Christmas 2010

So this is waaaayyyy late, but I'm doing my best!

I had to work on Christmas day (booo!), so we did our Christmas morning stuff on Christmas Eve instead. Gabriel doesn't know the difference anyway... He was his usual cheery self!

He was a little confused by the wrapped presents under the tree. He doesn't really understand holidays, so he had no idea what was going on or why Mamma was taking more pictures than usual... He could see that everyone was pumped about something, so he emulated and got a little antsy himself.

After breakfast, we went with tradition and dug through the stockings first! Gabriel got a couple of small toys, a little book, and some baby/toddler snacks, with an orange in the toe of the stocking of course!

Getting Gabriel to open his presents was no easy feat. He had no interest in unwrapping his gifts whatsoever. He would start to pull the paper off and then get up and walk away. It took about two hours to get all of his presents unwrapped - and it's not like he had a ton of gifts! We had to keep dragging him back to the present at hand....it was a lot of work.

While opening presents, he would get distracted by other loose wrapping paper and bows...

My mom hit the jackpot with her gifts this year. (He also LOVED the rainstick, musical books, and duplos from Nana and Papa and clothes and nursery gear from Grandma-ma and uncle Darick!) She got him a toddler tent

...and a V-Tech learning scooter. He helped Daddy and uncle Darick (and Mommy) put it together and then went to town! He LOVES his scooter!

It was a great Christmas. We had a huge brown sugar glazed ham with all the fixin's for dinner on Christmas Eve. On Christmas day, Linda made roast beef and we stuffed ourselves again! I am happy to say that Gabriel is really bonding with Uncle Darick and Grandma-ma!

Beach Baby or Snow Angel?

One of my big concerns moving from Hawaii to Utah was the climate change. Gabriel was born on the island and never left until we moved to Utah. The year that we lived on Oahu was an unusually warm one (says the locals) - especially the winter. The whole time we were there, I don't think the temperature ever dropped below sixty degrees. So you can see my concern flying my son to Utah at the beginning of what is always a snowy winter.

As you know from a few posts back, one of the first things we bought when we arrived was winter gear. I was nervous and excited to get Gabriel in the snow. I had no idea how he would react. We geared up (coat, gloves, snow pants, snow boots) and waited for a good snow....

HE HATED IT.

I thought it was funny.

I pretend to complain about how Gabriel likes McKay more than he does me, but it's simply not true.

He only likes Daddy more than Mommy when Daddy is home. 

When it's just me and Gabe, he's a mamma's boy! He is my shopping buddy, see?

He is seriously SO much fun. My favorite toy person.

At the end of the day, Mamma is his favorite for some things and Daddy is his favorite for others. I'm still the only one who can get him REALLY laughing hard!!

Cooped Up

I have come to notice that I spend much too much time in my house. I wake up, go to work, come home....and chill. I don't leave unless I have an appointment or an errand to run. I mean, obviously I get cabin fever and just HAVE to get out of the house.... but a good portion of the time, I just wanna kick it at home.

That's rather selfish of me, though. I do have a child. I'm sure he gets sick of playing with the same toys and watching the same movies. I've made a goal to get out more often. If it were warmer and I wasn't smack dab in the middle of an awkward and potentially dangerous situation right now, I'd take Gabriel for walks to the park a LOT more. He loves the swings! (He's still kinda too little to play on the other playground equipment. He likes to watch other kids play....it's funny and weird)

I just love my sweet little guy! He is such a cutie pie - I will never get tired of his adorable face and silly antics!

[Can't talk about "potentially dangerous situation" at the moment, so pretend I didn't mention it for the next thirty days or so... Don't worry :0) we go for walks at much more public places like the mall for now.]

Meeting Santa

Gabriel met Santa for the first time at the Finch (stepdad's family) Family Christmas Party. I really hope to get a picture of Gabriel absolutely terrified on Santa's lap someday. He wasn't scared for the Easter bunny last year either...

What a bummer.

I wasn't sure how he would react to Santa and Mrs. Clause. Turns out he was over it before it started. Gabe doesn't give a crap about Santa...

In The Studio

December was a busy month! Amongst all other necessary errands and to-do's: Finish the last album. Egans' Theory (band for which McKay was the ridiculously talented bassist) has been winding down for while now. They had a few songs that they hadn't recorded yet, though, so they have been spending time in the studio laying down tracks for their last album. I've spent my fare share of time in the studio watching and listening to McKay and his various bandmates record (he was in a different band when I first met him called Volition--I don't mean to brag, but they were signed TWICE (label issues) and played some pretty big shows...) and I didn't really want to go. I could tell that this was something that meant a lot to him, though, so I went to show support. We brought Gabriel with us and he was so patient! He sat quietly while Eric mixed and mastered tracks.

Eric was surprised at how well-behaved Gabriel was *totally bragging* and decided to take a play break for him! He popped Gabriel up onto his lap while he messed with controls. After a minute, he whipped out a microphone and let Gabe play with it. He got a kick out of hearing his babbles through the speakers!

We had a good time and the album is turning out great! (Still some recording to be done)

November Videos

All the fun of November caught on video:

We went to Cracker Barrel with some dear friends of ours and Gabriel LOVED the mini rocking chairs!!

Gabriel and McKay clicked right away. No matter what McKay was doing, Gabe wanted to do it with him! Even cleaning! Here, they are sweeping up Gabriel's cheerio mess.

As he gets older, Gabriel continues to explore the world in his own strange little way...

Gabriel will play with just about anything. He is such an easy going kid! He doesn't even need toys - he'll play with packing materials.

As we moved into November, Gabriel started getting better and better at walking. What was once a somewhat wobbly little toddle (as you can see here) has turned into a pretty solid walk/jog/run!!

Bless his heart - Gabe just wants to be like the big people. He wants to eat what we eat (which is usually okay, but he doesn't have many teeth so he's still sort of limited) and drink what we drink and do what we do! 

And there you have it, folks! All caught up on November happenings!! December soon to be posted!

The Rest of November

Other than the wedding and moving and Gabe's birthday, the rest of November was pretty typical...

...with a few excetpions. Gabriel had to get used to having a pet in the home. McKay kept our cat, Dorothy Mae ("Dot"), and I was a little apprehensive about it. I didn't know if Gabe would be allergic and what if Dot was mean to him or scratched him or something? Well, it turns out Gabriel isn't allergic to cats or at least not Dorothy. She is really great with Gabriel and has never so much as swatted at him! They are very curious about each other and in the rare times she allows him within a few feet of her, he usually just squats and stares at her with an occasional poke or prod. We are trying to teach him to "be soft" with the kitty... As you can see, the cat's safety zone is on the other side of the baby gate!!

McKay's mom watches Gabriel for us while I'm at work and McKay is at school. They are bonding really well! Gabe loves going to Grandma-ma's house to play with toys and watch The Price is Right and Sesame Street.

My brother's girlfriend had a baby girl who now shares a birthday with Gabriel! She is not biologically my brother's baby, but he is taking a daddy role with her, so we see her as family! Her name is Paisley.

Gabriel had his first Library visit in November. I think a kid can never have to many books and it's never too early to read to them and get them interested. We meandered over to the childrens' side of the Provo Library (which is pretty freaking awesome!!) and I let him pick out an armful of board books! Here he is with one of his picks.

This past Thanksgiving was Gabriel's second, but it was the first one where he got to eat thanksgiving dinner!! We gave him a little bit of everything and he loved it!

That's pretty much it for November 2010. Slowly but surely getting caught up!

Gabriel's First Birthday!!

After the move and all the traveling and the wedding (though small) and unpacking and putting together a house, I was stressed and at the end of my rope! I wanted to just relax, but I couldn't--Gabe's first birthday was just around the corner. Luckily, I had planned ahead and ordered most of the party stuff from Oriental Trading before I left Hawaii. I also got the invitations mailed out before I left.

We decided to go with Hawaiian tradition and throw a "First Luau" for Gabriel's birthday since he was born in Honolulu (and I consider him kama'aina keiki). In ancient times, the first birthday was a big deal and a huge milestone since a lot of babies didn't live that long (illness, disease, etc.). In keeping with Hawaiian luau tradition, I made kalua pork (which turned out friggin' DELICIOUS) and served it with Hawaiian king rolls, mangoes and pineapple with li hing powder. We did a tropical fish and beach monkey theme (the truth? I thought they were both cute and couldn't decide which decorations and party favors to get, so I did both...) and showed Lilo and Stitch for the kiddies. I played Hawaiian music (thank you, Pandora!!) in the background while kids played with balloons and parents mingled and ate.

I was running around like crazy the whole time trying to direct traffic, cut up fruit, take pictures, fill drinks, organize goodie bags and -oh yeah- the cakes weren't frosted or decorated. I was going crazy! Luckily Jessie's awesome husband Geoff and my amazing brother Adam jumped in and helped cut up the rest of the fruit. I got the cakes frosted and covered in sprinkles and threw a candle on the one I made for Gabriel to destroy. TIME FOR CAKE EVERYONE!! Everyone listens when you've got cake. We started by singing Happy Birthday, of course, but the candle wasn't lit....in my rush to get over to the cultural hall, I forgot the lighter. And the backup matches. Shoot, I would have settled for flint and steel...oh well!! I shrugged and went with my wedding day mentality when certain things didn't go as planned "Everything happens for a reason. If it won't matter in five years, it doesn't matter now." I'm fairly certain that Gabriel will not remember his first birthday--much less, the fact that his number 1 candle wasn't lit.

For his first birthday, I wanted one thing.

ONE.

THING.

I wanted what every mom wants. [He better DIVE into that freaking cake and make a ginormous mess out of it. There better be chocolate frosting everywhere. The pictures...will be priceless.]

Well guess what?! My little man delivered!! I was overjoyed. Seriously. (My niece wanted nothing to do with her cake and she most definitely did NOT want to get messy....what a girl....)

Thank you, Gabriel, for making my birthday wish come true! (Did I mention his birthday party was actually held on my birthday? Yeah. His birthday was three days later on a Tuesday.) Mamma loves you!!

After the cake was devoured and the pork was pretty much gone, we cleaned and packed up and headed home. We didn't have Gabe open presents at the party because he takes forEVER to open presents. I don't think he gets the concept yet. We decided it would be best to just wait until we got home. He made out with a pretty nice haul though!

All in all, it was a fun day! I can't believe I've had my little boop for over a year now!! Thank you to EVERYONE who made his first birthday even more special!

A hair cut and a wedding

I had hoped to be able to hold off getting Gabe's first hair cut until it was long enough for me to get a decent sample for his baby book, but the wedding was coming up and I wanted him to look nice for pictures so I broke down and took him the Marinello. His hair was growing over his ears and collar and it just looked a little too shabby.

I was a little worried that he would hate getting his hair cut and he would raise hell and make it difficult for them to do a good job. I was wrong. He was super chill! He just sat there and let them snip away! The only thing was that he kept trying to get a look at what she was doing, so he turned his head a few times to peek at the scissors. Other than that, he sat super still and was very patient--what a good kid!! All of the ladies at Marinello were impressed and they all mooned over him while he got his first hair cut!!

The 'before' shot

 He behaved himself so well!!

 Checkin' out the cut...

The next day, McKay and I went to the courthouse and got remarried. We decided to keep it simple since we already did the big "to do" wedding the first time. Now we're officially a family!!

Gabe looked so handsome in his little suit!!

 Great shoes. Seriously.