On April 20th, 2012 God blessed us with another big, healthy beautiful boy!!! From the beginning, Gabe has done things on his own time and his own pace. I once told my pediatrician that he is lazy... she told me he's just laid back! I think both!! Haha!!! During my pregnancy, I would go to bed around 11pm and would not feel him move again until 9am (hours after orange juice and coffee). I knew he was okay, but I still told my OB to keep her informed. We did an ultrasound and everything measured okay, and I began to see his personality!!
I was scheduled for a C-section on April 20th at 9:30am, and on the 19th we took Hannah and Sam over to my in-laws and headed out for one last date before our family grew. By this time I had called my parents and said I would call in the morning when Gabe arrived and told everyone else we would see them at the hospital the next morning. We were at Joe's Crab Shack when my contractions started and the seats were super uncomfortable and I was getting miserable. On the way home, the contractions were 4-5 minutes apart and I just kept thinking that this was unbelievable. I mean, can't the kid wait 12 hours?? We went home and finished packing and I tried taking a bath and resting to see if the contractions would stop. by 10pm I was calling the OB. She told me to come in, and if I wasn't in labor, they would just keep me to the next morning. Well, one look at me and the nurse told me I was having this baby tonight!!! Praise the Lord!!! I was not meant to labor naturally!!
When I was on the table, the OB asked be about what the sizes of my other babies were (6'11 and 8'5) and she told me that this baby wouldn't be as big... she was guessing upper 7 lbs. By this time I had been working on postpartum for just about a year, and when they pulled him out and showed him to me, I kept thinking that he was no 7 lb baby!!
Gabriel Joel was born at 1:45am weighing in at 9 lbs 1 oz and 20.25 inch long. And his head was 14.5 inches around (the newborn hats would not stay on his head!). The thing was, no one in my family knew about it until 6 or 7am. I tried calling and calling everyone I knew, but they had silenced their phones!! It was fun to surprise everybody when they woke up to find they had 100 missed calls and Gabe had arrived in the middle of the night!
Part of the fun of having Gabe on the 20th, was that we were able to celebrate Hannah's 3rd Birthday at the hospital on the 21st!! So fun to have kids birthdays at the same time :)
Gabe was the most easy going, laid back baby. I feel like he was the least held, and he was so content to be in his swing or bouncy seat and watch the world go around him! He hardly cried... and when he did it was for a reason (dirty diaper, hungry, etc.)
This maternity leave was the best! By the end the house was clean, meals had been prepared and I was well rested!! And it was the hardest to end... because this time I was no longer leaving 1 or 2 kids but 3. And I just love being at home with my kids! Some day I will be able to cut back to Part time, but I'm pretty confident I'll never get to be a stay at home mom... but I can dream!
So speed forward 22 months and I can tell you that this little guy has been such a blessing to our family! He is still a laid back, happy little guy!! This last year has really shown us a look into his character and personality... At One year, he was only army crawling and not pulling up on furniture. He was mostly eating baby food and barely eating "big people" food. He would not feed himself and would not put toys to his mouth. However, he was saying about 10-15 words but would not say Mama or Mommy. Just as we were talking about First Steps for him, he took off cruising furniture at 13 months and walking at 14 months. He started feeding himself around the same time. He said Mama at about 17-18 months after trying to get him to say it for a year!! He slowed way down and hardly grew at all between 15 months and 18 months, but now he is taking off growing like crazy!
He is totally obsessed with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and is not happy unless it is playing on the TV, iPad and iPhone at the same time!! When he wants to watch Mickey he says, "Disney!" He says 2 to 3 word sentences, but then again my kids learn their words in phrases!! He loves playing with the big kids... well, let me rephrase that... he loves taking there toys when they are playing quietly! He likes to run with the big kids and chase them around and he loves to dance and sing. Right now, he really likes to watch "Let it Go" on you tube and throughout the song you can hear him say "Let Go". He still sleeps in the crib at night (but will move out of it this summer) and still sleeps with a pacifier. I think we missed our mark in taking that away. But, at least he sleeps through the night!! He also is obsessed with eating banana's and when he wants fruit he tries to open the fridge and says "Apple". He absolutely adores our dogs and thinks it is so funny when they run around the back yard. And speaking of funny, he has the best laugh. It is one of those deep gut laughs that I can listen too all day!
Gabe will turn 2 on Easter Sunday this year... where has the time gone?? In so many ways he is still my little baby but it has been so much fun to watch him grow and start to play with the other two kiddos!! I pray daily for my kids that they will grow to love the Lord and serve him more faithfully than I do... but I feel deep in my heart that God has something special in store for Gabe. Gabriel means "God is my Strength" and Joel means "the Lord is willing". I pray that Gabe will always rely on God to be is strength and his everything!!
I love you Gabers!!!!!
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