Walking 16 months.

And we have liftoff. As I thought for a while, this kid is going to just up & be off. He is sure of his balance & what he does. I mean this kid has been jumping on the bed unassisted for more than two months!

We went across the road to say hi at training. He must see his 'aunty' Trish or he gets a bit cranky. This day she squatted down to say g'day, & he stood and walked 10 solid steps to her.
Then he just kept walking & walking.

It's cute to watch him mosey around the house with his toys. It's not that he's into more mischief, not at all. He's just enjoying being upright. He's been climbing since he could crawl so he's been a goer since the start.

Hard to believe 1 year ago I had my eyes lasered. Gosh that was the best thing I ever did. Here I am packing for another southern trip. It's nice to have an adventure.

Weeks up to 33, Nearly 8 months

Just tonight I was thinking gosh I have been slack! Christmas has been and gone, Gabe's first. He had fun.

Tonight shower was fun. All in (enough shower heads for all) I decided to try the collapsable baby bath again. Well after Gabe was soaped and showered up, in he went on the floor of the shower in his cute little bath. Him and his closest 6 bath toys. Why, well I needed to try new tactics to keep a rolling wriggling baby a bit more occupied while I got my shower in. What can I say, it worked! He had a blast sitting there splashing and playing & I got my shower in.

Yup our little smiley man is nearly 8 months old. Where has the time gone? Oh yeah, feeding, playing, changing, bathing said little smiley man.

Now he's been into his food. Yup he loves his food. He spends a lot of time eating himself, I give him some cucumbers, tomato, carrot sticks. It was amazing to watch his hand / eye coordination as he tried his hardest to grab at the sticks. Now, he's a pro! Roast chicken bits, rissoles, anything he can grab and suck and gum. Yep gum, no teeth yet. After he's had a play he usually happy for a few mouthfuls of baby food. But its all quickly down hill from there as he is soon ready for bed again.

Om Nom Nom... he has yet to learn the benefits of swallowing.

Month 7-8 Here we go!

Well finally we can say since Christmas, we have a commando crawler. He tried hard, doesn't go far. Something that he is certainly rectifying lol.

Now Gabe is exploring beyond the decorator mat on the floor. So far the coffee table has been a place of interest.

Then there was the bath mat, once great at staying rolled up in his towels while I finished my shower. Hmmm not so now as he wants to be right over the drain watching and playing with the water as it drains away. SO there must be something I could do... Right out came the collapsable bath, now he is happily playing in his little tub with a turtle, dolphin and crab for playmates while I have free time. It works for now :)

I'm free!.....

Now with all the wiggling comes busters. Yup headbanging, lip busting, good old accidents. We have started having our fair share here. Meet his first boo boo. Head contact with bedside table. Nothing a bit of mummy cuddles couldn't fix.


This month also saw his first fever thanks to a nasty virus. He was a little trooper, happy throughout. But geez kid mummy didn't like the temps of 39 & 40 degrees!  We even loved the post viral rash which left him a bit spotty for a couple of days.



Not sunburn...


Right now mister irresistable is sleeping before his dinner. Can't believe he is 8 months old now, where does time go?

Mr Happy :)

Week 16

Week 19

Week 22

Well we are certainly making sounds, lots of sounds, all sounding like raspberries!

Happy, sad, cranky, it all involves his raspberries.

Gabe confidently pulls out his dummy and pops it back in, he thinks he's so clever.

We also had our first swim in the pool this week. It was rather windy, but Gabe was wearing his rashie, cute little speedo's and obligatory pool sun hat. He thought the whole event was rather fun.

He's been sleeping well both day and night. Loving those long nights. It's getting warmer though, so we've had the air con on at least once with the humidity and northerly winds not getting into the bedroom.

Sunday -
Well I rearranged the furniture in the living room a little so Gabe had a bigger play area on the mat. Cheekily he decided to have another go at rolling from his tummy to his back. He had the biggest grin on his face when he looked at me.

Week 21

Raspberries please. These have made their arrival with lots of dribbly practice. He is slowly changing his repirtoire of sounds and getting louder.

Week 20 - 5 Months old!

Week 19

Home again!

Only to have his dreaded needles on Monday! Yuck. This time I put some anesthectic patches on his chubby little legs hoping to numb the sting a litte. It worked.

The rest of the week we spent pretty quietly at home. I was just reenforcing his day naps after Gabe had too much fun for 2 weeks in Brisbane. Where day naps were not important enough, Gabe had too much to look at.

Week 18

Moved from Gold Coast to meet up with my lovely June mummies that live around Brisbane. It was so nice catching up with them and their bubba's. Can't believe 4 hours flew by, we didn't want to stop. But we had to mosey on.

Gabe & I stayed in the city. As I was off to have my eyes assessed for eye surgery the next day.

Week 17

Dougal was here for the weekend.

Monday we parted ways, Dougal hired a car to drive to Rockhampton, Gabe and I headed south for Brisbane. He travelled really well, sleeping a lot. I had had enough by Gin Gin, it was dark, very smokey and poor Gabe had had a long day. So we pulled into a motel and Gabe enjoyed his bedtime routine of shower, feed and bed. By the time he was asleep, my dinner arrived. So we all went to bed happy. Ready for the rest of the trip the next day.

Week 16 - 4 months old!

Well this week we are eagerly awaiting Dougal's arrival.

Friday we pick him up. Gabe & I collected him from the airport. It was so exciting to see him.
First stop was to the Austral (pub) for a lovely steak lunch. On our way home we promised him some whale sightings from the front deck, the whales did not let us down.

Week 15

Wow I have a voice and an opinion! My vocals are really becoming interesting.

So much so Monday night I found my giggle. Mum was acting like such a noodle I couldn't help but laugh.

Then Mum was also mucking around with the camera, Monday she had a lovely friend come by and help take lots of great pictures.

Week 14

Week 13

I am 3 months old! Week 12

Milestone this week! Gabe is 3 months old, wow where has the time gone?

We have noticed that Gabe is now reaching out to the hanging toys off his capsule and giving them a belt, his favourite yellow ducky and the green turtle. It's the poor turtle on the left he is giving a good left hook! We are wondering if he's going to be a southpaw.

Gabe is so proud of himself when he belts the turtle, he give a little satisfied exclaimation when he bops it.


Gabes two hanging friends, ducky is a favourite. Green turtle gets bopped regularly.


Tuesday
Tuesday with the mummies walking group leaves us a bit tuckered out by the end of the day. I didn't get to cross the road for PT training, Gabe needed to be convinced he had to have a decent nap. Freckles was again outside my bedroom window squeaking at 20 to 5, she really thinks we should be going across the road to training. Poor poochie. Thursday seems to work so far during the week. We will work out this Tuesday walking group yet.

His cute PUL (waterproof cover)



Gabe wearing one of his fitted minky's, so soft and fluffy!




Gabe in another MCN's, one that's more daddy friendly.

 Wednesday
Gabe was weighed in at the clinic on Wednesday 12 weeks and 4 days. He is now 6.2kg, 60 cm long and his head is 40cm. The MCHN's were loving his smiles and he was busy checking out the room and looking from nurse to nurse. (we had 2!) They loved his MCN's (Modern Cloth Nappies) they had never seen a bub in one before. Today he was wearing his lovely soft minky's, so nice to run your fingers over. Today was a 'cloth' day, and as we were heading out, I didn't resort to the disposables, we just packed our MCN's and wet bag for the dirty's and headed out. It was successful! So we try to spend our time in cloth nappies. My last fronteer is the night nappy. Imagine a slightly bulkier version of the pretty MCN's Gabe wears. They have a waterproof outter cover over the top. Fingers crossed we have a successful night and no leaks.

We are really sitting up well now, Gabe regularly gets propped up on the pillows and he sits there and chats away to me. He is growing up so fast! The weather is warming up nicely too & I can get away with him relaxing in his singles and t-shirts now.




Singlet wearing, you can't see the MCN in this piccie.




Hello there!



Week 11 - I have handsies!.... Great new discoveries.

Gabe has discovered his hands. Yeah they've always been there, but now he KNOWS they are there. All week he's been busy trying to put one or both of them in his mouth as he builds up his control of them, and stops bopping himself on his nose. After all that learning he gets mighty tired.




Morning Zzzzz's



He's reaching out to those bright toys that hang off his capsule bar now. Garreth & I watched him do this, he was so pleased with himself, he would crack a big smile and nearly laugh.




Today while I sweated at the outdoor PT group in the park across from home, Gabe played happily in the pram near us. Finally it wasn't blowing a gale, but a really lovely afternoon to be out. He had plenty of smiles for all the ladies after the session. I didn't keel over. Good bubba!

Frecks loves being in the thick of the family.

Whales!


We saw whales from the front deck this week. Gabe & I were having our usual quiet morning in bed, when Carol (our neighbour) called out at the window, 'quick there are whales'. So out we ran and there they were. The whales were breaching, and tail flapping straight out in front of the house! Not much past the shark nets. What more did we want on a perfect morning? Sorry no pictures, too busy enjoying the view with Gabe.


Here's some cute pictures of the little guy, posing as he does every morning.



Mr Serious





This is how the little guy was sitting! I did not pose him. lol

 I sent a couple of MMS's to my brother in the USA as in the morning we share reasonable hours to chat. Dougal sent back a couple of pictures of his little ones, Donovan and Naomi.

Donovan



Little Miss Naomi

 At the end of the week, we dropped by work. As I had to catch up with my OIC (Officer in charge) and of course she wanted Gabe cuddles. So did a few people on station. Gabe smiled and chatted away to everyone.

Sharing the love!

10 is a magic number.

Off to our first Babes in Arms session at the cinema, we met up with some other friends. Of course that included Kristy and her little one, Gabes playmate Justice. Bad Teacher had us laughing, Kristy had mastered the silent laugh as Justice had fallen sound asleep. Gee going out for a movie or catching up/shops then lunch and coming home fills in a lot of the day! Unreal where the time flies.

We have discovered our hands. Gabe has finally found his two hands and now he enjoys stroking and rubbing his little hands together. He has always been a toucher and stroker, but now he understands they are his hands now. He's a very tactile little thing.


Well today I was rewarded with my first beautiful smile whilst feeding Gabe. He looked up at me, his eyes twinkling and the biggest gummy smile. So precious!

Tomorrow we are off to pound out along the blue river walk trail with Kristy & Justice. Go Pram power! Then I have my Group outdoor PT session in the green park in front of home. Oh the pain! lol.

BTW he loves wearing his MCN's (Modern Cloth Nappies for the uninitiated)

The cool hippy dude.



Daddy thinks he's a funny bloke.



Getting bigger.

Week 1 - Welcome to the fold, when 2 become 3.

Home from the hospital, do these 0000's look huge on me?



First bath, not a smashing success, but it gets better.



Ahhhh bed.

Smoothing out now.

It's hard being new.

Tired Pappa!

Already couch chilling.

Classic Gabe pose.

Good sleeper.

All dressed at 7 days, off to meet our Doctor.

It's hard to fill out new born clothing.

Ahhh the end of a hard day out shopping, chilling on the couch.

Week 2 - getting to know you.