14 months old!

This month has passed by so quickly!  And with good reason, we have been crazy busy!  We have made 3 trips to Emory to see Clay's Mom, celebrated our 9 year anniversary, and gone on vacation for a few days for the 4th. Oh and last weekend I helped two friends move and we all attended a family reunion!  So it is kind of crazy that Gavin learned how to do anything other than survive the long hours in his car seat this month :-).  Poor guy has been such a trooper.  Don't get me wrong, he definitely voices his displeasure at being in his car seat, but for the amount of traveling we have done, he has been such a wonderful little boy!!

I have tried to teach him a few signs like all-done, more, and milk.  Well the only one we really stuck with was all-done.  And he caught on pretty quick although he doesn't have the hand movements quite right, but we get the picture.  Plus he makes some noises that could possibly be interpreted into the words all done.  Anyway, on our return trip home from Emory on Father's Day we were getting close to Tifton when Gavin woke up from a nap.  Well he was fit to be tied and when I looked back there he was sobbing and had his little hands in the air doing the motion for all done!  Oh my word, I thought my itty bitty heart would break right then and there!  Just tore me up inside!  So when we got to Tifton Clay pulled over and got in the back seat with him and entertained while I drove us the rest of the way home.  I would have done it but I get so car sick that it would have been bad for both me and Gavin.

Some other words that he has learned to use in context are:
Night-night
I love you
bye
Hey
Mama and Dada (instead of everyone and thing being Dada)  Gavin does have this new word Dadoo that we aren't sure if it is a new word or Clay's new name.  Clay says he refuses to be called Dadoo! Ha-ha!!

Some other things he has started to do are:
Run -the little joker is fast too!
Wave bye-bye
Blow kisses - he uses this to win the hearts of each and every lady he deems worthy or wants something from.
Try and give us a "cute face" by leaning his head to the side. I think he thinks he will get his way, that way.
He can point to his ear when you ask him where it is.  But he also points to his ear when asked where his eyes, nose, mouth, or any other body part is also, ha-ha.
And he has been in the big kids class (2 yr old) all summer so he has learned to color/scribble which delights me because I can now hang his pictures on the refrigerator.

One other thing that he has mastered is a tan.  I realized yesterday that his arms are more tan than mine, sob-sob.  I am pastier than nearly everyone I know except my Mom :-).  But he has such a farmer's tan, when you take off his shirt it is a blast of pure white!

Below are some cute pictures from the family reunion we attended this past weekend.

 Gavin and his two closest in age cousins, who think he is the best thing EVER!!

 75% of the very closely related family

On our way home afterwards

Gavin and Clay being silly

The ones below are of us on Sunday playing with the new little train that moves on its own.  Gavin was kinda freaked out by it moving all by itself at first, especially when it ran into the wall and made some loud noises. But soon he got used to it and would go and grab it and bring it to me or Clay and make us put it back down on the floor again then sit in our lap just to watch it go for a foot or two before getting up, grabbing it again and repeating the rest of the process 20+ times.  It was so nice though to have him sit still in my lap and let me snuggle him, if only for a few minutes.

Gavin looks so sad in this one but I promise he wasn't that was just how intently he was staring at the train coming back to him.

4th of July pt 2

I was worried about bringing Gavin because normally we spend most of the day either in the lake or on the dock and he hadn't shown much enjoyment for water in the past.  I had tried several times to get him in the baby pool at home but he wasn't having it and I had no idea how I was going to entertain him for 3 days if he reacted the same way to the lake.

The boys decided to get the two little boys in life jackets and head out on the boat and let the ladies do a little relaxing.  I knew Gavin would love this because he loves to have the wind blow his hair in the car.  He didn't like the life jacket but was a good sport.

Clay then decided to take Gavin on a VERY slow and short jet ski trip right around the dock, which Gavin seemed to enjoy.

It was smoking hot when they got back so Clay got out Gavin's float we bought him and I sent up a couple of prayers that he would adapt to it quickly.  By the grace of God again (God saved my bacon numerous times this trip) Gavin loved the lake water and happily floated in his little float.

This was pretty much how we spent the next two days and we had a WONDERFUL time with everyone.  Below are just some random pictures from the trip.

Wave Your Flag Cake I made!

4th of July pt 1

Every year we go and spend a few days with some friends at Lake Sinclair for the 4th.  The past two years Gavin has also come with us.  In all honesty I was not super excited about this for no other reason than I just wanted some uncomplicated adult time.  But that was not to be so Gavin made the trip with us and luckily he wasn't the only kid there, another little boy a few years older came also and was a great playmate for him.

We had decided to leave early on Friday and go to ATL and see Clay's Mom before heading over to the lake on Saturday.  Of course for any of you that have traveled with us, we have an uncanny knack for travel drama.  Well this trip was no exception!

We left Vld about 11:30 and I decided to drive so Clay could wrap up a couple of work things.  Well not far from 475 my car starting feeling funny, like it wasn't getting enough gas or something.  It would just kind of catch.  I don't know, I can't really put it into words, but needless to say it freaked me out.  Well Clay didn't feel it the first time but then when it did it again, he said it was probably just bad gas.  We decided to pull off at the rest stop on 475 so we could switch drivers and so Gavin could run around for a minute.  Well just before we got their, my car lost all acceleration and even when I pushed the pedal to the floor it wouldn't go.  So we luckily coasted into the rest area and Clay went to work while I changed Gavin.  At this point it was already almost 100 degrees outside so it was miserable for all involved.  Luckily Clay got it running and figured it was bad gas so we pulled off at the next exit to get gas and a fuel additive.

It seemed to do the trick and everything was running fine but as we started to pat ourselves on the back, the traffic on 75 came to almost a complete stop and so did my car.  This time, the exit was uphill instead of downhill like the rest area so there was no coasting.  We barely made it off the road.  Gavin had just finally fallen asleep about 10 minutes before that and I was so worried because the car wouldn't crank back up so we had no air conditioning.  I knew that Clay and I could manage in the heat but I was so incredibly worried about Gavin.  You have no idea how many prayers I sent up!!  Of course Gavin wakes up almost immediately because he is sweating profusely and is hotter than you know what.  Clay has no luck with the car and has killed the battery trying, so their is no choice but to pack up what we have to and walk to the nearest gas station or restaurant so that I can get Gavin cool and Clay can figure out what to do.  Well right as we are getting Gavin out of the car, a church bus pulls over and offers to help!!  Praise the Lord, who is so gracious and kind!

The bus is full of youth and chaperons headed back to NC from camp.  Come to find out they had had their bus break down on the way to camp and God had showed up and showed out in their situation so they felt necessary to return the favor.  I won't tell the whole story of their incident but the short of it is that in SC where they broke down they met a man who owned a fleet of small passenger  buses and he had one brought over to them to use since they couldn't get theirs fixed.  When they realized that their luggage wouldn't fit, he got a truck with a camper and a driver to drive all of their luggage to camp and then had their van repaired and brought to them all for NO charge!!  If that wasn't a God thing than I don't know what is!

So Gavin and I sit in the bus with all of them while a couple of guys try and help Clay figure it out.  They end up jumping us off and we are able to make it up the exit and to a McDonalds. I am eternally grateful for those wonderful people from Winston-Salem, NC.  Clay's phone was almost dead so I had given him mine to use to try and call someone and figure out what to do.  Well any of you that know Clay really well know that he can't just push a button once.  Well I have an app installed on my phone that when you press a certain button a specific number of times, it sends out alerts to 911 and certain people you have selected telling them you need help and then when the GPS gets your location it send out a second set of messages.  So, of course Clay hits that exact button the exact number of times.  So as we are standing by the car trying to figure out what to do, a call from Emergency Services pops up.  Clay answers and tells them sorry, he has no idea how he called them and hangs up.  Well then my Dad calls and asks me if I am all right.  So I start wondering what is going on and ask him how he knew something was wrong.  He said he had gotten a text message saying I needed help.  Oh, crap!  Then I start getting calls from several of my friends and family all freaking out thinking I have been kidnapped!  And then I can't figure out how to turn it off!  I have no idea how many times it sent that message out but it was more than twice and I scared numerous people half to death.  Meanwhile, it is about 4 or 4:30 and Clay finds a Chevrolet dealership who agrees to take a look and possibly fix our car if we can get it there before 5.  Well the dealership is only 2 exits up but there is no way we are getting back on the interstate not knowing if we can make it so we have to try and go the back way which takes us through McDonough.  The car cuts off twice but thankfully Clay's Dad had told him to get something heavy and hit the gas tank, which worked like a charm for a few miles.

We pull into the dealership right at 5 and they take a look at it and determine it is the fuel pump and will have to be replaced.  By the grace of God they had the one we needed in stock and actually agreed to install it that same day, all for a small *cough* *cough* fee.  So two hours later we left the dealership an incredibly amount lighter in the pocket but with a car that ran like brand new!  So after a quick run through the drive thru we resumed our trip to Emory where we thankfully made it right around 8.  Made a quick (sort of) stop in to see Clay's parents and then hit the University Inn for some much needed sleep, but of course Gavin is all out of sorts and takes forever to fall asleep even though it is 3 hours past his bed time and doesn't sleep well since he isn't in his own bed.

Drearily we visited for a few hours the next morning before heading to Milledgeville to meet our friends for lunch.  Thankfully the remainder of the trip was much less eventful than the beginning.