more pool time!

in addition to starfish swim lessons for gabe, i also signed us up for baby & me aquafit. we had our first session today, and it was pretty fun. i got my 45 minutes of exercise and gabe got more water-time. they have little inner-tubes with crotch straps for baby to sit in and moms would hold the inner-tube as we bounced around . there were only 3 of us in the class, so near the end when the babes were comfortable, we let them loose and they floated around us...it was pretty cute.

at the end of class we let the babes out and did some bubble-blowing and splashing in the pool. i thought gabe was miserable on friday due to his lingering cold, but he really doesn't like getting his face wet. he swallowed more water today and once he did that, it was GAME OVER! the miserable face was on and never went away. maybe we'll practice in the tub tonight. but we will persevere and keep going...i might even sign up for the july aquafit session!

and a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY to chris! his first bday as a daddy :-)

miss me?

i know, i know, it's been awhile since my last post. right after i recovered from strep throat, chris caught the flu, then gabe caught the flu, and lastly i caught the flu. fortunately before gabe and i got sick we managed to squeeze in coffee w/mama foof, an office baby shower, a picnic playdate at david lam park, and dim sum before it all went downhill. we had a rough few days last week, but we persevered and made it to gabe's first swim lesson on friday. unfortunately it was not his finest moment...after the first attempt at blowing bubbles he was miserable for the rest of the class...hopefully he'll do better next week.















sadly gabe and i are still somewhat sick, but i'm totally frustrated being stuck at home and i think gabe's feeling it, too. today was our longest outing...we went to the trout lake farmers market and lunch at little nest with pris and sandra! i was so excited about the market because i wanted inspiration for gabe's meals, but unfortunately there wasn't much in terms of fresh fruits and vegetables for babes. everyone was selling rhubarb though... so today, i picked up some berry honey, apples, and honey almond nouget. i'll go back in a few weeks and see what other vendors pop up. in the meantime, i need to do some research to figure out what herbs/plants i can grow on my sunless balcony (or indoors)...

my recovery is definitely taking a lot longer than anticipated because i can't take medication (argh! i miss the pill-popping days), and i'm not getting nearly enough rest during the day. gabe's been inconsistent during the day with his naps...they vary from 10 minutes to 3 hours! at least he's still sleeping through the night. it would be so much better if my parents were here to help, but they're in japan for another week :( bad timing!


on a happier note, gabe's 3rd tooth has popped out and a 4th isn't too far behind. just like his first teeth he didn't put up much of a fuss...mind you they coincided with the flu, so the miserableness might have been mingled together :-)

a bittersweet day

so sad...the canucks run to the stanley cup has ended. realistically i didn't think they'd make it to round 3, but in my heart i was really hoping for a miracle. oh well, we made a little money in the post-season and now i can get back to watching all my regular tv shows :-)

on a happier note, i'm convinced gabe has said his first "word", and that word is MAMA! more like "uh-ma-uh-ma-uh-ma-maaa"...but MAMA none-the-less! he repeated it a few times tonight, but it wasn't directed towards me. he would just respond to anyone who "talked" to him. i think it's ironic that on mother's day a year ago was the first time i felt gabe move in my belly, and now here we are one year later and he's starting to "talk"!




gabe has also started waving at himself :-) he was on the potty tonight and was waving his arm about when he discovered his hand and waved hello/goodbye. he did it last night as well in-between his nighttime feeding. so cute...and it's a backwards wave, so he literally is saying goodbye/hello to himself. so sweet!

an EP!C weekend

after much anticipation, gabe and i attended the EPIC Expo at the new vancouver trade & convention centre. we thought about being totally "epic" and skytraining down, but our timing was off and we ended up driving :( plus, i figured if i did a bunch of shopping, it'd be easier to pack the car rather than carrying a bunch of stuff. however, to offset our footprint, i took along my onya bags so i wouldn't need any vendor bags. yah!

there is just so much to see, do, and learn at epic but we zipped through most of it and focused on visiting nellie's all natural (i bought more dryer balls and laundry soda), domatcha (i bought the organic ceremonial tea), granville island toy company, rio rain (i bought a hoodie for $20 (regular $75!)), and bamboo naturals (2 great t's for gabe). the other highlights were the free samples of food: organic yogurt, locally-made potato chips, a variety of beverages, sweet treats, etc. next year, i'll make sure to take chris or my parents so we have multiple hands tending to gabe's needs. during a mini-meltdown, i took him to watch a puppet skit performed by parks canada...it's great that gabe enjoys visual activities!

to celebrate mother's day, gabe and i went to music class together followed by brunch @ the boathouse with my family. the food was delicious and gabe sort-of behaved for the most part :-) and that's it for today...chris is sick so we're having a low-key at-home evening.

happy mother's day to all the mommies!

7 months old!

wow, i've had strep throat since my last blog post, and i'm finally back to my normal self again. this is the longest i've been sick since gabe's birth, and it was pretty frustrating because i still had to be up-and-about keeping him fed, clean, and entertained. i felt like such a hermit, because we didn't have any playdates, storytime, i skipped music class, and no drop-in sessions. friday was our first outing with friends and babies and i had a great time :-) and i've lined up 3 playdates for this week...finally, life is back to normal!

gabe is 7 months old today! he's had lots of developments this month:

eating solids: after being on rice cereal for 2 weeks, we've made lots of progress with barley cereal, yams, carrots, apples, bananas, sweet potatoes, and pears. we've put a hold on the meat (he ate a few bites at two separate meals but rejected it on the 3rd try) and peas (i didn't puree the shells enough and he spat everything out). since gabe no longer naps when we're out for dinner, i've been packing farley biscuits for him to munch on while we're dining out. he just LOVES to feed himself and is so pleased that he makes a complete mess everywhere :P he's also gotten better with the sippy cup and drinking water. yippee!

sign language: gabe understands the signs for "milk" and "all done". on one occasion we even caught him signing "milk"! believe me, i gave the little man exactly what he wanted i was so impressed :-)

crying it out: we've never really stuck with "crying it out" because gabe's usually pretty good about going to bed at night. however, a couple times a week he'll put up a fuss, and we'll cave in and let him watch baby einsteen until he's tired. i don't really like it because he watches enough tv during the day with me (his favourite is the oasis commercial with max the orange!). so now i'm going to stick with crying it out and hope for the best (the first night took an hour for him to cry it out).

early riser: i used to be able to sleep in until 8:15 every day and still have time to shower and eat breakfast before gabe woke up at 9-9:30. now with the sunshine coming out earlier, gabe starts waking up at 7 a.m.! but by the time i get up, shower and eat, he's gotten himself back to sleep! so i've reverted back to my old ways and sometimes i'll nap when he naps!

chatterbox: while we haven't made out any definitive words from gabe, he's definitely been chatting a lot more this past month. i get a real laugh when we're in the car, it's all quiet, and then out of nowhere gabe pipes up and reminds us that he's in the backseat alone!

elimination communication: i gave up on "potty-training" months ago, but once gabe started solids i became more determined to try again. we've had lots of luck, and at least once a day, i manage to catch his business in the potty. i thought i had the "signs" figured out: farting, bum-hopping, grunting...all that good stuff. turns out that sometimes that's all it really is and there's nothing coming out. oh well, at least we're getting into a regular routine of eating and then potty-time.

miscellaneous: gabe's developed great core strength and no longer requires the bumbo to sit in. with a pillow supporting his back, he'll happily play on the floor with his toys for 30-45 minutes. of course, that doesn't prevent him from crashing forwards or sideways onto his head :P when he's on his tummy, gabe's gotten into a habit in his crib of lifting up his head and flopping it down on the mattress (very dramatic). so when he has tummy-time on the carpet, he does the same thing but the hardwood is not so forgiving :( hopefully the repeated blows to his head won't cause permanent damage ;-) we also took gabe to the park for the first time...not too impressed with the swings...

what would you like to celebrate?

take your pick:

the canucks sweep the blues in round 1!

(we've made franchise history!)

it's earth day!

(ironically enough, i'm spending the day inside doing laundry. plus i've caught a cold. sucks.)

it's administrative professionals day!

(shout-outs to my peeps at work! i hope i still get the bonus when i return to work...)

gabe likes meat!

(after a failed attempt yesterday, i hid it with his vegetables and he loved it! AND he's taken his first sips of water from his sippy cup! mind you, he spat it all out after so we'll see what happens next time :P)

happy easter!

this has been a really fun weekend. on friday gabe got to play with maddy, who is a very outspoken little girl with a very loud voice. whilst communicating with gabe about her toys, she totally freaked him out and he started to cry. we persisted and kept putting them back together, but after the 3rd outburst, we finally separated them :-)













gabe got a real treat for easter...we all dyed eggs for him, and his grandparents bought him an easter gift - emil, the organic giraffe binkie! for some reason my mom kept calling sophie the giraffe emily, so to "man" up his toys, we're calling the binky emil. and great-aunt billie also bought a gift for gabe...a blow-up bunny rabbit...i thought i might pass out before i got him blown up :P















it's been really great because chris actually had friday AND sunday off all day, so we got to spend lots of time together! and to really top off our weekend, gabe got his 6 month shots today...well, thankfully it was only 1 shot...loaded up with 6 different vaccines! we are so proud of gabe...he didn't even squeek when he got injected! and we timed it perfectly as usual, and right after the appt he took his nap!

we got all of gabe's measurements, and he's a funny guy...he's weighing kinda heavy at 18 lbs, 11 ozs! but his body length is just below the 50th percentile and his head size is still in the 75th percentile! our doctor was impressed by his weight gain since his 4 month check-up :-) hopefully gabe'll get his body sorted out and even out before his 12 month check-up!

mmm....bacon :-)

Yum yum yum! Anything with bacon wins top scores in my book. I bought my first issue of O magazine with Michelle Obama on the cover, and discovered there are recipes in the magazine. And there just happened to be a bacon-wrapped shrimp dish:

2 tbsp honey
1.5 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp Dijon mustard
¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt
½ tsp ground pepper
12 jumbo tail-on shrimp, peeled and deveined
6 slices bacon, halved crosswise

1. To make dressing, put 1 tbsp honey in a medium bowl. Add lemon juice and mustard; whisk to combine. Slowly pour in olive oil, whisking constantly. Season to taste with salt and pepper; set aside.


2. Use ½ tsp pepper to season shrimp all over. Wrap 1 piece of bacon snugly around each shrimp and secure with a toothpick running lengthwise (so shrimp can lie flat).


3. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Arrange shrimp in a single layer and cook, flipping once, until bacon is just crisp, about 10 minutes. Drizzle honey over shrimp and continue to cook, basting often with pan juices, until bacon is caramelized and shrimp are cooked through, about 2 minutes more. Transfer to a large plate.

Now that we're planning ahead for Gabe's meals, i'm starting to improve my diet (baby steps!), and i added organic yams to our meal and grilled cherry tomatoes. Overall a delish meal and i'm looking forward to making it again!

a major milestone!

i can't believe we missed it! sometime in the past few days, gabe's first tooth popped up! i think it's safe to say it happened on sunday night. chris and i had a date night at the canucks game and my parents were generously babysitting again :-) gabe was pretty fussy the entire time we were gone, but we all attributed it to a little separation anxiety.


tonight after his bedtime meal, gabe was crying so i stuck my finger in his mouth to suck on, when i stumbled upon his little incisor tooth! it wasn't even at the "breaking through" point, it was full on OUT! (his 2nd tooth is en route as well!) for 2 months chris and i have been checking his mouth because we thought he was going to be an early teether (red cheeks, "old man" lips), then after he started solids we just kind of forgot about potential teeth. even when he bit me multiple times today, i still hadn't clued in to a potential problem...i thought he was just being a lazy eater!

in hindsight, gabe`s taken a keen interest in sophie the giraffe, chewing on her legs and ears so i guess she`s performing well as a teething toy :-) i've been anticipating this day for a long time, and i had expected a change in his behaviour, sleep habits, and physical signs. but i'm completely stunned that there have been no dramatic changes...well...last night he slept longer than he's ever slept before...almost 12 hours! plus he had 5 mini-naps today, AND he went to bed at his normal time tonight and only fussed for 5 minutes!

6 months old!

blast it, time just flies by! my little buddy is 6 months old today, and i can't believe it! he has become so interesting in the past month with all of his developmental and social skills.

• he's almost 18 pounds, and 25 inches long!!! (yikes, we need to research for our next carseat!)
• he loves sitting in his bumbo chair, and will reach for his toys when they fall onto the ground
• he's well-behaved with everyone he meets...definitely a people-pleaser :-)
• now that gabe's eating solids, we've noticed him "chubbing" out a bit (his face in particular seems to have gotten a little pudgier)
• speaking of solids, gabe's increased the amount of food he eats...1 tbsp is no longer enough, so i'm trying to feed him at least twice a day 1.5 tbsps of rice cereal. i don't know about gabe, but i'm already bored of it...so i think i might start a new food item next weekend.
• gabe is an active baby in his crib - he's constantly spinning around and rolling onto his tummy at night and needs rescuing :P he's a pretty funny guy...when i rescue him, he looks at me and gives me his "what'd i do? or thanks for rescuing me!" smile. at 3 a.m., after that smile all is forgiven.
• he went through a phase a couple weeks ago of waking up for a night-feed, but i think we're past that hump...perhaps it was a growth spurt since he's gained almost 3 pounds this past month!
• he definitely knows his mommy & daddy! if someone is holding him, he will occasionally look my way, and start to reach an arm out for me. it's nice to be wanted :-) as soon as gabe hears the key in the door, his head starts spinning around trying to find daddy, and he gives chris the biggest smiles and arm flaps. so cute!
• speaking of daddy, when we put chris on speakerphone, gabe will now try to communicate back with grunts and squeals!
• we started our 2nd session of music together classes, and the older kids are loving him and greeted him with kisses last week!
• we're having issues with the tv...gabe gets distracted easily during a feed and will stop to see what's happening on tv. so we've tried to restrict the amount of tv he watches overall, regardless if it's baby einstein, hockey, or whatever else we're watching.
• he's dropped a nap...if he can get a total of 3-4 hours of naptime during the day, then he's good until bedtime, which has been bumped up to 9 p.m.!
• he still does his "old man" lip pursing thing, which has been accompanied with drooling recently, so i'm thinking there might be a tooth on its way!

we've had a busy week again! lunch-dates, birthdays, the baby fair...so much to do and so little time :-) this coming week is shaping up to be a busy one again...but at least we have a long weekend ahead of us and so far it's gonna be a low-key one!