Gabriela is 5 months old today!

Wow, it's been a little while since my last post. This past Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday we went to NJ to celebrate Jeff's Mom-mom's 82nd birthday. Happy birthday Mom-Mom!! Gabriela rolled to her left for the first time; still only from back to front. Wednesday night she had a slight fever and was whimpering most of the night. All I could do was rock her and hold her. She finally slept for about a 3 hour stretch. I thought/think that she is teething, but no pearly whites yet. She still wakes up twice or three times between 9 pm and 8:30 am, but I'm used to that now. It'll be nice to sleep through the night whenever that happens!

This past Saturday we went to a cookout from one of the ladies that was in our birthing class. Her daughter Olivia was born on May 13th. Another couple also came that was in our birthing class as well. They have a daughter named Charli that was born May 9th. The three of them rolled around on the floor and us adults laughed and compared stories. It was funny, every time Olivia got near Gabriela, Olivia would start crying. At the end of the evening, all three of them were crying, it was amusing.

This past Sunday, Aunt Carrie, Uncle Sam, Grandpa and Abuela came over for dinner. As usual we all had a good visit. It's sad that we live far from family, but we have to make the best of it when we see each other. Speaking of family, next week, Aunt Robin, Uncle Juan Miguel, and cousins Brandon and Colin will be visiting for a few days. We're really excited about that and we can't wait to meet our new nephew Colin.

Lastly, some of you know that I applied for an online teaching job and was waiting a while to find out if I got the position. After thinking I didn't get the job, they finally called me to offer me a position this past week. So far I've filled out and read a lot of paperwork. The job will require me to work approximately 10-15 hours a week from home. I have to be online for 1 hour a week at the same time/day and the other hours I can work whenever I have time. Sounds good to me, but we'll see what it ends up being. I will be teaching Spanish, but they have not told me what level or how many students I will have either. Apparently I will be spending the next week training. There are some different software programs that I will have to use and become familiar with before I start the actual instruction.

Well, please check out webshots for more new pictures. Until the next blog!

Gabriela is 20 weeks old!

Hi everyone! Gabriela is 20 weeks old this week and weighs 16 lbs. 15.8 oz. Let's just say she's 17 lbs.!!! Of course she continues to bring joy to both her Dada and I. She appears to have the beginnings of "stranger anxiety". Whenever someone new is around her, she tends to clam up, although just briefly. She's still rolling over from back to stomach and working really hard to get from stomach to back, but has yet to master that skill. We've been trying hard to get her to take the bottle, but she's still winning that battle. As you can tell, she's not going hungry. I just bought her some 6-9 month sleepers because she's growing out of her 3-6 month ones.

This week cousin Mike and his girlfriend Agie came to visit. It was nice to see them and we even had Agie try to give Gabriela a bottle, but nothing. Not even for Abuela either! This is definitely going to be a challenge. Oh, back to Mike and Agie's visit. We also had my parents over for dinner with Mike and Agie and we all had a good time. My parents arrived from Spain safely thank god and Robin and the boys also arrived to Florida safely as well.

This Sunday Gabriela will be in a baby show, so pray that she takes first place, not that I'm competitive or anything, but I want her to win. Stay tuned for the results next week!

Gabriela is 19 weeks

Hi all! Sorry I missed last week's update. Well, I weighed Gabriela today and she weighs 16 lbs. 8.4 oz. She is of course growing nicely. Last Tuesday she had her second round of shots and they went much better; especially since I gave her tylenol earlier this time. The doctor said that she's at the 50th percentile for height (let's face it, she's going to be a shortie) and the 75th percentile for weight. She has reached her milestones and is doing more advanced skills as well, so we're very proud of her.

She has gotten the hang of rolling over more efficiently now (better than the videos show on webshots). This morning I found her on her stomach in her crib, which she hadn't done up until this point. She loves to roll over on the floor but we were surprised to see that she was sleeping on her stomach. She has also decided that she no longer wants to take an occasional bottle which makes things challenging for me. I've tried having Jeff give her a bottle while I was at the gym and I've also tried having my mom give her a bottle, and neither scenarios worked. I've done some research and I'm going to try a cup or a spoon and see if that works. I'll keep you posted!

Our trip to West Virginia this past weekend went well. Gabriela (and the rest of us) got to enjoy the beautiful scenary on our hikes and Gabriela got to meet her Great Granddaddy and Great Grandmommy as well. She loved smiling and cooing with her Great Grandmommy and Great Granddaddy, Great Aunt Aletta and Great Uncle Bob as well. It was nice for me to see the place that Jeff had such fond memories of as a kid. Now I can picture what he was talking about in his "camp" stories. It was also nice to have Granddaddy, Brenda, Aunt Carrie, Uncle Sam, and dog cousin Ella there too. We had lots of fun laughing and playing Scattagories not to mention hiking in the wilderness.

Check out the bulk of the pictures on webshots.

See ya next week!

Gabriela is 17 weeks old and this Friday she'll be 4 months old

Hi all! It's hard to believe that Gabriela will be 4 months old this Friday. Time flies. Today she weighed in at 15 lbs. 13 oz. and I think she's beginning to taper off (hopefully). This week she has begun to make more noises and express them even more loudly. She loves talking to her dada the most (as you'll see in the videos on webshots). She grasps her links and other toys with her hands/fingers and of course, likes to put them in her mouth!

I have begun to research how to make my own baby food because in 2 months I will be starting Gabriela on some solid food. It seems pretty easy to do and I can't see giving her food from a jar that doesn't expire for 3 years! I know we were all given baby food from a jar, but since I'm staying home, I'll make her food for her.

As for the sleeping, she still wakes up between 2-4 am and then usually again around 6-7 am, although some nights she wakes up again between 4-5 am. So, there still is no consistency, but at least she goes back to sleep easily after eating.

Jeff is working back in St. Mary's County, effective tonight, so that will be nice. If he has time and is in the neighborhood, he can stop by for dinner or lunch and we can easily stop by the barrack if we are out and about to say hi.

One last thing. My brother, sister-in-law, and nephews are moving to Jacksonville, FL. This coming month. They just packed out and will be moving east early September. We are very excited to be in the same time zone and to be a lot closer! Hopefully we'll see each other more now!

Gabriela at 16 weeks

Well, Gabriela will be 4 months old a week from tomorrow! My how she's grown. Yesterday I took her to my mommy group (like usual) and she weighs 15 lbs. 8.6 oz. I thought her weight would be tapering off, but nope, she likes to eat too much. Anyway, she is becoming more and more boisterous and is really trying to turn over. She also loves the Olympics, and any other TV show for that matter. She is focusing on the colors and movements, so we now have to turn the TV off for her to sleep (no joke). She has also started drooling a lot, so I anticipate a tooth or more to pop up in the near future. She is still sleeping the first stage of the night in her swing; for some reason she only sleeps for 2 hours at a time in her crib. So, we'll see how long we'll be purchasing duracell batteries for...man those things are expensive when you use them so frequently.

Anyway, these pictures are from this past weekend when Abuela and Grandpa were over. She was watching the Olympics with Grandpa and then later Abuela was having a Gabriela photo shoot (check out webshots for more shots).

Check back next week!

Gabriela is 15 weeks old today!

Hi all! Gabriela is 15 weeks old today and she is doing well. She changes daily. We noticed on Sunday that her cooing has gotten louder and much more consistent. She loves talking/cooing with you. Yesterday we videotaped (check out webshots for the video) her doing her new trick. It's too funny. Of course Dada eats it up and encourages her! Everyday we thank God for how lucky we are and for how much happiness she brings us.

Check back next week!

Congratulations to Colin for his baptism!

Jeff, Gabriela and I want to congratulate Colin for his baptism. We were both honored to be his godparents and we are very happy to know we will be able to meet him soon. We look forward to seeing everyone.

All our love!