11 Weeks

So much for trying to keep up with Gabe's daily developments... Guess I'll just have a little catching up to do.

In the last week or so, he's really gotten good at putting his hand in his mouth. He sucks on his fingers quite a bit. He's also gotten a lot stronger and can hold his head up for longer periods of time. He still has a ways to go in order to be able to "officially" hold his head up.

co-sleeping is going well. We've gotten a lot of crap from a lot of people about such a sleeping arrangement, but once I discovered that we're all a lot happier and at least Gabe and I sleep a lot better when we're in the same bed, I decided that I'm not going to let other people guilt me into putting him in a cradle or crib. When some of my friends suggested co-sleeping (or asked whether or not I would do it), I scoffed. No way, I thought! But here I am, co-sleeping and loving it!

I've thought about a few of the other decisions I've made and have realized how happy I am with those decisions. Breastfeeding is going extremely well, although I'm kind of annoyed that it seems like EVERYONE wants to know if that's what we're doing. To be honest, it's not something I prefer to discuss with family or random strangers. It's fine among the online community, as I don't actually "know" most of the people I "talk to" online. I do have to admit, though, that I'm pretty proud to say that Gabe has never had a single drop of formula! Yeah!

I'm also happy that we didn't have him circumcised. I just don't understand this ritualistic torture of newborns. It's ridiculous. And every day I'm more and more thankful that I didn't commit that crime. Go me!

The third thing I'm happy about is our success with cloth diapers. If I had just a few more cloth diapers, I'd be able to get through two days and nights without using any disposables, but unfortunately, as it sits right now, we use two disposables every night. Still better than using them all of the time, though! (So if anyone hears of any more contests to win cloth diapers, let me know...I'm going to keep trying!)

And now, I have a crying baby who I imagine wants to eat...again.

grandpa's funeral

This weekend is grandpa's funeral. Last night was the wake. While I'm very sad, I was surprised that I didn't cry. I have a feeling that I'm just numb at this point. I'm not sure when (if)the emotion will come out. To be honest, I hope I don't get overly teary at the church later today. I hate crying in front of people. It's especially hard to see my sweet grandmother so upset. They were married over 60 years, and still loved each other very much. I don't really know what else to say, but I feel fortunate that this wonderful man was my grandpa, and I will always cherish the memories I have of him.

Reaching.

Gabe is (obviously) growing and changing so much every day. (I say 'obviously' because that's generally what babies do...if I hear "They grow so fast" one more time, I'm going to puke.) Anyway, I've done a terrible job of keeping track of milestones, so starting today I hope to blog something that he's done each day.

Today I had him in his Boppy pillow in his bassinet, and I had a butterfly toy dangling near him. Now let's step back for a sec so I can explain something...whenever I change his diaper, I give "Naked Time," during which I let him "air out" under a blanket for a while. If he's in a good mood (and he usually is), naked time can last half an hour, and during that time, I will talk, sing, or dangle toys in front of G to entertain him. I try to get him to reach for the toy I hold out for him. So today when he was in the Boppy, he was staring at the butterfly, then he reached for it. Now, I realize it could have been lucky hand placement on his part, so I'll have to see if he does it again next time he's in there.

Grandpa

Sad news to report...my Grandpa passed away last evening. He had a stroke in July and spent time in the hospital, then went to a nursing home because there was no way my Grandma (who is disabled from having polio as a child) would have been able to take care of him. Thankfully he was able to meet Gabe when G was almost 3 weeks old. The viewing will be Friday and the funeral is Saturday. It will be so sad to say goodbye, but it will also be a celebration of the life of a great, great man.

New Phone

I got a new phone that lets me do internet "stuff", so maybe that will mean more frequent blog updates!

Gabe's smile

Gabe was practicing his smile the other day and I was taking pictures. I got a few cute ones, but this one makes me laugh every time I look at, so I'm sharing it with everyone!

7 weeks, and a picture from 9/26/09

Man, my blog is really falling apart! I so appreciate the people who still read it despite the sporadic manner with which I've been posting! I'm kind of mad at myself because I really wish I'd be better about documenting the little milestones in Gabe's life, but I'm also finding that it's hard to hold him and type a blog entry at the same time. I still don't put him down much, which might be bad, but I don't really care! He's still young, and as he gets older, I'm working on putting him down a little more each day. Problem is that when I put him down, it's usually not long before he cries to be picked up. He's such a sweet baby, though, and has so few demands. He really only ever cries if he wants to be held or if he's hungry, and darn it, I'm going to give him what he wants. After all, this time is going to pass so quickly, and when he's older, I'm going to be glad I held him instead of letting him cry as I cleaned the kitchen.

I have to say, I never fancied myself much of a baby person, but this little guy has turned me into one! I love, love, love him more than words can say.

Here's a picture from 9/26/09, when he was just a couple weeks old. I took it with the camera that Chris usually uses, so he offloaded that batch of pictures and I didn't even see them until a couple weeks later. (Let me digress for a moment: We had our bathroom redone in the summer, and we put up a shelf that we said we'd put pictures of the baby on when he/she arrived.) Now that you know the back story, I'll tell you about this picture you'll see below. I said that since we're decorating a bathroom, we should put bath pictures in there, but weren't sure that bath pictures would be very exciting. Then Chris told me that one of the bathtime pictures was really good and definitely frameworthy. After I saw this picture, I have to agree: