Nhamo in paradise

Stealing hearts already...

I love this picture.

Small update...

As always, things are crazy around here.  I also just haven't felt like writing. I usually blog in the evening, after Gabriel has gone to sleep and Ty and I have eaten dinner (around 8:00.)  It seems that this past week I've gotten less 'me' time...or it could be that I'm just craving more 'me' time than normal, but either way, I don't want to blog.  Or, I do want to blog, but I just don't want to take up the little time I have to myself to do it.  So - quick updates.  The boy is now crawling everywhere.  He still uses one knee and one foot, so you think that would slow him down.  Nope!  On top of this, he has decided that crawling on the floor is not challenging enough.  Everytime I put him down in the living room he makes a bee line or the floor pillows..  Than he gets frustrated when he can't climb all the way up them.  He is also starting to get a little of that stranger anxiety.  He's been such a social kid up until now that it's easy to see when it clicks in.  He's still smiling at folks 80% of the time...but I can see this is going to change soon.  I also need to blog about sleep soon...just when I thought we had his schedule down, and he was sleeping well, he decided to change. 

Crawling?!?

Not  yet - but if the boy has anything to say about it, very very soon!  Right now, he will get onto his hands and knees (a position he can get to with ease now a days) and then pause for a moment as if he's thinking.  Then he'll pick up his right hand and place it down an inch or so in front of him (so far so good.)  His next move, however, is always the same - he picks his right knee of the ground and plants his food down instead.  So now he's stuck.  He's figures out that he can still do his little bunny hop from this position, so he can get to a toy that's out of reach, but you can tell he 'knows' there's a way to move much faster, if only he can figure it out!

I think this weekend Ty and I are going to have to baby-proof the house.

Hiking with Nana and Papa

Swinging with Baba and Mama

Bumps ahead...

Just when everything seems to be going smoothly, boulders crash into your path.  Our path is sleep, and the boulders are small white teeth erupting through my poor son's gums.  :-(   Sleep had been going really well for about two weeks now.  At around 7:15, after being nursed to a drowsy state, he would go down with minimal fuss (maybe 15-30 seconds of fussy noises), and then settle himself down to sleep and be out within minutes.  He would wake up every 3-4 hours to eat, but then go right back to sleep, keeping this pattern until he woke up for good at around 7:30am.  Our wonderful pattern came crashing to a halt last night, mainly because his teeth hurt him so bad he kept waking up every 30 minutes or so - and this is despite the infant drops (i.e.drugs) we gave him.  To make matters worse, however, he kept flipping himself over onto his back every time he woke up.  He can't sleep well on his back, so he would simply get mad instead.  ARGH.  It would take a good 15 minutes to get him settled, and then the whole pattern would start all over in another 30 minutes.  At 6:30am he decided he had had enough and wanted out of the bedroom.  Ty and I crawled ourselves out of bed and half played/half slept on the living room floor.   After about an hour of this, we succumbed to tiredness and put a movie in the laptop for him while we dozed in and out. Finally it was nap time and we all went back to bed!!! 

It is times like these when I thank the goddess that we are graduate students and, at least this term, do not have to be at work at 8:00am in the morning.  I have so much more sympathy and appreciation for those of you out there that can't fall back on morning naps!!  PS - I don't have a picture of him in his co-sleeper, so you get a picture of him eating his toes in the bathtub instead.  :-)

It's 11:02pm...

and I should go to bed.  Gabriel will wake up for the day at 7:30am, (if we're lucky), not counting waking at least 1-2 more times during the night to nurse.  So, I really should of gone to bed an hour ago.  At the same time, I crave 'me' time that is not rushed.  During the day, any time I get to myself is very limited and always within a time constraint, most often less than an hour.  7:00pm is the magic hour around here - all of a sudden I have hours to myself.  Ty and I have gotten good at balancing this time between spending time with each other and giving ourselves some space.  We might play scrabble for an hour or so, and then surf the internet on our separate computers, but in the same room.  Or we might settle down in different rooms, but call each other in to watch odd you tube video's of a colossal squid (like we did tonight.)  Either way, it's a much needed recharge before tomorrow.  At the same time, every morning I wake up craving more sleep, and think 'I will go to bed early tonight.'  And yet every night I crave more 'me' and 'us' time.  ARGH!

Crazy around here...

No time to write....so here's a picture.

 

Happy 6 month Birthday, Gabriel!

Gabriel has grown so much this past month, especially in regards to how he plays.  I think this is because for the past few weeks he has been able to sit up without support.  It's really opened up a whole new world for him.  He'll sit down in the living room floor and look at his toys with a 'hmmm, what do I want to play with' expression.  Right now, he favorite toys are blocks.  We have a bunch of different kinds:  tiny square ones with the alphebet on them, small blocks of different colors and shapes that go with a shape sorter cube, and soft plastic blocks.  For a while, the soft plastic blocks were his favorite teething toys.  They are too big to hold with one hand, so he picks them up with both hands.  He also loves it when we stack them and he can knock them down.  Lately, however, he has been favoring the small alphabet blocks.  They are small enough to pick up with one hand.  He is getting better at picking them up with a thumb-finger grasp in stead of a whole-handed pawing motion.  Sometimes he'll simply sit back and enjoy chewing on them.  Other times he tries to pick up two at a time.  He also likes these small rolling balls and has just recently (in the past few days) figured out how to pick these up with one hand.  It's fascinating to watch him figure this stuff out!  He would pick up the small ball, get it halfway to his mouth and then recognize it was tipping out of his hand.  He would actually move his hand and body to try to balance it and not drop it!  It was just a few months ago that we were amazed at how he could grasp onto a rattle - and now he's balancing slippery little balls.

As I mentioned in a previous post, he is also starting to push up into a crawl position when we put him on his belly.  He can also roll over now, but for some reason he *only* does this in his co-sleeper when he is mad and wants out.  At night, when he wakes up and is hungry, I roll him over (he sleeps on his stomach) and out of the co-sleeper.  It's easy to do this as there is only an inch or so height difference from our bed and the co-sleeper.  He has picked up on this and will now 'roll over' himself when he wants out and I haven't responded fast enough.  He can't quite make it out of the co-sleeper, though, so he just gets madder.

Socially, he is really lighting up.  He now knows many of the games and songs we play with him. I'll say 'I'm gong to kiss you'  or 'tickle tickle' and he'll squeal and wiggle in anticipation.  He gets our attention by saying 'ooo' or flapping his arms.  Lately he's discovered how to 'cough' and has been trying out the sound as a new form of communication.  Ty's being the good/fun parent and coughs right back at him.  I can't bring myself to play along with the cough language, so I've just been 'talking' back.  :-) 

Finally, he is still fascinated with his image in the mirror (even more so than at 5 months.)  We've caught in doing little experiments with it.  He'll flap his arm, and then stop, and then flap the other one - all while staring intently at the mirror. 

 

Froggin...

We are so in trouble.  Last week Gabriel started to pull himself to his hands and knees.  A few days later he added in the 'vroom vroom' aspect, where he rocks back and forth.  This morning, he added the 'frog jump.'  The boy is determined to be mobile!  The frog jump is just what is sounds like...he popped his back knees up in the air and forward at the same time, pushing his arms and body forward.  He looked just like a little frog. He held himself up for a few more seconds and then he did a face plant right into the carpet.  :-(

What's for dinner?

Baba has already cooked up a variety of fun new tastes for the wee bear.  So far he has had:  sweet potatoes with cinnamon, pears with rice cereal, mango, and banana.   He LOVES to eat!  It's actually difficult to feed him, as he grabs the spoon and tries to put the whole thing in his mouth.  LOL.  I think we are going to try self-directed feeding, which is when you offer soft, bite-size pieces of foods for the kids to pick up themselves.  I think he'll be thrilled with this - he likes to do things independently.  Ty says when she was young, her favorite phrase was 'by myself.'  I have a feeling this is going to be Gabe's favorite saying as well! 

Growth Spurt

The last few days Gabriel has been more fussy than usual, hasn't slept well and wants to eat all the time.  Ty and I put him to bed last night and thought 'what is up with our little boy?'  After a few seconds of talking about his recent behavior, it dawned on us - growth spurt!  From what I read, a physical growth spurt takes place at around 6 months, and a mental one at 8 months.  Both of which involved fussy babies, disrupted sleep and lot of eating.  He was actually pretty good today, and ended up sleeping not only well last night - but until 9:00am!  Poor little guy - that growing thing is rough. 

big changes

So the first picture is Gabriel at 3 months old, and the next was taken just two weeks shy of his 6th month birthday.  When I put these pictures side by side I thought I'd see a bigger size difference.  I think his facial expressions suggest the biggest differences.  In the first three months he grew in size.  The second three months he grew in personality!  Gabriel is a calm, easy-going kiddo, who takes the most odd situations (at least odd to him) in stride.  For example, because of his burn we have to wrap his hand up every day.  Other than giving us an 'okay, this is kind of weird' expression, he's cool with it.  He a social butterfly, ever ready to smile and talk to anyone who looks his way.  If you are not paying attention to him, he will coo at you in this adorable little 'ooooo' to get you to look and talk to him.  He doesn't like to play alone much - he can last 10 minutes (at most) by himself.  But if he has someone there to play with him (especially his mama or baba) he will happily play for an hour or so.  Although he likes to play with his toys, his favorite activity is walking around in the sling - preferably at the bookstore or somewhere else he can look at things and talk to people.  As I said - he's a very social kid!  He also loves to sit in the sling and watch baba cook.  I'm amazed at how content he is to simply hang out and watch us go about our daily chores.  On another note, watch out if he gets mad.  Our laid back kiddo can be *intense!*  When he's mad, he's MAD.  He also like to do things by himself, and gets frustrated at us if we try to help.  I try to take his hand to show him how to do something and he instantly pulls his hand away and makes this frustrated noise.  He's happy to watch *me* do it, though, and then he'll try to copy.  He just doesn't want any actual physical help.  And he's only 5 1/2 months!  (PS - notice that Sammy the cat is *not* with little one in the most recent picture.  Now that Gabriel is actively grabbing things, Sammy stays far away!)

Cool - I have feet!

 
This is my foot.  I've just recently noticed that it was attached - it goes everywhere I go!

  I know this because I've been keeping track of it.  I try to keep at least one hand on my feet all the time. 

I can do all kinds of things while holding onto my foot - even swing!

Look - I've got *two* feet.  This is soooo cool.  I like it best when mama and baba let me be barefoot.  Then I can play my toes, too!

No idea...

Ty and I often remark that before we were together we had 'no idea' the depth love we felt for each other existed.  We had both read poems, heard stories, etc...but until we actually felt it, we really had no idea what it was like.  Six years later we find ourselves in the same situation. 

Before we had Gabriel, we both had heard people say that it's impossible to fully describe the love you feel as a parent until you have have children of your own. I never understood this comment.  For better and for worse, I do now.  I say 'worse' only in metaphor, as this new love I feel hurts in ways I never imagined.  "I love you so much it hurts."  I get that now. 

Gabriel burnt his hand on the stove the other day.  His first of many dangerous encounters I'm sure.  But it highlighted the reality that he *could* get hurt; that one day, I could lose him.  I remember calling my mom when I was pregnant saying 'I just had this overwhelming feeling of fear for my child come over me - and he's not even born yet.'  She welcomed me into the world of parenthood and told me to get used to it.  "It's always there - sometimes upfront, most often lingering quietly in the background - but always there."

Gabriel, I love you so much it hurts.  I love you so much, the words 'happy' and 'joy' have exploded with new new meaning to me.  I love you so much I wonder how it's possible.  Gabriel, I had no idea.

Counting Blessings...

I don't write about my parents on this blog much.  They hang out in the background a lot, giving a bunch and never asking for much in return.  It's easy to take them for granted. I want to make a point to say 'thank you' to them in public here. I don't know what we'd do without them.  The picture here is my dad teaching Gabriel to roll over. Thanks, guys!

Right now the boy is napping...

in his co-sleeper - all by himself.  Yeah!  I have actually had an hour to myself this afternoon - and maybe more (shhh...don't jinx it.)

scootin...

Gabriel has not rolled over again since he first did so early this week.  Instead, he's discovered a much better way of moving around.  He scoots!  I have no other way to describe it.  He pushes himself backwards with his arms, occasionally pulling his knees forward when he wants to go faster.  Yesterday I turned away from him for about 2-3 minutes, sipping my coffee and reading the newspaper.  When I turned back, he was about 3 feet away from where he had last been.  I'm thinking, 'How'd you do that?!'  I moved him back to his mat and watched him set off again - scoot, scoot, scoot.

Welcome Tavi!

Gabriel's special little cousin Tavi was born Wednesday night at 10:30pm.  He had a little bit of breathing trouble so is still in the hospital, but he graduated from NICU this afternoon so all looks good.  He now gets to hang out with his folks in pediatrics for a while before he goes home (So send good vibes his way.) 

He weighed in at 8 pounds, 5 ounces.  Go Tavi!

Update 4/4/08:  Tavi has been given the green light to go home.  Yeah!  No more icky needles and nurses waking you up at night.

He did it!

The little monkey boy rolled over!  Unfortunately, I didn't get to see it, as I had turned to take a drink of coffee.  Baba, however, got a front row seat.  Gabriel gets lots of nicknames in this house.  The most common ones are monkey boy, little wee bear, and standing boy.  I guess we'll have the add 'rolling boy' to the mix.  :-)