Blessed.

Today was a bittersweet day for me. My little man turned 20 months old....he is no longer a teen-month-ager (we made that word up this morning) He is an independent little boy! When did that happen? I know it's silly, but it's a reminder of how fast he is growing up. I'm so grateful and so blessed to be able to stay home with him for five days and to have a flexible job that I love and to have a great "school" for Gavin. I will never get this time back, and I'm soaking it all up...as much as I can anyway. I'm also so grateful for my husband...more than he'll ever know. How lucky am I to have a husband to support me and encourage me no matter what I decide? That's only one of the reasons I love him...

Speaking of my husband, Gavin is so into his Dada right now. Around 5:45 every day, he starts to ask for Dada. He knows that Dada will be home pretty soon. Then, when he does get home, it's the Dada show! Gavin wants Dada to bathe him, to feed him a snack, to watch Elmo with him, to brush his teeth, to read him books and to put him to bed. When I tell him it's time to take a bath or brush his teeth, he walks over to Gary, grabs his hand, and says "Dada?" Gary says, "Oh, you want Dada to bathe you?" To which Gavin responds, "Uh huh!" I've done this for sooooo long, but it's good to see my boys bond. It's a good opportunity to spend family time together. I think he really enjoys us both putting him to bed.

We love you so much baby boy. You are so much fun, and we look forward to every moment we spend with you. I don't know what the future holds, but I sure am having a great time with you... and every day gets better.

School Halloween Party

Today was Gavin's school Halloween party!! He woke up a little bit grumpy this morning, but we decided to take him anyway. I knew he would have fun once he got there. He did NOT want to get in his costume.

Dada getting Gavin ready for the party.

Last minute adjustments to his costume. Gavin was so happy Dada was there...so was Momma :)
Finally happy!! Is he the cutest fireman you've ever seen. I'd buy his calendar!

Momma brought a "healthy, sugar free" dessert (??) It was a challenge to be creative with that. I could have just brought yogurt and fruit, but that's boring! So, I made peanut butter mud balls and graham cracker covered bananas. (Note to self...in large groups of children, there WILL be someone allergic to peanut butter.) There were two kids, twins, allergic to peanut butter. Apparently, they can't even come into contact with residual from peanuts, like the oil. So, all the kids that ate the peanut butter balls had to have their hands washed so they didn't leave peanut residual everywhere. Scary! Oops...

There was a feast! Pizza, chicken nuggets, fruit, cheese, pretzels, milk! Gavin loved it! When he was finished eating, he got up, pushed his chair in and threw his plate away! What a big boy!

The room was set up so nice. I heard that his teacher got there at 6 AM to prepare the room. Thank you Ms. Carmen, you did a wonderful job!

We got to sit in for circle time. The kids sing some really cute songs. Every now and then, Gavin would join in with some hand motions.

Gavin wanted to come sit with me after a while.

It was so fun to get a glimpse into how Gavin spends two days per week. I'm glad we found this place...I think it's really good for him, and the teachers really seem to enjoy him. Especially Ms. Lindsay. When it was time to leave, he waved goodbye and gave everyone kisses. We have such an unbelievably sweet little boy. He was exhausted when we got home and took a 3 hour nap!

New Orleans trip

Recently, Gary, Gavin and I went to New Orleans for a friends wedding. Gavin did so great on the plane again! We did have three seats to ourselves. That, my friends, is the the way to fly! Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so I only have a couple of dinky pictures from my phone.

Saturday night was Yudi's wedding. We had a blast dancing to the old school music and being with old friends. Congratulations Yudi!

My sister has a 10 acre spread in New Orleans with so much land! They even have a lake. The main way they get around is by 4 wheeler. We made the mistake of bringing Gavin on a 4-wheeler because from the minute he woke up to the time he went to bed, he was saying "I want that!" while pointing to the garage. We explored all over my sister's property. We saw spiders, and bugs, and water. Fred, my sister's Catahoula, herded us the whole time. He nipped at the tires and ran along side of the 4-wheeler anytime we were on it! Wasn't hard to keep up...I think the fasted we moved was 7 mph!

My mom, sister, Alexis, Gavin and I went to a wildlife refuge in Folsom, LA...aka BFE! It took us over an hour to get there. Luckily, Gavin napped in the car. This place was really cool! There were four covered wagons pulled by a tractor. You could buy cups of feed to bribe the animals to come up to you. Some animals followed behind the wagon the whole time. At times, it was pretty creepy. You turn around and there's some animal giving you snifters! Some animals took your cup, some would bite your hands (zebras), some you could feed out of your hands (giraffes), some made there tongue a cylinder so you could dump food down it's throat. I don't think Gavin appreciated it too much at this age. He was tired and hot, and it was an hour and a half ride! He had a decent time, though. He love hanging out with Aunt Gina!

One day while in New Orleans, we met dad, Ellie, Michelle and Leonard in the Quarter. Ellie's dad, Paw Paw Howard, has a little apartment in the Quarter, so we met there. We walked along the river to see the boats and the water. Gavin loved that. We also saw a sand bar with "WOH DAT?" written on it by a well intentioned fan. Not smart or not sober...I'm guessing both. I mean, who misspells who? Anyway, we continued to walk and had a picnic of shrimp po boys and gumbo for dinner. After frolicking in Jackson Square, we headed over the Cafe Du Monde for some beignets. Gavin LOVED the beignets (duh?).

Gavin wanted some of Paw Paw's drink, so he made him some "coffee" by mixing up some milk, imaginary sugar and water. Gavin drank it up!!! Go Paw Paw!

We had so much fun visiting with family and friends. I wish they all lived closer...

Nana and Paw Paw in town....

This past Wednesday, Ellie came into town to visit and Gary's dad flew up on Sunday to join her. We had so much fun with NaNa and Paw Paw! The weather was amazing, so we were outside a lot! Ellie is very creative and fun. For example, she drew squares with every one's initials in it, and we all had to go stand in our squares. Gavin knew right away where his square was, and so did Jack. They drew many other beautiful drawings, like sailboats, fish, trees, and the sun. Gavin had fun showing us their pictures.

Ellie watched Gavin on Thursday and Friday while we were at work and then again over the weekend while Gary and I took a much needed mommy and daddy vacation. More to come on that! Gavin did great! He and NaNa had a great time!

Jack had the coolest square, by far!
Dada, Gavin and NaNa standing in their squaresNaNa, Gavin and Jack.

Gavin loves being in the kitchen and helping. On this particular occasion, he was helping Ellie and I make Sunday dinner. He was in charge of washing the potatoes and then putting them in the strainer. He is such a good helper! Anytime Ellie was in the kitchen, he was right there with her!

On Monday, Gary went to work, and I took NaNa and Paw Paw to the Arboretum. They boast the only pumpkin village in the world!! It was all very neat. There were pumpkins (and people) everywhere! There were even houses made of pumpkins. Gavin was mildly overstimulated by all the people at the pumpkin patch (as was I), so we moved through quickly and went to eat our picnic lunch in a quiet spot in the shade.

Gavin and Paw Paw inside one of the pumpkin houses.

The only good picture I got from the pumpkin patch. Gavin was mostly NOT interested in sitting on a bail of hay to take pictures.

On the way to our picnic spot. I took NaNa and Paw Paw through the Women's Garden. Of course, Gavin loved all the water!

Finally at our picnic spot. We found a shady spot to set up. The weather was amazing! For lunch we had Lox and bagels, chicken, cheese, crackers, grapes and water. Very yummy!

Gavin was sharing his lunch with the birds and then trying to catch them.

On Tuesday, Gary took off of work. We took NaNa and Paw Paw to one of our favorite breakfast places, "Einine's babels" (BKA Einstein Bagels). After breakfast, we went on a trip to get pumpkins! Gavin had so much fun running around the pumpkin patch. He climbed on the pumpkins, played in the hay and ran up and down a little "hill". After he was pretty tired out, I took him for a wagon ride around the patch. That was a blast!! We got four beautiful pumpkins and four smaller pumpkins that we decorated with stickers.

After Gavin's nap, we went to the State Fair of Texas!!! It was $3 Tuesdays, so it was packed! We walked around for a while and Gary and Paw Paw got a corny dog. Then, we found the petting zoo. This was by far the highlight of Gavin's trip! He was so excited to see the animals and they seemed just as excited to see him!! We continued to walk around the fair and saw a few other things. It was getting late, so we decided to leave.

NaNa got slimmed!!

True story: This giraffe was in the corner with his head down. I was disappointed because I wanted to get some good pictures of it, but I also wanted Gavin to be able to see a real giraffe. I didn't blame him for being off in the corner...there were A LOT of people around. All of a sudden, he turned around and started walking right towards us!!! Gavin's face lit up as he walked right over to him and Gary!! He stayed over by us for a few minutes and then went on about his business. That was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. That giraffe came over to say "hello" to Gavin and then turned around and walked away.

Visiting with Gary and Gavin. I know what you're thinking...it's because Gary has food. Everyone had food!

Gavin love this...thing. He even gave him a kiss.

He liked the goats, too, although they didn't get a kiss. It was so cute to hear him make the goat sound.

Ostriches are scary. Very frightening...and creepy.

Gavin loved the Llama.

Gavin getting a ride from Paw Paw on the way out of the Fair.

The Fair was fun, but we were all exhausted! When we turned down our street, we saw a firetruck in the parking lot of the school. Gary remembered that it was National Night Out, and that there would be a firetruck, cop car and bounce house there. So, we hopped out of the car thinking we would take Gavin to look at the firetruck, then go home. Well, the fireman (and lady) walked over and opened the door to let Gavin sit in the drivers seat. He had soooo much fun! He loved it! He got mildly freaked out when they turned the engine on, but other then that, he loved it!! He honked the horn and sounded the siren. Every time it was another kids turn, and he had to get out of the firetruck, he would say "MORE!" The firemen got a real kick out of him.

Gavin in the firetruck.

Then, the fireman let Gavin operate the house. We all know how much he loves water! He had a blast!!

To top it all off, we went and got some lemonade, cookies and Cheetos. There was a bounce house, but there were several big kids in the bounce house. Once they all left, Gavin and I got in and jumped around. He didn't quite know what to do, but he sure giggled!! Dada even got in the bounce house with us for a bit while NaNa and Jack watched.

I think, so far, this was Gavin's BEST DAY EVER!!! I look forward to trying to top it, but it won't be easy!