Raising the Bar

I was talking to one of the pastor's at Riv yesterday and he made such a great point that I now can't stop thinking about. Well ok I mean yes I can stop thinking about it, but it keeps popping back into my mind... It was about being a mom/dad in today's society and how so many guys graduate from college, and live in their parents basement instead of leaving the "nest" and starting their lives as individuals and as men. I was telling him how even though Gavin is still little, things like this make me think. I want to raise a successful son who grows up, has a great job, great wife, etc. I don't want my son to be one of the crazies who goes into a movie theater shoots people, or a son who's on teen mom, or in and out of jail. He then stopped me. He said something along the lines of, "That's a good goal, but why not raise the bar?"

Why not set your standards for your son higher than that?". He said how so many times in society we talk about not wanting our sons to be deadbeats, or murderers, or "losers" but that should be a given. What we should want is to raise our sons as strong Christian leaders and men. Raise them to be a man who stands up for what is right regardless of the costs, a man who respects women, a man who stands firm in his faith and is God fearing. I know a lot of this sounds so old fashioned, but I mean is it really? This is the type of man I married, and shouldn't this be the standard of the man that my son will become?

I know this is pretty deep. A lot deeper than pretty much anything else I've wrote on here but it's one of those things that caught my attention. He's right, why shoot for the standard when what I should be doing is raising the bar on my own standards...I appreciate the reminder. Which is why I'm writing it here. So I don't forget :)

Happy New Year!!

Ok well not really. But kind of. My new school year starts in a week and I'm honestly SO ready to get started! For those of you who don't know, I work on college campuses as an outside sales rep. When the semester begins again...so do I! I met with my manager last week and we spent a couple hours going over my 4th Quarter Plan. I'm pumped because I'm ready to close my year off strong and make my number. I want to be able to look back on Jan 1, and know I gave it all that I have. She also left me with a really great thought. "Pay attention to what and who you surround yourself with." I love this because it's so true! If you surround yourself with positive, motivated people, you too will most likely be positive and motivated. If you surround yourself with negative people, full of excuses, you will be that person. Such a great reminder.

With the "New Year" starting, I was thinking what better time to start this up again?! You would think since my summer is a little lower key I would have been blogging my life away. I think that I do better with this when I have a little more structure and motivation to sit at my computer. This summer has been such a CRAZY fun whirlwind!! Literally every time I think hmmm maybe I should jump on the old blog, I end up going outside for a run, playing with Gaveypants, hanging out with Bry and just relaxing and enjoying every minute. I think I also turn into a little anti-computer over the summer since I'm attached/live on it during the busy season. In some ways I'm kind of bummed because I feel like I missed keeping track of SO much!! But, I guess it's better now than never, right?!

We also have a few new BIG changes going on now that summer is coming to an end...

First. I think we're going to take our house off the market....and I have to say I'm pretty happy about this! Trying to keep it clean for showings when my Gavs is running around drinking the cat's water, throwing toothbrushes in the toilet, and pulling everything out of my cupboards is so stressful. Not to mention constantly cleaning the fingerprints off of the doors and mirrors, chasing the cats outside, and making sure our lawn is mowed, garage is clean and toys are back under the porch. I'm stressed just writing this. Ok. This doesn't mean we're going to turn into dirty dumpy people, but this does mean, I can relax and enjoy my house, my son and my family a little bit more. To be completely honest, I think we put our house on the market out of boredom. We were bored with our house, we want something newer/bigger, and it just seemed logical. But, you know what? We're not motivated in the sense that the thought of selling it, finding a new house, and moving is NOT what we want to do. I actually love my house and I want to be here a few more years. I want to turn the basement into a movie/play room, and redo the outside, and ENJOY our house. We've only been here a few years, and you know what, I'm not ready to leave the house that is our first family house. I'm still too attached :) Needless to say this is a huge relief, and I'm ready to take the for sale sign down, and not have to drive around DeWitt like a creep because I have people looking through my things. Now we just need to tell our realtor.... I think I'll leave that to Bryan ;)

Next- Gavey baby is going to start "school" soon!! He was supposed to start this week but since Carly isn't going back to school right away, we get her for another 2 weeks. We've been SO lucky this summer. She watches Gavin and Jackson (his little BFF) at either my house or Natalie's house. It's so nice because the boys play so good together, Carly is great with them, and she will pick him up on the way, or come here and watch him. We've been beyond lucky this summer and a little too spoiled!! Since Cindy- Carly's mom who Gavey used to go to retired right before the summer was over, we needed to find a new one. He will be going to Playhouse Child Dev Center in downtown DeWitt. When I went to check it out I LOVED it!! There is only 3 kids in the "toddler/baby room" and the most she will take is 6. They have the whole upstairs, and their own fenced in area to play outside away from the bigger kids. They also have a "light curriculum" where they read books, learn little lessons, play outside, etc. It costs a lot more than what we were paying but I think he's going to love it. Although...we may have another option. I swear I'm like a serial daycare dater in DeWitt BUT... I just found out that one of the people who go to Riv runs a daycare out of her home right down the road from me!! Her husband is the highschool football coach, teaches HS biology in DeWitt, and she watches Gavin in the nursery at Riv. I absolutly love her because she always comes up to Gavey and talks to him, and tells me how he's so good and that she loves watching him when she's in there. I mean seriously, who better to take care of him?! Ahh! I hope it works out. Plus the ironic thing is, one of my best friend's friend's (did you get that?!) sends her boys there. AND she only takes kids who's parents are teachers because she likes to have her summer's off...Um perfect, because we have Carly lin the summer! Ok I need to take a deep breath, because I only talked to her hubs about it today and he gave me her number to call tomorrow. I would just be beyond ecstatic if it worked out....If not, I'm still very very happy with our other choice. Either way, he'll be in great hands and one happy little boy :)

Alright well this wouldn't be an official update without any words on my Gavey Gavva...Ok so wait. To be honest I'm not sure where to even begin because it's been SO long since my last little update so let's try and give it a whirl:

• Your favorite word by FAR is No. Whenever you're asked a question, the answer is No. Gavin, are you a good boy? "No." Gavin, do you love momma? "No." Gavin, are we going to have a great day today? "No." Gavin, do you want to play with Jackson? "Yes". Such a stinker you are!!
• The only show you will watch is Yo Gabba Gabba. I'm not going to lie, I tried to get you into Bubble Guppies because I think they look so cute but you weren't having it. Granted it's not like you watch that much TV. Only when momma is trying to make dinner/breakfast or I try to squeeze in a few e-mails here or there... Shhhhh!! ;)
• Your diet consists of graham crakers, hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, milk and water. Seriously that's it. You won't eat anything else. All you want is hot dogs and mac and cheese. Although, I did make zuchhini, onion, and cheese "cupcakes" the other day and you ate them rigth down! Woo Hoo!! I need to find more fun things like this that I can "trick" you with. Your dad's not a fan that I called them cupcakes though. He got his hopes up a little too much when he came in the door, and I told him I made cupcakes for dinner. :)
• If you could live at the park you would. You LOVE it. You love climbing up the slide. You literally get mad if you start to climb up and then you accidently slide down. Ha! You climbed up the huge curly slide the other day when we were there just the two of us. Hey Mr. Strong man- slow down!!
• You love to run!! If I say Gavin, let's run! You pick up your little knees and run as fast as you can. Seriously. So. Cute. You also still LOVE to kick the soccer ball all over the backyard, wrestle, and jump on me if I'm laying down for 2 seconds for a breather. You're 110% all boy! That's fo sho.
• Nothing makes you madder than when I get out my laptop and shut it if you get close. Holy temper freaking tantrum.
• When we walk places and you decide you don't want to do it anymore you stop and sit down, and then lay down. Take today while at church. I'm walking across the room trying to find your dad, and you decide to lay down on the ground and scootch on your back across the floor. While there are like 100 people trying to walk around you, and while I have my arms full with your sippy cup, diaper bag, blankey, and a cup of coffee. Thank you Gavin.
• You are a little talker. Everyone has been commenting on how much you talk now. It's so cute and I am constantly video taping you like a creeper. Your fav words are HIIIIII (really loud) and BYYYYEEE (REALLY loud and repeatedly) whenever you walk away from a person, the cat, a book, really anything. My favorite word that you say is Bubbles...Your dad always says Good night Bubbles, and you say Bubbles back.. He just does it so you say it but I'm afraid you're going to think "bubbles' means goodnight at this rate!!
• Whenever we put you down for bed, you yell BYEEE and then we shut the door and you say Bye another 4-5 times and we repeat it back. It melts my heart every time. Can we do this until you're 30 and still live with me?! Ha kidding. Unfortunatly. :(
• You sleep with 4 blankets. Three of these are little mini ones and you gather them up every night before you go to bed and have to snuggle with them during our Ba and Story time. Then you have your big star one that we cover you up with. You can't sleep without them. All four of them. (Although tonight I hid Mo-Mo your monkey little blanks so I could wash it without you seeing it.... Yesterday when dad tried washing your star one you kept taking it out of the clothes basket and when he put it in the washer you had a melt down. Yikes.
• Last time we went to the Dr's you were in the 100th percentile for height and I think 78th for weight. Such a big boy!!

Alright. This is a NOVEL. I guess that's what happens when you update this once a year :) It's now 11:30pm and I need to get some sleep...It is wayyy too late for this girl!! :)

Long Time No Blog

Wowwww...This has definitly been a no blogging record :( Boo! I kept thinking you know I should just hurry up and write this but then I get overwhelmed by how much more I have to say. So let's get a quick run down of everything new in our life then hopefully I'll jump back on the blogging bandwagon!!

• You had your Dr. Appt this week you're in the 75th percentile for weight and 97th for height. What a big kid we have on our hands!! You had to get 2 shots which always makes me SO sad but you did great and took it like such a champ! We got a sticker on the way out the door and you were so proud of it!! Good job baby boo!
• Your right eye is starting to turn in slightly towards your nose so we have to take you to a specialist in the next few months. I just made your appt but I have to say I'm a little nervous. Thankfully it's not noticable at all so I'm hoping since we're catching it so early you'll be fixed up in no time. Although I think you're perfect and wonderful not matter what!
• You spent your first WEEK without both mommy and daddy! We lived it up in Riviera Maya while you got to hang out with papa and grandma at our house. They were so wonderful and stayed in our house so you could be where you were most comfortable. Thaknfully we were able to Skype all week which made it easier for us, although you couldn't figure out where we were. When you saw us for the first time after we got home you ran around screaming and smiling. It was the best feeling ever. Since then we're not able to sneak out of your site but you know what, I'm a-ok with that!
• We successfully threw your dad a SURPRISE 30th bday party in June. It was the weekend before his birthday and we rounded up 20 of our friends and I rented out a suite at Lugnuts stadium. He had no clue and I even got him a little choked up a few times. Best wife and mommy everrr right here! It was So hard not saying a word since I've been planning this for MONTHS but I pulled it off!! Now I can't wait to see what he does for my 30th bday next year. Although I might be in a ball crying since I'll be leaving my 20s...ugh. Speaking of which I really need to make a 30 before 30 bucket list.
• You're quite the chit chatter- Hi, Bye, Uh-Oh (your fav!), No (your other fav!), Weeee, Cat, Ball, Up, Down, Done, Momma, dadda, Oh Wow, Dog, Duck, and I think there are more but that's all I can think of for now...
• You love reading books. Your favorite is the little cats and dog book you have, and we are now in the tradition of reading your little bible that Ken and Cindy gave you. It's so fun and you love it so much. Perfect little night time tradition.
• Our house is still on the market. LOTS of showing, one offer that we rejected, and that's about where it stands. I'm ready to sell it only because I'm sick of cleaning so if it's not sold by the end of August we'll take it off. I really am kind of whatever about the situation. If we sell great, if not we will eventually so I'm not too anxious. Just sick of cleaning like a crazy person. (although it prob is a good thing?!)
• Your fav show is STILL Yo Gabba Gabba. We were watching at night until you decided you would be a trickster and wake up in the middle of the night for a week straight SCREAMING and nothing would settle you down until we sat on the couch with you and watched Yo Gabba Gabba. Then you stopped, smiled and had the time of your life. Until we turned it off. Stinker pants. So I'm trying to put an end to it...except when I'm trying to clean or do e-mails. Then I turn it on and let you watch it as long as I need you to :)
• We just drove ALL the way to New York, just you and me and you did so great!! You literally cried less than 10 minutes the WHOLE trip and that was just a little whining before you fell asleep. I couldn't be prouder of you and although I was a wreck the whole time driving, I have to say it was kind of fun. It was our little time together and I appreciate it. Now we just need to get through Sunday just you and me and the family while we're home and we'll count this a VERY successful trip. We did get to hang out with Kara and Caleb today and Brian, Tricia and Carrie tonight, so I think we have a fun weekend in store. I just need to make sure I get my run in Mr. get up at 6:00 RIGHT when I'm about to go out the door and hit the road.
• We still need a daycare. I'm in daycare denial and I need to snap out of it before everything is full and I'm out of luck :( That will be the first thing I do when I get back next week...maybe.

Alright so this was a quick update. I'll elaborate on things later but I want to take a quick shower before you my little babykins wakes up and we go hang out with Carebear. Woo hoo!! Fun Fun day!

Random Little Catch Ups

Ok so I never printed this and had it bound into a little book...Go figure :) We'll just add that on to my to do's, that may or may not never get done. Ok scratch that. We'll put it on a little wish list. Perfect!

Soo what is new in the world of Mr. Gaveypants?! Well. Gavey Baby had his 12 month well baby check up and it's confirmed- you Mr are one big boyyy. You weigh I think 23lbs (it was a week ago the details are slipping...I'll double check later) and 33 inches long. That puts you in the 75th percentile for weight and 100th percentile or height. Yikes. The funny thing is, when I was 8 months pregnant my OB Dr Barton called it. He said you're going to have a tall baby. I thought he was kind of crazy because how would he know but he totally called it. You also had to get your little 12 month vaccines- ugh that gets harder and harder for me! To hear you scream and see tears rolling down your face literally hurts my heart to watch. I wish I could get them for you :( BUT if it means that you're going to be healthy than shots it is! You are also such a healthy little boy, your never sick, your eczema cleared up off your little belly, and your ahead of things in terms of motor skills and how great you walk. Good job big boy! I'm proud of you! You're off the charts already, and I'm not surprised. The nurse said when giving you your shots your the strongest 1 year old she ever met because you kept kicking her and pushing off of her. It made watching the whole shot process that much worse because you were fighting it. I guess you have a little stubborn streak- I wonder who you get that from?! Must be your daddy ;)

In other Gaveygavva news you...

• Say: Bye Bye, Dadda, Momma, Uh-Oh, Boo!, ball, cat, nana, Done!, more, no!and I swear youre always saying "What's that!" but I could be wrong. That is what it sounds like though...I guess we'll see.
• You LOVE LOVE LOVE Yo Gabba Gabba. Like seriously whenever you get a little whiny we just turn it on and all you have to do is see DJ Lance's orange hat go across the screen and you start laughing, marching and dancing and clapping. I think you think it's your own private show...speaking of which. If you Gabba Gabba ever comes to town we're there! Apparently gone are the days I'm dying to get Britney tickets. Ha
• You run. Like literally RUN around the house and want us to chase you. It's fun at home but to be honest I wish you wouldn't do it in public because I'm paranoid of losing you or someone kidnapping you. I've heard too many scary stories. Like the one the other day in Holt...Ahhh. People are so terrible.
• You love gram! Seriously it melts my heart. I think I mentioned this before but Gav it's the sweetest thing ever. We went home to NY last week and you would always tilt your head to the side and just smile at her and then run up and give her a little hug. Thank you Gav, you have no idea how much that means to her and me :)
• You are obsessed with hugging your stuffed animals and the cats. But you kind of hug head butt them. You crouch down and then rest your head on them. So cute! I need to get a picture. You also are so good at petting the cats now, you look at us and pet them so gently. Don't get too attached though, your mom and dad are secretly hoping they run away or we can get rid of them soon. Shhhh!
• You love going outside to play. Literally all I have to do is say Gavey want to go outside? And you grab your ball, go to the sliding glass door and pull on the handle. Smarty pants.
• You also love to play peek a boo with your hands now. So cute! You will do it out of nowhere and put your little hands over your face sometimes foreverrr and then pull them away and yell Boo! Ha it makes me laugh everytime. Although I think sometimes you get mixed up and you cover your head and then yell Boo! That makes me laugh even harder ;)
• You eat like a big boy. We've gotten rid of the bottle except for your night time bottle and thats just because I don't know what else to put it in...I guess we could cut the bottle out all together but to be honest we love our night time cuddles and rocking you. It's the longest you'll sit still and let us hold you. Aww if it was up to me we'd be rocking you asleep with a bottle until your 18.
• Your carseat is now front facing! WOO Hoo! We think you hate it though because now we're always turning around looking at you. Before you were kind of in your own little world and could choose whether or not to look at us in the mirror. Now you have no choice, we're always turning around and staring. It makes our life easier because we can hand you snacks, pick up your sippy, and play boo so easy.
• You had your first all night party the other night at Val and Brians. We spent the night at their house on the way to NY and you were up until 1:30 partying like a rock star. Ahhh! But the good thing is you slept most of the way to NY and then took a long nap once we got to grams. You also were a little scared of Charlie but I would be too if something kept jumping on me and knocking me down. Sorry Charrrlie.
• You are ALWAYS running our dishes through the dishwasher. We never know if we washed them or if you clicked the button but half the time we open it and the dishes are "clean". So then we end up washing them again. You also move the dial and set the timer so out of nowhere it will start running. I guess we need to watch you like a hawk. You try to get the stove but we get you everytime. Sneaky pants.

I guess that's it in the world of Gavin. By that's it I mean I just wrote down pretty much every detail of your life. Ha. I apparently got on a blogging roll. In the world of your mom and dad, we have an offer on our house. This brings so many mixed feelings. Ugh. Do we accept it? What should we counter? Do we want to move to Holt, Okemos, Williamston or stay in DeWitt? DeWitt has such a great school district we love the town but most of our friends are in the Holt area...Mason is nice too but there isn't a lot of houses in the market out there. Such a big desicions so we're saying lots of prayers that we make the right one. It will work out I'm sure We're not in a huge hurry to sell so our biggest thing is we don't want to lose money on our house and then we'll be fine. I guess we'll wait and see what happens. The biggest thing is figuring out where to move to...I don't want to regret moving to one town when we should've just stayed here. Big desicions up ahead. Yikes. I'm sure we'll be happy wherever we move, and regardless we'll be in a bigger house with more room for Gavey to play and more room for us to live. Perfect! Granted we really love our house now. Ahh we need to learn not to be so wishy washy! Ha. I doubt that will ever happen.

Alright. Its 8:30 and Gavey still isn't up yet...We need to make a quick trip to the gym and then come home so I can get ready for my presentation tonight. Thankfully Carly saved the day and is coming over at 1:00 to watch you until your dad gets home. Whew! Another reason why I love DeWitt. We have the best babysitter we could ask for. What to do what to do...

I'll add pics later. I hope! :)

Happy FIRST Birthday Baby Boy!!

Wow...I am the mommy to a ONE year old. Seriously Gavey where did this last year go?! We're packing up the bottles, my living room no longer has baby swings, play mats, or bumbos. Instead we have tents with tunnels, every kind of ball you can imagine, and baby gates to help keep you in one spot because you're constantly running through this house as fast as you can. We have to put the cat dishes on the counters, which you can now reach unless we push them to the back, you eat what we eat, (on the healthy nights! Ha!), and you could spend every minute of your life kicking the ball around the backyard if we let you. What happened to my little snuggly peanut?!

I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me a little sad that you're growing up and it's happeneing SO fast, but at the same time it makes me so proud and so excited for your future. You have such a big personality and you're really coming into your own little person. It's so fun to see. You love to laugh, and do things to make me laugh. When I laugh you laugh...which isn't always a good thing esp if it's when you're doing something your not supposed to! Oops! You also love to blow kisses and give kisses and wrap your arms around my neck and lay your head down. It's so sweet! All of these things you couldn't do a year ago, which makes me realize maybe you growing up isn't all that bad? Right? It makes me wonder what are you going to be doing a year from now?! I have to say I hope this next year goes by a littttle slower. I have a feeling it might seeing as the first 3 months of your life are a COMPLETE blur to me. I'm not going to miss the 10 feedings, midnight, 2am, 4am, 6am and on and on and on. I'm also not going to miss the spit up, big baby burps, and having to spend an hour making sure I have everything I need to take you to the grocery store for 10 minutes.

This last year our whole life has been turned upside down, but in the best way imaginable. I used to freak out if everything wasn't in it's exact spot in our living room and kitchen. Now I'm sitting here typing this and I see a soccer ball in the middle of the floor, we have a colorful tent with a tunnel to crawl through on the other side of me (which by the way I swore I would never let you have toys that were primary colors because they didn't match our living room! Ha I was crazy. I admit it), there is a huge bear next to the TV, and a shoe lying in the middle of the walk way. Granted I"m sure this will all be picked up before bed bc I haven't change THAT much but the fact I can sit here and look around at this somewhat chaotic mess says a lot :) I also would choose spending a weekend at home with you overnight a night out on the town anytime. When I go to the mall, my first stop is The Children's Place and Gymboree, and even though my house may be the "messiest" it's ever been, it's also the cleanest since I constantly have to vacuum and sweep your gold fish off the kitchen floor. (As cute as you are, I will never think smashing them up in a million pieces and then pushing them on the floor and laughing is cute... well not that cute ;) I could go on and on about how everything has changed, but it doesn't matter. It's the way our life is now and I wouldn't want it any other way. You're the greatest thing in my life and I am so proud of you Gavey.

So how did we spend YOUR big day?!

We had a Gavey Mommy Day!! I think we're going to do that every year, it was so fun. We started out with waffles topped with a scoop of ice cream and a candle. (Which by the way you wanted to grab so we blew it out and made a wish for you ;). Then we went to the gym where Emma and everyone yelled Happy Birthday Gavin and had your name on the big birthday calendar. From there we went to Play in EL and played with Stephen and Juliette. You seriously love that place. It was so nice because we had it basically to ourselves, so you were able to slide down the slide, run around with the big bouncy ball, walk over the little bridge and dance on the stage in the cutest little tutu! Ha! Your dad wasn't too happy with me but seriously I love little girl tutus and I don't have a girl to put them in so you my friend got to experience it. I think you liked it too. I promise I won't tell :) We then came home and you took a quick 45 minute nap, and we then played some more. When your dad got home we grilled out and you got to have your first little chocolate birthday cake with another candle. Which again, you had no idea what to do with it. But you LOVED the cake! Uh-oh I hope you don't have a sweet tooth like your daddy!! After dinner you were so tired we skipped the bath and you were ready for bed...and so was I! Wow we've had a lot of mommy gavey days together but for some reason this one I think tired me out more than you! Yikes!

Ok so this is kind of allll over the place. I was hoping I could think of something really great and insightful to write for your 1st bday but honestly I don't know where to begin or what to even write. So there you have it. Happy First Birthday Gavey Gaverson Godiva. We love you so much and I can't wait to see what the next year holds. I love you baby boy!

Perfect gift from Val and Brian... Hooded Towel, a whole pail of sand toys and the box :)

Let's get this weekend starrrrrrted

Can I just say I'm so excited the weekend is here! Finally! Well it will begin the minute I can walk away from the conference I'm working at. I'm ready to pack up my bags and get home.  It's kind of funny because our table is set up directly in between the desert tables and everyone keeps sneaking out to grab a desert but they look at me for permission! I can't tell you how many people I've had to tell to live a litle or treat themselves! Ha! It's interrupting with this very important blog that I'm writing. The nice thing about being here is I've been able to do all my expense reports (2000.00 worth- Ahh! I'm the worst. Hands down. The worst!)...clearly I haven't done them in a few months! Shh! AND I got all my follow up done for the week and e-mails caught up. Plus I got to do it with one of my favorite people ever- Kelly! We had a nice dinner at Troppos the other night complete with yummmmy martinis! Love a fun girls night out :)

We have a very fun weekend coming up. Well minus tonight but I have to say I'm REALLY looknig forward to tonight. We're going to stay in, clean the house and do laundry! HA! What has my life turned into?! Our goal is to get everything done tonoight so we the rest of the weekend is easy peasy. Tomorrow I think we'll hit up the mall and tomorrow night DATE NIGHT What what?! Carly is babysitting who Gavey loves and who we love because we can go out without worrying. Brybear wants to do dinner and the Lorax, this girl wants to do dinner and a night out :) Although the Lorax does sound fun! Ha! We are apparently regressing.

We're still not sure where we want to live. DeWItt?! Holt?! Mason?! What?? Ahhh. It's kind of fun because we're in a good position where we can just take our time until we find exactly what we want. The hard part is narrowing down WHERE we want to live. DeWitt is such a nice town, great schools, and comfortable, but all of our friends live like 20 minutes from here. Maybe they all just need to move to DeWItt?! Perfect solution.

What's new with the Mr. Gaverson Godiva?!

Gavey you are going to be 1 in a little over a week!!! WOO HOO! Big boy! You're nothing but fun, and I'm loving every single moment with you. Work is in it's busy mode but the minute I pick you up to the minute you go to bed we enjoy every second. You are quite the little soccer star, you love kicking the ball up and down the living room, and up and down the living room. It's so fun to watch! You also LOVE to laugh! you do something and literally crack up and then look at me and crack up again! Ha! I'm smiling just thinking about it. You're such a happy little guy I can't help but be happy when we're hanging around and chilling. You're so awesome and I love you so much!! You also are getting very good at waving and saying "Bye bye" AH! Adorable! You are offiically off formula which is so nice. Although I'm dense and didn't realize that Vitamin D and whole milk are the same thing! So you my friend have been drinking organic whole milk like no one's business. Although now I don't know if I want to switch you, with all of these food scares I really dont' know what to do. Ah! I need to educate myself a little bit more so I know what I'm talking about and putting into our bodies. It can be kind of scarey. Yikes! You are obsessed with waffles which make breakfast SO easy! You sit there eat it, drink your water and we're done! Perfecft! Quick and easy- my favorite :) Your newest trick is pushing anything that you can get your little hands on, up against the bookshelf and standing on it to reach the higher shelves! You also pushed it against the blanket basket, climbed on top of the laundry basket to the blanket basket to the entertainment center! Gavey! Alhough we probably made it seem like it's a good thing to do since we smiled, laughed and took pictures the whole time! Oops! We need to work on that! If only when we laughed it meant you were doing something wrong! Ha! We'd be set

Ok this is random. Nothing like a good conference to help carve out time to blog. Woo hoo! Ok I think it's time to bounce everyone else is packing up and I'm sitting here typing like a creep.

Where is my Baby Boy?!

Well he's been busy getting bigger, smarter, and funner (is that a word?!) over the last how many months since I"ve last posted anything?! Ahhh! Seriously! I feel terrible, and then I kept thinking, I need to update. I need to update. But the thought of that is so overwhelming. So here I am, taking the bull by the horns and getting it done. We're going to do this bullet style for now until I post again because I'm trying to get this written while you're having bath time with daddy. For some reason Bullets always seem faster?!

• You are the most fun kid I've ever hung out with! It's been in the 70's and 80's this week and we've played outside everyday! You love the park, swinging, eating dirt (Shhh!!), chasing after the big kids yellling HEYYY! and wondering why they're not listening, and climbing up the slide and then sliding down. You literally are so strong you pull yourself up by holding the side of the slide and then climb. Seriously Gav, you are my little iron man.
• You say Mommma and it's the sweetest thing in the world! You've said ma for awhile but now it's mommmma. Ahh. Love it. You also throw your hands in the air and say done when you're done eating, say Heyyyyy when you want someone to look at you, and say Uh-oh. You also still love to say Dada, Ball, Cat, and Cindy even thought you said one of your little friend's names...Genius I tell you!
• You gave up baby food about a month ago. This is good and bad. Good because it's easy to feed you because you'll eat what we eat. Bad because I just spent a small fortune on Plum Organic baby food and we have literally cases of baby yogurt, and baby food for you to eat but you won't. We'll just have to find someone who needs them I guess?!
• You're a little jokester and a lot of times you act like you're going to do something you shouldn't and then you look at us and laugh and run away. Silly Boy!! For example, you run up to the stove, act like you're going to grab the knobs, look at us, and then start laughing and you're off!! You also know what the word No means and you get serious everytime you hear it.
• You're favorite food in the world is shredded cheese, grilled cheese, and peanut butter and jelly
• You have 5 teeth and I think a few others coming in...and they are SHARP! Yikes! You started laying your head on my shoulder and than biting last week...After my slight little yell you stopped. Serves you right ;)
• Our house is officially on the market and we're ready to move. Ok not really. We're verrrry torn about where we want to move to?! We want to stay in DeWitt because it's such a nice area, but then again most of our friends are in Holt...Hmmmm...What to do?! We also just found out Cindy is retiring so now we will need to find a new daycare. It's the saddest news ever because we love her and she's so good with Gavey man...Maybe she'll change her mind?! I hope :)
• I'm a runner again! Woo Hoo! Wait didn't I say that a few months ago?! No, I mean now my distance is back and I've taken a lot of time off. I'm running about 8:58 pace which for me is good right now. I want to get up to running 10 plus miles again but that's my goal for this summer. Crim, here I come?! Maybe! Last night was so great...Gav I love you but your dad and I were able to sneak out for a 9:00 run after you were in bed thanks to papa and gram .They watched you while we got to run around the town after dark like the old days...it was kind of nice.
• You have a mullet and I want to cut your hair in the worst way but NO ONE will let me! Ahhh! Maybe I'll do it and see if anyone notices?! By then it will be too late and you'll be trimmed up perfectly :)
• I'm slightly depressed Desperate Housewives has 4 seasons left. I cried like a baby. Ok wait more than a baby during the last episode. I always had a little thing for Mike Delfino... ;)
• We went home to NY this last week and had the best time ever with gram. Seriously I wish we could move back there. I do but I don't. Ok this is what I wish. That we could move her here. Perfect!!
• FYI I literally have about 15 bites on me from trying to eat dinner outside tonight. OMG. I'm going crazzzy over here.
• Work is crazzzzy. Is it May yet?! Ha. Still love my job, but hate that I'm so busy. I've gotten really good at doing my follow up before picking up Gavin and then hanging out with him until he goes to bed, which is around 8:00. Then brybear goes to the gym and tanning and I have my time to either work or watch my trashy reality tv that he hates.

I think that's it?! Ok probably not but it's a start!! I'll have to go through and add pics later. My new goal- post every Friday. Let's see how well I do? :)