Well, Gavin is pulling himself up nicely now!  He loves getting up by the couches to see what his brothers are doing.  Colton likes to line all of his toys up on the couch, then Gavin wants to check out what Colton is doing.  He's also getting into cupboards and drawers!  Love his energy and he is definitely keeping us all on our toes even more lately.

Winter fun!

 We haven't been able to get outside too much this winter because it is freezing cold out almost every single day!  When we can go outside we have been, to the point where Colton says his favorite thing to do outside is to shovel!  So, I guess that is a positive from all the snow and cold we are having.  The boys also enjoyed "cleaning" the deck off for me.  They made a little fort underneath their picnic table.  Austin stays outside a little longer than Colton and Gavin just likes to stay in the house so far!  We have been enjoying lots of hot chocolate, even if the weather doesn't cooperate to go play in the snow!

That is Austin and Colton under the picnic table on our deck!

9 months old!

 

Gavin is 9 months old!!  We had a Dr. appointment yesterday for his well baby check up and he is doing fantastic.  He is growing at a steady rate and seems to be able to do everything the Dr. wanted him to be able to do.  He weighs 21 pounds 8 ounces.  He is 29 inches long.  He is staying steady at the 75 percentile.  His weight gain has plateaued because he is now crawling and getting himself everywhere!  The Dr. said, when he was 6 months he was chubby because he wasn't able to move around as much.  This made me smile because he is the most adorable "chubby" guy that I know! 

 

Gavin can sit up all by himself.  He is pulling himself up to a standing position (not walking yet!) and is crawling all over the place.  He is working on being able to pick up little pieces of food and put them in his mouth, still need some practice on the 'thumb and forefinger' coordination.  He babbles all the time and will soon be ready for more solid foods.

 

He is doing great!

Annie and Papa showed up on Valentine's Day all loaded up with fun gifts.  Here is a picture of the boys on Valentine's day!  Please make sure to notice Gavin's pink/white/red socks, this is the only day he will ever wear them!!  All three boys were more excited to get the presents open than to smile for the camera.  The boys received activity books and step stools, which Colton has strategically placed around the house so they can figure out a way to reach just about anything now!

 More swimming lessons love. So, in the above picture I told them to put their arms around eachother and this is what I got.  Then, in the below picture I gave more instruction and tried to physically place their arms where they needed to go . . . fail.  (but still pretty cute!)

And this last one is of Colton working on his back float.  He is doing a great job in swim lessons.  He is a great listener and loves to come home and tell us everything his teacher has told him.  Austin is also doing well.  Austin is working on the back stroke, the tuck float, the back float and treading water.

Reading books

So, this morning Austin decided that Gavin needed to know all about Animals.  So, he got out one of the Animals books and started reading it to him.  He pointed at every animal and explained to Gavin what it was and where it lived.  Colton and Gavin were very attentive, they all laid on the bed this morning and read together.  When we were headed downstairs I overheard Austin telling Colton, "It is our job to teach stuff to Gavin."  Colton responds with, "I know that Austin."  Such great little teachers so far!

Bath time!

 So, bath time is one of Gavin's favorite times of the day.  He starts flapping his arms around and kicking his legs as soon as we walk into the bathroom where he takes his bath!  It is so cute, he gets so wiggly in my arms, as if he is just going to jump straight in the tub and doesn't need me to help him!  He splashes up a storm!  Austin and Colton tried to tell him that he couldn't do that because he was getting water all over.  So, they are trying to let Gavin know the rules but I told them that when Gavin is this little, it is okay to splash all over!  They were confused that Gavin could splash all over and they couldn't, so I assured them that when they were babies, they were allowed to splash all over too!  This seemed to help, so they hid under towels as Gavin splashed away!!!  All three boys (and me) had a great time!

Both brothers also want to help do things for Gavin.  It is very sweet in the mornings . . . Austin will turn off the fan, Colton turns off the space heater, Austin turns off the mobile in Gavin's bed, and Colton gets a new diaper for me and puts Gavin's clothes in the dirty laundry.  The jammies probably don't need to go into the dirty clothes basket every day but we have a great system down and each brother has the same amount of "chores" so it works.  I also think it is funny that Austin calls these chores, "Come on Colton, we have to do our chores for Mommy!"

 

Colton has also taken a particular liking to helping with Gavin's bath.  He will get out a towel and the lotion.  Colton also gets Gavin toys to play with and sometimes washes his belly and back.  He likes me to put shampoo in Gavin's hair and then he rubs it all over.  Colton makes a big production of having his sleeves pulled up (because if they get wet at all, he wants to take his shirt off immediately).  And, as you can see, Gavin is a good sport about letting his brother help!  It is very sweet to have such a great helper at bath time.  I don't know if this will be happening a year from now, but last night it was pretty cute!

 

There is also a rumor from the babysitter that Gavin can pull himself up.  Well, as always, if Mommy and Daddy haven't seen it then it will remain in rumor status!  :)  We are going to keep trying to get him to do it at home and I will keep you posted as to if we are successful this weekend!!!