Laguna Gloria / Austin Museum of Art

We went for a stroll with Gabe a few days ago. Can't believe the Laguna is so close to our house and that we had never been there before! Right in Mayfield Park.


A little treasure of quietness, very romantic place. Gabe had fun with the luxurious vegetation all around him. We'll have to go there again, and we'd love to take art classes. Gabe will when he turns 4... :) we have time!

Andrew turned 1!!!

(De)construction work in our street

(de)construction work in our street
Originally uploaded by manueb

The last couple of days were quite tough and nasty in our street with the new waste water line project. Every single street around ours had been torn apart, it "finally" was our turn. Gabe enjoyed watching the tractors and everything, although he didn't manage to nap for 2 days with all the noise. After the storm that hit us, what a mess!!!

With Carol and Angele at Deep Eddy

With Carol and Angele at Deep Eddy
Originally uploaded by manueb

Another playdate at Deep Eddy pool, which makes everyone HAPPY! the boys love it, their mommies love it. Life is good! :) If only we could have margaritas aaaaalll the time :P

Gabe and Andrew in the pool

Gabe tried to get out
Originally uploaded by manueb

I got that pool for 5 bucks at Babies R Us - not worth one penny more! But even if we used it just that one time, it was totally worth seeing those two little men haev fun and try to get out of it :) Good to have with this insanely warm texan weather when we're too lazy to go to Deep Eddy...

San Francisco

This is fun!
Originally uploaded by manueb

We went to San Francisco for 3 days over Memorial weekend - first time for Gabe, I hadn't been since I was 12 basically, and Shad had last been a few years ago for work. We just chilled and ate quite a lot of food. During that weekend Gabe cut both his upper teeth, what a brave little man, didn't complain once! We did manage to see quite more than I thought we would, many streets and neighborhoods, the piers, the golden gate bridge (Gabe slept most of the time, surprise surprise), Chinatown and the Japan Center (sooooo very cool), etc.. We were in a hotel downtown on 3rd, quite fancy, Gabe loved the room overlooking the buildings, he gained more independency with his crawling too!
A very lovely windy (and cold! brrrrr) weekend.

Swimming at Deep Eddy

Swimming at Deep Eddy
Originally uploaded by manueb

For the first time! Ok, the water is definitely cooler than the YMCA, but than it's clear water, no more horrible chlorine that stings the eye! And Gabe loved it, as was to be expected :) I just love that place.

Fun on the Rody!

Look! No Hands!
Originally uploaded by manueb

Gabe got the Rody rocking horse from his Mamino and Papilou! He LOVES it!!! It is such a cute fun toy, that the entire family can enjoy, hehehe.

Austin Lightning storm may 15th 2008

Austin Lightning storm may 15th 2008 f
Originally uploaded by streetranger

Amazing storm pictures from Streetranger, found on flickr... No wonder it was SO scary..

HUGE STORM! May 15th, Austin

BIG BIG BIG STORM! May 15th, Austin
Originally uploaded by manueb

A HUGE storm hit us 2 nights ago, around midnight, with winds at 90mph!... green sky... We heard our transformer go down, the power went out.. There was hail (2-3 inches hailstones), big 100-year-old trees fell down and damaged our entire neighborhood (Clarksville). We were without power for 19hrs, not so long after all, but still seems like forever, considering the damage in the streets, having to take care of Gabe, ambulances, fire trucks, landscape trucks everywhere, roads closed down. We are lucky, we barely had any damage. It was a loooooong day!

Gabe is starting to crawl (backwards)

Gabe is starting to crawl (backwards)
Originally uploaded by manueb

Ok, you can't really tell from this video but he definitely pivots and starts moving around and he does a lot more every day!
This is the only video I've managed to upload on Flickr... weird. It appears to upload and at 100% of completion it says that "something went "BONK" with your videos", but doesn't give an explanation. My videos are short and not over-sized either... Don't get it!

Mother's day!

My own first mother's day :) What a treat!! Turns out, as Gabe is teething and is waking up super early, that we managed to do tons of things all together yesterday!

Gabe got me a new Hello Kitty for my collection and a couple of other cute items :) What a cute gift (thank you Shad :P)

We had breakfast at Sweetish Hill, had lunch at Chui's, and after Gabe's nap, we picked up some ripe cherry tomatoes in our yard, we went to Terra Toys (almost as cool as Toy Joy :P), had an ice cream at Amy's IceCream, and finally went to Whole Foods to get some good dinner stuff (Prosecco, bread, cheese...). Gabe had a blast in the cart!

Gabe's 1st tooth?

It's been a few days that I think I've noticed a tooth in there, well, it's not out yet, but I can see it's coming, bottom jaw on the left side! It explains some of the moodiness I guess... 

And also he started crawling backwards this morning, very cute and extremely funny!

Gabe with Grandma JeRena

Gabe with Grandma JeRena
Originally uploaded by manueb

Grandma JeRena came to visit this past weekend and we had a great 3 days! Did tons of stuff, went for a swim, had avocado margaritas (seems like we do that with everybody who come to visit), went swinging in the park, bought a few things at IKEA..

Trims... Finally!!!

Trims... Finally!!!
Originally uploaded by manueb

This is what I was talking about a couple days ago... Still needs caulking and painting and also quarter rounds but we're "almost" there now... 10 months later...!

Welcome to "Chez Gabriel"

Welcome to "Chez Gabriel"
Originally uploaded by manueb

Here's all of Gabe's food for the next couple of weeks (at least; I hope!). There's beef and chicken, and turkey, cod, salmon, tilapia, mixed with every possible vegetable and herbs.. and all sorts of fruity desserts. I just realized there is no pork meal, I might make one of those. He just eats everything! What a good baby... he just knows good food when he sees it :P All organic, straight from Whole Foods!

Spring cleaning!

Phwew! We have just spent the ENTIRE weekend cleaning up our closets (trust me, it hadn't been done for years!!!) to make some room for our clothes and Gabe's stuff and we just got rid of old unnecessary junk. FINALLY!!! It feels good to get rid of crap! No more crappy boxes, no more dust, no more being scared to have a look in the closets, and even less to store our good stuff in them. 

Shad also started putting up the trims in the kitchen and upstairs, it's looking good!

In the whole process, I made 8 meals for Gabe. I was on an adrenaline rush :P

It was a VERY productive weekend, although I must say, extremely exhausting. We're happy with the result though!

Vanessa in Austin

With Vanessa at Z-Tejas
Originally uploaded by manueb

She came to visit last weekend and it was so good to see her, after a year and a half, since we left Oslo. It was a short visit but a good one, we did plenty, had margaritas and apetizers at Z tejas, margaritas at Curra's, margaritas at home... :) And also a nice walk on SoCo, and lots of friends over for a late lunch in our backyard. It was awesome.

Sylvia just turned 3!

Sylvia's 3rd birthday!
Originally uploaded by manueb

And we were there to celebrate with her! WHAT A CUTIE!

Turtle vacation

Turtle vacation
Originally uploaded by manueb

There are a gazillion turtles in Town Lake, which absolutely cracks me up. Two days ago we were walking there on a playdate when we saw these.. What brings all of them together on such a tiny spot? :)

Gabe's first swim - April 5

Gabe's first swim - April 5
Originally uploaded by manueb

We went to our first shrimp lesson this past saturday at the YMCA, along with other parent friends and babies. All 3 of us loved it, as I was expecting it, Gabe LOVED being in the pool and was very comfortable straight away. He does have some fatty fat going on to stay afloat. Let's just say he's buoyant :)

And the employee of the month is...

Gabe and the Spiceworks hat
Originally uploaded by manueb

Easter 08

The cutest!
Originally uploaded by manueb

We had a very busy Easter this year. We started out by dinner at John and Mikal's on friday, then spent the day at the Sternes in their yard enjoying good burgers and Savannah :) And on sunday morning, Gabe discovered eggs and bunnies in a bucket (the chocolate was only for mommy and daddy!), and then met with lots of other children at the Shillingtons' house for an Easter egg hunt and a delicious dinner of perogies :) Yum!
Check also this super cute video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FviDExpv9IM

Macarons Laduree

Macarons Laduree
Originally uploaded by manueb

Never EVER leave Paris without having had a few of those! (It's considered a crime)

who cares about the monuments in Paris?! :P

who cares about the monuments in Paris?! :P
Originally uploaded by manueb

Certainly not Gabe!

Gabe's first trip to France

Wow it's been forever since I posted anything.. We've been quite busy this last month with our trip to France! Gabe flew for the second time, but it was his first looong trip! He did absolutely great, and it took him 3 days both ways to get over the jet lag (much faster than it took me!!!). We got to see our close friends and family, and it was wonderful to finally meet Lilas and Evan. To see how much Celeste has changed. Not forgetting my beautiful nephews, my little angels, Hugo and Lucas and how happy and proud my brother was when he first saw Gabe! I wish we could see everyone more often, it does suck to be so far away. But the good thing is, how ever long it is before we next see each other, it always feels like I never left :)

Manue with Celeste and Gabe - testing what it will be like with 2 kids very soon :)

Laure and Lilas

My father with Lucas (left) and Hugo (right)

My brother with Gabe

With Benoit and Evan - a difference in size in between our little dudes

DIY Baby Wrap

Much more comfortable than what we can buy, much cheaper, and much happier baby too! Although you can't tell from this picture! It does take a while though, but it's super easy! DIY on http://www.flickr.com/photos/manueb/sets/72157603905311287/

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Gabe's first homemade puree

Gabe - feb 10 - week24
Originally uploaded by manueb

Besides bananas and apples. Here comes the first sweet potato, made in a french blender, supposed to keep all the vitamins and nutrients in. I was super excited to try it, its very simple and makes plenty of food in no time. Freeze it in ice cube trays to make portions and voila!

Gabe's first movie: 'Juno'

Forgot to say that Gabe and I went to the movies together for the first time yesterday! We were at the Alamo which has several "baby days" a week, what an awesome idea! Although now I realize I've been missing out on 5 months of good movies, if only I had known before... whatever!
Gabe loved it so we're planning on going again very soon :)

Feb 6 - AustinMamas2007 Paydate

We had a very nice brunch at Tiphini's today where moms got to chill while boys were playing on the floor. Gabe and Clay played together, although as Gabe is the youngest of the group, he's just mostly laying there on the floor for now. Clay kept hugging him and exchanging the one same toy with Gabe, I thought it was extremely cute :)
Good times, hurray for mimosas and stay-at-home moms!
:P

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Playing in the backyard with Gabe - feb3 - week23

Playing in the backyard with Gabe - feb3 - week23
Originally uploaded by manueb

The weather has been so nice lately. Fortunately, it stayed nice this last weekend, which allowed Shad to enjoy playing outside with our little chubby buddy.. :)

Gabe loves solid food

Gabe - jan31- week22
Originally uploaded by manueb

Banana, and since today: apples. YUM

IKEA trip with Gabe - he loved it

IKEA trip with Gabe - he loved it
Originally uploaded by manueb

finally picking up the shelves we've been waiting for these last few weeks - they were out of stock.

Gabe's first babysitter is Justin

Gabe - jan 29 - week22
Originally uploaded by manueb

Awesome! Gabe loves Justin (i.e. doens't cry when Justin holds him). He housesat and babysat for us while we were out having dinner at Wink, first romantic date in 5 months. My god that was good, we pretty much had the best stuff on the menu: seared foie gras with figs, buffalo tartare, duck confit and their awesome dessert trio (never miss on the "El Rey" chocolate cake). 3 days later, Amy watched Gabe during the day while we saw "Cloverfield"... but apparently he cried "2/3 of the time" oh well, it will pass!

Gabe - jan 29 - week22

Gabe - jan 29 - week22
Originally uploaded by manueb

Someone is extremely happy to spend some wintery Austin outdoorsy time! It's pretty much 80 right now - although it's not going to last I am sure. Gives us time to hang out in the back yard (finally) and read some good french litterature: Le Petit Spirou, one of my own faves :P

Totoro, totoro..

I just received my order from Jbox: a set of Totoro stamps, a giant card game and a beautiful red lacquer bento box.. Can't wait to use it next time we do sushi and sashimi at home :)

Look at who's eating his first cereals!

This week is to be remembered: Gabe started eating solid foods with the introduction of baby cereal, hurray! So far, we're sticking to rice, soon though, we'll upgrade to multigrain cereal. All organic, of course :P

Almost forgot...

Trying high chairs at Babies R Us - Fun!

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Gabe's magic trick

He loves standing, he's got so much strength in his legs! What a cutie! :)

Gabe and I discovering the rainforest

Gabe loves his new playmat he got for Christmas. And Mommy too... never too old for toys :)

More Xmas crafting: our own personalized stockings :)

I made these pretty stockings for our family. Shad's, mine, Gabe's, my mom's (Mamino) and my Dad's (Papilou), all personalized. Shad's has a camera and a polaroid of Gabe, cause he likes taking pictures, mine has a Geisha, cause I love all Japanese stuff, Gabe has a blue bunny cause he can't part from his blue bunny toy. Mamino's has a cupcake for all the cooking/baking she does, and Papilou has a flying osito (private joke) :P.
Many hours of sewing there!

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White Christmas tree

I am kind of dreaming of a white christmas... Took some fallen branches in our yard and spray painted them white and sparkle to create a snowy finish, and I cut out some paper snowflakes and heart baskets, and also a couple of white felted ornaments. TA-DA! It's set in the dinning room and it looks great :)

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Happy Holidays!!

Early Xmas in VA

Early Xmas in VA
Originally uploaded by manueb

We were in Virginia this weekend in Rocky Mount, at Grandma and Grandpa Handy's house for an early christmas, and mostly to proudly show Gabe to all the family :) JeRena had an open house on sunday where everybody got to meet our sweet little guy. I think everybody had a great time, and we came home with a luggage full of gifts!
Gabe did great on the plane by the way, much better than his parents who are a total wreck today...

The sweetest thing ever

Gabe - dec 11 - week 15
Originally uploaded by manueb

Gabe hanging out in his Bumbo seat in front of the xmas tree - too cute for words, it just kills me :)

Gabe is vocalizing...

... all day long! Needless to say he makes me laugh quite a lot :)