Gabe is 2!

I don't know where the time went.  Gabe turns two tomorrow.  Somewhere in the middle of everything my baby boy has turned into a full-fledged toddler.  Most everyone I know says they don't know where the time went, but it's true.  Especially with child number two.

But back to the star. Gabe. Gabriel. Gabbers. Gabber-babber. Bub. Bubba.

My son.

Throughout the year, I tend to reflect on Gabe's amazing birth, and subsequent NICU stay, but as his birthday gets closer and closer, I think of the beginning of his life a lot.  I loved Gabe's birth for many reasons; good reasons. I didn't love his NICU stay, but it taught me a lot about life, love and our fighter. Gabe entered this world fighting for his life. At two, he's extraordinarily stubborn.  In reality, he's always been stubborn and I truly believe his stubbornness helped him pull through his deadly infection, he's just a little more animated now :)  (p.s. I cry EVERY.TIME I read that post I wrote while he was in the NICU).

Gabe isn't much of a talker, but I have the same conversation with him every morning. He uses single words to express his wants and needs.  An animated and VERY happy Gabe exclaims, "Hi-i! Up! Poo-poo! Dah-puh! Eat!" He uses poo-poo for every action in his diaper, and the morning diaper change is the only one where he's usually cooperative with me.  And, at some point during the diaper change, he says, "ooooh-weeee" and sometimes "cold" when I wipe.

Gabe typically gets up before Madeline, and he bolts to her when she finally comes downstairs.  He loves her, and in the past couple of weeks the interaction between them makes me smile. They are actually playing with each other.  Poor Gabe tries so, so hard to keep up with her and he gets bonks and bruises as a result, but I can tell that they both have fun.

He's a good eater...when he wants to be.  He will try most anything, but if he doesn't like it then he is usually done.  He's still a lazy eater though, and wants me to actually feed him most of the time. Again, in the past weeks, he's branched out a little more and has insisted on feeding himself. He still gags, but that is also diminishing.

Little man is just plain gross. Messy. ALL BOY. I have to give myself pep talks about letting him be a boy. He wants to jump off the stairs (each and every one), has been trying to stand on the couch since he learned he could climb on top of it and bolts at the opportunity to jump down the concrete steps into the garage. He could find a way to get hurt in a room full of foam, while covered in bubble wrap. All boy.

He freely gives kisses to anyone who will accept a slobbery kiss.

He can recite animal noises - when he wants to play along - but most of the time he just doesn't care. But give him a train and he exclaims, "choo-choo." Anything with wheels is a train to him and he loves them all.

He is constantly trying to get in the one cabinet without a lock and instinctively knows when the fridge door is open. He "hides" inside it (bye-bye) and throws a fit when I make him come out. 

If I'm standing up, he wants to be in my arms, "Up, pees." It's moments like those that I stop what I'm doing, pick him up and cuddle for a bit.  I'm usually packing lunches or trying to cut veggies or measure ingredients, but I cherish the moments.

He can say "Madeline" but it takes him literally 30 seconds and he sounds out her entire name. He will hand you an item and say "heir-oo-go" (there you go) and if you hand him something he will reply "cank yoo."

If he wants you somewhere, he will go up to you and say, "hand" and reach his out to lead you to where he wants you to go.

He's still OBSESSED with the bathroom and loves toilet paper.  Even more than toilet paper - shoes. Especially Madeline's shoes, preferably her pink tennis shoes or black sparkly, although he dons Craig's and mine periodically and will even bring me his shoes to put on him every now and then.

He loves being outside, getting messy, and copying Madeline. He rarely sits still, is now facing in his car seat forward, and still nurses a couple times a day.

Gabe is a joy. Like Madeline, he stole my heart the moment I saw him. 

 And, since I'm kind of making up for lost time on the blog (11 posts in ONE year?!? I used to do that in one month!) I'm posting some older pictures of my Gabe.  Here we go!

This moment. Oh my goodness.

True bliss.

 

My heart ached at this point. All those wires and leads are not natural on a baby.

 

The first time Madeline got to meet Gabe. It was RSV season so she wasn't allowed in the NICU.

The day we took him home. I remember being told to bring an outfit to take him home in.  I didn't care what he wore. At all.  It was something I had purposefully picked out when packing my hospital bags, but it seemed contrite the moment he went into the NICU. This is a preemie outfit, one of the only ones I had (I don't have small babies) and one of the only things that fit him upon discharge. But the moment Madeline truly met him was priceless.

 And a few months later...

No caption needed here...

One of the only times he was in the Bumbo seat...I needed him propped up so I could take his picture to include in a frame with an impression of his foot.  It was at this time that it occurred to me that we never got newborn feet prints. That was going to be done the day after his birth, but he was in the NICU.

He still curls his toes...

One year old.

He still does this...

Last month in Texas.