Please never grow up!

As of late I have been insisting he wear his robe and slippers. He agrees only because the robe has a car on it. Right now, he loves to line up his cars in a row. His current obsession is trains. We are hoping Santa will bring him some:)

The game of T-ball

His new favorite outdoor activity is T-ball. 

His daddy gave him a lesson and now he he swings professionaly;)

Cousin Love

We love having cousins down the road. Christiana was feeling friendly and gave Gabriel a ride, which he took full advantage of as you can see.

He eats and sleeps at the same time...

Pumpkin Farm Round 2

Like I said, we love the fall:) We went to Lincoln, NE for the weekend to visit Lindsay and John and head to Roca Berry Farms (insanely huge and fun dream pumpkin farm). Gabe and I had a blast....mainly watching our son enjoy every part of the day.

He was old enough to get a hand stamp:)

He thinks he can lift heavy objects and take them home.

The best moment of my day! Such a thrill seeker. He wanted to go down on his belly-over and over.

 I felt sorry for the goat. He survived Gabriel's loving attention.

Of course there were breaks for snacks.

Rose is his favorite friend right now. She watches over him and tolerates Gabriel's need to hold hands at all times:) He asks for "Rothe" on a regular basis.

Hayride!

(Evidence of a fun filled day.)

My Pet Rocks

Gabriel has been busy scouring our gravel driveway for the perfect rocks to put in his little bug catcher.

Oh how I love little boys! He wonders why I follow him around, but patiently puts up with me laughing at filming everything he does:)

Pumpkin Patch Round 1

Our family is a little crazy about Fall and all its festiveness. We bake massive amounts of food and put up hay barrels in our yard and such. So, naturally there will be several trips to the pumpkin patch. We know a very kind man who owns a pumpkin depot near by and he lets us head out to his patches and fill our cars with pumpkins and gourds of every kind. I know....so cool.

Gabriel had so much fun in the hay maze..

Of course we got in there with him:)

Notice my concentration. It is hard to pick the perfect little gourdy pumpkins with the right amount of color and texture....;)

The smile that makes me die a happy death every day of my life...

Could these boys be any more handsome?!

Gabriel has been carrying around his little gourd and trying to throw it like a ball. Amusing.

Building Blocks and Practicing Words

Gabriel gets so excited when he can build something. We have gotten so much use out of these Melissa and Doug stacking alphabet blocks. We take every opportunity to hear him say "yeth" with his little lisp.

Old McDonald gives him dancing fever.

His laugh is so contagious. I could have filmed him for hours....

Without a camera you have to rely on your memory.

My memory...something that is slowly slipping through my clenched fist. I am trying to hold onto it tight but something about pregnancy and loss of brain cells..


Maria is borrowing my camera, and I had a few moments with Gabriel this weekend that I want to remember forever-so I have to record them with words:)


Playdough
Julie works for the Parents as Teachers program and comes to visit us once a month to teach us about what Gabriel can be learning at his age, watch his progress, and learn how to make hands on learning activities. She brought him a batch of play-dough. I have never given it to him before simply because I knew he would eat it.... tasting has been his way of learning since he was tiny. In fact, if someone asked me what type of learner he was - auditory or visual- I would say "He's a taster." Anyways, I felt like he had matured enough to let him try:D when I gave him a clump  of play dough, I showed him how to squish it with his hands. He proceeded to imitate me and take his chubby little hands (with dimples) and press down as hard as he could. He started to giggle at the feeling of it. It was a giggle of new discovery. These little moments make me want to keep him small forever. He only tried to eat it once, and when he discovered it was salty, he didn't try again...


Hiiii
I have always greeted Gabriel with an excited Hiiii! whenever I see him peek his head around a door, get him up from his nap, out of the car, etc. A few days ago, I walked in the door and he gave me a very enthusiastic hiii! I melted. You tend to forget how much they pick up on. Their little minds are always at work and you never know when they are going to start being a small mimick of you;) So, for the past few days he has greeted everyone he is excited to see with a heeeey! or hiiii! (extra long vowel sounds)

Watching Toy Story on the football field. This was one of those moments too...I wanted to bottle him up and keep him like this forever and ever! He was so happy to sit on his own little chair, eating his own bag of popcorn. I don't know what was cuter...the constant popcorn stuffing or his squishy little feet swinging...

A whole new life...

When I found out I was expecting a new baby, I was choked with joy. I know it is a grace to see that this whole new life inside of me is nothing short of a miracle. I don't know if it has fully hit me yet! Not until I was driving home with Gabriel from the hospital did I realize the great gift that had just been given to me. It is hard for me to grasp! It still seems somewhat surreal to me, that in about 7 months, I will have sweet little hands and toes to kiss and care for.  It comforts me to know that God already knows every detail of my son or daughter's personhood- the way they will laugh, the color of their hair, and the passions that will grow in their heart. God knew that there was a place in this family for a new life.


I know there will never be another Gabriel. He has captured mommy and daddy's heart. It is hard to fathom having another one we will love just as much! We can only patiently wait:) But just as Gabriel has taught us a great deal about the unconditional love of God, this child inside will teach us great lessons and grow our hearts.

Wearing mudpies.

Mud-smearing became a favorite activity of my 100% little boy this summer:) Let boys be boys!

Summer is slipping away!

Fall is my absolute favorite season. The weather, festivities, and coming of the holidays make the Fall most exciting. I am sad however, to see the summer go. It really has been a wonderful summer. We got to see lots of family and friends, and enjoy some lazy weekends. Some of the highlights...

discovering confetti at Jordan's wedding...

being ridiculously cute in his mini tux at Matt's wedding

when you love someone, you go the extra mile;)

our camera always blurs during life's most precious moments. (4th of July)

He's part amphibian. His feet are so yummy. 

We got to spend some time with Oma and Opa. We loved every minute:)

Gabriel loved time with Nanna Gennie and cousin Novi:) Wish we could see them more often!

Nothing cuter than a boy and his teddy bear.

No caption is good enough for this one.

See why we don't want summer to end?

I promised myself I would be better about updated my family blog. Something about having to log in with Gabe's email address that always makes it seem more of a task than it really is.

Will be back soon:D

Chunky Summertime

Well it has been a big week for the Chunk Head and he is really starting to come into his own. This past week we made a trip to Nana and Papa Zuniga's in Saint Louis and it seems that every time we are there he begins something new. I think it is due to all of the insanity, commotion, loud noises, and more playmates than he could ever dream of.

It all started one early Tuesday morning. Gaber, his Uncle Pedro, and I were at a secret fishing pond near their house. Pete was fishing while I was ensuring that Meat Hands didn't dive face first into the murky water never to be seen again. Gabriel has an unhealthy attraction to large bodies of water as well as large snarling animals. What can I say, my son laughs in the face of danger... literally, I'm not joking. So any-who, while I am keeping track of my son, Pete is starting to attract some fish. At one point he feels what seems to be a big hit, but looses it and the lure comes flying out of the water. I respond in disappointment, "Ahhhh man!" Then suddenly it is repeated by a small but not so quite voice playing in the dirt and sticks by my legs, "Ahhhhhhhh maaaaaannnnnn." Pete and I both look at each other and question if we truly heard what we think we just heard. We chalk it up to coincidence and move on for my boy has not uttered any words, much less a full expression with two components to it, and refuses to even say please in sign language because he is too stubbern and bull headed, even though he knows what it means and knows how to! So we continue, Pete fishes, Gaber gets dirty, and I protect the one getting dirty and stare at my fishing pole with yearning eyes. Suddenly Pete again feels a hit but looses the fish and we exclaim "Ahh man!" To out amazement our words are again echoed by the voice below me, "aaahhhhhhh mmmaaaaaaaaannnn." Then suddenly it dawns on the two of us! Yes he did just say that, my 13 month old son is a GENIUS! Over the next few days he also began to say "dog," "bark," and "ba" for bath.

Although we are surprised that his is saying words, we are not surprised at his choice of words. He is still obsessed with dogs and animals, and will search like mad any times he hears one. He is still a little water bug. While at Nana and Papa Zuniga's he had lots of pool time and loved every minute of it, throwing a fit every time we took him out. He had a routine of spending some time in the little plastic baby pool then trotting over to the big pool where he would fall into the arms of Anna or I waiting in the big pool. After some time there he would clime out on his own by the pool steps, make a b-line for the baby pool and it would start over again.

By the time we returned home last night he was completely exhausted from all the excitement. Despite his tiredness he refused to stop pacing every room in the house, laughing and babbling as he touched everything and reacquainted himself with all of his toys. He was very happy to be home. So happy in fact that this morning he decided that it was time for him to start learning to draw and color. So he found a pad of paper on the coffee table and a pen and tried to color/draw. We gave him a few pointers and he was off, making a few little scribbles here, then picking up his paper and moving a few feet to a new location. Then made a few scribbles, picked up his supplies, and moved on to a new location, and so on.

It seems like every time we go on a trip he comes back a different and slightly more advanced goof-ball.

(written by Gabe if you haven't already guessed)

Time really does fly....but Gabe and I have tried to soak up every moment of Little G's first year....I like to say he has one month left to still be my little baby:) I want to capture every moment on video to never forget the most precious moments. He loves to laugh and is always waiting for us to do something funny so he can let out his belly giggle. He also loves to eat and waits for any scraps to fall to the floor as you can see from the picture below;) His favorite things to do right now is look at books and flip through the pages, talk to himself in the mirror, gaze out the window if its rainy, be outside if its nice, and practice his walking skills...he knows he is big stuff. What Gabe and I are enjoying right now...watching his little life unfold. We marvel at the goodness of God in blessing us with such a beautiful gift of parenthood. We wish we could share these moments with our families, but at least we have some pictures to share...