Flashback...

Since my friend Allison just had a baby boy I have been looking back at pictures of Gabe when he was brand new... I though y'all might enjoy a look back!

A Cute Gramma & some Cute Jammies

Gabe's Gramma & Grampa Flatau came to babysit him the day after Thanksgiving. Gabe was pretty happy to see them and they were happy to see him!


Gabe's other Gramma bought him these super cute jammies when she came to visit. They are his first pair of big boy pajamas that don't have a zipper!

YAY JAMMIES!!

YAY RACOONS!!!

I love this bunny but mostly I love this tag!

The Food

The lazy day is coming to a close - and it was a great one! All three of us had naps, the food was good, and we are well rested. Gabriel is in bed for the night and Grandma & Grandpa Flatau are on their way down to babysit Gabe tomorrow.



Gabe only had bread, potatoes, and a few green beans for his thanksgiving dinner. Sounds like something you'd get in prison.


Unfortunately he has acquired my sweet tooth and LOVED sharing my german chocolate cake for dessert. I'm probably not supposed to feed that to a baby, huh?
Enjoy these last few weeks before Christmas.... And remember WHY we celebrate this holiday... It is for one and only reason... Jesus' Birth!

Giving Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! We are having a lazy day together, just the 3 of us. The ham and potatoes are in the oven (the turkey breast just didn't look right at the store), the green bean casserole is going in next. For dessert we'll make a German chocolate cake. It's not a traditional thanksgiving dinner but it is a combination of some things we both really enjoy. And hopefully we'll avoid the average 5,000 calories that most Americans will consume today.

Gabriel wore a new outfit to church this morning. Great Grandma Gena sent Gabe $10 for Halloween and this outfit is what he picked out. I must say he looked pretty cute!


We had church at 9:30 this morning. There was a good crowd of people. Aaron led the service and preached a great sermon and Gabe and I sang in the choir "Let us give our thanks together". Mostly he sings off key, but he's learning!

My little boy

Gabe made a bit of a mess the other day in his walker toy. He dropped his snacks on the floor then rolled over them.

Gabe & I went to Chicago this past weekend with our friend Erin to visit our friend Bethany. Here he is being a good boy in a little pizza joint in Lake Forest.

On Saturday we went into downtown Chicago. Gabriel was quite a handful to take around the city on the train, bus, etc. with all of his gear! No wonder the only picture I took the whole day was of him sleeping in his stroller. I don't know how big city parents do it! It made me thankful for my small town life...

Sunday night when we got home from Chicago Aaron was giving Gabe a bubble bath and he put this soap on his chin. He looked pretty much like Santa. It was cute and I could hear Aaron laughing about it from the other side of the house.

More Home Improvement

Here are the before & after shots of the living room closet door re-do.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Gabe's Room

As promised here is a picture of the finished closet doors in Gabriel's room. We are pleased with how they turned out!


These letters and numbers were made by my Grandpa Johnson for my sister when she was a baby. My mom said he just sketched it out and then cut them out by hand (well with a saw obviously). I think when we were little they were red, orange, yellow, blue, green, and I can't remember. Kristi repainted them before Sydney was born and they hung in Syd's room for a while. Even though my Grandpa has been gone for a LONG time I know he would be pleased to see his letters up in Gabe's room!


Gabriel's room has been a work in progress but seems to finally be taking shape. Maybe someday we'll get color on the walls but for now it is a pretty nice room for the little guy. His furniture (crib, dresser, bookshelf) were bought unfinished and Aaron stained the bookshelf and dresser and Grandma Mitzi and auntie Emily stained the crib. The mobile hanging over Gabriel's changing table came all the way from Japan (thanks Matt & Katie). It is supposed to be the king and queen and 2 donkeys. I'm not sure of the significance of the donkeys but Gabe does like to look at it when he's getting cleaned up! I guess it makes sense to hang the donkeys over a changing table.... where I wipe his ...... Get it???


Gabe likes to rock and cuddle here for a few minutes before he goes to sleep. He has been sleeping through the night for about a month and it is wonderful! Sometimes he wakes up really early (like today) but then takes a good nap later on.


Here are some of Gabe's animals and books. He loves to hold onto and chew on the little board books. He hasn't taken much of an interest in stuffed animals yet except for pulling them off the shelf and chewing on the tags.

Good Times!

We have started to get busy again, as life in Iowa becomes 'regular' for us! We have a wonderful community to live in and our church family is a true blessing. Many, many people help out with Gabe and really love him. One family with four(!) daughters take care of him often. Every single member of their family has the initials KLB (even the dog). They are Kerry, Keri, Kaela, Kylie, Keagan, and Kosette (the dog is Kuster).

This particular family took Gabe with them to a pancake dinner at another church a few weeks ago. They had many people come up to them and say "oh, you finally got a son! What's his name"? They would tell them that his name is Gabriel but they call him Kevin to go along with their theme of K's!

We went to a bonfire at their house a few weeks ago and this is a picture of Gabriel and Kosette goofing around.

Gabriel had his first experience behind the driver's wheel at Wal-Mart in Fort Dodge, Iowa. Grandpa let him stand up on the seat and hold onto the steering wheel. It was so darn cute I had to take a picture!

Kisses

Gabriel's Grandma & Grandpa Schaefer came to visit all the way from North Dakota. He was well taken care of and spoiled a little bit over the last few days.

During their visit Gabe got lots of hugs & kisses. Below Grandpa is kissing Gabe goodnight the first night they were here.


Of course Grandma had to get a turn too. I think Gabriel enjoyed all of the attention.


And I kiss the little cutie all the time! Here I stole a smooch outside Uncle Bill's cabin in the woods. It is an awesome place that he built by hand, by himself in the woods of Clarke County, Iowa.

HOME IMPROVEMENT!

When we moved into our house we knew there were a few things to get 'changed' relatively soon. The first thing we did is change out a freaky '70's light fixture in our dining area to a nicely updated fixture. The next thing we did (inside) is update the closet doors in Gabe's room. They are an interesting door... Wood frame with fabric covered plywood in the middle. Gabriel's room had a bright orange color straight out of the '70's. One of the panels is pictured below. Yikes!



With Grandma Di Ann's help we picked out a nice denim fabric at Hobby Lobby. Then Grandpa Schaefer helped me re-cover the plywood panel and put it back onto the frame. The result is a soothing dark blue. MUCH better than the orange, huh?

I will post a picture of the doors on the tracks with the new decorations as soon as I have a picture. If I went and got one now I would wake Gabe up -- and I'm just not gonna do that!!!!

9 MONTHS OLD!

The next few pictures were taken on October 30th. He got his cute shirt in the mail from auntie Emily and grandma Mitzi.



Showing his best side?


One of the ladies in my bible study group made this little book for Gabe. He was trying it out for the first time!





Gabe tries to help me clean sometimes. It's a good thing I don't dress like this when I clean house.


This was taken today before I went to work. Gabe had his 9 month check-up today and only had to have one shot this time. They tell me he's a healthy little guy!


Gabriel was showing off his "stats" card from the doctor's office. In case you can't read it he is 19# 11 oz. and 30 inches tall. He ranks in the 25th percentile for weight and the 95th percentile for height. I wonder where he gets that from???