A few pictures worth a bunch of words...

I thought y'all might enjoy a few new pictures.

Gabby walks without any encouragement now. It's really amazing. And she's so quick. She's across the whole house in about 10 seconds. That means that we're constantly keeping our ears peeled for...silence. Silence is mischief. She's into everything, and everywhere. I've also been amazed at her ability to stand on her toes...like a ballerina. No kidding.

She's getting ready to celebrate her first birthday - on Monday. And she's come so far. I encourage you to check out the archived entries (on the left) to remind yourself of how she's grown. And we've got so much more to grow. I'm so excited. I love that little girl. Now, check out the pictures!

Let's go for a walk!!



Keeping them clean.



Helping Daddy!!



Hanging with my toys.



So quick, the camera can't keep up!

These booties are made for walking...

After some serious cruising that lead to a galloping cruise...our little girl has begun to walk. It's an excited gallop of a walk. She takes a bunch of steps, then lurches forward. It's really adorable. But more importantly, since she's become a champion mover and groover...our baby proofing has been forced to new heights. Literally. She's begun to move to her tip-tip-tippity toes in order to reach things that she's not supposed to reach. Oh and did I mention that she loves to fiddle with the trash can. I won't even tell you about her attraction to the bathroom. Geez.

Anyway, she's doing great. A real trooper. She's recovering from two ear infections and bronchilitis...but the only time she's been upset is when we try to treat her. I've talked to other parents, and they tell me that all kids like the "pink medicine." Guess what? Gabby is as stubborn with this stuff as with all her eating...oh I'll tell all y'all about my new eating trick in a minute. First let's finish the medicine anecdote... We first tried to simply inject the stuff into her mouth...as most people would. That lead to piles of pink laundry. Next we took the advie of several websites. Place a finger in her mouth and shoot the medicine onto the inside of her cheek. The finger is supposed to prevent her from spitting out the medicine, and she'll eventually swallow it. Well she's learned to gargle. She gargles so hard that the medicine spews from her tiny mouth... Now, I follow small amounts of the pink stuff with water as a chaser..it seems to be working... But it's not easy.

Eating. As most of y'all know, she's not a great eater. Well I accidentally found a new method to distract her enough to get food in her mouth. Now, I must say that I'm not too proud of taking advantage of her genorosity, but a father's gotta do what a father's gotta do! She's become a huge fan of giving things to me. So as a little game, I gave her a cheerio, whle B was feeding her. Gabby immediatelly picked it up and instead of putting it in her own mouth, she reached for mine. I of course obliged with a large open mouth. Basia snuck in food while we performed our antics. Then B tried again, and Gabby refused the food. I gave her another Cheerio, and in my mouth it went, as G got a spoonful of her food. She appeared to be oblivious to the food. AMAZING!!! Now I'm doing it by myself... She feeds me, and I feed her. A match made in heaven!

Oh, I almost forgot...I gave her her special hanukah gift from me...see the video.

Yeah it's cheerios.

Christmas and Hanukah...Gabby Style

On Friday afternoon, Auntie Rae and Bobie came over to visit with their favorite niece and granddaughter. On Saturday afternoon, we headed to Babci and Papa's house where we had Christmas Eve dinner with Cioci Krys and Uncle Ray and their kids and grandkids.

Cioci Krys and Uncle Ray brought Gabby her first push-toy. It's the Fisher Price "Gobble and Go Hippo" and she LOVES it! She spent the weekend pushing it everywhere, and kept us all busy turning it around each time she hit up against a dead-end.

Gabby enjoyed her first Christmas this weekend with her Babci, Papa, Auntie Marta and Devin. Gabby loved opening all the gifts and had lots of fun with all the wrapping paper and tissue paper, although she really missed her Auntie and Uncles in Texas. On the evening of the 25th, Bobie and Auntie Rae came over to visit as well and Gabby enjoyed showing off her push-and-walk skills!

In other updates, Gabby has been babbling lots. She loves saying: dada, mama, diddit (which sounds a lot like "did it"), dith (sounds a bit like "this"), and dee. Sometimes it seems like she knows who dada and mama are, but more often, she's not quite that distinguishing, and anyone from Babci to the grocery check-out clerk could be called "dada."

Additionally, our little girl has begun to point. Now I wouldn't say that it's a well defined point...seeing that the vector esablished by her shoulder, elbow and wrist is in no way aligned with the vector of her finger...nevertheless, G points with an accompanying "Dith?" What else could you need?

Aside from babbling, Gabby finally seems to be learning the merits of sharing. When playing with her toys, she takes pleasure in handing them to us, as we say thank you. Also, while indulging in some Cheerios the other day, she stopped to feed some to her Daddy, in between her own bites. (So cute...especially when she took out a partially eaten Cheerio from her mouth, and put it right into Daddy's mouth)!

So...that's what we've all been up to this past month! We hope all our readers are enjoying their holidays and we wish you all a very Happy New Year!!!

Austin (Part 2 of 2)

If you read Tiny D's blog, you'll have seen the cruise highway that Martin's Dad built...Gabby enjoyed showing Martin the crusin' ropes, and here Martin's showing Gabby his skills!



Another Austin highlight was hanging out with Zach (Wee Z's Blog), his push-toys, and his kitty, Bitsy. Gabby got her first tries with push-toys while Zach was napping, and she took a few steps, and seemed to get a kick out of it.



Zach's family has three kitties, and they’re all used to baby attention, but Bitsy was the most amazing. She let Gabby pet her, and also pull her tail, ears, and fur, without so much as a meow. Gabby loved chasing her around!

"I've never been so close to a kitty for so long before!"

"Oh my goodness...she'll even let me touch her!"

We make eye contact, as Zach looks on.

Eventually Bitsy gets tired of all the attention.

While in Austin, we also visited with Carolyn and her parents. Their dog, Libby, was as big a hit as Bitsy. Libby is an extremely patient golden retriever, who also let Gabby pull her fur, and whatever else she could reach, as Mommy tried to teach Gabby the definition of “gentle.”

Carolyn gives Gabby a kiss good-bye.

Gabby also spent some time with some other wonderful Austin dogs, Abita (Tiny D’s dog) and Cactus (Cool Hand Luke’s dog).

On our last Saturday, we had a little holiday gathering. Here the dads show off their "prides and joys." Our friend Brion stands in as "guest Daddy" while Joe takes some pictures. (Evidently, Martin had such a big dinner, as is evidenced by the leftovers on his face, that he busted right out of his pants)!!!

Lou and Luke, Arthur and Martin, and Brion and Gabby

Our final Austin photo shoot is of our Little Longhorns in their matching Texas outfits. Check out how happy they are to be all dressed up in burnt orange! Hook 'em!

Gabby waves at the camera while Martin is all smiles.

Then Gabby is the smiley one.

And lastly, Abita joins in on the Longhorn fun!

Now that Auntie Sara, Uncle Shaun, and Uncle Jay all live in Austin, we were able to spend some quality time with them, while we were in town as well. Gabby also enjoyed seeing their cats, Mercution and Bunny! This Austin trip was just one big pet extravaganza!

The culmination of our trip to Austin included Continental Airlines losing Gabby’s gate-checked car-seat. It’s a long story, but eventually they found it and delivered it to our home, but only after some drama and some time with a lousy loaner seat.

In all, it was a wonderful trip, and it was so great to see all our friends and family, but after 10 days away, there's no place like Home Sweet Home!

Austin (Part 1 of 2)

From December 10th – 19th we vacationed in Mommy and Daddy’s old stompin’ grounds in Austin, Texas! We were scheduled to fly down on the 9th, but Mother Nature had other plans, as she blanketed Boston in 6 inches of snow in one stormy hour that afternoon. Our flight was cancelled, so we headed out the next morning instead.

In Austin, "Tiny D." (a.k.a. Martin - Tiny D's Blog) was gracious enough to offer Gabby his pack-n-play, and we all crashed in his parents’ spare room for the week. Gabby loved playing with all the new toys at Martin’s house and was occasionally amused by Martin himself. We were all impressed with Martin’s amazing appetite and excellent eating skills, as Gabby merely grazed on the occasional Cheerio and a bite of cereal here and there.

Back in Austin, we all got to meet "Cool Hand Luke" (Luke's Blog) for the first time! He’s such a big boy already, and such a cutie! Gabby’s looking forward to her next visit to Austin, when he’ll be able to play with her a bit more.

On Sunday we went to Nutty Brown Cafe where people travelled from as far and wide and North and South Austin and even from way out in Commerce, TX, to say "Howdy" to little G on her Texas Tour #2.

Auntie Padma came in from Commerce, just to see G!

Gabby checks out Wee Z...

... but then puts the moves on Luke, instead!

Gabby, (Cool Hand) Luke, Martin (a.k.a. Tiny D) and Zach (a.k.a. Wee Z) all pose for a pic!

While in Texas, we made a trip to Dallas and Gabby was able to meet her friends Cleo and Barrett, and also saw her friend Elise again. Gabby loved following 2 ½ year old Cleo around…she apparently, can’t wait to be a big girl like Cleo. While in Dallas, Gabby tried out Cleo’s slide in the backyard, and after a few slides in Daddy’s arms, Gabby was leaning forward to slide down all on her own! In the same afternoon, Gabby also climbed her first stairs, up to the deck at Cleo and Barrett’s house.

Gabby loved the slide!

It was so nice to play outside in Dallas, given that we left a snowy mess in Boston!

Happy Thanksgiving (albeit a bit late)!

We all spent Thanksgiving weekend at Babci and Papa’s house. Auntie Sara and Uncle Shaun surprised us by flying up from Austin and Gabby enjoyed spending some quality time with them, as well as with Auntie Marta, Devin, and Uncle Jay, (who had just returned from his European sailing adventure). Gabby’s Bobie joined us for Thanksgiving dinner, and Gabby sampled some Thanksgiving delicacies but wasn’t terribly excited by the food. Her two grandmothers unanimously decided (against Mommy and Daddy’s better judgment) that Gabby’s first Thanksgiving would not be complete without her being allowed to chomp on a turkey bone. She seemed to enjoy it!

Gabby’s favorite part of Thankgiving weekend was visiting with Thursday, the cat. Gabby loved chasing after her, and she really perfected her super-fast crawling skills while in pursuit of her. We thought she might have even said her first word, “kitty,” but since it hasn’t been repeated much, we’re now doubtful, and are waiting for her next official “first word.” We’ll keep you posted.

The day after Thanksgiving, we went to Alex's house to hang out with Alex and William (and their parents, of course).

Left to right: Alex, Gabby, and William.

That weekend we also had a family get-together at Babci and Papa's house to kick off the Christmas season.


Over Thanksgiving, Gabby loved having lots of room to crawl around, so once we returned home after Thanksgiving, Mommy and Daddy did another round of babyproofing, to give her free (and safe) roaming rights to most of the house. Since doing that, Gabby’s been working on perfecting her cruising abilities, and at one point, in the absence of a push-toy, Gabby walked across the house while pushing a laundry basket!

Come back to our blog soon to see more posts from our trip to Austin, Christmas, and Hanukkah!!! They're coming soon...we promise!

Photo Shoot

Here are a couple of our shots from Gabby's Holiday card photo shoot back on December 4th.



And a couple more...





Gabby loved watching the snow out the window: