It's been awhile...ok, a LONG while!

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I believe my last post was about Gavin's 1st birthday party and since then a lot has been going on in his little world. His 1 bottom tooth is all the way through and he is now getting his 2 top teeth. Still wondering where that 2nd bottom tooth is though! He is fully walking and wants nothing to do with sitting in the stroller or shopping cart. Let's just say Mommy has to have plenty of fishys and graham crackers ready! Gavin is really trying to say words. His best is "Agua" and "banana" or his verson of that! He tries to say "Elmo" too and has pointed him out serveral times when he sees a picture of him, although, he doesn't sit and watch Elmo on Sesame Street. He does still love his Baby Eienstine movies and gets them out and brings them to us and signs "more". Pretty cute. Little stinker loves his milk too and will sign the word and then lead us to the fridge to get it! Although he is not too verbal yet, he knows what he wants. It has finally been getting a little cooler, well, Arizona cooler, no more than 95 during the day which means we can spend more time outside. A few weekends ago we went to Oktober Fest with some friends and Gavin walked the most he ever had and passed out as soon as we got into the car. I do have to say that this walking thing does help with taking naps!

1st Birthday

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1436893008/a=37558674/ We had Gavin's first Birthday party last weekend at his Nana and Tata's house. It was a farm theme and Gavin was a great little farmer! He had an AWSOME farm theme cake and lots of fun decorations, including a few straw bales to make the setting complete! Many friends and family came and it was fun to see them all. Gavin was a little overwhelmed at first with all the people, but after awhile, he enjoyed himself. His friend Emme came from Mom's Club and they had fun playing outside, despite the 114 temp! Only in Arizona would everyone be hanging outside during a heat advisory! Gavin had his first sweet, his birthday cake. It was a John Deere Tractor! At first he didn't know what to do with it, but once he had a taste he kept digging right in! He had a few funny faces because I think it was a little sweet for him! At the end, he had green frosting everywhere, so he had to get his second bath of the day. We had a lot of fun and were tired at the end. After everyone left, Alex realized we forgot to do his cow pinata! Oh well, Tata shipped it off to Iowa so we can use it there for his SECOND party of the year. Such a lucky boy to have two birthdays a year! We are off to Iowa on Thursday and cannot wait. Everyone is going to be so surprised to see Gavin. He has gotten so big. We can't wait to see him discover all the farm stuff and ride in the tractor with Grandpa! One last note, we just discovered a tooth! Gavin has been waking at night the past few nights and last night he was up about four times. I was thinking he could be teething, but had never seen anything. But just a little bit ago, while changing his diaper, I felt around in his mouth and felt a sharp edge! So we figured that is why he was up so much last night. Our little boy is growing SOOOOOOOOOO BIG!

1st family trip

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=1437610008/a=37558674/ Yesterday we returned home from our first family vacation. We went to Santa Barbra to visit Megan and Peter Quinn. We had such a good time there going to the beach for the first time with Gavin and wine tasting in wine country. The weather was a perfect 73 degrees everyday, which made it hard to come home to the 108 temp. here in Phoenix! We had quite the time getting there. We thought we would use my Mom's non-rev tickets to fly into Burbank and then rent a car to drive to Santa Barbra. The first flight of the day looked great for us to get on, however, that didn't happen. Long story short, we flew to LA, took a shuttle to the Burbank airport where we had to gather our luggage that had gone ahead of us, pick up our car, and then drove to Santa Barbra! Needless to say we arrived there about 4 1/2 hours after we had predicted. When we arrived, we found out Micheal Jackson had died. It was crazy because we had just driven past UCLA hospital in the shuttle at the exact time that he was taken there and not knowing it! Gavin was such a good boy durning that whole time, Alex and I must have said it a hundred times how great he did. Not once did he fuss, he was just along for the ride and loved to wave and talk to all the people we saw. We couldn't have asked for a better little boy! Gavin is almost going to be one. I can hardly believe it. It really seems like I just brought him home from the hospital, I remeber it all that clearly. This past month he has changed so much, he is finally crawling ARMY style and Alex and I both this morning witnessed him crawl a bit on his knees! He goes everywhere in his walker and points at everything. His words consist of "mumumumuma" and "dadadadada" too cute. He is changing everyday so quickly and looks like a little boy. With this past year flying by like it did, who knows what the next year will bring!

9 months gone and now he is 10...

I cannot believe that Gavin is 10 months! Am I saying that on every post for each month? If so, it is true! He is such a little boy now. Although he is not crawling yet, he rolls everywhere just as quickly, that's why I think he hasn't taken to crawling yet, he knows he can get around just fine! He does get in army crawl position and pushes off his left "little" big toe, so I'm sure it will be any time now! Gavin does like to walk, with the help of Mom and Dad of course. He would have us doing it all day if we let him. He loves to go up and down the stairs and even knows how to put his foot up to the next step when going up. It is pretty funny. He has also started to say "Mamamamamamama" a lot, very cute, although I don't think he knows what he is saying :o)

I have started to think of his 1st birthday party. It is going to be a farm theme and it will be so much fun. We are going to have a party here in Arizona and also one in Iowa at the end of July when we are back for Mommy's 10 year reunion!

The heat has begun here and I am already wanting to get out of it, one good thing for the heat to arrive means that we can go swimming! Gavin went swimming for the first time on Mother's Day in his Uncle Marty and Aunt Dominiques pool. He loved it! It was a great way to celebrate my first REAL (not pregnant) Mother's Day. I have signed him up for swimming lessons which will begin in June. I can't wait to see what we learn!

For those of you that don't know, I have started working from home for a small, women owned, staffing company. I am doing all the administrative work for them. So far so good, although now that Gavin is getting older, it is hard to keep him entertained while I do a little work. Yesterday while on a conference call I was going up and down the stairs with him, they were probably wondering why I was so out of breath! Oh well, we are figuring it out and it is for the best...we want to get into a bigger place FAST!

9 Months

We went to the doctor today for Gavin's 9 month check-up. I cannot believe that he is that old already! I remember when he was first born, this time now seemed so far off and now look where we are! He is just about 18 lbs and he is 28.5 inches long. So he is long and lean! No shots this time, so that was nice. I was told that he can really start to dive into "real" food. We have somewhat already, he likes waffles, puffs, and banana's. So now we will be trying lots of new things here in the near future. Easter was nice. Gavin looked so adorable in his Easter outfit and at church we had to sit in the front row because it was so packed, so of course, Gavin made it well known that we were there! He got an Easter basket filled with PUFF filled eggs, books, and Dadda's favorite movie, Pinocchio, which we watched that morning! The Easter bunny also visited Nana and Tata's house too, so there were goodies galore! Gavin keeps growing, he has yet to master crawling, but I think he gets around pretty good by just rolling! He likes to sit in the shopping cart like a big boy and everywhere we go, people are ooooing and awhing over him, his hair do and his eyes. We have always known he was cute, but we get confirmation everywhere we go, in which case prompted me to enter him in the cover contest for Parenting Magazine. Check it out! http://www.parents.com/photos/photo-contests-1/cover-kid/701800078/

Picture Link

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8 1/2 months

In the time since Grandma and Grandpa Schurr visited, we have had quite the month! Right after they left, Gavin got sick for the first time with a bad cough that would keep him (and Mom and Dad!) up at night as well as an ear infection. Then Alex and I both caught the cold. I hadn't been sick I don't think since before I was pregnant, and boy did it kick my butt! Luckily, Alex was able to work from home a few days so I could rest, but then poor thing, he got sick himself! Once we were in the clear of all of that, Alex had his 28th birthday! Lanna, Great Grandma Nelson and Grandma and Grandpa Ottery were in town to help celebrate. We had fun going out to dinner and then bowling. It was nice having our babysitters take Gavin home after dinner to go to bed! ;o) That same weekend, we had Gavin dedicated at our church. We had so many family members and friends show up. It was so wonderful! Gavin was a ham, once he got up front of the congregation, he started waving, spitting, and talking threw the whole thing. The pastor even made a comment about it after it was all over! So funny, we may have an entertainer on our hands! Lanna and Marty are Gavin's Godparents and we thank them so much for sharing that time with us. Once everyone left for home, Grandma Ottery stayed a few extra days to hand out. But unfortunately, we all got a little touch of the flu! Never ending it seems, but now, we hope all the sickness is behind us. We want to be able to enjoy the beautiful weather we are having until the HEAT starts in...ugh. Gavin is growing so much, just the other day Dadda was telling him he didn't even recognize him because he seemed to have changed over night. He is showing more interest in trying to crawl, he props himself up with his hands, but now he just has to figure out what to do with his legs! He is getting very frustrated that he can't get to where he wants, so Mom helps out sometimes by showing him what he needs to do. But believe me, I am in no hurry for the crawling stage, I just feel bad because you know he wants to MOVE! I'll post some pictures when I get them downloaded!

Well, Grandma and Grandpa Schurr have been gone over a week now. We miss them lots, but we do look forward to Grandma and Grandpa Ottery, Great-Grandma Nelson, and Aunt Lanna coming in next week! We had lots of fun while Dad and Lynn were here. They could not believe how big Gavin was. He got lots of hugs and kisses! We also had some more Iowa visitors come over, Bill and Lois Schurr, Grandpa's cousins. It was fun to see them and we enjoyed having them over to see Gavin. They thought he was sooo cute! Dadda was able to take Friday off and we all drove up to Payson, just to get out of town for the day. We went to a fish hatchery and saw lots of fish and then went to the small downtown area and had lunch and walked around. It was a beautiful day to be outside!

This past weekend, Gavin got really sick. This was the first time that Dadda and I have been up with him all night. He was so stuffed up and coughing. You feel so back for them, because they can't help themselves. He was miserable. I took him to the doctor on Friday and nothing showed up, but then we went back to the doctor yesterday and sure enough, Gavin had developed an ear infection. Poor baby. We now have medicine and he is slowly becoming himself again. Eating more and playing. I like to call him scooter, because that is how he likes to get around! He lays on his back and then pushes off his feet and moves all over! It is too funny. Even the lady in the church nursery commented on it, how he liked to "thrust" and scoot! He is something else.

7 Months

Well, I have been meaning to write and I am a week overdue. Oh well!

Gavin is now 7 months and we cannot believe it. He has been growing and changing so much. He is rolling everywhere, laugh,"talks" non-stop, and loves to eat his big boy food. Mom and Gavin have been keeping busy by going to Moms Club activites and play groups and to little children's gym classes at Gymboree, Romp and Roll and Little Gym. We're riding the FREE circute of trial classes! He like to look at books too, although MR gets frustrated becuase he can't turn the pages by him-self. Dadda has been keeping busy at his new job and with soccer, although soccer is coming to an end for the time being and he is looking forward to having his weekends back to spend with the family.

Grandma and Grandpa Schurr are coming out this next week and we are very excited about that. They are dying to get their hands on our little "MR" They haven't seen him since Thanksgiving!

We are looking forward to the next month to see how much more Gavin changes. I'm sure it's just down the road until he starts crawling!

Changes

Our little MR is growing so fast! In just the past few weeks he has grown to love eating cereal, holding a bottle, shaking his head NO at appropriate times, although, we don't really think he know what he is doing...yet. And his newest thing is sticking his tongue out and spitting. It is quite hilarious, although, as with the NO thing, I'm sure it won't be funny once he gets older and uses these things at the appropriate times, just to make Momma and Dadda mad! Momma and Gavin stay busy while Dadda is gone during the day. We go to our MOMsClub activities and we have even joined a new play group, which is nice for Mom especially, cause she can make many new Mom friends! I think once Gavin starts moving around more, he will really enjoy playing with the other kids. Mom has also tired to start running some with her new jogging stroller. Gavin really enjoys it and we want to get as much use out of it before the weather turns warm, that time will be here all too soon! Tonight, we are in search of a Cardinals shirt for Gavin so he can support his team in the Super Bowl! Can you believe it?! We are excited and we know they can do it this Sunday. Go Cards!

6 Months

Well, our little Mr. is 1/2 way to his first birthday today :o( I can't believe that it has been 6 months. In this past month he has grown so much. He figured out his jumpy, and now has a blast in it, where as before he wanted nothing to do with it, he started cereal, which is so fun to watch him eat. He loves it, so we know that he was ready to begin "big boy" food, and he can now roll front to back and back to front. I guess now things will really be crazy. I'll be chasing him around before I know it!

Grandma Ottery came out last week for the week and enjoyed being with Gavin. She really got to know his noises and what they mean. Gavin had fun shopping with Grandma and Momma and was always a good boy.

Mom got a jogging stroller and she hopes to use it lots to get back in shape. Gavin loves to ride in it too and usually falls asleep!

Lets see how fast the next 6 months will go! Ohhh, our little baby is becoming a little boy!

New Year

Well, we had a pretty low key new years. I think that Alex and I are really in parent mode now, because we were in bed by 11pm! That's OK, 2009 still arrived even though we weren't up to celebrate it officially! Who knows what this new year will bring us. The past two years have been crazy for us, from getting engaged, married, pregnant, losing two Grandpa's and then having our Gavin, we are ready for a "normal" year! We are starting off 2009 on a high note with Alex beginning his new job at Limelight Networks on the 31st. They were kind enough to let him start on the last day of '08 so that our health benefits could kick in on the 1st! He is very excited to get back to the daily grind, although he hasn't complained much about being able to spend almost 2 months with his family just hanging out. Although it was a stressful time, we had always keep our heads up and now God is blessing us with a good start to the new year. I did want to brag a bit about Gavin too! He has been growing so much lately, and I was saying to Alex how crazy it is that our baby is becoming his own person! He knows when he wants something and doesn't get it, he is sitting up by him-self better and better each day, and just a few days ago, while reading to him, I discovered that he can turn the pages of the book! He is so smart! He also knows that at bed time, if he fusses, Mom will come and check on him and then he smiles and starts kicking his legs. Little booger! We did this game for almost 1/2 an hour one night, each time letting him cry longer and longer, until I didn't need to come in again cause he had fallen asleep. Alex wondered if he really was old enough to know how to get me in the room so he wouldn't have to go to sleep, and I said of course he is! He knows when he wants something and he doesn't get it! Gavin and I have joined a play group with the national club, MOMS club. We have play group each Friday at someones house with other kids Gavin's age and there are many other activities available throughout the week to attend. It is so much fun and nice to meet other Moms and their little ones. I think Gavin will make some good friends! We hope that you all had a safe New Year and make sure you check back often to hear about all the changes Gavin goes though as he works his way up to his first birthday, which is only 5 1/2 months away! AHHHHHH! Oh yeah, check out some professional pictures! http://www.meghannwoodsphotography.com/ login:babygavin password:photo