Gabriel

Gabriel is cracking us up lately as he's hit the 18 month mark. I LOVE this age.
Still not talking a ton but it's picking up, he continues to sound like charlie brown's teacher with half the things he says.
Words that are getting clearer are, Hi, bye, Momma, Papa, Backpack (he got that from Dora), Up, All Done.
We have the speech pathologist coming later this week to start evaluating him for weekly speech help in our home. I think this will help him move along with speech although I'll miss his little wha wha wha talk when it's gone.
He is so happy and funny. He's been running up to us saying HI! so loud and giving us a huge smile when he does.
He also is very good to help clean, he loves to vacuum and if he spills his drink, he'll go grab a tissue, wipe up the spill then pretend to blow his nose and go through it in the trash.
Gabriel loves to watch Nicolas and play exactly what he's playing which sometimes can drive the older brother nuts. Other times they play together so well. At this point they both go play in the basement while I can be upstairs getting dinner ready, it's such a luxury to have that time to myself.
We are enjoying Mr Gabriel so much, I'm getting sad watching the baby go and the little boy emerge

Barber Shop

A friend told me about a barber shop right down the road where she takes her boys so I decided to give it a shot. It was a total hit! Nico LOVED the barber and even broke out some dance moves to show him.
Gabriel wasn't too sure at first but after seeing a fish tank, trains, and a huge gumball machine, not to mention about 30 suckers to try out he was content sitting on my lap for his first "real" haircut.
When we were down the cuts were only 10 bucks. Nico left with a bouquet of suckers in his hand and a gumball in his mouth, Gabe had a sucker in each hand and one in his mouth. I could tell this guy loved what he did, the boys will be back for sure for the next round of cuts!

The boys helped make my birthday special. We started the day going to the mall so they could ride the carosel, it was Gabriel's first ride on one, he loved it! Nicolas wouldn't go on the animals that moved up and down so they all ended up sitting on a bench.
After that we headed back home for chocolate Ice cream cake, thanks Nico for picking that out for me! Afterwards the boys had a sitter while Oz and I went to downtown Naperville for some awesome Greek food and then to a chocolate bar for dessert and hot chocolate.

Christmas 2010

This year we headed from Chicago to a much warmer Austin Tx for Christmas. We stayed with Oz's parent's in their new home. The kids loved being able to get outdoors again and play, I sure enjoyed the warmer weather myself.
Nicolas was really excited this year about santa, he left out milk and cookies and went to bed with the eager anticipation I can remember having as a child.

After Christmas, we left the boys in Austin and headed for Huntsville to do our final move. The house sold so we were there to get it all ready for the new owners. After that we met up with the boys and headed back to the windy city. Once we got to our car the windows wouldn't even roll down it was so cold. They were frozen shut. We had to open our door to give the drive thru order at McDonalds. What a shock from the warm climate in Austin...

Time to move on...

Some big changes have happened at the Alcocer house. Right now Oz is living in Naperville, Il and the boys and I are soon to follow.
We were hoping to sell our home and then join him but the market seems so terribly slow right now we've decided to move into his temporary apartment so we can all be together. Luckily his company is willing to pay for us to live there for up to 6 months and I hope by that point our home is sold and we've purchased another one. We will all learn to live a little closer in the coming months, it's just a 2 bedroom so Gabe will actually sleep in our walk in closet and Nico will get the spare room. Putting them together would be a nightmare so I'm avoiding that if at all possible.
Nico seems super excited for the changes ahead, I moved to Naperville the first time when I was just a little bit older than him. It's a wonderful place to raise a family and I think both boys will thrive.
I feel so bad taking him out of his school here, I remember all to well how hard it is to say goodbye to everything you know and turn towards something you know nothing about. I just hope in the near future he finds great friends in the windy city and we look at this as a great adventure for our family.
I'm super excited about the preschool he'll be going to there. It is connected to a full professional gymnasium so for PE he will get to go there. They have science experiments each week in a science lab and even have a full computer lab that they go to each day. The classrooms are full of color and imagination, one room has a full castle for the kids to climb in. I couldn't get over all they offered the kids, I actually got a little teary looking online at how perfect it seemed for Nicolas.
I will try to update on the blog with the changes ahead. Right now we are looking at moving November 19th.

Happy Birthday Gabriel!

We did a milk and cookie party for Gabriel, my mom brought cupcakes made from a local cupcake business near her and we all made a ton of cookies for the party. I served milk to drink along with lunch for everyone.
Gabriel, I can't even believe you are already one!
Here's your stats:
22.5 pds
30cm tall
Walking trying to run
Climbing everything
Waving Hi
Clapping your hands
You say Heyyyy
You love to walk all over the house with a toy golf club
Sleep like a champ
Love your one day a week at Moms Morning Out, (so do I)
You're a free bird! Always roaming around doing your own thing
Loves to throw a ball or take a walk around the yard.

11 Months

In the home stretch for your first birthday, I truly can't believe it. Time moves at an unfair pace sometimes.

Over the past month your love for bouncy balls and grown, you will sit and throw a ball forever with anyone willing to play, if nobody is available you'll throw it and crawl over to it and throw again all around the house.
You definitely know what you want and expect to get it or have a little temper when you can't.

Your face lights up each morning I come to get you, I don't know if you're happy to see me or your yougart drink that I religiously carry in with me.

You sleep great for naps and at night with the occasional upset that will have you up at night crying, we still haven't found what works best for you those evenings. I know you would loved to be rocked all night but we've tried to limit that for your own benefit. One night you ended up sleeping with us for a little bit, I'll never forget the droll rolling down my cheek from your little teething mouth. Though cosleeping is not something we will do much in this house, that little bit you were with us was really special to me.

I won't soon forget all the ups and downs we've had this first year, looking back we've laughed with you and at you more than we've cried. You're brother is really starting to see you as a potential playmate instead of a pest, watching that love grow has been so wonderful and watching you grow from a little bitty baby to a toddler has been amazing! We love you Gabriel!