Daniel

As most of you following our blog already know, our family has suffered a tremendous loss. Daniel, the love of my life and Gabby's amazing Daddy, was killed in a plane crash on January 15, 2009. His funeral was held on the one year anniversary of the day we met Gabby. I am absolutely devastated and miss him with every breath I take. These last three months have felt like a nightmare from which I will never awaken.

However, I am eternally grateful for the 8 1/2 years that Daniel and I had together, and the beautiful year we spent together with Gabby. I see Daniel in our precious daughter and feel his love through her. She has been my saving grace, and I recognize what a tremendous gift she is, a gift that he made possible.

Despite what has happened, Gabby is doing really well. She is full of love and life, and she is growing and mastering new things every day. Fortunately, she is too young to really understand what she has lost.

Please keep us in your thoughts, as we have a long and painful journey still ahead.

In loving memory of Daniel,

Leslie

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Pictures!

We finally replaced our camera, so enjoy some pictures from the last couple of days...

Another meal, another mess!

Cousins (Malcolm, Gabby, North)

Splish'n & splash'n

So darn cute!

2009 is upon us!

Hi everyone!

First, let me apologize - I've been remiss in my blogging. Of course, I have all kinds of excuses, but they're really just excuses. I cannot believe it is almost 2009!

We've had a busy couple of months! We went out to visit Traci, Matt, and Malcolm in Seattle in mid-October. Our time in Seattle was great but the plane rides were horrible. Gabby was pretty much a total nightmare - crying, whining, squirming, throwing things, etc. Thankfully there was an empty row in the very back of the plane on both legs of the trip. I'm pretty sure that the lady sitting next to me on the way to Seattle wanted to strangle Gabby. About halfway through the flight Daniel turned to me and said "Never again." I think the problem with Gabby and airplanes is that she is an extremely active kid and it's just too much for her to be confined to a tiny little airplane seat. We may not be leaving Denver again (at least on a jetplane) for the next several years!

At the end of October we came home on a Wednesday to find that our house had been broken in to. In addition to taking ALL of my jewelry, a Bose aviation headset, our camera, and lots of other little items, they took our checks, so we had to close our bank accounts and open new ones. That is a HUGE hassle and I would not recommend keeping your extra check books in your underwear drawer, as that is apparently the first place burglars look for valuables!

We have also been busy doing some home improvement projects. We finally pulled up the 50's-style 1-inch tiles in our entryway and re-tiled. We also had our carpet pulled up and the hardwood underneath refinished, which required that we move out for a week (the timing was perfect in that my parents were out of town and we were able to stay at their house). Next up is our pink bathroom, which really is pink (pink tile, pink walls, pink sink, pink toilet, pink tub... I think you get the picture) and REALLY is in need of a makeover.

On the adoption front, we had our second post-placement visit in mid-October, which went really well. Around that same tine, we finally submitted the paperwork for our validation, and we just found out today that the court approved it. The adoption was finalized in Colombia and Gabby was a U.S. citizen when she set foot on U.S. soil, so the validation is just a formality. The main benefit is that Gabby will get a Colorado birth certificate, which will make things easier down the road.

On the Gabby front, she continues to learn and grow and fill our lives with joy. She is at a very fun age (difficult at times, but fun). She is full of personality and so unbelievably smart! She is talking like crazy - she probably has 30 or 40 words right now that she really knows, plus she repeats everything we say (naughty OR nice). Right now she repeats the last few syllables of just about every sentence. For example, if I say "Should we go change your diaper?" she says "Diaper." If I say, "What do you want to do now?" she says "Do now." And, if I stub my toe and say "Sh*t, sh*t, sh*t!" she says "Sh*t, sh*t, sh*t." She understands almost everything we say whether it's in Spanish or English and she follows instructions in either language (as much as 19-month-olds follow instructions). And she makes these amazing connections - the other day she brought me a picture of Matt and Traci and exclaimed "Baby!" Mind you, she's only seen Traci a couple of times since she had the baby and the last time was several weeks ago! She recognizes herself in the mirror and in pictures and calls herself "Dabby." We marvel each and every day at how lucky we are to have her. She is the absolute light of our lives and we are so proud of her.

I don't have any recent photos to post right now because our camera was stolen. It had several weeks worth of pictures that we hadn't loaded onto the computer yet, so the last photos we have are from September. I don't know why we haven't replaced it yet - that's definitely on our "To Do" list and I think we're finally going to do it this weekend. In the meantime, enjoy this random, silly video that we took a couple of months ago.

We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season. I promise to post some photos soon.

Love,

Leslie, Daniel, & Gabriela

Halloween 2008

Baa-aaa-aaaaaa!

Little Miss Independent

I'm an Aunt... x2!

Well, the biggest news I have to report is that I'm now an aunt again, two times over! I have three nieces on Daniel's side and I'm "Aunt Leslie" to some of my friends' kiddos, but now I'm an aunt on the Squires side. Both of my sisters had their babies and both little guys are happy and healthy!

Traci and Matt had a little boy, Malcolm Arkady, on September 11th. I haven't gotten to meet him yet, but Daniel, Gabby, and I will be traveling to Seattle on October 22nd to finally meet him. Jen and Kevin also had a little boy, North Matthew, on September 20th. I was there for the birth and Jen did great. Gabby calls him "Baby" and pats him and gives him kisses.

Gabby is doing great. She is all toddler, all the time. Here is a quick list of some of the things she's been up to, in no particular order:

1. Running
2. Eating with a spoon and fork
3. Drinking from a Camelback
4. Getting her canine teeth in
5. Playing hide and seek and peek-a-boo
6. Feeding and kissing her dolls
7. Talking like crazy - the other day, out of nowhere, she pointed at a tree in her book and said "tee."
8. Hugging and kissing mommy and daddy
9. Saying "mama," finally!!

She has very recently become horrified by pet hair. Strange and random, I know. Considering that we have two long-haired dogs and one long-haired cat, all with dark hair, and light-colored carpet, this could be a big problem. Seriously, the carpet looks like it hasn't been vacuumed in two weeks within one day of a thorough vacuuming. Whenever Gabby sees a clump of hair, she freezes, points at it, and makes this frantic, panicked sound. The same thing happens if she finds a hair on her doll, sippy cup, etc. Today she actually swung her stuffed puppy at a clump of hair. I think she must think they're bugs. So as not to turn this into a big, lasting thing, we try a) not to laugh and b) not to make a big deal of it. I have started saying "Gabby, it's just hair from one of the dogs. Can you please go put it in the trash for mommy?" The upshot is that our carpet is cleaner than it would otherwise be AND I've got Gabby trained to put things in the trash for me.

She is also starting to test limits more and more. The naughtiest thing she's been doing is climbing on to these chairs that we have in the office/playroom and standing and jumping on them. That would be bad enough on a stationary chair, but these rock AND recline! We try to avoid the behavior altogether by re-directing her when we see her heading for the chairs, but we don't always catch her in time (she's a quick little bugger). As soon as she sees us coming or hears the word "no," she just gets wild and silly and tries to get as far as she can before we get to her. And no matter how sternly we say "no" and how serious we are when we explain that she could get hurt, she just laughs at us. Oy...

Needless to say, each day with Gabby is an adventure! We just adore her and love to see how much she is learning, growing, and blossoming. What a precious, beautiful gift she is!

Much love,
Leslie, Daniel, & Gabriela

Odds and Ends

Hi there! We don't have anything in particular to report, but thought an update was in order. Gabby continues to amaze and amuse us.

We're pretty sure we have a little genius on our hands. Sure, we're a little biased, but Grandma and Grandpa think she's a smart little cookie too, and there's no way they're biased. Here is a list of the amazing things she can do:

1. She can point to her belly button, nose, ears, and head when asked in english or spanish.
2. She can identify several objects in her books, including balls, cows, monkeys, birds, airplanes, snakes, sheep, horses, cats, dogs, the sun, the moon, ducks, trees... there are a few more but they don't come to mind right now. Oh, and she can identify most of these things in english or spanish.
3. She can follow a command like "please bring that to mommy" or "please put that back" in spanish or english.

And there you have it! Indisputable evidence that she is simply unmatched in intelligence! She is also hilarious. A couple of funny things that she likes to do right now are roar like a lion and look at people sideways (she'll lay her head on the table or her high chair tray, look at the people around her, and crack up).

Last weekend, we went to have our first professional photos taken as a family. Gabby did not crack a smile once. In fact, she was downright sullen. We assured the photographer that she really is a cute and happy little girl, but I don't think she believed us. As soon as we walked out of the studio, Gabby ran between us laughing and squealing in delight. Figures.

In non-Gabby news, we saw a tornado last weekend. It was the first tornado I can remember seeing and I've lived in Colorado my whole life. The tornado made it as far as about 4 miles south of us before it finally dissipated. It was exciting but scary! We were at a BBQ and the first thing the hostess said when she saw it was "great, my basement's a mess," which was totally classic and probably the first thing I would have thought of too. I'm going to post a couple of pictures below.

In other non-Gabby news, both of my sisters will be giving birth at any time now! Unfortunately, Traci lives in Seattle so I won't get to meet her little one right away, but I will be at Jen's delivery and I am going to catch the baby! Okay, maybe the midwife will catch the baby, but I will be close by! Best of luck to Traci and Jen - I love you guys! Gabby can't wait to meet her cousins!

Well, that's it for now. Enjoy some photos!

Much love,
Leslie, Daniel, and Gabriela