SIX MONTHS!!

Today, Gavin is officially 6 months old. I can hardly believe how fast this time has gone. He is getting bigger and bigger every day. He really loves observing the world around him and is busy trying to discover it.

We have started giving him baby food. So far, he has had sweet potatoes, carrots and bananas. There have been no complaints, thus far, and I love to see how excited he gets when I put him in the high chair and he sees his bowl of food.

Gavin has been rolling over for several weeks. He uses this mode of tranportation to get all around our living room. He is trying to scoot, but just can't quite get himself up to his knees. I have to admit that I am doing absolutely nothing to help him learn how to increase his mobility.

Gavin is such a sweet little boy. He is so content to be held be you and he will entertain himself on his activity mat for quite along time. He is so laid back and easy going. This is a definite change for his go-go-go big sister.

Speaking of his big sister, I have really enjoyed witnessing the sweet interaction between these two siblings. Mikayla is so tender and playful with him. Gavin is genuinely happy and excited to see Mikayla each morning. I love seeing the two of them together.

Gavin has his 6 month checkup next week. I will be sure to post the official report for everyone to see.

To do List

While I was feeding Gavin yesterday, Mikayla went out to the backyard to play. When I went to check on her, I found her digging in the red Georgia clay. It was the middle of the day and I had to throw her in the shower before I put her down for a nap.
After seeing this, I decided to move purchasing a sandbox, to the top of our to do list this weekend.

Spring is in the Air!

We have had some beautiful weather in Georgia this past week. We have ended up in the 70s nearly every day this week. We have really enjoyed getting to spend some time outside again. We have gotten in the habit of going out there about every afternoon after Mikayla's nap before I have to start dinner. Gavin also seems to really enjoy the outdoors.



We put Gavin in the swing for the first time - he absolutely loved it! He just giggled and smiled the whole time. Mikayla was happy to share her swing with her little brother and swing on the big girl swing.
That night after we had dinner, Mikayla and I went up stairs for a shower. While I was getting ready, Mikayla was playing quietly in her room. This is what I saw when I went in to get her for her bath. She told me she was having a picnic with all of her friends. She has quite an imagination!!

Check it out

Since I haven't had time to blog much the past couple of days, I will direct you to my sister Emily's blog. She has some cute photos of the kids and also a video of Gavin playing. It is so cute!! (I may be a little biased, though)

He likes it!!

I decided to start Gavin on some "real" food last night! I started him on sweet potatoes. I have always been told to start them out on veggies, but I decided to start with on of the sweeter veggies. As you can see, they were a hit. I didn't get any of those funny sour puss faces that Mikayla used to give us when she tried a new food. I think this boy is going to really enjoy his food!!

My new favorite snack

Well, one of my goals for 2008 was to lose the rest of my baby weight that I had gained from BOTH of my babies. I am hoping to get back down to what I weighed when Jeremy and I got married. I was having a harder time after this pregnancy than I did with Mikayla, so I decided to join Weight Watchers to help me out a little. They have a great program for nursing moms, so I know that I am doing something for myself without sacrificing my little guy's food. I have had a little bit of a hard time missing out on my sweets, so I am always on the lookout for yummy, low cal snacks. This snack is one of my new faves. It is a Quaker Chocolate and Peanut Butter Rice Cake with 1 T. marshmallow creme, 1/2 tsp. mini chocolate chips, and 1/2 tsp. Peanut butter chips. The recipe actually called for peanuts instead of the PB chips, but I am not much of a peanut fan. It is very yummy and completely saves me when I am craving a Reese's cup.

I am behind....again

I feel like I am always playing catch up with blogging. I am the world's worst procrastinator and I am always putting things off. Instead of leaving frequent short posts, I constantly find myself with the long weekly posts in an attempt to share the comings and goings of our family with everyone. Oh well, eventually, I am sure I will get the hang of this.

The past couple of days have been could and rainy, but the beginning of the week was absolutely beautiful. We really took advantage of the nice weather and spent alot of time outside.
This is a picture of Kayla at my mom's house - she enjoyed playing with a new bubble set she got. She also, loves chasing my mom's dog, Lucy, all over the yard. Here is Mikayla riding her new tricycle that the Easter Bunny gave her. We quickly learned to only ride around on level areas with her at this point. She is pretty good at pedaling, but if she has a hard time going up even a slight incline - you end up spending most of your time pushing her. If you are going down a hill, you better be right behind her, because she can't steer or brake, so you're having to help her avoid any crashes. Oh well, we will keep it up and she will soon get the hang of it.

Gavin has enjoyed being outside, too. I am not much of a photographer. I try, but I just don't have that natural ability and good eye. However, by pure luck, I occasionally get a good photo where the lighting and background is just right. I just love how his eyes pop out in the photo. I have been in need of some good photos to enlarge to put on the wall and I think this one is a keeper. The picture below is just a random photo of his sweet smile that is leading into one of his loud squeals. He such a fun little boy!
My sister was in town this week so we hae spent alot of time at my mom's house and with my family. I love spending time with our family. I feel so fortunate to have my parent and grandparents living so close.
These are some pictures of my grandma getting some quality time with my kids. I am so thankful that my kids get to have a relationship with her. It is such a gift.
This is my sister, Emily, spending cuddling with Gavin. Gavin loved playing with her and always had plenty of smiles to share with his Aunt Emmy.
Speaking of my sister....

I feel that I now allowed to say this since she has made it known to the blogging public - my sister is pregnant with her first baby! I have been wanting to shout it out to everyone since she told us 2 months ago, but I waited to tell until she was ready to share the news She is due on October 15th. I am so excited for her and her husband. I am also very excited, because this will be my first niece or nephew. Being an aunt is something I have never experienced and I anxiously awaiting this opportunity. I am also excited for my kids to finally have a cousin. She had a doctor's appointment today and she was able to hear the heartbeat for the first time. They recorded it with a digital recorder, so she was able to email it to all of us. It was such a sweet little sound. I remember that being my absolute favorite part of going to the doctor when I was pregnant. I am so happy for my sister and her husband - I have only the best of wishes for them!!

Happy Easter!

Well, I am finally getting around to posting some pics from our wonderful Easter weekend.

On Saturday, we went to my in-laws home to spend time with them. Kathy had a friend of hers from work over to share in the festivities. Her husband, daughter and grandson were there as well. Her grandson, Liam, is a couple of weeks younger than Mikayla. The kids had a lot of fun together.
Mikayla had so much fun hunting for Easter eggs. She had been talking all week about it. It was funny to watch the kids hunt the eggs. Mikayla would see an egg a ways off and pass over 2-3 eggs on her way to go get that one.
My in-laws have this lovely swing in their backyard that the kids sat down halfway through for a little candy break during the hunt. They were so cute.
We had such a nice time with my in-laws. We are so lucky to be able to live so close to both of our families. I like not having to choose who we see during holidays. It is such a blessing!
Saturday night we colored Easter eggs. Mikayla was so determinted to do everything "all by myself, because I am a big girl!" She only cracked one egg in the process, so I say that she did pretty good.


I love having church at 11:30. It was nice to not have to rush through Easter Bunny stuff, and have that time together as a family. The Easter Bunny was very generous this year and brought Mikayla a tricycle for Easter. The Easter Bunny tends to take a little pity on the little girl with a Birthday and Christmas so close together. However, I think this will be the last year for that, now that Gavin has arrived.
Mikayla loved her new tricycle and was quite bummed that it was too cold outside to ride it.
After church, we headed down to my parent's home for an Easter Egg hunt and dinner. This was a fun Easter because Aunt Emmy was there this year - we haven't spent Easter with her since she started college. We did miss Aunt Lollie though! It was a little cooler Sunday than it was on Saturday, but Mikayla had just as much fun on her second Easter Egg hunt.
We got some cute pics of the kids in their Easter outfits. We had to be quick, because Gavin's outfit had short sleeves and I couldn't find anything to put over is outfit that didn't look girly.
What a cutie!!!
This is a picture of Gavin in a "First Easter" outift that I found at Target and couldn't resist buying. It came complete with a bunny ears hat and little pants that had bunnies on the feet and a cotton ball on the bum. I am sure I will hear about this outfit one day from him!
My mom got Mikayla some bunny ears and I couldn't resist taking a picture of my two little Easter Bunnies together. Aren't they the cutest kids ever?!?!

5 months old!!

Can you believe that Gavin is already 5 months old!! I can hardly believe it. He is such a fun baby! He loves to play on his mat - he will stay there kicking and squealing for 45 minutes sometimes. He has also learned how to roll over. At first he hated, being on his tummy, but he doesn't mind it so much now. He has also learned how to roll back to his back, so now he can fix the situation, instead of us having to rescue him. He is also a very laidback little baby. For the most part, he only cries when he is hungry or very tired. Other than that, he is usually smiling. The weather has been so nice lately, so we have been spending more time outside which he seems to love. He is also been a better sleeper. He typically only wakes up once a night and we have had a coupld of all night sleeping sessions! We don't really have him on a schedule yet, but I am sure that will come soon. He is so easy going, that he seems to do fine with the way things are now. I just love what this little boy has added to my life and our family. I can't get enough of him!

One of those days!

Have you ever had a day where you just felt behind all day! First of all, I woke up 30 minutes late this morning. Unfortunately, it wasn't one of those days where I could throw clothes on and get Mikayla ready and dropped off at school and then come back home and get ready. I had alot of things that I had to pack in today. Thankfully, I took a shower last night, so that was one thing I didn't have to worry about. I somehow managed to get Gavin fed, Mikayla dressed and me dressed in 40 minutes and out of the door in time. Mikayla did eat her breakfast in the car, though... That actually happens more than I would like to admit.

Once I got Mikayla to preschool, I realized that we had left her Easter basket at home. They were having an Easter Egg Hunt today and didn't want her to be without one. So I ran to CVS and paid $3 for a little basket - I didn't want to spend alot of money since I already had cute, matching baskets for the kids.

After driving back to school to take the basket to her, I ran to Target (my favorite store, lately) to get some things before her Easter party. They had some great clothing deals there this week. Their shorts for kids were on sale for $3.50 - I stock up on these every year. It's nice to have cute shorts that Mikayla can play in - with such a good price you don't freak out too much about stains on them. Their shoes were also on sale, so I stocked up on some cute sandals for Mikayla. I even found some cute shoes for Gavin. Well, while I was having so much fun finding good deals, I lost track of time and was almost late for Mikayla's party. The only reason I wasn't late is that I drove much faster down some backroads than I would care to admit. (I am really bad about this!)

Once I got to the party, I realized I forgot my camera. I was really bummed, but I included a picture at the top of Mikayla playing with some Easter playdough stuff that her teachers gave her.

After her party, we rushed home, because I had to make some food for Enrichment this evening at church. I am on the Enrichment Committee so I was supposed to be there at 5:30 to help set up. Jeremy was supposed to be home by 5 to be with the kids while I went there. Well, he thought I said I needed to leave at 5:30, so I was late for that as well. Thankfully, everything went well. It was a wonderful Enrichment Night and it was nice to have an evening with just adults.

Even with ending on the positive note, I am very glad this day is over!