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.

Miss Maya Comes to Visit

The beautiful Miss Maya and Aunt Deb drove to New Hampshire to meet Gabriel on Friday. Grandma Abberton was already at the house care taking both myself and Gabriel. Here is Maya showing that she is in fact a big enough girl to hold her cousin all by herself.

Ready or Not, Here He Comes!

Michael and I spent our final weekend of coupleness doing last minute preparations for Gabriel and trying to prepare ourselves for parenthood. I finally packed my bags for the hospital.

Michael and I wanted to go out for a special "final" dinner, but we ended just going to the Puritan Backroom. I hadn't been there in ages and Michael had never been there. I had the best chicken fingers! They were a good recommendation from a few people, and had they not been recommended, I would have never ordered chicken fingers in a restaurant. The coconut breaded ones are just wonderful. And I had so much food that we brought home enough chicken fingers to feed Michael and I at a later date. And for dessert, I had Baklava ice cream and I thoroughly enjoyed the uniqueness of the flavor. (And as a side note, we did eat those chicken fingers when we got home from the hospital and used the Pampered Chef baking stone to reheat them. It was wonderful- fresh, golden and crispy just like it was out of the restaurant kitchen again.)

And I spent Monday morning doing the final organization of Gabriel's stuff in his room. We still need to install his valances, put up his quilt on the wall, hang some frames, and finish putting up his wall decals. But since he can only see 8-15 inches to start, I don't think he will notice these things are not done on his first day home.

Here are photos of the nursery. See the green afghan the knitting group made for Gabriel? And Great Grandma Johnson's rocking chair was recovered by Grandma Abberton.

commiserating

Elleigh and Lucas are commiserating together in a sun spot, wondering if Mommy and Daddy will still love them when the baby arrives.

Lucas Has a Trick Knee

Lucas has been limping and holding his left hind leg up since Christmas. Michael and I thought he had over done it with his new Christmas toys, playing tug with his sister, and jumping from the chair to the couch. But he is still showing favor to that back leg. And since we will be kenneling him while we are in the hospital for Gabriel's arrival, we decided we better get his leg looked at. We were thinking it wouldn't be anything too serious, and then we could at least tell the kennel that we had it checked out and not to be alarmed. After all, it hasn't seemed to slow him down and he doesn't necessarily seem to be in pain. He's still begging for food, jumping up on his hind legs, flinging himself from the couch to the chair and back again, and chasing his sister.

We got an appointment at Russell Animal Hospital this afternoon and took Lucas in. He is such a shy and whiny boy at the puppy pediatrician's office, which is so opposite of his personality at home. The doctor quickly diagnosed that Lucas has a Patellar Subluxation, and then confirmed it with some X-ray's. It means his knee cap slips around and causes damage to the structure of the knee bones and tissues. Right now, his condition is only stage 1, which usually doesn't indicate surgery. But because he is so young, the vet said that if we did surgery now that she would expect success due to his age in recovery. And then we could prevent additional degenerative knee damage and from him getting early onset arthritis. I would hate to think of him having a poor quality of life and having a chronic achy knee at such a young age if we don't fix it.

The vet is going to send us an estimate in the mail for the surgery. It would be a 6-8 week recovery, and actually, it might be most convenient to have it done while I am on maternity leave so I can be home for his recovery.

Don't worry! We have sufficiently been spoiling Lucas and giving him extra love and attention. And he is sucking it up! And he is starting a regimen of Glucosamine and Chondroitin. It's a big pill, but wrapped in human food it seems to go down easily.

Gabriel Is Coming On Monday!

Michael and I had an appointment with Dr. Chaudhari this morning to discuss the results of the latest ultrasound from New Year's Eve. I will be having a cesarean delivery of our boy on Monday afternoon. Monday is Gabriel's original due date and he will be fully cooked for 40 total weeks. We are expecting the delivery of a healthy boy with lots of hair, who is estimated to be over 9 and a half pounds and have a big head. I can't wait to meet him and find out how accurate all of the estimating and guessing has been. We will stay as a new family at The Family Place at Concord Hospital until Thursday as long as everything goes as planned and everyone is healthy.

I'm so excited! I am looking forward to it, even the surgery. I'm not nervous at all.

Tonight was my last day of work. I stayed late, but now that I am home, I will not return to work until my 12 weeks of maternity leave are up at the very end of March.

I have a bunch to do this weekend for final preparation. And I am really hoping that the head colds that Michael and I came down with this week both clear up.

May The Force Be With You

This is our post Christmas sale find! Michael and I saw this retro T-shirt in Baby Gap several months ago, but Michael wasn't game to pay the original price of $22.50 for a kids T-shirt. We ventured to the Mall of New Hampshire on New Year's Day and found the T-shirt in the sale pile. $6.99! Much better price for a toddler T-shirt. We should have used Jedi mind control to try and get the Superman T-shirt put on sale too!