Gabi meets Porter!

This is Porter, He is one of my best friends, cousins little boy... sounds complicated but its not really! He is about 10 months older than Gabi and also has Down Syndrome! He has been such a great inspiration to me and Gabi over the past year and we have looked to him and his family many times as comfort and advise whenever we have had questions or just peace in knowing that all will be OK! I talk to Gabi about Porter and many other DS kids that I have meet through facebook or blogging and every time I show her pictures of them she lights up and smiles. it almost as if she knows exactly who they are, which she very well could! They all have such sweet spirits and capture your heart, Porter was defiantly no exception!

Can you believe he is "2"! he's just a little guy but has a big personality! and he does everything a typical "2" year does! GO Porter!

I love his little glasses!

They only played together for a few minutes while attempting to put on their PJ's, but I have never seen Gabi so excited or hyper to play with anyone. She is usually an observer but with Porter she was being so social which was really fun to see!

Trying to get them to both sit still and look at the camera was a bit tricky with all the energy they had!

I love their poses... stinkin' funny!

Porter showing Gabi his PJ's!

I wish I got a better angle of this one but he bent down and gave Gabi a kiss! It was adorable! look how polite he his with his hands behind is back! It was soooo good to finally meet you little Porter Ray! Thanks for inspiring us and always putting a smile on our face we can't wait to play again someday!

Pigtails and Kisses!

This is more a post full of pictures mainly because Gabi is so dang cute! We tried out pigtails for the first time this week. She wasn't very happy about me holding her down to pull on her hair, but after a few tries we got them to work and stay in! (with clips and lots of hairspray of course!) I am going to miss the Mohawk but I think it is time to let her hair start growing out. it is getting much thicker and her sides are finally starting to grow more so its time! Gio doesn't like it at all, if he had his way she'd have a Mohawk forever! I'm pretty sure that he doesn't like it more because she looks so much older and grown up with her pigtails and it makes him sad. I'm with him a little bit but its bound to happen, she wont be a baby forever!

I love this picture of the two of us!

Gabi has been really into giving kisses lately. if you ask her for a kiss she will pucker up! It pretty much is the cutest thing ever and it will melt you instantly. This past week she has starting making a kissing noise when she does it. sometimes it sounds like "mauh" but most the time its "buh" if your really lucky and she likes you she will kiss you on the check or lips, she prefers lips though! if she wants to kiss you on the lips and you turn your head, she will move your face back and hold your cheeks so she can lay a big juicy one on ya!

look at those lips!

Grandma and Gabi kisses!

Look at how grown up she looks! not only the pigtails, but her personality is maturing every day too.

This is another classic Gabi face! its even funnier in person because she shakes when she does it!

You can never get enough of her!

The Shower...

Gabi loves water, she loves the bath and although we haven,t made it to the pool this year I am sure she will love that too. She has recently discovered the water in the Toilet because she is now standing up to EVERYTHING!!! We have only had one toilet incident so far and that was enough for me! Toilet seat must be closed from now on! This past week I have had to hop in the shower while Gabi is awake so I have tried to keep her entertained with lots of snacks and Mickey Mouse clubhouse but the second she hears the water come on she darts toward the bathroom with squeals! I never had a problem before because she didn't know that she could move the curtain and stand up on the edge of the tub. No that she has discovered it I can't keep her out, she moves the curtain, stands up, and leans over into the shower with all her might to touch the water! needless to say by the time my 5 min shower is up, she is soaked! Water dripping off her face and hair and she smiles from ear to ear!

This was the first time it happened, its hard to tell in my awesome phone pictures, but she is soaked from head to toe, and shivering because she is so cold!

This one was much worse, again its hard to tell and may not look as bad as the first pictures but this time she managed to tunnel the water out of the shower with the shower curtain creating a pool on my bathroom floor, she then sat in the middle of it kicking her legs and splashing it with her hands! She then started to do her swimming crawl right over the top of all the water mopping a bunch of it up with her shirt. You can tell she was having a good time!

After mopping up the water she was freezing so i wrapped her up and put her on the bed to watch mickey mouse and dry off. I asked her if she had fun and she kept making these silly faces, i believe the picture below was after i asked her if she was cold, she made this face and shook for a second like she was shivering! it was pretty funny!

She cracks me up everyday! she is becoming such a smart little thing and her number one goal each day is adventure! she doesn't even play with her toys anymore, its opening doors, emptying drawers, tipping over trash cans, unfolding the laundry i just folded. etc. etc. etc! Welcome Toddler hood!

Fathers Day!

What can I say... I really do have the best Dad ever! We have always had such a strong relationship and our personalities fit so well together that their have been very few if any times that I have been upset with him or have disagreed with him. We are both very much level headed and lets be honest, we are rarely ever wrong! ;) He has taught me so much about hard work, and most of all what I want as a husband and father for my children. I didn't realize how much Gio is like my dad until I married him... but in alot of ways he is very very different. Gio is such a great dad, which I always knew he would be, He has begged me for another child since the day Gabi was born! I have no doubt that he would do anything for me or his kids, They are very lucky to have someone who will love them and protect them like him. Gio is such a kind loving father and Gabi adores him!  My father-in-law  has come such a long way and hasn't always had the easiest life. I am very proud of where he is today and the accomplishments that he has made. He loves Gabi and is a fantastic Grandpa! We love all three of you very much!

This was our fathers day gift to Gio, my dad, and Gio's dad Tomas. Everything in the basket has the word "pop" on it somewhere, The sign says I don't mean to sound "corny" but POP you ROCK!

Items in the basket include: Popcorn, Poptarts, Blow pops, Tootise pops, Pop Rocks, Ring pops, outer pops, soda pop (Dad's rootbeer!) Sugar daddy lollipops,and Pops cereal, instead of using paper as a filler i used air popped popcorn! I love how they turned out!

The finished product!

Grandpa Tomas sharing lollipops with Dominic!

Gabi helping Grandpa open his gifts!

All the grandkids and their lollipops that Grandpa shared with them!

Gio wasnt home for Fathers day, he was in Las Vegas for work so Gabi and I sent him pictures of us giving him kisses!

I love this one!

Since gio wasnt here in person I added a couple pictues of him and Gabi! He really is such a great dad!