Celebrating 32 Years

For me!  I have everything I could ever dream of - a wonderful husband and son, a home, a job I really enjoy, my health, etc.  (Although... another baby would be nice...)  My boys got me a beautiful birthday card:

Gabriel signed it with Daddy's help!  His first signature!

Wearing the sticker from my card

 And happy 46 weeks for Gabe!

• Tooth 5 is coming!  (My excitement is partially masked by exhaustion from yet more nights of random wake up times, haha!)
•  I think I forgot to mention Gabe moved into size 2 diapers a few weeks ago.  I hope he stays in this size for a while because I have a HUGE stockpile from my baby shower.
• He's also now in 6-9mo clothing.  I was reorganizing his too-small clothes and got pretty nostalgic about how little he was as a newborn!  (Back to that thought about a second baby, haha!)
• Gabe started dancing!
• Here's another video of him dancing!
• The cats have finally resigned themselves to the fact that the little human is not just temporarily staying with us.  Gabriel has befriended Zephyr:

• I wanted to take some pictures of Gabriel with Dziadziu's flowers before fall, and I finally had the opportunity on my birthday.  It was a beautiful day!  (I had to have Craig help me so I could hold Gabe up towards the VERY TALL flowers.)  We also took a few cute pictures in the grass.  (Daddy went out to cut it after he saw how long it looked in the pictures!)

 

• I bought some frozen sushi (made with cooked fish) at the supermarket and was so impressed that Gabriel LOVED it!

 

• I think I also forgot to mention that this kid gained two whole pounds during August and was 19 lbs at the beginning of September (right around his 10 month "birthday").  That's double what he typically gains per month.  I can't wait till his pediatrician sees how well he's grown at his 1 year appointment!

 Other pictures from the week:

"I lost Robin!"  (Ha, he was really just overtired before bed.)

Lady Liberty and Four Generations

We ended last week and started this week in my home state of NY.  This trip was long overdue - I had been wanting to get Gabriel over to my grandmother's (his great-Babcia, also known as Prababcia in Polish) so they could finally meet for quite some time.  Thankfully, we finally got there!  We took a beautiful picture of four generations:

• We also had the opportunity to visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island during our trip.  It was a beautiful day to experience some iconic landmarks and explore this great nation's history.

• We continued celebrating 10 months of nursing with a photo-op behind Lady Liberty!

 

• Gabriel started saying "mamamamama" this week, but of course I wasn't able to get it on video! 
• Craig put together the jogging stroller this week.  It will be a lot easier to maneuver on the terrible sidewalks in Worcester during the winter.  Thanks Godmother Chelsea!

 

• Gabe is working on pushing out another upper incisor this week.  Sleep has been elusive, and we both are feeling the effects.  He looks as terrible in this picture as I felt, on one of the mornings following little sleep!

• Another sleep-related occurrence this week was suddenly standing up in the crib when he was supposed to be sleeping!  (I had just laid him down in the crib after nursing to sleep.)  He also was having a conversation with me in the pitch dark.  I ended up quietly leaving the room, while he was still chatting, and he settled himself down to sleep within 20 minutes without crying at all.

• A link to a video of Gabriel clapping 
• Modeling his new cap from Grammy - Thanks!

• Here's our typical weekly picture - 45 weeks old this week!



One of the onesies I made during pregnancy

Other pictures from the week:

Hanging out with a chunk of cheese in my mouth

Relaxing & watching TV with Mommy

Jammin' with my "shades" on

10 Months!

I love this little boy!  I can't believe he is already 10 months old!  We are very quickly creeping up on 1 year!  (I couldn't decide which version I liked better, so that's why there are two, haha!)

Here he is at 44 weeks a few days later:

His shirt says "All American Hunk"

• A link for a video of Gabriel feeding himself
• "I smile at you so you are distracted and won't see me stuffing food I don't want to eat into my bib pocket."

• This kid has soooo many toys.  This week we pulled out a musical table we got from May & Hannah (Thanks!).  It's a good tool for practicing standing too!

• We're still going strong at 10 months of breastfeeding!  This kid still loves nursing even though he eats solid food like a champ.  (I'll admit, I like these close, quiet times too.)

•  I've been working with Gabe on letters and position terms (inside, out, under, on top) during bath time.  He's getting very good at short commands ("put the letters in the bowl," "take the letters out of the bowl").  During morning getting-ready time, he sits in his little seat and plays with a little plastic bowl and the foam letters.  Sometimes I stick the bowl on his head...

• On Friday, we traveled to my mom's in NY for a nice long weekend of fun.  Since Gabe is getting into EVERYTHING, we brought our travel pack'n'play as a sort of baby jail for when we needed a moment of not chasing him around the house.

"Let me out!  I promise I won't get into trouble..."

Other pictures from the week:

Still loving the exersaucer!

Sailboat onesie from Basia & Kevin - Thanks!

Gabe & his new friend Billy

"It wasn't me."

Talking to his giggle bear before bed - Thanks Grammy!