That is what Gabbie likes to do with her high chair... literally... go in circles... like 30-40 times in a row... around the kitchen... over and over again!
Good thing she has a loving patient Dad! Okay, Mom does it too, just not as long as Dad does!
I love it! She reminds me of a little old lady with a walker!
While we had the camera out, we thought we would see if we could capture some of the cute, smart things Gabbie can do. Amazingly, she pretty much did anything we asked! So here she is, in all her smarty pants glory!
First up, Patty Cake!
The video on this one is very dark, but you get the gist. It is the best she has done for the camera in showing her talented Patty Cake skills.
Next up, her words! Gabbie, can you say....
Why, yes she can!
Oh, how we love watching her learn and grow! She is so much fun and has added so much to our lives! Oh, how we love our little Gabbie Grace!
Kiley and Gabbie chase after the dogs on her rocket. He really gets her going pretty fast! I was a little worried until I realized he has ahold of her pj's so she won't fall off! She sure has a fun Dad who I am pretty sure loves her just a little bit!
Here are just some fun shots of our little Gabbie from this morning. She definitely looks like a rag-a-muffin when she gets out of bed with her hair all over the place. I just love the look! One of my favorite parts of the day is getting her up. I walk in, and that cute little face with the scrappy hair is peeking at me through her crib bars with a big old smile! I love it!
Hanging with Dad and the dogs looking at the snow fall!
This morning, she crawled under Kileys chair as he ate breakfast. She thought she was pretty cool until she realized she was stuck and unsure of how to get out!
Only instead of zooming through the sky, we are zooming through the hall, around the kitchen, in the living room and anywhere else she can get her rocket to take her!
The funny thing is, if I try and get her to just stand up on her own, she FREAKS out! Yes, she can run around like this with her rocket, but stand alone... NO WAY!
Gabbie had a play date today with friend Adah, who is six months older than Gabbie. Adah's mom, Annie, and I worked together at Newmont up until she had her. Unfortunately, they live over on the west side of the state about 2 hours away. I have loved that we have stayed in touch and enjoy any time we can get together!
This is Gabbie's 3rd play date with Adah, and probably the most interactive so far. They really played well together and had a lot of fun!
Sitting in the chair waiting to spin!
Adah was feeding Gabbie her bottle! The thing I love about this pic is the milk all over Gabbie's chin.
Gabbie has mastered the "pat-a-cake" and "toss it" portion of Patty Cake! (we are still working on "rolling" it.) She does it all the time and thinks she is pretty cool! However, do you think she would let me get a good shot of her on the video? Nope!
Here is the best I have been able to capture...
the "pat-a-cake"
and the "toss it"...
This gives you the gist that yes, she can toss it. However, she usually really "tosses it!" with her head flying back and all. Maybe one day she will do for the cameras!
We are incredibly lucky to have a WONDERFUL babysitter to watch Gabbie while Kiley and I both work. In fact, I don't think "babysitter" is really the appropriate term to call Jodi as I swear she loves Gabbie and Tristan as much as her own kids.
She has a bunch of kids that come both before and after school, but for the bulk of the day, she only has two... Gabbie and Tristan.
Tristan is about 9 months older than Gabbie, but they are partners in crime! The read books together, play, tease each other and love each other. Gabbie gets very excited when she sees Tristan or Jodi!
Jodi is wonderful and Kiley and I remind each other on a daily basis how lucky we are to have her watch our little Gabbie.
Gabbie has said dadadadada and mamama for a while now. However, I am not convinced she knows what they mean. However, I do believe her first word, that she can actually correspond the word to the meaning, is HI!
Here she is in action....
Here is just some random fun and cuteness that also occurred today...
Now, you may be looking at these photo's thinking that the white trash tail is back. But you are wrong, it isn't. It is just that my daughter has a lovely calic that causes her hair to spin into a little tail. If you brush it out, it is actually even.
We finally got our swinging stair gate in place. Gabbie has been quite fascinated with it! She likes to look for her daddy. This is the cute sight he gets when he is headed upstairs!
We thought this was just to funny not to share! She is a little ham!
Gabbie was a caterpillar for her first Halloween. She didn't mind the costume at all and wore it at mommy's work, Grandma Vicky's and Grandma Tates. However, she wasn't too sure about the whole trick-or-treating aspect of the holiday. We only went to two houses, but at the last one, she almost cried at Brother Curtis. I figured that was the sign she was done.
After the haircut on Halloween, we hit Chili's with my nephew and niece, Sid and Kelsey. Gabbie was too funny! She has sat in restaurant high chairs like 10+ times. For some reason, this time freaked her out, literally! She would not let go of the table. She had a deathgrip on the table and wouldn't let go for anything! She cracked us up!
The picture above doesn't do it justice!
After lunch, we picked up Grandma Tate and headed to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point. There we hooked up with my niece Lauren and her little boy Crandall. Gabbie absolutely loved it!
She and Crandall are checking out the ducks! Below, they are hanging out of the dance hall.
Jail was a treat! I tried to get a cute pic of Gabbie, but she was only interested in licking the cold bars. It took a while before she would do anything but go for the bars the second I moved my hand.
Eventually, she cooperated!
Gabbie also got her first pony ride! She absolutely loved it! She jumped and giggled the whole time. She loved it so much, she went twice.
And then we went to the Market! She planted crops, and took a break or two to try and eat them! I can't wait for this oral stage of life to pass! Oh, the germs...
Kelsey and Gabbie by the big pumpkin!
I like this photo, it shows how hard it can be to get a good shot with kids in it!
Gabbie got her first haircut on Halloween. The white trash tail is gone! Gabbie did really well and cooperated for the most part.
She sure looks cute with her new haircut! O.k., really, you can't really tell a difference unless you know what you are looking for. But I can tell, and I love it!
Last night I was playing around on Facebook and looked up an old friend, Michele Snow Gledhill. (and old as in we were friends about 18 years ago, not old as in age!) We had worked together at First Security Bank back in the early 90's. We were young and had a lot of fun doing some pretty dumb things together like crocheting our boyfriends (or hope to be boyfriends in my case) afghans at the bank in between customers, group dates, and trips to Vegas. She was such a great friend to me. We had lost track of each other, but I was thrilled to find her on Facebook.
As I reviewed her information, I learned that over the last couple of years she faced a pretty tough battle when she gave birth to a beautiful little girl, Gracie, in March of 2008. Gracie was born with a heart condition, HLHS. They found out she had this the November before she was born and knew they were in for a battle.
They lost Gracie just 3 weeks shy of her first birthday in March of this year.
I sat at my computer last night with tears streaming down my face as I read her blog detailing the ups and downs, the hopes and dreams, and the bad news of that time in her life.
Here is her blog...
http://thegledhillfamily.blogspot.com/ Here is a song written for Gracie by Paul Cardell...I was amazed and have such admiration for Michele, her husband and her three beautiful children for the strength they have. What an example to me to be stronger when I face trails. Her oldest son Max, who is 9 1/2, really touched my heart to see the photos of him interact with his little sister, reading to her in the PICU. She has an absolutely beautiful family.
And then I went in and looked at my little girl sleeping in her crib. I was so incredibly grateful!
Today was different for me. I valued the little things I take for granted everyday, like the time I spend feeding Gabbie. I wasn't annoyed when Gabbie went for the dog bowls 20 times, but instead felt grateful that she is crawling and active and healthy. I held her just a little bit longer before I put her in her crib before each nap and at bedtime. I kissed her a few more times than I did yesterday. I turned off the TV and got down and played with her more than I did yesterday. I read a few more books with her today than I did yesterday.
And as I held her close before I put her down tonight, I thanked my Heavenly Father for giving me this wonderful, precious gift.
And I thought of Michele, and I thanked my Heavenly Father for giving me such a wonderful friend, and I prayed that he would stay by her and her family as they face life without their little Gracie...
Grandpa Larry had this sketch done of Gabbie and gave it to us as an early Christmas gift. Isn't it just beautiful? I think Cheryl, the artist who did the drawing, did a wonderful job! Of course, she had a wonderful subject to draw... I am sure that made it all the easier!
Information for the artist:
Cheryl Harley
719-784-4285
charleyart@hotmail.com
If you are interested in contacting her to have something done, please include "art" in the subject line of your email or in your voicemail.
Thanks Grandpa Larry for a wonderful Christmas gift! We absolutely love it!
Kiley picks Gabbie up from the sitter and has her alone from about 4:00 - 5:00. He is always doing something fun with her when I come home. One of her favorite things to do with Daddy is to spin in our chairs.
Here she is in action, spinning with Stella and then Dallas. They sure have fun together!
The color is a little dark, but I love the video. I love how she is pulling on both of her socks at one point. (and yes, at the end I call her Stella... am I really to that point already? I have one daughter, you think I could keep her name straight!)
Kiley does so many fun things with her all the time. During her bath, he always comes in and causes big splashes! Definitely bigger than mommy. No wonder she loves her Daddy so much!
I never thought I would be one of "those" people. You know, the ones who think their pets are really part of the family. Well, I am. I love watching Gabbie interact with Dallas and Stella. As you can see from many of the videos and pics posted on this blog, they are always close by! Dallas has especially taken an increased interest in Gabbie since she has taken up Cheerios! Oh, he is an opportunistic dog...
I love this pic of Dallas and Gabbie! She really just loves these dogs!
Gabbie has really taken an interest in books over the past couple of weeks, and I couldn't be more thrilled!
One of her favorite books is called DOG. It has all sorts of fun pictures of dogs.
Her other favorite book is an ABC book. This has been her favorite book since she was little little!
It is a touch and feel book. I love how she searches for the pages with the touchy stuff on it! She knows them immediately and definitely spends more time on those pages!
Below, she is touching the kitty's yarn!
My favorite page is the Y page. "Y is for you, go on take a look!" And does she ever...
And she has also started kissing herself when she gets to that page! It is too cute!
I love that she loves books and hope it continues! It is so fun to watch her learn and grow and do fun things!
Am I biased? I mean really, I know she is my daughter and all, but I also just truly think she is super cute! Do they get any cuter than this?
In her new coat that Grandma Vicky bought her!
A very typical Gabbie look... and oh, how I love it!
In fact, the other day we were at the store and a boy about 9 years old walked past us with his mom. He said to his mom, "Look at that little girl! She is soooo cute!" I figure when you got random 9 year old boys commenting, I just may not be biased!
Now, you may be looking at these photo's thinking that the white trash tail is back. But you are wrong, it isn't. It is just that my daughter has a lovely calic that causes her hair to spin into a little tail. If you brush it out, it is actually even.
We thought this was just to funny not to share! She is a little ham!
