Happy 2 Month Birthday, Sweet Boy!!!

Today is Gunnar's Two Month Birthday. Well, that's not technically accurate...he was born on October 28th, so realistically, December 28th would be his actual "birthday", but today is the 8th Wednesday since he was born (confusing, huh? The weeks don't actually line up with the months). Anyway....we're calling it 2 months. I cannot even BEGIN to describe how much I have grown to love this little guy over the last couple of months. It's funny, because although I've loved him since Day 1, I'm not sure I've truly ENJOYED him since Day 1. The first two to three weeks were such a blur, and were so much harder than I envisioned, that I can honestly say I really didn't enjoy them all that much. I know that sounds kind of bad...but it's just true. Quite a few times during those first several weeks, I wondered what in the world we'd been thinking when we decided we wanted to have a baby, and I felt pretty sure that one kiddo was all this household would be producing. HOWEVER....somewhere around Week 4, everything suddenly switched, and I suddenly realized that not only did I love Gunnar more than I thought was humanly possible, but I was also loving every second of hanging out with him, and that there was no where I would rather be during the day, than with him. In fact, here I am today, on his 2 month birthday, with the house all to myself (because Nason took Gunnar on a "man date"), and about five minutes after Gunnar was gone, I realized that I missed him being here, and really would just rather that he come back!! Anyway.....I'm going to do a "Top 5" each month for Gunnar's birthday...this month, the Top 5 will be The Top Five Things I Love the Most About Gunnar So Far:

1) His Shark Face- this is the face he makes when either his pacifier, his bottle, or his primary milk supply-me- is in his face. He scrunches his nose, opens his mouth as wide as it can possibly go, and then shakes his head back and forth viciously, like a shark that is tearing apart it's prey. It's scary and endearing all at the same time.

2) The way that every single time we lift his legs up, a fart comes out

3) His little baby mullet

4) His SMILE. Oh my gosh....I don't think anything could melt a heart more.

5) When he wakes me up in the middle of the night to eat, and I grab him out of his pack and play, and he instantly cuddles up to me, and kind of burrows up against my chest.

Gunnar's First Holiday

Just a few weeks after being born, Gunnar was already able to experience his very first holiday...and what an appropriate one! Thanksgiving. Nason and I have plenty of things to be thankful for EVERY year, but we were ESPECIALLY thankful this year, for our sweet little boy. He was a long time coming, but he's finally here!


Anyway, the whole time I was pregnant, I was so excited about the idea of having Gunnar right in the midst of holiday season, and getting to show him off at all sorts of holiday gatherings, where everyone would crowd around and ooh and ahh over him, and remark on how cute he was, how cute his outfit was, how cute his parents are (just kidding), etc. What I WASN'T factoring in in those daydreams, was the fact that a) "Holiday Season" happens to coincide with "Flu Season" and b) upon having a baby, I would turn into a total psychotic, germaphobic, paranoid, Howie Mandel-ish, FREAK. I'm so afraid of Gunnar getting sick with The Dreaded Swine, that I can hardly stand for anyone to so much as LOOK at him, much less TOUCH him. (I'm not claiming that this is right, healthy, or normal, by the way).

So...the idea of him being around tons of people at Thanksgiving was really stressing me out. To get around this problem, we decided we'd do a small-ish Thanksgiving this year. Me, Nason, Gunnar, his parents, my parents, and the Magee clan. Just enough people for it to be festive, but not so many that my scrutinizing eye couldn't keep watch on all people at all times, to ensure that no one was touching Gunnar's hands or face (ha ha...I'm partially kidding). Anyway....at the very last minute, Cousin Aiden got the flu, sadly eliminating the Magees from the festivities, and my parents had car problems, taking them out of the picture as well. BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR! I wanted a small-ish gathering, but not THAT small. Our Thanksgiving was beginning to seem a little sad. Just me, Nason, his parents, and Gunnar. Smallest Thanksgiving celebration ever. It ended up being SO nice, though. We spent so much time relaxing, eating our weight in GOOD food, letting Gunnar get uninterrupted loving on by his Grammy and Poppy, and enjoying lots of help/free babysitting for Nason and I, even allowing us to go on a date in Marble Falls one night! It was a different Thanksgiving, but special all the same!

Gunnar, aka........

When I was pregnant, and even before I was pregnant, Nason and I spent hours discussing what we should name our little boy. A lot of thought went into finding a name that we could both agree on....one that was "different" enough to satisfy me, but still "normal" enough to not freak Nason out too much. My question now is, why did we spend so much time deciding on a name, when we NEVER even use it?? The kid has more nicknames than should be allowed for one baby! I realized today that I can barely even remember the last time I called him Gunnar. Same with Nason....neither of us EVER call him Gunnar. What do we call him? Well.....don't think we're too weird, but here is the list of nicknames that this poor boy has acquired thus far:

- Biscuit Man
- Buttermilk
- G Mac
- Sharky
- Mr. Butterton
- Little G
- Angel Bear
- Roo
- Roo Biscuit
- Bubba
- Bubbakins
- Sweet Man
- Poopy
- Gun (that one is probably the only one that has any rhyme or reason to it)

Here is a picture of little GUNNAR, for your viewing pleasure: