What? I'm 5 months old already?

Gaby turned 5 months old Friday (May 8th). It came as quite a shock to her - the photo below says it all! Still, all is well in Gaby's house - she continues to grow and do new things. As of last Saturday, our most recent weigh in, Gaby was just about 18 pounds - a full 1.5 pounds heavier than at her 4 month appointment just three weeks earlier! Gaby's been dealing with a fair amount of congestion over the last month - the doctor believes the result of a dust allergy. We're doing all we can to address the problem but even still, Gaby remains in good spirits. We've had lots of fun over the last month - below we tell the story since our last posting in photos.

Gaby celebrated her first Passover this year. We enjoyed two seders - one at Babushka Maya's house on the first night and one at Grammy Michele and Papa Arnie's house on the third night. Below is a photo of Gaby wearing her froggy pajamas just for this occasion (at Grammy & Grandpa's house), courtesy of our dear friend Cookie Stern (remember the Passover song: "One morning when Pharoah awoke in his bed, there were frogs in his bed and frogs on his head...").

Gaby joined us for the first part of the seder before retiring to bed. Still a little too young to recite the four questions but we have no doubt she'll be in good shape to join her cousins next year!

Gaby continues to enjoy her baths - this was just too precious!

We finally put together Gaby's exer-saucer a couple weeks ago - here is Gaby's maiden voyage at the helm. She seemed so knowledgeable about it - turns out she'd been playing in the exer-saucer at her daycare for a week before she tried it out at home!

We've taken to exploring new parts of LA county when we can. A couple weeks back, we visited Montrose, a neighborhood in Glendale, just north and slightly east of Los Angeles. We had a lovely brunch, visited the local farmer's market, and then headed off to the Descanso Gardens, a beautiful public garden, nearby. Below are some photos we took with Gaby at the gardens.

Planes, trains, and automobiles - these are all the modes of transportation Gaby can now claim she has taken. Last weekend, we took a train trip from LA's Union Station to San Juan Capistrano to celebrate Babushka Maya's birthday. We had a good time on the train - it was just a little more than an hour down to Capistrano. Union Station is just a beautiful, old train station. We got there early and enjoyed walking around the station and the outside grounds.

We met up with Aunt DeeDee (Alex's sister) at the train station in San Juan Capistrano - she came up from San Diego to celebrate with us. We enjoyed a great brunch at Rios House Cafe, just across the train tracks from the train platform.

After brunch, we walked around the charming stores in a historic district of San Juan Capistrano and then went to visit the Mission nearby.

Just this weekend, the three of us enjoyed a visit to Larchmont Village, an area of LA not far from the gorgeous homes of Hancock Park. It's a neat street with lots of shops and restaurants. We had brunch and walked around, visiting some of the beautiful, albeit over-priced, stores on the street. Just a really relaxing way to spend a Saturday.

Here's Gaby and mommy in Larchmont Village - don't you just love this sun hat?

And finally, today was Mother's Day! My first as a mommy - what a wonderful day! We enjoyed brunch with Grammy, Grandpa, Uncle Jeff, Isabella, Michael, Lucas, and the entire Kaye family. Check out the photo of Gaby sitting up - it's the first time we've seen her sitting up unassisted - OK, she was upright on her own for 10-20 seconds but it's something!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mommies out there!!!!

Gaby turns 4 (months, that is)!

Well, tomorrow marks Gabriela's 4 months on this earth - pretty amazing from her parent's perspective. She's a remarkable little girl - growing by leaps and bounds (see proof below). She's also a big-time traveler - we just returned from Michigan - Gaby's first plane ride, stay in a hotel, and first exposure to "real" cold weather!

First, an update on her stats. We went to her 4-month doctor's appointment today and she weighed in at a whopping 16 pounds, 6.75 ounces!!! That's almost 4.5 pounds heavier than at her 2 month appointment. And Papa Arnie was worried she wasn't eating enough...(silly Papa Arnie)! She is also 24.25 inches long. So she's in the 90th percentile for weight and the 50th percentile for height. Her pediatrician explained that breastfed babies are often heavier relative to their height - but she'll lighten up when she starts eating solids. The doctor also gave us the green light to start Gaby on solids anytime now (mommy is NOT ready for this yet!).

To demonstrate Gaby's incredible growth, I came across the picture of Gaby we took on the day we put together her bouncy seat. We just took a picture of her yesterday in the same bouncy seat - the difference is just amazing. It's hard to believe she was ever that small!

Here's Gaby on December 23rd...

...and here's Gaby on April 6th!

As I mentioned above, we just returned from Gaby's first big trip. I was invited back to University of Michigan School of Public Health (where I got my doctorate) to speak to current doctoral students about a career outside of academia. The flight out was fine - Gaby slept most of the time. We had a tough time with sleeping at night - she didn't like the crib they had at the hotel so she ended up sleeping in the bed with us most of the night. We enjoyed a visit to all of Lisa's favorite Michigan food establishments including Zingerman's Deli (where we had a start sighting - Emilio Estevez - who knew we'd need to fly all the way to Michigan to see some of the Hollywood elite!) and Angelo's Diner. We also visited Sweetwater's Cafe, where Lisa wrote the majority of her dissertation.

Getting ready for take off!

Here's Gaby at Zingerman's - the little speck in the window was actually Emilio Estevez on his cell phone!

We enjoyed some yummy food and great bread (which we brought home with us) from Zingerman's.

We warmed up with hot tea and coffee at Sweetwater's - Lisa's "second student office"!

The weather was a bit cold for us Californians. We brought a snow suit for Gaby - there was some possibility it would snow while we were there. We ended up not using it but we did have to try it on her...the result was somewhat amusing to her parents but less so for Gaby. Think "A Christmas Story" - you know, the scene where the little brother gets all bundled up in his snow suit and then he can't put his arms down and he falls down in the snow and can't get back up. The sleeves on this snow suit were about 1/3 longer than the length of Gaby's arms. Needless to say, she wore it long enough for us to take some photos and off it came!!! We compromised and had her wore a really warm knit cap, complete with ear flaps - so cute!!!

Gaby's arms aren't really that long - she got frustrated that she couldn't suck on her hands.

The hat with the ear flaps was our solution to keeping Gaby warm.

Here she is bundled up and ready to go for a walk!

Friday evening, we enjoyed a lovely dinner with Brant and Max Fries - Brant was Lisa's dissertation advisor. It was so fun to see them and Max definitely enjoyed having Gaby around - we had to wrestle her to get Gaby back when we left!!! Saturday, we met up with Lisa's cousins Mike and Jess (who are living in Windsor, Ontario, Canada) for lunch in Dearborn and a visit to the Detroit Institute of Art. We saw a great exhibit of Norman Rockwell's work there, as well as the murals by Diego Rivera.

Here we are with Brant at his home near Ann Arbor.

Alex and Gaby in front of a Diego Rivera mural at the DIA.

Sunday, we met up with Lisa's cousins Nancy and Mark (from Toledo) for brunch at Zingerman's Roadhouse restaurant. Gaby slept through most of the meal but woke up near the end so that Nancy could take some photos to send to her daughters Sara, Michelle, and Rachel. The return flight was a little more challenging than the outbound flight. First, we understimated the number of diapers we'd need - we figured 5 diapers should be enough for a 4 hour flight but nope, we could have used more. We also underestimated the number of clothing changes we'd need to make - we had one extra outfit in the diaper bag. Given the number of messy diapers we experienced between going through security in Detroit and landing in LA, she arrived in LA wearing a t-shirt and her diaper. Everything else was a mess! Lesson learned for future trips, for sure!!!

For those who celebrate, we wish you a Chag Sameach - Happy Passover!!! Love, Gaby (and Lisa and Alex)

Gaby's Open House

As per usual, lot's has been going on since our last post. Gaby turned 3 months old and we celebrated her three-month birthday and honored her by giving her her Hebrew name (see more below). Lisa has been furiously trying to get done a bunch of projects around the house in advance of returning to work - one being completing Gaby's nursery (also see below). Well, they didn't all get done but Lisa did return to work this last week. It was quite exhausting and I'm still finding my way but day by day it will get better. We found a wonderful daycare for Gaby - the caregiver's nickname is ZuZu - that's what everyone calls her even though her real name is Josephine. She's very loving and Gaby really seems to be happy with her. ZuZu's granddaughter is also at the daycare and just a couple weeks older than Gaby - I think they'll grow up being good friends.

Gaby had her first professional photos taken at three months old. Below are the photos. Boy, is she a cutie!!!

After much effort, Gaby is pleased to announce the opening of her new "crib" - really, it's her new nursery! Please join us in taking a virtual tour of her new digs...

The 'g' up above Gaby's crib was designed with Aunty Gayle's help!

Thanks Papa Arnie for helping to put up the shelf for Gaby's things!

We took the quilt from Gaby's bedding set and hung it on the wall - it's so pretty!

This is the BEST glider chair - super comfy!

Gaby is blessed with a wonderful library of books - we're making our way through the entire lot!

On Gaby's 3-month birthday (March 8th), a group of dear friends and family gathered to celebrate with us at Gaby's Brit Bat (baby naming). Her hebrew name is Gavriela Ada - 'Gavriela' means "God is my strength" and 'Ada' means jewel, which she is to us. She was named in memory of Alex's father Gary and Lisa's grandmothers Irene and Ida. The Brit Bat was just lovely. Rabbi Heidi Cohen officiated the service, which took place underneath Alex's and my wedding chuppah (great to know it has other uses!). Gaby looked adorable in a little red dress with white polka dots and the best little red patent-leather shoes! There's a few pictures here from the day - the remaining pictures can be viewed at this website: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2005173&id=1430254789&l=9f680210ad.

Today was Gaby's first visit to the beach! We spent the day in Manhattan Beach - it was the perfect day. Gaby looked so cute in her sun hat - the smallest one we had but still a little big for our little girl!



Stay tuned for a report from us after Gaby's first airplane ride and visit to Ann Arbor, Michigan next week!

Gaby is flipping out!!!!

Posts are coming fewer and further between - Gaby keeps me a lot more busy now! She is awake for longer stretches and we have to get creative about how we keep her occupied. I'm also preparing to go back to work in a couple weeks (boo hoo) so there's much to do to prepare for that transition as well.

So first, the update. Our girl continues to pack on the chub! At the doctor's office on Wednesday, she weighed in at 13 pounds, 14.5 ounces! She's already wearing some of her six month sized clothing - even though she's not quite three months old!

The biggest and best news is that Gaby is now turning herself over consistently! It's fun to watch (see photos below). We even got a short video of her turning over - only the second time I got to witness it myself (the first few times she turned herself over, I just happened to have turned my back for that second)!

I've also included a few other photos that were just too cute - the theme for a number of them is sleep (we like sleep!).

This is Gaby's friend Jackson (he was featured in an earlier post) - the photo was taken at our BYOB (bring your own baby) Oscar Party hosted by our friends Dana and David (Jackson's parents).

Gaby's first pair of jeans...

I'll be back at the beginning of next week with more news - Sunday is Gaby's 3-month birthday and her baby naming as well!!!