final birthday post

had to share this...it was at his "first" birthday celebration w/the lok's. the song was actually for another table, but gabe thoroughly enjoyed it :-) (careful, the song is kind of loud)

back to work!

my first week of work was...great! it's really nice to be at the office surrounded by grown-ups who can verbalize their expectations of me, tell me how much they missed me and are glad to have me back! it's been kind of hectic this week, getting caught up on the past year and trying to refresh my mommy-brain with work procedures.


it's also been nice having my parents looking after gabe while i'm at work. i know he's in a safe environment with ppl who love him to bits, and most importantly, can accommodate his nap schedule, prepare home-cooked meals for him, and are comfortable with cloth diapering and potty-training. and my mom's been really great...she's keeping notes in a journal so i know what they've been up to during the day!

leading up to my return-to-work, i was pretty sad...i didn't want to miss any major milestone's in gabe's life, like taking his first steps or saying his first word. but at the same time, it's good to be away from him and i LOVE the reaction i get when he sees me...a double-take, just making sure i'm really back, and then the slow creeping smile with his arms stretched out for me. ahhhh, just melts my heart :-)

i have to admit, it's been a juggling act this week...after a year of "minimal planning ahead", i have to re-train myself to meal-plan on the weekends so after work, i can re-heat or quickly prepare dinner. with gabe's earlier bedtime, we really need to take advantage of our short time together in the evenings. but at least i have my wednesdays with him! yippee for part-timers!

12 months old!

gabriel's 1st birthday has come and gone. it's really hard to believe that a year's past...somehow time has passed me by and i'm returning to work tomorrow. gabe's a very special boy and had 3 birthday celebrations this weekend, and one more for next weekend!

on friday we celebrated gabe's bday (oct. 4), my sis-in-law's bday (clarisse oct. 3) and my father-in-law's bday (oct. 10). we had a delicious meal, and gabe sure ate a lot! we think he might be hitting a growth spurt because he had 3 servings of fish, a bowl of fried rice, a piece of chicken, mum-mum's and his toddler puffs!

saturday was the big party with gabe's friends. i got frazzled planning his bday party, because we needed to find a location for approx. 12 babies w/parents (my parents' common room). now that most babies are actually toddlers, i needed a baby-friendly meal (annie's mac & cheese for the kids, hotdogs/burgers for the adults) and birthday cake (applesauce spice cake w/vanilla ice cream); and we needed toys for the kids to play with. because i was prepping ahead of time at home, it was a challenge having to transport all the food (and toys) to my parents house and then down to the common room.

it was great to hang out with our friends and see how much all of our kids have grown up. everyone played well together and seemed to have a good time. gabe got overwhelmed a few times and needed mama to comfort him, but he enjoyed having sharon feed him mac & cheese and amy was supplying the goldfish treats! chris and i were absolutely exhausted after 2 bday events and fell asleep at 10:30 :-)

(the full complement of pictures is posted in my picasa album!)

our final bday activity was dinner at the keg with my family to celebrate gabe and my dad's bday (sept. 29). gabe really likes blonde-haired ladies...at music class, he kept gravitating towards 2 blonde moms and reaching out for them; then at dinner, he was holding our server's hand and wouldn't let go, and later on he touched her derriere while she was taking orders. how fresh!

so what's gabe been up to this month?

• he continues to cruise, and he's progressed to using only one hand to hold onto something. he's not quite ready to walk on his own yet, but he is able to push up to standing unassisted! his favourite thing now is to push our kitchen chairs around :P


• he regressed a bit with sleeping - now that it's colder i put him back into a sleepsack (after taking a break over the summer), but he would get frustrated in the middle of the night because he couldn't walk around. after several nights in a row of being woken up, i've now given up on it and he's in a sleeper with the heat cranked up in his room instead.


• he continues to eat everything in sight! gabe's got a healthy appetite for all foods and doesn't discriminate. we try to limit his in-between snacks to fresh fruits, and give him treats (goldfish, mum-mums, etc. etc.) only when we're out and there's no other option.


• he can be very vocal at home or once he's warmed up to his surroundings. i've caught him trying to say mamamamama, but it's still a work in progress. i'm so pleased that sign language has come in very handy. gabe can now sign "please" and he's started to figure out the sign for poop. he also responds to "hungry" and "eat" with a great big smile :-) yup, he's definitely our son!
  

and now it's back to reality and becoming a working mom! i am sad to be leaving gabe and hope that i don't miss out on any major milestone's (i.e., his 1st steps or saying mama!), but at the same time i look forward to the new challenges that lie ahead and can rest assured knowing that gabe's in good hands with my parents :-)