Beach Trip

We spent the first part of Thanksgiving week at the beach in Manzanita. It has become quite a tradition for us. We rent the same house and spend time together enjoying the beach, the local shops (especially the yarn store), the hot tub, and quiet time as a family. We have celebrated many anniversaries, got engaged, and now introduced our little guy to the house. It was a special time for us. Gabriel also enjoyed some firsts!


This is part of the wonderful view of the ocean from the deck/hot tub and the living room/dinning room/kitchen area. So gorgeous!

Gabriel got to try out his pack 'n play for the first time. He especially enjoyed talking to his little friends. We were worried about how he'd sleep in a strange place and a new bed... but he did really well!



Gabriel enjoyed lots of floor time with his toys and his Daddy! Podi & Meko were more curious than normal in the tight quarters. Gabriel was rolling and creeping all over the place :)




Gabriel continued trying new solids.



Why me?!
Gabriel isn't a big fan of green beans.

It was unusually cold during this trip (even for November), so we only got down to the beach once and kept it pretty short so Gabriel didn't turn into a popsicle! Despite the cold and the fierce wind, he got to see and hear the ocean for the first time... and take some photos of course :)

Posing with the fam and hasn't quite gotten the hang of the self portrait!

Gabriel, meet sand!



We ran to the car just as the downpour started and got warm



we got some yummy food and G sat in a highchair for the first time at a restaurant
(he really wanted some chips and salsa, who wouldn't?!)

Since it was so unusually cold, we also got snow and ice on this trip! At one point we were iced in and didn't want to brave the super steep 75 yard driveway. We enjoyed introducing Baby G to snow.

Baby G's first snow
He thought it was rather cold!

Who has snow on their nose?!





I love to go to the local yarn store, the T-Spot. We found some super cute little gifts for Baby G, and (of course) some amazing yarn. I picked up a cute pattern and some fun yarn for Baby G's new hat and nearly finished it before heading back to Portland.

Gabriel likes his new hat

Baby G was having so much fun, he wasn't quite ready to head home

The drive home was a little scary. Jonathan forgot to bring the chains, so we had to head home through Astoria (Hwy 26 required chains). Even though the route we chose was lower elevation, the roads were pretty bad. It wasn't very encouraging to see a truck on its side and a few cars in the ditch as we made our way. Thankfully we had a safe drive!

Nursing Update

I recently met a woman who was having a hard time nursing and it took me back to the first few months of nursing Baby G and I realized I never really captured those memories. So I decided to do a little update. There have certainly been a lot of ups and downs in our nursing adventure and every time I think this is going to be "how it is," it changes.

In the beginning, Gabriel nursed for an hour and I pumped for thirty minutes (after every feeding). This realistically left me about an hour (if I was lucky) before I started the whole process again. I made sure I stayed up until at least 1am for my last pumping session to ensure I didn't go more than 6 hours before pumping or nursing - for fear of damaging my milk supply. I had no idea how challenging breast feeding was going to be and I certainly had no idea how much time I would spend on it either.

The process was discouraging because Gabriel didn't latch well, I was sore, my milk came in late, Gabriel didn't reach his birth weight again until about 5 weeks, and the process of nursing and pumping to build up my supply was taking a lot of time and energy. I used to joke that Kaiser was my second home because I practically lived at the lactation office for the first few months. At first I had appointments twice a week because Gabriel wasn't gaining weight fast enough, then weekly as he started to gain more, and then eventually set out on my own. It was both a relief and a little scary to say goodbye that last time. I ended up buying a baby scale so I could track G's weight on my own.

The next phase found Gabriel gaining weight (though he's still a little guy) and me cutting out some of my pumping sessions. I transitioned to pumping only twice a day so I could keep my supply up and build a freezer stash in preparation for returning to work. It was a relief to cut out the pumping sessions, it gave me back some time and really cut back on the dishes I had to wash!

Just when I thought I had it all down, going back to work provided even more challenge. I no longer had time to nurse Gabriel for an hour in the morning before work, so I started cutting Gabriel back to 30 minute nursing sessions. I also had to increase pumping again and pumped twice at work and twice in the evening. My supply was doing well and a this point I had so much freezer stash I decided to relax the 1 am pumping session. Things continued smoothly like that until last month when I got sick. First I caught a cold, then a week later got sick with the stomach flu, and then two weeks later caught another cold... daycare is brutal with the germs (we now refer to G as Lil Petri)! I was dehydrated and tired and missed some pumping/nursing sessions, all of which really affected my supply. I have had to use some of my freezer stash, but am now getting back to normal.

I was excited to pass the 6 month mark and relaxed a little, finally realizing we are doing it! Gabriel is still a slow eater and pretty much refuses to nurse in public, but I've accepted that and we're halfway to our goal of nursing until Gabriel turns 1. Fingers crossed!

Freezer Stash 250 ounces

 Gabriel's Dishes (and that's before returning to work) 



Baby Gabriel's 6 Month Slide Show

Gabriel turned 6 months old during Thanksgiving week. We were at the beach (blog post coming soon) celebrating our 14 year anniversary and had a great time. Gabriel must have gotten the memo because all of a sudden he started acting like a grown-up 6 month old. He rolled over (tummy to back and back to tummy) every time we laid him on the floor, he started sitting by himself for several minutes at a time, got really talkative, and grabs at everything! It's amazing how much he has changed and grown in only 6 months. He is such a great little guy. Enjoy!

Halloween

Halloween fell on a Sunday this year, so instead of one day of Halloween, we had a whole weekend! Gabriel even dressed up in two different costumes.

Friday
Gabriel celebrated Halloween with his daycare friends on Friday. All the babies got dressed up in their little outfits and set out on their parade! We traveled around to several offices in the building. It was so fun to watch everyone's reactions to the little costumed babes and the parents enjoyed all of the yummy candy.

Mama and Baby G stopped for a photo op before heading out to daycare. G's onesie says "Mommy is a Rock Star" and he sported black baby legs with silver stars, little sneakers, and his rockstar hoodie! Mama went as a rockstar, of course.

Gabriel was entranced by a snow globe on the desk in this office. The office staff was amused with his little costume and his cuteness, of course! The other babies were pretty cute too: a pumpkin, a puppy, and Yoda. One of the toddlers was a little gym coach, complete with wrist bands and a little moustache!

The InsideTrack daycare crew!
Mama & G, Laura & Aven, Sharon & Lillian (& little Violet in the pumpkin belly!)

After work that day, Laura, Sharon, and I went over and picked up the babies to take them to the InsideTrack Halloween party - the festivities continued there!

Melanye & Brady, Lindsey & Beckett, Mama & G
Love the paleontologist and the dinosaur :)

Baby G & Brady are destined to be bestfirends
They are getting off to a great start by holding hands - so cute!

Lindsey & Matt dressed as hounds to match Baby Beckett as the fox - how cute is that?!

Saturday

We started out with breakfast at Cup & Saucer. Jonathan decided that it was his turn to dress as a rockstar with Baby G, so they went hardcore for breakfast.

Saturday evening we went to Debbie, Toby, & Ethan's Halloween party. This required a costume change for G & Daddy... as they transformed into scurvy pirates! Argh!



G is a little more interested in eating his sword

Our first Halloween Family portrait :)

2 pirates, a rockstar, a steam punk lady & a baby

Apocolyptic Toby

Steam Punk Debbie

A steam punk apocolypse!



Ethan took his job as a security guard very seriously
He stood at his post as we pulled up and made sure we parked correctly in the driveway
He also radioed Toby to announce our arrival :)