Introducing Cooper Johnson Michael

Hi this is Rachel Kirkley, Gabe's sister, and I just wanted to share the exciting news with you. Baby Cooper has arrived!!!

Gabe and Mandy assured me that they would log on soon and post pictures and stories but for now I thought you would want the stats.

Cooper Johnson Michael was born at 6:12 pm on October 22, 2008. He weighed in at 6lbs, 15oz and measured 20 inches long. Mom and baby are doing great and Dad is very proud. Auntie Rach is in love with her nephew and thinks he is fabulous... from the dark black hair on top of his sweet little head down to his size huge little toes... he is absolutely a miracle. Praise God for this little one. :)

tick...tock...tick...tock

Hello. This is Gabe and this is the sound inside my head (please refer to the title of this entry). The closer we get to the "due date" the longer it takes. This reminds me of the first time I went to Disneyland...each day seems like a week. I'm sure for Mandy it seems like a month. Anyway...Mandy is hanging in there. I am impressed with her patience and discomfort tolerance. She's tough! Cooper will have a great role model...he will not be a complainer. Mandy now is officially on maternity leave and she is keeping busy with small projects and rest. Lately, we have been around many babies. In September: Brandon and Nicole had a little girl named Ella, Wade and Heather gave birth to Devan, and our nephew Jackson turned one. Lots of little voices, diaper changes, screaming, laughing, and holding. I equate all these experiences to hitting a bucket of balls before tee time. Practice. "Practice!-Allen Iverson

Oh, speaking of sports. If the six degrees of seperation theory is true, then can someone please pass a few comments on to Al Davis. (1) Just Retire BABY! (2) Please review a new Commitment to a new wardrobe, comb, and lotion.

See Ya!

belly pics

since i haven't been able to upload any pics lately, you can all check out my belly at eikonphotography.blogspot.com. gabe and i had some maternity pics done and stella, the very talented photographer, put a few up on her blog. they were just done a week ago too, so they are quite recent.

35 1/2 weeks

yep...that's right! can't hardly believe it myself. the crazy thing is that according to our ultrasounds, cooper is due one month from today!
last week was a little rough. for the first time in 8 1/2 months, i was ready to be done. these last couple of days have been better though. let me just fill you in on a few crazy things:
* forget about sleeping through the night. in fact, forget about sleeping for more than a 3 hour stretch! i am so happy when i get up to rotate and it's been more than an hour!
* you think that you pee a lot early on...hah! that's nothing compared to what your bladder starts going through this late. i think he might be using mine as a punching bag.
* i've gotten VERY familiar with every public restroom in every store in what seems like the entire sacramento area.
* you can no longer be picky when selecting a restroom or you will have a mess to clean up...not a pretty sight!
* if you were regular before pregnancy and had no idea what it felt like to not go to the bathroom for numerous days on end...get pregnant. you will learn that you had it so good at one time (and you will wonder if it will ever go back to normal).
* to find yourself crying because your husband asks you a perfectly normal question, but you don't like the tone of his voice...normal! scary, but normal.
* up until this last month, i was doing pretty well with the number of pillows that i slept with. not anymore...there are now 4 on my side. 3 to prop me up and keep me on my side and one between my legs. i can't tell you how glad i am that we got a california king bed...there would have been no room for gabe!
* i thought i was tired in the first trimester; well that is nothing compared to what i feel now (and i am sure, what i will feel in the near future).
* i officially have a difficult time standing up and putting pants on. and i am not sure that i could put tennis shoes on. i think gabe would have to tie them for me ;)
all of these things and i wouldn't trade it for the world! it is a pretty amazing experience to grow a person. and i really have been pretty lucky.

the peanut shell

so, this contraption is called the peanut shell. i got it at my shower and am really excited to use it. it should come in handy when i need both hands and still have him close to me. so, coco and i decided to try it out while i was doing laundry one night. as you can see...she loved it!

32 weeks & a baby shower to boot!

i had my first baby shower on the 24th of august and it was great! my sister and denise threw it for me and it was beautiful. so many cute decorations and clever baby games...and great food! i had a great time and got so much great stuff! who knew you needed all of this for one little tiny person. it was so exciting to take it all home and start putting it away. he will be all ready when he decides to head south and make his appearance into the world.

i will post more pics of the event when i get them off of my sisters camera.

Dairy Queen Madness

one of my first real cravings hit a couple of weeks ago...a dairy queen blizzard. and for those of you who know me, this is pretty big. i don't like ice cream and not a big fan of chocolate, but this particular night i had to have a butterfinger blizzard. we were over at the leonelli's and she usually has some sort of candy around and was hoping that was going to satisfy the craving. however, she didn't have any, so i made the suggestion we find the closest dairy queen. thankfully, she was in and of we went. little did we realize, until we were there, that this was a pretty stereotypical scene...2 pregnant ladies in line at the d.q. and it's not like this was a drive thru...it was an old drive in style. so, we had a cute little man take a picture of us! and the blizzard was worth the drive and the comments from the crowd.