Visit to Austin

Last night we returned from a trip to Austin. We went for the weekend to see Tía Melimé perform. She was great and the play/musical was very funny. Gabriel stayed at home with Tío Can. We all had a lot of fun in Austin, but we didn't take any pictures... :(
The trip was a little crazy. Gabriel was very unhappy in the car on the way there, and that made us very unhappy too. He had a very hard time trying to fall asleep, which is funny considering the car used to be a good place to get him to sleep. Well, not anymore. On the way back we decided it would be a good idea to make a long stop along the way. So we stopped at Katy Mills Mall (just before Houston) and spent 2 and a half hours there. Gabriel was very, very happy. He ran, he rode on a little electric car, he saw a bunny, he got new pajamas and t-shirts, and he ate. After that we returned to the car (he was again very unhappy about this), but after a while he fell asleep (as did mommy), and woke up when we were entering Lafayette. He was very happy to be home. He seemed very excited and ran around the living room moving his arms up and down.
I guess we cannot make such long car rides for such a short trip. Now we are trying to figure out the best strategy for our car trip to Chicago. Any suggestions?

Downtown alive and ice cream

Last Friday after we got Gabo from school, we went for a walk downtown to Lafayette's weekly Spring festival, Downtown Alive. There were a bunch of other kids and live music. We had a great time.






Today we decided to get some ice cream and alas! Gabo can spoon ice cream by himself. That doesn't mean that his aim is any better. I would say that a good 20% of the ice cream landed on me, but it was still really cute.



Barbara is telling me what to write, so ithis may sound like a list, but here it goes.
1 . - We are moving to Chicago. Barbara accepted a position at Roosevelt University as an Assistant Prof. I am still in limbo, not knowing whether I'll continue in a masters program right away or not. We are planning to be there in early August.
2. - El Gabo has now a mouthful of teeth. He is not happy about the teething process, but I have to say that he is not miserable either. He seems more concerned about the roseola that he caught at school. A lot of things happend in that school... he got bitten by another toddler on Thurday. They are still so uncivilized : )
3. - Gabriel can now blow kisses, say bye ("bah"), he can stand all by himself with no help from other people or furniture, open doors, and turn on the TV and change channels to his heart's content (he gets that from me). He also claps when there is music. It is a very exciting time...

Alfredo

My First School Project

On Valentine's day Gabriel came home with this beautiful card for us. He also came home high on sugar from the party at the day care center. He was so hyper you wouldn't believe it!

On another note, Gabriel and Daddy are sick with a cold... :( I was sick too, but now I am better. I hope they get well soon...

First day

Today Gabriel went for the first time to day care. Here we can see him getting ready in the morning, and finally in front of the day care center.

We left him there at 7:15 a.m. and picked him up at 1:45 p.m. His teacher's name is Ms. Mona. Apparently Gabriel had fun all day. He played ouside and had no problem taking a nap. The only time when he cried was to ask for more food... :) I guess he eats more than the other babies (no surprise there).

He didn't cry when we left and he didn't cry when we picked him up, although he was specially clingly to mommy for a couple of hours after that (daddy was kind of jealous).

New pictures!

Hola a todos. Primero que nada aquí tenemos un par de fotos del primer cumpleaños de Gabriel. Lamentablemente el pobre Gabriel pasó su cumpleaños muy enfermo. Le dió un virus estomacal (que se lo contagió su tía Melissa) y estuvo con fiebre, vómitos y diarrea por varios días. Gracias a Dios ya está muy bien. Por lo menos, aquí tenemos a Gabriel con su torta de cumpleaños que le hizo su mamá y abriendo un regalito (todavía lo que más disfruta es el lacito).

Aquí Gabriel está disfrutando su primer baño de espuma. Ya no se está bañando sino en la bañera grande, y le encanta abrir el chorro de agua y jugar con él. El problema es que todavía no distingue entre el agua fría y la caliente.

Las últimas tres fotos son simplemente Gabriel siendo lindo. En la cocina con su mamá antes de salir para la calle, y en la sala jugando.

Disfrútenlas!

Our little angel

Our second baby is now in heaven watching over all of us.

The last of 2005

Here is Gabriel enjoying Abuela Camena's Christmas present. As you can see he is very happy on his horse, the only problem is that he is not strong enough yet to make it move on his own, so mom or dad have to do that for him...

Here he is playing with his first Lego set. He is still more into destroying than building though.

Taking a bath in the big tub :)

Eating pan de jamón. He loves it! Especially the raisins!

And finally, here he is in winter clothes, in one of the few days of the year when it is cold enough here for that...

Here is a video:

Walking, eating, bathing

Now Gabriel can walk without any help. Here you can see him:



As you know he enjoys eating very much, here he is having his very first arepa:



Another activity that Gabriel enjoys very much is his bath:

Some more videos

Here are a couple more videos of Gabriel that I took yesterday:

Classes are over!

Finally. Now we can spend more time together as a family. As Alfredo told you, we are pregnant again. And extremely happy about it!!! We estimate the delivery date to be around the end of July. My first appointment with the doctor is January 9th. I'll keep you posted on any new developments.

Well, there are many things to tell about Gabriel lately. First of all he can now say Mama and something that resembles Pa. He uses it mostly to get things, but we believe he means well... ;)

Another new development is that Gabriel has taken his first steps already. He can get a couple of steps before falling, but we have no movies or pictures of this, you'll just have to believe us.

He is also eating table foods now. Today he had vegetable risotto, and hash browns. He enjoyed both a lot.

I have a movie of Gabriel for you to see, just click on the following link: