Happy 2nd Birthday, Gabriella!

Happy Birthday, Gabriella! Yesterday, February 28th, was Gabby's 2nd birthday! It's so hard to believe it has been two year since her birth! Where does the time go? She's definitely a little kid now and it's been so much fun watching her grow up before our eyes. She's become a very sweet and vibrant toddler. We are truly blessed to have her in our lives!

On Saturday, we hosted an M&M's themed birthday party. In recent months, Gabriella has become a fan of M&M's or as she calls them "M-Ms" or "chak-its" (chocolates) so we thought an M&M birthday party would be fun for her. Boy, was it ever! We spent Saturday afternoon with a house full of family and friends and plenty of chocolate M&M's. Gabby received many wonderful gifts - she is a very lucky girl! Here are some photos capturing Gabriella's special day.

The cake! This creation was made by the same woman who created our wedding cake and Gabriella's previous cakes. She's very gifted!

Decorations on the table before we set out the food.

Our living room and main party area before the guests arrived.

For this special occasion, we ordered personalized M&M's. They said "Gabby's TWO!" and "Happy Birthday." They were a hit!

After Gabriella woke up from her nap and we brought her downstairs, she was amazed at all of the decorations and balloons around the house. The birthday girl is also sporting her M&M t-shirt.

Family photo before the party. 

Opening gifts! Gabby loved the concept this year!

Bath toys!

She loves her American Girl Bitty Baby from Nonna and G-Pa.

Opening her Curious George themed gift from Grandpa Hardy.

Gabriella playing with her new broom, which was part of an outdoor/gardening themed gift from the Tadtmans. Aubrey Tadtman, David and Samantha's Goddaugther, is in the photo, too. Aubrey and Gabby are almost exactly one year apart. Aubrey was born on Feb. 29 last year. 

Gabby and Colten Tadtman enjoying a snack together on Gabby's new table and chairs set.  The table and chairs were a birthday gift from Mommy and Daddy. Gabby is just two months younger than Colten so they have a lot of fun when we get them together.

Gabby loved when we sang "Happy Birthday" to her. 

Blowing out her birthday candle.

After the party, we took another family photo. 

After her party, we all drove to Overland Park for some fun at Chuck E Cheese's. Gabby had never been to one before so it was a real treat for her. It was very busy and noisy, but she loved it!

Her favorite game - skee ball! 

Enjoying her Chuck E Cheese pizza!

Gabby and David playing a Star Wars game. 

Gymnastics!

On Saturday, Gabriella completed her seventh gymnastics class at Lawrence Gymnastics Academy. Each week it's a different theme - this week's was animals. The children and parents spent the first 30 minutes of class stretching and enjoying the various stations. The last 10-15 minutes is spent in the pit and on the large trampoline. 

Gabriella loves class from start to finish! Here are some photos from this weekend's class. Mommy and Daddy rotate participating. This week Samantha assisted Gabby while David was the photographer.

Balancing on the beam!

Climbing and jumping on the mats!

Weeeee!!!

Gabby loves to climb on the platform and jump into the pit.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day! Gabriella enjoyed celebrating this special day of love. She received many cards and gifts from family, and on Saturday opened her Valentines from Mommy and Daddy.

David helping Gabby open her gifts.

She loved her Tinkerbell card!

Yummy candy necklace!

Gabby enjoying all of her goodies. 

With gratitude

Thank you to all who have sent emails, cards, gifts and called us to share your condolences. We truly appreciate it. We still miss Mia very much and our house continues to feel empty. But, we know that with time it will get easier for us.

As promised, we have posted just some of our favorite memories of Mia. We have hundreds of photos, but we think we chose some great ones to document Mia's time with us. 

Mia's story is a heartwarming one. We adopted her on November 12th, 2004, when David and I lived in Overland Park, Kansas. We had been married for just 4 months. Samantha's supervisor at the time found Mia walking on the side of the road near his home in Lenexa. He brought Mia into his home for about a week. After many attempts to find her owners, she was not claimed. We visited her at his home and immediately fell in love with her. She walked right up to David and gave him a few licks on the face. 

The selection of the name "Mia" was purposeful. With such a sweet disposition and with no one to claim her, we thought "Mia," which means "mine" in Italian, fit best. We were proud to claim her as our own.

November 12th, 2004 - The day we adopted Mia. She warmed up to us right away. Here she is snuggling with David just a few hours after bringing her home. 

Many of you may know that Mia delivered a litter of puppies soon after we adopted her. The first time we brought Mia to the vet they thought she had just delivered a litter, and then when we brought her in a few days later they determined she was pregnant and due soon. Five of the 6 puppies were born November 18th, 2004 and the 6th was born in the early morning hours of November 19th. At the time of this photo were still waiting to meet number 6. 

Fortunately, we were able to find great homes for all 6 puppies. In fact, we know 5 of the 6 owners pretty well so we receive updates from time to time. Samantha's brother and good friend, Margot, adopted two of them. We see Tank and Chloe frequently and we are so glad they are around to be great reminders of Mia. 

June 2005 - Love this one. Samantha dressed Mia in her Burberry scarf. She was a stylin' dog.

Doing what she loved best - laying around and sleeping. Mia would always put her head on our couch pillows to rest. In this case, Samantha put a blanket on her to provide more comfort.

 

January 2006 - Best Buds - Mia with her favorite person in our family, David.

March 2007 - Gabby was just days old. Mia decided she wanted to get as close as possible to her while laying on our bed.  

March 2007 - Look at that snout! Gabriella was less than a month old when we took this photo. One of our favorite photos of Mia checking out Gabby. She was still trying to figure out what she was doing in our house!

September 2007 - Mia has always loved being close to us and this was one of the many times she made herself comfortable with us.

November 2008 - Gabby and Mia lounging together. The last few weeks before Mia's passing, Gabby came up with cute names for Mia, such as "Mama Mia" and "Special Mia." She loved to call her these names whenever she got close to her.

January 2009 - This is one of the last photos we took of Gabriella and Mia in early January. Mia was laying on the couch like she always did and Gabby insisted that she lay next to her. David grabbed the camera in our bedroom and took this from the upstairs landing before either one of them moved. They really did love each other's company. 

Our dog, Mia

We are very sad to share that this past Saturday we had to put our beloved dog, Mia, to sleep. She had developed several large cancerous tumors in her abdomen. Her failing health came about very quickly. A week ago Saturday, Mia had an accident in the house but she had no other symptoms. David took her to the vet and it was thought she had a urinary tract infection. She was fine the rest of the weekend, but on Monday it appeared that she started to eat less. She would drink a lot and go to the bathroom but would not eat her food. She would eat Gabby's scraps on the floor but nothing else. We thought she was just being picky.

Later in the week she stopped eating all together and when she would eat she couldn't keep the food down. The vet took some x-rays but he could not see much because she had fluid in her abdomen. She was then given an ultrasound and they detected the tumors. They had grown very large. One was obstructing her digestive tract and causing decreased appetite. On Saturday morning, her liver began to fail with signs of jaundice in her eyes and in her skin inside her ears. There was nothing we could do. She was suffering and we could tell she was ready to be at peace. 

Mia was a very special dog but had an unfair life in terms of her health. For those of you who do not know, Mia had three major surgeries during her time with us - one involving a near fatal condition called Bloat in September 2007. We are thankful for the four years we had with her. We will never forget the many experiences she gave us, especially raising a litter of puppies soon after her adoption. Perhaps the hardest part of losing her is knowing how patient she was with Gabby and how much Gabby cared for her and enjoyed her company. Gabby has asked about Mia a couple of times but she is still too young to understand. We are heart-broken and miss her terribly.

Some time in the next few weeks, we hope to post some of our favorite photos of Mia to honor her life. 

An evening with friends

On Saturday, we had our friends Pat, Gabriella's godfather, and Jen over for dinner and to exchange Christmas gifts since we weren't able to get together during the Christmas season. We had a great time hanging out with them, and they enjoyed seeing Gabby since it had been a few months since the last time we got together. 

Gabby is now 22 months old and talking in sentences. Her vocabulary has grown immensely in the last month. It's fun to have conversations with her. 

Gabriella playing with the new toy Pat and Jen got her - a Mickey Mouse Club toy that plays music. She LOVES it!!

Gabby opening Horton from "Horton Hears a Who" from Jen and Pat.

Gabby helping Pat and Jen open their gift.

Gabby and Pat having a good time.

 Watching the NFL Playoffs on Sunday.

Helping Mommy and Daddy clean the house (above).

Gabby helping Daddy sweep the garage (below).

New Year's Eve Victory in Arizona!

On Friday, Dec. 26, we left for Tempe, Arizona with the KU Football team for the Insight Bowl. We had a great time in the Phoenix area for a week. We spent time at the Phoenix Zoo, The Children's Museum as well as many other sites in the area. The best part was the KU victory on Dec. 31 against Minnesota. Rock Chalk Jayhawk and Happy New Year! Gabriella didn't attend the game - she watched it with other KU Football children at the hotel with the babysitters.

After the game - Samantha, David, Tommy and Danielle. Go 'Hawks!

The trophy presentation after the game. 

42-21! Rock Chalk!

The team takes the field!

After warm-ups.

Near our hotel was the Railroad Park. On two different days Gabriella enjoyed a carousel ride. Here is a photo of Gabby and Samantha right before Gabby's second ride. Can you see the excitement on Gabriella's face?

One afternoon David took Gabby to feed the ducks at a nearby pond.

On Sunday, Dec. 28 we spent the afternoon at that The Children's Museum of Phoenix. It was a really neat place for young children to play and burn energy.

Gabriella had a blast in the huge indoor gym and running around.

One of the many large rooms was a kitchen and a pretend pizza baking area. David and Gabby "made" a pizza together. Here is Gabby playing in the sink.

Gabriella's favorite room was probably the supermarket. She loved pushing around the cart and checking out her groceries. We spent a lot of time in the market!

Carrying her groceries from the loading dock to the grocery store.

Boo!

On Saturday, Dec. 27 we spent the afternoon at the Phoenix Zoo. Gabriella had a great time visiting with the animals. It was an unseasonably cool day, but despite the weather Gabby loved watching and petting the animals.

Gabby feeding and petting the goats.

We had a chance to get up close and personal with the monkeys. We strolled through their habitat and we were able to take some great pictures.

The beautiful pink flamingos!

Gabriella with David, Aunt Danielle and Nonna watching the giraffes. We all had a really good time at the zoo even if we were a little cold!