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!