Gabe's Daddy

Andy posted "Top Ten Reasons I am Thankful for Gabe" last week on a different blog, but it's worth linking.

One Year Check-Up

Thursday Gabe had his one year check-up with Dr. Gary. All the nurses commented on his charm and good looks, as they are expected to do! As usual he did great. No tears during the Hemoglobin finger prick but accusing glances at the nurses after shots. It really does look like he's attempting to record their faces to memory.

Besides a little cold Dr. Gary thought he looked great.

Height: 29.75" (51%)

Weight: 20 lbs. 5 oz (15%)

It boggles my mind that he is taller than 1/2 the year old population but 85% of them are heavier. It also freaks me out that he is about one inch shy of being half my height. What happened to my baby?!?!

Gabe and Runza

To support Bubba's Team and March of Dimes, the Holz Jr. and Holz Sr. family headed to Runza Tuesday night. We used the opportunity as a pre-birthday celebration for Mr. Gabe.

To make the evening special, Gabe had his very own kid's meal, 1/2 Runza sandwich, with apple sauce and chocolate milk. Yes, he ate it ALL.

Mmmmmm...it smells good!

Drinking his chocolate milk and watching T.V.

Soo tasty, no time for hands.

Grandma's soo generous, she shared her strawberry shake.

No birthday celebration would be complete without some goodies, and Grandparents are always happy to oblige.

He's shocked, 'How did they know I LOVE BabyGap?!?'

I won't rub in all the booty he walked away with, it will make even the adult readers jealous.

Our Little Bug is Turning One!

Cali Trip Part Three: Gabe

After booking the flights to California and calculating the total air time, FOUR HOURS, I had visions, and even one dream, of sheer horror. My dream, two days before departure, was of Gabe's ear drum bursting in flight, while his ear streamed blood I attempted to give 911 my coordinates. Scary...and dramatic I know.

In reality, travel with a nearly one year old is much easier than I expected. As Gabe is relatively chill and can't yet walk, I had two factors in my favor. I also know that the many many prayers friends and family said departure morning and during the day did most of the hard work. Thursday morning Gabe and I found ourselves next to a couple who had 3 children at home; little old Gabe was nothing to them. He charmed their pants off, smiles, giggles, pretend reading of board books and a general pleasant disposition. When we landed in Las Vegas they both said 'He did amazing!'.

My other major concern was Gabe's sleep. We have been blessed with a good sleeper, though it didn't happen without some serious work, consistency, and tears (mostly mine). During an average day Gabe sleeps 12 hours at night, then accumulates between 3-4 hours of naps depending on our daily agenda. I feared the possible effects of travel. Again, God's sovereignty was clear. My baby, who can barely hold his head up after 8 pm at home, was able to shift his schedule to match clock times in Cali (he's soooo smart). Though he didn't maintain the 12 hours, he did keep his nap and only had one rough night. He did the same when he came home! I can't explain it...Clearly God's hand was at work.

This was the face in all my visions. Sheer frustration and volume. This was taken the morning of our departure, we're both kinda home bodies.

Our first morning in Cali. The inflatable bed worked more like a trampoline when Gabe and I were both on the bed.

Gabe frequently entertained himself by crawling back and forth over obstacles. Pillows, Legos, and a Bumbo. Both Sarah and Drew commented on Gabe's durability, he takes a lick n' and keeps on tick n'.
Just coming out of a Nebraska winter, Gabe was more used to indoor temperatures in the upper 60's to mid 70's. On the warmer days in Cali Gabe just couldn't keep his shirt on. It resulted in sweat and rosy cheeks.

"My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness" -2 Corinthians 12:9

Cali Trip Part Two: Levi

Probably one of the best parts of our trip to California was that Gabe and Levi got to hang out together. Though, they are both in the play next to each other rather than play with each other stage they did seem to enjoy the proximity. Gabe learned to throw, dance, and seems to want to learn to walk a lot more than before we arrived.

Here is Mr. Levi.

Gabe and Levi playing with blocks.

Taking a bath together.

Pausing from a dance session for a picture.

Cali Trip Part One: Cole

When Sarah originally invited me to visit her family in Cali it was with the intention that I free her up to visit Cole in hospital. But, God had other plans. I arrived early Thursday evening and Baby Cole was already waiting for me. What a pleasant surprise! Little Cole is just that, little little little. At just over 6 lbs he's bite sized and irresistible.

Cole has been doing great since being home, and I am thrilled to have been able to meet him at his home rather than in hospital. As with most newborn babies, there isn't much to report about his little personality. Right now he likes to be held, sleep and eat!

Levi is working on 'gentle' and remembering the correct place to kiss his baby brother. I'm not sure what Gabe thought. Whenever I held Cole, Gabe crawled at his fastest to me. Maybe jealousy, maybe he thought I had an awesome toy. Who knows?!

While there, Gabe used Levi's car seat, which was front facing. He was rather indifferent to the change of scenery, except for the fact that little Cole was sitting right next to him. Whenever I turned around to check on him he would point to Cole, or tap Cole's seat. Just making sure I knew there was 'something' back there with him.

Our last night there we set up a little photo shoot with the boys. Cole had some solo shots first. This does NOT capture his teeny tiny cuteness.

One thing that surprised me was how alert Cole was at times. You could watch his little face and eyes trying to track faces and find the source of voices. What a sweet little face!

Just gazing at his Mama.

In the meantime

Gabe and I have been home for just over 24 hours; and while the most logical blog post would be a recap of our trip, it's been a bit overwhelming picking photos to share of our 5 days in Cali. So, while I continuing to debate and stew over those pictures I thought I'd share some pictures from last night. The three of us headed over to Grandpa and Grandma Holz's house for dinner (so nice not to have to cook dinner my first full day back!).

In addition to the great company, we enjoyed Strawberry Shortcake for dessert. To say that Gabe enjoyed it would probably be an understatement, he LOVED it. He was a sticky mess afterward and needed a bath before we even considered putting him into his car seat.

Here Gabe is clearly annoyed at my wanting his attention when he would rather be eating.

Attempting to share the delight with his Mama, so generous.

Too busy licking the bowl to be bothered by Grandpa.

Searching for any remaining bits of cool whip, strawberry syrup, and angle food cake.

Dr. Esposito

Just to keep you abreast:

Gabe meet with Dr. Esposito for his 1 year Pediatric Orthopedic follow-up. At this appointment they want to check that any Achilles tightness is reasonable. You don't want it soo tight that his foot begins to hook again, but you don't want it soo loose that his foot is floppy. His are great! Which is awesome since we never had the Achilles transplant procedure that 95% of Club Foot patients have. He did mention that Gabe's feet looked saggy on the x-ray, meaning he has flat feet. Poor Gabe, that's inherited from me. I told Dr. Esposito "You really shouldn't tell any woman there is a saggy part of her body!".

He also informed us that we should continue to wear the braces at night until Gabe is 3. At this point, it doesn't cause any comfort problems for Gabe so we're not concerned about the length of time in that aspect, but Gabe has grown out his current pair of shoes so that means we'll have to purchase a new set. Praise the Lord, when Gabe underwent all his casting and first set of braces he was dual-covered with insurance. But, now that Andy has changed jobs, and I'm on a year's leave Mr. Gabe's feet are considered a 'pre-existing' condition with his current insurance. That means that the $1300 shoes will be out of pocket, and our pockets are shallow.

We're applying to Shriner's Hospitals in hopes that they will take little man on and provide his last pair of shoes. But we know God is good and sovereign, He will find a way to get these shoes for Gabe. As we're confident that Gabe has an NFL career ahead of him (as a kicker of course), we feel equally confident that this will all be taken care of.

On a lighter note; Gabe weighed in just over 20 lbs and 2.5 feet. Dr. Esposito said he'd put money on Gabe being taller than me by the time he's 7! Gabe has his official 1 year appointment on the 22nd so I'll have better data at that time.

Zoo Day

Last Friday Andy had the day off from work. We decided to take full advantage of the weather and our extra time with Daddy. So...we headed to the zoo. In general Gabe was entertained but not real impressed by much.

Our first animal sighting

Watching the weird floaty things (a.k.a. fish)

Content

Very focused

Gabe really wanted to make eye contact.

Happy Easter

~Happy Easter Friends~

Gabe's initiation to Easter traditions started last week at our play group. We all headed out to a fellow mommy's place for a good old fashioned Easter Egg Hunt. Gabe did great! All I had to do was point out the eggs, and our little man crawled at the speed of light to collect them. Sometimes he needed a little assistance dropping them into the basket, I'm not sure he understood the whole concept, but it was a great success. This year Gabe was too young to take advantage of the treats inside, but I was able to help with that problem, and it's probably the last year he'll need any help with that.

This is a shot of the kiddos who managed to sit for a picture, there were many other kids/infants running around or just not in the mood. Gabe wasn't really in the mood either, but mom said 'stay' and as he's perfect he did so (wink wink).

Today we headed over to Grandma and Grandpa Holz's house for a FEAST! Great Grandma and Grandpa were there also, as well as my folks. We ate way too much and let Gabe do all the entertaining. He obliged, always a flirt.

We made an effort at a family photo, this is one of the best. You see enough of Gabe's face on this blog, I think you can imagine what it would look like if he were facing forward.

This one I include for the sake of a good laugh. What are my two men doing? Though I think you can blame me for Andy's pose, I might have demanded he have good posture for the picture. Should have said the same to Gabe.

Now we're home, both boys are napping and I'm making to do lists to prepare for Gabe's birthday party and our upcoming trip to California. Gabe and I leave Thursday to visit my sister and her family. Please pray for good travel, I hate to think the above picture might be just a preview of Gabe on the plane...