Ella's First Swim!

That's right... on January 29th we went SWIMMING! Well, actually hot tubbing.... Ella LOVED the water and I think she would've jumped right in had she known what she was doing. She loved to splash the water by kicking her feet but couldn't quite figure out why her face was getting so wet!

I'm with the Band!

And that about says it all when it comes to the Gabel kids! Thanks to Benjamin and Noah, we now have a shirt that let's everyone know it! And a little snooze time in the car on the way home from church yesterday ... with her new shades!

I wannabe a Super Model!

We went for Ella's 6 month check-up on Monday and she is staying long and thin! She was 27 inches and weighed 15 lbs 8 ounces. She will soon out grow her infant car seat (at 29 inches) so we are now shopping around for a new car seat. Dr. Noah also told us that Ella is perfectly capable of sleeping 10-12 hours straight through the night and not just the 8 hours she'd convinced mommy of. So the doc encouraged us to let her cry and warned it could take up to a week to settle in. Monday night Ella woke up twice, but only cried for about 30 minutes each time. Last night she slept all the way through until about 5:45 AM. Not bad, except she'd gone to bed an hour later than normal so this was her usual 4 AM wake up time. But this time she managed to yell for just a few minutes and then went back to sleep. Hopefully by this time next week ALL of the Gabels will be resting straight through the night!

Lance(ette) The Turtle

For those of you in the dark, the newest Veggie Tales has been out and the newest Silly Song is "Ukulele Karaoke with Bob" who sings a song written by the French Peas about Lance the Turtle. Really. If you have no idea what I'm talking about you need to get with it. Anyway, Ella had a baby-sitter last night (Jazz Caballero) and she made Ella this cute stuffed turtle! Ella loves it! You can't really tell from the picture, but Ella was very content just sitting there, looking out the window and hugging her turtle. Thank you, Jazz!!

Happy 6 Months, Ella!

Ella Grace is six months old today. She was supposed to be in bed an hour ago and is currently screaming at me in the background (for what reason I have no idea). She decided two days ago that she does not like to go to bed -- at all. So despite the fact that she's full of food, is dry, and tired... she sits there screaming for whatever reason that her father and I can not seem to figure out. But I digress. . . .

Ella is definitely growing up! She started rolling over (from back to front) this past month. Lately she's been eating up a storm of baby food. Ella prefers fruit (of course) and lots of flavors mixed together (tonight she had squash and apple sauce). She is also reaching out to grab everything -- including items off the shelf at the store. Her favorite toys include her plastic links and keys, a neon colored duck and all ducks that squeak or quack at her, and absolutely anything that makes noise when she shakes it.

Her 6 month check-up with Dr. Noah is on Monday

and we'll find out how much she has grown physically.

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

Oh man is it ever COLD here in the desert! We're talking winter jackets, mittens, and hats weather. We had a little visitor at our front door the other evening. It was supposed to be below freezing outside and we couldn't bring ourselves to let him fend for himself for the night. Despite Felix's LOUD and EMPHATIC protesting... the little guy spent the night warmly tucked in to bed with us. We put him back out the next afternoon (after knocking on doors to find his owner) -- we figured the best way for someone to find him was outside.

Other than that... we spent MLK Day cleaning. Our little apartment is looking spiffy and much cleaner than at 8:00 AM this morning. Makes us both happy.

Michelle and Adam are coming over this evening for a little Mexican cook-out. Carne asada and other goodies. Looking forward to it! And for the first time since about December 2005... my wedding rings fit! Woo hoo! Now hopefully my feet will shrink back to normal....

And we're moving....

At least in cyberspace! My Babysites webpage is 75% full and in order to get more space, I have to pay and who wants to do that?? So I figure I can do the same type of thing right here for free! Plus I can add our other beautiful daughter, Sarah, to the pages! Sadly, the ladybugs are gone until I can find a way to re-create them....

So here is our new "home". Now I'm going to go create the site and move information over. We'll be back with Ella's 6 month updates in a few weeks!