital, I was tailing this tow truck. I was getting so mad, and then I noticed what he was towing. MY BROTHER'S BIKE!!! How weird is that! His bike looked not bad, so I figured he wouldn't be too bad. Here is the story my brother told.

He was driving in stop and go traffic, and it started to pick up a bit. He saw the brake lights in front of him, but thought they weren't really stopping... so... he ran into the back of a pick up going 30mph. He flew through his windshield and landed in the back of the pick up, then rolled onto the pavement. He said he then jumped up and walked to the guy driving the truck, shook his hand and said sorry.

The God thing... first of all, my brother was NOT wearing a helmet. Second, the back of the pick up was full of pillows and blankets!!! The guy had just got done moving. Seriously! PILLOWS AND BLANKETS broke my brother's fall!

Michael was the talk of the ER. They all kept cracking jokes about him landing in pillows and blankets! Michael was in a surprisingly good mood despite the fact he had just been in a crash and received about 200 dollars in tickets. He got away from the entire crash with nothing more than a sprained thumb!!! No road rash, no nothing. God is good.

We are hoping this will be a wake up call for Michael as he did not have motorcycle insurance, a motorcycle license, or health insurance. His bike wasn't in bad shape, but he is looking at quite a bit of debt. We are SO thankful though that he is OKAY!

Farmville and obsession

Oh my goodness... I am obsessed. Our cousin Anneke told us about a game on facebook called famville. So now I am looking at the clock for when it is time to harvest my crops! Don't ask...

My best friend Courtnee and her husband Bryce are in town! They are here before they take off to South Korea to teach English for a year. I am so excited for them to start this awesome adventure! I think it will be so fun to just be on their own without any in-laws to get to have fun by theirselves!

Today was such a great day! The rain was such a blessing for Gabe, me and Thomas. We got to go do random stuff and just relax. Then tonight Gabe and I just laid in bed and had a long deep conversation! This hasn't happened much lately because we have a bouncing baby boy keeping us busy!

I think I may be an obsessive mother... I have called the nurse twice in the last week asking questions about Thomas. First, he projectile threw up for the first time, and I freaked out. When I got off the phone with the nurse, I felt like an idiot for even calling. Then today he had a temperature of 99.7. Again after getting off the phone with the nurse I felt like an idiot because they keep telling me all this is normal and not to freak out. I think I may have gotten this from my mom. I always remember her calling the nurse when we had a sideache, because she couldn't remember what side our appendix was on! I swear she probably called about 10 times in my childhood that I can remember, and she NEVER remembered what side it was on! haha. Good memories.

I'm going to graduate!!!

Horray Horray Horray!!! After 4 years and about 80 credits I am going to graduate with an associates degree! Sounds kinda ridiculous because I have been in school so long, but I have been off and on, part time/full time. I am just so happy to get a degree to keep my credits safe for when I want to go back for a real degree! Right now it is looking like I am going to have some horrible classes. I have to take a science and all the good ones are full so I am going to take Geology... The professor will probably teach us about how we evolved and all that other crap, but oh well. If I can get the teacher of the art history class to let me in on the full online class, I will have 2 online classes and only one class and one lab at the school! This would be so great so I wouldn't have to be away every evening from Gabe and Thomas! I am really hoping and praying this works out! I have kind of been feeling like a failure after everyone I know is getting real degrees, but I will be proud of my associates degree! YAY!

Fast Food and Photos

Today we took Thomas to JC Penny to get his 3 month pictures done. What an experience. He was happy as a clam all day and before we got there, and I swear the second she held up the camera he started to scream. He didn't want to sit in any of the positions she put him in, and it was not the greatest experience. We still got a few decent pictures because, let's face it, he's pretty darn cute.

I have always decided I have SO much respect for people who work in fast food and do the drive thru section. They have so many different tasks to do all at once! They take orders, take the money, hand the food, and somehow manage to great everyone. I think it is pretty incredible that they can remember who goes with what and who is paying what. Even though people don't think working in a fast food restaurant is hard, I don't think I could do the drive through! So hats off to anyone who has ever worked in fast food at the drive through station. I admire you.

Computers Computers Computers

I only work Tuesday and Thursday now that Thomas has set babysitters and I don't have to take him into work. It is so nice becauses I don't feel guilty about leaving him, and I don't feel guilty about not going into work. Now I have three days with him at home and two days at work! It is great! Since I only work two days a week, I have a lot to do in those two days. So, conveniently, my computer at work decided to have a heart attack on Thursday. Sadly, it died. So I am at work, stuck with no computer, so my dad and I head to staples to get a new one. This was all fun and good until I realized that I had to put everything back on my computer that was on the other one!!! AH! So that ended up taking the rest of the day, and I pretty much got nothing done. Good day.

Friday, Gabe, Thomas and I set out for Spokane to set up a new career school office for my dad. We have done this twice before in Coeur d'alene and Lewiston, so we are pros. We got to Spokane Friday night and headed to the new office on Saturday. After about 30 minutes of putting desks together, we realize it is getting a little warm. We started looking for the air conditioning switch. It said it was on, so we went to the breaker box and flipped some switches, still nothing. Long story short, we went and got a fan and let Thomas lay in front of it only in his diaper. By the end of the day our office had reached about 90 degrees. This made putting together 11 desks, 11 chairs, and 9 computers not very enjoyable. It was pretty funny though because we both ended the day in very little clothes because we were in the privacy of an office, and we were sweating to death! We thought if someone saw us what would they think! haha. We did some shopping and then went to sleep. Sunday morning we finished up at the office before it got too hot and started home. When we stopped for gas, Gabe and I were getting back on the freeway and I said, "Gabe, you are going the wrong way, we need to turn right." and he said, "No, I am driving." and he turned left. About an hour later he realized we were heading towards seattle! So, after a short fight and a lecture on how he should ALWAYS listen to his wife, we turned around and back tracked. We are finally home and done with the trip! It will be worth it for the paycheck but it sure wasn't that much fun! So, this week I had a bad reaction with anything dealing with computers!

Back again

I think it’s time to blog again. Our little family has been busy busy busy for the last month! We went on a vacation with my dad, Tracy and my brother to Utah, Nevada and Arizona. Everyone was on motorcycles but me… It was a long trip, but fun. Thomas was very good the first and last day, but in between he was just mad. He did not enjoy being in his car seat all day. After we got back from our trip, we went up to McCall with Gabe’s family. Some of Gabe’s Dutch cousins were in town, and all in all we had 23 people staying at the cabin! It was crowded but tons of fun! The more the merrier with Gabe’s family!
Our little chunky monkey is now about 13 pounds!!! He is in the 75th percentile with height and weight. I am glad he has 75th in both, it wouldn’t be as great if it was just weight! J He is getting happier by the day and is the light of our life!
Deep thought… It’s interesting how there are some people that you don’t have to love, you do, and others that you are suppose to love, you don’t. For example, relatives. I am very frustrated with some people on my Mom’s side of the family. We have hardly heard a peep from them since Gabe and I got married, but this wasn’t so surprising since we had hardly heard from them in my lifetime. Now that my mom isn’t here, we figured they would either try and stay in touch because she was gone, or lose touch completely. My mom’s mom, my Nana, but I call her Kay, is a little crazy. She was never really nice to my mom ever, and the more stories I hear about her, the more I dislike her. I do not know how my mom turned out as wonderful and Godly as she did. I sent all my mom’s side of the family a baby announcement when Thomas was born. I’ll admit, I did think this would raise a few eyebrows, and be a reason for them to contact me. The only person that did was my mom’s favorite aunt, which turned out really great because we got back in touch. Kay did something strange, she called my grandma (dad’s mom). She asked her what was this about me having a baby. My grandma talked to her a little bit, and then told her he was adopted. Kay simply said oh, they didn’t wait long enough. So, that made me mad, but then I figured I would hear from her. Nothin. I feel like I am suppose to love her because she is my relative and because God says to, but it is very difficult. I guess all I can do is pray for her.
This coming weekend Gabe, Tom Tom and I are headed to Spokane to set up one of my dad’s school locations. We are becoming professionals at putting computer desks together and getting the computers going. This will be the first time we have done this with Thomas, but it should be fun! The next weekend Gabe is going deep sea fishing with my dad, brother, and Tracy’s son Nate. I will be all by my lonesome with Thomas.

Tattooed

Today Gabe and I got tattoos!!! This was my third and Gabe's first. Gabe actually did it!!! I got mine first because I didn't think he would go through with it, but he actually did! Even little Thomas came with us. I felt a little trashy taking him in there with us, but it was a nice place, and he did good. We thought it was not natural for Gabe to be a biker and have no tattoos. Now he can be a real biker!

Gabe didn't even cry!

My tattoo

Shaving Gus Gus

Tonight was a wonderful night. I went on a walk with with Jennifer Wilkins and Megan Miller. Then I ran back home to eat a wonderful BBQ by Gabe. Then! Gabe had the brilliant idea to shave Gus Gus! I don't know if it is a pug thing for them to shed so much, but we just can't seem to keep his hair under control. So we got Gabe's razor and started hacking. Unfortunately we are not professional dog groomers and he ended up looking a little funny. In some spots he is nice and bald, and then in others he has big tufts of hair. Poor guy. Little Ruby left tonight to go on a trial run with my friend Tia from work. She had 3 kids and they are going to test her out for the week. We'll see how it works. Thomas was SO happy today. He loves to lay on his back on the floor and smile. He doesn't really smile at anything particular, he is just happy. Gabe and I are planning to get tattoos on Monday as a birthday present for me! This will be my third and Gabe's first. It will be intersting to see if Gabe actually goes through with it. He has a serious fear of needles and today he asked me if tattoos hurt.... Duh. Before I got my first tattoo the tattoo artist told me it feels like a cat licking you. Yeah, a cat with little knives on its tongue stabbing you over and over and over! Needles have never bothered me, so getting tattoos didn't either. I am afraid Gabe will be like Phoebe on friends and end up just getting one little dot because it hurt too bad! I can't wait, it will be hilarious. I am also turning 21 next Wednesday! FINALLY! I don't really care about drinking, but I love the idea that at least I will be legal to if I wanted to! Finally I will be able to buy wine or beer at wal mart for Gabe, just because I can. I am hoping this birthday will be good, but I don't think it will top my 18th birthday. On the week of my eighteenth birthday I went to the Price is Right with great friends, Bob touched my arm... Then I got back, and went to Portland with Gabe where I got my first tattoo and smoked a cigar! It was so much fun! Now I am going to go watch my adorable son sleeping away. Love him.

Gabe's Grandpa passed away

Today Gabe's 92 year old Grandpa passed away. Even if this is horrible I am so happy for him! Now he doesn't have so suffer and he can be with Jesus! He was a funny old man and now he doesn't have to suffer anymore. We are just praying for Gabe's Grandma because she is having a hard time losing her partner of 60 years. Now he can meet Gabe's Opa and my mom. I am excited to get to heaven and eat spaghetti and grapes with Jesus! That is what I picture! Probably one of the meanest things Gabe ever said to me is there is not food in heaven. I was so hurt! :) Food is my life, and that is what I imagine in heaven! I cannot wait to sit at Jesus's feet and share food with him. Even if there is no food in heaven, I am going to think that there is! When my mom died, people judged me big time on how I reacted. I was kind of happy for her too because she didn't have to suffer anymore and she got to go to heaven! I know that I will see her again someday, and even though it sucks she isn't here, at least I will see her again! I don't know how people without God can deal with huge things such as death or other tragedies. I am just taking life as it comes and realizing everything is God's will, and I can't do anything about it. Gabe and I can't have kids, so he gave us Thomas! That is pretty incredible. I guess all in all I am trying to say it's not the end of the world when somebody dies and goes to heaven, we'll see them again!!!

Garage Sales with a baby

There really is no garage saling with a baby. Gabe was busy cooking for a road rider event this morning, so I decided to take Thomas to garage sales with me. The problem is, even if I saw a garage sale worth getting out to look at, I didn't want to hassle with taking the car seat out, or taking him out of the car seat. I was too worried about upsetting Thomas! So, that was a bust. Gabe and I are considering giving away our girl pug Ruby. She is the cutest sweetest dog, but she is so hyper! She is good with toddlers, but won't be able to be around Thomas for a couple years at least. Gus Gus is just fat and lazy, so he is fine with Thomas. Whenever they are together he just licks Thomas's head. If anyone is interested in giving her a wonderful home, please let me know. She does not like to be alone, so she would need another doggy friend. Gabe is cooking his delicious pork right now. Unfortunately it makes our house smell HORRIBLE! It's crazy how something so good could smell so bad!

Ruby is on the right.

Really?

Today I had Thomas in a very cute all boy outfit. He was in blue camo shorts and a blue shirt. So, he and I are at work, and this lady comes up and says, "OH! What a cute baby! Is it a boy or girl?" Really? Really? I looked at her and said boy. What self respecting parent would dress a GIRL in blue camo shorts and a blue shirt. I was annoyed. I mean, he does have some outifts where if you didn't know they could go either way, but this was not one of them. Also, Thomas ate 10 ounces within a 4 hour period. I'm afraid he is taking after his Daddy!

I guess I will blog

I have always heard of blogging, but wasn't interested enough to do it. So, after reading my friend Samantha Gross's blog, here I am. Gabe and I got married on December 9, 2006! Gabe is a trained chef and also works for his dad in excavation. I work for my dad part time as an administrative assistant at his career school. Our baby boy Thomas Gabriel Dean was born on April 27th! He is the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to us! He is the strongest baby I have ever known and I am sure will grow up to be a famous football player... we'll see! We found out we most likely would not be able to have children in October 2008. We decided we would wait a while since I was only 20. In December God decided he had a different plan. We got a call from a friend that they knew someone who was looking to put her baby up for adoption. Long story short, God decided that baby was our baby! I still cannot believe how perfect everything has worked out. We are so blessed. Our little precious gift Thomas Gabriel is growing bigger and stronger everyday! He is starting to smile a ton, and smiles the most when I am changing him. I think he loves being naked... typical man. Since Thomas has been born I have only been working 2 or 3 days a week. I need to find something exciting to do with Thomas during the day because we are going crazy! Both he and I get bored sitting at home watching TV all day. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions please let me know! Gabe is finally healing after stepping on a concrete wire at work. He got all sorts of infected and could not walk at all. He finally got the okay from the doctor to go back to work today! Yay! Gabe still loves his motorcycle and loves being a part of Road Riders for Jesus. This weekend he is cooking for a big event for the Christian Children's Ranch. He is cooking his famous Kahlua pork. Yum! Gabe and I are absolutely loving being parents. God blessed us with the most precious perfect baby. He is now sleeping in his crib, and is either sleeping through the night, or only waking up one or two times. God is so good. I guess I will see if I keep up this blogging thing!