Lessons Learned

The only traveling Brett and I have done in the last 3 years has been between Phoenix, St George, and SLC to visit the fam. Last Thursday Brett, Gavin and I flew out to the Quad Cities IA/IL for a job interview. I do admit that I am very much a cheapskate and generally cut costs every possible corner. United Airlines now charges $15 to check a bag. I'm not impressed. To get around that I packed as little as I could so we could just do a carry on each. I packed 2 shirts, 2 pairs of shorts, and took 1 pair of sandles to wear while we were there...

Mistake #1. I knew there was a "chance" of rain, but didn't think much of it.

The "chance" of rain was more like a downpour of almost 2 inches. My one pair of leather sandles got soaked and didn't dry for almost 24 hours...

Mistake #2. Taking only 2 pairs of shorts.

Friday afternoon Gavin got a little carsick and threw up all over me. Twice. Brett decided to wash them for me while I cleaned Gavin up and the humidity kept them from drying the rest of the trip.

Saturday morning on the first leg of our journey home Gavin had a blowout... on my white shorts... Beautiful brightly colored baby poop.

The moral of the story is always pack in excess when traveling w/ kids. I've learned my lesson the hard way and have seen the light.

Overall it was a good trip and we were very impressed with the area. Next week we're heading out to Fort Worth and we'll see how it compares... stay tuned!

Small Town Fun

It's been a long time since I have spent the 4th of July in a small town. I had forgotten how much fun it is! Back in the good old days my neighbor would set off dynamite in the early hours of the morning to wake everyone up. We heard a couple test rounds Friday evening, but unfortunately none in the morning. We went down to the park at noon where everyone was gathered for water activities. The older kids had a slip 'n' slide and a bunch of fun water games. Isaac had a blast playing with a kiddie pool filled with balls. Then the fire department got out the massive fire hose and turned it on full blast. Brett, Isaac, Brady, and Ayda joined out in the fun and were under the "rain". The kids had a great time.

We tried to get Isaac ready for fireworks by watching them on YouTube. He was really excited until it started to get dark at the park. He got really nervous and scared. About half way through them he finally relaxed and enjoyed the show. I think the best part for Brett and I was leaving the kids on the blankets with the grandparents for a couple minutes... so we could go line dance! I think it's probably been about 10 years since I've line danced and it felt like it. By the end I was pretty wiped out. It was a great workout! Brett was giving it his all to impress the 14-15 yr old boys he teaches at church. They got a huge kick out of watching him dance.

Gavin has started sleeping through the night and I am counting my blessings. He got weighed the other day and was a little over 13 lbs. I thought that was huge considering his cousin Toren who is 5 months older is only 15 lbs. Turns out that I'm just used to being around tiny kids. Gavin was only in the 50th percentile.

Isaac has found a love for reading and is obsessed with Curious George, Clifford, and Little Critter books. We introduced him to Green Eggs and Ham on Friday and he can't get enough of it. I love reading to him and seeing him soak up the stories. His favorite place in the world is still Grandpa Josie's house and he asks all the time when we can go there again.

I don't have anything exciting going on... just trying to keep Isaac out of trouble. It's a full time job!

Gavin's Blessing

We finally blessed our chunky little one a few weeks ago. It was very memorable because he cried the entire time. I was very impressed with Brett because he was able to keep his composure the entire time and gave him a beautiful blessing. Gavin has been a bit of a crier and exercised his lungs a bit more than I was used to. He just struggled like crazy at meal time and would eat a little and then arch his back and cry and eat a little more and do the same thing over and over until we had both had enough. FINALLY I think I have discovered the culprit because after changing my diet and taking out all dairy products, we have a happy little baby again. It definitely isn't easy watching the others eat ice cream and quesadillas in front of me, but it is absolutely worth the difference in Gavin's demeanor.

I just had to add this picture because of his funky hair. It almost reminds me of a mini Conan O'Brien!

Also, since it's Father's day... Happy fathers day Brett. Brett has so much fun with his "mini me". Isaac always wants to be just like his dad and is absolutely 100% obsessed with golf because of his dad. Brett has introduced Isaac to the putting green and plethera of putters and the golf store and every day Isaac asks to go to the golf store. I think these two are going to be quite the pair. Brett's also a great dad to little Gavin. He loves to make Gavin laugh and loves to cuddle. He was even so nice the other night that he took the 3:00 AM shift so I could get some sleep. What a wonderful husband I have!

Double Meaning

My dear son #1 loves to help me around the house as of lately and his favorite thing is to put the detergent in the washer for me. If he hears the washing machine water turn on he bolts for the laundry room no matter what he's doing. It's been a great distraction when he's getting into trouble and it keeps us caught up on laundry! Yesterday he decided to go into the laundry room on his own and put detergent in the open washer without anyone knowing. Soon he started crying and screaming that he got soap in his eye. Brett and I took him into the bathroom and told him we were going to flush his eye out. He was screaming and wiggling while we put some water in his eye to wash it out. I don't think that's a fun thing for anyone though! Afterwards he was still crying so hard I couldn't understand what he was saying. He kept telling me he didn't want to go down the potty. I reassured him that he wasn't going to go down the potty but had no clue why he would even say that.

I really thought he was having an overactive imagination about everything, but just dismissed our conversation. A little bit later we were eating lunch and I asked him if his eye felt better. He told me yes and asked me to please not flush his eye down the potty. He had this really serious look on his face and I finally understood what he was thinking. I absolutely love two year olds!

Graduation and other things

11 years and 116 credit hours later... I finally have my Associates degree! My mom convinced me to walk at the commencement ceremony and at first I was pretty hesitant. I felt a little awkward that I was quite a bit older than the crowd and thought I'd be seated next next to a bunch of 19 and 20 year olds. Well I was wrong. The girl I sat next too was 17 and was graduating high school a week later. Hmm.. quite humbling. BUT the moral of the story is that I finished and I did feel victorious walking through the big "D". Thanks mom!

I was a little sad that my boys couldn't attend the graduation. They both had croup and were better off at home. Isaac came down with croup first and that made life interesting for finals. Gavin was kind and didn't start coughing until the day after my math final.

In other news...

Brett is getting to the finish line and just sent out his first CV and Resume! The job hunt is on and it's making life so much more exciting! He is now in the ER and is so excited that he got to take care of a head laceration from start to finish last night.

Isaac has reached two major milestones. He finally acknowledges he has a little brother and he isn't sure how much he likes having a little brother. He gives him too much love one minute and doesn't love him so much the next minute. Isaac has actually wanted to hold Gavin a few times! I think he'll like Gavin eventually.

Gavin is becoming chunkier by the second. He's given me a few concious smiles and I love it. His hair is really curly on top and his little mullet is stick straight. I'm hoping the curls stick around. He teased me one night by sleeping six hours straight. The next night he was up every hour and I sadly realized the night before was a fluke.

Oh, and best of all!!! Brett said something to me I never thought I would hear. "I really like the cloth diapers." Hurray! I never thought Brett would go for it, but he's totally on board. I'm loving them as well. No leaks, blowouts, ect. Gavin does look like he's got a bubble bum but I guess that's the price to pay. With the way this kid goes through the diapers it has totally been worth it.

First Family Pictures

Our first attempt for a new family picture wasn't as easy as I would hope for. First of all we had to find a way to keep Isaac from running off. Bribery and marshmallows did the trick for a while. Isaac doesn't like holding Gavin... which thrills me! He says that Gavin is too heavy and I find that such a relief because he hasn't tried to pick him up yet. He's finally starting to become interested in being a big brother. He loves to see Gavin sneeze and is always asking when he'll wake up. Isaac is an adorable big brother and gets a big kick out of Gavin holding his finger.

Pics for Brett

Brett and I were so happy that Gavin came just a bit early so he could spend just a little time with Gavin before leaving to Glendale for exams. Unfortunately he's had to miss a few things like Easter, my birthday, and the everyday things. I think he deserves some pics to get him through the week until he comes back to us.

Brett loves to cuddle with Gavin. I think he may be a daddy's boy.My sweet innocent Isaac.... LOVES when I am nursing Gavin because he can have free time to be mischevious. He found my makeup and helped himself to my powder. I am so lucky to have my mom around to help keep this kid in line!My sister brought over these cute shirts for her son Toren and Gavin to be matching buddies. Toren looked so little until Gavin was born. It's amazing how perspectives change.

Here's Isaac's easter basket before he realized there were jelly beans in it. It was soon scattered around the entire house.

How many jelly beans can he fit in his mouth?

Gavin was oblivious to the chaos surrounding him.

After the Easter Bunny came and delivered the baskets Isaac and Ayda fingerpainted. Isaac was very careful to only get one finger dirty.

We had the Easter egg hunt inside due to bad weather and Isaac really suprised me. He decided that it was too hard to find the eggs and he would rather just find them in Ayda's basket. He quickly grasped the concept that it was wrong to take other people's eggs when she started shrieking. He gave them back and realized he was better off finding his own.

And Gavin slept some more...