25 months!

So as crazy as it may seem, it seems like forever ago that we celebrated Gabrielle’s birthday. I kept thinking to myself, “Isn’t it about time to be updating the blog?!” Yay. I love that feeling!

Life with our little chatter box is so fun, as usual. She talks non-stop, and we are at the point where we have many logical conversations during the day. I never imagined her talking in full sentences. She gets the difference between “a little bit” and “a whole bunch.” She’ll tell you what she prefers. She’ll tell you her “favorite.” She finally knows her colors. I give a lot of credit to her color-changing night light. Because of it, she also knows the colors turquoise and light blue.

Some of her mispronunciations are hilarious. “Fodder” = spider, “O-Nits” = orange, “done-tin” = donut, those are just the few I can think of at the moment. When she says, “I do’ed it” instead of “I did it”, I have to chuckle.

Gabrielle has been able to spend quite a bit of time out of doors, especially when Grandma and Grandpa Sexton take her back to their house. With Grandpa’s multiple gardens, she has a grand time with the watering can and hose. He also showed her how to dig up worms. (She knows that birds eat worms so they are especially interesting.) There is also a super-fun playhouse with a kitchen inside and my old Cabbage Patch dolls, so Gabrielle can amuse herself for hours. She also likes the tire swing and will tell me to push her “high” and “fast”! It’s lotsa fun at G&G’s!

A day ago, Gabrielle proudly announced, “I paintin’.” Not a good sign when she did not have access to paint. Instead she found a black Sharpie on my desk and proceeded to draw a picture across the door and wall. Too bad there wasn’t a picture of my face (as well as Adam’s.) Luckily, non-acetone nail polish remover worked beautifully. Needless to say, there are no more Sharpie’s out. Anywhere. Until she’s 10!

She gets the concept of our neighborhood and our family. The other night at dinner, I was saying that I loved her and Poppy loved her, and I love Poppy and Poppy loves Mommy, and she loves Mommy, and she loves Poppy. And she said, “That’s everything!” And so it is. In so many ways.







The Sharpie Incident

2 Years Old!!

OMG!! Gabrielle is TWO! She is such a little girl—carrying purses, wearing mommy’s high heels, and rarely without her sunglasses. She is multi-faceted though—she loves to be outside, looking at bugs, playing with her bouncy ball, riding her tricycle, and climbing like a monkey at the park.

Whenever the weather is nice, Gabrielle goes to the park. She has had good practice climbing up ladders because of the playhouse at Grandma’s. It amazes me that she can get up a vertical ladder. She has about 13 bruises on her legs to prove it! We recently had some pictures taken of her wearing a skirt. We have it hanging in the kitchen, and whenever she passes it, she says, “See bruises!” I think she’s proud of her little battle wounds.

Last Saturday we had a joint birthday party for her and her Jammie, who turned 60. It was a fun shin-dig. Gabrielle got tons of cute clothes and a lot of fun toys. Her favorite gift was her Disney princess pink tricycle complete with streamers and a horn. Poppy put blocks on the pedals, and she is so close to being able to tool around the neighborhood. Mommy attached a rope to the front though, because she still needs some help getting around! Too fun! This tricycle also caused her to say her first 5-word sentence. “I have my own bike.” She also got a shopping cart that is pretty cool. She “went shopping” in the pantry and “bought” Caesar dressing, tomato soup, mandarin oranges, and fruit punch juice boxes. Mmmmmmm!

I have lost count of Gabrielle’s words—it’s in the hundreds now. Pretty amazing.

We love her, no doubt about it! She’s our little pride and joy! It seems like yesterday we brought her home from the hospital. I can't remember what life was like without our little darling! Without a doubt, this has been the best two years of my life, for sure!

Here are a few of her most recent pics.

Until next month! Take Care!
Colleen

Easter Sunday




The Two-Year Photo!


The Birthday Girl!










With cousin Lily

23 Months!

Oh my! What a month! And just think...one more month until my baby is 2!

Gabrielle is officially talking in sentences. She puts them together herself. Today: "I got you, Momma. I got you, Poppy." "Where'd the shirt go?" I am quite impressed with my little "Gabba" as she calls herself. "Gabba" is a good name for her! We are working on remembering things. I ask her what she had for breakfast or lunch, who we visited/who visited us...things like that. She remembered the Salsa CD was in the DVD player. I was the one who forgot!

Since last month, Gabrielle has discovered Max & Ruby on Nick Jr. She loves, loves, loves this show. "Wooby Show" as she calls it. She loves Ruby's grandma, and her favorite episodes have the grandma in them. While I have never been a big fan of TV, I love that Nick Jr. has no commercials. It's so pleasant! Another show that Gabrielle likes is Wonder Pets. They're these silly half animated/half real-looking animals. She calls this show, "Wo Pets." There's also good 'ol Sesame Street. However, I have no idea when SS is on-we always watch the On Demand version, and Gabrielle insists that we watch the opening song about 5 times so she can sing along. After that, there's not much interest in the show, so I fast forward to Elmo's World, which she loves. Lastly, Gabrielle has a favoite DVD-The Potty Movie starring Hannah. We talk about Hannah like she is a member of the family. Gabrielle loved the book, and so I thought the DVD might be cute too. It is. And it works! Gabrielle is so interested in potty training.

Gabrielle has a silly habit of saying "I'm sorry" for pretty much everything. I really don't think she got it from me or Adam. She'll bump into you or something like that and say, "Sorry Gabba" or "I sorry." It's funny--but a passing phase I do believe.

Just last week, we played hide & seek for the first time. I hid first, and Poppy helped Gabrielle count. Next it was Gabrielle's turn to hide. She put her face into her bin of play food with her behind sticking straight up! We are working on good hiding places. :) Gabrielle loves to play in the Jeep. She plays in there almost everyday it seems. When I get in the car in the morning and turn it on, my turn signals are on, the fog lights are on, the bright lights are on, my vanity mirrors are down with the lights on, my garage door opener/closer is missing, my sunglasses are missing, my bluetooth is missing, the fan in on full blast, and usually the glove compartment is open. If I wasn't already awake, this does the trick!! HA!

She's too cute and too funny. We love that little girl!! Here are a few of her most recent pics!

Gabrielle loves Grandpoppy.


Eating at the table "big girl style"


She looks so grown up in this picture!

22 Months!

Happy Almost Valentine's Day, Family & Friends!

Gabrielle is 22 months old today! She is getting so close to her 2nd birthday! Adam and I are just amazed and often reflect on her first few months of life and how much she's grown!

We are getting accustomed to the "Wonderful World of Talking." Gabrielle is a chatterbox with a capital C! I used to be able to list all of her words, but I cannot do that any longer. Her vocabulary is too big now! Her recollection for the names of things just amazes me. If you ask her what anything is, she'll most likely be able to tell you. She is especially good at counting to 3. We have been working on how old she is going to be in April. Whenever she says "two", her little lips curl out. It's so funny/cute/only a mom would notice these things. She also likes to practice her ABC's. "A-B-C" sounds pretty good.

This month Gabrielle has actually gotten songs stuck in her head, and she will sing them throughout the day. The most popular ones are, "Rock-a-Bye Baby," "Silent Night," "Elmo's World," and the Sesame Street theme song.

Besides holding strong to her prayer convictions, Gabrielle also is like a mini Emily Post. Little Miss Manners says "please", "thank-COO", "welcome", and "bless you" at all the right times. How long will this last? I think I'm in heaven!

I had a snow day on Wednesday, so I got to take Gabrielle to Rollerama for a pre-school skate and lunch with Elmo. Normally, Gabrielle loves Elmo. (Who doesn't?!) However, this Elmo looked like a "carnie Elmo" so she was terrified of him, and I really don't blame her. (Elmo is not supposed to be 6'1" with a mustache!) Other than that, she really enjoyed tooling around the roller rink with her stroller and Bun-Bun. Rollerama is awesome-we did the hokey-pokey, the chicken dance, and rocked out to the Ghostbusters song. I think we need a disco ball in our basement.....

Speaking of which, we continue our basement rituals of dancing to techno music and jumping in and out of the tents. Now Gabrielle likes to be pulled around on a sleeping bag. I taught her the difference between "push" and "pull." There are teachable moments all the time!

Hope everyone is doing well. Until next month, stay warm and healthy!

Poppy's Shoes




Happy Bday, Mama!




Grandpa Sexton's Sneakers


ROLLERAMA!!


Too cold to swing??! No way!!


Meet the newest addition to the Sulkowski family...our niece, Aili Mary-Irene born on Jan. 26th. She is the absolutely precious! Gabrielle and Aili will have lots of fun together someday!

21 Months!

Yikes! I keep getting later and later with my posts. I really need to get back to the 12th of every month. Or the 14th...not too much later than that though!

Happy 2010 to all our dear family and friends. I sincerely hope that the year is going well for you.

At the time of my last update, Gabrielle was anxiously awaiting the arrival of Christmas. We had a party or dinner plans on the 23rd, 24th, 25th, and 26th. Gabrielle got to celebrate Christmas at Grandma & Grandpa Sexton's, our house, Jammie & Grandpop's, Aunt Tui & Uncle Joe's, and then Great Nana and Cousin Cadyn's birthdays. Talk about a lot of excitement!! Gabrielle loved her gifts this year. Some of her favorites were: a kitchen from Jammie & Grandpops, an American Girl doll from Grandma & Grandpa, play food from her Godparents, a tunnel and tent from Aunt Bethany and Uncle Anson, and a garbage/recycling truck from mommy & poppy. With all these new toys, Gabrielle didn't even know where to start....Needles to say, she keeps herself busy.

It was so nice to have a couple weeks off work--Poppy too--that we were able to spend a lot of quality family time together. Gabrielle is talking up a storm now. I know I said that last month, but it's really exponential, as I'm sure it will be next month too. She refers to herself as "Gabba." So, she'll say "Gabba more milk" which is awesome because this is the first time I'm having a conversation with her. I'll say, "What do you say?" and she'll say, "please!" and I say, "Coming right up, my darling dear!"

For as sweet and angelic is my angel-baby Gabrielle, she is a little more fiesty lately. I fear we are entering into a little "terrible twos." She wants her shoes off, and then when I take them off, she wants them on. I pick her up, she wants down, and then she wants up as soon as I put her down. She is testing her limits all the time and showing her little strong-willed personality. It's ridiculousy cute (right now!)

One thing though--I know I have said it before-this kid will dance 24/7 if you let her (or if you have the energy!) Her favorite place to dance is in your arms. So Adam and I definitely get a workout bounding around the house to various techno beats and salsa tunes. If she can't get her groove on, she'd rather not listen to it. So as much as I like "Jelly Man Kelly" and "Puff the Magic Dragon," she much prefers remixed Abba. (Must be from my spinning days when she was in utero...is all I can think of!)

This is so great...Gabrielle loves to pray. She likes to pray at every meal. She holds our hands and always says "Amen." She reminds us to pray if she thinks we might forget. This is just too precious-if I look at her through one open eye during prayer time-she will sneak a quick blown kiss to me. She's just too darn cute.


Happy Winter!
Colleen, Adam, & Sister Mary Gabrielle

Super Cutie!








Gabrielle ADORES her cousin, Victoria!


Staring at Vic...










Papparazzi Shot

20 Months!

Well, we are decked and ready for Christmas at the Sulkowski household! The tree is trimmed and the gifts are wrapped! Gabrielle is loving every minute of it...

Last month we had a wonderful time at Thanksgiving. We all had a lot of time off from work. My dad came to stay for several days and joined us for dinner. Gabrielle didn't have the best Thanksgiving: She decided that she didn't want a nap, so the afternoon into evening was a little rough. Grandpapa got to baby-sit the day after Thanksgiving. He was in seventh heaven. Poppy and I ran in the Fantasy of Lights 5K, so Gabrielle stayed home where it was WARM! She got some early Christmas gifts from Grandpapa that she loved, especially her new guitar.

This month marks remarkable gains as far as Gabrielle's vocabulary. She has said a couple of short sentences..."Mama's coat" and "Eat ham"...(not sure why it's always ham-we don't even have ham here about 90% of the time!) I love listening to all her new words. Language acquisition is so fascinating!!

This is funny-Adam cracks his knuckles quite a bit, and I never even notice. Not Gabrielle, however. She is thoroughly disgusted with his little habit! When she hears him, she grimaces and says, "Crack!" She really detests the noise. I don't blame her!

She is enthralled with the Christmas tree. She loves to point out the broken lights. She'll say "off" or "broke" to let us know. (We have an old tree-what can I say? There are a lot of lights out! For the record though, I think it is the most beautiful tree!) Gabrielle loves this little ornament that I loved when I was little. It's a plastic bulb that opens and closes and inside is a little bear. I remember playing with it when I was her age. She'll point out her new Elmo ornament from Grandma if you ask her. She also loves the train. What kid doesn't like a toy train? She helped make the pine boughs for the stairs.

Gabrielle had her first Christmas party of the season a couple of weeks ago. That day I baked some Pumpkin Chocolate Crunch Cookies. She loved them. At the party, she helped herself to a few other sugary indulgences. I was none too happy. She consumed more sugar that day than any other day of her life. It brought out the WORST in my little angel baby...running around like a mad woman, pulling my hair, she poked Adam in the eye, and then tried to poke me in the eye after we told her to be more careful, you name it...she did it. I mean obviously sugar isn't good for you, so do not feed your children sugar, people. We're back on our regular diet here-FOR GOOD! Unsweetened everything!

I am also pleased to report that Gabrielle now says the words that she normally signed. "Mo Milk!" YAY!! Oh gosh-one more thing...I taught her to blow her nose about a year ago. It's very useful. Last night she blew her nose and she said, "Good Girl!" It was very sweet and cute. I love her...that's obvious! :P

I will have pics posted soon. It's on my to-do list along with a mill.+ other things;)

Wishing you a very merry and blessed Christmas! Until next year...
Colleen, Adam, & Gabrielle

Gabrielle loves shoes. I'm sure pictures like this on the blog will be very common!






I love this one with Grandpapa!


Gabrielle also loves bows...Oftentimes, Adam and I forget we have them in our hair, too!





What a work out!!

19 Months!

Well, we finally had to get some cabinet door locks. Gabrielle took my mascara, and I have yet to find it. How is that possible? I have looked everywhere. I rarely leave the house without a coat of mascara, so I had to take an emergency trip to the drug store--LOL!

Here's something funny and what I consider to be rather interesting/unusual...When Gabrielle is mad, she threatens to bite, but she won't-thank goodness. She'll hold my hand right up to her little teeth, but she has never bitten me. And she has been reallllllly mad too-milk instead of apple juice, no binky during the day, getting mommy's make-up taken away-her restraint in not biting is amazing to me. I don't think she'll have anger management issues! She is dramatic though. She drops down to her knees and puts her hands in the air like "Why, Mom, why must you be so unreasonable?!"

On Oct. 17th, Gabrielle attended her first MSU football game and tailgate with Uncle Don, Aunt Kristin, and Uncle Jim. I must admit, I was very nervous as to how she would like it. Boy, was I ever surprised! We made it mid-way through the 4th quarter, and only left because we wanted to avoid the crowd getting back to the car. She would have made it to the end if we really wanted to. (A note to all moms out there: if you are ever attending a big stadium event with a little one in diapers, do NOT use the bathroom for diaper changes. Go to the first aid station. There's no line, it's cleaner, and more comfortable!)

Halloween was pretty much the most fun day ever. The weather was fantastic, and Gabrielle looked adorable in her monkey costume. Because she loves monkeys so much, she loved dressing up in her outfit. She actually got to wear it 3 times at various events such as a pumpkin party and to her Kindermusik class. On Halloween night, we set out to the houses in our neighborhood. There's about 20 homes. Gabrielle insisted on walking the whole way. The most perplexing part of the night was not why people were passing her dressed up in all sorts of costumes; she couldn't figure out why I didn't want her to sit down and dump out her loot after each house. I can completely understand though--she really wanted to see what she got!! She had one little pouch of M&M's, and I think she was in heaven. My middle schoolers enjoyed the rest of the candy--at least those who got a 100% on their spelling tests!

We made a 2nd trip to the apple orchard. (It's the only place to get the best cider!) The weather was much nicer this time around, and Gabrielle got to enjoy the fun stuff there is at Spicer's. They have these HUGE slides made out of plastic tubing, and lo and behold, our little dare-devil thought they were the coolest things ever. I take my camera everywhere, but alas, I did not have it this time around!

With all the wonderful weather, we have enjoyed several playdates, and Grandma & Grandpa Sexton have taken Gabrielle to the park multiple times. Last week, Gabrielle had her first gymnastics experience with G & G, and then went Big Boy for breakfast. She loved Bounce so much, that Grandma had a hard time getting her to leave! Gabrielle will be enjoying her new hobby every Friday!

I guess that's about it. Until next month, stay healthy, and have a wonderful, bountiful, blessed Thanksgiving.


First MSU Game


Taking care of business...




Trick or Treat!


We've always wanted a 3 car garage!


@ Gymnastics--Wearing a leotard, leg warmers, and a pink tutu:):)