Gavin Enjoys Walking the Dogs

Hi All, 

Here's the latest with Gavin.  First of all, he got the cutest jacket from his Uncle Jonny and Auntie Sara so check it out in the pics.  Also lately Gavin likes to hold on to the dog's leash and help when we go for our walks.  The dogs are pretty good about humoring him for a while and they basically stay out of his way.  Of course, when it's time to really hit the road and start movin' Frodo doesn't want to mess around with Gavin's slower pace.  So, yesterday we put Gavin in the backpack and had him hold the leash from there.  We got a lot of smiles from passersby as we strolled down the street.  

Also, some great news for those of you who have been following our lack of sleep saga for the past 11 months.  I hesitate to say much but... for the past week Gavin has consistently slept from 7:00 until 5:00!  He usually wakes up once at 11:00 or so and acts like he's disoriented, cries a little.  It takes a minute to go in and snuggle him and give him his pacifier and then he's right back to sleep.  He's also napping great!  At 5am I can give him a bottle in bed and he goes back to sleep for a couple of hours!!!  So now it's my goal to make that my time to get up and go to the gym or get other things done.  I used to love to wake up early before everyone else and go to the gym or have a long bath with a book.  It's just been so long since I've had a normal night's sleep that this was just not pleasant sounding at all to me!  So, I'll try to get back into it now that Gavin is doing better sleeping (it only took 11 months! but we do love his energy!)

Enjoy the pictures!  

Snow and hiking!

Hi Everyone,
This is my first post. I've been so inspired by Emily that I had to go for it. I'm posting pictures of our latest adventures. We went to Big Bear, just 2 hours away and got to play in the snow. My good friend Ryann and her husband and 2 girls invited us to stay with them in their time share and right outside our door was LOTS of snow! Gavin loved it, mostly he wanted to put it in his mouth (since he's cutting 4 teeth right now). When his hand would get too cold, he would cry and we would then pick him up and take the snow out of his hand and then he'd get more upset. It just wasn't quite registering with him what was happening. He went down the little sled hill with daddy too! It was fun for all of us to get to see snow!

A few days later, we headed up the road (about 2 exits from our house) to the Santa Rosa plateau. It's about 20 minutes from us and you suddenly are out in the middle of nowhere, discussing strategies in case you see a mountain lion. It was a beautiful California hike and no city as far as the eye could see. You can hike for miles and miles but since it was our first day and we had no hats or sunscreen (who thought you'd need them on a January day) we decided to take the short loop. We ended up finding some beautiful Oak trees that were nothing short of what you picture the giving tree to really be like, or something out of a fairy tale, the perfect climbing tree with these really long lanky branches that touched the ground! Gavin's eyes lit up as we let him explore this wonderland. He found a big (and pointy-mommy might add) stick that was the most amazing thing he'd ever seen and was passionately angry when I took it away from him b/c I determined it too much of a "You'll poke your eye out" hazard.

Anyway, we are happy to be kicking off 2008 with 2 outdoor adventures. It's so fun that Gavin is getting so curious about the world b/c we are sure enjoying introducing him to it!

Also, for those of you who don't know, he is walking (practically running these days). He's also talking a lot. He points to everything and wants to know the name and then he does his best to try to mimic what you say. He's got a lot of expression and intonation although all the correct sounds for the words may not be there. Today he picked up the phone and said, "Hi daddy" as clear as day. I know that sounds crazy but he says Hi and daddy all the time and actually says Hi daddy to daddy in person. I just thought it was so awesome that he'd say it to the phone. I immediately called daddy but of course he wouldn't do it on command. He also says "hot" "light (ight), he answers when you ask "what does the doggie say" (he sort of barks) and "What does the kitty say?", "OW" is his answer!

Needless to say, we are having the time of our lives with all of this!!!
Love you all!