It All Started with a Little Skittle...

    Christmas started for us on Christmas Eve.  We went to Grandma and Papa's house around 2:00 after cleaning all day, getting ready for Christmas festivities.  Aunt Ellen, Chelli, GiGi, Aunt Lisa, Nanny, Uncle Patrick, Grandma, Papa, and the three of us enjoyed gumbo and each others' company.  Gabby got an amazing handmade very tall doll that Aunt Ellen made, like Chelli's favorite doll as a child.  Gabby gave her her hand made gift and then dazzled us all while she made up silly antics and literally rode her doll like a horse.  After saying our good byes we headed to church.  Gabby was excited to see baby Jesus and celebrate his birthday; however, when we arrived and she was expected to sit quietly for 2 hours (because we arrived early to ensure a pew) she was not a happy camper (not to mention the fact that baby Jesus never came to play with her).  We ended up leaving after communion and brought Gabby home to prepare for San...

About a month ago we started a sticker chart system for Gabby to earn a "big girl bed." After about three days of earning her stickers by not crying an going to bed nicely, she climbed out of her bed. The next day she attempted to do the same thing again. She found a way around the sticker chart system, but we didn't want her to realize this. One day she spent the night at my parents' house so Michael and I could have a date night and go to a Halloween party. When Gabby came gone the next day and went into her room she discovered her big girl bed! We kept the sticker chart and told her we would take her big girl bed away and she would have to go back into a crib if she did not stay in her bed. Amazingly she stays in her bed all night; however, nap times are a different story. She no longer cries when we put her to bed and goes to bed with a lot less protesting. We just knew that the transition from crib to bed was going to be weeks of sleeplessness for us, but l...

Halloween would have to be one of Gabby's favorite holidays so far.  She prepared for a few months by watching "Bubble Guppies Haunted House" and I must say she loves pretending there is a g-g-g-ghost!! Oh no it's just Bubble Puppy.  This is a game that is played probably 20 times a day.  Gabby also likes to turn lights out to make it dark and spooky.  I asked her what she wanted to be for Halloween after watching the show one day and she took a moment to think and then decisively exclaimed, "a princess kitty!"  I was thinking I was going to have to create a costume from scratch, but we were lucky enough to find one at the store that meet Gabby's criteria. The day of Halloween finally arrived after numerous mini-pumpkins were painted, costumes were broken in, and spooky pretend play was completed. Gabby wore one of the many Halloween shirts Grandma made her to go to story time at the library.  To my surprise everyone was dressed in their costume...

It has been far too long since I've written because Gabby has been keeping me busy (not to mention Mike being gone more means I am busier all around).  Today to celebrate Gabby's 2 1/2 year mark I will give you a little insight into the milestones she has met: Gabby can snip paper She talks constantly in complete sentences: "Mommy you my best friend. Come here and play with me!" were her phrases of the day The funnies words she says: peanut butter, balloon...basically anything with an "l" in it Gabby can ride a tricycle Gabby can navigate and i-phone, find her apps, and play them Gabby can put on her own socks and shoes She can eat with a spoon and fork without any help She can color with paper She can count to 11 She knows all of her shapes She know how to spell stop She can pick up after her own spills (when she wants to) She has an imagination She knows words that I have never said to her She can do basic puzzles She can problem solve ...

Gabby tried a toddler gymnastics class last week and LOVED it! Gymnastics is a loose term however, about half of the class the children sing songs and run around without any serious structure. Even with such a small amount of structure and only a 45 minute class, they started teaching Gabby how to do a safe forward roll, how to walk the balance beam and jump off, "tada" which is raising your arms after you complete an activity, and jumping and grasping onto a bar. She was the best in the class (and also the oldest....but a mom can brag right?).  Gabby was the best at following directions and she followed the teacher around like a puppy dog.  I was planning to look into different gymnastic programs around the area, but it looks like the one we tried is probably the one we will enroll her in since it works best with our busy schedule. 

 Today Gabby officially learned how to ride a tricycle independently. Her two friends, Aiden and Addison were riding their bikes and she wanted to be like them so she hopped on their extra tricycle and began peddling with a little help from Daddy at first. We've been trying to get Gabby to ride her tricycle for months, (knowing that she's fully capable of doing it) but she was never interested until her friends were doing it and she wanted to join in the fun. Who said peer pressure has to be a bad thing?   Even when she fell she got right back up without a tear Gabby ate better than usual because she was with her friends and accomplished another milestones because she wanted to be like her friends. Sometimes allowing children to naturally interact is the best way for them to learn new skills. That is why I love play dates (not to mention all of the smiles, giggles, and extra squeals that fill the air).

Sunday the light bulb in Gabby's head was shining brighter than usual I suppose.  She started drawing circles for the first time, she can identify 4 letters (when she is paying attention and interested), she finally can count to 5 independently, and she learned how to put  three piece puzzles together.  I am one proud momma in awe of what she learned in a day!

Everyone has an opinion about potty training: when to do it, how old they should be, discipline for accidents, etc.  I have decided on pretty much all aspects of parenting to enjoy the baby stage.  It is so precious and for such a short amount of time; why rush any of the milestones (but I don't plan on her being a late developer either)? Almost everyone I know with a child Gabby's age (she is 2 years, 5 months) have begun the process of potty training or have successfully completed potty training.  Gabby was interested when she turned 2 and actually went potty 2 or 3 times in her potty chair.  We praised her and were extremely proud, but she quickly lost interest to the point where she didn't want anything to do with her potty chair any longer so I decided to wait until she was interested because we are in no hurry at this point.  Then I saw this article, thanks to my cousin Michelle, and I realized that there are benefits to waiting to potty train.  I d...

Gabby's favorite alphabet song by Tilly and the Wall from Sesame Street. For a few months Gabby and I have been working on her letter recognition. She already knows "o" thanks to a shirt I wear to bed. I haven't decided whether she should learn them in alphabetical order, or the letters in her name first. Until the last week she has shown no interest in looking at her name written or singing songs about her name (songs include spelling her name to the tune of "Bingo," a song one of her toys sings spelling her name, cheering, the typical alphabet song, the one from Sesame Street, and random tunes I've made up), but I am proud to say we are finally starting to enjoy singing songs about the alphabet!! When at Grandma's she was playing with a baby Leapster toy that plays only a small portion of the letters at a time Gabby will sing along and get the letters correct, which makes me very proud of her!  It's so cute to see how excited she ge...

All of Gabby's cousins (she was napping) cuddling with G.G. (Photo by Danielle McIlroy) It seems that the topics I am most excited about are the ones that leave me with writers block...I know what you're thinking, Amber who never stops talking can't think of what to say? Well the truth is I have plenty to say it's just does not do justice to the wonderful time we had, but I'll at least give you a glimpse at our fun.  Hopefully the pictures (mainly my sister-in-law's pictures) will depict the amazing time we all had visiting with each other, because a picture is worth a thousand words, right? Gabby met her cousins Molly, Reagan, and Cate for the first time when she was about 2 1/2 months old and she hasn't seem them since (besides in the thousands of pictures I've shown her to make sure she knows who they are), until about a month ago that is!  Gabby and Molly have a special connection because they were born 6 days apart and the last time they sa...

One of Gabby’s favorite places to visit is Chick-Fil-A, but she calls it “nuggets” or “slide with friends.”    Since we are frequent visitors of the establishment we decided to celebrate Cow Appreciation Day for the first time.   For those of you who have never celebrated (or God forbid never heard of) Cow Appreciation Day, it’s a “holiday” created by Chick-Fil-A cows in which you dress up like a cow and receive an entire meal free.   You could go for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if you like.    Michael and I opted to eat dinner at home because he was working hard building a Murphy Bed (a post for another day) and I wasn’t sure if Gabby would be in a good mood by the time he completed the project.   Lucky for Gabby, Daddy finished the bed in time to make it to Cow Appreciation Day.   Being a procrastinator I hadn’t picked out an outfit for Gabby and I had to make her into a cow fast! While Daddy took a bath I rummaged through her closet and...