The Neverending Runny Nose

Man, I hate illness!

About two weeks ago, we had to cancel a visit with a fellow childbirth class couple because Gabe was getting a runny nose and their baby was just getting over one. It seemed to clear up, but then started again yesterday and is now accompanied with a cough. In the process, Craig got sick too but seems to getting better.

Gabe also has two new teeth coming in: one the top and one on the bottom which will make a total of 7 teeth. I've been taking his temp, which has remained normal. He is also acting normally, too, so I am not too concerned, but will keep a look out to make sure he improves and does not get worse. I am giving him plenty of saline drops and suctioning afterwards.

But I just hate hearing him cough. Primarily because that means mucus has drained into his chest. But on the bright side, that also means he is coughing it up, which he needs to do.

In the midst of all this, he's beginning to master the art of crawling. It's mind boggling how quickly these babies get good at a particular ability. Just one day they can sit up, crawl, walk, etc.

So what are people's plans for holiday? Like I mentioned in a previous post, we're celebrating Passover, but not in the right way (i.e., having a Seder, Feast of Unleavened Bread, etc.). I think we will progress to that in coming the coming years. However, we're having a dinner and will focus on the Exodus and how that relates to Christ, etc.

I need to send a shout out to my aunt Bea, who sent a lovely e-card to us, thanks much!!

Oops, forgot pics!

Sorry, here they are!

Drinking water, chunky foods, Passover, etc.

Once or twice a day, I let Gabe drink a few ounces of water a day. Here are two photos. He holds the cup very well himself and seems to get the idea that he has to tilt it up for the liquid to come down. He likes doing this very much; when I get the cup out to pour water in it, he sits forward to opens his mouth; it's really cute.

A few days ago, I tried giving him a few pieces of banana to eat himself and he just played with it! :) He eats thicker foods consistently now, though the only chunkier foods he will eat are chunky apple sauce. About a week or two ago, we tried giving him some chunky chicken with little pasta stars and he gagged himself to much that he threw up. That was surprising, but he was totally fine afterward.

The easter holiday is coming up fast. It seems March came and went really fast. This year we are going to focus more on Passover than easter; I've been reading about the pagan origins of easter and it disturbed me quite a bit. Sometimes I think I read too much for my own good.

Runny nose

Today, we were supposed have some friends with their little one, but we rescheduled because Gabe has a bit of a runny nose. Ironically, our friends' boy was just recovering from a few days of a runny nose and thought they may have to cancel too if it didn't completely clear up. Since we didn't want to reinfect their baby, and tire Gabe out with company if he didn't feel well, we decided it was best overall to reschedule our brunch date for April.

G seems to be okay at the moment. Last night and the night before, he seemed congested when he nursed. Yesterday and this morning, I used some saline drops and that always works like a charm to get that mucus running out. He doesn't have a fever, so it may be just a cold. I think another tooth is coming in too, because he is drooling a lot. Most doctors adamantly deny teething causes congestion, but I think it can. All the tissues in the mouth and nose are connected, so it's not totally out of the realm of possibility that if the gums are puffy, it may cause sinus passages to become irritated and congested.

Anyway, we're taking it easy today.

Ten Months old today!

I forgot to mention this in the last entry. In two months, Gabriel will be a year old! Amazing how time flies, although I know I have said this many, many, many times, :) But it's true!

Starting the "baby proofing", etc., etc.

We bought some gates and outlet plugs on Sunday from Babies R Us. We haven't put them in yet because G is not totally independently mobile, but he is getting there fast. He can slowly make his way across the room, if left to play on the rug. Within the last few days, he has mastered getting himself into a sitting position from lying on his stomach. And he tried numerous times to get up on his feet, but he is not quite that strong enough yet.

Nothing much happening this week. We are having a couple over this Saturday that we met in our childbirth class last year. Their son is a few weeks younger than G (Gabe is actually the oldest boy of all the babies born from our class). I am making a quiche with potato wedges for a side, and Craig will make some fruit smoothies.

Craig also borrowed his mom's tape player (we don't have one anymore) to go over some cassettes to figure out to which ones to get rid of and which ones to digitize. He has several cassettes of his late birth father's music and some of him (Craig) saying funny things as a toddler that will definitely be digitized. Everything else, we have to make a choice about. So perhaps we will start doing this Sunday.

Oh, and I've made a few additions to the blog: I added some of the blogs that I follow (they are all very, very cool, including my other blog Chronicles of a News Junkie), running a tally of books we've read individually or as a family, and one other thing I can't remember at the moment, :) If you get this blog in email, click on the link at the end to go directly to the blog to check it out. I will add more stuff, so keep checking!

Well, above is the photo of the week of G sitting in his crib. Those teeth are so cute!

Farmer's Market

Yesterday, the family went to the first Portland Farmer's Market of the season. It's located on the campus of Portland State University in Southwest Portland. G slept the whole drive there, which was great. When we found a parking spot, he woke up looking around confusedly. But he didn't cry. We put him in the stroller and made our way to the market.

I didn't get anything, since there isn't much in season right now. But it was good to see what vendors were there. After spending about a half hour at the market, we decided to walk around the area, which had the usual campus-like feel to it. It reminded me of how fun it was going to college, hanging out on Temple's campus. Even though going to school had it's annoyances, overall my college experience was fun.

So we saw a Seattle's Best coffee shop and stopped in. G was very chill, while Craig and I each got a treat: a berry latte for him and a Irish Cream latte for me. We drank most of it in the shop, then headed for our car. We then stopped at another coffee shop called Boyd's to look at some coffee makers; we're thinking about replacing the one we have. After that, we headed home.

G was fine throughout the whole trip. For those of you that don't know, G used to HATE his car seat. We had to get new one in November because he grew out of it and we got a different brand from Britax that he seems to like better. So while I don't think he loves his car seat, but I think he realizes this is the way we're going roll for the time being and it is better than what he had before!