Snow!

Yesterday, we received an unpredicted snow "storm" in Portland, which amounted to a little over 2" in our neck of the woods. It melted away today, but Gavin got to appreciate it more this year than last. He stared out the window at it for a long time, then had a great time walking around in it outside.


Wow!

A little tentative at first...

Then away he goes!

Christmas

Merry Christmas a few days late! I hope everyone out in blog land is enjoying the holidays! We had a great time at my Mom's this year for Christmas. We opened our gifts at home Christmas morning, then waited until the evening to open the rest in Salem. Gavin clearly enjoyed this holiday more than last year, and it was fun to watch him and little Olivia be overwhelmed by everything. Ok, get ready for a lot of pictures...



Gavin playing with some of his new toys before heading to Grandma's house

Waiting for the festivities to begin!


Livvie can't help how cute she is


Gavin's ready for the party


His new Fisher Price farm set, just like Mommy used to have!

The Megs and their babies

Talking and rolling

Gavin has been talking a little more lately and this is what we've come to understand through translation:

cah=car
tuh=truck
go=go
hum=home
suh!=I want that, or look at that!
momo=more
aahhh!=anything exciting really, like seeing a dog, or hearing the phone ring :)
taktah=tractor (for one of his favorite books)

And the most exciting one so far has been "STAH!!!!", which he screams when pointing to the Christmas tree. Here he is saying "STAH!!!!!"

And here's a random video of our niece Olivia's favorite activity:

Little helper

Gavin's new favorite thing is take things out and put things back in, whether it is all the baking pans in the kitchen, or every kleenex in the box. The other night, he was obsessed with dumping out all the bandaids from a box and putting them into a juice pitcher one by one. Of course, this also applies to all the toys in the playroom, only he hasn't quite mastered putting them back. :)

Kleenex fun

Trying to find the People magazine

Got it! He loves this one because there's a picture of a baby on the cover :)

Caught red-handed!

Organizing the pans

putting them away nicely

In a fog...

The last few weeks have been pretty busy, so the blog has suffered a little. Gavin and I were sick, but the fog seems to be lifting finally. We had a nice Thanksgiving with my family and Paul's, and again had a big dinner at our house. Pat & Shelley and the kids stayed with us over the holiday, but unfortunately Gavin was ill and not his usual bubbly active self. A few molars decided to come in, which was pretty painful for him (as seen by his rosy cheeks), and he came down with croup, so we didn't get much sleep around here. Poor guy. He's finally feeling so much better, and it's great to have our happy little guy back!

Below are some pictures from Thanksgiving, and others from our recent playdates.






Grandma with her babies


Proud Uncle Ryan


Getting a comforting snuggle from Aunt Meg


At the park with Aunt Krissy




Playing with my friend Kate's little girl, Ruby

She has the prettiest brown eyes and long eyelashes


And now, some Olivia pictures. I watch her a day or two during the week while Derek and Meg work, so we have fun playing on the floor and giggling at Gavin.

blue-eyed beauty

rockin' the exersaucer

chins to spare

These cheeks are dangerous!

couldn't help myself :)

The Beach

We had a sunny forcast today, so we took a day trip out to the beach with my mom and Kristin. I hadn't taken Gavin since he was about 2 months old, so I figured this was picture-worthy.

November 2009

November 2008

Hide & Seek

Gavin's favorite game now is to hide from us and play peek-a-boo, so we made a little fort for him in the living room (see below). He also loves to go behind the couch and hide from us, then he'll act scared and squeal when we find him. Now that he's a serious walker, we do a lot of laps chasing him around the kitchen island too. It's funny, ever since he was a newborn, people have always remarked at how alert and active he is. In the early days, I would always mumble, "uh-huh, tell me about it" because he would never sleep very long and we were SO exhausted. But now, it's so much fun AND it wears him out, so it's the best of both worlds. :)


Playing peek-a-boo with himself in the mirror


Just hanging out with my shapes and my puppies

Hmmm, where's Gavin? He must be hiding from me!

Gavin, where are you?!

There he is!