Raspberries and LOL'ing

Gunner has an array of noises that he makes. Sometimes he coos. Sometimes he sighs. Sometimes he burps. Sometimes he cries. Wait a second ... that sounds like a Dr. Seuss book or something.

Anyway, lately he has added blowing raspberries and laughing to his repertoire.

I think he is still in the earlier stages of blowing raspberries. It doesn't quite have that farty sound to it yet, but he does stick his little tongue out and make cute little mini raspberries. We tried to catch some of it on video.

He also smiles (a lot -- he is such a happy baby) and a few times he has laughed (or close to it). Once when he had the hiccups and Papa bounced him on his knee making hiccup sounds; another time when I kept calling him a scallywag over and over. "You ... scallywag!" I got that from Mrs. Doubtfire, a fine film starring Robin Williams in drag.

Then there was the time when Aunt Allison kept saying "dasso ... dee-double-oh-gee good" (aka the jingle for KFC with a Bradford twist). And by the way -- who were the marketing geniuses that came up with THAT jingle? No matter how annoying, Gunner just loved it and smiled every time she said it. He'll probably be hooked on KFC when he grows up.

Decorating Our Tree

The day after Thanksgiving, we skipped the Black Friday mayhem and stayed home to watch some college football and decorate our Christmas tree. That's usually when our tree goes up every year, right after Thanksgiving. Any earlier just doesn't seem right.

I thought Gunner would be excited about seeing the tree go up and all the colorful lights, but he took a nap instead. Oh well. It gave us time to finish decorating and clean up a little bit.

But he did discover it later on that night after we plopped him down in his Bumbo seat (that's the blue chair thingy in the photo). He sort of just stared at it for a while. Probably wondering where all the presents were!

Gunner’s first Thanksgiving

   Sure, we had a barbecue for Labor Day.

   Gunner even got to dress up as a penguin for Halloween and go trick-or-treating at Rick and Karen’s.

   But we really didn’t get a chance to celebrate our first real holiday with Gunner until last week when the whole family got together for Thanksgiving.

   Thanksgiving has always been a big holiday with our family. It got even bigger when Aisha joined in on the fun several years ago. We’ve always had plenty to be thankful for, but man, never anything like this.

   What a day.

   We made our way over to Nan and Pa’s house with Oma Dhani, my sisters, the boys, my Aunt Pat, Grandma Margaret and cousin. We even got the pleasure of a visit from my cousin from Chicago, Erin, her husband Brian and their two sons Nathan and Cullen.

   So much fun, so much food.

   Gunner was the life of the party. And he behaved so well.

GG and Gunner

   And as much as Nan wanted to give him some mashed potatoes, it’s just not time. Gunner’s first Thanksgiving meal came in a bottle. 

The sweet sounds of bedtime

   Every night, we get Gunner ready for bed at about the same time. First he gets a bath, then he we get his pajamas on and get him ready for his last feeding before bedtime. It’s a perfect time to get him to unwind and relax a bit.

   And lately, he’s been getting a little bit of extra help — a little bit of music.

   No, not from tone deaf dad or the delicate soothing sounds from mom, it’s the soft sounds from the stereo that have been a favorite in Gunner’s room.

   An awesome CD from Nan and Pa that was personally made just for Gunner starts it off. Some lullaby standards made just for Gunner with his name in the songs and everything. It’s pretty awesome.

   Follow that up with lullaby renditions of U2 and Journey (courtesy of Jerry and Lisa) and there are times when Aisha and I get caught singing along and don’t want to leave the room. I never thaought that a xylophone, chimes and a glockenspiel could make “Don’t Stop Believin’” any better. Who knew?

   It’s a perfect way to end the day.

   He loves it now and he’ll appreciate it later.

Roll Over. Sit. Stay.

Uh-oh. It's happening. He's starting to get mobile! Well, not really. But sort of.

Gunner can now roll over onto his side when he's on his back. He has yet to flip all the way over, but it will just be a matter of time. He just hasn't figured out what to do with his arm yet.

He also is consistently holding his head up during tummy time. Although after about 5 minutes or so of this and he gets tired and either gets fussy or just lays his down. So we probably don't have to worry about him crawling around just yet.

Back to work!

Today was Veterans Day, the day we honor our military veterans. It was also the day I went back to work full-time.

I chose to go back on a Thursday. People say it is better to come back mid-week so you don't have to endure a whole week right off the bat. I think that was pretty sound advice.

It wasn't as difficult to leave the house as I'd imagined it would be. And throughout the morning I wasn't nearly as sad as I'd imagined I'd be. My morning actually went by really fast. Before I knew it, it was 11:45 and I was out the door and on my way home for lunch.

I really didn't worry at all because I knew that Gunner was in good hands at home with his Nana. If we had to send him to a day care with strangers I probably would have been a little more worried and a lot more frantic as the day wore on.

When I got home for lunch, Gunner was happy as a clam, taking a nap while Nan ate lunch. He woke up soon after I got there, and I got to cuddle him and tell him how much I missed him!

My afternoon back at work also went by really fast. It helped that I had plenty of work to do and a couple of afternoon meetings. When 5 o'clock rolled around, I was pleasantly surprised at how well the day had gone for me, and I made my way home, excited to see my baby.

At home, Nana said that little Gunner had some tummy troubles in the afternoon. He was fussy and didn't nap well. He welcomed his Nana to her new job with a giant stinky diaper load. I'm sure she forgave him though.

So all in all, day 1 back to work went fairly well for all of us. And we'll start it all over again tomorrow. But at least it will be Friday!