Time for Joy

We had a nice Thanksgiving with the family in Tennessee and then we stopped in Asheville on the way back and spent some time with Mick, Nancy and Kelc. Gabrielle met all their four-legged creatures including the Rottie and the horses. She loved the dogs but didn't really have any feelings about the horses.

December has been a very busy month for us. We had an ORI that we were prepping for and now it's over. We got an Excellent, so life is good. It has been a VERY big month for Gabrielle. She's been changin so much and learning tons of things. She's quite mobile although she doesn't crawl on her hands and knees yet. She'll get up and rock and lay back down and that makes progress toward where she's trying to go, so she keeps doing that and is satisfied. She's used a walker, and within a week figured out how to go forwards and even turn around and change directions. She's spent 2 nights without me and did great!
She has 3 teeth and is working on the fourth. Unfortuneately, part of her teething process is gritting the 3 that she has. I can hardly stand it!

Right now, Danny's mom is here, so Gabrielle is being spoiled by another Grandparent and absolutely loving it. She's helped Gabrielle taste some new foods. She likes pudding and ketchup sucked off a french fry.

We're having a blast!

Autumn in Tennessee

Brie and I have had a great visit with the family here in Tennessee. She has had her first grocery cart ride in Kroger with Grandmom, Granddad has taught her how to stand up holding his fingers, and with Aunt Dot she experienced her first balloon.

She has had a ball visiting the nursing home and being the center of attention. She jabbers and jabbers at Gran and just smiles at everyone else. Right now her Grammy and Grandpa and Daddy are on their way from SC, so she will see them shortly. They have been going crazy without her and can hardly wait to see her. I said I would let her start mashed meats once she turned 7 mos. so her Grammy is excited to feed her actual Thanksgiving dinner. We'll see how that goes...I'm a little nervous. I'm so glad that we got to come visit early. Everyone has really been able to enjoy getting to know our little miss and she's had an amazing time getting one on one time with each of them.

Homecoming

Well, the Road trip was quite the adventure. Brie did very well. We only had to stop for her once, about 10 miles before our exit to Jackson! That may have been due to the fact that we had a 3 hour layover due to a flat in Canton, NC. Luckily, it was something that happened while we were off the interstate and we got it fixed and were able to keep going.

While MaryAnne and I were at homecoming, Gabrielle was staying with Grandmom and Granddad. I was a little nervous, but she did great! She played and took naps for them and ate her carrots and sweet potatoes and they all had a ball. She is crazy about her Granddad and jumps into his arms whenever she gets the chance. She plays well with Grandmom and she even likes the noisy Tippy:)

Today, we used a toothbrush for the first time. She seemed to really like it. I don't know if it's really necessary or not, but she has two teeth and she eats more than milk, so I don't want to take the chance on letting her teeth get ucky.

Road Trip

So, things have been trucking along with much stress. I decided to withdraw from my COUN501 class that I was taking. It sounds like a great idea to get your master's degree while being a stay at home mom...only to those who haven't tried it. I think it would have been easier to do it in residence because then I would actually get to leave the house and the kid behind and perhaps have a small chance of focusing on something remotely intellectual. Some people have to learn things the hard way....and so, now I've learned and we can all move on and I can focus on being a much less stressed wife and mommy:)
We had a doctor's visit on Oct 29 and Miss Brie weighed in at 16 lbs. and was 26inches long. The doc said she's doing great and unless something happens and I need to come in she doesn't want to see her again until she's 1!
I've started doing Baby Sign with her and she's learned to do one sign and it seems like she understands about 3. It's pretty cool. She loves to watch me do songs and stuff and she really is paying attention. You can almost see the little wheels turning:)
Tuesday she was going to Grammy's house for the evening so my mom could get her fix before we are gone for 2 weeks. Keep in mind the child is not a fan of her carseat. Well, she was giggling beside herself when Grammy walked in the house. Then she was sitting on the couch with her right next to the car seat and Gabrielle practically jumped into the seat and was laughing and happy while we were buckling her in. That child knew she was going to her Grandma's house and was happy about it!!
So, today we leave to go up to Yadkinville and pick up my friend from college MaryAnne. Then tomorrow we will head from NC to Jackson, TN where Brie and I will be staying until after Thanksgiving. I'll let you know how the Road Trip goes.

We Have TEETH!!

SO, apparently last night Gabrielle cut 2 teeth! Both the front teeth on the bottom have now broken through the skin...and boy are they sharp. The good news is that I have only felt them with my finger:)
We also had a Halloween party last night and little miss got to dress up like a little cow:) She is the most adorable little cow ever. We got pictures made at the Picture People this week in honor of her turning 6 months old. Some of them were in her little cow suit. She loved chewing on the cow bell, it was so hilarious!

Brie makes new friends

So, there's been a good bit of chaos in our lives with me working and then being off for a week and working for another week. I think we may be settling back into some sort of routine again finally. Gabrielle is doing well with eating "solids". She loves her cereal, sweet potatoes, squash and prunes. She's not such a fan of peas, however. She has started going to Sunday School and she looks like such a big girl sitting at the table with all the other kids. She really does like to interact with other babies now. We took a trip down to Summerville to visit Kimmy and her girls Rylie (3 yrs) and Kenna (8 mos). Both girls were crazy about Brie from the minute we walked through the door and she thought that they were truly amazing. She's had a little bit of separation anxiety, but I think she's getting over that and letting other people hold her again. She was very social at small group Sunday night at Mom and Dad's.

She is still growing so fast. I had to change diaper sizes again, which is always bittersweet. I want her to grow, but I want to be able to enjoy her being small for as long as possible. So, thanks to Kimmy's advice, she is in a size 2/3 diaper now. I didn't know they made a size like that, but it is PERFECT for her.

Brie is also doing pretty well about sitting up on her own. She prefers to play sitting up now. She has an old exersaucer from a garage sale that keeps her busy and it is so funny to see her touch everything and just move around so fast. At Mom and Dad's she's using Skylar's old jumperoo and she gets so tickled the minute the music starts to play. She doesn't actually jump so much as she sort of runs in place. It is so funny to watch! I am torn between wanting her to become mobile because I know she is frustrated about her lack of mobility at this point, and terrified about how busy she's going to be once she becomes mobile. She's so busy already and she is contained!

Busy Month

September has been a very busy month for us. Danny and I had a Readiness Exercise out at McEntire and I was working for 7 days straight...very different for me. I am also on orders this week starting tomorrow, so it is just crazy!

We had our first family picture made and we had a lot of fun. Brie is just too adorable! Now we are members at Picture People and I've already got plans for a 6 month sitting in her Gamecock Cheerleading outfit:)

She has started sitting up on her own and eating sweet potatoes in addition to her cereal.

She loves it! We're going to start working in some other stuff slowly starting today, so we'll see how that works.

She loves her swing now and she's got a saucer that Grammy picked up at a garage sale and Skylar's hand me down Jumperoo that she's doing fun things in. She doesn't jump with both feet, she sort of runs in place:) She's getting stronger every day and learning how to handle her toys better and she actually pets Skoshi instead of grabbing her ears. She doesn't try to put Skosh in her mouth either. It's pretty cool to see that she's learning how to treat "her puppy" as I call skosh to her. I expect for Skoshi or puppy or doggie to be her first word that she actually recognizes what she's saying. She has said MAMA a couple of times, but she didn't know what it was. It's just cause Nana and Grammy say that to her all the time and she watches their mouths and copies them. Danny is a booger about it. I called to tell him when she said it the first time...so a few days later she was sitting with him jabbering and he said, "Did you hear that? She said daddy I love you!" He's such a brat! So, the adventure continues.

Growing Girl

Well, we had our visit to the pediatrician and Miss Brie weighs 13 pounds 10 ounces and she's 251/4 inches long. Doctor Mac says she's perfect! And we didn't even get any shots because they are awaiting their vaccine delivery. Brie likes her Oatmeal better than the Rice cereal. She gobbles it up and reaches for the bowl.

new milestone!

Well, we have been having tons of fun with Gabrielle when Danny gets home in the evenings. She's very excitable and loves her Daddy. Sunday night while we were playing tummytime she rolled over from her tummy to her back all by herself! It scared her to death and she immediately started screaming, but Daddy was right there to reassure her that all was well in the world.


Otherwise, she's been eating oatmeal as well as rice and she's taken a bit of water from a cup. I got a sippy cup for her to play with so she would learn how to hold it and all before it was time to let her drink out of it. I don't want to break her of the bottle, so I decided that she's moving to a cup instead. She has taken a couple of sips of water out of her cup and she actually loves to play with it and has learned how to hold and manipulate it quite well. She's always so amazing:)


Tomorrow, the wonderful world of shots. Keep us in your prayers. I'm still so conflicted about this and I'm going to try to get out of a couple of them. I really just don't see the need for my infant to have a Hep B vaccine. That's a topic for a different forum however:) I'll keep you posted on her new weight and news from the doc tomorrow!

Breather

Well, the teeth aren't in yet, but she's giving us a little break for now. She's been a ton of fun for the past few days. She mastered the Raspberry sound and she does it all the time now. it's so funny. We put her in her Bumbo chair in the middle of the table while we were eating dinner the other night. She just watched her grandpa eating with such interest...almost mesmerized. Her Daddy has had her giggling and squeeling by "eating" her belly. She's just been a very happy girl, which is nice after all the teething screams. I am wondering if this is just the calm before the storm though....hmmm.

I think I've mentioned before that she likes Elmo's World. It's so funny because she recognizes his voice. I can have Sesame Street on and be playing with her and she's not interested at all in the television...but as soon as Elmo is on whether it's him interacting with other characters or the Elmo's segment...she is totally focused and excited about it.

The Joys of Teething

Well, we (okay mostly I'm the only one who cared) were hoping for a late teether, but unfortunately it appears that is not what Gabrielle has in store. Friday she was running a fever of 99.3 all day and then Sunday she had a screaming episode that lasted for far too long in our minds. It is just heartbreaking to see tears and know she is in such misery. It finally stopped when we got some number for the gums...so we expect to see teeth breaking through anyday now! The worst part is knowing she's in pain and not being able to really help her. She's definitely been snuggly and clingy, which is nice and sad all at the same time. I like snuggling her, but not because she doesn't feel good. Poor girl!
In the meantime, Brie is totally enamored with Skoshi. She watches her all the time and has finally been able to pet her a few times. It's so cool to see her discovering her "puppy" and making friends:)

We had a super busy week last week. Our friends from Sumter came and stayed with us for the final week before school starts. We had a great time with Katrina and Alma and we got to make some new friends as well. Then on Thursday night Nana Nanci and Aunt Kelci finally made it down from NC and we got to spend Friday with them. It was wonderful for them to get to meet Brie and Aunt Kelci even put her to sleep for a nap!
So, it should be an interesting week. I'm anticipating a little lonliness after all the company last week. Hopefully we'll get into the swing of things and all will be right in the world!

Catching Up

So, I've been slack about posting...but things have been quite busy for us! We took a trip to Tennessee and Gabrielle got to meet my mom's parents, my dad's parents, my sister and all of her kids (although she already met Austin and Kylie here) my great aunt and her Great, Great Gran! It was amazing! She had a beautiful connection with Gran that was breathtaking to watch. The kids are usually scared of Gran, but Gabrielle just watched and watched her until she opened her eyes and then they talked and giggled and it was like they were the only two people in the world. I get choked up just thinking about it.

In other news, she has found her feet...and Danny was even home to experience that first. He was so excited to be able to be part of that!

She also has started this new noise and she's so proud of herself and does it all the time. She growls! It's hilarious to see her face when she does it. She does it when she's talking and happy and also when she's angry. She'll wake up hungry in the night and that's what I hear now, she's growling for food. Perhaps I've let her spend too much time with Skoshi and Lacy:)

And then there's the food. I went to my first La Leche League meeting Tuesday and was confirmed that since I'm normally home with her and nursing therefore not establishing a regular pumping schedule...it's better to supplement with cereal if there's not enough milk for my drill day than formula....because the cereal only has one ingredient, so for allergy purposes it's better to do it that way. So, in preparation of drill this weekend, I fed her some rice cereal for the first time. It went well! She made some faces at first, but I think it was just cause it was different. After a few bites (or sips from the spoon rather) she was pretty happy about eating it. And it was perfect since Elmo's world was all about how people eat today:) That's about the only thing I let her watch, because it totally captivates her and it's educational. Well, that's all the news for now!

Mommy's a sucker for cute shoes

Okay, I couldn't resist these flip flops. Danny says that I'm ridiculous, and he's probably right, but they were just too adorable. I resisted them for 2 walmart visits...but on the 3rd one, I just had to put them on her!

We're having fun watching all the little changes. Gabrielle rolled over on Thursday evening. She was laying in her boppy and supposed to be playing her little kicking piano. I was in the kitchen cooking dinner. Well after a few minutes she decided that she wanted to watch TV instead. So I looked over at her and she had rolled to her side snuggled up to the pillow so she could see the TV. A few minutes later I looked back over and she had rolled to her belly and all I could see was her little head sticking up over the boppy and she was watching me walking around the kitchen. She was so cute with her little bobbly head following my movement.

Family visits

We had a busy time last week with Grandma Shannon and Aunties Summer, Autumn and Alissa visiting from Florida. Gabrielle was spoiled with kisses and playing and love.

Motor Skills Vroom Vroom!

So, it has been a big week for us! Gabrielle has learned to recognize and hit the toys on her bouncy seat, hold and shake and "eat" a rattle, and she has actually giggled for her first times. What a busy little bug! I've been so excited and just playing and playing with her. First baby giggles are so adorable! And with a digital camera ever at hand, we've been able to capture many of these first moments. I was in the kitchen loading the dishwasher when I saw that Miss Brie had discovered her bouncy seat toys. It was so cool, and I watched her for a while. Then I turned back around to finish what I was doing and I heard the music from it. I turned back around and saw that her little hand was wrapped around the ring and she had pulled it for music! She's only done it that once, but it was so great to be there and watch her discover these things. She also was able to follow the sounds of the toys on her swing tray. She gets a little scared by these sounds if they catch her off guard though. We'll have to wait a bit for the swing to become a friend for her. I just had to share all the new and exciting discoveries!

Adventures with Gabrielle

Danny and Brie in their matching Pirate duds:)



We've been having a good time taking Brie to new and exciting places. We got to go to Charleston this past weekend and we visited some friends at their beach house on Folly Beach too! The Castleman's have the Beach pictures in their camera, but I can post a few from Charleston. We didn't even have to stop the whole way to Charleston! Special thanks to Katie for being a great entertainer of Gabrielle when she started to get a little fussy. The trip home was a different story. We had to stop because she was screaming to the point of making herself cough! Basically, she just didn't want to be in her carseat. So we walked around a convenience store in Orangeburg for 20 minutes or so and tried again. She was good for a few minutes but it didn't take her long to get mad again. She finally stopped when we exited the interstate. Boy was that a relief!







I also forgot to post pics from our outing walking down the river trail with Juan and Raquel. Raquel had a blast walking Skoshi and Brie slept most of the time, but did wake up to smile for pictures at a vista point:)




Monday I had to go to the dentist so she of course went with me. She isn't the biggest fan of her carseat, so that wasn't going well, but the receptionist took her out and Brie ended up being greeter at the dentist office while I got my teeth cleaned!

Yesterday, she got to go to work with me out at McEntire. She was the hit of the day of course. Surprisingly, she took 3 naps so I got to get some work done and she wasn't even fussy. April took good care of putting her to sleep and holding her for one of her naps. She's not spoiled much:)

Tonight Gabrielle gets to meet Austin and Kylie! I can't wait to be able to post some cool pics of her meeting her cousins. Stay tuned!