So last night we opened gifts with the Welsh's - all adding to our considerable travel loot. I think we'll need new luggage to make it home! Among (many) other things, Gabe got a kid-proof camera that he held backwards and walked around saying "cheese" for an hour - hilarious. He also informed Ryan that that was HIS camera, and if Da-da touched it he would have to sit in the bad boy chair. "Got it, Da-da?". Can't make this stuff up. Here are a couple of pictures I downloaded - more to come.

And ONE Patridge In A Pear Tree

Merry Christmas and greetings from The Sunshine State! We just spent a week in NC with the Garlands and crew, and had a great time. Let me say, its a good time of year to be pregnant, especially when every meal has at least one element each of sausage, chocolate and cheese. So I'm probably up a good another 5 pounds, but at least this year we can blame it on baby. Gabe was a hoot opening presents this year. We weren't sure how he would react to the gift orgy, but he was very good at taking turns and really appreciating each gift. At least the first day. By day 3 he was tearing through gifts with record speed and whining when there were no more to open. Ah, the challenges of parenting in our culture of excess. At least there was plenty of sausage, chocolate and cheese. So now we're in sunny Florida with Ryan's family, and having a good time relaxing by the pool. Gabe is a little too comfortable in the water: he really is doing his own thing now, paddling around with a life jacket keeping him afloat, as opposed to someone holding him the whole time like on previous visits. So his independence and confidence is making us all a little nervous that he's just going to jump on in when no one is watching. So we all watch. A lot. So a few funny quotes from our main man this week, including him getting highly agitated during the Twelve Days of Christmas when "3 french hens, 2 turtle doves" wasn't followed by "and 1 partridge in a pear tree". And informing us that he only likes one letter, G for Gabe, and NOT any more letters. Take that, M. More to come, including pictures of Santa Garland!

Almost Christmas!

So we've been busy preparing for our upcoming 2 weeks of travel, going to lots of Christmas (and Hannukah!) parties, buying gifts, sending cards, baking (and eating, and eating) cookies, and slowly going insane with stress of it all. Oh, and work too. Yes, those of you who know me well are no doubt snickering at the baking reference, but I did manage 4 dozen cookies (3 ingredients!) for 2 different events this week. And they say it couldn't be done! It is, after all, the most wonderful time of the year. Anyway, here are a few pics from a gingerbread house event at church, a kids Christmas party (with a surprise visit from Santa), and the lights at Longwood Gardens. Enjoy! p.s. the favorite Gabe quote this week was when we were at the ECC Hannukah party, and the rabbi walked in wearing a red ski jacket and red yarmulke (that's yamaka for you Gentiles in the crowd), and my PC son yells "Look, it's Santa!"

Turkey Day

For Thanksgiving we flew to Minneapolis to visit Ryan's sister Megan and her husband Dustin, and by "visit" I really mean ruin their new awesome loft condo by letting a 2-year old run wild. They were great hosts, even scrounging up a crib, exciting toy supply, and plenty of organic milk to keep their youngest guest feeling right at home. We took in a few Minneapolis sights, including the downtown Razzle Dazzle Christmas Parade, the Mall of America and the famous Heim house (which was also complete with toys for my main man). I forgot my good camera but here are a few pictures I managed to take with the old one. More to come when I get Papa Joe's pictures downloaded.

The newest member of the family (but for the record, that does not make me her aunt!) Gabe learns hide and seek

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Three hungry Welsh-men

my night last night

gabe's new mission in life is to forget his stellar sleeping habits over the past 2 years and instead prepare me for life with a newborn. his handiwork last night: 8:15 bed for gabe 10:40 bed for me 12:00 loud noise, go to crib 2:20 loud noise, mama’s bed 3:00 not asleep yet 3:14 not asleep yet 3:15 back to crib 5:50 time to get up, mama 5:51 not a chance, back to big boy bed. threaten candy in trash 6:20 where’s my water mama 6:21 here’s water, to back to bed 6:30 its light outside mama, time to get up! 8:20 arrive at day care. overhear “he has so much energy! someone must have had a good nights sleep!” feign deafness. 8:40 leave day care. look for blunt objects. settle for caffeine.

spelling lessons

previously i mentioned that gabe's vocabulary keeps us laughing, so i thought i would share a couple of recent things he said. you probably won't find it quite as funny, but bear with me, keeping in mind that a few short months ago i was impressed when he said "more milk". 1 - (while drinking his first smoothie in the back of a shopping cart) "mmm...this is yummy! you should try it, mama!" 2 - (reading the letters on his personalized stepstool) G-A-B-E, that spells gabe! (reading the letters on my sweatshirt) A-P-P-A-L-A-C-H-I-A-N-S-T-A-T-E, that spells mama!

So this weekend was a little on the boring side for all of us. Friday and Saturday were warm but raining, so after being cooped up with boring mom and dad both days, Gabe was asking us if he could go to school! Sunday was the exact opposite, sunny and freezing, so we were again cooped up - but church and lunch gave us a little bit of a break. I guess the best part about hanging at home for 3 days was that we really got a chance to appreciate Gabe's expanding vocabulary. It was really only a few months ago when he was limited to one or two word phases like "milk", "choo-choo", "big pool". Nowadays we get these long-winded explanations, like "I stay in bed until its light outside...get up in dark and throw candy in the trash". (If you want that interpreted shoot me an email). Or my favorite was the recollection of Halloween: "And then I go to another house, and another house, and another house, and get candy, and more candy, and more candy, and then I go home and eat it. But no Maggie". And, oh the questions...what's that, what are you doing, what's that, where are you going, what's that, why are you leaving, what's that...its slightly maddening but seriously adorable. In other news, I've been getting a lot of questions about my job in the face of massive company layoffs. I've been wondering about the upside of my job as the "gatekeeper" of all things email, and found it - job security! Not that anything is certain, but there is a slight relief when you realize you manage the cheapest distribution channel in the company. So, let's hope our management has the same line of thinking! Last but not least, I've been getting a lot of flack for being a bad communicator about baby #2. So here you have it: I'm pregnant and due in late February! The big shocker is that it's a girl...I had definitely convinced myself it would be a boy. So get out your pink yarn and knitting needles, because there will be some big changes coming our way. So far "big" is the operative word...I'm up 15 lbs...2 due to the baby and 13 compliment of my friends Ben and Jerry. Hey, I had to make some new friends after so rudely kicking out Sam Adams and Charles Shaw!

Movies and More Movies

Its probably been 6 months since I've been to a movie in an actual movie theater, but this weekend I went to two! Friday my book club went to dinner to talk about Secret Life of Bees and then to the movie. I'm normally disappointed by adaptations of books and didn't have high hopes for this one given the casting (Jennifer Hudson as a peach picker turned nanny? Please.) and my disdain for fake southern accents. But I have to say I was very pleasantly surprised with good acting and a remarkable likeness to the book -- some of the dialogue was verbatim. There were some details changed unnecessarily but overall I gave it high marks. I guess Sue Monk Kidd didn't sell out the way most authors do (ahem, John Grisham). The other movie we went to see was Madagascar 2, a big experiment since we took Gabe. The movie was ok, not that I saw much of it given the large task of keeping a 2-year old from shouting "zebra!", "lion!", "penguin!" every time an animal appeared on screen. Also it turns out that movie theaters have these booster seats from little kids, not that we were smart enough to figure that out until 30 minutes into the movie and 7 seats deep in the row. So our booster-less booger got to sit - you guessed it - on mommy's lap the whole time. Except for the time he spent picking up various treasures from the theater floor. And the time standing up in his own seat playing peek a boo with the folks in front and behind us. Yes, that little experiment was $27 well spent. Maybe we'll try again when he's 7. In other news this week, like the rest of America we stayed up late to watch election results and all I can say is this: the American people proved me wrong. Given that 5 years ago public enemies #1 and #2 were Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, I had serious doubts that our relatively shallow electorate could vote for someone named Barack Hussein Obama - black or white. Lets face it - this is the same public that can't find Washington, DC on a map. But they proved me wrong and we're all the better for it. A shout out to my friend Caroline who was the Obama coordinator for North Carolina. I had doubts she could turn such an entrenched red state even the slightest shade of blue, but she did!

Happy Halloween!

...and Happy Birthday to me! We had a great time trick or treating in our new neighborhood last night. Turns out a TON of kids come here to trick or treat, so our 7 bags of candy didn't last long. Gabe the Dinosaur was a trooper and hit about a dozen houses in 30 minutes, then decided it time to come home and eat the loot. After practicing all week, he said "Trick or Treat!" to the owner at every house, usually followed by "I get candy now" directed at no one in particular. After enduring 4 hours of traffic, our friends Leslie and Josiah came to visit from D.C. to help celebrate my birthday with beer (for them), cupcakes (for me. but I shared.), and shared candy-passing-out responsibilities. We had a great time catching up and selling them on the joys of parenthood. And maybe if Gabe had slept past 6:30 this morning, they would have bought it! Today after they left we took advantage of the short-lived warm weather and went hiking...a few pics below. Enjoy!

Grandma, Papa and Alligator come for a visit

Goodnight Sweetheart, continued

So we're still trying to get Gabe to sleep through the night in his new room and bed. He was great when his grandparents were here this weekend but its been downhill since then. Take last night for example: 2:10am Gabe runs into our room: "Wake up, Mama!" 2:11am Turn over, hoping this is a bad dream. 2:12am Realize this is happening for real, give Gabe the choice of going back to his bed or to his crib. He chooses a write-in candidate: coming to bed with me. 2:13am Dada's pillow is not good enough, so Gabe and I are sharing a pillow. This can't end well. 2:15am Gabe gives me a kiss and starts playing with my hair. The sweetness is making up for any loss of sleep. 2:16am Gabe kicks me in the back, temporarily eradicating all goodwill. 2:17am Glance at the clock, vowing to give Gabe until 2:30 to go to sleep. 2:30 Too lazy to get up; maybe just another few minutes 2:59 Enough is enough. Grab pillow, blanket and33 lb monster and go back to his room. Pull out trundle bed and settle in for the night. 3:11 Woken up by Buzz Lightyear. Realize Gabe has annoying toy phone in bed. Confiscate phone, issue warning of sleep or sudden death, and roll back over. 6:03 One little monkey, jumping on my bed. Good morning to me! Again.

Goodnight Sweetheart

Tonight I'm conducting a new experiment called Gabe Stays In His New Bed Until 7AM. So far its going pretty well, but then again 7am is a good 10 hours away.

Since the nursery will have a new occupant in February, we've been trying to transition Gabe to his new room and bed for a few weeks. It wasn't going too well until this weekend when I volunteered to lay down on the trundle bed beside him until he went to sleep. The flaw in my strategy was that it is extremely difficult to lay down in the dark at 8pm and not fall asleep - so I've been going to bed ridiculously early too! The second flaw in the big-boy bed concept is that Gabe comes running into our room the minute he wakes up - this morning at 6am. In his crib at least we could entertain the idea he'd go back to sleep, but no more!

Poppa Jack and Ca-Ca come for a visit

I need this!

Gabe's newest phase is "I need this", a byproduct of 26 months of my saying "what do you need?" in response to every cry, whine, pout, or point. It usually comes out as a prolonged yet insistent "neeeeeEEEd" this, with lots of emphasis on the need and little to no indication of what "this" might be. I've started responding with my own list of needs for Gabe, which in no particular order include: - a potent and irreversible potty training syrum - a body clock set to a later wakeup time - amnesia about that time I accidently let him see a certain purple dinosaur - a love of books that manifests itself prior to 8pm - a magnetic attraction to his car seat As far as needs for Mommy, the list is too long to type. I think a martini would be a good start and end to the list! Maybe in March...

Update from the First State

It occurred to me this weekend that I haven't updated the blog for a while. It took me a while to think of why - after all, work hasn't gotten any worse than usual, we haven't been traveling, and generally life wasn't any more or less hectic in September than during the summer. Then it hit me - it's The Wire that's 100% at fault for my blogging lapse. Yes, The Wire, that critically acclaimed HBO show on a few years ago that apparently no one but the critics watched. Well, after going to Blockbuster maybe twice a year since we met, Ryan and I now find ourselves at the local video store at least twice a week renting The Wire. The owner knows us, knows Gabe and even knows Maggie (and has treats on hand). Yes, the couple that travels to an average of 3 cities a week between us, has found an extra 6-8 hours a week to dedicate to not one, but 5 seasons of a show about the Baltimore drug trade. Yes, it's that good. Consider this a direct endorsement and go start renting right away. UNLESS you rent from Classic Video in Wilmington - in which case, stay away from our store! So, I'm taking a break tonight from The Wire and catching up on politics and blogging instead. I'm watching the VP debate from last Thursday (go Biden!) and downloading pictures from our trips to local farms this weekend. Enjoy!

Labor Day in Buffalo

(we were on that boat!)

We spent Labor Day weekend with Grandma and Papa in sunny Buffalo, NY. Despite our efforts to the contrary, Gabe has finally mastered "Grandma" instead of "Ta-ta", so its finally ok for him to yell for his Grandma in public. (That was one Pat hoped wouldn't make the baby book - but it has made the blog!). Grandma and Papa should moonlight as tourism ambassadors for Buffalo - they took us all around to festivals, parks, Niagara Falls (the "big waterfall"), and of course - Buffalo wings! They only down side to our visit is that they're so close to the water that alligators seem to have invaded their townhouse.

Ca-Ca Comes for a Visit

Last weekend Ca-Ca came to visit us. OK, not really - she came to visit Gabe. Those two had a lot of fun running around town to all the playgrounds, ice cream stores, and choo-choo trains they could find! Plus we all enjoyed the fresh fruit & veggies from NC and VA and the homemade applesauce from Ca-Ca's kitchen. Turns out applesauce doesn't grow in a plastic cup with a foil top! Who knew?

Loud Bird!

We're always amazed at the random things that collect in Gabe's mind. For example, this week we went to Brandywine Zoo and Gabe got to see and pet a whole slew of animals, play some beanbag games, and eat hot dogs and popcorn. But if you ask him about the zoo all he will tell you is that there was a "loud bird!", a macaw that screeched right in his face and caused him to jump in my arms crying. Its the equivalent of my narrowing down my entire wedding to a dull fork!

No Candy, Iron and Sugar...but plenty of memories!

This week Ryan and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. I can't believe its been 6 years, because as we always say, feels like 20! We got a rare babysitter and went out for a nice dinner and remembered all the fun of our wedding (random naked guy!) and honeymoon (the mulch spa!) and the 6 years, 4 moves, 4 houses, countless jobs and fabulous kiddo that have come since.

Wildwood Days

Yesterday we took advantage of the amazing weather and drove to Wildwood, NJ for the day. Mapquest said the take the long way (1 hour, 45 min) but we decided we knew better so took the short way (2 hours, 45 minutes). Score 1: Mapquest. Anyway, once arriving we did have a pretty good time at the beach and checking out the rides on the boardwalk. The worst part was having to choose between custard, ice cream, water ice, and frozen yogurt -- that place is a dream come true for those of us who consider Baskin Robbins a bit stingy on variety.

All Aboard

Last weekend we headed to the Wilmington and Western Railroad for Ethan's 2nd birthday party. Riding a train is the single best form of bribery/threat that exists in our house. The second that the threat of not riding the choo-choo was brought up, Gabe was more than willing to finish his lunch, clean up his toys, lay down for a diaper change, sit still in the grocery cart, change the oil, do the dishes...you name it. On second thought maybe we should have used that all that power for more good, like potty training, and less evil, like bringing Ryan a beer and the remote. Hmmmm...maybe next time.

Anyway, the train ride did live up to its hype as all the kiddos had a great time. However, that thrill was soon eclipsed by the even bigger thrill of the woolyworm/caterpillar-like creature that we found when we de-boarded. So now if you ask Gabe if he rode the train, he'll nod thoughtfully, then tell you "Caterpillar on hand!". I think I see a new bribe for this weekend....

Birthday boy Ethan, his big brother Max, and Gabe (yes, those are Goldfish he's eating for dinner) All the little guys on the train.

Gabe is 2!

Today our sweet boy is 2 years old. Here is a picture of our big boy today, on his first birthday, and on his Birth Day. Its gone by too quickly! July 28, 2008

July 28, 2007

July 28, 2006

Sesame Place

Today we took Gabe to Sesame Place for this 2nd birthday. If you've ever wondered what a 2:2:4 adult to stroller to child ratio looks like, this is the place to go. We had a great time riding the kiddie rides (like "Elmo's boat" in Gabe-speak) and cooling off in the water park ("Elmo's pool"). The life-size characters, poor souls who are obviously serving a some community service sentence by standing around in 90 degree heat in furry costumes, weren't such a big hit. Gabe was pretty intrigued by seeing his favorite characters from afar, but up close I have to admit they were even scary for me. Ernie's nose was as big as my face! Gabe shows off gymnastics in the pool