Rice Cereal

Since Gabe stares and teaches for our food, we have decided to start Gabriel on rice cereal.  His first tastes of something other than milk.

Our first few bites weren't bad.  Gabriel would let us get the spoon in and then he'd spit it out.  After a while and a little playing with the spoon he kept more in.  

Gabe loves sitting I his high chair and watching us eat.  Finally, Reily has figured out that this kid isn't so bad.  She sits and hopes that he is eating real food and will share with her.  And that is just a matter of time.

Biggest Loser

About 10 of us at work have been participating in a Biggest Loser contest.  Today is our last day.  I went in to this just wanting to lose 10lbs.  It wasn't baby weight, I had lost that when Gabe was 6 months old.  I wanted to lose a little extra that I had gained before pregnancy.

Since June I've been walking with my co-workers at lunch around the Arch grounds.  We found that one lap from our office is 2 miles.  It's been an interesting summer watching and dodging the tourists and there have been days where we don't walk.  Overall it's has felt great to walk during lunch and get outside.  We have been incredibly lucky with nice weather this summer. 

Outside of work walking, Scott and I have been walking/running most weekends.  We try for at least 1 day to get out.  Gabe has been a champ going running with Scott or the occasional walk with me.

Today was my final weigh in for this part of the Biggest Loser.  I lost a total of 6.2lbs.  It wasn't the 10 I wanted, but it's over 50% of the way there.  And 6.2lbs in only 2 months is great motivation for me to keep it up. 

For me, I can actual see a difference in myself in pictures and that's all the proof I need.  That and my pants for work are just a little too big!

Just Peachy

We finally went peach picking at Eckerts.  The weather in St. Louis has been amazing for July, highs in the low 80s, lows in the 60s.

We had to do everything we could outside and enjoy all this amazing weather.  Last weekend we agreed to go peach picking with Scott's parents.

Scott and I have gone apple and pumpkin picking for 4 years.  We get so many apples, we have at least 3 pies.  This year we are going to have a few cobblers.

We thought we'd get over there and beat the crowds, thinking it would be just like apple picking.  It wasn't.  We had no line get out to the peach trees and no line leaving.  It was awesome! 

We strapped Gabe up in the baby Bjorn and headed out.  Gabe didn't seem to mind any of it.   In fact he tried reaching for peaches.

We decided to see how Gabriel felt about peaches.  He wasn't too sure if it but he didn't hate his first taste of something other than milk.

We had a lot of fun and can't wait to go back for apples!

Grammie Visit

My mom's visit is officially over.  But we had a lot of fun while she was here.  She babysat Gabe for 3 days.  We are happy to report that she did a great job and he was really easy for her.  He took decent naps and tried to crawl a few times. 

On Friday night we treated my mom to dinner at her favorite Italian restaurant on the Hill, Zia's.  We got there earlies enough to beat the Friday night rush and sit with those heading down to the Cardinals game.  Dinner was pretty good.  I do prefer another Italian restaurant over Zia's, but sometimes it's just nice to have a familiar meal.  Gabe was doing pretty good sitting in his highchair, waiting on dinner.

After dinner we headed over to Ted Drewes for desert.  It was wonderful.  Gabe was a little jealous he couldn't have any and let us all know it was time to go home to bed.



Saturday morning we met Michelle at the Mud House on Cherokee Street. 

After breakfast my mom and I did a little shopping.  I think Scott was scared when I came back to tell him I found our dining room set. 

After lunch my mom and I took Gabe to the needlepoint store.  He was a hit with all the lady's.  My mom even agreed to babysit Gabe Saturday night so Scott and I could have a date night.  It was needed.  I finally got some Mexican food that I had been wanting and we ran some errands.  Not a crazy night but it was relaxing. 

My mom left on Sunday and we had some play time with Gabe's new fire truck.  He is still trying to figure out the sounds.

It was a great visit.  We can't wait to see Grammie in Omaha in a couple months.

July 18

Today is the anniversary of Scott and my last first date.  It really wasn't much of a date, as opposed to me meeting up with him after I dropped my mom off at the airport.  And it was more of us catching up after 9 months of not talking. 

Looking back, I had a lot of unnecessary drama going on and I was abruptly moving out of a condo I share with a friend's younger sister.  A little back story, in September 2008 I was visiting St. Louis and confirming my living arrangements.  Scott told me it would be a mistake for me to move into said condo.  I casually said sure, whatever, it will be fine.  A short 5 months later I agreed with him, and was seriously looking at apartments by June, signed my lease in July and started moving once while my mom visited.

Why I remember our dating anniversary?  It's the day after my mom's birthday - makes is super easy for me.  And, well I put it on our google calendar and it's there every year. 

It has been an amazing 4 years and wouldn't have traded it for anything in the world.  I sure am happy I randomly texted you to let you know you were right.  FYI, I remember exactly where I was when I texted you.

Grammie's Trip to MoBot

My mom is in town for a week's visit and we are seeing the site.  On Sunday, we took her to the Botanical Gardens.  Scott and I are member so our visit could be as long or short as we wanted, all depending on Gabe.  We took the long way around, it was mostly shaded for Gabe, but still pretty hot.

We found a fountain and I tried to put Gabe's hands in it to cool him down and he was not a fan.  I think the noise was too loud for him and the water was moving much faster than the fountain at Citygarden.

After the water, we wandered around until it was Gabe was over it.  We started our walk back to the car and a/c very quickly.  We did have to stop at the Sheep for a quick photo shoot.

5 Months

Gabriel has hit the 5 month mark.  He is one happy, healthy little boy.  We do not have a doctor's appointment this month, which means no update on the stats.  But we think he is at least 18lbs, we have moved on to size 3 diapers.

 

He is a very happy boy at 5am.  He is now sleeping through the night, much to mom and dad's delight.  He has found his toes and soon they will be in his mouth.  He can sit on his own for over 30 minutes.  He knows his name and looks for you when you call it.  He really wants to play and touch Reily.  They are both very curious about each other and it's harder to keep them apart.  He loves to watch Cardinal baseball, we have caught him just watching the game while playing.  He loves when his dad rocks him to sleep.  He is gathering his toys.  He will use both hands and pull them close.  He loves bath time and splashing.

 

Happy 5 Months Gabriel!  You impress us every day!

 

Family Fun Day

Scott's sister planned a family fun day on one of her last days of vacation.  It was a great and busy day.  We had breakfast/lunch/brunch at Benton Park Cafe.  Initially, we were going to lunch at Blues City Deli, but they were on vacation till Tuesday. And our food was well worth the wait.

 

Gabriel is doing so well sitting on his own.  He lasted about 10 minutes in the highchair playing and looking around.  Then it was nap time.

  

After breakfast/lunch/brunch we headed downtown to check out the DaVinci exhibit at the Bank of America building.  Everyone was impressed with the amount of ideas and creativity DaVinci had and experimented with in his life time.  Gabe had fun too.

 

After our educational part of the day, we walked across the street to Citygarden.  It's a park that has a fountain for kids to play in and art that is fun to climb on.

 

 

It was a great day.  Well planned Aunt Michelle!

 

4th of July

We had a low key 4th of July this year and that was perfect.  We had our friends, the Lewis', over for a backyard BBQ/picnic.  Henry did great with Gabriel and Gabriel learned he liked Henry's toys(cars & trains).  Overall it was a great time to catch up with our friends.

In true 4th of July fashion, we had to find a firework show.  I love to see as many fireworks as possible for the 4th of July.  This year we decided to check out the local fireworks, instead of going downtown.  We found a spot off the Rock Road and pulled out our blankets.  The spot we picked was perfect.  We were able to see Bridgeton, Hazelwood and then St. Charles fireworks.  Gabriel fell asleep before they started and didn't even flinch with the big booms from the St. Charles ones (they were the closest to us).  He did wake up with the motorcycles flying by after the show, but was quickly back to sleep once he was home.

It was a great 4th of July, couldn't of asked for a better one.

Rollin'

Gabriel has been occasionally rolling over, he just didn't really care to be on his stomach.  Now he has done it a couple times and decided it was time to move on to sitting.  Now that he is sitting all the time, he will randomly lose his balance and end up on his back or side then straight to the belly.  He doesn't care to roll from tummy to back as much as back to tummy.

Either way, this boy is moving.  He push his feet so that he is moving backwards and sometimes there is a little light under his belly.  One day, very soon, he will put it all together and he will be moving forward.