Hmmm. Seems like he's thinking "Quite well, thanks for asking."

Adorable!

Oh Nina, he really is adorable and growing up so fast. He is quite the handsome boy!! What a nice little family!!

minjeeah, he was 4 months old on wednesday, the 8th. my daughter-in-law texted me wednesday morning and said this time 4 months ago, we were on pins and needles. how right she was! they have their final adoption hearing scheduled for march 28. after the judgment is entered, we are gonna plan a family adoption party! :)

I worked in Adoptions and many families observed annual "Gotcha" days to celebrate the finalization date!

oh yes, having SO much fun!! tomorrow is my birthday. gabe's mommy has to work so he and his daddy are taking me to lunch. :)

Wow ....he has grown so much. He is quite a cutie-pie too❤️ My 21 and 17 year old girls look forward to their "Gotcha Day" each year. Here's to March 28 and Gabe's Gotcha Day.

he's doing great!! i spent the day with gabe and his daddy saturday. had a nice lunch then we read a couple of books. he loves looking at the pictures!

he had his first taste of real food today, oat cereal and he LOVED it!! my dil sent me a video and it was hilarious. he got more on him than in him but he opened wide for every spoonful! LOL

Ninapearl, you and I share the same birthday! happy belated birthday to you. I followed your story with the Danes and lovely piggies. Now I follow your story on Gabe. It warms my heart to see you and Gabe together!

belated happy birthday, tweety!! i'm so glad everybody likes the photos. i am going to the city tonight for my first dog obedience class meeting (without dogs) and i am going to stop by and see gabe later in the evening for a few minutes. :)

min, i have 3 great danes. two are rescues, 1 is a retired show girl.

this is destiny and olivia, my rescue girls.

and this is eden. LOL

growing and getting cuter by the day! :) gabe and his daddy came out to the farm for a visit on sunday. we stay up at my mother-in-law's house since gabe is too little to meet the danes yet.

he was fascinated with the bubbles in nana's fish tank.

he loves to stand and bounce up and down. i think he's gonna be an early walker!

What a little sweetheart!! He certainly is surrounded by a lot of love. And you are going to be doing dog training? Your own pups or are you branching out??

thank you, minjeeah. :)

gabriel's final adoption hearing is taking place tuesday morning. wild horses couldn't keep me away! my daughter-in-law bought him a little suit to match what his daddy will wear to court. i can't wait to see that! LOL

murraysmom, i enrolled eden in a beginner obedience class just for the fun of it. i try to do something special with each dog one day a week just so they get one on one mommy time. olivia and destiny love to go to the farm store so they each get a turn while the other 2 stay home. sometimes we buy a toy or some bird seed, other times we just wander through the store and get lots of attention. i'm hoping my bum knee will hold out for the 8 week course!

here's a picture of gabe with gary's mom. she adores him!

today was our big day!! everything went perfect! it's official...signed, sealed and delivered! we will be planning a special family get together to celebrate as soon as my poor d-i-l and her baby boy have recovered from nasty head colds. the lighting was not the best in the courtroom so the pictures are kinda crummy but still, it was an emotional and awesome day!!!

Wow!!!! I have goosebumps.....and tears in my eyes.....I am so happy for your beautiful, sweet family. Happy Gotcha Day ...Happy Adoption Day....Happy Family Day:)...Robin

Nina, DIL and DGS deserve Oscars for their performance!!!

thanks so much, robin! i know that you know what an emotional day this was for us. my son told me the only regret he had was that gary couldn't be here. i told him i was sad as well and we shed a few tears but i also told him gary IS here, watching all of this from heaven. <3

Who's robin? I'm confused!

LOL, robin is anniesjaccuzzi. ;) and yes, head colds are the pits and there have been so many flu bugs going around this winter, i'm surprised we haven't all been sick long before this!

Nina, DIL and DGS deserve Oscars for their performance!!!

for sure! i felt so bad for melissa because she was really struggling with feeling pretty awful. gabriel has a lot of congestion in his cute little nose but he handled it like a real trooper! the only time he fussed was when he had to have his nose suctioned. the rest of the time, he was smiling through the sneezes. he captured a lot of hearts today. the judge said he was one of the best babies he'd ever seen in court. :)

Such a beautiful family. So sweet!! I'm glad everything went off without a hitch except for the colds. I hope they are feeling better soon!! Congratulations!!

gabriel is such a trooper! the only time he really fussed was when his mommy suctioned out his little nose. he was NOT happy about that! just got a message from john. he said melissa is sleeping. gabe just chugged down a bottle of formula, they read a book and now he is sleeping in his swing while his daddy cleans up the kitchen. :)

thanks for asking, gabriel is doing much better! he is getting a breathing treatment every 4 hours and his congestion is clearing up. he is also getting his appetite back. my poor daughter-in-law ended up with pneumonia so she is on a powerful antibiotic and beginning to feel better. i'm going up to see them sunday. :)

oh and gabe will be 5 months old on 4/8!!

yes, much better. you are so sweet to ask. he is back to chugging formula and eating **gasp** peas! LOL! i'm going to see him tomorrow so i will have some new pictures. :)

mr. gabriel is completely recovered from his cold and doing great! a couple of pics from yesterday...

i will see him tomorrow for a quick visit after olivia's vet appointment for her thyroid check. gabe is getting so big!! he will be 5 months old on saturday!

Such sweet pictures and what a wonderful journey to follow!!

Wow Eeeee, he's gotten so big and even more adorable, has he seen your fur babies yet? I'd love to see his face when he does !!!! How Olivia doing??

yes, he's growing fast and doing lots of new things! he recently "found" his hands so of course, now everything goes straight to his mouth, LOL! gabe hasn't yet met the dane gang. i think when we introduce them, i will put the gate up in the bedroom doorway so they can't get too boisterous around him, especially eden!

olivia is doing great, christine, thanks for asking. she recently had her 6 month senior check up and the only thing that was off was her thyroid. she is on meds now so that's back under control. she will be 10 years old on tuesday!! :)

olivia is my senior great dane. she's been with me for 2 years and she will be 10 years old on tuesday!

little mr. gabriel turned 5 months old last saturday, the 8th. he is having a growth spurt and seems to be on the verge of cutting a tooth. he is chewing and drooling like crazy! still a super happy baby! the weather here has been beautiful so he's been going on lots of stroller rides around the neighborhood.

watching abc/123 cartoons while he does tummy time. LOL

he's doing great!! he is finally tall enough to be able to sit in his bouncy chair and have his feet touch the floor. he's been enjoying that a LOT!

he gets to try green beans this week! LOL

getting SO big!!! his feet finally touch the floor when he's in his bouncy chair and he loves it!

he is constantly chewing on his fist and has finally started using teething rings. i expect we'll be seeing a little tooth pop through very soon!

thanks for asking, gabe is doing great, as usual!! he is eating lots of different strained baby food now with fruits being his favorites. he has also learned to roll over from his back to his tummy. now working on tummy to back! LOL! also, he is reaching out for things all the time. anything put in front of him, he grabs, including eye glasses, earrings, hair!

growing like a weed!! 6 months old this past monday! he is rolling over from his back to his tummy now and looks for all the world like he's gonna take off crawling any minute. LOL

some pics from easter...

and this one truly shows melissa's joy!

gabe is so much fun. he giggles and squeals when i kiss his cheeks. he does NOT like to sit when he's in your lap, he insists on standing. i was there last sunday and we played music for him. the whole time, he was standing in my lap and bouncing up and down. he LOVES music!

this will be such a special mother's day for melissa! i got a digital picture frame for her and so far, i have put almost 300 pictures on it. :)

gabe is doing great! he will soon be 7 months. he has changed so so much over the last few weeks. he's much more vocal now, when he learns new sounds, he repeats them over and over and over and it's so cute! he is perpetual motion when he's awake. he isn't satisfied to just sit in a lap, he wants to be standing and bouncing up and down. he is unbelievably strong!

some recent pictures :)

he is eating lots of different solid foods now and loves everything except peas. LOL! at his 6 month check up a couple of weeks ago, he had gained 3 pounds and grown another 2".

melissa gave us all a terrible scare last week. she started having chest pain and ended up in the hospital. it was discovered that she had a 99% blockage in one artery so she had to have 2 stents placed. she is on the road to recovery now and is doing much better. until today, she has not been allowed to pick gabriel up and could only hold him when he was sleeping. weight restriction was lifted today which made both of them very happy! we are so thankful our prayers were answered and she will be fine!!! melissa's mom and i spent lots of time helping with gabe and keeping things going around the house to help john out. :)

thanks for asking, gabriel and family are doing wonderfully! melissa is all healed and has started 8 weeks of cardio rehab. she still tires easily but she's seeing light at the end of the tunnel. we are so thankful!!!

they enrolled gabe in an infant/toddler music class that meets every tuesday evening. my son is a musician and they want to expose gabe to as many "arts" as they can. all of the books say the first 3 years of a child's life is when they take in lots and lots of information so he's starting early! LOL

gabe's legs are finally long enough so his feet touch the floor when he's in his walker. he is cruising all over the place and when john is home, gabe follows him from room to room. it's so adorable. he adores his daddy!

he also had his first swim in a big pool and he had a blast! he took to it like a little ducky to water!

this is gabe's other nana, john's dad's wife. the pool is at their house. :)

i took this little pool up to him last weekend. he sat for a few minutes but he would so much rather stand so i held on to him while he leaned over and splashed. lots of fun!

he is learning lots of new sounds, his favorite is a "grrrr" and then he blows bubbles. each time i visit, as soon as he sees me, he reaches out for me. <3

he turned 7 months on june 8 :)

mr. gabriel cut his first tooth just yesterday! he will be 8 months old on saturday. he's doing great! i think he's gonna be one of those babies who skips crawling all together and just starts walking. he "walks" all over the place with help from whichever grownup can bend long enough without back pain. LOL! needless to say, we take turns! he has figured out quickly all about putting one foot in front of the other. melissa is in the process of putting gates up to keep him corralled.

he LOVES to be in the pool!!! he splashes like crazy and doesn't care a bit about getting his face wet. :)

thanks for asking about him! he is the light of my life. i'm going up tomorrow to spend the day with him. he has this cute little fake cry when he's getting tired but fighting sleep. it cracks me up! i laugh at him and he starts laughing back. i LOVE rocking him to sleep! he is eating lots of different foods and is drinking from a little cup!!

LOL, i knew what you meant and i don't KNOW how they grow so fast!!!!! gabe is making SO many funny new sounds. now his favorite seems to be grunting like a pig and when he does it, he wrinkles up his nose. it's beyond adorable!

mr. gabriel is starting to crawl and has 2 lower front teeth and is drinking from a sippy cup! he is starting to try to pull himself up on the furniture. when he is awake, all he wants to do is walk, walk, walk. it's adorable but tough on my ole back to hunch over for long so i try to find things to occupy him when he's sitting. that lasts for about 30 seconds and i'm back up, walking him where he wants to go. LOL

he loves to go to his grandpa's to swim! he has absolutely no fear of the water and doesn't care that when he splashes, his face gets wet. he's not fond of the hat and takes it off every chance he gets. LOL

john brought him to town saturday and spent the day going to the different events at the annual town picnic. he watched the parade, went to the fairgrounds and saw the animals in the petting zoo and then up to the square to the antique car show. big day for him and he had a great time!

and here we are, a whole year later! today is gabe's first birthday, we had his party saturday. we decorated with an outer space theme, same as his nursery. we had a blast!!

gabe is almost walking! he can say momma, dada, kitten, duck, nana. he had his one year check-up today, 30" tall and 22.8#. we are so blessed!!!

That's a handsome fella you have there Nina. Can't forget the lovely couple behind him!