"I like to eat, eat, eat apples and bananas!"

Well, not so sure about apples yet but Gavin's all smiles for bananas! :)

So much yet so little

It's funny how there can be so much going on, yet so little to tell.

My best and longest friend is getting married this year. She and her fiance, Joe, actually got engaged a few months ago but just this weekend finalized a wedding date. They'll be getting married in MD on September 6. So, between the reunion and Shelley's wedding, I'll be back East (aka back home) twice this year!! Oh the luxury.... :)

Less happy news would be health in the S household. I've been struggling with a cough for a few days and was concerned about sharing it with Gavin. However, what can ya do when you're the main food source?? On Saturday it became apparent that he'd developed a cold. He'd wake up with nose crusties and his cough sounded like it hurt a little. What really concerned me though was sometimes it seemed like he was struggling to breathe or his breathing was more labored than it should be. So I called the doctor this morning and asked that she see him today. I'm glad now I played paranoid mommy. Gavin has an ear infection again and he's starting down the road toward bronchiolitis again. This time though we have an actual breathing machine and need to give him treatments 3 times a day (a treatment takes about 10 minutes and Gavin hates it).

Mr. S took Gavin to the doctor (I had a department meeting) so he filled me in a little bit while running around filling prescriptions. I got enough information to freak me out a bit but not quite enough to brush things off and just deal with things. Although, this is me. Only way I can remotely stay calm while hearing about the health of my kid is to be holding him while someone fills me in. At least that's the best way for me to deal with it. But I digress... I googled infant cold + breathing and came across articles about RSV. I think I about lost it completely when I read that in infants under 6 months that this virus could be fatal. Now, let me just say that Gavin, to my knowledge does NOT have RSV. He's presented some symptoms but it's doubtful he has this virus. I just scared myself to death reading through articles online. Looking at the list of symptoms, he only has a cough and breathing problems. His appetite is 110% fine, no fever and is pretty active I think.

So that's life right now. Work is crazy. Work will always be crazy and I don't particularly like talking about it. Home life is hectic but somehow it all works. Weird.

Right now the goal is (other than getting Gavin better because that's a given) to make it to my b-day because I'm taking the day off work and I think I'm going to SLEEP. :)

Pictures!

Gavin contemplates his peas

"Santa's coming???"

Kisses from Mommy

The perfect TV snack: toes
(yes, he's upside down)

Awwwww...

I'm sorry, can you repeat that?

Gavin's been babbling a lot lately. It's super cute because sometimes it's not his typical grunts or whines... he' using his tongue, lips and mouth more to make sounds. He's particularly into sounds using his lips ("puh," "buh" and "muh" for example). It's so much fun to sit and talk to him and watch him focus on my mouth and try and imitate what I'm saying.

So why am I posting about my babbling baby tonight? Because tonight he got me all worked up... tonight he said "mama." Of course I've been practically floating the rest of the evening as a result, thinking he knows how to say mama now. :) Then I do some research online and find that infants usually say their first words around 12 months. Gavin isn't quite 6 months yet. So much as I'd love to believe my son is a prodigy, the reality is probably more likely that he was making sounds and we just got super excited about these random sounds he's put together.

Still....it's nice to think he knows his Mama. :)

Peas and... green beans?

I'll have to nag Mr. S about giving me access to pictures later but I thought I'd y'all know how the "real" food introduction went.

Right after Christmas we started giving Gavin a little rice cereal. He seemed to really take to it... so much so in fact that he felt that Mommy and Daddy never could handle the spoon correctly and he can do it himself. That's always funny. ;) Anywho, this weekend I thought we should try mixing in a vegetable. At first I thought the intro order was orange/yellow, green and then fruit. Chris at day care corrected us and said to do green first because it's the least sweet (once baby has sweet, he won't want anything else). Not a big deal though because we have a nice little stash of all colors veggies AND fruits.

Green beans was first. Since my niece is not a fan I wasn't sure what to expect. It crossed my mind that perhaps I should have purchased a slicker for myself or even stripped down to the bare minimum in case he spit it all out. I fed him that first spoonful and held my breath. He got this adorable considering look on his face and then opened his mouth again. After a few bites, if I delayed a few seconds too long with the next mouthful he started to fuss. After finishing and taking the bowl away he really began to fuss. Victory!!! :D Gavin likes green beans. We fed him the beans again last night and got the same response so I'm positive now it wasn't a fluke. Technically we should have given him more tonight however the container was accidentally left out all night so I felt better tossing it. Only other green veggie in the pantry I could quickly see was peas.

Peas didn't garner quite the same reaction. Gavin didn't desperately grab onto the spoon with both hands (only one this time). He also waited longer between bites before whining. However at the end of the meal the same fussing began. Somebody likes his vegetables!! :D:D:D:D

I guess all those first trimester salads had to count for something right? ;)

Happy Place

We're back from our week-long visit with Mr. S' family and I've learned a few more things:

1) A baby's schedule is sacred (actually, I kinda figured that one out already).

2) Baby's, even as young as 5 months, DO have a memory!!

It was fantastic to visit with friends and family and not be in a rush to get back home however as the week went on, Gavin had a harder time sleeping. Naps were a daily fight and even sleeping at night was becoming a struggle. By Friday I was at my wit's end... we were even thinking that maybe Gavin had an ear infection (ruled out for the moment because he was fine laying down as long as I was next to him).

Fast forward to Saturday night, arriving home. After screaming in the car for about an hour (and when I say screaming, I mean bloody murder screaming; my ears were ringing at times), our "so exhausted he was practically cross-eyed" baby seemed to calm merely at the sight of our garage. We got him inside, out of the car seat and just wandered around the downstairs a minute, taking things in again and allowing Mommy and Daddy a second to grab what we needed for our typical at-home bedtime routine. This involves me taking him upstairs to change his diaper and put on jammies while Daddy gets the bottle ready. Well, normally when I change him I lay Gavin in his crib, which usually brings on fussing. Saturday night though, the moment his back hit the mattress and he saw his bumper he clearly got his 64th wind and was rolling around laughing and playing with his feet. Clearly he remembered his crib, recognized his room and even in a BEYOND tired state was oh-so-happy to be back in his room. I just stood back and watched him giggle and flip-flop over every inch of his mattress before intervening and getting him prepped for bed.

Now, you'd think then that he would sleep through the night now right? WRONG!!! He woke up once as I was going to bed (just as I was drifting off to sleep actually; grr) and then again at 1:21 a.m. He woke up again at 5:40 and by then I was tired to fighting him to sleep (I'd be getting him up between 6 and 6:30 anyway).

Today wasn't too bad, but still not great. He had a really good morning nap; good enough that Mommy ran away and bought groceries. Afternoon nap was more of a struggle though. I ended up having to nurse him twice to really get him to go down and I think he really only slept maybe 2 hours this afternoon? Not sure... I'm grateful for every moment I can get though. Not only does the sleep help him but it also gives me time to visit

MY HAPPY PLACE

If you don't know me, this would be my kitchen at a time when I can work in it (not clean it). My brother and SIL gave me the Deceptively Delicious cookbook for Christmas and it was burning a hole in my laptop bag for a week before I could actually make anything out of it. This afternoon was my chance! I quickly pureed some carrots I steamed in the microwave and got to work putting them away and prepping the butternut squash and sweet potatoes for roasting later. I couldn't resist temptation though and ripped into one of my little carrot cups to make Applesauce Muffins. At that moment I was really in my own little heaven (baking). Haven't tasted them yet but judging by the smell I think they'll be REALLY good!). I also whipped together a quick Ranch dressing using Great Northern white beans, mainly because I was curious. You know what? It really DOES taste like Ranch!!! I'm flabbergasted. I have a couple more things planned this week using this cookbook so I'll keep you posted. Mr. S is pretty skeptical so I'll let you know if I can bring him around on this whole deception thing. ;)

Well, I myself am cross-eyed tired so I'm off to bed. Toodles!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

I trust that if you are reading this that you obviously survived the new year celebrations with nothing more than perhaps a few scrapes and bruises. ;) Mr. S and I went to a friend's house for a couple hours after putting Gavin down to bed but still headed back to his parents house by 10:30. I was in bed before 11:00 (hey, I still have to get up at 5:00 and deal with a baby regardless of what the calendar says). If you think that's bad, I hear my cousin and her hubby were in bed by 9:30. To further bruise my ego I know that my parents and said cousin's parents were out dancing and having a ball until about 1:00 a.m...... I think I want to be a grandparent!! ;)

Nothing too much to report unfortunately. We're visiting with Mr. S' family this week and Gavin is not doing as well as I'd like with the change in scenery. We're still trying to enforce the same nap schedule but he's very resistant. We head for home on Saturday and I'm hoping that Sunday/Monday he'll balance out again. I'm very confident that getting back into the familiar routine of taking him to daycare (where his world is very structured) will really help. That first day may be a doozy though (don't hate me Chris!!).

Another compounding factor in Gavin's apparent belief that "naps are for babies and he's a big boy now" is he's teething. I know I've been saying that for a while now but the drool is worse, he chomps down on things really hard and seems to be in a bit more pain. We're just gritting our teeth and bearing things as best we can. The most upsetting about this is there's not much we can do for him. We have teething rings, we let him chew on our fingers, tried Oragel (he hates that), etc. To deal with the naps, I'll try nursing him lying down and actually just take a nap with him. Probably not the best thing in the long run but when he desperately needs the sleep and I could use a snooze too, why not?

"But Madame S, if he's not napping well, how can you be posting?" Excellent question!! We visiting my Grandma P today, who lives about 30 minutes from my in-laws. Gavin screamed his little head off on the way home and passed out about 10 minutes from the house. Since I guessed I followed suit shortly thereafter, Mr. S took a lengthy detour and drove around for an extra 30 minutes until I woke up confused. We quickly and quietly smuggled the baby into the house and up into our room and he's been peacefully sleeping in his car seat since our return (going on 3 hours). :D Since Mr. S and I are going out to dinner tonight, I'd feel MUCH better about leaving a reasonably happy baby instead of an exhausted one for a couple hours.

Anywho, feel free to leave stories of your own new year and any interesting tidbits. :) Obviously my world is revolving around naps and spit up so if I can live vicariously through you I'd be eternally grateful.