Gabriel and His Mobile

Gabriel was enjoying his mobile in the crib this morning and I shot video of him. We are starting the transition of Gabriel to sleeping in his crib at night in his own room. During the day, I am putting him in the crib so that he gets use to it. I am trying to put him in the crib for some of his naps, but to move him while he is sleeping results in him waking up, so there has been no actual nap in the crib yet. We don't want to transition too briskly because with the sleeping arrangements the way they are, we are enjoying good spans of sleep at night. Last night, Gabriel slept 8-1/2 hours!

Birthday Wishes!

Grandma A is celebrating a milestone birthday today, though we aren't going to tell you how young she is. We are looking forward to going out to dinner tonight with Grandma and Grandpa.

Gabriel Is All Smiles

Here's my first attempt at adding video to the blog. I captured Gabriel smiling at me this morning while we were having a morning chat. Click on the triangle button to get the video to play. And turn up the volume so you can hear him coo.

7 Weeks Have Already Gone By

Gabriel turned 7 weeks old on Monday. Gabriel and I celebrated by going to a Baby Steps class at the Center for Health Promotion. It is a class that meets weekly for new parents and their babies. Gabriel hung out on his blanket on the floor and for the first time had a chance to look at and listen to a bunch of other babies. He was very attentive and took in all of the new sights and sounds while Mommy listened to a Naturopath guest speaker. I thought that Gabriel looked older than other babies his age, and he was much more aware of his surroundings. I look forward to taking him back to one of these classes again before I go back to work, if we can work it into our schedule. After class, we called Daddy and made a lunch date to meet for pizza at Sal's. And then we got groceries on the way home.

What's little Gabriel doing these days? He will usually sleep 5-6 hours in one episode at night, so Mommy and Daddy aren't as exhausted as some parents might be. He smiles. He has been able to sit up assisted and keep his own head upright in that position for weeks, though sometimes he does get a little wobbly with this event. Gabriel is still not a fan of tummy time. He does grasp objects now, but isn't quite sure what to do with them. His pacifier popped out of his mouth last night, and he caught it with his hand and arm and made an attempt to try to put it back in his own mouth. Gabriel brightens and gets excited when he first hears his Daddy come through the door after work. His newborn outfits are getting tight around the belly and short, though, it's too sad for me to pull them out of the dresser and pack them away. When he is picked up by other people (especially the Grandmothers) he will look at them in the face and smile too. Gabriel will usually fall asleep right away when he gets in the car seat. He is also a master generator of dirty laundry. We believe his hair is lightening, and I am seeing more red highlights. Gabriel really likes to look out the window at the brightness outside.

I wanted to share this photo of Lucas and Gabriel sharing the Boppy on the couch. When Gabriel is quiet, both Elleigh and Lucas are happy to lay close to him.

Meeting In The Middle

Gabriel is a good car rider, and I have built up my endurance quite a bit, but a full trip all the way to my Parents' house in Vermont is still too much right now. So on Sunday, instead we met my Parents half way in West Lebanon. We had lunch at McDonald's and then lingered after the meal so Gabriel could meet his cousins Angus and Brandi, and Nana Doaner could ogle the baby. Agnus was very excited to meet his cousin, though, I think he expected that Gabriel would be capable of doing more. You'll notice Nana and I had a good tight hold of Gabriel while Angus was holding him and posing for photos. Afterwards, we went to Wal*Mart shopping, and Nana bought Gabriel some wrist rattles. Gabriel wore his sunglasses. Here is a photo of him waving at the camera and showing off his style.

Valentine's Day

I couldn't get Toll House Pie out of my head, so on Saturday I decided to bake my own pie. I have no idea where I originally got this recipe, so I can't properly give the source credit. But here's the recipe I have had in my palm pilot for several years now:

Toll House Pie

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch single crust pie

Directions:

1 Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C)

2 In a large bowl, beat the eggs until foamy. Add the flour, white sugar and brown sugar; beat until well blended. Blend in the melted butter. Stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Pour batter into one unbaked 9 inch pie shell.

3 Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 1 hour. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream, if desired.

Recipes are only suggestions for me. This is probably why I am not a good baker since I don't treat recipes as an exact science. I like to change things up as I feel like it and add approximate amounts by eye. So for this pie, I didn't have walnuts, but I had mixed nuts. So I chopped those up to put in the pie, but I thought a cup sounded like too many nuts to me, so I used less. And 1 cup of chocolate chips sounded like too little since I had a whole bag, so in went the whole bag. I also used whole wheat flour, and I didn't seem to notice that it made too much of a difference. I used all of the one cup of melted butter and felt very guilty about it as I poured the whole cup into the batter. I cheated on the pie crust and used a ready made crust. I highly recommend serving this dessert with ice cream. The version of pie I made would probably be better named Butter, Chocolate and Nuts pie.

Michael went on a dump run on Saturday morning and came home with a dozen roses. I got him 3 new work shirts for Valentine's Day, the washer and dryer safe kind that are supposedly wrinkle free. We both had our little cherub as our special Valentine this year. I made a special dinner for Valentine's Day: steak Florentine, shrimp cocktail and asparagus. And of course, Butter, Chocolate and Nuts pie. It was a quiet holiday for us.

On Friday night, we went out for a family dinner at The Weathervane. Michael drove in right from work. Gabriel and I came in our own vehicle, and we met Grandma and Grandpa Abberton and Great Aunt Marilyn and Great Uncle Norman at the restaurant. It was the first time Gabriel met Marilyn and Norman. He slept through much of dinner, but we woke him up towards the end so he could be sociable. I had fried clams, which I have plenty of leftovers for another meal at a later date. And I spied Toll House Pie on The Weathervane specials menu, and now I have a craving for that.

Sharing The Remote

What a busy day today! I was in desperate need of a hair cut since I missed my last regularly scheduled hair appointment mid-January because I was hospitalized for the blood clot. So I was pleased that Tony found me a slot today at The Mane Element and was able to get my hair back in shape. Gabriel slept quietly through the appointment. We finished up there just before noon, so Gabriel and I went to see Daddy at work. And after visiting with a bunch of Daddy's co-workers, Gabriel and I took Daddy to lunch. And since we were already up to exit 16 on I-93 to drop Daddy back off at work, Gabriel and I decided to just keep heading north to the Tangor Outlet to see if there were any sales at the Carter's store. And of course we stopped at Gymboree too. Gabriel is a good shopper, but we are both very tired tonight. Gabriel, Lucas and Michael are lounging on the couch tonight sharing the remote.

Smiles!

Gabriel is 5 weeks old today! He is old enough now that smiles are consistently appearing on his face when he looks at people, and it clearly isn't just gas any more. And some of the smiles are even beginning to be grins and laughs. This morning he was entertaining himself in his bouncy seat, batting at the hanging toys, and having a good time. I can't believe how fast he is growing.

Gabriel Attends His First Knitting Event

We made it to Borders on Sunday for the weekly knitting event! We showed up late and didn't stay too long. I haven't actually made it to a weekly knitting event since before Gabriel was born, in fact, I haven't knit a stitch since he has been born. (Luckily we have lots of knitting friends and family so Gabriel has been blessed with several hand knits to wear.) I hope to get back to knitting on at least one project in the near future, now that my energy is returning and I am starting to figure out Gabriel's daily pattern. Michael, Gabriel and I found the knitting ladies in the Borders' cafe as usual on Sunday. Gabriel made the rounds and flirted with any woman who would hold him, and even flashed a few smiles. His first knitting event seemed to be a success. I have hope that maybe Gabriel will be able to accompany me to a few Sunday events in the near future. And maybe I can even knit when I go!




Don't forget to check out the gorgeous gray sweater Gabriel is wearing in the photos. It was hand knit by Aunt Tracy! And Aunt Denise finished the lederhosen that goes with the fair isle sweater she already made. Can't wait to do some holiday photos of Gabriel in that outfit. I will post photos of Denise's project separately, so stay tuned.

Special Request

Aunt Jacinda requested a baby piggy toe photo, so this photo is just for her to ooh and ahhh over.

Trip To Concord

Gabriel and I hung out all morning at the house by ourselves today and managed just fine, in my opinion. It was our first full day alone together without Daddy or a snugly grandparent to help out since Gabriel was born.

In the late afternoon, I had an appointment to get my Coumadin blood level checked at my doctor's office. So I packed Gabriel in the CR-V and we went for a ride into Concord. Gabriel is an excellent car rider, meaning he falls right asleep with a content look on his face when placed in the car seat.

Since my appointment was on the Concord Hospital campus already, and I still had some energy, I pushed Gabriel in his stroller into the Human Resources department for a visit with my boss and the co-workers. The ladies of HR were more than happy to tell me how beautiful and precious Gabriel is, and to hold and snuggle him. The walk was taxing for me, but I can already feel gains from just last week, when I was out of breath just walking myself into the office for my appointment without a baby in tow. And I guess if I want to feel real accomplished, the week before that I was happy just to be breathing.

Baby steps... for Gabriel and I.

30 Days

Gabriel is 30 days old today! It is hard to believe it has already been a month since he arrived. Gabriel has started to consistently sleep a 5+ hour stint each night, though he hasn't yet decided on a consistent time he will be going to bed, so he keeps us guessing there. Gabriel is already a pacifier addict. We have four around the house and still can't manage to keep one in every strategic point necessary. We have a glider chair that Kimi Eugair passed on to us that Gabriel enjoys sitting in during the morning hours. He lays awake a little while just slowly being moved forward and backward and looking around before taking his morning nap. Gabriel now pays attention to some of those toys that hang off his gym, the glider, and the bouncy seat. Sometimes he even bats at the toys with his hands. He seems to enjoy being held and snuggled, and the warmer he can be bundled up in a blanket the better. While chatting with Grandma Abberton earlier this week, he seemed to be truly smiling at her as they talked. And almost from the start, Gabriel has had impressive neck strength. He's been trying to hold up his own melon since he was born. Though he doesn't seem to be a fan of "tummy time" yet. I got the camera out this morning and used the light in Gabriel's room to take some photos of him. I tried to capture all of those little baby parts that will be gone soon enough.