Happy 90th Birthday, (Great)-Grandma Ruth!!

On the weekend of October 17t, our family flew to Chicago to celebrate Great-Grandma Ruth's 90th Birthday. We were looking forward to seeing everybody that we hadn't seen for a while, and especially meet family members who hadn't attended Gabriella's Baptism last August or family from afar. Once we arrived at the hotel with grandparents Morge who picked us up at the airport, we settled and got things ready for the weekend. Grandparents Morge were happy to see how much Gabriella has been grown since August. At first, Gabriella cried when Grandma held her. Gabby wanted Mommy or Daddy. Grandma walked around with Gabby without seeing Mommy or Daddy, and she was fine for awhile. Gabriella needed more time to get used to the new faces and got familiar with them. Afterward, she was okay for awhile. Before the night out with some of the family, we stopped by Great-Grandma's to see her and few other family. Aunt Kathy, Second Cousin Kimberly, and Daddy were playing with Gabriella with toys before some family and we went out for the night to the restaurant to enjoy and chat and catch up. Gabriella was such a good girl and loved to look around all that was new to her.

On Sunday, October 19th, we family went out to the nice restaurant, Hugo's Frog Bar and Fish House, for (Great)-Grandma Ruth's 90th Birthday party. It was wonderful to see all uncles, aunts, cousins, grandparents, nieces, nephews, etc., and had a lot of chat to catch up. The food was delicious. After we ate, we celebrated and sang "Happy Birthday" to (Great)-Grandma Ruth who is 90 years old. She is such an amazing and strong lady! She stills go to work and is doing great! It was very special for us to be there for Grandma's 90th birthday. At the end of the party, the whole family (most of the Morges) got together to take picture before leaving for the day. Daddy, Mommy, and Gabriella had a wonderful time over the weekend even though it was very busy and short for us. Furthmore, we are looking forward to seeing them again for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Look....

Here is the video of Gabriella sitting on her own:

Gabriella has been pushing up with her tummy off the floor a lot lately as I mentioned before. She has strong arms to work on and get it easily. Right now, Gabriella is figuring out how to move her arms and legs to crawl. Kevin and I love to watch how cute she is when she is pushing up with her tummy off the floor. When she does that, she always smiles. Now, we are waiting for her next step: crawling. It looks like she is going to crawl anytime soon. How exciting!

Gabriella likes to eat rice cereal and does eat it well. Recently, Kevin and I introduced her to next new solid food, and it was apples. For the first time, she didn't like it. We have been feeding her apples for the last few days, she still doesn't really like it. She is able to eat about one tablespoon of apple, and that is it. It takes time for her to get use to that taste of apple.

5 Months Old

Gabriella just turned 5 months old. As you know, I mentioned in other blogs about what Gabriella had done in the last few weeks. Lately, we noticed that during Gabby's tummy time, she pushed up with tummy off the floor several times. Wow...how strong she is! Wonder what her next plan will be when she gets her tummy off the floor. Hmmmm ... could it be crawling? Oh boy... we parents will be in trouble for that since if that happens, we have to chase her around. About Gabriella's bath, she loves it, and absolutely loves to use her legs to splash the water. The water was all over on the floor, mirror, walls, and counter. What a wet mess!

Mommy & Gabriella

Last Friday, I was excited to put the booster seat on a chair to be ready for the next day for her first introduction to solid food. For the first time, I put Gabriella into it and she got used to it. The booster seat has a special toy that go with it on the tray for Gabby to play. At first, she was like what am I sitting on? She explored all around the new booster seat.

Last Saturday morning, Kevin and I were eager to introduce Gabriella to her first solid food. We started feeding her a rice cereal. At first, we fed her a little of rice cereal, and she ate it. I tried again for the next few feedings, and all the sudden she spitted it out. I tried again, and she refused eating another bite of it. We stopped and were going to try it again in the early evening. Finally, she ate half of them. YAY! Afterward, she ate it very well. Kevin and I are very proud of her! Next week, we are looking forward to introduce her to the new food which it will be either fruit or vegetable.

Here is the video belowing of Gabriella's first introduction to solid food:

BIG Girl!

Wherever Kevin and I go out with Gabriella in her stroller, we mostly put her in the infant carseat that latches onto the stroller. Lately, I decided to put Gabby in the stroller without the infant carseat while Kevin, Gabby, and I go out for walking. Kevin and I were watching her and wondered how she handled sitting in the stroller without using the carseat. Guess what.. she absolutely loves it and enjoys looking at the people and views in front of her! A few times, we noticed that Gabby liked to put her feet up on the stroller tray in front of her and relax. Of course, she then falls asleep.




Here is another great update from Gabby. Recently, I decided to put Gabriella on the couch to sit with back cushion to support her back. I was curious if she was able to balance herself to sit without my help. Surprisingly, she was able to sit on her own with back cushion support. How exciting to see her! Of course, she fell down on the couch on her belly a couple of times. She laughed. What a silly girl! However, it is good start! She sure did show Daddy what she did today after he came home from work. Daddy and I are excited and are looking forward to having her sit on her own to balance herself. What a big girl she is!! Here is the video (below):

Hanging around...

Here are the pictures of Gabriella (4 1/2 months old) hanging around with me at home. She watched me wash dishes and clean the kitchen.

Lately, Gabriella has been playing with her feet and putting one of her feet in her mouth just like me when I was baby.

A few weeks ago, Kevin and I started to wean her from having pacifier. Gabriella used pacifier for about four months since her birth. The pacifier helped her calming from fussiness or crying during daytime and nighttime. She insisted on having the pacifier before she fell asleep at night. Often, she would spit it out and cried. We would put it back, and then she spit it out again. It went back and forth. We were frustrated and decided to wean her from having the pacifier. Gabriella did wonderful without pacifier during the daytime. At night, we took it slowly. Now, she is doing wonderful without the pacifier and sleeping through the night without interruption. Unfortunately, a few times during the middle of night, she cries. It was hard to soothe her during the middle of night without the pacifier. So, we are working on how to soothe her during the night without pacifier. Most of the time, she doesn't need the pacifier at all. Of course, we will still give her the pacificer when we fly in the airplane or at Church or other public places to soothe her. Kevin and I are very happy and know that Gabriella can do it without a pacifier. She is now a big girl!

What are you looking at, mommy?

Seeing me doing pilates.

Gabriella's Exersaucer & Reading With Daddy

Since Gabriella loves to stand or even climb over our shoulders while holding her, and Kevin and I are tired of holding her with our arms the whole time. We decided to buy her a new exersaucer. Kevin and I were excited and assembled them all together. From the first time we put Gabriella in exersaucer, her eyes were open and stared at all of these new toys. At the beginning, she stayed for a few minutes to get use to it. Afterwards, she loves it and played with all of these toys with music of ABCs and numbers for about half hour to one hour. One toy she loves to chew on is the shapes. She is so cute when she is in with all of her smiles and happiness!! Thank God for exersaucer that Gabriella enjoys standing on her own with support without us holding her the whole time!

Recently, Gabriella started to have a runny nose. It could be from the shots she had a few days ago, or possibly her teeth coming up. Poor baby! She often cries and is fussy lately. We don't know and will find out what it will be and see if her teeth are coming up or not. Who knows? However, Gabriella enjoyed being with Daddy, reading her book, which helps calm her down.

Ft. McMurray, AB

Gabriella and I left on the way to Ft. McMurray, Alberta, Canada to visit my sister, Marta, and her family on September 6th for a week. Kevin came up to be with us on Friday, September 12 for the weekend before we all went home together on Sunday. However, Gabby was a good baby on the airplane with me alone. We made it through and were excited to see Marta and Aniela who picked us up at the airport. They showed us what Ft. McMurray was like, and the town is very small unlike Peoria. Once we got to Watts's house, I unpacked and relaxed for the day with Gabby. We ladies with two girls went to the park to the playground where Aniela plays with other kids.

During the weekdays, Aniela was kissable and huggable with her cousin Gabriella constantly. Aniela and Gabriella enjoyed playing together on gymnastic floor mat. When Gabriella cried or was fussy, Aniela sang a song or cheered her up with a funny face. How cute! Aniela will be a great big sister for her new baby brother that will come in November. Anyway, Marta took us to Aniela's activities: to the library for children storytelling, Gymnastics, Hub Center for children to play, and Aniela's first swimming lesson. Gabby enjoyed listening to the woman who sang the song and read one book. At the gymnastic, it was so much fun to watch Aniela, and she did good at it. Marta introduced us to her wonderful neighbors and one of her friends at the library.

On Friday, Kevin flew in to be with us in Canada for the weekend. Kevin and Charlie went out for golf in the afternoon. On Saturday, we went to Aniela's first swimming lesson. Aniela did excellent in the water with her daddy (Charlie) and did paddle her legs very well. Kevin, Gabriella, and I were at the top floor to look over where the swimming pool where the Watts family were swimming. In the afternoon, Marta watched Aniela and Gabriella while Charlie took Kevin and me to the Oil Sand Mine area. It was first time for us to leave Gabriella with Marta for about two hours since birth. We were not able to bring Gabriella to this place because of dangerous place that won't allow for babies and children to be in. Anyway, we saw an enormous Caterpillar tractor called 797. Unbelievable to see how huge it is to use for oil sand mine. Also, there were several places afar where we could see the various sections of the oil sand mine. Also, there was a small equipment museum where workers used to dig up the oil sand underground a long time ago.

When we came back home, Charlie and Kevin tried out Charlie's new home-brewed beer: it was quite refreshing! Both the Oktoberfest and Wheat flavors were perfect for the changing season! Unfortunately, we could not try the cider or wine from the "Watts Home Brewery", since those were not ready yet.

On Sunday morning, we walked the tree-filled trail behind Watts's house. We enjoyed walking. Marta mentioned that there could be bears out there somewhere, unfortunately we didn't see any. Good thing we didn't or else we would have been in trouble. Marta has a special bell attached to their stroller to alert bears that we were in that area. Afterward, Kevin and I packed and got everything ready before we flew back home to Seattle in the afternoon. We had a wonderful time in Ft. McMurray visiting the Watts family and thanked them for that. We miss you, Watts Family, and will until we see you again.