PAT Program Fun- St. Patrick's Day

Kansas has a fantastic program called Parents as Teachers. Julie comes to visit us every month and shows us some fun age appropriate activities, and checks up on all Gaber's current skills;) Gabriel LOVES the attention, and the fun activities he gets to do. 

They also host play groups with really fun themed activities. This was St. Patrick's Day fun...

He wanted to find every little frog buried in the noodles. He could have sat here all morning!

Green Playdough that smelled good but didn't taste so good as he soon found out.

Christiana and Myla:)

Green Jello. He scraped the cup clean and asked for more of course. Completely content eating this while every other child listened to the book reading. Go figure! He looked like such a little boy this day and I just enjoyed watching him be one. He really loves all his little buddies he gets to see here.

Julie brought a giant piece of paper for him to color on. He likes to pretend he knows how to draw a "trianger" or a "sphare".

His vocabulary keeps cracking us up. His latest sayings include "Oh gosh!" followed by a series of babble, "Oh no, help!" when playing with his trains, "Oh cool!" involving anything he thinks deserves an exclamation point, and "Bye, See ya later!" which he says as we put him down for bed. 

Really, every day we learn and discover new things around here! :)

Our imaginary friends.

Some days I really can't believe I have a little toddler. I hope I always remember the sound of his voice and the endless babble and words he uses throughout the day to tell me stories, or make his toys come alive. He has quite the imagination. All of his stuffed animals are now his best friends....

 He wanted his sheep to wear his Brewers hat and tried very hard for ten minutes to figure out how to put on the hat and sit next to him without it falling off. He is just a little clumsy;) His chubby large hands are constantly squeezed. I cannot get enough.

"Bear" goes with him everywhere during the day. He brings him to breakfast and makes sure he gets something to eat, brings him to watch Thomas with him, makes him take a nap, and wear socks, and the latest and greatest....makes him sit on the pot and go poop. If I walk in the bathroom and bear is sitting on the potty, Gabriel informs me that bear is pooping.

I just wish I could put him in a bottle forever...I know that sounds crazy but I am sure moms can relate:D

Each day we watch him grow older and it only gets more fun though.

He seems to have turned a corner in maturity as if he knows a baby is coming.

He is ready to be a big brother.

Breakfast Vocab

Continuing my blog updates from the midnight sleepless spells during this last month of pregnancy....

Do you ever have days when you just watch videos of your kids over and over? I do this sometimes because nothing makes me smile or laugh more. Gabriel is such a blabber mouth, and I just love it. These days, he never stops talking. Only about half of it is words he knows and the other half is babble. He likes to be a part of the conversation. If Gabe and I are talking at dinner, he always has to join in, and we try to seriously respond to him;)

This video was over Christmas break in St. Louis practicing his breakfast vocabulary. He has always been a breakfast boy:) He would eat for an hour if I let him. Currently, eggs and bacon are his favorite breakfast food. (I have to cut him off after three eggs!)

Pregnancy at 6 months

I was hoping I would be better at documenting this pregnancy. Not so much. I think the Thanksgiving picture and this picture were the only ones I took of my growing belly. I have millions of words I wish I could just have transferred to paper for our little one to read one day. With each day I get more excited for their arrival. This was at Christmas time - 6 months pregnant. Besides the first few months of nausea it has been a really good pregnancy and I cannot complain. This baby has been good to me:)

I have so much blogging to catch up on. I guess I always wait to have an hour when I can focus but who am I kidding? That never happens. My business takes up most of my free time:(

At this point in my pregnancy I didn't see too many differences between the two.

However, cravings were different. Fast food fries and burgers seemed to be pretty common with Gabriel but this baby has given me some pretty strong cravings for either really salty or sweet foods(specifically chocolate molten lava cake). It's not good! I lived on popsicles when I was nauseous and now torwards the end here, I don't have much room in my stomach anymore so I may revert back to fruit and popsicles like I did with Gabriel:) These things seem minor now, but I want to remember them someday..

Christmas Day 2010

We woke up early and and all gathered in one room to wait for the okay to go see if Santa came. I will never how precious my little boy looked as he got a glimpse of Christmas morning...

The fun started early and didn't end!

Boys may not ever grow out of trains...

Santa brought the right gift in his stocking. He didn't even want to open the other presents. He played all day with these.

And made time for a tea party with Aunt Gi, Aunt Grace, and pudding.

He found this gift in the Bluegrass room that Santa brought:)

Phew! He likes them:)

My happiness was watching him with these all day. Its incredible how easily joy comes to you when you have children. I am so lucky to be his mom.

Got to sneak away with Ange and Joe for Christmas Day mass and pipe time:) Meet Sherlock Hemlock.

Christmas Evening feast:

Christmas day pajamas from Nanna and Papa and a piano lesson:)

I wish the joy of Christ's birth, and the joy that he allows on this day could spread throughout the year. I would take a day like this over and over again. 

Just the beginning of many joys

Gabe requested we find out if wewere having a boy or girl this pregnancy so that he could develop a little bond with our bambino before he/she arrives. We as women forget that we get to experience the kicks, moving, closeness of the baby. The men don't have much to go off of to realize they are having a child! So we went in for the ultrasound and had the tech write down boy or girl on a piece of paper for us to tote to St. Louis for Christmas Eve. I left that very important envelope in a spot that would help me remember only to forget all about it. Hmm....brain cell loss anyone? Long story short, we had the news delivered just in time for our Christmas Eve thanks to the help of a special sister Smange, who also captured the moment on camera for us...

I hope our child sees this picture one day and realizes with what great joy we had in our hearts that night as we got to share the news with our family. Your arrival is coming soon but it couldn't come fast enough! We are waiting for you with open arms!

Christmas Eve 2010

Continuing to play catch up and Photojournaling some very sweet memories of Christmas Eve...

His first experience of snow....

After Christmas Eve Mass....

He loved the hay in the manger and "Baby Jeethuth"

Our attempt at a family photo....Gabe was sick and Gabriel was past bedtime;)

Passing on the guitar skills to godson:

Uncle Paul was teaching him how to smoke a pipe. What he will learn from him aunts and uncles...;)

Soon to be cousins:

The men in the family:)

It was so fun that Gabriel had Paul for gift exchange, being his current fave Uncle.

Nicholas gave Gabriel a pretty sweet tractor!

Angela got all the children matching pj's to wear for Christmas. Who doesn't love a toddler in a onesie??

Gabe had been battling the cold/fever mix for a few days but no one was taking him out of the picture on his most favorite day of the year:) Luckily he was well enough to participate in all of the fun.

Just a few great memories....Driving through lights throughout the neighborhood, gift exchange, setting out the cookie contest winner cookies for santa, carols, I spy, and finding out what little baby we are having in April. It was a magical night.

Christmas Eve has got to be almost even better than Christmas Day at the Zuniga house. So much tradition, cheer, good ood, laughter, and celebration of the newborn king! I cherish these memories so much and hope that my children can have the same experiences.