Gabe's tricks

We took Gabe to the pediatrician when he was a few days old, and she checked out his reaction to being on his tummy. He propped right up to the level they expect of a 4-month old. I thought it was a fluke, but this morning he did it again and held it for a bit. This kid is a turtle, craning his neck and looking all over the place.

(Mom, you can tell Ed Storey that the quilt was bright enough that Gabe wanted to pick his head up and see what was on it! See 3rd pic)

In other random news, Gabe has also rolled over a few times. He goes from his tummy to his back and has rolled both ways (over his left side and over his right side). This doesn't bode well for tummy time efforts, so I guess it's good that he has decently strong neck muscles already!

Coming home

Gabe in motion

Gabe's calling in life

Will Gabe grow up to be...
...a politician/used car salesman?
...a great thinker?
...a body builder?
...a french chef ("magnifique!")?
...an opera singer?

Gabriel Porter Merrell

Gabe was born April 11th at 3:50pm. He weighed 8lb 11oz, and was 20in long.

Pre-induction

Val had her induction appointment Friday at 9:30. Here's a few pics before we left.

Baby update...or lack of baby update

No baby yet...however, I did have an appointment on Tuesday and was told that I was dilated to a 3, almost a 4. So if I don't have the baby by tomorrow morning (Friday), they are going to induce me. That means anyone who predicted a birth date next week or beyond is not going to win (see previous post).

That also means Grandma Jones is coming tomorrow to stay for a week! Naomi has a couple of activities lined up for when Grandma Jones comes (but most important is riding the merry-go-round/carousel down the street), and she talks about it lots!

Time to hear your input!

All right, people. If you feel so inclined, post a comment with the following details on your prediction for Merrell Baby #2:

Date and time of birth
Weight
Who's he going to look like
Anything else you want to add (could it have escaped our notice all this time that I'm having twins?)

Here is some info if it helps make your prediction:
My official due date is 4/20/08. I am 38 weeks and 1 day pregnant. Naomi came at 37 weeks and 2 days (so this little guy is already late...in my mind!). Naomi weighed in at *7 lb. 4 oz. and CLEARLY looked like a Merrell (I still get those comments all the time).

At my 37 week appointment (1 week ago), I was 2 cm dilated, 75% effaced, and the baby was in a -1 position. The doctor randomly guessed he was about 7 lb.

Now a word to the wise: I am a completely hormonal, irrational pregnant female. If you predict for me to go over the due date by 2 weeks or have a 13 pound baby, I may initiate a discussion with you on why you do not feel there is a Supreme Being or some measure of mercy in existence who has compassion and watches over us!

Update: the previously listed weight was a typo, not an exaggeration.

Swimming pools and bowling balls

We have an inflatable pool for Naomi that we set up earlier this week. I thought by leaving the water in it for a few days, the water temperature would get warmer and it would be fun for playing. That didn't work at all - it was COLD! Naomi didn't mind it, though, and would play in it until we pulled her out, chattering teeth, blue lips, and all. (We usually put her in a bathing suit, but this was the first time in and we didn't think she would stay for long!)

The pool actually has a whale slide that connects to it; we will wait until the water really is a little warmer to set that up!

And for those who have requested pregnancy pictures, here is a shot of me. It feels like (and looks like!) there's a bowling ball under my shirt!

Naptime

I feel energetic these days, right up until a few hours after getting up (long stretch, huh?), and then I crash. On Saturday I took a monster nap and Naomi joined me! She has never slept in our bed and hasn't fallen asleep when touching me since she was itty bitty. I woke up before she did and desperately needed to move my arm which was under her head, but I left it there quite awhile longer just to soak in the peaceful cuddling!

General Conference entertainment

Naomi actually watched some of Saturday's General Conference sessions with us. Mostly she was entertained by gluing macaroni noodles to stars (our budding artist's first time gluing noodles to paper, so naturally it needed to be documented!). Sunday's entertainment was Play-Doh!

Easter fun!

Here's Naomi on Easter morning, discovering the loot the Easter bunny left on the table.


















And here's the pretty girl all dressed up for church.

I DO groom my child occasionally...

...but you can't always tell it since she tends to roll around on the couch, hide under pillows, and find all kinds of other ways to mess up her hair. I have resigned myself to messy hair and using hats!

Fun on the trike!

Here is a picture of Naomi on her birthday trike. It's great - she can't pedal yet, so she puts her feet on the pedals and we use the push bar to propel her around. She likes to be pushed around inside and outside, and she enjoys ringing the bell and telling us which direction to go. Thanks for the birthday present, grandparents!!

Expressing emotions

I LOVE that Naomi is talking in complete sentences now (occasionally, at least)...it's a lot of fun! Most of her sentences tend to be something along the lines of:

"I need a______" (a few mornings ago, she grinned and said "I need a cookie!")
"I see a_______"

She also does a complete dialogue from Dora the Explorer concerning Swiper the Fox; my favorite part about this is that she plugs in appropriate comments from her current situation about where Swiper is hiding and what he is going to swipe. So if she's in the kitchen, he's probably hiding in the fridge or under the table, and he's probably going to swipe her food or milk or dishes, etc.

Naomi's also learned emotions! She knows about happy and sad. Yesterday in the car, I took away her sunglasses for one minute after giving her a couple warnings about not putting them in her mouth. She immediately started crying loudly, and then as if to emphasize the point, stopped crying long enough to say "I'M SAD. I'M SAD. I'M CRYING." It was a good thing she couldn't see my face; I buried my head for a minute and laughed as quietly as possible!

This one's for Angie

1. Jobs I have had:
Organist (during high school, that was a posh one), lots of secretarial, office manager, piano teacher
2. All the places I have lived:
Gooding, ID; temporarily Sigurd, UT; Monroe, UT; Provo, UT; Tucson, AZ
3. Four movies that I love:
The Italian Job, Oceans 11 (notice a theme about stealing things?), The Illusionist, The Guardian
4. Four favorite foods:
Ice cream, smoothies, most fruits, more ice cream
5. Four weird things about me:
I actually look forward to the labor part of having babies; I suppose it's something to do with the physical challenge
I don't like chocolate...that's right, you read correctly. I have enough of a sweet tooth that I will eat it if nothing else is available, but I much prefer pretty much everything else over chocolate
I am an email addict. I leave my email open all day so I can glance at it quickly instead of logging in 25 times a day (which I would probably do, otherwise!)
I might only have 3 weird things about me...I'm sure Matt will protest that, though!
6. Four favorite TV shows:
Scrubs, So You Think You Can Dance, Designed to Sell (but only with certain designers), hmmm...don't watch much else, so I guess Mythbusters (Matt loves that so I hang out with him while he watches it)
7. Four places I'd love to go:
Places? How about things to do in cool places?
Scuba diving (I got a teeny taste of this and can't wait for more!!)
Rock climbing (I haven't been since we've been in AZ, and I miss it!)
Triathlon in some beautiful crazy exotic place
Here's one place: tour through the LOTR movie sites in New Zealand
8. People I tag:
Anybody who's interested

Easter Egg Hunt!

While Aunt Julie was here, Naomi participated in an Easter egg hunt! (And yes, I set up a couple practice runs at home so Naomi would get the idea beforehand and be able to top all the other kids with her egg collection skills.) Unfortunately, I didn't check the camera settings and ended up with lots of pictures that were pretty washed out, but we sure had a fun time!

Mommy's taking us to the zoo tomorrow...

Actually, that was last week when Aunt Julie was here! We had a fun time at the zoo, although Naomi's clear favorite was...the water. We had to lure her away from almost every area by promising there would be water at the next place, whether it be a frog fountain spouting water or a stream running through the enclosure. I believe her other favorites were watching the polar bears swim laps and standing on one leg just like the flamingos.

Pump It Up

Naomi and I have gone to Pump It Up a few times, but yesterday Matt got to come with us for his first time there! Everything is made of inflatable material, and they have a jumping castle, an obstacle course, a huge slide, and a smaller slide with some other fun activities surrounding it. Here are some pictures of Matt and Naomi rolling out of the obstacle course, Naomi going down a slide on her tummy, and the two of them jumping together.

Headband and Silverstein

Naomi enjoys trying whatever we are doing, including checking out what we wear on our heads. Here she is sporting my headband which she had commandeered moments before.

In the second picture, she is holding one of her most recently discovered favorites in literature.

New Flip Flops/Sandals!

Here they are! (Great recommendation, Terrah. I LOVE THEM!)

For some reason, Naomi associates them with Mickey Mouse...she's completely lost me there, especially since she doesn't have much experience with Mickey Mouse!

**Note: there has been some dispute about whether or not these qualify as flip flops. Feel free to post a comment if you feel strongly about this issue.

Morning greetings

It's always fun to go into Naomi's room in the morning (or after naps). Usually she wakes up and chats to herself for a bit, so when we go in she's gotten past the blurry-eyed confused phase. She has quite a variety of ways to greet us. Her most recent greetings have been things like this:

Hi, sweetie! (this one really makes me giggle!)
Mommy, what happened? (no idea what she's talking about or where she got this phrase)
What is that? (usually talking about the humidifier)
Where is it? There it is! (she likes to ask a question and then answer it herself)
Play with toys! (self-explanatory)

Wagon ride, rock climbing, water fun, all in one trip!

There is a water fountain in the shopping area right by our house, and we often haul Naomi over there in the wagon. It's actually quite a good incentive: "once we get done with ________, we can go see the water fountain". She likes dancing around on the ledge, trying to climb the rocks, playing with the plants, watching the water splash, etc. Here are some pictures of today's outing.

Tragedy!

Tragedy has struck. My beloved flip flops have a hole.

These are the most comfortable flip flops I have ever had, and they have lasted for years. How does one part with such a trusted and loyal object? Most unfortunate...now I will have to search for very comfortable flip flops that are not expensive. This is of utmost importance since I wear them year round (and not because I live in Tucson...darn you, Mom, for giving me claustrophobic feet!).

Pigtails

Pigtails!!

Sabino Canyon

We accompanied a group of grad student recruits up Sabino Canyon a few weeks ago. Here are some pics of Matt helping Naomi dip her hands in the water, and Naomi getting a mini-lesson in various types of handholds for rock climbing.

Hat girl

Naomi enjoys having pictures taken of herself and then demands to see them. Usually that results in her not staying still long enough for a picture to be taken; usually the picture ends up being a blur running towards the camera. Here are a few that actually turned out.

Injury and Recovery

Naomi fell the other day and really hit her cheek hard on the arm of a wooden chair. If you look closely, you might be able to see some bruising on her left cheek.

Here is her recovery process:
cry
cuddle with daddy
demand grapes be placed in her mouth
manipulate parents
etc.

Oops, forgot to finish the Utah trip pictures!

Here are a few more pictures from our Utah trip. Naomi LOVED playing on Grandma's bed and practiced her somersaults there quite a bit. Unfortunately, she never quite caught onto the idea of making sure she wasn't going to fall off the edges...small detail anyway, I suppose!



















Here Grandpa Jones is reading a bedtime story to Naomi.


















Now Grandpa and Naomi are negotiating who gets how much of the Jell-O!

Budding musician

Here Naomi displays her...uh, talent...at playing the piano. Occasionally she will also sing while she plays. I've convinced her for the most part that the piano should not be played with the whole hand crashing down repeatedly, but using one or two fingers at a time to play individual notes. Now she instructs me daily on the use of just one or two fingers at a time.



And some more for your enjoyment...