It has been a busy week and as usual, time has gotten away from me. Thanks for all of your birthday wishes and good health wishes. I did get over my cold, a little present from Josh, and had a very nice weekend. A couple of weeks ago I found that the weather either mirrored my mood of the evening, or induced it. I'm not sure which. If the weather affects our moods, then it could certainly add a layer of complexity to anyone living in Indiana. We've had it all in the past week or so, and maybe some arguement could be made that there is some similarity at home, but I don't think that is the reality. Thankfully. We still have our ups and downs, but it still seems that life just isn't quite as turbulent as we thought it would be. We have our routine, naturally it gets disrupted, then we find our way back to what works. Hmm...that is an interesting statement. Sounds familiar, isn't that one of the laws of physics? That was a long time ago, so forgive me if I can't put it all together.

Gabe attended his first little kids birhday party. We debated on whether or not it was a good idea and figured it probably wasn't. So Josh stayed home with Gabe and I took Justin and Kendrick to the swim party for a boy in Justin's kindergarten class. It was at the Y and when I got there, we discovered that it was an after hours party, so we were really the only ones there. The party wasn't an overly large party, so I called Josh and we finally decided that it might be ok. The weather wasn't too cold and by the time Josh got there with Gabe, the cake/presents portion was done and everyone was getting ready to swim. The whole family suited up and enjoyed some time in the pool. We recalled that when the older boys were this age and would go in the pool, they were not really fond of getting their faces in the water nor did they appreciate floating on their backs. Gabe had no problem with either of these. By the end of the party, he was leaning over and planting his own face in the water. I think we're in big trouble when he gets a little bigger and a little more capable of asserting his own independance. BIG trouble.

Sunday we celebrated my birthday with Pizza and cake (is there any better combo?) over at the Wittmer's and enjoyed the Super Bowl. What a great game! Nuff said.

As we have mentioned before, sometimes good things come from seemingly not-so-good things. Case in point, Gabe continues to do better and better drinking from the cup. It's still slightly thickened with extra formula for safety, and also for nutrition, until we get swallow study confirmation that it really is safe and also until he can take more volume throughout the day. He is averaging at least 10 ml and sometimes 15 per day from the cup! After his nasty bout with the stomach but, he was not very accepting of food textures and that has gradually improved as well. We reasserted the oral swiping, the brushing, and use of the mesh feeder. Everyone says these orally averse kids will like some crazy flavors, so we put it to the test. Did you ever give a baby a pickle just to see the hilarious face they make? What is wrong with us....? it is funny. Anyway, I put a chunk off a dill spear in his mesh feeder and he sucked it nearly dry. Tonight I scrambled myself an egg and saved the yolk for him, since it is safer for an 8 month old. I put the scrambled yolk in the feeder with some saltines (we like our scrambled eggs with crushed saltines and cheese - try it!) and he liked that too.

So another week has past and we're still here, figuring it out as we go. Finding our way back to what works...