09.25.2009 -- Baby Steps

So. I just want to make an official(ish) note somewhere that Gabe is taking steps unassisted. Very few, and it's happened a handful of times so far in the past few weeks, but it's the beginning!

Brian, I and Lucy all get very proud and a little giddy when Gabe does his drunken few-steps. I would love to post video here, but I have none. I don't even have pictures. This makes me sad.

But thinking of Gabe's steps again makes me happy.

09.11.2009 -- Hands, Feet, Belly, Teeth: The Pasty Gangster Club

09.08.2009 -- Gabe

This afternoon, Lucy and I took Gabe to the doctor for a well-check. It was incredibly anti-climactic. Hooray!

Gabe weighed 18lbs12oz, measured 28.5" and had a head circumference of 18.5". This means that among his peers, Gabe's weight is in the 20th percentile. His height is at the 55th, and his head in the 85th.

From the sheet given by the doctor:
Baby can roll, crawl, scream, pull up to standing, and may walk holding on to things. (check)
Baby can understand some words, wave bye-bye, clap, and imitate some vocalizations. (check)
Baby may cry when failing at tasks and may laugh when successful. (check)
Baby may want to feed him/herself. (check)
Baby may have stranger anxiety and may cling to familiar people. (check)

Baby will start to walk or will attempt walking.
Baby may show frustration with being told "no."
Sleep patterns may change.
Baby may have more separation and stranger anxiety.
Baby will become more vocal.

Gabe is cruising, climbing everything and (carefully) dumping objects off shelves. He's standing unsupported by himself once in a while, going up and down stairs like a pro, and picking up and handling the tiniest of objects. He says Mama and Daddy, and every so often, we'll hear him mimic a word or phrase pretty well right after he hears it.

He has an adorable smile and has many, many fans.

Last Sunday we went to my mother-in-law's house for a birthday celebration. Gabe had at least one smiling face within reach of his menacing vice-like-pincer-grasp all the time. ( If I were the type to calculate instead of guess, we would know for sure--but I'm not. I would guess it averaged out to about 3 people clustered around Gabe all the time.) While this may say more about our family than Gabe, this much is true: He's a cutie.

While I took photos of Lucy to
commemorate her fourth year,
Gabe watched us from our deck.

08.21.2009 -- Happy Birthday, Lucy!

(See Lucy's cousin in the background? Isn't it wild how they look so much alike?)

This year, when Lucy and I talked about her birthday party, she discussed dancing and dressing up, but it always came back to water balloons. You see, when school got out for the summer months ago, there was an afternoon where she sat on a curb with her friend, DJ, and watched as some of the big kids in the neighborhood had a water balloon fight. DJ and Lucy, being three, were understandably not invited to participate.

"Water balloons, Mom. And I want to invite Megan, and Jake and Izaak, and Mina, and Kelli Jo, and Zoey, and Chloe, and Aiden and Bri, and Ashlie, and Kailee, and Kirstie, and Ben and Jack and Caed and Natalie and Lia and David and Suzanny and Kaitlin and Kelsie and Ava and Addison and....."

We had a "Birthday Fair." Very loosely organized. (I didn't even get around to sending out invitations. I texted, e-mailed and made calls to invite everyone. I won't do that again.)

We had lots and lots of kids, bathing suits and sunscreen, a gigantic blow-up water toy/slide (thanks, Stakebakes), trampoline, tickets that kids used to pay for "a fishing" pond, face painting (thanks, Monica), body tracing, otter pops, frozen gogurts, animal crackers, balloons, and water balloons. Lucy's favorite part was the water balloons (thanks, Mary).

When I asked her which party she liked more--her birthday fair with all the kids and pandemonium, or her 3rd birthday party, where we kept it small and decorated aprons, made pitapizza, and frosted cupcakes, she told me that she liked the pizza party more.

We finished cleaning up all traces of the birthday fair yesterday (Sept. 5th). Funny, isn't it? Oh well. If I missed the mark for Lucy's ideal birthday party, then I made strides in neighborhood unity. Pretty much all kids ages 3 - 13 were there from our neighborhood. I wanted it that way because Lucy ends up playing so often with the bigger kids. The big kids helped and got to play, too.






At the doctor Lucy weighed 34lbs. and measured 38.5 inches tall. This puts her in the 25th and 25th percentile for girls her age.

Lucy. Gymnastics. September 2009

Think she likes it?

09.06.2009 -- TMI

Ug. Let's you and me pretend that I've done my hard-to-fill-in-the-gap-hard-to-get-over-being-so-inconsistent-with-blogging schtick. Good.

***

We might go boating tomorrow. Know what that means? That means I'll be out in my bathing suit. I was thinking about that this morning while I shaved my legs and it made me think of what sometimes happens when my body is on display like that in front of people.

And, you know...if I'm going to write, I've got to write about something...

So, sometimes people make comments about my--let's call them my curves. They're sort of hard to miss when I'm in a bathing suit. ...And they are a little extraordinary; well, bigger than average anyway.

The thing people don't always realize is that bigger is not always better. There are a lot of clothes--shirts or dresses--that don't really work on me because they're not cut right or not stretchy enough. Sometimes I feel like I look fatter than I am, especially when I compare myself with women who don't have the same "curves."

I've thought about telling people that they're implants, just for fun. I've thought of telling people that they can touch them if they want, but that makes people uncomfortable... Truth is they're 100% real. Completely natural.

I'm just made that way.

They run in my family.