Equilibrium

We realized that Gabriel reached a milestone: he's now been born longer than he was in utero. Actually, we calculated that he reached that equilibrium on April 14th. About that time, he was outgrowing his baby car seat, and we bought a new one yesterday. It's really nice - wide enough that he can stretch out a little bit, easily adjustable, and a stylish pattern. We were really excited to put it in the Jeep. We also added a pad underneath to protect the seat and hold some toys. He's got a rattle, snacks, and a book in there right now.

The Chipster has been doing so many great new things lately, like sleeping peacefully, waving, clapping when we say, "Yeay!", and dancing, as well as some not-so-great things, like drinking Windex (yesterday he found a Q-Tip soaked in it and started sucking on it), but one of our favorite new things is that he's started singing. When Mommy sings to him or there's a good song on the radio, he sings too. It's may be the most beautiful thing we've ever heard.

We went running again yesterday. We're not formally training for the Peachtree, since it's nearly impossible to do so with a baby who may or may not be up for a run on any given day, but we're trying to exercise as much as we can. The housework is suffering quite a bit because we've been spending more time outside, but the messier the apartment gets, the more we want to be outside. It's an upward spiral!

After we went running and before church, we stopped at Wolf Camera to pick up some photos we'd had reprinted to replace ones we'd given away as well as the photos from the camera Jack sent us from Iraq. The pictures are really interesting, and we got a big surprise when we saw the last two photos on the roll. Jack had taken bullets and spelled out, "HAPPY B-DAY PATTY" on his blanket, including the magazines for good measure. That has got to be the most unique birthday greeting we've ever seen!

Today, we spent the bulk of the day with Steve (and later, with Kelly too). We went to the park, where Matthew and Steve threw the football and Patty relaxed in the Jeep with the little napper, and then we went to the batting cages and hit a few balls. Later, we ordered Thai and Chinese from Uncle Wong's, a really good place that does delivery. We found out today that it's affiliated with Thai Palate, one of our favorite restaurants in Midtown, so it seems we're pretty consistent with our taste.

Patty's continuing to work on her ciabatta. The two loaves today were pretty good. One rose for too long each of its two rising periods, so it ended up a little too light and airy. The other looked about perfect, except that we forgot to let it cook for 5 minutes with the door propped open a bit at the end to make it nice and crusty. As a result, it was a little soft, but the density was perfect and it looked like a textbook loaf - a special shaping technique gives it the distinctive wrinkles in the top of the crust. We gave that one to Steve and Kelly in thanks for the Bread Bible, so we don't know how it tastes.

Here is a link to the whole roll of photos that Jack sent us. They each have a description, which you can see if you view them in full size (thumbnails don't include descriptions).

Nine Month Checkup

Gabriel had his 9-month checkup today with Dr. Barfield, and for once, he didn't have any immunizations. His measurements:

• weight: 18 lbs 4 oz - 25th percentile
• height: 28 3/4 in - 50th percentile
• head circumference: 46 1/2 cm

He got the go-ahead to eat anything we want to give him except (Dad A pay attention here!) chocolate, nuts, and fish. He can even drink whole milk, but he shouldn't because he should be getting his milk from Mommy. His bite size should be the size of the end of his little finger, which is pretty darn small. This is exciting, because we can introduce him to all sorts of things. He isn't too interested in anything but his pureed organic foods, mother's milk, and the occasional teething biscuit, but at least if he wants to try things, he can. He can also start getting his nutrients from a wider variety of sources, which is healthier. We gave him a tiny bite of cheese, but he wasn't interested in having any more.

Since every baby we know snacks a lot, we asked if there is any medical necessity for snacking. We don't want him to be a snacker, because that is associated with a higher incidence of obesity and related health problems. Dr. Barfield said that he totally agrees with us and that ideally, he should eat 6 small meals a day, even though that isn't really practical for most people. Gabriel eats 5 meals a day, and sometimes a 6th tiny meal of veggies, so we're right on track.

Since there was a scale at the pediatrician's office, Patty took the opportunity to find that she is within 3 1/2 pounds of her estimated pre-pregnancy weight. With our eating and running schedule what it is, we predict a lot more weight loss in the near future.

When we got back, we went out to Piedmont Park to run. We did about the same today as Patty did yesterday, about 2 miles or so. On the way back, we grabbed some Flying Biscuit - the F.B. breakfast for Matthew and the devil burger (veggie burger) for PA. It really hit the spot. We found out, via various postings on the wall of F.B., that our favorite street performer who comes right by our apartment most days around 1:00 pm has a name: "Baton Bob" Jamerson, or the Ambassador of Mirth. We've never talked to him, because we thought he was crazy, but apparently he's quite sane. We're going to be sure to say hi next time he comes by. Maybe we'll even get a picture for our blog.

Next on the agenda was tutoring for P. and some Michigan baseball vs. Ohio State (ohhowihate...) for the boys. Tutoring went really well, and Michigan won, 11-3. It was a good night. Gabriel ate really well and was a lot of fun tonight. He kept us cracking up, and he fell asleep with hardly a peep. Amazing!

Our Social Butterfly

Today, Gabriel took his mommy running at Piedmont Park. It was a nice day for a run, and we got back just in time to miss the drizzle. Patty's new running shoes, Mr. and Mrs. Brooks, are treating her very well. Mrs. Brooks is doing a good job of correcting the overpronation of the right foot. Pushing the stroller, we only went a couple of miles before getting worn out, but it was a total body workout.

When we got back, we had a package waiting from Mom and Dad K. It was a canopy for our Kelty baby carrier. It's going to be extremely useful and has some really cool features. It's lightweight but has a rain shield that can fold down if it's raining or fold up if it's nice, side panels that stow in the inside top of the canopy if it's not raining, and netting in front, back, and at the top of the sides to protect against the sun. This is going to allow us to hike any day, rain or shine, and also to go camping when we aren't sure of the weather.

After playing for a while, listening to his newest CD (which he loves), and eating lunch, Gabriel took a very long nap. He cried before he went to sleep, but it was still better than it had been for so long. He got up, nursed, and got dressed to go out on the town.

We went to the Post-sponsored happy hour at Acapulco Grille and Cantina, just a block from our apartment. We each had a drink and some snacks, and we got to talk to a lot of people, some we knew, and some we didn't. Gabriel was the star of the show, and it was almost like having a babysitter - our friends Suzanne, Tanya, and Isi took turns playing with him, and we got to drink and converse. It was fun. He was even more social then he's ever been. He reached out for everyone who stopped to say hi. A man named Juan recognized us from church and stopped to say hi, and Gabriel didn't want Mommy to take him away from him. Juan's friend came by, and Gabriel instantly reached out for her to hold him for a while, and then we wanted to go back to Juan. Eventually, Mommy convinced him to come back.

Suzanne taught Gabriel to wave, and we were amazed. He's never waved before. He's also lately started saying Dada and Mama when we ask him to, and yesterday, he learned to climb. We turned around when he was standing in his playpen, and he had pulled himself halfway up the side. His feet were about 6 inches above the floor of the playpen. He's become quite good at crawling, even though he uses his stomach, and a couple of times, he's sat up from laying down, most recently this morning. He's really making great strides, and we're excited about all of the new things he is learning.

We finally got smart a couple of days ago and replaced the contents of the front of his favorite bathroom drawer with blocks. Now when he wanders into the bathroom, he comes back chewing on a block and not bath salts. [That's actually happened. They were blue.] We're still working on making a baby-friendly apartment, and little by little, we're making progress.

We added a pretty neat feature to our blog, but we're not sure yet if it works on all browsers. It's a favicon, which is an icon that appears next to the title of the page in the address window at the top of the browser. You can drag this icon to your desktop to create a link to our webpage, which is quicker than opening a browser, going to the bookmarks list, and clicking on our address... as if the 15 seconds it takes to do that was really slowing you down! Anyway, the icon is a picture of Gabriel, of course, and we think it's a really neat feature.

Church, Church, and Softball

Gabriel had Tender Spirits playgroup today, which is hosted at our church. On our way in, we noticed that there was yellow and white bunting over the entryway in honor of our new pope. Playgroup was fun; one of Gabriel's friends, Patrick, was there. His mommy called us yesterday to let us know they'd be there, so it was nice to see them.

We found out that the moderator of the group, Julie Duncan, who is one of the two lactation consultants at Piedmont Hospital and who visited us when Gabriel was born, is from Sylvania, Ohio. Since Matt used to live there and lots of people we know still do, we are bound to have common acquaintances, although we couldn't find any today. We'll try again next time.

After playgroup, we stopped in to the Cathedral for a quick prayer for our new Holy Father, and there wasn't anyone in there except three people decorating the altar with flowers. Patty asked what they were doing, and a very kind British woman named Charlotte said that they were offering flowers to Mary in thanks and that there would be a mass at 5:30 pm. She cut Gabriel three little flowers from the arrangement, red, white, and yellow, and he immediately chose the red one and gently held it until we got back to the car.

Since Matt found out that his game wasn't until 8:00 pm, we decided that Patty and Gabriel could attend mass and still have time for a family trip to Willy's for tacos before the game. On the way into mass, Patty was interviewed by 11 Alive news. The reporter asked all sorts of questions, like, "How do you feel about the new pope?" and "Why was it important for you to come to church today?" Patty answered the best she could, and honestly, she'd thought of her answer to the latter in advance, guessing that since the news seemed to always be reporting from our church, they'd catch us sooner or later; they always ask that question. Anyway, she was so nervous that she was still shaking an hour and a half later. They also videotaped P & G entering the church, and there was another camera (for the webcast) on them as they walked up to get communion.

Since mass was from 5:30 to 6:30, we didn't see the broadcast, and that interview didn't air on the 11:00 broadcast, so we've contacted the station to see whether it aired and whether we can get a copy of the early evening broadcast.

Matt played really well at his game. His season batting average is 1.000, and we hope that he keeps it that way. He had two doubles and a walk, scored one run, and made a couple of fantastic plays at first base. He also sacrificed his ankle to stop the ball on a rocket of a throw from second. We are compiling a spreadsheet this season of his stats. That will be a fun project. We had a great time tonight, and Gabriel loved every second of the game. It got a little cooler as the sun went down, so we put Matt's work shirt on Gabriel, and it was a little loose, as you can see in the photo. All of the players thought the Chipster was really cool, and Jason and "Papa Ray" had a blast playing with him.

The Intimidators lost 18-10 in 6 innings (game called due to time), but they looked really good. We hear that they lost last week too while we were out of town, but considering they were playing with 8 guys, it was pretty good that it was a close game.

Tonight, Gabriel fell asleep without even a peep. We think that his sleep problems are getting better. At least, we hope so. For his 6 month birthday, he started sleeping through the night. Maybe for his 9 month birthday, he's started falling asleep voluntarily. That would be wonderful.

More About Our Trip

We forgot something yesterday about Patty's birthday - before the run, she had to take a nap. We hear that's common for old folks... We couldn't remember what it was that had delayed the run; we hear memory loss is common too...

Saturday, we went to Babies 'R' Us to shop for Tracey's and Jeremy's baby shower. We got Aiden a Snugli baby carrier and an outfit with - what else? - an airplane design. Of course, he got a helicopter outfit from his grandma and grandpa. We'll have to make sure he understands that fixed wing aircraft are where it's at. We followed that with a trip to Ikea, where we bought half the store (and left it in Virginia because we couldn't fit anything in our luggage). Our sole purpose in going there was to get a high chair, because the one we want isn't available by catalog or internet, but it was out of stock, of course. We got the neatest cover for it, though. It makes the high chair look like a throne. Here is a photo of the high chair and cover.

We all (we three plus Dad, Gail, and Mike) went to the second-ever Washington Nationals home game. We had seats high up in the stadium behind the right field foul pole, but we could see everything, and we had a great time watching, eating ballpark food, and keeping score. The guy behind us consulted us on a few questions about statistics, so we felt pretty cool. Gabriel got a really great new hat, and we didn't have too difficult of a time getting through the crowds on the way there or back. It was remarkably civil. Three boys who'd ridden behind us on the train made a spectacle of themselves by running around and around the top tier of the stadium with painted chests ("N", "AT", and "S" - the big guy got "AT"), starting the wave. They were cute kids in their late teens. Washington won, 9-2. They looked good out there. Funniest thing overheard: "Hey Dad, you work in a church, and his last name is Church." "That's strange, because my last name is Baseball Field."

On the way back to the house from the Metro station, we stopped at the Fairfax County Police helicopter division station and talked with pilot Paul and officer/paramedic Mark (in photo) for a while. They had lemonade and cake, so we had some of that while we talked. They are both really interesting and completely kind people who, we are told, are extremely good at their jobs.

On Sunday, we got up extra early to walk with Gail in the March of Dimes in downtown Manassas. It was 40 degrees when we started but warmed up considerably. We were the first to finish in our group of "Tike Hikers" from Potomac Hospital. We were exhausted by the end of the race! Gabriel slept through about half of the 10 kilometer walk; he was crying in the above picture because he was about to fall asleep. We didn't have time to get the post-race massages that were being offered, because we had to get ready for the baby shower.

It only took us about two hours of cleaning and setting up to be ready for the shower. About 20 people or so came over, and we played games and ate, and Tracey opened her presents. By about 5:30 pm, everyone was gone and we took Dad and Mike to do their first geocache.

After a string of bad luck with geocaches, we found this one. Our GPSr had the box anywhere from 14-50 feet away from where we found it, and someone else's log indicated the same problem. Luckily, Matt's eagle eyes found it. We took a patch that says "Certified Angus Beef" and a toy jumping frog and left 50 cents. We thought we'd left a rubber toy robot, but Matt found it in his pocket at the end of a hike. We also found our first travel bug, which is an object that travels around the country or world and is tracked by the people who first placed it. This one is a My Little Pony named Natasha, and she came from Arizona. We brought her back with us to Georgia and will place here somewhere here.

Monday, we went to the National Mall to see the monuments. The most impressive were the WWII memorial and the FDR memorial. Please read about them in the links; they are both amazing. We were both surprised to feel a little choked up at the WWII memorial. It was a little difficult to see memorials to fallen soldiers with Jack in Iraq and Dad A having served for so long. Ironically, Jack called while we were at the FDR memorial. Patty hung up on him at first, thinking that he was a computer call, but she'd forgotten that there is a delay in his calls. As soon as she hung up, she started yelling, "No! No! No!" and waited for him to call back, which he did.

Jack said that morale is good but that a lot of guys are ready to get the heck out of there. He said that it's worse than the news portrays, because he's seen a lot of casualties (not fatalities but injuries). There are IEDs (improvised explosive devices) going off all the time, and it can be a little unnerving. He said that he's fine, though, and that he isn't bothered too much by any of it. He works out almost every day, except when they shut off the showers and he knows he'll have to wash with baby wipes. He has everything he needs and can even buy cameras at the Px there. He sounded a lot better than last time, when he sounded scratchy, and thinks that his body may be adapting a little to the climate. It's still not too hot, but that will likely change in the next month or so.

Tuesday, we frantically packed and got to the airport with time to stop at the "World's Best Chicken Sandwich" stand, which we've been to before and think is pretty darn good. On the plane, we sat across the aisle from an Indian couple who were just returning home to Atlanta after 8 months in none other than Troy, Michigan. Their daughter had a son named Ariel 8 months ago, and they'd stayed with her to help out that whole time. The funny thing is, before he told us that, we could already tell that he had a grandson around Gabriel's age by the way he encouraged Chip to clap and the way he interacted with him. They were just leaving a grandson, and Gabriel was just leaving a grandpa. It was very serendipitous.

For the first part of the flight, Gabriel was a bit of a bear, but we nursed him and fed him a little, and he eventually fell asleep in his daddy's arms, as you can see here. Matt has an amazing ability to calm him when Patty can't. We each have our own talents as parents, and this is one of Matt's best.

Once we landed, we saw in the airport that we have a new pope - Pope Benedict XVI, formerly known as Prince, er, Josef Cardinal Ratzinger. We were a little worried, because he'd been known as a hard-liner (in a bad way), but the more we learn about him, the more at ease we feel with the decision, not that it matters if we are at ease with it or not.

Yesterday was Gabriel's 9 month birthday. He ate meat for the first time in his life. We mixed the chicken (homemade, organic, hormone-free, free-range, complimented-daily) with pears, and he loved it. We made the traditional monthly brownies (with homemade icing that we piped onto the brownies to say, "9!" and that was too lemony but turned out perfect in consistency), but he still isn't old enough to eat them. We were happy to indulge on his behalf.

We had a great pizza dinner from Nancy's and watched Amazing Race... which brings us to:

AR7 Watch

Warning: spoilers ahead!

Yes, we missed last week, but let's just move on, shall we?

We can't figure out why they put two episodes together two weeks ago but split one episode into two weeks. Was that a scheduling error? Anyway, we liked the idea of making an endurance leg of the race. The show seems to find ways to keep the race fresh and fun for the contestants. Let's go team by team:

Lynn and Alex: Finally, they're gone! Quite possibly the stupidest team to get that far in the race, they got themselves lost and blew a good lead on Meredith and Gretchen.

Meredith and Gretchen: They are officially the oldest team to get this far in the race, and they just keep hanging on. Luck is definitely on their side; there's no other way to explain how a team that keeps giving up every week is still in it.

Uchenna and Joyce: Although we got a little teary-eyed to see Joyce's bravery, why should she be that upset about losing her weave? Can't she just buy a new one?

Ron and Kelly: Did we see the good Southern Christian girl sharing a bunk on the train with her boyfriend? WWJD?

Rob and Amba: They seem to be good sports about their "alliance" with Ron and Kelly and are honest about wanting to win. We like that they aren't sneaky. They didn't do anything too interesting these past two weeks.

That gets us caught up to today. We'll do a separate post for today's events to give you a break.

p.s. Here are all of our digital photos from our trip. We took 4 rolls of film photos too, but those will not be developed for another week or so.