Eden Park

Today was supposed to be a beautiful day, so Stephen and I had planned to take Gavin to the Cincinnati Zoo.  When we pulled up to the parking lot around noon, it was FULL.  No joke.  There was no parking at the zoo.  We could've parked on the street...we could've parked in an adjacent lot...but we were feeling lazy and Gavin had fallen asleep, so we decided to go to Eden Park instead.

We popped Gavin in the umbrella stroller and had a great time walking around Mirror Lake and hiking on the wooded trails.  I also managed to take Gavin's eight month portraits (he turns eight months old on Friday, can you believe it?) -- but it's getting harder to get him to look at/smile for the camera as he becomes more mobile and more easily distracted.  It was a lovely way to spend our Saturday as a family.  

I'm really happy with how these photos turned out.  (I'll share more of my favorite eight month portraits on his actual eight month birthday later this week.)  I think Eden Park was the PERFECT backdrop for my super curious little boy, and I finally had some time to play around with the editing software Stephen got my for Chanukah last year (Lightroom and Photoshop Elements).  I can't get enough of Gavin's smile and I'm so lucky to get to photograph and kiss and hug and love on my precious son!

Photo Update

Gavin is growing up right before our eyes!  Trying new foods, becoming mobile, getting into all sorts of trouble...  Here are some recent photos of our little cutie!

Trying scrambled egg whites for the first time!  YUM!

Gavin loves eating watermelon and cantaloupe in his mesh feeder!

Watching some Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!

WHAT A BIG BOY!

Tub Time!

Gavin LOVES his bath each night.  When he hears the water running, he starts crawling as fast as he can towards the bathroom.  Sometimes he'll just sit in front of the bathroom door and wait until someone comes to give him his bath...morning, afternoon, it doesn't matter when.  It's awesome and hysterical and I'm hoping to catch it on video one of these days.  He just loves playing in the tub.  Here are some photos I snapped of my happy water baby this week:

He definitely gets his love of bubble baths from his mama!  :)

Gavin's Girlfriend

We are lucky to live in a neighborhood with LOTS of other babies.  When Gavin was two weeks old, I took him on a walk (it was one of those freak 50+ degree days in December) and ran into Amanda, whose daughter was three months old at the time.  I was walking around in yoga pants and an oversized sweatshirt, no makeup, hair disheveled, and tears streaming down my face from exhaustion.  Running into another new mom was EXACTLY what I needed that day -- to hear that I wasn't alone (or abnormal) in how I was feeling.  Since then, I've obviously adjusted to the challenges of motherhood (though I'm not sure I'll EVER adjust to the exhaustion), but I still love running into Amanda and Alli around the neighborhood.  It's always so nice for a first time mother to have other mommy friends to turn to for advice! 

This morning, Amanda and Alli stopped by while I was outside taking photos of Gavin.  It was extra fun that Amy, our down-the-street neighbor with two little cuties of her own (Brooklyn and Madison), came by to chat as well.  While the adults talked, Gavin and Alli had fun playing in the grass...

Gavin was so happy to see his girlfriend!

Gavin had been feeling a bit under the weather lately, so Alli made sure to check his throat for signs of illness.

His throat was all clear, so onto his ears!

Oh goodness, Dr. Alli seems to have developed a headache!

No worries, Gavin will kiss it better.

I'm hoping that within the next few months, we can get ALL the neighborhood babies (and their parents) together for some playtime.  Gavin is getting to the age where he loves being around other kids (though he's still a little grabby and rough with them) -- and we feel very blessed to live in a neighborhood where there are so many other young families.

Time to Baby Proof...

I'll write more about my fantastic birthday week later, but one of the best gifts I got was that my baby boy started CRAWLING!  He had been doing this thing for a few weeks where he'd pop up on all fours and just hover back and forth for a minute or two before deciding he could roll to his final destination more quickly...but last week he started actually attempting forward motion.  Nine times out of ten he landed on his belly (and the proceeded to, once again, roll and roll and roll) but occasionally he'd scoot a foot or two in the right direction.  But this weekend the crawling was undeniable.  Gavin can officially move from a seated position onto all fours and crawl to whatever it is he wants to get into.   He's still super shaky and it'll probably take some time to build his confidence -- but HOORAY for developmental milestones!

The downside of this new skill is that Stephen and I officially have to baby proof our home.  We live in a small ranch-style house, so baby proofing for us essentially means removing most of our furniture.  Our end tables moved to the basement along with our desk hutch when we started preparing for Gavin's arrival, and with his new mobility (and curiosity), it's looking like our floor lamp and coffee table will be joining them.  Once we get covers on the outlets and cords all tied up and tucked away, Gavin will have the entire living room to roll around and explore.  I'm having a little bit of difficulty adjusting to the fact that my nice Pier 1 decor has been replaced with Fisher Price must-haves, but it's fun watching Gavin play and laugh with his new toys.  I haven't decorated for a single holiday this year.  I still have owls and berries and reds/golds everywhere from the winter holidays!  So maybe it's not the biggest deal that when guests come over, they will now have to sit on the rug hahaha (just kidding, we still have our couch and chairs).

We bought our house in early 2009 and figured we'd stay around five years.  It's small -- perfect for a family starting out, and at the time, we weren't even engaged yet.  As we got engaged, then married, then pregnant, the house started filling with more and more stuff.  Breadmakers and stemware when we got married!  Stuffed animals and mamaroos when we got pregnant!  But nothing compared to the amount of stuff our 8 lb 10 oz newborn brought with him.  Blankets, binkies, bottles, teethers, loveys, clothes, lotions, diapers...it's amazing how much STUFF you need to take care of a little one!  Our house suddenly felt very small.  Moving all this furniture to the basement makes the house look a little bigger, for sure, but I am definitely starting to look forward to moving to a larger house in a few years.  A house with two stories, preferably, so Gavin can have lots of room to play but we still have space to entertain guests who don't want to have to maneuver around the bazillion toys constantly littering our floor.

This video was taken a few days ago...since then, he's gotten less wobbly (though I think his little wobble is the CUTEST) and even faster!  Folks, get ready, this kid is about to take us for a wild ride...

Bedtime Cuddles

As I've mentioned before, we used the Ferber method to sleep train Gavin when he was five months old.  We've had pretty substantial success with it -- he usually sleeps 9 pm to 9 am with one wake-up (usually at the six hour mark).  Things are a little rougher than usual lately (thanks to teething) but generally speaking, I'm pretty happy with the fact that Gavin now puts himself to sleep in his crib and also manages to let us sleep in from time to time.

The downside of the Ferber method is that we no longer get to rock Gavin to sleep.  We no longer pick him up for the middle-of-the-night cuddles.  A lot of the bonding we did before bed has been replaced with self-soothing.  Stephen still has his nighttime routine with the baby...but it's something I'm not really a part of.

SOMETIMES, though, Gavin needs a little pre-bedtime nap...  Tonight was one of those nights.  Stephen had class until 9:45, so I went over to Steve and Ashley's for dinner.  Gavin was SO fussy the whole time, so after I took him home and gave him a bath, I let him sleep in my arms for about a half hour.  It was so nice just holding him as he slept...looking down at his little mouth sucking a binky that wasn't there, haha.  :)  It's the very definition of bliss.  He is SUCH a funny little boy -- always getting into things, babbling, grabbing.  But in that moment he was so soft and sweet.  It was the perfect way to spend the quiet moments before putting him to bed.

Anyway, I know I can't make a habit of letting him sleep in my arms -- Stephen and I really enjoy the fact that we're FINALLY getting some solid sleep -- but as a special (early) birthday treat to me, this was pretty darn close to heaven.

Gavin vs. the Tickle Monster

We wondered for the longest time where Gavin learned to growl...

We now blame the Tickle Monster.

(PS - How stinkin' CUTE is that laugh?!)