Gabie-Speak

Gabe is such a silly boy.  He loves to babble and repeats everything we say but his pronunciation is so far off on a few words that they barely resemble the word he means to say.  Gabe has quite a large vocabulary and we can understand a lot of what he is saying, but most of his words he leaves the first or last consonant off.  Oh well.  We are still working on his speaking skills.  Here are some funny words he says regularly:

Milk=May-May

Dog=Buh

Car=Dow

Music=Bay-bay

More=MAHH!!

Pacifier=Die-Dow

Mustard=Muh-MaHH

Phone=Vee

Watch=Aishth

Gabe=Day

Ring=Een

 

Gabe's Birthday Party Preview!

Gabe's 2nd birthday is coming up (March 31st) already! Can you believe it?! I sure can't! He's very much a toddler but still as sweet as ever. 
Anyway, for his birthday party this year, we are doing a train theme because Gabe has a serious obsession with trains.  He likes Thomas the tank a lot but I think Thomas has a REALLY ugly face and I thought it would be cuter and cheaper if I just designed a train and make the invitations myself.  If anything, I can just match the colors rather than buying expensive Thomas stuff.  Of course I had to get carried away and make Gabe a shirt.  Well, I kind of made it. I bought a plain yellow shirt at Hobby Lobby and the felt iron-on letters from Michael's.  The train was just left over felt from Gabe's touch and feel book I made him forever ago which I sewed on. I'm a bit irked that I sewed it on a little crooked.  Oh well.  I"m looking forward to Gabe's little party this weekend!! 

Hair Bow Crazy!!

Sorry, I know I'm kinda turning this blog into a craft blog but that's pretty much all I've been up to lately!  I feel like I'm "nesting" already, even though I still have 2 months to go!  I was not at all like this with Gabe, probably because I didn't know what to expect.   With this one, I'm afraid I won't have much time to work on very many projects so I'm trying to get as many done as possible before she comes.
Anyway, as you all know we're having a little girl (at least she darn well better come out a girl!) so I've been up to many projects to get ready for her arrival. 
I went a little hair-bow crazy the other day.   These are fun, cheap, and fairly simple to make.  The yellow and pink felt flowers (mums?) are the fastest and easiest (they literally take less than 5 minutes!) to make. The fuchsia rose (on the left) was definitely tricky.  But all were super fun to make and I plan on making more! 

 

But where to put them?  I decided to go ahead and make a little hair bow holder.  For those of you who have girls and no place to put their hair clips, I highly recommend making one of these.  I saw a basic one online that I liked but it retailed for $40.  I thought hmm I can make one of these! Well I went out to Joannes and bought a wooden plaque and some jungle rub-ons--I spent less than $5! (okay that is a bit misleading, I already had the paints, sealer, and ribbon so a hair bow holder like this would probably cost max $15 to make).  It's really easy and doesn't take much skill at all:

  

First, I painted the wood.  I mixed white with a tiny bit off brown to get a kind-of off white color. 

Then I sprayed some sealer...

Then put on the rub-ons....

And glued the ribbon on! So easy.  I probably should have made the ribbon longer, but I'm afraid that Gabe will mess with it if I do.  Oh and when we figure out her name, I'm going to write it in the center!

Left is Right (for Gabe)

video taken 3/7/11

As you can see in this video, Gabe is clearly a lefty.  He does most everything with his left hand, including scribbling.  Occasionally he'll use his right hand but he always ends up switching back to his left.  I don't think left-handedness is genetic, because neither Erik nor I are left handed.  Erik thinks we should make him use only his right hand ("the world is not made for leftys" he says) but I think Gabe should choose whatever hand he wants to! Plus it is sort of unique (though I have known many leftys) and it's supposed to mean that they are extra smart and creative.  Hmm...maybe Gabe got the smarts from his dad and his creative from his mom...so thus he came out a lefty!  I think Gabe is one of the first on both sides that is a lefty!   I love my silly boy.