Baby LaTour

Monday, April 6, 2015

5 Months!

Gabriel turned 21 weeks old this week, and then 5 months a few days later. I will admit that the April 1st 5-month benchmark was bittersweet - my Dziadziu (Polish for "Grandfather"), may he rest in peace, would have turned 95 on the same day. Miss him dearly all the time! I still talk to his picture on my refrigerator and imagine how much he would have loved our little guy!

Speaking of grandparents, my mom was able to get Skype to work at my Babcia's (Polish for "Grandmother") house and Babcia got to see Gabriel in action for the first time. I hope that they will get to meet sometime this summer when we (hopefully) will have more opportunities to get to NY.
Breastfeeding is still going well (fingers continue to stay crossed!) and I found a cute logo that describes my working/nursing status (well, a little premature to say we are in the 17%, as we're not at a full year). I basically liked it for the nursing & pumping images.

Ok, we are finally "releasing" Gabe's Easter pictures! (They have gone out in the mail to his grandparents, so we're in the clear that they got them first!) One is his visit with the Easter bunny, and the others are our green screen products.

The Easter Bunny at Hebert Candy Mansion

This one is my favorite green screen shot!

Isn't he a cute bunny?

Gabriel & I took an afternoon to go visit with Hudson & Chelsea. "Hud-muffin" (his mother coined this nickname!) is growing really well! I can't wait for him and Gabe to play together soon.

Chelsea & baby Hudson

Gabe is staring at baby Hudson during our "selfie"

Gabriel is so close to "tripoding" - the step before kids sit up on their own, when they use their hands to support themselves a little. I had him sitting in front of me with support and took my hand away a little and LOOK!

Gabriel is also close to rolling over from his back to his belly. He just... won't... get his arm around, not even with much encouragement.

We also tried cold teething rings this week. I think they were well-received.

Gabe's first set of keys

Other pictures from the week:

"I hate socks, Mom."

This is one of Mommy's favorite pictures from the week.

Looking like a cute little nerd

Meeting Zephyr up close & personal - the cat really didn't mind it much!

Thursday, March 26, 2015

A Mommy in Love

Amazing, our little boy is already 20 weeks old! He is quickly approaching a half year! Gabe's personality definitely shows in his pictures.

Our friends Chelsea & Andre (Gabriel's Godparents) were blessed with a new baby boy, Hudson, on the 18th. We went for a visit once they got home. Craig commented that Gabriel has grown quite a lot, considering he was the same weight as Hudson when we brought him home! Hudson is definitely a cute little peanut!

Seeing Baby Hudson has "made my ovaries ache," a phrase coined by one of my breastfeeding support group leaders, haha! Not only that, but I look at Gabriel's sweet angel face, and I want many more babies. I think I mentioned 16 to Craig. (And yes, that number did get an eyebrow raise!) But seriously, when you look at your child, how could you not want many replicas of him/her? It's truly unconditional love.

Gabriel is toying with us recently. He gets SO CLOSE to rolling over from back-to-belly, and then he pulls himself back onto his back. It's frankly quite frustrating for his Daddy & I, haha!

Check out his handling of his pacifier!

Auntie Debbie and Grammy came for a visit. Deb brought Gabriel his first pair of shades, really cute Foster Grants. He wasn't sure how he felt about them, but I was able to get a smile anyway.

I am coming to the realization that our breastfeeding journey may be almost half over already. My goal is 1 year (I am happy about every day that we are successful and am not trying to stress about the days ahead), though I am not sure I will be firm in stopping altogether at that time. I do know that I plan to cease pumping (at work & overnight) and let Gabriel take the lead on weaning. I wouldn't mind nursing first thing in the morning and last thing before he goes to bed, though. So anyway, this realization has stopped me from my usual practice of playing on my cell phone while he's nursing. Instead, I've been watching him (as he watches me, if it's during the day and he's awake) and enjoying the closeness of nursing.

Can't resist this Little Blue Eyes!

I got a small bonus at work for teaching some extra credits, so I treated Gabe & I to a new baby carrier that should be better for his hips now that he is getting bigger. It actually is A LOT more supportive on my back with carrying his blossoming weight. He seems to like it as well. I tried it with him facing out for the first time (he wasn't too thrilled, he prefers facing me right now), but it also allows him to face in plus two other positions (hip carry & back carry) when he gets bigger.

Our new Beco Gemini carrier

Here's another green screen tease leading up to our release of Gabe's Easter pictures. It was my first attempt at merging a picture with a background, and I know it's not that great, but it's still cute!

Other pictures from the week:

A Mommy in Love

Thanks for the onesie, Auntie Kristen!

Thanks for the jingly ball, Auntie Lorene!

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!")