WELCOME HOME!!!

He's coming home...very soon!

Ahh only a few more days and a wake up till we have this guy home again! And let me tell you Gabe, Bella, Winsty and I are all impatient to get our hands (or paws) on him! Hopefully my next post is pics of our SWEET reunion!!! Get excited people! January has been the most excruciatingly long month of my life. I think I'm almost more excited for his return than I was for our wedding day!

Playdate

friends that chew together, stay together, right?

So we've been spending most days with Holley & Alexis recently since both our hubbies are on the trailing party flights. Gabe and Holley are ridiculously cute together...they always want whatever toy the other one has and try to do what the other is doing. They trail each other almost the whole time. Of course Gabe is double Holley's size so we have to make sure he doesn't knock her over and take all of her toys when he decides to!

Happy Birthday Gabers!

Whose the cutest 1 yr old around? THIS GUY!! I can't believe I'm 24 and have a 1 yr old! Yikes! The official party will be when Daddy gets home which is very soon people. Get excited!!!

His favorite things to do right now are...

1). crawl everywhere
2). stand and walk along furniture and the walls
3). try to get the dog water
4). try to get every cord imaginable
5). warm milk
6). giggling and babbling
7). open and shut cabinets, drawers, doors...(etc)
8). feed himself finger foods- he pretty much will eat anything if i cut it up bite size.
9). torture Winston
10). follow me around the house
11). things with string or rope
12). standing in his crib
13). exhausting mommy
14). getting food up his nose

Okay i could probably go on but i am le tired. That's a nutshell of what he's up to recently. Bye bye my mellow baby who sat and played with his toys (ah i miss those days)...hello mr. mobile whose into everything! Good thing he's the cutest baby in the whole world and has enough sweet moments to make up for his insatiable curiosity! Michael is getting home just in time!

Caught!

So Gabe was protesting a nap this afternoon and when i walked into check on him...this is what i found....

I'd caught him a few other times standing up in his crib, but never had the camera ready. So here you can all enjoy proof that he pulled himself up! He was quite proud of himself too!

Gaby blue eyes

I snapped some pics of Gabe today because he was being a cutie. And the light was perfect to show off his fabulous blue eyes! Check out all those teeth!

Merry Christmas....!

Everything set up ready to go into the u-haul trailer

Christmas morning in his santa jammies. See ribbon is way for more fun than new books!

Gabe and mommy christmas day

Gabe with Grandpa & Grandma

Christmas Eve candlelight service

Yes i'm sorry this update is terribly late. We've been just a little busy! But we did have Gabe's first Christmas. We celebrated the weekend before with Greg and Chantal and my grandparents down in Long Island. As a bonus we got over 2 feet of snow down there! We had a quiet (but still fun) Christmas day in Albany with Wes, the puppies and Gabe. He was more interested in the wrapping paper and ribbon than his gifts...but he made out like a bandit. By Dec. 27th the u-haul was packed and we hit the road (and by we, yes i mean my parents, wes, gabe, 2 dogs, 5 winter coats, food, and gabe entertainment items all crammed into my ford escape) and made it all the way back to Texas by the 29th! After 30 hrs in the car! I'll update more later, but gabe & i are back and moved in and anxiously awaiting Michael's return. Still a few weeks to go...they have to squeeze everyday in jan out of him that they can! Here's some pics to enjoy :) Love ya Michaels!

Early christmas with the gang in Long Island

Me at the candlelight service with Gabe...doesnt he look spiffy in his new clothes!? Below is Grandpa Schaeffler plowing with his jeep


Gabe & mommy in Long Island

amazing mood swings

Gabe changes moods on a dime. Sometimes they're dramatic and other times more subtle. I guess that's normal with babies, but it catches me off guard when he was just happy and then decides to be mad randomly! Anyways here are some pics of his various "moods" in about a 2 minute window. You can also admire his adorable new jammies...i love the baby sized (okay toddler sized) pj pants..so fun. I had to hike them up so he wouldn't trip on them.

Being sweet. Hi mommy, i walked over to you!

Super excited! He's coming after the musical snowman he's not allowed to chew on but he thinks he just might get it this time. It plays "we wish you a merry christmas" and gabe loves to bounce along to the music. (does he look like his daddy or what? I've seen a smile like that before!)

Contemplative of the snowstorm ( we got over 6 inches!), and the cord to the window shade I moved up above him. And you can see his cleft chin really well in this picture. That's curtsey of Grandpa Vince.

Unhappy. He is stuck on the wood box and mommy isn't helping him move. He can't walk hands free yet, so he get's stuck in places and then he becomes upset. I'm hoping he holds out on truly "walking" by himself until daddy comes home. 50 days...less than 2 mths!!! For us, Christmas is really happening end of January.

Baby it's cold outside!

Today was Gabe's first snow storm (okay we had a few flurries earlier in the week), but today it's been snowing since noon and still going (it's now 6 pm). So after Gabe ate dinner i decided I'd better take some pics of him in the snow (supposedly it's going to melt right away tomorrow) so bundled him up and sat him outside on the deck. he wasn't quite too sure what was happening...i'm pretty sure he thinks i'm crazy! He warmed up eventually though. And he got to come inside to a nice toasty fire after his winter wonderland photo shoot.
Mommy what is this stuff??

I just love this guy

Even though it was almost midnight his time, my sweet hubby stayed up to skype with Gabe & I. He was all snuggled in bed trying to stay awake so i snapped a pic! He's the best ! Oh and he claims the pretty floral blanket was army issue...