Rachel

Today is Rachel's birthday so I will say that I miss her very much and I hope that some day we can live in the same town again. Happy Birthday!!! Have a good day and many, many more!

I haven't been able to post like I have wanted because my computer is not working at the moment. We have a notebook and Ellie has a laptop but I don't like using them as much as my desktop. Anyway, over the weekend we went to the Adventure Science Center to celebrate Ellie's birthday and we had a pretty good time although there were some of the rudest mother's in the world there that day (I will get to that in a moment). They have a little dino rumble exhibit with dinosaurs and Gavin was scared to death of them. I don't know if it was just because they looked scary or because of the noise they made but he was one petrified little boy. Luckily he enjoyed the rest of the time there, he loved all the stuff he got to see and touch even if he had no clue what was going on. There was a machine that took a picture of you and aged you through the years until 72 and Jacob and Ellie both did it. They did not turn out well! I took pictures of the results but it was hard to get a clear shot but if you look closely you get an idea. While doing this we encountered the first and rudest of the rude mothers. This woman came up to us while we were in line and asked if we were in line. I told her yes we were. Two seconds later she starts asking Jacob if we were in line, he also said yes. She seemed angry that she had to wait so she got a little pushy. Her two boys weren't even there yet. Ellie went first and once her two kids (the youngest was 12ish so not so little) got in line with her I could just see her trying to push them in front of Jacob. Ellie had to block them (with her body) from jumping in front of Jacob to get into the booth. It was just disgusting and it took the fun out of the situation. We encountered another mother just a few minutes later who pushed her daughter right in front of me while I was looking at an exhibit. Everything there is interactive and I had just let go of a handle when the mother put her daughter up to it and shoved me aside. There was absolutely no reason she couldn't wait a minute until I moved out of the way. It's just really too bad that these mother's are teaching their kids to act like rude jerks in a place of fun and learning.

When we got home we had cake and ice cream for Ellie's birthday. I was the one who bought the cake and I just grabbed a pack of candles that were on display but it turned out they were the relight kind and we didn't realize this till Ellie was trying to blow them out. Relight candle's spark a little when you light them (I know this because my dad played that trick on me many times before) and when I saw that I looked at the container and went 'oops' These were some of the most stubborn candles I have ever seen, they would not go out! Ellie's friend Stephanie was there and she started to blow on them also and even if they all went out, a second later three would light up again. I did the stupidest thing in the world and decided to pick one up that was out thinking that if it wasn't near the others it would not relight. It did. It burned my hand and I was so startled that I dropped it (I said it was stupid) Luckily for me it did go out before it hit the carpet and eventually -with the help of water- we got all the candles out.

He gave up on the fork and just went for it

Ellie

Today is Ellie's birthday so I want to take this opportunity to publicly (as public as the 10 people who read this is) thank her for all she has done for us this year. Ellie, you are a sweet and generous person and your living with us has allowed me to stay home and raise my son and that is the best gift you could ever give me, thank you!!!!!. So Happy Birthday Ellie and I hope you have a great day and many, many more.

My hard little worker

After Gavin gets home from working all day at Target (refer to the 3/10 entry) I put him to work dusting. He is a good little worker. I should have had kids years ago ;)

"I see more dust over there"

He stretches really well to reach the high places

weekend

We had a good Father's Day weekend even though Jacob had to work on Sunday (that's what makes him a good father!) We celebrated on Friday and enjoyed a day out and about and topped it off with pizza- of course. Gavin got his daddy a card and a book and left it on his changing table for Jacob to find. What a thoughtful kid.

Ellie bought Gavin a little baby pool this weekend. Getting Gavin into water wasn't a big deal for me this summer because he is only one but Ellie insisted he should. He picked the trunks out himself and I think his paternal grandparents should be proud, they are orange and blue. He enjoyed being in the pool but whenever he gets outside he just wants to explore and run off so it was hard keeping his focus. Even though he is not smiling in any of the pictures he did have a good time, I swear.


Sumo baby


first pair of swimming trunks

he got grass on his hands from leaning over

He's done and off and running

Growing too fast

My little boy is just growing way too fast! It seems like every day he is learning something new and changing. He is officially off of bottles and I dragged that out for awhile. I knew it was something that had to be done and I really am tired of dealing with bottles but it just seemed like once he was no longer using them he wouldn't be my little baby anymore. I am sure that I will enjoy him as a toddler but he if my first child and already his life seems to be flying by. Sometimes it just makes me irrationally sad.

The talking is coming along. He doesn't really have too many new words but he actually has a few phrases which are so cute to hear. He can say "oh no" "uh oh" and just plain "oh". So basically variations of Oh. Today he dropped his sippy cup and went 'uh oh' out of the blue, he hadn't said it before. I think though sometimes that he is saying the sound more than the actual word but there is a fine line between the two so it doesn't really matter I guess. He does say yes but the "oh no's" are more prevalent. I wonder why? :)

Ellie tried to get Gavin's hair into a mohawk but it turned more into a 50's greaser style. Still pretty cute though (I know he looks tired in a lot of pictures because of the bags under his eyes but he just got lucky and inherited that from me- super fair skin and perpetual bags under the eyes)

he likes books so much he even reads in the tub

playing peek-a-boo

We had a disastrous weekend. Saturday we set off for Chattanooga to visit with my Grandma for the day we left a little after ten expecting a two hour trip. Around the half way point is a very steep drive, it is so steep that there are off ramps just for runaway semi's who's breaks have overheated. Just as we got to this area we were stopped by a traffic jam. Now Saturday was a very hot day -mid 90's- and sitting in the car in the direct sun was torture. We were barely crawling a long and I began to worry about Gavin because we had taken Ellie's car and had forgotten to grab a sun shade for the window. We did all we could to keep him cool and shaded but he still looked wilted. It also got to be well past his lunch time but luckily (and amazingly) he stayed in a good mood the whole time which was a blessing because we were all suffering and a screaming baby would have been horrible. Because of where we were there was absolutely no place to get off or turn around, we had not choice but continue forward. After an hour and a half we got onto flatter land and we felt sure we would pass and accident soon and then traffic would clear up but as far as the eye could see were just cars. After a few more miles there finally was an exit for this little tiny gas station. We decided to pull over and decide what to do. You can imagine that after being stuck for so long there were a LOT of people with the same idea. The little gas station probably doesn't see that much business in a month. Then it was a race to the rest rooms were we had to wait in line for another 20 minutes ( the girls that is, Jacob got in after about 5, guys are lucky) In the end we decided to just turn around and go home because from what we could tell and from what people at the gas station knew, the jam kept on going for quite awhile (when we got home I looked up the accident and it was between two trailers and a car and had happened earlier that morning. They had to block of parts of the interstate and were diverting traffic. It was really the best thing that didn't go any further.) My grandma is already an hour ahead of us in time and by the time we got there it would have been quite late and we wouldn't even get to stay too long before having to turn around and leave. I felt horrible because she had prepared a lunch for us and I don't know what she did with all the extra food. When we finally returned home it was about 4 and every single one of us took a nap. We were just exhausted from the stress and the extreme heat. So in the end, the day was a bust and we were in the car 6 hours and the only place we got to was home.

Sunday was thankfully uneventful after the mess of Sat. but there was one highlight... Gavin finally learned to climb onto his slide, that he got for his birthday from his Hillyer grandparents, all by himself. I think he just used the technique he learned to climb onto the chairs and he made up really easy. Again, he was very proud of himself and spent a happy hour going up and down. The only problem was that instead of getting down by sliding on his tush he wanted to walk down the slide. Just another thing to keep an eagle eye on him for.

Gavin is a complete ham!! He loves to have people's attention on him and to make them laugh. Today he was just playing around when he rolled onto his back and lifted his legs into the air. It just so happened that he tooted as he was lifting his legs (is he a Hillyer or what?) Ellie and I laughed so hard we cried and he sat up and tried to figure out why we were laughing so he laid back down and lifted his legs again. This time there was no gass but it was still funny that he was trying to get a laugh. After a couple times of that he felt he was on a roll so he got up and fake fell. Sometimes when he wasn't as steady on his feet (and still now on occasion) he would be running and just dive across the room in a fall. He didn't get hurt and it was pretty funny so we would laugh. After awhile he figured out how to "fall" and get a laugh. Because he is one it is pretty obvious when he is fake falling but that is what makes it all the more funnier.

Just recently Gavin has begun sleeping with a blanket. I read when he was little that you shouldn't let babies sleep with blankets till they are one to prevent smothering. I thought that was a good idea especially since Gavin is such a crazy sleeper, he is never in the same position, or area of the crib, for long. In this heat though we have kept the air on through the night and he gets cold. I don't want to put warm jammies on him but I was nervous about starting with a blanket, mainly because what he likes to do with blankets is put them on his head. One day he put a blanket on his head and ran around the living room and fell right into the coffee table! I thought I would try a blanket though. The first two nights he just ended up sleeping on the blanket rather than it on him even though every morning when I would go into his room he would be laying there with the blanket on his head (sometimes he is so weird). That worried me so my mom suggested giving him a blanket with holes in it. I tried it and it not only helped but for some reason he actually used this one the right way. Just another step from babyhood into toddler.

Gavin has had a big week besides learning his first words he also learned how to get onto the furniture all by himself. I am not sure how I feel about that though. I am glad that he is strong and able to do physical things earlier than the average baby at his age but I am not too thrilled about worrying that he will climb onto a chair and fall off and break something. Yesterday he went over to the chair and without much trouble just pulled himself onto it. It was the first time he was able to do that all on his own. He was so proud of himself he did a little dance on the chair, luckily he did not fall off. When he got down he just turned around and got back up. He did that about a dozen times till he had it mastered. The funniest thing is that there is an area on the arm were the fabric is wearing away (it is my Great Grandma Goldie's old chair- so it is OLD) and he started picking at it I told him no and then he repeated no. This morning he got up onto the chair and pointed to the area and said "no". It was so cute.

The other day I gave Gavin some Cheerios and he put them all onto the floor and did a dance on them. It was a really funny thing to do because growing up, my parents loved to tell the story of how I dumped cereal onto the carpet and danced on it. Neither of my sisters did this, just me, but then all these years later Gavin had the same idea. It was weird cleaning it up and thinking about my parents doing the same thing when I was Gavin's age.

This weekend we are going to Chattanooga and visiting with my Grandma. That should be a good time.

Sunday is my Dad's birthday so Happy Birthday Dad.

First words and Poop

Gavin learned how to say "No" and now he loves to say it over and over. He first said it two weeks ago but then he kind of stopped then two days ago something in his head just clicked and he just started repeating it. It is so adorable to hear him and just amazing to hear real words come out of his mouth, he almost says yes also but it is not quite as clear. Up to this point he had his own language which he was convinced we understood because he would tell me lengthy stories and expect me to understand. I always just nod head my yes, why not? I got a video on my phone of him saying it and he loves to watch it. I think he just likes watching himself, he always laughs, but he also likes to say no along with it. He already uses it to get himself out of trouble. If he is being naughty and I tell him no he will turn around and point to me and say no back and I can not help but laugh.

Why do I want to talk about poop you may ask? Well that is what my world revolves around. I spend my days wondering if Gavin has pooped, when he will poop, how many times he will poop and what does his poop look like. Not really fun but I guess it goes with the job. Part of the obsession comes from the fact that we have been having trouble getting a good amount of liquids into him and the answer to those questions helps me make sure he is not getting dehydrated. Some days he will just not drink and since it barely gets below 85 here that is not a good thing. He is been drinking better lately so I hope that it was just a problem he had transitioning from bottles to sippy cups exclusively.

Here he is knocking on the door

His first popsicle

Brand new shoes- size 7