Eleven Months

How did it happen that in a few short weeks, our favorite little boy will be ONE YEAR old?  It's crazy to think about, and even crazier to look at pictures of Gavin as a newborn and realize how much he's changed and grown in such a short period of time.  Anyway, I've enlisted my sister-in-law to help with Gavin's one-year photos (I think balloons will be involved, and that's a two person operation for sure) -- so these might be the last monthly photos I take of Gavin on my own!  But first, here's a family photo we had taken last month.  I love it because it's rare I actually get to appear in pictures with my two loves, but even MORE rare that all three of us are smiling and looking at the camera!   

I took Gavin's eleven month portraits at the Loveland Bike Trail last week.  The park has always been special to us (we had our wedding photos taken there), so any opportunity I have to take pictures there is a good one.

  

A bit late...but HAPPY HALLOWEEN and other late October happenings.

October is my favorite month of the year -- I love the weather, the celebrations, the pumpkin spice lattes -- but two of the main reasons I love the month so much happen on the very last two days.  Stephen and I got married on October 30, and Halloween is on October 31.

To celebrate our second anniversary, we went to Melting Pot for dinner (yum) and then to Dave and Buster's for an hour or two afterwards.  These are things you get to do very, VERY rarely as a new parent, so an evening out to reminisce about how special our big day had been two years ago was really lovely and much-appreciated.

Next up was Halloween and all of the pre-Halloween festivities.  Gavin had a great time with his girlfriend Alli at King's Island (his first visit), then dressed as Mickey Mouse for Brooklyn's Halloween party later that evening.  We thought he might want something a little warmer for ACTUAL Halloween, so we got him a tiger costume we also figured he could wear to stay warm at Bengals games, but honestly, it was too cold and rainy to take him out much for trick-or-treating.  Still, we had a nice time eating pizza and chit chatting with the Tudor family before Gavin had the meltdown of the century and we had to take him home.  (Turns out, he was sick!  We landed in the ER at Children's last week with a fever of almost 104, vomiting, and severe lethargy.  Something must be going around Linford, because a few other families with babies were dealing with feverish kiddos too.)  It's been a rough go of it here in the Dowd household, but a few doses of antibiotics seem to have Gavin on the mend.  Here are some photos I snapped pre-illness...

Here's hoping next year's Halloween is a little warmer, a little less rainy, and most definitely fever-free!

Baby Neph

My baby nephew, Quinn, will be one year old next week.  (How has it gone that fast?)  The day he was born was one of the happiest of my life, and Stephen and I have been blessed to see him (and his parents) three weekends in a row.  It's so fun to watch the boys play together -- they are at the age where they can really interact.  We managed to finally see Doug and Mindy's house in New Albany, and it was gorgeous.  Quinn has THREE playrooms!  You would think Gavin had never seen a toy before based on how enthralled he was with the playrooms...  Mindy was kind enough to let us bring a few toys home with us.  :)  (Gavin is now the proud owner of a Fischer Price racetrack!)  Here are some photos from our visit to Indiana...

Quinn LOVES his Uncle Stephen!

The Great Pumpkin Adventure

Last weekend, we took Gavin to Sharon Woods to take his ten month portraits amongst the beautiful Fall foliage.  It was a pretty epic failure...most of the foliage ended up in his mouth, which he subsequently gagged on and threw up all over the outfit I had picked out especially for the occasion.  Still, I managed to get a few good shots before things took a turn for the worse.  I figured pumpkins might be harder to stick in his mouth (though he sure tried...poor teething baby), so we went the next day to our first of three pumpkin patches (Blooms and Berries).  Saturday took us to pumpkin patch #2 (Shaw Farm, my favorite) with Amanda and Alli, and Sunday took us to pumpkin patch #3 (Burger Farm) with Doug, Mindy, and my sweet baby nephew.  Gavin loved looking at the gourds, pumpkins, and farm animals -- but more than that, he loved playing with Alli and Quinn.  It's so fun watching how these little babies are developing such distinct personalities!

HAPPY FALL, EVERYONE!  Halloween will be here before we know it!

First Haircut

We took Gavin to get his very first haircut this week!  If Mexico taught us anything, it's that Gavin inherited his Mommy's crazy hair -- so after a lot of back and forth feelings about our little boy growing up, we headed to Cookie Cutters.

A little unsure...

BEFORE -- a little rough around the edges!

AFTER -- such a handsome little man!

Gavin, of course, was his usual charming self throughout the haircut.  He sat quietly watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and staring at himself in the mirror.  We were so proud of him!