My boy is THREE today!

At the end of a week full of national tragedy and despair, we have much to be grateful for and a wonderful reason to celebrate. 
Our little boy is three today. 

He was born around 10am on April 19th, 2010. His birth was dreamy. It really was. Nothing like my first birth with Max. It was a c-section, but the procedure went smoothly and recovery was way better. I wanted him to be named Gabriel James, but Matt wanted him to be Gabriel Matthew. (Daddy won that battle.) We felt so happy, and Max was such a proud big brother. Our first months with him were quiet and sweet. Matt was home since he had been laid off, so I got plenty of rest and lots of one-on-one time with our newborn. Looking back, that was God's perfect timing, because life was about to get shaken.

The day after Gabriel turned five months old, my dad died suddenly. And then two months later I was pregnant (SURPRISE!!!!) again. So I feel like his babyhood flew by, and honestly, I don't remember a whole lot of his first year. I was weighed down with a debilitating grief, and the worries of having another baby so soon after. But he was loved. I know that. And he walked at nine months. I know that. And I also know that he was surrounded by family that made sure he was nurtured and loved, even when his mama didn't have much to give. God's grace covered that time period, and He has restored what the locusts have eaten, that's for sure. Our days that have followed that season have been rich with happy memories, abundant blessings, provision and restoration. Gabriel's a trooper. He fits in with this family.

My three-year-old

He loves tools, how things are built and the mechanics of how things work. He is fascinated by pipes and always asks what is in them, where they are going, if they are hot, etc. He loves cooking and dressing his dinner plate up with as much color and texture as possible. He doesn't ever eat it all, but we wouldn't be surprised if he was the one taking after his late boppa and his uncles Gil and David. All chefs. He loves to watch Pingu, Rescue Bots and Wreck It Ralph. If I let him paint more often or play with playdough more than once a month, those would probably be his favorite past times as well.  He is shy about dancing, but loves it.

He loves clothes. And changing his outfit every ten minutes. He is particular about what he wears, and insists that tags are cut out of everything. His favorite shoes are his cowboy boots. And he loves wearing "army pants" (which are either camo, or just khaki colored pants with lots of pockets.) His room is regularly littered with every item of clothing that he owns. He loves accessories... hats, sun glasses, gloves, backpacks, purses, wallets.

He is our responsible, wise, mature, sweet, sensitive, nurturing, strong-willed, dramatic boy. He feels things deeply, and his heart is tender. A lot of the time when he says sorry, he means it. He will even sometimes bring it up an hour later, saying again that he is really sorry. But, he is three, so a lot of the time he says in the sassiest voice possible (with arms aggressively crossed) that he is "THOOOOOO-RRY!" (with his thlight lithp) and turns right around and sticks his drooly tongue out. Stinker. He loves Jesus and loves to pray. His swear words consist of  "WOW MOM!" and "I don't LIKE you."

His best friends are Max, Eli, Marcus, Jakey, Sage and yesterday he added our neighbor Amy M. to the list.

Life is good with our Gabriel. Can't imagine my world 

with out him.

aw, isn't that just special?

turning 1!

Gabe was a big brother at 16 months.

this day I felt he needed a unibrow.

Right after we moved in to our house, Gabe turned 2.

I'll love you forever 

I'll like you for always 

as long as I'm living 

my baby you'll be.

Happy Birthday Gabey-yooooo.

Spring is here... somewhere, about to be burried under five feet of snow...

It's supposed to be spring (but instead we are experiencing a second winter...), and spring represents newness, a fresh start. Renewal. 

(Is renewal and newness the same? Where is my thesaurus? 

I dunno... I am just trying to tie in all of my two topics I want to share.... 

ugh never miiiiind.)

I never upload the pictures from my camera in a timely manor. In this day and age my Ipod touch gets all my shots, the Canon rarely gets any love. I read this article recently. Take a moment to read it. It's pretty much about how all the instagrams that we post are full of partial truths and glamorized moments. It's so true. But then why would I post a picture of the rowdy messy dinners, stacked dirty dishes or the shots of me with a double chin and dirty hair? I post only the awesome shots because that is what I want to remember. I want to remember the beautiful meal, and not necessarily the counters that I had to clean off after. I want to remember the sun peaking through the windows on the longest awful winter days, not the screaming kids dying of boredom and pissed that they can't empty out the dang tupperware cupboard again.

Which brings me to our Easter pictures. 

 I wanted the sweet family picture where we all SORT OF match. Where we are mostly smiling, where 

I don't have a double chin I have perfect hair and where Gabriel isn't picking his nose. Where Matt's eyes are open, and where Eli is looking in to the camera. (Max is never an issue. He is the photogenic one in the group.)

With that said, I now present to you,

The Hegstrom Family 

Easter Album

cute and happy all the time, Eli

Cute, moody all the time Gabriel

one sweet brotherly moment

no one ever takes mom's pic, so mom has to take her own pictures.

Gabe picked out his tie. I take no credit.

take one. nope.

take two. kinda. 

take three. mmm, sorta.

take four. close.

yeah, no.

And this these were the After shots... look at Gabriel's pants.

always happy and cheerful.

only shot with all the boys.

only shot of just max.

pirate face, it's classic.

(we were in the middle of painting , don't judge our two-toned cupboards)

And so there ya go. The good, the bad, the ugly. No glamorized edited photos here.

All jokes aside, Easter was great, it was a time to reflect on the resurrection of Jesus. A time to celebrate that our God is  alive. It was a beautiful day, bitter sweet. I missed my dad. Just a few days earlier would have been his 60th birthday. We spent the day with Matt's family. Got to reconnect with his dad Warren's side of the fam. I was in the middle of my whole30 reset, so I did not get to enjoy the cheesy potatoes, green bean casserole or delicious bars. 

But HEY! I completed my whole30 challenge yesterday. Today I got to re-introduce dairy. I ate two cheese sticks. It was great. In a few days I'll add back in gluten, legumes, and grains. I still plan to eat mostly paleo, with some dairy and a little sugar:) I want to do a whole blog post about my experience, but in a nut shell: over thirty days of eating only meat, veggies, fruit, seeds and nuts, and doing one hour Zumba classes at least three times a week, I lost over 15 lbs, I feel great, and I am ready to stay on track. Here are some before and after pics. Cant wait to post even more "afters" in the future.

before

after

Photo credit goes to my five year old, Maximo Joe.

Stay tuned for new posts about my whole30, house projects that are being completed, 

and whatever else pops in to my thoughts. 

Happy Spring everyone.