Swim Update

I just got some recent swim class pictures so I thought I'd post a little "swim update". Gaby is doing awesome with her lessons! A few weeks back, she was starting to show a little anxiety or maybe just lack of desire getting into the water with Coach Carla. But luckily, that has passed. Now that I look back, I think it probably had something to do with her sinus infection and her just not feeling well. Lately, she's been doing great and has been eager to get into the water and swim with her friends. They are working on turning over on their backs midswim, taking a breath and then going back under. And standing on a platform in the middle of the pool, jumping off and swimming to the wall. Anyhoo, we continue with our Olympic aspirations....

Gaby's swim class buddies- Tripp & Reese!! And on that day- Max!

Gaby's really taken to her two swimming pals, Tripp and Reese. They are both almost three and don't mind hanging out with someone a little younger :) Lately, Gaby & I have been joining Tripp and his mommy, Elizabeth, for doughnuts after class. Yum! Our next semester (X-treme Waterbabies) starts in January and unfortunately, Tripp and Reese will have to leave Gaby behind as they will move on to the older kids class (Aquatots). She will definitely miss them!

Goofy Daddy!

Every night Byron and Gaby goof around together and rough house before bedtime. They jump on the bed, tumble, attack each other, play hide and seek, and she rides on his back. They are just so cute together and they sound like they are having the time of their life. No one makes Gaby squeal with excitment like her Daddy :)

Not quite in the Christmas spirit yet...

Yes, I paid $23 for this picture of my kid crying because, well, I'm not sure why. Maybe we'll get a giggle out of it later when she's an adult? Maybe it's because I have an obsessive need to capture every single moment of her life?? Needless to say, she wanted nothing to do with good 'ol Santa this year. Even though we were talking him up all day and she even seemed very excited while we were in line to see him. Oh, well! I AM super excited about the really pretty dress she has on. It cost waaay more than I normally spend on Gaby's wardrobe so you'll be seeing alot of it ;)

The Family Ham :)

This past weekend, I sat back and watched something so neat for a parent to see. Over Thanksgiving, my daughter was a complete and total ham! Now, the reason this is so surprising to me is because I was (and, I know, at times it's hard to believe) painfully shy during my formative years. I was always hiding behind my mom's legs and would always just sit next to her anywhere we went and never left her side. And Gaby is like that a little when we first get around new people, so I just assumed she would be shy with sooo many new people to meet. And she was a little shy at first....But goodness gracious, the kid just broke out of her shell and was so funny around both families. She laughed and yelled and danced and ran around and often was the center of attention. It not only made me laugh but it really made me just soooo proud of her for having such a sweet and outgoing personality.

"You talkin about me???"

Thanksgiving Week Slideshow

Dancing Queen !!

Thanksgiving Festivities

Sorry. I haven't neglected the blog for this long in quite a while....Whew! Where do I begin? We made our way east and north and then back again for Thanksgiving. We started off the holiday festivities with a baby shower in Houston for our good friends the Pagets last weekend. We got to have an adult night out with a bunch of my old college friends. There was great conversation, yummy food, funny laughs and an abundance of Bellinis:)

That Sunday we celebrated and early Thanksgiving with the Salazar gang. Gaby has a blast running around with her big cousins and we gorged on my brother's most scrumptious fried turkey and all the fixins. Byron left us that night to come back to Austin to work for a few days but Gabs and I were lucky enough to stay in Houston to hang out a little longer. Pita and Pito were thrilled to spend a few more days with the princess.

Tuesday night Candie & Mia and Gaby & I headed to Orange to break up the looong trip to the farm in Louisiana. We hit some major traffic and made a Cracker Barrel pitstop that turned our two hour trip into a four hour experience! The girls tried their best, but really weren't excited to be trapped in their carseats for so long. We sang and watched movies as much as we could only to have them fall asleep 10 min before we arrived. Mimi and Papa were so happy to see their grandbabies but only little Mia had the energy to stay up to play with them for a little while. Gaby was in no mood to be disturbed from her beauty sleep :)

The next morning we were off for another two hour drive into Louisiana. That trip was great and we finally arrived at the farm where we were greeted by some very friendly and much anticipated cows! It was so funny to see how excited those two munchkins got over a bunch of stinky cows. They would just repeat over and over and over- "moo-cows", "hi, moo-cows". So cute! The girls and our two little boys (Rosko and Ozzie) just looved all the open space at the farm and were constantly wanting to be outside running and exploring. That night Byron finally joined us and we were only missing Uncle Steven who had some new house business to attend to back in Katy.

Thanksgiving day was basically an eat-your-weight-in-food day with back to back family get togethers. First, we went to MawMaw's house with Mimi's family and then back to the farm where Papa's family came to us. As usual, there was so much delicious food around and we were all in alot of pain after such amazing feasts! It was so good seeing all the aunts, uncles and cousins again and finally being able to be a part of the family activities.

Friday, we headed back to Orange to spend a couple more days with Mimi & Papa. Gaby and Mia seemed to really enjoy each other this visit. They would actually play together, color, build blocks, read books and sing & dance together. They were sooo cute dancing together!! We also had a few races where little Mia showed her athletic prowess and left Gaby eating dust. (When Mia runs it's head down, shoulders up and away she goes. When Gaby runs it's like Phoebe in Friends- unorganized, arms in the air, waving to people as she passes.) We had many a giggle watching them. I got some great video to come later...

Sunday we headed back home with a pit-stop in Katy to see Candie and Steven's new home (Gorgeous!). So now we're back home, getting settled back in and ready for the craziness, that is Christmas, to begin. And I just want to say, how thankful I am to have such a wonderful family and a beautiful, healthy, amazing little girl. We are so very lucky for all that we have and all that we get to do. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Life is good:)

On your mark, Get set, Gooooo....

Tomorrow, we're off. We'll be gone for a whole week. It'll be a Houston/Orange/Louisiana whirlwind. We'll see if I can blog on the road. Otherwise, it'll be while. Happy Thanksgiving, my friends :)

The Never-Ending Cough

Almost three months. That's how long our poor sweetie has had her cough. It's one of those you-need-to-clear-your-throat coughs. The rumbly, gunky kind. Gaby's been on three different antibiotics these last few months and it gets a little better for a couple of days, but then comes back again and has never fully gone away. So, on Monday we went back to the pediatrician and she took a couple of x-rays of Gaby's head and we got a very clear view of Gaby's left sinus full of gunk! And her left ear was also pretty infected. Apparently, Gaby's got a very resistant bug that doesn't respond to traditional meds. So the next step was a Rocephin antibiotic injection for three days straight-yikes! Today, we went in for the last dose. Let me tell ya, that shot looks soooo painful! It's a huge dose and it looks pretty thick. I can just imagine how terrible it feels going in. Poor kiddo has been a real trooper but they make her leg so sore she limps for a few hours afterwards:( She does seem better today. And now has to do yet another week's worth of an oral antibiotic-Bactrin. Hopefully, these meds do the job. I feel like we've hit it with everything we've got!

Ma-Don-Na !!!

That is how I always hear her name chanted in my head. It's from the movie Truth or Dare when Madonna's Spanish fans were yelling for her outside her hotel window in Barcelona. For some reason, I will never forget that. Anyhoo, last night, in Houston, I finally got a chance to see the Material Girl, live and in person, after all these years!! If you grew up when I did, Madonna is our one true pop icon. For all her craziness, she has always been truly amazing and, more importantly, extremely entertaining! The concert was AWESOME!!! And at 50, the woman's still definitely got IT! Her body is rock hard. Hmmmm, yoga has never done that for me. Or maybe you need to do it more than once a week to get those results ;) ?? My favorite part? The new dance inspiring "Four Minutes" where, by the magic of huge HD flat screens, you got to pretend Justin Timberlake was also on stage. Followed by the cool, rock-y, disco-y version of "Like a Prayer". Loved, loved, loved it! Followed by a hip shaking, throw your arms in the air, jump up and down version of "Ray of Light". Again, it was AWESOME!!! My best friend, Laurel, came in town just for the concert from Atlanta and we partied like it was 1989 with my sister in law, Candie. Great time, girls!!!

Milk Boycott

A letter from the desk of Gabriella Rose Holt...

To Whom It May Concern:
That includes you too, Pita & Mimi. This has been brewing for a while, but today I am officially declaring an all out milk boycott. Please do not attempt to serve me milk in any vessel or combination as that makes me very angry. No bottle, no sippy cup, no water bottle, no glass cup, not with a straw, not strawberry milk, not chocolate milk- nada!! Also, don't try to lie to me and tell me it's water when I can perfectly well see from the opacity of the cup that it most certainly is milk. As you've noticed, I have no problem calling you out when you lie to me.

I will, however, continue to accept my weekly McDonald's milkshake after swim lessons. Love those! Also, there will be times when I will drink milk when I am with my friends and peers to "fit in" and consequently, make you look bad. That is just part of my charm:)

I am not concerned about my calcium consumption, as I still very much like my yogurt and cheese products. I am sure I will be fine. But if you'd like to give me vitamins, I prefer the gummy bear variety.

Please allow me time to get over my disgust of milk and I am sure one day I will come around and drink it again. I am bored of fighting the same battle with you over and over and over again. Get a life, people.

Sincerely,
Gaby Holt

Milestone Marker

I like to write these things down not so much to brag on my little girl (although, you just can't help that sometimes!) but for the future. To remind myself what happened when....

Gaby's been putting together 2-3 word sentences. I think that's pretty impressive at her age. And if it's not impressive in general, it certainly impressive to me. Her favorite sentence is a question- "where are you?" She says that all the time and it is just so funny. Everything is "Mommy, where are you?" or "Daddy, where are you?" Come to think of it. That's actually a four word sentence! They say that at this age they pick up a few words a day and I'm finding out, amazingly, that she does!! She loves to talk! And will sometimes just rattle off these completely uncomprehensible, yet totally adorable stories with facial expressions and hand gestures. You just wonder what the heck she was trying to tell you.

She can practically count to ten in Spanish and English with some help. And she's trying really hard to sing the alphabet but still needs someone or one of her toys to sing it with her. She can already recognize certain letters- I think that's pretty cool. Another really fun thing she's been doing is naming people in pictures (she looves looking at this blog). The girl can pick out her whole family and most of her friends from pictures. That's one of her favorite activities! Then there's the colors- she's pretty much got them down already!

There are times when you just sit back in awe at how completely incredible the human brain is and how quickly it can learn things. And so this post isn't totally boring for you, here are some pics for your viewing pleasure :)

Gaby's Serious Face...


















And Gaby's Happy Face...

Nalgas !

Translation: Cheeks :)

We've created a monster...

It's Halloween's fault. Maybe it's the month of October's fault. Or maybe, it's swim class' fault. I don't know, but we've got a major dilemma on our hands.

Our little sweetie is becoming OBSESSED with candy! Any time she's around it- it's like crack! Except in Skittle form. She wants, needs some candy.

Now, I can hear what your thinking......Maybe, possibly, it's your fault Angie?? I mean if you have it around and you give it to her? Could you be to blame? And for shame. You. Are. A. Dentist!!

But in my defense, when you are dealing with an almost two year old, there is much power in negotiating with candy. Do you want some candy? Ok, then let's change your diaper. Or let's put on your shoes. Or take your medicine. Or come inside already! There are countless examples....

But for real, people, once we run out of it there will be no more in the house. I promise. We'll have to find something else to bribe her with. For some reason, I just don't think raisans are going to cut it :)

Taking Care of Baby

Oh, the cutest thing is starting to happen. Gaby has begun to pretend play with her dolls and stuffed animals. It's so darn funny! She sits them down at her table and and explains things to them and gives them drinks out of her sippy cup. Then she'll take them all and sit them in her comfy chair and point her finger at them like she's reprimanding them and then she sings songs to them. I know I'm a little biased but my child is the cutest little girl EVER!! Of course, everytime I get the video camera out she gets distracted and stops playing. But I will get video of it soon. I'm on a mission:)

Finally, a Pumpkin Patch...

So we finally made it to a pumpkin patch this weekend. With all the travelling we've been doing, October just got away from us. And by the way, can you believe it's already November?!?! Seriously, Christmas is just around the corner! The shopping, the baking, the wrapping, the planning, the parties.....Oh, my!!

But I digress...

So we headed to Sweetberry Farms in Marble Falls, about an hour out of town, to go to what's considered the best pumpkin patch in the area. And let me tell you, it did not disappoint :) Gaby is way into pumpkins this year or as she calls them "punkins".

We picked out a few...

Look at all the baby pumpkins... There were friendly goats to pet...

A tractor to climb up on (Papa will be so proud!!)...

A corn maze...

This is fun- yipee!!!
The weather was beautiful and we had such a nice, relaxing day out there.

We will definitely be making this an annual family tradition!

Halloween Portraits

Isn't she the sweetest little Dorothy ever??

Happy Halloween!

Our little Gaby was Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz this year. The red sparkle shoes got me! Isn't she sweet?






Gaby's good friend Brayden "The Pirate" Bratcher came to town from Dallas to trick or treat with her.





We went to our neighborhood's annual Halloween party with our friends and then hit the trick or treating scene. Here are Gaby and Carter "The Rocker" Singleton getting the goods.

Gaby was way more interested in sitting down and eating her candy than going from door to door.

Gaby & Mommy

Gaby & Daddy

Checking out her stash...

Besides a very unfortunate run-in with an ant pile (Ouch!!) we had a great Halloween. Hope ya'll had a good one too :)