Handy Man

With Gavin getting bigger and easier to handle, Dave is finally able to get back to his to-do list and puttering around the house. (Of course his Dad's visit was an inspiration; Bob was marking stuff off of the to-do list at a great rate. We need him to come every couple of months to tackle our to-do list.)
Monday afternoon Dave decided to tackle some scuff marks made on the walls a year or so ago when he and Mike erected scaffolding in order to install the foyer light fixture. Not wanting to get the big ladder out, Dave used some Yankee Ingenuity to reach across the abyss to paint--there's nothing you can't do with a couple of yard sticks and some tape.

One, Two, Three

Gavin with his blue monkey, a panther, and Dad's bear, Radar.

We can't believe that Gavin is already three months old! I really don't know where the time has gone. In the past month, Gavin has started doing lots of new things. He always smiles whenever Dad talks to him. He's found his fist and thumbs to suck on. He likes to be carried around facing out so that he can see the world. He has started grabbing his toys. He's even working to hit the toys that hang from his play mat; you can see him concentrating as he swings. Right now, he seems to be left-hand dominant. Thankfully, his eye muscles have strengthened, and Mama is no longer worried about him being cross-eyed. He's working on new sounds: ba, ga, da, ma.
Gavin is growing like a weed; he weighed 13 pounds 14 ounces on Saturday. He's getting longer (though we haven't measured his length). Some of his 3-6 month clothes are already too short or awfully tight in the stride. I'm not really sure where he's getting his height. Sadly, his hair is falling out, probably from where he wiggles his head while he's laying on his play mat or sitting in his bouncy seat. The hair that is growing in seems to be lighter.
Rides in the stroller are always enjoyed. And, the car is always fun. We've had to remove padding in the car seat and to adjust the shoulder straps. Man, oh man, the car seat is heavy with him in it.
Gavin is sleeping good at night; most mornings I'm having to wake him up at 5:30 or 6 to eat before I get ready to go to work. A good night's sleep is such a blessing.
And Gavin's "happy" time in the evenings is slowly diminishing. For a few nights recently, we've played and had a great time.
Life is good. We are blessed.

First Trip to Cabela's

After spending a boys-only Friday together, Dad and Gavin were ready to go do something when Mama got home. Deciding that we'd been negligent in not doing so sooner, we took Gavin on his first (of many) trip to Cabela's.

Dad showed Gavin the fish and talked to him about all the different species.
Gavin and Dad discussed which rod and reel combo Gavin might want to select when he has mastered head and neck control.
Dad carried Gavin through the wildlife display.
And, we knew it was time to go when Gavin was ready to eat. Sorry no pictures of that.

I MISS GRANDMA AND GRANDBOB!!!!

YOU DIDN'T TELL ME THAT THEY WERE LEAVING AND NOT COMING BACK!!! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Grandparent-palooza

The end of the school year is right around the corner. We had planned on Miranda just taking enough time off to start back to work in the fall. But, Gavin had other plans being two weeks early. So we have enlisted the help of the grandparents to get us through till summer. We want to put off daycare (and the sicknesses that come from daycare) until the fall if at all possible.

Grandma Judy and GrandBob were kind enough to come out to visit and babysit for us for a week and a half. We cannot thank then enough for all they did for us over the last ten days. Gavin was spoiled with a super attentive and nurturing grandmother. GrandBob got TONS of projects done around the house that I didn't have time for lately. Not to mention that GrandBob had the touch with Gavin when nobody else could soothe him. Dinners were cooked, clothes were washed, Mason was given that attention that he deserves, and all was right with the world, for a few days anyway.
Gavin is in for even more spoiling next week when Miranda's mom arrives. Gavin told me that he can't wait! He loves his grandparents!

Gavin Fridays

Gavin and I get to spend our Fridays together since I don't have to work on Fridays. This coming Friday will only be our second Friday together, and I am looking forward to it. He is a lot of fun during the day when he is happy and rested. When he gets tired in the evening is when our fussy boy seems to show himself. But even his evening fussy time has begun to get better. I dare not say anymore for fear of jinxing little man's progress...

Here's a recap of Gavin and Dad on their first of many Fridays spent together.

We do some swinging in our favorite swing.

We hang out with our friends.

And we take a few pictures to share.We play on our activity mat while looking out the window.Dad gives us a bath.All of which makes for a very tiring day.

A Quick Gavin Fix

I've been remiss in blogging. I'll blame it on going back to work Friday, but I don't know if that's really the case. Gavin and I enjoyed a great "last day" together on Thursday. We played and met Dad for lunch. Gavin is smiling more and more these days. That toothless smile will melt your heart.





I had a special first Mother's Day. Gavin gave me a great gift by letting me sleep in until 6am. We went to church. Bob and Judy are here visiting and babysitting, so it was nice to have additional family with us. Following that, we had brunch at Rio Mambo--Gavin slept the whole time. Then in the afternoon we played a bit. Dave and I ran errands while GrandBob and Grandma took Gavin on a nice long walk. We didn't think to take pictures while we were dressed for church, but here's a picture of me and Gavin snuggling before he went to bed.


Gavin has found his fist in the last week and loves to suck on it. Tonight he was snoozing and sucking as I tried to get him ready for bed. We noticed that he just had his thumb in his mouth and all his other fingers out. My little guy is growing. At 10 weeks, he was 12 pounds 9 oz. I'm packing up the 0-3 month clothes and moving on to 3-6 month. Some of the 3 month things he has will only be worn once or twice as they are a bit snug already. It's sad that he's growing so quickly. I feel so blessed that I got to spend the first 10 weeks with him. I look forward to enjoying the summer and spending every minute I can with him during those hot July days.

A Great Start to the Day....

So my day so far has been just wonderful. Let's recap:

6:30am - wake up - actually almost on time...
6:35am - discover that the dog has scratched his elbow sometime during the night and dripped blood all over the downstairs
6:45am - discover that the dog drank out of the toilet because there are blood drips around the toilet downstairs
6:35-6:50am - clean up blood spots
6:50-7:15am - shower and get ready for work
7:20am - Decide that I don't want to eat ants for breakfast. Sugar ants invaded the pantry during the night, and found my Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal pretty tasty...Just what you want to see in your cereal bowl in the morning - ANTS!
7:20-7:30am kill ants in the pantry
7:30am - discover that I don't have any clean jeans for casual Thursday
7:35am - divide up the laundry so that it can be washed and find that the clothes left in the washer are rotten smelling & restart the washer
8:00am - on the drive work hear that it is supposed to be extremely high humidity today and also get into the 90's just my kind of weather - ugh....
9:50am - get notification (confirmation) that Imagecraft is doing ANOTHER 10% company wide paycut. Yea...working the same amount for now 20% less than what I was making five months ago...

I can't wait to see what the rest of the day brings.

Mama's Boy

I caught a glimpse of myself in Gavin tonight. I've always been independent . Mama tells stories of my "I-can-do-it-myself" attitude that surfaced at a young age. As a teen, I specifically recall not cleaning my room, even though I had planned to, because Mama suggested that I do so. I couldn't stand the thought of her thinking it was her idea and not mine. (Did I mention that I'm stubborn?)

I've shared that Gavin's fussy time is on the evenings. A week or so ago, I tried to cut it short by putting him to bed after his 8ish feeding. Ha! That didn't work.

Tonight I fed Gavin at 5:30, then cooked dinner. Just as we started to eat, Gavin started. Dave inhaled his meal and took Gavin. I inhaled my meal and got Gavin. We came upstairs. I wound up his mobile, and we listened to the Tech fight song. Gavin quietened down as I held him swaying and singing along. Calmed by the song, I sat down to rock him. In five minutes he was asleep. He slept until 7:45, then I fed him. He went back to sleep until I woke him up at 10:30 to change him and feed him. He's snoozing now. So maybe just like me, he wanted to go to bed early, but it had to be his idea, not mine.

How Much???

I guess that I am really getting old now because I find it alarming how much it costs to go see big name concerts these days.

Aerosmith is playing in Dallas this summer, and I checked on ticket prices this afternoon (I didn't know that the tickets went on sale this morning). It costs $200 for the good seats up front to see the same people that Miranda and I went to see 10 years ago for $60. I guess there is a market, but back then tickets sold out in a matter of minutes. These Aerosmith tickets have been on sale for five hours, and there are still seats in the front sections next to the stage that are available for the $200 price tag. And don't get me started on the Ticketmaster fees...$14 convience charge for printing and mailing ONE ticket.

But Aerosmith isn't the only group doing this. Even our beloved Jimmy Buffett almost doubled his ticket prices a couple years ago. U2 is selling lower level arena seats for $250, nose bleed seats for $100.

I guess Miranda and I will have to only go and see the local bands who we follow. I think many times they offer a better show than the "headliner" acts that sell out arenas. At least with those local acts, we can buy tickets, park and get back home without spending $500 in one day. I like to go to concerts as much as anyone else, but I not going to keep paying these crazy prices for an afternoon of fun.