Oh So Thankful

Hey there friends and family. A belated Happy Thanksgiving to you all. I can hardly believe it's come and gone and Christmas is around the corner. We are thankful and feel blessed beyond what we could ask for-- for our family and friends, our church, our Lord. And daily, actually hourly, our hearts swell with thanks for our son Gavin.

We enjoyed Gavin's first Thanksgiving with family and a great feast in our home. In fact, it was our first Thanksgiving or Christmas to celebrate in our own home since we've been married. Thankfully, I was not really "in charge" of the dinner meal. Andrew and Connie, Tony's brother and sister-in-law, did most of the work.

We took a mid-day walk down at the beach on the Dungeness Spit to work up an appetite. Gavin was working on his nap and kept bundled up because it was quite cool.

Here's the gang and the feast: Me and Gavin, Ellie (8), Andrew, Ethan (10), Connie and Alex (6). Tony is of course, taking the photo.

We loved having Andrew's family with us and Tony was thrilled to have folks to play laser tag with in our yard. He set up barricades, obstacles, etc. and they finished with a fire in the fire pit and s'mores. Connie and Gavin and I went shoppping.

Gavin LOVED having his cousins over. He loved the attention and all of the noise and activity. It was so fun to hear him talking up a storm. I'm not sure if he was responding to the attention or trying to make sure that he was still heard over the commotion. It was such a sweet treat, none-the-less. Now he's back to being stuck with just his Mama and Papa and it's a little bit more quiet in the house. But he continues to reward us with wide eyes, raised eyebrows and squeals so expressive and so sweet I want to bottle them up.

Just before Thanksgiving, the three of us were fortunate to have a getaway to the West Coast. It's beautiful country and our two nights away were so relaxing. Tony even got in some surfing. Note the hood, gloves, booties and thick wetsuit he wears to surf in Washington. Not quite the same as his Laguna surfing days.

These little cabins were great and the view was even better. We liked to dream of having one of our own someday.

At the start of our trip, after a 2 hour windy drive, we took a hike out to Cape Flattery-- the most NorthWestern Point of the contiguous United States. It was so beautiful. Rain Forests, Sea caves, sea stacks, etc. We really enjoyed it. Gavin, on the other hand, was first enamored with his Papa (see below) and then decided to talk another nap.

On the subject of sleep...

Ah, sleep. Wonderful sleep. Naps. Nighttime wakings. Baby sleep. Sleep deprivation. You name it and we talk about it. Maybe even obsess about it. Sleep is a hot topic for us young parents. At least these days I can talk about getting more and more sleep. (Sorry, I'm not trying to rub it in.)

Last night Gavin slept for more than 8 hours straight. It was awesome! Of course, I didn't sleep for 8 hours. About halfway through my body woke me up wondering when Gavin was going to eat. And then I had to go to the bathroom. And other times I had to listen to make sure he was still breathing. And then a couple different times Gavin made noise like he was going to wake up, but then went back to sleep. So I'll have some adjusting to do, but Gavin seems to be faring well. He's hopefully transitioning into sleeping through the night on his own. Hallelujah!

Gavin in his crib. He still loves the swaddle. Doc recommended giving him access to his hands but then he tries to fit both his hand and the pacifier in his mouth at the same time and nobody is happy. Supposedly he'll just decide one day to give up the swaddling. We'll see how that goes.

You might remember that I shared about his propensity to cry in the car seat. Well, that seems to have been minimized a bit. A week or two ago we got in the car just as his nap was supposed to start. I stopped at the Starbucks drive thru on the way to church and realized after a few minutes that he'd fallen asleep without a peep. Yahoo!

Our little angel sleeping in the car. I'm so glad to have one of these fancy mirrors to see him while driving.

He still has his moments when he can't fall asleep-- for whatever reason. Probably sleep deprivation most of the time. On Monday we drove out to Bellevue (2+ hours) to see the dermatologist and do some shopping. Later on in the day we had one of those "episodes" where Gavin is really crying and can't get to sleep in his car seat nor will he keep his pacifier in his mouth. It was at this point that I learned the value of consistency and repetition. You see, Gavin loves it when I sing to him (go figure). We have our daytime songs (many thanks to my Sissa) and our night time songs. I sing the same five praise songs each night while rocking him before setting him in the crib. So, in the car I decided to sing those same songs hoping they would lull him to sleep. He settled a bit during the songs and when I finished the last song-- Amazing Grace-- he went right to sleep. It was truly amazing. Make no mistake, I'm going to keep singing those same songs for a while. Even if there are others around that have to hear my cracking voice.

Gavin is Three Months Old!

Last Thursday we celebrated three months of life for Gavin. No big hoopla, just a lot of pictures taken. I decided to dress him in one of his 3-6 month outfits (the little bear outfit)-- he is maximum capacity in the 3 month clothes and I've been dying to try out the new clothes in the next size up. Nevertheless, I felt pretty silly all day for having dressed him in such a big outfit. He was swimming in it. I still can't quite figure out the whole sizing thing. For a young boy that is probably 15+ pounds, he still fits in many of the clothes for babies up to 12 pounds. Guess it's not an exact science.

I suppose there was one event worth nothing on Gavin's "birthday." We took him to Bainbridge Island to see the Pediatric Opthamologist. He has a Port Wine Stain birthmark on his left cheek and near his left eye that first brought us to the Pediatric dermatologist. She referred us to the eye doctor since sometimes these birthmarks can affect the eye. Thankfully, Gavin's eyes seem to be just great. The funny part of the experience was that Gavin had his eyes dilated.

Later, while we were at dinner in Silverdale, he was so wide eyed, obviously trying to figure things out. He is generally attracted to and amused by light, but watching him this time with his eyes dilated it was like he was on a wild trip.

A few days before he turned three months, Gavin found new sounds. He was walking along my stomach and generally enjoying himself when out came new gurgles, squeals and coos. It was so much fun and has continued since. We've yet to be able to catch these conversations on video, but we've at least caught the "walking," which is one of his favorite activities.

He's also using some of these new sounds to communicate his frustration instead of going straight to crying. On the other hand, he has also figured out that he can scream and very quickly let us know his displeasure-- often when trying to put a shirt over his head. A few cries and he's back to smiling. He's still a pretty happy little guy, but definitely developing personality.

Here is a video of Gavin's walking. Just before the end he realized that his papa was off to the side with the camera and that's when he lost his concentration and fell. We get a kick out of his walking, but I definitely need to work on my arm strength for this activity. He's a 15lb. weight and gaining.

Gavin's First Halloween

You might say Gavin is a little bit too young for Halloween. Perhaps. But he's not too young to be dressed up in cute outfits so that we can take gobs of pictures celebrating his first halloween. Here are a handful of pictures of this "first"...


We went to the Fall Family Festival at our church. Gavin dressed up like a horse, although some were sure that he was a giraffe and others call him a cow. I guess they missed the mane running down his back. Besides you can't expect too much from a $10 WalMart costume. Tony and I didn't have the energy (or forethought) to be creative with our costumes.


Gavin likes people and is soaking in everything around him so he enjoyed the evening. He skipped his early evening nap in order to not miss a thing. We paid for it though-- he screamed all the way home, obviously beside himself with exhaustion and overstimulation. A little bit of rocking and swaddling and he slowly recovered but mom made note for future occasions such as this one-- be careful not to overstimulate. Live and learn.



In other news, Gavin is enjoying life. He's pretty easy going and now that we're working on a regular routine he's fussing less and less at his sleepy times. He's even sleeping more and more at night which we consider a miracle. As organized and planned as I like to be I never thought I'd put my child on a schedule. But now I fully appreciate the beauty of a schedule and what consistency means to a child. Hopefully my other anal tendencies will not be passed along. There are some that might not be as helpful.

Please nevermind the droool in this picture. It's one of his favorite pass times. He's been drooling for several weeks, but lately some of his behaviors are making me wonder if he's beginning to teethe. I'm hoping not, but we'll see.

Gavin has been thrilled lately with one major discovery-- his hand. In the pictures below you'll see him admiring his new friend. In fact, I have tons of pictures showing his adoration. (Notice also in the horse/hay picture above.) Whether he's in our laps, under his play gym, on the changing table, he's often entertained by watching his hand move up and down, open and close, turn this way and that way. It's quite comical. Makes me once again want to crawl inside his little brain and hear what he's thinking. It's so cool to watch him learn and figure things out.

Parenthood is great. And you might ask me (as many have) if I have yet to miss working. The answer is a big fat no. Yes, I had a good job and I miss the paychecks, but I have the greatest job on earth. And I'm hoping that I can stay home for a long time. No that's a lie. I'm hoping to stay home forever. So, we're praying for God's provision and enjoying each day I have at home.

Gavin will be three months in a week. My how time flies. Stay tuned for his three month photos.

"My Papa Dressed Me"

I realized the other day that Tony wasn't dressing Gavin in the morning. So, I made sure to give him permission to dress Gavin however he liked (unless I put an outfit out).

This was Tony's first creation. He picked his favorites from Gavin's wardrobe and put them together. Makes me smile and imagine the outfits Gavin will put together in the future when he is given freedom of creativity.

Maiden Voyage to the Pumpkin Patch

That's right. Maiden voyage (since we've been in Sequim) for all three of us. For some reason, the Pumpkin Patch just didn't have much appeal before Gavin arrived. But this fall Safeway pumpkins were not going to cut it. Even Tony got into it. We got dressed in our coordinating fall colors, made sure we would be warm enough and took the long journey about 1.5 miles down the highway.

Having spent most of life in Southern California, Tony and I were excited to experience a pumpkin patch where they actually grow the pumpkins with the background of vibrant fall maple leaves. (It was the site of last year's corn maze, but apparently they've rotated crop locations.)

Gavin enjoyed it too. He loves the outside and since it was near his nap time, he was quite mellow. It was a good thing we went when we did (last Saturday). The cute little pumpin outfit from Gramme just barely fit. I don't think it will last until next Friday. Gavin is getting bigger by the day.

So Irresistibly Cute!

I'm trying not to gush too much, but have I mentioned that we're enjoying Gavin's new conversation skills? So much so that we had to get it on videotape. The following video was taken by Tony during Gavin's first diaper change of the day (a typically happy time). As you'll see, Gavin seems to be enjoying himself as much as we are.

Truth be told, this stuff makes us melt and smile from ear to ear. It makes me want to stop time so that he never grows up, but I know there is more fun to come as he gets older.