Happy Mother's Day!...In the UK!!

I just wanted to say Happy Mother's Day! to my mother especially and of course to my mother-in-law and Caroline. I hope you each had a lovely Sunday of rest and relaxation.

We've had somewhat of a roller coaster ride in the last few weeks and we're at a low point on the ride where we can start planning that next renovation project. I now have a fully functional washer and dryer and have delighted in the simple activity of washing my own clothes! So the next thing will be to finish the back splash in the bathroom and the door frame in the living room (both pretty quick jobs) followed by a plan and demolition of the kitchen....oooh the fun awaits!

Anyway enough about the house, we've had visitors who are far more interesting. Last weekend we met baby Diana (apologies no pictures yet) for the first time and had a great night of fellowship with her parents Tim & Sujin and her Grandparents Steve and Patty. Gabe really enjoyed having everyone over so he could show off how loud he can be and how much mess he can make. He wasn't really sure what to make of Diana as she isn't big enough to compete for toys or noisy enough to distract him much. Hopefully Diana, Tim & Sujin will be back this weekend for a play date and DIY fun, so we'll see if he remembers her.

We just said goodbye to Dawn & Lynn who visited us this weekend. Dawn lives and works in a group home with adults who have special needs, so she has lots of great stories. Lynn also volunteers in the home so they both know the joy of spending time working with people. Dawn doesn't get much time off so when she does its good to get away from the house...unfortunately Gabe loved all the extra attention and insisted on shouting up a storm every morning to wake them up! We really enjoyed having them over and it was so nice to have weekend where the house didn't demand our undivided attention!

Gabe has learnt a couple of new words recently and we said we'd keep you up to date, so here are the newer ones:

Bath (pronounced Baff)
No (sounds more like neh)
Food (sign language)
Cookie (pronounced ce-ce..with a huge smile on his face! Today he mimicked the sign for it too)
Bobbin (he usually comes out with it at some point when singing and doing actions to "wind the bobbin up")

I believe this is Gabe doing the actions to "wind the bobbin up"

Usually when we're warming his milk for bed we count down the last ten seconds on the microwave and yesterday I was distracted so I didn't count. Gabe proceeded without me, using grunts and random vowels in exactly the same tone I usually count down in. He has also learnt to dance...I believe we can give Mack some credit for this new trick as I hear he dances around with Gabe at daycare. Ryan and I have had many a giggle as we watch Gabe get excited and stamp his little feet around in a circle or on the spot! He particularly likes it we join in with the stamping, dancing fun....I'm quietly glad we haven't filmed any of these silly moments!

I just had to add this photo because it is totally random,
1. Gabe has a sippy cup with him in the bath
2. Ryan is also in the bath - fully clothed may I add
3. Ryan is offering Gabe a refill with a jug of bath water
4. There is definitely no washing going on here

Can you see anything else wrong with this picture?