Welcome Chloe Elizabeth!

Pete and Meagan had their little girl last night at about 11:00 PM. She weighed a slight 6'9 and was 18.5 inches. What a beauty she is! And so much hair! (Gabe looks like he could eat her...)

Falling summer

Last week, we had a picnic in the park on Saturday night, spur of the moment and direly needed. The air nipped crisply and we nuzzled into our hoodies. Our boy, "fatso" is smiling now and it is delicious.

Contemplatively feeding the ducks

PB & J smash mouth

The New Mrs. Kate Korby

This last weekend, Gabe, my mom, and I traveled to New Paltz, New York to witness the wedding of my dear friend, Kate Shuipis. (Gabe was the champion of the world, by the way. We traveled from Salt Lake to Denver to Atlanta to New York (logically!). It was grueling and he was pure contentedness.) Kate was the first person I met in Duxbury and we were instant friends. Her family is my second family. She and I grew into women together. Although she lives far away, now married to a mountain man stone mason named Justin, I think of her often and wish happiness for her always.

Getting ready



The man himself, Justin


An Emily sandwich. Some may have called us band and orchestra nerds, nay dorks. I call us wicked awesome. Clearly.
Emily Stanfill, Kate Shuipis and Emily Herchen.

Elizabeth, my second mom, and my mom, best friends. My mom does not have freakishly small hands nor does she own a super creepy brooch. That creeping hand belongs to Gabe, just to ward off speculation.

Michael walking Kate down the aisle
Married at last!

Cutting the cake

I can't say how joyful I felt to be with my friends again, to be with my second family. They are beauty to me.

My Boys

Mom and the boys. Notice how Gabe is spitting up all down his chin, my hand, and his belly and Jude is whacking me in the face. Seems like a typical moment to me.

Again with Gabe spitting up and Jude refusing to look at the camera.

Mike and Gabe. Look...Gabe is starting to respond and smile. We make absolute fools of ourselves trying to get that little guy to smile.

Jude and Tyler. Best buds.

We've decided that Gabe more or less looks like Jude, just much fatter. Mike calls him "fatso" and I cringe every time, convinced the kid will develop a complex. He is deliciously chubby, though. Today I put a 0-3 month onsie on him and he was bursting out of it. It looked like a skin-tight belly shirt. I couldn't fit it over his girth. It was awesome.

Yawning. Notice that tasty chin roll.

Mike and "Fatso". See, you can already see how grumpy he is with all the name calling.

A few tasty Jude moments.

Jude likes to run around our living room while holding his stuffed shark behind his back screaming at the top of his lungs that the shark is eating his back.

Jude likes to pick his nose. A lot. And then eat it. Two choice moments from this. One is that he ate such a big booger the other day that it got stuck in his tooth and I had to fish it out. Ah, motherhood. Then, when I was telling him how "yucky" it was to pick his nose and eat it, he looked up at me earnestly and said, "No. Boogers not yucky. Boogers YUMMY." Silly mom getting her "Y" words confused.

Jude was making this creepy hissing noise at breakfast the other day. I asked him what sound he was making and he said: "Spider laughing" As Satan's minions, that is probably what spiders' laughing sounds like. Observant boy.

Jude loves to have his puppy do everything with him. He changes the puppy's diaper. He feeds the puppy whatever he is eating. He wraps the puppy up in a blanket and puts him in the baby swing. He is very sweet to his puppy. I even saw him trying to nurse his puppy the other day (buddy, hate to break it to you, but that well is dry...). The other day we were eating a fruit snack on our front step and the puppy was sitting dutifully between us. Jude said, "Puppy hungry" and went to feed him some of the fruit snack and then laughed at himself, pulled the snack away quickly and gobbled the whole thing up. It was like "as if...there are just some thing a man doesn't share. fruit snacks is one of them."

Jude loves the Angel Moroni on top of the temple. He's obsessed. He says his name and that he is playing the trumpet way up high, at least 50 times a day. Tonight he made me sing him an "angel Moroni" song at bedtime. I can assure you that was one, made-up, tasty number.

The mischief is never ending with Jude.

Sunday in the Park aka gratuitous pictures of Jude running

Social grooming

Blessed

Gabriel Thomas Bunnell

Of course, when I went to take pictures of him in his outfit, my usually quiet little man screamed himself into a tizzy. Mom and I made this outfit during the many days we had before Gabe decided to show up.


We were so grateful for the friends and family who came to the blessing. We felt blessed. Truly. I loved watching Gabe encircled by his great-grandfathers, grandfathers, and his uncles as Mike pronounced a blessing on his sweet, bald head.

After church we had a little picnic in the park. I thought it would be unbearably hot, but the shade felt pleasant.
Grandpa Bunnell and Jude

Nate and his miracle baby Bella

One Sara Barclay and Gabe

Mike giving me the eye to stop taking pictures of him

Victoria, Bella, and Nate

Anne Bunnell II

Mama Jan

Pete and Meags

Grandma Karen and Gabe

Clark and Kelsie

Katie and Evan

Claire, Vern, and Meredith

Grandpa Steve

Clark and Jude the Dude

Tom and Ashlynn