10 Month Milestones

Gavin is a little over 10 months now. Crazy how time goes by so fast. He can completey walk on his own, with no help. He can throw a ball, kick and dribble a ball and LOVES to watch the football spin on its end around and around, over and over.

Gavin loves to eat cheese, beans, chicken, corn and many other foods.

He can say kitty, dog, duck, dada, diaper, momma... but none really sound very much like the actual word. "keyd" for kitty and "dyedye" for diaper.

It has been pretty cold in Texas the last few weeks, sometimes even getting into the 40's.... all of you Nort Eastern people are probably laughing at that statement. We have a fire in our fireplace every single night.

We have our christmas tree up and ready for Santa to come down our chimney. We are going to have Christmas at our house in Texas on Saturday the 20th of December, since we'll be in NY for the actual holiday.

Gavin's 9 month milestones

Gavin is now over 9 months old and growing so fast!

He can walk completely on his own with no help, crazy I know!
He can say "Kitty" and some other words like "duck".

He loves being outside and playing in the grass. He loves trees and can say "aweee" which I think means tree. He is a very active boy and always wants to walk around and explore new things.

We had our family photographs taken by my friend Missy who is an architect and aspiring photographer. She is trying to rev up her portfolio to start up a business in photography. Besides a few issues with Gavin being unhappy at 8:30am in 45 degree weather and a really bright sun shine which made him squint, she got some pretty good pictures.

go to webshots.com/user/hollandfamily2008 to see the album.

We'll be coming home for Christmas on Dec 22nd and staying through Dec 31st.

Visiting and Visits From The Grandparents

Early in October, Grandma (Shelley) came down to visit Gavin. The weekend went well and we had a lot of fun. Gavin was happy to see his Grandma and wanted to play with her a lot. We went to the zoo and Gavin was very focused on the animals. He did take a little catnap half way through, but was very well behaved and happy at the zoo.

One week later, Gavin and Mommy went to visit Grandma and Grampa (Monroe) in Windsor, NY. We flew into Philadelphia and then drove 3 hours north to Windsor. It was a very stressful day in the airport with Gavin. They do not make airports friendly for moms and babies. We were there for a week, and were lucky with weather (relatively speaking). It was in the 50's most days and when we left it snowed, so we were lucky. Gavin loved playing in the front lawn, with the leaves, pumpkins and grass. I got to spend time with my good friend Stacy and she got to hang out with Gavin and he loved her, so it all worked out great. It made me miss having help, miss having Grandparents around, remember how much I hate the cold weather, remember how much my skin hates the weather, remember how much I love the colors changing, remember how closed in NY makes me feel, and remember how ugly the majority of people in Binghamton really are..haha, sad but true. Not everyone, but 90%. If I ever moved there, we would limit Gavin's pool of pretty girls significantly haha...

We are still up in the air about where to move. We always have a new plan so don't bother keeping up with it, it will most likely change. So far we have been through Greenville, SC, Pittsburgh, PA, Wake Forest, NC, Fishers, IN, Rochester, NY, Nashville, TN, Columbus, OH, and I am sure others... It is beautiful weather in Texas right now, so its not as urgent now :)

8 Months Old

Gavin is getting bigger every day!

Milestones this month:

- can crawl like crazy, anywhere and everywhere

- can pull himself up to stand on anything from a magazine to a radio to a wobbly laundry basket.

- can take 6-7 steps without falling down

- can recognize and retrieve a ball, book, duck, etc when asked

- can crawl through obstacles such as legs, crib, big garafe legs

- can say "momma" "Kitty" "Duckie" "Baba" "Daaa" "Heyyyy"

- can do the sign for more

Gavin isn't that great of an eater because he knows he gets a bath after he eats, so everytime he starts to eat he wants out so he can play in the bathtub.

Gavin loves to chase the cats around the house

Gavin LOVES his mommy and cries every time she leaves the room or does not pay attention to him.

Gavin took his first road trip last week from Texas to Memphis, TN and then up to Bloomington, IN. We was much better than I anticipated. Luckily we bought a DVD player for the trip and had him watch baby einstein learning videos to occupy his time. This probably saved us from self distruction. We visited Grandpa Scott in Memphis and then went to meet Gavin's cousin Lotte. This was their first encounter and they did pretty well. They had a few episodes of crying, but were very curious about eachother.
Part of our intention was to visit Fishers, Indiana, a potential location to live. We want Gavin to have some of the same outdoor living values we have and its hard to get that in Texas because there are so many fire ants, its so hot for so many months and then basically goes right into being cold all winter. The midwest is familiar to me and Ian would get to be in an area which was more woodsy. Also we would be close to Kris, Tiffany and Lotte and which would be nice.
We are currently looking into our options for selling our home. We are not sure if we have any equity at all because of the market, time lived in the house (almost 2 years), and time we want to wait for an offer. If we are able to sell we will probably sell as soon as we can and then figure out from there what to do. Either find a house quickly in Indiana without being there, or rent an apt for a few months and find something. We could also put a bid on a house with a contigency that we will sell our home.
Anyways I just wanted to give that update. I will be sad to leave all my friends I have made here, but I think we need to do what is best for Gavin and be within driving distance of the family, especially with plane ticket costs.

Gavin's first road trip - 1900 miles

Gavin took his first road trip last week from Texas to Memphis, TN and then up to Bloomington, IN. We was much better than I anticipated. Luckily we bought a DVD player for the trip and had him watch baby einstein learning videos to occupy his time. This probably saved us from self distruction. We visited Grandpa Scott in Memphis and then went to meet Gavin's cousin Lotte. This was their first encounter and they did pretty well. They had a few episodes of crying, but were very curious about eachother.

Part of our intention was to visit Fishers, Indiana, a potential location to live. We want Gavin to have some of the same outdoor living values we have and its hard to get that in Texas because there are so many fire ants, its so hot for so many months and then basically goes right into being cold all winter. The midwest is familiar to me and Ian would get to be in an area which was more woodsy. Also we would be close to Kris, Tiffany and Lotte and which would be nice.

We are currently looking into our options for selling our home. We are not sure if we have any equity at all because of the market, time lived in the house (almost 2 years), and time we want to wait for an offer. If we are able to sell we will probably sell as soon as we can and then figure out from there what to do. Either find a house quickly in Indiana without being there, or rent an apt for a few months and find something. We could also put a bid on a house with a contigency that we will sell our home.

Anyways I just wanted to give that update. I will be sad to leave all my friends I have made here, but I think we need to do what is best for Gavin and be within driving distance of the family, especially with plane ticket costs.

7 months old

Gavin can now do the following on his own:

Sit up, roll over, stand, pull himself up to standing, take 1-2 steps, crawl, feed himself, say "momamamama" and "babababa" and "heyyy", clap his hands, laugh, splash in the tub, give kisses (with a wide open mouth), and many many more things daily.

Personality:

He always wants his mommy. He gets stranger danger randomly with strange men. He loves parties and watching people. He screams at other babies when he sees them. He throws fits when you put him down and he wants to be held. He loves to move all the time. He is determined to do something new every day and is always trying to master something (pulling himself up, taking steps, pushing adult hands away to balance on his own). He loves to act silly and see if mommy or daddy is watching him.

Gavin is born!

Story of the labor and delivery:

We went to the hospital to be induced on Feb 4th at 10pm. By 12:30am they started the pitocin. By 8:30am nothing had happened. I had been having small contractions all night, but nothing significant. My OB came in and broke my water sometime around 10am. I started having severe contractions right after my water was broken. They were very intense due to the fact that I had lots of pitocin built up all night as well as my own hormones which now came into action after my water was broken. I finally got an epidural and I was already 9cm dilated. I went from 3cm to 9cm in one hour! Gavin was born at 12:07pm Feb 5th weighing 7 lbs and 5 oz, he was 21 inches long.

When Gavin was one week old we had a large flood of water in our house due to a plumbing problem caused by the city. We had water all over our house. My family was in Texas visiting us and helped with the cleaning and damage control. We have been staying in a hotel while the cleaning company decontaminated and dehumidified our home. We are now waiting on insurance adjustment so we can get new floors in our house and start to enjoy our life with our new family member in our own house! We are trying to make the best of it.

40 weeks

Recap of weeks 4-38

Starting Week 39

I am officially really sick of being pregnant.

Starting Week 38 - any day now

I am finally full term and Gavin can technically be born at any time. The average week a healthy baby is born is between 37-42. I definitley won't go over my due date because I have the option to induce if I get to that point (which I hope I don't have to wait that long). We are getting the house ready for visitors so we dont have to do a lot of cleaning after Gavin is born. I made Ian a honeydo list! We have been walking daily and I have been going to the gym between 2-3 times a week to do weights and eliptical for the entire 9 months. Recently more people come up to me and request I don't have the baby at the gym... Here is my picture this week. I am huge...

Starting Week 37 - 9 months!

So this is what 9 months looks like? I am big and can only escape the stretch marked belly for so long... I am hoping to keep my belly at bay theses last few weeks... Full term is 37 weeks, so at the end of this week I am considered full-term. If Gavin were to be born now though, he would be fine, they would just watch him to make sure he had no problems.

I have been having braxton hicks contractions for 2 days now... they are very frequent. They haven't seem to be getting worse so I haven't seriously started to time them at this point.

The doctor told me last week that they will start checking for dilation this week. I am excited to know if I am getting anywhere with that... She also told me she is giving me the option to be induced the week of January 22nd IF I am dilating well, due to her being absent the week before and of my due date... Everything is coming to an end here, but I feel like it is taking forever! I am so ready to have this baby!

Starting Week 36 -- Almost there!

I had a Texas baby shower today hosted by my friend Lauren. It was nice... we had fun. It was 72 degrees out today or maybe even warmer, it was beautiful out! Ian went golfing. Here is my 35 week picture! I am now in week 36... I go to the doctors every week now and they start checking for dilation soon.