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.