The Princess Turns One !!!

As unbelievable as it sounds, today is my precious daughter's very 1st birthday! We officially celebrated a couple of days ago in Houston with a little party. Our family and a few of our close friends came together to celebrate this most special of days :) Gaby wore a beautiful chocolate brown dress with a pink sash and pink sequins that her Pita bought her. I know I'm a little biased, but she was the most beautiful birthday girl ever! We ate pink cupcakes and it was super cute watching Gaby devour hers.

She loved hearing everyone sing to her.

The first bite!

The aftermath

Here's our big girl standing on her own...

To my sweet baby- Happy 1st Birthday!! I wish you all the happiness in the world! I feel so honored to be your mom. You have made our lives so much fuller and brighter! We excitedly look forward to the years to come as we watch you become the wonderful person we know you will be. We love you more than words can express!

Gotta love Texas weather !

It's hard to believe it's the middle of January. Today, was a beautiful, breezy, sunny day. Probably mid-60s. Byron has been working non-stop since he got back from Christmas. Today, was no exception. But when he got home from work this afternoon, he insisted that us city girls get out of the house and get in tune with nature. So we decided that we would go for a little hike. We headed to the Barton Creek Greenbelt and joined the rest of the nature-lovin, tree-huggin, green-livin Austonians:) With Gaby strapped into the Baby Bjorn (on Byron, of course- I would of passed out with all that extra weight!) we enjoyed the great outdoors.

Walking is Eminent (Maybe) !

Gaby's first birthday is only 10 days away. Isn't that crazy? It's hard to believe we've been blessed with a whole year of the princess' company. Time doesn't just fly, it speeds past you in the blink of an eye! I know, I'm getting old. Anyway, being the competitive people that both Byron and I are (more so my sweet husband!) we were convinced that our genuis child would walk before her first birthday. So we are down to the wire. Everyday Gaby and I do our training and we are going to raise the intensity level so we can reach our goal ;) She has been letting go and standing on her own a little. But only a little.

One adorable, sometimes frustrating, thing she has been doing lately is not wanting to sit in a shopping cart. She wants out so she can push the cart with me. Now, it is super cute to see this little tiny person from behind the cart but you can also imagine how slow I have to push it. And watch out if I decide to put her back in the cart- no one likes a scene, so I appease her and walk at a turtles pace around the store :)

The Children's Museum

Our first visit to the Austin Children's Museum was lots of fun! Lulu and Carlos loved running around checking out all the interactive displays.

Gaby even got in on the fun in the toddler section. I'm sure once she gets it a little more we'll visit often. We arrived in time for storytime and Gaby did seem to pay attention a little. If the storytime guy would have had a microphone I think she would of really gotten into it.

It's 2008-Happy New Year !

Gaby's cousins, Lulu and Carlos, came back with us to Austin and are staying until school starts back up. We were sooo excited that they could spend the week with us!
On New Year's Eve my brother, Tio Billy, joined us and we headed downtown to check out the "Austin's First Night" family friendly activities. In front of City Hall they had dancers, clowns and other performers along with food stands and live music. We took advantage of the awesome weather, had a nice lunch outside and went to enjoy the festivities.


The kiddos had a great time and we were all pooped when we came home. Byron was on call but he joined us for dinner and took Lulu and Carlos to see fireworks. That night we kept it low key- watched videos and hung out until midnight. After a glass of champagne, I was in bed by 12:05am. Much different New Year's Eve than years past but it suited me just fine. I have no interest in dealing with the drunk, crazy crowds anymore.
As the new year begins and I reflect on the year that just concluded all I can say is that it was such an amazing year full of new experiences and a very steep learning curve. Becoming parents and having the ultimate responsibility for this precious little being was a daunting task. We learned so much this past year and I hope we've done a good job. Gaby is in one word- incredible! Byron and I have been so blessed with this beautiful spirit in our lives. Her smile can light up a room and her serious face makes you want to just eat her up. As Lulu says all the time- "She is sooooo cuuute!"

Gaby Goes to the Zoo !

Today, Gaby and her cousins Lulu and Carlos and I went to the Houston Zoo. It was a great day, although a little chilly. Since it's been pretty warm thus far, it was one of the few times the princess was able to wear her leopard print coat :) She blended right in with the rest of the wildlife. This was her first time at the zoo and she did seem to enjoy it!

My favorite part was the elephants! I LOVE elephants! And Gaby's favorite seemed to be the monkeys...

Carlos is so sweet. He insisted on pushing Gaby's stroller all day. He also always wants to get her out of her crib when she wakes up from a nap. He adores his baby cousin! Being a ten year old boy, his favorite thing about Gaby is that she toots out loud whenever she wants. Makes him laugh like crazy!

And Lulu is going to be the best babysitter. She can play with Gaby for hours and is super sweet with her. She has tons of patience and is great at making Gaby giggle! Looking at Lulu's baby pictures, her and Gaby look so much alike. She's going to be so gorgeous as she grows up :)

We all had blast at the zoo! I'm so grateful to be back in Texas so we can do more things like this together :)

Merry Christmas !

Santa Claus came to town and Miss Gaby is now the proud owner of more brightly colored, music playing, light blinking plastic toys than any little girl needs. But of course, when you are learning how to become spoiled there's no time like the present! :)

Christmas Eve at the La Familia Salazar's included getting all pretty in her party dress and being passed around from person to person showered in smooches and hearing baby talk en espanol all night.

We ate Pita's most delicious paella, some classic Colombian dishes, and listened to salsa-inspired Christmas tunes. Our tradition is to open presents at midnight right after Santa drops them off so we had to save Gaby's for this morning. Don't mess with the princess while she's sleeping or you will pay the rest of the day!

Mommy got an awesome new camera to take even more and better pictures of my cutie. Is that even possible?

Christmas Day at Mia's house was yummy and fun! Unkie Stevie made an awesome spread and the girls unwrapped and stole each other's toys. The girls seemed to know that it was Christmas because they were in great moods and moved from toy to toy showing the short attention span needed to take it all in.

Gaby's favorite toy? Wrapping paper.

Mia's? Curling ribbon.

Ahh, it's the simple things in life :)

Feliz Navidad !

We have been in Houston for the last few days spending time with my family.










Unfortunately, with Gaby being sick we had to cancel our trip to Louisiana to visit Byron's extended family. We are definitely missing out on some good food and lots of hugs and kisses. We just didn't want to risk making Gaby worse or getting little Mia or anyone else sick. The princess still has a little bit of a cough but otherwise is much, much better.

Tonight, we will spend Christmas Eve with my family and then tomorrow we head to Katy to spend the day with Mimi, Papa, Candie, Steven and Mia. I can't even imagine the multitude of new toys Gaby will have after these two days.

She is one lucky little girl and we are a lucky family to have such an amazing and precious bundle of joy! Everyday, we get to see her personality come out just a bit more and watch as she experiences new sights, sounds, flavors- everything!! It really makes you see the world with new eyes. I am so thankful for my beautiful, healthy, funny, happy, independent, sweet baby girl. And Christmas seems like an appropriate time to mention it :)

Cold Virus-3 , Gaby-0

I was told the winter would be like this. I thought "they" were exaggerating. Truth is though, babies ARE little germ factories. And just in time for Christmas- yipee! Symptoms include a very gnarly cough this time. Sounds super painful. And for the first time, it's affecting her appetite. Poor little sweetie.

Little Houdini

Our little princess scared the bejesus (is that how it's spelled?) out of me today! Background: Our laundry room, actually it's really just a closet, is upstairs right off of the playroom. So I was putting clothes in the dryer and reloading the washer and Gaby was playing with her toys in the playroom. Now really how long does that take? Two, maybe three minutes? Once everything was started and I turned back into the playroom Gaby was GONE! Now I thought- Oh she must of gone into her room. So I go into her room and NOTHING! I'm not panicked at this point. She's probably in my bedroom (which is upstairs, too). She likes to go in there and play in our bathroom. So I go in there and NOTHING. At this point I'm running- in the bathroom, the toilet room, the closet, behind my bed. There really isn't that many places to hide! Then I walk out of my room and stand at the top of the stairs. With doubt, I think- there is no way is there? But I say to myself, there really is no other place to look. So I start going down the stairs and round the corner and low and behold there she is!! Three steps from being on the first floor!! She went all the way down BY HERSELF and was just tickled with her accomplishment. She gave me the biggest smile ever! As if to say- Look what I did! There's no stopping me now! So there you go the princess is fearless and able to go where she wants now. What I am most proud of, though, is that she scooted all the way down on her belly, feet first. My child is a genius :) !!

Back in the Inner Circle :)

This past weekend our dear friends, the Morrisons, had their annual Christmas/White Elephant Party in Houston. We have, of course, missed the three prior years because we were geographically impaired- but not this year! It was so much fun to see all of our friends, basically my old A&M crowd. The gifts were too funny and Byron ended up with a doozy- priceless Tony Montana/Scarface sneakers!


Even though they were a size 10 (and Byron wears a size 13) he wore them the rest of the night.


Might tell you a little about how the spirits were flowing that night. Gaby, I'll explain this later when you're a wee bit older :)

On a more wholesome note, on our way into town we stopped to have lunch with Mia, Candie & Steven.

For my loyal bloggers, I just wanted you to know that little Mia is perfectly healthy and doing super. She looks so great and is weighing just about the same as Gaby. Seeing those two together is the most wonderful thing. They are so lucky to have each other. I am really looking forward to watching them grow up to be the best buds ever!


Here are a couple of shots of Gaby lovin on her cousin :)

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like Christmas...

I've been good Santa, I promise :)!

Gaby and I went to visit Santa Claus today. I dressed her up in her fancy Christmas dress and stylish red patent leather shoes and we headed to the mall. I wasn't sure how she'd react to Old St. Nick, but she did pretty good. She didn't cry, but she definitely was unsure about what the heck was going on. She just kept looking up at him wondering who on Earth he was. We managed to get half a smile, though, and in my unbiased opinion- it is the prettiest Christmas picture ever :)