Helping Daddy...

Here I am helping pack up the travel stroller before we got on our red eye flight to Boston! I slept well on the plane, but because my sleep was interrupted once we got to Boston, I ended up on East Coast time for the rest of the trip.

Leaving on a jet plane...

Tonight, Nanny G stayed late while Mommy and Daddy packed for our trip to Boston and Connecticut. Here I am eating quesadilla by Nanny G. See you in Boston!

Pictures from my date with Baby Grace

In my new car seat! Now, I can face forward.

I missed Grace's birthday party a few weeks ago because I had a fever. Here we are playing at the beach with her new toys (from me!).

My 12 month appointment...Results In

Today, I went to the pediatrician for my 12 month appointment and shots! I was such a good girl....very little crying after my shots.

I weighed 21 lbs 11 oz (70th percentile), was 30 1/2 inches tall (85th percentile) and my head circumference was 18 1/4 inches (75th percentile).
And, of course, I did some reading...

and more reading...

and kissed the bear.

Happy Birthday Gabrielle!

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.

Sign Language ... Mimicking Mama...Tooth #8...Closet Design...Dinner with Saya

This weekend, I said the word "More" and signed the word "More" when we were at lunch and one other time. Mommy thought I was brilliant, but truthfully, Nanny G has been teaching me this word and sign together. So, now I think I have 9 words (Mama, Dada, Elmo, More, Up, Hi, Bye Bye, Baby, Ball)

On Saturday, Mommy tried to get me to make noise while moving my lips with my finger. I kept touching my lips but no sound came out. On Sunday, I finally "got it".



I got my EIGHTH tooth!! So, now I have 4 on the top and 4 on the bottom :)

My hair looks yellow(!) here. On Sunday, we went to the Container Store to design our closets. Well, it took 1 1/2 hours to design just Mommy and Daddy's closet, so Daddy was entertaining me by riding me around the store in a cart! It was fun!

Here we are at Target...(Mommy and Daddy were looking for an Elmo pan to bake my birthday cake, but didn't tell me)

On Sunday, we had dinner with my friend, Saya, and her parents. Saya treated me like her baby sister. I think she wants one!

I am WALKING!

Thank you, Kate, Rick, Zack, Jill and Drew

On Friday, I received an early birthday present. Part of my present is the cool "GiGi" shirt I am wearing in the picture below. I also received a "Happy Birthday Gabrielle" shirt and a shirt with "G" on it and an embroidered towel with my name on it. I really love my first birthday present.

As a little background, Mommy met Kate on an internet bulletin board when they were both trying to have a baby. Kate then came out to LA (from Tennessee) and met Mommy before Kate got pregnant with the triplets (Drew, Jill and Zack). I really hope that I can meet everyone soon. Tennessee anyone? Mommy says they are really great people.....Thank you, Kate, Rick, Zack, Jill and Drew!

Watching Sesame Street with Baby

Fevers....Elmo needed my paci

I came down with 102 fever yesterday afternoon. It worked! Mommy and Daddy didn't leave me to go out to dinner. With lots of TLC, I woke up this morning all better. But, last night, even while sick, I was funny (see video above).

I am so tired

Here are a few pictures Mommy found last night when cleaning out her emails. Daddy took them!

Just another Wednesday

Here I am at Don and Geri-Ann's house touching and kissing the Halloween buddha

Climbing on my music table!

Labor Day Weekend...Some Milestones

We started off the weekend with a visit from Peri on Friday night. Mommy was reading my Elmo book and when she got to "Baby Elmo says Ma-Ma-Ma", she was surprised (and delighted!) when I repeated Ma-Ma-Ma. Then, Mommy said "Baby Elmo says Da-Da-Da" and again, I repeated "Da-Da-Da". I have said Ma Ma and Da Da before, but never repeating after Mommy when she read my Elmo book to me.

In terms of my words, I am now babbling a LOT, but the words that Mommy and Daddy can understand are:

Mama

Dada

Elmo

Baby

Bye bye (with a wave)

Hi (with a wave)

Up

NOT in order of importance, of course.

Another new game is to take things out (of a purse, a bag or anything). What I haven't learned yet is to put them back. Mommy plans to teach me though! Below, I climbed in the drawer (that Mommy left open) and started removing her socks from the drawer and then started taking out everything in Daddy's closet. FUN.

Mommy and Daddy took me to Hermosa Beach by bicycle on Sunday for breakfast. It was 24 miles round trip! Relaxing for me, but great exercise for Mommy and Daddy. On Saturday, Mommy took me for run in our new jogging stroller.

Some very sad news...

Yesterday, we learned that our friends, Julie and Steven, lost their Mother-in-law/Mom, Chris, to a very fast-growing cancer. I can never understand why horrible things happen to very good people. Our thoughts are with Steven, Julie and Steven's brother, Mark, along with all of Chris' friends who are grieving today.

Early Morning Alley Ride with Camille

Splish Splash

After a long, hot day, I had a little fun in the sink.

Bowling!

Nanny G took me bowling. I decided to try it without the ball and I did pretty well. I got a strike!

The DNC

If only Mommy had the camera tonight, you would see a video of me cuddling with her in bed watching Michelle Obama's speech. I kept clapping both spontaneously and when the audience clapped. It appears we may have another Democrat in the house!

Visiting Julie and Steven (and Teddy and Mosey)

On Sunday morning, Mommy and Daddy took me for a bike ride for the second weekly Bagel Bike Brigade which means Mommy, Daddy and I ride our bikes through the Marina and to Playa Del Rey, we stop and buy bagels and other goodies and arrive at Julie and Steven's house for yummy breakfast and great company. I love playing with their toys and particularly, love playing with Julie. I haven't seen Steven in awhile because he has been away with his Mom, but it was great to see him, too. Here I am rolling around on their bed!

More Walking

Taking Baby for a Walk

Today, I took baby for a walk in my car. First, I was wearing my hat, but then I wanted to protect her from the sun, so I put my hat on her...






Here I am walking!