It All Started with a Little Skittle...

UNCLE Patrick and Aunt Lacey are officially their own nuclear family now!! The moment Gabby saw Nanny she excitedly ran to her squatted down and exclaimed, "OH Wow wee!" She loved Lacey's dress and all of the beautiful details, especially the flowers. Gabby carefully examined the flowers while delicately touching them while jabbering away. Lacey laughed while Gabby told her nanny what she thought about her dress. When we arrived at the venue I said a quick little prayer asking that the wedding go smoothly and that Gabby would make it down the aisle without any incidences. Once the bridal party lined up and were ready to walk I started singing her favorite kid songs, doing the motions, jumping up and down in my 4 inch heels to make sure the two youngest flower girls were in a great mood as they walked down the aisle. And....apparently all of the stares and snickers from the non-parent bridal party members were worth it because Gabby made it down the quarter mile walk wit...

Swimming lesson #2 was a complete success! Although our morning started off rough I truly think Gabby has made significant progress in the pool. First, I put Gabby in the car and she literally fell asleep before I turned off of our street. So we arrive at the pool about 15 minutes before our lesson begins so I decide to allow her to have a 10 minute cat nap to hopefully rejuvenate her good spirit. After twiddling my fingers for the allotted time I scooped my little swim star into my arms hoping for a happy baby and was blessed with my wish granted.  Gabby played with a little 2 year old boy for 30 minutes. Thirty minutes? we were only supposed to have 10 minutes, apparently I was 40 minutes early not 10 minutes! Luckily Gabby was in a great mood throughout our swim lesson.  She went under 4 times and only cried the 4th time! She also learned how to walk on the edge of the pool with her hands and minimal help from me. The day I anticipated to be a disaster was a blessing in dis...

Today Aunt Lacey AKA Nanny is Mrs. McBride!! Gabby, Mommy, and Daddy get to get all dressed up and be part of the festivities.  Gabby will NOT steal the show but definitely will encourage people to be excited for Aunt Lacey as she lays flower petals to guide Aunt Lacey to the alter to (officially) meet Uncle Patrick.  Gabby has been practicing throwing flower petals, but typically unsuccessfully. There are a few scenarios that could play out: Gabby could sit down in the middle of the aisle and start taking the flowers out of her basket and delicately lay each petal on the floor She could have a tantrum and scream and cry because she wants the other flower basket as well so she can transfer her flowers to the other basket and then back again               OR She could actually throw the flower petals (which has yet to happen) Now those are only a few things that could happen not to mention our concerns with h...

Gabby had her 15 month doctor visit this week.  About the day before we went to the appointment I realized that Gabby had to get shots, AGAIN!  The power flickered on and off and then finally stayed off while we waited the hour in one of the doctor's rooms, while Gabby read a book, pointed to all of the pictures of the animals on the wall, had her diaper changed, played with the paper on the examination table, pointed to every doctor item in the room, imitated the monkey sound while pointed to the stuffed animal hanging from a pretend by from the ceiling, ate some snacks, got bored eating snacks, started throwing snacks, sang songs with hand motions, and began to whine from boredom !  All I could think about during the typical hour wait was, poor baby being tortured waiting to be tortured !  Surprisingly when the doctor walked in Gabby smiled at him (typically she screams from the moment her eyes meet his) but then he touched her and she proved there is nothing wron...

Gabby's favorite toys by far is her baby doll. She has about three or four dolls now, but only one has stolen her heart.  She carries her baby doll with her everywhere.  In the morning she runs to her doll as soon as she sees it, grabs it and kisses it repeatedly.  Then, she hugs her baby and pats it's diaper.  She constantly brings her doll to Mommy or Daddy and asks gives us the doll and her dress and we put the dress on, Gabby takes it off, and then the process repeats sometimes for 30 minutes. Last night she found a new diaper in her toy box and intently tried to put the diaper on her baby, but it just wouldn't work! Finally she suckered Daddy into putting the diaper on baby.  Then she found her bloomers and insisted they go on the baby too. Before the dressing of the baby was complete she had a diaper, bloomers, and another diaper on top of her clothes.  Although Gabby is a loving little mommy I have to say she gives her baby doll more concussions th...

Monday was Gabby's first ever swim lesson, and third time ever in a pool.  She is in a group with two other babies that are a little older than her. When we first walked into the water it was cool, but not cold.  She seemed fine entering the water, but quickly lost her enthusiasm once we started singing songs and touching her cheeks into the water.  She did not seem to like the water touching her face, but we followed the other children. During our first session we worked on kicking in the water, pulling herself along the wall (the choo choo train), floating on her back and getting her ears used to the water, pulling herself out of the pool, and when getting back in the water turning around and grabbing the wall (Humpty Dumpty).  The entire 30 minutes Gabby did not really care for the water and kept telling me "up" meaning she wanted out, but she never cried even when she went under water once.  The instructor informed me that babies don't like getting wate...

 Gabby Sharing her castle with Aiden Aiden guiding Gabby everywhere he thinks she needs to go Puppy Love My little girl has her first crush! She fell quickly and instantly decided he could be the king of her castle!  Aiden guided Gabby everywhere he wanted her to go and she happily ablidged.  We have been trying to teach her to hold our hand when she walks and she has always refused.  Thanks to Aiden she will now hold our hand when walking.   Gabby usually isn't very social around other children.  Usually she cries and wants to be held, but not with Aiden and Addision.  She followed them, shared her toys quite well, and tried to be just like them.  It is so amusing to see Gabby try to be a big girl like her friends.  Michael says next time Aiden comes over "they are going to have a talk."  

 Gabby and Daddy checking out the Lake  Hanging out with the deer  Showing off her beautiful flower Getting into trouble GiGi rented an amazing house on Lake Travis to celebrate her 90th birthday.  Everyone came: GiGi, her friend, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Sharon, Uncle Lee, Emma, Brody, Great Aunt Carolyn, Leslie, Michael, Megan, Great Aunt Donna, and Great Uncle Kenneth.  We all had a wonderful time. We ate delicious meals, played a tournament of ping pong, pool, and Foosball, swam, played outside, and I think the kids favorite was watching the deer.  Gabby and Emma sat outside with Cheerios in the evening with the 3 bravest deer who first arrived.  They would try to be quiet and would throw Cheerios at the deer.  Within minutes we would have 13 deer around us.  Surprisingly even with Gabby being her noisy self, Emma fed a deer out of her hand! On Saturday we had a party to celebrate GiGi's 90th birthday.  We had d...