Standing Baby and Inquisitive Boy

I've just looked at the blog stats and see I've entered 38 posts including this one for the year. Not bad considering it's been one hell of a year. I mainly write these entries as our own personal online diary to chronicle the milestones of our kids and highlights of our lives...so we can look back and also to share them with family who aren't near...but I have learned there are at least a few people who actually take the time to read this blog. God bless both of you!! haha
Well, enough touting of my two fans, and onto the latest....which is that Giselle is standing without holding on now. Gabriel was the very first person to see her doing this and told us. We believed him but it took a week to go by for us to get to see her stand on her own with our own eyes. When we see her we all exclaim "STANDING BABY!!!!" Her new found skill of speed crawling has led her into the bathroom when we are preoccupied. This exploration led us to have to call a plumber since she enjoys playing with the toilet water...she must have dropped a toy down there....yuck and ugh...while there, she discovered the joy of unraveling the toilet paper roll. Between this and diapers, we are far from being green in our house. She's loving her Cheerios, crackers and other finger foods and typically gets about 50% in the mouth with the other half on the floor (or in the crevice of the seat, down her shirt and into her diaper, inside a toy, you get the idea...) Her demeanor is so pleasant and brings us all so much joy. Every time she smiles, it melts away all of my fears, worries and stress and makes me so incredible thankful. These are some powerful smiles folks! She has different ones, too. I love the one when she smiles with her whole face.

Gabriel is doing so well with his reading, writing and arithmetic. We couldn't be more proud of him. He really surprised me when he could tell time the other day. He also still surprises me with his inquisitiveness like asking "Does jelly come from jellyfish?" and walking out of a Kroger with Salvation Army ringing their bell "Why is that human standing there?". He also wants to invent side windshield wipers for the car. When I asked him why he says "so we can see out the sides the way we do the front and the back and because I love you." Well, who can argue with that reasoning?

We're soaking up these moments.