"Best Friends"

Gabby was being especially cute and sweet this weekend...

GABBY: (Out of nowhere) You know what mom? I love you sooooo much!"
ME: Aw, that is such a sweet thing to say *hugs*

Another thing she said...

GABBY: Mom, you're my best friend!
ME: Oh, Gabby what a nice thing to say. You know I'll always be your mama.

Awesome Weekend

I should probably knock on wood first... but gorgeous weather and a well-behaved child = an awesome weekend. We went swimming, ran errands, rode our bikes, hung out with friends, and had a grand time. Travis worked really hard painting our bedroom and play room. As in true Cara form, I'm not super excited about the colors I chose and should have chose something else... I'm the queen of changing my mind but we're just going to leave it for now and I'm sucking it up. Thank you to my very patient and hard-working husband.

Gabby Update

Funny things Miss Gabriella does or says and other updates:
1) GABBY: Mommy are you mad at the computer?
     ME: Yah, I guess so. It's not doing what I want it to do, so I'm frustrated.
     GABBY: Sometimes you're mad and sometimes you're happy.
     ME: Yes, baby. We all have different types of feelings and that's okay. It's how you handle them that's important.
     GABBY: Sometimes you get what you want and sometimes you don't (she got that from a book).
     ME: Yah, that's right, sweetie.

2) "You're not Cara, you're mommy!"

3) "I want to see baby brother and sister" (as she tries to look into my belly-button). She insists that there's a baby brother AND sister inside my belly. She wants one of each. We keep saying baby brother OR sister.

4) Every morning, before we leave for work, she likes to gives us peanut butter (or whatever she's eating) kisses. She'll even make sure to put something in her mouth before she gives us a kiss. She loves to see our reaction. "Mmmm, peanut butter kiss"

5) She LOVES princesses, Barbies, mermaids. The whole imaginary play is in full effect now. We're having slight "issues" in the morning about what she wears. She INSISTS on wearing pretty dresses every day.

6) She continues to love being active such as, swimming, running, playing. Chen says she plays like a boy. When we get home from work she is super sweaty from playing so hard.

7) Whenever the topic of marriage comes up Gabby says she's going to marry Stuart (first cousin). The other day I asked her why and she said, "I love Stuart, he's a nice boy." I can't argue with that knowledge... Little does she know that marrying your first cousin is weird and a socially wrong but I'm sure she'll figure that out...

8) "My poop looks like a snake!"

Baby # 2 On the Way!

Our first (sort of) family picture.

You can see the head of the baby on the monitor.

Dr. Brooks...

I love this guy and he was the one who delivered Gabby

I have resisted the urge to share the news for awhile because we wanted to be absolutely sure... but now I can scream it from the roof-tops... WE ARE HAVING A BABY! As most of our close friends and family know, it has been a tough couple of years with many disapointments, so we are especially grateful and appreciative of this bundle of joy. The due date is January 10, 2011, and right now I'm half way there at 20 weeks. I feel awesome and can't wait for Gabby to be a big sister. She came to the ultrasound appointment yesterday and saw the baby... she said "Awww, what a cute baby!" I know she's a handful right now but she'll be an awesome big sister...

The Terrible 3's

Can somebody please tell me where my daughter went? My wonderful little angel has turned into a bratty teenager... We had our first parent conference yesterday about her behavior at school. So far, she's called a kid stupid, bossed people around, told someone she doesn't want to be their friend, and spit (yes, spit) at two kids. Everyone says, "She's 3!" I realize, but holy cow I never thought we would have so much behavior management on our hands... The teacher said she's very head strong and street smart, and that she understands what's going on and wants to be sure everyone does what they're supposed to... We love her teacher and know that we'll be working together, so I'm not losing any sleep over it, but our parenthood bliss has been flipped upside down.

Gabby's First Mani/Pedi

Travis was out-of-town this weekend for a bachelor party in Qingdao, where the infamous Tsingtao Beer Festival is held, so Gabriella and I had a fun weekend of shopping, playing, popcorn and movie nights in bed, and *drum roll please* her first Mani/Pedi. She did really well, although was a bit bored at the end and smudged her toes. Oh well, it was fun and a special mommy-daughter thing that we can enjoy together. I'm sure the first of many...

Gabby's 2nd Day of EC-3

Travis took this picture of Gabriella being taken to her classroom by one of the bus monitors. On the other side of the monitor is Kellan and Kya.