Gabriel-Best of

Watching him play the drums on a big book in the back seat to all the fast songs on Here Come the 1 2 3's.

His ending to any play phone conversation with his imitation of Mama with the goofy laugh and the West Texas "Bye", then another short goofy laugh. And realizing I do it on almost every phone call.

Seeing his bottom lip come out (like it used to when he was a baby) when he gets embarassed about falling, or when one of the cats hurts his feelings and takes a swipe at him.

When he gets the "midnight crazies" before and/or after his bath and runs at top speed around the house alternately saying, "Mama, mama, mama," then "Dada, dada, dada".

Seeing how sweet he is with the pets, hugging and petting them and loving to say their names. Then he started leaning his head near them and saying,"Isn't that sweet?" Just like we do.

Watching him play the piano with such gusto and passion, especially when he sings too. Where has he seen anybody do this? And realizing that for any request we give him he actually plays an intro to the song before he starts singing.

When he reads his truck book (and other books) he gets crazy excited arms and body for each different picture.

He jumps with excitement anytime someone gets into a truck and drives away.

Standing up in the green velvet chair and stomping his feet while saying "Boom A Boom A Boom" and mommy running from the big scary dinosaur. To squeals of delight.

The day we picked up Andrew and Allison for the first time, and he looked down the hall and said, clear as a bell, "library!"

The first time he requested we go to the library, and got really upset when I had to tell him it was closed that day.

The day we were driving out of Dr. Cavazos's office and stopped at an intersection, and he said, clear as a bell, "octagon", while pointing at the stop sign.

Watching him turn into the froggy, his animal of choice, and saying Ribbit Ribbit all over the house.

A-Boom-a boom-a boom-a boom-a while stomping on the green velvet chair - Dinasaur!!!

Singing the ABC song over and over while grocery shopping. Spontaneous hugs from the buggy while grocery shopping.

Jumping on the trampoline - jump, jump, jump jump a jump until we get to the rest rest rest part.

Playing hide and seek behind the trees - one, two, tree, fower, pive, dix, memen, eight, nine, ten! Here I come!

Reading most books, and hearing, "what's that Mama?" every page. I love that.

'five, four, three two one BLAST OFF another rocket ship run" while I lift him into the air on my legs and hearing that wonderful laugh.

talking to his little ladybug, taking her all around the house and showing her things.

the ear-piercing screech he started making when he didn't get his way.

Jav giving him piggy-back rides around the house.

Best phrases: to-tay (ok), "dude it again" or "wead it again"

Introducing Wallace and Gromit to him

Great Ladybug Tragedy of 2009

Shoulder-shake dance exactly like Cade used to at his age, and low evil giggle that Cade did too.

"Nice haircut, Daddy"

The afternoon I couldn't find my purse before Mass and was running all over the house looking for it, and Gabriel started yelling "Dad Gummit" like a cuss word while running around after me.

The day we had been to the library and he found his favorite book Things That Go and when I was loading him into the car he said, "Thanks for coming, Mama".

"That's a gweat idea!"

"Oh, I did forget!"

"Time to play my 'puter."

The new man in my life

All three of my guys.

He looks so tiny to me in this picture.

Proud Papa.

Tita is very happy...

...and so is Mamaw.
Already trying to lift his head.

Joel Terrell Villarreal entered this world on Tuesday, December 1st at 1:23 pm. (Gabriel was born at 1:05 pm. This must be my time of the day to have babies.) There are so many things about the experience I want to remember.

The first thing I'll always remember is how stupid we were to think that my doctor might not change his mind and want to admit us on Monday night instead of early Tuesday morning. I had to drive to Aledo for my last appointment at 2:15, and he informed me that he wanted me admitted by 5:30. I got on my cell to call Jav, who already knew he had to work late that night to be off the rest of the week, my Dad to see if he could take me to the hospital, and the vet's office to see if we could board Molly that night. I tried to make a running list in my head as I drove back home of the prioritized things I had to get done and threw out the things I wanted to get done. I finished packing for me and Gabriel. I took a quick shower, realizing I hadn't had one yet that day. I took Molly to the vet and dropped off Gabriel's bag at Jav's Mom's. I think the hardest part of that whole afternoon was saying goodbye to Gabriel. I bawled when I got back to the car. Then I went back home to wait for my Dad. I put the sheets back on the bed, emptied the dishwasher and took care of feeding the cats before he got there.

My Dad was the best Dad ever, again, and stayed with me in the hospital until 9 when I finally kicked him out. He didn't want me to be up there by myself, but I assured him that Jav was on his way and I would just work a crossword puzzle until he got there. Jav, however, was having a nightmare of a time at work, thinking he could leave at one point and they called him back in to fix a spreadsheet that wasn't working. Luckily, I couldn't eat any dinner until after 10 anyway so it all worked out (although I was having fairly strong and repetitive Braxton Hicks contractions when my Dad was there and was just a little worried that the baby would come when no one was there with me.) I was really glad to see Jav (and glad to see my dinner).

They induced me at 5:30 in the morning and the contractions started getting pretty bad by 9:30 or so. I got the epidural and all was quickly better. My parents got there around noon and finally convinced Jav to go get some lunch while they were in the room with me, and because there had been little change in the progression of the baby for over an hour. As soon as he left the nurse checked me and said, " Are you ready to have this baby?" So we called him and he was eating in the room when my doctor got there. By then the baby was crowning. I went through two rounds of pushing and breathing and he was out. Dr. Tatum, who is usually very conservative about guessing weights and such, said "He's huge" when he pulled him out. I think it was a real point of pride to him that he got Joel out without any broken bones. But I was still pretty shocked when they yelled out the weight: 10 pounds, 13 ounces of baby boy. Apparently I was born to birth big babies.

Some other things I want to remember about our hospital stay is Gabriel's first meeting of Joel face to face. I wish I had been videotaping to get Gabriel's face. He was just shocked to see a real live baby. He kept pointing to my tummy and saying, "Baby Joel?" and we kept telling him, "No, Baby Joel came out and here he is!" I think he finally got it, and even asked to hold him before Jav's parents took him back home. Another wonderful thing about my stay was the nurses. Every one of them were just so helpful and wonderful. I never had to wait for anything, they were bringing me pain meds, food and drinks, and plenty of advice about breastfeeding my whole stay. (Their advice was much better than the lactation consultant we finally saw the day after he was born). I spent my entire hospital stay eating graham crackers and drinking cranberry juice, in between regular meals, of course.

And the best memory I will have is early the morning after Joel was born, just after Jav left to run home and feed the cats. He had left the blinds open for me to see that it was starting to snow, and at first it was just a few flakes. But then as I held Joel and felt just so thankful that he was here and healthy, it started snowing really hard and was so beautiful to see. We'd joked through the whole pregnancy that he was our Rain Baby because we had such a wet summer, and very much on schedule it rained the day he was born. But I wasn't counting on snow. It just seemed so easy to believe in miracles that morning.