it's like having 2 kids

it's been a great week with caber in our home, and gabriel is just loving it. but i have to admit, it's been a lot of work :P

"gabriel, don't pick the dog's nose!"

"caber, don't lick gabriel!"

"gabriel, don't sit on the dog!"

"caber, don't knock gabriel over!"

"gabriel, time to go potty!"

"caber, better go now!"

"gabriel, let's put our jacket on!"

"caber, dress!"

the funnest command has been "sit"...both gabriel and caber will respond and sit side-by-side...it's pretty funny :-)

merry christmas!

40 years!

40 years of marriage

2 children

1 son-in-law

1 grandson

and a bit of grey hair

PRICELESS!

holy smokers, batman! my parents had their 40th wedding anniversary this weekend, and we celebrated with dinner at hy's! if (er, i mean, WHEN) i make it to 40 years of marriage, and if i look 1/2 as good as my parents do now, i'll be in great shape! my parents have an active social life (they go out more than chris and i ever did!), they have season tickets to the theatre and the bc lions, last year they went to japan for 3 weeks with their friends and then to alaska with us on the cruise, they're planning for their next trip (perhaps the UK and France?) in the spring or fall, and they babsit gabe 4 days a week (and once in a while during the evenings so chris and i can go to canucks games, or on saturdays so i can get some errands done!).

back to the dinner celebration...it was gabe's first time in a fancy restaurant, and he was a superstar! he sat in his highchair from start to finish, with only a couple of outbursts. we had lots of treats for him, and he was entertained with the anniversary card, chris' iphone, and my itouch. gabe's definitely techno-savy...he's figured out how to slide the ipods to turn them on, and he's able to manipulate some of the games now.

toddlers these days are just too smart!

bah humbug!

i have to say that i'm really not a big fan of christmas. this year, i'm actually bordering on "hatred". and there's only one reason for it...chris works every single day in december and this year he only gets christmas day off. it's incredibly frustrating because i want to do all sorts of christmas-y things (bright nights @ stanley park, pictures w/santa, christmas party @ the aquarium), but because chris wants to be involved, it's almost impossible to find time before gabe has to be in bed. we did make it to the PADS volunteer christmas party a couple weeks ago, but we didn't get home until 9:30 p.m.!


since i still have my xmas shopping to do, i've had to drag gabe around with me, and forego his morning naps...which really messes us up because then he'll fall asleep in the car and i'll have to wait till he wakes up. thankfully he doesn't sleep more than 30 minutes in his carseat.

things were so different last year...gabe was only 2 months old so it was easier to take him out later in the evenings since there was no such thing as bedtime or a routine. last year was our first christmas as a new family, so it had a different excitement to it. that's not to say that just cuz gabe is a year older that it's less fun...it's just a less-daddy/more-mommy, different vibe.


adding to my doom and gloom, the olympics aren't going to make life any better. since the shop has to make deliveries into downtown vancouver, and they can only be done between 12-6 a.m., someone has to be at the shop to load up the trucks and close up after deliveries are finished. @#$%^&*!!!!!!

as if xmas wasn't chaotic enough, , we're bringing home a dog for the holidays! after we had beau for 2 weeks over the summer, i swore never to dogsit for more than 3-4 days MAX! funny how quickly i can flip-flop around when certain dogs are mentioned. so next week, we'll be celebrating xmas with caber, a 2 year old yellow labrador retriever. i actually had gabe's happiness in mind when i agreed to dogsit...anytime he sees a dog (in person or on tv, big or small) he goes insane with exitement. at least there'll be one happy person in our family at christmas!

14 months old!

wow, gabe is 14 months old today! it's been a challenge the past couple of days. gabe's developed some dry skin along with nasty rashes on his body and we're not sure why. he's also got a diaper rash and the cream that used to work doesn't seem to be working for him. we're going to cut out the "junkier" food he's been eating and get back to basics for a few days and see if that helps. we've definitely gotten more relaxed with feeding him and let him eat almost anything without adhering to the 3 day rule. at the very least we have a doctor's appointment for his 2nd h1n1 vaccine, so he can get checked out then.

on top of the skin problems, gabe's cutting 3 teeth which has made our life miserable. at time he's in terrible pain and has trouble soothing himself to sleep (we've temporarily reverted back to baby einstein - at 3 a.m., i'll do anything to get back into bed!), and he's also having meltdowns at the drop of hat! anyone who knows gabe, knows he loves to eat! i have to tell you, it's mind-boggling to see him refuse food!

asides from those issues, gabe's doing great! his walking has progressed into faster walking and now trotting/running. when we're out-and-about, and he's had a taste of "walking freedom", he hates being carried or strapped into his stroller. it's hard being out alone with him now, because it's a hassle chasing him while keeping an eye on the stroller and our belongings :P

speaking of our stroller, the hinge covers for our maclaren arrived today. and being a responsible parent, i promptly put the "warning" label on and zipped on the covers (the only reason i've done this is if we decide to re-sell it in the future). i'm done ranting about the stroller, so here's what it looks like now:

gabe still hasn't said his first word yet, but he continues to babble and vocalize. his sign language skills are ridiculous! he will say "please", "thank you", "more", "poop", "bye-bye", and "milk". he doesn't associate waving bye-bye and hello as the same thing...instead, if someone says hi to him, he'll tilt his head and pretend to hold a phone. he's also learned to shrug his shoulders and extend his arms out to say "i don't know!". and his openmouth kisses are a real hoot! fortunately he's kept his tongue to himself :-)

he also responds really well to instructions:

"gabriel, please sit down to eat" - he truly is chinese...he`ll actually squat to eat :P

"gabriel, do you have to go to the potty?" - he'll walk over to the potty area (at our home or at my parents house)

"gabriel, it's time to eat!" - he'll walk over to his hairchair and wait with his arms up.

"gabriel, go give grandma/grandpa a hug/kiss and say goodbye" - this gets my mom in stitches, cuz gabe will get confused after doing it to one person and he`ll hug and kiss his reflection in the mirror :-)

ah, my boy!