Three Months

Dear Gabriel,

This week you turned three months old! I cannot believe the time has passed so quickly. However, there are days that seem to never end. You weigh fourteen pounds and are a little over two feet long! You wear anywhere from three month to 3-6 month clothes. I can't believe you're that big!
We call you many names. Obviously the standards like Gabriel, Gabe, and Gabey. I also call you Gabey Baby, Lovey, Lovey Bear, Chunk, Chunkers, Chunk-a-licious. I'll sometimes refer to you as Porker. :)

You are nursing exclusively and I hardly remember a time when you weren't. I wouldn't have it any other way. It's such a special time for us to spend with one another. Just this month you started the most darling thing: in the past when you were done eating you would just fall asleep. You still do that, but sometimes you make eye contact with me and smile. Every now and then, you'll coo and laugh. That's the most wonderful thing. The struggle to nurse - the pumping, the bottles, the sore nipples - were completely worth this outcome.
We nurse whenever you want. Sometimes you want it a lot, often, and sometimes you will go hours without being near me. I believe in nursing in public so I nurse wherever we are. I refuse to nurse you I'm a bathroom - would I eat in a bathroom? Never!
I also stopped using the nursing cover. It's so hot here in San Antonio right now, you would just get so frustrated. So far, I've had no negative experiences with people being offended by my brazen display.

Very temporarily we went through a phase of trying to manipulate your sleep. It had to do with this idea I got that surely there was someway you could be getting better sleep. It's not like you were getting bad sleep. I just, for some reason, thought you could stand to get better/longer/deeper sleep. After a week or so of failed attempts to fulfil this idea - which involved lots of tracking of your habits, lots of frustration with you, with me, with Dad - I decided it wasn't the route I wanted to take. This tired, frustrated person was not the parent I wanted to be. I blamed you for not sleeping like all these other people thought you should.
Instead, I brought you into our bed. You sleep with me and it's been the most wonderful thing. You fall asleep in my arms, nursing, and I just roll you over and we face one another while we sleep. I wake when you stir, wanting to eat or having fussy dreams or gas, and I get to comfort you or nurse you. I also get to wake up next to you. Each morning when you finally open your eyes and look at me, you smile. I say, "Good morning! I love you! I missed you while you were asleep!" And we lay in bed and smile and play with one another.

Then I change you diaper, dress you, and put you in the bouncer while I shower and get ready. You like this most days. I always make sure the bouncer is placed so you can see me and I'll talk to you and dance around to entertain you. After I'm ready, we head downstairs where we play while I eat breakfast. When I'm done with breakfast, you eat your breakfast and fall asleep for your morning nap.
If we stay home in the morning, you'll usually sleep until around noon. Sometimes we do our errands in the morning. Often you'll sleep while I grocery shop and drive around, but lately you've been staying awake when we're out and about. You're super interested in what's going on around us.
Daddy comes home every day at lunch and he plays with you while I eat. You nurse down soon after he leaves. You wake up around four and we talk and play together before Daddy gets home at 5:15. Daddy plays with you much of the evening and we go for walks most nights. You and Daddy take a bath every night before bed - it's one of your favorite times of day.

You started smiling like crazy this month. It has made all the hard work from the first two months worth it. We've even gotten a couple of chuckles out of you. You think things are funny, which means much of our time is spent trying to get you to smile and laugh. You love when Daddy whistles at you and when I sing to you. You particularly enjoy "Daisy, Daisy" but I sing it "Gabey Baby."
You've become super alert and will look around and watch what's going on around you. You just started getting to where you can play alone. We got you a play mat and a jumperoo to bounce and you love them. You watch the dancing lights and grasp and bat at the little toys. It's a great advancement.
When we go shopping the afternoon, you won't take your afternoon nap. You insist on looking around the whole time and taking in the sights, sounds, and smells. Your dad and I joke that you believe people only exist to smile at you and tell you you're adorable.
And that's pretty much true. :)

We love you,
Mommy and Daddy

Conviction

Our incredible pastor did his lesson on the reality of hell this evening and I felt really convicted by it. Anytime I think of eternity, let alone hell, I feel an overwhelming sense of loss and urgency.
Sometimes I think about how secluded my life is; I'm not really friends with many unchurched people. The reality of it is, though, I have several significant people in my life who would go to hell for eternity if they died today.
That terrifies me. The idea that they will be able to see me in heaven and might wonder why I never tried harder to talk to them about the Truth. That I will be held accountable for their fate. That my closest loved ones will suffer forever because I am afraid to hurt their feelings now.
"Christianity, if false, is of no importancw. If true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important." - C.S. Lewis

Just for Today

I'm trying to get back in the habit of blogging daily. The implication there being that I ever blogged daily. :)

Things I Want to Remember About Today
1. Today was the first day I gussied myself up on my own since Gabe was born. He chilled in his bouncer while I blow dried my hair and did full makeup.
2. I ran/waked two miles this evening as part of my 5k training.
3. It's been eleven weeks and I'm really relishing the feeling that I've finally got this. That David and I have this baby thing down. When Gabriel cries, we know why. We have a workable routine. He smiles and babbles and coos and gripes. Rarely does he have crying jags anymore. I can go anywhere and do anything with him.
This is what I imagined babyhood would be. Fun, wonderful, and sentimental.

8 Weeks

Dear Gabriel,

You were born eight weeks ago today. I can't believe the time has flown so fast! It seems like you've been part of our family forever.

In some ways you're just as you were during your first week. You still study the world with a very serious look on your sweet face. You still have a love/hate relationship with your swaddle. And your hands are still your best friends.

You've grown a lot, too. You can hold your head up like a champ now. Your mouth and jaw are much stronger. You sometimes like to lay alone to play and observe the world. And you can get your hands to your mouth on purpose to suck on them.

You now weigh twelve pounds and one and a half ounces. That's nearly three pounds bigger than when you were born. At your lady doctor's appointment you were 23 inches long but that was nearly two weeks ago so you could very well be longer now. You were 20.5 inches long at birth. You are currently wearing size 0-3 month and plain 3 month outfits.

You aren't "sleeping through the night" yet, and just recently stopped sleeping for longer than an hour and a half at a time, but that's okay. We were frustrated at first but now we've decided that this, too, will pass.

We do have a bit of a daytime routine going. We start our day between 8:00 and 9:00. You wake up a little fussy but then we nurse and you perk up pretty quick. Then you get all smiley and happy while I change your diaper and get you dressed. After that you're usually pretty okay with laying on the bed or in your bouncer greeting the ceiling fan while I brush my teeth, fix my hair and makeup, and get dressed.

Then we head downstairs where you chill in your Bumbo chair looking out the living room windows and chatting with me while I eat a quick breakfast. After all this activity, you're usually ready for a nurse and a nap. You'll usually sleep for an hour or an hour and a half. I like to snuggle you and will either nap with you, read, or watch TV.

You wake up right around the time Daddy comes home for lunch and are often all smiles and wide eyes for him. He plays with you while I eat lunch and by the time he leaves suite work, you're ready for another nurse and a nap. This nap lasts longer, between two and three hours, and I can usually put you down in your swing. While you sleep, I take care of the house doing the dishes and the laundry. Sometimes, I try to sneak another nap in.

You wake up just in time for Daddy to come home. He plays with you while I make dinner and you usually eat when we do. After dinner, we go for a walk. Sometimes you ride in your stroller and sometimes I wear you in  your wrap. You just got big enough to be worn facing out and you love seeing the world come at you. Sometimes you kick your feet and when the wind blows in your face you'll coo.

After our walk, you have a nurse with Mommy and playtime/storytime with Daddy followed by a bath - usually with Daddy but sometimes with Mommy. Then you get a lavender massage, a fresh diaper, and a swaddle. Then we cuddle up in the rocker and you nurse to sleep.

Sometimes you and I will go shopping or have a playdate in the mornings but it's summer now and gets dreadfully hot earlier in the day. You also aren't a huge fan of your carseat currently.

You've been lots of places this month. You took your first road trip to Oklahoma. We learned that you travel the great distance better over night. We went there for Memorial Day. We stayed with Papa and CiCi. You swam in a pool for the first time. It was cold but you laid your head back and cooed.

We went back to Oklahoma over Father's Day weekend. Some of your cousins came to visit from Michigan. We went to see them and you met most of your cousins on your Daddy's side.

We celebrated many things this month: Rocky, Mommy, and Daddy all had birthdays and Father's Day. For Daddy's first Father's Day and his birthday we got him a handsome watch.

You got to meet your third set of grandparents - Mommy's dad and stepmom.

You went to see Dr. Thomas for the first time and saw Joi for the last. You enjoyed your visit to Dr. Thomas.

We made huge progress in the world of nursing. Mommy couldn't nurse you at first because your mouth was weak and my nipples were flat. After six weeks of pumping breastmilk for you and nursing between feedings, we started nursing full time and never looked back. Despite the sore nipples and sleepless nights, I couldn't be more proud that we overcame that huge hurdle when so many others would have given up.

Mommy has learned quite alot about mothering, herself, life, and God in the last month. She's had many tears - of happiness, frustration, awe, and love. Never did she know just how strong yet dependent she was.

I love you, Gabe, and can't wait to see what the next month brings!

Love,
Mommy

Sleep Up to Eight Weeks

My spiffy new cell phone has a blogger app so now I can post to the blog without having to go through the trouble of getting out thee old laptop. So cool!
Gabriel's sleep up to now has brought us little more than confusion and frustration. Our time in the hospital is a blur filled with much chest sleeping on G's part. Once home, we continued with what we knew. By the time G was two weeks old, we were exhausted.
Knowing that something had to change, we tried to move him to his co-sleeper. It didn't go over well; he cried so often we ended up holding him all night anyway.
When we were preparing our lives for G, we weren't comfortable with him alone in another room having decided we wanted the benefits of being attached parents and overnight parenting, specifically a lower incidence of SIDS. However, we didn't want him in our bed for safety reasons so we opted for the bedside bassinet. We wanted him near but wanted to maintain some boundaries.
By the time we reached this point in our sleep journey, we were totally down with bed-sharing (we enjoyed the nighttime convenience and peace of mind) having him super close but wanted a safer option. At Babies R Us we found a product called a "nest" that was basically a little pod that rested on the bed so he could safely share our bed.
He stayed in his nest successfully until he was around six weeks. At that time we opted to move him out of our bed and into his bassinet. We began this by simply placing his nest into the bassinet. He transitioned easily and didn't really know the difference. After about a week we ditched the nest entirely.
Our huge struggle now was getting him to sleep and getting him to stay asleep. I would nurse him to sleep and try to put him down and he'd rouse within minutes. This would happen repeatedly all night. When I'd get frustrated, David would take over, bouncing Gabe for hours. We were back to getting no sleep.
I turned to the attachment parenting guru's, Dr. Bill Sears, the Baby Sleep Book. It was here I learned how babies sleep. I learned that G was gadling asleep when I nursed him, but he want staying asleep when I put him down because I was jumping the gun. Babies sleep in two stages: light (REM) and deep. They spend about half their sleep time in light sleep while we only spend 1/5 of our sleep time there. I was simply waking him up when I put him down! All I had to do was wait about twenty minutes and he'd be in deep sleep. I began to do this and it works most of the time.
Most recently, in pursuit of regular naptimes, I also read the famous Happiest Baby on the Block. This book has done wonders for our sleep! The book is built on the foundation of the fourth trimester, which I fully agree with. The fourth trimester is the observation that most mammals are born relatively self-sufficient except a few like humans and kangaroos, which need a little more time to develop outside the womb. Thus the three months following standard gestation should be spent giving Baby a gentle transition to life outside the womb by nursing on cue, sleeping close to one another, and baby wearing.
The book touts the "five s's" of baby sleep strategies: swaddling, side laying, shhing, swinging, and sucking. Long story short, we recently began implementing these strategies and have seen dramatic improvements in falling asleep and staying asleep, especially during naps.
For example, last night G slept for four hours and then intermittently for the subsequent four - waking to nurse and rapidly falling back to sleep. Then, this afternoon, he slept for two hours straight in his swing. I was actually able to put him down (swaddled, post nursing, in deep sleep) and get some stuff done around the house.
It's so nice to finally be making progress with our little guy! :)

Valentine's Weekend Getaway

Since we got married, we've used Valentine's weekend as an excuse to take a quick trip to a nearby city just to get away and be romantic. Our first year, 2009, we went to Tulsa. In 2010, we went to Houston and Galveston. We did duck out in 2011; we were both working full time and decided it would be easiest to just do dinner and movie.

This year, we had plans to go on a Babymoon - a final hurrah before baby. Initially, we played with the idea of taking a cruise - even going as far as to get passports. But as we researched cruises, we determined we didn't like the idea of our first cruise being so limited in activities by my pregnancy.

Then we looked at perhaps going to Colorado, New Orleans, or Destin. All within driving distance of us, but all would take a lot of planning and we would ultimately be very far from home - something I'm not too comfortable with this late in my pregnancy.

So we decided to stay near to home and take it easy. We found a nice little B&B in Seguin and didn't really plan anything else too far from there. We had some general ideas about what we'd like to do, but most of all, we wanted to relax and be romantic together. :)

We stayed at the Mosheim Mansion (http://www.mosheimmansion.com/) in Seguin, TX, a restored Victorian home run by Carol and Bob (we discovered most B&Bs are run by Carols and Bobs). We selected this particular B&B based on their website, the pictures we saw there, and reviews we read at TripAdvisor. They were also running a "buy two nights, get the third free" special. The rooms have hot tubs *in the room* - not just in the bathroom. It also seemed well kept and romantic. We booked for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights.

As it turns out, Carol is quite the character. I suppose you have to be to run a B&B. She and her husband both hold degrees in industrial engineering, but he works in San Marcos doing something or other management and she runs the B&B. Also located at the B&B is a dog rescue, which Carol runs. She currently had fourteen dogs on premises! While we didn't know this ahead of time, it certainly warmed us to Carol and Bob. And while you may think that all those dogs would be noisy and dirty, they were located elsewhere on the property and you wouldn't know they were there unless you looked.

Carol made some amazing meals! We had several choices of breakfasts: French toast, omelettes, and German pancakes. I had the French toast twice, David had the omelettes twice, and we shared a huge German pancake one morning. Carol only uses local meats and produce - organic when possible. It was divine!

Thursday, when we checked in, we asked Carol and Bob for suggestions for dinner. They came up with the Liberty Bistro (http://mylibertybistro.com/home.aspx) in New Braunfels. Located in the basement of a building, it wasn't the kind of place we would normally frequent, but would like to. I had the pork saltimbocca served with gnocchi and green beans and David had a wood-fired pizza topped with proscuitto, garlic, and red pepper. Incredible food and great service. Nice, quiet atmostphere. A releaxing meal to top off our day.

The next day, Friday, we hit the shops at San Marcos. We walked the entire grounds of the Prime Outlets making stops at Banana Republic, New York and Company, Gymboree, Carter's, Motherhood Maternity, and Vera Bradley! :) We ate lunch at an adorable chain called Johnny Rocket's. It's a 50s themed full service restaurant specializing in milk shakes. Of course, we sampled their classic dishes - burgers, fries, and shakes!

That evening, the B&B was hosting a fund raiser Valentine's cabaret dinner theater to benefit the Seguin Main Street Program. We got to sample Carol's dinner time fare: a lemon pepper chicken topped with a pomegranate reduction, green beans, and potatoes, homemade breads, and a "wicked, wicked chocolate thing" for dessert! Stellar food! The show was very nice as well with quite a variety of acts - musical numbers, comedy routines, romantic dialogues. (Read more about the show here: http://seguingazette.com/news/article_7cc061f8-52b5-11e1-a7ce-001871e3ce6c.html.)

Saturday, we set out to hit the other outlets in San Marcos but weren't impressed. We have been on the hunt for some new living room furniture as of late, so we decided to see what all furniture stores we could hit up in the New Braunfels/San Marcos area. As luck would have it, we found an Ashley furniture store outlet! For our first furniture buying experience, we felt it went amazingly well! We were all ready to play hardball - even had our cash in hand, Dave Ramsey style.

We found a whole grouping that was just what we were looking for for a price that was really reasonable. When the guy walked up to us, the first words out of his mouth were, "I can do better than those listed prices." He walked off to find a calculator and David and I just looked at each other. We discussed what our highest offer would be ($1,000 for the whole set), and the guy came in and said that he would give it to us for $1129. We looked at each other and tried to low ball him some more by asking for the ottoman for free (it had a mark on it that they got out with a cleaning kit - drat!) and for free delivery (they can't). We even asked for a cash discount (some places will do it), but because it's a clearance house, they wouldn't deal with us on that. So we took it!

Images via Ashley Furniture

I later found the whole set on-line for $2,090. Score!

Next on our agenda, a couple's massage! After all that furniture buyin', we needed to do some serious relaxing. We found the Body Shoppe (http://www.bodyshoppemassage.com/default.asp) in New Braunfels, again through TripAdvisor. They offered just the services we needed - a couple's massage with prenatal massage. I cannot even begin to describe to you our adventure!

Image via Google

We met Roxanne (for me) and Marla (for David). We asked them our questions and expressed our concerns. We explained it was our first time. They asked us some questions about what we were looking for. David decided to be brave and went with deep tissue massage! I was stuck with prenatal, but that's what I wanted anyway. :)

Images via Google

The Shoppe is in a beautifully renovated Victorian home, and they escorted us into the couple's suite - a beautifully decorated, dim room that smelled lovely. They had soft music playing. It's pretty much exactly the kind of room I'd like to give birth in! Two tables, side by side. So romantic! They left us alone to strip down to our underoos and get situated on the bed. David was facedown in traditional massage style and I was lying on one side. Our massage was an hour long so I got one side for 25 minutes, the other side for 25 minutes, and 10 minutes on my back so she could do my neck, shoulders, and scalp. Oh heavens!

One concern I had, of course, was modesty - more for her sake than mine. She was very discreet and I never once flashed my boobs at her. When I was shifting from one side to the other, she held the sheet up high so that I had room to move and her view was obscured. It was so nice. I also wondered if they minded if you moaned or talked or anything, and while they said they didn't - they like if you communicate - I found that I didn't need to! She would whisper directions in my ear or ask how I was doing and that was all we really needed.


She massaged my shoulders, arms, and back with the most divine warm thick lotion (or butter). She worked hard on my shoulders but couldn't rub as hard on my back due to Mr. Bebe. She also massaged my legs, feet, and hiney! It wasn't awkward at all, I swear! And it felt so good!


I was incredibly sad when it was over. I felt so relaxed and loose. They left us alone to dress at our leisure. David and I just looked at each other and HE said, "That was life changing." In the car, on the way to dinner, we talked about our experiences. He said she was just having at him, using her elbows and really pushing hard. He even said that he thought he was relaxed before, but that he really knows what it means to be relaxed now and that he can't wait to have another massage! I'm thrilled that he enjoyed the experience because it was my idea. ;)

Our massage therapists recommended a restaurant in Gruene called the Gruene River Grill. We did get a little lost trying to find Gruene, but once there, we learned that town is one little hoppin' hot spot! After quite a wait, we received the best seats in the house right next to their trademark epically huge fireplace. I had the gorgonzola steak - a steak wrapped in bacon topped in gorgonzola and a balsamic reduction with green beans and potatoes. David had the red fish - a Cajun dish served on basmati rice with squash, topped with crawfish. For dessert, we had Key lime pie - David's favorite. Again, an amazing meal!

Our evenings were spent lounging in bed (working in David's case, reading in mine) and using the hot tub.

Hands down, our best trip ever! :)

Home Tour: Guest Bedroom

Surprise! I'm back! With a home tour.
We're slowly going room-by-room updating and styling to our tastes. During the home tour, I hope to show you what we've completed so far and will update the blog as we make small changes from here.

I have selected the guest bedroom first for the home tour because it is the most completed room. It also stays the cleanest (none of us go in there). :)

So, here's what we started with on the day we first viewed our home (complete with date apparently):

Pretty much a blank slate, right? You can even get a hint of the hideous brass doorknob! Ugh!

So once we moved in, we thought we'd make both bedrooms to the right of the stair landing offices, one for me and one for him. Then the two bedrooms to the left of the stair landing would be the guest and the master. The guest bedroom would then be located next to the guest bathroom. Makes sense, right? Kinda.

So then we actually started getting guests and found it was rather awkward to have your parents staying in a room that can see straight into yours. Also, David's "office" was slowly becoming a catchall room for junk seeing as he had no real use for an office. So after much consideration, we decided to move the guest into David's "office" and make the room across from ours the nursery.

The end result?

This is basically the same shot as before. Notice, no more brass doorknobs! Yay! I will do a future post about how I got all new doorknobs and hardware for only $30! But now, the details.

I wanted to do the room in a gray, yellow, and aqua color scheme. It's really trendy right now and I like it! So I purchased the comforter, which is aqua, and sheet set, which is yellow, at Target. The throw pillows are also from there. The lamps are from Big Lots! It's soooo hard to find lamps at a reasonable price! The curtains are black and came with the home as did the curtain rod. I just threw them in the wash to get all the dust out.

The wall color is Martha Stewart Cement Gray. I strayed from my home, Lowe's, because I thought deep down I wanted Martha Stewart's Bedford Gray. However, once I got to Home Depot and looked at the pallette, I realized that Bedford Gray was the gray I used in the hall/stairway and I knew I wanted to go darker for the bedroom. So glad I chose this gray! It looks awesome! This room gets a lot of natural light so it doesn't look too dark.

These rooms are teeny tiny. Which ain't bad if you're housing kiddos, but we're trying to furnish the room with a complete bedroom set given to us by my super geneous in-laws! So we put the queen sized bed in there with the night table. My house was bestowed with a walk-in in each bedroom (<3!) so we stuck the upright dresser in the closet for guest use. It leaves a little hanging room leftover. I also keep my porcelain doll collection that I inherited from my paternal grandmother in the guest closet because they're nice and safe in there (and relatively dust free), but it can be a little creepy when you open the closet doors.

My goal with this room was the keep it as clean and functional for guests as possible. So no using it for storage! Which is soooo hard. The dresser is empty, as is the side table. I do keep my purses and bags under the bed in some storage cases but that's only because our bed is too low for the cases to fit. :)

So, other than art, a ceiling fan (we want one in all bedrooms), and maybe some plants or something, this room is done! I do like to make my guests feel at home so when they visit I put out some little things to make the room more cozy like reading material, bottles of water, granola bars, chocolates, etc.

So I know you want more pics! Haha! Here are a couple of other angles:

What do you think? :)