Gavin 10 Months

Well hello there! It seems like I was just writing Gavin's last monthly update - I am not sure how Mindy keeps up with weekly updates because it's hard to find time to do these!! :) Here's to another great month and what I think is the best age we've seen so far :)

- We started the month off with a visit to the pediatrician not even a week after his 9 month checkup. He developed a staph infection on his cheek and it was SO scary! It started out very small and we thought it was a bug bite. It got bigger and worse looking over the next few days and I decided I should bring him into the doctor. I'm glad I did, because the day we took him in, it looked like this! :(

The doctor had to take a culture which was torture for poor G. They sent it off to Children's Hospital and sent him home with some antibiotics. It cleared up quickly, but he still has a red spot on his cheek today. I'm really hoping it doesn't leave a scar on his poor face!

- Gavin started pulling himself up shortly after he turned 9 months and now he does it all the time! At first he was a little unsure of how to get back down after he pulled himself up, but he's gotten the hang of falling back on his butt somewhat gracefully :) He's taken a few steps when we hold his hands but I don't think he is anywhere near walking yet!

- We had a nice visit with my parents a few weeks ago. My mom might have more of a shopping problem than I do.... she brings Gavin an outfit every time we see him! Haha, I can't complain, because that means less money I have to spend on clothes!

- Father's Day was nice and relaxing... Matt's birthday is only a week before Father's Day (that will be fun every year with getting him gifts!) so I combined his bday and Father's Day gift, which was a kayak! Gavin had his first time in the baby pool, too. I was all excited to set up his pool and have it ready when he woke up from his nap. Little man woke up on the wrong side of the crib, because he was not happy to be in his pool! He sat in it a few minutes then started crying. We're going to make another attempt soon!

- I went to Put in Bay with Ashley 2 weeks ago, which meant 3 nights away from Gavin :(

I had a wonderful time on the island, but I'd be lying if I didn't say Gavin was on my mind most of the weekend. I knew he was in good hands with his daddy, but that is a long time away from him! Matt did a great job with Gavin and even took him to our friends' party for a few hours solo.

 I'm so proud of him! It was nice to spend time with my friends and have some "me" time, but I'm so glad to be back home :)

- We took Gavin to Comfest last weekend where he met up with his buddy Oliver. Comfest is great people watching, so we just got some beers and hung out on a picnic blanket with the kiddos. It's legal to go topless in Columbus, so the boobs are out in full force at Comfest (it's basically a hippy festival)... so Gavin saw his first pair of non-mom boobs, haha!

- Mindy had a wedding in Ohio this weekend, so she was able to stop by on her way up to stay with us for a night! I was so excited to meet Miss Ella! Her and Gavin had a fun time playing on the floor... Gavin had fun stealing Ella's pacifier!

- We had a night away on Thursday to go to a friend's 4th of July party and watch the downtown Columbus fireworks. Lynette (my sister in law) watched Gavin so we could go for a few hours. It was so fun!

- We went to Cambridge during the day on the 4th to see Matt's family. Gavin was a ham the whole time, per usual, but didn't take the best naps there. He is hit or miss with his naps in the Pack n Play.

I think he likes the TV.

- We spent some time with the Petruso's in the evening on the 4th :) love these kiddos together!

Gavin 9 months

My baby boy is 9 months old! Life with Gavin keeps getting better... here is what we've been up to the past month!

- Gavin started crawling 3 weeks ago, so right around 8.5 months! As I told you last month we knew it was coming because he was scooting himself around and up on all fours rocking back and forth.  Once he figured out how to crawl, he was crawling everywhere, and fast! It's amazing how quickly babies can pick things up. We may have enticed him to crawl with dog food... his new obsession. He will not stay away from that stuff! Poor Callie can only eat her food at certain times of day now, as she is used to grazing on her food all day. The house was pretty well baby-proofed before he started crawling but the more he gets around, the more things I realize need secured... eek! It's so fun watching him get around now. He's sitting up on his own as well and started to grab things and pull himself up to his knees, too.

- Along with dog food, Gavin's other obsessions are plastic bags (mom of the year, right here), water, going outside and discovering, mimicking our voices, happy screaming, bouncing on our knee, reading, Sophie, Callie & Milo, air vents, riding in his cozy coupe & Mickey Mouse car, watching the washing machine, our digital photo frame, and the hairdryer! Haha I discovered by accident he loves air on his face so now every time I dry my hair he wants me to point it at him... don't worry, it's on the cool setting!

- Note to self... don't take Gavin to "check how our seed pods are doing"... curious G knocked my tomato plant over, but luckily, I think it's going to be okay!

- My first Mother's Day was this past month and it was great. Matt made sure to make the day special, getting us breakfast and letting me sleep in and spend all day playing and snuggling with G :) He got me the camera lens I've been wanting which takes up close, really in focus pictures. I'm obsessed!

- We had our first solo road trip to my mom and dad's while Matt was camping a few weekends ago. It went pretty well, except for the fact that Gavin decided to scream bloody murder the last 30 minutes of the drive to North Ridgeville. My parents were kind enough to go to some of the garage sales in their neighborhood before I visited and picked up some AWESOME finds! Garage sales are great for baby toys, because they only use them for a short period of time and are so easy to clean off and disinfect. He got a Vtech sit to stand walker, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse ride on, Cozy Coupe, and a bunch of other great toys/clothes! All for $5 and under!



- Gavin continues to sleep well. He goes to bed between 6:30-7 & sleeps a full 12 hours without waking, and still takes 3 naps a day. I think he is making up for all the sleep he missed months 0-6 :)

- Since last month, we've introduced broccoli (yuck says Gavin), blueberries, mangoes, apples and yogurt. We re-introduced the Gerber puffs and he's doing much better with them, so we are also going to start introducing more "solid" food like tiny pieces of avocado, banana, etc. Gavin eats 4 meals a day on average, consisting of 4 bottles and 3 solid foods, with 1 "snack" a day of puffs and a water sippy cup.

Mmm... blueberries

I call this, the aftermath of "puffs"

- Gavin is certainly becoming a mommy's boy... he's started crawling up to me and pulling on my leg when he wants me to hold him :) sooo cute but daddy gets a little jealous sometimes!

- He had his very first boo-boo last weekend :( His aunt got him a doorway jumper which we were so excited about because he loves bouncing. We don't have a large doorway to support it other than bedroom doorways, so one morning while he got a little out of hand with bouncing in it, he bounced himself right into the door frame. We freaked out a little, but he was fine afterwards and only cried for a few seconds.

-We visited the pediatrician yesterday, and Gavin is 18lbs 10 oz (32%), 29.25 inches long (85%). Future basketball player, eh?? I am not sure where he gets that height from! He did really well with the visit even though poor baby had to get 2 shots.

Can't believe his birthday is 3 months away!

Gavin 8 Months

8 months have come and gone, and my little man just continues to keep me wrapped around his little finger! He's mimicking us more and more and loves to say "da da" and "ga ga" and scream at the top of his lungs (a happy scream!). He truly lights up our lives!

- I feel like this past month flew by faster than any of the others... I should've kept better track of things because it just seems like a blur. Gavin is as squirmy as ever (it's almost impossible to change his diaper without a second person these days!) and is so so close to crawling. He's figured out how to get up on his hands and knees and sort of rocks his little but back and forth in the air (which might be the cutest thing ever). 

He can crawl backwards, but hasn't mastered moving forward yet. He can "scoot" around the carpet and he seems to be pretty content with that mode of transportation at the moment. I know a lot of babies don't even crawl, so we'll see if he hits that milestone. Either way, we have learned to keep a much closer eye on him these days, because that boy can get around!

- We are officially full formula feeding as of about 3 weeks ago. I went through a really tough time coming to terms with my low milk production and tried almost everything you could think of to try to increase. I probably could've kept up with nursing for much longer, but pumping just got to be more work than I felt it was worth, so I weaned over about a 1.5 week time span. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, I think mostly because my production was so low. So far I've only had one leak (haha eww!) and other than that we've had no problems. Gavin didn't even really seem to notice, I think because he is so used to getting a bottle at daycare anyway. It's kind of freeing now, not having to worry about providing my boob every 3 hours and worrying about drinking alcohol (haha obviously, it's me we're talking about!) and not having to leave my desk at work every 3 hours for 45 minutes at a time!

- Gavin just loves eating "real" food. So far he's tried peas, squash, avocado, sweet potato, pears, peaches, carrots and bananas. He wasn't a fan of peaches, and avocado continues to be his favorite! He's eating solids 3 times a day and gets a bottle 4-6 times a day (so about 30ish ounces of formula). He gets so excited when I put him in the high chair and sees the bowl coming towards him! I tried puffs with him a couple weeks ago and he seemed to have a hard time with them - it kind of scared me as he was almost close to choking on them, so we're gonna hold off a bit on trying them again!

- Since the weather has been pretty nice in Ohio recently, we've been going on more walks and took Gavin to the park for his first time a few weeks ago. He LOVED, loved, loved it. I don't think I've ever seen him smile bigger or laugh harder than when he was on the swing. It brought tears to my eyes to see him so happy (I know, cheesy)! We've been back a few times since then, and actually purchased a swing for the tree in our backyard from our neighbor's garage sale. I love the convenience of being able to swing him in the backyard whenever I want!

- Gavin enjoyed his first visit from the Easter bunny this month. He got 2 books and a bell toy - the kid is obsessed with anything that makes noise!

We enjoyed a nice brunch at Lauren and Matt's in the afternoon and the kiddos had a good time playing in the water - it was a beautiful day!

Adalyn's friend Isla, Gavin and Adalyn :)

- One of my new favorite things? Holding my iPhone up to Gavin when he babbles and seeing what Siri thinks he just said :)

- We went to the zoo a few weeks ago for the annual MS walk my friend Kerry organizes. It was a lot of fun and Gavin was so well behaved the whole time!

"I've got my Sophie, let's do this walk!"

Matt & Gavin, James & Oliver - the boys and their mini me's!

Now that we have Gavin facing forward in the stroller, I think he likes to look around at everyone and take it all in. We almost lost Sophie during the walk (Gavin thought she belonged on the ground instead of in the stroller!), and some other parents found her on the ground and said "oh you wouldn't want to lose Sophie!", so they knew what a beloved toy it is! Since then I purchased these amazing straps from a babysteals.com purchase, and they have been pretty great! They keep Sophie secure in the stroller so I don't have to pick her up off the ground 948309843 times. :)

- Speaking of stroller, Gavin and I have gone on a couple of runs in the Britax. Gavin seems to enjoy it! I wasn't sure how this stroller would do with runs since it technically isn't a "jogging" stroller, and it does okay as long as you are on a steady surface. I can see why a jogging stroller would be worth the purchase, because it was a little wobbly at times and it would be nice to have a locking front wheel and hand brakes. I'm going to keep my eye out for one on Craigslist to hopefully purchase in the near future, since a decent brand new one is $300+.

- We had to visit the doctor (AGAIN!) 2 weeks ago for Gavin's persistent cough. It went away after antibiotics the last time (when he had his ear infection), then came just a week or two later. I called the doctor the morning he coughed so hard he threw up half his bottle, poor guy. :( They have him on a different antibiotic now and he seems to be doing much better. I guess it's better he builds up his immune system now, before he has to start school and take days off, right?!

- Gavin currently weighs 18 lbs, 7 ounces. His next checkup at the doctor is at 9 months!