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!

Mr. Wendal

Here is a cute video of G dancing to "Mr. Wendal" by Arrested Development while sitting on Craig's lap

First Word?

I had noticed within the last several weeks that G was making "mama"sounds, but it was hard to tell if he was calling me or just experimenting with different sounds. Well during the last few days it became obvious that "mamama" means he wants me or he wants to nurse. To be fair, "mamama" can also be his way of saying "milk", too. It doesn't matter; either way its exciting to see him communicate!

We are working on "dadada", which I think he has just gotten the hang of. When Craig comes home, I always say, "There is Daddy!" So, I think it's cementing in who is who in the house. He also responds to his name pretty well, too.

Three new teeth coming in!

G has the top two middle teeth and one on the bottom coming in. The top ones have already broken through the gum and are making their way down. The bottom one has yet to break the gum. The pic above was taken a few days ago, so I think those middle ones have come down a little more since then.

As usual, he is taking things in stride. He has some moments of crankiness probably due to pain. But I think so far he is dealing well with it all.

Nothing much going on with the parents. I am currently waiting for a Amazon order of two books: a copy of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) and a copy of the Jewish New Testament. Every few years, I purchase new editions of the Bible and I am well overdue. I've never owned a copy of the Hebrew Bible. So far as I know, the only differences between the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament is the order of the books. Once I start reading some of it, I will know if there are any other differences.