Beds, Car Seats and Sleep Overs, Oh My!

They say things happen in threes – we had three milestones happen three days in a row!

1/20/11 – First, Giselle crawled out of her crib so we placed her mattress on the floor and with a big smile, she happily clutched her baby doll and slept in a "big girl bed" for the first time. She didn't come out of the room even once.

1/21/11 – The very next day, I noticed her legs were beginning to become squished in her rear-facing car seat. They recommend to keep rear-facing until age two nowadays, but seeing her birthday is just a month away I went ahead on a whim and turned it around in a Lowe's parking lot. She seemed to like being able to face forward like her big brother.

1/22/11 – The very next day we had some friends children come to visit whilst they went out on birthday dinners, respectively, and ended up having one of Gabriel's friends, Sean, sleep over. It was Gabriel's first time having a sleep over – and oh my goodness, you would have thought I bought him a pot of gold, he was so excited. In fact, both of them were excited – they were so cute.

I tucked them into bed and was surprised they both were quiet. At one point, Gabriel came to me saying he needed some lotion because he was itchy. I asked if Sean was asleep and he said, "yep, he's asleep, but I'm still, um, er... alive." Jim and I busted out laughing. I hope you're alive! Another classic Gabriel-ism.

Here they are together the following morning in their adorable p.j.'s.


1/23/11 – On the fourth day, we went and bought a bunk bed from someone I found off Craigslist. It was the perfect color, style, sturdy as a rock with Brazilian Pine wood and most of all the perfect price. Jimmy and Matt spent 2.5 hours putting it together while the kids ran around it jumping up and down with excitement. Gabriel said, "I finally have my bunk beds that I've been wanting. It's the first time I've had a bunk bed, ever!"

Ok, I guess that could officially count as four, but you weren't really counting, were you?

Honesty of Gabriel

We watched Paul Goydos shoot a 59 yesterday and we asked Gabriel if he becomes a pro golfer to buy us a summer home. He asked "how much do you win, a $1,000?" We said "more like a million." Expecting shock and awe, instead he returned with... "and a trophy?"

Another day I took him clothes shopping with me at Ross. In the dressing room I asked him to tell me which pair of pants I was trying on looked the best? He said so sweetly, "You look beautiful Mommy. I like them." I told him that since Daddy wasn't there he needed to let me know which pair didn't make my butt look as fat. Thinking someone in the next stall is listening to me ask my son to look at my butt and that they could call DFCS he retorted with such a painfully honest answer .... "Well, in that case, both of them are out."

Jim says to me one day driving in my red Toyota Prius: "Why did you buy this car [if you aren't going to maximize the mileage out of it]?" Gabriel from the backseat: "Because it's shiny!"

Gabriel-isms

I chuckled at Gabriel yesterday for getting upset with someone parked in a handicap space because he thought they were for wheelchairs to park. I was envisioning people wheeling themselves down the road and when they park, then what did he think? They get up and walk inside??

The Latest Gabriel-isms

"Try this cheese Mommy!" (As he hands me a piece from his finger and I partake) "It's better than life, huh!!?"

Looking at a box of Velveeta says, "Does this cheese have Velveeta in it?" -- can you tell we are huge cheese fans?

At Giselle working on cutting her first tooth: "Oh my gosh! I just can't believe it! She made a tooth!"

Watching a television show, when interrupted by the Meteorologist giving the weather report says, "Zoom forward." I say, "We can't Gabriel, it's live T.V." Then he says, "What's 'live' mean?" Kids these days don't understand the age of living in the real time world with their digital products, TIVO and DVR.

Gabriel-isms

As they say, "Kids say the darndest things" and "Out of the mouth of babes" comes profound, hilarious and always honest words. Whether questions or simply statements, they have no idea that what they just said is either unacceptable in society (like, "look at that fat woman mommy!) or so hilarious it would take a comedian to come up with it. Before I forget all the cute and honest things Gabriel has said, here are a few:

As I'm getting in the car to come to work, Gabriel opens the front door and yells "Don't let the work bugs bite!"

Wanting to carve his first pumpkin, continually asked me "When can we shred the pumpkin?"

"I just love you so much that when you go away bye-bye, the sadness comes"

Wearing my new glasses, he says, "You look like you are in disguise. I think I'll call you Mrs. Glassy"

"I don't want Giselle to have my toy because of her suckiness." –referring to his sister's slober

"I'm glad I am stuck with you today. You're a lot of fun and I love you."

And my favorite...

As I'm nursing Giselle, he says, "It would be awwwesome if you made chocolate baby milk for Giselle. She'd really like that!"

Gabriel's inquisitiveness

I can't sleep - again - but this time due to being so happy and excited I'm going to get to see my little girl soon. I can't wait to kiss her and hold her in my arms.

Gabriel cracks us up all the time and is such a happy boy. He's fascinated with the planets, learning body parts and what they do and oddly enough cooking. He asks the most interesting, and sometimes boggling, smart questions. As of late he's randomly asked:

• How do you hear God speak to you?
• Can you see energy?
• Does the earth rotate around the sun clockwise?
• Are there really aliens out there?

He says to me tonight that gravity holds us to the ground. Then there was a question tonight, which is escaping me partly because I'm sleep deprived, but I remember thinking "I'll have to Google that one." I didn't want to tell him the wrong thing -- he really retains this stuff.