19 Months

I really don't have that many pictures to share this month!

Let's see...what's the reason...oh, yeah! Getting ready for a baby to come! :)
We've been cleaning and doing last minute things around the house in case Miss Henley decides to come early!

We have so many friends with little ones that we've pulled some baby things back out for when they come over.
Dakota really likes the baby mat (don't worry Elizabeth, I've washed it since this picture!)

And Gavin remembered how much he used to love the Johnny Jump Up!

To give us a weekend to work around the house, Ryan's parents took Gavin to their house on Labor Day weekend. Here he is "helping" Gram with my b'day cake:

And his favorite thing to do: ride on the tractor with Papaw:
He asks to do this almost every day when Ryan comes home from work! They hop on the lawn mower and go around the yard a few times. He's a bit obsessed.

Speaking of obsessed, Gavin's new favorite thing is youtube videos on anything automobile: tractors, monster trucks, garbage trucks, you name it. He could sit here for hours if we let him.

He also has learned to go through the mail and pick out his future Christmas and Birthday presents:

I didn't teach him this. He seriously gets a toy ad and finds what he wants and points to it. He has one currently in his bed that he looks at and probably dreams about at night!

One thing Dad couldn't wait 'til Christmas for was a Power Wheels!
Gavin hasn't quite figured out that he has to hold the button down, but he loves riding it:

Speaking of Ryan, apparently all kids love him:

But especially this one. It's ridiculous:

Gavin has such a personality right now! He is starting to flirt for sure. A friend took these pictures out of focus but it shows Gavin being flirty and I love them:

Of course this boy still loves being outside. He has a lot of new toy cars thanks to a former student of mine! Thanks so much Miles!!

We've had to find some stationary activities for right now so I don't have to chase after this boy--because we all know who would win with a toddler and a waddler! :) We've had so much fun with his train table. He loves building the tracks and it's so fun to see him figure out how to put it together. His new favorite thing is to get in the drawer:

We haven't given this boy a bath in his bathtub in probably 3 weeks. Why? He LOVES our shower now! Quite convenient for us!

A few fun things about Gavin right now:
*He can put his Crocs on by himself! That's his way of telling me he wants to play outside.
*He is starting to talk more, copying a lot of words we say. His new favorite is "no, no!" Thankfully he hasn't said it to me! He says it if we open the oven or if he sees a big mess on the floor.
*Our new bedtime routine is to sit in bed and read with him before he goes to sleep. This boy loves books and throws a fit if we walk out of his room without reading at least 2!
*He gets out of bed to pull random stuffed animals into bed with him. It's fun to get him out of bed in the morning and see which one he chose to sleep with that night.
*He has started knocking on his door in the morning to tell me he's awake. It's precious. I like that a lot better than crying!!

Henley update to come soon!

Big Boy

I feel like Gavin is now officially a big boy because he's in a big boy bed. Not only did he move from crib to twin bed, he moved to a bigger room to make room for his little sister to be in his old room. It was a GREAT transition. He slept in a pack n play for a week to get used to his new room and then we put him in his new bed.

First night in his big boy bed:

(Notice the "Cars" sheets. He is obsessed and we thought it would make the transition more fun. He looooves the cars on the sheets.)

He gets in and out of his bed on his own with his stool. The first weekend, he got out of bed and screamed at the door for us to come get him, but we watched him in the video monitor crawl back in bed when he realized we weren't coming back to save him. It's been great since then!

These were Ryan's dad's dressers from his room when he was a little boy. All of Gavin's furniture is hand-me downs (the bed is his Unk's) so Ryan painted it all the same brown so it matched!

I wanted to stick with the nature/outdoor theme like he had in his nursery and now that Henley has. So we want to do a camping themed room. My aunt bought this shade tent for us when we went to the beach and it works perfectly in his room! He loves reading in there--with or without me! Thanks, Joanna!!

A bigger room = bigger toys! It's so fun keeping this train set out all the time for him to play with. When he wakes up from naptime he usually starts playing with these trains.

There's A LOT more that I want to do in his new room (like hang pictures on the wall!!), especially more camping themed stuff, but it's getting there! And we're so thankful that Gavin has done so well with such a big transition! He doesn't even try to go in his old room now. Now let's see if he can sleep in his room across the hall from his screaming sister! :)

8 Months and Henley's Room!

I can't believe there's only 1 more month to go 'til we get to meet our little girl!

Gavin's driving his train (one of his favorite things to do) on the number 8.

My sweet friends threw me a small shower on Saturday for little Henley.
Thanks so much guys for all your hard work!!! She is one blessed little girl.

The grandmothers and Aunt

Kim and I had to do our month pose together!
It's been so fun being pregnant with you, friend!

Sharon and Lon brought back an outfit for Henley from Hong Kong! Can't wait for her to wear it.

I'll show you her theme for her room in a minute, but Aunt Amanda of course did an amazing cake to go along with it:

Bethany and Sharon painted these letters to go in her room!

Now here they are after I made Ryan spackle and repaint the wall where Gavin's letters went.
I can't believe what girly letters and girly baskets can do to transform a boy's room into a girl's!

So here's a picture of Gavin's room when he was born:

We did an outdoor/nature theme for him and wanted to continue that with Henley. His bedding had owls (back left on the bumper) and I wanted to continue that with her because Ryan and I met at Ooltewah and the mascot is an owl. Yes, that's disgusting, I know! :)
So, Amanda painted cherry blossoms on the trees and we changed the bedding and I can't believe how different the room looks now! We stuck with the blue paint because it's like the sky for the trees. Thank goodness we didn't have to repaint!

Sharon and Bethany made these little owls for my shower and now they're sitting in their nest in her room! :)

Next post: Gavin's big boy bed in his brand new room!

18 Months

It's official. I want Gavin to stay this age forever and ever. I LOVE 18 months!!!

Ryan had to go to Atlanta for work a few weeks back and had to rent a car. What was the ONLY car they had? A 2010 cherry red Camaro!!!
Gavin of course had to test drive it.
"Dad, I'll take this when I'm 16, thanks."

We went blueberry picking again with Shannon and Libby a couple weeks ago.
It was amazing to me how much Gavin had grown up since last time we picked. Last time, he wanted in the wagon or played in the dirt. This time, he actually picked the BLUEberries! Not even the red or white ones!

But it was soooo hot and we were all tired by the end. I know, buddy, I felt like this, too.
This attitude is one thing about 18 months that I do NOT love so much. :)

He loves to put on sunglasses and knows he is being funny when he does.

And I probably shouldn't post this on the blog but it CRACKS ME UP so I must!
Played in the water in regular clothes so we stripped him down and he insisted on pushing his own stroller completely naked. He actually swats our hands away when we try to help him steer.

We borrowed the movie Cars for our Orlando trip. Well, this boy is hooked. Actually, obsessed is a better word. If we let him, he would sit on the couch and watch it all day long.
(Obviously we do not let him do that!)

He has no idea that he has a baby sister in my belly, but he's been resting his arm/hand on my belly and it's so sweet!

He had his first experience at Wasabi last weekend. He loved watching them cook in front of him!

Gavin is starting to help a lot. He puts things away in his toy bins now (woohoo!!) and loves helping with the laundry.

This teacher Mom is sooo proud of how much this boy loves to read! We have a tub of books upstairs and downstairs and we will literally sit down and read for 30 minutes non-stop, book after book.
I guess it helps when Target has a book based on his favorite movie in the $1 Spot
Obsessed, people. Obsessed.

Gavin and Dakota interact so much during the day that I love having her around. Even if she does slobber all over me. :) Dakota has always chased a flashlight since she was a puppy and Gavin loved learning to play with her at Ryan's parents' house. I think we should send this into America's Funniest Home Videos!


We've been able to enjoy family evenings outside now that the weather is cooling down (hooray!). We went to the Cove and grabbed a pizza one night:
Gavin loooved chasing the ducks.


And another evening we went to a playground by our house. Trying to get this boy out as much as we can before we're all trapped in the house when Henley comes! :)

Ryan and I recently made a list of all of Gavin's words he can say. More than what I realized, but not as much as I would like!!
truck
dog
Dakota
hot
duck
more
that
ball
bye bye
hi
Dad

He understands soooo much more! It's so fun to be able to tell him something as specific as "bring me the red truck" and he does! He's growing up so fast!

18 month stats from the doctor this morning:
Weight: 25 lb 2 oz (40%)
Height: 32 1/2 in (60%)