Checking in with Gabe #16

June 3, 2016 by Elisabeth Norris Leave a Comment

He knows where the lens cap goes.

I am happy to start this post with the news that Gabe’s leg healed perfectly and he is out of his cast!!! On top of being 16 months old.

Life with the cast

Life with a cast wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. Limiting at times, yes. But very workable in part to Gabe’s determination. As I mentioned last month, he found his inability to walk very frustrating. It took him a bit to accept the fact that he had to go back to crawling. But once he did that, he was all over the place. It took about a week and a half for him to start walking on it. He gained back a whole new sense of freedom. We couldn’t help but call him “peg leg” from how he walked. But it didn’t stop him from doing anything. He did everything as he would have. We ended up putting a sock over the cast to a) keep him from messing with it, b) keep it clean, and c) add a little grip for walking on the wood floors. It ended up working really well. I also had to buy a few more pairs of wide leg pants so that it would fit over the cast. No jeans and snug fit jammies for the month!

No cast will keep him from climbing in a basket.

One of my initial concerns was the cast setting him back developmentally but thankfully it didn’t seem to have too much of an impact there. I felt a bit limited though in my ability to get him out to play. Adventuring like we had been was kind of off the table. I also didn’t feel as comfortable just setting him down anywhere to walk, even with the sock on. So there was a bit more time in the stroller and a few extra shopping trips. The unfortunate side effect of this was a couple of weeks of bad naps. He simply wasn’t burning the energy he needed and I paid for it.

Cast removal.

It wasn’t until the week before the cast removal did I start counting down. I was ready to be done with this! I was ready to give him a normal bath… goodness, he was not a fan of being wiped down. May 26th finally arrived. The removal of the cast was actually pretty quick. They used a depth set dremel like tool with a vacuum attached to it. He cried a bit but not because of the noise, loud noises don’t bother him. He wasn’t a fan of being held still. I don’t think it took more than a minute for it to come off. His poor leg was so dry! We were then whisked off for a quick x-ray. Gabe was not a fan at all. Being held down and this big scary thing looming overhead is not his idea of fun. Lots of tears. And of course the tech messed up the first image. Back into the doctor’s office to examine the x-ray. Everything looked great. You could easily see a whole new layer of bone growth. He was given the green light to resume life on his leg… with a few cautions. It is going to take him a couple of weeks to get his gate back. Between muscle stiffness and a little atrophy it will take a bit to get it back up to where his other leg is at. Because of this he will walk as if he still has the cast on. She also warned to not do anything to injure the leg like go down a slide together. Oh darn.

Joy!

As soon as we got home he was walking like nobody’s business! Stiff? Yes. A couple days of pain? Yes. A sense of joy and freedom? Absolutely. I’m not sure who is happier to have the cast off, me or him! We celebrated that evening with a super long bath. Oh how he has missed his baths. I don’t think I’ve heard that many squeals of delight and splashes coming from the bathroom.

We were blessed to have the best experience you could for such an unfortunate incident. Now, to not repeat a similar incident.

Development

Every month Gabe is able to amaze me at what he is learning to do. Its funny, you “know” kids develop at such a rapid rate but to watch your own child do it before your eyes is something else. His strength amazes me. He is officially lifting weights now. He can lift 3lb weights from the floor to the hearth and back down no problem. While in a cast. He’s going to end up being more motivation to keep my butt moving than anything. I’ve also seen a real increase in his fine motor skills, specifically in his dexterity. He will grab up numerous blueberries in one hand and is able to turn knobs and clicky things very well now.

Weight lifter.

Gabe has picked up a couple of new hobbies; stacking and sending things over the baby gate. One day he just decided he wanted to pile all the things on top of his activity cube. And now he spends at least 20 minutes a day filling any basket/trash can/vessel that can hold things with all the things… blocks, balls, socks, vacuum cleaner attachments. Then he dumps it out and repeats or fills another vessel with items from the already filled thing. As for his other activity… I really hope it doesn’t become a thing. So he has long since enjoyed sending his 3 wooden balls through the baby gate and down the stairs. Sometimes he will send a few other things but not often. Well the other day he decided to send ALL the things over the baby gate. We shall see if and how this progresses. I’m not too keen on the idea of cleaning up the stairs every day.

Stacking.

I am feeling a bit of caution to see him start moving through the more challenging stages of development. He has certainly taken a few steps in that direction this month. As he is learning to express himself and learning that he has a bit of autonomy we now have situations where he doesn’t want to give things to me. Sometimes taking things, say a tube of healing balm or something he shouldn’t have, away from him results in a small fit that includes tears. Thankfully with a bit of redirection I can usually get him over it pretty quick. I know it is inevitable to go through these things, I just want to do my best to find ways of helping him work through these challenges.

Food

I have seen a big shift in eating patterns this month. Milk isn’t holding him over as long it has used to so I’ve had to adjust mealtimes. It hasn’t been too big of an adjustment but has certainly changed the order of the day and how fast we can get out the door. He is still eating well and a lot so nothing new there. He has taken to tossing food off his tray when he is done with it. :/ needless to say, we are working on teaching him that you don’t do that. It’s a slow process. :) He is also finding great amusement in poking his food now. Especially when it is soft and gooey like brie cheese.

Carrot mash.

I finally started the process of weaning him from the bottle. I tried to do it a couple months ago using the sippy cups we had. He had no problem drinking from them it’s just that they weren’t very efficient. He wanted his milk and he wanted it now. And then I got distracted and never followed up with research on sippy cups (oh my goodness there are so many!!!!). But now I’ve found one that mostly works and he is doing okay on. I’ve ordered a couple more so we should have this figured out pretty soon. I’m tired of washing bottles! Though the complexity of the parts to some of these sippy cups are just as bad, if not worse, than the Dr. Brown bottles we use. I am thankful though that he really didn’t have any problem giving up the bottle. It’s just finding the right cup for him.

Friends

Not a whole lot of adventure this month but we did have some good times with friends. My best friend and her husband came up for a short visit. We went and explored Pier 39 with them and Gabe got to watch the harbor seals up close and personal. And then we spent Memorial day with some of our local friends. Kids running around, stopping Gabe from stealing wine bottles, amazing food and wine. I truly love gathering with these people. We also welcomed new friends as new neighbors! And to top it off we had several great playdates with a new friend.

Warming up just as they were to leave.

Summer is officially here. Not that that really means anything for us. Though I’m hoping to bring the beach into heavy rotation for activities.

No cast will keep him from climbing in a basket.

Wheat grass meet floor.

Squish the hummus!

Purisima Creek selfie.

Burleigh Murray Ranch selfie.

Playing with my hat!

Bean mixer-uper.

Watching.

“Where’s Gabriel?”

There he is!

Upside down.

Happy baby.

New discovery.

Not in the mood for a picture, too windy.

Plunger inspector.

Playing in the laundry.

Climbing in and out these days.

Unpacking and repacking the cooler.

Carrot mash.

So messy but so much fun.

Weight lifter.

Reading with mama.

Watching from Daddy’s shoulders.

Hey look, it’s all three of us!

Warming up just as they were to leave.

Stacking.

Had a little help with this one.

Hi there.

He knows where the lens cap goes.

Daddy’s shoes!

Filling big shoes.

Cast removal.

His leg is still there!

X-Rays are scary.

Joy!

Beach tent.

Mama’s socks.

Almost buried Kitty!

More collecting.

Gabe’s handywork.

Stacking takes concentration.

All the things down the stairs.

Swiiiiiiing.

A Few Steps from Square One

May 17, 2016 by Elisabeth Norris 2 Comments

I really was hoping to be able to do more updates about going back to square one. It’s not surprising that I haven’t been able to. I thought I had gained some time and turned out that I didn’t. This whole “time” thing is an ongoing thing that sometimes leaves me a bit frustrated. Ah well. The important thing is that I have most definitely gained some momentum.

I’ve been at this about 4 weeks now: moving, stretching, lifting, and lots of little things that I hope will one day add up to some big changes. The good kind of sore is making a come back and am seeing some small gains. So here is a little of what I’ve been up to.

Yoga
The core of my movement has been getting back into yoga. Yoga feels like one of the kindest things I can do for my body right now. It is challenging and restorative at the same time. And it really works on a lot of areas that don’t get much love. I’ve tightened up way too much in the last year and this seems like one of the best ways to help my muscles release into flexibility. I found an amazing Youtube channel, Yoga with Adriene, that has helped me get back into some kind of practice.

Will and I were trying to do this together in the mornings before work but after about 2 weeks it fell apart… for multiple reasons. As much as I love getting things done, working out first thing really doesn’t jive with me. I try and try and sometimes I can force myself, other times I can’t. The other component is sleep. When I have highly increased physical activity I simply need more sleep and more sleep can be hard to get. So increased physical activity + not enough sleep + difficulty working out first thing = hard to get out of bed. I don’t know what the solution is but I’m continuing to try and work this into my day somewhere.

I believe in the practice and the benefit it adds to my life. It needs to be part of taking care of myself.

Strength
One of the simpler things to pull off has been returning to the strength training routines I did with Daniella two years ago. I have a book full of all the workouts we did together. It’s a treasure trove of good stuff that works. There is something very motivating knowing I don’t have to think about what I’m going to do each week. It is also very motivating that it doesn’t require me to go anywhere so I can fit it anywhere into my day. And I can do it with Gabe running around… for the most part. I might loose a little bit of the cardio effect in having to stop and deal with whatever he is up to but I think that is an acceptable interruption right now. So far I’ve been able to meet my goal of strength training 3 days a week.

Pyramid sets

Moving
Getting higher heart rate workouts are a bit more challenging. Mostly I’ve been relying on walking the local trails. My goal started at 3 days a week and went down to 2 and 1 at a very minimum. It’s great because Gabe enjoys it (we are sure to stop and let him go run around) and so do I. The trails I have access to are incredible and vary in difficulty. I’ve added Quarry park into the mix along with Devils slide. Two trails that will make you feel like you are going to die by the time you get to the top. But I’ve been able to do one less stop at quarry park so I’m going to call that an increased stamina win! The challenging part is weather and life. I can’t always get out. So I need to find a good at home solution for days when life happens and getting a walk in isn’t going to happen. It is going to have to be inline with my strength training in that I don’t need to think about figuring it out… yes, I’ve considered tabata’s. Beach Body has been alluring… specifically Focus T25 but it kind of feels like “selling out.” The infomercial nature of makes me shy back. But I’m not quite sure what I’m selling out. And I’m not sure how it will jive with my strength training. We shall see.

Food
Overall I feel like I have a pretty good handle on what I eat. We’ve made so many lifestyle changes with our diet over the last couple of year and they have actually stuck. That doesn’t mean I don’t slack off in some areas or find myself in some food ruts due to their simplicity. I’m surprised Will doesn’t complain about the amount of roasted veggies we do on a regular basis.

That said, this is the area I really need to crack down on in the next 4 weeks (arbitrary number… realistically when the next update will be.) I know nutrition is key if I want to reach some of my goals. While I don’t want to be as dogmatic about what I eat, such as adding back in some legumes and rice, there are a couple areas I want to focus on. Mainly increasing vegetables and nixing sugar.

More veggies… basically veggies need to be prominent at every meal. Balanced with some fat and protein, my body tends to be pretty happy with those choices leaving me feeling like I am fueled properly.

Turmeric tahini scramble

And less sugar. I’m not going to lie, It has totally crept in. Chocolate anyone? If I want to deal with this baby pooch and drop a few more pounds then the sugar has to go. There is no question about it. Even though I still enjoy/crave sugar it has been interesting to note the effect sugar has on my body. Yes, I had cake over the weekend and you know what? It left me feeling pretty icky. Did it stop me from getting into a leftover cake layer last night? Nope and I felt like crap afterward to. So much so that I made a comment to Will about how I really didn’t need cake but I ate it anyway. Hmm seems more like I need some brain reprogramming because it sure isn’t listening to what my body is saying!

I also need to work on making sure I have good food choices for the 3rd meal of the day (4 meal seem to be good for me) so I don’t sit there with a jar of cashew butter and chocolate chips till I’m full. I love the fat but I don’t need THAT much fat.

Accomplishing these goals really are going to come down to planning. I know the nutrition principles and I know how to cook. It’s the whole planning thing. Planning ahead, planning for extra meals, not just for dinner and relying on leftovers (though making extra is a key to leftover success!) If I plan, then I have a fridge full of wonderful things to cook with, then I cook because I can’t let it go to waste and as a result I end up properly nourished and the sugar cravings diminish. I know it works because I’ve done it before. The time investment to pull this off is a struggle. Necessary and important but still a struggle.

Supplements

Other things
Lots of other little things being shifted and moved around. Added Vitamin D and fermented cod liver oil/butter back in. Been working with a chiropractor for the last month and am finally finding some relief from the chronic low back pain I’ve had since Gabe’s birth. Made homemade cashew butter. Goodness… current fav nut butter! Gabe is a big fan too.

Nap time is just about over so I’m going to call this update done. I’m going to keep trekking forward and do my best to keep trekking forward. I’m really starting to learn the importance of effort and simply doing no matter how much things go off track or aren’t the optimal choice. There is no one right way to do this and no perfection to truly be gained but a better self from the physical/mental/emotional journey along the way.

This post is brought to you by 3 naps. The time it took me to write, edit, format & add pics.

Checking in with Gabe #15

May 10, 2016 by Elisabeth Norris 1 Comment

Explorer Gabe

Goodbye April, hello May and 15 months old. April turned out to be a big month of development. I’ve been noticing a shift in the way he plays and a big effort on his part to really start communicating with us. And growth… Mr. Long Arms is really good at stealing the mouse from the desktop if I don’t push it way back. So many new things are fair game for him! Not to be outdone by all the awesome development this month we ended things with an unexpected bang.

So, play.

I love how play and developmental growth is linked together. That so much is learned through laughter and fun. From how to interact with others to critical thinking to motor skills, building confidence, and the list goes on.

Morning squash laps

I find it most interesting how much Gabe enjoys pushing things around. While he still loves and uses his push cart but he has definitely upped his game. If it has slide ability, he pushes it. Chairs are obvious. All of them are fair game. Laundry basket? Sure why not. But then there are the not so obvious like the basket of squash in the kitchen. One morning while I was making breakfast he goes and pushes it from the kitchen into the dining room and back. And then there is the small tool kit we keep upstairs. It slides so he pushes it. How about the base tray to his high chair. Yep, that one made it all the way into the living room! He is not afraid to test things to see if they will slide either. Though he isn’t a big fan when things don’t switch from hardwood to carpet. :)

Leading the way

We returned to our walks this month. I had taken a break from walking in effort to tire him out more by taking him to the park. Through a series of interactions at the park with toys that appeared and disappeared I realized just how much Gabe actually does enjoy being pushed in the stroller. I feel a bit bad though if he doesn’t get any outside play while we are outside. Then it dawned on me that instead of focusing so much on time/distance/intensity that we could stop and play a bit. And you know what? He loved it! He fell in the weeds, picked the weeds, rubbed his hands in the dirt, walked the path with me, pushed the stroller, picked things up off the ground, fell on some more plants, watched the birds. Hands down best play decision. He had so much fun running free. Definitely something I’m working on making a part of our week. It’s too good for both of us to not do it.

Long arms!

Last month I mentioned him starting to take bigger steps. Mostly with how he would go up and down the stairs at the park. He is now all about walking down our stairs. Forget crawling/sliding down, now we must walk down them. He gets so excited when I open the baby gate and tell him to hold my hand. And down we go. Step by step. Now if we could get him to watch where he is stepping. shakes head

He is starting to clap a bunch more. It’s kind of funny how clapping has taken a bit to catch on with him. Maybe we just haven’t done enough of it around him. But he knows now that when he puts a block in the wheel or something of accomplishment, he smiles big and claps several times. Same with waving. It’s cute, he does this whole arm move back and forth two times thing. It’s like he gets it but isn’t bothered to really do it. I’ve also seen him really make an effort to hold two balls in one hand. He does that all the time now… and then proceeds to push them through the baby gate and down the stairs with delight. Oh and one of the best things this month! He’s starting to put things away. So now when he takes everything out he truly does his best to try and put it back!

Reading on his own

Much to my surprise I noticed him doing a lot more solo play which is a nice break for me. I’ll be doing something and then notice he is off playing with his toys or chasing the cat or generally getting into things he shouldn’t. But it is really nice to see him start developing that ability to play alone. It’s often not when I need him to do it the most but ehh, I’ll take what I can get. I’ve also noticed him grabbing a book in his reading corner and “reading” for a short time. He will open up the book, sometimes stare intently, sometimes make noises at it or point. Sometimes he tosses the book aside as quickly as he picks it up and picks up another book. Sometimes I’ll stop what I am doing and go over there and attempt to read to him. Sometimes he is interested. Most the time he isn’t and is moving on to another book or picking up and leaving. It’s all good though, he is only 15 months. Besides, I have a captive audience while he drinks his milk so he gets a good reading to every day.

In communication

Da da da da da da da da da. Dadadada. Maaa ma. Ma ma ma ma. Ah da. And all the variations. He has though added to his vocabulary. He has now taken to saying, “all done” or at least his version of it. And he knows what it means. On top of that he has started signing “more.” The two very important questions he is asked at every meal. “Do you want more?” And “All done?” While we are far away from precision, seeing him grasp the concepts and start communicating his desires is pretty awesome. And then there is the pointing. He points at Kitty, birds, airplanes, and just about anything that catches his attention.

“It fell down!”

I shall eat ALL the carrots.

Gabe has never really been a fan of me spending time in the kitchen. More often than not (that is, unless he is off playing with something) when he sees me in there he will come in and try to get between me and the cabinet. It’s super annoying and often ends up with him crying from falling over or hitting his head on the lower cabinets. I think it has to do with the fact that he can’t see what I am doing. He knows I’m doing something (not giving him attention!) and wants to know what it is. So I’ve started pulling up a chair and letting him stand next to the counter top. Usually he spends more time playing with the jar of measuring spoons and mini scrapers but he totally digs it. He loves getting a taste of whatever I’m cutting up or making. And usually it is enough time for me to get the task done. Then I put him down and he does his best to push the chair back to where it goes. It’s pretty cool to having him “helping” alongside me. I initially wanted to make a Learning Tower but have yet to find the time for a project like that. While the safety aspect sounds great, they didn’t have learning towers when I was growing up. So with lack of time and the fact that Gabe is pretty stable and cautious, the chair it is. I think I should be more concerned about teeth marks in my silicone spatulas and the slat jar being knocked over.

“You eat carrots too, mama!”

He has started drinking from a glass. Like a real glass, not a plastic cup. Often, as a treat he will get some coconut water with dinner. He gets super excited for it too. For a while now we’ve been serving it to him in the shot glasses we have for espresso. It’s the perfect 1 oz cup for him. He now does a pretty good job of picking up the glass with both hands and drinking from it. He still has to work on the tipping it immediately before getting it to his mouth but other than that he drinks from it like he knows what he is doing. Can’t say the same for using utensils but I’m not rushing that. ;)

And then like that, when we are done with dinner and I take him out of the high chair, I set him down and he runs off into the other room. And you know? It’s really nice to have him leave the kitchen so I can clean up. It’s kind of impossible to load the dishwasher with him around! His belly is full and he is happy. Time to play. Oh the little things.

Deviled egg filling didn’t even have a chance

Not too many new foods this month. He has grown into a love of fruit. Blackberries are currently his jam. He can eat whole roasted carrots without me cutting them up. And he has become a fan of little cheese wheels. And while this should technically be on the 16 month update, I made some homemade cashew butter… Homeboy is kind of nuts over it.

Fracture

So we did this thing. We were at the park getting a little bit of play in before lunch. We were having a great time. Gabe was climbing the play structures really well. Once at the top I asked him if he wanted to go down the slide. I got in position, set him on my lap, as we normally do and down we went. Except that when we got to the bottom he wasn’t happy. I notice his left leg was bent back. No, he was crying. Crying really hard. The “I’m really not okay” cry. I knew something bad just happened and as much as I wanted this to be a sprain, I knew it wasn’t. I took him home, got him calmed down, and gave him some lunch. And then the test… could he put weight on it? No… no he couldn’t. A quick google search, found a pediatric urgent care, made an appointment. This all happened just hours before picking Will up from the airport. So we picked up Will, Gabe napped in the car and we drove straight to urgent care.

Full leg splint

A few x-rays later (and a whole lot of tears) and as I suspected, a hairline fracture of his left tibia. Apparently this is a very common young child injury! No one was really surprised at the accident. We were sent home with a full leg splint and a next day appointment to get a cast. We had to wait for the splint to dry before putting him in the car seat (and evening commute traffic) so we went and grabbed some dinner before heading home. Then due to the stress of the injury and the visit to urgent care, Gabe threw up on the way home. I was so thankful to be sitting in the back seat with him. Trying to catch throw-up and undo the carseat straps so I could lean him over to make sure he didn’t choke on it is quite a task!! Apparently when there is some kind of trauma to the body, often the body shuts down certain systems to direct resources to the injury. It was an exhausting day and Gabe basically passed out once he got in his crib. We, on the other hand, stayed up cleaning the car seat because you know, we needed it first thing in the morning!

The finished product

Getting the cast was pretty uneventful. So so so thankful he is in a walking cast. Meaning he can walk on it when he is ready. The doctor we saw said it was the best break we could have done. No bones were moved and that this will heal 100%. It was interesting watching them put the cast on, I’ve never seen it done before. Gabe wasn’t a fan but I know the stability of the cast immediately made things feel better (same as what the splint did). The doctor was pretty convinced that he would only need 4 weeks in the cast. She isn’t a fan of doing two casts. We have an appointment on May 26th to have it removed. Meanwhile we have been adjusting to life with a cast. Within 8 hours of getting the cast, Gabe was crawling. Frustrated at the inability to walk though. Now, a week into this? The cast isn’t stopping him from doing anything! He still isn’t walking on it but he is standing on it. One step at a time, healing as we go.

Play

Lots of things happened this month. Much more than I anticipated. Now to see what life will be like with a cast.

Tower buidling

Must disturb Kitten

Putting it together

Because he can

The things we find at our park

“You eat carrots too, mama!”

Mmm chia pudding

Playing with his forest friends

At his mercy

… and there is none.

Sitting

Playing with his stacking cups

Being cute

Going where he shouldn’t be

Run!

Reading on his own

Wearing mama’s jacket

Poor Kitty…

Leading the way

Pushing the stroller

“smelling” the flowers

Hands in dirt

Explorer Gabe

Wearing an apron

Destroying my tower

“Mama it’s stuck!”

Morning squash laps

Walkin and talkin

Reading with daddy

Post run to the car in a down pour

Long arms!

Ever so happy

Mower Gabe

Deviled egg filling didn’t even have a chance

Stealing the foam roller

“It fell down!”

And off he goes

Hi there!

Squirmy

Full leg splint

Removal of splint

Sock & cotton before casting

Rolling it on. Layer two.

The finished product

First day in the cast

Already feeling better and being silly

Burying his face into Kitty yet again

Play

Sorting the silverware

Banging on silverware

Square One

April 24, 2016 by Elisabeth Norris Leave a Comment

I am back to making changes in my life. Changes in exercise, diet, and nutrition. And hopefully along the way a whole new mindset. These are changes that I have done before and have been mostly successful at. They carried through my pregnancy with Gabe but then he came and everything kind of went KABOOM! Not everything was thrown to the wind but in some ways it was. I was able to lose the baby weight and keep some movement in my life but not consistently. I stopped seeing Daniella which actually really sucks and had an obvious impact. Even though it was my choice to stop seeing her… exhaustion, pumping, logistical challenges, and oh yeah buying a house, it was both what I needed and didn’t need at the same time. Anyways, I simply didn’t have the support to really make a great postpartum comeback. The first year is something else. I was tired and felt like I had bigger fish to fry than getting back into shape. Thankfully I never strayed too far from the principles Daniella taught me. She fundamentally changed my view on nutrition, food, and exercise and I am forever grateful to her for that. Throw in some person struggles and I ended up right where I am. In real need of shaping up.

So I am starting at square one.

While I’ve needed to make changes months ago it has only been in the last month or so that things have been shifting. I’ve since started working on realigning many areas of my life and this is one of them. So I’m adjusting this, adjusting that. Doing this and that. Changing this and that. All of which I want to be momentum building in a forward direction. This time around, I really have experience to pull from. I know myself better. I know my body. I know how and what. And for the things I don’t I can go in search for the answer.

And for some crazy reason I kind of want to blog about it. I want to talk about what I’m doing. Things that are working for me. Things that are NOT working. I don’t even want to try and define all the areas I want to cover over time. And I want to talk about failing… Lord knows I do that quite often. I don’t know where the time will come for this either. Doing one thing means not doing another. But if it is quick, in the moment, and not too well thought out I might just able to pull it off. It is a whole lot easier to write about yourself than story tell for a recipe! It may be the accountability I need. Or not. I might just fall flat on my face after two posts and not bring it up again for another six months.

I’m not sure what is compelling me to do this so I’m giving it a go.

First Birthday Shoot

April 8, 2016 by Elisabeth Norris Leave a Comment

I wanted to have some fun and do a shoot of my own for Gabe’s birthday. I made a second cake and set the scene. While these photos are far from great, we had fun taking them. Littles have no interest in staying in one place for long and these photos show that. While I love taking pictures of my child I have no interest in ever photographing other people’s children! I’ll leave that to the professionals.

Gabriel’s One Year Photos

April 6, 2016 by Elisabeth Norris 1 Comment

Photo By: Smarrtypants Photography

A year later… walking, laughing, eating cake. No longer the little infant cradled in our arms. No longer the confident army crawler. But still the happy, even keeled boy who so easily nestled himself into our hearts. One year strong.

To capture Gabe’s one year photos, we worked with Michelle Smarr of Smartypants Photography. A friend who recently went pro and a local coastsider. I had a great time collaborating and shooting with Michelle. She is incredibly patient and carries a joyful spirit about her. There is no denying her heart and skill in working with kids. Consider this my recommendation to all you in the area who probably do need family photos taken.

I’ve talked a little about this shoot in the last couple of blog posts but wanted to recap it here a bit. We kind of tried to capture a few things in this shoot (probably too much in hindsight! I should have just booked two different sessions). First I wanted his first birthday photos. And secondly I wanted some updated family shots. I wasn’t too keen on the idea of doing a cake smash, but after some talking to Michelle about it we decided to do a cake smash a little outside the box. We did it outside! And I loved how it turned out. Not surprisingly, Gabe is not a cake smasher. It’s not in his character. Taking handfuls of buttercream and shoving it in his mouth is.

Photo By: Smarrtypants Photography

Checking in with Gabe #14

April 4, 2016 by Elisabeth Norris 3 Comments

Spring time photos

For once it doesn’t feel like I just wrote last month’s update. That probably has to do with the fact that I didn’t just write the last one two weeks ago! I’ve been keeping notes and March was good. We traveled and had new adventures and experiences. Bigger steps and longer arms. Week by week slowly shedding his baby traits.

Road Trip!

At the beginning of March Gabe and I headed down to Southern California for a week. There was a conference I wanted to attend and I thought it would be good for him to spend some time with my family. It was our first solo road trip and he did great. I chose to drive through the night and he slept through most of it. Gabe had so much fun playing at my parents house. They have so many interesting things for kids to get into. He got to run around the trampoline, push the wagon, play the harp, harass the little dog, and play with all kinds of random toys previously used by his cousins. We also got to spend some time with family and had some play time with cousins. The trip also proved to be a nice break for me. While I attended the conference my mom watched Gabe. It was great because it was his first time being away from me for extended periods of time without Will around. Even though I was back each night, it was good for both of us. Sometimes you just need a change in scenery.

Playing in the park

Development

It’s amazing how quickly Gabe went from crawling up the little steps at the park to trying to take big steps up the big stairs at the park. I kid you not. I’m holding his hand for support and he is stepping up like he knows what he is doing. On the smaller steps, if he can find something to grab onto, he will support himself and take the step up. He has come around to swinging… took him a little bit to catch on but he enjoys it now. He also loves going down the slides. Play is such a huge part of our day… solo, with others, with me, being challenged… it makes him happy.

He’s been expressing some of this happiness vocally. Especially in the tail end of March. He squeals with delight when we play… when I chase him or tickle him. Sometimes I can’t help but wonder what the neighbors think! But it is all good to have an expression of joy. He’s also quite fluent in “ma” “da” and “ba” sounds. And those I can’t put words to. He can say “mama” and “dada” and I think he is slowly starting to associate the names with us. Because he hasn’t made the association, Will and I both agree that despite making the sounds he hasn’t said the words. I know that kind of doesn’t make sense but I’m going with it.

Swinging

Out of the blue he started “dancing a jig.” I’m not quite sure what it is but he will start stomping his feet up and down… especially when he stands on the side table. It’s like he realized how much more control he has over his legs or he’s excited or it’s just darn cute and it doesn’t matter why he is doing something. Another big thing he started doing is pointing. It was so out of the blue but you immediately knew what he was doing. He points a whole lot more than he jigs but it is neat to see himself express himself in this way. He also seems to have grown long arms. This kid can reach things!!! Standing up on his tip toes and all. Now I don’t think he has extra long limbs by any means, it’s just surprising in a way that I now have to move anything on the desk or a foyer table much further away because he can totally grab it. I really want him to lose interest before we have to hide the keyboard and mouse for the desktop.

Thirteen months into this and Gabe came down with his first set of fevers. Not really sure what it was but for four days he had a fever every 12 – 24 hours. Thankfully we were able to control them and didn’t need to go into the doctor. Though I did call and got some parameters to watch out for. He did get picky with his food but he still ate and still drank. Overall I think he weathered it well. Hopefully we won’t have a repeat anytime soon.

Books

I think we have finally reached a point with his books that I can trust him to play with them. Up till now he has mostly eaten them if I leave them with him. But I’m starting to notice a shift. He is tuning in a whole lot more when I read to him when he drinks his milk. I pulled out all his books and lined them up by the rocking chair in his room. Since doing this he enjoys running over there and pulling books out onto the floor. Sometimes turning pages, sometimes not. I’m just super glad to see him start to take an interest. Reading is so so so so so important. I also indirectly set up a little reading spot in his play yard. A pillow against the wall and his sheepskin rug to sit on. Wolfgang and a blanket to the right and a pile of Dr. Seuss board books to the left. Low and and behold, he randomly goes in there, sits down, and grabs a book… or a toy or plays with something he brought in there. I wholeheartedly approve.

Don’t mind me… I’m just going to push the play yard over.

Easter

Easter snuck up on me. I think it did more so because I wasn’t hosting it and I didn’t really have anything to prepare for it. So I totally failed in the “planning ahead/being intentional in how we celebrate holidays” department. It did though challenge me in how we will move forward with this holiday for us as a family especially in light of the history of Easter. I’m not sure what Easter traditions we will start but I do know some will revolve around food. Italian Easter Bread made an appearance this year. In any case, we celebrated with friends. Friends we’ve actually been celebrating Easter with for most of our time on the coast. It was wonderful. It’s especially meaningful when you have kids and they can play together. Gabe’s heart was so full from an evening of playing with Djuna. I did spend most my time chasing after Gabe and lost my drink I don’t know how many times. But tis the season right now. My consolation? The chocolate bunny Miss Liv gave him. :X :D

It makes my heart happy to see him so filled up.

Spring time photos

Moments

Often when I write these posts I either write the text first and then go collect and edit the photos. Or vice versa. Along with keeping small notes about the month, as I’m sure I’ve mentioned in the past, photos really help jog my memory. As in the case of this month (writing first, photos later), my memory has been jogged a bit.

Sometimes the photos I take have a story behind them, other times they don’t. Post bath photos? No story there, I just think he looks ridiculously cute wrapped up in his fox towel. Peeling the paint off the door? That one isn’t his fault. I expressed a condensed version of my frustration over on Instagram. Socks behind the crib? That is simply a mom’s never ending journey to find all the socks! But the photos out amongst the green mustards? That was my attempt to take some better pictures. Albeit, not so great pictures that I didn’t get a chance to go retake with some adjustments in mind. But I was inspired by watching Michelle during Gabe’s one year shoot. I know if I actually put some thought into it (wait there is time for thought???) I could be taking much better pictures. I also finally changed lenses. Yeah, should have done that a while ago. Different subjects/settings have very different needs. I also wanted some decent photos of him in that shirt. It’s my favorite and he is quickly growing out of it. There is a story behind the one of him sitting behind the tv console and sorting the spice drawer. If I didn’t have these pictures these moments would be lost. I don’t know if it will really scale in the long run. I know I’ll forget. We can only hold so much information. But they are there and I can smile at them.

“Hi mama!”

Strawberry Lassi

Sorting the recycling

Sorting the towels

Snack time

Eye bag toss

Breakfast thief

Don’t mind me…

Fun toys at the park

Swinging

Hat taker

Post bath cutie

Spring time photos

Shoddy work = Gabe peeling paint off the door

Don’t mind me… I’m just going to push the play yard over.

Missing socks

Carrying the broom around

Modeling his new jacket

Post bath cutie

Can’t be left pants-less otherwise this happens

Excited to climb on furniture

Pajama pants & straw fedora

“Hi mama!”

Playing in the park

Getting into trouble

Sorting spices

Post bath cutie

So grown up

Checking in with Gabe #13

March 7, 2016 by Elisabeth Norris Leave a Comment

Last month most of the focus was on his birthday. Though because he was born at the beginning of the month, the two weeks leading up to it and the week after it was all about his birthday. At least for me! As I learned with the holidays, I really need to be planning ahead if I want to be intentional and enjoy these things… and pull them off!

Happy Birthday!

Anyways, we chose to not do a big birthday party. Despite the some “mom guilt” creeping in, I’m glad we chose to not do one. Next year… probably so. We had fun the days leading up to his birthday and the days after. For starters we had new family portraits done. We had a blast working with Michelle Smarr (pics forthcoming). I wasn’t intending on doing a cake smash but with a little nudge from Michelle we ended up doing an outdoor one. It was great. I made the cake for the smash. Pulling from the woodland critter theme we’ve had going on, I made a birch stump. It was awesome. I should probably do a blog post about the cake itself but I don’t realistically see that happening. Anyways, he didn’t smash it at all. Instead, once he got a taste of the buttercream (swiss meringue) he kept eating it. One piece at a time. We had to assist in the “smash.” He liked the cake too once he got into it. Not bad for a someone who had never had cake before.

A beautiful collage of our family portraits/first birthday shoot with Michelle Smarr.

He received a slew of wonderful gifts. One of which we still don’t know who sent it! We chose though to not give them all to him. He received several and then put the rest away to save for a rainy day. I was also excited to FINALLY give him a whole scrambled egg. Of all the restrictions of what babies can’t eat in the first year, this one was really hard for me. I do scrambles all the time and not giving him some of mine was kind of annoying. But he totally digs scrambled eggs and whatever else I put in them. He has also started “helping” me sauté his spinach. We will be #cookingwithgabe before we know it. As another treat, when we were at the farmers market the next day, I got him his first croissant. There is a lovely Italian bakery there that has a smattering of amazing pastries, cakes, and of course breads. We don’t do wheat often but if we do, I want it to be quality. Needless to say, he devoured it. When there is almost as much butter as flour in there, how can you not love it?

Whole scrambled eggs for the first time!

To top off his birthday we did a photoshoot of our own. Which meant a whole lot of planning and making for that set! I made another cake… I know, right? And reused a lot of the same stuff from the shoot with Michelle.I also made a first birthday sign. Whoa Nelly! It was a project and a half to create. But I did it and I did it by hand. I’m really proud of how it turned out. We didn’t quite get his height and weight right but ehh, not a big deal.(W:21.7 lbs H:31″). So we took some pictures, I fought against the light and my limitations, had some fun and more cake. I hope to make this something we starting doing each year for his birthday.

First birthday sign

Gabe had a great first birthday and I don’t feel like he missed out on anything.

Now, for the rest of the month.

Play

If I fits, I sits.

I’ve seen a steady increase in his need for physical activity. While he is still a bit wobbly at times and still falls over, he has become such a confident walker. Sometimes his fast walking almost seems like running. We also discovered/taught him how to climb on the couch. We may regret that one in the long run! Oh the fun that has brought. With one cushion removed he is up and all over the couch. We toss things back and forth over the back of the couch. He climbs onto the side tables and stands up! And he can get off the couch as well. We have fun with it.

Spinning the wheel at the playground!

I have also started taking him to the park. We are blessed to have a really nice one 5 minutes from us. He loves the slides, walking around, playing with the wood chips, playing with others, trying to chase after the big kids, and exploring the big kid area. It’s been neat to see him tackle some really big obstacles for his age. As fun as it is, going to the park can sometimes be a bit challenging. More often than not the park is busy and is filled with lots of older kids. Gabe so badly wants to play with the big kids and gets mad when I don’t let him. It’s just not safe having him trail behind much older kids whom we don’t know. We’ve only met a few kids close to his age and he has done really well with them. It’s fascinating to watch them learn how to interact with each other.

Tickles from dad.

We are starting to spend more time in the back yard now that he is walking and balancing so well. Because of this I’ve actually been able to mow the yard and pull weeds and you know, do general maintenance. He likes to sometimes help too.

Naps

The increase in physical activity has helped tremendously with his naps. For a while there it was seeming like he wanted to go down to one but I could tell he really wasn’t ready for it. Our pediatrician reinforced the need to try and keep him at two. Insert several weeks of frustration. But it was a good in that it forced me to change some things up that have ultimately made my life a little bit easier. We are loosely following the 2-3-4 rules: 2 hours after waking, first nap, 3 hours after waking, second nap, 4 hours after waking, bed. In addition to adding in active play (not that he wasn’t playing before but the energy expending/tire a kid out play), I figured out the best nap windows (9-9:30 & 2-3) and have stuck to them. And I have also stopped rocking him to sleep. Yeah, don’t ask… not something I recommend doing for as long as I did. This means when I put him down, 98% of the time he is still awake and ends up walking around and playing in his crib. But I leave him. Sometimes he falls asleep quickly, other times he doesn’t. And if after a certain point he isn’t asleep, I get him up (especially with the afternoon nap, no sleeping past 4!). So now with nap time I get a break whether or not he actually sleeps. Score one for mama’s sanity! While it is great, it still can cause wonky hours and sleep times and sometimes messes up his ability to fall asleep at night. I do still find it challenging to do life around two naps as well. But I believe a well rested baby is important. shrugs I can’t win sometimes.

Bath & Other Things

Full size bath!

Gabe recently got an upgrade in the bath department. While we probably should have done this sooner (didn’t to conserve water), we moved him out of the baby tub and into the full size tub! I can now officially say that he loves taking a bath. He could probably spend an hour in there if you let him. Now we can play in full capacity with his fishing boat that we got for Christmas. Though we’ve been playing with it out of the water for a while too… great for taking things out and putting back in.

It has been really interesting to notice how he is to respond to us. I can say, “Come on, let’s go” or simply walk out of the room, he will (50/50) follow after me. With that he is starting to follow me around. I find it really neat to see the understanding and acknowledgment of what is going on.

Tossed out the window.

For a little bit of humor I share this. For the winter we decided to take the screens off the windows in the living room because of the lack of need to open the windows thus creating a clearer view. But summer decided come and to do a quick stay. So I opened the windows part way, enough to get some air but so that Kitty can’t squeeze through. Late one afternoon Gabe notices the open windows and checks them out. I see him sticking his hand through. No biggie. He’s safe. I go back to doing whatever. Five minutes later I notice him trying to put his sippy cup through the window but it wouldn’t fit. I ask him what he is doing and walk over and see this. His red hammer and a vacuum attachment on the driveway. He was quite proud of his work. I couldn’t help but laugh. Because you know, why not drop something out the window.