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.