The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of having a dang cute baby

My baby is the cutest baby in the entire world. I'm sure that every parent feels this way but I'm reminded of it on a daily basis. I get stopped everywhere by people "Oooo"ing and "Awww"ing about him. Most of the time I love it. Today I was at Target and at one point I was stopped and surrounded by three groups of people saying how cute he was. One lady even bade me warm wishes in some language I had never heard of. Pretty sure it was a made up word. Anyway, I love those brief encounters with strangers complimenting Gabe. Sometimes it goes too far. Thinking about strangers talking to you makes me think of Bridget's post. Is it appropriate? I think a nice comment to a stranger is fine but trying to carry on a conversation when they are clearly not interested is another. Before I went to Target, I went to get a sandwich. I was waiting for my food and was carrying the car seat with the sleeping baby in it. This woman and her male companion were standing by me and she let out a shriek of pleasure and said "Ohhhhh! He's SOOO cute!!" I smiled and said thank you and turned slightly away. She asked "How old is he?" I said 4 months with a smile and turned back to stare at the counter. "Oh does he have blue eyes? Just like you I bet!" I said "Yep he does..." with a smile. Turn away again. "How much does he weigh? I bet he weighs a lot! And having to carry that car seat?? I bet you have great muscles!" Heh, heh... I guess I do... He weighs 16 pounds. Turn away again, willing the guy at the counter to call my number. "What's his name?" I found this too impertinent of a question for a stranger to ask but was too chicken to say that out loud. "Gabriel." I say with less of a smile this time, now angry at the slow sandwich makers, not because they actually were slow but because I had to stand next to this woman who was not getting the hint from my one word answers and back-turning. The car seat on my arm was starting to get too heavy so I set it down on an adjacent bar stool. The force caused him to wake up and now she could clearly see his blue eyes. This warrants another shriek of delight. He looks around and she trills "Oh Gabriel! Hi Gabriel! Over here Gabriel!" Thankfully, my number was called, I grabbed my sandwich and my puzzled baby and ran. 

Now I like small talk as much as the next socially awkward person but was I being a little overly bugged or was this just too much baby attention?

He smiles!!!

Gabe is a pretty somber, serious baby. Ask almost everyone we know. He smiles for me, a little less for Nate and... that's about it. But just these last two weeks, he has started smiling at strangers and his grandparents! His personality is really starting to come out and he's becoming a lot of fun to play with. He is 4 months old and these are the very first documented smiles we have!

Meeting Cousins

On Sunday, we went up to Mesa to Nate's grandparents house. His grandpa found out he has cancer in his jaw and needed surgery but it was very dangerous considering how elderly he is. The surgery was set for Monday morning so he was having a blessing Sunday evening. A whole slew of family gathered at their house for the blessing. It was really lovely and afterwards, everyone sat around reminicing about touching moments ad funny stories (almost all about horses and farming).  It was really great seeing a bunch of family too. Nate's one brother and his family haven't seen Gabe yet because they live in Mesa, so that was fun for the cousins to meet Gabe. We love Nate's cousins and their babies too so it was great to get all the little cousins together. It took four tries to get seven littles ones to look at us!

(LtoR) Emily, Grace, Rachel holding Gabe, Porter, Jimmy, and Madison

Little Emily could not get enough of this kitten

Nate's grandma could not get enough of this baby! She was holding him and squeezing him!

Great Grandma Fern and Gabriel

Grandpa did just fine during surgery and they think they got all the cancer! Yay!

Flagstaff

We went up to Flagstaff for three days for Nate's NAU orientation, job interview and to find a place to live. It was not a very sucessful trip. 

Things we've learned: 

-Gabe HATES, HATES, HATES traveling. He's always screamed whenever we go anywhere but this was our first"road trip". We should have figured it would be worse. Four hour drive plus all day Wednesday driving around apartment hunting. We don't know if he'll ever forgive us.

-Flagstaff is more... what's the opposite of "more bang for your buck"? Less bang for your buck? More garbage for your buck? You get the idea. Two and three hundred dollars more for two-three hundred SqFt less than Tucson. I looked at a place for $950, that looked like a mini version of the Married With Children set. Yikes.

-Pre-requisite classes are the worst. Nate has two classes that he HAS to take before he can finish any of his major classes. And they are only offered RIGHT in the middle of the working day. This fact plays into our next thought. He also had to take one more class for his G.E. The counselor just signed him up for one without thinking. Third World Women, where they are "focusing on women, gender constructions and histories, and contemporary issues in postcolonial settings in Africa, Asia, and/or Latin America". Oh yeah. Sounds right up his alley. He switched to Geography.

-For being a university town, Wells Fargo branch managers are surprisingly unsympathetic towards students with inflexible schedules but at the same time, a need for employment. Rexburg was the same way, which I find very ironic. The very people that are keeping them employed, they won't hire.

Summary: This is going to be a very difficult move. Nate couldn't get a banker job and might have to settle for a teller job, along with a slash in income. He signed up for evening classes so that he can work, which means a schedule of 8am-6pm of work and then 6:30-9:30 of classes plus two days a week of classes also in the early afternoon. Then coming home and doing homework. He'll be exhausted, but it's only for one semester. Then he won't have those afternoon classes. After 3 days of searching for a good/inexpensive place to live, we signed up for the waiting list for the married campus dorms. About $100 less than we're paying now but just about half the size. That means a ton of stuff will need to go into storage. It's going to be pretty bad at first I think but he only has a two or three semesters left we think and then graduation! Wahoo! That's what really matters!

This sounds like Flagstaff is a really awful place but it really is absolutely beautiful! Trees, and grass and cool temperatures. The campus is gorgeous and there are walking trails everywhere. We went for a walk to check out the campus and it was so nice to be able to go for a walk in the evening without sweating through your clothes.

The Business building

The stadium dome in the background

Tagged

Susan tagged me and since I'm so bad at actually doing these things, I figured I would do this and fill my yearly quota. :)

4 things I love about my husband:
1. He's my best husband-friend ;) (yes I have different Best Friends for different things!)
2. We have the same sense of humor
3. Works hard
4. Even though he thinks he isn't a good dad, he tries really hard! And he is!

4 Movies I would watch more than once:
1. Zorro
2. Pride and Prejudice (actually, anything Jane Austen)
3. The Notebook
4. 10 Things I Hate About You

4 favorite TV shows:
1. Bones!!
2. Burn Notice!
3. So You Think You Can Dance
4. The Office

4 Places I have been:
1. Germany
2. France
3. Puerto Rico
4. Hawaii

4 People who email me regularly:
1. Nate
2. Susan
3. Dad
4. Mom

4 Favorite Foods:
1. Pasta!
2. White rice
3. Peas
4. Ice cream

4 Places I would like to visit:
1. Ireland

2. England (P&P Tour with Susan)

3. Madrid

4. Russia

4 Things I am looking forward to this coming year:
1. Moving to Flagstaff

2. RASUN!

3. Visiting Madrid

4. Christmas!!

My house is inhabited by little, techy Borrowers

Our camera is comprised of three parts: camera, battery, and card. The last two require another piece to function: battery charger and card reader. At any given time, we are missing at least one of the five pieces. Right now, it's the camera itself. So I'm resigned to taking mediocre quality photos on my phone. Here are today's:

His favorite toy: the crinkly wipes package. He's not asleep really, just staring at the noisy toy.
Gah!! Cutest kid in the world! Trying on hats. THIIIIS close to buying it. Probably still will. :)

Just now went in to check on him. Nate and I spent a straight 5 minutes snapping phone photos. In case you can't tell, that's a mattress, hand, bumper sandwich between the railings.

Stuck

Those of you who don't have Facebook, or those of you that don't check it regularly, might not know that last Saturday our car was stolen out of our parking lot. In the car was Susan's car seat, our car seat base, our stroller and my baby sling. What kind of person gets into a car, sees two baby seats, and drives off?? But that's a rant for another post... Some of you may remember the great break in of '08. It's been just about a year. Nate's parents were nice enough to let us borrow a truck until my mom is able to bring us her car mid- June to "car sit" for three years. The pick up isn't much to look at and it's pretty difficult strapping a car seat onto a bench seat sans car seat base but it has AC and a working radio so things are going alright. To be honest, I'm not as upset about the car as I am about Susan's seat and our stroller, base and sling. The Yukon had been causing us quite a bit of grief recently. Nate and I were laughing about it a few days ago that we felt sorry for the thieves because the AC didn't work, the tires were almost shot, the Service Engine Soon light was on, it had less than a quarter tank left and it had been raining pretty bad that weekend and our wipers only worked when it wasn't raining. :)

Anyway, this was a long preface to what I'm really posting about. Nate took the truck to work today, which is fine. He does frequently. But it is noon and I haven't seen the sunlight today. Why? What's the point? I have no way to get around. No car, no stroller, no sling. And I have a sick baby who is coughing, leaking out of every orifice on his face and hasn't pooped in three days. *Oops. I'm back. Make that three minutes now.* He's tired and super clingy so I'm basically holding him all day. Which means my house is a disaster. How did pioneer women do it with no car, no stroller, no sling, tons of children and tons of chores? Yes, I was definitely meant for a much lazier generation. :)

Gabriel and Haley

We went to the park today with our friends Pam and Haley. Haley and Gabriel were hanging out on the blanket. They were even holding hands! Then he passed out... ah the simple life of a baby :)

Susan and Calvin visit

My best friend Susan and her little boy Calvin came this past week to visit us. It was so much fun! Cal was very sick the first couple days which was pretty scary but he ended up being just fine. We did lots of sewing and chocolate eating. :) Thanks for coming love!

Even though he was sick, Calvin was enthralled with Gabe! He couldn't leave him alone!

We made Nate his favorite, red velvet cake, for his 25th birthday!!

Calvin at the super fun toy store

It was really great swimming weather

Our babies spent a lot of time in just diapers! :)

Play group at the park

One cool dude

Susan and Gabey playing

New Pictures