The Finke Family

Today my precious baby turned one year old. It seems like yesterday we were holding him in our arms for the very first time, in awe of the amazing miracle that was Gabriel.

I remember looking down and watching him for what seemed like hours on end. Just thinking about how much I loved him would make my heart overflow and bring tears to my eyes. I thanks God every day for giving us the privilege of raising this extraordinary little boy who we grow to love more each day.

Happy Birthday.

Gabriel's great-aunt Joan stopped by to drop off his birthday presents. Gabriel thought the ripping of the wrapping paper was HILARIOUS!

He got a jack-in-the-box and a water bottle with his name on it.

Gabriel's birthday cupcake.

He enjoyed squishing the frosting between his fingers, but I don't think he actually ate hardly any of it. He did, however, find a noodle in the pocket of his bib that was leftover over from supper which he did eat.

Well, ok – we got back from our cruise over two weeks ago, but it’s taken me this long to get caught up and back in the swing of things. Gabriel, on the other hand, seemed to bounce back quite quickly. Oh, to be young again…

Anyway, I wanted to write about our trip but I don’t have time to do it all in one post, so maybe I’ll do a post for each day or two.

For those of you who didn’t know, my mom’s Christmas present to us kids this year was a Western Caribbean Carnival cruise. We sailed out of Miami on Sunday March 7th. We kept postponing buying our flights because we thought the price would come down, because it couldn’t possibly get any higher, right? Wrong. So we ended up paying an arm and a leg for our flights. In addition, we had a layover in Charlotte, NC and had to fly into Ft. Lauderdale. Flying into Ft. Lauderdale wasn’t actually that much of an inconvenience – we just had to take a 45 minute cab ride to the port in Miami.

Our flight left Minneapolis at 7 am, so I think we woke up sometime around 4 am so we could get all our stuff together and make it to the airport with plenty of time to get our in-frequent flying family through airport security. Security went relatively smoothly, although Chris was stuck trying to explain why he had three jars of baby food and a sippy cup of water with no baby in sight (I had went through with Gabriel several minutes earlier).

After we had all gathered our belongings and put our shoes and coats back on, we were ready to head to our gate with plenty of time before boarding, right? Wrong. Suddenly, mom realized she couldn’t find her bright pink duffel bag. None of us could remember seeing her carrying it around, and she couldn’t remember if she had brought it through security. So, she went back out and looked all over for it and went to the lost and found. She couldn’t find it anywhere and was convinced someone was just watching and waiting to poach her bag.

Well, as we were deplaning in Charlotte, we watched out the window as they unloaded our luggage from the plane and what do you suppose we spotted? A bright pink duffel bag you say? You would be correct! We still don’t know how it happened, but we assume that when she was checking her other bag, she must have set the duffel down next to it, and the airport personnel must have just picked it up and sent it along with the other bag.

Both flights were on time, so we actually arrived in Ft. Lauderdale early. As I went out and found us a van cab, everyone else gathered up our luggage, and we piled it in the van. We got to the port at Miami a little after 2:30, and we were some of the last people to check into the boat. As we unloaded are luggage from the cab and started boarding, we noticed one suitcase that no one seemed to be claiming. I asked every family member if it was theirs, but no would claim it. Turns out, it wasn’t ours. We had taken someone’s luggage from the airport, put it in our cab, and drove off with it. We felt awful, especially considering the melt-down we had had when we thought one of our own pieces of luggage was missing. The cruise line assured us they would sent it back to the airport, but we still felt bad.

As we boarded the ship, we took these great pictures in front of the lifelike backdrop they had set up:

Their expressions pretty much describe their attitudes for the entire trip (maybe even life in general).

Our ship departed around 4:30 pm. We had to attend a safety briefing, and then it was time for our first amazing supper in the dining room. We chose the “early dining” option which was at 6 (not very early in my opinion but the only other option was 8. Who eats supper at 8pm? Not me, that’s for sure!) After supper, we went back to our rooms, unpacked, and hit the hay. The cruise line provided a portable crib on wheels for Gabriel. The rooms were very small, so to get around the bed we had to wheel the crib back and forth depending on which side of the bed we were getting out on. It took awhile to get Gabriel to sleep but I think it finally happened sometime around 10.

We actually made it on the ship and that was enough of an accomplishment for one day.

Dad really wanted me to take a picture of this. It's where they kept the thousands of passenger bags before delivering them to our rooms.

Gabriel turned 11 months old on February 27th. One year ago, I was very much pregnant and so excited to meet my little boy.

• Gabriel still has eight teeth, although he has been working on more for what seems like forever. He is constantly gnawing on his hands.
• He stands on his own fairly often without holding onto anything. We are waiting anxiously for him to take his first step.
• In the last week or two he has really increased his language skills. It seemed to happen overnight, and now he is trying to say quite a few words. He can now say “up,” “mama,” “daddy,” “puppy” (pup), “grandma,” “bye, bye,” “uh oh” (oh oh), and “kitty” (kkkkkk). Currently “up” and “kitty” are his favorites to say.
• Gabriel’s current favorite foods are bananas, potatoes, pasta, and cheese. (I think he takes after his mom on those last three.) This month he has also enjoyed pineapple and strawberries.
• He takes off his socks and pants almost every time he takes a nap. We usually find them flung across the room somewhere. His latest trick is tucking one of his socks behind the crib where it meets the wall so mommy can’t find it. He has, however, stopped throwing his bear blankie over the side of the crib so often.
• He eats three meals a day, and lately, we’ve also been throwing in an afternoon snack (usually cheese, fruit, or yogurt).
• He wears size three diapers, mostly 12 month clothes, and takes two naps a day. (One around 9:30 and one later in the afternoon around 1:30).
• Most nights he will sleep from 7:30 or 8 until 5 or 6. If he wakes up at 5, I’ll nurse him and then he will go back to sleep until 7 or 8. If he doesn’t wake up until 6, it’s 50/50 whether or not he will go back to sleep.
• Gabriel got his first significant cold last week, and ever since, he has been obsessed with noses. I think it’s because I spent so much time wiping his. He loves to press on my nose and also stick his finger UP my nose. He also likes it when I “beep” his nose.

Here are his monthly monkey pics: