Gabriela's Blog: Our Growing Girl!

Hi all! It's been about a month - a busy month - since we last blogged. Gaby is 9.5 months old now!!! I know I say this all the time but boy, time sure does fly! We have an 8x10 of Gaby taken at 3 months old on the wall and I walk past it all the time and just cannot believe that Gaby was ever that small or that she is as big as she is now. Gaby is amused by the picture - not sure if she gets that it's her but whenever she sees it, she giggles a little.

Speaking of growth, Gaby had her 9 month check up today. Since her 6 month appointment, she's gained about 2 pounds and is now 22.5 pounds (95th percentile). She's also grown about 2 inches and is 28.25 inches (75th percentile). She was a real trooper as she got her first flu shot! Little does she know that next month is going to be double trouble - a flu booster shot and the H1N1 flu shot too!

A month ago Gaby was cutting her first teeth on the bottom and we are pretty certain that she is cutting her top teeth as we speak. She's been much more fussy that ususal the last few days and her sleep has definitely been different from normal. But even through all of this, she laughs, giggles, smiles, and is generally a happy little girl. Gaby really has developed a great sense of humor. She gets when things are not normal (e.g., me wearing a stuffed animal on my head) and thinks that's hilarious!

Here's Gaby just clownin' around on an evening dining out...

We spent the Sunday of Labor Day weekend with our friends Dana and David Sieden and their son, Jackson (aka, Gaby's boyfriend). We had such a great time - we took the shuttle from Playa Vista to Marina del Rey for lunch and then we took the ferry bus around the Marina. It was the kid's first boat ride! Here's Gaby and me hanging out checking out the other boats on the water.

Gaby loves Dana and Jackson!

Here are the Daddies! A great shot of David, Jackson, Alex, and Gaby...

We have so few family shots - love this one!

Here are a set of shots we took on Gaby's 9 month birthday - you can see Gaby's "chompers" in this shot - just two tiny little teeth on the bottom!

Gaby loves to chew on her fingers...

Daddy and daughter play a little bit of "patty cake"! Check out those adorable shoes on her!!!

Oh - a happy girl!!!

What a beautiful smile!

Gaby has been getting closer and closer to crawling - thankfully we went through the house and got it baby-proofed this last week! Here she is in her crawling position - she gets on her hands and knees and then rocks back and forth until she's had enough and then she flattens herself on the floor and scoots backward. She's perfected the art of the backwards scoot - it's gotten her into some interesting tight spots! Gaby's becoming increasingly frustrated because her primary mode of locomotion (the backward scoot) only gets her further away from the things she wants in front of her so I think it's only a matter of time before she gets to moving forward!

Sometimes Gaby scoots herself under the furniture - (above) here she is stuck underneath our couch. It was funny...until it wasn't for her anymore!! Here she is (below) stuck underneath the pack n'play in our hotel in San Francisco.

Check out that tushy!!!

Alex, Gaby, and I took a long weekend and flew up to San Francisco last week. Gaby continues to prove she's a star traveler - we got her set up on the plane and she fell asleep even before the plane took off! We arrived at SFO and took BART into the city. We stayed at Embarcadero Center, right across the street from the Ferry Building. It was a fabulous location! We love San Francisco and especially love that we can get around with public transportation and on foot.

Below is a shot of Gaby I took on an early morning walk near the hotel. We are walking along the water and that's the Oakland Bay Bridge in the background. Gaby was fascinated by the big birds we saw as we walked.

We walked from the hotel along the wharf to Ghiradelli Square - it was the annual Chocolate Festival! I really believe Gaby is in her element in the large crowds - she loved just watching the people as they walked by. She is such a flirt and loves to ham it up around everyone!

We enjoyed brunch with our "Cousins by the Bay" - here's Gaby with Jody Quincy at Park Chow, the sister restaurant to the restaurant Jody works at in the East Bay. We also saw Walt, Sarah, and Allison. Molli and Lev also joined us - they just got engaged this last weekend!