First Post from Maryland!

Sorry for the delay, folks! We've been traveling, and we haven't gotten internet service at the house yet. We still have the same cell phone numbers, so that is the best way to get ahold of us for now. We took almost a week to drive up to Frederick, and now we are frantically trying to unpack all our boxes. That doesn't sound so bad, but some of the boxes have been in storage since before Jake left for Africa... that was in 2004!!! It's been fun seeing things we forgot we owned, and it's been refreshing to get rid of extra stuff. Wish us luck; I think it's a long-term project!

As for Gabriel, he is growing so much! He really is a little boy now. He'll be 1 on the 18th, so we are gearing up for his first birthday party. It'll just be the three of us as far as we know, but it'll be a cute little celebration if I have anything to do with it... and I do!!!

During the drive up, Gabriel was so great. He loved the different hotels, but especially the lobby of the Union Station Hotel in Nashville. I loved it, too -- it's beautiful! He also loved the "Duck March" at the Peabody in Little Rock. Every morning and every evening, the ducks cross the lobby on a red carpet to float in the fountain or to go to their bed. It was great. Another great one was Hotel Roanoke, which had lots of places to wander around, and the staff was excellent and helpful.

Once we arrived, we were worried that G would take some time to adjust, but he has settled in beautifully. It's actually shocked us how great it has been for him. He suddenly goes to sleep like a charm: we say our prayers and hug, then we say our I love yous, and then it's bedtime. I lay him down and he rolls onto his tummy, puts his hiney in the air, grabs his Baby Bear and smiles himself to sleep. It's amazing!!!

As for other new tricks, he walks everywhere, he points at what he wants or where he wants to go, he can climb the stairs by himself (we have three stories), he eats mainly grown-up food, and he can color with crayons!

I'm almost out of time here at Starbucks, so I'll close for now. I'll have Jake upload some pictures as soon as possible! We are doing well and settling in, and we hope to be online at the house in a week or two.

Come visit if you can... we're only 45 minutes from D.C.!

P.S. Gabriel just learned a new trick: I gave him a milk box to drink from, and as soon as I turned my head he squeezed it as hard as he could. The next time I looked, he had milk dripping off the top of his head and down his shoulders!!!

December Photo Update

We've got a new album of pictures taken in December 2007. Click here to see the whole thing, and here are some samples:


With cousin Aubrey


"I'll be in the stands if you need me."


Three generations of Aggies

Videos!

Daddy finally figured out how to get the videos from his camera up to the internet without losing too much quality, so here are a bunch of new clips of the G-man in action. (Also, the two videos in the "Latest Acting Gigs" post below are better quality now.)

Making Indian noises


Laughing in his high chair


Learning to walk!!!


His first family Christmas in Wimberley (with the Kayes)


Pushing his truck and lawn mower around

Yankees or Southerners???

It's been a while since my last post, but boy have we been busy! Right now we are in Frederick, Maryland looking for our new home!!! Well, at least our new home for the next year. We flew in this afternoon and had a pleasant flight. G loved closing the window and playing with the lights, and he even got to take a long walk up and down the aisle with his daddy! It wasn't too bad, but Gabriel was such a wiggle worm! Our 10 hour flight from London when Gabriel was 2 1/2 months was a million times easier than this 3 hour flight with a 9 1/2 month old. He was restless, excited, and sleepy, but the people sitting around us said he did really great and wasn't too noisy. I hope they were telling the truth!

Anyway, we flew into Dulles (Washington D.C.) and drove through Leesburg to Frederick. It's a great drive, and lovely. There's still a bit of snow on the ground, so it made all the Christmas lights look so romantic and Christmasey as the sun went down behind the hills on the horizon. There were lots of old farmhouses and stills everywhere, and tons of old barns... the Boones know I looove old barns (remember the Washington/U-haul trip and the hunt for the perfect barn???). I saw many antique shops, although Jake refused to stop :( and even a great Farmers' Market. I can't wait to visit there! Leesburg had a huge outlet mall that I MUST visit :).

It was dark by the time we got to Frederick, so I didn't get to see much today, but we are close to a little area with lots of shops and restaurants, but it's set up like a cozy little village. We had dinner at Macaroni Grill and Gabriel had so much fun playing with the crayons and paper on the table. I thought about saving his artwork, but he drooled, spilled food, and tore it up before I could save it. Oh, well. By the time we finished dinner, it was late and Gabriel was ready for bed. Jake and I got a Tiramsu to go, then we came home and got G ready for bed. It was then that we realized that the only spoons we had were baby spoons. So, we had a romantic dessert and hot chocolate... borrowing Gabriel's spoons. It was fun, but silly! Anyway, I want to go back tomorrow to look at the shops -- especially a shop called My Organic Market... the sign says MOM, with an apple for the O. Sound familiar, Mom??? She spells hers with a heart for the O, and I've always loved that!

Here ia a picture of Gabriel in his new coat, mittens and cozy little hat! Oh, this is the first time for him to see snow!!! Yea!

In other news, we took a weekend trip to Wimberley to see my mom and step-dad. G had a fab time, and he made himself at home with Gramma and Pops. We went to see the Christmas lights at the Yule Walk at the Emily Ann Theater. I highly recommend it! Gabriel loved the xylophone section, he got to see Santa and Mrs. Claus, and he loved all the lights. Jake and Gramma roasted hot dogs while Gabriel helped me roast marshmallows on his first campfire. Gabriel even got to taste his first marshmallow... he's a BIG fan, but he'd better not expect many more until he's a bit bigger! We even got to hear the Dripping Strings, a bunch of kids playing violins/fiddles. They were great!

The next day, Gramma took Gabriel and me to downtown Wimberley for a bit of shopping. If you haven't been, you have to go. There are all kinds of shops with antiques, new stuff, and everything in between. I fell in love with a cozy shop in an old house (I forget the name), and Gabriel loved the handmade swings. He even cried when we had to leave!

I haven't posted in so long I have forgotten some of the new things Gabriel has learned. He recently learned the "P" sound, so we have a lot of that going on, as well as the occasional "H" sound. They often alternate, and it is so cute to watch his little lips pucker! He gives tons of kisses and cuddles now, and loves to wave at anyone who will smile at him. Swimming pool day is still his favorite day of the week, and now he loves to sit on the side and jump into the water to me. He doesn't care if he goes under or not, as long as he gets to jump in! What else? Well, he loves to play standing up. He even lets go and walks a few steps sometimes, especially when he's excited. He's gonna be walking any day now!

It's late and I am sooooo sleepy. It's 11pm local time, so it's way past my bedtime. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we search for a new home up here. And as for the title of the post, can anyone tell me if we'll be Yankees or Southerners once we move here??? Nobody seems to agree. Not even the people that live here!

Asleep with his favorite sippy cup

Playin' in a box with Daddy

Peekin' out of a box at Mama

The first present he's ever opened (Thank you Hall Family!!! Whoop!)

Afternoon nap with Mommy

Gangsta G

Playing with his cousin, Aubrey at Grandma Gasaway's house.

Checking In

I can't believe November is halfway over already! It has gone by so fast. Before we know it, it'll be Christmas!!! We are just enjoying this nice cool weather. Gabriel loves his time outside, so we spend a lot of time playing in the yard, swinging on the swing, and looking at the leaves and flowers. He's not fond of crawling in the grass though. It's like watching a cat that has tape stuck on its feet; Gabriel will pick up one hand and hold it up high, looking for somewhere to put it (preferably not in the grass), then he'll reluctantly put it down and pick up a foot and hold it up high. It's really cute, but drives Gabriel crazy!

Gabriel is growing in leaps and bounds. He crawls sooooo fast. He can now stand up with support, even if it's just a wall or a curtain. He "cruises" all over the house, which means he's had a couple bruises and scrapes from his new talent. He's getting much more stable and adventurous, and I just know he'll be walking any day now. He can take a couple steps, but only if he is going toward Mama or Daddy and is really excited!

Okay, I have to say that he has learned the cutest trick ever. He's learned how to make Indian noises! As soon as we start to pat his little lips, he opens his mouth and says "Ahhhhh." It's great, and I can't get enough of it. We took a video with the camcorder, but apparently our computer is too old to transfer the video and get a good picture (that's why the videos below are grainy). Jake says we need a new computer, but I've convinced him to wait until after the move. If we are somewhere with a better computer, we'll put the videos up. It may take awhile, but I'll do my best to get it done eventually :(.

Another new thing he's learned is to say "hey." He just says it for fun, not knowing what it means, but it is so great to walk in the room and hear this tiny person say "heyyyy."

As an update about the sleep situation, it's getting better and better. He now sleeps about 8 - 9 hours, then I feed him at 5 a.m. and he'll usually sleep another hour. It's so much better than before, but it's been a long process. Hopefully it'll be easier whenever we get around to having another baby.

That's all for now. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Holidays

Halloween is over, and now I am ready for Christmas!!! Okay, I guess I should at least pretend to celebrate Thanksgiving. Christmastime is my favorite, although I have to admit that I enjoy a good Christmas carol anytime of the year (to Jake's chagrin). Before I get into it full swing, I'll be sure to introduce Gabriel to the joys of Thanksgiving baking. He's a great helper, and I love to see what kinds of messes he can make!

Speaking of Halloween, we had a nice, peaceful Halloween at home. We trick-or-treated next door, and we passed out a few pumpkin cupcakes to a few lucky friends. We even had two trick-or-treaters. That sounds like not many, but sometimes we don't have any here! We were delighted, and those two got as much of our candy as they wanted. Hope they like peanut butter candy! Just so you know, we think Gabriel is the cutest cowboy we have ever seen. We hope you agree!


Most of you know that we'll be moving up to Frederick, Maryland sometime in the near future, so it will be interesting to see where we'll actually be when Christmas does finally come around. As long as I have a tree with lights and ornaments and can listen to Christmas music, I can handle anything! We are really excited about the move, but we are just ready to find out when things will happen. We'll let everyone know as soon as we have more information.

As for Gabriel news, he is growing in leaps and bounds. He took his first step today! He doesn't like to pick up his feet unless he's holding our hands, but he finally decided to try it out. He immediately grabbed for mama, but there was definitely a step he took all by himself. He'll be running around soon, so I am just trying to enjoy this time of limited mobility. He is crawling around everywhere now, but he's slow enough that I can keep up with him and still wash the dishes or do a bit of cleaning. Once he's on his feet, I'll have to figure out a new method of madness!

And to update you on the sleeping thing, it comes and goes. He usually sleeps 6 - 8 hours (usually right at 7), but occasionally wakes at 6 hours and cries until we pick him up, even if that is two hours!!! I don't like it, but that is what my doctor said to do. Hopefully it'll get better with time. He's learned to stand up in his crib, so now it sometimes takes a bit longer for him to get to sleep. Last night he fell asleep immediately, but it took an hour tonight. His crying is a mad cry, not a hunger or hurt cry, so I know he's okay. But I still hate to listen to him so sad and not be able to comfort him. It's a choice between comforting him or getting sleep and being able to function. I'd rather be a better mommy during the day than spoil him at night.

That's all for now. Here are some great pumpkin pictures to help you get in the Thanksgiving spirit!