Charlie Wendell

My cousins Erin and Craig welcomed a little boy on November 1st named Charlie Wendell. He was three weeks early and such a little peanut at 7 lb. 1 oz. He had a brief stint in the NICU while they regulated his glucose levels and checked out a dislocated hip but was home with Mom and Dad 4 days later. He is so sweet and has these fine little features that are just adorable. I was able to see him in the NICU for awhile and then last week my mom, Chad, Gavin and I all brought dinner down and spent some time with the Haans. It was a fun night and great to see how well they are adjusted. Congrats Haans! We can't wait to see our little boys grow up together!

If You're Happy & You Know It

CLAP YOUR HANDS!!! Believe it or not, Gavin has FINALLY begun clapping his hands. I can hardly believe it. It was like suddenly yesterday a light bulb went off, and he was like oh, THAT is what you want me to do! ha ha. Yesterday morning he watched my hands clapping...studied is more like it...then slowly moved his hands in the same way and just looked up at me with the absolute biggest grin on his face when he got it! He's been clapping ever since. It cracks me up!

I guess there is something to be said when your child does something months after the average child...the excitement is SO much greater because my gosh, we've been waiting for this for at least 5 months. I kid you not. Video to post soon I hope! :)

"Fall Back"

Ok...so we just had daylight savings time where we "fall back." Fine--I understand why we do it but I don't like it. I don't like changing all the clocks in my house and for the next few days wondering did I or didn't I change this clock? I don't like it getting dark at 5:00 pm (soon to be 4 pm) or that this means winter is just around the corner. However, most of all I don't like what this has done to my child's sleep schedule. Am I alone in this? We had such a great routine--bed at 8 pm and wake at 7 am. That I can handle. Now, Gavin is ALL off schedule...I still put him down at the same time each day for naps and get him to go to bed at 8 thinking that his little biological inner-clock will straighten out but nope, he is up at 6 am every morning. On the dot 6 am. That is just too early. (Not to mention, the evenings can get brutal with crabbiness since he is getting an hour less sleep a day since I am not putting him to bed earlier). So, I am writing about it b/c I am dreading tomorrow morning when I have to be ready for work before he wakes up...6 am?!?! That is too too early. So tell me, Moms who have been through this...does it get better? Will he adjust? Or am I stuck with a 6 am wake up call for now? Until then I'll just be dreaming in my one hour less of sleep nights of April when we can "spring ahead"....

Days Like These....

...are why I love fall. I love the fact that the weather is turning cooler but is still perfect for jeans and a t-shirt...and the leaves are starting to fall...and you sleep with the windows open but the covers tight up to your chin...and chad starts to get less busy at work which means he is home more...and Gavin just loves being outside so I get adorable pics like these...

Saturday (Play)Date Night

Saturday night we went for dinner over to my cousin's house for a play-date night. It was 3 of us couples who have little ones that are pretty much exactly the same age. In fact, we figured out that they are all within 48 hours of each other. My cousins Jordan and Jess Hoekstra have Cally who was born on September 12, Chad and I had Gavin 6 hours later on September 13 and my cousins Brad and Lea Huiner then had Zachary on September 14 around 8 pm. Needless to say, these kids were like three peas in a pod. It was hysterical. They just ran around playing together and following each other around. Now, this night confirmed our fear that Gavin is a bully. He likes to rough house and had done so with Zach and Taylor Leonard in FL but apparently it didn't stop there. Much of the night he went up to Zach Huiner and tried sitting on him, pushing him, pulling his shirt and bear hugging him...all done with a high pitched laugh and screams of delight. Of course, he wasn't trying to be mean but...when the other boy starts crying...you gotta call it quits. So...again, Gavin's behavior was out of control. It was still a great time though and we can't wait to get these 3 together again.

Let the "attacks" begin...

And when everyone is playing nice, Gavin goes straight for Cally's flower.

Cousin Cuties.

An attempt to get all 3 in a picture.

"Attempt" being the operative word (for the record, I think Gavin pushed Cally off so he could climb on the chair.)

Happy Halloween

We had such a crazy fun filled Halloween on Friday. Thankfully the day started with Gavin taking an awesome mornning nap so we could fit in all our other activities for the day. First , we went to Homewood and handed out candy to everyone. He was hysterical...once he got the hang of it, he just kept going back to his pumpkin and bringing candy to everyone. We were lucky enough to see Gavin's friends Jackson and Lauris there too. After we stayed for lunch, we headed to SSI to go see Daddy at work too. Again, my little dinosaur was a huge hit...handing out candy to all the ladies, laying on the charm. Finally, after a snooze in the car, we headed downtown to Hyde Park to go trick-or-treating with my cousins. It was such a beautiful night and we had a great time going through the neighborhoods, checking out the mansions and of course keeping our eyes open for Obama! We did hit his street but weren't allowed to actually visit his house! Gavin LOVED the whole thing...he just walked around and watched all the kids. He wasn't too sure about the getting candy part from strangers but really, can you blame him? It was a really fun night!

Our first stop...Homewood Disposal with his friends Lauris, Jackson and their Mommys.

Dutifully handing out his candy at SSI.

While at SSI, he decided to help Daddy with a few route changes.
Hanging with Daddy at work.

All ready for trick or treating....

Bea the fairy, Sam the spider, Gavin the dinosaur, Margot the chicken and Addie the spooky vampiress.

Strollin through Hyde Park.

The tail...sold me on the costume.

Taking a breather.

He need to be convinced to approach most houses (Notice Obama's campaign bus in the background!)

Following Bea's lead and helping himself after staring at the bowl for at least an entire minute without touching anything.

Pretty content hanging onto his one piece of candy.

Jackson Thomas

So FINALLY....after many weeks of being patient, we were able to go see our good friends Dave and Amanda's new baby Jackson Thomas. He was actually born on September 24 (a few weeks early) and weighed in at a whopping 10 lb 6 oz and 23 inches. However, despite his healthy size, he ended up in the NICU for over 2 weeks. It was such a hard and stressful time on Dave and Amanda but they were amazingly strong through all of it. He had some breathing problems that led him to need extra care for awhile but finally a few weeks ago, they were able to take their new baby home. I was able to visit him twice in the NICU which was such a treat but finally Chad and Gavin were also able to meet him as well. He is such a sweetie and loves to be held and snuggled...which I was definitely ready to volunteer for when we visited. We had a great night and while we cuddled Jackson, Dave got rowdy with Gavin. Gavin definitely found a new friend that night that was ready to wrestle and play with him. It was so much fun! Congrats Dave and Amanda!

Little Jackson only opened his eyes for a short time while we were there!

Gavin and Dave worked on their golf swing together.


We got to cuddle with 5 week old Jackson!

Then they played swords with the golf clubs...typical boys.

Chad was trying to remember EVER doing this with Gavin!

Dave was even reading Gavin some stories.

Then they created a new game...put it in Dave's mouth and Gavin will come get it with his mouth. I don't think Dave will have ANY problems raising a boy!

!