the Boys

Lately Gavin is starting to be a lot more aware of Liam, in both good and bad ways. When Liam cries he goes over to him and kisses him which is just so sweet. He also gives him kisses throughout the day but most of those times I feel are more to hear me go "Awww". Also I recently tried to get Liam back on pacifiers- he rejected them quite awhile ago but obviously likes to suck on things so I tried again with more success this time- and sometimes when Liam spits it out, Gavin goes over and tries to put it back. The other times though he puts it in his own mouth and runs away. It's funny to see and I want to take a picture of it but at the same time I don't want to encourage him. Because he can't have it he decided Liam couldn't have it either so yesterday he took it and threw it into the garbage. He has also tried to throw other items of Liam's away. The jealousy has begun showing a lot more often lately. He doesn't seem directly angry at Liam but he is jealous that Liam has all of these things that aren't his. So far I don't worry too much about his acting out, it's pretty natural but I do wish he wouldn't throw things in the trash because I don't always catch it before it is too late.

Liam still has not rolled over and I really don't think he wants to that much. What he really wants to do is sit up. He wants to be able to look around and see what is going on. He can lift his head and shoulders up which amazes me because even Gavin never did that. He is also a big smiler, he just gives the biggest grins. He's been laughing for awhile now whenever you tickle his neck but in the past few days he has begun to laugh all on his own. He was in his crib and I went over to him and he just started laughing in his cute little way. He's just so sweet.
Tonight I put a pair of socks on him that I had found in a container of Gavin's old clothes. They are the first item that he has worn of Gavin's (since all the early baby stuff got ruined) and I actually teared up because I remember Gavin wearing them and it just doesn't seem like that long ago. I'm just constantly amazed at just how quickly time flies and how my kids just change right before my eyes.

Home

We've been home for almost a week now. It took some adjusting to get back to our routine. Gavin missed the extra attention and I missed having help all of the time. I got a little spoiled. If Liam got fussy during dinner my mom would hold him so I got to finish my dinner every night and both of my parents would take turns giving Gavin a bath at night so I could just focus on Liam which was really nice. Our first nights home were hard.
Unfortunately our last week of our visit was marred by illness. I was miserable and over the weekend my mom started feeling unwell and by Monday both boys had gotten sick also. Luckily Liam only got a mild case. With all of us being sick it limited our visiting others because I didn't want to take the boys out when they didn't feel well and I didn't want to get anyone sick either. So I didn't get to do all that I had planned but we still had a good time just hanging out at my parents house. By Thursday we were all mostly better and we got to spend more time with Missy and Cameron. This time we took a walk to the nearby park and both of the older boys loved it. I also really enjoyed it because it was just nice to spend time with another stay at home mom. The boys got to also go to their Abels' grandparents Thursday night and spend one last time visiting. The car trip home on Saturday didn't go as well as the trip up. Both boys still weren't 100% feeling better and being stuck in a car seat all day didn't go over well.
Another unfortunate thing is that we managed to bring home the cold to Jacob and I don't think he was too thrilled with that.

Liam is getting close to rolling over. At first I thought he showed no interest but all of the sudden he rolled over onto his side (he has a few times now) and he just needs a little more momentum to roll fully over. It's funny because they say that rolling from back to stomach is the rarest of the first roll but both of my boys chose that way. When Gavin was a baby you could jut tell that he just wanted to move. He did each physical milestone early or right on time. Liam doesn't seem to have that need so I don't expect him to do things at the same age as Gavin but if he does roll over in the next day or two then he will be not far behind on the first one.

Packing to come home I only forgot one thing. That one thing? The connector cord for my camera to the computer so until my Mom gets the opportunity to mail it to me then my blog will be pictureless :(

The Last Couple of Days

Since Tuesday we have met (at least in Liam's case) and spent time with Great Grannie Carol, Great Aunt Karen, Debbie S., and cousins Nickey, Hillery, Evan, and Peter. Gavin also spent more time with his Abels' grandparents, Missy and Cameron came over for some more play time, and we had a big shopping day in Bloomington. Somewhere in there I caught a cold and feel pretty miserable right now. I won't mind though as long as the boys don't catch it, that would be horrible.
Again I have not taken that many pictures but I have a few from Missy and a few Peter took. Peter is only 3 (4 in October) but he did a good job, especially getting evidence of Gavin climbing on top of the bunk beds. He followed Gavin all around the house taking pictures of him and a few of them turned out pretty cute.

Peter took these










From Missy

Liam's dedication



Cameron is fascinated by Liam's crying. Liam is crying because Gavin dropped a dinosaur onto his head (accidentally)

Playdate with Cameron

We went over to Missy's this morning and Gavin got to play with Cameron. Gavin had a good time, especially playing with toys he hasn't seen before. He did have a problem taking toys right out of Cameron's hands but he doesn't know much about sharing yet (wait till Liam is a little older). They played outside and Gavin enjoyed that. When he came in his hair was soaked with sweat and his face was bright red and it wasn't even hot out. Gavin was on the move so much that it was hard to get good pictures but here are a couple and Missy got some also so when she sends them to me I'll get those up too.

Liam thinks Missy is so funny. He laughs and smiles at her more than anyone else.










Drink break


cooling down

Illinois

We have been here in Illinois for a couple of days now. The car trip here went much better than I had hoped and both boys were very good. Liam did have a bad couple of hours when we got to my parents, I think he had gas from the trip. The first day was pretty hard because when I nursed Liam, Gavin would get into all sorts of trouble and there wasn't much I could do. I also had nowhere to set Liam and keeping him happy was a challenge. I knew travelling with two kids would be harder but instead of twice as hard it is ten times as hard (at least when you are on your own). Luckily for me when I mentioned that to Missy, she said she had a bouncy chair and brought it right over. It was a life saver and Liam just loves it, he happily sits in it and things have been much better since then. Gavin is having a wonderful time but he is also not behaving the best. He seems to think that he doesn't have to listen to me while we are here. Because of all this we haven't really gone out much yet. We made a run to the store Saturday morning and went to church today but that has been it. Tomorrow though we are going to spend time with Missy and Cameron so that should be fun.

The boys and I are sharing a room which is going well. The first night Gavin woke up twice and was confused about were he was but after a hug from me went right back to bed and other than that slept fine till last night. Last night, for whatever reason, he was up most of the night. It was extremely unfortunate because last night was the first night Liam ever slept straight through the night, from 7 pm to 7 am. I was thrilled and I hope it is the start of something. We had Liam's dedication today and because of his good night sleep, Liam was in a great mood. Of course because he didn't sleep well, Gavin was not. He did get to play with Cameron and since spending time with kids his own age doesn't happen to often, he was happy about that. They spent time after church just running around like crazy and it was pretty cute.

I must say that so far my goal to take more pictures hasn't happened, though we haven't done much yet. Looking over these pictures I realized that Gavin is not smiling in any of them. I guess I only took pictures of him when he was tired but he really is having a good time.

Here Gavin is "playing" video games with Grandma




Gavin and Cameron. Gavin was having fun until I asked him to smile. God forbid he should want to do what I ask.




Liam and Great Grandma Z

Expressions of a 2 month old

Abels' visit

Jacob's parents are here and we are having a good time, especially Gavin. He had his very first sleep over last night, he stayed the night with Grandma and Grandpa at their hotel and got to go swimming also. I haven't taken any pictures because lately I've been horrible at that but Karen has taken a lot and these are from her camera.





















Tomorrow we leave for Illinois and I am a bit nervous about how well Liam will do his first time. He doesn't care for his car seat that much but usually does well when the car is moving so we'll see. I can't wait to spend time with friends and family but it is sad that Jacob will not get to come with us. Sunday we are dedicating Liam at my Dad's church and he will miss it. He will also miss his family meeting Liam for the first time. I'll have to make extra sure to take pictures.