More pumpkin pics...

Daddy posted his favorite, now here are Mommy's:

Who's my little pumpkin?

Gabby's begun to cruise like crazy. She's always standing and moving around. Some of her favorite moves are "boouncy bouncy bouncy!!" and "come to Daddy!!" She's also been spinning on her bum while sitting.

This morning, I held her hands and she walked from the livving room to her bedroom. Spectacular.



We picked up this outfit for halloween...but we couldn't resist an early appearance! She's such a little pumpkin.

Later.

Long time no update

Well...it's been a while since Gabby's Daddy has posted anything, so I'll give you a quick update.

Last weekend, Joe and I went to NYC for Alicia and Dave's wedding. The whole family packed up for the weekend and went to Babci and Papa and Auntie Marta's house on Thursday night. Gabby was a good girl and slept the whole way in the car, and transitioned nicely into her pack-n-play there without waking up at all.

While Mommy and Daddy were off on their first weekend ever together without Gabby (since Gabby's birth, of course), Gabby was having a blast. She played with her toys, went for walks, took a bath with the help of Auntie Marta and Auntie Meagan, and played dress up with a babushka, a dress and tights, and a cute winter hat for her upcoming January ski-trip. From what we hear, however, her favorite pasttime of all was watching and reaching for Thursday, the cat. (Apparently, she got her penchant for kitties from Wee Z).

Playing with her toys

In her stroller with a babushka

Dressing up

Trying on the ski-hat from Auntie Marta

When we met back up with G on Sunday afternoon, she had a bit of a cold. No sooner had she recovered from the croup, than she came down with her next illness. Bummer. Poor G. So...this week has been a tough one for all of us. Gabby's been spending her nights inclined in her crib with the humidifier blasting, and although she's been sleeping through her coughing fits, we, her parents, are not, so we're quite sleep deprived by now. We keep thinking she's better each day, but the nights are still tough. Hopefully she'll be back to her healthy self soon. (The good news is that she's been fine during the day... it's only at night that the coughing seems to bother her).

Monday night, the three of us enjoyed Erev Rosh Hashanah dinner with family, (although Gabby slept through it all). Gabby also enjoyed extra time with her parents on Tuesday and Wednesday since we were home from work for Rosh Hashanah.

In developmental updates, this week Gabby has continued to master the art of cruising. She's still a long way from perfecting it, but she can now walk from one side of her Leap Frog Learning Table to another side of it. This is currently her very favorite pasttime. She'll also walk from the Learning Table to the ottoman, or even better, to Mommy or Daddy's welcoming hands, when available.

She's still not crawling (who needs to crawl when you can cruise, she says), but she's spending more time on her belly and she's managing to scooch backwards pretty well...which is funny to us, but very frustrating to her when she's trying to reach for a toy and just ends up farther and farther away from it, the harder she tries!

Trying to crawl after the cat... PART I

Trying to crawl after the cat... PART II

Tonight, she gave Joe a thrill by echoing his "Da Da" with a "dadada." It was adorable, and she did it on command a number of times. What happens when one of us says, "Ma Ma," you might ask? Well, we tried it, and she responded with a firm "dadadada." Hmmm...I'm beginning to wonder if Joe's already her favorite! She is quite the daddy's girl, after all.

Today, Auntie Rae arrived at our place (she's visiting from DC this weekend), and Gabby had a wonderful morning showing her all of her newest tricks, since they hadn't played together since early July. Then we all headed out to lunch where we met up with Gabby's Saba and Gigi. Gabby refused to nap this morning, and she of course waited until we were less than 10 minutes away from the restaurant before she fell asleep in the car, so she was a bit sleep deprived, but she was still a pleasure at lunch. Oh...I forgot to mention...Gabby got her first finger foods this week. She really enjoyed the Gerber "Puffs," both sweet potato and banana, and today at lunch she was thrilled to dissect a teething biscuit. (Luckily we packed a change of clothes since we forgot to pack a bib, and that teething biscuit was one messy snack)!

I think those are all the updates for this week. Joe will be sure to post some pictures to accompany this narrative shortly, so check back soon!

Standing, Coughing, and Laughing - Oh My!!!

Lots to report since my last update…

Gabby’s beginning to stand on her own. That’s not to say that she is actually standing up on her own, but rather pulling herself into standing position using inanimate objects. It’s quite a development. Last Thursday, B called me at work and told me how G grabbed the orange top to her “Fisher-Price Classical Chorus Gym” and pulled herself up. I had a tear in my eye. Seriously!

Two weekends ago – after we returned from Warsaw – G and I attended a class at our local new baby school, Isis Maternity. It was called, “Time for Dads.” I’d attended a class several months ago, but since that class was on a weeknight at 7pm – G did not attend. I just could not fathom getting her out of bed, and bringing her to an activity when she should be sleeping. It seemed incredibly selfish – so I flew solo. This time, the class was on a Saturday morning, so G gladly accompanied me. Nice!

We dressed in matching longhorn outfits – thanks to Luke’s 'rents. We were so adorable. I admit that without G I would be very far from adorable, but a baby does wonders for me.

Later that day, Bobie visited with G and had a wonderful day. That was the night that Gabby came down with croup. She started barking like a dog and coughing like a seal at 1 in the morning. It was clear that she was having difficulty breathing. After a late night scoot to the nearest 24 hour pharmacy and some time in the steamy bathroom…I was able to soothe her back to sleep (in her car seat to ease breathing). She visited the Children’s Hospital the next morning, and I really appreciated that we live 5 minutes from one of the best children’s hospitals in the world. To make a long story short, she fevered up then her fever receded and I worked from home on Monday to keep her sick bum company. She’s such a trooper.

We had another development on Croup Sunday. Gabby has started to babble. It is so wonderful… da- da-da-ta-da-da-yee-ba. Awesome.

I’m sure I’ve missed something, but I’ll report on what I recall.

Last weekend, I had Gabby all to myself. B had a much needed break and visited with her “Friends Girls,” in Nashville. I picked her up from day care on Friday afternoon to begin our weekend of fun. We headed straight to my friend Keith’s place. We had oreo’s, bbq, beers, and played cards! G won $50!!! Boo-ya, Gabby. But seriously, folks – I put Gabby to sleep at Keith’s then I partook in some gentlemanly fun. All good.

After a pleasant night, G and I had so much fun playing on Saturday. She is so funny when I get her to laugh uncontrollably. Her laugh resembles the sound of an old man who smoked too much trying to eject a hairball. Couple that with her wonderful smile… It’s enough to melt an ogre’s heart.

On a trip to the grocery store, Gabby – while sitting stylishly in her floppy seat – reached behind herself and into the basket to palm a large bag of chips. She then used her kung-fu grip to snag the bag and bring it into her seat for easy chewing. Amazing. She did it the first time while I had my head in the freezer section, so naturally I asked her to repeat the feat in my presence. She complied…and complied…and complied. Too funny.

Bobie visited late Saturday, and accompanied us to Med and Marie’s place on Sunday. We had a great time visiting with the Guadiz family and seeing old friends. Gabby is especially fond of Marie’s Filipino cooking. MMMM.

More developments: It appears that our little girl may one day soon prove us all wrong. She's beginning to try out the lunge forward that will become a crawl. She sitting on her bum...reaches forward over her left leg and uses her arms for support. 9 times out of 10 she eventually returns to her seated position...but every once in a while she ends up on all fours. Then she's lost. A little fussing and playing before she either rolls over or complains incessantly. But she's getting there. In fact, B reports that she was able to coax two crawling steps from G the other day. (They were backwards steps...but steps nonetheless). There you go.

After her pediatrician first told us, at 4 months, that he could see/feel her teeth and she'd probably be teething soon...4 months later, I am happy to report that lil miss G has officially presented us with the tip of her first tooth. If you place your finger on her lower gums you can feel the sharp tip of her left front tooth. She's going to look so different with teeth.
I suppose that’s about all to report for now. Gabby reached the 8 month mark last Friday and she’s coming along just wonderfully.

Later y’all.

Gabby's Polish Tour

Gabby had a wonderful time in Poland. For the flight to Paris, she slept almost the entire way. We we lucky enough to get three adjoining seats in the center of the plane at the bulkhead, so there was plenty of space for G's car seat. I wish I had a picture, but I don't. I helped her sleep in the brght plane, by fitting her with her very own pair of eyecovers! She was soo soo cute.

After we got to Paris and missed our connection, G found Charles De Gaulle airport a pleasing locale for a quick catnap. So she slept.

Our arrival in Warsaw was attending by much family and friends. By this point, you're probably concerned that I'll detail each minute of each day...I won't. I'll hit on some highlights now...

Gabby had an especially nice visit with Babunia & Dzadiu (that's her great-grandparents). We stayed at their home, with a crib and stroller provided by Maczek and his family. I will apologize right now for the spelling of people's names. I'm trying!

Their house is in a norhtern suburb of Warsaw, called Lomianki. We were able to stroll to Globi, the local small supermarket and MarcPol the larger one. This is the very same house that Babci grew up in. Too wild.

The first Sunday we were in Warsaw, we had the pleasure to attend a grand party. Many many friends ad family traveled from all over Poland to visit and meet miss G.

G also took advantage of her opportunities to visit some historical sights in Warsaw...like the Warsaw Ghetto. If you've seen the recent film "The Pianist" then you probably have a pretty good idea of what was once there.

Interestingly, after World War II Warsaw and much of Poland was rebuild to its former glory. That includes all the old historical landmarks. Such as the royal castle in Warsaw's old town. This castle was built and used for centuries upon centuries. It reflected the different styles and fashions of it's different occupants and was destroyed in World War II. The Polish people rebuilt the castle fro photographs and memory, while gathering the art and architetural signature pieces from around the world. Amazing.

Gabby was also lucky enough to visit some family up North on ther farm. They had cows and educated us all on the process of making hay, working the fields and storing the hay. We had a great time and have lots to remember!!

One last note about our time in Poland. We had the pleasure to get to know two young gentlemen much better than we had previously. Andzei and Kriczek attended our wedding almost two years ago at 17 and 15. Now at 19 and 17 these young men acted as our personal tour guides. They accompanied us to the store and on road trips. We really had a great time, and I hope to see them again soon.

Now for a funny story: the day we left Warsaw, Gaby decided to poop through her pats on the way to the airport. Ok, that was too bad, because Mommy had specificly saved that one outfit for flying back to Boston. Oh well. Now she wore her plan B outfit. As we landed in Paris, the was a distinct stench...yup. She pooped through her Plan B clothes... Always be prepared. so we dressed her in her plan C clothes. Guess what...a mere 30 minutes after taking off from Paris...she was ready for plan D!!! That's right four outfits in four hours! G is awesome!

In other news, G decided that we needed an event in order to remember exactly when she stopped breastfeeding. The trip to Poland was it. G began pushing it away and laughing. We had a great run...shanks for the memories!

And lastly, I'd like to give a shout out to a very excitedly happy young boy. Jashu...here's to you! Nastrovya!

Another blog setback...

Well...here's another post from Gabby's mommy.

Last night, just as Joe and I went to bed, Gabby made us jump out of bed with a seal-like barking cough. After midnight phone conversation with the on-call nurse at our pedi's office, she was diagnosed as having croup. After a midnight run on a 24-hour CVS for ibuprofen, Gabby finally settled down to a semi- restless sleep (and less restful sleep for her worried mommy) from about 2:00-5:30. After a bottle and some cuddling, daddy took the 6:00 - 7:00 playing shift, before G went back down for a nap. When she awoke at 8:30 we were off to Children's Hospital's emergency room (they have non-urgent hours from 8-12 on Sundays, for those of us whose peditricians' office are closed on Sunday).

During 3+ hours at Childrens, Gabby got poked and prodded (which of course made her even more miserable). She also got some anti-inflammatory steroids to ease the swelling of her bronchial passages, and more tylenol and ibuprofen for her pain. They also observed her to make sure she would drink, because yesterday we had a hard time getting her to drink any fluids, and now she was a little dehydrated.

After a good bottle and nap in daddy's arms, her fever was up a little (101.8), but she was in much better spirits, so they sent us home. She ate a little, then had another nap, and then another bottle (thank goodness). If she doesn't drink enough over the next 24 hours, we need to bring her back for IV fluids!

So...now we're all a little crabby and sleep-deprived. Poland updates and pics will have to wait.

We're back!

This is a message from Gabby's Mommy...

We returned from Poland on Sunday (more info and pics to follow), but before Gabby's Daddy had a chance to post pictures and update the blog, I dropped our laptop on the floor, permanently busting the port that allows us to go online. Daddy currently has the laptop in pieces on the dining room table, and wants to reassemble it before doing anything else computer-related. I'm crossing my fingers that that happens tonight, and then we can get you all a much-deserved update!

Our biggest Gabby news, though, to give you a tid-bit, is that on Wednesday, Gabby pulled herself to standing all on her own for the very first time! More details to follow soon ... I promise!