Macy's 9 month photo shoot.

So, the reason you're getting all these posts at once is three-fold.

1. I feel like blogging for the first time in awhile!

2. Gabe isn't sleeping in the bedroom where our computer is at.

3. The guilt has caught up with me!

Macy is doing wonderful. Totally standing now, holding onto things at waist level and playing like crazy with anything and everything. She is into ALL my stuff. Cords, cookbooks, drawers, shoes, paper, tags, anything she can get her little hands on, she's into it and in destructor mode. It's funny when it's other babies. My baby? Not so funny. I've completely "Macy Proofed" a room downstairs, actually blocking a bookcase with her pack and play so she can't open the drawers and squish her fingers. She is a very happy girl and mostly loves, dogs, kids and my Dad, her Grandpa Ken and her babysitter Anna. Those are her favorite things.

Gabe is still working every night of this start-up. It is getting really tough on all of us. I think today is #5 of at least 14, and he did 11 straight before having Saturday off to go to the Husky game. Sounds like they will be on this schedule until at least the end of the month so we still have a looooong way to go. It stinks to work so much, but when you're not thinking straight the littlest things can throw you off. A couple examples just from this week that mess with our rhythm: Getting the cat spayed, getting Gabe's car fixed/tune-up which meant me having to run him to his carpool friend 3 days in a row, and a few days later getting a flat tire on that same car, a fridge shelf broke and all the soy sauce, and other condiments crashed onto Gabe's foot... You know! Just life stuff that when you're tired seems insurmountable! It's frustrating for me, because I can't prevent any of that stuff from happening, but it directly affects me when it screws up Gabe's schedule and makes his life harder... Gabe's life harder=my life harder. That's just the way marriage goes.

I am doing so-so on the diet bandwagon, great on the walking. I've walked Barkley Hill twice last week with the stroller which got a sweat going for sure! I went to an awesome "Women's Unplugged" event at church Tuesday night, which I loved and really look forward to going back to that. All in all, we're hanging in there!

To spay or not to spay?

I got Gabe a new kitty on Father's Day and we realized she was a girl after a few weeks went by. :) I am a big believer in preventing more little kitties from being born, so it's been on my list for ages to get Tilda to the vet. When I finally called the place we took our other cats, they told me it was going to cost $200.00 between the exam, shots, and spay. I wish I could capitalize $200.00 folks. This is a cat we're talking about. Anyway.

I called the Alternative Humaine Society after Gabe reminded me they give out vouchers and got one of those secured. Then the lady told me to look up "WeSnip" (a mobile neutering bus) and take our cat there since they are at a MUCH reduced cost. I did some checking and sure enough, they were going to be in the Hardware Sales parking lot this week.

Gabe is still on nights and he got home Tuesday morning at 7AM, as usual and I left Macy with him after we wrangled our near-wild kitty into the carrier and took her, screeching across town...just in time to hear that the stinking van was full for the day and realized I would have to be there by 6:30AM the next morning to get our cat a spot.

So, Wednesday morning went a little different. I got up at 5:30AM, went downstairs, got the cat, tried everything I could to shove her into the carrier and just when I got her 3 feet wide body (it seemed) IN, and had the door ALMOST shut, she bolted out, like lightning, or a bottle rocket and in one leap came out of the carrier, straight into the air and leapt behind the freezer in the garage. Right about then Macy woke up on the monitor downstairs and I'm shaking and have adrenaline running through my heart to my fingertips and realize it's now or never and I have to get this dang cat into the carrier and Macy fed before I can truck them both to the mobile van.

I pray, make one more try to get the cat, succeed, (it was a miracle for sure) and this time have the door half shut on her before she's even all the way in. She's biting the cage, hissing at me, generally freaking out and I'm talking her down, shaking worse than I was in labor saying, "This isn't my job!!!!!!!!!!" I did it, though, and after washing my hands, ran up, got Macy, fed her, and we were out the door on the road at 6:10AM.

Minor problem, it was 44 degrees out, and I was in flip flops and once we got there had to stand in line for an HOUR before they registered my stinking cat. An hour. Macy sort of snoozed in the car while Tilda calmed down finally and then we waited all together in the car until 7:45AM when they started boarding all the dogs first.

Thank goodness Macy loves animals so much. She was a trooper staying in the car all that time and loved watching the people and the dogs. I let her "drive" and she got to stand in the driver's seat. We didn't get home until 8:45AM only to hear Tilda not only got spayed, but also treated for fleas, and tapeworm. YUCK!!!!! She is only an outside cat, so that makes sense, but I don't think Macy will be playing with her anytime soon. Poor thing is traumatized and has to stay in the garage for 3 days but at least it's over.

All that work really was worth it, though. For everything, it only cost us $25.00. And my sanity. :)
It was still dark most of the morning, I had the lights on so we could people watch!
Highly recommend this place if you have any "fixing" to do! Just be prepared to wait...

Macy and some animals.

Sundays we usually spend at my parent's house after church. It's kind of an open invitation and we enjoy hanging out after eating a delicious lunch and visiting. Must be the Dutch side of me, but I believe Sundays are for church, resting and family. :) Add a walk or something fun and that fits, too!

This Sunday we realized Macy even adores DEAD animals. We all tease my Dad, the hunter, that he is down to one small room in the house that is "his" that he can put all his dead animals. We call it "The Den" and it may be Macy's new favorite room at Mimi and Grandpa's house.
Dad let her touch the horns on his newest Dahl Sheep.
And, the horns on his old one, too.

Mimi and Macy. :)
This is the exact face we see every time Macy sees an animal. She ADORES Brodie. Also Bailey, Gabe's parent's dog, and Hurley, my friend Jamie's dog too. Actually, any dog Macy has ever seen she pretty much falls in love with and lets out squeals, shrieks, giggles and coos until we take the dog, or her, away. It's pretty darling and I think I captured some of it in these pics.

She's UP!

This week, while Gabe was watching Macy downstairs for a minute while I was upstairs, I heard him yell, "MOLLY! Get down here you gotta see this!" So, I hustled down the stairs in time to see... Macy, standing up by the fireplace. I about had a heart attack. All I could think was- SHE IS GOING TO FALL AND CRACK HER FACE OPEN!!!! But, she gracefully slid down onto her rump and smiled like she was the coolest girl in town.

The next day I tried to get it on film and she just wouldn't do it when the camera was on her! These pictures in the brown show the progression, though. She starts on her tummy...
Sometimes takes a moment to pose...
Then gets up to her knees and leans in to wave at herself in the refection before going up on her tip toes to actually standing there alone.

These next pictures were from day 3 of the standing girl and she finally did it for me!!!

After she was tired from standing, she literally crawled into this basket and got majorly stuck.

Tuesday Update

I've been pretty behind on blogging lately and finally have some down time to sit, type and ponder. :) We are doing pretty good in the Gustafson house-hold.

My 5 week weigh-in (a whole WEEK ago) was successful and I did lose my 10 lbs!!!! That was very exciting and encouraging. I started walking and went 5 days last week. Today I was up 2 lbs and am starting to feel unmotivated in the food department. I don't know why, but it's always a battle for me to do BOTH. Eat right AND exercise. So frustrating. I'm going to keep at it and keep moving as I know dieting in reality is calories in, calories out. I did get a great walk in tonight and that felt good.

Tesoro, the refinery Gabe works at, has begun their start-up since the explosion in April. It's incredibly scary and dangerous out there right now and Gabe has been assigned nights until the whole thing is up and running. I was really hoping for day-shift as nights just seem to be hard on all of us but we're hanging in there. Tonight is #8 in a row, but I have to admit this time around seems to be smoother than years past. This is Gabe's 4th turnaround since he started working at Tesoro. Please pray for Gabe, all his co-workers, and me and all the other families that are really single parenting for awhile until things go back to normal.

Macy is doing great! She continues to drool, but no teeth. She is FINALLY sitting up all by herself for long periods! I think this really "clicked" at about 8 1/2 months but she is doing awesome sitting and it's so nice to just set her up with a bunch of toys and let her play. She is on a great schedule, and still manages to be flexible when she needs to be. She's sleeping 7PM-6AM pretty regularly which is WONDERFUL!

I haven't had to get on my treadmill yet to get walks in since the weather has been holding out and Macy gets such a kick out of our walks! She never fusses in that stroller and coos and waves and kicks and smiles at people we see on the way. I think it's the highlight of her day! The pic above is right after our walk tonight. :)
This is usually what our living room looks like. :) The more options the better for our little monkey so I have embraced the mess. She loves it? I love it!

Kates, I got this outfit for you! It has bling and is dark purple! :)

Here's my baby with one of her favorite books. It's as big as she is, but she thinks it's great, and this is usually the progression.

Reading...

Closer...
Going in for a taste...