January, February, March! March! MARCH!

I know this post title most likely does not make sense unless you grew up in my family, but whatever.

So I hope Racheal doesn't scoff at me for this, but I didn't let Gabriel play with the gift she and the kids got him for Christmas until March. She got him these awesome crayons made especially for little hands. They have a bulb on one end that makes it so babies and toddlers can grasp them more easily and there's a giant crayon tip on the other end. They also stack inside each other. Gabriel LOVES them. But he doesn't color with them. He just wants to stack them....

We have some awesome neighbors (on one side of us) who love to play with Gabriel. The dad is the coolest guy and his son and daughter are such cute kids!! Here, you can see his oldest playing with Gabe. He could see that Gabriel was fascinated by his skateboard, so he stopped and put Gabe on to go for a spin! Okay, so he didn't really go anywhere, but he stood on it for a few minutes!!

My friend's daughter's birthday was in March and we were invited! She decided to do it at Chuck E Cheese's and we had a blast! We got a few tokens and Gabe use almost all of them (all but three) on this:

I can never get enough of seeing my boys hanging out. It's one of my favorite things to see.

Gabriel loves Elmo. I'm talking UNHEALTHY love. He is obsessed with Sesame street. He becomes glued to the TV. Normally if we have something on TV, he watches it for a minute and runs around playing with toys. He never gets like this unless Elmo is on:

Another gift from Racheal--the phone. It was an old toy that her kids used to love and play with and she gave it to Gabriel when we all met up at Daisy's house last fall. He LOVES this phone! It plays music and talks and lights up. She said each of her kids loved it too. We always keep it in the car for him to play with!

See that third picture? He was calling Mamma.

So that was March. I know--I was a little skimpy with the pictures and videos last month. I have no idea why. Normally I have tons of videos to sift through and hundreds of pictures every month. But not March. It was weird for me too, people. 

Fun In February

Okay--in an effort to get caught up, I'm going to try to get February and March squished into just a couple of posts.

Get ready for some blogitty overload, peeps.

Apparently my sister has a magic touch. Everything she buys for Gabriel ends up being his favorite "thing" in that "thing category" (my vocabulary seems to be lacking tonight...don't judge me!). Remember the blanket from a couple of posts ago? Yeah. Like that. His favorite, most requested book is "Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?" by Eric Carle. He. LOVES. That book. He loves the colors and the animals and the fact that it's a giant board book. The version of the book that my sister got him has a little slider window on each page that you can slide over and see a smaller preview of what is next--he LOVES that. And guess who bought it for him? Yup--Titi.

Gabriel continues to chug along with the sign language. I love love LOVE that he picks them up so quickly and starts using them every day. Here, I caught a video of him saying "More please", asking for more food. Smarty pants...

I can be crafty from time to time. SHOCKER! I know. I really like Gabe's monkey winter hat and I think it's really super cute. But it's brown and sometimes an outfit calls for something.....not brown. So I decided Gabriel needed another hat. I looked and looked and nothing fit right, so I decided to make it a little project! I found a simple pattern and crocheted it one evening while watching a movie. First hat ever. I think it turned out cute! And it works for all those outfits that need something other than brown...

What do you think?! Not bad, eh? Especially for my first hat/beanie!!

The way life has happened over the last couple of years has put a gap in a lot of my relationships with close friends. I hate that. When I moved back from Hawaii, I promised to do my best to get back in touch with them. I've done well...with a couple....and okay with some.....and not-so-great with others. Still working on it! One friend that I'm pretty positive I'll never completely lose touch with is Jackson. (Jack) We made a lunch date and actually kept it! No change of plans or postponing. It was awesome! He got to meet Gabe and turned out to be a huge hit with the little stinker! They got along really well and I hope we'll have lots more fun play dates with Uncle Jack! (Jack, if you're reading this, let me insert a *hint hint*nudge nudge*wink*...seriously)

Have I failed to mention that my son is a strange, silly little man? If I have never mentioned it before, let me make it known now: the kid is WEIRD. But I really like it. Gabe has a handful of those "touch and feel" books. You know--the ones with different textures that help with sensory development? I kept seeing him wander off with one of the books. He would open it up and lay his head on it. I thought he was trying to tell me he was sleepy, so I would put him down for a nap. Then I realized that he was doing it ALL THE TIME. What the...? So I finally paid closer attention to what page he was doing this with....

Yeah--if you can't tell, that's a furry lion. He likes the feel of the soft fur and he wants to feel it on his face....so he opens the book up to that page, lays it on the ground, and then lays his head/cheek on the book. Sometime for just a couple of seconds. Other times....five to ten minutes or so....HA! Silly boy. Check him out in the first picture--he's sucking his fingers and settled in for a good cuddle with that lion!

So Gabriel is really learning how to pull the strings and push the right buttons. When I scold him, he gets all sad and walks over to me and gives me the kiss face--the kid knows I'm a sucker for kisses. Tricky, tricky, Gabe!! He also knows I'm always down for a snuggle. I started noticing that he would cling to me and get all snuggly when we would leave a place and go to put him in his car seat. What a punk!! He doesn't want to get in the car (because who knows how long he'll be stuck in his (albeit awesome) car seat?) so he wraps his arms around me, lays his head on my chest and gets the most adorable look on his face. Man, he is goooood.... (and mom's a SUCKER!!)

If Gabriel got anything from me, it was definitely a love of sleep and relaxation. After an outing at the mall one day, we decided to stop by Cold Stone and get some ice cream. We grabbed a table and sat down to enjoy our treats and Gabe went right into chill mode! He propped his feet up on the stroller, laid back, and begged for waffle cone scraps. Way to go, kiddo!! That's my boy!! Hahaha! (You can see the begging in the first picture where he's signing "please"...)

And finally, to round off February--pictures of Gabe swinging at the park!! We were in Spanish Fork (my old stompin' grounds!!) so we decided to stop off at Barry's (CLASSIC--Yum!!) and then headed across the street to play at the SF city park. Gabriel loves the swings. As far as going to the park is concerned--he only cares about that and running around. Doesn't give a second thought to the slide or the jungle gym or anything else (except for when Mama makes him take the slide at least once...)

Even Dad joined in on the fun!! I don't think he made a wise swing choice though...

So that was February, folks!! Did I wear you out? Sorry about that....but it HAD to be done!! Next up: MARCH! And I'm taking the same approach. But at least when that's out of the way I'll be able to show you all the fun and cute stuff that has been happening over the past few days and weeks!! (Seriously, the OCD in me will not let me post out of chronological order....)

Wrapping Up January

Holy crap. This is sad. I get further and further behind every week. Am I seriously JUST NOW finishing January?! I need to get crackin.

Gabriel has been trying to drink out of things like a "big boy" since he was around six months old. But that was usually him trying to drink out of the rinse cup in the bathtub... Now it's everything! He always wants to drink out of a cup. We don't always let him because he would make a huge mess, but every once in a while, we'll give him a little bit of water in a cup.

Gabriel continues to dance and boogie his little heart out. I'm really bummed that I can never catch his most awesome dance moments on video, because they get pretty awesomely cute and funny. He always tones it down (or stops altogether) when I turn on the camera....if I can even get it and start recording in time...

Gabe lives in his own little world and I love that about him. There are times that he will NOT let me blog or work or cook or clean in PEACE, but then there are plenty of times that he plays independently really well also. I have no idea why he does some of the things that he does or what is going through that head of his. I may never know...I'm sure it would be interesting!

And that's it for January 2011!!

UN / FORTUNATELY - My Happy List

I decided to go ahead and link up to Mamarazzi's Happy List this week. I have soooo many things to be happy about and thankful for!! And, though I didn't intend to, I feel a lot like my friend in one of her latest posts.

I am HAPPY that Gabriel loves bathtime. He splashes and plays and farts and he is just hilarious and fun to watch! Plus, I love the smell of a clean baby!

UNfortunately, while I was trying to take a video of his cute little naked tush, this happened:

If you can't tell what happened at the end there--that was me dropping my phone into the tub. Now I'm "one of those idiots". HAPPILY, I have worked for a company that does technical support for mobile devices (without really telling you what company I worked for, I can say I supported the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch....) so I knew exactly what to do to avoid damage and I took action immediately. My phone is fine.  :0)

I am HAPPY that my son is healthy and happy and active. UNfortunately, that means he makes more messes and gets into plenty of mischief!

So I am HAPPY that I have a baby gate. The Gabe-Storm is containable, people.

I am HAPPY that my son loves me so much that he can't stand the idea of not being in the middle of everything I'm doing. UNfortunately, that means he's always under my feet--which can be dangerous in the kitchen. HAPPILY, Gabriel is easily entertained by kitchen utensils!

I.K.E.A.

I freaking love IKEA. I get into trouble there, though. I see so many things that "make so much sense!" and it's all so inexpensive and I always end up buying things I didn't intend to. I also end up spending a lot more time there than I plan to.

Gabriel took his first trip to IKEA with mommy not too long ago and he was a trooper!! Right in the middle of the bathroom stuff (I think...? or was it window treatments?) they have a little kiddie station that Gabriel LOVED. They think of everything.

I have been dreaming up a cute little toddler room setup and the process has completely consumed me at times. I find myself spending hours online shopping and comparing - beds, dressers, toy boxes, book shelves...oh my...I cannot wait!! IKEA has a pretty good contender for a toddler bed - the length (yes--of the whole bed) is adjustable and it comes with a cute matching toy chest! I also found some cute chairs. Oh yeah--Gabe is totally obsessed with little chairs. If he finds one anywhere--or anything that somewhat resembles a chair--he will sit on it. Who am I kidding? He'll sit on anything. The other day I caught him sitting on a shoe. Seriously, though, the kid is like Goldilocks - a connoisseur of chairs. Only he's obviously not as picky if he'll sit on a shoe. He found a cool little chair that he liked at IKEA though!!

I want to get it. I just have to find a way to convince McKay that the purchase is justified...

Gabriel took on IKEA like a champ!! He put up with my browsing and oohing and ahhing for hours without a peep! He actually kinda got into it with me. He would find something he liked and point at it excitedly and go "Ooh!" or "Oh! Wow!" Hahaha--crazy kid. He was pooped by the time we left though! He conked right out in the car on the way home....

Mess Machine

Gabriel.

Can make.

A MESS, y'all.

And sometimes, I just let him.

He's a good boy, though, and he helps pick up too! Man, I love my kiddo.

Boo-boo :'(

Okay, so this is a testament to just how behind I am. This happened in January. Ugh. I always say that I will get caught up and believe me--I really really want to!! But with a full-time job plus wife and mommy duties plus...stuff....makes for a busy life. Plus, I can be a little lazy. And I'm a procrastinator. Basically, there isn't really a good excuse. Aaaannyywaaayyyy.....

So Gabriel was running around playing and he slipped and fell (we have hardwood floors and they can be a little slippery) right on his face! I turned to grab him and saw that he was bleeding. A LOT. I couldn't get it to stop. He split his upper lip...I wanted to cry! I was so upset that I couldn't fix my poor little baby - I was shaking!!

It finally stopped bleeding and he stopped caring and just wanted to continue playing....I was left trembling and whimpering on the couch....

He has since healed beautifully. There is just a tiny faint little scar on his upper lip that you can barely see. Looks like he heals like Mamma!! (We now have "house socks" for Gabriel that have little rubbery dots on the soles so he won't slip!!)