Happy 2nd Birthday, Jordan!

Two years already?  How do we describe our Jordan?

He has a crazy sense of humor for a 2 year old....

he is sweet and caring, always giving hugs and blowing a kiss ... even to inanimate objects when he is walking away from them,

he ADORES his sister, Gigi....he wants everything she has and wants to do everything she does.  He was the porter for her suitcase above (pink) to Maui and was SO happy to have his own.  It was a gamble because there was a chance he would STILL want Gigi's suitcase.  He does what she does, including jumping off the back of our headboard onto our bed.  It is so sweet and luckily, Gigi is sweet on him, too (most of the time).

he just started to love to read....as long as the book is about trucks....or animals....or babies.  He received many truck books for his birthday and loves reading them.  Oh and he likes Elmo, too.

As I said he, adores his sister and copies everything she does.  Jumping on the couch and acting like a nut at 7 am.

On his second birthday (Friday), we went to the LA Zoo.  This was Jordan's first time and he loved it.

He refused to go in a stroller.  He walked or he ran....

He doesn't stop moving....he wants to "walk".  He loves riding his tricycle and is really good at it.  He got a scooter for his birthday but still needs to learn how to steer.  I can only imagine a year from now.  We will probably only let him on it with a helmet.  Perhaps we should start now.

Jordan is an explorer with a curiosity for everything.

He LOVES his Daddy.  The disappointment on his face if I come home from work soon.  Running to the door, thinking it is Daddy.  But, it is "just Mama".  Okay, so he doesn't say that but his face does.

After the zoo, we went to Gaby's, but Gigi stayed at the zoo with her friend, Nyla, to soak in the rest of the animals.  Jordan was desperate for a nap so we left and had lunch.

Jordan had a yummy cupcake on his actual birthday and a cool birthday cake when we celebrated with friends.

 Eliza's Garden is in beautiful bloom a year after it was planted.

The San Diego Zoo

My First Birthday!!

Today was the anniversary of when I finally joined my family last year after so many months of waiting, even before I was growing in Mommy's belly. It has been an incredibly fun year, so we had a very fun day to celebrate. Before I get into my day, I just wanted to take a step back and talk about my life. I am one lucky girl. I have two parents who love me, four grandparents who adore me, an aunt, two uncles and five cousins, my Nanny Grace, many, many great friends, two great aunts, a great uncle and more cousins who I am going to meet for the first time next week -- I can't wait, a great uncle who I met in New York and another great aunt and uncle and cousins who I haven't met yet! Over the last year, I took my first trip to visit Mema and Pepa, Aunt Barbara, Uncle Ron and Cousin Stephanie, Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Steve over Thanksgiving when I was only 8 weeks old in Florida and South Carolina. I have taken many other trips since -- to Park City in December to visit Michael and Mariangels, back to Florida in February, to San Antonio in April to visit Mommy's friends, to New York for Father's Day, to Florida for Cousin Zack's graduation in May and to Las Vegas in July. I also went down to Carlsbad a few times. Next week, I am going to Boston and Connecticut!

Besides all of the travel, I live in a wonderful city by the ocean in California. Since I came home from the hospital, I take daily walks, often by the beach. I get to go to the playground at the beach and on the Venice Canals. Nanny G, Mommy and Daddy take me to many places, including music class, Outside the Box, Under the Sea, picnic play dates, swimming at the Y, the library and the library and the library. I have an incredible love of books which is likely because I have been going to the library since before I could sit up.

I could go on and on about how great my life is.....but, I will stop because Mommy is interrupting. She wants to tell you how she feels about today.

Mommy: "I really can't believe it has been a year. The anticipation for Gabrielle's arrival both during the 13 days post her due date and for the 3+ years before we knew there was a Gabrielle made the joy of her birth that much more special. I still often pinch myself because I can't believe that we are so lucky to have a daughter who is full of joy and love and smiles. She has definitely made our lives much more meaningful. I love to see her learn and be so proud of herself when she says a new word or takes a few steps or when she learned how to get down from a bench by turning over instead of trying to go down facing forward. And, to show how proud she is, she claps for herself. I love the confidence she has and how social she is both with adults and other children. She has a curiosity about the world that I love to watch and watch and watch. Okay, I will stop now and let Gabrielle get back to her day."

Mama just got back from New York late last night and she took today off to spend it with me and Daddy. After playing at home in the morning, we walked to breakfast down the street, but I fell asleep before we got there. So, when we got home, I had my own privately catered breakfast (an omelette) al fresco on our front porch.

Rhonda came by to pick up my sisters for a walk and I showed her how much I love Camille by giving her many hugs.

Then, Rhonda gave me a few awesome books. Well, one of them is from Mystic and Camille, but we know that Rhonda helped them pick it out and gave them an allowance to pay for it! Here I am reading the "Dog" book from Mystic and Camille. It is great!

A little more playing. I am trying to put the shapes through the shape sorter. Not quite in the right holes, but I am on my way. And, Aunt Julie brought me a very cool shape sorter alligator for the bath so I will have all kinds of opportunity to practice, even while in the bath.

After a few more visitors (Geri-Ann and Don, our neighbors, stopped by to wish me a Happy Birthday and brought me a book and a stuffed duck from the Venice Canals), we headed out to the Los Angeles Zoo. We saw many animals and had a great time!

(For some reason, we can't get the pictures to embed here, so click on the link to see)

http://www.slide.com/r/ePQyIVcE4D897s3SzLNRSJwxnj6CIxq_?previous_view=lt_embedded_url

Mommy decided not to have a birthday party this year. So, we had the "un-party". Aunt Julie, Auntie Peri, Nanny Grace and her son, Richard came to the "un-party". Aunt Mary also stopped by very briefly. The original plan was not to have any official celebration, but then we decided that we couldn't have Elmo cupcakes ALONE! Here I am waiting for the fun to begin.

And, then we had Mema and Pepa and Grandma and Grandpa participating by "satellite". The only thing they couldn't do was eat some of Daddy's yummy cooking or have an Elmo cupcake. Grandma and Grandpa had party hats and a balloon and noisemakers. Here they are on the satellite...

Aunt Julie was the first to arrive....and here I am with a smile as Auntie Peri came to the door!

In the middle of the "un-party", a bear arrived from Uncle Steve. It has a t-shirt on it that says "I Love Gabrielle". Too bad we couldn't have had more people come to the party by satellite (or is it Skype?)

Before cake, we did a little more reading...Did I mention that I was completely obsessed with the Happy Birthday balloon Julie brought?...I opened up some gifts (in addition to the alligator shape sorter from Aunt Julie and Uncle Steven, I got some very cool books (including a few Elmo books!), a puzzle and The Three Little Pigs puppets.

Let the cake eating begin! (click on the link to see the pictures!)

http://www.slide.com/r/IL4tPHhg3z9MVdsOnw6lqyQ_LAi_LF0W?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original

A little post-cake relaxing...

playing with my new puzzle...

and puppet show and story telling by Richard and Peri...

and dancing with Aunt Julie...

What a great day I had. What a great life I have. Lucky me.

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh MY!

Today, we started off the day at the Guenther House for brunch. It was a beautiful old house/restaurant. Here I am eating my keys before my egg arrived. I also shared some of Maria's broccoli/cheese soup.

From the Guenther House, we went to the San Antonio Zoo. I was really sleepy and slept for most of the 3+ hours, but Mommy made sure to take pictures of any of the animals I missed. Here are the flamingoes...

And Black Bear...

And Senior Citizen Bear...

Not sure what this is, but we like the photo...

Rhino....it said that he is a baby, but he is 4 years old!

And, an ostrich

And Elephant...

And the Lory Bird from Australia. Mommy was waiting for me to go in with her to feed the Lory Birds a special nectar....

....but, Mommy couldn't wait any longer....I was still sleeping, so she went in with Maria and took a bunch of pictures so that she could share them with me once I woke up from my nap.

Luckily, I woke up in time for the petting zoo. This is me watching Maria feed the goat through the fence. Mommy actually took me inside with the animals, but we don't have any pictures.

After the zoo, Mommy, Sue and RaeAnna and I went to the pool to go swimming. The water was just as cold as last night, but we still had fun!

And, here I am again SLEEPING after my swim. I just can't seem to get enough shut eye today. Maybe it was all of the partying from my 7 month birthday at Fiesta yesterday.

After swimming, Mommy and I met Robert, Suzi and Maria at the Liberty Bar for a delicious dinner. I fell asleep in the middle of dinner after another fun-filled day in San Antonio. Tomorrow, we leave to go to Houston for Mommy's business meetings and I get to see DADDY. I really miss him.