Family Vacation pt 2

Per the Weather Channel the snow was supposed to start around 9 Sunday night but when we went to bed around 10:30 or so it still hadn't started.  Of course I woke up several times that night hoping to catch a glimpse of the snow through the doors that lead from our bedroom onto the big porch.  I woke up about 5 or so because Gavin had screeched like he was waking up so I rushed into the kitchen to warm his bottle and get the coffee going.  Little bugger was faking us out but by that time, Clay and I had noticed that not only had it started snowing but you couldn't see my car anymore!  Those little black strips you see are my wind guards on top of my windows.  

This is the front porch.  Sorry for all the little lines in the picture I was taking it through the window :-)

So after Gavin got up we stuffed him into his snow suit and took him outside to see what he thought.  I couldn't believe the snow came up to his waist!

After we tried the porch we moved on to try out the deeper snow in the yard.  All in all I think we got about 9 inches between Sunday and Monday night.  It was crazy and needless to say we were snowed in for several days!

Clay had found some inner tubes downstairs and the driveway was super steep so we decided to try and tube down the drive way.  It sounded MUCH easier than it actually was.  I don't know why exactly but the soft snow was really hard to get going in.

 Below is a video of Clay and Gavin tubing down the drive way

So this is what we did for the next 2.5 days!  I also got a lot of reading done on my new Kindle that Clay had  given me for my birthday!  Highly recommend if you like to read!!

Clay finally chipped us out on Wednesday and we ventured into town hoping to see some other human beings.  We were partially successful although the majority of shopping places had not reopened yet.  Thankfully Ingles had so we could restock on formula and diapers.

We ended up staying until Saturday morning and had the most wonderful relaxing time ever!  The perfect thing right before tax season.

Family Vacation pt 1

Clay and I have always taken a vacation the week before tax season starts which almost always also coincides with my birthday.  For one reason or another we hadn't actually left town for the past two years so I was super pumped to be going back to the mountains this year.  The only problem was that the Leadership Lowndes retreat was that weekend we planned on leaving and I am on the board so I was supposed to attend and it is in Jekyll Island the completely opposite direction from the mountains.  So we compromised by going to Jekyll Friday night and leaving from there on Saturday to head to Blue Ridge.  It added about 2 extra hours to our trip on Saturday which concerned me because Gavin is not known for his patience in the car.  We decided to stop off in Senoia to see some friends who had just had a baby which gave us a nice break before heading up the mtn.  Clay had been checking the weather religiously for two weeks prior to us leaving and the best forecast for snow we got was like .25 inches.  He stopped checking about two days before we left which is why we had no idea about the snow storm that was heading straight for us until our friends in Senoia asked about it.

Anyway our trip over to Jekyll on Friday went fairly well although we had left Valdosta and were on our way to Lakeland before we realized we had left the pack n play at home, which was an absolute necessity if we didn't want to share our bed with a wiggly almost 8 month old.  Other than that everything went fine and thankfully Gavin slept most of the way.  Clay and Gavin hung out in the hotel room while I was at my board meeting and then we shared a romantic dinner of Chick fil A by the bath tub while Gavin splashed in the water :-).  The retreat is always held at the Jekyll Island Club which is super nice if you have never been.  Thankfully we were put in one of the cottages which meant we didn't have to lug all our crap up too many flights of stairs.



The problem with were we stayed is that 1. there was no "other" room to put Gavin in so we had to be SUPER quiet once we put him to bed.   2. You can make the tiniest sound and it reverberates down the hall, so every time Gavin coughed, I am pretty sure that everyone in every other room in the cottage heard it.  We finally got him up around 4 and tried to put him back in the bed with us hoping he would fall back asleep and so could we.  Did not happen, he thought it was great fun to be in the bed with  us and took full advantage of having us right there to play with.  Eventually he did fall back asleep but I was so worried I would roll over on him or something I don't think I ever did get back to sleep. Oh well we left early Saturday a.m. before anyone walked out of their rooms to glare at us for all the racket we had made.

Next stop Senoia!  we had hoped to get there right around lunch but we hit a few traffic snags along the way so we didn't get there until after 1. So we were all VERY ready to be out of the car for a little while.  I drove most of the way so that if Gavin needed feeding or entertaining Clay could handle it since I get REALLY car sick, REALLY easy.

Me and Griffin, I can hardly believe Gavin was ever this tiny.  It amazed me how quickly I had forgotten how to handle a baby that size.  I kept worrying I would break him when I tried to burp him :-)


Anna holding Gavin and big brother to Griffin, Jackson


Once Anna had filled us in on the inclement weather we were facing we decided we better get packed back up and on our way since we now needed to stop at Walmart and pick up lots of supplies just in we were stuck in the house for a few days.  We stopped in East Elijay at their Wal-mart to stock up and also see if we could find Gavin a snow suit or at least a heavier jacket.  We lucked out because they had both and they were only $10 and $15 dollars!!  There were millions of people there buying everything you could possibly need.  I should have taken a picture of the bread isle.  There were literally maybe 20 loaves left on the entire isle.  After we left there we headed to the cabin where we arrived safe and sound.  We stay in the same place every time which is a beautiful cabin on the side of a mountain with access to the river.  I am hoping to go up there again this year but during the summer so we can enjoy the water and all the outdoor activities.

We woke up Sunday to freezing temperatures but no snow yet so we got packed up in the car to head to town and pick up a few more supplies.



You can kind of see the river in this picture

Dr. Update - Stats

Well we had a re-check this afternoon and the ear infection is finally gone although there is still fluid in his right ear.  So they decided to refer us anyway for two reasons, 1. He has been out of daycare for two weeks and that is probably the only reason his cold has cleared up and as soon as he gets another one, he will most likely get another ear infection.  2. The persistence of the ear infections he does get.  I am disappointed though that it will probably take two or three weeks to get an appointment with the ENT.  I was praying we could get this handled ASAP.  Oh well!

On a lighter note we got our "6 month" stats although he is 7.5 months old but who is counting :-).
As of 12/28/10:
Weight  23.4  95%
Length  28.25  75%
Head Circumference  18.5  off the charts :-)  Poor boy going to have a big ol head.  Good thing it doesn't look out of place since he has a big ol body to match :-).  He got caught up on his shots today which made me feel better but made him mad as he could be.  I had to laugh though when I looked at the sheet they give you about what to do if your child is uncomfortable.  It gives a weight/age breakdown for the Tylenol dosage.  Gavin is .6 lbs from being at the 2 - 3 yr old dosage amount!!!

So pray for us, I really want to see the ENT before we go out of town in a couple of weeks and really pray Gavin doesn't get an ear infection while we are gone.

Christmas Part 2

To say that Christmas at Clay's parents is madness is putting it very lightly.  First of all Clay is the youngest of 4 kids.  His two oldest sisters have two kids each, two of those kids have kids of their own and one of the other kids has a boyfriend with two kids.  His other sister has two girls under the age of five.  Then to add to that, his Dad loves to hunt and has tons of mounts all over the house so adding all of us makes it a bit crowded.  On top of that we don't get started until early evening and everyone has been to at least one other Christmas party so all the younger kids have moved past that exhausted stage to that wild child phase right before the meltdown phase.

We were supposed to start supper at 5 but do to me and a couple of the others we didn't get started until close to 7.  Then we had to wait on one more family member to get there in the pouring rain so we could all open presents.  That finally started around 8:30.  I can not believe how well behaved Gavin was, he was such a good boy except for one thing.  He reacted to Clay's Mom the exact same way he did to my Dad.  Which is also weird because they love each other.

Clay's parents did not restrain their selves in buying presents for Gavin and he got presents from two of Clay's sisters on top of that.  All in all he had a big fun time for his first Christmas and was amazingly well behaved when  considering the lack of sleep and the ear infection.

Gavin after his dinner feeling more charitable towards his Nanny-Ma


A video just to show the crowd and noise level :-)


All the grandkids and great grand kids (I think)


Gavin trying out one of his presents after the mayhem of opening them had subsided.

Christmas Part 1

Since we are so blessed to have both sets of parents live so close, we always celebrate major holidays with both of them at their respective homes, no mixing or mingling of the in-laws :-).  So this Christmas we decided to continue the tradition with Gavin of staying at my parent's for Christmas Eve and Christmas morning and then heading over to Clay's parents that afternoon.

I was really surprised when Gavin woke up Friday morning in such a good mood since he had still been yanking on his ear and grouchy Thursday night.  Well unfortunately that only lasted until his morning nap.  After he woke up he was as ill as ever and yanking on his ear again.  After Clay got home from hunting we loaded up the car and headed to T-ville for some family fun and hopefully some much needed rest from trying to entertain our son. Well I should have known that wasn't going to happen.  Gavin fell asleep on the way over there and woke up while my Dad was helping us unload the car.  As soon as Gavin saw Daddy, he started screaming at the top of his lungs and sobbing.  To say this was unusual would be putting it lightly.  Gavin loves his Pa-Pa and they always have the best time together.  I have no earthly idea why he decided to react this way but he did and it tainted his ability to let me out of his sight the rest of the afternoon.  Finally for some reason, he latched on to my brother and Clay and I got to just sit on the couch and laugh at them.

Our attempt at a family photo.  As you can see Josh was showing his displeasure at not being included.








The dog is my brother's and the most patient dog EVER.  Gavin chased him around yanking on his ears and actually biting his feet!  I could not believe he was so nice and patient, he isn't even a year old yet!


Gavin and his banana on the kitchen floor


We assumed Christmas would start earlier now that Gavin was involved and since he had been waking up around 6 the past couple of days.  However Clay had forgotten that he still had his alarm on his Blackberry from the morning before, when he went hunting, set.  All three of us where sleeping in the same room so when Clay's alarm went off at 4:20 in the morning, so did Gavin!  So I went to fix him a bottle and Clay tried to calm him down until I could get back (the boy expects his meals to be waiting on him when he wakes up :-))  After that we got him to go back to sleep for about an hour but then it was all over.  Luckily his mood seemed to have improved from the night before.

As you can see, Gavin got a lot more sleep than the rest of us.


Gavin enjoying the wrapping paper from someone's present.




We did really well in restraining ourselves from buying Gavin a lot of presents.  We did however buy him one really big present that should hopefully last another 3 or 4 years though.  I had seen an advertisement for this tricycle that grows with them.  When I saw it on sale on Amazon, I had to get it.  He thinks it is the coolest thing ever!


This isn't the best of the videos we have of his reactions but I just don't feel like waiting for the rest of them to upload to my web album.

Fun at home

Due to Gavin not being able to get rid of this ear infection, the Dr has asked us to keep him home for the last two weeks.  Well any of you that know me well, know that my creativity and imagination are pretty limited :-)  So one afternoon last week when it was my turn to stay at home, I was super proud of myself with coming up with a  new way to entertain Gavin.  In all honesty I got the idea from a friend's blog but hey I used my imagination to apply it to my situation :-).

I pushed him around the house in it for a little while until I got tired of it and then just took his toys that were in his play pen and stuck them all in there with him.  He had the best time!  And I noticed that he is starting to pull up.  I had to help support the sides of the box so he wouldn't tumble over but he did it!

From 2010-12-22

Then after he got tired of that we ventured out to the backyard and let him play in the grass for a little while so I could try and get a tiny bit of work done.

Bath time!

Bath time at our house has never been terribly enjoyable for Gavin.  He has not been a big fan from the beginning for some reason.  When he screamed bloody murder after 99% of the baths we gave him in his baby bath, another mother at his school suggested that he start taking a shower with Clay.  Her son hated baths and when they started showering instead she said he loved it.  Well loved it would be a great exaggeration for Gavin but he didn't scream nearly as much so we have stuck with that.  Until last week when we had been in that germapolooza aka the walk in clinic.  I was too tired to try and hold him up in the shower because I had been holding him for the last 3 hours straight so I figured why not try giving him a bath in the big tub.  I figured he probably wouldn't like it anymore than the other methods of getting him clean but I also figured he couldn't like it any less so what the heck.

Well boy did he prove me wrong!  He LOVED it!!!  I put him in there with some rubber duckies and he just splashed and laughed and splashed and laughed.  Of course I didn't have the camera with me so all the pictures are from the next night when Clay was home.  You would never guess he was sick by all the smiles we got!







Those blurry things are his arms rapidly splashing the water everywhere :-)


My absolute favorite shot, what a sweet little face!!


This last one is a video, SO CUTE