Kooshie Kooshie Koo

Philip and I have been cleaning out our stuff and Philip found an old Koosh ball that wasn't all gross (mine was all dry and cracked looking). We thought it would be fun for Gavin play with while we keep an eye on him to and he seems to like the texture.

Oh, and Gavin cut his third tooth yesterday. He's had swelling for a couple of weeks now, but it finally came through! He's still working on tooth number four, it's been swollen as well!

Shove! Get it all the way in!



Let's eat it all up!



Look what I did to the Koosh ball! It's a sopping mess!

Scrub a Dub Dub

Gavin found a kitchen scrubber still in the package that he thought was oh so much fun to play with! It was really funny because it looked as if he was almost trying to scrub himself and the floor with it! This is not the best video of it, but it was all I could do. Once you get the camera out, a lot of times they don't want to do what they were doing!

Let's Party!

Gavin went to a birthday party for one of his friends yesterday! She is one year old now, six weeks older than Gavin! (Ooh, an older woman!)

Playing together...



All frosted up, she LOVED the frosting!

Peek a boo...

I see U! Or rather W!

Any Suggestions?

As I mentioned briefly in the last post, Gavin's been refusing to eat. I know that he's not starving by any means, but it is frustrating for me as a parent to try to feed him food and have him refuse it. I thought maybe he wanted to eat when we eat, so I made sure I was eating, too. I thought also he wanted to eat what we're eating, so I've been trying that as well. It seems to work some of the time, but even when he is eating, it's been a four or five bites (maybe less), or half to 3/4 of what he was eating before. Being a first time parent, I'm not sure what to expect, of course, and every child is different, but any suggestions on what I can do? Or am I doing all I can? I just keep offering it to him, and I usually nurse him afterwards. I just called Philip and he suggested that I wait half an hour without nursing and try again. I guess I'll see if that works.

He eats baby cereal like crazy and cheerios or other cracker/cereal like stuff just fine, but I don't want that to be his only sustenance. Oh, another factor: we believe he's teething and can see white on his gums. Could that also be the problem?

This is a picture I took last week and thought it fit perfect with the subject of this post.

Blackmail Photos

We drove to our friends' house, Eric and Gail, which is 45+ minutes away for dinner to celebrate Gail's birthday, then went back to their house and it was time to get Gavin ready to go to bed in the pack and play. I went to change his diaper and he had had a blow out up his back! It's been a long time since that has happened, I figured it was because he had been mostly on a breast milk diet, since lately he's pretty much only been eating cereal and breast milk. I went to the diaper bag to get an extra outfit, but I didn't have one! It so happened that Gail was going to go on a trip to visit her family out of state and is taking baby clothes from one sister to another. The only problem: they were all girl clothes! So, Gail searched through the clothes to find an eighteen month outfit and this is what she came up with! Philip says his face looks like a boy. I thought maybe it was because we know he's a boy. What do you think?

He didn't seem to have any trouble figuring out how to crawl in a dress...

Pillow Head

Gavin pulled the Boppy off of the couch and put his head down on it. He knows what's comfy! He loves pillows!

Hippo Pillow

Gavin just loves his hippo pillow that Aunt Staci gave him. He buries his face in it or hugs it while he sleeps. I hope you like this picture because I woke Gavin up with the flash when I took it! Then he moved, so it was a one time only deal! (March28)

Working on the Car Again!

Gavin was pulling down the car in the front by the handle so he could spin the toy at the other end of the car! It was so cute! (March 28)



Every time he plays with the car he always manages to turn it on its side, or upside down!

Play Date @ the Park

Yesterday Gavin had a play date at the park with a friend from church. They are so close in age, just about three weeks apart! Hopefully they'll become great friends. Gavin's friend is practically walking with just a little bit of assistance, but Gavin's just not there yet. All in good time. Apparently Gavin thinks that anyone standing is fair game, though, because he tried to pull up on his friend! Most of the time (when Gavin wasn't trying to grab his friend) it was just parallel play, but that's to be expected at this age.

Let me just grab your face, I promise it won't hurt...



You do your thing, I'll do mine.





He's practically walking on his own!!

Gavin's learning new tricks...

...from the cat!!! For those of you who don't know, we rent from my sister-in-law and our house is attached to theirs by double doors. Quite frequently when we're not home, (and even sometimes when we are), the cat will knock at their door and give pitiful cries. He's hoping that Jessica will send the kids up to play and or give him food. Or, perhaps just to run around their place for a few minutes for change of scenery...or escape to the backyard. Either way, he wants their attention.

Gavin has learned that there are indeed people on the other side of the doors...(March 23) I'm sure Jessica will love this picture!



Whenever the door is open, the cat likes to sit at the door to see the sites and smell the smells (and try to escape). Now that it is getting warm again, I have been leaving the door open and Gavin has taken up the kitty's plight. (March 24)





Putting his arm under the door like the kitty does!!!

Adventures in Parenting

I don't have a picture to go with this story because I was just trying to take care of the situation... Gavin and I go for a walk every weekday morning. Before we go I have to eat, feed him, nurse him, and change into my workout clothes. Lately I have been bringing my clothes out to the living room to change, but this time I decided it wouldn't be that long and I would change in my bathroom. I was changing my clothes when the cat walked into the bedroom and I heard movement in the LITTER BOX!!! I went dashing into the bathroom and rinsed the litter off and washed Gavin's hands with soap, hoping I'd caught it before it entered the mouth...but I hadn't...so I swept what I could out of his mouth, but I'm almost 100% sure he swallowed some. So I called Philip and a friend. I had already previously read the cat litter container and it didn't say anything about accidental ingestion. My friend called poison control and they told her it was nontoxic and that there wasn't any action listed for it, so just to watch him and make sure he gets plenty of liquids so he doesn't get stopped up. I need to get the number for poison control because (knock on wood) I think I should have it in case something like this ever comes up again. We will be getting a baby gate for the bathroom so that the cat can get to his potty box, but Gavin can't. Fun times.

Happy Easter!

We got some cute pictures of Gavin in his little suit that he wore to church today. He has his Easter basket with him. The roll around balls were from the Easter bunny and the keys were from Miss Dori, thanks! (They are real metal and we are trying to get him to play with his keys, instead of mine!) He has a matching cell phone somewhere also. So now he can start the tractor and call someone from it as well (they are oh so cute John Deere!)

Pseudo Japanese Baby

I went to the Japanese market with my half Japanese friend and she recommended these baby biscuits to me. They are made of rice, and unlike the American counter part made by Gerber, these dissolve instantly and DON'T STAIN!

I also bought some instant Miso Soup for babies to try out. I'm determined he'll eat Japanese food!

Easter Time!

Gavin visited with the Easter Bunny today! We couldn't get a smile, but it's still cute!

Going up!

Gavin finally pulled up on Friday, 3/14, but we didn't get a picture of it. My friend's house seems to be the magical place because that's the only place he's done it: in her pack and play. She was patient enough to get a video of it for us yesterday. I finally edited the video, it was SO easy using Windows Movie Maker. I just made the video shorter, but they have other effects you can do as well. It looks like fun!

Gavin finally pulled up at home on 3/22 for Daddy while Mama was away in Palm Springs. I'm sure it will become more regular as time goes on! It always does!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

People keep telling me that Gavin is looking less and less like a baby and more and more like a little boy. My mother even told me he looks like a toddler. What do you think? Here's our little shamrock! (He's playing with one of his favorite toys, Mama's keys!)

...and you probably thought only dogs did this!

This isn't the first time our kitty's done this, and I'm sure it's not the last, but it's still funny. (Gavin thought so, too.)

Uh oh!

For a week now, Gavin has been trying to pull up on things like the couch, me, and Daddy. Today he was crying as usual when he finished his nap. I walked in and he was on his knees in the crib holding onto the side. Pulling up is not far away, and he's only been crawling for about a week and a half! The pictures were taken at an angle so that we can see his face, but the top his head is already a couple of inches over the edge of the crib and he wasn't even standing!! Good thing we took the doctor's recommendation at Gavin's last appointment of moving the crib mattress all the way to the bottom because he's so tall.

We're getting curls!

This picture is from yesterday, it shows just a hint of curls and red highlights.