"The best way to spread Christmas cheer, is singing loud for all to hear."

Or you can trying screaming and crying....that might do the trick too?  Maybe not.

Nick, Gabi, and I went downtown to a winter festival this weekend to visit Santa.  It sounded like something fun to do, but it was cold, cold, and COLD!  Santa was in the Marriott and we waited for a long time to finally get a picture with Santa.  Gabi did not appreciate the wait....or sitting with Santa for that matter.

Here is the picture of Gabrielle with Santa for the first time!

This is how I found Gabi when she "woke up" from her nap yesterday....with a crib full of books!  I think it is definitely time to lower her mattress to the bottom level since she can lean over and unload her bookshelf from inside her bed.....

This is basically the facial expression equivalent to "you're a mean mommy".  Sorry kid, but you'll thank me for not letting you chew on the trash can when you're older.

Happily running with the bulls dogs.

And..........the best ornament ever created.....

It's Halloween....and Gabi is WALKING!

That's right.  Saturday, October 30th Gabi was playing her little toy piano and then decided to just walk about six feet or so over to our coffee table across the room!  I just got a new lens for my camera (woot!) so I was busy with that when G decided to walk.  Obviously I didn't get a video of her first big walk but I got some photos!

We had just gotten home from my parents' not too long before this because Gabrielle spent the night there while Nick and I went to Jason and Corinne's Halloween party the night before (that was so much fun, by the way)!  Nick went down to our neighbors to check on the haunted garage really quick and when he got back I told him " your kid can walk"!  I guess he thought she just did her couple of little steps and fell down again....but I stood her up and she walked across the room toward him!  Crazy!!  Nick was pretty impressed. 

This is the length that she walked for the first time -  from the piano on the right to the table on the left!

I got the video camera out after she started walking, but of course when I tried to video her walking she fell over so much quicker than when I wasn't taping!  Haha, of course.  Here are a couple of videos - in all actually she walked at least three times this far in one try her first day walking...I just didn't catch if on video that day :(






She still hasn't stood up by herself in the middle of the floor....she will either "pull up" on something or we'll just stand her up and she'll take off.

Here are just a couple of pictures I was able to take with my new lens before the walking festivities started!

Another fun fact we learned - Gabi can turn our dishwasher on.....that was interesting.  The can reach up and nudge the knob to make it move and turn on.  Awesome. 

Earlier this week a bunch of us participated in a children's Halloween parade at a local nursing home.  We dressed the kids up and took them to visit with the residents...many of whom hardly ever get any visitors :(  Gabi had fun seeing all of the different people and she brought quite a few smiles to the patients.

Nick and I had such a good time at the adult Halloween party.  It's nice to have a night to be totally free of responsibility!  G got some quality time with her Grandma and Grandpa and we got to go out!  I have quite a few pictures of that night...but her are just a couple to show off our costumes :)

I was a candy corn witch and Nick was "Link" from Zelda........

Uncle Jason and Aunt Corinne

Even Grandma Billie dressed up......she was "Biker Bill"  So funny!!

Actual Halloween day was pretty fun too.  Nick had soooo much fun at the haunted garage that they worked so hard on.  It was really cool and countless kids and adults got pretty scared in there! 

The scare crew

And our little unicorn on her first Halloween......:)

This is how the hood was the majority of the time.....gotta love a big head!

Gotta show off the tail and wings!

She didn't want her picture taken with dada.....

Our little walking unicorn had to show off her walking skills to everyone before we got started.  She can walk through the kitchen, around the corner, and into the living room.  And she started walking 24 hours ago!!

Happy Halloween!!!!!!

8 Months Old

It seems like Gabrielle's development has just exploded over the past week or so. Talking/babbling, crawling, and pulling herself up have all occurred in approximately the past 10 days. Crazy!

-Can take steps and "walk" while holding our fingers

-Can pull herself to standing

-Still wears most all of her 3-6 month size clothes but can also wear most of her 6-9 month size stuff too

-Wears size 3 diapers

-Has tried many fruits and veggies, along with Cheerios and sweet potato puffs. She currently eats oatmeal mixed with fruit in the morning, 3.5 ounces of veggies in the afternoon, a few Cheerios and/or puffs throughout the day, and bottles in between.

-Says "baba" A LOT (and variants - aba, boba, mmmba, etc) and also has said "mama" (though we only really hear the mama when she is whining/crying). She is starting to try and say some other gibberish lately too.

-She has become quite the crawler/scooter when she sees something she wants

-Still no teeth! I bought a mesh feeder about a week ago and have given Gabi ice cubes in that. I guess you can put fruit in it as well but 1) Gabi doesn't really like fruit, and 2) I really don't want to deal with the mess of her slobbering on fruit through mesh holder thingy!

And....it's getting ridiculously hard to take pictures of our little one anymore because she's either doing this...
or this......
or this...... ALL THE TIME.

Hahaha......well here are a few that I got for her 8 month monthday :)

And my personal fav.....this is SO her....

Here are couple of short clips of her talking and crawling!

The animals really have to be on their game now that Gabi can attack them anytime she pleases.....

Happy 2/3's of a year birthday Gabrielle!!! :D

This is why the baby still sleeps in a swaddle...

If you give the child a blanket she will pull it up over her chest and face and fall asleep - not exactly safe. I give her a blanket to nap with because she sleeps in her pack 'n play and I can keep an eye on her. Each time she naps I actually have to go uncover her face like this after she falls asleep. I am entertaining the idea of stopping swaddling her but I just can't make myself do it! Last time I tried to stop it was a disaster and ended up wrapping her up at 4am because she was hysterical. Ugh. I know it has to happen, sooner or later, but I just can't make myself do it.


We have been doing brown rice cereal twice a day for a few days now and she seems to really like it! It's funny though, because it's like she forgets how to eat between each feeding. Each time we start the cereal it takes her a while to get the hang of it again. By the end of the bowl she is taking bites like a little champ though! I've been giving her cereal in late morning and mid afternoon. We always start with a bottle for little bit so she isn't hungry and grumpy trying to eat her cereal, then eats her cereal, then usually finishes her bottle. The biggest problem I have is that she will get cereal all over her face (of course) and then stick her hands in her mouth....so then her hands are covered in nasty cereal and she will then wipe them on herself, me, or anything else she can reach. She finds this pretty hilarious, obviously, because she will take a bite, smile (before swallowing), and the cereal will fall back out of her big gummy smiling mouth.
She has also recently discovered the dogs and is completely thrilled by them. If we are holding her on our laps and a dog walks by she will throw her arms up and lean forward and try to tackle them. She will grab their fur in her little fist (poor dogs) and scream in delight. It's really funny!

Gabrielle also went out this past Sunday and experienced her first Michigan State playoff basketball game. Gabi, Nick, Jason, Corinne, and I went out to Buffalo Wild Wings in East Lansing to watch the game. We were a bit nervous to bring Gabi out (because she's either really adorable and awesome or really naughty) but we we're usually pretty brave and just go for it. It is a bar/restaurant in a college town so it's not like if she cried anyone would really hear her anyway. It was really crowded and we got the last table available but we ended up having a great time. Gabi did really really well - she sat in her carseat and watched the game for while (a room full of TVs is like heaven to her!), took a nap, drank a bottle, then got passed around the table and hung out with us for the rest of the game. Completely happy. MSU was leading by about 6-10 points the whole game (approximately, I'm sure Nick will critique these details) then right at the end I took Gabi to the bathroom to change her diaper and when I got back we were suddenly down by two! Right at the buzzer an MSU player threw a 3 point shot and made it!! The entire restaurant immediately erupted in screams and cheers and Gabi instantly cried! It was so funny, everyone was jumping and cheering and this little baby is terrified and crying. Once everyone else calmed down a little bit so did Gabi but she still just look totally confused as to what just happened :)
This is toy is a bit much for her....she will try and pick the whole thing up and suck on it. When that doesn't really work this is the result.....
The smiley babe playing on the floor with mama

This past weekend she has also really found her voice. She will lay there and just coo, yell, and squeal to herself for no reason for hours. Though she's done this before, now it's like all day!