Bubble Lights

After an almost 15 year hiatus, look what is finally back on my Christmas tree! We're working on the decorations for the next few weeks, but Ella had a great time "helping" put up the lights.

Giving Thanks

The one time in his life when the turkey is bigger than he is!


Uh oh -- someone got in to the Monopoly game!


Truly excited about his 1st Thanksgiving!


Entertaining the crowd with a duet.

1st U of M Game

More Miles

(Abby is not so happy with her Cupcake Hat. Miles doesn't seem to mind the Santa Hat!)

Thankful

In the Nursery

The Newest Gabel

I'd like you to meet Miles Xavier Gabel. Born November 21, 2008 at 4:42 PM he weighed in at 8 pounds, 1 ounce and was 19.5 inches long.





We came home last night. It's good to be in my own bed and environment in order to recuperate.

Garland Obsession

One of my dreams is to have my entire Christmas tree decorated with homemade decorations. I can't stand the plastic Hallmark ornaments (sorry to all you who love collecting them!) although I will admit to a love of all things Lenox especially the ornaments!. Unfortunately with my husband came Star Wars Hallmark ornaments that he insists on putting on the tree every year. They blink and make noise. I hate them, but love him so there you go I have Star Wars on my tree (in the back).

Anyway, last year I decided the tree needs garland, but didn't want to go buy something...and last week I came across this: pompom garland! Now I am obsessed with making my own.

And then I found this and fell in love with those colorful popsicle stick snowflakes.

This is what happens when I'm pregnant. I throw caution to the wind and pay full price. Because I MUST HAVE THEM NOW! I really want to wait and have Sarah help me make the garland, but I don't think I can wait that long....

The Plan

The plan is to do an amnio on Thursday evening and if all is well (i.e. he can breathe on his own in this big bad world), then we have a c-section on Friday afternoon. I have three days to get everything set on the home front. Thankfully, Stephanie and Abby (pictured here) arrive Thursday evening so Ella won't be home alone for a few days.

Getting Ready

After weeks of telling me he wanted to get the bassinet set up, Daddy finally got me to move my knitting gear and get it ready to go. We put the bassinet up while Ella was napping. She found it after her nap and dragged me in there to show me where "baby go night-night". I was surprised she knew what it was, but I guess she did see other babies sleep in it (it has been passed around our circle of friends from baby to baby).



I also managed to finish packing our hospital bag (the black bag in the pictures).

It took Felix about an hour to find his new napping place -- at least until the little guy arrives and kicks him out.


Baby's pending arrival suddenly feels very real... and exciting!

Showering Baby

We were blessed with a totally awesome baby shower this past weekend!

There were three different kinds of chili and lots of fixings.


And a very CHOCOLATE cake (it was a football themed shower thus the phrase).


Me and David (I'm trying to talk him into wearing maize and blue)


Ella with our friend, Amy H. and with Mommy



Opening the many, many generous and beautiful gifts



We enjoyed a fabulous evening of watching college football with the many fantastic friends we have met in Vegas.

Now we wait....

36 Weeks... Or Not

We saw our OB again this week. After he measured and listened to the heart beat, he put us on the Newborn Stress Test (NST) machine...and left to deliver a baby. No talk of an amnio or delivering next week. No talk of anything. We assumed we'd seem after the NST. Sigh. I'm thrilled not to be delivering (I think) next week, but communication would be nice. I'm fine going week to week...but until when? All I know is that I have to have a scheduled c-section and it has to be before I go in to labor.

This is my frustration with doctors -- they can't seem to keep up with their patients. We waited for over 90 minutes to be seen this week, which is highly unusual so we were OK. Until we learned that the doctor had ALSO been sitting around for an hour waiting to see patients -- he just assumed his appointments were late. He shares his office with 3 other docs and each sees their own patients. Apparently the nurses were simply putting the other docs patients in rooms first. Then I found out I needed the above mentioned NST, which I could have been doing during that 90 minute wait, but my chart the previous week had not been marked that I needed one so none had been scheduled. Another nurse error. I know exactly which nurse is inept, but I have no idea how to tell the doctor or even if I should.

Then we went to make an appointment for next week. Only our doc is out of the office Monday and Tuesday (he doesn't work the days schools are closed and ours are next week those days), he does surgery on Wednesdays, and closes at 2 PM on Friday (my husband works until at least 2 PM). Thursday is the ONLY day we could make an appointment and my husband has a concert that evening so we have to be back up at school by 5:30 PM.

It's a shame that as the patient, we have to keep pushing for information that at this point should be given automatically by the doctor and that we have to schedule appointments completely around his schedule. So much for customer service. I'm hoping this is just Nevada health care (which is TERRIBLE in general). I do know that as an attorney, I have an ethical obligation to communicate with and be available to my client. I'm wondering why we don't expect the same of our doctors.

Leftovers

We do not often have leftovers around despite my attempt to at least get dinner and lunch out of every meal. But sometimes we do have them and sometimes we end up throwing them away. I hate doing that! My brother-in-law sent me this British website today called "Love Food -- Hate Waste". It contains many ideas on how to avoid wasting food and recipes for using up leftovers or food getting close to the expiration date. I have some old bananas in the freezer -- I'm thinking of trying this Mushy Banana Sour Cream Pancake recipe... if I can figure out what soft brown sugar and syrups are!

Crock Pot Pasta Fagioli

I love my Crock Pot. But I rarely find a recipe that I LOVE in the Crock Pot. I'm usually disappointed in the results and use it mainly for the convenience. This Pasta Fagioli recipe,from A Year of CrockPotting, however, is an exception -- I LOVE this recipe! Serve with nice crusty bread and maybe a salad and you have a hearty meal.

Just a few thoughts:
~ The recipe says to use at least a 6 quart crock pot, but mine is a 4 quart and it worked fine.

~ I used chicken stock rather than beef stock and Great Northern beans for the "white beans".

~ You may want to cut back the Tabasco -- we used the full tablespoon and this has a kick!

~ You could definitely make this without meat -- it didn't add much in my opinion. If I add meat next time, it will be in the form of meat balls.

~ You can definitely add more pasta. A half-cup seemed skimpy to me, but I went with it. Next time I'll use at least a cup, if not more. This is also a great recipe to slip in whole wheat pasta because there is so much flavor elsewhere you don't notice the difference in the pasta at all (I snuck it in and no one noticed).

Knitting for Baby

Can Boys Wear Cupcakes?

I pondered this question in the midst of my infatuation with knitting cupcake hats (I am still infatuated). I've had this one finished for months, but just got the "cherry" on today. I don't think boys can do cupcakes, sorry. But perhaps with some added sequins as sprinkles, it will work for a little girl! This one is the Cappuccino Cupcake Hat -- knit smaller than the original hat.

Falling Airline Prices

I heard in passing yesterday (on the news or somewhere) that prices on holiday airfare were starting to lower considerably. We bought tickets on Southwest a while ago for Mitch to fly to Philly to pick up Sarah for Christmas -- on December 23rd. Ugh. It was the most we've ever paid for airfare for that trip! When I heard that prices were falling, I immediately headed to Southwest's website to see if our fare had lowered. Sure enough, it had!

We love Southwest for a number of reasons, but our favorite Southwest perk is the ability to go back later and "change" your flight so you pay LESS for the airfare. In this case I "re-booked" Mitch and Sarah on the exact same flight (same time and date) and because the airfare was cheaper today than when we bought it, we now have a $62 credit to use on a future flight. You have to use the credit within 1 year of the original date you purchased the flight, but that is not a problem for us.

We could have saved closer to $200, but that would've required a flight with two stops and we avoid that at all costs! Southwest does not charge for the change even if we had changed the date or the flight -- we still would've netted a savings in this case. On most other airlines, any change will incur a minimum of a $100 fee (if that hasn't gone up recently).

If you've thought about traveling over the holidays, I suggest going shopping for flights -- we definitely saw a drop in prices and saved ourselves some cash on our next flight.