Holy Hell! That's a fat lip...

Hmm... so we went to the Pumpkin Patch again... Mommy and Gunnar's 3rd trip, Daddy's first. We headed out to have a family day and maybe pick up a couple more pumpkins (we didn't - seems I already picked up enough during previous trips... is 7 enough?!). We had a lot of fun, and Gunnar again had so much fun tromping around in the pumpkin patch. He also got to ride the cow train with Daddy and take another ride on the hay wagon. He wasn't as excited about the animals this time though. I guess they're ho-hum to Gunnar by now, since he's seen the same animals several times. The chickens didn't startle him this time, and he didn't spend any time trying to feed the goat, and he had absolutely no interest in checking out the baby piggies again. Guess he should be a farm kid, since he seems to feel pretty at home around animals, eh?! The only problem we ran into was that most of the pumpkins in the field were rotting, and Gunnar kept trying to grab the mushy parts of them, so when I pulled him away from a particularly black/furry pumpkin, he melted down and fussed until we got back on the hay ride.

Gunnar scared the b'jesus out of me one morning this week. I was fixing breakfast while Gunnar played in the kitchen. He had been pushing around a stool (I use it as a barricade, and he figured out how to flip it), when not 5' from me, he fell and started this awful screaming. I rushed over (so did Prae - I actually had to push him out of the way b/c he was so concerned), and Gunnar's lip was already fat and bloody. Turns out the stool leg actually slid inside his lip and smashed/cut his gum as well as the lip. When I turned him upside down to make sure all his teeth were present and intact, there was so much blood pooling in the lip that I couldn't even see his teeth (which were all there). I panicked, and got Justin up to find out what I should do. The bleeding started to subside, but poor Gunnar had blood all over his face and PJs, and I was a wreck! After I cleaned him up, called the on-call nurse, and gave him some ice to suck on, he basically continued his day like normal, not seeming to pay any attention to the pain in his mouth. What a tough little guy. And what a wuss for a Mommy. Here's a photo of Gunnar smiling his "fat-lip pucker" about an hour later. Is it bad that I took photos after all that?! Finally, today Gunnar's lip and gums are looking much better.

I have to say Gunnar has been soooo cheerful and mostly unphased by the awful cold he's had for over a week, and the owie in his mouth. I've always felt lucky to have such a great baby, but sometimes other people make comments that make me think that we have an incredible little guy. Everyone always comments on how happy he is, and after eating in restaurants with Gunnar, we often have people stop us to tell us how adorable and well-behaved he is. We're just so lucky and grateful for Gunnar and his perfectly giant personality.

I was also "tagged" by Denise to tell 6 things about myself, then tag 6 more people. I'm passing the tag to Mom, Mindy, AnnMarie, Ali, April, and Tammi. So here goes...

1. I mostly feel like I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to parenting. Gunnar is becoming this wonderfully amazing person, and I feel like it really doesn't have much to do with anything I've done, besides hugging and kissing him more than I can imagine. I guess that itself has rubbed off on him though, because the first thing he does when he meets other kids is run up and try to hug them. Hopefully I can raise an intelligent, social, athletic, well-adjusted child/teenager/adult, despite having no idea what I'm doing.

2. I'm such a homebody. It seems that since college, I've been so much more comfortable and secure just staying home and socializing with a few people here and there instead of doing the big social networking thing anymore. When I was pregnant with Gunnar, there were days I didn't even leave the house, and it wasn't because I couldn't get out... I just felt like staying in and cleaning or organizing. Now, I do a lot less cleaning and organizing, and a lot more playing, changing diapers, cooking/food prep, and picking up after everyone!

3. I like to talk to my Mom at least once a day. I miss her a lot if I don't get to at least talk to her for a while every day. I spend most of my phone minutes talking to her and my Dad.

4. I wish Gunnar still wanted to co-sleep. When he was about 5 or 6 months old, I started putting him in his crib to sleep by himself for naps, and he started sleeping for longer stretches. So I thought maybe he would sleep better at night if I put him in the crib, and once I did, he started sleeping so much more soundly. I really miss having him right there next to me all night, and wish he would sleep next to me without tossing and turning all night.

5. This one is really strange... I actually miss my porch bed at my sorority. It was a top bunk in a room of 16 beds, and all of the windows had to be open at all times for health code reasons, but I always slept soooo well. Maybe it was the cold air and warm down blankets with flannel sheets, but I have never slept so well. It's funny because it was a crappy old mattress, and a creaky, wobbly bunk bed, but man it felt good. And at the time, I couldn't wait to get out of there and sleep on a real bed.

6. I'm terribly insecure sometimes. About things like my weight, my social interaction, my parenting, my temper, my homekeeping abilities, my cooking, etc. Usually, as soon as I question myself, I think, "now why would that person think that about me?", but occasionally I let something bother me for a while. In general, I'm not a "dweller", b/c I realize that if there's nothing I can do about something, I might as well not worry. Worrying only drives everyone crazy and never gets anyone anywhere. So... my job for today is not to worry about what a mess our upstairs is. :o)

There... those were just the 6 things I could come up with. After a Costco trip yesterday, we came home with another box, and Gunnar couldn't have been happier. Here are some photos of Gunnar enjoying his new "toy", just to end the post on the happiest note!

A Day at the Pumpkin Patch...

This weekend, Gunnar and I met Annmarie, Charlie, and their two little ones at the pumpkin patch on Sauvie's Island. It's so funny, but Annmarie and I became friends our freshman year in Alpha Chi Omega at Oregon State, and Justin and Charlie were in the same fraternity briefly. We have met up with them randomly and surprisingly at some of our "favorite" places in the past 6 months, and it's so nice that we can reconnect and get together. Justin had to work the day we went to get pumpkins, but I promised him we would go again before pumpkin season is over. Gunnar had so much fun, and tried sooooo hard to keep up with Annmarie's oldest, who is 21 months (I think). By about lunchtime, Gunnar was having a hard time listening to me anymore, and was getting hungry and cranky. As I think about his mobility, and the average age babies start walking, I think that maybe 12 months is better than 10 (when Gunnar started), because at 10 months, he has no sense of listening or following directions. He just goes for it and figures I'll bail him out if he starts to fall. I mean I'm glad he trusts me to watch out for him, but dang! I wish sometimes he would look at say, the edge of the couch, and think to himself "hmm, I should probably go down feet first to avoid smashing my head into the floor," instead of just bailing off knowing I'm watching and I'll catch him. Anyway, on to the photos... we got some really great ones, and Gunnar loved being there so much that I think he had a smile on his face the entire time. He got his new shoes a little muddy, and had plenty of dirt under his fingernails before we left, but I was so glad he got outside to enjoy such a sunny, crisp Fall day.

Halloween preview

I've been soooo bad about taking photos and blogging lately. Gunnar is literally running around the house these days, and by the time he goes to bed, I basically collapse on the couch. It's too much work to even get up and go to the computer. Let me see... since last post, Gunnar has played an awful lot around here, and made a couple trips in to see Grandma Carole and Grandpa Joel (and especially loved playing with Aunt Barbara and Uncle Michael). They looked after Gunnar while Justin and I went out for a mini-date to get coffee. It's strange, but we honestly have only left Gunnar with anyone a handful of times, and he does so great with it. Half the time I don't think he even realizes we were gone until we come back and he's surprised to see us.

I've also been on a hunt for some shoes with soles Gunnar can wear outside in this yucky weather, so we finally broke down and just went to the Stride Rite store. We figure if he can have just one good pair of shoes at a time, it's totally worth it. The best part was that at the store, they have a play area, and there were about 5 kids running around playing when we got there. Gunnar ran straight for them, and found a little buddy to chase around. The kid was about 19 months, and he and Gunnar were on about the same level as far as walking/playing, so they got along great. I wish I had my camera when Gunnar put his arms straight out and leapt in for a hug. The boys were playing peek-a-boo around a corner, and by the time the shoes came out, they were holding hands. It was so cute to see how much Gunnar loved playing with the kids, and I'm now considering getting a full time job partly so Gunnar can go to daycare and play with other kids a couple times a week. We'll see. Anyway, Gunnar loves the shoes, and has adjusted to walking with rubber soles really well.

I'm still planning for Gunnar's birthday party, and the invitations will go out today or tomorrow. We're going with a Fall Harvest theme, and I've got some really great ideas. We'll see how they pan out, right? I decided to pick a grown-up theme, since it's probably the only birthday where Gunnar will be too young to care about the theme. I'm sure there's plenty of time for cartoon character parties.

Here's a random photo of Gunnar's first Lasagna - needless to say he loved it!



While at Grandma's the other day, Justin pulled some of his old toys out of the attic for Gunnar to play with. We brought some of them home, and it's so cute to see Gunnar playing with them. Now he has several toys that both Justin and I grew up playing with, and it's amazing how much fun he has with these toys from 1980 or so.



The title of the post comes from the following photos. Gunnar isn't too sure about wearing his Halloween costume, so I've been trying it on him periodically to get him used to it so we can get some good pictures at Picture People next week. If I put it on in front of the mirror, he's amused enough not to be upset, so I'll have to come up with a solution when we get there. Anyway, here he is... cutest skunk I've ever seen!



As I was downloading some videos to our new computer, I watched a few old clips that I had forgotten about. I can't believe they were taken only a few months ago, and I feel sort of a conflicted sense of time. It seems like it was just last week that I was so excited that Gunnar was waving, and yet it feels like a time long gone. I get very emotional thinking about Gunnar's upcoming 1st birthday, and while I'm so happy he's so independent and mobile, and that's he's developing so well, I still get sad that he's not my cuddly little baby anymore. He's such a little boy now, and I'm so proud of him, but I miss the way he used to cry for me to hold him more, and now he squirms and whines until I let him down. Someone asked me the other day "what is your favorite memory of the newborn stage?", and I know it sounds crazy, but the first thing that came to mind was during those first few months when Gunnar refused to sleep in his crib or bassinett, so we slept on the couch, where he slept on my chest. I was so sleep-deprived that I didn't enjoy it as much as I should have at the time, but now looking back he was so close and needed me so much. Now it seems he needs me less and less every day. I still steal plenty of cuddles throughout the day, and Gunnar sometimes comes over while playing just to give me a hug, which makes me melt. Anyway, here's an old video for a little "baby memory".