Ode To Gigi

Our dear sweet girl is turning 6 months on Oct. 4th and she has fallen victim to "second child syndrome". We have no baby book for her whatsoever, fewer pictures and no newsletter. The poor thing ... so neglected. So here we are, at the half year mark, and I feel a need to share a little bit about our beautiful mystery child who is always on my hip.

Gabby helping to pick apples at Avila Valley Barn

Her big blue eyes are amazing! She is so alert and awake to the world, especially her big brother. She watches Nolan with an intensity like nothing I have ever seen. Big fat tears rolling down her cheeks seem to stop midstream when he walks into the room. She is so bubbly and cheerful. Her laugh is hilarious. It is a cross between a cough and an old man hacking up something lodged in the back of his throat. Her laughs have caused strangers standing in line around us to utter things like, "Bless You" "Ooh do you have a wittle cough" and "Is she okay? Does she need help?"

As you can see from the above picture, she is a drooler. That could have something to do with the top left molar she decided to make her first tooth. It looks as though her top left molar will be her second tooth. I'm guessing this is the reason she still doesn't sleep through the night, although she is a great napper. She has fully embraced eating solid food and gives a good screech every time the spoon leaves her lips to travel back to the bowl. She has refined her dinosaur growl and frequently has dino "talks" with her big bro.

Gabby all bundled up for an early morning walk with mommy ... just the two of us. A rare moment.

She is my music girl! She loves music so much. Her whole face changes at the sound of anything that even resembles a song... humming, whistling. She lights up like a Christmas tree. She moves with the music and "sings" with the music at any opportunity. She is so frustrated by her little body, she wants to do so much. She rolls over ... over and over again ... to get to where she's going. Gabby loves us to hold her hands as she stands and even tries to move her feet around like she's just itching to walk.

Gabby and Daddy at the park after a train ride into San Luis Obispo

Our dear sweet Gabrielle has brought so much joy to our home. She makes us smile with just one little glance and her little snuggles make any bad day turn into a good one.

Our "Luvable" girl

Wine Sales 101

So last night we were hanging out at our friends house and they are all in the wine/spirits industry that I use to be in. Someone found this awesome video that is so true! This was exactly what my life was like month after month for YEARS, first as the sales rep and then as the boss man. I laughed until I cried! Take a peek at my old life:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ3218_SQ-A&feature=related

Dum Dum Da Dum

Over Labor Day Weekend Martin's best friend Bob got married! Yeah Bob!

Martin was the best man and Nolan was the ring bearer. I may be partial but Bob really couldn't have picked two better guys to be in his wedding. Martin took his responsibilities so seriously! He had the death grip on the wedding rings from the moment they went into his hand. He couldn't think about anything else but keeping those rings safe and he was a very cute nervous wreck. The night before the wedding I woke up at 2 a.m. to an odd scratching noise only to see Martin laying on the floor using the bathroom light to edit and re-edit his best man speech. It was beautiful and made me cry when he read it to me in the morning. He even had to go the extra mile and revamp an unapproved Star Wars themed groom's cake just moments before the cerimony.

Nolan walked down the aisle like a pro! It helped that he fell madly in love with the flower girl and followed her like a little puppy dog. He even stood by her after the cerimony and fanned her while she waited for pictures to be taken. When she left to take pictures Nolan's exact words were... "Jayden, no leave me! Come back here to me." I tried to explain to him that begging was never an attractive quality in a man. A bridesmaid laughed at me and said, "I think he's pulling it off".

Grandma and Grandpa Fletcher had their first babysitting gig with Gabby. They walked her around the wedding site (out of ear shot) during the cerimony and the she partied it on up with the rest of us for the reception. She did great being passed around to baby adoring guests and Nolan stayed glued to Jayden dancing with her the whole night. He tore it up on the dance floor! This left Martin and I free to dance it up too. It was such an incredibly fun night for all of us.

Monterey Monday

We had an amazing opportunity to go visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium this week. My dad had a seminar in the area this week so .....

1 Free Night in Papa's Airstream Trailer + 2 Free Child Admissions to Monterey Bay Aquarium + 1 Starbucks Gift Card = ROADTRIP

I was very nervous about the trip because:

A. Martin had to work and couldn't go

B. Gabby can't stand being in a baby carrier (go figure?!)

C. Nolan is recently potty trained

I was really questioning my abiltiy to handle both kids alone in such a public place with dark rooms and public toilets....Yikes!

Papa decided to join us which made a world of difference and the kids had a blast with him.

Nolan and Papa take a picture with "Dory" (from "Finding Nemo")

Gabby was LOVING Papa's "Airplane Ride"

Nolan was so excited to get a picture with "Nemo"

All in all it was a fantastic trip. Nolan was a great listener the whole time, Gabby fell asleep in the Baby Bjorn and Papa was smiling all day long. Who could ask for a better day?! Ohh, and the marine life was pretty cool too! Especially the Daddy Sea Horse we saw giving birth to babies ... they just flew out of his belly! Ohhh, if it could only be that easy!

Just another day...

In case you're wondering what we do around here....

SLO TRI

After the race, showing off the T-Rex tattoo Nolan picked out for me to race with.

In post labor tradition, I participated in the SLO triathlon on Sunday. This time I had 6 less days of training than I had after I gave birth to Nolan. All in all, it was a fantastic tri. I beat my time from 2 years ago by 6 minutes with a final time of 1hour 50 min 21 sec. I had set a goal time of 1hr 45 min to 1hr 50 min so I was pretty happy with the way things went.

The swim was fine, not bad - not great just fine. My transitions were the fastest I had ever done. The bike was awesome. I had every endorphin firing and was trying to tell myself to watch it, there was still a run after this but I couldn't stop myself from pushing full throttle. The run spanked me! I felt ok the first mile, walked most of the 2nd mile and ran through major quad cramps the whole last mile. Nolan had given the announcer at the finish line the heads up that I had Gabby 3 months ago so the guy announced it as I crossed the finish line. It was a nice little boost after feeling so crappy!


Martin had his own mini-triathlon trying to manage 2 kids for the 4+ hours we were at the race.
After 45 minutes of pure Gabby meltdown, Martin finally had both kids asleep just as I crossed the finish line.

Vacation Madness: Part 3

The rest of vacation was spent just doing random stuff. We tried taking Nolan to the La Brea Tarpits but instead sat on the fwy for 3 hours stuck in an accident until after the museum closed. So what else do you do with a Grandma, 3 mo old, 2, 8, 10 and 12 yr old? Take them to Hollywood until late into the night of course!

My niece refused to take a picture of the 6ft + black man in stripper heels wearing no more than a white bikini bottom and larger than life angel wings. Oh, and did I mention the red cat eye contact lenses?

My sister got a picture with the hunky gladiator who attempted to cop a feel while setting up the pose.

Michael Jackson's Star.

The rest of the vacation was just visiting family, eating good food and celebrating the 4th of July in the Malibu Hills. When we got back home Nolan was worked. We still had another week of my sister and kids in A.G. so we were a long way off from recovery. For the first time ever Nolan actually cried, "No go to Grandma's house. Nollie stay here! I so tired!". He got over that pretty quickly after my sister and kids got him all hopped up on S'mores & whipped cream. We are definately in detox now.