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| Gavin's first sucker, thanks to Granny Kay. |
Fun times at the Valwood playground
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| The shirt says it all!! |
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| My terrible attempt to catch him pulling up on something 2/1/11 |
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| His first bite of cheese! Boy did he like it!! 2/4/11 |
Monday, February 7, 2011
Random pictures
Some cute pictures from the past week or two
Gavin really started pulling up all the way to standing on absolutely everything last week. I am so scared that he is going to seriously hurt his self because that kid has no fear. He also has a few bruises to prove his daredevilness.
Blessed!!
I know that I can never say it enough but I am truly Blessed! The Lord has bestowed on me an abundance of blessings. Clay is a wonderful husband, the best that there is and Gavin is SUCH a good baby. I have known this since he was born but each time he exceeds my already high expectations I am reminded of what a blessing he is to Clay and I both.
His latest act of exceptional behavior was Saturday. First a little background, for those of you not aware, I have begun the wonderful tax season tradition of working until lunch on Saturdays. So when it occurred to me Thursday night that Gavin had no pants or shoes to wear to our first family portrait session and that he would be in no mood for shopping after I got off work Friday, the shopping responsibility fell on Clay and Gavin for Saturday morning. I wasn't too concerned with the purchases, Clay has good taste and I knew he understood how important this was to me. I was more concerned with keeping Gavin on his "schedule" because I had scheduled the pictures so he would get a decent afternoon nap and hopefully not need a bottle during the session. Well of course my well laid out plan got blown all to bits mainly due to having to squeeze a shopping trip in between feedings and a morning nap.
So poor Gavin got short changed on his morning nap and to make matters worse he got shorted at least an hour on his afternoon nap. So I was saying some major prayers that the photography session go quick before my child had a much deserved melt down from his lack of sleep. I think I forgot to mention the portrait sitting was at our church, they are doing directory pictures but will also allow you to do different poses and buy the prints. So we wake Gavin up as late as possible and break our necks to get him into his WHITE button down shirt, pants and cute little big boy shoes. I immediately put his body bib on him to hopefully save us from any spit-up or drooling stains. We had tried to give Gavin his bottle before his nap but since he had eaten so soon before he wouldn't really take it so we were forced to give it to him on the way to church which normally wouldn't be a problem except that lately he has developed this nasty habit of turning the bottle upside down and watching the milk pour out on his lap. And of course he did it this time also, luckily I caught him quickly enough to keep it from soaking through his body bib.
We actually arrive about 10 minutes early for our session so I was pretty happy thinking we shouldn't have to wait long and we could be out of there, go grocery shopping and be home before Gavin needed to eat again. Luckily the Lord told me to bring an empty bottle and some formula just in case. I immediately realized something was amiss when the two LoL's (little old ladies) that were supposedly checking people in ignored me for 10 - 15 minutes even though there was no one standing in line in front of me. Finally the one that was apparently in charge told me, sweetly, to have a seat that this would take a while. So when I sat down in a chair next to her I noticed her checking names off of what appeared to be the schedule. Our appointment time was at 2:40, guess what time she had finally just checked off......1:40. Meantime Clay has taken Gavin to the bathroom to change what was almost a disaster of a blowout. Another Praise the Lord moment that it didn't leak out too much :-). So I finally get checked in which consisted of her putting my name and address on a form and me signing it a little after 3. I mean seriously what in the world about that could take over 30 minutes??
Anyway, so there are two families in front of us. I still think to myself how long can this possibly take? There are two photographers it appears so I figure one is probably taking the pictures while the other manipulates you into buying 3 dozen different poses afterwards. I was so wrong, so, so, so wrong. After the first of the two families in front of us go back, we wander around until we found a room with kids movies on and a couple we know from SS that were the other couple in front of us. So we get to chatting and come to find out their appointment was at 1:40 and here it is 3:15 or so and they still haven't gotten their pictures taken. The little brochure we got said to plan for the entire process of check-in, pictures, and portrait selection to take about an hour. Nothing was mentioned about having to wait an hour before all that began. So at 3:45 when they still haven't gone back, Clay and I are getting a bit testy. I just know Gavin is seconds away from melting down because why wouldn't he be, he has had almost no sleep and been in a room with no toys and only another 6 year old to entertain him. So fast forward 15 more minutes and the family in front of us finally get called back. At this point we have been there for an hour and a half and I am about to lose it. I mean if that 2nd of the 2 families takes as long as the 1st one did that means it will be at least another 45 minutes. I sweetly ask Clay to go inquire of the photographers as to how much longer this was going to take. He comes back with some snarky answer about how it won't take 5 minutes once we get our picture taken or something like that. I am fit to be tied and just waiting for Gavin to unleash the fury. Praise the Lord that the 2nd of the two families was in no mood for multiple poses or picture packages by the time they got in there because we got called back no 15 minutes after they went back.
So we finally get out of there about 4:30 and head to Wal-mart because neither of us are in the mood to go home and then try and make another trip back to the grocery store later. If we were not out of everything necessary for life we would have just skipped the trip altogether. When we pulled up I noticed that Wal-mart seemed a bit busy for middle of the afternoon on a Saturday. Boy was that an understatement! That place was a freaking madhouse!!! Millions of people everywhere. So of course what should have been a short trip of grocery shopping turned into another almost two hour event. And Gavin still hasn't had a nap, thankfully I had brought that emergency bottle along so he could at least have something to eat. Gavin entertained the entire store with his talking and smiles and thoroughly enjoyed his people watching. He also pulled his bottle trick and dumped out an ounce or two on the floor before some sweet employee called my attention to it. She was so nice and instead of making me wait and clean up my child's mess, she told me to go on and she would handle it!
So we finally get home at almost 7! For those of you with children you know that an almost 9 month old who has not had a nap in 5 hours and the naps he had earlier were much shorter than usual, should be past, I mean way past the point of no return by now. But not Gavin he is just as happy as can be and joyfully entertains the household for another 30 minutes or so until the inevitable sets in and he loses it.
Sorry for the super long post about a Saturday afternoon. But I just couldn't get across how good a baby Gavin is in just a few short words :-)
His latest act of exceptional behavior was Saturday. First a little background, for those of you not aware, I have begun the wonderful tax season tradition of working until lunch on Saturdays. So when it occurred to me Thursday night that Gavin had no pants or shoes to wear to our first family portrait session and that he would be in no mood for shopping after I got off work Friday, the shopping responsibility fell on Clay and Gavin for Saturday morning. I wasn't too concerned with the purchases, Clay has good taste and I knew he understood how important this was to me. I was more concerned with keeping Gavin on his "schedule" because I had scheduled the pictures so he would get a decent afternoon nap and hopefully not need a bottle during the session. Well of course my well laid out plan got blown all to bits mainly due to having to squeeze a shopping trip in between feedings and a morning nap.
So poor Gavin got short changed on his morning nap and to make matters worse he got shorted at least an hour on his afternoon nap. So I was saying some major prayers that the photography session go quick before my child had a much deserved melt down from his lack of sleep. I think I forgot to mention the portrait sitting was at our church, they are doing directory pictures but will also allow you to do different poses and buy the prints. So we wake Gavin up as late as possible and break our necks to get him into his WHITE button down shirt, pants and cute little big boy shoes. I immediately put his body bib on him to hopefully save us from any spit-up or drooling stains. We had tried to give Gavin his bottle before his nap but since he had eaten so soon before he wouldn't really take it so we were forced to give it to him on the way to church which normally wouldn't be a problem except that lately he has developed this nasty habit of turning the bottle upside down and watching the milk pour out on his lap. And of course he did it this time also, luckily I caught him quickly enough to keep it from soaking through his body bib.
We actually arrive about 10 minutes early for our session so I was pretty happy thinking we shouldn't have to wait long and we could be out of there, go grocery shopping and be home before Gavin needed to eat again. Luckily the Lord told me to bring an empty bottle and some formula just in case. I immediately realized something was amiss when the two LoL's (little old ladies) that were supposedly checking people in ignored me for 10 - 15 minutes even though there was no one standing in line in front of me. Finally the one that was apparently in charge told me, sweetly, to have a seat that this would take a while. So when I sat down in a chair next to her I noticed her checking names off of what appeared to be the schedule. Our appointment time was at 2:40, guess what time she had finally just checked off......1:40. Meantime Clay has taken Gavin to the bathroom to change what was almost a disaster of a blowout. Another Praise the Lord moment that it didn't leak out too much :-). So I finally get checked in which consisted of her putting my name and address on a form and me signing it a little after 3. I mean seriously what in the world about that could take over 30 minutes??
Anyway, so there are two families in front of us. I still think to myself how long can this possibly take? There are two photographers it appears so I figure one is probably taking the pictures while the other manipulates you into buying 3 dozen different poses afterwards. I was so wrong, so, so, so wrong. After the first of the two families in front of us go back, we wander around until we found a room with kids movies on and a couple we know from SS that were the other couple in front of us. So we get to chatting and come to find out their appointment was at 1:40 and here it is 3:15 or so and they still haven't gotten their pictures taken. The little brochure we got said to plan for the entire process of check-in, pictures, and portrait selection to take about an hour. Nothing was mentioned about having to wait an hour before all that began. So at 3:45 when they still haven't gone back, Clay and I are getting a bit testy. I just know Gavin is seconds away from melting down because why wouldn't he be, he has had almost no sleep and been in a room with no toys and only another 6 year old to entertain him. So fast forward 15 more minutes and the family in front of us finally get called back. At this point we have been there for an hour and a half and I am about to lose it. I mean if that 2nd of the 2 families takes as long as the 1st one did that means it will be at least another 45 minutes. I sweetly ask Clay to go inquire of the photographers as to how much longer this was going to take. He comes back with some snarky answer about how it won't take 5 minutes once we get our picture taken or something like that. I am fit to be tied and just waiting for Gavin to unleash the fury. Praise the Lord that the 2nd of the two families was in no mood for multiple poses or picture packages by the time they got in there because we got called back no 15 minutes after they went back.
So we finally get out of there about 4:30 and head to Wal-mart because neither of us are in the mood to go home and then try and make another trip back to the grocery store later. If we were not out of everything necessary for life we would have just skipped the trip altogether. When we pulled up I noticed that Wal-mart seemed a bit busy for middle of the afternoon on a Saturday. Boy was that an understatement! That place was a freaking madhouse!!! Millions of people everywhere. So of course what should have been a short trip of grocery shopping turned into another almost two hour event. And Gavin still hasn't had a nap, thankfully I had brought that emergency bottle along so he could at least have something to eat. Gavin entertained the entire store with his talking and smiles and thoroughly enjoyed his people watching. He also pulled his bottle trick and dumped out an ounce or two on the floor before some sweet employee called my attention to it. She was so nice and instead of making me wait and clean up my child's mess, she told me to go on and she would handle it!
So we finally get home at almost 7! For those of you with children you know that an almost 9 month old who has not had a nap in 5 hours and the naps he had earlier were much shorter than usual, should be past, I mean way past the point of no return by now. But not Gavin he is just as happy as can be and joyfully entertains the household for another 30 minutes or so until the inevitable sets in and he loses it.
Sorry for the super long post about a Saturday afternoon. But I just couldn't get across how good a baby Gavin is in just a few short words :-)
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
These are the pictures I was referring to from Saturday
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| Gavin enjoying some of the girl's toys. |
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| Gavin and new friend Anna Beth |
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| Gavin and his ladies |
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| Ashlyn explaining how it is done |
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| Everyone bathed and in their jammies!! |
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
The weekend
Gavin had a pretty packed weekend. Saturday we went to the Valdosta Symphony Guild's Tunes for Tots at the suggestion of Aunt E. I was worried that he would be too young to have the slightest idea or care what was going on. Of course I was wrong, he really seemed to enjoy it. It was a really cool experience, they brought out each of the instruments and played a little music and explained the instruments purpose to the kids. then they had a performance by the South GA String Project which is a group of children as young as 9, I think. They were really good, some of them were so tiny and had tiny little instruments, it was adorable. After that the adult musicians broke up into groups, strings, percussion, woodwinds,etc. and let the kids come and touch and play with them. Some of those instruments I know cost an arm and a leg, I couldn't believe they let them play with them!! We took Gavin to play with the percussion pieces and he had quite a wonderful time banging away. The people from VSU were so attentive and patient with all of the kids, it was really neat. I would highly recommend taking your children next year. The suggested age is from 3 yrs to 4th grade but Gavin had a wonderful time and I will definitely take him back next year. Clay got some cute pictures of Gavin banging away on his phone which of course I don't have so only the pictures that Aunt E took will get posted.
Later that afternoon we went over to some friends house for dinner and to let the kids play. There were four little girls and Gavin he was the youngest by a year but that sure didn't stop him any. He is no stranger to being the center of attention and he absolutely loved getting it from all those pretty little girls. He was such a sweet boy all night long and behaved so well. The funniest part of the evening came when we decided to bathe them all together since it was getting so late. One of the little girls didn't want to get into the "big" tub so all four of them squeezed into a shower/tub combo. It was so stinking cute! I can't believe that I forgot my camera again, but I did. Hopefully Aunt C and Aunt B will email me some of the pictures they took and I can post later. Gavin thought he was the coolest kid ever, he kept smiling, and smiling. Not sure if it was due to having all those friends in the tub with him or because he knew he was in the tub with a bunch of girls. Of course all the Daddy's had to threaten him to keep his hands of their daughters :-) It didn't seem to phase him one little bit though, he pretended like he didn't hear a word and just kept playing with all their toys and having the best time. We had a wonderful time and really enjoyed spending time with friends and catching up.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
8 months
I can not believe that Gavin has completed 2/3rds of his first year! In some ways it seems like he has been a part of our lives forever and in some ways it seems like just yesterday I was in the hospital. This has been a busy month and he has also been sick and at home a lot also. In fact he was home from school two weeks of the last month which was hard on Mom and Dad! But we also really enjoyed being able to spend so much time with him. When he finally got released by the Dr. to go back to school I was a little concerned with how he would react but he was just fine, didn't miss a beat. So either he was tired of being with us or he just really loves his teachers. I am going with the latter :-). Gavin also got to celebrate his first Christmas, New Years, and both his Mom and Dad's birthday! Right before he turned 8 months he got to take his first trip out of town which I will fill you in on in the next post. He has been changing every single day and I know I am not remembering a lot of the new things he has done but some of the ones I can remember are:
Milestones:
Clapping hands, first noticed on 12/22
Pulling himself up (started when he was playing in box on 12/22), this one has been hard for me to let him practice because we have no soft landing surface in our house. And him wearing socks because it is so cold outside doesn't help at all with traction. Clay has been better at letting him practice and I just have to bite my tongue and not snatch Gavin away sometimes. I know he is going to fall and he has to learn but gracious I am just not ready for it!!
Picking up food with thumb and forefinger, he mastered this one quickly. He mastered this one quickly, I think because he was highly motivated with the Blueberry flavored puffs.
Started eating puffs and other finger foods
Started eating meat
Started taking baths in the big tub and absolutely loving it
He is on the exact same eating schedule as he was last month and still taking at least 2 naps a day. He gets more naps when he is at home because I am pretty good about putting him down 2 hrs after he gets up. Plus there is not as much (if any at all) excitement at home to distract him from being sleepy.
Since his 8 month birthday coincided with my 31st birthday we got to take pictures together which meant that I got to hold the calendar page so it wouldn't get all messed up :-). I promised him he only had to do this 4 more times, that I wouldn't subject him to the calendar page pictures after he turned 1 yr. I can't believe it is getting so close!
Below are some cute pictures of him that I don't think I have included in other posts.
I absolutely adore this picture, it is my favorite right now
My two favorite boys. Gavin is wearing his "I hunt for hugs" hat his Nanny-Ma bought him
He is finally starting to smile for the camera.
Milestones:
Clapping hands, first noticed on 12/22
Pulling himself up (started when he was playing in box on 12/22), this one has been hard for me to let him practice because we have no soft landing surface in our house. And him wearing socks because it is so cold outside doesn't help at all with traction. Clay has been better at letting him practice and I just have to bite my tongue and not snatch Gavin away sometimes. I know he is going to fall and he has to learn but gracious I am just not ready for it!!
Picking up food with thumb and forefinger, he mastered this one quickly. He mastered this one quickly, I think because he was highly motivated with the Blueberry flavored puffs.
Started eating puffs and other finger foods
Started eating meat
Started taking baths in the big tub and absolutely loving it
He is on the exact same eating schedule as he was last month and still taking at least 2 naps a day. He gets more naps when he is at home because I am pretty good about putting him down 2 hrs after he gets up. Plus there is not as much (if any at all) excitement at home to distract him from being sleepy.
Since his 8 month birthday coincided with my 31st birthday we got to take pictures together which meant that I got to hold the calendar page so it wouldn't get all messed up :-). I promised him he only had to do this 4 more times, that I wouldn't subject him to the calendar page pictures after he turned 1 yr. I can't believe it is getting so close!
Below are some cute pictures of him that I don't think I have included in other posts.
I absolutely adore this picture, it is my favorite right now
My two favorite boys. Gavin is wearing his "I hunt for hugs" hat his Nanny-Ma bought him
He is finally starting to smile for the camera.
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!
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
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
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