The Dog Days of Summer

When you take a look at the photos below, you will see a picture of the huge contraption my mother bought for her backyard. She was doing some babysitting and thought it would be "a blast." When you see the pictures, it will have you wondering, who had more fun, the kids or my insane dog. Here are just a few snapshots of my dog thoroughly enjoying (in an extremely spastic way) all the water mountain thing had to offer. You ask where my mom's dog was...ohh, 50 feet away not anywhere near it...and then there is Maddie. Probably one of the best days of her life.

A Visit within a Vacation

On the tail end of our South Haven vacation, I headed to Kalamazoo for a short visit with my friend Carrie and her kids. Her and I had a great time catching up and the kids had a fun time chasing each other around. We love watching our boys together...and we keep telling them they are going to be friends whether they like it or not! :) In the meantime, Taylor was quite the hostess and we had some special time together as well. It was a great little stop on our way home--thanks for having us Leonards!!

Gavin trying to steal the spotlight.

These two were playing, chasing, playing, chasing....

Gavin was always trying to follow Zach's lead.

Tay was trying to reign the two monster in....unsuccessfully.

9 months in...9 months out...

So just recently Gavin turned 9 months old!! I can't believe that he has been OUT of the womb for as long as he was IN it. To commemorate this milestone he had two drs appts and a photo shoot. One of the drs appts was developmental and one was a regular physical. Here is where he is at so far:

Gavin weighed in at 19 lbs 8 oz (50th percentile)and is 28 1/2 inches long(btwn 75 & 90 percentile). He is growing great and is very healthy. He is still taking a bottle (not very willingly) 4 times a day and eats baby food 3 times a day. We are starting to try out lots of other foods on him: puffs, cheerios, biter biscuits, graham crackers and letting him chew on carrots, cucumber, asparagus. So far, he isn't sure about anything that has "texture" so we are working on it but in the meantime, the faces he pulls are priceless.

At his developmental appt we learned he is right on track and VERY strong. He crawls like CRAZY and pulls to a stand on everything he can get his hands on. He is good at picking up small objects (which means I am constantly picking up random coins on the floor dropped by his dad) and hitting objects together. He is loud and babbles all the time...in fact it has been said he is a true Yonker...always fighting to be heard over the person next to him. He doesn't know who "mama" is yet but we're working on it...as well as pat-a-cake, waving bye bye, SO BIG and giving kisses. So far, not much advancement in that area.

Anyway, it is hard to believe he is this big already and time has gone by so quickly for us. It was a year and a half ago already that this little guy rocked his momma's world letting her know he was growing away inside and he has continued to rock our world every day since....

A Teeny Tiny Dramatic Arrival

So something has FINALLY arrived in our house...in the form of a teeny, tiny little poke. GAVIN'S FIRST TOOTH. This is something we have been waiting for and anticipating for a long time. In fact most of Gavin's friends (who he may not realize are his friends yet but will be for sure) all have teeth already. Some have two and some have six but they all have them...except Gavin. So after a week of crabbiness and extreme neediness and a night of several crying wakings...he awoke Saturday morning relieved and happy with a sharp little tooth coming through on his bottom gums. I'd like to think that was the worst although the relief only lasted a short time and the crabbiness has returned...could another one be on its way? Stay tuned....

First Father's Day

This past weekend was Chad's first Father's Day. Gavin and I tried to make it special for him...we let him sleep in until 8 am...which is quite something in this household. We brought him some breakfast in bed and spent a lot of time together hanging out all day. We spent the day at my parents having lunch and relaxing. Chad enjoys every day that he gets to spend time with Gavin...and the feeling is quite mutual. The smile on this little boy's face when his Dad comes home from work....just makes me fall in love with them both a little more each day. We are so blessed to be celebrating a year of "firsts" together. Happy 1st Father's Day Chad.

Here are some pics of how we spent the day....

Our Little Sox Fan

Backwards Hats and Sox Gear....that's how we roll.
Father & Son ready for the big game.
Gavin and Mommy cheer from the seats.
Peanuts for Dad...Puffs for Gavin.

Gavin questions a foul ball.
No action in the game...Gavin starts to show his boredom.

The best family pic we could get having strangers take it. (they aren't quite as willing to act like a fool so your child will smile) :)

Gavin's first game...smashing success.

On Saturday night, Gavin went to his very first Sox game! It was a beautiful night...perfect weather...terrible game. However, that did not matter to us at all. It was a great way to celebrate Father's Day weekend and we loved having Gavin there. We have some great pics of him at the game. He was fascinated by all the action...off the field that is. There weren't even any homers for him to see fireworks. Hopefully, next time...because you know this was only the first of many!

South Haven

The three cousins couldn't get enough of each other.
Our little family in windy weather and cold water.
Gavin loved the waves even if they were freezing!

The next thing he did was eat the sand in that right hand.

Moe was ready for shopping.

Grandma, Gavin and I headed to the park.
Going down the slide like the big kids.

Look out Olympics 2024.
Gavin's fav part of the trip--play time with Daddy 24/7.

Morgan and I's favorite part--Sherman's ice cream every night!
Morgan created some protection from the wind on the beach.

Chad and Gavin soaking up the sunny skies.

Auntie Jen relishing a little cuddle from Kate.

To Gavin, this was a dream--the kiddie pool.

Gavin with Grandma & Grandpa outside the cottage.

Well, we are back from our family vacation to South Haven with the Harris family. We had a great time together--probably none of us more than the kids. Gavin was just so excited to watch Morgan and try to imitate Katelyn...and they were just so excited to provide him (and all of us) with endless entertainment. We had some crazy storms come and go but overall, we had sunny skies and warm temps. It was great. We walked through downtown South Haven, went on walks to the beach, the park and nowhere in particular...we played in the sand, the kiddie pool and the grass...and of course, we went out for ice cream EVERY NIGHT! We had so much fun together and were sad to see it end. Here are some fun pics from the trip--unfortunately all our group pics are on someone else's camera so I'll have to add them later! :)

On the Move...

Ok, my life as I know it has officially ended. This past week and a half, Gavin went from being partially mobile to full on crazy crawling. He had become quite efficient at rolling and an adorable army crawl and now this...he crawls everywhere and just loves it. He gets quite excited at his accomplishment when he covers an entire room. In addition to this, he has started to pull up on everything. So far, I've only witnessed pulling to an actual stand a handful of times...mainly he gets to his knees and is so excited he tips over. This of course causes me much stress about what he will hit on the way down from a full or partial stand. It also means anything in his reach is fair game--this is a lesson to me. I mean who puts a cup of water on an end table these days?? On the plus side...I'm going to develop some pretty cat like reflexes in reaction to him as well as some pretty sweet thigh muscles from all the squatting next to him trying to break his falls...oh yeah, and the elation on his face is priceless.

I'll have to post some pics soon...although I am trying to learn how to post a video as well. However, right now we are literally ready to be on the move as we are heading to South Haven for 5 days with Chad's family. I'll have lots to write about when we return!

Who's The Boss?

Apparently...Gavin is. No matter what I do to control this kid, he ultimately is going to do it his way in his timing. Case in point--nursing. About two weeks ago we were in a comfortable routine nursing only morning and night and bottles in between. Until one day Gavin decided that he would not under ANY circumstances nurse. Bring on the bottle...bring on the sippy cup...but absolutely do not think of making him nurse. So I let it go a few days (which is so annoying having to prepare a bottle and then pump on top of it) thinking he'd find his way back. It's been two weeks. Not only has he not "found his way back" but the mere suggestion of him nursing throws him into a full out screaming fit. So all this "bonding" time...I can see how sad he is to give it up. My child has spoken and his preference is not Mom. So...we're saying goodbye to nursing and hello to my little boy...the Boss.

Visit to the Zoo

On my actual birthday, which happened to be Memorial Day, we took Gavin on his first trip to the zoo. He was fascinated by all the aquariums we saw. He would laugh and shake at the sea lions and dolphins...he tried to grab the goldfish through the aquarium glass...he was quite amazed. The other animals were kindof hard for him to see but where he couldn't focus on animals, he concentrated on watching all the kids running around. So I can honestly say the best thing about my birthday had honestly nothing to do with me...it was watching Gavin's reactions as he discovered new things. Next up....the Shedd Aquarium!