Flailing and Such

Gabi has developed her own personal flair while walking. Her arms flail. It looks voluntary but it might not be. Hmmm...

Some Pics

It's not jacked up. We just didn't have the cushion fixed yet.

We got new furniture delivered today. The truth is that it looks like old lady furniture in the pictures, but it's actually beautiful. This sofa and two chairs are in our downstairs living room that is a little more formal than the one upstairs. We're pretty excited. We also got a new kitchen table since ours was too small and will be used elsewhere. We did not buy chairs yet though. So that's next on the list. In the meantime, we are super-ghetto with our lawn chairs in the kitchen with our new table. And the chairs are far too low. So we are like oompah-loompah ghetto boys. Very, very funny.

Poor Izzy. Gabi LOVES her. Izzy doesn't dislike Gabi. She just doesn't have the same passion for Gabi as Gabi has for her. Notice how quickly she runs off when Gabi comes her way. And then Gabi looks perplexed as to why.

Photo Contest

I was on the Parents Magazine website and they're having a photo contest. So I uploaded some pics of Gabi in the Cover Photo Contest section. You can see her, leave a comment, recommend her or whatever.

Go to the Parents Magazine site and search "Gabi Sol" in the search section on the left side of the page. It will bring up her gallery. Enjoy!!

Will it Ever End?

I feel like we have been unpacking, organizing, reorganizing for a month. Really, it's only been 5 days. But the whole process is so obnoxious. It never ends. And the best part is that much of what we're doing is not permanent. Ed will not let me paint Gabi's bedroom yet. He won't let me paint the living room yet. He won't let me do anything. So nothing is going on the walls. It all leaves me very unmotivated because there is only so much I can do. Enough whining.

Gabi is a mess. Today, Ed was playing with her upstairs and she started laughing hysterically. Why? Because Izzy walked by her. That's it. For some reason, the same things that Izzy does every day set Gabi off. She belly laughed for several minutes. How funny is she?

Gabi's personality changes when you put her in the pool. She LOVES the pool so much that she could be fussing and instantly change when she touches the water. It's such a riot. That's how I always was about the water. I LOVED IT! Paige and I spent most of our waking hours in a pool in the summertime. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that Gabi loves it too.

And she's far too brave for our comfort. We have a sitting ledge around part of the pool that is the perfect depth for her to walk around while holding the edge. She'll just turn around and walk to you even though she knows that the ledge falls off in only a couple of steps. She's more than a little crazy. But it is so much fun swimming with her that we've taken to swimming for a while every night after dinner.

Yesterday was... 2 months home!!!

Yesterday, June 22, marked 2 months since Gabi came home. Well, 'home' is used loosely in this particular situation considering the chaos we've been dealing with since then. Nevertheless, this child is curious, sassy, loving, funny and smart, smart, smart!!! She has learned about 15-18 signs that she uses regularly. She has a great receptive vocabulary. She is so interested in how things work. She won't take no for an answer and she shows great boldness in everything she does.

Gabriella Lilisol is the joy of our lives and we can't imagine anything without her. Edward says to me every day, "Could you just watch her forever? I can't stop looking at her." He no longer feels as if she isn't ours. Neither do I. She is an A. for sure. We are blessed beyond measure. After all the heartache, our cup runneth over.

Allright Already!

You people are sooooo demanding...

I finally gave up. Our camera was stolen by the movers and we had to replace it.

Here's a brief catch-up:

• We are Houstonians!



• We love our house, despite it's disaster status.



• Fear not! The Welcome Wagon is alive and well. Literally.... Two neighbors introduced themselves, asked about a church home, brought cookies and wished us well within 48 hours of arrival. Also, the official welcome people came with about $476 of free stuff. Delightful.



• Kurt, Sandy, and JM brought dinner on Friday night and went for a dip in the pool.



• Gabi loves her new house.



• Izzy loves her new house. She's most delighted that she has more room to hide from Gabi.



• Gabi loves her pool.








• Izzy hates her pool. She has great anxiety and will probably wither away to nothing from circling it obsessively.

• Gabi sweats a lot in Houston. I fear she will never be that cute kid with the dry hair ever again. Every time we take her out of the car seat, the back of her head is saturated. Lovely.





• Gabi fell into her high chair while she was walking around it and gave herself 3 head injuries-- fat, purple lip, scratched, swollen eyelid and bruise on her forehead. This occurred after returning from Linens n Things and declaring publicly that if she didn't stop yelling, I was going to beat her. I shant be returning to that store anytime soon for fear of having DCFS come after me.



• Gabi was delirious to discover her ladybug letters in her new room. She's at home finally.



• We sat next to the two nicest men EVER on the two puddlejumper flights from St. Louis. Both were very gracious and didn't mind Gabi's animal crackered hands waving about. I couldn't have lucked out more with my seatmates.



• It took the cable guy 3 days of working many, many hours to get our cable going. Guess what?!? Our wireless internet does not work. We are defeated.
• Gabi is off the bottle. We did not push this particular issue because it seemed as though she was enduring plenty by waking up somewhere different practically every day. We thought we'd try to make a clean break with the move. When we got here, all the bottles disappeared. I seriously don't think she even noticed. Either she is very, very easy, or very, very oblivious. Whatever.

Finally, our house and pool are glorious!!! We are so thrilled to be here with our daughter. Ed does not start work for another week and we should be ship-shape by the time he starts. Well, at least until I start painting. Did I mention that I love my house?

P.S. Don't get concerned about the nekkid picture of Gabi in the pool. Although, she was skinny dipping, her Daddy had his britches on.

On the Road Again...

Today was our last day in MTV. We had breakfast with some of the Sisters, lunch with Auntie Li and the afternoon with Aunt Vivian. I got to have dinner with Liza tonight. I wasn't able to leave the house for most of the day because I am without automobile. One car was shipped and the other was driven to Houston by the husband.

Tomorrow morning, Gabi and I embark on the last big travel for a few months. We are headed to Houston out of St. Louis via Memphis. It doesn't look like I'll be able to get her to sleep on that first flight so let's hope that I get a gracious person next to me who doesn't flip out over my wiggle worm.

I just talked to Ed in Houston and the movers have been there all day. He says that the house is an absolute disaster. He sounds exhausted. Tomorrow the unpackers come and hopefully the cable guy will return. He says that Izzy spent most of the day in the panic room while all the chaos was going on and wasn't too thrilled about it. Poor girl.

Ole Murph-- you'll be glad to know that we've just about survived this crazy 8 weeks. Check in with me later this week, just to be sure.

Some pics from the last couple of days...

More Family Fun...

Over the last week we've been in Champaign, Effingham, Mt. Vernon and Edward is now in Houston. We had a great time in Effingham with Edward's extended family. We celebrated FIL Bill's birthday and Father's Day. We hung out with Gabi's cousins, Spencer, Griffin, August, Regan and George. August and Regan were the greatest helpers when we left Gabi with a babysitter for the first time. I knew I could trust them to tell me if Gabi had any trouble and to help soothe her if she did. No worries whatsoever!

Gabi also had her 15-month appointment last week before we officially move. She weighs 19 lbs. 9 oz. and is 28 1/8" tall. She is in the 8th and 4th percentiles respectively. The doctor says that she can already see that she will be at least 5 feet. We did high fives in the office. Our little Guate-girl.

Yesterday, Edward drove to Houston and arrived at 1:15 a.m. All is well. The house is in immaculate shape as the previous owners have been taking care of it for us until we could get there. They are amazing people! Izzy the dog is with him. He reports that she is running through the empty rooms checking things out. He'll be tending to domestic duties until we arrive on Wednesday.

In the meantime, Gabi and I are at my parents' house. Paige and Barry came over for Father's Day. Gabi loved playing with them. We were going to go swimming at their house but a storm came through. Last night, Gabi spent the night here with GG, Gran Gran, Brenda and Charlotte. I had a sleepover with my Liza. We watched Army Wives, talked and went to sleep at a reasonable hour (we're old). It was just what we both needed.

I have a lot of pictures to post. When I get to Houston, I promise to catch up on them. They are still all on Edward's computer.

Uncle Barry and Aunt Paige's Fun House

My sister has this great camera that shoots beautiful pictures. She's snapping pics all the time, usually of her various creatures. Here are a few that she took of Gabi at her house tonight. Note the one of Thor's leg with Gabi in the background kissing his foot. She just loved him and he's so gentle she can snuggle him up close and he never even flinches.

Some Pics from the Weekend

Notice how Paige and Gabi are making the same face? What could possibly require that much concentration?

Monday Adventures

Today we headed out to Project CHILD to see my old work buddies. I love these women and I knew they were following the blog and praying for us. So off we went to hang out with the crew minus Cary and Tranae. Unfortunately, they were off doing other things that were more fun than seeing us. It was great to see everyone and I think they got a kick out of Gabi.

We then went to lunch with my sister, Paige, and friend Rita. Gabi is crazier about Paige every time she sees her. Paige lets her explore things and encourages her curiosity. And she's silly.

We headed home for a nap and later went to Paige and Barry's so we could see Uncle Barry. We didn't get to hang out long enough, but at least we had almost 2 hours with them. They have 4 Great Danes and Thor hung out with us for the evening. Gabi kept playing with his enormous feet and kissing him. That was fine with him as long as he didn't have to get off the couch. She liked hanging out with them on their turf. Such cool things at their house.

More pics in a bit.

Big, Big Sunday

Today we had another open house, this time in MTV. Friends from St. Louis area and locally came to meet our girl. We were disappointed that some old friends could not make it because they were sick or out of town. Despite that, other old friends were able to meet our girl. Gabi was, of course, in great spirits and ate all of the attention up! She woke up from her early nap slowly until she saw the crowd in the living room. She immediately turned on the charm. She is a mess!

We started the day with mother/daughter haircuts from Auntie Li and Cousin Emily. Gabi did much better this time. She sat still and cruised around while I had color on my hair. When she wasn't cruising, she was doted on by Emily and Auntie. The kid wants for nothing. Aunt Paige dropped by to see her niece and she was once again appalled at my insistence to cut her hair. If she only knew how out of control it gets. Nevertheless Aunt Paige got lots of attention from Gabi while they shared a beverage and some fruit. Paige is relieved to hear that she has some words, even if it meant that she had to keep asking what they meant. Very cute!

Three Reasons Salt Lake Airport Hates Us

We just returned from Park City, UT with Nana and Papa. We had a great time. Ed went fishing for 2 days with his dad. Jane and I hung out in beautiful Park City. Unfortunately, we did not have great weather. It was cold and rainy most of the time until we left yesterday. Regardless, we had a wonderful, relaxing visit.

Evidence of Salt Lake City airport's sincere distaste for us:

• In 2003, I flew to SLC for Christmas without Ed. He was stationed in Iraq at the time and couldn't come home. We lived in Germany, so the flight was long. I was delayed out of Germany, missed my connection and 15 minutes after boarding the 8 hour flight, I came down with the flu. Needless to say, it was miserable. To add insult to injury, they lost my luggage for 10 days. It had my ski gear, Christmas presents, all my clothes, etc. in it.

On the way to St. Louis to visit my family, Bill (father-in-law) drove me to the airport in a horrible snowstorm. He dropped me off and drove the 1.5-hour (usually 45 minutes) drive back to Park City. Just as he sat down in the comfort of his home and says, "I'm glad I don't have to go out in that again," the phone rings and I'm calling to tell them that my flight in cancelled and I can't fly out until the next day.

• In January 2007, we were again headed back to Illinois and arrived at the airport only to discover that our flight had been cancelled. We wouldn't be able to fly until the next evening. Bill and Jane had to pick us up and take us back to PC again.

• Finally, yesterday, we were scheduled to leave SLC at 2:35 for Chicago. Due to high winds in the Midwest, we were delayed for 3.5 hours. We didn't get into Chi-town until 10 p.m. We did not get to visit my cousins because it was too late. We then drove 2.5 hours to Champaign to pick up our other car and continued driving to Effingham in horrible rain storms. It took forever to get there. We finally arrived at 3 a.m. We woke up this morning and drove to MTV to my parents' house.

We are beyond exhausted. But Gabi is a trooper!!! She did great. She played at SLC, fell asleep right before we got on the plane, woke up 2 hours later, played on the plane and fell asleep once we got in the car to drive home. Her whole world was upside down and she didn't notice.

Gabi was glad to get to GG and Grumps' house so she could see her dog, Izzy. GG and Grumps have a lot of new toys and books and she is very excited. She even has her own patio chair that is just her size.

Tomorrow, we're having another open house for friends in MTV who would like to meet Gabi. We'd like to spend the week hanging out with Aunt Paige, Uncle Barry, Auntie Li and GG and Grumps. We have a lot on our plates. If Ed and I can get a nap, we hope to head to the pool later today.

We didn't take our camera to PC because it was momentarily lost in a box in Champaign. Hopefully, Nana will send some pics from this last week and I'll be able to post.