Bath/Confession Update

My baby is now 10 weeks old (also known as 2 1/2 months, but I haven't decided if I'm ready to make the jump to counting his age in months yet), and the count is:

Baths given by Bret: approximately 25

Baths given by me: still zero

Pictures taken by me during bathtime: 78

Luckily, I'm only going to post a few:

My First Christmas

by Gabriel Totten

This was my first Christmas. I was really excited for it because I heard a lot of talk about family get togethers (where I get held constantly and so I never have to have naptime alone in my crib) and also a lot of talk about food.

On Wednesday before Christmas, Mommy took me to Aunt Lisa's and Aunt Sara was also there and we decorated sugar cookies! Well, I mostly watched but a couple times I made suggestions about how to decorate and Mommy seemed to understand me (sort of...one time I very specifically said "ahh cahh", which of course means 'use red icing and draw concentric circles'....but Mommy used white icing and drew lines. I was sort of frustrated but I'm really trying to be patient with her because I've heard that it's hard to learn a new language when you're an adult). I heard Mommy, Aunt Lisa and Aunt Sara say "these cookies taste really good!". I thought I'd be able to try some, after being part of the team that worked so hard to decorate them, but -

Mommy gave me formula.

On Christmas Eve we went to Grandma and Grandpa's house and I was held pretty much the whole time (yesssss!!) and then it was time for dinner and I heard Mommy and Daddy and everyone laughing that we were having lasagna for dinner instead of turkey and everyone was saying it was really yummy and I thought I'd be able to try some, but -

Daddy gave me formula.

So I spit up A LOT all over my Christmas outfit, just to let everyone know how I felt about the injustice of the menu differences. Grandma and Grandpa gave me another Christmas outfit and Mommy was really excited that I would have another one to wear on Christmas Day, since I spit up so much on Christmas Eve (good! she noticed!).

Christmas morning we woke up and Mommy said I was so cute she had to do a photo shoot. I'm used to this by now so I gave her a few smiles (at first I thought Mommy had a weird black thing attached to her face but then I heard Daddy say "Gabe's going to think that camera is attached to your face" so I figured out that the black thing was a camera, and also Mommy talks a lot about "pictures to remember this time" when she's using it so I try to be good about letting her take lots of pictures. Thank goodness Daddy explained what was going on...he does that a lot and I sure am glad! Like the time when Mommy was holding me and I smiled at her and she started crying and hugged me really tight and I didn't understand how smiling and crying go together and I was getting starting to get a little squished by Mommy's hug but then Daddy said to Mommy "Are you crying? Gabe's going to think it's not okay to smile if you cry every time he does it" and then Mommy said "He's just SO PRECIOUS!" so then I figured out that she was crying because she was happy.)

Christmas morning Mommy and Daddy heated up a breakfast casserole that Grandma made and it smelled so yummy, but -

Mommy gave me formula.

I gave Mommy a really cool picture frame where she can put pictures of me during my first year of life (I figured she needed a place to display all those pictures she takes!) and I gave Daddy a really funny card and a couple of new black shirts that I can spit up on because Daddy loves it when I spit up on his black shirts.

Christmas day we went over to Aunt Lisa's and she was cooking a turkey and it smelled so yummy and everyone agreed with me and there was garlic mashed potatoes and green bean casserole and roast and sweet potatoes, but -

Daddy gave me formula.

AND - Mommy showed everyone my backside because apparently it had a reindeer on it!

I really hope that next year I get to eat some of the yummy food that everyone is talking about!

I'm Jealous of My Son's Eyelashes

...that's all I wanted to say.

2 months

My chubby-cheeked, double-chinned two month old! I can't even stand how cute I think he is. When I go in for his early morning feeding, I'm sometimes overwhelmed by how much I've missed him after just 8 hours. I must kiss his little face at least 100 times a day, and the poor kid is probably going to end up with chapped cheeks because of it!

Apology

Bret and I owe several of you an apology. We've allowed you to labor under a misapprehension for far too long.

Please understand that we did not knowingly commit this offense. In fact, at the time of occurrence, we can honestly say that we did not know that there would come a time when we would have to apologize for wrong doing.

We may have, separately or together, at any time over the course of our lives, expressed to you our feelings about your children that included superlatives like "est" and "most", such as "oh he/she is the cutest!" or "isn't he/she the sweetest thing?" or "that is the most adorable baby I/we have ever seen!".

We are sorry, but we can no longer stand behind those statements. Now, we're not saying that you don't have cute kids, or sweet kids, or adorable kids. But we can no longer agree that yours is the cutest, sweetest, or most adorable child.

Because Gabe is.

But we're not biased, or anything.

Seattle (Half) Marathon

I am further cementing my status as a Run-groupie. Remember this post? Well this time it was the Seattle Marathon...Bret, his mom, sister Sara, and cousin's girlfriend Anna ran/walked the half-marathon. They all did great! Gabe joined us ex-utero for this outing, and I talked Christina into coming along to keep me company while Bret was running. A HUGE thank you to Christina, without whom trekking around by myself with Gabe would have been a lot harder, and not nearly as fun!

Speaking of Christina...remember this post (wow there's a lot of flashbacks to previous posts today!), where I lamented that Christina rarely does a normal picture smile? Well Bret's sister Sara is the same!

So I got a picture of the two hams together. Can you even stand how adorable these two are??

After the runners departed, Christina and I began a madcap race against time to try to find a spot along the route to cheer them on. We ended up in Madison Park, not sure if they'd passed by yet or not.

(yes that was a totally self-serving picture insertion because I love the expression on Gabe's face as he's looking up at me!)

You may recall my less than stellar camera work as a groupie for the 5k Run. Well this time we saw Sara, but didn't have the camera ready, so we only got Sara's back:

And this time we saw more than Bret's elbow, but we were talking to people next to us and didn't have the camera ready, so we only got Bret's back:
[Ok. Side note. This is ridiculous. I started this post 7 days ago but got stymied because I couldn't remember how I drew the arrow pointing to Bret's elbow in the 5k Run post. So then I got Adobe Photoshop Elements because I wanted a better photo editing program and there was a coupon for it in the Costco mailer. But I've just spent the past hour, that's right I said HOUR, trying to figure out how to do the arrow in Elements, with all the layers and craziness, and the ones I did pointing to Sara's back and Bret's back are wack-a-doo different! All I wanted to do was draw a simple arrow... SHEESH!]

Anyway - Bret had to yell "Totten!" four times, he told me later, to get my attention as he was running by. In my defense, the woman I was chatting with had a little baby two weeks older than Gabe - need I say more?

Well I decided I wasn't going out like that, and Christina encouraged me that we had time to find another spot along the marathon route to catch Bret before the end of the run in Memorial Stadium. We ran back to the car as we calculated how much was left of the route, Bret's speed, how long it would take us to get to the spot we had in mind...and we got there mere moments before Bret came by! WAHOO! So we got to see him, visit for a minute while he took a breather, and provide some encouragement for his last 2 miles.

Then we were off to Memorial Stadium to the finish line. Christina was photographer extraordinaire the whole day - and after Bret passed us upon entering the Stadium, Christina dashed down to the finish line to get pictures of Bret crossing it and accepting his finisher's medal.

We're proud of you Babe!!

And look, they're all still smiling even after the run!

Confession

I have a confession.

My baby is five weeks old, and I've never given him a bath.

GASP!

This is not to say that my child has never been bathed...just that I have never done it. Bathtime is Bret's specialty. I am the designated picture taker and towel holder/baby catcher/baby dry-er off-er.

Gabe loves bathtime with Daddy! Hopefully when I finally give him a bath, my skills won't pale too much in comparison!

Little Guy, Big Pants

Someday soon I'll do a post about something other than Gabe.

Maybe.

Until then, I'll leave you with this:

As of Monday, Gabe is 7 lbs 10 oz...and still too small for pretty much all of the 0-3 months size clothes we have.

...on second thought, why would I even think about doing a post about something other than Gabe when I have pictures like this to share??

One Month!

Don't parents always say things like "Hard to believe so and so is (insert age here) old today!" ? Well, I'm one of the cliche'd masses because that's how I feel! Time has both flown by and crawled by (it crawls by in the wee hours of the morning when I want to go back to sleep and Gabe doesn't share that sentiment). I can so clearly remember many moments from the day he was born - I hope they all stay as clear in my mind in years to come but I'm not sure they will. Time usually fogs things over, it seems.

Here is Gabe on the day he was born:

And at one month old:

Worn Baby

Yesterday I bought a Moby Wrap (we've not had the best of luck yet with the ring sling I got at a consignment store before Gabe was born...hopefully it'll work better when he's older). The Moby Wrap is 5.5 meters of fabric (that's 18 feet, people (yes, I had to go to a measurement conversion website to figure that out)). The point is, it's a LOT of fabric. And it's sort of intimidating at first. I put Gabe in it and it was too loose, and he wasn't diggin' it. But then I re-tied it and tried it again, and he settled right in and went to sleep.This is a momentous day - I am simultaneously holding my child and typing with TWO HANDS! Wahoo!!

Halloween

We'd bought this costume, size 0-3 months, before Gabe was born. Little did we know that he'd be so small; his feet only reach to the knees of the costume!

Dear Gabriel

Dear Gabriel:

I need your advice! When is the best time to poop and/or spit up?

Thanks,

Timing Confused in Las Vegas


Hey Confused in Las Vegas!

Thanks for writing in! I think your question and confusion is shared by many babies worldwide, and I think there's been a lot of different and mis-leading direction in years past. Previously, Miss Manners or Dear Abby would have probably told you that the appropriate time to poop is just before your next meal, so your parents can give you a fresh diaper that will last through your meal and your nap afterwards. I completely disagree! Your parents will change your diaper before you eat so that you have a fresh and clean diaper for maximum meal enjoyment, which is great. However, I like to then poop in the middle of or just before the end of my meal so that my mom & dad are required to change my diaper again before my nap or my post-meal playtime. This shows my parents that I'm now in charge of their schedules, which I sure don't want them to forget any time soon!

As for the spitting up...the perfect time to spit up is whenever your parents have provided you with a clean burp rag because they think you're not going to spit up anymore. Again, this is a training technique to keep your parents aware that you are now the center of their universe.

Finally, my general advice on this topic is that if you're in doubt about whether it's a good time to poop and/or spit up, then just go ahead and do it. The result can only be attention, which is always a great thing!

Happy biological functioning!


- Gabriel

Same Gabe, Different Look

Tuesday night, Gabe lost his umbilical cord.

This morning, I cut Gabe's fingernails for the first time.

And this afternoon, Gabriel was circumcised. Both Bret and I watched the procedure, me with my hands squeezing each other tight so I wouldn't make a noise and distract the doctor...and Bret with a look of stoic discomfort on his face.

This is Gabe on the way home in the car:

Sleeping peacefully and completely unaware of the big changes in his appearance this week!

First Bath

Today Gabriel had his first bath at home. This look on his face cracks me up...as if he's saying "um, Mom & Dad, you guys read this warning label over my left shoulder, right? RIGHT??"