In response to a friend's post

20 things I will never...

20. Bungee jump...no thank you
19. Use a portapotty unless I absolutely positively have no other option. I don't like dark small spaces.
18. Move to some place REALLY cold.
17. Stop loving Mexican food
16. Lose my love of traveling
15. Not think my son's play time is fun....he comes up with the best games to play by himself while I watch
14. Like the smell of a poopy diaper
13. Stop enjoying diaper changing(despite #14) b/c it is such a sweet time of one-on-one and I have my children's full attention!
12. Choose to be inside on a beautiful day(I am typing outside right now!)
11. Stop loving my family
10. Drive a Hummer or unnecessarily large car
9. Enjoy folding clothes
8. Enjoy putting away dishes
7. Stop loving ice cream
6. Understand why God chooses to love us....I know he does love us despite our actions, but it seems so unbelievable. Amazing love!
5. Stop trying to protect my children
4. Eat sushi....I know people like it, but I just can't do it
3. Sky dive(I am stealing that one from Greta, but I strongly agree)
2. Do anything illegal for money
1. Stop loving my job as mommy and wife!

That was my list of "I will never..." It was fun to write, but I still stand by the theory that sometimes we end up doing things we said we would never. Often God calls us where we least expect.....but hopefully my calling will not involve sky diving or giving up ice cream!!

Day at the Beach

This Saturday, our family took our first trip to Virginia Beach since we have moved to Richmond! It is a quick two hour drive away....definitely worth the travel time, because we had so much fun. We plan on making this a more regular trip in the future. But things sure have changed since we had children. Our last trip to VA Beach was pre-Danny and it is amazing how much STUFF it now takes to have a day of fun in the sun. Towels, tents, diapers, wipes, bottle waters, camera, two strollers, blankets, swimsuits, change of clothes, hats, lotion, and the list goes on! One reason we are required to bring so much junk is to make sure that our boys don't get too hot or in Josh's case, exposed to the sun. But it was a beautiful day with a wonderful breeze to keep Josh cool. He napped in the shade, while his brother had a blast. Some favorite activities included: eating shrimp and fries(with ketchup!)at a beach bar and grill, listening to cover bands play some music at the festival on the boardwalk, playing at the playground on the beach, throwing the sand, throwing the ball, running on the boardwalk, finding lady bugs(they were everywhere!), eating lunch in our tent, and playing with bubbles. Least favorite activity....going near the water. Apparently he did not want to put his toes in the ocean, despite the fact that he talked about the water and toes lots on the way home. Danny is at such a fun age for exploring new places! Hope you enjoy these pictures from our day...check out the whole album at our smugmug site....gaskills.smugmug.com



Josh is such a trooper.....he sleeps anywhere!


Danny and Daddy playing at the beach


Mommy and her boys!


YUMMY!


We loved the bubbles!


Worn out! The beach is tough...

Two weeks later

So, our little Joshua is now getting bigger already! He has already gained a whole pound since he was born. He is now 9 lbs. 13 oz....our doctor said that by this two week mark he likes to see them back at their birth weight. Apparently we have no problems eating! And this is also another blessing in that we don't have to torture him anymore at night trying to wake him up for feeding time. We are really blessed with the two sweetest boys! Both Danny and Josh have so far been realitively easy going babies(so are we in for it with #3?...that is if we decide to have another!) Danny is the best big brother and has only shown a little irritation when he wants Josh "OUT" of his crib or swing, so that he can give him kisses. Isn't Josh lucky to have such a loving big brother? Here are some photos from the past two weeks! Enjoy!

Family Photo!

Eyes open

Waking up happy as usual

So sweet!

That's my brother...isn't he cute?

My first milkshake!


We love our backyard!

Joshua Hayes Gaskill

Josh made his arrival late on Friday, April 25. He weighed 8lb, 13oz and was 20.75 inches long. This morning, Nana brought Danny to the hospital to meet him for the first time. Here are a couple of videos.

Trying to be patient

Baby update....so we are 4cm and just waiting. I should be more patient and should be enjoying this time, but patience is apparently not my strongest skill. Danny has been in Atlanta for the past week with Nana, Max, and Grandmommy. It is really strange to have a week without a 20 month old to take care of....I guess you could say I am a little bored! We have enjoyed having dinner out with out entertaining Danny, but now it is time. Even though we are only just approaching 39 weeks, we will be attempting to bring on labor at this Tuesday's appt. I will spare you the details, but our doctor has things that she can do that usually get labor started. And since he is already a 8-9 lb baby, even the doctor supports this early labor! So, hopefully we can introduce you to our little boy soon!

We miss our sweet Danny, but here he is having a blast at Nana and Max's house! What a big boy....he loves to eat with a spoon and does a pretty good job with feeding himself!

Is it time?

Every women who has had a baby will relate to the anticipation over the arrival of a newborn. I have gone crazy reading stuff on the Internet and in books about whether or not we are really in labor yet. But we had some interesting developments this week. At our appt. we found out that we were 3 cm and 50% and with the onset of light contractions, we believed we might be having a baby sooner rather than later. Last night I was having very small, but regular contractions and they continued this morning. My instincts said that we aren't ready, but my husband encouraged me to call and just talk to the doctor. They wanted us to come in this morning and I am so glad we did. In the past two days, this baby has decided that he would rather snuggle in mommy than come out(I must make a cozy home!). He flipped his way to a transverse lie(sideways) which is impossible to have a vaginal deliver from. Breach would be OK, but transverse is more complicated and carries with it some more potential complications. We did an ultrasound and at 37 weeks we are probably already 8lbs at least. BIG BOY!! Our next step is to meet with the doctor tomorrow and most likely go to L&D for a procedure to try and flip him back down. This can be a painful process and can bring distress to the baby, so we will be hooked up the ultrasound and monitors. There is no guarantee he will stay flipped if they are able to do it. Most likely we will either flip and engage in labor(they think I would be 4-5cm already if the head was down and helping in the labor process) or have a planned c-section next week.
We would love your prayers since this is more complicated than we had previously hoped.
But we realize it was truly a blessing that I went in today. If anything, it made them aware of the situation before I go into active labor. After active labor, it would be more complicated to discover this and have to have an unplanned c-section. My family votes for flipping this baby and inducing asap, since we know he is big and we are already full term. But we want to do what is best for this little guy!
Another blessing is that my parents are headed to Richmond right now and will be here in an hour. I didn't want to keep asking our neighbors to babysit and it will help us relax and make the best decision for our son tomorrow. I feel a little guilty if they come and nothing happens, but they felt like it was best to come also! I love it when they are here....and so does Danny! It is like having a nanny!! They are wonderful with their grandson and always helpful around the house! So, I am off to put my feet up and watch the newest episode of The Office and Scrubs!

update: There is no baby yet, but what a blessing today. The newest Gaskill decide to flip himself around into the correct position when we got to the doctor. No need for a painful procedure or a c-section. Our doctor will do elective induction at 39 weeks, so if labor doesn't start back up(labor had possibly started) then we will have a baby in two weeks.
What a blessing! Thank you for your prayers!
But thank you for continued prayers since we are still an "unstable lie" and could have more complications when labor starts.
I had some Eggplant Parmesan tonight and even walked to and from the restaurant(it is less than a mile from our house and there are sidewalks!), so we will see if that gets things going again!
We will keep you posted!

Danny Playing Baseball

Video we took today of Danny playing baseball in the kitchen:

The Evolution of Picture Taking

As an aspiring photographer, I am often on the computer editing, organizing, and evaluating photos that I have taken. I see so much room for improvement and I desire to become better that this skill. But last night I was made very aware of the fact that there is an evolving process to the dynamics of a casual photographer. Of course, there is the area of my portfolio that I would hope would change for the better, but I am talking about something different. This about the subject of my photos changing through out the years. Let me explain.
Back in college, my parents gave me a wonderful present of a nice SLR Canon camera. I had never had more than just a point and click camera and I would say that this is the point when my love for picture taking really took off. Prior to my Canon, I had done some artsy pictures, but this opened up a whole new world for me. I am so thankful that my parents saw my potential and bought me a gift that represented what I could become. My early picture taking involved lots of nature shots and experimenting with the world around me on film. I also remember taking pictures when my friends would get together and I always tried to get as many with different people as I could. I wanted to be able to document the memory and have a collage of friends represented in my scrapbook. My friends were a special part of who I was and it was nice to have them forever represented in my memory books. My college scrapbooks are very full! Then came the dating and engagement stage of life. This point of my picture documentation was not too different from college, except that the group of friends spread out around the country and now I was more limited in who was in my photos. But this was also a great time to once again focus on natural shots and things in the world around me. The purchase of a new lense somewhere along the way also opened the door again to new possibilities.
After marriage, we were probably less active with friends and more comfortable staying at home together and enjoying our new stage of life. The subject of most of these photos became one of three things....places we visited, each other, or the dog. I even had an entire album develop at this time for our puppy. We love our doggies and it showed through our love for taking their pictures.
Then came human children. And here is where the biggest change happened. I guess it was a gradual evolution, but I laugh as I think about what I used to have in my albums. Friends, nature photos, cool shots of buildings and animals, our dog....but now we have multiple albums dedicated to our child. For almost a year, the albums on my computer were labeled based on Danny's stages of development. I have since started labeling based on seasons and places we visit, but would you believe that every photo is still of our son? I am not saying this with anything but joy over being able to capture the cute things that Danny does, but for goodness sakes, he monopolizes the album. On our smugmug website, the Spring 2008 http://gaskills.smugmug.com/gallery/4533119_gwrEp#272596802 album currently contains 66 photos of Danny. Scott is in a few, but I am sure it was by accident. He just "happened" to be in the cute shot of Danny I was taking. Pollack made an appearance in a few photos and there are a couple of some ducks we were watching. Pictures of mommy....zero. I don't want this to sound like complaining, because it is a general rule that I choose to be behind the camera, not in front of it. I don't really like most pictures of myself, but it would probably be a good idea to be in a few photos. I don't want to look back years from now and have to try and remember if I was even there. So, a new goal of mine is to make sure I get in a few shots. Maybe when this new baby is born, I will "accidentally" be in the picture, since I will be giving birth to the little munchkin. I think we are due for a family photo shoot after baby #2 is born.
So, parents, I am sure you have all experienced this evolution of photos in your life. And it is with complete joy and excitement that we take each photo of our child. Years from now, I will be so glad to have these pictures of Danny eating cookies and hitting golf balls. But things sure have changed. Aren't we blessed?

btw: The Puppy album on my computer hasn't been updated in a few years....poor Pollack. It is hard to become second in line behind the children. But he isn't complaining, because as mentioned in an earlier post, he loves the dropped food and new friend to throw the ball.

Just like Daddy

I am so blessed to be the mommy of a sweet little boy! And I am convinced that I have the greatest husband. I am so proud of him and he is the kind of man I want our children to become. So, I guess you can say that I was a happy momma to be taking pictures in the back yard this Easter Sunday. Scott decided to mow the grass real quick(therapy after 9 hours in a car) and Danny was his little helper.
I just love this photo and how it captures a little boy following in his Daddy's footsteps....
So sweet!
We had a great time in Atlanta for the Easter weekend. I know 9 hours may seem like a lot of travel, but there are so many cities along the way that it is not that bad of a drive. Of course, we had to stop more than Scott usually does when he has made this trip, but it was managable. And we all got giddy in the last hour of the ride with much giggling and talking about going home to "Short Pump"(with a pssht and a arm crank motion included....our way of saying short pump for the watering hole that this area was named after) We loved seeing family and it was fun to be an overnight guest, versus the usual rush in and rush out that happens when we live in the same city. I am working on editing our photos, but look for them in our smug mug site....http://gaskills.smugmug.com I will probably label them something like Easter in Atlanta. This is it for trips to ATL for Danny and I(until after #2 is born), but Scott will be headed there one more time for a friend's wedding.
Now we are just counting down the days until we meet our second son! He needs a name though! Please feel free to comment and leave suggestions after this post. We at least need a short list...Can't call him #2 forever!
Until next time...Happy Spring!

Long time no see...

It has been a long time since I last wrote on our blog. I have been so busy with lots of fun things. We had our first"dinner" party at our new house. I couldn't think of what else to call it, but it was so fun having our friends and their daughter over for dinner and dessert. It was a special dessert for Scott, since it involved his new torch and creme brulee. Yummy....and it is always fun to play with fire at the dinner table. Then, we had our first overnight guests with my parents in town for a few days. We put them to work....of course we had time to celebrate my dad's birthday and a trip to Maymont park....but most of the week was spent doing "odd" jobs. This is a family tradition. I remember my grandpa coming for a visit and many hours being spent doing projects that my dad had on his to do list. So, we happily carry this tradition on....great for us, since they ended up checking many things off our weekend list. And good for them to get to see our new house and know it well. In a few weeks, they will have to know their way around our house when they come to take care of Danny when baby #2 decides to come into world. We would love to have more guests....this house is a good house for having people stay over. So, friends and family, make plans to visit!
I had lots more to say and pictures to share, but the fact that we are stealing wireless means that our computer is horrendously slow....so no pics today(they were good ones of Danny too!) But more to come later.