Gabriel's First Birthday!

First, let us apologize for taking so long to make this post. His first birthday was on November 24, 2013, but that was a busy week and it's been really busy since then. But, better late than never, I suppose.

Since his birthday was just a few days before Thanksgiving, we went down to Atlanta to celebrate both those events with our families. Our friends, Nick and Katie, were kind of enough to let us stay in their home and use it for Gabriel's birthday party. It was a great time with family and friends, and Gabriel got a lot of great presents! Below are some pictures as well as a video of him eating his first cake. Enjoy:

I must apologize for the bad singing. I (Taylor) and a friend of mine were too close to the camera...

Loki gladly took the cleanup job.

On a development note, Gabriel has started walking. He took his first steps just a little after his first birthday and now is tottering all over the place. He still has some balance issues, of course, so he hits his head or has a tumble from time-to-time. But, he is making quick progress and getting into everything.

By His Grace,

Taylor

12 Months: Another Day in the Life of Gabriel

So, Mommy is getting a little bit behind with this blogging thing.  I told her I'd take care of this post and then she'll post something soon about my first birthday.  I don't know what's been keeping her so busy.  Maybe our family trip to Atlanta for Thanksgiving, or us all getting a stomach virus as we headed back home (it's possible that I may have lost my lunch in the car. . .), or the fact that she's training for a new job (she's going to work 12 hours a week at something called an "urgent care".  I have no idea what that means, but for the next month she has to work more than normal to learn what it's all about).  At any rate, I'm taking over this post.  Hold onto your diapers (or don't. . .I kinda like crawling around with mine off).

Daddy got "ordained" at the beginning of November.  I have no clue what that means either but to me it means that family came to visit and we had FUN.  Here is me with Daddy and Grandpa at the park.  Oh, and there was a reception at church and I got to stay up way past my bedtime and some of the middle school girls fed me a lot of cheese.  "Ordination" is awesome.

 I still wake up around 7 and get the party started.  I take a nap somewhere around 10 and another somewhere around 2.  Occasionally when I'm feeling like mixing it up I skip the first nap.  Depends on the day.

There are these rolls in the bathroom with paper on them.  Wow are they fun.

 I have 6 teeth now.  They came in as sets of 2.  It's possible that I'm getting another set now too.  I have 4 on the top and 2 on the bottom right now.  I also started using a toothbrush.  I'm not sure what I think about it, but the training toothpaste stuff tastes pretty good.  And while we're talking about teeth, food is so amazing.  I just want to eat and eat.  The only things that I truly won't eat are eggs and mandarin oranges.  And I'm working on liking regular milk.  That stuff is just weird.

Check 'em out

Brushin my chompers

 Loki is my best pal.  I love to pull on her rope, pull on her hair (Mommy keeps trying to make me be gentle), roll her ball around and watch her try and take it away from me, and sometimes try and feed her my food.  I keep thinking if I share with her then she will share with me, but Mommy and Daddy don't let me have her food.  It looks so good.  I'll keep trying.

I'd follow that dog anywhere

I had to teach her some things about leaves.

Oh and really cool thing!  I took my first steps on Tuesday!  I'm taking several in a row and I'm getting better about falling without hurting myself as much.  Here is a shot of my busted lip.  That hurt so badly.  Daddy got me a Popsicle and that helps the bleeding to stop.  I hate to admit it, but I cried a lot over that one.

Check it out

Standing is a piece of cake.  Ohhh cake. . .that frosting I had on my birthday was so good I never tried the cake. . .I might need to remedy that one. . .

What else do I like to do these days?  Well playing with my toys is really fun, but my favorite things seem to be pulling DVDs off of shelves (as always), taking the silverware out of the dishwasher, trying to play in the refrigerator (they keep closing the door!), reading books, and generally making laps around downstairs getting into things.  I wish that it wasn't getting so cold outside because I miss the park.

I semi-warm day so we went for an outing to swing and slide

This baby wipe tastes delicious

I almost forgot the most wonderful toy of all!  It's called a "box".  Have you heard of it?  I absolutely love to by pushed around in it.  Sometimes when Daddy does it he pushes it really fast and it's so exciting.  It's the best when they make train noises with it too.  My pal Loki doesn't seem to like it as much as I do though.

Oh, and since Mommy asked nicely, here are the numbers from the doctor (who made me get 4 SHOTS and get my finger pricked.  What is wrong with those people?  I was smiling and being so nice to them and then they go and do that.  Goodness).  I weighed 19 lbs, 14 ounces (9th percentile), was 29.5 inches (37th percentile), and my head was 18.75 inches (82nd percentile).  Everything was looking good.  I'm just trucking along my growth curve like a champ.

And that's all folks.  Here I am in the tub before bedtime (which is usually around 7:30). Goodnight! 

First Halloween

 Gabriel spent his first Halloween at a really neat event at a local church.  It was quite the place to be and it will be fun in years to come when he can play all of the games.  We went to see a couple girls from church perform with their mime group.  They were awesome and Gabriel was mesmerized watching them!

It's possible that his mom put his hat on backwards at first.  I'm no Vulcan expert. . .

One of the few smiling pictures.  It was bedtime shortly after we got there

                                     

Serious/pouting face

Checking out all the action and all of the other kids dressed up in weird costumes

Spock and his dad, the Doppler Effect.  What am I going to do living with these two guys?

11 Months

When I looked back at the 10 month update I was surprised at how much can change in a month.  He is now crawling in the "standard" position (he no longer does his "army crawl"), is pulling up on everything with no problem, and he stands with just one hand holding on to things and is really steady.  In fact, he mostly only likes to play if it involves standing.  Only occasionally does he want to sit and do things.

He loves his learning table from the consignment store

A lot of mornings now when he wakes up and we go to get him up he's standing in his crib.  I need to get a picture of him, but that is just the cutest way to be greeted when you walk into his room (until he figures out how to climb out of the crib.  I'm not really sure what to do when that happens. . .).

Hanging in the church nursery rocking a hat he borrowed from one of the girls helping out

We took another trip to Atlanta this last week for his beautiful aunt's baby shower.  It took us a long time to get there (a little over 10 hours).  A couple days after we got there he got a fever and was so fussy.  He'd been a little "off", but I figured that he was teething and a little confused from traveling.  Anyway, I took him to our old pediatrician's office and turns out he had an ear infection.  Poor kid.  It probably came from the runny nose and all of the drool due to the teeth he's getting.  We had a fun trip, but it certainly was exhausting (oh, and he was 19 1/2 pounds at the visit)

Chilling in the car and chewing on a key

Speaking of teeth, I'm not sure how many he's actually getting.  His first one actually broke the skin last night while we were at our Bible study group (it's on the bottom left).  He was chewing on my finger a lot while we were there and then all the sudden I felt it.  His top two front teeth are also bulging out.  I guess he waited a while to get them and now he wants to see how many he can get at once.

Standing, playing, and listening to some Pandora radio

 That's all that I can think of to say for now except a couple little random things.  I love that when I feed him in the morning he wants to hold my hand and rub his hair.  I love it when you give him a bath he wants to suck the water out of the washcloth over and over (I try not to let him do that once there's soap in the water).  I love it that when you take him out of the bath and wrap him up in a towel he almost always smiles like crazy when he sees himself in the mirror.  I know those are totally unconnected things but I just always smile at them :)

Being a cool kid.  Onesie hanging out.

And now just some more random pictures. . .

I put this hat on him at Cracker Barrel and he actually didn't pull it off.  His Grandma proceeded to buy it for him.  While I'm not sure if he loves it, he at least doesn't pull it off like every other hat.  It has gotten a little cold here so he wore it out for the first time last night.

Our little mountain man

Taking a driving break (sorry my finger is in the way a little)

Playing at the park with Dad.  It's sadly already getting a little cold for the park.  I was really enjoying taking him there.  We're going to need to find some indoor things to do.

Who doesn't love pasta?

If I eat the skin off he loves to finish a pear for me

He took a while figuring out how to use a sippy cup, but I had some water with him in the car while we were on our trip and one day he just decided that he was ready to use it all by himself.  Such a big boy sitting in the car eating his Cheerios and drinking his water!

Sinkland Farms

 We had a really fun weekend over here.  Aunt Stephanie came for a visit (hooray!), and even though the weather was less than ideal, we headed to check out Sinkland Farms.  We didn't stay for a really long time because Gabriel was getting tired and I think he was a little overstimulated (lots of people, big open space, pumpkins, tractors, lots of barn animals with the new smells that brings, etc. . .), but it was a great time for taking some fall pictures.  I'll post a formal "update" when Gabriel hits the 11 month mark, but for now he's pulling up on everything and is in the process of getting his 2 front teeth (Ouch!  Poor guy is just uncomfortable).  Anyway, enjoy the pictures!

Such a big boy

Having so much fun 

Butternut squash!  The current size of Baby Spears! Can't wait to meet this little pumpkin!

A couple of goofs

He loves being with his daddy.  He's always learning something too