Grandpa's Truck

One weekend M-pa and B-ma (my parents) came to visit. My dad put Gav in the back of his HUGE red truck and Gavin LOVED it. After that anytime we got close enough, he would grab the bed of the truck and I would have to literally pry his fingers off the truck. He loved just standing in the back of the truck and having everyone look at him!

ONE in a Million

Dear Gavin,
How did you get so big? I remember just a year ago, climbing on a stool perched on a school desk, hanging things off the ceiling and looking down to see you moving like crazy in my belly. I remember thinking that pregnancy was never going to end, and then you were here. It was not easy; being in a wheelchair and completely unable to care for you was never in the plan, but I think it made those moments later on, when I was able to fully care for you, so much more special. During that time I fell even more in love with your daddy as I watched him handle caring for me and you, with grace. What a special bond you have with your daddy. He (and I) are so grateful for all the one-on-one time he got to spend with you this first year. How lucky are you?



You are such a fun little boy. You are so happy and love to be around people. You light up the room with your smile, and have even started to laugh at yourself. You have no fear and crawl everywhere, including up and down the stairs. You have a strong personality and you let us know what you want by pointing and grunting. You love books and can often be found in the corner reading your book to yourself, in a very soft whisper. You have recently really started playing by yourself and it is so fun to watch you in your own little world. Remember how you never really took a formula bottle? Well, you LOVE milk and guzzle it every chance you get. Today you drank 45 oz! You are also talking more and more. Your current vocabulary includes: mom, mama, dad, dada, baba, nana (Ronna), woofwoof (kind of), and whatever you can't say you point to and grunt. You love to pull out the drawer under the stove and climb in and just sit there. You have more energy than any baby I have ever seen and most days I am sweaty just from chasing you around. You just barely started sleeping through the night (thank goodness!) and last night you slept from 7pm to 7:30am! Some mornings you wake up and just babble to yourself, allowing mommy and daddy a few more minutes of sleep. You truly are such a lovable little boy and love to "give loves" to whoever asks for them.

Gavin we love you so much and are so proud to be your parents. Even the hard moments are worth it, because you always turn to us and flash us that smile that makes us melt. It's hard to get mad at you with that smile. You have forever changed our lives, and we can't imagine life without you. Thanks for being our "everything".

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Our New Home

As I write this I am sitting on my comfy chair in my new home. There is sunlight streaming in the front window, the back window and the kitchen windows. I am in awe that I can see all of them from where I sit. The babe is sound asleep in his new bedroom and his toys are strewn out across our living room. His new home as almost triple the space to roam and play that his last home had. He has never known such freedom. The park across the street is almost too much for him to bear and he stands at the front window, just his height, and bangs on the window trying to get someone to let him join in the fun. He climbs the stairs repeatedly and then climbs back down backwards, a new trick he has learned. 

From where I sit I can also see boxes...lots of them. But they don't seem to number as many as when they were in the townhouse because we have plenty of room for our stuff. Truth be told, we should be buying more furniture to fill this place up! I am waiting for Taylor to come from from job #2 today. You see this is the first time he has been home before 11pm in WEEKS! I think we may just sit on the front porch and revel in the view that is the mountains and the gorgeous sunset. Oh and we may giggle just a little with excitement because we are HOMEOWNERS! 

Nine months....on his 10 month birthday.

I know...a month late but at least they got done. My cousin Erin took these one Sunday afternoon and I LOVE how they turned out. Just what I wanted. Thanks Erin! It's crazy to think that the next ones will be his ONE YEAR! 

Our Tiny Ten Month Terror

This is our little stinker. I have affectionately been calling him Stinkbug the past few weeks because he is into EVERYTHING! He started crawling right before he turned 7 months old and has been non-stop for three months now. He is quite the little daredevil and is not afraid to go up stairs, down stairs, fling himself off your lap or out of his car seat, he tries to play in the toilet, and can often be found making a beeline for any door that leads outside.  Despite being a week shy of 10 months old, he had his 9 month check up last week. The doctor didn't give us a "stats" paper, but his percentiles are engrained in my brain (because never in my whole life did I think that I would have such a little child): 

Height: 35th percentile

Weight: 25th percentile

Head: 9th percentile 

I think they measured his head wrong, on account the kid doesn't sit still, but that 9% isn't helping his gigantic eyes. EVERYWHERE we go, the first thing people comment on are his eyes. They are still very blue..and I'm hoping that they stay that way. 

In other Gavin news, he still is not sleeping through the night. He gives us about 4-5 hour stretches, sometimes 6 if we are lucky.  I think 6 months of straight ear infections helped him develop some really bad sleeping habits, compounded by the fact that every week he is cutting a new tooth (he has 7 and one on the way!).  I am sure there is something that I am "not doing right" or probably some secret I don't even know, but luckily I have a husband that gets up with him a majority of the time. And luckily, all we really have to do is give him a sip of his bottle and pop a binky in. 

Taylor sent me this picture last week at work. Apparently they went on a walk and he put some "puffs" on G's stroller tray and the horses decided they wanted some. 

I can't believe my little man will be 10 months old next week. He has officially been outside of me for longer than he was inside of me. Craziness, I tell you! I love him more and more each day, and can't imagine my life before I had him. He may be crazy busy, but I wouldn't have it any other way. 

Exhausted Battery...Times Three

I went to take a picture of Gav all snuggled up in his bed because let's be honest, it's not a post without a picture right? And since I haven't taken ANY pictures over the last month (call me a bad mother...I dare you!) I thought a sleeping one would have to suffice. I tried to turn the camera on and this is what it said: Battery Exhausted. Don't worry...I found one from this past weekend. Enjoy:

That got me thinking. My personal battery is exhausted as well. We have been through A LOT these past two months, and not that I'm complaining (me? never!) but I am so ready for summer. Not that it will be any less stressful or any less hectic, but I like to think that with sunnier weather comes brighter days!

This month we said a tearful, but joyus at the same time, goodbye to Grandpa Hal. It was exactly a year ago that we were in Virginia visiting him. To think he lived so much longer than anyone predicted. I am so glad that I got to meet him and feel honored to have become a part of his family. He had a full military funeral complete with the gun salute, and it was beautiful. We got to spend some time with the McFarlands and the Virginia cousins. We also decided it would be good to pass around the flu while they were here, and I do beleive Gavin gave it to everyone...sorry! Even I, who never throws up, got it and spent my fair share of time with the porcelin throne. Despite the flu, and the circumstances that surrounded everyone being in Utah, it was great to see family.

On the Gavin front, he is our BUSY little boy. While I was content as an infant to sit in my crib with a few books, Gavin LOVES to get into everything. He started crawling a week before he turned seven months and has not slowed down since. My only saving grace is that he is not walking....yet. His latest tricks include clapping his hands, blowing kisses, and waving goodbye. He does this really funny gasp and open mouth (like he is really suprised) and makes people laugh. He is also a biter and when he gets excited he just chomps down, usually on your knee or shoulder. He is quite the eater and loves to eat whatever we are eating. He still is not a big fan of the bottle. He hates when Tay and I are both on computers and will whine and whine until we put them down. He is sleeping better, but his dependency on his binky makes it so that we still have to get up twice in the night to pop it back in. We go to the doctor next week for his 9 month check up (almost a month late...our doctor is too popular!) and I can't wait to see his stats. He is the happiest baby and loves to give "loves". We are so blessed to be his parents.

Lastly, my fifth year of teaching is wrapping up. It has gone by so fast. I am so thankful to be where I am and working with the people I work with. I love my kids, even though they test my love A LOT! I'm teaching summer school for a few hours every day in June. Next year I'll be teaching a combined class with 2nd and 3rd graders. I loved teaching second so I am excited to see how it goes.

Despite my emotional and physical battery running low, I am spiritually filled. I am so blessed and I really have nothing to complain about. Others have it much worse than we do. Speaking of batteries....my car battery is nearly dead too. Three batteries drained...but one very happy girl.

Random Thoughts

I feel like my blog before I had Gavin was not only a travel-log of our marriage, but a place to put my thoughts into words. Sadly, I have turned into one of those bloggers I never wanted to be: one who only posted about the milestones in their babies life. Don't get me wrong, I love Gavin more than I thought humanly possible, but having him doesn't mean that I lost all of my thoughts, or that I shouldn't record them. Truthfully throughout the day I think to myself, "I should write that down" then the moment passes and I forget all about whatever thought I had been thinking. Today I was driving home from work and my mind was racing. I seriously was getting anxiety thinking about all the things that I have on my to-do list: clean the house before the landlord comes over on Thursday, make dinner tonight, give Gavin a bath, prep for next year, prepare the visiting teaching message, prepare our Primary lesson for Sunday (yes, it is only Monday). For some reason my brain went into overdrive and I couldn't for the life of me get it to stop. 

Right now I have a student teacher. She is fabulous. We really get along. One of the aides said that if she closed her eyes and just listened to my student teacher talk, she thought it was me. I did it the other day and it was creepy. She sounded just like me.  Speaking of school, next year I am going to be teaching a 2nd grade/3rd grade split class. I will likely have about 10 2nd graders and 15 3rd graders. I am excited for the change. My principal also wants to pilot a SmartBoard (interactive whiteboard) in my room. I taught with one in Kansas and LOVED it so I am excited to add that to my classroom as well. Although I don't love LIVING back in Utah,  I do love being at my school, teaching with who I am teaching with, and actually feeling appreciated by my principal again. This year doesn't even compare to the year from hell I had last year. I have said it before and I will say it again, the principal makes all the difference! 

That being said, my principal has been out of the building a few times and I have gotten to act as the administrator. It has been interesting. Though I loved the different perspective, I think I belong in the classroom. Taylor keeps telling me that I should be a principal, but I'm pretty sure that that's just because it would like double my salary. I do eventually want to end up at home with the kids, so I'm still on the fence as to whether getting my masters is worth it or not. 

So, I know this was a RaNdOm post, but I just had to get some things out of my head. All in all life is wonderful and I am SO excited for summer and just being able to stay home with my boys!

Gavin's Latest Tricks

Gavin has really been impressing us with his new tricks lately. He is definitely his father's child and doesn't sit still well. He started crawling the week before he turned 7 months, and just yesterday at 8 1/2 months, started crawling up the stairs! We tried to teach him how to crawl down the stairs backwards, but he would have non of it. He just wanted to go up! He is literally into EVERYTHING, and everything that is on the floor goes straight into his mouth! We love our little bubby...though it would be o.k if he didn't start walking for a while!

A Fun Boise Weekend

A few weekends ago we got to go up to Boise. Not only were we excited to see Grandma and Grandpa but we got to see Great Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Kelsey, Uncle Grant....and Baby T! Sadly someone (a.k.a. NOT mommy) forgot to grab Gavin's suitcase when packing the car, so Grandma had to go shopping. We all know she just HATED that! We decided to try on some of Baby T's clothes, hence the way too small but still adorable polo onesie.

Gavin loved being with with his "fans." He was quite the charmer all weekend. He loved watching the dogs run around the backyard and trying to eat all the cords in the living room. By far his favorite (and my leas favorite) was crawling to the badger pelt. He would crawl over, pet it, and then proceed to put it in his mouth. Delicious!

 

Do you think we have a little boy that loves the camera? He cracks me up! 

Look at those baby blues...those are going to get him in a lot of trouble in the coming years!

Welcome!

Because of problems on our old blog, I decided to start a new one! So glad you found us. I guess since we aren't moving this year I figured I needed some big change in my life. Just kidding! We have also decided to "go private" because the other day we were videotaping Gavin, and as cute and wonderful it is to be able to post the videos to Facebook, I just don't want the whole world (ok..maybe just our facebook friends) to be SO intimately connected to our lives. I want to protect my little boy and if that means a private blog, then so be it.

Lastly, we might be a little low on pictures as we start out. Our Mac hard drive crashed and took all our pictures with it. Wedding pictures, Gavin's birth pictures...the whole lot. So if you have any pictures to share (in digital form) please send them our way. Much appreciated! We went to bed at 11pm and woke up at 6:30, the house is a mess, and I need to do stuff for school (Next year I will be teaching a 2nd grade/3rd grade split classroom) so this blog will be neglected for a little while. Thanks for joining our new little corner of the blogosphere!