The Austin Zoo

Saturday after Thanksgiving Mimi and Papa came in for a quick 30hr visit with the princess. They arrived before my parents flew out and we all had a really lovely lunch together. It is such a nice thing when the In Laws and the Parents get along. I love it!

On Sunday, we were looking for something to entertain us. It turns out that Austin has this little rescue zoo which most people had told me really wasn't that good and not very exciting. But I thought we should check it out for ourselves. So after a super yummy breakfast at Kerbey Lane (can you say peanut butter chocolate chip pancakes??) we headed to the zoo. We were so pleasantly surprised! This zoo was really sweet and actually alot of fun! It had so many more animals than I expected and to know that they were all rescued from unfortunate circumstances made it so much more special.

There were peacocks everywhere but none of them wanted to flaunt their feathers :(

For the Dora fans, we were extremely excited to meet Swiper the Fox in person!

Trying to kiss the llama...

A face only a mother could love...

Trying to whistle like the parrot...

Gaby made Papa help her "walk sideways" on all the railings....

Trying to see how tall she was compared to the bears....

A giant Galapagos turtle eating a salad...

Quack!!

We had a great time at the Austin Zoo and look forward to going back again to see what new animals they have rescued from bad circumstances.

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving Byron was on call requiring us to stay put. So the Salazar gang came to us! Our beautiful princess needed alot of help getting ready for the big day.

Her hairstylist, Pita.... And her makeup artist, Tia Chela were more than happy to help her... Isn't she a beauty?? Byron & Billy were in charge of the guest of honor... Isn't SHE a beauty?? We all sat down to a lovely lunch and were stuffed after eating a huge Thanksgiving Day feast! The girls all got together for an arts and crafts session after lunch... With her older cousins around Gaby actually had the attention span to complete this art project! Gaby has sooo much fun w/her cousins and family around. She was practically giddy the whole time they were here. Makes me so happy to see that! This year I am thankful for so many things. The most important being my family and my amazing daughter. Gaby is literally the light of my life and makes me proud to be her mama every day. Noone can make me smile like she does and I can't imagine my life without her sweet spirit in it. Even though, she is such a big girl now, running around and talking like crazy, she will always be my sweet baby girl :)

The Little Mermaid

We just discovered a little theater here in Austin called The Scottish Rites Children's Theater. They put on these cute little plays for kids. This weekend we went to our first play- The Little Mermaid! The show is just about an hour- long enough to hold their attention and not get bored. The very front of the stage is reserved for kids only so they can be close and can interact with the actors. Before the show most kids was coloring their program. We weren't allowed to take pictures during the show but it was super cute and Gaby had a great time! We look forward to seeing many more shows there :)

Gaby's Newest Obsession

"Dora, Dora, Dora, the Explor-er"

Here's the evolution of morning TV in our house.....
First there was Elmo, then Mickey Mouse,

and now Dora the Explorer.

Gaby gets the biggest smile on her face when it comes on and gets so excited, it's hard not to let her watch it. And considering that's really the only time cartoons are on in our house, how can we say no??

At first, I was completely against the bobble-headed latina but,
I can't believe I'm going to admit this....

Dora's, actually, not so bad.

I feel like Gaby learns something new every time and there's always a little spanish thrown in there which is great.

So there....I said it.....we like Dora :)

The Newest Tramonte

Gaby's baby cousin arrived this morning!!

Welcome to the world
Tanner Giaquin Tramonte!!!

He weighed in at 7lbs, 15oz and 19.5 inches long.
Candie and Tanner are doing great.
And big sister Mia is super excited :)

We can't wait to meet him on Friday!

Goodbye, old friend.

Something pretty surprising happened last week....

Gaby quit her habit. Her pacifier habit! Around here we call it "chupo".

Let me start by saying that for the past three or four months I've been contemplating how I was going to get the kid off the chupo. She liked it sooo much at night, in the car and occasionally just hanging around the house. As a dentist, I knew I had to get her off of it, but as a mom I really liked the comfort it gave her and was afraid of what would happen without it. So really I was dragging my heels about doing something about it. I gave myself the "when she turns 3" deadline and pretended that wasn't right around the corner. My idea was not to just take it away from her but to make it so she wouldn't want it anymore. My plan? To punch a hole in it.

Well what do you know, but the other day Gaby came to me and said "Mommy, chupo is broke." And sure enough there was a tear in it and she couldn't get the right suction anymore.

Halleluia!!! Since we only had the one chupo left (plus the one in the car that mysteriously disappeared!) I told Gaby we had to throw it away and there would be no more chupo. And with that, she very maturely threw it in the trash! End of story.

She's asked for it a couple times since then but really has had NO problem going to bed without it and moving on.

We couldn't be prouder of our big girl!

Funny Observation

Let me set the stage.....

Byron and Gaby are in her room rough housing.

Byron is pretending he's a bull or tiger or bear or something, on his hands and knees, head down, knocking Gaby over.

She grabs on to his head and they both fall down in a giant explosion of giggles and then Gaby says......

"Daddy, you no got lotta hair!"

The writing is on the wall when your two year old notices that!

Luckily, Byron is extremely comfortable with the inevitable and we love him no matter what :)

Pumpkin Patch

Here are pictures from our 2nd annual trip to

Sweet Berry Farm's Pumpkin Patch.

We couldn't have asked for nicer weather that day!

A Rarity

A picture of the three of us.... Good looking family. If I do say so myself ;)

Halloween!

This year our sweet Gaby was a sweet little Minnie Mouse for Halloween. I still got to pick her costume this year and I guess I picked right because she was very excited about it! We headed out w/Ellington for a neighborhood party.... Here are the girls getting their faces and hands painted and their hair sprayed. And some trick or treating... Gaby was really excited about trick or treating this year. I think she actually got the concept and realized what she needed to do to get the goods. Waiting in anticipation...I love my best friend!! Can we eat the candy yet??? Luckily, for the girls it's still not about quantity just about getting any candy. So there was no need to get an obscene amount of it. For now, it's still just the joy of game- say the magic words and someone will give you a treat. Ahhh, the beauty of untainted innocence. They were so adorable trick or treating. It makes it so much more fun for us adults :)