Two Weeks...

Wow, the past two weeks have just been amazing! I can't believe Gabriel is two weeks old already. We have had lots of help around the house, with Mimi, Dani, and Lauren coming to visit. Things are definately falling into a routine already. I don't know how I got so blessed, but Gabriel and Christopher actually take naps at the same time. I'm not sure how long it will last, but I'm loving it for now. Christopher loves to hold his brother and give him kisses. Gabriel is such a good baby...so snuggly and happy! Anyway, here are some pictures of what we have been up to in the past two weeks. We are off to the zoo tonight for the Spooktakular and then our Church's fall festival tomorrow...so I'll post those pictures soon.Christopher had a blast painting the pumpkins we got from Aunt Penne's pumpkin patch!

The weather was great last week, so we let baby Gabe get some sun on his belly. We had so much fun just sitting on the blanket and watching our new little guy.

We took these pictures just after I gave him his first bath...he's all fresh and clean. He really doesn't like his paci, which is a huge difference from his brother who LOVED his. We offer it to him occasionally, but he's pretty content without it.

Visitors

We had lots of friends and family who wanted to come see our new baby boy. I wanted to post just a few pictures of the visitors to the hospital .
My dad and his girlfriend, Dani, came up from Mtn Home.

Pam and Dalen, our good friends from church.

Papa Mark with his second grandbaby...and they have the same middle name!
Uncle Mat, our friend from church.
Uncle Sheldon, Chris' best friend
Chris' mom, Mimi, with grandbaby number 3...and four is coming soon.
And this is Dr. Scarrrow...she delivered Gabriel because Dr. Lehnert was off for the day.

Professional Pictures

We got some pictures taken the day before Gabriel was born, and then this past Thursday we got some more taken with our larger family. The link to view and purchase the pictures is: www.seemyprints.com. Type in our last name: chiarino. Then enter your email address and you can see our pictures...hope you like. I will get back on here and post some more pictures that we have taken as soon as I get a chance.
Things are going well around here. Chris' mom is helping keep our house clean...what a big help! Chris is busy with Christopher and I am busy with Gabriel. I'm not quite sure how I'm going to do all this by myself next week, but we will figure it out.

Gabriel Steven has arrived!

Sunday, October 12 at 4:19pm Gabriel came into this world. He weighed 7 lb 10 oz and was 21 1/2 inches long. I started having contractions in the middle of the night and we decided to drive to the hospital when they were getting stronger, around 7:00 in the morning. Chris thinks I'm crazy because I got out of bed and started getting ready and cleaning the house before we left for the hospital...women understand what I was doing though! Anyway, when we arrived, they told me I was dilated to 4 cm, so we started walking around to keep things moving, and before long, we decided to break my water. Well, then the contractions really started on strong. Not too long after that, I decided to get my epidural...I was dilated to around 7 cm by then. Well, after about another 2 hours or so the nurse checked me and told me I was 9 cm. Everyone had left the room, including Chris-to get a snack with Christopher. So, as soon as the nurse left the room I started feeling like I needed to push...and I was in the room alone! I called Chris, but his phone was dead...then I called the nurse. She checked me and said I was fully dilated and ready to push. About 5 minutes later Chris strolled into the room to find out how my progress was. He walked into a room full of nurses and delivery equipment. They locked the door behind him and told him that we were having a baby! I pushed about 4 times...no kidding...and Gabriel was born. I was so amazed at how fast everything happened. We are home now and so thankful for our beautiful healthy baby boy. He looks alot like his big brother, but his personality seems a little more laid back. Christopher is doing well also. He loves giving his little brother kisses and always wants to share his blanket with him.

Belly Pictures

We decided to take advantage of this wonderful fall weather, so we headed to the park to take pictures of the belly before it goes away! I haven't taken as many pictures of my belly this time around, and I have none of Christopher with me, so I had to take a few to remember what it was like to be pregant and have Christopher at this age.

It is such a fun time for him right now. He learns new words every single day and he is so proud of his new communication skills. He loves to learn and see new things. He reminds me of myself a little bit because he seems to be growing up so fast...I know I was like that when I was little. I am going to try to show him how to enjoy things in the present instead of always looking forward...something I'm learning as an adult!

Hopefully the next pictures I post on here will include our new baby! Stay tuned...

Fall Fun!

On September 25, my dad turned 50 so Christopher and I drove down to surprise him...along with some family from Wisconsin. We had to stop by Aunt Penne's nursery so Christopher could pick out some pumpkins. He had to help water the plants and pull the pumpkins in the wagon. He always has so much fun with Aunt Penne!

This is all of the family who drove from Wisconsin to surprise him for his birthday. It was a lot of fun and he was definitely surprised. He also liked Christopher's shirt that said "I love my papa".

Pregnancy Update

I had an appointment today and I am dilated to 1 cm! I'm so excited, even though it still could be a while. I'm just happy that what I was feeling was right. In a way I want it to happen soon, but we are having family pictures taken on October 11, so I don't want it to happen before then. He is kicking like crazy and I feel like he's trying to come out already, but he needs to stay in a for a bit longer. Well, hope you like the recent belly picture...it's huge!

We're back...

I can't believe it has been a year since I have posted anything on here. I don't even think anyone reads this, but I woul feel better if I started putting pictures on here again so people can see how big Christopher (and soon Gabriel too) is getting. I used to have a lot of trouble uploading pictures on here, but I'll give it another try. Hopefully I'll make the time to get on here more often. :)

This is a picture of Christopher riding the pony at the county fair last month. I think I enjoyed it more than he did...he just went along for the ride!

Playing at the Jordan Valley Fountains! It was so much fun!

3 months later...

So, it's been three months since I posted anything on here. I tried a few times, but my internet would freeze up. Here are some pictures from the last three months to update you.Christopher had his first Halloween and dressed up as a monkey...he was so cute!

He is our little climber...here he is climing into the dishwasher. We turned around and there he was!

Messy boy! This is after we had a long night of making Christmas presents. Our bath water was purple after this!

This is his first day eating a the big table at school! No more high chair for this big boy!

Almost 1 year old!

It's been a while since I had a chance to get on here and post new pictures of Christopher. He has become very fast at crawling and, just this week, has started walking around! Life is pretty crazy. Christopher is so energetic and fun...always keeping things interesting. I hope you enjoy the updated pictures. I just got a new camera for my birthday (an early present from Chris) so I'll be taking tons more pictures in the near future. :)

Falling Leaves

November 2007: We took advantage of the beautiful weather and falling leaves and had a picnic at Ritter Springs Park. Christopher had lots of fun playing in the leaves for the first time. We tried not to let him eat them, but he has fast hands!

Playing in the grass

On Wednesday, Chris and I did some gardening in the front lawn so we laid out a blanket and some toys and let Christopher go! He had lots of fun playing with his rubber duck and chewing on his blanket, but when he wanted to come see what we were doing he found that the grass was prickly on his hands. It was so cute...he wanted to crawl to us but he was getting so frustrated about he grass! We had a good time laughing at him.

Chrisopher is crawling, teething, and growing too fast!

I wanted to make this blog for all of you family and friends who we aren't able to see as often as we would like. Christopher is getting so big so fast and I want all of you to have the chance to watch him grow. On August 27 he started crawling and he has been in heaven since that day. Now we find him crawling into the bathroom, kitchen and all over the house. He has also figured out how to pull up, so he just thinks he is a big man! I can't believe he has grown up so fast. A few more updates on his growth...he has cut his first tooth and started saying his first word: dada! (even though he loves mama more:) He started going to the Child Development Center, where I work, and he is really enjoying that. His favorite teacher is Ms. Melody and his classmates are: Sam, Ben, Hedda, Sarah, Alex, Landon, and Trey. He has lots of fun playing with his buddies all day, and even gets to see mommy sometimes! Well, it's getting late and I need to go to bed, so enjoy the pictures until I can make another post.