What A Week!!

Wow, we have had quite a crazy week. Sadly, it was not crazy in a fun way.

Monday was actually a fun day. Gavin and I spent lots of time outside in his pool and walking around enjoying the beautiful weather. It all went downhill Monday night though. Gavin woke up around 11:30pm and since I had already gone to bed, Scott heard him first and went in to get him for me. Scott brought him in and said he felt warm. At first I figured it was just from being under his blanket, usually he kicks it off if he is warm so he must have just not kicked it off yet. Unfortunately, he wasn't cooling off, so we turned on some lights to check him out and make sure he looked okay and took his temperature. Although he looked fine (no rashes, marks, etc), he had his first fever. So we gave him a little Tylenol to try to make him comfortable and try to bring his fever down so I could get him back to sleep. That was just the beginning of a very long night with very little sleep. I ended up spending half the night up walking him because nothing else was making him happy. He just wanted to be held and walked. So I did that until he was out cold so we could lay down. He would sleep for an hour or two and then be up wanting to be walked again.

Thankfully, Scott decided to work from home Tuesday (since neither of us really got all that much sleep) to help me keep Gavin as comfortable as possible. This was a huge help because Scott was able to entertain Gavin during lunch so I could get a quick shower. That is not something I normally have any trouble doing, but Gavin was not interested in being put down for any length of time, awake or sleeping. I ended up calling the pediatrician when the Tylenol wasn't helping keep his fever down and it started to rise towards 103 to see what they recommended on trying and at what point they would like to see him if it continues. They said to go ahead and bring him in that afternoon so they could check him out. So, off to the doctor we went. His ears, throat and chest were clear and since there was no sign of a rash or any other symptoms or strange behavior, she said it was likely teething and it looked as though his top teeth were getting ready to start coming through. She said to keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary that would indicate it isn't just teeth and to keep trying Tylenol and even alternate between Tylenol and Advil to try to keep him comfortable.

Although it was certainly a relief that the fever was hopefully only related to teeth, I wish that there had been something else that could be done. When his bottom teeth came in, he was only a little fussier for about a week while the teeth were cutting through. Apparently, the top teeth are worse.

I tried to minimize the amount of Tylenol and Advil that I was giving him so I was trying to elongate the time between doses and focus a little more at night so he could hopefully get better sleep when he typically sleeps the most. Well, by Wednesday night he still had a fever, was still clingy and miserable and so I gave him some Advil before we were going to get ready for his bath, hoping it would kick in by the time we were done and getting him in bed. That totally backfired and Gavin decided to 100% reject having any more medicine (he had tolerated it the other times but it was getting harder and harder to get him to take anything). Along with his first fever, we experienced his first vomit. He was so determined not to take it that he actually gagged on it and proceeded to lose everything in his stomach. I felt awful! Scott ran and grabbed a towel for me to wrap Gavin in and since he wasn't stopping, I ended up sitting in the tub rocking him until he was done. Then I had to get him undressed (gross), wrapped in a new towel and kept rocking him until he calmed down. It was terrible. He was already miserable and that just made it all worse!

After a lightening quick bath, I rocked my little fireball to sleep and he slept on me for hours, something he hasn't done much of in a very long time. As much as I hate him being that miserable, I did try to enjoy the snuggles as much as possible. That was the beginning of yet another very long night of frequent wakings and a lot of walking. By Thursday morning, his fever was finally diminishing and was in a very normal range, which drastically improved his mood. It apparently also meant that he wasn't going to nap all day, oh well, at least his temperature was finally normal again!

Although I can see where one of his top teeth is starting to push through, it has yet to actually cut. I really hope it cuts through soon. Gavin is in a better mood than he was, but he is still pretty miserable.

We had Gavin's 8 month well baby check up this morning. He now weighs 23 pounds and 5 ounces and is still 29 inches tall. She says he is healthy and doing well, always nice to be reassured of that by his doctor!

So, my week has consisted of almost constantly holding/carrying Gavin around because he didn't want to be put down or left alone to play and very little sleep because of that darn tooth!

I have to share at least a couple of pictures. There have not been as many take this week because of Gavin not feeling well, but before that all started Scott took a few of Gavin helping me with laundry Monday evening.




He is such a curious little boy, he kept peeking into the dryer checking things out as I moved clothes/towels over from the washer. It is nice that he finds ways to enjoy himself while I work on laundry and cleaning, it really makes it a lot easier to get things done!

8 Months Old!

Yet another month has passed by already! We have had a lot of fun in the last month, spending a great deal of time outside using Gavin's truck, in his pool, sitting in the grass or on the porch enjoying the beautiful weather. Gavin has also learned a few new tricks and perfected a few old ones. As always, it has been a lot of fun to watch and be a part of his development!


(Please excuse his crazy hair and the potato all over his face. We tried to get some pictures of Gavin this afternoon, but he wasn't interested (we were heading out to his pool, so he was more interested in that). We tried to get a few after dinner and although there are some funny "outtakes", below is really the only good one that he is actually looking at the camera and smiling...)

Stats:

Weight - Around 23 and a half pounds assuming the scale is reading correctly since he won't sit still on it (We will get an official weight check next week when we go in for his 8 months well baby check up).

Height - Around 29 1/2 inches (We will get an official measurement next week when we go in for his 8 month well baby check up).

Clothing Size - He has not grown out of too much in the last month. Depending on the brand he is wearing either 6-9 or 6-12. A few things of his 6 month onsies (which technically means they are 3-6 month sizing) fit so he is still wearing those. He has a few shirts and shorts that are 12-18 months that are still pretty big on him, but it is looking like that was the right move and he will wear them all summer!

Milestones -

*Gavin seems as though he is more interested in standing and walking than just about anything else most days. Although he does like to sit and play, he would rather stand at something (like his table) and play. He prefers not to be laying down (on his back or stomach) but he does tolerate it if he ended up there by his own doing (usually because he was sitting and tried reaching for a toy and it was out of reach and so he ended up on his stomach to try to squirm to get to it and usually he then rolls over to his back and proceeds to make enough noise and annoyed faces until I cave and sit him back up). He will attempt to pull himself up on anything he can get his hands on, even things that are either not strong enough or tall enough to do him any good (side of the pool, diaper bag, tool box, car...). He has even figured out how to stand up in his truck! I have no doubt that before long he will be climbing anything he can find!

*Gavin still seems to have little interest in crawling, but I still try to encourage him to attempt it. Partially because I think it would make him quite happy to go places by himself but also I think even if he only crawled for a few days/weeks (because he was only do it to get to things that he can use to stand), it will help him to develop other skills like getting to a seated position by himself. We work on it most days, I even get up to show him how to do it to try to make it more appealing. He is getting the hang of getting from his stomach to a seated position, but has not been able to do it all the time yet, so he still ends up rolling over and looking pathetic until I sit him back up... I am such a sucker for the faces and noises he makes...

*We discovered something very sad today... Gavin does not like swings! What kid doesn't like to swing! We were shocked! Yesterday we set out to find some baby swings at a park (harder to find than we thought it would be). We went to 3 places and had not found any yet so we decided to head home. Gavin fell asleep so we kept driving and tried one more place I could think of that was close by (we didn't want to have to drive 20 minutes because that makes it not fun to do on a regular basis). We prepared ourselves that this park would only have "big kid" swings like the others, especially since from what I remembered of driving past it, it was much smaller than the others. We were pleasantly surprised when we saw they did have two baby swings! We decided to head home anyway and check it out today since Gavin was sleeping and he needed the nap.

After lunch today, we set out for the park again (which is less than 10 minutes from here, more like 6 maybe 7 minutes, wahoo)! When we parked, we saw there was a father with his two sons there. We walked over to the swings and got Gavin all settled in and gave him a little push. He seemed unsure what to think at first but that didn't last long. His face melted into a frown and he started crying! We pulled him out and calmed him down and then decided to talk a walk around to see if maybe we tried again in a little bit he would be more open to it. I was sure he was just scared because there were strangers there. After we walked around a bit, the other people had left and so we tried again. Nope, this time he pretty much hated it the second he was put in the seat. So, thinking we could maybe get him to warm up to it if he wasn't alone in a seat, I sat down on a swing and put him in my lap. Same reaction! I was so disappointed! I will not give up though, we are going back this week to see if maybe he will change his mind!

*Gavin has started to have some stranger anxiety in the last couple of weeks. I am really hoping this phase passes quickly! I feel bad for the people he cries at, for him getting upset/scared that he cries and although I don't mind the clinging and snuggling when this happens, it is hard because I can't even sit him down to play because he refuses (with a ridiculous death grip that an 8 month old baby should not have) and cries or whines like I am torturing him.

*Gavin loves the pool! He loves to move around, play with his toys, splash, lean over the sides and pull up the grass and is always so happy to be in the water! It is so much fun to watch and we can't wait to see what he does in a big pool and the ocean!

*He is now able to ride his Lightening McQueen by himself! His feet touch on either side and he can push himself forwards and backwards. It was awesome to watch his reaction of shock and confusion the first few times he moved himself and then the change into pure joy and excitement when he realized he could move around on it. He will be riding all around the house in no time!

*Gavin "discovered" his tongue this month. It was the cutest thing. We have not seen much of it since then, but I think that he will come back to it. He figured out he had one, he can stick it out and he moved on to bigger and better things, like working on trying to stand without holding on to anything (and giving me lots of heart attacks... oh the joys of having a daredevil boy)!

*Gavin is still a babbling machine! It is so much fun to hear as he comes up with new noises to make and even tries to repeat us when we make the noises back to him. It seems like he figures out new noises every day. Some are a lot more fun than others (some of the screeching and shrieking make life interesting, especially when it is in my ear) but I love holding "conversations" with him instead of feeling like I am talking to myself all day.

*Gavin has such an awesome personality. He is such a happy little boy. He is always smiling and he laughs all the time, sometimes at the strangest things. He loves to be sung to and when I read him books. He loves when Scott tells him stories and comes up with new games for them to play. He loves being up on Scott's shoulders and basically anything Scott does. Gavin absolutely adores Scott. His face lights up whenever he is in the room and when he isn't, he is looking for him!

Gavin is such an amazing little boy. He is an absolute joy in our lives and even the few times we have been tired and frustrated, we wouldn't change him or what he brings to our family for anything. He truly is the perfect addition to our family and I am so grateful to be given the honor of being his mother!

I also want to wish a very happy Father's Day to all the wonderful fathers I have the pleasure of knowing. I also want to wish a very happy Father's Day to Scott on his first official Father's Day! Thank you for being an amazing husband and father. Gavin and I are so lucky to have you and we love you very much!

Water Boy!

We ordered a small blow up pool for Gavin to use on the beach when we go to Hilton Head in August. A friend of ours recommended getting a pop up tent and a small pool to have on the beach. The tent to have a place that we can change, cover from the sun (since it is UPF, it is additional protection beyond the beach umbrellas we have), a place to store items while on the beach and the list goes on! The pool will be nice because it will be a place we can put some water and/or sand for him to play in, especially if he doesn't want to go in the ocean or sit in the sand. So, we decided that we would get it now so we had it to use at home and we can get a lot more use out of it. The tent came on Friday and the pool on Saturday. Unfortunately, the hot weather we had been having decided to retreat and it was cold and rainy all weekend! I took a few pictures of Gavin in them just to see what he did... he was not impressed...



Today it was finally going to be warm enough that we could get his pool all set up outside so, I pulled out the hand pump we have to blow up the rings...


Then we took it outside to fill it up with water and let it sit in the sun to warm it up!


After getting all suited and sunblocked up we headed out after lunch to "swim". It was a HUGE success! Aside from the water being nice and warm, Gavin was ridiculously excited. He was so happy and busy between the water, the grass, his toys, climbing around, etc, that he couldn't even be bothered to look at me so that I could get a nice picture of his excitement!


I finally managed to snag a few pictures of him looking at the camera when we went back out after his afternoon nap, but nothing that really catches how much he loved his pool!



I rule Gavin's first "swimming" experience a complete success! I look forward to all the pool time to come this summer and I plan to catch as much smiling and silliness on camera as possible!

Man, Are We In Trouble!!!

It seems that in the last week and a half since Gavin has started to what I consider officially pulling up, that is all he is interested in doing. He is using anything he can manage and won't give up! Most of the time he is able to fairly quickly manage to stand, which leads to a great deal of excitement and attempts to cruise around. It is really impressive to watch him try this on new furniture and toys. He even managed to stand up in his truck! I have proof!! We were outside this afternoon and we were sitting at the end of the driveway watching cars and people go by and Gavin decided to pull himself up and stand inside his truck! I was shocked, but thankfully pulled it together to get a picture with my phone...


He was so proud of himself, he was smiling and giggling away. It was crazy! Of course, despite my shock, I cheered him on and told him how well he had done. I don't know what I was thinking... I certainly shouldn't be encouraging such behavior, oh well, I will have to deal with that at another time...

While we were outside, we sat in the grass for a little bit to see if he would begin to like it a bit better. Although he wasn't thrilled at first, he remembered how much fun it is to pull up the grass and throw it around. He then moved on to using his truck as a means to stand up and walk around (of course)!





Although he is easily standing and very steady while holding on, the problem he inevitably encounters is that he gets a bit ahead of himself trying to take large steps to cruise around, let go altogether to reach something else or let go because he picked up something exciting and seemingly forgets that he needs to hold on with at least one hand. I dread that his few seconds of independent standing will lead much too quickly to his first steps, he can't possibly be headed that direction anytime soon, right? Right?!?!?!

Well, despite the fact that I have been enjoying Gavin's disinterest in crawling, I am not quite as safe as I thought because we are beginning to think he may skip crawling and go right to walking at the rate he is at. Oh well, I guess I will just have to enjoy the time I have left with a fairly immobile little boy because I have no idea how much longer I will have that peace!

Our Weekend!

This past weekend was a busy one around the house for all of us. Scott spent the weekend outside trying to get the rest of the landscaping done so that he can move on to other projects, have some weekend family time and not have to spend his whole summer outside working in the yard. Gavin and I watched Scott work on the flower beds in the front yard from the bay window. Gavin was so excited every time he saw Scott appear! Whenever Scott would disappear from view, Gavin would press his hands and face to the window trying to see where he went. It was so cute. Scott took some pictures from outside to show what he saw...



Gavin and I also spent a few hours outside getting the Terrain washed on Saturday so that Scott and I could work on the much needed waxing and detailing it needed. I decided that since it was so nice out I would have Gavin try out his swimming trunks and shirt (SPF/UPF 50 - awesome that they make swimming suits with that protection now!!) and I put some sunblock on him (he hated that part... it's going to be a long summer in pools fighting to keep him covered and protected from sun burn). I let him stand in his crib (we spend some time in his room so he can pull himself up and move around his crib every day now... we also use his pack and play for that now since that is sometimes the only thing he wants to do!) so that I could get a picture of his swimming outfit...


While we were outside washing the Terrain, I misted Gavin with water and he wasn't really sure what to make of it. He didn't hate it, but he wasn't laughing either...


He loves water (he loves sitting at sinks playing in the water, grabbing the faucet, kicking his feet in it and his bath) so I am sure he will warm up to this as well. We can't wait to get him in a pool and the ocean, we are sure he will love those!

We are almost done detailing the Terrain (Scott did all of the waxing, I washed it, did the tires, covered all the plastic/rubber in 303 to protect it, interior windows, vacuumed and wiped down all the interior) but it has taken 3 nights of many hours and 2 more of shorter hours to get there. It is completely worth it though. Scott took this picture the other night after he had finished the side.

It's so shiny!!! You can't tell from the picture, but it is also silky smooth! It is definitely a lot of work, but it is 100% worth the work to protect and take care of it!

Introducing...

GAVIN'S TONGUE!!!! Tonight, during his bath, he was playing around and "walking" around in the tub and seemingly out of no where started sticking out his tongue! It was hilarious and so cute! I called for Scott to hurry up and come see his newest trick and thankfully he also grabbed to camera to try to get a picture. Taking the picture proved much more difficult than we would have thought, but he managed to get one with his tongue sticking out. I am sure we will be seeing a lot more of that in pictures now!


It is amazing how little things like that can really make your day and I am sure some would think I (we) are insane for how excited we are about it, but it really is so much fun to watch him grow and constantly learn new things and test them out. I am so grateful that I get to spend so much time with him and experience all these milestones firsthand!

Gavin's Blackberry!

Gavin is, of course, very interested in items that he can not have such as our cell phones, cameras, etc. I decided I would pull out my old phone to see if that would satisfy his desire for playing with (and eating) our phones.


As you can see, a total success! He was immediately thrilled! He was laughing, shrieking (with joy) and kicking. I can't believe I didn't pull that out sooner! Although he is still interested in our cell phones, he can more easily be distracted by handing him his own phone!

What we have been up to...

We have certainly been busy having a lot of fun! While Scott was away with the guys last week, Gavin and I had several play dates, spent lots of time outside, played lots of games, sung songs and just had lots of fun together. I took a bunch of pictures, although they were with my phone because Scott had our camera, but they are still not that terrible...


Tolerating the camera being in his face, again!



Gavin gave grass another try... he seemed okay with it, as long as he was not actually sitting in it.

One of Gavin's new favorite faces to make...


In the last couple of days, Gavin has been working on some new tricks and really mastering some that he has had up his sleeve for a while. He continually amazes me with how quickly he learns new things!

Gavin has started "reaching", meaning he indicated when he wants to be picked up. I am really enjoying this one because we can be on his play mat and he will reach over and grab me and pull himself close to either sit in my lap or indicate he wants to get up and so something else. It is also nice because I know whether he really wants to be picked up and moved or wants out of his truck, etc. Besides, it is of those things that make you feel loved as a parent without them being able to actually speak yet, completely awesome!

Although Gavin still has little interest in crawling, he has begin to find other ways to reach toys (cameras, phones, remotes... whatever happens to have caught his eye). He has been able to roll both from his stomach to his back and his back to his stomach for a long time now, but refused to roll from his back to his stomach because he has no use for it - why would he bother to roll to his stomach when he hates being on his stomach! Well, he now more consistently rolls both directions when it suits his purpose of acquiring said object. He also has discovered that he can grab hold of things (like the edges of his play mat) while on his stomach and scoot to reach his toys. He rarely "army crawls" but has a few times, he seems less interested in that, for the moment!

He has loved standing since he was very little and now "dances around" if you let him stand on you. He also started to "walk" backwards, so I started walking around with him to try to encourage him to move forward. He loved it! Although he still moves backwards, he will occasionally go forwards as well.

He has been trying to pull himself up to a standing position when he is sitting. He loves sitting in his pack and play and practicing. Well, today he actually managed to pull himself up to a full stand and was so proud of himself. He did it several times and even managed to do it in his crib as well (thankfully, we don't need to lower his crib yet because he can not get from laying down to a seated position or crawl... I am not looking forward to having to reach down so far to lay him down and pick him up)! He is quite daring and tries to take large steps to move around and sometimes completely lets go. Although he is just starting, I have a feeling this is the beginning of his cruising anything he can manage to pull up on, but I think he is still a little ways away from doing that consistently and well. I figured he wouldn't start doing this until he was crawling and could get to use to furniture to pull himself up... I am still hopefully we have a few weeks/months before he is really moving around so we don't have to figure out what and how to baby proof the upstairs that is still being finished. I plan to live in blissful denial until I actually have to figure it all out!

So proud of himself...


Gavin loves his Lightening McQueen car! At first we had to hold him on it to push him around and he would just stare at it and then us like we were crazy. He warmed up to it and really loved being pushed around and then he started pushing buttons and really playing with it. He has now reached a new level of enjoyment because he has started pushing himself. Well, not fully pushing himself, but since his feet touch the ground (on both sides - holy cow!), he has started to figure out he can move himself. He sometimes pushes himself backwards and other times he makes the motions to try to move forward but can't quite get there yet. Instead, he practices when we push him around. I am sure he will be pushing himself around on that in no time and it won't be long after he figures that out that he will be pushing his car around and walking behind it (insert sad face and tears here).


I think that covers all the highlights of the fun we have been having in the last week. I am sure there will be more to share in the next few days since Gavin seems to have decided to surprise us with a lot of new things this week! We will also be checking out the swings at a local park soon (hopefully this weekend), so I will definitely share how that goes and hopefully we can also get some nice pictures of it as well!!