Remember, Remember, to Blog in November...

Once again I've let a month go by without a post. Ugh. What's gonna happen when I have two little munchkins to take care of?! And I have a ton of good pictures to show off! Of course, I have to start off with pictures of our little dragon-baby. He had a great Halloween! We had a day-before-Halloween-party with our Stroller Strides friends, and he loved his costume and playing with the other costumed kiddoes. We then had a spider cake at class on Friday morning, followed by a day out and about with our friends Becca & Jonny (from London, moving to Melbourne, Australia), and some fun trick-or-treating around our neighborhood. He did so great! We only went to a handful of houses, but by the end he knew the drill: ring doorbell, say trick-or-treat and Happy Halloween, get candy, say thank you! He did not want the night to end! And he loves his dragon costume. He would occasionally want to take off the dragon-face-hood to give it a hug and a kiss! And his roar-roar is the cutest ever!

We don't have a lot going on. We are house-hunting (although we have now decided to wait a bit longer), preparing for the new baby girl due in March, and enjoying the cool weather up here. The leaves changed colors beautifully up here, so we made sure to go hiking while Becca & Jonny were here. That is something that most of Texas really misses out on. Gabriel loved the leaves, and we even had a few leaf fights with all the kids at class! It was awesome! We are still searching for a church home, so we go somewhere different every week. Nothing has fit right (not even near), so we may start trying churches closer into the DC area. Other than that, we are just keeping our heads above water.


As for Gabriel news, he had a biggie today! Now that the weather is cold, we have Stroller Strides indoors at the mall. Santa arrived a couple weeks ago, so after each class we go look at the model trains and wave at Santa. At first, G wouldn't even wave. Then he'd give a little wave while clutching to Mama. Lately he's been giving humongous waves with a big, excited smile and blowing kisses. Today he wanted to go see him! He gave Santa a hi-five, took a little candy cane, and even talked to him! I asked G what he wanted Santa to bring him, and he said "trains." Okay, we had practiced that once or twice ;). Then Santa asked if he wanted just regular trains, or Thomas trains. Gabriel's eyes lit up, he looked at me, then he looked at Santa and said "Thomas trains, please!" I am so proud of him! Maybe in a week or two he'll even sit on his lap for a picture. We'll see...

What else? He loves to move the barstools away from the counter and push a dining room chair over so that he can stand on it and be with the grown-ups or reach for things we've hidden from him. We had a long visit with Jonny & Becca (almost 2 weeks), and now Gabriel has picked up a few things: he often says "cheerio" or "cheerios" when someone leaves, he says "tract-ah" instead of "tractor" about half the time, and he still thinks Jonny & Becca are somewhere upstairs. Actually, he knows they're in Australia now, but he believes that is somewhere upstairs. He is super excited about Christmas already, although I don't know that he knows what it is. He loves reindeer, Santa, snowmen, Christmas trees and lights, and all the music and decorations to go with it. He loves Nativity scenes and Baby Jesus, but his favorite parts are the animals and the angels. I have to sing Jingle Bells and Up on the Housetop every day, and we read "The Night Before Christmas" about twice a day! And if he's fussy, we just pop in some Christmas CD's and he will start dancing and trying to snap his fingers. He is definitely my son!

We don't have much new baby news, other than that she is a tough little girl. Gabriel moved constantly in the womb, but it was mostly gentle. This girl likes to kick and poke with all her might! It actually hurts quite often, and once she starts to push out a foot or an elbow, she just won't release. Ouch! But everything else is great. She's right on target for size, as am I. And despite my complaints, I love to feel her wiggle. I think it just makes her feel more real to us. Gabriel likes to put his little hands on my belly to feel her move, and he still loves to give her hugs and kisses. And no, we don't have a name yet, but we are desperately trying to figure it out. It's so hard! She'll be stuck with whatever name we choose forever, and we want to give her a name that is special, meaningful, and something she'll love. We'll let everyone know what we decide, and we promise not to make you wait so long this time around.

Well, tomorrow is a long day of house-hunting, and it's supposed to snow tonight, so I'd better sleep while G is sleeping.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving, and I hope to post again before Christmas comes and goes!!!

Here are a few random pictures in no particular order. I might come back and comment on them later, but it's late and I am sleeeeeepy!

Happy October!!!

It's been such a long time since I last posted, so I'm sorry for the delay. To be fair, we have been quite busy lately. We had a trip to Texas in September, and we've all been suffering from colds since then, so blogging has not been much of a priority! Anyway, we are all feeling better now so I hope to be a bit better about posting.

Everybody asks, so I'll just tell you: no we don't know if it's a boy or a girl yet!!! We'll find out on Monday (if he/she cooperates), and I'll be sure to let everybody know asap! I am feeling a lot of wiggling and a few kicks, so I am guessing that the baby is healthy and happy. It's not as busy as Gabriel was, but it's still early. Gabriel really loves the baby and often wants to lift my shirt and give the baby a hug and a kiss. Or sometimes he wants to push on my bellybutton like button and say "beep," but usually he's being sweet. Lately he's started saying, "Baby. Out. Baby. Out. Now!" I think he knows that there really is a baby in there, but I still think he'll be a little surprised when a baby actually does show up in our home! He loves other babies and likes to help out. Stroller Strides has been great for that. He sees lots of pregnant mommies and new babies, and he is fascinated with all the babies! He likes to give them bottles and toys, and he loves to fetch a diaper or burpcloth for them. He could sit and pet them for hours!!! And he's never been jealous when I've been babysitting or caring for someone else's little one. All this gives me hope that our new baby will be accepted without too much jealousy or animosity. We'll do our best to make it a smooth transition! I really like my cousin's idea of the baby bringing presents... okay, so maybe I just like presents! I also hope to encourage G to take ownership in the situation... after all, it'll be his little brother or sister. Any other suggestions?

We've had a few fun trips since my last post. The weekend after I ran the Annapolis 10-miler, we took a little family trip to Annapolis and wandered the town. We had a great time checking out the shops and the boats, and we finished off the day with a little tour around the Naval Academy. It was really fun, and Gabriel loved the cannons and the guys in uniform. We sat and watched boats for ages! We decided to wait for visitors to come with us and take a ride on one of them. I can't wait!

Our trip to Texas was really great. It didn't go exactly to plan, but we got to see everyone we intended on seeing and Jake got to go to the Aggie game. Nathan and Lauren hosted us in their new, lovely house, and their dog Remmy babysat Gabriel for us most of the time. Thanks, cousins!!! We had such a nice time with them, and I am soooo jealous of their house. It's the perfect size with a more than perfect sized yard, in the perfect town. And Lauren has it decorated so nicely that it almost feels like a show-home, but a little cozier! Anyway, Jake had a Track & Field reunion, I had a Squadron 16 reunion, and we had a Boone family reunion to attend, so we were busy! We also made a little bit of time with each of my parents, as well as a visit with Cookie and Dewayne (who are actually like family anyway). My mom and Jim bought Gabriel a stuffed Reveille dog, and now he won't part with it. He feeds it, sleeps with it, and I have to kiss him goodnight and good morning every day. It's so cute! We met up with the Sarles' at this awesome restaurant in Houston called the Rainbow Lodge for brunch. It's lovely, and I really want to go back!!! We had our own little room, so it was fairly easy to visit (although we were a pretty large group). Aunt Beth gave G a personalized sippy cup (that I love), and now he has to have his juice in it every day. It's great! And my dad brought him an old toy tractor. Although it was a bit heavy in my suitcase, Gabriel loves it and plays with it all the time. The steering wheel actually turns the front wheels, and G loves to "drivps," which is his interpretation of "drive."

Unfortunately, I got food poisoning while in College Station, and then we all three got colds, so we came home in need of a bit of rest! We are pretty much healed up now, and we've even started back running again. It's a lot slower now since my bump is getting bigger, but we're still healthy and happy little joggers. Gabriel loves it and will often point to the stroller and say "stroller - run" or "ride, ride!"

Here are a few recent pics. As soon as I finish the roll in my camera, we'll have some cute pictures of Gabriel in Texas to add as well. Enjoy!

Gabriel loves to "ride, horse"

After the 10-miler with a few Stroller Strides ladies

In Annapolis

On the Naval Academy campus checking out the Boone Walk!!!

My two block-heads















Our new rocking chair!

Run, Mama, Run!!!

So much good news to share!!! First of all, today I ran the Annapolis 10-miler!!! I had to be careful because Annapolis is quite hilly, and it was rather warm and humid today. I made sure to keep my heart rate and body temperature down, which meant that I had to walk a bit on some of the steeper or longer hills. I was really happy that I finished with lots of time to spare, and I had a lovely day with a few of the Stroller Strides girls. We ate cookies to our hearts' content, did a little sports clothes shopping, and we even got sports massages. How great is that? And our awesome hubbies took care of our babies while we were playing! We've been training for 10 weeks, so it was rather bittersweet to be finished with the race. Although it was very satisfying, I am still sad it is all over.

The reason I had to be careful on the run is that Gabriel is going to be a big brother! We are due for a second little one around the beginning of March, so my 10-mile training schedule had to be a bit altered :). We are so excited to be awaiting a sibling for G, and we are really happy to have a little baby again. Keep us in your prayers!

As for Gabriel news, he is just talking, talking, talking! Whether it's babbles or words or mimicking us, he just doesn't stop. And it's adorable! He learns so much every day, and he's starting to use words together (for example: "Mama, read, back" means "Mama, read me this book. Here, take the book back so you can read it to me"). He's getting more independent, especially around other kids. I looooove seeing him make friends and play with the kids at Stroller Strides, and he loves to just be free to run around and be silly.

Here are a bunch of pictures from our little hiking excursion along the Appalachian Trail to the Annapolis Rocks (not in Annapolis). We have some way cute videos I'd love to share, but Jake is a bit slow moving them over (hint, hint). We'll get 'em up as soon as possible.

Gabriel is looking for cats and dogs

Still looking

We made it up to the Annapolis Rocks for a picnic

Gabriel and his walking stick!

Gabriel playing hide and seek with his walking stick

Notice Gabriel's pet rock

He carried the rock for a quarter mile!

Who is this cute little person???

Sometimes as a mom, you just have to ask yourself who is this person in front of me??? I definitely feel that way about Gabriel lately. It's as if he's having a new word explosion! In the last three days, he has said so many new words that I absolutely cannot keep up. In the past, we would be excited about a new word every few days. Now it's by the hour - sometimes by the minute!!! Here are a few of my favorites: read (with the sign), sing, flag, burp, nut, rock, please (with the sign), bright, swing, pop, back, frog, boat, and at dinner tonight he said bean for the first time! What a smartie!!!

We've had a fun week so far, and it's only Tuesday!!! Yesterday after Stroller Strides, we took a tour of the downtown firestation. It's close to the park, so we all pushed our strollers the few blocks over to the station and got to check things out. Gabriel looooooved all the trucks. He would have done anything to play with all the buttons and levers, but he had to settle with getting all greasy playing with the wheels (yuck). The real excitement came when they had a call and we watched the ambulance take off, and a few minutes later one of the big firetrucks came back to the station after another call. The firemen were all great, and our tour guide was a daddy himself, so he was great with the kiddoes. Some of the young single guys didn't know what to do with all the tots running around asking silly questions! Overall, it was a very fun little outing. We picked up Jake afterward, and found a hidden gem... there is a Ben & Jerry's here in Frederick!!! We've been here all this time and never knew it! How great is that?! Yea!

Today we took a day off. Jake still had to go to work, but Gabriel and I decided to stay home and chill out. We colored on a big cardboard box until we were colored out, played with trucks and cars, snacked on every fruit we could find in the fridge, and played with every ball in the toybox. When we ran out of things to do, we just spun in circles and giggled! Then snacktime came about, and we decided to try something new: popcorn! I got out the popper and we just had a blast watching the kernels pop and jump. That's when he said pop for the first time. I didn't think he'd like it much, but I was wrong. We nibbled on popcorn while we played for the next hour. He liked it so much that he said "ummm" with almost every bite! It totally felt like our own little party day :).

Although we have been busy, we've had lots of fun little outings. We get tired of running (or Jake's old sports injuries flare up), so we'll strap on the rollerblades and take Gabriel out in the stroller. He absolutely loves it, and spends the whole trip singing, waving at passersby, and yelling out random words or sounds! It's really fun for all three of us. We've also taken a few weekend hikes on local trails. We first tried Catoctin National Park, near Thurmont, and had a nice little trip. Recently we wandered around the Monocacy Battlefield National Park trails and had a nice time and a lovely little picnic. Gabriel had fun, but got so tired he took a nap right in the carrier! It didn't look very comfy to me, but he was out like a light (but still holding his train, of course).

Since it's been so long since I left a post, I've included a few older pictures. The ones in the water are from Wimberley, Texas, and the motorcycle is from our little trip to Amarillo for Jake's sister's high school graduation. Enjoy!