Just ordinary life

These past two weeks, we have been pretty boring.  Praise the Lord that tax season is nearing the end, however that means that I am also nearing my end. I could not be more tired and I think Clay might be secretly wondering if I have cracked, but he is way to sweet to even suggest it. Although he did agree with me that I was an emotional basket case last weekend...  So if my posts are a little worse than normal, give me a break, I am at the end of my very short rope!

Gavin has been keeping us on our toes, it seems like he gets more and more energy every day!  This past week he started waking up screaming really early as in 3:30 - 4:00.  At first I thought maybe nightmares, but then someone told me he was too young.  Then I thought either teething or a growth spurt.  Either way, poor Clay was about as tired as one guy can get.  Yes, I am spoiled, Clay gets up with Gavin at night.  So when he did it Monday, I told Clay to stay in bed, that I would take care of it.  Well by the time I got Gavin's bottle warmed, he had quit.  He did a quick screech twice more that morning before I left for work but I never got him up.  I guess maybe that did the trick??  All I know is thankfully he has stopped and is back to sleeping until 7 like normal.

He has also started going to bed a lot earlier, which makes our afternoon schedule super tight.  He has been on a slow progression backwards from 8 pm and then a couple of weeks ago, Clay put him down at 7 and he went right to sleep.  This is nice for Clay and I to enjoy some couple time, but it makes it hard to spend anytime with Gavin since we don't get home until 6.  Then I either entertain Gav for a little while, while Clay finishes up dinner or I give him a bath.  Then we stuff him full of food and milk and send him off to dream land!!  On that same note, the batteries ran out on his Sleep Sheep Tuesday night, which he has had since a week or two since birth.  He has cried for a little while both nights (yes we forgot to get batteries, bad parents) but seems to have slept just fine after that.  But I have been thinking it is probably time to wean him away from that or else he may need a noise maker to fall asleep for the rest of his life.  Although we have wondered if his strange ability to sleep through the loudest of storms has come from his falling asleep to rain or waves every night.

Obviously from my post you can see just how boring we have been.  Gavin did get to go spend the day at his Nanny-Ma's last Saturday though.  Clay got him up super early so he could drop him off and then go turkey hunting.  Then Clay and I went back down there after I got off work and ate lunch.  Clay's sister was there and so was Gavin's favorite cousin Kaliegh.  It appears as though they had tons of fun, Gavin loves to entertain and to be the center of attention.  He gets his fill of both down there, as he should.  Below are some pictures his Aunt Lesia took of him.

Isn't he just the cutest thing EVER!!!  And yes, that is a camouflage recliner he is sitting on.  I have to admit, it is really comfortable!

Just one last picture we took a couple of weeks ago that I just think is so cute!

Caught in the Act

I caught Gavin in the act last night as I was getting him ready for his bath!

What a cute little innocent looking face.....

Here Mommy, don't you want some too??

Bathroom Antics

On a normal day Clay gets up with me at 4, 4:45 during non-tax season months, and works out, so by the time Gavin gets up at 7 he is showered, dressed and ready to go.  Well his allergies are bothering him and Gavin kept him from getting much sleep both Friday and Saturday night, so I was a sweet wife and let him sleep in this morning.  Unfortunately that meant that he had to try and get ready while Gavin was awake, which means trying to contain a very active, very impatient almost 11 month old, while you are in the shower.  So Clay decides to put him in his walker in the bathroom with him, thinking that the tray that surrounds it will keep Gavin from getting too close to anything to get into trouble.

Well when Clay gets out of the shower, he notices Gavin is no longer in the bathroom with him.  Gavin has managed to get out of the bathroom and almost out of our bedroom door.  Apparently while he was still in the bathroom, he noticed the roll of toilet paper, or as he fondly knows it his unlimited supply of "chewing gum".  So he grabbed the end piece, promptly stuck it in his mouth and then started trying to escape unnoticed.  Gavin didn't think to detach his piece of "gum" from the remainder of the roll so he unraveled almost the entire roll during his attempted getaway.  Clay said he found him still munching on the paper with the remainder of the roll still attached to him. I wish he had gotten a picture of it because I am sure my description probably isn't nearly as funny as when Clay was telling me at lunch.

Spidey Man

This picture was taken at school last Friday by Ms. Amanda.  Is it not the cutest!!!  Apparently another little boy brought the mask to school and all the kids were playing with it.  She said Gavin kept just laughing and laughing.

Aunt E's pics of Wild Adventures

Click here to view these pictures larger

Wild Adventures!!

Last weekend, I got to have a Saturday off in celebration of passing the first of the big deadlines during tax season.  It was so incredibly nice to sleep until 7, normally I have to be up by 5 on Saturdays!  Well I decided that Clay needed a much deserved break from single parenting so Gavin and I headed out to a baby shower for a friend of mine where he was fawned over by all of the attendees.  Of course he ate all the attention up along with the blueberry muffins and mini chicken biscuits.  Then we headed over to Wal-mart to take care of another chore that has been left to Clay lately, grocery shopping!  Gavin LOVES Wal-mart, probably because there are thousands of people to look at and to give him attention.  So we enjoyed several hours of just me and him hanging out before we headed back to the house so he could take a nap before our big trip to Wild Adventures that afternoon.

Thanks to Aunt E inviting us on Bring A Friend Day, we were able to go to Wild Adventures for free!  For any of you that have been out there lately, you know what a savings that was!  Well, Gavin absolutely loved it!  There were rides he could ride, animals to look at, and even some animals he could touch.  And to top it all off, his friend Jackson bought him a fake tattoo of a rhinoceros that Gavin thought made him look super tough :-) .  Our stupid camera batteries died right after we got there so I only got a few pictures, hopefully Aunt E got some better ones and I can post those later.

I don't know if you can tell from the sweat on Gavin but it was hotter than the hinges of you know where.  This was right after we got there, poor baby!  He is also looking a little extra pasty because we had slathered him up with sunscreen that was so thick you couldn't rub it all in.

Our first stop was the merry go round.  I don't do rides that go in circles, so Clay got to take him.

Next came the small train ride, where Gavin seemed much more interested in what was going on in the car behind us, than the ride itself.  

 Then we rode the jeeps, which I am not sure how much Gavin enjoyed.  But I know that I didn't like it, even this tiny bit of a circle made me car sick :-).  What a wimp!!

The last ride in this little kiddie section was the Bee Ride.  I really wasn't sure about this, it goes way up high and in circles.  I wasn't so much afraid that Gavin would get hurt, because I knew Clay was blocking him from sliding out, but I was afraid Gavin would hate it and scream the whole time.  Well he proved me wrong, he seemed to really enjoy it.  This ride made even Clay sick!  They probably would have had to stop it then if I had been on there!!

Look at him holding on to the rail with his tiny little hands!! How cute!

After that we went to see the snakes, which Gavin enjoyed entirely too much.  I went ahead and let him know that a snake was not a pet at our house!!  Next stop was the aviary where they let a bunch of tropical looking birds fly around and you can feed them nectar.  You can't really see the bird in the picture below, look for the bright colors by the monkey grass.  It was pretty cool and very noisy!  Gavin really liked it and tried to grab any bird that he could get close to, so I know this will definitely be a repeat attraction next time we go.

Well, that is where the camera ended :-(.  After the birds we went to the petting zoo, where Gavin got to pet some sheep and goats.  Then we stood in line for days for this one last train ride, that Gavin got denied in because he didn't have his shoes on!!  I was so ill, but oh well, rules are rules.  We finished the wonderful afternoon with some excellent bar b que and beans.  Gavin barely made it out of the park and back to the car before he was dead asleep.  He had such a good time and we will definitely be getting some park passes soon!  What better way to entertain a kid when it is a million degrees outside, especially when the water park opens!!  Can't wait!

Gavin's first bad note home!

I was in such a good mood yesterday after I got off work, ready to pick up my precious little boy and head home! Everything seems fine when I arrive at school to pick him up. His teacher that is usually there in the afternoons isn't, but that isn't uncommon because she leaves early on Wednesday for church. So I pick up his belongings including his note home that lists what he ate that day, how many naps and for how long, etc.











This is what I see when I look at it! Now you know we have been having issues with him at home. We have tried 3 different kinds of juice, probably 5 or 6 different sippy cups, and even tried putting his milk in there. All with the same results, two or three sips max and then he refuses to drink out of it. Sunday we tried a new tactict and left the top off of the cup and helped him drink like that. He didn't drink the whole cup or anything but it was the most success we have had thus far.

My boy is SO stubborn and when you don't do as he pleases, the above is the result :-). BUT, only if you let him get away with it. At home on the weekends, there is no morning snack/juice time because 2 hours after he gets up in the morning which is 7 am 7 days a week, is nap time. But they started this bad habit with him at school probably 3 or 4 months ago, so now he expects to be fed at 9 am instead of taking a nap. I know that my child is not the only child there so that is why I haven't fussed about it, I know things are different there than they are at home, so many more distractions and other kids to throw into the mix. So I had to take a BIG step down off of my self-righteous/judgemental attitude box yesterday before writing a note back. Please either leave me suggestions as to how to get him to switch over or say a lot of prayers for Gavin, me, and his teachers. Prayers are probably needed even if you do have some suggestions.