1 year pics

Here's my attempts at taking Gavin's 1 year pics.... remember, attempt! :)

 

Trying to lick the bench....

It was getting late and the sun was starting to set. So the lighting wasn't so hot. We're planning to try another photo shoot as soon as the rain goes away. (and it is so much harder to shoot a moving target than one that holds still!)

There will a bajillion birds on the pier. Make that seagulls. Gavin's face tells you how much he liked them!

A duck came by to say hi. (classic kid picture huh? just nix the jog stroller :)

I'm not really sure what they were looking at, but I thought it was kind of funny! Probably some of the hovering seagulls... because it's better to look at them when they poop on you than to be looking away. jk I just still have bitter feelings of being pooped on by a seagull in San Diego....stupid birds.

 

He just looks like he's saying, "Please papa, can I swing?"

 

Anyways, that's my sad attempt of taking family portraits. I think the first one was the only real good one. I mean, I love any pic of my little guy, but you know what I mean. I think I'll try it once more. It's free and it's a fun family activity. So I'll wait for a nice, warm, sunny day and we'll head to Sunday Park again.

We went to Gavin's 1 year dr. appt. He was in the 20th percentile for weight and about 50% for height. He weighed 19lbs 10oz. and 30" tall. So staying true to the long and lean side of things since he's quite tall for his weight. Took his vaccs like a pro and only cried for a few seconds. But he sure went to bed early that night, 5:00!

And his newest word is Happy. What a fun word! I was telling Gavin how much I love him and his response was "Happy". I thought it was really cute! Especially for the first time for him to say it. Good timing, kiddo. He's still walking/cruising like crazy. He can walk hanging on to only one of our fingers now. But he still prefers two fingers. And he loves his whole milk! I think his Aunt Crystal rubbed off on him! :)

1 Year ago

 One year ago today, we welcomed little Gavin into our lives and hearts. We feel so lucky to be blessed with this sweet little guy. He brings so much joy and happiness into our home. We love him so much!

 

We were amazed at the huge impact a 4 lbs 15 oz bundle of joy could have on our lives! But have loved every moment.

 

Our family 1 year ago.

Happy 1st Birthday, Gavin! We love you!

Construction B-day party

We threw Gavin a birthday party today. The theme was Construction Zone (those are construction cones around the bottom, in case you were wondering). My friend, Carina helped me make make the cake. Ok, so she did most of the work, I pretty much just watched! :) It was the first time I'd ever used fondant. Wasn't too bad. I was surprised. I've always been scared of fondant. (we used pre-made fondant. No way was I going to try and make it!)

And I had my camera AND flip out to record everything at the party. And I completely spaced it. I took pics before everyone got there, but then forgot to take any DURING the party. Darn!! I'm so mad at myself. But the party was fun. Thanks for coming everyone!

***

Here's some recent pics of Gavman. He's getting tall. But still pretty skinny guy. He's into the walkin thing, not by himself though. So every waking moment, he wants to lead me around the house by the fingers. I think I walk several miles a day behind him! It's fun though. He's starting to cruise and getting braver. He can balance on his own, that is if you can pry off his death grip! He just doesn't have the confidence yet. But I'm sure he'll be walkin on his own pretty soon.

 He can now push toys and talk behind them.

 

 This one was taken this morning. Check out his cute new shoes. I won them on a blog and got them in the mail yesterday. Sweet, huh! They're some of the really nice leather baby shoes. He's got the nicest shoes in the house, for sure. We measured his feet with PediPed's sizing chart and his small feet were 0-6 month size (we measured several times, we knew he had little feet, but not that little!) I ordered 12-18 month size shoes though. He can grow into them. Poor kid has my tiny feet. Plus the blog I won them on knew how old Gavin was so I would have felt stupid ordering 0-6 month shoes.

 He loves playing with blocks and he loves saying, "Uh-oh" whenever he drops something. The funny thing is, that he somehow says it with an Australian-like accent! It's hilarious! We need to get it on video.

 

I just really liked this last picture. I snapped it while Gavin was playing with his tool set. (those are his StrideRite shoes that I got for $5 the other day at Kid to Kid, they're also a really nice brand of shoes)

Gavin turns 1 in 2 days. Crazy. He's growing up. He won't be a baby anymore...he'll officially be a toddler! People ask me if it feels real. Yes, it has been a long, sometimes difficult year. And it feels like a lifetime ago that I left work for a regular Dr. appt and ended up spending the night in labor at the hospital. But it has been one of the best years of my life. I love staying home with my sweet little guy and being a homemaker. I have learned so much in this past year. I hate to see him turn 1, but I'm excited for the different stages and developments it brings.

Sorry, I'm in a reflective mood. Just wanted to record my thoughts for our family journal.

Mario got a haircut

Meet Mario.

This is Mario after a haircut.

This is how it happened.

Look how different and OLDER he looks!

(he's playing with his Home Depot tool set, which he loves!)

We will now return to the story of Mario.

Mario went to the church for a Halloween party in his Wild Wings, kart dragging a couple bananas for other racers to slip on. This was a prep race for the ultimate Halloween 500, which was a couple days later.

This is Mario at the Halloween 500. Steering kept him entrertained while he rounded up some candy from his fans.

Mario's friends Tommy, the Monkey, and Coulter, the Mummy, came along too.

And his friend, Adam, the Indian, came a little late, but all 4 friends had a blast trick or treating during the Halloween 500!

After trick or treating, they made homemade doughnuts.

And a ginormous pumpkin sugar cookie.

And drank some yummy apple cider.

Mario got tired and went to bed early. But everyone had a lot of fun!

The End.

Anyways, yeah, Gavin got a haircut on Friday, the day before Halloween. He was really good about it. I put a blanket under him to catch his hair on so that it wouldn't get dirt mixed in. Worked really well. I cut off a lot of hair!! And just like I was afraid of, he grew up after the haircut! He looks like a toddler now. And his hair is a lot lighter, too. Not sure how I feel about it. I might grow it out again. He was kind of cute shaggy. But here's a couple shots from today so you can get a better feel for his haircut.

I got the cute vest at Kid to Kid for $1.50 this week. So cute huh! He looks so grown up now!

And he loves finger walking. He does laps around our first floor. And he has really firgured out his walker. He gets that little thing cruising and knows how to steer around things and back up and manuever around. Smart kid.

We had so much fun getting ready for Halloween! I have looked forward to dressing him up. Davis did the kart. He did a really good job and spent hours getting it just right! At the ward party, kids kept coming up and telling us they knew Gavin was Mario. One little boy followed us around all night. We didn't know this until his mom asked if he could have a ride in the Mario Kart and told us he'd been following us! Our jog stroller worked perfect for the kart. We were wishing we had put Halloween music on our MP3 player to play on the jogging stroller's speakers so we could listen to scary music while we walked around. Oh well. Maybe next year.