Gabriella Is 12 Weeks Old!

Hard to believe the past 12 weeks have flown by the way they have. She's just 6 days shy of officially being 3 months old and rapidly growing out of the newborn phase. In the past month she's not only developed the most delightful little giggle and gone from smiling in response to words or phrases to smiling just for the sheer joy of smiling, but she's also lost her newborn cry and she's discovered her voice.....boy has she discovered her voice!

Not only is she giggling at the strangest things, but she's cooing and really trying had to mimic what she sees mommy and daddy's mouths do. Some days she's more vocal than others, but she's definitely discovered her voice and she's also learning the finer points on how to get all sorts of attention with it. If I leave her line of vision to walk into the other room or around the corner she'll let out a loud holler/yell and I'll come running back. She's not crying, she's just trying to get my attention, which she does very well I might add. the first couple of times she did it, it scared me as I thought something was seriously wrong, only to walk back into her line of vision to see her laying there smiling up at me. Stinker!

She's also grabbing for toys and trying to coordinate her hand/eye coordination to grasp them. She's not quite there yet but it won't be too much longer. Whilst she's trying to get down the hand-eye coordination thing she still has no intention of wanting to roll over. We're trying to get her to lie on her tummy for longer periods of time in hopes of encouraging her to start rolling over from her tummy to her back, or at least get mad enough to try it, but the problem is, SHE GETS MAD.....REALLY MAD!!! So we don't keep it up for too long. She'll roll when she's good and ready I suppose.

The biggest milestone though is a long-awaited one. She is finally sleeping for longer stretches of time at night. She goes anywhere from 4-7 hours at a stretch, but averages most nights about 5-6. 4 hours isn't ideal but it's a darned sight better than 2! I thought for a while I was going to go insane. Talk about chronically sleep deprived. The problem we're having now is GETTING HER TO SLEEP! We usually battle it out between 8pm and 12am every night. Not sure what I'm doing wrong but every night it's battle after battle until I declare the war won and she's finally conked out. In the next week or two I might try getting her as close to sleep as I can and laying her in her crib before she's actually in a deep sleep. Well, we'll see how THAT goes anyhow.

Well now that I've updated everyone as to all the pertinent bits and bobs about Gaby and life with the baby, here are some pictures from our weekend. Well from Sunday and earlier today anyhow.

This weekend marked a first for Gareth! He changed his very first diaper and lived to tell the tale!

And yes of course I took pictures! Did you think I wouldn't want some sort of photographic evidence of this most momentous occasion?






He did a pretty good job and Gaby seemed well pleased. But then, this child loves to be naked.....



Of course, Gareth has yet to deal with a "blow-out". What's a blow -out you ask? Well, breast-fed babies typically poop less and less once they hit the six-week mark, and Gaby is following the norm. She's going about every 3 days now. And when she does, well lets just put it this way, I've had to cut her out of two outfits because it's been so bad, and I've lost another two altogether because of the mess. It's a darn good thing all the covers for her swings, car seats and bouncy seat are washable!

So yesterday, I knew it was coming, yet we had errands to run. Our timing was perfect though. As soon as we pulled into the driveway I recognized the expression on Gaby's face as one of sheer determination to get a job done. In the past I've not been quick enough and had a major mess to clean up each time. For once though I got to her in time and thankfully spared another outfit.

However, the look on Gareth's face when he walked in and I asked him if he wanted to "take this one" was priceless. He went from fair to green in nothing flat and said he had more groceries to bring up from the car. Well, to be honest, he did offer to let me bring up all the groceries and he'd change the diaper, but I didn't feel like being cruel, nor did I feel like lugging all that crap inside. So I dealt with the other crap, literally.

Before we went on our shopping expedition we watched the original "Cheaper By the Dozen" on AMC. It was absolutely delightful and whilst I am a fan of the remake (I love Steve Martin), both Gareth and I really enjoyed the original with Myrna Loy and Clifton Webb. If you've never seen it and dont mind older films and could really use a laugh, then I highly reccomend this film. If I can find it on DVD I am definitely adding it to our collections.

Here are the two loves of my life whislt watching the film. As you can tell, Gaby wasn't quite as enthralled as Gareth and I.....

She's getting sleepy.......




...and sleepier......



...until she just can't keep her eyes open any more!



Too bad it didn't last. Twas just one of her famous 10 minute cat-naps.

Later on in the evening we engaged in a little bit of fun......Turtle on the Tummy!



She's getting better and better at grabbing for and getting, the turtle.

Here are some pictures from this morning. I meant to go into some explanation when I posted a couple of pictures of Gaby in this same chair, from the group I recently posted, but I didn't have the time.

This is quite possibly the UGLIEST chair in the world. And, it's brand new at that!



For those that remember, we are in a corporate flat here in NJ until this summer when we either buy or rent another house, larger and permanent. This was just a place to get Gareth situated in until the lease ran out in Maine on the beach house and we were all together once again. The flat came fully furnished. Now, when we originally moved in, in late November the furnishings were lovely. Light green with hints of rose and beige. I noticed that the sofa was coming apart on the bottom and let the relocations managers know. So they changed not only the sofa, but the chair too and the above is what we got stuck with!

It is by far the ugliest chair I have ever seen and its not entirely too comfy either! It's a brick red colour and the pattern you see is actually a sage green raised stiching that looks like bird poop. I tell you, it's UGLY!

Add to that, the new sofa is covered in a chennile fabric which makes is a static electricity shocking nightmare! We have since ordered an all cotton cover for it, to help reduce the static electricity but also because Gaby naps on it frequently and I didn't want any "oopses" to damage it.






Well, there you have it, our weekend and a bit more.