I Love Pickles: August 2012

So, here we are in Houston and I swore I would blog more but it's been a little insane so this will be a long one! I will try to keep up with this for sure. Finally starting to fall into a routine and feel a little more "normal" again. I never thought I'd feel like a fish out of water coming back home, but I totally do! Last time I lived here I was single (newly engaged), 26 and had no kids and not a care in the world, really. Not compared to now, any way. It's a whole new city and life when you are thirtysomething and have two babies. It has been so great to have so many old friends with kiddos who want to hang out and I'm very much looking forward to the end of Houston summer so we can actually spend time outside!

So far, we've definitely spent the most time with "Tia P" and her daughters Sam and Skylar. Sofia and Sam love each other and I know one day Gabe and Skylar will too! It warms my heart that my best friend and I can get together with our families and watch our little girls play so sweetly. That's what it's all about. The best.

We still miss our Wisconsin "family" and all of Sofia's little friends. Every now and then she'll randomly mention August, Natalie, or Cole and my heart hurts a little. I know we'll be back to visit but I sure do miss seeing our friends every day. I know she misses her Aunt Jenny very much and we'll be skyping very soon b/c we used to see her every week! And of course we miss the lake tremendously. Don't worry Grandma and Grandpa, Sofia definitely still talks about y'all too! She will very randomly mention Grandma or Grandpa and that also melts my heart. I wish I could explain this all to her, and I do try but it's not easy for a 2 year old to grasp where they live!

The kids have adjusted well, thank goodness. Gabe was sleeping like a CHAMP when we first moved here and all of a sudden he's waking at night again. It's starting to get a little better the past few nights but I'm hoping this is just a 4 month phase! All signs point to that but we shall see. Sofia has adjusted better than any of us although was acting out a little for a while. I think she could sense my stress but now that I'm feeling more of a sense of normalcy I think everyone has cooled off. It's really true that parents' stress can affect their children; I believe it! Even Mike said he noticed a difference in me this past week. As most of you know, I don't handle change or stress very well but am working on that and feel I've made some progress :)

Any way - now for an update on the big boy Gabe:

Height: 27 inches - 97th %ile
Weight: 17 lbs. 1 oz. - 86th %ile
Head: 45.1 cm - 98th %ile

Yep, he's a BIG boy. Lots of people here say he looks like my dad but I still hold to my guns that he looks like Mike. He's WAYYY cuter than Gippie ;)

Some milestones for Gabe: He's rolled over a couple of times but doesn't do it regularly. He's sitting in a bumbo and exersaucer and loves it. He found his feet. He's also tried solids which we're going to wait on to try again as you can see why in the pic below.

For Sof: She is learning to share. Suddenly she doesn't like it but after some negotiating, she will usually be a good girl! She went to the potty one time due to bribery with cupcakes. After peeing on the floor a couple of times at my parents house and refusing to sit on the potty again, we've decided to wait until we have our own house for her to pee freely on . . .

Saying goodbye to our Argyle house. A very hard day.