Happy 11 Month Birthday Gavin!

You turned 11 months on Friday, the day after your very first Christmas. You had a great day starting with our annual trip to Target at 7 am! Then out for breakfast. You finished off your day with dinner at Grandma and Papa's to see Great Papa! On Saturday you took almost a 3 1/2 hour nap! You definitely needed it!

Your first Christmas was very exciting with you opening your first gift a few days before. You really weren't interested in what was inside, just the paper and bows. On Christmas Eve afternoon you woke up (ok you never went down) from your nap to find Daddy in the process of putting together your wagon from Grammy. That quickly became your favorite gift! You helped Daddy finish putting it together, well you sat in it and played while he slaved away. Then you took a lot of circles in the house in it. The next morning you insisted on opening your Santa gifts while sitting in it. It was very cute.

We spent Christmas Eve at Auntie Jen's with the Hogoboom family. You had a great time with all your cousins! 7 other boys and 3 girls. The girls are definitely outnumbered in this group! Christmas morning you were up and ready to rock and roll! Grammy, Grandma, Papa and Aunt Jenny were there to watch you open some of your gifts. We then hosted brunch for the Kunz's, Walter's and Alexander's. My favorite gift to Gavin, Pyper, Frankie and Jack were the monogrammed towels. All the kids loved them and I tried to fit the animal to them, with Gavin getting a Doggy, Jack a Froggy, Pyper a butterfly and Frankie a kittie cat. It was a great time!

You are walking a lot more now (I think you are pretty much walking, Daddy not so much), I think you think crawling sometimes is a little faster so you will drop down in mid walk to get to something or someone. You are still a little sick from your first "sinus infection", but that does not slow you down one bit. The only way we can tell you are is because in the morning you still sound a little congested and you have a nose full of boogies. I know, gross right?? Your still such a happy boy, you do have your moments don't get me wrong. When you throw a "tantrum" you are no longer arching your back and throwing back your head, nope, now you throw yourself on the floor on your tummy with your bum in the air and put your head between your hands and cry. It is actually quite amusing. You have definitely got my dramatic flair. You don't stay angry very long, not once you hear me laughing hysterically. You usually end up laughing along with me, which is good. Luckily we have not had one of these "meltdowns" in a public place! Fingers crossed....

On another note, Greg and I must have been good this year, because we got the Wii. We have been somewhat addicted to it and are pressuring Gavin to take more naps so we can play it! The past few nights after the bean is in bed we have stayed up 11pm + to play Guitar Hero. I am trying to get through a 3 song set without getting booed off the stage! It is very fun and great for Greg and I to do together. The first night we bowled, did you know you can get a strike while holding a beer?? It is a ton of fun! We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and a Happy New Year! We are very blessed to have such loving family and friends!

With a lot of love,

Greg, Shawna, Gavin, Crash & Elvis

Big Boy

I forgot to mention in the last post that Gavin is now feeding himself and doing a very good job at that. He mainly uses his right hand but will sometimes switch to his left. He loves to pick up a popper and put it back into its jar, dump them all and go one by one putting them back, he could actually do this for hours. His fine motor skills are wonderful! But with him being in charge of his own food, he has decided that he wants to share (which I guess is good). Crash is now getting some food straight from Gavin's hand, luckily Crash is so gentle that he just nibbles it right out of Gavin's hand. It is very cute!

On another note, it is 7:30am on Friday morning and I have now listened to the Nutcracker song about 2 dozen times from our Nutcracker music box/book. I use it to distract Gavin while he is in his high chair and not eating yet. This morning while eating he decided that he needs (you notice I say needs, because once again it is playing) it to play over and over and over again......

A lot of firsts!

I am sorry I have been so lax about updating. Tis the season! I have been trying to get out all the Christmas cards out, I have done 50 with about 25 more to do! Sheesh! And of course getting the house decorated, wrapping, etc.... I know, excuses, excuses!

To get on to the important part of this blog, our little Gavin has had a big couple of weeks. We got our very first Christmas tree, which to be honest he didn't really care about until lately. Now he is very into the bows on the gifts and a few of the ornaments, which we have documented on the pics. He is only allowed to take off the two jingle bells on the tree and he takes them off several times a day. He is pretty funny about it.

Some other firsts, he said his first word! CIRCLE. Yes, odd, circle being his first word. Greg and I have heard him say some things, Momma, Da Da, but circle? It is was very cute, we have a "shape" toy that you put in the different shapes into the matching holes and he was putting the circle in all by himself, which was also a first, and Greg and I were both saying "circle". Well he said it, and we both about had a heart attack. We made him repeat it just to see if he really did say it and sure enough he said it again.

Gavin also has his very first cold or as we found out at the doctor yesterday, a sinus infection. Poor baby, he has definitely had his ups and downs and right now is on an upswing. Which is wonderful, a sick Gavin is not a fun child!
On another note, that child is incorrigible. Right now he is very into placing things or as I like to say "hiding things". I just found my flip flops in the end table. He loves to put things in jars, the cabinets, the trash can, which isn't so great when I can't find a lid to a pot! But I do like that it keeps him occupied! Still no walking, he is taking 2-3 steps on his own, but that is it! Hopefully soon! ****Update: Gavin took 4 or 5 steps on his own this morning! Yea***

A Merry Christmas to you all! Hope it is filled with love and family!

A little belated!

Happy Thanksgiving a week and a half late! We traveled back to Nebraska to spend it with Greg's extended family and of course had a wonderful time, with plenty to do! Gavin did very well, even with the 8 hour drive! We were very busy while there and Gavin had several different surroundings to get adapted to. Overall he was very good and of course spoiled by all the aunts, uncles, cousins and of course Great Papa. Gavin loved Great Papa's house, he knew every inch of it by the time we left. Gavin also got his first taste of Pumpkin pie, which he did not like, but did like the cool whip! The pictures below are a testament to that! The above collage was of various days while we were there, of course Papa documented all of it. Gavin has for some reason been sticking his tongue out a lot! I love the picture of him holding the wish bone. He didn't know whether to eat it or throw it. Which is typical of him now. Overall it was a wonderful trip and we were happy to spend it with the Kelly's.

On another note, Gavin turned 10 months old while we were there. He is of course wonderful and we are so thankful that he has been so happy and healthy! We are counting our lucky stars that with the flu (that I had) and the colds going around he has remained immune to it. We are looking forward to his first Christmas, we just got our tree and are in the middle of decorating it, more to come with pics! As of right now, Gavin has not gone near the tree, but thinking once the bulbs and ornaments are on he may be a little more into it. I will be fine with him ignoring it though!!!

Sorry

I am so behind on posts, I just got back my computer after it going on the fritz for 12 days! 12 days without the Internet, I almost croaked! I will get a few new posts out this week!