Chatty Gabe

Gabe has been talking SO much more in the past month.  I attribute it to getting his tubes in.  Without all that fluid in his ears, he's saying things so much more clearly!  He has been communicating in his own way since he was a little over a year old, but now he's actually saying several clear words.  Yes, we still have a hard time interpreting his words sometimes still but that's hilarious. . . Mike and I get some good laughs from trying to figure out what he's saying b/c he KNOWS what he's saying and gets so mad when we can't figure it out!!!

I think my favorite thing he learned to say is "yea".  It first came out as a very enthusiastic YEA. Think "Gabe, do you want a banana?" . . . big smile and a "YA!".  Now it's more drawn out. . . yeaaaaa.  So funny.  Also so much nicer than constantly hearing NO.  I just love that we can communicate with him now and he can more or less express what he wants to us which is so nice.  I also love listening in on conversations between Sofia and Gabe.  She can be the sweetest sister to him when she wants to!

Halloween 2013

This year was especially exciting because both kids could appreciate trick or treating.  We had a fun event last weekend at Mikes work called Tricks n Treats in the suites and the kids get to trick or treat from suite to suite at Toyota Center.  All of the employees dress up and hand out candy.  such a cool event! Meanwhile there is a full on awesome Halloween party going on in the concourse.  So much fun!  Unfortunately Gabe was sick...he got tonsillitis two days after the stomach bug, poor lil guy.  But I was able to take Sofia and she had. A. Blast.  I think her favorite part was dancing to the DJ with another girl dressed as Sofia the First for sure.

Sofia was a big help with Daddy carving pumpkins.

Finally, Halloween night was here and it was DRY. . . threats of 100% chance of rain scared us!  It rained and rained all day but cleared up by the afternoon and was nice and steamy for us but at least not rainy by trick or treat time.

And finally, some funny videos of trick or treating . . . to come as soon as I can get them uploaded :)

18 months

So crazy to believe that I was pregnant this time two years ago with Gabe.  I can't fathom being pregnant again right now! Maybe one day... Maybe.  But very content with our family right now! 

Any way, Gabe was a champ.  Showed off his words and skills for the doc and she also checked out his new ear hardware and said his tubes looked awesome. Whew! Such a great thing to go to the doc and leave without meds! :) love our new doc.  We saw her once by chance because our regular doc was out one day and just had a great vibe with her and so did the kids and my gut just told me to switch.  Very happy we did.  Just one shot... He cried maybe three seconds and then over it once our doc brought him his lollipop he was asking for :) still looks a little peeved...

Height - 33.5 in. (83 percentile)

Weight - 26 lbs (80 percentile) 

Little man is now recovering from his first tummy bug...poor guy. But it is amazing how resilient babes are! He was puking Tuesday night and by Wednesday afternoon was totally back to himself!  Sweet boy.  Just glad he's back to his old tricks! Or am I? ;)

Weekend of Fall Fun

We crammed a lot of fun into last weekend starting with Friday. Our friends from bible study decided to all go to the zoo for Zoo Boo.  All the kids dress up and there are lots of Halloween activities and trick or treating at the zoo.  Sofia was excited to finally wear her Sofia the First costume out of the house.  And believe it or. To, Gabe was super happy when he put on his (hand me down) cow.  He went to the mirror and started mooing.  Too funny.  Just as When Sof wore the cow at his age, my favorite part is for sure the boots. Big fan of the bare legs too which we certainly couldn't pull off inWisconsin when Sofia wore it. 

Sofia and Maxine.  Definitely one of her best friends.

My attempt at a pumpkin pic. I gave up quickly. Gabe clearly did not like how pumpkins tasted and Sofia did NOT want to pose for a pic.  Actually, she was mad because she couldn't be in Maxine and her sister's picture. Sigh...

Three buddies, so cute! 

We couldn't let the fun end there! When my best friend Patricia and her husband invited us over for dinner we headed over with a bottle of wine and pjs for the kids.  Sofia loves these two!

The two young feisty ones.

Saturday morning we were going to take the drive out to Dewberry Farm but lots of rain on Friday night caused it to close for the day. Bummer but we ended up riding our bikes to a neighborhood pumpkin patch at the Bellaire Nature Center.  Super fun!  Way more to do than I had thought there would be.

Examining her baby lizard prize

Playing beanbag toss. iNSIDE the box haha

Spinny ride that Sofia wasn't totally sure about

Face painting

Picking out a prize

Bouncy house obstacle course that S could not get enough of!

Surgeries

Both kiddos had ear tubes in and adenoids removed yesterday.  Aside from the obvious jitters for me, the worst part was not feeding them all morning! But they actually did way better than I thought they would.  So, at 11:45 we headed to the facility. I know Sofia was nervous, bless her little heart.  She kept asking me if she was going to throw up...her nerves were in full force.  Once we got into the office and Daddy met us, she was totally fine.  I had prepped her a bit before hand which i am so glad i did... i told her that we were going to a new doctors office and Dr. Duncan (her ENT Dr.) was going to fix her ears. I said that they were going to put a funny smelling mask on her face and that she would take a little nap and wake up and her ears would be all better.  That's about how it went, but Gabe went first and then Sofia right after him.  I was a little emotional sending them off with the anesthesiologist but had to keep it together because I did not want Sofia to pick up on any anxious energy on my part.  Each total procedure time was about thirty minutes.  Then , recovery/ wake up was about another 30 but they took a bit longer to get over the crabbiness anesthesia causes.  We were in and out of the outpatient facility in about three hours. Pretty simple all in all! I can't wait to see the difference it makes.

We had our own room which was nice ... Te kids enjoyed wrestling on the bed while we waited

Thank goodness for the iPad to keep little S from freaking out

Jumping....

Our room

Off went Gabe. So brave and totally unaffected.  I thought the wagon was genius! So they never felt like they were being pulled off of Mommy and Daddy by a stranger. Also helped the anesthesiologist was a super sweet young woman.

Brave girl went next!

Gabe waking up. Had never seen him so inconsolable for so long :( I can only imagine how weird they must feel when they wake up and don't like it at all! He wanted nothing to do with me, only Daddy.

Got some sweet cuddles from baby girl.she said some funny stuff on the way home, she was really irrational but it made me laugh!

We were home by 4, and the kids ate SO much. Each had a half of a pbj, a banana, crackers, veggie straws, and a hot dog.  Ha! Then still ate more an hour later! Poor kids were starving.  All in all, it was a very smooth day. Much less nerve wracking than I had anticipated.  I think since we did them both at the same time there wasn't time to worry much because we had to tend to one or the other the whole time.  I truly hope this makes the difference everyone swears it will.  I hear its life changing? since we've been at the dr on average twice a month this past year,I sure am excited for the changes it should bring!

Soccer!

Well, by random chance, Sofia has joined a soccer team.  I say random chance because this was a decision made over beers with Mike's soccer team late after a game.  Someone asked if anyone had a three year old girl b/c their team needed her.  So, we decided that it was fate :)  We had been wavering about adding another activity but now we're so glad we did.  Her first game got rained out but this Sunday was her first game after all.  And what a PERFECT day for a first soccer game!  It was our first beautiful day since Spring - sunny and 70 - amazing.  We had a crew out there to watch Sofia!  Mike's sister Erin was in town for the weekend and my parents came as well.  Of course Aunt Erin had to teach Sofia her celebration dance.  HA.  Pretty dang funny.

Here is the video of the goal dance.

Practicing Goals

 Distraction with a lollipop. I had to pull out all the stops.  He was so mad he wasn't on the field!

 Following directions.  So proud!

 Water break with Aunt Erin and Mommy

 Tough Daddy 

 Playing with Aunt Erin post game

Family shot sans snoozing Gabe

On another note, we did have such a blast with Aunt Erin this weekend.  I think it's the longest span we've just had one on one time with her and us. . . at least in a long while!  We loved having her here and all miss her a lot!  The kids got to bond with her which was great and it was tough to see her go.  So much fun having family visitors!

Race for the Cure

This past weekend definitely goes down in the books as one of the best this year.  It was the Race for the Cure and it was the first year it meant more to me than in years past.  Mike and I have always done this particular race for no real reason other than we thought it was a good cause and just kind of made a tradition out of it for ourselves.  Well, since my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer this past summer, this race was obviously much more meaningful.  So, I formed a team - Don't Mess with Texas Breast-es.  We had an awesome team of 25 people and we raised $2,250!  So awesome and exciting.  The day of the race was much more emotional than I had ever anticipated.  I think for my Mom as well.  Just seeing all the people who showed up for her was overwhelming and for me too.  Her best friend from Midland and her entire family traveled to Houston to do the race with her, many of my closest friends and parents, and then Mike's sister Erin visiting from NY and several of her friends all participated with us.  So so touching.  Seeing all the women going through the same as my mom (and worse) out there walking is indescribable.  The strength of these women is unmatched, my mom included.  I got the most choked up seeing the survivor finish line and thinking how I can't wait for my mom to go through it.  It's a special finish line where all the survivors receive a flower upon crossing the finish line and it's all lined with pink decor.  Just beautiful.  Then, we had a post race party at our house which was a lot of fun.  Lots of my mom's friends came by as well as several of mine although I think the majority of the guests were under 5 :)  We also had a taco truck come for dinner which was super cool!  Thank you doesn't even touch my gratitude for all the friends and family who helped make this weekend unforgettable and special.  First of many years!

Love this pic of my Mom and I

family shot

Can you tell how HOT it was?  It was like a swamp!!!

 Aunt Erin and Sofia selfie

the only pic from the party!  Ha, so cute