Just a little bit of us . . .

 

Austin and Colton love cuddling with Gavin.  Austin and Colton made a big pile of pillows and blankets in the living room.  They were using their imaginations and calling it a boat.  They were very excited when I laid Gavin down in their boat so that they could all play together.  Both brothers are good about making sure Gavin is happy and well taken care of.  The minute Gavin is not happy, both brothers will start singing to him and if that doesn't work, they are calling for me to come and save the day!

 

Gavin now has his two little teeth poking through on the bottom.  You can't see the teeth in the above picture, I just thought it was cute.  He also started eating rice cereal last Friday on the 22nd (his 6month birthday).  We were all very excited to get to see what Gavin was going to thin about rice cereal.  Turns out, it's not too bad.  He spent the first few days trying to figure out what the spoon was all about and then the last couple of days he has been opening his mouth and ready to eat when we get him in the high chair!

 

 

Last time I posted he had just started rolling over in both directions.  I think the next day he started rolling from one side of the room to the next.  He can definitely get to where he wants to be!  Gavin has also been much squirmier when trying to change diapers, he does not want to sit or lay still for long!!

 

Austin had a Thanksgiving feast at school yesterday.  He wore a pilgrim hat and went to the big school to have a popcorn, juice boxes and corn muffins with the Kindergarten class!  The other class was dressed like indians and Austin said it was a lot of fun.  He asked if we were having popcorn and corn muffins at our Thanksgiving on Thursday.  I said I didn't think so!!

 

Colton has been taking his snow pants to Mindy's every day this week so that if the opportunity to go outside arises, he gets to go along!  He had fun the last couple days playing outside.  He gets cold pretty fast, so they aren't outside for long but he tells me he loves playing in the snow!  It should be a fun winter and Brian and I are already looking forward to taking them to a good snow hill this winter. 

 

We are also already on the look out for Christmas lights!  I can't tell you how amazing it is to hear Austin and Colton "ooh" and "ahh" over the lights.  They point and yell out to eachother when they spot some lights while we are driving along.  Definitely one of my favorite parts of the holiday season is getting to enjoy their excitement!

Two teeth and counting . . .

We have two bottom teeth coming through!  He is still a smiley happy guy through all of it.  I also forgot to mention earlier this week that Papa saw Gavin roll from tummy to back on Saturday.  I said that it didn't count until I actually saw it happen . . . Sunday night it happened!!  So proud of this little guy who is growing in leaps and bounds!

 

Late 5 month picture posting . . . but still adorable!

 

And this is what I woke up to this morning!  Austin and Colton love standing on the sides of the crib talking to Gavin . . . I was wondering how long it would take before this were to happen!  As you can see, Colton got Gavin all covered up with the crib bumper and they were 'sleeping' together.

We have a tooth!!

We had a great weekend visiting Nick and Courtney!  We couldn't get there fast enough on Friday evening.  The boys were so excited to get to do all kinds of fun things at Nick and Courtney's house.  Friday night they got to play 'soccer ball' in the basement.  Everyone got in on the soccer ball fun and it kept the boys busy for close to an hour.  We had chili for dinner and watched one of the movies that Austin and Colton brought along.

 

Saturday morning the girls got up and went shopping in Des Moines while the guys stayed behind to do guy stuff.  Nick and Papa took the boys to a park, while Gavin and Brian stayed home (it was a little chilly for Gavin).  Colton and Papa found a snake, Papa picked it up to show Austin and Austin wanted to hold it!  So, Nick got this great picture of Austin holding a snake!  Colton, looked at the snake but wasn't interested in touching it.

 

When they got home from the park they worked on raking Nick's huge yard.  The boys helped pick up sticks and make a big pile of leaves/sticks.  Sunday morning we had a bonfire and the boys were really excited to see the leaves on fire.  Once the fire was started, they had a fun time helping Nick and Brian throw on dead tree branches to keep the fire going.  We headed home after lunch on Sunday.  Such a fun and laid-back weekend for all of us!

 

 

When we got home, we decided to try to put Gavin in his Bumbo chair to see if he could keep himself upright.  I was real close by the entire time, but he didn't really need me . . . except to hand him toys when he dropped them.  He did so good sitting up with the extra support. 

 

 

Brian ran to the store and while he was gone Austin and Colton dumped their halloween candy out all over the floor so they could look through everything and pick out 2 treats. It is so fun watching them decide which ones they are going to eat and in what order. They are also very good about putting all the candy back in their trick-or-treat bags and putting the bags back in the laundry room.

 

 Austin was down in the basement for quite awhile by himself and when he came upstairs he said he had a 'surprise masterpiece' to show to all of us. We headed downstairs to find out that Austin had picked up the entire basement and put every single toy away all by himself. He was so proud of himself and we were so proud of him too!

 

I was playing with Gavin on the floor in the living room and he was laughing away.  I noticed that he has a tooth coming in!!!  On the bottom, middle/left, he has a tooth that is trying its hardest to break through.  This would explain the terrible sleeping pattern we have fallen into and also help explain why Gavin always wants to be chewing on something.

Me - "Gavin has a tooth!"

Brian - "Won't be long before Gavin is eating solids."

Austin - "Yeah, like baby food!"

Colton - "And like pizza!"

Both big brothers are so cute and excited for Gavin to get to eat something besides milk!!

 

 

This past weekend we had a little baby and a three year old that was a tad under the weather.  Gavin was sick several times throughout the night on Friday.  He was in good spirits on Saturday but still wasn't eating much and of course wanted Annie and Papa to hold him for nap time!  He didn't sleep well on Saturday night and then on Sunday he seemed to be back to his old self again.  So, glad that he was feeling better by the end of the weekend.  It was nice to be able to cuddle with him and help him to feel better.  Colton also got sick on Friday night but he seemed to bounce back and was just fine on Saturday morning when he woke up.  They both must have had a little tummy bug.

Colton and Austin were invited to a neighbor's birthday party on Saturday afternoon and had a lot of fun.  There was a pinata, which Austin could not wait to take part in!!  Colton spent his time at the party indoors playing with the trucks in the play room.  After the party was over we went to meet up with my friend Kelli and her family.  Kelli was in town for a wrestling tournament that her oldest son, Drew, was taking part in at the UNI dome.  The boys got to go swimming at their hotel and I had a wonderful time catching up with Kelli.  Brian was a good sport about being the 'shark' in the pool so the kids had a fun game to play while we were there!

Annie and Papa came to watch the boys on Friday because Austin did not have daycare or preschool to go to.  We talked them in to staying until Sunday morning . . . so, it was so nice to have a couple extra hands around to help throughout the weekend since Gavin wasn't feeling well.  One of the great benefits of living closer to family!!

Happy Halloween!

We all carved pumpkins last Sunday.  Brian did all of the actual carving and the boys and I helped scoop out all the goop and the slime so that we could make faces on the front of all the pumpkins.  The boys really got into this and Colton wanted to help everyone out.  Colton moved around the table helping with all three of the pumpkins.  They were great helpers!  The other thing the boys were excited about was roasting the pumpkin seeds.  They had to seperate the seeds from the slime and put them into a bowl so we could clean them and roast them.  They turned out really great and the boys were excited to get to try them that evening.

 

Here is our little family of superheroes!  Thor, Spiderman, Baby Superman!  I dressed up as Wonder Woman to go trick or treating last night but I did not dress up for this picture that we took last weekend!  Trick or treating was a blast!  They both loved running from house to house to get candy.  Austin would get a piece of candy and yell "Cowabunga! or Yeah Baby!" as he ran to the next house!  It was so fun to get to see!  Colton would get a piece of candy and then he would want to hold my hand and he would repeat, "Need more candy, need more candy." as he would run to the next house!  Colton kept up with Austin pretty well and then decided to slow down and go at his own pace.  So, Austin kept up with Jake, Zoey, Marlee and Maddie while Colton and I hung out with Sarah and Charlee.  This seemed to also go quite well.  After about an hour of trick or treating Colton and Charlee were done so we headed back to Sarah's and the little kids got to hand out candy to the people who rang the doorbell.  They were pretty selective about who they gave candy too and would only open the door if the trick or treaters weren't too scary!

 

Austin:  "I love trick or treating more than anyone else in the entire universe!"

Colton:  "Mama, I really like eating treats!"

 

I would definitely call this years halloween a huge success!

 

Our happy little pumpkin Gavin!