Tuesday, January 31, 2012

A Letter to My Child(ren)

Gavin,
Every thank-you note we got back from your daycare teachers after Christmas this year said the same thing about you.  "He's such a sweet and polite boy," they all said.  It gives me warm fuzzies just thinking about it.  One of my biggest goals as a parent is to raise children who are kind.  I'm glad that quality is standing out in you already.

Speaking of Christmas, we had such a laid-back, exactly-what-we-needed week between Christmas and New Year's this year.  The three of us were home together all week and spent most of it cuddled up on the couch in our PJs.  It was good, relaxing (and fun!) quality time together and I wouldn't have traded it for the world.  It made me really look forward to an entire summer with all four of us this year!

On the potty training front, I did jinx us a little bit by telling the entire internet how well you were doing.  The next day, you had two accidents back to back.  But since then, you've had absolutely none and I couldn't be prouder of you.  You're even staying dry during nap.

As a side note, you have developed a love for salad in the last month.  When I've had one at a dinner out, or make salad for Daddy and I for dinner, you've eaten almost my entire salad by the end of the meal.  When we went out to dinner recently, all you wanted was salad and you scarfed down an entire chicken caesar salad by yourself.  You like to drench the healthiness right out of it with dressing, but hey--salad!  Yay!

You're growing and learning so fast now that I can barely keep up anymore.  I just realized this week that I forgot to include how you can put your own coat on now.  You've been doing it for at least two months already, but it completely slipped past me with the other milestones you're reaching!  You lay it out on the floor, put your arms in and throw it over your head.  You haven't quite gotten the zipper down, but that's okay because it means I get an extra smooch when I zip you up.

You've also fallen in love with the Angry Birds game on Daddy's phone.  I swear, there are times when you get a higher score than I could!

So proud of you, so in love with you, so happy you're in my life.

I love you more,
Mommy


Baby Doc,
You're growing so quickly now.  So quickly, in fact, that my belly is consistently measuring one week further along than I actually am.  It looks like you'll be big, just like your brother.

I bought your coming home outfit the other day.  Most of your clothes will be hand-me-downs from Gavin so I wanted the outfit you come home in to be special, and just for you.  It's pretty adorable--a white kimono style long-sleeved shirt and matching pants with trees and little peace signs.  I look at it and can't wait to see you in it.  It's so small--I've completely forgotten what it's like to have a baby that small.  But it also reminds me that I'm an experienced mom now, and much more confident about this whole baby thing.  I chose a kimono-style shirt instead of a onesie so it won't rub on your belly button.  I also got pants with no feet this time so there's no issue cutting off your ankle bracelet when we're leaving the hospital.  It's amazing already the little things that I didn't know the first time around that are intuitive now.  I hope that makes me a better mommy.  Fingers crossed!

In other news, I felt you hiccup this week!  I don't remember every feeling it with Gavin, but I think your rhythmic little jump every 3 seconds or so on my drive home was absolutely the hiccups.  My blood glucose test also came back good recently and it looks like I'm not anemic either, so things are going well with this pregnancy.

The most exciting thing to report about you this month is that we got to see you in 3D!  I couldn't believe how much you looked like your brother.  The whole thing made me realize we're one step closer to meeting you, and I can hardly stand the wait.

I love you more,
Mommy

January Gavinisms

After I refilled his drink and brought it back to the table at dinner:
Ryan: "Gavin, what do you say?"
Gavin:  "What?  I didn't toot!"

Proudly displaying his new Toy Story themed underwear:
"Mommy--look at my big woody undies!"

Lyrics to Baa Baa Black Sheep:
Baa baa black sheep, have you any more?
Yes sir, yes sir, three bags four.
One for the master, one for my date
and one for the little boy who lives at the lake.


Wearing a large pair of headphones around the house while Daddy vacuumed:
"Don't worry, Mommy.  It's not too loud cuz I wearin' my ear muffins."

Pondering a school bus passing us on the highway:
Gavin:  "Where that school bus goin'?"
Me:  "Probably taking some kids to school.  When you get bigger, you can ride the bus to school, too."
Gavin:  "Why they goin' to school?"
Me:  "Well, that's where they go to learn."
Gavin:  "Yeah, when I get bigger, I gonna learn, too.  I not big enough to learn yet."

While talking about Baby Doc one day:
Me:  "Where is Baby Doc?"
Gavin:  "In your belly.  When I was a baby, I in your belly!  Then I got out."
Me:  "How do you think Baby Doc is going to get out?"
Gavin:  "He gonna dig a hole...and dig and dig and dig.  Then he come out!"

Mimicking the singer during "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" who shouts, "Play ball!"
Gavin:  "Corndog!"

During bedtime routine one night:
Gavin:  "I love you Mommy.  You my best friend."
Me:  "Thank you, sweetie.  I love you, too."
Gavin (before I could finish):  "And Daddy my best friend, and lovie my best friend, and monkey my best friend.  I got lots of friends."

Monday, January 30, 2012

Déjà vu


Three years ago, when I was 8 months pregnant with Gavin, my mom treated me to a weekend away—complete with the best massage I’ve ever had, yummy food, and lots and lots of laughter. 

This past weekend, at almost 8 months pregnant with Baby Doc, she did it again—and it was made of awesome.  It’s not often that I get to spend quality time just my mom and me, but every time I do, it always leaves me wanting more. 

We drove to St. Louis—our car filled with conversation, comedy radio and laughter, and spent the next few hours basking in the same wonderful massages we discovered three years ago.  It’s called Watsu massage, and takes place in a small, 95° swimming pool.  As soon as I stepped in the pool, the weight I’ve gained during this pregnancy melted away, and I spent the next hour totally relaxed, letting the masseuse perform this mix of dance and massage in the water.  It was heaven, and I decided three years was WAY too long to wait for the next one.

But the cherry on the top of this trip was the anticipation of coming home.  I love that I can go away, even for just a day or two, and be so excited to get home that I ache with the anticipation of a little voice shouting, “Mommy!” and little arms clinging around my neck, welcoming me in the door with a genuinely excited, warm and drawn-out snuggle.

So thanks for a great weekend, Mom.  And thanks to my guys for the “welcome home” I needed.

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Along for the Ride

With the exception of early-meeting days, I take Gavin to daycare almost every morning.  It's been part of my Mommy duties since I started back to work after maternity leave with him.  Since Ryan gets off work so much earlier than me, it just made sense that I would drop-off and Ryan would pick-up.

I used to loathe it.  I mean, come on.  Drop-off with a separation-anxiety-prone baby and toddler is no fun. Especially compared to the savior that Ryan got to be at the end of every day.  Morning car rides were filled with an inevitable build-up of anxiety and tears until we reached our destination, where Mommmeeeees and Nooooooos finally bubbled over like a volcano erupting.  I'm exaggerating...a little.

As Gavin's gotten older, morning car rides have become one of my favorite parts of the day.  Tears have turned to conversation, and anxiety into imagination.  The kid is funny.  The kind of laugh-out-loud, unexpected funny that you generally see from a 2-year-old.  Most of the Gavinisms I post every month come from our morning car rides, as do some of my very favorite memories with him.

Last week, he pretended the mini etch-a-sketch we keep in the car was an iPad.  He drew picture after picture and then told me to "push start" every 5 minutes.  When we got to daycare, he gave it to me and said, "You can play with this at work, Mommy.  Be careful.  Don't break it."

This morning, we spent the car ride playing pretend football.  Gavin threw the pretend ball in the air for me to catch, and when I "threw" it back, he'd "catch" it and kick his legs like he was running, and then yell, "TOUCHDOWN!"

I adore that time with him every morning now.  It's time that's just ours.  And it's time that starts both our days out with laughter, fun, and best of all...silliness.

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Baby Doc...Now in 3D!

We had our 3D sonogram of Baby Doc this week and it was every bit as awesome (and creepy) as I remember it being with Gavin.  There’s just something a little bizarre about being able to see exactly what your baby looks like while still in utero—minus the eye and hair color, of course.

Already, I can see how much my two boys are going to be alike and different at the same time.  Baby Doc has Gavin’s chin, cheeks, mouth and nose, but his eyes are all his.  He doesn’t have as much hair as Gavin did at this point, and he also chose to be a little ornerier than Gavin by covering his face with a foot, as well as grabbing his penis.

“He wave at me!” Gavin would say every time Baby Doc moved his arm or hand, and at one point, the technician said she wished Baby Doc would open his eyes so we could get a shot of it.  Gavin said to my belly, “Open your eyes Baby Doc!” and not two seconds later, we saw eyelids fluttering on the screen.  Gavin was beyond ecstatic and I almost lost my shit because my boys…interacting with each other…already…squee!  It was magically cliché—and I loved every second of it.

Without further ado, here’s our little man:
Here he is with eyes open.  Don't you just want to nom on those cheeks already?!
Yawn!  You people bore me with your talk of my cuteness.
Sucking on his bottom lip.
And here's a picture from Gavin's 3D sonogram for reference.  It's not just me, right?  Don't they look just alike?

And here are my three favorite guys...all together.  (Pardon the crappy cell phone photo).

Tuesday, January 10, 2012