Tracking

Gabi watching her new toy.

Papa had his birthday last week. Gabi got her first present-on-someone-else's-birthday on that occasion. We're looking forward to a lifetime of being ignored as people pay attention to our captivatingly cute little girl. A few days ago, Lola got her some new outfits while she was out shopping for Gabi's cousin's birthday present.

More interesting from a developmental standpoint is that Gabi really seems to have mastered the art of tracking objects. Okay, so she hasn't completely mastered it just yet, but she's getting there. As you can see in this picture, she will stare for a good while at interesting things. She'll even follow them for a while until they go out of her field of view. Some of her favorite things to track are her Mama, the flashing musical star on her play gym, and the little animal friends on her crib mobile.

I know you might be thinking, "that's not such a big deal... tracking objects is pretty simple... I do it all the time without thinking about it." Well, it's not all that simple, apparently. For example, if you wanted to program a robot to track objects, you'd have to do something like this. I just find it amazing that her little brain is figuring out all that. I suppose I ought to also find it amazing that my larger brain can do that and then some, but I'm not a cute little baby.

Gabi is so smart.

Growing Up

Gabi went to her one-month check-up when she was five and a half weeks old. The doctor weighed her in at 10 pounds 5 ounces (gain of 3 pounds, 12 ounces) and measured her to be 21 inches long (growth of 2 inches). She is so big already! When I compare Gabi to our friends' newborns (a one-week-old and a two-week-old), I can't remember when Gabi was ever that small, even though she is only seven weeks old now. It's amazing how quickly infants grow.


Gabi sitting on the rocking chair all by herself! (4/11/05)

The pediatrician was also impressed with how well Gabi can already hold her head up and control her neck muscles. She is quite strong! It's fun to watch Gabi develop. Over the past two weeks, she has learned some new skills. She is starting to smile and giggle when she is happy and when she sees me. She can track objects with her eyes, somewhat. If I walk across the room, she will turn her head to watch me. Gabriella is also starting to talk to us, mostly using vowel sounds at this point. She is also learning to control her muscle movements a little, and she bats at her favorite toys now--especially the ones that reward her with music or flashing lights.

Little Rock family

Gabi enjoys all the attention she receives from her family here in Little Rock.

Gabi snuggles with Lolo as she sleeps. (4/5/05)

Gabi and Lola dance around our living room. (4/5/05)

Gabi stomps on Steven's head while he watches TV. (4/8/05)

Gabi talking to Aunt Sylvia -- soon-to-be "Ninang." (4/8/05) Gabriella's baptism will be on April 23.

Gabi and Mama chatting in their night gowns before bed. (4/6/05)

Lolo watches Gabi sleep and stretch. (4/5/05)

Where's Mama?

Gabi smiling

We've gotten so many fun presents for Gabi. She has a lot of outfits she hasn't yet grown into, and we promise to post cute pictures of her wearing those when she's big enough. But here's a brand new outfit from Gabi's friends. It's a shirt-and-skort outfit with pretty flowers on the front.

It's super cute, especially on our Gabi... especially when she's smiling. By the way, you get 3 Gabi-points if you can guess where Mama was when this picture was taken. I don't know what Gabi-points are for yet, but it will be something cool. Maybe Gabi-fanclub stuff.

Also pictured here is Gabi's new musical bouncer. To our dismay, we discovered that we only have 2 size C batteries of the 3 required, so it looks like Papa will be making a trip to Wal-mart in the near future. The bouncer is pretty comfy, and Gabi seems to really like it.

Papa and Gabi

Papa was rubbing noses with Gabi, and a certain anonymous relative, whose posterior is providing the background for this photo (and yes, we saved the original for blackmailing purposes), insisted that Mama needed to capture this profile. The end result was this very cute portrait of father and daughter. So thank you, anonymous relative who shall rename unnamed for his/her protection, not only for your artistic vision, but also for your artistic backside. :)

Texas Bluebonnets

As a child, I took many pictures in the bluebonnet patches along the Texas highways. The bluebonnets are the state flower of Texas, and I am quite proud of my Texas heritage. Besides, these blue and white flowers make a beautiful backdrop and/or foreground for pictures with young children. Michael's family had a similar Springtime tradition with the daffodils on Wye Mountain, and since we missed the daffodil photo opportunity, we seized the chance to capture our lovely daughter in flowers while we were in Texas this past weekend.


Papa and Gabi with the Bluebonnets
in Brenham, Texas (3/2/2005)


Mama and Gabi in the
Bluebonnets and Indian Paintbrushes
(3/2/2005)

Texas Trip

This weekend we drove to Texas for Mama's cousin Darren's wedding. First, we stopped in Dallas, where Gabriella was able to meet more of the Geppert clan (Grampa's family) and her loyal fan Sydney who has taken up the hobby of collecting Gabi Trivia from this blog. :) Gabi also attended the Lamar High School Band's brisket bash to hear her Uncle Brian perform in the percussion ensemble.

Aunt Karen and Cindy came to see little Gabi.
Sydney (Mama's friend) holds Gabriella.	Jennifer, Benjamin, and Jonathan meet Gabriella.

Aunt Joy talks with Gabriella.

Then we drove to Brenham, Texas, where Blue Bell Ice Cream (the best ice cream in the country) is made. Brenham also happens to be where Darren's wedding took place. Here, Gabriella met many more relatives, this time from Gramma's side of the family.

Aunt Lou Ann investigates Gabi's immitation abilities.

Ashley and Patrick see Gabi in the hotel before the wedding.

Gabi finally meets Uncle Scott.

Bath(tub)time!

As promised, bathtime photos!


Gabi's bathtub, ready for its inaugural bathing

Since our little one's umbilical cord fell off a little while ago, she's now allowed to have a real bath in her fun little bathtub, pictured above. She got her first bath a week ago, on Easter Sunday. She didn't enjoy it so much...


Gabi, less than thrilled with her bath

...but she's never been all that fond of baths in general. Still, we've had a better track record with this so far. Her subsequent bath was nearly atraumatic, until the water got cold.

Also pictured is our little hippo bath spray, which has these color-changing cheeks that tell us if the water's too hot. I'd just finished testing that feature in the first picture -- thus, the white cheeks. I find that the sprayer is more convenient and warmer than the dousing with a cupful of water that we had hitherto used, although I think that Mama still prefers the cup. I suppose that the pouring sensation will get little Gabriella ready for her baptism later this month.

Finally, here's another cute "snuggled-up in my towel" picture:


Gabi in yet another cute hooded towel!

I must say that hooded towels are perhaps my favorite baby item. I love giving them at baby showers, and I love having lots of them for our little girl. They're just so dang cute. This particular towel was actually sewn together by some of Mama's creative relatives in Colorado.