Happy Halloween everyone!

We want to wish everyone a very safe and HAPPY Halloween!! The Markovcy's are getting ready for our big annual halloween party tomorrow. Lots of cleaning and prep to do :)

The little Punkin is wishing you a happy Halloween too :)

ANOTHER new trick

Well someone has discovered the pure joy of blowing raspberries!!! She's been completely entertaining herself for days and I finally got a little video of it this morning. Mommy's already gotten sprayed from being too close :) I didn't mind tho, haha!

We had a great weekend, visiting some family - Justine, Ben and the kids were here from Mississippi and we got to see almost everyone on Sunday over at Liz's house. Aunt Kathy got Gabrielle smiling and laughing again (after a major meltdown from missing her nap!); we got to see Dona and Eric again after having a very nice evening with them last week. And soooo many more cousins and family; we really enjoyed ourselves.

We're getting ready for the Halloween party this Saturday at our house. Its our annual tradition with costume contests and lots of great fun. I've started decorating yesterday - I can't wait for everyone to see it. I have to remember to get pictures before the party this year! Gabrielle and I are dressing up as a special theme, its a suprise tho - not many people know what we're doing. I'll be sure to post those pictures after the weekend :)

OH and I had to show off this picture too - this is for Jess, Justin and ERIC too :) They got us a bunch of adorable outfits and here's one Gabrielle had on the other day. HOW sweet!

New trick!

I am pretty sure Gabrielle had no idea what she was doing but it seems like for the last 2 days she's been trying to give kisses!! I give her LOTS and lots of kisses all day long so maybe she is just imitating me or she found a new noise she can do??? Whatever it is, she is doing it! And I am so proud I just have to show it off :) :)

I got it on video this morning, sorry I kept moving the camera so she could see me. But there it is, a few times!

Well what do you think?

A few more NY visit pictures

Here's some more pictures from our visit to NY last month. We went over to get Faith off the bus, she's such a big girl, starting kindergarten this year!!! I remember when she was born and here she is off to school. Well, she was VERY good about walking to her spot and looking at the bus driver to get the OK to cross the street. We were standing in the driveway for her. But she was definitely all about Gabrielle.

Inside, she wanted to be right next to us - it was so cute. Faith and Lucas are such sweet kids, I know Gabrielle will love being around her cousins more and more as she is older. She watched them very intently on this visit.

Faith even shared her special blanky with Gabrielle too - that was a huge deal for her as no one is allowed to touch it. :) Here's a picture of all of us:

We're waiting on Uncle Jeremy (hint hint!) to let us know when he's coming up in November, because we're planning a few days visit again!!!!

Mommy and daddy time... and Daisey too!

Here's a couple pictures from September of some mommy and daddy time. And what time would there ever be without the kitty, Daisey around? She loves Gabrielle and loves pictures too :) Here we are chilling out:

And here is Gabrielle just giving her daddy such google eyes! Yep she is a daddy's girl, she has been since the waaaaaaaay beginning when she'd kick my belly when he came home and talked to me after work. She loves her daddy!!!!

And she definitely looks alot like him too :)

15 weeks old

I took some new pictures of Gabrielle this week, all dressed up in celebration of her turning 15 weeks old. I can't believe it - 15 weeks!!! We had a fun week tho, a few outings and some visits from friends. The first pictures are Gabrielle in a SWEET little dress in pink with brown polka dots; a gift from Shelly at my shower in Indiana. It has little bloomers to match and she kept pulling up her dress!

We went shopping at the outlets on Monday with Mina & Grace (and about 500 million other people, haha!). I picked out this cute little dress from Osh Kosh, it's so comfy too! Brown with pink little butterflies, lots of brown and pink this season, TOO cute when you have a little girl to dress.

We had so much fun shopping with Mina & Grace; Gabrielle loved staring at Grace and Mina got her to sleep when we ate at Friendly's. It was Gabrielle's first 'restaurant' experience and she did pretty good! Especially after the long shopping marathon we did.

I got this cute little onesie and just love it - that's a little MONKEY on there, haha!

I asked her, who's Mama's monkey??? And I got this adorable smile back!

We also had a visit from my friend Ilona this week! I've missed her alot and it was her first time meeting Gabrielle. We had lots of laughs and caught up on stuff; and had some great Wegman's pizza too. Tomorrow we are going to see Lauren and Heather for a bit, I can't wait!

Well, happy week 15 Gabrielle!!!

HAPPY Birthday Aunt Amy!!

Today is Aunt Amy's birthday!! I tried to get a fun video of Gabrielle 'talking' this morning but she was not having any part of it ;) However I did get a video of Daisey walking by and you can see Gabrielle watching her, haha! They tend to watch each other a lot.

So Aunt Amy, we all wish you a very Happy Birthday today!!! Just think maybe next year, we can sing for you :)

More pictures from our trip to NY

When we were visiting with Gramma and Grampa, Gabrielle got to meet her two cousins Faith & Lucas. Aunt Diana & Lucas came to visit - how cute is this picture? Lucas is giving her a kiss!

Then we laughed about how they had the same "I love my mummy" shirts on, haha! We didn't plan it either! This is one of my favorite pictures, such little cuties!

I was talking to Gabrielle, mostly saying mamamamamamamama and this is the big ole smile I get when I do that. I just melt!

Grampa helped out so much, he babysat and also fed Gabrielle late at night for me; she loves her Grampa, look at the big smile he's getting!

I am going to add some more later from when we went to get Faith off the school bus. She was soooo adorable watching me and Gabrielle!

Wouldn't it be nice to wake up this happy?

Every morning, Gabrielle is so full of smiles that it makes me wonder what it would be like to wake up so happy!! I have been waking up happier because I'm feeling better, but she sure loves the morning more than I do (at least until I get my coffee!).

I got a quick video this morning of her - the last few seconds she realized she was hungry so mommy quick put down the camera and fed her :) This video was after a good 11 hour sleep and talking to her mobile animals for a while before I came in!

Um I know she doesn't take after her daddy with this wake-up disposition, haha! He needs 20 minutes to "boot up his brain" before you can even talk to him :)

Even without my coffee, going in to get her is first thing in the morning is one of my favorite times of the day... no matter how I feel, her smiles just make me smile.

Look what I can do!

Okay I know that I am such a biased mommy, but I really am amazed at each of Gabrielle's milestones. She is 13.5 weeks old and here's some of the things she is doing now:


*She loves to watch her Baby Faith dvd's http://www.babyfaith.com/ that we got from Denise, Kevin & Emily for her Christening. She is mezmerized by them, its toooo cute! She can watch an entire DVD (um mommy was a little bored after a few minutes).

* She is clasping her hands together and studying her hands alot! This is where her Aunt Diana was entertaining and she was showing off by putting her hands together.

* When she does tummy time, she studies objects for a good five minutes or so! Quite an attention span huh? Here's a picture of her studying the cute dolls my friend Sherry, http://www.anniescupboards.com made for her. She sent us 3 different ones, they are baby-safe and just adorable! *YES she is holding her head up pretty darn good!! I am so proud!

*AND how bout those big ole smiles she flashes? * She also does ALOT of coo'ing/talking that just makes me giggle when I listen. I got this on video last night. (sorry its so dark, I better turn the lights up next time!)

So that's our little girl's tricks so far! We're so proud :)

Finally starting to feel better!!

I am *FINALLY* feeling better, its been a full week of me getting better slowly each day. That was a very long 3.5 weeks of being sick, yuk. I was probably sick before then, since I had the baby - how else can you explain a bacterial infection of the uterus? I sure can't!

In case you didn't know what happened... well around 7 weeks post-partum, I started feeling horribly nauseous/dizzy, what I thought were hot flashes (but were signs of infection), I was losing weight so quickly (total of 45 pounds since having the baby). My hormones were out of wack but also creating some weird symptoms! I never felt so sick in my life - even recovering from the delivery of Gabrielle was 'easier' than this bout of sickness was.

I went to my docs who delivered the baby and was told to get a psych eval for post partum depression and a thyroid test (which was negative). I kept insisting to her that I really felt 'sick' - something was so off! And she blew me off.

After I spent 2 days in bed and Mike was home from work, he insisted I call our primary care doctor. I am so glad I did because she really listened to me and did alot of tests to find out what was wrong. A bacterial infection of my uterus; she started me on 2 antibiotics and I am feeling better slowly each day.

I want to say an extra special thank you to MANY of you who were there for me during this time! It was so nervewracking for me, not just being sick and not knowing 'why' but also having to take care of the baby when I was dizzy and some days hardly able to get out of bed. And I needed help, I'm proud of myself for asking for it. That is so hard for me, but I sure got lots and lots of support in many ways.

I married the best guy in the world - Mike worked from home a few days and also spent many weekends taking complete charge of Gabrielle, the house, chores, etc. And watching out for me too.

To dad & Carol, thank you for all the visits you made to PA (even before and after a well deserved vacation!) and for talking to me on the phone almost every day during that entire time! And for bringing us up to your house for the week, that was the best medicine.

To my sister Diana who also listened to me almost every day, and trust me it wasn't easy - lots of crying and what-the-heck-is-wrong-with-me-I-feel-lousy conversations. AND thank you for coming down for the weekend to help me out (and Elton & Bee thanks for letting her come alone and watching Faith & Lucas).

Denise & Emily - thank you for bringing me lunch twice and keeping me company! And for the beautiful flowers! Some of the best medicine is to be around a 3 year old talking about the kitty cat and princesses.

Ree, thank you for driving 3 hours to spend a couple nights with me while Mike was away. I really appreciate you :) You are very good company and who else could get Gabrielle to smile so big saying "momomomomomom" heehee!

Mary thank you for driving out from NJ and bringing me lunch and spending a Sunday afternoon with me. I know your life is a bit upside down right now; thank you for being here!

And to sooooooooo many others who called, emailed, IM'd, sent cards and prayers..... Mom, Amy, Jeremy, Megan, Jeni, Robin, Sue, Sherry, all the girls on PM who posted, Susan, Sue, Bette, Cedara, Darlene, Ilona, Kathy, all my cousins who listened at Peter's party about how wacky I was feeling. And Mina - oh my, how many times have we rescheduled? UGH! I can't wait to see you & Grace soon!

I know it's hard for some of you to live far away but I really felt your love and support!

Okay enough of the Oscars speech, haha! I really thank you and hope I didn't forget anyone. I'm blessed with wonderful family and friends. OH and please don't feel bad if you didn't know - I wasn't exactly calling and talking about it. I know everyone cares so much for us!!

Visit with Gramma and Grampa

Gabrielle and I went up to stay with Gramma and Grampa in Nunda, NY while Mike was away on another business trip. It was a really nice week - the weather sure cooled down but we enjoyed our visit with them. Here's a picture of Gramma and Grampa with Gabrielle: Carol & I attempted to make my Halloween costume - what a disaster! I say attempted because even tho we are both great sewers, those clothing patterns really STINK. We spent many days on it and I paid $45 for materials; we ended up running to Goodwill on Friday and found a dress and some other things for about $10 that I'm going to re-work for my costume. I'll never try those clothing patterns again!

We also got to see Aunt Diana, Lucas and Faith - I'm waiting for some pictures so I can upload more of our visit with them. Hint hint ;)

While we were there, Gabrielle turned 3 months old - ALREADY! Time flies!! We celebrated by eating some black & white cookies for her. See Grampa hogged the cookies, haha!!! And I got to blow out a candle with a wish.

Grampa is the bestest babysitter ever! We went out to a quilt shop (of course, I had to buy fabric!), a really fun primitive shop, and again for Goodwill. Grampa stayed home with Gabrielle while we went out. He also fed her every night so I could get my rest since I'm still recovering. THANK you Grampa!!!!

We also went for a walk outside while we were visiting. My parents live on 70 something acres of beautiful country land. We went out walking by their pond and field - we saw the outhouse (what's left of it after the squirrels have eaten it!). I carried Gabrielle for our walk in this pack that my sister gave me. It was pretty kewl!