Gabriel is 9 Months Old

Gabriel is now 9 months old.  At his well-child appointment he weighed 19 lbs. 9 1/4 oz.  and was 28.5 inches long.

I continue to believe that we have the happiest baby around.  Bar none.

Friends - and strangers - comment all the time how happy he seems.  And it's true.

Unless he has a real good reason to not be happy (think hungry, tired, teething) he is smiling and laughing all. the. time.

One of the cutest new things that Gabriel does (I wish I had a picture) is pat us on the back when we are holding him up near our shoulder.  He doesn't always pat very gently, though.

He's just so excited and intense.  So the pats aren't always real gentle...and if he can grab hold of your face or hair (I'm glad I don't have much...but poor Elisabeth!)...

...and dive in for a "kiss", he's happy.

As most (all?) babies do - and as I alluded to in this post - anything that Mr. G gets his hands on goes straight into his mouth.

With our older children coming home at older ages, this is a first for us.  We're all having to watch out for what is within his reaching distance!


Another new thing for Gabriel is his "serenading".  That is putting it nicely.  If I were to call a spade a spade, I would call it "screaming."  He is not unhappy...he is just...experimenting, I suppose?  Trying out and exercising those vocal chords.

Here is a series of pics showing some of the faces he makes while he is "serenading":

I know he looks upset here, but he was perfectly content...just loudly content.

Oh, and Gabriel learned to hula hoop this past month.

O.K...maybe not on the hula hoop thing.