Phew

Things have been crazy over here! Even with Jeffrey going to school two mornings a week, I feel like I'm always on the go! I had my annual appointment with my Ob/Gyn, which was interesting since I had to inform them that I had a baby since last year. Luckily, the office is very accustomed to us crunchy types (;)), so it was no big deal. Gavin had his 4 month appointment, which went well until he had a bad reaction the the vaccines that he got. Poor baby had a fever and felt miserable for about 24 hours. As for everyday life, I'm adjusting to Jeffrey no longer napping. Instead, he has one hour of room/rest time. He goes to sleep earlier now and sleeps in later most mornings and is much more pleasant during the day, even if it is exhausting to have him not nap. Gavin is starting to get involved with everybody and is rolling/scooting around now. This excites Jeffrey very much, although he tends to forget how little he is. I've been trying to be much more present with my boys and am weaning off of using the TV so much. It's been successful, and I can see a change in Jeffrey that I like very much. It doesn't leave much down time for me to just bum about, though. We're keeping it pretty low key today and tomorrow, though, as we get everything cleaned and prepped for our big road trip to Florida on Wednesday. Tomorrow, we'll be switching out the infant seat for Gavin's new big boy convertible seat. Even bigger news is that we'll be switching Jeffrey to forward facing, just two months shy of the big 3rd birthday. He's still about 5lbs away from the weight limit, but, as typical for him, he's precariously close to the height. So, we're just going to go ahead and do it to hopefully make the trip a bit easier on us. The new view should give us at least one hour of excitement for him, we figure!

I'm a big nervous, although excited, about this trip. It's going to be a LONG two days in the car with two small children. While we're in Florida, though, it's going to be a lot of fun. Then there's the whole two MORE days to come home...

Update on Jeffrey's back

He's doing SO much better. After having all the tests done and talking to both the pediatrician and the chiropractor, we're 98% certain that it was growing pains. The chiro said that, from what we said he experienced, and how his spine/muscles looked confirmed that, as well. A likely culprit to the major back pain was wearing shoes that were too small (doesn't that make me feel like a crappy mom?!?). Ever since we got him into his bigger ones about a week ago, it's gotten substantially better. He's only woken up twice this week, and he doesn't burst out into tears whenever he falls down. I suppose we'll see how much taller he is at his 3 year (!) appointment.

Going to the chiropractor was an interesting experience. He was a bit apprehensive, but his biggest complaint was not wanting to lay on his belly. He didn't mind the actual adjustments. In fact, he said that he felt much better afterwards! I'm really hoping that we can put all this back pain in the past, and we'll be keeping a much better eye on his fast growing feet!

Wordless Wednesday

The First Day

Today is Jeffrey's first day of "pre-school," otherwise known as Mother's Day Out. He'll be going Tuesday and Thursday from 9-2 for this school year. He was SO excited! Ever since the "Meet the Teacher" on Friday when he was able to play in the classroom, meet his two teachers and see some of the other kids who would be in his class, he has been talking about it non-stop! Every day this weekend, he would wake up and ask if he could go to school. He was ecstatic when I said that he was this morning! I took a few obligatory pictures, loaded up all the stuff and drove him to school. He kept going on and on about how much fun he was going to have, how excited he was and how he was going to tell the teachers when he needs to go potty (we'll see about this one...). He's super stoked about the huge playground they have. Upon arrival, he put his backpack on proudly and in we walked! Some other kids going in that were older waved hello to him, and he told me they were excited that he was coming to play with them. So sweet.

At his classroom, he hung up his backpack, gave me a hug and reminded me that he knew that "Mama Llama ALWAYS comes back," smiled and just ran into the class. And that was it. He didn't look back, and he for sure didn't cry. So, I filled out the morning sheet for the teachers, and Gavin and I went on our way. I'm handling it pretty well, I think! I'm so excited to go get him in a few hours and see how he did and hear what he has to say :)

4 months!

Just like that, it's September. Hard to believe that my first summer is over with my new little baby (although, technically, it'll still be summer well into October here!). It's gone by SO fast. Baby Gavin is for sure out of the fourth trimester and is such a joy to be around! He's so happy all the time! You don't have to work very hard to get a smile or laugh out of him, and some people (aka Jeffrey) don't have to work at all to get them. He's discovered how to scream and squeal with delight, so our house is loud and noisy with sounds of love now with both boys. I love it. Gavin is such a mellow little baby; he doesn't even wake up crying from naps or after nighttime. Just a few little grunts to let us know that he's awake, and then he just tries to squirm out of the Miracle Blanket. Thankfully, this has been unsuccessful thus far. He's back to his old sleeping habits of only once a night, if that. So amazing. He goes down for naps (still in the swing) super easy, as well, even if they're not for that long. Despite being mellow and lazy, he's still a mover and shaker like his big brother before him. He hasn't discovered that he can roll continuously in one direction yet, but he is rolling both ways and rotating around on his blanket. I'm fairly certain the blankets will be packed away before I write this post in another month! He wants to crawl SO badly; those cars Jeffrey leaves all over the floor are super tempting to him, apparently.

This will be a big month for Gavin- first vacation out of state and first major road trip! He'll also be moving up into his big boy car seat!

Gavin's 4 Month Stats:

-16 lbs, 10oz and 26 inches
-moving out of all of his 3-6 month clothes; I just got out the 6 month clothes yesterday :(
-does major push ups while on his belly and really kicking his legs
-rolls both directions with ease, although he doesn't do belly to back very often
-has really perfected his aim/grasp
-starting to tripod sit
-loves standing while holding our hands and being pulled into the standing position
-squeals/screams with delight
-will follow us/objects with his eyes all around the room
-loves his exersaucer and Sophie
-he's also a master at spitting up, unfortunately :/