I shall name this post 'March 9th'

...Because that was Alex's birthday, and I never got around to posting pics from that day. Here are a few of the pics we took on his actual Birthday. Truly though, he was more impressed with the candle than the cake. He's more of an ice cream boy.



In comparison, here is a photo of Gabe's first Birthday.

Guess Who?

I couldn't resist taking a picture of Alex on the same toy as Gabe after glancing through past photos. Can you tell who is who?

Happy Alex

Alex is the pretty much the perfect second baby. He is calm and patient. He sleeps well and wakes up happy. Pretty much, he only fusses when he's hungry, poopy, or tired. I'd like to take credit for his adorable-ness, but it's probably just a result of him learning to "self soothe" as I can't always be two places at once. His favorite thing to do is sit on the floor and play with his toys while watching his big brother and squealing with delight.

Big Gabriel

Sometimes when I stop to think about how big Gabe is getting it makes me tear up a little. I mean I remember his baby days like they were yesterday. He is so kind to his brother, has a great sense of humor, and is especially smart too. When he doesn't know the word for something, he just makes it up. And in Gabe's world things make much more sense!
Examples: Sky Wall = Ceiling, Swing Bed = Hammock, Ball stick = Crosse (Lacrosse stick), Swim Glasses = Goggles, Monster Doggie = Master Yoda. Makes sense to me!.

Lookin' Back

Just a few comparison photos of the boys at 4 months:
Alex-

Gabe-

Alex-

Gabe-

I notice that Gabe has more hair, but Alex has a bigger head. How did that happen?

Smile or Gas?

You decide. Here is Alex at 4 weeks old.

For reference, here is Gabe's first true smile at about 5 weeks.

Pumpkin Patch

This year we headed out to Lake View Farms Pumpkin Patch in North Plains, both because it is fairly close to home and because I figured that as far out of town as it was, there would be less of a crowd. Wrong! The pumpkin patch had lots of fun things to do including a train and boats to ride. Unfortunately, the long lines were prohibitive to do any of these, fortunately, Gabe didn't mind. Maybe, we'll try again during the week.

Found one!

And just for fun, here is a photo of our pumpkin patch trip last year.

(OMG- Look at that hair!)

A year ago....

Sometimes I can't resist going through my old photos. This was one of my favorites from last April. If I could fit Gabe in the bouncy now, you'd have a comparison, but he wanted nothing of that! Of course, Gabe is fully mobile now, so we can hardly keep up with him. Since he got his new kicks from Nana and Papa a few weeks ago he has been climbing mountains (OK, maybe just our sloped driveway). But the grin on his face makes it looks like he just hiked Mount Everest.

My, how things change in a year

Last year at this time Gabriel had just learned to smile. His first real commuication, and how sweet it was...

This year, we can get the kid to stop talking! He talks so much now we can hardly keep up with the new words that he is learning. So far he says: Mama, Dada, Emma (a dog), Genie (our dog), Hot (FYI- anything with fire, smoke, steam, or anything that you blow on is "hot"), Grampa/Papa, Banana, Ba-ba (which we are trying to get rid of), No, and most recently Book. Which he loves, by the way.

When he doesn't feel like using his words, he signs to us to let us know what he wants- i.e. More, No, and here is is below asking for something to Eat....