Expanding Vocabulary

Just a note...mostly for documentation. Gabriella has been saying a lot of new words lately, as I mentioned in one of the recent blogs. I just wanted to share a couple of her newest ones.

"Chhsss..." (Cheese) One of her favorite foods

"Muuuh" (Moo- like a cow)

"Bee, Bee, Bumba" (Bees, Bees, Bumblebees) She sings this a lot.

"Gabriella" (Yes, Gabriella!) * True, she only said this once...but she said it PERFECTLY...and I have a witness! haha

Niagara On the Lake, Canada

Since I had the summer off of work, I decided to take advantage of time off, cheap airfare, the fact Gabriella can fly for free, and Noni & Popi's (my parents) townhouse. Since Kad had just taken time off for our family trip to Florida, he stayed home to work. Gabriella and I flew by ourselves from Atlanta to Buffalo. She flew great both ways! I tried scheduling the flights during 'sleep' time, hoping she'd sleep-not a good idea. No sleep, but she was entertained...and entertaining! She made lots and lots of friends at the airport and on the plane. I really couldn't have asked for her to be better behaved-thank God. Anyways, Noni & Popi picked us up from the airport, where we drove across the border into Niagara on the Lake, Canada. The town is so beautiful, so quaint...and the main street is 5 blocks from the townhouse. So, we walked into town almost daily. The weather was around 70-75 degrees- a wonderful break from 100 degree Hotlanta! We walked a lot, went to a couple of parks, went shopping, ate out, visited a couple of small towns, went for drives, and got to see lots of family. We had a great, relaxing time.

She thought she would hold Noni's hand while in the stroller...the whole time we walked through one town- it was SO sweet.

Still holding hands...in NY

Driving with Popi!

Popi let her walk and smell the flowers

Giving a little bear 'ooo wee's'

Visiting with Cousin Kathy

"I'm loving this swinging thing!"

Wheee!

One of the beautiful parks we walked through

Our EARLY morning walk through town

Mommy and G stopped to pick up breakfast at the bakery (the only thing open that early!)...we took it to the park and ate...fun

Stretching along the way ;)

"I don't know if I like the smell of those flowers..."

Cutie pie

On the front porch of the townhouse

That's my girl!

In the flowers

"What do you mean, I can't eat the grass??"

Pretty purplicious

Reading Dr. Seuss with Popi...her new favorite author ;)

Riding the cow at the ice cream shop- delicious!

2 fortune cookies from the yummy Asian buffet...we're stuffed!

"Don't I look fab in Noni's French shoes?"

Happy girl...you know why

Swing, swing!

"Um, I think I like swinging..."

There are gorgeous flowers every step of the way through NOTL

Along the sidewalk, after lunch w/ N & P

W/ N & P in the beautiful weather

Pretty!

Aren't they cute?

Heading out for a walk

Auntie B w/ nephew Noah & Auntie V w/ great niece Gabriella...so cute!

Cute cousins, Noah (8 mo.) & Gabriella (13 mo.)

Tracey and Noah looking sweet

Cousin Cody holding G outside

She went right with Cousin Larry!

Cousin Sharon, Aunt Vicki, Auntie Peggy & Grandma

"Popi, you love me, don't you?"

SO sweet...snuggling with Auntie Vi

Baby Booty Bounce

Gabriella created her own dance move while on vacation. It's called the "Baby Booty Bounce" and it cracks us up!!

Swingin' Sweetie

Gabriella LOVED swinging on the 'baby swings' in the different parks around Niagara on the Lake. Daddy wasn't there to see her for the first time, so we did this clip for him!

New Things I'm Doing

I wanted to update you on some cute things Gabriella has been doing lately. She is almost 14 months old, and seems to be learning SO fast right now! She is listening, talking, reaching, exploring, and copying everything! Here are some of my favorite things she's been doing this month:

* Saying new words- ex: Nona, Pop, Fish, Hat, Map, Yeah, Uh-uh
* Showing interest in the alphabet- she loves the ABC song! She actually said (yes I have witnesses!) "ABCD" several times, and "HIJ" twice.
* She's a dancing machine! She loves music-always has. But now she's incorporated some new 'moves' such as the "Baby Booty Bounce" (hilarious video to follow), and the "Word World Shimmy"
* She has two animals she sleeps with- Salty the Seahorse and Blacky the Lab. When you go to get her from her crib, she hands you the two of them. Then you hand them back. This goes on until you just pick her up for that very necessary diaper change! ;)
* Putting on her own bib (we have to fasten in the back)
* Trying desperately to put on her own socks and shoes. She seriously opens the socks up and tries to put them over her toes. She works hard on this skill, haha!
* Putting hats on her head as well as others.
* Making funny (sometimes scary!) gurgling noises on purpose
* Taking baby steps- Love this!
* Blowing kisses
* Doing the motions to "Wheels on the Bus" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider"
* Trying to feed herself with a spoon. She takes the spoon, picks the food up, and places it on the spoon. Then she feeds herself- with both her left and right hand...hmmm...
* Waving at and making friends with anyone around, strangers included. For instance, when we flew last week, before we got off the plane, she had to say goodbye to about 15 people... individually. She had made friends w/ everyone w/in 6 rows- thank God for friendly airplane passengers who help to entertain a 1 year old baby that wants to play peek-a-boo and blow them kisses!
* Finding ANY flower, ANY where...and 'smelling' (sniffing wildly) it. She sees them on everything- real ones outside, from inside the car, on a painting (even abstract- scary I know), in a picture, a tiny one in a book, on a doll...it's pretty crazy. You know to look for one when the sniffing starts!

She is SO much fun right now! She brings such joy to us every day. Wow, what a sweet blessing.

More PCB, FL Pictures

I took my "nice" camera to attempt to take a few "good" pics at the beach. We went a couple of evenings, after dinner. Both days, we barely avoided the rain- so the pics were snapped quick! It was really windy, so please excuse our hair! haha... We had fun walking around in the soft white sand, listening to the peaceful ocean, and watching the beautiful sunset. The beach- what a wonderful place to be.