Saturday, August 29, 2015

One, Two... 43!

It feels like just yesterday that our little boy was born.  There is NO WAY 43 weeks have gone by already!  (Yes, we are in denial!)  He's turning into such a cute little boy (even if he wasn't, I think I'm supposed to say that as his mother, haha!).
  • Video of Gabe using his doorway bouncer (Thanks Janet!)
  • Video of fun with Gabe
  • First syllable.  Yes, it was "da-da."  No, I am not happy it wasn't "ma-ma."  (The pediatrician says "da-da" is easier to say, which makes me feel slightly better.
  • Two new upper incisors made their debut this week!  (And I am seriously hoping that means sleep will be better!)

Check out the new pearly whites!
  •  We split Free Fun Friday up into two locations this week:  Old Sturbridge Village in the morning...








  • ...and the Ecotarium in the afternoon.




Sitting on the lower jaw of a finwhale!
  • I finally got around to doing this cool craft project with all of the cards we received for the baby shower and Gabriel's baptism.  I think it came out really neat and I can't wait to hang it up in the house (searching for the perfect spot!).  What a great way to preserve these memories - I wrote who each card was from on the backside of the hearts, in case anyone wants to check at a later date.



Other pictures from the week:
Thanks for the baseball onesie, Auntie Lorene!
 

His onesie says "Busy Being Brilliant Like Mommy"

See you in 2032, Wells College!

Monday, August 24, 2015

Summer is Wrapping Up

I am kind of sad this week; it's the last one before I head back to work.  At least I get to ease into next week with a few short meeting days and one long faculty workshop day.  It will be bittersweet returning to work; I love the teaching but I will miss my days with Gabe.  Speaking of our little boy, here is his 42 week picture. Only 10 weeks till 52 weeks/1 year!!  Yikes!
  • Zoning out in this video
  • "Reading" a book in this video
  • Playdate at the Cornine household.  Sammy is Gabe's "birthday buddy" - they were both born on Nov 1st.  Big sis Ginny played so well with the Gabe, too. 

Gabe & Ginny, playing with his starfish fountain




Gabe & girlfriend Sammy


  • Amazing progress this week for naps!  Later in the week, Gabriel had two morning naps topping out at 2 hours and 15 minutes!  This from the kid who usually sleeps no longer than 45 minutes!  And get this - they were IN HIS CRIB!

  • Free Fun Friday at the Franklin Park Zoo

Scoping out the prairie dogs

This statue should be turned the other way, don't you agree?

Two beautiful male lions

Doesn't Jeff Corwin look real in this picture?
  • Two new talents this week:  pointing at things (including Daddy, ceiling fans, ceiling lights, windows, pictures, doors, mirrors...) and pulling up to standing on his own.

Where's the fan, Gabriel?

Pulling up to standing on his own!

A Klingon (All you Trekkies will get the reference!)
Other pictures from the week:
Ready for church


Does this position look comfortable to you?

Love his curiosity!


Mmmm, taco quesadillas!


Resembles my brother & my nephew in this picture

Making weird faces during a before-bed nursing session

Doing laps with Daddy around the kitchen

Saturday, August 22, 2015

41 Weeks In, 41 Weeks Out

Craig & I thought it would be fun to do a comparison of my pregnant belly at 41 weeks (just a few days before Gabe's birth!) and me holding Gabriel at his 41 week "birthday."  So, here it is!  (Wow, I can't even believe I was that GIGANTIC!)
41 Weeks Pregnant vs 41 Weeks Old

And here is the usual weekly photo of Gabe.  (Thanks for the cute outfit, Basia!)

One night this week, Gabriel squawked a bit on the sound monitor, so I pulled up the video monitor and saw him sitting up in the crib!  You have to understand that up to this point, we could put him in a sitting position, but once he flopped over on his belly or back, he wasn't able to get back up to sitting.  So you can imagine my shock to see him do this IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!
We had some weird sleeping positions viewed by video monitor, too.  After he sits up, he flops over asleep, haha!
After Saturday night's birthday party, Gabe ran a low fever (only up to 100.9) off and on for a few days.  I chalked it up to teething, as he seemed really mouth-sensitive.  We were fairly liberal with the baby tylenol and baby motrin to keep his fever low and his pain at a comfortable level.  He kept to soft foods and took a few cold teething toys.  I had to laugh though, he still was wanting to play, even with the fever!  We are still awaiting the new tooth; we are suspecting it will be the upper left center incisor, as it's showing a white bump through his gum.
Our little trooper!
During the same week, Gabriel also started pulling himself up to standing!  Imagine our amazement!  He does pick pretty precarious places to try to do this (like on his alphabet train with wheels that do not lock in place), and he cries when he falls on his tush, but he is improving every day.  Here is a short video of him pulling up.

We have been working on Peek-A-Boo a lot.  (I am hoping it helps with object permanence and easing his separation anxiety when I leave a room.)  Gabe gives a big smile and a giggle when we play.  Here's a video of me playing with him by hiding behind the kitchen island while he was in his exersaucer.

We took advantage of another Free Fun Friday and went out to Boston for the day.  We visited the USS Constitution Museum and the USS Cassin Young battleship.  I have to admit, driving 1.5 hours to and from Boston is a fantastic opportunity for baby naps.  Gabe has been getting pretty good naps in when we take day trips!











On Saturday morning, we took advantage of the free hours at the Millbury Historical Society in the Asa Waters Mansion in Millbury to visit and learn more about the mansion and the history of Millbury.  (For example, did you know that the mansion was owned by the St. Brigid Parish for use as the parish rectory from 1928 until the building of the new church & rectory in 1955?  This was after the original rectory burned down.)
Saturday was busy in other ways, too.  We somehow finagled getting to 2 of the 3 parties to which we had been invited.  One was Connor Kingsbury's 3rd birthday party.  Gabe had a blast at the water table with Daddy.
We then stopped by Godmother Chelsea's launch party for LuLaRoe clothing (it's kind of like Tupperware sales, but with clothes).  I had on my new "Perfect Tee" that I purchased from her a few days earlier.  Gabe is the perfect accessory!
Sporting my new LuLaRoe & my favorite accessory!
This week I also started putting away the 3-6mo size clothes and readying the 6mo ones.  So sad to see the "tiny" stuff going into storage bins!  Our little baby is becoming a little boy!

Other pictures from the week:



"You'd better share your ice cream soda, Mommy!"