June

I cannot believe the month we had. I feel like the things we did at the beginning of June were a million years ago! When we returned home from our trip to California, a few days later, we found out the offer was accepted on our home from the bank. We began the crazy search for a new home to rent. After a few hot days of searching we found a wonderful house just a mile from where our condo was. It has so much room for Gavin to spread out in as well as a huge back yard that we will get to have Gavin's 2nd birthday party in! Once we found the house, we were off to Virginia to see John's retirement from the Navy. Alex and I were both nervous about flying so far with Gavin and he of course was WONDERFUL! It is funny though, he does not want his "bankie" to go through the security check, even though he knows he can get it on the other side. He is not quite two and he already knows the drill when it comes to flying! I told Alex it is probably a good thing he has flown so much because he had no problem sitting in our laps and never complained. We are very lucky parents. The next time we fly though, he will move up in status because he will have his own big boy seat! Which will be nice for everyone! We had a wonderful time in Virginia. Gavin of course loved "Gampa" as he loves all guys! He even wanted to play with Dan Winslow, right when he walked in the door. I think he just knows he is a fun guy ;) We got to go on the Battle Ship Wisconsin for the retirment ceremony which was really neat. Really brings what our military does into prespective. We all felt very patriotic. We also got to go to Virginia beach and to York Town which was neat to see all the historical landmarks. It was a great trip and I am glad that Gavin got to see Grandma and Grandpa Ottery's house in Virginia and experiece the Atlantic Ocean. Lucky boy, got to see both ocean's within two weeks! Once we returned from our trip, we began packing and prepairing for the move. I must say all the help we had was great. The guys had everything packed up and moved into the new house by 11 am! (Just in time for the U.S. game of course). The house has been great. Gavin loves to be chased by Dad everyday when he gets home. They run through the whole house. We cannot wait unitl the back yard is landscaped. Gavin and Max will be outside the entire day I'm sure...no matter how hot it is! Next up...Gavin's second birthday and IOWA!

May

May has come and gone so quickly. The month started off with Gavin and I getting in a little fender bender. It was a little 3 car "pile up" with our Envoy being the last car to get hit. I think we got more shook up about it than the car had damage. When it happened Gaving said" Uh oh Mommy!" He hadn't even realized we had gotten hit. Thank goodness Nene and Dadda were only a few cars in front of us, so they were able to come and take Gavin while I waited 3 HOURS for the police to come! Everything is fixed now, we have a brand new bumper...whoo ooohhh!

We stayed busy every weekend with parties and Gavin's soccer practice on Saturday mornings. We can now say we have a taste of what it is to be a parent running to activites for our little ones. It was so much fun watching Gavin play ball. Each week he improved dramaticaly, although his last practice he reverted back because there was a HUGE John Deere tractor tilling a field right next to where he had practice. I think we may have a little farmer on our hands ;)

The end of this month we went to LA to visit our long time friends Megan and Peter. We had a great time visiting the beach, going to Universal Studio's and just hanging out. Gavin loves "Pete" and he couldn't leave the room without Gavin yelling his name. Soooo cute!

Our LA weekend was the start to a busy summer. In about 1.5 weeks, we'll be heading to Virgina to see Grandpa John retire from the Navy. I'm sure Gavin will love seeing all the ships and visiting the other ocean. What a lucky boy, he gets to see both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans all within 2 weeks of each other. After that we will head to Vegas for the 4th of July for our good friends Hector and Rochelle's wedding at Treasure Island.

I'll try to keep you posted on all our adventures!

End to a crazy week

Last week was a crazy one for this family. On Tuesday, Gavin started running a temp. He hadn't been eating or drinking, so that night Alex and I took him to Urgent Care. Our suspicions we validated when the nurse practitioner told us he had an ear infection. We came home and Alex ran to the nearest 24 hr CVS and got his amaxocilon. We gave him a dose and expected him to get some rest. That did not happen! He was up all night. His fever was still there and it seemed he just couldn't get comfortable. So, we drove him around Ahwatukee at 1 am for about 20 min to give him some fresh air and cool him down. Alex then ended up sleeping on the couch while Gavin and Mommy slept off and on all night. Gavin was then up at 5:30 am! Oh what a long day we had ahead of us. He wanted no food or drink still, not even his milk. We gave him a second dose of medicine and an hour later he threw it up. I called the doctor and took him in. After a full inspection of Gav, he said he had NO ear infection and couldn't find anything! I was so upset, because that means we could have been feeding him these meds for no reason! Dr. Chang said it was probably something viral and to try to keep him hydrated. Well, after a trip to the store, I tried all afternoon. He wanted nothing and didn't sleep at all. Our poor little boy was not looking good and it broke my heart. Thank goodness Alex came home early, because Gavin threw up again. I had made the call to his Dr. and they told me to take him to the emergency room! This all happened right before Alex walked in the door from work. I was so upset, but I knew he needed to start to feel better and soon. After waiting for 3 hrs, and Nana and Bobby coming to keep us company, we were seen by the ER Dr. He told us he had Stomotitis. It is a viral infection that causes white sore on the back of the throat. It makes it hurt to swallow. He was given a pain reliver and within minuets, he was downing apple juices and seemed to perk up a little. After a total of 6 hours in the ER, we went home to dinner that Nana and Bobby had gotten for us. Nene stopped by as well. Gavin was so tired by that point, the dark circles under his eyes were awful, both from being tired and dehydrated. He feel asleep instantly and slept all night. He took a few days, but he is back to himself, eating and playing. I think we have even entered the terrible tw0's now! We just thank God that all is ok and our baby is healthy.

Too Long

I know it has been WAY too long since I last posted. We'll see if I can stick to my promise to myself of keeping up on this! A lot has been going on in our lives since I last posted. Gavin is a walking, talking, dancing machine. His favorite song is "Aby" aka "Imma be" by Black Eyed Peas. We listen to that song at least 10x a day. His vocabulary is pretty big and he adds new words daily. We joined Lifetime Fitness at the beginning of the year and love it. Gavin took some time to get used to the child center, but he is now pretty good about going in there without Mom or Dad being called out from their workout! Mom and Gavin have been using the pool as well at least two times a week for the past month. The outside pool is heated and it is a walk in pool which makes it great for us. Gavin has really become a little fish, sticking his head in and walking in the water until he can't touch. No fear! We plan on taking swim lessons again this summer. So he will be a professional by then end of August! There are many plans for summer travel. We will be going out to VA for Grandpa John's retirement from the Navy in June and then we will be in Iowa for almost a whole month in August for Aunt Lanna's wedding, which Mom is the Matron of Honor, Dad is an usher and Gavin is a ring bear! We are so excited and can't wait to see how Gavin does walking down the isle! That was just a taste of what we have been up to. If you don't hear from me soon, email me and remind me to write an update!

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!