Loafing

Today, for the first time, Gavin tried to hold his own bottle and really provided enough support to tilt it up into his mouth and get milk out with no help and no "propping". He is really doing so much so quickly. Whew! I will keep taking snapshots so we dont miss anything memorable for the babybook.


"This is the life, folks!"

The Brothers Mac

I've been trying my best to get a shot like this for at least a month now. We went for a photo session a few weeks ago for our holiday pictures and Gabe wouldn't even cooperate enough to sit by Gavin for a minute under all the pressure. It was terrible and almost drove us all to tears. I encourage him to "love brother" at home, often, but don't want to push it and Gavin isn't sitting up on his own quite yet so it's not a good angle to photograph. Plus, Gabe is usually going 90 MPH and being a rough-n-tumble boy, so I don't want him to acidentally hurt the baby. And digital cameras have a slight delay before the shutter, so at 90 miles per hour, it's often Gavin~ sitting alone in the pic, or Gabe's head blurring by or better yet covering the entire frame. Sounds like a simple candid shot to capture, but, NOW, you see my dilemma.

This morning, in his new PJ's, Gabe was kind enough to humor Mommy for a minute while Gavin was propped up on the sofa and I snapped this one, QUICK!! They were both smiling too (What luck!?!?!) and Gabe has no paci.......Oh....so totally worth my wait!!! Don't you agree?? Patience really is a virtue!


Best Buds...

Gavin's FIRST Cereal

This afternoon, we gave Gavin his very first bowl of infant cereal. He actually isn't quite sitting up on his own yet, so it was a bit of a challenge, but he was quite interested in it and did pretty well. I had forgotten how adorable that little forward tongue thrust was.

Gabe thought is was pretty funny to see Gavin eating from a bowl and spoon. Gavin just grinned and tried his best to get most of it down. The pediatrician says he's ready and I'd love for him to sleep a bit longer, at night especially, so we're filling him up as much as we can with a few teaspoons of cereal and topping him off with a bottle of formula. We ordered a special seat to help him sit up so I can feed him easier so we'll see how that is once it arrives. He'll probably be doing it on his own pretty soon here anyways.


Mmmm....that's good stuff.

Trickery or Terrible Twos?

Gabe is really coming into his own lately and has real personality PLUS!! He chooses what he wants to eat and will refuse things he doesn't want by simply saying "nope". He runs away from us when we say to 'come here' and he hides from us too when he wants to avoid a diaper change or putting on shoes or whatever. It's cute, but we're learning to pick our battles with him. This morning....I most certainly LOST the battle.

Gabe was eating an omelette for breakfast and I gave him some cateloupe and some blueberries (a new favorite of his) to go with it. He calls the blueberries, "nerries". He really loves them and he went to the grocery store with me just last night to get some more. He ate almost all of his omelette and all of his fruit (or so I thought). When he said "done" I cleaned his hands and face and got him down from his booster chair, which is the normal routine. He ran around to the other side of the table and knelt down on the floor. I wasn't sure what he was doing until he said "nerries". He had obviously dropped one while eating and was going to get it now. I said "No buddy, you can't eat that one off the floor". I took it from him and put it into the trashcan and he immediately dropped to the floor in a fit of hysterics.

This is where it gets GOOD...I ignored him and went back into the living room where Gavin was playing. Gabe stayed there in the kitchen floor for a minute and then came running in behind me. He held up his hand and showed me the blueberry (which he'd just fished out of the trash!) and said "nerry" and then took off running down the hall. I proceeded to get up and chase him to prevent the inevitablility of him eating the blueberry. He ran around the corner, threw his paci out of his mouth, tossed the blueberry in and when he came around the other way to meet me again, he looked at me, smiled, rubbed his belly and yelled "YUM"! All I could do was laugh out loud.

Mommy = foiled by the 21 month old. We're in for it if he's already this smart and not even 2 yet!!!


(insert wicked cackle here)..."I just LOOK sweet and innocent"!

I. Love. You.

About two weeks ago, Gabe started to mimic us when we told him we loved him. This has been evolving and is now pretty clear when he says it. I recorded this a week ago, but have been lazy about posting...but I think it is worth the wait.

Baby's First Thanksgiving

Gabe may have been the one who was able to eat turkey, ham, corn, and green beans for our Thanksgiving Dinner but Gavin was the picture of fall festive in his adorable 'Baby's First Thanksgiving' bib.
I cooked all morning and roasted the turkey and we just stayed at home and ate our Turkey Dinner as a family, but it was really special and memorable and everything turned out great. We had all the delicious staples and a few desserts to choose from. Gabe really liked it and said "YUM" alot. He likes to eat.


Little Turkey

Inexpensive Toys...Still Fun

Gabe's newest favorite toy.....Boxes! Any size, any style, new or old, he'll ask for them and play with them for hours. This one is a diaper box (he's not naked in there, I promise!) He puts toys in the boxes and then dumps them out. He pushes the boxes around the living room. He plays in them and under them. He hides from us and wants to be put in the box and try to get himself out. Daddy says Christmas should be pretty cheap for us this year....if all we have to get is boxes! :)


This is the best TOY ever!!

Rollin' Around

Gavin shocked us yesterday when he rolled himself over from his back to his belly without any help. He's been rolling over the other way when we work on his tummy time for a few weeks now, and he loves playing around on the floor. He has discovered his feet and tries to pull his toes into his mouth and pulls his socks off regularly. Today, while he was messing around on his back, he just pulled his feet up to his chest, rolled over onto his side, then arched his back and over he went onto his belly. I think he surprised himself as well. I had to flip him back over just to see if he could do it again and he did. That means he's getting stronger.

At his 4 month check up today (it's going by so fast...I can't believe he's already 17 weeks old!) anyways, he weighs 14 lbs 1 oz and he's 25 inches long. That puts him in the 50th percentile for babies his age. He's growing and changing so much. He wants to sit up now and look around and study his surroundings and laugh at his silly brother. He's holding his head up so well and starting to cut teeth. He's sleeping better at night too and will start eating some solid foods this next month. Amazing! We'll keep you posted as more things happen with this little guy!


Big Boy

Sharing a Room

So, we received Gavin's crib in the mail and Daddy and Uncle Jim put it together in Gabe's room. Our intention is that the boys will share a room and so they have matching furniture and convertible cribs.

Gabe is still sleeping in the crib for now, but we have a mattress for the toddler bed and he likes playing on it too. We'll be transitioning him to the other bed over the next few months, but a little at the time. Gavin is still in our room in the bassinett for now, but soon enough, he'll join his brother in the room we've decorated for them. This should be interesting!


2 Big Boy Beds

I'm on Top of the World

Well, the photo may not be so great, and Gabe's not looking at the camera, but you get the point. We are at the top of Stone Mountain and it's cold, windy and raining.

My grandmother and 2 aunts came into town from Central Florida for the weekend and got to visit with the boys. Daddy stayed at home with Gavin and the rest of us went sightseeing. We rode the sky lift to the top of the mountain and walked around and ate snacks and then rode back down. Gabe liked it alot. We saw all the sights, shopped a bit, and rode the Christmas train. It was really gorgeous with all of the fall leaves on the trees and everything decorated and lit up....even if it was rainy and chilly. We'll have to go back when we can enjoy it more and take Daddy and Gavin with us.


Making Memories with Mommy

Groovin' with Gavin

Sounds like a perfect name for a workout dvd, right? Gavin is really getting stronger and actually rolled himself over a few weeks ago (10/22/06). He likes to be on his tummy and look around. Gabe thinks it's funny to try to step on him or pick him up when he's on the floor....yikes! We'll keep working Gavin out so he can stick up for himself in the future or at least be strong enough to crawl away.


Look at me!

Gabe sure does love his Daddy and he tries to copy everything he does. If Daddy growls like a lion, so does Gabe...if Daddy crawls on the floor, so does Gabe....it's really pretty sweet. They are 2 peas in a pod. Just look at this Proud Papa!


Daddy's Boy!

Smiling baby

Gabe seems to get the lion's share of postings, mainly because he is older and therefore does more stuff. However, Gavin is one hell of a cute baby and as a reminder of that, here is a video of him doing nothing but smiling and coo-ing.

Enjoy.

Ear tickling

Gabe loves Wilbur. I think we've established that. One of the things he likes to do is to touch Wilbur's ears. The reason he likes to do that is because Wilbur flicks his ears when you touch them.

Gabe finds that hilarious. See for yourself...