New Mexico

Gabriel racked up a whole set of firsts last week when we went to New Mexico to visit Aunt Lydia's family.

First trip out of state
(I barely caught the New Mexico sign.)

First long car ride
(About 8 hours each way.)

First stay in a hotel
(We had all this plus J's golf clubs, a stroller, a backpack full of toys, and my purse.)
(For a three night trip)

First time to meet cousin Hunter, cousin Easton, and uncle Ryan
(Easton was born 6 days after Gabriel.)

I think it was also his first Wendy's chicken nugget, his first McDonald's chicken nugget, and his first Dairy Queen blizzard, but I didn't get pictures of those.

It was definitely his first trip to a zoo when we visited the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens State Park in Carlsbad. I can't be trusted to get the camera out, apparently, but we saw a bald eagle, prairie dogs, a sleeping bobcat, bison, and elk as well as various snakes and native plants. Hunter's favorite part was the "bomb cat." Gabriel's favorite part was the Pepperidge Farm goldfish crackers.

One Year Letter

Dear Gabriel,

We just celebrated your birthday. You are officially 1 year old. How on earth did this happen?!

Your dad and I have watched you grow so much over the past year. We have loved every smile and every laugh. We’ve listened to every coo, cry, and babble. We’ve encouraged you to wiggle, roll over, crawl, and now stand up and cruise along the furniture.

I remember standing over your tiny body and craving the day when you would reach for me to pick you up. And after that, I anxiously awaited the time that you would throw your arms around my neck to hug me and hold me. Now that I have those moments to treasure, I look forward to hearing you call me mama, to you telling me you love me, and to you running from across the room to jump into my arms. I won’t wish your life away, but know that I look forward to every milestone, big and small.

You are an observant little boy. You watch everything, soak it in, and dissect it. Then you apply what you’ve just learned and practice it until it’s right. You will be the child who takes apart the DVR or the microwave just to understand how it works. You’re not really interested in walking yet, but I’m convinced it’s because you won’t try it until you know you’ll be successful. That’s pretty much how you started rolling and crawling.

You are smart and curious. You put small things inside bigger things, you understand how to open and shut drawers and doors, and you try to put your socks and shoes on your feet. You play peek-a-boo with blankets and with your hands. You like us to take turns putting on sunglasses or hats. You laugh when dada throws a ball up in the air. If you want to give me something, you grab my hand, turn it palm up, open my fingers out, and put the thing in my hand.

You are opinionated. You know what you want, what you don’t want, and when you do or do not want it. You learned early on how to push something away from you when you didn’t care for it. And you completely understand and exercise the connection between crying and getting someone to pay attention to you. (Your dad says I give in too much…)

You are a blessing in so many, many ways. But a big one for this mama is that you let me sleep every night. I give you your last bottle and rock you and sing to you, and then it’s into bed. You sit up for a bit and listen to your glowworm play a song, and then you go to sleep for 10-11 hours. I do not miss the days of listening to you cry when we put you in your crib for bedtime. It is glorious to kiss your sweet head, tell you goodnight, and leave the room without any fussing. But I do miss the extra long cuddles we used to have in the rocking chair. These days you are more comfortable in your crib than on my chest. So for those few moments when you lay your head on my shoulder, close your eyes, and get your body settled for the night, I drink in your smell and your existence. I think that’s what fuels me for another day.

There are so many signs that you are growing up…that you are not the tiny newborn baby we brought home from the hospital. That you are growing to be strong and smart and healthy. That’s what I want for you. You make me happy and proud. Your smile brightens my world.

You are beautiful.

You are my baby.

I love you,

mama

Happy Birthday!

At G's 12 month well-check appointment, he was:
weight: 23 pounds 4 ounces (60%)
height: 31 inches (80%)
head circ: 47.2 cm (70%)

Gabriel's first birthday party had a rainbow theme. I made various rainbow-colored decorations for the inside of Grammaw's house, and Grammaw hung up twirling sparkly decorations from the ceiling of the deck. Aunt Jordan made THE most AWESOME birthday cake ever to top it all off.

Here are a few pictures of the big day.

Obligatory birthday hat

Grumpy clown

Hesitantly testing the smash cake

Enjoying the cake once he figured out what it was

The awesome 7 layer rainbow cake made by Jordan

Inside of the rainbow cake

A slobbery birthday kiss from cousin Easton Graves (9 days older than Gabriel)

Eleven Month Letter

Dear Gabriel,

You are now 11 months old. This means that your 1 year birthday is constantly on my mind. I’m thinking about the details of planning a birthday party for you, but it’s not just to follow the ritual…It’s because I am so excited to celebrate your first year of life!

You have changed SO much, even just in the past month. I had been trying to get you to clap your hands for a long time. You would often pick up two toys and bang them together, but you wouldn’t do it with your hands. Then one day last week, you started doing it! Now you clap all the time!

You also started playing peekaboo. I noticed one day in the car that you were playing with a shirt that Elizabeth sent home from daycare. You kept putting it on your head and laughing. I couldn’t figure out why you thought a shirt was so funny. Then when we got home, you started doing it with a blanket, and I could tell that you were hiding your face and then uncovering it. We, of course, make a big deal about this and clap and praise you for how clever you are.

I noticed this week that you have two more teeth through the gum. They are on either side of the two middle top teeth. It’s kind of crazy for me to think of you with a full set of teeth! Your little grin with two on top and two on bottom is so adorable. You’re really learning to use your teeth, too. You bite Cheerios in half and take bites of crackers. Last night you bit the spoon I was feeding you with and wouldn’t give it back. You tried out your bite while nursing the other night, too…which was NOT COOL.

Your adjustment to formula during the day went very smoothly. And you’re getting pretty good at holding your bottle or your sippy cup by yourself. This month Elizabeth is starting to transition you to whole milk so that you can be done with formula when you’re a year old. I don’t have a real plan as far as how long to continue our morning and bedtime nursing…I think we’ll just play it by ear. It still works for both of us right now, so we’ll keep on.

You’ve been trying lots of new foods. You love French fries and sweet potato fries. You eat cooked baby carrots, banana, strawberries, peaches, and graham crackers. You like the small bites of cake or brownie that I give you. And you learned to drink from a straw because you apparently like root beer, sprite, and cherry limeades.

Your ear tube surgery is proving to be the good decision I thought it would be. You had a cold this past month that surely would have become an ear infection without putting the tubes in. It’s encouraging that you’ve been able to go over a month without any antibiotics. We have had to coat most of your body in Lamisil for the past couple of weeks, though. You picked up ringworm somewhere, and instead of having one spot, you had spots on both legs, your back, sides, and tummy. I’m just thankful that it didn’t get on your face or scalp.

While inspecting your skin for ringworm spots, I noticed that a small little freckle has appeared right in the crease of your right leg where it meets your body. I keep watching for more little freckles to pop up since both your dad and I have quite a few. Who knows where the next one will be?!

This past Sunday was my first Mother’s Day. We spent the day with Grammaw, aunt Jordan, and cousin Will. It was a wonderful, happy day, and it makes me feel blessed to have brought you into this family. I feel blessed that you are here in my life. You make this a beautiful life.

Thank you for making me a mommy,

mama

Clapping!

Please oh please ignore my voice. We don't realize how silly we sound when talking to children.

New Skills

Gabriel's new skills include:

1) Drinking from a straw. Because he wants mommy's root beer or cherry limeade.

2) Standing up in his crib and chewing on the top rail. We find him with little black flakes of paint on his chin sometimes. Awesome. Hopefully it's not lead-based paint...

3) Having ringworm. Which is terrific. Though he doesn't seem bothered by it at all, so that's good.

Ten Month Letter

Dear Gabriel,

You are now 10 months old. Time is flying by more quickly than I ever thought it could.

Since figuring out how to crawl last month, you are now pulling up to standing while holding on to furniture. Today I even saw you take a couple of little steps as you cruised along the couch. You’ll be running all over the place before I know it!

A couple of weeks ago we bit the surgery bullet and had tubes put in your ears. You were on antibiotics for the sixth time in six months, so we decided it was time to do something more aggressive about it. I had a little bit of anxiety about sending you away behind closed doors for a surgical procedure that required anesthesia, but when it came time for the procedure, I was really at peace about it. I know it was the right thing to do for you. The only bad thing about the whole thing was the half hour after the surgery when you were coming out of anesthesia. You really were not a fan of that feeling at all.

Since the surgery, it seems that you are sleeping better at night. Which means your days are a bit better as well. You are playing independently more and are less clingy and fussy overall. I should knock on wood now, because I know as soon as I say these things aloud, something will cause a set back.

We’ve been working on eating more table foods…you still have some texture issues, but you’re really happy when you can feed yourself. You’ve been eating a LOT of Cheerios lately because you love being able to pick them up and put them in your mouth. We also realized that you like French fries, so we’ve let you eat some roasted potato pieces. We’re going to try sweet potato fries and cooked carrots soon.

We started supplementing some of your liquid nutrition with formula this week. I gave myself permission to stop working so hard to pump enough milk for you to have breast milk all day at daycare. The pumping routine takes a lot of dedication, and I found that I was having trouble staying committed to it. The plan is to keep nursing in the morning and at bedtime, but to have formula bottles during the day. I think making it to 10 months without any formula is an amazing accomplishment for the two of us considering that I was worried that you wouldn’t ever nurse properly before the tongue tie was fixed. I am so glad that I stuck with it and provided you with breast milk for almost a year!

You haven’t really picked up any new syllables, but you’ve been playing with spitting sounds lately. And you do this funny thing where you suck your lips in around your gums and then exhale strongly a few times through your nose. Oh and you do this other funny thing with your mouth where you kind of suck your lips around your gums while you babble. It kind of makes it look like you have a beak or something.

You’re just growing so fast. It seems like it’s all happening so fast! At night while I rock you before bedtime, I just stare at your sweet face and try to hold these moments in my heart. I breathe you in and let your existence fill my heart and my soul. It could have been a terrible day in every other respect, but holding your sleeping little body in my arms can heal all of the day’s damage.

You’re like magic.

Love,

mama