Tayls of Life, Love, & Babies: I'm going to be a Bahama Mama!

My dear husband Nick surprised me with a Bahama vacation for my (our, really) birthday!!! He repeated over and over that he REALLY did not want any gifts for his birthday...I thought it was just that he didn't want us to spend the money, but we are going on a five day all inclusive vacay to the Bahamas :) It will be just the two of us....we haven't been away together alone since our honeymoon so this is much needed. All last year being pregnant and this year having a new baby we really haven't gotten out much at all so I am very excited to have a few days alone with my man! We have to leave our sweet baby, but she will be with Grandma Billie & Grandpa Ron for Wednesday-Friday and then with Uncle Jason & Aunt Corinne over the weekend and then we will be home Sunday night. We are leaving on the 29th so it will be here before we know it!

Yesterday I went to put a basket of laundry upstairs and when I came back down I had a little present waiting for me on the staircase....Gabrielle! She learned how to climb the stairs - oh my! Now that's just another thing for me to keep an eye on, but I knew it would come sooner or later. Look at that little wild woman :)

Gabi girl is really enjoying playing "catch" with her ball now a days. I will roll it to her on the floor and then she will either roll or throw it back. She's getting pretty good but she can be impatient sometimes - she will throw the ball back to me but before I can get it she will start laughing and crawl toward me after it. I tell her that if she goes after the ball each time then we're playing "fetch" not "catch". She doesn't listen though. :) Books are also one of her current favorites. She really won't let me read them to her but she likes to crawl over to one and look through the pages herself. Touch & feel board books are our friend, for sure. Gabi is also officially a little woman now...she pretends to talk on the phone! Anytime she finds my cell phone or one of her baby cell phones she will hold it up to her ear now just like mommy does.

G is continuing to really like walking with a walker....it's pretty much her favorite. I also think she likes the Fall weather that is starting to come in. She loves being outside, but doesn't like to be too hot or have the sun in her eyes, so these nice Fall evenings are great for her. She was outside crawling around the sidewalk and driveway last night and it was getting very windy, chilly, and late so I took her inside........kicking and screaming the whole way. She didn't want to go inside. Little Ms. Opinion. Haha, she was very tired though because I changed her, fed her, and she conked right out.

Gabi is getting closer to walking by herself everyday though, which is scary! She will hang on to furniture and all of sudden throw both arms straight up in the air and stand by herself for about 5 seconds [with a big cheesy grin on her face, of course]. She has even taken a couple of steps by herself after standing like that also. Our little angel will be running before you know it!

I don't know if I've mentioned it in the blog or not, but I joined a mom's group! It covers Lansing, Okemos, East Lansing, Dimondale, Holt, etc. It's pretty nice so far and Gabi really enjoys playing with the other babies/small children. I found out about it through a friend I met at the library and decided to join. Me and a couple of the moms took the kids to the children's museum in Lansing last week and it was great! They have a young childrens room and within that they have a padded infant area too. Gabs had a really good time and I'm looking forward to going back soon.

This mouth was in the lobby and it was the perfect height for G to climb on!