Gabriella's first doctor's appointment

On Tuesday, September 7th Gabi had her first visit with the doctor. She left the hospital weighing 6 pounds and 3 days later had gained 3 ounces. The doctor says Gabi looks very healthy and she did great with the doctor. So far she is a very quiet baby and cries only when she gets her diaper changed. She sleeps a lot during the day and likes to keep mom and dad awake at night, hopefully this will change soon.

Gabriella Elizabeth Stern

On Friday, September 3rd we welcomed Gabriella Elizabeth Stern into the world. She was born via c-section at 5:42 PM weighing 6 pounds, 8 ounces and measuring 19 3/4 inches long with a full head of dark brown hair. Mommy and baby did great after the surgery and everyone rested nicely in the hospital. On Sunday evening everyone got to go home. Alex is enjoying his baby sister and Nana and Rob are taking good care of everyone.

Maui continued

Alex and Grandma hiking at dragon's teeth. It was very windy and mom lost her hat several times.
Alex with Papa and his infamous funny face.
Alex and Dad at dinner. One of the few meals where Alex had a smile on his face.
Alex propped on a rock at dragon's teeth. He really enjoyed exploring all the rocks and even tried to take one home. We told him that was bad luck.

Maui

Last week we were in Maui with the grandparents and had a great time. We dreaded the 6 hour flight with a toddler on our lap but somehow managed to survive. The weather was great, Alex really enjoyed the beach and ocean and we had lots of good food. Now we are back in the cold, wet weather of Seattle.

Alex is turning 2 in just over a week and I can't believe how grown up he is. He is talking up a storm now and trying so hard to communicate with us. He loves to sing in the car and definitely knows what he does and does not like.

Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend we took Alex to the pumpkin patch for the first time. He had a great time. We got to feed farm animals, go through a maze and pick pumpkins. We get three pumpkins. A small one for Alex, a medium one for Jess and a bigger one for Rob.

Pictures and a Halloween preview

Here are some new pictures since it's been a while.

Alex having lunch with his friend Hayden who was hanging out with us for the day.
Alex is going to be Tigger for Halloween. Here's a nice preview as we were trying to teach him to say Trick or Treat. Not very successful yet.

Alex was making this face a lot for about a week. It's like he was squeezing as hard as he could with his mouth wide open. We called it his funny face and he made the face every time we said that.

Fun at daycare

Olivia told him a great joke and Alex thinks it is hilarious

Alex loves head, shoulder, knee and toes.

Go Huskies!

On Saturday, Alex and I went to Husky Stadium to watch the football team practice and scrimmage. We left Mom at home for a guys day out. Alex had a great time as we got to watch from the sidelines. He was so excited that I often had to keep him from running onto the field. He realized that he's not big enough yet to play so he did some practicing by hitting the blocking sleds and running through some other drill equipment that was sitting on the sideline.

Best of all, Alex learned how to cheer for his favorite team. When I say "Go Huskies!", Alex says "Go Hussies!". Well, they are not Hussies, but I'd say that's pretty good for now.

Alex Update

Hello

I hope we haven't lost all of our loyal followers by our lack of posts. We promise to do better in the future. We have been very busy this summer traveling and keeping up with our ever busy toddler. Alex has certainly turned into a little man who knows what he wants. Now if he would only learn to use all the words I know he has stored in his brain that would be very helpful. Whenever he wants something and doesn't know how to articulate he signs the word more. Usually this is not very helpful but he does it anyways in hopes I will figure out what he wants.

Alex had a fabulous time with his grandparents while we were away. He spent a lot of time at the beach during the heatwave and was spoiled rotten. We know this because he was less than willing to listen to us when we got him back. It took about 3 days for him to realize that we are not as nice as his grandparents and yes, he has to listen to us.

Alaska

Here are a few pictures from our cruise to Alaska. It was great and the scenery was beautiful. Alex had a great time with his grandparents and we'll post some pictures of him shortly.