Gabriel at 5 Months Old!

He gets cuter and cuter every day!!!

Likes:
-One specific thing that I wrote down is Gabriel liked being held in the standing position

New skills:
-Rubbed his eyes when he was tired
-Rolled & chewed on his tongue

Eating:
At 20 weeks old, a week before he turned 5 months, Gabe started solid food! I wrote in more detail in his 6-Month post. In general, he was a good eater as always!

Sleeping:
Gabe woke up around 8:00 every morning. He took a morning nap and an afternoon nap, lasting anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 1/2 hours! Most nights he was down around 9:30pm but wasn't sleeping through the night anymore. *sigh*... He woke up hungry ~12:00am even after encouraging him to eat a lot in the few hours before bedtime. On nights I worked (I was doing night shift at the time), I still nursed him right before leaving, then he ate 1 or 2 6-ounce bottles for Perry before going down for the night. Often times he would wake up at midnight and eat again. Sometimes he would be hungry by 4:00am, other times not until 6:00am. Or other times he will skip the midnight feeding and wake up at 2:00am and then up for the day at 8:00am. Each night was different!

Hair & Eyes:
His cradle cap finally cleared up a few weeks after he turned 4 months old.

Randoms:
-Looking back through pictures from the month helps my memory. Funny story: While I got Gabriel's bath water ready in the sink, Perry undressed him in his room. As soon as they walked back into the kitchen, Gabe started to pee! Neither one of us knew what to do! Perry was already holding him facing forward so he just held him out and let him finish peeing on the floor... We were laughing so hard, I didn't even think to grab a washcloth or towel to catch it, but I did make them stand there so I could take pictures (that cannot be shared!) before cleaning up the mess!!
-Gabriel was 5 months old for Perry's 1st Father's Day and the 4th of July!!

FIRST Father's Day!

He had been thinking about it for a while. As in, for several years. Perry wanted a tattoo. It's just so... permanent. Well, he chose the most meaningful, forever thing- our son's name- designed it himself, and got his very first tattoo on his 1st ever Father's Day!!!! {And yes, he will add each of our future children's names, too!}

Final product: hot, tatted hubby and the cutest baby in the world!

Nervous? Nahh, he's brave!

Getting his first tattoo was a good experience. The artist was nice and very talented. I wasn't surprised that Perry tolerated it well! He was so excited when he saw it finished and couldn't wait to get back to our baby boy! We picked Gabriel up from Mom & Dad W's house and spent the afternoon just relaxing at home. A few hours later, they stopped by our house so we took some pictures of Gabe, Perry & Phil! Three generations of Whitaker men!!!

After an outfit change, I did a photo shoot with my two guys!

These are funny to me because 1) Gabriel's face in the first one, and 2) Perry is watching closely where Gabe's hand (with sharp fingernails!) is going...

When it was nap time for little man, I took some more pictures of just my hunny.

And that was Perry's 1st Father's Day in pictures!!! He is such a wonderful Daddy. I consider myself blessed to be his wife and partner through parenthood!

Nonny's Surprise 60th!

Perry and Dad Whitaker planned a great family party for Mom Whitaker's 60th birthday! Unbeknownst to her, Cassy, Will, Lauren & Emily came to town, which was probably the biggest surprise! To get her away from the house, I asked for her help shopping for Perry's 1st Father's Day; we went to the mall for a few hours with Gabriel... She didn't even notice the balloons on the mailbox when we turned onto her street. She was so shocked to see her whole family standing in the driveway with party hats on!! Happy 60th Birthday, Nonny- we love you!!

Lighting the candles on the sheet cake I made (using my Mom's recipe!)

Nonny's beloved grandchildren

Everyone, including Creepy Perry! This picture makes me laugh so hard!!!

Funnies About Nursing

http://whatshouldwecallnursing.tumblr.com/

A friend of mine from high school who is also a nurse and a new mom shared this on Facebook- it's so true!! {please read the disclaimer at the top of the site. It applies to me, too!}

Meeting The Durrs

My cousin Allison graduated from high school and Gabriel got to meet a lot of the extended Durr family at her party: Papa, Uncle Tom & Aunt Lorraine, Aunt Kathie, Uncle Bill & Aunt Beth, Aunt Amy & Uncle Mark, and cousins Caitlin & Allison!!!

Allie, the graduate, loves babies!

Gabriel & {Great} Papa meeting for the first time!!!

Papa thought Gabe might like a bite of his bagel!

4 generations

Smiley boy - {Great} Uncle Bill - {Great} Aunt Amy & {Great} Uncle Tom (3 of my Dad's siblings)

Not a good picture of G, but look how happy Aunt Lorraine is holding him!

♥ ♥ ♥

My FIRST Mother's Day!

I celebrated my first EVER Mother's Day on Gabriel's 4-month birthday!!! It was a wonderful day full of emotions. I love this sweet little man who made me a "Mommy" more than words can describe (if you're a Mom, you know what I mean! It's one of those things that you just can't fully understand until you live it).

Perry took every opportunity to make me feel special and have a memorable day!!! He was so excited about the gift he made for me that he showed me a day early- he compiled a video slideshow of Gabriel from birth to present!! The song he chose was You Inspire Me by Warren Barfield. It was beautiful & heartfelt, and I love that it's something I will always have to remember my first Mother's Day. On Sunday, he did a wonderful job planning things out; I felt like a queen and could not stop smiling all day!

Morning
He brewed coffee for me (not unusual- he does this almost daily) while I searched for my gifts hidden all around the house. There was a card from him and a card from Gabriel (perfect, I love that) and purple SkullCandy ear buds, 2 dancing games for PS3 Move, Mary Kay cleanser, and a case for my tablet. The tablet was technically an early Mother's Day gift, too!

Phone pics from the morning! Gabe was not happy that I was taking pictures instead of picking him up.

After opening my presents, we headed off to church! Deb & Phil go to the same church so we were able to spend some time with Perry's Mom for Mother's Day also. We love you, Mom W!! We took pictures outside before heading home for the next surprise!

Afternoon
Right when we got home from church, Perry said he needed to run back out somewhere and left Gabriel & I at home. He told me to change out of my skirt into something more comfortable and be ready to go. What was he up to?? He wasn't gone long and seemed sort of rushed as we all left the house again together. As we turned into a local park, I said excitedly, "A walk?!!" and "Did you bring the stroller?" but he says "No...(pause) we're having a picnic!" Woohoo!!!! I LOVE picnics but it's not something Perry is really into so we don't have them very often- or ever. Turns out he was in a hurry because it was supposed to rain later that afternoon! He had been checking the hourly weather updates; thankfully, we didn't get rained out! It was so much fun being with my hubby & my baby, sitting out in the grassy field on a blanket, enjoying the outdoors, eating the Jersey Mikes subs, corn chips & Coke (that he picked up when he left by himself). Oh, I should add that he had everything in a basket and gave me a bouquet of flowers! So sweet.

Evening
We spent the evening in Chapel Hill with my Mom and stepdad Paul. We made her a travel mug personalized with black & whites of us and her (she's holding it up in a picture below). Gabriel gave her a bouquet of flowers! It was fun being together and celebrating both of us being Mothers! We love you Momma!!

I will never forget my first Mother's Day  ♥  It was perfect.