Christmas is almost here. Its so hard to believe how fast the holidays have come! We can't wait to share Gabriel's first Christmas with him. Gabriel's ninth week has been a week of first for Gabriel already. After 2 days at daycare he got his first cold, had his first fever, took his first trip to the ER, had blood drawn for the first time (while Stacey sobbed), and got his first antibiotic shot (more sobbing by mom). He has now completed his first week of daycare and is feeling much better.

Gabriel is such an active little guy, even his Doctor can't believe some of the things he does out of the blue! Whether it was intentional or not we don't know, but this week Gabriel picked up his pacifier on his own and put it right in his mouth for the first time just in time for Dr. Galan to see it. She was quite surprised!

It is so fun to see how fast Gabriel is growing. Last night we looked in his bassinet in disbelief. It seems like just yesterday that he looked like just a tiny peanut in it. Now he takes up almost the whole length! He is long and lean at nearly 12lbs (the 58th percentile for his age) and almost 24inches (75th percentile). It seems time is going way too fast. We love where he is at now, it is so fun and adorable, but its not going to last long. It is awesome to watch him grow and achieve new things, but every day we are reminded of how fleeting time is, and how soon he'll be a little boy, and no longer a baby!

Gabriel has officially become a daycare kid. Unfortunately these days its nearly impossible for a parent to stay home from work to care for their children. Yesterday when Stacey went back to work Gabriel spent his first day at Nilou's Daycare. Nilou is a very sweet Persian woman who runs a daycare out of her home and has done so for 16 years. We were lucky enough to find her at the very last minute when Stacey's OB/Gyn gave us her number. Dr. Bony's daughter has been with Nilou since she was 2 months old, and she is now 3 years old. While it's hard to imagine anyone will take care of our baby as well as we want them to, and certainly not as well as we would ourselves, we feel like he is in good hands. According to Nilou, Gabriel's first day was as smooth as could be, and Stacey was able to stop crying much sooner than expected after dropping him off. It actually felt pretty good to rejoin the "real world," but by the end of the day she was about to burst from missing him so much!

Please keep us in your prayers as we gain confidence in Nilou and get used to letting someone else take care of our little baby. Most of all pray that he will be treated well and kept safe and loved.

Its amazing how time flies. Gabriel is already 7 weeks old now and growing like a weed. Its so wonderful to see his personality emerging (as well as his toothless grin!).



This week our pediatritian even commented on how strong Gabriel is getting. He holds his head up on his own almost all the time now. He loves doing situps while holding onto our hands, and many times even pulls himself up to standing although he still needs lots of help balancing. Its so cute to watch, he is so focused and determined while working on these things; We can already tell he is going to be a tough cookie, and he'll do whatever he makes his mind up to do...gee, could that be hereditary?

Another of the joys of being new parents is having baby conversations with Gabriel. He is starting to make all kinds of talking sounds, testing out his mouth and tongue. Sometimes, if you didn't know how young he was, you might think he was already saying "Hi" and "Hello." Mostly he makes an "L" sound and then smiles wide as we react with praise. We are so blessed with Gabriel! He is truly our little angel.