Baby LaTour

Saturday, March 14, 2015

A Week of Progress

Gabriel hit 19 weeks this week. He made quite a bit of progress this week especially!

We started off the week with our 7th wedding anniversary. No, we didn't go out anywhere special. We spent the day together at home, just the three of us, taking pictures of Gabriel with the green screen. I got a quick "selfie" of us at the end of the day to document the occasion. (Green screen edited photos to come soon - they are Easter themed and we don't want to show them too early to spoil the fun!)

The (Still) Happy Couple

Gabriel now holds his pacifier pretty well and sometimes can even aim the correct end into his mouth all by himself!
He also throws/drops things a lot now. I'm not sure if it's on purpose yet or his little fingers just get tired of holding on!
I had the week off from work for spring break, and Gabe surprised me with a fancy new trick at our breastfeeding support group! He rolled over from tummy to back three times! I got a video of it - click here to view. (The voices in the background are the other ladies in our group cheering Gabe on!) He also did it once for Daddy to see when we got back home. But, he hasn't done it again since, even with much encouragement! I guess it was my reward for being home with him all week.
We transitioned from the sling part of the baby tub to just using the baby bathtub without it. He loves being directly in so much water. He kicks in the water like crazy some nights!

We took advantage of my time off and good weather to get over to visit the Kingsburys. Janet & I had been planning a play date since JANUARY but the snow storms thwarted our efforts every time! It was a nice day, and we got all the kids out in strollers for a little while. Lucas & Carolyn were especially mesmerized by "Baby Gabe." (I have to mention a BIG shout-out thank-you to Auntie Janet for all of the boy clothes she passed on to Gabriel from Connor & Lucas.)

Lucas, checking out Gabe

I noticed that Gabriel has been trying to find something to hold on to during church lately. I'm not the biggest fan of toys in church, but I found him a soft beginner rosary that has a soft chime (soft enough to not be distracting to other parishioners) and a teether cross on it.

We broke out the exersaucer again. I still have to put a blanket underneath his feet and another around his skinny body to get him in position, but I walked away from Gabe for 2 minutes and came back to him playing with the alligator and getting the music to turn on!

Grammy came to visit this week. Gabriel gave her more smiles than cries this time, thankfully! He wouldn't show her his new-found talent of rolling over, though. (Actually, he didn't do it at all the rest of the week! Without the video, I would feel like I hallucinated it!)

I pulled out Alphie the robot this week. (Thanks to Ciocia Lisa & cousin Melissa!) Gabriel was enamored with the ABC song Alphie sings (he likes the versions Daddy & I sing as well - it breaks him of any crying fit).

Chrissy, Daniel, & Hailey gave Gabriel a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles hoodie for Christmas, and we finally had a chance to use it. I love how cute he looks in it! (And it's got an "M" for "Michelangelo," my favorite Turtle! He always shouts "Cowabunga!")

Complete with cape!

Other pictures from the week:

Gabe's "eyebrow language"

Such a true caption! (Thanks for the onesie, Grammy!)

Checking out the ring toy Mommy made for me

My first tools - hammer, screwdriver, & wrench

Look how well I hold my head up now!

"Awww, Mom!"

"I'm not sure how thrilled I am about this picture-taking stuff..."

Monday, March 9, 2015

18 Magical Weeks

This week has been fairly eventful, in a mostly exhausting kind of way. Still in this strange sleep regression pattern, unfortunately. We have to start off with a cute weekly picture of the little worm though!

Pediatrician appointment update: Gabriel was 10 lbs 15 oz (I won the bet over Craig for our previously-mentioned guesses!), 24 inches long, with a head circumference of 16 inches. He gained a whole pound over the last "Polish baby scale" weighing we did three weeks prior! During that time he almost DOUBLED his rate of gain! Go Gabe! He ended up at the 10th percentile for weight and the 50th percentile for height/length for his age. Fine with us - a string bean like his father!
We had our first baby fever event two days after his shots at his 4 month appointment. He hit 100.4-100.7 around 5pm, but it went down within an hour after a dose of Tylenol. No fever at all overnight (I checked every time he woke up just in case - thank goodness for the easiness of temporal thermometers!), but then back to 99.5 at 7am. Another dose of Tylenol before I left for work, and we kicked the fever for good. He was acting kind of mopey that first day, but he was back to normal by the following day. I put in a phone call to "Dr Mom" (aka my mom!) the first evening just to see what too high of a temperature would be (she said 104) and to get some tips on monitoring him.
We had a short visit from Godmother Chelsea during the week. Can't believe her baby is due in a few short weeks! We're so excited for them! Gabriel can't wait to meet his new playmate!

Craig installed an update on my phone, which I'm still getting used to. In the meantime, I played around with a "sketch" function on the phone's camera and got a few good shots:

Gabe's new skill this week is holding up his bottles on his own! Craig had been telling me that he was bumping the bottle up with his hands to make more trickle into his mouth, but holding the bottle on his own was new. And pretty incredible, since they are fairly heavy 9 oz glass bottles!

Other pictures from the week:

Thanks for the hat, Ciocia Teresa!

Thanks for the pajamas, Teresa!

Showing some leg - first time he figured out he could reach his pants!

Mommy's favorite (don't tell Daddy)

Thanks for the pajamas, Aunt Ruthie!

Friday, March 6, 2015

Crazy Baby!

I think we may have hit the supposed "4 month sleep regression" unfortunately! This week has been up and down in terms of Gabriel's sleep habits. Some nights he wakes at 3, 4:30, 5:30, 6:30, and 6:50am. Other nights he sleeps through till almost 6am and I have to wake up him at 7 to get ready for the day. I will not even pretend to admit that I enjoy the former set of wake-up times! But, though he is frustrating in terms of sleep, he is still as cute as ever!

It was another weird week of double "birthdays"... Gabe turned 17 weeks on Saturday and then 4 months on March 1st.

Gabe's 4 month pediatrician appointment is this coming week. Craig & I are taking bets on his weight. I think at least 11 lbs, but he thinks more like 10 lbs 8 oz or 10 lbs 10 oz. His last weight at home was 9 lbs 15 oz, and that was about 3 weeks ago if I remember correctly. All I know is that my arms get TIRED when I hold him, haha!

This next tidbit is both kind of cool and kind of irritating: Gabriel is super-crazy for Mommy & Daddy. When we go over someone's house, he tends to cry when other people hold him. Not even strangers! People like his Grammy and Aunties. (Though his Godmother had no trouble at her house!) Mommy & Daddy have to come to his rescue (after we let him cry a little so he learns that we're not going to immediately take him back and he has to get used to other people holding him). So for those that think he's a happy baby all the time - I swear he has his grumpy crabby moments and others can now attest to that!

Soliciting a smile from this little guy has become an Olympic event! He is just so interested in observing the world around him that you can't just "ask" him to smile like before. You have to sing, bob your head, and grin like a crazy person! (Daddy does this especially well, haha!)

Ready for church

Pajamas from Teresa

"Who me?"

Romper from Auntie Deb

A lot of folks are asking about when Gabriel is going to start eating baby/solid food. The American Academy of Pediatrics (and other associations) recommend that babies have exclusively breastmilk (or formula) until 6 months of age, and then encourage using "food for fun" before 1 year. That means that babies can try foods but that breastmilk (or formula) should still compose the bulk of the baby's diet (and that's where the baby will derive most of his/her ingested calories). I'll be honest - I don't want to be trying out solid foods until I'm done with work for the semester, which will land approximately when Gabe's 6.5 months. Craig would prefer to give him cereal or something now because he feels that Gabe seems hungry. We know Mommy will probably win here, right? Haha! Plus, I'd like to try something called "baby-led weaning" which means that you skip baby purees altogether and go straight to solid foods in small pieces (obviously under supervision).
Gabriel has been enjoying an Italian musical toy from Nonno & Nonna (thanks!). It's a really easy way to get him to smile instead of cry when he's moody during diaper changes. The toy sings about a little monkey (La Scimetta) who eats all the bananas so none are left, all in Italian of course!

We made it successfully to 4 months with breastfeeding! I'm really happy that we're 33% of the way to our goal of 1 year. It's now become an easy routine (aside from a baby who's getting more distracted...) for us. I really enjoy this time with Gabriel, especially when he's just woken up or is getting sleepy for bed/naps. We get to stare into each other's eyes (no, that doesn't sound too creepy, haha!) and spend some quiet time together.

More photos from the week: