Whispering Sweet Nothings

As Gaby turns 5 months today, I wanted to write this down because I don't ever want to forget. It's something my precious daughter has been doing for the past couple of weeks. It is simply the most adorable thing you've ever seen! I've asked a couple people if their kids had done this and they hadn't, so I'm thinking this is just one of Gaby's funny quirks. Anyway, lately, especially in the early morning (the sweetest time of the day!) Gaby has been whispering. It is the cutest, funniest thing ever! She literally just starts making these funny whispering noises. Now for the last few months she's been yelling and shouting (which are funny too) but a couple of weeks ago she started with these soft little whispers. Almost like she's practicing her different volumes. And she puckers her beautiful lips in the most precious way. It's so adorable and I wanted to document it so I will always remember. Gaby, you are the cutest! Once I can figure out how to put videos on the blog I will post her doing her thing:)

I also wanted to take the time to talk about our other little babies, Rosko & Ozzie. Now everyone said- once you have a baby the dogs will become second class citizens. I said- not me, not ever! Wrong. It's true, as Gaby becomes more interactive and needing more and more attention the boys are definitely left by the wayside. I still love my sweeties so much. It's just there isn't enough time and attention for all. So I just wanted to report that last month Rosko turned 5 and this month Ozzie turned 3 yrs old. They are both so well behaved around Gaby and they seem to know how they're supposed to act around her(even when she tries to pet them and ends up just pulling their hair or ears!). Good boys!

Headline: Byron & Angie Get Away!!

Chicago 2007
This past weekend Byron and I took a little break from our baby girl. We went to Chicago for the weekend to celebrate our friends' birthdays- John Dallas' 30th and Michelle Rega's 35th b-day.

It was also like a final hurrah with our STL buds. There was a group of 12 of us and we ran around Chicago like a bunch of college kids. Byron and I terribly missed our little cutie, but we also appreciated our first time away, alone, together in 5 months. We literally have only been to dinner alone once since the princess joined us (and that was last week for our 5th anniversary!). We enjoyed sleeping late(!), eating out, and hanging out with friends. My wonderful mom stayed in St. Louis and spent a fun girls' weekend with her precious "chiquita". Every time I talked to her (which was about 5-6 times a day) she sounded like she was having the time of her life. She adores little Gaby and showers her with love any chance she can get! She also enjoys dressing her up in frilly get ups with bonnet and all-

Father's Day

Sunday was Byron's first Father's Day. We came home from Chicago to a delicious home cooked meal courtesy of Pita and Gaby. They had slaved away for hours in the kitchen to make Daddy's favorite- Arroz con Pollo. We had a wonderful dinner and Byron opened presents from his girls.

And now a few words from Dad:

Well, well, well.........hola to all of you who have been enduring my wife's attempt at competing with her brother-in-law Steven (Mia's blog). And of course keeping up with all the news of my little angel! This is little Dudley's first posting on the blog.....and yes I'm allowed to talk about myself in the third person on MY FIRST FATHER'S DAY!! I wasn't sure what to expect, but found that I really enjoyed it because it was like Christmas and my birthday all at once. My choice of food, people calling wishing me happiness, presents and cards, all just for ME!!!!!!! Our first weekend away made it that much more enjoyable to get back and spend time with Gaby. Each day she makes a new sound, looks at you as if with true understanding, laughs out loud, and impresses with her actions. I never thought I could just sit around and stare at a child as long as I do......and I'm a pediatrician! I can also easily say that she looks exactly like her mother and I'm thrilled with that. She is so beautiful, and intelligent, and strong, and healthy, and............let the bragging begin. Either way, on Father's Day I can now appreciate what it means to want more for your child than yourself. And it makes me appreciate even more my father on this special day.........for all the sacrifices parents make on behalf of their children. I'll always try my best for Gaby.

For Sale No More!

Another very exciting event occured this weekend. We received and accepted an offer on our house!! FINALLY!! Just when we were losing faith and trying to figure out how we were going to handle two mortgages we got this amazing news. Once the inspection goes through we'll be on our way:) Byron has just two short weeks left in the STL and I, unfortunately, will stay behind for a week and a half after that. Gaby, Pita and I will leave on July 12th and wave goodbye to the our home for the past 5 yrs.

Sleep, Wonderful, Sleep

Gaby's sleeping is back on track and she is definitely getting into a good sleeping pattern. Thank God! I just pray that once the move begins we can keep it up and not mess her up too bad.

The Survivors of Operation: Cry It Out

Well, we have survived four nights of Operation: Cry It Out. The first night Gaby ended up crying about 1hr and 10min. Then exhausted and wedged up to the corner of her crib she finally fell asleep and slept until 6am! Of course, I kept on waking up to check on her with the monitor. Despite my being completely exhausted and nerve racked I felt like we made some definite progress. The second night was amazing. Gaby slept from 8:30pm to 5am waking up once at 11pm for her final feeding. Halleluhia!! The third night she went down at 8:30pm as usual but decided to wake up at 9:30pm and yell for 30 min. But then without a late night feeding she slept until 4am. Now granted, 4am is not fun but the key is long stretches of sleep and we are starting to achieve that. The fourth night she slept like a champ! Woke up once to eat and then slept until morning. I'm hoping we can keep this up as the work week begins tomorrow. Here's Gaby snoozing in her crib:
Gaby's newest trick this week has been rolling from her tummy to her back. I have only witnessed this once but know it's happening often as I'll leave her on her tummy only to find her sunny side up. I can't get her to do it on command yet, but I'm working on it. She's also enjoying her cereal finally and is learning to drink sips of water from a water bottle. Super cute!

Mia Update: Gaby's future best friend is doing really well. She has doubled her birth weight as 4-month olds should and is up to 10lbs! We are so proud of her and can't wait to take them both to the pool this summer:)

Operation: Cry It Out

It's been 10 looong days since we got back from Austin and our precious princess has yet to sleep though the night like she used to. She was sleeping better than this at two months! Last night was the kicker, as she woke up every hour on the hour starting at 1am. Mind you, it was a work night! Luckily, with my mom here I didn't have to get up every time (thanks again, mom!!) but since Gaby's room is only two doors down I had the pleasure of hearing most of it. Sadly, my mom headed back home and since tonight is the beginning of my weekend I decided there's no time like the present to start Operation: Cry It Out. As I write this, it is 3am and my sweet child has been screaming her head off for EXACTLY 53 minutes. I say exactly because when you decide to let a baby cry it out you watch the clock and pray that any minute now, any second now, she will stop crying. Now I have the benefit/curse of having a video monitor. So I have the pleasure/torture of being able to watch as she goes ballistic! Obviously, I'm not the first mother to go through this, but when you're in the situation you feel like no one has had to go through this mind-wrenching, soul-ripping, heart-breaking exercise in complete and utter cold heartedness toward your own precious child. I will survive, I'm sure. And more importantly Gaby will survive. But you'd think since society has been raising children for, I don't know, what seems like a billion years, you'd think someone would of figured out a way to help kids sleep through the night without this craziness! I'm just saying. Baby Valium, anyone?? You might wonder where my husband is right now. Since the poor guy has not slept in 10 days either and since his job involves saving babies' lives, he has been allowed to sleep downstairs. Now considering the volume our adorable angel is capable of, I'm pretty sure he's sleeping with his head between two pillows. 1hr 4min and counting.....

Big and Beautiful!

Gaby had her 4 month check up yesterday. She's a big, tall girl at 16 lbs 6 oz (95%) and 26.25 in (97%). She had her current vaccinations and this time did not appreciate them very much:) I'm trying to get her back on a good sleeping schedule. After our trip she's been totally out of whack. We've been waking up every few hours! Note to self- Gaby will never marathon travel again!! So we figured since she wasn't sleeping well already, it would be a good time to move Gaby into her own room. It was me who was always opposed to this. But surprisingly enough, it hasn't been that tough. Although, I do miss having her right next to me in her CoeSleeper. We've started cereal and she doesn't really seem to like it. We'll keep on trying. I'm hoping cereal is the key to lots of sleep....

Here's Gaby's first taste of cereal and her "almost" sitting up:

Memorial Day Weekend

Gaby's First Airplane Ride- The Grand Debaucle
I was so excited to take Gaby on her first plane ride. It would be just her and me, as Daddy was driving down in order to bring some breakables to the house and for us to have a car for the weekend. Things started out pretty well. I was totally prepared. I had enough formula and diapers for an entire day even though we would be in Austin around 2:30pm. Gaby was going to travel in the Baby Bjorn- easy, and uncomplicated. At least that's what we thought...

Our great downfall was laying over at Dallas Lovefield. The first leg of our trip went off without a hitch. Gaby was awesome during the flight. She slept and played and just kept herself entertained. We arrived at Lovefield and were told we were 15 min delayed. No problem- until that turned into over an hour! Once we were boarded and on the runway ready to go, it started to pouring down rain. Oh-oh! The captain said another 15 min. Again, no problem. Until it's an hour and a half later and we're still ON. THE. RUNWAY. (Mind you this is one of those tiny American planes that can become VERY claustrophobic.) Finally, they decided to take us back to the gate. Fine, just get us off this plane! We were five feet from the gate and they informed us that the ground crew cannot be out during lightening. Perfect. So we waited. And waited. Another hour! Once at the gate it was- oops, there's no one to open the door. Of course not. Why would there be someone to open the door?? Just because we've been out here for over two hours?? Back at the gate, with some food in our tummies and a fresh diaper we were told we would get an update at 5:30pm. Now remember, I was supposed to LEAVE Austin by 1:20pm! At 5:45pm they told us it would be about 2 hrs until they would give us another update. 2 hrs?? Your kidding, right? At that point, I claim defeat. I couldn't do this to Gaby or to myself anymore. Now she has been super up to this point, but I can tell she's getting tired. So I give up, and luckily my friends Laura and Scott Bratcher were nice enough to pick us up and let us crash at their house. Thank you so much!! The next day we got a flight out at 10:25am and made it to Austin before noon. Turns out my flight from the night before was finally cancelled around 11pm. Thank God we did not stick around for that!
Austin-Our Future Home

When we finally made it to Austin we were just exhausted. At least I was. But once we got there we hit the ground running. We checked out our new home and had meetings with a pediatrician, a nanny, a contractor and dinner with Byron's future partners. We did it all and returned to the hotel to for some much needed rest. Gaby was just simply amazing. What a trooper! She tolerated all the craziness of the past few days and was still smiling and having fun. Sweet baby! The next morning we had planned a quick trip to Houston to see our families. We met at my parents house and the Holts and the Tramontes (with little Mia in tow) were meeting us there for lunch. We couldn't wait to see our precious niece again and finally introduce her to her cousin Gaby.

The Princesses Finally Meet!!

Gaby and Mia finally met this weekend. And they were just so excited to check each other out. They caught up on all the latest gossip and spent some good quality time hanging out. Now Gaby has a few pounds on Mia but that little sweetie can hold her own.

Here she is showing Gaby whose boss:

It seems that all of the preceding days events finally caught up on our little princess because she was just in rare form that day. I have never seen her like that. She must of had sensory overload with all the travelling and all the people because she just imploded and was a holy terror that entire day. Making it even more exhausting for Mommy. Hopefully, everyone will forgive her for being so cranky:).

Back in Austin we did some more house errands and are super excited to move there for good. For now, the struggle is to get Gaby back on track and back on some sort of schedule. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Feet, glorious, feet!

This past week Gaby discovered her feet! It's just so cute to see her grab her toes and try to put them in her mouth. She's got some flexibility! She's also babbling up a storm. It's funny, when Byron shushes her (to listen to some silly sports or news on TV) she just raises the volume- just like her mommy:)

I had to work the whole week

so my cousin Angela came back on nanny duty. Gaby has so much fun with her. They play alot and Angela has infinite patience in teaching Gaby new things. Poor Pita is dying being away from her little angel. But she'll be back soon.


I'm very sad to report that my precious little niece, Mia, is back in the hospital. We are praying for her speedy recovery and want her to come home soon. That poor little sweetie (and her parents) have been through so much. Please send her your prayers and good thoughts:) We love you, Mia!

In other news....We closed on our house in Austin and now officially own two houses. We did not expect to take so long to sell our house here but I guess it's part of the "down market". Anyway, if anyone is in need of a St. Louis vacation home, I've got the perfect one for you:) Also, we are going to Austin over Memorial Day weekend to check out our new place and to get some things in order.

"A mother's love is like a circle...

...It has no beginning and it has no ending."

Last year on this day, we found out we were pregnant! This year we celebrate my first Mother's Day. And to make it even more special, we were able to spend the day with my mom. I haven't been with my mom for Mother's Day in five years! We had a leisurely lunch and enjoyed the spectacular weather we've been having here in St. Louis.

Obviously, this day has a whole new meaning now. They always say, you can never fully appreciate your mother until you become one. That is the understatement of the year! And since I've only been doing this for close to four months, I'm sure it will continually take on more and more significance as Gaby and I grow up together:).

To my Mom, no words can express what an amazing mother you have always been. Thank you simply for being you!

To my adorable Gaby, I love you more than you'll ever know! You are the sweetest little person- I'm enjoying watching you thrive and hope to make you proud.

To all my friends who are moms, Happy Mother's Day:)!!

We love Mimi & Papa!!!

This weekend we had the pleasure of a visit from Mimi & Papa Holt!! Gaby was thrilled to see her grandparents again- it had been about a month and a half since she last saw them. They were equally excited to see their "first grandbaby", as they call her. She showed them how well she can smile and laugh now. She has got the cutest giggle ever!! She also made sure to show them what "grumpy" looks like:) It's been raining like crazy around here so when the sun finally came out we headed to the park to enjoy the weather.

Mimi and Papa got some quality bonding time and had fun just hanging out with the little princess. It was a short visit, but was just enough to tide them over until we meet again later this month.

Is a 3-month old still a newborn?

Now that I'm all caught up, I thought I would start my weekly (hopefully) blog. So here goes....Today is Gaby's 3 month B-day! Now I know it sounds cliche but, I can't believe how quickly they grow up. Gaby has turned out to be such an awesome little baby! She's got a super temperment- always smiling and talking. She makes us laugh all the time at the adorable things she does (like smiling or tooting in her sleep). Don't get me wrong, though, she can have her moments. Don't mess with her when she's hungry or sleepy!

Gaby's newest trick: reaching for and grabbing toys.


To celebrate her birthday, we went to the park and enjoyed pretty much the first warm weather we've had here in the STL this spring. The day was gorgeous and we had a yummy picnic just the three of us.

Another event that made this day great was that Gaby's little cousin Mia finally came home from the hospital- yeah!!! Way to go, kiddo!

Gaby's Third Month (3/21-4/21)

In her third month, Gaby was more playful and aware of her surroundings.

She is definitely recognizing us and loves to give us the biggest most beautiful gummy smiles you've ever seen! It makes your heart melt!! She also has started to realize that her hands are attached to her body and she just loves to stare at her fist and stick the entire thing in her mouth:) Our little angel is sleeping between 6-7.5 hours each night! We have a few hiccups here and there, but I think we are approaching the elusive, long awaited and much missed 8 hour mark(!)

This month I also went back to work. I started back on April 2nd for 3 days a week (Mon-Wed). It's just enough time to feel like a productive member of society, yet I still feel like I have plenty of time with the princess.

My cousin, Angela, came up the first two weeks back at work to watch Gaby and then after that Pita returned! Yes, my mom plans on commuting between Houston and St. Louis to care for Gaby until we move to Austin. Again, my mom is the most amazing person in the world and a grandmother's love cannot be duplicated!

This was also Gaby's 1st Easter! Here she is doing her best bunny impersonation-

It was pretty chilly here in St. Louis so Gaby wasn't able to wear her pretty spring dress, but she did wear a beautiful outfit we had thought would never be worn.

The Easter bunny left Gaby an awesome basket full of all sorts of goodies, which the Easter bunny really enjoyed putting together:)

And in other news.......We bought a house in Austin! Closing date-May 15th Can't wait!!

Gaby's Second Month (2/21-3/21)

Gaby's 2nd month brought lots of smiles and coos!

She loves to sit up and be a part of the conversation. We adapted to our daily routine and with the weather being pretty cold in St. Louis, it made it easy to stay in and not feel like we were missing out on too much. Gaby began sleeping between 5 and 6 hours at night which suited mommy just fine:)

We excitedly made a trip to Houston during this time to introduce Gaby to the rest of the family. I should emphasize that it was a "roadtrip" to Houston and our little Gaby was an absolute trooper during the looooong 13 hour drive home.

The highlight of our visit was being able to spend time with Gaby's cousin Mia at Texas Children's Hospital. Mia Rose was born just 12 days after Gaby with a condition called gastroschisis. She had to have surgery at day four to place her intestines back into her belly. She is the toughest little girl I know and was doing super when we saw her in the hospital. Gaby can't wait to play with Mia once she is 100% and back home!


At Gaby's 2 month check-up she weighed in at 12.5 lbs and 24 1/2 inches. She was in the 95th and 99th percentile respectively. We have a big healthy girl on our hands! She tolerated her immunizations like a champ until we got home and then my adorable, happy angel turned into a fussy, crabby little terror!

Lucky for us this only lasted a few days. Her lungs are in tip top shape:)

And in other news.......We put our house on the market and on our drive back from Houston we stopped in Austin to house hunt:)