29 days

29 days left till we move, but who's counting? We have begun a little lite packing and Gavin is already getting into everything. We took all the books off of our shelves. We put the boxes in front of the shelves to block them off but Gavin still managed to squeeze through and get onto the bottom shelf. This is going to be a fun experience (sure).


This Friday Gavin has an appointment to get his pictures taken and all I can think of is that I hope he does not fall and bang up his face too much this week. He is so close to taking his first steps, he has actually taken a step or two on his own already without holding onto something, but not his official 'first steps'. Anyway all this practice of course leads to a few spills and right now he has a tiny bruise on his forehead and a split lip. I'm pretty sure they will be gone by Friday but the chances of getting more are high, especially with Gavin's luck. It won't matter too much, he will still be adorable but it would be nice to have good pictures. Of course if they get him to sit still long enough to take the pictures that will be another miracle.


Here's a picture of Gavin when he squeezed himself onto the shelf. The middle two are from dinner last night. When Gavin made that funny face he hadn't even taken a bite of anything. The last one is is a sample of Gavin's sleeping positions. He is always moving in his sleep and he gets into the weirdest angles with feet or arms hanging between the bars. Sometimes he lays on his back with a leg propped up, I have no clue how he does it.

Too pretty to be a boy

Today at Sam's the checkout lady said that Gavin was really cute. Actually what she said was that we had a cute little boy and then she asked "he is a boy isn't he?" Then she said that he is almost too pretty to be a boy. I wasn't sure how to take that, it doesn't really sound like a compliment. I mean he is a boy so what are we supposed to do if he's 'too pretty'? Maybe I am overreacting, I'm sure she meant it in a nice way, but she should have just left it at cute. If I ever have a daughter I hope she gets as many pretty comments as my son does.



On to other news, Gavin had his nine month check up today. The Dr. said he is perfectly healthy and developing great, which is always good to hear. He weighed 24 pounds and is 30 inches long. A good size for a nine month old.

Last week was very long. The colds Gavin and I got at the beginning of the week would not go away. After the first day Gavin's good mood disappeared and he became cranky very easily. His nose was either really stuffed up or dripping like a faucet so he had trouble sleeping. (P.S. babies and runny noses make a disgusting combination!! It is impossible to get all of it with a kleenex and it ends up everywhere) I felt bad for him because he did not understand what was happening to him. Some nice things did come from the situation, one day he crawled into my lap while I was sitting in the rocking chair and just sat with me all cuddly. I also got to read books to him which is near impossible these days because he will not sit still long enough. Other than that it was one long day after another of exhaustion, crankiness, and snot for both of us.


Gavin turns nine months old this week and has his checkup on Friday. I am curious to see if there is much of a change from his 6 month checkup. Most of his nine month outfits don't fit anymore and I think that is because he has grown taller, I don't think he has gained much weight. Once he started to crawl and walk around he seemed to slim down.


We are still really looking forward to moving but I am definitely not looking forward to packing. I especially have no clue how I am going to get anything done with Gavin around. I can just imagine how 'helpful' he will be. Also we haven't even figured out how we are going to move yet. I think we should look into hiring movers but Ellie and Jacob are against it. We just have a lot of stuff and I don't see how we will be able to do it ourselves, plus someone will have to keep a constant eye on Gavin. I know in the end it will work out but I am just nervous now. I am just sick of moving really, this is my sixth move in seven years and I know there's at least one or two more moves for us until we find something more permanent which is depressing.


Here are some pictures of my booger. I'm putting the one of him covered in food on here for my Aunt Judy. She babysat him Friday and said he was such a neat eater. The very next day he did this and I thought it was ironic. Also, I know the glasses are crooked (mom!) but it is still a cute picture of him in his new jean jacket.

Gavin's first cold

My poor little baby has gotten a cold for the very first time. I guess he is lucky because he is turning 9 months old next week and he has managed to stay healthy this whole time but I feel so bad for him. Jacob and I both have colds so I wasn't surprised when Gavin woke up this morning with one. He is handling it well and staying in a good mood but it really wore him out, his naps totalled a little more than 4 1/2 hours today and that is definitely more than usual. Hopefully he will be feeling better tomorrow.

Babies

Jacob, Gavin, and I were out shopping today and Gavin drew the usual crowd of people to say how cute he is or to just make funny faces and baby talk to him. There was one particular old man who reminded me of Art Long (whom the Graymontians may remember) and he just adored Gavin. He stopped and talked to Gavin and just seemed so happy to stand there and play with him. As we walked out of the store Jacob jokingly asked why nobody stops us and says how cute we are. It is funny how babies make complete strangers want to interact with them. B.G. (before Gavin) we would go to a store, get our shopping done and leave, most likely never having talked to anyone in the store except for the checkout person. Nowadays I can guarantee that there will be people stopping us and asking how old he is or some other question. I've lost count of the times Gavin and I were in line checking out and I hear the people behind me talking to him or trying to get him to smile at them. People love babies.

Gavin is turning into quite the stinker. He wants to try out his new teeth all the time which occasionally means biting me and that does not go over well. He starts out really cute biting on my sleeve, I say it's cute because it reminds me so much of a puppy, and next thing I know he gets my arm really hard. Also he has learned that standing on his tippy toes allows him to reach more things that he shouldn't so of course that is what he does. He can be really adorable when he wants to but unfortunately he doesn't want to often.

P.S Rachel you never left your comment on the last post. I am disappointed.

Good News

There is so much to tell. First off I want to congratulate Missy and Jake on the birth of their son Cameron this past Friday. I've known Missy for going on 17 years and it is so cool that we had our sons within 8 months of each other. We are happy for them and will keep them in our thoughts and prayers as they adjust to there new family and new loss of sleep.


Secondly I have great news, we are moving!!! I am so excited because we have found a 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom townhouse that is the same rent that we are paying now. It has more square footage than our current place and it has a lot of storage which we have none of right now. The best thing of all is that Gavin will now have his own room and I can't wait. The first four months sharing a room was fine, even necessary because I am paranoid and needed to make sure he was fine a million times in the night, but at about 4 months it was wearing thin and now it is definitely time for him to have his own room. Altogether the new place will just be a lot better and a big improvement. The only really bad thing is that we have to wait till March 1 and that seems like forever right now.


Lastly poor little Gavin got called a pretty little girl again. This last Friday we went for a walk to get the mail and it started raining when we were out. When we got back to the apartment the old lady who lives next door came out to take out her trash and she came over and said that she hoped the pretty little girl didn't get wet and what a pretty little girl she was. Again Jacob and I just laughed because why bother to correct her? It is funny that old ladies think he is such a pretty girl, maybe it is his big blue eyes. I just don't know.



Of course I will end with some pictures of my "handsome young boy" even though the picture of him wrapped up in my scarf does seem kind of girly :).

New Year

Happy New Year. So far the new year is pretty much the same as the old. Actually it is nice and quiet so far, December is always a busy month so January is for relaxing.

Gavin's latest thing is so funny, whenever we laugh he laughs too. It's his expression that is the funniest like he is not sure why we are laughing but he doesn't want to be left out. It is so cute.
He has finally gotten his four front teeth in and it seems like we are over the rougher parts of teething. Even though I complained when we were going through it, it was not as bad as I had worried it would be. His new toothy grin is so cute. Here are two pictures, one of the top and one of the bottom. If you don't know, you can click on a picture to see it enlarged.