911

It was last Wednesday night.  It was raining.  The boys were in bed.  I stayed up later than usual and got a late night shower.  Josh stayed up watching TV, and Kate and I went to sleep in her room around 11:30pm.  Ah, to go to bed clean feels so good.  Especially when you're in freshly cleaned sheets.  I drifted off to sleep listening to the rain coming down.  I love that sound.

At 1:05am, I am awakened by our door bell ringing.  Frantically.  "Ding, dong.  Ding, dong.  Ding dong ding dong ding dong ding don ding do ding do ding d ding d..."  Over and over and over.  I sit up in bed and grab my phone.  I call Josh, who I know is still downstairs.  He answers, and I say, "What is that?!?"  He says, suspiciously, "I don't know.... I'm in the bathroom."  I think there may have been a pause between us, both of us not knowing what to make of what we just heard.  Then, as he starts uttering the words, I hear it.  Josh says, "Marcie, someone is banging on the side porch door."  And I can hear it from Kate's room.  Boom, boom, boom boom boom boom boom.  My mind is absolutely racing at this point.  Who in the world is doing this, and what do they want?  Is someone hurt?  Are they being chased?  Do they want to hurt us?

Still on the phone with Josh, and by now he's made his way out of the bathroom and into the kitchen to try to figure out what was going on.  The next thing he says, in a voice that is full of fear (I can't even describe how he sounded, and later he told me that he was barely able to get the words out), he says, "Oh my God, Marcie.  Call 911."  He didn't shout it; he didn't say it quickly... it was rather slow and calm, but it sounded like he barely had the breath to speak.  Also, we are not ones to say, "Oh my God."  We are "Oh my gosh" people, you know?

Anyway, I jump out of bed so fast, hang up with him and call 911.  I remember standing next to Kate's crib before opening the door to leave her room, dialing 911 and thinking, 'What do I do?  Do I go downstairs?  Do I get the kids up and take them somewhere?'  But this is all happening in a split second, and before I even have time to process it, I'm headed down the stairs.  The dispatcher answers and asks what my emergency is.  I said, "I don't know, but I need someone at [our address]."  She said, "What is going on?"  I said, "I don't know yet, my husband just told me to call 911.  There's someone at our house.  I'm headed downstairs to find out what's going on."  As I get downstairs, I hear Josh talking to someone.  He's on the phone with 911 too.  The dispatcher asks me if it is regarding a female.  I said, "I don't know."  I hear Josh describing a someone with long dreads to the other dispatcher.  I tell her, "Yeah, it sounds like he's describing someone with long hair..."  She said, "Yeah, it's going to be regarding a female.  We've already gotten several calls about her tonight.  There's an officer in your area."  I tell her "Thank you" and hang up.  Josh is still on the phone, and my heart is starting to slow down.  Just a little, though.  I find myself peeking around the corner at the side porch door, even though I know they're gone.

He finally gets off the phone, and we see the patrol car pass by our house shining a spotlight on our house as he passes.  Josh tells me that when he walked into the den, he saw this woman at our side porch door, banging, screaming, begging for help.  She was black, skinny, had long dreads, and was drenched.  There's no porch light out there, and the lights in the den were off except for the TV and a lamp, so that was the only light illuminating her figure.  It was apparently fairly frightening.  It was when he saw her that he barely uttered those words to me, and he said he then slowly backed up into the kitchen and called 911 himself.

They wound up finding her in the street (it was still pouring down rain) in front of our neighbor's house.  There were two patrol cars there, and we stood on the front porch and watched them put her in one.  One of the officers came up to us and explained that she is a mental patient from a group home across the tracks.  He said, "She does this, and for some reason it's always when it rains.  She's not gonna harm anybody."  He apologized for the disturbance and was on his way.

A heck of a disturbance it was.  Wow.

Our doorbell has been rung a couple of times since then and it makes my heart skip a beat every time.  And every time Josh or I have re-told that story, we've gotten chills.  Visible goosebumps.  The first couple of nights after that, as I closed my eyes to go to sleep in Kate's room I could hear that doorbell ringing and the side porch door being banged on.  Josh has had similar issues.  He woke up to the sound of our doorbell ringing the other night and finally convinced himself that it was a dream.  A very mild case of PTSD, I suppose.  I feel so silly that we were so affected by this, since it was just a crazy lady and nothing came of it, but in the moment we had no idea that everything would be okay, you know?

Thankfully all the kids slept through the whole ordeal.  That's the last thing we would have wanted - them having nightmares and problems going to sleep after that.

I feel kind of bad that we turned our backs on her, with her begging for help like she was.  If you've ever watched the show "I Survived," you've probably heard some of the victims talk about running up to a house, banging on the door, begging for someone to help, and the people won't let them in.  Well, we just did that very thing!  But we did immediately call 911.  What if she was being chased?  Would we have invited that danger into our home with our three young children?  I don't think so.

Anyway, just thought I'd share our little fiasco with you. 

Cleanest Windows in Town

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Boys Will Be Boys

I went to use the bathroom yesterday and found this:

I really don't know who could have done such a thing, do you?

I found this guy on the couch and asked him about it.

I took him in there and said, "Did you make this mess?"  He said, "No."  (long pause)  "Me and Cannon did!"

Music-Filled Evening at the Gibson Household

Bennett's Big Boy Room

Well, it's been over a year that Bennett has been in his "big boy room," but it has only recently been completely finished and worthy of a showing (thank you, Tour of Homes, for getting our butts into gear).

So here's the transformation of our Georgia-themed office into Bennett's big boy room:

Life is Good

Just wanted to let everyone know what a pleasant day we all had. I feel like I've been all doom and gloom on here lately, so let me tell you about our good day.

It's kind of funny, because it didn't really look like it was going to turn out to be so peachy. Last night Bennett was up during the night with an upset stomach, so we had another restless night. We wound up keeping him out of Montessori today since he slept in and was still complaining about his belly when he woke up.

I had a doctor's appointment this morning that lasted way too long. How is it that you have to wait 50 minutes for an appointment that lasts 5? So frustrating. But everything looks great. I have been measuring pretty big at all my other appointments, but today she said I was right on target... but that I "have another big baby in there." Bennett was 8lbs 12oz, and she told me to prepare for another of the same. We'll see if this one doubles in size in 2 months like his big brother did. Tub-a-lub.

Anyway, I don't want to give a big detailed outline of our day. I just want everyone to know that we enjoyed each other's company very much today. Josh wound up working from home to help me out with whiny man with the stomach trouble, especially since my back was giving me fits today... worse than normal.

Bennett went back and forth between feeling good and wanting to play and climb on us and then feeling not-so-good and wanting to lie on my chest. We read lots of books, sang lots of songs, and this morning Bennett called everyone he knew and "talked" to them. This was a first. Josh called me as I was coming home from my appointment this morning and let Bennett talk to me some. Usually he just says, "Hey Mama!" "I wuh woo!" "Bye!" ... things like that. But this morning, he started in with all this mumbled 'talking'. It was like he was telling me this long story. He'd pause, and I'd say, "Really?" He'd say, "Mm Hmm!" and continue on with more. Then I'd say, "Are you serious?" And he'd say, "Mm Hmm!" and continue. I was laughing so hard! And I could hear Josh laughing on the other end. Neither of us had ever heard any of that before. So cute. So of course, we let him call Gigi and Pop, Poppa and Grandmama, and when Aunt Lauren called to talk to Josh, he told her a little story too. I loved it.

That's really all I've got. Nothing too exciting, but life is good. It's definitely got its hurdles (so many to come, I'm sure), but nothing we can't handle.

This is a First

Bennett never falls asleep anywhere besides in his bed or crib. He just keeps on going until you make him get in his bed, no matter how tired he is. It's even hard to get him to nap in the car - most kids love that. Not him.

This morning after breakfast, he got popped on the hand for not closing the cabinet door beneath the sink after I had asked him several times to do so. He got his feelings hurt and laid down in the floor, whining. I just continued to wash dishes, ignoring him.

The house was nice and quiet except for the light classical music we had playing in the living room. I was just finishing up washing the dishes from breakfast, and the kitchen was clean, nice-smelling, and relaxing because of the natural sunlight that was coming in through the door and windows. It was a nice morning.

Once Bennett stopped his whining, I guess he thought it was rather comfortable down there under my feet. He laid there for the longest time, just staring off across the floor. I thought, 'Surely he's not about to fall asleep right there.'

I was wrong.

Winter Wonderhome

Have I ever told you how awesome my brother, Greg, is?

He lives next door to us now, but we didn't get to play with them in the snow yesterday because our "going outside to play" times were opposite each other's.

So, no cute 'Greg' pics of Bennett in the snow yesterday, but that doesn't mean we went without getting a great shot from him! He always delivers...




This is our home, all wintry and wonderful. I love it.

Several years ago, my great Aunt Dot (who lives across the street from us) had someone take a photograph of her house and make it look like a painting and then she made it into a Christmas card. I have always loved that and thought I would like to do the same one year.

Well, I think Greg just unknowingly took the shot! And it has been enhanced. Greg has a program that allows him to play with the lighting and colors (sorry Greg, I don't remember what it is called).

Anyway, I love this and thought I would share. Now, try to forget about it so that you'll be surprised at Christmas when you get the card. :)

Another Snow Day?

We usually only get one a year around these parts! I feel like this snow was prettier than the snow we got in January. But it is melting much faster this time. Last time it stuck around for over a week, but I feel like this snow will be gone by tomorrow.

Bennett was excited about it. And because we just had snow last month, he knew what it was when he looked out the window. "Noh!"

I asked Josh to take a belly picture of me in the snow.

He just stood there a second and I said, "Are you ready?" He said, "I already took two!" To which I responded, "Oh. Well do think maybe I could smile for one of them?"

Men.

Here's Josh showing how much we got. Between 3 1/2 and 4 inches.

One last run through the back yard before heading in to warm up and grab a snack.

Me and my boy.

Put Cheerios on the List

We had a little get-together last night for Josh's birthday. His birthday is actually today, but we had some friends over last night to celebrate it. Nothing big; just a few friends, some store bought appetizers (so unlike me, but hey- I'm pregnant and I had coupons), and of course, beer.

Anyway, I knew that mopping the floor would be a priority today. I didn't want to do it before the party, since you can count on a drink being spilled when you have folks drinking beer together for a long period of time.

So when Bennett went down for his nap this afternoon, I got right to it. I swept it well, mopped it, and then went over it again to rinse it. A friend of ours came over right as it had dried and he, unknowingly, tracked a couple of (wet) red berries in on his shoes. When he left I got a wet cloth and cleaned the spots the berries made on the floor and then swept the back steps to avoid any more being carried in on our shoes. Then I moved the rug, Bennett's table and chairs, and our barstools back into the kitchen. Ah... I love a clean floor.

I sat down to eat an orange (or three) and before I could even cut it open, Josh called and asked me to look in the freezer for something. As I opened the freezer door, it happened; all in slow motion. The large glass jar of cheerios that we keep on top of the refrigerator had been gradually scooting to the front of the fridge and was apparently resting on part of the freezer door when I opened it.

It came crashing down and before I even knew what was happening, glass and cheerios were EXPLODING onto my freshly cleaned floor.

It. Went. EVERYWHERE.

Do you ever have something happen to you and it just instantaneously makes you want to cry? Your chest might even heave a couple of times before you regain control of yourself and realize it's not something worth crying over? Yeah. That.

But, without tears, I got down on my hands and knees (well, as much as I could - there were tiny shards everywhere) and picked up the large pieces of glass and then got that broom back out and started again. And after a good 15 minutes, the floor was almost as clean as it was before.

Good Daddy

Josh and I are watching our niece, Elizabeth, today while Greg works. She and Bennett get along very well, for the most part.

We've had our muffins this morning and they're running around playing, so Josh and I are trying to get some stuff cleaned up. I'm washing dishes and here comes Josh with a huge cardboard box from the chest freezer he recently bought. He takes it into the living room and sets it in the floor. I think, 'Okay, he's taking it in there so he'll have plenty of room to break it down before taking it outside.' Well, he sets it down and then leaves the room. Inside I'm going, 'Grrrrrr........'

But then he returns... with a utility knife and packing tape. And he becomes the best daddy/uncle ever:

The Gibson Garden IV

You are way overdue for a garden update! I've meant to post things here and there, but just haven't gotten around to it. Since last time, things have changed quite a bit. We've had a near death experience, a revival, and a shift in health. Basically, when we left to go to the lake for July 4th, the garden looked like this:


When we got back, it looked like this:

A few weeks later and still no rain, it looked like this:

See the gaps where squash plants used to be? I thought they were all goners. Yes, I try to water as much as I can by hand, but that's not an easy task or a cheap one. I'll have to find some time to explain the water tank story. I don't feel like it right now. Suffice it to say that we no longer have our nifty little water tank that was supplied by our sump pumps. So if I water, I have to either use our water hose or haul 5 gallon buckets full of rain water and water each plant individually. I did the best I could, but without rain, it was hard to keep everything happy.

But, my lovely little plants hung in there and after a few welcome showers, they brigthened back up. Of course, we did have a few casualties, but we were able to continue our squash consumption without too much of an interruption.

The okra started coming in too, and now that's what we're eating all the time.

The jalapenos are doing well; we just don't have a whole lot of use for them. Anybody want some?

This is our broccoli! I'm surprised it actually bloomed. I don't really know why, I just kind of didn't expect it to. Now I can't decide when you're supposed to cut it and eat it. Probably about now (for the one on the right).

The cauliflower.... yeah. I think the bugs won that battle. And the weeds. I got kind of lazy in a few parts of the garden.

These are Josh's hops (for beer brewing). They are doing so, so well. We were told not to expect the plants to get taller than 6 feet in the first year (which this is) and definitely don't expect them to bloom in the first year. Um, well, they're about 12 feet tall (maybe taller) and are covered UP in blooms. It's pretty awesome.

"One of these things is not like the other ones, One of these things just doesn't belong... doo dee doo doo, doo doo dee doo dee doo..."

So, when the okra first started coming up, we noticed that one came up on the very edge of the garden, away from the rest. I figured a seed just blew over there in the wind, maybe a squirrel carried it over, I don't know. Anyway, we dug up the small plant and stuck it in with the rest of the okra. Looked just like the others. Well, as soon as it grew just a bit more, we began to realize that it was not quite the same. And it grew, and grew, and grew. Don't ask me why I didn't remove it immediately after realizing it wasn't okra. I guess I was just curious to see what it would turn into.

We thought it might be a sweetgum tree, because it has spiky green balls growing on the stem. Josh, Clay and Dustin looked it up last weekend while they were brewing, and confirmed that it is a Castor Bean. According to this website, it is one of the ten most toxic plants known to animals.

Shovel, please!

Lastly, I want to talk about my tomatoes. Remember how I was boasting about how many plants we had? I just thought we were going to be overrun with tomatoes and giving them away left and right.

Well, they never came, never came, never came. Finally, I started seeing the blooms and then tiny little green fruits starting to come. They stayed green and small for a loooong time. Then some of them turned red, but they were still quite small. I thought, man, I've got a bunch of duds! Well, I knew the plants weren't duds, but I thought because of where I placed them in the garden that I had made them duds.

Finally! They're here. And although some of them are lying on the ground due to weak cages that I got from behind "the green house" and a couple hard rains,

they're here! Now that's what I'm talking about! I picked these a few days ago, and the ones in the bucket yesterday morning. I walked out just a few minutes ago and there are more that are ready.

They're still not quite as nice as the tomatoes we had last year because the placement in the garden isn't ideal, but at least we've got some.

I've definitely taken some notes this year and will be ready next year and can hopefully improve the process.

A Boy's Best Friend

Routine

I'm sitting here in the kitchen looking over at Bennett on the opposite side of the back door saying, "Bye!" I think I already mentioned that he is really into closing doors lately. That phase is still going strong. He's still not once gotten his fingers caught, and now he can't leave a room without closing the door behind him. Sometimes we'll walk outside and I'll leave the door open intentionally (has this weather lately not been wonderful?!). He'll realize that it's open, let go of my hand, walk over and close the door. Then he takes my hand back and we're ready to go. What a responsible little man!

I had actually planned on telling you another cute story about him, but I couldn't sit here and write, hearing his little voice out there, and not mention it.

Last night, we ate dinner over at Grandpa's with Mama and Daddy. It was a true collaboration. Mama and Daddy grilled chicken and steamed some onions and broccoli on the grill. Josh and I roasted potatoes, sauteed some spinach, and grilled a few pineapple rings. It was tasty! Anyway, we ate outside under the "veranda" as Daddy so falsely glorifies it. It's a metal carport. But, it does have nice outdoor lights hanging from the top edge all the way around, a ceiling fan, and we have the grill and a table and chairs set up under there. Oh, and no car. And he's not really trying to falsely glorify it, he's just being funny. He's being him. And it's the closest thing to a veranda that we have, so there you go.

So, we were eating our supper while Bennett ran around playing in the dirt, motor oil, and spider webs. He wasn't actually playing in motor oil, don't worry, but there is plenty over there to dirty his little hands. So Daddy got the hose and some dish detergent and washed his hands off. Shortly after, I took Bennett up to bed. I usually wash his hands before he goes to bed. I'm not quite to the point that I'm giving him a bath every night, but I do at least wash his hands every night before bed. Well, I decided it wasn't necessary last night since Daddy had just hosed them off.

Bennett and I walked up the stairs (after closing the hall door behind us, of course) and when we reached the top, I went right and Bennett went left. Bennett's room is to the right, but the bathroom is to the left. I realized he wasn't headed my way about the time he realized I wasn't headed his, and we both turned and looked at each other. He was on his way to wash his hands, like we always do. Well of course, I joined him and we went into the bathroom to wash his hands. He held out his hand for me to help him up on the stool, and we cleaned those little digits again. He got down from the stool, walked down the hall, turned and went into his room, and climbed up into the rocker that we sit in to read a story each night.

You just don't realize how well they know their routine until you try to break it one time. It made me smile.

In The Dark

We went to the lake again this past weekend, and it was, again, wonderful. I don't know what it is about it this year, but it is just such a relaxing and wonderful experience for me. I think it's because number 1, I'm a mom and have a son that now adores the water (yay), and number 2, I have had a really stressful past couple of months (whole other blog post - but, you probably won't see one because it's a tad personal for me to share here). Anyway, I wish we could hop in the car every Friday afternoon and head down there. I love it.

We got back in yesterday afternoon, and after his bath and a fairly early supper, Bennett was in bed by 7:30. Josh asked me to help him bottle his latest batch of beer, so I did. We were still "lakified," as Josh calls it. But that was okay, because I knew I'd be able to get a shower and go to bed clean. While we bottled the beer, we talked about grilling hot dogs over at Grandpa's (next door). Our grill bit the dust this spring, so we use the one Daddy put next door. Well, it started raining. I told Josh I'd still go over there and grill a couple of dogs. Who cares if I get a little wet getting there?

Well, it got harder. And harder. And then the thunder and lightning start. I said to Josh, "Let's just both go over there and grill 'em. It's under the carport. Unless that metal carport gets struck, we'll be fine." Before Josh could agree or disagree with that suggestion (which I'm not sure I totally meant), the power flickered. Came back on. Flick-flickered. On again. Flicker flicker flicker, aaaaannnnddd... done. It was gone.

It's now 8:30 and it's dark and we're hungry and dirty. It's storming like crazy outside and we can't see anything in our house. We both go rummaging for some candles and start lighting them and placing them around the house. What are we going to do about supper? Josh had suggested boiling them, since we have a gas range, but I'd rather just eat potato chips than a boiled hot dog. They are soooo much better grilled. So Josh built a square base out of aluminum foil and placed a small metal cooling rack on top of one of our gas burners and, presto! We were grillin'! Woo hoo!


So we ate our hot dogs and we weren't hungry anymore, but we were still dirty. Even though I've always been told that it's dangerous to take a shower while it's storming (I still don't know if it truly is), try spending three days at the lake without taking a shower (did I mention this is a very rustic cabin?) and then come home and get in your own bed dirty. Um, no.

So, upstairs we go to light up the bathroom. We each took a candle-lit shower. It was actually very nice; I may try it again. Especially since it was in our.... drum roll please.... MASTER SHOWER!!! What?!? We actually used our master bathroom for something other than going to the bathroom in the middle of the night?


In case you don't know, which you probably don't unless you are my parents, Josh's parents, my brothers or Lauren, we have now lived in our house for 2 months shy of 5 years, and we had never used our master shower until last night. I don't really feel like getting into why because, quite frankly, I don't know exactly why. All I know is the tile got wet and I got clean!

After our showers, Josh and I got in bed and I melted his heart by inquiring about his brewing process. He could have talked about that all night. He would finish telling me something and say, "What else do you want to know?" "Do you have any more questions?" "Come on, ask me something else." He loved that I was interested in it. I usually am anyway, but I guess I caught him off guard, randomly asking about it while lying in bed.

The power came back on around 3:00 this morning, and after going downstairs to let Stewie out, Josh informed me that we didn't have to worry about that huge limb that's been hanging on the power line for so long.... because it was now resting on my car. Great. I decided to just go back to sleep and assess the damage in the morning. Thankfully, Josh wasn't able to see very well at 3am, and the limb ever so narrowly missed hitting my car at all. It was just leaning against the back of my car. One tiny little scratch was all that was there. The limb was probably about 8 or 10 feet long and about 7 inches in diameter. It could really have done some damage. What a relief!

All I could think about while getting back to sleep was, great. What's our deductible? How bad is it? What's this going to cost us? That, unfortunately, has been my mentality about everything lately, and one major reason for the tough last couple of months... grrr. BUT - I can put those thoughts to rest because we are in the clear.

So, we are rested from the weekend at the lake, happy to have a gas range, now utilizing all the rooms in our house, and thankful for the well positioned tree in our driveway. Okay, okay, it was the car that was well positioned. Tree sounds better.

We had a good weekend. And I love thunderstorms. :)

The Gibson Garden III

Wow, this is long overdue. Look at how far our garden has come since last time!


Everything is doing really well. This is 2 of the 5 broccoli plants we have. I'm not sure when to expect the actual broccoli bloom, but I'm looking out for it. Especially since Josh's parents warned me that as soon as it blooms, the bugs go crazy over it. Watch your back, buggos! That's my broccoli!


This is 2 of the 6 or 7 cauliflower plants we have. Very similar to the broccoli (duh).

This is the okra (3 of the 20 or so). It's been kind of slow, but Daddy said it's normal for it to be slower than the squash. So I'm just waiting patiently.

This is 1 of 2 jalapeno plants. The plants seem to be a little skimpy, but they are producing nice little jalapenos, so I'm not complaining!

Here are our 15 tomato plants. We actually have even more that aren't in the garden. They're growing away in some containers next to the house. And I noticed yesterday that one is coming up where my mint is this year. The tomatoes were in that spot last year, and there was this one tomato that fell and rotted, and I never got it up. When I was planting my mint, I saw that same tomato (I was quite surprised it was still there). I tossed it aside and forgot about it. Until yesterday. Apparently one of the dried up seeds made its way out of that year old rotted tomato and into the soil and now I have yet another tomato plant.

And, sadly, Mr. Squash is now indistinguishable. He's in there somewhere, with all his friends. Who (whom?) have all been loving themselves very much, because we've got squash like you wouldn't believe! I pick it every day. Every day. And I'm not talking a couple squash each day. I'm talking I have to go get a bucket because it's way more than an armload. Every. Day.

This is about a day's worth. Maybe a day and a half. So now you see why we eat squash every other night and then some for lunch too? It's crazy! And the great thing about it is I paid $1 for it. All of it. Enough squash for several families for $1. No one should be hungry.

The Tortoise and The..... Uninterested Boy

Josh called me from the driveway when he got home today.

"Is Bennett awake?"

"Yes..."

"Bring him out here, quick."

"Who's out there?" (I looked terrible. Truly.)

"It's not someone, it's something."


So I take him out there, and this is what we find:


I'm not sure why Josh felt the need to add the "quick" part. It's a turtle. And according to my nephew, the sound they make is "III'mmm sssoooooooo sssssllllooooowww."

Bennett, surprisingly, was not all that interested in him. He pretty much just looked at him,

smiled for the camera,


and walked off.

I really thought he'd be all about it. Like he was all about the gigantic (trust me, gigantic) earth worms Daddy uncovered in Grandpa's yard the other day. Bennett just immediately, with no hesitation at all, reached down and picked the worm up. He held that huge thing in between his two little fingers and watched it writhe around. It dropped to the ground, and he went right back for it again. So I was a little disappointed that he didn't make friends with the turtle. Turtle? Box Turtle? Tortoise? I don't know the difference.

Whatever he was, he was quite large. Josh wears a size 12 shoe, and this sucker was about that long. He made his way in between Josh's feet and then stayed there. We realized he was trying to get into the shade.


Josh put him in a box and took him a couple streets over to a lake. We figured his chances might be slim sticking around here. Too many cars runnin' around through here.

Why Not?

Why couldn't they make these things a couple feet shorter?

Hello? Perfect push toy?


Because those bright plastic balls just aren't getting the floor clean.

So Fresh and So Clean - Wait

When you walk in the room where your 18 month old has been playing and it smells surprisingly fresh, that's not usually a good thing.

I just gathered about 100 baby wipes from every corner of Bennett's room and put them back in the container.

He's really into closing doors lately. He has figured out that he can close them and enjoys doing so. No fingers damaged so far.

Well, sometimes when I am either on the computer or in our bedroom doing something else, I'll just let him stay in whichever room he has closed himself up in (except for the bathroom, because he's eaten about as much lotion and shampoo that I'd like for him to).

There's really nothing that can hurt him in his bedroom, our bedroom or the office. But there are plenty of things for him to get into. And today it was the baby wipes.

It really did smell so nice and fresh when I opened that door, and for a second I thought, "Wow, how nice to be greeted with that fresh, clean smell." Then I realized that his room is not typically so fresh smelling. Not that it's unfresh smelling (well maybe sometimes...), but you know what I mean. There were wipes everywhere. And there he sat in the middle of them with a huge grin on his face, so proud of what he had done.

Gotta love 'em.

When a Mr. Squash and a Mrs. Squash Love Each Other Very Much...

... or maybe it's just when Mr. Squash loves himself very much... - okay, getting weird.

My point is, we have a baby squash! Isn't it cute?!? It's only about an inch long right now.

We're very happy about the new addition to the Gibson fam- I mean -garden.