Toes!

Gavin found his toes today!  He pulled them up to his mouth and even tried to get them in his mouth!  Such a smart little guy!

Cuddle Time

Austin has been wanting to 'cuddle up' with Gavin quite a bit and what better time to do this than on Saturday mornings!  These two little guys cuddled for an entire episode of Justice League!  Both boys were pretty happy and Austin loves being able to help take care of Gavin.  Gavin was smiley until I got the camera out . . . and his little middle finger popped up too!  I didn't notice until I uploaded the picture, I will have to talk to Gavin about keeping the blog G-rated!!!! 

Austin!

 

Well, this little guy gave us quite a scare last Thursday evening while we were in Arizona.  Brian and I landed in Phoenix in the morning on September 12th.  My parents were watching the boys at our house and everything was going great all day long.  We talked to them twice throughout the morning and afternoon and every thing was going smoothly.  Then, that evening, Austin climbed up on top of the sprinkler/car wash we have for the boys to play with and was told to get down.  He got down, ran outside, then ran back in the garage and climbed right back up to play on the sprinkler again.  This time, he fell.  He hit his head and my parents knew he had a concussion once he threw up some of his dinner.  My dad and Austin headed to Urgent Care, where they were sent to the Emergency Room at Covenant.  Brian and I were scared and feeling helpless since we were thousands of miles away. 

 

The Dr. looked him over and decided to give him a CT scan.  Thank goodness the scan came back perfect!  It was just a mild concussion and he needs to drink plenty of fluids and take it easy.  He also took a 30 minute cat nap at the ER, and when he woke up he was pretty much back to his old self.  My dad said, he was wide awake, alert and asking a lot of questions about the ER when he woke up.  Brian and I finally got to talk to him on the phone after his nap and it was such a huge relief for us to hear his voice!  He got on the phone and said, "Hi mommy, I love you!  We talked to one Dr. and now we have been waiting for 10 HOURS to see the next Dr."  When we heard his sweet little voice, a wave of relief washed over us.

 

 After talking to him and feeling reassured that he was going to be just fine, we got off the phone with him.  Austin and my dad got home at midnight and of course Austin was hungry since he didn't have any food in him and he had been at the hospital for over 3 hours (not quite the 10 that it felt like to all of us).  It was a very scary evening for all of us, but we are so grateful that he is okay!  When he got home, he told my mom that "They put a donut on my head and took a picture of my brain!"  He has also acted out exactly what you do when they take a picture of your brain.  He said Papa told him he was very brave, but couldn't hold his hand while they took the pictures because his arms had to be in the machine.  Since Austin never forgets ANYTHING, I'm sure he will remember the details of this for quite awhile! 

 

So, the Dr. said for two weeks we need to keep Austin settled down and to drink lots of fluids.  Drinking lots of fluids has been no problem at all but explaining to Austin why he has to settle down, is quite a different story.  Last week we had some rainy evenings, and I was able to get a couple movie nights in so the boys just kind of laid around.  This coming week may be more of a challenge because of the beautiful fall weather we are having!  I keep telling him to be careful and take it easy and he keeps telling me that his brain doesn't hurt anymore.  This makes me smile . . . but I still have to tell him to take it easy for a while longer.  We also had to talk to him, again, about why it is so important to listen, rules are for your safety, we don't want anything to happen to you.  He seems to get it, and hopefully he will be a better listener.  But actually getting our four-year-old boy, who is always so full of life, to settle down is quite the challenge! 

 

The rest of our trip was great!  Phoenix was amazing, Jen was a beautiful bride, and we had a lot of fun celebrating at the wedding reception with our friends.  Austin, Colton, and Gavin got to spend Friday night in Fort Dodge and played on Saturday with Lindsey's little boys and Griffin's little boys; 8 kids all under the age of 5.  They had a blast!  Sunday, we all met back at Nick and Courtney's.  It was so wonderful to get to hug all three of our little guys!!  We headed back to Cedar Falls that evening and all five of us were exhausted from all the fun we had been having.

 

 

 

 

This evening Brian and I will be heading to Maxwell to stay with Nick and Courtney.  Tomorrow morning we are flying out of Des Moines to Phoenix, AZ for my friend Jen Tilton's wedding!  We are getting excited and in anticipation of the trip I explained to Austin, Colton, and Gavin everything they would get to do this weekend . . .

Me:  "Annie and Papa are coming tonight.  They will be at our house around dinner time!  Then tomorrow you get to sleep in before Papa takes Austin to preschool.  I'm sure if you ask Annie and Papa nicely, they will take you to McDonald's some time while you are with them!  Then Friday you are heading to Fort Dodge, Saturday you get to play with Masan, Nolan, and Collin Redman.  You boys are going to have a fun playdate and then have pizza together.  Sunday morning you get to wake up, have breakfast and head to Nick and Courtney's house.  You get to play with Nick and Courtney all afternoon and then mommy and daddy will pick you up some time on Sunday." 

Colton:  "I want Annie and Papa to be here now!  Where are Annie and Papa?!?"

Austin:  "I'm soooo excited that Annie and Papa are coming because I won't have to brush my teeth!"

So, apparently, Colton is ready to start partying and Austin is just happy to have a 'teeth brushing free' weekend to look forward to.  (Or so he thinks!)  How funny!

Fun & Games!

This weekend we played a game where you have to hold a picture up to your face (without looking at it), ask questions about yourself and try to figure out what your picture is!  Austin looked adorably hilarious in every single card he held up to his face.  Brian was pretty scary and Colton posed for one round. . . he really didn't get into actually playing the game.  We had a nice family day on Sunday!  We played games all morning, Brian made waffles at the boys' request.  Austin said, "Daddy, we haven't had waffles for an entire week!"  So, Brian made waffles and omelets!  We played Plah-Doh in the afternoon and spent an hour at the park last night.

 

 

Colton fell off of the merry-go-round on Saturday at the park.  He was holding on pretty good and the next thing I know, he's flying, face-first off of the thing.  He was more scared then anything but his poor little cheek did get scraped up pretty good.  This picture is from when we got home on Sunday night from the park.  All three boys were happy.  And below are some Silly Sunday pictures!  Austin was trying to get Gavin to make a silly face but Gavin wasn't too interested in that he just wanted to watch his brothers dance around and be silly!!

Picture me rollin' . . .

Gavin has been trying so hard for the past week to roll over and yesterday he finally did it!!  Last night he rolled over from back to tummy.  Then he would be propped up on his little elbows and just look around.  It was so cute . . . And he did it over and over.  I would say at least a dozen times!  It was super cute and we were all cheering him on.  Way to go Gavin!!!