Traveling fools

So Mike landed his company a big project in Missoula, MT with the University of Montana. He has a great job opportunity to lead the project which unfortunately means he is going to be working 5 day weeks in Montana. Which started in October and will run through January or February. The blessing is that since I don't work we can pack up Gavin and I and go with him. It is a lot of work and sometimes Gavin doesn't sleep well but at least we get to be with Mike. His company pays for the hotel, gas mileage and all Mike's meals so since Mike and I split all our meals when we eat out anyway it costs us very little. Between Montana and going to Maui in December I will be a pro at traveling with a young one. Which I guess suits me since my childhood nickname was "bye-bye girl" well I can't lie the name followed me and is still used by close family.

Tonight I am listening to the unwelcome music of my little man screaming in the other room (our hotel accommodations have two rooms a little living room and a bedroom with a kitchenette). Gavin won't fall asleep he is seriously tired but so excited to be in a new place he wants to stay up and play. Also, since he started walking or should I say running it is all he wants to do. He doesn't care where he is going, he thinks it is even more fun if he carries something heavy like a pillow or a large toy. It is so cute! Mike and I just love watching him walk all over the place. It is so surprising to come around the corner and see him wobbling towards you. I still expect to see him crawling.

Other new things he says Mama now. I waited and whined that he wouldn't say it then he finally did and I wasn't really as excited as I thought I would be. I think it was more fun hearing him say Dada for the first time being it was his first recognizable word.

Well since the crying has subsided in the other room I think I will relax with a book like I wasn't able to do with the wailing coming from the other room.

Signing off,

The Traveling Mama

If I only had good ears...


Free picture taken at the mall.

This Halloween Gavin was a Scarecrow and a cute one at that. We started the day with a follow-up visit to his doctor. After 3 double ear infections in 2 months the doctor warned that if Gavin had another in 2 weeks we would need to see the ear, nose and throat doctor. Of course that means Gavin could need tubes. Which I can't help but be concerned about. So that same day he comes down with a cold. Whenever he has gotten a cold he has gotten the ear infections so of course I have spent the last few days concerned. The upside is Gavin doesn't complain. The daycare attendant at the gym was shocked to find out about his last infection she said "he was so happy and showed no signs" and he doesn't. So at least there is that.

So as we struggle to make it through the time change with a child who has a strong internal clock that doesn't "fall back" we wake up at 5:30am. So much fun for me.

I hope you all had a safe and Happy Halloween and that those bite sized candies aren't haunting your homes too much!

He walks...



I have a routine in the mornings. I have to. I am just that kind of person. If only I could fit cleaning the bathroom into my current routine. It used to be there but some how since I got back from our trip to California it just hasn't happened. Anyway, I wake up to the sound of Gavin playfully talking in his crib and once he reaches "Hey get me out of here now," status I get out of bed and head to the kitchen. I dump as many finger foods as I can find on his high chair, strap him in and pour myself some cereal. I usually turn on the Today show and make an effort to wake up. When I finish eating cereal we move into the living room where I let the Today show echo in the background while I play with Gavin. Today they were featuring a man breaking a world record for walking and then riding a bike across a tight rope several (I forget how many) stories above the ground with out a net. While he is attempting a death defying act my son decides to take a few daring and wobbly steps of his own and of course I was proud. In parallel to a man walking a tight rope stories above the ground makes Gavin's first steps nothing to blog about but in my world they mean everything. I am just glad to say that he might not need a safety net for these kind of feats but he has one, me! I can't say how thankful I am to be here for these moments and then to share them with all of you. If there are any of you still out there since I never seem to update this but if you are out there reading this thank you! It means a lot to share the small moments in our world. We don't break any world records or even neighborhood records but no can say we enjoy the small the things like 3 tiny, wobbly and hard earned first steps.

Blog Tag

I got tagged by and Niki and Nicoly so here goes.

Here how it works:
1. Post the rules on your blog.
2. Write six random things about yourself.
3. Tag six people at the end of your post.
4. If you are tagged, JUST DO IT, and pass the tag along.

Now for my six things:

1. I have never met anyone famous but I would like to and I really don't care who.
2. I never finished college because I couldn't fathom spending that much money when I had no idea what I wanted to do. So I said when I knew I would go back to school. Several years later and I still have no idea. Guess I won't go back to school anytime soon.
3. I have been known to cry watching commercials. Yes, sad and pathetic I know but I do. I also cry almost every time I watch Biggest Loser especially when they get messages from home or when they get to call home or better yet when they get to go home for a visit.
4. I managed basketball in high school because I love the sport but can't play. I joined the high school golf team, I figured I could probably golf. I was #1 on the girls team for a while too. Then I went to college and have golfed maybe a handful of times since. If I had more time and more money I would golf more. I really love it! Except for when I do badly then I just hate it. Golf is kinda that way.
5. When I was young my brothers and I went to some church event where we got to make sock bunnies. Not long after I found my sock bunny pinned to a hay bale in the back yard where my brothers were using it for BB gun target practice. Why couldn't they use there own sock bunnies, will someone please explain?
6. My first car was a 1967 Volkswagen Bug. My second car, a 1965 Volkswagen Bug. It was later named "The Death Trap" someone even made me a CD with a theme song for the car. I don't remember how many times it tried to kill me but it was more than a couple. I was young and well let's face it really stupid...oh and broke which is probably why I drove it longer than I ever should have.

Tag, you're it!

Olga Smith Blog
A Cottage Family

Every other blog I know has already done this so I guess I need more blog buddies huh?

Ever make a really bad financial decision? Have a weak moment and give into temptation? I have and it was last weekend. It had been a long hard week for me. Let's face it month. Gavin has had back to back colds and I have spent half the month trying to get him to sleep through the night. After about 5 days of sleeping through the night I think it is safe to say we have conquered, finally! Mike was in and out of town, he had a sinus infection as well so when he was home I didn't really feel like he was much help or company. Then most of the friends I get together with were out of town so I found myself feeling lonely, tired and bored. Our computer broken I also felt cut off from the outside world.

Then I had an idea. Why had I resisted my husbands urgings before? We rushed out Saturday and bought what Best Buy claimed to be "the last one." A Nintendo Wii. Yes, the solution to my boredom, answer to my loneliness, a companion. Some of you might be wondering right about now "did they get their computer fixed?" and the answer would be "No." The thought never entered our little heads as we rushed around buying up extra remotes and very expensive games only 2 to be exact. Soon after we got it home and had played happily while Gavin napped. The rule is we can only play while Gavin is sleeping. After a while buyers remorse set in. We don't have the money for this. What were we thinking? Well to be honest we weren't but in the words of Mike "I refuse to let buyers remorse ruin this for me." So I happily conquer Tiger Woods golf now after my chores are done and while my son sleeps blissfully unaware that his parents are a little crazy sometimes.

This morning it is early 4:35am to be exact. I should be getting ready to get on a plane and fly to L.A. but I sit here typing and eating cereal instead. My Mom, Gavin and I are going to my nieces 1st birthday party. I am a little nervous about flying with Gavin and since last minute my brother got a job in Louisiana and won't be there a little apprehensive about the trip. I know it will be great and I think will include Disneyland. So in the words of some Super Bowl hero that I can't remember "I'm going to Disneyland, baby!" and I will tell you about it when I get back.

Love ya all! Oh and if you have never made a bad financial decision feel free to not tell me about it. Ignorance is bliss, misery loves company. You get the idea. :)

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