do you two want to see what it looks
like before we start if you look
right here you can see a little tv
screen
who's that right there
[Music]
this first question's for you gabby are
you ready okay
who is this saga
what's your brother like bubble bottle
i love you are you interested you're
gonna sing
what do you want to sing i need
she's so much fun to watch i will put
her in bed too
go to bed and she'll bounce around and
just perform
in her bed for a good two hours and it's
just fun to sit there on the monitor and
watch to see what she's going to do
would it be correct to describe gabby as
happy yes
yes and that was very important because
we wanted to make sure we were gonna
have a happy child
that was our that was what we were
praying for and
we got it
glad you got fun let's kick the monkeys
one more time
she's a wiggle worm and thank god she is
so little so i can manage her
and she's not necessarily throwing
around wait can you sit up
no please
gaby have a mind of her room yes she
does
and it's fun to watch her little plane
and what she's thinking what makes her
tick
and she's got it's fun to watch her
because you never know what you're going
to get
you sit down no
gabby is it okay if i ask you and your
brother three questions
when gabby was in here with her brother
she would go to the door
and pretend like she was opening it
because it annoyed her brother
but she wouldn't open it she would just
touch the handle and laugh yes does she
like the teasing
yes she likes to tease everybody
and she no she can get away with it so
when i say inside voice to her because
she's
this little loud person um she thinks
it's funny when i say inside voice and
then she
is louder so it sort of backfires but
she is a prankster and you can't help
but laugh
why is she able to get away with
anything
because she's gaby
she's just too cute you know she it
happens
gabby was born with neonatal prodroid
syndrome
it is a very rare syndrome at the time
we were given that diagnosis there was
70 cases since 1970. what do you think
is the best thing about your sister
that i i play with her and she plays
with me
there's not a lot of literature which
was upsetting
at the time for us because the
literature that we were going by was one
that was
for one of the other
genetic mutations under the name
neonatal protroid syndrome
so um one thing that broke my heart was
when we left
the literature that we were given was
the average lifespan was
seven months old and um
that i mean any mom that just had a baby
reads that like
hormones are not like you're heartbroken
can you say hi hi good to see you tell
chris what we were just doing
what were we doing my name is monkey
can you say we were watering the plant
okay
water plants yeah you did a good job
she's very smart so she can read
um words individually but she
if you ask her questions it's harder i
don't think she
you know understands everything just yet
but
um i think i say that but she could just
be fooling us
all too i don't know what do you like
more
dogs or cats
most you like rabbits
i love rabbits too
rabbits are a cool animal
[Music]
rabbits are the best it's perfect
again i don't know where
what do you do when you're not sure what
gabby says i tried to repeat it when she
was younger she used to get really
frustrated and would start crying
but now she'll repeat something over and
over again until i repeat it back to her
and if it's wrong then she will
say no and keep going so i've got
i gotta pick up on it right away or else
brandon for the long haul i have another
question for you
oh are you ready for it
what do you like more the color green or
the color blue
[Music]
my color
you like colorful rabbits
yes
rabbits are the best do you like
thinking about rabbits
my pleasure your pleasure
may feel good baby
baby really
that's so cool when she's just so
good and bubby is your boy
i didn't know that
thank you for telling me that and you
like tummy
that's so cool the baby is coming
she's got a big repertoire of sayings
and she's memorizes things really
quickly
gabby gabby
has being gabby's dad changed how you
view the world
absolutely yeah how so i think
a couple different ways one you know
when gabby was born obviously
she's got some challenges and some some
things that
uh you know make things a little harder
for her but i think it just puts things
in perspective for you
you know like what's really important
what's wrong you want to play with
numbers
okay can i put her down yeah of course
yeah and i just think perspective right
so at the end of the day
uh it makes you realize what the most
important things are with life
you know and that's love how does
neonatal
project syndrome impact gabby
so it makes it so she does not have um
any fat she doesn't have teeth either
um it makes her have thinner bones
more brittle bones she was born with a
congenital knee defect that we've had a
couple surgeries on
but other than that she
is a smart little girl sit down
let me sit down okay do you take care of
your sister
yeah how do you feel when you take care
of your sister
um i feel
excited
gabby were you just making a silly face
at me
when
what was it like when gabby was first
born it was hard we weren't given a
diagnosis
we um at
20 weeks we found out there was
something wrong with our baby we saw an
uh skull abnormality we potentially saw
a heart issue and then she was small so
um we went and did all the tests the
doctors weren't able to tell us what was
going on so
you know when i had her
um we didn't know there's a lot of
things in
that are taken out of your control and
you don't know where to turn or what to
do and sometimes
answers can't get provided for you so
you search for the things that
you can control and that's how do you
love your kids and how do they love you
back and
i think that that's changed me
enormously
and then mommy i love mama
why do you love mommy mom
daddy daddy i love you gummy gummy i
love you
i love you no i love you more
every day is something new so every day
is a new milestone that she might hit
every day is a new thing that she's
learned every day is a
a new adventure can you spell cat can
you show chris how you spell cats
small cats spell cat
cat can you spell the word cat
i think i'm most proud of gabby for
i mean i could say that i'm proud of her
for overcoming all the surgeries she's
had and the challenges that she's had
but
i think i'm most proud of her for just
the basic common things that you would
be proud of any kid for
that she loves her family that she's a
good sister
he is able to be affectionate
uh she's able to listen uh she takes
interest in things hey man
can you spy can you spell hop
ha hack
good job you got the hop
amazing
you're so smart
i think spidey