Small Blessing

Gavin wakes up at the crack of dawn - as if he's afraid he's going to miss out on something. Getting up at 6:30-7:00ish is not what I want to be doing over summer break. This morning was no different. He woke up at 6:00, and I refused to get up that early. So, I got Gavin out of his crib and PUT HIM IN THE BED WITH ME! (I can't believe I did that. I swore I would never let my child get into the habit of sleeping with me in the bed.) He slept till 8:00!!! He hasn't done that in forever!!! Of course, I was awake because my body automatically wakes up early now, but it was still nice to just lay there in bed. Thank you Lord for sending me that small blessing today.

Beach Vacation Pictures

Well, we're back. A week vacation flew by so fast! Jason, Gavin, and I went down to the beach with the rest of my family. Gavin LOVED the sand and the water! He went wild. My camera showed that I took over 300 pictures. So, I figured I'd spare you, and only share 30-something of them.

In the morning, we'll be...

Have a good week.

An angel with his wing in the fire

Gavin showed out today for the first time in public. He usually does really well when we go out to eat. He'll eat his snacks or food off our plate, flirt with the waitresses or anyone who'll pay him attention - he's usually very easy. Today was a whole different ballgame. Let me set the scene before I begin: My girlfriend, Meredith (with her very calm and very mellow little girl), and I (with my hyper, but well behaved Gavin) were having lunch with another teacher friend who just recently found out that she is pregnant. I was excited about having lunch with them, and taking Gavin with me would be no problem. He loves being out in public and loves to watch people. I secretly wanted to show-off how great Gavin behaves and how easy it was for us to go out and do things (That quickly came back to bite me in the rear.). We decided to eat at Panera. Ok, so imagine Panera elbow-to-elbow with the lunch crowd, small tables pushed very close together, me, Gavin, Meredith, Olivia Kate, and my teacher friend, Amy. The wild beast came out in Gavin the minute we sat down. He turned around and found the long beautiful hair of a lady sitting right behind us. Oh, how he loves hair. So, he tugged on it, and I told him no. The lady turned and grinned and laughed - oh how cute. But Gavin wasn't satisfied. There were no buckles on the highchair, so he turned all the way around and started tugging on the lady's hair again. She turned again, but I think this time her smile and giggle was fake. So, I apologized and pulled his highchair even closer to me, trying to get him out of reach of her hair. As we began to eat, Gavin started getting a little antsy, so I pulled out the snacks. (He adores food. Anything to put in his mouth makes him happy.) This lasted maybe a minute before he started throwing his snacks in the floor. (This is his new thing - the throw it down, you pick it up game.) - Olivia Kate, Merdith's little girl, was sitting perfectly happy and wonderful in her highchair eating her snacks like a sweet little child. - So, after telling Gavin no several times, he starts to do it again. I popped his hand and said no sternly - well, well...that was a mistake. He belted out crying; and naturally people started turning their heads to see what in the world is going on in our little corner of the restaurant. I figured some juice would make him be quiet, so I gave him his sippy cup. I was able to get my food eaten. But, mmm, that lasted only a few minutes before he started throwing his cup on the floor. Of course, he wasn't happy when I didn't pick it back up immediately. So, I thought I'd go ahead and feed him lunch - maybe that was his problem. Feeding him wasn't easy because nosy boy had to watch everyone and turn different directions in his highchair. He started crying before he was finished so I tried to quickly wipe his mouth and get him out before he cried any louder. Now, I had green beans on my shirt and shoulder. But that was ok - as long as he was going to be calm and lay on my shoulder. No. He turned around and started grabbing my napkin and other things off the table and trying to throw them on the floor too. So, I turned him back around to face me and I felt him tugging on something, just as Meredith said, "Um, Kristi, I think he's found the fire extinguisher." Sure enough, his hands were pulling on it. I was trapped in a corner, my child standing up in my lap bending backwards, going crazy - Meredith's child being a perfect angel - people and other mothers with children watching us - and Amy just grinning. I think she was secretly saying to herself, "Please God, don't let my child be like that." When we left, he fell asleep within 5 minutes of being in the car. Holy cow. This was not the outing I had planned in my mind at all - and Gavin surely didn't do his part in encouraging Amy. What's that country song?...he's an angel, with no halo, and one wing in the fire. Gavin is my little angel, a sweet little man; but he sure can be a wild child sometimes.

Birthday Girl

Karis, my niece, just turned 3. Kelli had her party a week ago, but today is actually her birthday. If you've never been around Karis, you're missing out on so much laughter. She is so funny. She is definitely a drama queen (just like her mama - love you Kelli!). And the best part about her is that she loves Gavin and Gavin loves her! He gets so excited when he sees her.

Here's the birthday girl:

Happy Birthday, Karis!

We love you.

All American Baby

Happy 4th of July, y'all.

Boyd's Mill Pond

Gavin and I decided to venture down to Boyd's Mill Pond - a small lake near Ware Shoals. Kelli's husband and his family have property there, so we usually drive over for a day or two this time of year and spend some time in the water. Gavin loves the outdoors, so I thought it would be really fun for him. We spent the night in their camper. Gavin usually sleeps in his crib - he's never slept in the same bed as me and Jason. So, with Gavin sleeping right beside, let's just say I slept all of about 2 hours last night. I kept waking up with every move he made. I was terrified of rolling over on top of him, or him suffocating with the pillows and blankets. Gavin slept really well all night long. He hasn't slept all the way through the night without waking up once for several weeks. (He's going through some kind of phase right now where he wakes up 2-3 times crying in the middle of the night. I don't know if he's having bad dreams or what.) We had quite a scare last night though. Kelli has a pop-up camper. The sides of the camper come down and hook underneath where the bed would be outside the camper. But they bought this camper from someone and the hooks that hold the sides all the way down were broken; but they were tucked under and seemed to be ok. But, if you're on the bed inside the camper, and lean too far over the side, you basically fall off the bed, and outside onto the ground. (I don't know if this is making any sense. It's hard to explain.) So, in the middle of the night (with me, Kelli, Gavin, and Karis in the same bed), Karis rolled over too far and slipped off the mattress and fell down the crack about 3-4 feet outside onto the ground. It probably would have looked like she'd been sucked out or something. We heard her start screaming, and both Kelli and I jumped up and ran outside to find her. It was a horrifying feeling - and I had the most terrible feeling leap up into my stomach when I saw her laying there on the ground. But we got her up and she seemed fine. We tried to feel her body all over - we were in the dark - but she wouldn't let us touch her elbow. This morning, we discovered a slash under her chin and across her cheek - I'm guessing from something metal on the side of the camper. And then her elbow was scraped up from landing on the ground. I meant to take pictures of her war wounds, but I didn't want to draw attention to her injuries considering that she is a drama queen at heart and would probably start acting like she was dying. But other than that scare, Gavin seemed to really enjoy himself, and loved being outside. Here are just a few pictures I took while we were there:

He preferred drinking the water, instead of playing in it. At least he knows how to use a cup, right?

Bottoms up! He was skinny dippin' in the lake!

Time for a bath!