a sharing experience

I grew up with two siblings and my own room.  All three of us had our own rooms in fact.  I liked having my own room.  You would think this would mean that it would be important to me that my boys each have their own rooms always (after all we have a three bedroom house - plenty of room to make this  continue to happen), but, ummm, not so much.  See, I may be acting a little selfish here, but I have to admit, I just can't take the toys anymore.  They are everywhere!  I have decided the only way to fight back is to put both boys in one room to sleep and throw place all of their toys in the other room and close the door neatly.

In my defense, I did not immediately respond to the growing toys-all-over-my-house crisis with such a drastic, life-altering decision.  First I tried very hard to keep toys neatly separated into the "correct" room.  That lasted all of about two seconds.

Then I thought that maybe I could get away with donating all of their toys, but quickly realized that, ummm, wasn't really an option.

So, finally, I decided to give this room sharing/play room thing a try.  I have a couple of friends whose boys share rooms and it seems to work really well for them, so I thought it was worth the risk.  For some reason (actually I know the reason, but it an entirely different story) I was incredibly motivated to combine the boys' rooms this evening.  Pretty crazy of me since this required moving heavy furniture and Justin was not going to be home until late tonight, but I did it anyway.  And now, my boys are tucked in sleeping peacefully in their new shared room.

Maybe a year from now we'll be buying bunk-beds.  Then again, maybe our boys will be sleeping soundly in their own bedrooms once more.  Who knows???

P.S.  The bedroom may look nice, but the new playroom looks like this:

P.P.S.  Oh, and my living room and hallway look like this...

P.P.P.S.  Any volunteers to help clean up????  Pretty please????  With sugar on top????

On the inside looking out (or the outside looking in) ~ Take your pick

Gavin likes windows.  He is particularly fond of our sliding glass door which offers the best view in the house (from his perspective anyway).  Everyday, without fail, we find him here.

I used to think he stood here all the time just because he liked looking outside.  But yesterday afternoon I took the boys outside to play, but all Gavin was interested in doing was this:

Turns out he just likes looking through windows...no matter what is on the other side.


P.S.  Yes, my widow is very dirty.

P.P.S.  I have two kids, three cats, and a dog who all insist on pressing their noses against said window therefore I have zero intention of ever bothering to clean it.

Gavin ~ One Year Old

The past month has brought a few changes for Gavin...

At his well-baby check last week Gavin weighed in at 18 lbs and 14 oz, and he measured 29 inches tall.  He now has eight teeth (all four front teeth on top and bottom), and the gap between his two front teeth is just too cute!  He also got his first haircut just a few weeks ago (though I wouldn't let her do more than trim it so it wasn't hanging in his eyes anymore).  Gavin is still a speedy and daring crawler, but now he's also started to look into this whole walking thing.  In the past two weeks he has started cruising along our furniture!

Gavin is completely off formula now (though I did just find some bags of frozen breast milk in the back of the freezer...oops!) and completely off bottles (Yay!).  He's a champion when it comes to drinking from a sippy cup, and we've started working with him a little on drinking from a regular cup now too.  As far as food in concerned, Gavin has a big sweet tooth.  He loves all things chocolate and ice cream!  Along with his love of dessert he has also discovered a love of cantaloupe and apple slices.  Overall he is a great eater and willing to eat anything (including the cat food - gross!).

My sleeping champion continues to be excellent in this area!  He still goes to bed around 6:30 and sleeps for 11-12 hours straight.  When he wakes up in the morning he's pretty content to hang out in his crib with his pacifier, blankies, and stuffed animals for awhile (cutest thing ever to listen to!).  Gavin is slowly dropping his morning nap.  If he does take an a.m. nap it is a short one (30-45 minutes), but most mornings now he doesn't take one at all.  This just means that by 11:30-12:00 he is ready for his afternoon nap which can last a good two hours.

One of my favorite things is to watch Gavin discover things he likes.  For instance, he loves being outside where he can throw and roll balls, pop the bubbles Logan blows for him, eat play with sand in the sandbox, and dump our dog's water bowl.  He also loves playing with Logan's cars and trains, the kitchen set in Logan's room, taking baths, and snuggling with his blankies.  And his favorite thing right now?  It is making high pitched, ear-splitting, dolphin-esque squeals back and forth with his brother while riding in the car (this one would not be so enjoyable for me however).

Gavin really only has one big dislike right now and that is the word "no."  He's figured out what it means (though he typically just smiles at you and goes right on doing whatever) and gets very upset when it is used (and consequently he is removed from whatever activity he was trying out).  He is still - more often than not anyway - a very calm and easygoing baby toddler. 

Ohhh, it is so hard to acknowledge and call Gavin a toddler now!  But he is and even I have to admit that while I'm going to miss his baby days, these toddler days are going to be equally - if not more - amazing!

A Smashing Good Time

My parents came down to visit us this past weekend because Gavin's first birthday was coming up and they wanted to be around to help celebrate.  I took this as an opportunity to do something daring and messy...two things I normally never do (I'm not daring and I don't like messes).

I went to Wal-Mart and bought a cheap table cloth and one of those small round cakes they sell in the bakery.  Then I set everything up on the front sidewalk...and I let Gavin have at it!

He was hesitant at first...he needed some time to figure out what I had set in front of him and that yes, it was food, and that yes, it did taste good.

Logan was itching to get in on the action and Gavin was a little confused on what was supposed to be happening, so I let Logan hope in the picture and show Gavin how to properly smash a birthday cake!

After a little help from his big brother Gavin knew just what to do...and he did it very well!

Except he couldn't quite forget about that interesting yellow thing we had originally had on top of the cake (the candle), and he quickly went looking for it...and tried to put it back on the cake!

Once we took the candle away again he went back to eating the cake...and making an even bigger mess!

After a little while Gavin needed to take a break from eating cake so that he could start flinging cake.

Then it was time to go back to eating cake...after all there was plenty of it stuck to his hands after the Great Cake Fling.

Of course he couldn't stay put.  He kept crawling down the sidewalk...

...and then coming back for another bite!

As you can see there wasn't much left of the cake when it was all over...and not only was Gavin a mess, but so was Logan!

In the end I would say our first cake smash was a roaring success for everyone...except maybe the cake...

You Capture ~ Ordinary Moments

Ohhh...it feels good to be doing You Capture again this week!  I missed it last week (I don't think I took one single picture that week!) which kind of bummed me out, but here I am again!  There's been lots of picture taking going on this week, but not so much of it ordinary moments!  We've been having a pretty busy week:  family visits, birthday parties, school.  Lucky for me I knew exactly what pictures I was going to use for this week when I took them last Thursday - the only ordinary day we've had this week!

See, Gavin really likes water.  He likes to play in it.  Even if it is just the dog's water bowl...

He splashes in it.  And dumps it out of course!

The best part about the dog bowl?  It is made out of shiny metal which means once all the water is gone it can be used as a mirror to admire one's reflection in.

And Gavin, he likes his reflection almost as much as he likes playing in the water!

Thanks for stopping by!  Happy Capturing everyone!

The First Day

School was officially back in session today, and for the first time Logan was a participant.  He proudly - and completely with out fear - headed off to Pre-K today.

I walked him to his classroom where he promptly ditched me in order to show his teacher his Lightning McQueen eraser and pick out his favorite color of playdough.  There was no looking back for Logan; he was ready to jump right in.  I, on the other hand, was not so much ready to let go...but I did.  I gave him a hug, said good-bye, and left the room.  And I didn't even cry!  But I wanted to.

I spent my entire morning a little distracted - not the best thing to be when it is the first day of school and your classes are loaded with high school students, but oh well.  At 11:00 I knew that Pre-K was over, and I started waiting for the text from his baby-sitter letting me know he had gotten off the bus at her house.  It came along with some pretty sweet pictures.

I couldn't wait to get off work and go pick up my boys so I could have Logan tell me all about his day.  And a pretty incredible day it was for a four-year-old boy!  He got to eat a strawberry pop-tart, banana, and milk for breakfast; play outside on the train and hippopotamus toys, use play-dough, color a picture, use the cool school potty (he thought this was a high light - really!), and play with Miss B in her purple shirt and pony tail (he must have really liked that shirt and pony tail to comment on it).  Best of all, he finally got to ride the school bus!  He's been wanting to do that for months now!

Logan told me when we got home this afternoon that he couldn't wait to go to sleep so he could go to school again in the morning.  I think he likes it!  So off we'll go again tomorrow.  I already can't wait to here the stories that will come after!

Happy Birthday, Gavin!

Dear Gavin,

One year ago you came into my life.  One year ago I coudn't imagine loving you more than I did in that very moment; now I know that it is possible to love a person even more.  One year ago you were so small.  I can hardly believe how fast time has moved this past year; how fast you've grown and changed!  I am blessed to have you as part of my life.  I love you, little boy.  Happy Birthday!

Love,
Mom

The Story of Gavin ~ Part II

(If you need to catch up Part I of the story can be found here!)

I was scheduled to check into the hospital at 5 a.m. for my induction, and though the paper work was signed, I was dressed in my fashionable (ha!) hospital gown, and hooked to my IV by 6, we had to wait until the doctor showed up after 7 to start the pitocin drip.  Lucky me though...the monitor was showing that I was already having small, but regular contractions! 

Dr. H. arrived shortly after 7, ordered my pitocin drip, and warned me that it could be the next morning before I delivered Gavin.  Justin had to slip off to work at this point to get a few things done before he was off for a few days, and by the time he returned at 9 I was feeling very uncomfortable.  At this point I was allowed to get up and take a walk...which felt wonderful after having been confined to bed the entire time I was in labor with Logan!  Walking helped make the contractions more bareable.  When we got back to the room I was able to relax a little.  To pass the time Justin ordered the book Shit My Father Said on his Nook and read to me.  We laughed like crazy, but after an hour the contractions began to intensify again, and it became hard to concentrate.

Around 11 I got to get up and walk around again.  This time the walk was not fun.  It seemed to only make everything worse.  I had to stop frequently to ride out contractions before I could continue walking.  Once we made it back to the room I chose to continue standing instead of laying back in the bed - I just couldn't stand the idea of laying down at that point.  Around 1 the nurse asked me if I would like to try some IV pain medication, but knowing I would be limited on how many times I could have it and not knowing how long until I would be able to get my epidural (I was only at 3 cm), I chose to pass at that time.  Dr. H. came in shortly before 2, checked me, was extremely pleased with my progress, and ordered the epidural! 

I had forgotten how awful getting and epidural is (or maybe I just didn't feel it with Logan?), but when it was all finished and both sides finally went numb (my left side took a little longer than my right) I was ready to settle down and get some sleep!  At this point Justin decided to take the opportunity to get some lunch and feed our cats (who knew when another opportunity would come around) and I dozed off.  Shortly after that I was woken up by the nurse telling me to roll onto my left side while she put an oxygen mask on me.  The doctor flew in shortly after and they quickly began discussing what to do.  I knew then that something was wrong.

I remember hearing them talk about my contractions and that they were too strong and too close together; that Gavin's heart beat was dropping rapidly every time.  I was given medication to stop the contractions, but it barely affected them.  The OR was called and prepped.  My nurses changed into their surgical scrubs.  I was prepped for surgery.  Everyone was ready to move at a moments notice.  In the middle of this Justin returned (he'd only been gone half an hour); he was shocked to see what was happening so suddenly.  He held my hand and watched the monitors with Dr. H and my nurses.  The one thing I remember the most clearly throughout was how calm I felt - like I knew that no matter what everything was going to be ok.  And, eventually, things did seem to settle down though Gavin and I weren't in the clear yet.

My two nurses and doctor stayed in my room until 4.  At this point I remember turning to my nurse, Connie, and telling her that I felt like I needed to pee which I though was weird since, well, you know...  She quickly checked me and announced that I was officially full dialated!

Pushing was more difficult with Gavin.  I had had my epidural so recently that it was still very effective which is great for pain management, but not so much for pushing.  I couldn't feel my contractions at all and couldn't seem to make my muscles cooperate.  Finally after about 15 minutes I got it "figured out."  10 minutes later, at 4:26 p.m. after a mere 9 hours of labor, I delivered Gavin Douglas.  All 7 pounds, 3 ounces, and 22 inches of him!

He was immediately laid on my belly while they wiped him down and cut the cord (Justin refused to do it this time too!).  I was able to be the first to hold him in my arms, and he fit so perfectly!  It was a beautiful, memorable moment.  One I'll never forget.

I can't believe all of this happened just one year ago today.  Happy Birthday, Gavin!  It's been a beautiful year!