Oregon Zoo Trip

This past Monday, after getting back in town from visiting friends in Washington State, we took Gabe to the Oregon Zoo, courtesy of Grandma Deb (was part of his birthday gift). One of Craig's friends, Tina, and her daughter Mary-Ellen, was in town from Salt Lake City, and they joined us, too. Fortunately, Monday was nice and cool (versus the rest of this week which was very hot).

It was really fun. Gabe was totally fascinated with things like "Exit" signs, lights and other children. Oh yeah, and the animals were okay, too, lol. What I like about the Oregon Zoo is that there is not a lot of concrete; you feel like you are hiking in the woods, looking at animals. Or at least they do a pretty good job of making it seem that way. Many of the exhibits feel very open (except for the elephants, big cats, bears, etc.)

At one point, I had to go nurse him and then I put him in the carrier. He fell asleep for probably a half hour. We made our way to the stage area, where they were having a show of owls and music was playing. They just so happened to be playing "Thriller" by MJ and I felt Gabe dancing in his carrier before he even fully woke! The boy LOVES music.

Here are some pics:


Mom and Gabe looking at Polar Bears.


Meri-Elen, her mom Tina and Gabe.


Seals.


Zebra. Doesn't it feel like we were practically
in the enclosure?


Meerkat


Right before naptime.

Random Pics

I've been meaning to post these for over a week now. Enjoy!

Sunday Play Date

Yesterday, another couple from our childbirth class, Amy and Steve, brought their son, Silas, over for a playdate and much needed catching up between the adults. It was great fun!

I made artichoke and sun-dried tomato quiche, Craig made a fruit salad, and we bought poppyseed and almond muffins. Gabe and Silas played together well. Silas is about 2 weeks younger than Gabe, but he is already walking. They both seemed to drift between being tired and getting bursts of energy. We were kind of worried about Gabe, because he seemed to getting really cranky and tired right when they arrived! But after some cuddlings and holding him, he got a second wind. During lunch, he sucked on a lot of fruit; he was quite taken with the watermelon and cantelope. Silas is not as picky with foods and ate some of the quiche (in fact, Amy joked that she think he may be eating too much, lol).

It was great to compare notes on parenting with another couple that are first time parents. I took a few pics:


Gabe looking at Silas over near his parents.


Tried to get Silas to smile big. I think there was a
little smile there.

Father's Day

Craig's first Father's Day started out interesting.

On Saturday afternoon, Gabe came down with a temperature of 101. Now I am freaking out because he had showed no signs of illness before this. He just woke up from a nap warm. And while this is not the first time he has been sick, this was the first time he has ever had a temp. Yikes! So, I forgot how much Tylenol to give him, so we call the on-call nurse. Meanwhile, I give him half a dropper of Tylenol, knowing we're going to be told to give him at least that much. The nurse calls back, tells us a whole dropper is ok, so I give him another half-dropper. Temp drops by evening, he sleeps ok through the night.

He wakes up with a temp again, but it is 100. At this point, he's acting sickly, but not totally lethargic. Still smiles, etc. So it seemed like in the afternoon, he was totally fine. Temp went back down, he was playing like normal. I put him down for a nap. Then he wakes up crying. Ok, not totally unusual, sometimes they wake up cranky. But this time, he was like inconsolable! I'm like, is he in pain or something? Freaking out again, I am. We take his temp again, and its like 96 something, seemed a bit low. At the time, Craig had it in his head that it was too low, like ER low, but later I realized we were not thinking very clearly because he just woke up and your temp goes down during sleep.

Anyway, I was more concerned about out of control crying. So we called the nurse again, and she said that if his temp was too low, he'd be shivering, etc. So, she just said that he is probably coming down with a cold virus or perhaps teething. His nose started running a bit, so I am inclined to believe that there was a cold virus in him.

Eventually, Gabe was fine and nursed and calmed down. And he has been fine ever since; fever stayed down and his nose stopped running.

Whew! So Father's Day didn't start off very well, but it ended well. Craig wanted to go to Five Guys Burgers and Fries for dinner (he really wanted to go to Red Robin, but since Gabe was getting over sickness, we didn't want to push our luck; We did take-out for 5 Guys). Their burgers are pretty good and you get a nice helping of fries for two people from one serving.

Gabe's 12 month appt.

Yesterday, Gabe went in for his 12 month appointment with his new doctor, Dr. Gibbons. We were not satisfied with the doctor we had, so we decided to try another one, who happens to be an ND.

Gabe is 30 inches! He is 19.5 pounds, so he gained 2 pounds since his 9 month appt. He seems to be tall and lean, like my brother.

We asked about his eating habits, which have been all over the place lately. He just started, within the last day or so, eating a lot of yogurt. Dr. Gibbons suggested offering him more complex flavors. She said yogurt was a good one, and any meat, bean, veggie mixture. He has improved some with his gagging on lumpy foods. If it's lumpy and soft, he's okay with it. I know some kids gum stuff, but with others, I think they don't get super comfortable with lumpy foods until the molars come in.

Anyway, that's the update!

Our Cannon Beach Trip

Our trip to Cannon Beach was really fun. And the weather? Way better than we expected! It was sunny and warm much of the time.

The Sandcastle Contest was fun to watch. They started around 8am and the judges started judging around mid-afternoon. The skill-level ran the gamut; from super complicated, to just a some kids doing a simplistic giant turtle. Here are some photos:











We ate at our favorite brekkie place, Pig n Pancake. THE best pancakes I have ever had, love them. We ate at a couple of places where Gabe did well and didn't start getting antsy until the end of the meals.

We didn't do much playing on the beach. While the weather was nice, once you actually get on the beach near the water, it gets rather cold and very breezy. We didn't want sand flying into Gabe's eyes, so we just walked around on the beach. Gabe also sat in a toddler swing for the first time. He really enjoyed that. To the point where when it was time to go, he did not like that one bit! Here are some photos:













The drive there and back was lovely. Gabe slept during both drives, and it helped that the distance was only an hour and 20 minutes.

Here is a pic of Haystack Rock:



My allergies have been acting up BIG time since I got back from Cannon. I thought I was coming down with something, but it seems to be that my sinuses are being irritated by something. Uhg. I hope that I feel better soon.

Cannon Beach, Straws and Hair Obsessions

We are preparing to go to Cannon Beach, Or this weekend. The last time we went there was last year, in April, several weeks before Gabe was born. We called it our "babymoon". CB is only an hour and a half from where we live, so it will be a shorter drive than when we went to Yachats.

Primarily, we are going to the beach to observe the annual Sandcastle Contest that is held there every June. Should be fun. Not sure how the weather is going to be. I checked and it's supposed to be in the high 60s. Hope there is no rain! We'll take lots of pics and post them here.


Also, I taught Gabriel how to drink from a straw. When we first got this sippy cup several weeks ago, he didn't seem to know what to do with it! But yesterday, I offered it to him again with some juice/water mix and he just did it. So I guess I didn't really teach him, per se, I guess it was good timing!


For the last several weeks, I have been totally obsessed with my hair. I do my hair myself and I'm down to 2 hours in twisting time, and about an hour to dry the roots under a capped dryer, then the rest of the day for the actual locks to dry. That's the best I can hope for, but I'm getting tired of it. Not only am I getting tired of doing my dreadlocks, I am tired of having them on my head.

Back when I started locking in 2004, I was tired of combing my hair so I figured I'll just stop, hehe. That's essentially what locking is, not combing your hair anytime in the near future. However, now I am at the point where I miss combing my hair. And I miss the ease of a short style.

So I have made the decision to say good-bye to my locks. The next time I wash my hair, I am going to cut the locked parts off and start fresh. I've asked my mother to do the deed for me when she and William come for a visit in early August. I don't think she likes the idea of me cutting them, but she is willing to cut them.

But before the big cut, I needed to refresh myself on how to care for my hair without dreadlocks. I haven't had my hair straightened since 1999. Before locking, the only time I did my own hair was a brief time in 2002; before and after that, I went to salons that specialized in natural hair care.

But as I researched, I realized that I, and possibly my hair stylists, weren't really taking care of my hair very well. My hair is thick, course and gets tangled easily; I think I have a mostly 4A hair type with like one patch of 3C in the back of my head. When I did my own hair, I washed it and sprayed it liberally with detangler, while combing it out, and then two-strand twisted it. I see now that the detangler was way to wimpy because it hurt to comb.

My stylists did one better; my hair got washed, but she twisted my hair with a gel that was mostly coconut oil, which gave it some much needed moisture. That was the only time my hair got any moisture (besides the water from the wash) and it probably was not enough for my hair. It still hurt to comb.

What was missing from my routines was a really, really, really good moisturizing session.

Basically, figuring out the right amount of moisture is the difference between hair like mine feeling soft, having sheen and easy combing or it feeling like a Brilo pad and crying while combing. I know now that if my hair feels even remotely like a Brilo pad, I am doing something wrong. Very wrong.

So here is what I think I need to do every 7-10 days:

1. Wash my hair once with a sulfate-free shampoo
2. Do a second wash with a light conditioner (co-washing)
3. Do a Deep condition
4. Use a thick, residue-free leave-in condition to comb and detangle my hair.
5. Let it air dry
6. Protein conditioner every few months
7. Daily moisturizer (jojoba or coconut oil mixed with water maybe?)

Ha! We'll see how it goes. I'll post my first dreadlock-free pic when the time comes!