Merry Christmas Eve!!

Yayy it's Christmas Eve and I have to say I'm pretty pumped!! This is the first year gavey will actually be excited to open his presents and not just play with the wrapping paper :) I hope!

Gavey is currently taking his little nap and then were off to Riv to help with the Christmas Eve service and I can't wait! I feel like we're normally on the road or with family and that were never at our house on Christmas. I miss New York but there is something to be said about starting our own little traditions. Then bry and I are going to exchange gifts tonight so we can enjoy christmas morning with gaveypants. I just picked up groceries to make my famous creme brûlée french toast!! Skinnytaste thank you very much!

And can I just say my morning started off well a little klutzy?! So I get up at 5:30 all ready to run 5 miles at 6 am. Bryan was begging me to run on the treadmill but no I'm a real runner right? I'm tough and can brave the cold early in the morning!! Ha umm no. Within the first 2 minutes I tripped on a block of ice, fell forward and and bang my knee and elbow SO hard!! Ahh!! I literally grabbed my elbow and turned around to run home and then realized I didn't hurt too bad so I made myself finish my fun . I felt great until I took a shower now oh man it's so painful!! Bryan and I are hot messes... Him on crutches and me limping with an elbow that doesn't bend all the way! Ha perfect!!

Alright I probably should get my gavpants up. My new fav gav thing: every time he sneezes or coughs he tells Bless you!! Like yells it! Ha. And now he fake coughs just to be silly and say it. Silly gavey.

Mommy and Daddy Rewind.

Alright. Wow. Can I just say it's a huge relief to get Mr. Gaveypants update Done. Done. Done. Now look at me on a little blogging roll :) So much has happened in the last few months that it's a little cray cray. (haha is it bad I stold this from Bryan?! Kidding. Not really.)

So let's do a quick run down on what's new with the fam:

• I'm all signed up and officially running another full marathon. Yikes! What have I gotten myself in to? Thankfully it's not until Memorial Weekend so I still have plenty of time to get it together. The Corr's are running the half, Laura's running the half and I think I know a couple others who will be out there, so at least it will be fun to have friends out there running the race too!! My official training starts January 20th although I'm working on strength and speed until then. Hopefully it helps and I feel better than I did after my last one. I literally felt like my body was going to fall apart limb by limb. Awesome.
• Bryan was SUPER pumped to play on a men's league soccer team with people from Riv until his first game...the poor guy tore his achillies tendon and had to have surgery a couple weeks ago. He has to be on cructhes and in a boot for at least another 2 possibly 3 months. The Dr said he won't be able to run again for at least 9 so no Bayshore race for him :( Boo! He's had such a great attitude about it all, I'm really proud of him. I have to admit I took it really hard at first bc I'm selfish and just thought about all the work this was going to make me. It has been tough but I think I'm now in the swing of things and everything will be just fine. I just feel bad for him because he is so limited on what he can do. He just wants to be able to walk up the stairs or into the kitchen for a glass of water without it being an ordeal. I know there is a lesson in this somewhere and maybe he needed the downtime... Plus it was kind of nice having him home for 3 weeks!
• We went home to New York for Thanksgiving and it was so great to see me gram. She is so awesome and amazing. I would give anything to live back home agian so I could be closer to her but I know that's not in our plans for now. We were supposed to go home this last weekend for Christmas but Gaveypants was sick so we had to cancel. I'm hoping to get home again in January so we can celebrate and see the family again. We've had a lot of bad news and it's been a horribly trying time for my family between my aunt being in ICU since Thanksgiving, certain family members who have well done a few things that are really hurtful, a cancer scare with another person in my family, ugh. Seriously everything has been so heavy on my heart that I don't think I can take much more bad news :( It weighs so heavily on me and I wish I could fix it but I can't...I can just be positive and be there for my family the best I can. We will get through it. As my gram says, "this to shall past." I have a great hubs and group of friends who have been so great in carrying me through this hard time that I think I'm finally on the other side and can see hope and forgiveness. Wow this was deeper than I anticipated! :)
• Bryan's parents moved to DeWitt and now live about 5 minutes down the road from us. They've been such a huge help with Bryan being laid up. They stop over and help out with Gavin, hang our curtains, Christmas Lights, set up our Christmas tree, take the garbage out, have us over for dinner. Their move was perfect timing. Plus Gavin loves going to see them and Ben their dog who Gav's obsessed with. It's also been helpful since our sitter goes away to school we only have her on the weekends, so it's nice to have back up childcare if we have plans or need a night out. It's been really great. I also love that Gavey will grow up close to family and have that many more people cheering him on when he becomes a little athlete.
• Our house is off the market...I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but we decided to take a break from showings, etc. Granted now I have someone coming to clean every other week so that would have made my life easier before. Trying to pick up with a extremley active toddler is not easy, in additon to keeping the rest of our house in order. I think we're back on the 4-5 year plan. We're going to stay here for a few more years, make this house a bit more like we want it, and then see what's out there. We had our house painted and deck redone with new stairs, railings, paint etc, over the summer and it looks so much better. We also are (as a type) getting new insulation put in, and soon our basement will be done with a bar, play area and new living space. I'm so excited!! If Bryan keeps this up I just might not want to move...Maybe that's his plan! Dirty trick Bry guy.
• Oh and in sad news...One of my professors who I worked so closely with over the last couple of years just suddenly passed away. It comes as a complete shock. I honestly can say I've never met someone who cares so much about his students and their success as he did. They think it was a heart attack but no one knows for sure yet. My prayers go out to his wife and family during such a busy and what is supposed to be happy, time of year. Campus will not be the same without his smiling face, dry humor, and to be honest...putting me through the ringer to win his business. I did it, but he def made me work hard for it. In doing so his new business might put me over the edge this year, and also it made it so worth it. He only did it because he cares about giving his students the best, and because he's so invested in them and was willing to learn and try new things. Cheers Mark, rest in peace.

Alriggghht. I think it's time this girl wraps up her blogging for one day and hits the gym!! In a couple weeks it will be packed with all the new year resolution-ers so I need to enjoy it while I can :)

Let's Start Over. Gavey.

I'm not even going to say it...Ok I will. I'm the worst at this! I always get so overwhelmed because I have so much to catch up on and I don't know where to start. So I'm going to do my favorite little bullet points in an attempt to quickly get up to speed. I'll do one all about Gaveys and the next about our family updates. Thennn hopefully I'll feel caught up and ready to jump into this again. I love going back and reading what happened in the last year, and at this rate I will have nothing. Yikes!

What's new with you Gavey?!

• You are a jabberwokke. As in you don't stop talking and I LOVE it!! Seriously SO freaking cute! My favorite thing is every morning when you wake up and come downstairs you say, "I need Coffeeeee Momma" Then I say "Gavey are you sure you want Coffee?" and you say "I silly Momma". Yes you are! You are a silly little guy. You love to laugh, play jokes and just be a little goofy goofer. You also sometimes refer to yourself in the 3rd person "Gavey wants to watch Thomas pease". Adorable! And you even called daddy "Bryan" and mommy "Dorelle..or more like "Drell" a couple times. Please don't do that. I'm already self conscious people think I'm your nanny and if you call me by my first name it will confirm it in some people's minds.

How did you get your Owwie?! Let's ask Daddy...

• You can count! We actually discovered this a little over a month ago, but when I say "one" you said "two" and we took turns all the way to 10! You love counting especially your food and your cars. You line everything up and say "one, two, tree, foh, five..." You're a genius. I will call it now.

You still haven't quite figured out how to ride in a car yet though...

• You are border line obsessed, probably to the point where it's unhealthy, which Thomas the train. ahhh. We now have your Geotrax taking up my living room, and you're on your way to having a little wooden Thomas the Train collection. Well Stephen and Juliette got you started with your first wooden thomas, tunnel and tracks, and Santa might help add to that this year. If you're good! ;)

Your favorite toy...which now takes up half of my living room floor thanks to you and your dad's new obsession.

• You were sick, as in really sick for the first time ever last week and it was heartbreaking. You've had little sniffles and coughs here and there but this time you had a fever. Ugh. I think this is the first fever you've ever had and it was so hard on momma. We spent the whole week doing nothing but snuggling, and cuddling. You slept constantly, and had no appetite or energy. The only thing you wanted was "fresha" (your word for water which I Love!! "I want fresha pease momma!", and CooCoo's which is your weakness...Cookies!" So you my little lovey got all the CooCoos and popsicles (freezies) that you wanted. Thankfully you kicked it by the weekend and your back with Stephanie today!

Poor little sleepy guy

You love your sweets!! Uh-oh


• I don't know if I mentioned this before but Stephanie now watches you at daycare and we honestly couldn't be happier. She used to watch you in the nursery at Riv, and daddy and mommy know Bob from the welcome team. He also is a teacher in DeWitt and the football coach, so they are definitly such great people. You can feel the love when you walk in the room, and it's way better than that horrible place you went to before. Ugh. Don't even get me started. I will not recommend them to anyone. Ever. Now I couldn't be happier and I have such peace about where you are. It's the best feeling ever. You also love Tommy and Drew, Neena's friends little twins! This morning you said, "Bye momma, go see Tommy". Ha! Tommy better not be moving up in the ranks over momma, K?!
• You're still off the charts in terms of your height and you weight around 27-28 lbs... I think we can even sneak you into the MAC tot watch tomorrow as a 2 year old because you're such a big guy. Woo Hoo! Everyone is always impressed when they hear your real age because they always think you're older because of your size and how chatty you are. It's cute but don't get to grown up on me because I want you to stay my little baby BFF forever.

Helping mommy make you MORE cookies!

• Your favorite pastime is riding along with momma and daddy at night checking out the Christmas lights. You always get so excited and say "OOOH Lighhhhts! Wowww!". I am now officially that person who drives around DeWitt Light Watching. I'm old.

I'm sure I'm missing so much but these are the major fun highlights for now. I promise to try my best to keep this up to date because I still have dreams of printing this off for you at some point so you can always go back and see what you're up to and when.

I love you so so so much little guy. In the wake of this horrible tragedy in CT it makes me look at you and want to hold you so tight and never let go of you. I want to protect you from everything. All of the evil in the world, but I know I won't always be able to do that. I want you to stay innocent forever, always see the good in people, and know that no matter what your mom and dad love you way more than you will ever be able to comprehend. I can't imagine my life without you. You are the greatest thing to ever happen to me and for that I am so thankful and blessed. I love you Gavey.