So much to be thankful for

The holiday season is my favorite time of year. Not only is there Thanksgiving, but also my birthday, and of course my favorite - Christmas. I love this time of year. Hot chocolate, festive store displays, the smell of cinnamon and sugar cookies...

This year I feel so grateful, I look at my life and see just so many wonderful things to be thankful for. It's not perfect, but what life is? I feel in awe of all that God has done in my life. And I honestly feel so unworthy of it. I know I did nothing to deserve this blessed life, and yet He has given me so much. It's quite humbling.

Thanksgiving dinner at my inlaws was delicious and I'm completely stuffed. Gabe had a great time. He got to try mashed potatoes for the first time and loved them. He wasn't at all a fan of the turkey in a jar, but I took one bite myself and threw it out. Pretty disgusting. He also refused the sweet potatoes. He wanted nothing but mashed potatoes and applesauce.

The afternoon went so well, besides one mishap where Nathan backed into Stephanie's mom's car - thankfully it's just a little dent - and Gabe not being able to sleep well because there was just too much noise. He was happy though, loving all the attention everyone showered on him.

Here are pictures, and a video where Gabe had fun crawling to Pepsi:

Video: http://s930.photobucket.com/albums/ad146/elenaceline/?action=view&current=CIMG2975.flv

New Moon

Because I couldn't have said it better myself...

http://mamagriffith.blogspot.com/2009/11/movie-reviewdun-dun-dunnnn.html

I retired the records

Since I was in the hospital after having Gabe, I have kept records. It started because the hospital had me do it, to keep track and make sure he was peeing enough, eating enough, etc. I got home and continued to do it. I have to admit that I kind of love it. I the sort of person who actually enjoys filling out forms, so for me this was...sort of fun. And at first, very reassuring. I have a little notebook where I have recorded how many ounces he eats in a feeding and at what time, and tally how many wet and poopy diapers he has a day. I know for most moms this seems quite silly. But I enjoyed it. Of course, it probably caused more stress than anything else during the period of time when he was refusing to eat much. I now know that he was just slowing down a bit before a big growth spurt and there was nothing wrong. And now that Gabe is 7 months old, I had to admit to myself that it was a bit pointless. I know he gets enough to eat during the day and has plenty of wet diapers. He is healthy and growing. It was time to let go. It was surprised at how hard it was for me to do and even though I had been considering it for over a month, it took me until the day Gabe turned 7 months old to actually do it.

It's now been 5 days and I am actually glad I stopped. It wasn't time consuming or anything, but now that I'm not keeping those records I was able to pull out his baby book and start working more on that. I hadn't filled anything out since he was a month old. It's been really fun to update it, though I admit I guessed on more than half of the milestones because I just couldn't remember exactly when they happened. I ordered some pictures off snapfish to put in the book and I am so excited for them to arrive.

Sleep? What is that?

I think I'm pretty spoiled in that Gabe is not at all hard to put down to sleep most nights. He gets his bath, into pjs and a sleep sack, and usually falls asleep eating his bottle or right afterword. I think I deserve a good night sleeper, considering how much he fights sleep during the day.

Last night was unusual in that he was wide awake after his last bottle of the night. All he wanted to do was play and play! You'd think someone slipped some coffee into that bottle or something. He stayed up clear until 11 when he FINALLY passed out from pure exhaustion. Then he woke me up at 4am screaming his head off and would not stop until 5, when I finally fed him, though I'm certain he was not hungry. He was kind enough to sleep until 8:15 after all that mess, but I still feel exhausted. *whine whine whine* Thank God for good coffee. :-)