Tia's Visit

Tia Natalia came down to the big city for a nice weekend visit so she could play with her sobrina. Gabriela has changed a lot since she last saw Natalia so it was pretty funny to see Natalia running all around after Gabriela, exhausted after 2 minutes.
We spent Saturday downtown walking all around new neighborhoods and had a nice lunch. We also prepared some fun food at home as well, including a German dinner, sushi and Pablo's famous stuffed eggplant. It was busy and non stop but it was great to have some extra help around the house. We love you Tia!!

A whale made out of plastic bottles aka- ART

Beer time

Lunch at Public- YUM!

Goat cheese, caramelized onions and red pepper

Risotto and Lamb tagine

After lunch Gabriela went to the park

At Mommy's last basketball game

Sunday night Seahawk game

10 Months

Gabriela in becoming quite the big girl. Bye bye baby! She is becoming much more independent and developing a little personality. She loves to play and explore everything. Nothing gets in her way. She will push, squeeze, reach, grab, and pick up everything. She is non stop and loves to crawl really fast. She is good at walking along couches, tables, staircases and will climb right up a flight of stairs if we let her. She loves her music and hates naps. We were in Seattle most of her 10th month and she did so many new things. We endured horrendous jet lag when we arrived back in Madrid that mommy thought she was never going to see the end of the tunnel. But luckily we got back on track after a week. We had her 10 month check up and she is doing great. She is skinny but healthy. She weighs 18.5 lbs and 29 in long. She isn't a picky eater but her time in the chair is limited as she will only take a few minutes before she needs to be distracted to eat. It is very frustrating to say the least but we will keep on shoveling food in that mouth when it opens. She was very excited to see Goonie and Alkie when we got home and now they can't run fast enough. Gabriela loves to pull, hit, and kick both of them. We are teaching her the word NO. Most of the time she just smiles.
Her favorite game is peekaboo and throwing the ball. I swear she even says ball! haha. She might be a lefty. 

10 Month pose

Lil Rascal

Vacation Highlights

At the park with the cousins

Swimming and bubbles in Grandma's backyard

Swinging with Samson

Celebrating Great Grandma's 90th Birthday

First Seahawk game with Auntie Louie

The Freimuth Girls

Dinner at the cousin's house

Feeding the fish with Grandpa

Meeting our new friend Jed

Meeting Mateo

Kirkland waterfront with Grandpa and Grandma Jeanne

Swimming in Lake Washington

Wine tasting in Kirkland

Mom and Dad loving all the babysitters

Seattle

We had to take Gabriela downtown and see Seattle and take her first pictures with all the famous landmarks. We of course, picked the rainiest day to go but we are true Seattle-ites so rain doesn't stop us. Grandpa came along for the ride and headed to my old stomping grounds Queen Anne. It was fun to see that it was pretty much all the same from when I lived there. I refer to that time as "my old life". We walked through the Seattle Center, stopped to feed and then took the Monorail to Westlake Center. From there we walked down to Pike Place Market and had lunch at El Borracho. Delicious. We stopped at the gum wall because we have never seen it before and then did a quick pass on the outside of the market. It was too crazy to enjoy a nice stroll with a stroller. Headed to the waterfront for a pictures and then did the trek back. It was a short and sweet visit but it was nice.

At the Needle

Lunch break in the Center House

Riding the Monorail downtown

The famous Gum Wall

Back home we go

Rachel the Pig

Pablo's favorite Fountain

At the Market

Long Beach, Wa

We headed to the coast for my mom's family reunion for the weekend and we were rewarded with the rare sunny day, which was so nice. We played out in the yard, took walks to the beach and ate lots of food. It was great to introduce Gabriela to more of her family and another set of great grandparents. Plus, she had a new cousin to play with too. And my friend Kristin from college came to visit us with her husband and 6 month old daughter, Madison. It was a baby bonanza!
No more bars, darts, pac-man, jukeboxes, pull tabs and dancing in hotel bars for this bunch!

First time on the beach. This ain't no Mediterranean

90 yr old Gma has still got it

Traffic on the way home was so bad we had to stop for a drink!

We are so old now!

Riding the carrousel

3 generation riding the horses!

Daddy and daughter

The Kellogg Ladies

Great grandparents with Lilli and G

9 Months

In Seattle, the little lady turned 9 months. I was very glad to see 8 months go because it was rough. I don't know what happened but we lost our sleeping baby and she was replaced by hell baby. She basically forgot how to sleep. And when you don't sleep you are cranky and then you don't eat and then you are hungry and you cry and whine and its a bad cycle.
Maybe it was the arrival of the Madrid heat, all of her new skills she learned or just being stubborn, but it's been hard to say the least. She also developed a huge attachment to her mother and separation anxiety is rough. But as they say it to shall pass. Right??!!
But she is still the cutest when she is not whining and crying. She did learn to clap, wave and dance so that was fun to teach her and then watch her do it. She has become quite the dancer and loves "Blurred Lines" by Robin Thicke and Macklamore songs. She just shakes and jumps and has a crazy look in her eye but its cute. She loves walking with the assistance of daddy and she pulls up on everything but still not sure about standing on her own. Everyone said she would be walking at 9 months but after seeing her never want to stand on her own I feel like I got a few good months left. And of course she flew on her first plane and went to America. It doesn't get much better than that!! In one month she swam in the Mediterranean and put her feet in the Pacific Ocean. What a lucky kid!!

Week at Whidbey

Part of our vacation home includes a week on Whidbey Island. It is a little piece of heaven. I appreciate way more now that I live so far away and don't get to go very often. Plus, the closest water to Madrid is a 4 hour drive away. I never knew how good I had it.
We start our week off with my dad's side family reunion and then we stay a few days longer enjoying boating, crabbing, relaxing, and eating! It was so great to see my family and introduce everyone to Gabriela. She loved to crawl all around, swim in the kiddie pool, play on the beach and she even tried crab. She did not like her life jacket when we went for boat rides.

First ferry ride

Meeting the great grandparents

Blueberries with her Crab bib

Crabs!

Lunch in Langley

Daddy and his toy

Auntie Louie

Crab huntin'

That life jacket

Trying the famous crab for the first time....she liked it

Grandpa and Grandma Jeanne