The Best Night!

And the Wonderful Daddy Award goes to...

Paul!

Tonight I had a workshop (thanks, Erica!) and Paul bravely took on the task of feeding, bathing, reading-to, and generally getting ready for bed... I fully expected to come home to a child that was frantic and needing to nurse before she could possibly go down for the night... but that was not the case! Paul had her in bed, where yes, she missed me and was unhappy about not having me tuck her in, but she was asleep when I got home! For the first time without nursing first! (not nursing TO sleep anymore, but she still nurses between a bath and actual bedtime) So YAY now we know she can, and even bigger YAAAYYY!!! we know that Paul is an excellent Daddy :) Thanks, Paul!

and yes... this picture totally IS from last month, but if the kid was asleep when I got home, how was I supposed to get a picture of them together??? :)

7 months and then some!

AAAAHHHH!

I have been so busy with various things the last little while
(some important, some not as important...)
that I have neglected to be on top of my monthly post!
But here I am now, so enjoy :D

Gabby turned 7 months on Thursday, the 21st of May.

The day was pretty uneventful...
I did a bunch of resident managing stuff,
we went for a walk in the park with some friends...
we did NOT take her to the doctor's for any shots or checkups,
and so she was not officially measured or weighed,
but we did our own guestimating, and
Gabby is approximately 18lbs, and about 26 3/4" long.

However, as uneventful as the day was,
Gabby is doing some pretty fun stuff!

At 7 months, Gabriella Claire:

~ Still has blue eyes and hair that goes really curly when it's wet.

A random lady behind me in line at Michael's actually said to me that my baby must look a lot like her Daddy, and when I said "no, actually, we both have dark hair and dark eyes" she laughed and said "oh, then I bet you had a lot of explaining to do!"
lol... yeah... okay. :) I guess lucky for me Gabby has Paul's exact ears!

Anyway, to continue, Gabby at 7 months...

~SLEEPS THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!
This one is huge.
HUGE.
All you other parents out there understand, I'm sure :)
Sleep Training was one of the harder things we've ever done as a couple, but it was so worth it, and I'm glad we powered through. It took less than a week, and last night Gabby slept from 8pm to 8am. Solid. No waking. and fell asleep on her own. Compared to nursing for 3 hrs (8-11) to get to sleep each night and then still waking up, as she's been doing up until about a week ago! For those of you who want to know how, go here.

~ Loves cuddling. I love this picture.

~ loves her sippy cup :) she doesn't like holding it on her own tho, she likes it better when somebody holds it up for her to suck on!

~ Likes solid foods - loves bananas, yams, squash, cauliflower, carrots, and broccoli; will tolerate avocado and chicken and grains (rice/barley/oatmeal) and as far we know, still hates peas.

~ loves her playtime on the floor, as long as she's sitting up she'll sit like this for an hour or so and be totally happy, as long as she's got her toys and books to look at!

~ Has grown out of the first sleepsack that Gwamma bought her before she was born. So Mommy made her a new one. :)

~ still doesn't have any teeth, but sometimes we think she's working on one...

~ can hold her own weight standing (she's been doing that since she was a month or so) but now will take little steps with help :)

~ Still won't take a pacifier, and still won't take a bottle, so is still breastfed for milk.

~Has received her first Bling (thanks Sister Jacobs!)

~ Has been to the zoo for the first time ever (with Candace & Sofia!) and even though she didn't seem to care one way or the other for a lot of it (and was actually unconscious through a good portion of it!) she DID notice the sting rays, the giraffes, and the hippos.

~ makes this really funny face - sometimes you can tell she's laughing with pursed lips, and other times she looks like a disapproving old lady.

It cracks me up. ~ Has learned how to spit (she started out just making that "bbb" noise with her lips, and then we left her with the grandparents, and they taught her how to blow raspberries!) (We still love them a lot!) So now she entertains all of the ladies in Relief Society with her slobber-blowing gift.

~ Has a really goofy smile, especially when somebody she loves comes into her line of sight!

And yes - Gabby's T-shirt says "My mom is hot." - a gift from my parents, which Paul thinks is hilarious wants her to wear all the time :D

Slow and Steady wins the race...

We've been sleep training! I know lots of you have been hearing bits and snippets, but I think we're finally making progress! and note to self: consistency is key!!!

The first night that we tried it (the cry-it-out method/ferber method, whatever you want to call letting her cry for 3 minutes, then going and comforting her without picking her up, and then 5 mins, then 10 mins, then 12, then 12 again, etc) she slept 11 hours straight through. which is HUGE! The first 6 weeks it was hard to imagine her EVER doing that!

Then we had a crazy week, lots of running around and odd schedules... and we were back to square one. So once we realized what was going on, we've made the commitment to stay in in the evenings and just focus on keeping Gabby's routine consistent, and she's been doing much better - no more 3-hr nursing sessions just to get her to sleep, and much less crying, and much more sleeping for all parties involved! yay!

And because we all love a little eye candy:

My 1st Mother's Day!

For Mother's Day, I got a mop.

haha, okay, the real story behind this is that Paul went shopping for Mother's Day (I got a gorgeous card from him, and also another one from Gabby that said "To: Mom From: Gabby" the way that little kids do it :) And while Paul was at the store, I remembered that we needed a new mop for the building, so I called him up and reminded him, so his purchase was 2 mother's day cards and a mop. Lovely. :D

Gabby didn't think that a mop was a very good Mommy Day gift!


After church, we went to Gwamma and Grandpa's for Mommy Day dinnner, cooked by Grandpa, of course! Gabby wore her new flower hair-clip from Gwamma!


She sits all by herself really, really well now! This little girl was the reason I got chocolate at church on Mother's Day, but really, she's enough of a gift all on her own.

Socialite

Whew I've been busy! I've had such a fun week getting out of my apartment and actually doing things with other girls!

This week I have:

~ helped my friend Stephanie get packed to move (which I am very sad about!)

~ gone for lunch with my friend Jenica at Ikea (who knew their food was so delish?)

~ hung out with my SIL Erica (also my friend :)), while Gabby hung out with her cousin Caity

~ had a girl's night out!

~ gone out with other Heritage Makers to Moxie's for dinner

~ gone to visit with some friends at Market Mall

This all coming from a girl who formerly lived in a bubble in her apartment, being a mommy and resident managing - getting out is so much more fun :) It's true - Women need Women!

Our First Date!

lol okay, not our FIRST date EVER, but Paul and I got to go out last night with no baby, no diaper bag, no carseat or stroller... Thanks Gwamma! Also, it was Gabby's first time being babysat when she was actually awake :) Apparently she did pretty good! Yay!

We went to a book sale in Charleswood, apparently they have it every year! It is hosted by Calgary Reads, advertised by the CBC... I had no idea. I got an email from my boss about it, and begged Paul to take me (okay. very little begging required when it involves books) and so we went. We got there early (it was supposed to go from 6-9 on Friday) and there was already a line going down the street! at least 200 people just waiting to get in! It`s all donated books, and the proceeds go to Calgary Reads, and all of the books are like $1. I`ve been enjoying Great Expectations so much, and have loved everything else Dickens that I`ve read, so I loaded up on the classics! Paul got a political book (don`t ask me what it`s called, I couldn`t tell you) and we got a few hard books for Gabby. A BOX of books for $20. oh, and entrance was $2 apiece. It was a fantastic date.

Totally off-topic, but my keyboard has gone french. as in, my apostrophes all look like this: ` and my backslash key keeps doing this: é or É... how do I get rid of thisÉÉÉ hmmm. those are supposed to be question marks. helpÉ

On a mommy-note, Gabby has had her first-ever diaper rash. we`re pretty religious about putting penaten on her bum when we change her diaper, so the rash was a bit of a shock. BRIGHT red, and pretty spread out. We had tried broccoli for the first time a few nights ago, and she seemed to have a tiny rash around her mouth, so I thought maybe food allergy (Paul said `lucky! allergic to broccoli!... what a punk) but then Gwamma suggested maybe it`s a teething side-effect. we`ve been putting Desitin on it and it`s helped a lot. Have any of you other mommies had teethingédiaper rash experiencesÉ (see, there`s my slash and question mark problem again)

Today Gabby and I went to a craft fair in Midnapore to support my friend Sarah. Her booth was fantastic! We came away with a framed pretties-holder for our bathroom (chocolate and pistachio colors) with real Swarovsky diamonds in it, and also a banner of chipboard and ribbons and pearls that says Princess, which is now over Gabby`s crib. Pictures to come later :)

Have a great day!