Gavin's Birthday Party

One Year Already

This Time Last Year... This time last year, at 3:00 am, I woke up with a real contraction. At 4:00 am, I had another one; then another at 4:30ish, and 5:00. I got up and took a shower, ate some cereal, and sat in the recliner in the living room to make sure this was the real thing. A little while later, and several contractions later, I woke Jason up and told him to start getting ready. We sat in the living room watching TV all morning timing contractions. Kelli called me to see what our plans were for the day - we had plans to go somewhere. I remember telling her that I didn't think we'd be going out that day because I was having contractions. A few minutes later, the phone rang - it was mom. Kelli had called her. Within 10 minutes, mom was at my house. We watched Crocodile Dundee on TV until the contractions were 5 minutes apart and then left for the hospital at 11:00 am. (Mom was going crazy because we didn't leave for the hospital sooner. We were timing them like the doctor told us to.) By 12:00, I was in the delivery room and getting an epidural. I was supposed to have Gavin around 2:00, but his heart rate dropped really low when I pushed, so the doctor held me off. When he came back at 5:15, after delievering ALL the other babies there, I pushed , and then Gavin was born at 5:27 pm. It was a piece of cake.

(This picture was taken one week before Gavin was born. It was my last day of teaching.)

One Year Later...

I can't believe Gavin is one year old. It seems like yesterday he was kicking me inside my belly. All summer, I have kept going back in my head saying, "This time last year, we were....". Man, how time flies. My little buddy has grown and changed so much. And just like any mom who looks at her growing baby, it brings tears to my eyes.

Having a baby has been a total life changing experience. When I got pregnant, I thought, "Ah, this will be easy. I've been around kids all my life, changed diapers, fed them, played with them." Boy was I wrong. Even though Gavin was a pretty easy baby, it was hard for me to adjust from having freedom and no responsibilities, to having the biggest responsibility of all. Being a parent is time consuming and tiring - something I didn't think about before. But having Gavin has been the biggest blessing in my life. He makes me laugh and fills my heart with joy.

In a year, Gavin has:

• had only 1 ear infection
• had a cold 4 times (the average is 7-10 per year)
• slept through the night at 3 months old (I thought that day would never come!)
• started eating cereal and fruit at 5 months old
• picked strawberries
• rolled off the bed
• eaten lent off the couch
• peed on me so many times I lost count
• been swimming in the pool and the ocean, and loved both
• eaten refried beans and wanted more
• smashed his fingers several times in the cabinets
• been given too many toys
• been to the park to swing
• eaten a leaf
• pooped in his baby pool
• tried to drink his bath water
• wiggled out of his bouncy seat
• thrown many temper tantrums (and he's not even 2 yet!)
• been man-handled by Karis (but he loves her to death)
• swam in Boyd's Mill Pond - one of the most polluted lakes around!
• had bumps and bruises all over his body, including his hiney
• bitten me several times - and those little teeth hurt
• put his hand so far into his mouth that he gagged and threw up
• sucked on his toes
• been walking for a couple of weeks
• prefers table food over baby food

...and that's just a few. But the most important thing that's happened this year is that he has been spoiled with love by family.

God has blessed our socks off and this was just the first year. I pray He'll continue to give Gavin good health and keep him safe.

Random Pictures of Gavin

Here are just some random pictures I've taken of Gavin:

This afternoon during the storms, Gavin stood at the door and watched the rain. I love how he's standing on one foot.

Happy Birthday, Ray

My "little" brother turned 22 today. Of course, he's not so little.

Ray wanted a southern meal for his birthday dinner. Ray's birthday menu:

• fried squash and zuccinni
• mashed potatoes
• field peas
• cornbread
• dressing
• chicken and dumplings
• birthday cake: apple pie and vanilla ice cream

Now that's "Good Eats"!

Happy birthday, Ray. Love you.

Mr. Personality

Well, I ventured out today to Haywood Mall to see my buddy's picture on display from the personality contest he won at The Picture People. You know, I'm proud my boy won something, but geez, couldn't they have picked a better a picture? Instead of choosing one of the cute ones - even the one with a cookie hanging out of his mouth - they chose the screaming picture! Great! That really shows my child's personality.

Friday Five

Five Things I'm doing this weekend:

1. I'm going to be a single mommy this weekend while Jason is in Tennessee at the Bristol Nascar race. I'm so jealous. I wanted to go, but it's a guy's weekend. No girls allowed.
2. On Sunday, we'll be celebrating my brother's 22 birthday.
3. I've got to go to Publix and order Gavin's birthday cake. Just one week away...we're on the count down now.
4. Go shopping for some new school clothes.
5. Go to Haywood Mall to see Gavin's picture on display in the window at The Picture People because he won a personality contest. (I'm definitely taking a picture of the picture to go in his scrapbook - my buddy is famous!)

First Birthday Pictures

Gavin had his picture made for his upcoming first birthday last week. His birthday isn't until the 31st, but I went ahead and had them done so I could have his pictures out at his party. I spent $300 on pictures. I couldn't help myself. It was so hard to choose which ones I wanted. I wanted them all! So, here are a few of my favorite proofs. (Sorry, but they're copyrighted, so they have writing across the picture.)

Before my great grandmother died (back in 2001), and before she went to the nursing home, she made a blanket for me to have for my children. She knew her eyesight was getting bad and that she wouldn't be able to make one later. So, I've had this blanket for several years, and thought I would have Gavin's picture made with it.

After that, we bought a cookie, hoping that he would get the icing all over him; but the icing was hard and crumbly so it didn't quite work out the way we wanted. But the pictures are still cute.

And a sweet parting shot...(don't let the sweet angelic face fool you)

Back in the Daily Grind

Well, school officially started for me today. I hate that summer break is over, but at the same time, I'm glad school is starting back up. I'm a routine kind of person, so getting back on a schedule will be good for me; but I'm so going to miss galavanting around with Kelli and the kids. We had so much fun. So, the point of my post tonight. I'm frustrated with Gavin's sleeping habits. All summer I prayed that he would sleep late - past 7:00. But would he? No. (It only happened a couple of times.) So, this morning I woke up at 6:00 to start getting ready (no big deal - my body is used to getting up early now), and left for work at 7:30. I will have you know that little stinker was STILL ASLEEP when I left. OF ALL DAYS TO SLEEP LATE, he chose the day that I couldn't sleep in too. Figures. I think he does it on purpose.

Random Sunday Stuff

Nothing specific tonight, just some randomness. Jason and I have been watching the Olympics tonight. I love watching gymnastics, and USA was competing. One thing I noticed, though, was that neither of the gymnastics coaches were American! The woman coach was Russian, or something like that; and the other coach (a man) was Asian! I find that odd - Foreigners coaching the USA team. Makes no sense. I found another little tooth trying to break through on the other side of Gavin's top teeth. So, now we have 6 teeth. Last night, I went to Mom's house for dinner while Jason was in a fishing tournament. Dad bought Gavin a little riding car thingy at the flea market a while back. Now that Gavin is standing up and trying to walk, we pulled it out to see how he'd do on the car. It's still a little too tall for his short legs to reach the ground, so he liked pushing it around from behind.

Gavin puts EVERYTHING in his mouth - it doesn't matter what it is. Kelli gave Gavin this little Santa Claus door hanger that has (or HAD) a jingle bell sewn at the bottom. He's been chewing on this thing for quite a while, but I've thought nothing about it. While Jason and I were watching TV tonight, Gavin was playing with his toys. He had scooted on the other side of the couch out of our view. I heard him playing, so I knew he was ok. But then I heard him breathing through his mouth making a funny noise. I looked over at him and he had the whole jingle bell in his mouth, breathing through the holes in the bell. He had chewed through the thread and broken off the bell. So long, Santa.

Once again, something else in the mouth. (But it's ok this time. This ball is too big to fit all the way in his mouth.)

Friday Five

Friday Five: Five New Things About Gavin

1. This week, Gavin has really started making great strides in starting to walk. He's taking more and more baby steps and loves the little walking-push toy that we took from Kelli's house. He's all over the place with that thing. I can't wait (well, really I can) for him to just let loose and take off.
2. He says "bite" ("bi") or "more" ("mo") when he wants to eat what Jason and I are eating.
3. When I rock him to sleep (Yes, I rock my baby. He's only little for so long.), I sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. While I sing it, he hums to himself as if he's singing with me; and he even changes the pitch of his hum when I change mine in the song. I love it.
4. His fifth little tooth broke through this past week. It's beside one of his top teeth. He's had some pretty raunchy diapers and been really whiney - I'm hoping it has been from the tooth, and nothing else.
5. We're starting to have a hard time feeding Gavin his baby food. He LOVES table food and expects us to feed him whatever we're eating. There have been several times that he's screamed bloody murder when I fed him, and wasn't happy until I gave him a cracker or something more "grown up". So, I tried something different yesterday. Instead of feeding him straight from the baby food jars, I poured the food into a bowl - like faking him out. It worked yesterday...we'll see today. I don't mind feeding him table food - but I can't do it all the time. I can't exactly feed him Mexican food or Chinese food if we're at one of those restaurants.

Here are a few pictures I've taken to go in his scrapbook for his 11 months old page.

Random Pictures of Gavin

Here are a couple of random pictures I've taken yesterday and today.

My little buddy was getting ready to take his nap.

(Click on the picture to make it larger...don't the curls on the side of his head look like horns??)

Look closely at his diaper. What has happened?

Now you can see it better. Guess I needed to take care of that, huh?

A Reason to Celebrate

The hubs turned 27 today (yes, I married a young pup). He wanted to eat at the Red Robin on Woodruf Road. Let me just say that if you want a good burger, try this place out! They have every kind of burger imaginable. It was delicious and the atmosphere was fun. Here are a few pictures from our evening.

How sweet - holding his birthday balloons.

Jason bought this for himself last weekend and said he wanted it to be from me. I said sure! But he wanted to pull it out and play it this past week, and I said no. I made him wait till tonight to get it. How mean is that?

The whole gang - yeah, there were 17 of us there. I felt sorry for the waitress.

Jason, I'm proud of the man you are. You mean so much to me and Gavin. Happy birthday, baby. I love you.

*On a different note - this is what my wild man was doing in the backseat this afternoon. Mom took the pictures since I was driving.

Is he hungry?