Baby A

Since big brother-to-be, Gabriel, seems to be getting a lot of blog time lately, I figured I'd do a little Baby A update.  We have a very short 15 weeks left until we get to meet this little person.  And I cannot wait! 

We have been having so much fun, one -on-one time with Gabe and getting him used to the idea that someone else will share the spotlight soon.  We need to start letting Reily in on the secret, too.  But, I think she already knows.  That dog is very protective of me, always has been.

Little baby A update from Babycenter.com-

Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. Baby's weight — 1 1/2 pounds — isn't much more than an average rutabaga, but beginning to exchange long, lean look for some baby fat. As it does, the wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and start to look more and more like a newborn. The baby's also growing more hair — and if you could see it, you'd now be able to discern its color and texture.

I've been feeling back to normal and a little tired at night.  It's rough chasing around a toddler all night.  But when he crashes, we all crash.  I do enjoy by 8pm bedtimes!  This baby is constantly moving around while I'm at work and even more so in the evenings when I'm lying in bed.  I feel like it's moving more than Gabe did, or I just didn't realize it the first time.  I do think this one is laying lower in my stomach than Gabe did. 

We have another doctor appointment on August 8, more ultrasounds - hopefully the baby will be face up and we can get a great profile picture. 

Play Ball!

We have started working on Gabriel's new big boy room.  With the wonderful help of Pinterest, I found a fun mural that we painted on the wall to bring out the baseball theme in Gabe's new room.  And with a very patient husband, he agree to go with it and paint EVERYTHING!

It took me a while to figure out what the 3 walls would be painted.  I first thought about a slate blue color.  Then I realized we have 2 other rooms painted a type of blue and that would be just way too much - I even suggested we re-paint our bedroom.  Then I looked at Pinterest a little more and found a brown/dirt/glove color that would be perfect.

So there you have it.  The cream/off white color for the baseball and then the brown color for the rest of the room.  Doesn't this just scream baseball?

Once the room dried and the second coat of over priced paint(we will not recommend Valspar Paint & Primer) was on the wall and naptime for Gabe, Scott got started on drawing the baseball.

The stiches of the baseball were up and there was no going back.  The room is very baseball now.  Gabe couldn't stop checking out his baseball!

  I caught Gabe checking out his room while the paint dried.  He kept running up and down the hall to check it out.  Hopefully he isn't too excited and will eventually nap in there.

As you can see Gabe was very excited about his new room.  He helped peel all the painter's tape off the baseboards with Scott and I. 

Please disregard the current bedspread.  Gabe's new one will be arriving shortly, along with some pictures on the walls. 

But progress is being made on moving Gabe to his new big boy room.  He seems to be very excited about it.  Soon we will start putting toys in there for him to play in there. 

Reading

Ever since Gabriel was born, Scott has been waiting for a time when he and Gabe could read together.  And thanks to Scott's very reading intensive RLF class at Wash U, that happened this weekend.  Scott had 3 books to finish by Monday and was not wanting to miss anything with Gabe, he opted to read in the living room while Gabe and I played. 

Gabe is going through a very strong "I want Dad" phase right now.  And he had to get up and read with Scott.  Here you go, the boys are doing some reading.

FYI, this only lasted maybe 5 minutes.  But Scott loved it the entire time!

Sunday Morning Ritual

As a family we have a Sunday morning ritual that has been going on since April.  Scott will go to Cross Fit and do the Murph WOD.  It's an insane work out that he really likes to do.  While Scott and usually 2 other crazy people are doing that, Gabe and I go for a mile walk and stop at the playground of a nearby park. 

Gabriel really liked the slide at first.  Now he has moved on to bigger and better things, climbing.  He will climb the "Mountain" and walk down the stairs.  Recently, he has started to climb through the tunnel.  I have fun chasing him around the entire play set that we have to ourselves every Sunday. 

Here are a few pictures from this past weekend.  Gabe has realized he can climb the slide by himself and climb the A,B,C climbing wall by himself. 

checking out the slide

King of the Mountain

Almost to the top

Braving the tunnel

Playing the wind chimes

A month older and a new haircut

Gabe was needing a haircut.  So we were able to get him a Saturday morning appointment.  That specific Saturday, Gabe woke up before 6 and was ready to go.  We thought we'd get a jump on things by heading to Soulard before the heat and haircut.  It was a very smart move. 

After Soulard shopping, we drove, forever, to Ballwin, for Gabe's haircut.  We really like the Hairy Elephant, they do such a great job.  The whole place is catered to kids and the stylists really know how to handling a moving 1 year old. 

When we first got there our stylist was finishing up with another customer.  We were able to play with the trains for a little bit. 

Then it was time to pick out a movie to watch and get in the car.  Gabe wasn't too sure about the car at first.  Not until Scott started making noises.  He didn't care too much for his hair getting wet either.  That interfered with his movie and playing with the car.  Then he was given bubbles.  He was in heaven after that.  Even eating them!

 After a brief meltdown on the way out, couldn't stay and play with the trains.  It was time to show off our new haircut.  He was asleep shortly after this picture.  It was a very tough morning.

Gabe the Toolman

Look out Tim "the Toolman" Taylor, here comes Gabriel!  This weekend Scott and I were measuring for Gabe's new room, our first project before Baby A arrives.  And Gabe just had to have a tape measure like Scott's.  Thankfully, I have a separate toolbox that had a very small tape measure for him to play with.  Needless to say, Gabe was over the moon happy playing with it the rest of the night.  Pardon the blurry pictures, but he wouldn't stay still to measure things for long. 

Reily is thrilled

17 Months!

I can't believe Gabe is almost 1.5, where does the time go?  Gabe has been keeping us on our toes all summer long.  He is a very busy boy!  He is finally getting teeth and it's been a process.  We've had our first real illness and not-scheduled trip to the doctor, along with his first antibiotic prescription for a slight ear infection and sore throat.  Once he had his medicine (which he loved) he was back to the old Gabriel that all know and love.

In the last month, we've gone to a farm, seen a parade or 2, gone to Chicago, played with cousins, played with Birch kids, and played in the parks around St. Louis.  Gabe has been very busy.

He has started to run everywhere.  He still loves his lawnmower and can actually say lawnmower very clearly.  He loves seeing trucks on the highway and car driving down his street.  He is talking more and more every day.  He has mastered the high five and fist bumps.  He even loves to dance.  His favorite song lately is "Fancy"  by Iggy Azalea, the boy has more rhythm than his mother.

We don't have a scheduled doctor appointment until next month, but at last weigh in Gabe was 24 solid pounds.  He is about 3-4 inches taller than the other boy at daycare that is 8 days younger than him.  Overall, he is a very happy and healthy boy.

Happy 17 months Gabriel!

Not flattering but he actually stood still

Chicago Trip

The rest of the 4th of July weekend was pretty busy for us.  We went to the Chicago Botanic Garden in the morning.  The garden was packed due to the opening day of an art show and being a holiday weekend.  We lucked out and got a parking spot and hiked over to the butterfly exhibit.  It is the exact same thing as the Butterfly House in St. Louis, except that it is season and in a tent.  Gabe did pretty good checking out all the butterflies flying around him.  He stopped to read a few of the signs too. 

After checking out the butterflies we walked over to main part of the Botanic Gardens to find the train exhibit.  Last Thanksgiving we saw the Christmas train exhibit and I was happy to see this one.  Gabe really liked the trains and watching them go around the track.  I thought the miniature buildings of places around the United States was awesome!

After lunch at the Botanic Garden we headed back to the Bates house for much needed naps.  They live only 5 minutes away from the Garden and we struggled to keep Gabe awake for those 5 minutes.

After naps for Gabe and I, Scott and I ventured out to Ikea for a little browsing.  Gabe was lucky enough to stay with his cousins and avoid the craziest place ever!  He seemed to have fun going on wagon rides with his cousins and playing with all the "new to him" toys that are at the Bates house.

Scott and I found a few things at Ikea that helped us get organized and plan for the home improvement list that is finally written down.  It's quite extensive and if anyone would like to help we are taking volunteers (painting, new flooring, painting).

Sunday morning we had an early breakfast, thanks to Gabe's 5:30 wake up.  We even managed to get on the road a little after 9am.  Gabe was exhausted and slept at least half the trip home and then was a goofball the rest of the way.  We got home with time to unpack and relax before driving to pick up Reily at Nana and Grandpa's house. 

It was the perfect getaway for us.  We'll have to plan another long weekend trip soon.


 

4th of July

We had a wonderful 4th of July in Chicago.  We drove up Thursday evening and with Gabe sleeping from Springfield north, the drive went rather fast.  On the 4th Gabe treated us to sleeping in to 6:45!  It was a nice change of pace for us.  We had breakfast and then got ready for the Highland Park, IL 4th of July parade. 

Happy 4th of July in Israel?  Random Israel flags handed out

We had great front row seats and Gabe was in awe of all the firetrucks at the beginning of the parade.  There were so many emergency vehicles for a while I thought that's the whole parade.  Some got a little too loud for Gabe but he handled it like a champ. 

Clapping for the fire trucks

Look Dad, a fire truck!

 

 After the parade we came back to the house for lunch and a little play time before nap time.  Gabe found a wagon and loved it.  We ended up going for a few walks around the block with the little Bates.

King of the wagon

After nap time it was time to get stuff set up for the party.  Of course that meant try out all the bubbles that were available and drawing with sidewalk chalk.  Gabe was doing his best to blow bubbles.

Gabe had a lot of fun at the party, playing and eating.  Of course it was a very busy day and after a lot of playing on the swing set he was in bed early.  We missed going to the beach to watch fireworks.  Maybe next year?

Gabe loved this play house

We had a great 4th of July in Chicago!  It was very nice to not be completely overheated and enjoy being outside for a change.