We are back, but...

We are home in New Orleans, and had a wonderful vacation.  We have a ton of new pictures and several new videos.  The good news is our camera traveled back to NOLA with us.  The bad news is that the cord that connects the camera to the computer did not.  It is still in Las Vegas.  Hopefully it'll return soon, but until it does... we'll be on a continued hiatus.

We'll post pictures again as soon as we can.  :)

First Christmas

Maddox's first Christmas was very nice.  He is a lucky little boy, he received a lot of very thoughtful gifts from his family and friends.  Our family has a tradition of reading the Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve, and it was fun starting this tradition with Maddox.

Gigi reading the Night Before Christmas

Christmas tree

Christmas bells!

Mama got up early on Christmas morning while Maddox napped and set up his gifts.

Presents under the tree... Maddox's super cool tunnel and pop up house Christmas present

When Maddox and his uncles woke up, we opened our stockings.  Maddox really liked pulling his stocking stuff out... everyone was "ooooooh"ing and "awwwwwwww"ing at their gifts, and Maddox started doing this, too.  It was super cute.  He would pull out a gift and say "ooooooooooh".  I wish we had caught it on video but we were distracted with other things.

"Oooooooooooh"

Then we moved on to presents...

Favorite present?  Tissue paper!

Exploring his new tunnels

"Which way should I go??"

We hope everyone is having a nice holiday.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Holiday Travels

The Gilbert Family has been traveling for the holidays.  We've gotten to see and visit with a lot of family and friends, and have had a very nice couple of weeks.  Maddox has been a little traveling trooper.  He slept most of the flight from New Orleans to Phoenix.  He was such a good little guy on that 4 hour flight that the couple sitting in front of us were surprised to see a baby sitting behind them when they were deboarding the plane.

The first leg of our trip was spent in Phoenix with Grandpa John.  We had a nice visit and ate lots and lots of Mexican food.  Maddox ate multiple plates of cooked pinto beans and avocado. 

Just hanging out

At the park, watching the ducks

We were also able to visit Great Grandpa Bud and Great Grandma Pam while we were in Phoenix.

Reading on Great Grandpa Bud's lap

Playing with Great Grandpa Bud's watch

Visiting with Great Grandma Pam

We left Phoenix and headed to Las Vegas where we are staying with my family.  We had a very nice, quiet Christmas (pictures posted soon).  Maddox might complain that he isn't getting enough attention, but don't buy it...

Waving, and talking, and snapping, oh my!

No posts since Nov. 27th!  My goodness.  Sorry for slacking.  I've been finishing up my semester (done as of Friday!) and we are getting ready to leave for our holiday travels.  So it's been a busy time.  

Maddox turned 10 months old a week ago, and with that it seems like he's learned a ton of new tricks.

He loves waving "hi".  He'll wave to us whenever one of us enters the room.  And just in the last few days, whenever someone says "Hi Maddox" he'll wave.  So he is definitely associating the wave with the word hi, which is very neat.  We tried to get it on video, but the little guy, who is normally a ham in front of the camera, got shy.  We got a little wave, though.   

He's been saying "Mama", "Dada", "Na na" (no, or I don't like this, or I'm just not happy right now), "Ba ba" (water), and "Yeah yeah" for awhile now.  But!  Sometime last week, in the span of 24 hours, he said "Hi Dada" to Luke and "Na na Dada" when it was just me and Maddox in the bedroom.  We took translated that as "Dada isn't here".

Also, just in the last week, he's started snapping!  No joke!  He must have seen Luke or I do it, and he's started trying to do it.  He definitely has the finger movement down but isn't really making a snapping noise yet.  Even so, that's a pretty intricate finger movement, so we are pretty impressed with his skills. 

And, needless to say, he just keeps getting cuter and cuter with every passing day.

The pantless explorer

What happens to a baby's hair when you let him feed himself banana

Turns out banana is a great styling product!

Odds and Ends

With Thanksgiving and having visitors three weeks in a row, we've been pretty busy.  My parents were here the week before Thanksgiving and we had a very nice visit with them.

<3

Mr. Grumpy Pants or Mr. Just Woke Up... not sure which.

 I took this one a few weeks ago, while we were watching the Saints beat the Falcons:

My little Saints fan covered in blueberries

 Maddox is moving all over the place.  He's sticking to his nontraditional crawl... which is more of a scoot.  He pulls himself with his hands while pushing himself with one foot.  He moves pretty quickly, especially when he is on the hard wood floors.  Here he is playing under his highchair after Thanksgiving dinner:

Awhile back, Luke found a neat idea for a DIY buckle toy online.  Maddox loves zippers and buttons and velcro, so I decided to make him this toy.  We'll wait to give it to him when we travel for the holidays, so that it is new and exciting.  And hopefully it'll hold his interest for awhile.

Maddox's First Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving from New Orleans!  We had a nice, quiet day at home.  I decided earlier this week that I wanted to try and make a traditional Thanksgiving dinner.  This presented a little bit of a challenge being that Luke and Maddox are vegetarians and I am (trying) to eat a gluten free diet.  But I was determined and so I scoured the internet for recipes: gluten free pie crust, gluten free stuffing, and a tofu turkey.  I started baking early this morning and spent most of the day in the kitchen.  It was exhausting but well worth it.  I can proudly say that, for the most part, my experimental Thanksgiving dinner menu was a success. 

Our menu:
Tofu turkey with stuffing (pretty darn good)
Acorn squash and sweet potato soup (kind of sweet, but pretty yummy)
Brussels sprouts sauteed with garlic (just ok)
Garlic mashed potatoes (garlic and potatoes?  obviously good)
Apple pie with vanilla ice cream (again, no question)

And because I am super proud of the pie and tofurkey, here are some pictures of the cooking process:

Preparing the Tofurkey

Blended tofu with spices

Molding the tofu: lined a sieve with paper towels and pressed the tofu down into the sieve

Gluten free stuffing-- oatmeal instead of bread crumbs!

Stuffing in the molded tofu while it is still in the sieve

Molded tofu out of the sieve (the stuffing is in the center)

Partly cooked...

Glazed with BBQ sauce, Dijon mustard, and orange juice

And done!!  A nice crispy outside :)

 Preparing the pie

Gluten free pie crust made with gluten free all purpose "flour"

Getting ready to go in the oven

Mmmmm, yummy

 The final spread

 And baby boy's plate

And baby boy.  We couldn't get him to look up at us.  He was super fascinated with the turkey on his bib.

And, lastly, little boy groovin' to some after dinner tunes:

Family and food

Cousin Courtney came for a visit last weekend.  We had a really good time, walked through the Garden District, went down to the French Quarter, and played with Maddox.  I was really bad about taking pictures, though, and I only got one of Courtney and Maddox.

 You'll just have to come back for another visit, Courtney, so I can take more pictures of you and Maddox playing.  :)

Also, in case you've forgotten what Luke and I look like, here is a nice family picture.  Our heads are cut off-- the hazards of using the camera timer-- but I like it anyway.

Maddox had his 9 month check up last week.  He is still in the 95th percentile for height (29 3/4 inches) but has dropped to the 5th percentile for weight (16 lbs 13 oz).  This kid must have a super fast metabolism; he eats all the time.  And he eats a lot every time.  He can put away a pack of oatmeal and a banana no problem.  Or a quarter cup of quinoa and black beans?  Sure, why not.  He eats solids at least 2 times a day (sometimes 3) and still nurses 6 times a day.  I foresee outrageous food bills in our future...  

Speaking of food, Maddox is a really adventurous eater.  In the last few weeks we've given him:

• Quinoa and black beans spiced with cumin and chili flake
• Chana masala (chick peas in tomato sauce) spiced with garlic, onion, Indian seasoning, and ginger
• Potato, carrot, and parsnip stew spiced with onion, garlic, and ginger
• Red lentils and brown rice spiced with thyme, pepper, oregano, and garlic powder

He loves all of this stuff.  In fact, we first tried giving him plain versions of most of these and he didn't like them.  He would only eat them after we had spiced them up.  I love it... my 9 month old sometimes has garlic breath.  :)