Did you get up? No, did you?

For the last week Mark and I have been given a wonderful gift.... the gift of sleep. Gabriel has been sleeping between 7-10 hours in a single chunk! He was falling asleep around 7:30 or 8pm and then getting up around 3am to eat. Suddenly, he decided he wanted to be awake until 10pm, which I wasn't happy about. But, when he slept until 5am I decided I could handle his being up until 10 thing. It is amazing how precious an uninterupted nights sleep becomes when you go without for so long. I didn't really think I was capable of functioning on so little sleep, but it is suprising what you can do when there isn't any other choice. I fully expect that this pattern of sleeping through the night will not hold indefinately, but while it does last, we'll take full advantage.

We're getting ready to go trick-or-treating tomorrow! I can't wait to put Gabriel's costume on him. We've carved pumkins and decorated the house. We'll be sure to post lots of pictures. Now, if I can just finish this paper that is due tomorrow :).

Yum, applesauce.

A few weeks ago we went to a local farm with our next door neighbors, and picked apples. We had a blast. We picked twenty pounds each of golden delicious and jonathan apples. Some of the apples were as big as Gabriel's head. The next week Stacie, my neighbor, came over and my mom coached us in making and canning applesauce and apple pie filling. It was so much fun and everything turned out wonderfuly. I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond and bought a sauce maker in order to make the apples into yummy mush. I ended up going to the other side of Columbus to buy it the morning we did the canning, due to my procrastination. Even with this, everything turned out great. I'm especially excited that we will be able to feed the applesauce to Gabriel when he gets a little bit older. I'll also be able to use the sauce maker to mush up other foods for him, like carrots, peas, yams, and other great fresh foods.

Mark took Gabriel for his two month check up two weeks ago. He weighed 13 pound 4 1/2 ounces, and was 22 inches long. This put him in the 90th percentile for weight and 25th percentile for height. Mark's sister, Becky, said "aw, he's his daddy's son". Mark didn't think she was very funny.

My family also had family pictures taken by a family friend a couple weeks ago. Here are a few of the pictures taken with our camera. I'll post more when we get a copy of the "professional" ones. I loved the fall feel of the pictures and the use of a local park where the trees were changing color. Thanks to my older sister, Elaine for her planning and creativity. She always comes up with great ideas for things like this.

I'm almost half way through fall quarter. I just can't wait to be done with this quarter. This is the busiest quarter I've had so far, and it's all the more difficult because I just want to spend all my time with Gabriel and Mark. I fell like I will be able to get through the rest of the program if I can just survive this quarter.

Things we don't want to do, and doing them anyway.

I started back to school on Friday, September 26th. I have three more quarters until I graduate with my masters in Social Work. The first two years of my program were not easy, but not too hard either. Going back for this final nine months has been the hardest part of the whole experience. More precisely, leaving Gabriel with my sister-in-law all day long was the hardest thing I have had to do. This is not because I'm worried about the care he is getting at her house or anything like that. In fact, I think he is enjoying being at her house, because he gets a lot of attention from her three boys. I just don't want to be away from him.

The first day I left him, I called Mark and cried. He told me he understood and that it was going to be alright. I replied I knew that, but it didn't really make it any easier. The next time I had to leave him, Monday, it wasn't quite as hard. I think mainly because I was nervous about starting my internship. Tuesday, however, was even harder than either of the first two. I bawled as I got in my car and drove to my internship. I told Mark that evening, "I don't want to do this anymore". He said he wouldn't force me to finish, but he thought it was what was best for all of us. I know he is right, but again, it doesn't make it any easier.

On a happier note, he started to smile at us (on purpose) two weeks ago. It is the cutest thing in the entire world, and the most rewarding. I haven't been able to catch it on film yet, so I don't have a picture to post. He is also talking to us a ton. He is such a social baby. He loves to have someone talk to him and to talk back. He would love it if I would sit and talk to him for hours. A lot of the time I'm tempted. Some times I do. I don't ever regret it. He's getting so big! Mark is taking him for his two month check up this Friday. He will get his first immunizations. I'm a little sad and a little glad that I won't be there. I am really interested to see how much he's grown though.

These pictures were taken about three weeks apart. The one on the left was taken first. Maybe they don't look that different to you, but I see a big difference. He is really filling out, and gaining more control of his neck and arms.

We are also getting excited about Halloween. We bought him a pumkin costume, and I can't wait to take pictures. I was a pumkin for my first Halloween, so it's kind of a tradition. I know, he's only going to be three months old. But, I loved trick or treating when I was a kid. Mark was a little traumatized, which is another story, and I want Gabriel to enjoy it as much as I did. Plus, we're going with Becky and the boys, so it won't just be me carrying around a three month old. I can't wait!