Updates...

When I first had Gavin and he was tiny and fragile and I wasn't making enough milk and worried that he would always be scrawny I remember people stopping me in public and saying "Look how small he is remember when ours was that small, they grow up so fast." Now I hold a 24lb kid who crawls and cruises from item to item with ease and can eat more than you would think possible for someone his size. I wondered if the boy would ever have teeth and at 8 months he popped his first tooth without so much as even a peep.

Gavin had his 9 month check up about 2 weeks ago. He had a cold but otherwise was happy. During his appointment the doctor said "Are you aware that he has a double ear infection?" No he didn't even complain. If someone else hadn't noticed I might never have known he popped a tooth the child just doesn't complain. So we started antibiotics the next day he started to pop another tooth. The only reason I knew was because he kept biting me so I felt around and sure enough tooth number two. Two ear infections and he is popping a tooth and the boy is laughing and smile. How could I be so lucky you ask? He makes me pay in other ways. Prior to the ears and teeth he was still waking up at least once a night and then with the teeth and ears twice to three times a night. Yes I pay in other ways.

At his nine month appointment I asked his doctor about the sleeping thing and informed him that the only way he would go back to sleep was if I fed him 4 oz of formula. The doctor gave me a very scientific answer for why he kept waking. He was hungry. No matter how deep a sleep he is in his body will pump blood to his stomach to alert his body that it is time to eat and he has no choice but to wake up and scream for food it is how he is programed and there are two options. Options I love options! Seriously I am all about the options. The doctor continued to tell me he is healthy and happy so you could just keep doing what your doing it isn't hurting him. I looked and him and said the words I have come to dread now. "I want the sleep through the night option." He says "Ok it will take about 5 nights of not feeding him. Just get up with him hold him, rock him , help him back to sleep and then his body will eventually reprogram to not need food at that time and he will sleep. I did it with my son and it was rough but it works." Ok I said I will try it.

I have to start by telling you I love my sleep. Love it! I have missed my sleep this last well lets be honest who sleeps really well during pregnancy. So lets just say a year. A year of sleep deprivation makes you think you will do anything for it. Until you have to hold a screaming baby in the middle of the night for over an hour then you think "Just give the kid a bottle and go back to sleep!" But I am stubborn and I keep telling myself it will only take 5 nights so staring down night 4 after a rough night I think no way this is going to work. But I will keep trying. Mike took him at 6:45 this morning and let me sleep so I am recharged to fight the battle again.

So for other little tidbits. He says "Dada", "Hi" and now "Duke" which comes out more like "Du" but he points at his doggie friend and says "Du" in the cutest voice you have ever heard. I am sure his next word will be "Jemma" (our other dog) and then he will start singing the alphabet before I ever hear "Mama." Doesn't he know I am the one who takes care of him all day?

So he is growing up. He loves to make goofy faces. He loves to make you laugh. He is very happy, except for when he isn't which is only when he is hungry or tired. He loves to go out and see the world. In less that 2 weeks Gavin and I are flying with my Mom (affectionately referred to as Grandma) to Southern California to see my neice for her 1st birthday.



A silly face showing off his two front teeth which he loves to do. Don't you love the scratch and the boogie?

Unfortunately our computer is dead, powerless, lifeless. I don't know what we will do to remedy this situation or how long that will take us but it is time. To quote myself a week ago when my computer was acting up, "I want to chuck my computer over a cliff and watch it die a glorious death!" It is time. It lived a long life. Well not really I mean 4 years is that a long time for a computer? If anyone knows of a good laptop solution let us know we are in the market. So lets hope soon we have a new computer because that has been a lot of the reason these posts have been slower and slower to come because my computer has been moving slower and slower over the months.

Hope to be back soon!
Laura

Picture time!

It is time to catch you all up on the weeks that I haven't been able to post pictures because my computer and my camera were just not seeing eye to eye. Hope you enjoy our little moments as much as we have. August flew by and I can't believe it is already September.

When an Olympian waves to you

What would you do if an Olympian waved to you, especially if you are a boy and it is a pretty female who just won a gold medal? Well I know what Gavin would do he would say "Huhhhh"(which sounds a lot like hi) and smile really big.

While watching the Olympics my son who rarely even registers that his parents own a 47" flat screen looks up at the screen just in time to see the US gold medalist from a track event, I believe the 400 meter, smile and wave at the camera. To an almost 9 month old who doesn't know the difference it probably looked like she was right in our living room waving at him. So cute!

I will have to come back soon and share photos my camera won't sync with the computer so I need to get a new cord but for now a cute story.

Why I am a bad blogger...

Because life just seems to fly by and so does my son. Crawling everywhere, oh and eating everything if you can't tell by the following pictures. Including a tiny twig that the dogs brought in with them. Fun! He started this little sit crawl thing with one leg cocked under him and he kind of bounces on the leg bent under him and then crawls normally with the other one. So funny! I didn't realize he could get very far and then one day he disappeared and I found him in the laundry closet with the garbage tipped over fliging dryer sheets and lint. Uh Oh! Then we decided to eat dinner at the coffee table and before we knew it he was sitting on the floor next to me eating a sweet potato fry. It was small and soft so no problem but boy he is fast and dangerous. He has turned into a little beggar. I feed him little bits of things from my plate that I think his little toothless mouth can handle and now if I don't give him anything he gives me this "are you gonna eat that" look while glancing back and forth from me to my plate, then if I don't give in right away he follows up with a lound grunt. Taking lessons from the dogs? Hmmm.

Well here are some pics from recently. Enjoy and I will try to get better about blogging. This one took me two days to complete, such is my life and I am loving every second I wish I could freeze time for just a little while.

Daddy love

Gavin a few weeks ago fell into this lovely napping routine. He would take an hour and half in the morning and an hour and a half in the afternoon. It was perfect. I could get lots of stuff done or just be lazy and take some needed mommy time and read a book or watch tv. Naps are like God's gifts to Mommies and Daddies. So when the weekends roll around I think "How great will this be?! Mike and I can catch up on some favorite shows or do a couple projects around the house, heck we could even play a game or two while Gavin naps." Then Saturday morning 9:30 creeps up and he would normally be begging me to take a nap with major eye rubbing, crying fits and laying his head on my chest. Nothing! Nothing at all not even one eye rubby. What is going on? I decide it has to be the fact that on the weekends our schedules can be really random what with going out with that friend or running this errand or that so maybe he just picks up on that. Then 4th of July comes around and Mike has friday off and I quickly realize the problem Gavin won't sleep if Mike is home. Not only that but if Mike leaves the room that Gavin is in he totally breaks down and begins to cry. The poor kid wants nothing more than to spend the day with Daddy and I can't blame him I feel the same way. All week he is out earning us a roof over our heads and food on our plates and when he is here we just want to be with him. Gavin you are so lucky to have such a great Daddy and Mike I hope you feel the Daddy Love!

Happy Birthday to me!

Today was my birthday. I know some of you can relate to me when you truly and sincerely believe that you don't want anyone to do anything it isn't really important. Then the day comes and it is really important and you told everyone to do nothing. Bad idea. Who can you blame? Well I did that with Mike but he learned from Mother's day not to do nothing. So Wednesday night he brought home flowers and a card and said he had to do something and that was enough for me just to be remembered and thought of but it didn't end there. We were having dinner at our friends house as well. They had invited me over so I wouldn't have to cook or clean up dinner on my birthday. She casually mentioned maybe having pizza. Then for the rest of the week I thought I don't want pizza for my birthday. I begged him to tell them we should go out and he did. So a few minutes before we leave Mike turns to Gavin and says "don't tell Mommy but I might just have done something really thoughtful for mommies birthday," then turns and smiles at me. When we get to our friends place he had prepared a 3 course meal starting with ceasar salads with fresh grated cheese followed by sauted mushrooms and onions. Then for dinner we had rock salt prime rib (which was delicious), baked potatoes, corn on the cob, and French bread. Then for desserts turnovers that I couldn't even touch I was so stuffed. Then our friends watched Gavin while Mike took me to see Get Smart, which was a really funny movie.

Earlier that day my good friends took me for a picnic in the park to celebrate my birthday. I also received 4 birthday cards in the mail. I had a very special birthday.

Thank you everyone!