Mommy loves her baby

Tonight I was sitting with Gabriel on my lap while I was checking email, and he was banging away on the keyboard Tim keeps on the desk. I realized that he was singing "bah-ba-ba-ba-bah-bah" to the tune of "Mommy Loves Her Baby", all on his own - we hadn't even sang it recently. This song, for all you beloved relatives out there, includes the names of Grandma, Granddaddy, Nana, Grandpa, Uncle Quentin, Aunt Melody, Uncle Wayne, Tyler, Aunt Lynette, Uncle Rusty, Emmie, Smokey, Katie, Mindy, Chloe, (Emmie through Chloe are all pets), Thailand, and Jesus. And all of whom "love their baby". :) Gabriel likes to cuddle in the rocking chair with his blankets and pacifier and Mommy and sing that song. I was really surprised that he just sang the tune on his own, though. Sounds like he has music in his blood! :)

In other music news, Gabriel now has a drum, with drumsticks, a tambourine, 2 maracas, and a harmonica. We saw it at Walmart and couldn't resist. The other items are generally unused, but the drum he likes. :) It's not as loud as a spoon on a pan, I'll tell you that much!!

Pictures!

Mr. Oatmeal-Box-Head Boy. He actually put the box on his head himself.



















Grandma rocks! :) Look how BIG he is getting!!!



















Rockin' and a-readin'















He had a bad case of dessert nose that night... :)


















It was just one of those two-pacifier days, folks.


















Little sweetums...

Bathtime

Gabriel is a very industrious bather. The other night, while I was running water for his bath, he was busily running around behind me, gathering up every single item he could find to throw into the bathtub for his personal use. Once he is in the tub, he rolls up his proverbial shirtsleeves and gets to work. "Work" consists of systematically picking up each bottle/toy/kitchen utensil/etc. and raising it as high as his little arms can reach and throwing it down as hard as he can into the water, which creates a very satisfactory splash that generally is not contained by the tub. Sigh. His own personal waterworks. On a brighter note, I didn't even have to get a bucket to mop the bathroom floor the other night as he busied himself in the tub. I just used the water already on the floor combined with a bit from the sink faucet and had a sparkling clean floor in no time. :) Tim noted the other night that he was "working" so hard that his chest and cheeks were flushed from all the exertion. I counted 13 items in the tub at one point. What a busy bee.

Baby pictures!

I went back to the doctor on Friday morning and got to see the wee little bugger again!














It's amazing how much he/she has changed in 2 weeks. The baby was pretty much sleeping, I think it moved it's arm once, despite the uncomfortable prod in the stomach the midwife gave me - ooofff. :) I measured 10 weeks and 1 day. The heart rate was about 165.

In other Gabriel news, last night I was singing Gabriel a little song that I've always sung him that goes "Mommy loves her baby, Daddy loves his baby...." and I stopped singing, and then I hear this little voice singing (right on key) "Mommy dada dah dah"... Tim and I just couldn't believe it. It was precious! When I put him in his crib a few minutes later, he was talking about "Daddy...baba". He's so funny - we'll put him in his crib and he'll just talk to us while we're in there and keep on talking after we leave for a while. Then he's quiet for a little bit, and then his conversation starts back up.

Today he was "talking" to his Granddaddy on the phone while he was holding this big mug, and drinking out of the cup with one hand while he had the phone up to his ear at the same time. He would drink and then talk. It was hilarious.

Chocolate Cheesecake

Tim and I have both expressed a wistful rememberance of the days when we could savor our food. These days, eating outside of a meal frame consists of a curious boy at our lap wanting to help, and a dog ever at the ready. Or, eating at the kitchen table while Gabriel goes "Ennhh? Ennhh?" and requires a bite to every bite and a half of your own, which leaves you gulping your treat so that you can at least eat half, as you wince in time to the metal spoon banging the pan/oven/etc. Tonight Pregnant Woman finally purchased the chocolate cheesecake (in 4 different variations per cheesecake, heh hehheh) she had been craving, and when arriving home, made her hot tea, and furtively opened her cheesecake. She nochalantly sidled past the child in the dining room who was busying himself flinging papers off the dining table with the cheesecake on her far side, and slipped into the computer room, out of sight. Where she savored her cheesecake, bite by slow delicious bite. Ahhh.

And another thing. I am TIRED, capital T, rhymes with D, stands for...zzzzz. I am tired, layered with a tasty spread of exhausted, covered with a meaty chunk of I wish I could sleep more than 24 hours in a day, sprinkled with I'm tired when I wake up in the morning, and only awake when I lay down to go to sleep at night, drizzled with an icing of snore.

Longing for the industrious wakefulness of second trimester...

To catch up from the last post, we are FINALLY over the flu - it took incredibly long. I never get the flu shot because I never get the flu, and I hear more people complaining that they feel sick from the flu shot - the combination of those two factors have to this point neutralized the value of said flu shot - UNTIL THIS YEAR!!! Next year, I shall faithfully line up like an obedient zombie to get my arm poked, if it in any way guarantees that I won't have a repeat of this year' sickness! Thankfully, Gabriel didn't get nearly as sick as we did. He did run a temperature of up to 103, but seemed to heal up a lot quicker.

Gabriel is really saying a lot of words recently. It's like he goes through growth plateaus, and then peaks. Right now is a verbal peak. Tim is good at getting him to repeat words. He says "boose" for juice, "tea" (he loves his tea), "ba", or "bop" for ball (the word "ba" can make up entire conversations, he can talk at great length of "ba" - he loves "ba". "Ba" is the first thing he thinks of upon waking, the foremost hope of going outside.), "bye-bye", "hush" (he learned this from all the hushing we do with Chloe), "goggie" for cookie (another favorite), "chika chika" for his Chika Chika ABC book (he also applies this to most books he wants to read), "daddy" (another favorite conversation component), "mama" (usually only uttered at times of distress or disappointment), and "mm-daddy" for Granddaddy.

His favorite toys currently consist of anything with which to whack with. Spoons, spatulas, small PVC pipes, etc. He is a big fan of the tiger xylophone his Nana gave him because it has these handy drumsticks that are (to him) unfortunately tied down. He puzzles over those knots that hold them on, but Mommy has gotten whacked in the head enough with every other item, that she keeps her wise silence and leaves those helpful little knots in place.

Hopefully, we will go soon to get another picture taken of him. Mom and Dad zipped in this past weekend to check on him. He was very happy to have some new people to play with. Dad took him on some jogging stroller rides. They really thought that he had grown since they last saw him.

Update on the new baby. I'm due October 22. Here's a picture of the cute little feller or fellerette:












I'm thinking it's a boy as opposed to a girl because I haven't been really nauseous at all - I wasn't with Gabriel either. So I guess we will see. I am currently 9 weeks and 5 days along, and I go back to the doctor on Friday. I have been feeling pretty good aside from TIRED, so tired. I will be glad when this first trimester is over, just to have some more energy!

Till later....

Flu season...

This has been a bugger of a week for us. I got the flu on Tuesday, and was M-I-S-E-R-A-B-L-E. Achy and exhausted, my fever went up to 103-104. This is the first day that I haven't really been sick - about 6 days later. I still feel a little tired. Now Tim is zonked out with it. He woke up at 4:00 this AM with chills and misery. Lord willing, Gabriel won't get it. I've been a little concerned about my pregnancy, since my fever got so high. I'm supposed to go into the doctor this week for my 8 week checkup, so maybe she'll do an ultrasound.