Real Men Wear Pink

This week Gabe is 8 weeks old!  He (aka I) decided he should wear pink for this picture (ok, mostly because some of the onesies I had made over the summer were faintly "girl," and rather than toss them or give them away, I figured he could wear them anyway).  Craig comments "real men wear pink" sometimes, so I figured that was fitting for the blog post title!  (Consequently, he then commented we had such a "pretty little girl" when he saw his son dressed like this, haha!)

• For Christmas, amongst other things, we got Gabriel a pair of foot/wrist rattles, and I caught him on video kicking away!  Click here to see the short video of our future soccer player and/or dancer!

 

• We spent Christmas Eve with the Kozaczka family at Teresa's house.  It was lovely as usual (I think this is year 3 for us?).  Teresa makes wonderful traditional Polish food (including beet borscht with mushroom dumplings, kapusta, pierogi, and fish), and I always enjoy it!  It's so interesting to me how every Polish woman I know makes kapusta differently - my mom, my 2 Polish aunts, and Teresa all make different versions, and they ALL are delicious!  A few pictures to follow, as I'm waiting for them to get e-mailed to me.  Gabe was great - slept most of the time when he wasn't eating but was happy when 2 other ladies were holding him, and he only had eyes for Andre's cousin Mike!  He gave out a few coveted giggles and smiles for the crowd.
• The Kozaczkas gave us a beautiful picture frame with a picture of us from the baptism and a gorgeous ornament with one of Gabriel's newborn pictures in it.  His Godparents also gave him an awesome Fisher Price nativity set (never seen one like it - so cool!) and a giraffe rocker (obviously for when he's a little older).  (These pictures were taken on Christmas Day.)

 

• Uncle Gregory, Auntie Christina, and cousins Noah & Addison sent some presents for Gabriel.  We caught a few pictures of some (additionally, they sent a beautiful board book of prayers which included a Christmas prayer that we read before bedtime that night).

• On Christmas Day, we stayed home as our new family of 3!  It was a nice quiet day.  I made eggs with ham & cheese for brunch, we watched some Christmas movies, and Craig made a delicious pot roast for dinner.  After brunch, Craig "helped" Gabriel open his presents while I took lots of pictures with our new camera (a fancy one - not our phone cameras, though those take pretty awesome pictures too).

His bum says "Santa's little helper," sticker courtesy of Grammy

Onesie courtesy of Auntie Kristen

"Yay!  It's Christmas!  Happy Birthday Jesus!"  Thank you to Nonno for the Santa suit & Carolyn from the Commission for Women for the doggy toy.

"I was a very good boy this year (aka 8 weeks!)"

Daddy, "helping" Gabe open his presents

Picture frame with birth stats all around it (hard to see in this picture)

Musical crawling ball

Hungry caterpillar crinkle book

Alphabet, number, and animal wooden puzzles

See & Say Book - has big images & words for baby to learn

Sit-to-stand learning walker

Gabe's first tools, just like Daddy's!

Here are some other pictures from the week: 

 



I love baby feet!






What a cute hiney!






Baby mohawk!






Beautiful hat made by Ciocia Teresa






His onesie says it all!






My favorite close-up from the week






"Whoa!  I get presents?!"

7 Weeks Old!

Gabriel hit the big 7 this week (7 weeks, that is!).  (If you think the onesie in the picture below looks familiar, it's because it's one of the ones I made over the summer.  He's cute in purple, isn't he?)

• Gabe is smiling & giggling & cooing a lot this week.  I love capturing his cute little face!

• He's found his fists (and sucks them occasionally until I switch them for a pacifier) and can track slow moving objects with his eyes, both of which are 3-4 month old milestones.  Sometimes he even "holds" the pacifier in with his fist - this is definitely a subconscious thing still though.  He also is pretty good at holding his head up and he even pushed himself up on his elbows during tummy time once!

  

  Thanks for the monkey, Auntie Rene!

Gripping his mirror toy too!

• We did a lot of snuggling this week, since I have been dealing with a cold & cough for (ugh!) 3 weeks now.  Can't take much of anything except ibuprofen & cough syrup without affecting my breastmilk supply, so I'm just dealing with it.  I did get an Rx for antibiotics from my doctor but they didn't help one bit.  Consequently, I also finished all of the tissue boxes in the house and am onto toilet paper until I get to the store tomorrow.

After vacuuming & mopping together

Watching some TV

• I received a coupon for a free ceramic ornament from a personalization website I use fairly frequently, and I picked on for Gabe's birth statistics & newborn photo.  I think it came out beautifully!

The front - my beautiful boy!

The back has all his birth stats

• Daddy got some quality time along with Gabriel this week.  I went to a Christmas dinner with the Commission for Women (a church group), and Gabe did fairly well without me (a couple of 15 minute stints of crying even with Craig holding & rocking him, but I returned to them quietly snuggling on the couch after a bath).  Craig is pretty good at soothing him as long as he's not "starvin' like Marvin!"

Man talk

"Don't take my picture; my hair is a mess!  (Hence the hood!)

• We went to my 6wk post-partum check-up with my OB/GYN this week.  I'm totally healed and cleared for exercise.  (We were discussing the possibility of baby #2, and the doctor said, "Well, I wouldn't recommend you try induction again."  I really wanted to say "No s***!" but I managed a more subtle, "Yeah, since none of it worked.")  So Gabe & I took a 2 mile walk to/from the post office to mail out our Christmas cards.  It was SOOOO cold, but he was toasty all bundled up in his stroller.  (I was the one who was freezing, not to mention sniffly from my cold!)
• I think I need to attend "I can't resist buying my child cute stuff" anonymous meetings!  There are seriously too many presents under the tree for Gabe, most of which he can't play with for at least a few more months, haha!  (I got them all at great discount prices though, so that's ok, right?)

Here are some other pictures from the week:

Thanks for my turtle, Gina & Aunt Donna!

My view of Gabe when he's in the Infantino carrier.  Love his forehead!

Mommy couldn't refuse buying this "Holiday Hunk" onesie!

Sourpuss (blurry) face because I couldn't stay in the bath all night!

6 Weeks

I was about to start this post with "Wow..." but then I realized that I have started many a post that way, and I should probably work on being less predictable!  Haha!

Gabriel is 6 weeks old today.  Supposedly this is the "hump" of the fussy baby time.  Some would call the first 3 months of a baby's life the "4th trimester," when baby wants to be attached to mom at all times.  This is surely the case with our son.  I do my best to make sure he gets held by other (healthy) people quite frequently so he gets used to others, but during the hours of 5-8pm, he definitely prefers his mother (though I think this is frankly because I am his food supply!).

All smiles!

Cracking himself up!

• Gabriel was excited to wear a cute new outfit for the Kozaczka holiday party this weekend!  (Ok, really I am the one who was excited because I love dressing him up in fancy outfits.  I would have him in suits every day if I had the pleasure of owning more than just a few for special occasions.  Anything with a tie or bowtie!)

This onesie was worn underneath the outfit!

• We have become more adept at feeding in public (though the backseat of my car is not particularly popular for the public to frequent).  He is a little bit of a noisy eater though, which makes being inconspicuous an unreasonable goal for the most part.  He also kicks a lot when he eats, which moves the nursing cover and makes him a wiggly bundle to hold.
• I can't deny that I am really into buying clothes for him.  Especially the "fancy outfits" I mentioned previously.
• We attended the holiday party at the breastfeeding support group this week.  After eating, Gabe was all smiles!

 

 

• Gabe already has a few gifts under the Christmas tree from his parents.  Again, can't seem to avoid purchasing cute things for him.  Some are a little too old for him to use yet, but they were on sale, haha!  I did get him a cute set of stuffed tools - figured he has to start early to keep up with Daddy!  One has a rattle and another a squeaker.  I'll put up a picture when he (ahem, us) opens them on Christmas.
• Speaking of Christmas...  We took family Christmas pictures the other day.  Craig took a few HOURS setting up the perfect spot.  Thank goodness, Gabe was in a decent mood by the time everything was ready.  Here's a preview:

Santa & his elves!

• On Friday, I took some additional pictures of Gabriel in his Christmas stocking.  Yep, he fits in it!  Skinny little guy!  I cranked up the space heater in his room to get him pleasantly sleeping, but all he wanted to do was laugh & giggle for the pictures (which was fine by me!).

• We got a beautiful gift from the Merigelli's this week (thank you!) - a personalized cross for Gabe's room with his birth statistics & baptism date.  Now to find the perfect spot to hang it...

• I gave Gabe a crinkle book (Thanks Rachel & Mark!) to "play" with while he was waiting for me to shower & get dressed the other morning.  (I'll admit, I staged these photos a little!)  
  
  
  

I can't wait to see what new things this little guy does next week!