He's ONE!

I have a one year old. It's official. It's also crazy. I've been replaying the birth events from a year ago over and over in my mind. It was such an incredible experience, and I remember it so vividly that it's mind-boggling that it was as long ago as it was. One of the truly awesome things about having a home birth is that I could just sit in the spot he was born and really soak in the memories and experiences that the past year has brought our family.

Gavin is SUCH a joy and has created such a special dynamic in our family. He's a ham and loves to cheese it up and dance all the time. He does this hilarious little squat and cheese face whenever he gets really excited. He'll start bobbing his head around even with just the tiniest little musical sound; he'll really groove when you start singing to him. He loves to eat and has created his own sign where he'll point to the food/drink that he wants and then to his mouth. He does it with such vigor that it's hilarious. He's a daredevil and loves going down slides by himself, so we're at that fun/horrifying time period at playgrounds now where I need to be next to him at every moment. He thinks he can do anything that big brother can do, and he idolizes Jeffrey completely. The hour or so that Jeffrey is in room time can be the hardest part of my day if Gavin is not napping. Keeping Gavin from going back on Jeffrey's door to knock or reach his hands under the door is darn near impossible. Of course, Jeffrey doesn't mind and loves Gavin to death, as well, so much so that he's put in a request for a baby sister. I guess having a sibling isn't too traumatic! Although, I think he lucked out with Gavin since he's so calm-tempered, laid back and happy most of the time. That doesn't mean he has hasn't had his share of collapsing on the ground like a Victorian fainting lady, mind you. Even so, if it weren't for him still waking up at least once per night (save the 3 or so nights he's slept through the night!), he'd be the perfect child. Exactly what I would want my 2nd born to be like :)

For his big day, we all went to the Museum of Natural Science and History to see the butterflies and the dinosaurs. They both had a great time. Gavin kept pointing and wanting to grab the butterflies, and he kept doing this quiet little roar at all the dinosaurs. It was seriously cute.

Here is Gavin at exactly one years old- taken the exact minute of his birth one year later in the exact location where he was born:

11 Months!

On one hand, it's crazy to believe that he'll be one in less than a month. On the other hand, he's already a toddler! This year has gone by so quickly, much quicker than it seems like it did with Jeffrey. I guess having all the hustle and bustle of the older one makes time go by quickly. I think seeing the bigger one really accentuates how little the youngest is, as well, so it's kind of mind boggling to remind yourself that it was almost a year ago that I pushed him out right here by where I'm typing this. He's such a cuddle bug and such a joy. He's a full out walker and does the sweetest little cheese face you ever did see. I love how he'll just dive right into me for a good hug before he's off to play again. He absolutely loves Jeffrey and walking after him to play/chase him. Holding Jeffrey's hand in the car is the ultimate experience for him and never fails to stop his crying, if he is. Overall, though, he barely makes a fuss. He's so chill and relaxed. To think that I thought Jeffrey was! Sleep is getting much better. We've even had a full night! Usually, it's once or twice, although the first stretch is always 5-6+ hours, so I can't complain too much. He's still our little eater and will try everything, except most fruit. Strange child. We're in full swing of planning his first birthday, and I just can't help but sit in our bedroom reminiscing over that crazy day almost one year ago!

Gavin's 11 Month Stats:
-about 20lbs, no idea on height
-wearing 12 month clothes
-still those 4 cute teeth
-full out walker, getting faster every day
-loves to stomp his feet
-points and says "dat"
-Favorite food: mum mums and apples
-loves: hiding/peek-a-boo, dancing, chasing Jeffrey, stacking toys, cars, putting toys in and out of things, hanging out/lounging in his anywhere chair
-hates: not being allowed in the bathroom, having his nose wiped

Garage Sale

This past weekend, we cleared out all of the junk in our garage and a bunch of useless and unused stuff in our house for a garage sale. It was impressively successful! We sold off all of the big stuff (except for the exersaucer, which has to be the most awkward baby item to store!). It was a great point in our plans to overhaul our house. We haven't made tremendous progress in the living/dining room since Jony hasn't had much free time, and our weekends have been crazy. We do have a few things on the wall now, and our TV unit is up, finally. I foresee a lot getting done next week, since I'm hosting a baby shower here next weekend. Eek!

The boys loved having a garage sale, and Jeffrey didn't have near a hard time selling some of his old toys as we thought he might. He was actually a pretty good salesman! Gavin just loved having all of the attention and the visitors (namely grandparents). We also used the weekend to do our front garden since we were already outside. I love having the splash of color, especially the daisies!

With two crazy boys and a crazy schedule, I'm trying to find time to get on the computer to blog. Clearly, I'm failing! However, our house is definitely getting somewhere, even if it is slowly. Some days, that means more to me than blogging, although I'm sure I'll be sad in a year or so when I don't have all the documentation. Until I find time again, we're off to Easter at the Farm!

10 Months!

It's a little late, but I have two mobile children now. That's my excuse :)

This was a super fun month. Gavin is such a little ham. We weren't dealing with too many teething issues, so he was actually enjoyable to be around the majority of the time. He started full out walking, which is incredible. He's our little Frankenstein baby! Although, if we call him that, it scares Jeffrey (who is super proud of Gavin, but also likes to remind everyone that HE can run, ha). He's got this super cheesy little smile and loves playing with his tongue hanging out. He'll bop up and down to a good beat and can bust out his own version of a rap on the cat piano. He's still super obsessed with the dog bowls, which is still just as annoying. He's starting to show a real interest in puzzles and loves the color/shape sorting toys that we have. Mainly, though, he just wants to do everything that Jeffrey is doing. Mainly, going outside. He LOVES it out there and will bang on the back door to let us know he wants out.

Gavin's 10 Month Stats:
-no idea on weight and height, but he's definitely growing
-in 9-12 month clothes
-four adorable, silly teeth
-walking!!!
-standing up in the middle of the floor on his own
-climbing hardcore!
-waves hello
-is starting to do "more" and "all done" signs
-can drink from a straw
-Favorite Food: mum mums, peanut butter crackers (2nd kid, lol)
-loves: eating, attacking Coco, playing any and everything with Jeffrey, picking Jeffrey up from school, peek-a-boo, being a ninja baby after Coco's bowls, putting things in and out of containers, the dishwasher
-strongly dislikes: being held for longish amounts of time, diaper changes, getting strapped in the car, not being able to eat everything that we are

AW Post

There's a lot of exciting things happening in our house right now, so I'm going to brag a bit.

1. Jony is rocking all of our home renovations. The floor is just about done, we're about to paint the living/dining room and the hallway, and then we're going to tackle our master suite! I'm so lucky to have a handy husband.

2. Jeffrey wants to learn to read! Whenever he gets something in his head, he really focuses on it. So, he practices writing his letters all of the time, loves going through an Activity pre-school book we have, and is always wanting to look at books. All of those infant books have come back out so that he can look at the picture and corresponding word by himself to try and figure it out. He wrote his name on my niece's birthday card, and he signed all his Valentine's. It's so dang cute. He's definitely a lefty, also.

3. Gavin is rocking the mobility thing. He's taken a few steps here and there, but it's not consistent in any way. He's starting to stand up on his own (without pulling up), though. He's also in the process of dropping down to one nap. I'll miss having two, but that's when Jeffrey started sleeping through the night, so I'm not too upset. Plus, it'll be easier with having an older child since his new nap overlaps with Jeffrey's room time. I'm actually getting time to myself some these days!

I'm just so proud of my boys.

Jeffrey's Pearly Whites

Last Friday, Jeffrey had his very first visit to the dentist! He was so amazing. I'm so proud of him. Everyone was so impressed with his behavior and remarked how mature he was for three! I think the fact that the pediatric dentist we went to was AMAZING. There was no waiting, and the room had toys. The first thing she did was let him pick out his color for a toothbrush (red, clearly, as he'd be okay if that was the ONLY color) and turned on CARS on the TV that was in front of the dental chair. He got to wear his sunglasses to block him from the light, picked out chocolate ice cream toothpaste for the actual cleaning, got a toy car, a t-shirt AND two stickers. Not to mention that the staff was extremely awesome. His mouth looks great- no issues with spacing or cleanliness. His x-rays showed that he has peg teeth in the front (the ones on the sides of the front two teeth) just like me, which leaves him at a higher risk for not having some of the back molars (like me). I did get to see some of his permanent teeth, though, which is crazy to think about. Overall, I was beaming when we left the office. I took the boys to the Children's Museum to celebrate Jeffrey doing so well, and Jeffrey cannot stop telling everybody about it all.

The only problem was insurance. Having such good medical insurance, we didn't even think to check to see if they were on our plan. Turns out, they accept very few insurances. I think we'll get a little back, and, if that's the case, then we will continue to take them there. It's not that expensive, and it's not like you go to the dentist that often. Plus, he won't have x-rays again until he's over 6, most likely. That's what an HSA is for, right?

9 Months!

Now, we reach the point where Gavin has been out longer than he has been in. I could not be happier; he is such a joy and a blessing to our family. Jeffrey is obsessed with him, and Jony and I are pretty enamored with him, as well. He can be crazy dramatic, and teething does not agree with him, but we love that little guy to pieces. He's not walking just yet, but it's bordering on it. He's starting to attempt and doing what I call the "step fall," where he'll put his foot out like he's taking a step and then falls to a crawl to get where he's going. I even saw him stand up from a squat all on his own the other day, so I doubt it's going to be long. He's really finding his voice- shrieks ALL the time. He'll do it back and forth for as long as you can stand it. He's also starting to try and say "book" and "uh-oh," I'm fairly certain. Time will tell. He's going to be a class clown like his brother, though. There is lots of laughter in our home, and I love it.

Gavin's 9 Month Stats:
-appointment is tomorrow, so we'll find out weight/length then!
-growing out of all the 6 month clothes; onesies are starting to disappear form the wardrobe
-THREE teeth. That top one finally busted through; now, we wait for the other one. Sigh.
-standing unassisted for large amounts of time
-climbs up stairs
-an expert at the pincer grasp and small motor control, which goes along with him being a fabulous eater
-Favorite food: vegetables, such as green beans, carrots and peas
-loves: doing forward and back flips (rolls), the Melissa and Doug sorting toy (which he is starting to be able to do), Jeffrey's Cars cars of any kind, taking apart train tracks, climbing and eating leaves
-Strongly dislikes: being caged in and not being allowed on the floor (thank goodness that's over!) and not being able to go outside with brother due to his love of eating leaves

Teeth. UGH.

Gavin's top two front teeth are just dangling there driving the whole house crazy. They will not pop through, yet they're right there. I feel like if I rubbed there long enough, it would happen. I prefer to not get bit, though. We actually took Gavin to the pediatrician today because we thought he might have another ear infection. Turns out, it's just a ridiculous amount of drainage caused by teething. His poor cheeks are always a nice rosy red, he chews/bites on everything (yes, everything- yay.) and his sleeping? Oy.

I slept well last night, though, since he refused to nurse. Not being able to breathe doesn't make nursing as relaxing as usual, it seems. So, I was able to sleep all night while Jony tended to the poor little guy. He, as Jeffrey did, always relaxes and does better with daddy. Even though he's choosing not to nurse, he just couldn't calm down while I was holding him. So pitiful.

Let's cross our fingers these two teeth come through asap. It's so sad that these are only teeth #3 and 4. We have a long road ahead of us...sigh.

The carpet is gone!

YAY! We're currently down to the foundation in the living/dining room. The tile in the entryway and kitchen will be gone tomorrow. I'm so thrilled to get rid of all that ugliness. We'll still have some of the carpet in the bedrooms and hallway, but it'll be gone soon enough, as well.

It's pretty tricky with a crawler to not have any real floor space. We saved a square of the carpet so that Gavin has a little fenced in area to play, but he's not a huge fan. I'm hoping we can get a lot done tonight so that we can let him free a little bit. I don't want him crawling on the cold and rough cement.

Meanwhile, my head and Pinterest are super busy with how we're going to re-decorate the rooms. I may want to paint, and we definitely want to do a different furniture set-up. Our house may look totally different in a week!

Year of Organization

One of our big goals for 2013 is to get our house in better shape. Our January goal is the garage. Not the most fun area to start in, but it's crucial since we need a place to put all the junk that we'll be taking out of the house. So far, we've rearranged, thrown away all the trash that was everywhere, placed the chest freezer and swept. We still need to really organize the hardware/tool closet, as it is a disaster! We won't be able to completely finish it this month since a big chunk of the garage is for the "get rid of" stuff, as well as our new flooring (yay!). So, we'll be starting and ending in the garage.

Embarrassing, but here's our before:

And our after (for now):

2012, in review

It was a great year's a year that added to our family. It was also a super busy year! Looking back...

January: finished Jeffrey's big boy room
February: Jeffrey moved into his new room and twin bed
March:finished Gavin's nursery
April: spent a very pregnant Easter at the farm, had a false labor experience, and enjoyed lots of activities as a family of three for the last time
May: the incredible experience of giving birth to Gavin in my own bedroom' potty training really got started when Jeffrey refused diapers, and I turned 26 as a mom of two.
June: Jeffrey started swim lessons on his own, and we all went to Dallas for the LLL conference
July: Gavin started rolling, we went to the farm for the 4th of July, and loved watching the Olympics
August: I was a bridesmaid in a wedding in Dallas, celebrated our 4th anniversary, and Jeffrey had his back problems
September: Gavin started sitting, Jeffrey started MDO, Jony turned 27, and we took a major road trip to Florida for Nana's 100th birthday
October: the boys' first viruses, Gavin started solids and crawling, and we had a Peter Pan Halloween
November: Jeffrey turned three!!
December: Gavin started pulling up and cruising, we had a great first Christmas with our smallest, and Gavin threw up and got an ear infection

8 Months!

My child is freaking old. I look at him, and I see more toddler than baby. So, yes, our house is a LOT crazier now. Sharing and gentle hands are in full effect.

He is super mobile and has no issues getting anywhere. Not to mention, he is FAST! His favorite spots include his favorite cabinet (although he has found the tupperware cabinet, joy!), his bathtub in the boys' bathroom and Jeffrey's room, especially if he's in there. He's so in love with Jeffrey that the poor boy (Jeffrey) has to take breaks so that he can play by himself when he wants to, haha. Luckily, most of the time, Jeffrey is just as infatuated with him. They love wrestling and making noises at each other. That is, until Jeffrey roars like a dinosaur too loud and scares poor Gavin. Gavin is obsessed with the dishwasher and will cross any obstacle at lightning speeds to climb onto it. It makes doing dishes pretty tricky. He's just getting over a bad ear infection that made the week between Christmas and New Years pretty miserable. One night involved vomiting quite a few times, one night involved a HUGE poopy diaper followed by what seemed like a million more, and the rest just involved ridiculous amounts of screaming. There was also some biting while nursing in there, which was awesome. He's getting back to normal now, luckily, as we are exhausted. We even did a trip to Urgent Care early Saturday morning (think 2:30am) just so that we could get the ball rolling on some antibiotics. Of course, now we're pretty sure that they're messing with his tummy and his booty is sore from all the wiping. Poor kid is not loving 2013 thus far. He's still our huge chunk that loves to eat and will put away anything we give him. He even ate lettuce last night! I'm anxious to see if being 8 months yields the same results for Gavin as it did for Jeffrey (aka- walking)...

Gavin's 8 Month Stats:
-20lbs, unsure about length
-making the transition between 6 and 9 month clothes, depending on the brand
-2 teeth
-super fast crawler
-stands unassisted for about 2-3 seconds, can stand with one hand for an unlimited amount of time; when getting down to crawl, he has a more controlled descent than just falling now
-signs milk (although I think it may just mean mama at this point- still adorable)
-blabbering "mamamama" and "babababa"
-makes a kissy noise and LOVES it
-Favorite food: yogurt melts
-loves the Tegu wheels, puzzles (eating them, primarily), the dishwasher, taking baths and the singing fridge farm thing
-strongly dislikes diaper changes and getting dressed, as well as being put into the car (he's fine once we start driving)

Happy New Year!

Phew. Time sure has flown. I'll have to come back and do some updates from December. Time just got away from me, and since I have to use the desktop now to have access to a keyboard (which is in our bedroom), it's not very convenient. I have a tablet now (yay!) to replace the old clunky laptop, but I haven't gotten the keyboard to go with it yet. Soon.

It's hard to believe that it's already 2013. The year that my boys turn 4 and 1. The year of our 5th anniversary. It's going to be a pretty low-key year, but we have lots of plans for it. Our biggest venture is working more diligently towards saving for a down payment on a new house. So, we worked a few hours on tweaking our budget and made some changes (cancelled cable, dropping Jony's cell since he has a work phone, etc), and I'm happy with how it looks. As of now, we should be completely ready to drop at least 10% in 2ish years.

Along with that, we're moving towards a more business-like approach with how we run the house. We've set yearly, monthly and weekly goals that we discuss in a weekly meeting. It's been working well to sit together and discuss the week's agenda and figure out what we can do during that week to accomplish our goals, both short and long term.

One of those goals is healthier eating- moving towards a more real/natural diet. This involves a lot more meal planning so that we don't have the urge to just go out to eat when we don't know what to make. We got a chest freezer for Christmas that we've been wanting, so I plan on filling that up with some pre-made meals, which should help.

We're also going to do some major work on our house this year since there will be no babies and no vacations. We're replacing our floors, potentially the ceilings and then doing a lot of organizing and decorating in between. January's goal is the garage, since we need that cleaned and organized to put all the junk that we'll take out of the actual house! I'm hoping to keep it all updated on here, but we'll see.

2012 was a fantastic year; it brought us Gavin and a lot of good times. I'm really looking forward to a relaxed and productive 2013, though.