11 Weeks and 5 Days Old

Parents told me when I was pregnant to enjoy every minute with the baby, as the time will go so fast. It certainly does! I have finished my eligible time out of work under the Family Medical Leave Act and will be returning to work on Monday, March 30th. I have already started picking through work e-mail's via remote access just so I am not as overwhelmed when I return on Monday.

Meanwhile, Gabriel has grown so fast! He has some outfits that are 6 months sized that he can wear now, and he will most certainly start the summer off in 6 month clothing. He is also going to bed in his crib now. It only took about a week to transition him from our bed to his crib. Unfortunately, it does make for a more disruptive sleep for Mom and Dad than we have had for the last several weeks. If Gabriel stirs or needs his pacifier popped back in, we have to get up and out of bed and go to his room now. And Gabriel has to get uncomfortable enough that he makes noises that can be heard on the baby monitor in order to tell us he needs a minor adjustment. Gabriel pushes himself around on his mattress with his strong legs, and even can flip himself onto his side now. These movements tend to set off his Angel alarm, which of course makes us go running into his room to make sure he is still breathing. Gabriel doesn't need to be swaddled anymore in order for him to settle down at night, though he does still fight going to sleep as if he doesn't want to miss anything. Usually by 9:30 pm as of late, Gabriel is ready to go to bed and for the most part he will sleep through until morning. He starts to sleep lighter and wake up around 4:30 am like clock work, but will sleep in a snoozing pattern with a little intervention. Considering everything, he's a good sleeper, which I think is the whole key to enjoying maternity leave. I can't imagine taking care of an infant completely exhausted all the time. We have also noticed that Gabriel seems to be losing some of his hair off the top of his head, but not in the back yet. And his eyes are not as blue as they were when he was born. There are some flecks of brown in there now, but the blue isn't totally gone. I have given up hope though that he'd get Daddy's pretty light blue eyes. Gabriel still hates tummy time, but we do insist he tries it every day. Maybe his day care providers will take on the challenge of getting him to do tummy time so we don't have to make him cry during our precious few hours that we will have him home at night on work days.

This is a photo of our boy this morning, snoozing in our bed. He put himself on his side and was soothing himself with his pacifier.

Big plans for this weekend include enjoying the beautiful weather forecasted for today, and maybe heading to Babies R Us to look into a jumpy seat and/or an exercise play center for Gabriel to start using in the upcoming month. He has strong legs and I know he will love a jumpy seat.

Gabriel's Two Month Appointment

We took Gabriel to his pediatrician's office today for his 2 month appointment. He was a very good boy. He weighs 12 pounds and 12 ounces now, which is the 50th percentile for his age. And he is 24.5 inches long, the 75th percentile for height according to the ARNP that examined him. Charts I found on the internet show that he is more between the 75th and 90th percentile for his height. Either way, I am still not sure where the height is coming from. And his head is 16.5 inches in circumference, which is between the 75th and 90th percentile for his head size. The big noggin comes from Daddy. Gabriel was a trooper for his vaccines- three shots in the thighs and a liquid vaccine he took orally. He did cry when he got his shots, but he was soothed quickly. The photo of Daddy and Gabriel was taken in the exam room before he got shots. Gabriel slept most of the morning following his appointment. He had a low grade fever in the early afternoon that Tylenol took care of. And he's a bit cranky this evening, not that I blame him. He doesn't seem to be sore, but those were awfully big needles in comparison to his little legs. I am finding that the new temporal thermometer is a lot more convenient than the old fashioned rectal thermometer.

Gabriel's First Day in Child Care

Michael and I dropped Gabriel off at Precious Angels Childcare & Enrichment Center this morning just after 7 am for his first trial day of day care. Because he is going to the center so early in the morning, Gabriel gets left off in a communal room until enough kids come to break off into the age appropriate rooms a little later. So drop off is a bit chaotic. Gabriel was asleep when we left him, so he did fine with the separation. Mommy had a little melt down in the lobby though. I felt bad about "wasting" a day of maternity leave with Gabriel by putting him in day care. But I am glad to have all of the emotion behind me now rather than trying to deal with it on Monday in addition to my return to work. Gabriel was apparently pleasant on his first day, though, Katelin called by 3 pm to say he had already eaten all of the breast milk I sent with him. So he had a fourth bottle of formula to make it through the day. Gabriel goes again on Thursday for his second trial day, and then he is full time on March 30th- the day Mommy returns to work. I can't believe how fast the 12 weeks have gone.

Oh, Lordy, Daddy's 40!

Michael turned 40 today. Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Gabriel and I picked Michael up at work today and took him out to lunch for his favorite food- Pizza. We went and got slices at Sal's pizza. I really enjoy the flavor combinations and got BBQ chicken pizza for lunch. Of course, Mike had to pay for his own pizza because I forgot Sal's only takes cash and I didn't have any cash on me.

When Daddy got home from work, we went for our first family walk around the cul-de-sac. We saw a glimpse of spring today and it was still warm enough this evening to enjoy a walk.

Michael has been craving tuna melts lately, so we made tuna melts for dinner.

We finished dinner just in time to go outside and watch the space station, with the shuttle docked to it, go through the sky. It came up on the southwest horizon and passed overhead until it went out of sight on the northeast horizon. It was in view for 6 minutes.

We are celebrating birthday week this year for Michael. We have something special planned for him each day for seven days. However, plans have needed to be altered a bit since Daddy surprised us with the need for another business trip this week. So he takes off to New York tomorrow and we put the special birthday treats on hold until he gets back.

Gabriel is 10 Weeks Old

Gabriel was 10 weeks old on Monday. The little guy changes so fast. He has started to outgrow many of his newborn outfits, mostly due to length. But he isn't quite big enough around the middle yet to keep up the 3 month sized clothing. It saddens me to have to pull out the garments that he's outgrown to put them away in storage. And we just have a day or two left of size 1 diapers and then we start on size 2. Gabriel has some chunkiness now to his cheeks, stomach, chest, thighs and calves. His unofficial weight on Monday was 12 pounds even according to the bathroom scale. And on Monday night, Gabriel took a rattle in his hand and stuffed it into his mouth. It's the first time I have seen him take interest in a toy in his hand like that. Gabriel really enjoys his jungle mat now. He can shake the poles enough by tugging on the hanging toys or kicking to change the music himself. And he is able to entertain himself longer now as his attention span gets longer. Gabriel still isn't a fan of tummy time, though he needs to do a little bit every day to build neck and upper body strength. He started using his Bumbo seat last week, and already with one week's time he is a lot stronger and can keep his head up longer. Gabriel has the most pleasant coo and a little shriek when he is delighted. And it just melts my heart when he smiles at me.

The time is flying by so fast. Very few of the things I thought I would accomplish on maternity leave have gotten done. I can't believe I need to return to work in just two short weeks. Gabriel trials a couple of days of child care next week. I have quite a store of frozen breast milk in anticipation of him being away from me during the work days. I'm hoping to continue breast feeding at least until Gabriel starts taking solids at 6 months, but I know it will be quite hard to keep up a milk supply while working full-time. And there won't be much time with him on work days. He may be up with me a little in the morning, and then a few hours at night before he goes to bed.

Gabriel Enjoys His New Blankie

Shelly and Steve sent Gabriel a package that arrived today. It was a nice surprise! In it was this bright blue crocheted blankie and a Reed & Barton divided baby plate in the shape of a whale. Very cute! You can see that Gabriel is already enjoying the blankie. I don't want to rush Gabriel, but it will be fun to use the plate when he starts eating solid food. Thank you, Shelly and Steve! I believe Gabriel is a first cousin one time removed from Shelly.

Lora and the Yoda Sweater

Gabriel and I made it to the ManchVegas knitting group Wednesday night at Barnes & Noble in Manchester. This was Gabriel's first visit, and most importantly, he got to meet Lora. Lora knitted Gabriel a lovely orange Yoda sweater. The sweater is in a kimono style so it makes it easy to adjust the size. He's been able to wear it since he was born with the sleeves rolled up. Lora immediately put Gabriel to sleep when she held him, and then she continued to hold him for at least another hour while I got to knit. I worked on the heel gusset of a blue wool sock for Gabriel to wear next fall. If you are lucky enough to be a member of Ravelry, you can check out all of the specs on the sweater on the website. Lora's username is Lorak. Thank you, Lora! We love the Yoda sweater.

Lots for Tots

Even though the thermometer said it was only in the 30's on Thursday, it felt much warmer outside. I wore a nylon spring jacket and was perfectly comfortable leaving the house. Gabriel and I went to Manchester to check out Lots for Tots. Lots for Tots is a children's resale store, focusing mostly on reselling children's clothing. It was fun looking through the whole wall of 0-12 month baby clothing, hunting for bargains on name brand baby outfits. There were some really cute things there, especially for girls. I think I bugged the mother of a newborn girl by showing her all of the cute infant girl outfits that I came across. I purchased a whole bag of clothes for the transition to day care for less than $40 that included Gymboree, Zutano and Gap items. I got several plain sweatshirts so he will have something to wear in the mornings late spring and early summer until it warms up later in the day. Gabriel is such a good shopper. I timed the trip with nap time so he slept in the carrier while Mommy searched the racks. Here's a link to Lots for Tots if you want to check it out yourself. Gabriel and I opened the moon roof on the drive back home and enjoyed the tease of spring.