ibbunee.com

love for my gaby baby

another shot of my little guy. not the best photo (no natural light, dim yet harsh overhead lighting, no flash, high ISO)... but sometimes you can't wait for the perfect conditions to capture a smile like that! also, i briefly considered photoshop-ing out the drool but decided against it since it's such a huge part of who he is at this age. after over a month of incessant drooling and hand gnawing, he finally cut his 1st two teeth last week.

chad saw me making googly eyes at gabriel the other day, and i must have looked particularly lovestruck because he teased, "and you were so worried that you wouldn't like him..." i suppose i should explain that comment. it's no secret that my original hope was that maggie would get a little sister. i've never imagined myself as a mother to sons - only daughters (4 girls to be exact). crazy, i know. but when i found out that i was pregnant with a boy, i was truthfully a little disappointed.

however, whatever doubts i had about being the mother to a little boy ceased to exist the second i laid eyes on my gaby baby. it is impossible to not love him. i swear he came out of the womb with a smile on his face. we went to the new giant eagle market district a few weeks ago, and a nice old man came over to tell me that g had been cooing and smiling at him for the past several minutes (i hadn't noticed because i was too busy ogling the enormous beer selection). and right on cue g gave him another huge grin and a giggle for good measure. the guy thanked me and said that g had made his day. so different from his big sister who at that age rarely smiled at strangers. she was always such a serious baby.

also different from his sister, and in true 2nd born fashion, g is pretty mellow and easy-going. that is, as long as you never ever ever ever leave his sight. the kid hates to be alone. but what's nice is that he prefers the company of his big sister more than anyone else's, and i can typically bribe her into at least staying in his vicinity while she goes about her own agenda. gabriel absolutely adores maggie. usually the feeling is mutual.

so while i dreamed of giving maggie a little sister who would be her best friend growing up, i am certain that i gave her someone just as good and maybe even better.

gabriel - 6 months

weekly goal

the above photo was taken nearly 3 months ago on halloween 2010, yet it's the most recent and one of the very few photos i have of me with both of my kids. partly because i'm usually the one behind the camera. but also because i haven't found made time lately to take many photos at all, which makes me sad given that i have two of the most gorgeous subjects that any photographer could ever ask for (in my humble opinion). and even sadder still is the fact that they've changed and grown so much in these past months, and i allowed the those special moments to drift away largely undocumented. enter my new allegiance to this blog.

i don't expect to go from zero to 100 overnight. so i'm starting with a relatively small goal: at least one photo and one post each week. this one counts for this week ;)

oh, and i should get extra points for finally completing the about section of this blog (only 3 years after its inception).

mother of the year

the scene: 8:00 last night. chad had just left to meet up with some friends after helping me get the kids fed, bathed and to bed. ahhh... quiet house to myself. i get to relish it for maybe 5 minutes before i hear a door open, a door slam and the pitter patter of little feet across the hallway to the top of the stairs:

Mags: hey! i pooped! change my diaper! DaaaDaaa! (wait) mommy!? (wait)
Me: (sigh) okay. i'm coming.
Mags: where's daddy?
Me: he went out with friends.
Mags: why? (her default response to everything lately)
Me: to have fun.
Mags: why? why you didn't go, mama?
Me: because if i went too, who would be here to change your diaper? gabe?
Mags (giggling): NOOOOO! he's a baby. he can't change my diaper!
then after taking a minute to think about it she adds: "when he gets bigger he change my diaper".

um... right. just another reminder of my recent failures as a mother. i have no doubt that my precocious 27-month old is totally ready to be potty trained (probably has been for months), and the onus is on me (and chad). but my excuses are: i work a full-time job outside of the home, i also have a 3-month old, i am operating on 3-5 hours of sleep/day... and well, i suck as a mom sometimes. i kid (kinda). but i'm going to stop complaining now. because even if my kid outgrows the largest sized diaper before i ever get around to potty training her, there's always depends. and i still have the smartest, cutest, most lovable kids a parent could ever wish for.

by the way, notice my last post before this was in MAY??? another piece of supporting evidence as to why i suck as a mom sometimes. until now, i haven't even blogged about the existence of my 2nd child! but i've taken pictures! (although many less than what i had taken of maggie at this age). see flickr stream to the right.