Second Tooth!

A brief exploration of Gabriel's gums turned up a second tooth. The bottom right tooth has cut through. Yay!

Basic Schedule These Days

Because I will look back at these days and wonder what it was like, I better record it. Here is a basic day for baby G these days:

5:30-6:30 am 
Wake up sometime in this general time frame. The time does not seem to be dependent on what time he went to bed or whether he woke up during the night. I go into his room and nurse him in the rocking chair when he wakes up. Sometimes one or both of us fall back asleep for a bit. (If it's one, it's me.)

6:30-7:30 am
If it's a work day, Mama gets herself ready for work and gets G ready for daycare. Then we drive to daycare.

8:00 am
Eat a Stage 2 fruit or veggie with some oatmeal or rice cereal mixed in

9:00 am
Drink an 8 oz bottle

9:00-11:00 am
Sometimes G takes a nap in the morning, but he usually skips it when he's at daycare. If he does take a morning nap, it's usually for about 40 minutes.

11:00 am
Eat a Stage 2 fruit or veggie with some oatmeal or rice cereal mixed in

12:00 noon
Drink an 8 oz bottle

1:00-3:00 pm
G usually takes a nap in the afternoon. At daycare, they tend to be around 2 hours. At home, they tend to be shorter. (No, my baby does not know that he is a baby.)

4:00 pm
Drink an 8 oz bottle

4:45 pm
On work days, this is about the time I pick G up from daycare. Then we go home and play for a little while.

6:00 pm
Eat a Stage 2 fruit, veggie, meat, or mixed food. Sometimes I mix in oatmeal or rice cereal, and sometimes he eats half of a second tub of food.

7:00 pm
Bath, bottle (usually about 4 oz), read (a) book(s), and lights out while we rock for a minute and sing a lullaby. Then into bed by about 7:30 pm. Usually, there is little to no fussing when I put him in his bed. Last night he even chattered to himself for a bit before drifting off.

Lately he's been sleeping through the night. Sometimes he cries out for a minute, but puts himself back to sleep. I haven't gone in to help him in about a week.

Now, as soon as I can start putting myself to bed earlier...

Pearly Whites a Comin'

I can feel a little tooth coming in! It's nothing I can take a picture of yet, but it's there. It's the bottom left one, and it's just barely poking out enough for me to feel with a finger. Hee hee!

Seven Month Letter

Dear Gabriel,

Today you are 7 months old! More than half a year!

This past month has included many firsts for you:

On Christmas Eve, Aunt Jordan helped us out by giving you your first haircut. We trimmed off the long baby curls and this older little boy emerged. The transformation was so simple, yet fairly profound. And boy do you look like your dad without that mop on your head. Of course, it’s now 3 weeks later and your hair is all poofy again, so I suppose it’s time for another trim.

You celebrated your first Christmas…by sleeping through present-opening time. But that’s ok. You were cozy in Grammaw’s arms and with so many people around you, I think you’d gotten a bit over-stimulated. A nap was just the thing.  Next year, you’ll be able to rip into presents yourself, and we’ll get lots of cute pictures of you and your cousins running around.

You spent your first nights away from our house when we slept at Grammaw’s on two different occasions. The first was when dad went to Vegas, and the second was Christmas Eve. You did fairly well being in a different place. As you get older, we’ll probably end up staying at Grammaw’s more, so hopefully you’ll adjust to that smoothly. Hopefully you’ll be able to do it smoothly this weekend when you spend your first night at Grammaw’s without mom or dad. Yikes! My first night away from my baby!!

You’ve been moved out of the infant carrier into your big boy car seat. Because of its size, you are no longer in the middle of the back seat. The first time you rode in the new car seat, you were mesmerized by the world going by outside your window. You still get that way sometimes. It’s pretty cute. You also had your first ride in a shopping cart as a big boy and you’ve used restaurant high chairs a couple of times. And all of this is because you are sitting up on your own now!! Almost overnight, you suddenly were able to hold yourself up. You still topple backward occasionally, so we throw some pillows behind you when we set you down. But watching you learn new things is so fun!

I would be painting a skewed picture if I didn’t also mention that you had your first tumble off of the couch…dad and I looked away for just a second, and you rolled right off. You don’t roll all that much, even on the ground, but you chose just that moment to try it out…and down you went. No damage!

Speaking of rolling, you’ve started rolling over onto your tummy in your crib. Then you wake up and get frustrated about it and I have to come turn you back over. You actually can roll from tummy to back, but I think you’re just confused in the middle of the night.

Your sleep schedule has been a little bit wonky lately…you got another ear infection a couple of weeks ago, so you weren’t sleeping well. And since you weren’t eating well during the day, you needed to eat overnight. Now we have to break that habit again. But I also find that, as much as I really want to sleep in my bed, I sometimes just want to pick you up and hold you. There is something comforting about holding you close while we sleep.

I’ll end this letter with a funny story. A couple of weeks ago, you started grabbing my face and pulling it close to you. Sometimes you pull my hair like reins, sometimes you grab my ear or jaw. During the day, you’ll usually give me open mouth kisses wherever your mouth lands when you pull me close. At night, you often suck on my chin. It doesn’t really bother me, and seems to calm you, so I let you do it. Last night, your dad told me that I had a red spot on my chin…then he said I actually had two of them. I couldn’t figure out what had caused them…they didn’t hurt or itch, they weren’t bumps or scratches…and then I realized…they are hickies. I have two little hickies on my chin from letting you calm yourself to sleep last night. At least they’re not on my neck.

I love you, little man. You’re my favorite.

Love, mama

Random Pics

This picture was taken on Justin's phone sometime around Christmas or New Years. He looks so handsome!

And this picture was taken at the grocery store yesterday. It was monkey's first time to sit like a big boy in a shopping cart. I'm pretty sure the only reason he successfully sat in the cart was the giant puffy coat holding him up...but whatever.

Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

This kid...this one right here...

...with peas all over his face and snot dripping out of his nose...

He's the reason I get out of bed in the morning. Often because he's crying. But he's crying for me. Because I'm his mommy. And that is something so special.

He's got an ear infection to go along with the snotty nose now, and he's been extra fussy and clingy...and it is tiresome. But when he smiles...man, oh man. Lights up the room. Lights up my life. Lights up my heart for sure.



I love this little messy boy.