Cereal, Schmereal

Gavie (as I like to call him these days, it's not a typo) had his first cereal tonight. And although a lot of it ended up down his chin and on his bib quite a bit of it went "down the hatch" too! He gave me some really strange looks during the first few bites, like he was saying, "what the heck is she putting in my mouth and what am I supposed to do with it??" But, by the end of the bowl he seemed to get the hang of it. Here's a little video too.

We went to the pediatrician yesterday for his 4-month well check and he's weighing in at 15 lbs. 13 oz. He received some shots and a clean bill of health. I cannot seem to get enough of his baby self these days and I am just trying to cherish his time as an infant as much as I can. It already seems to be going too fast. I mean cereal already! What's next, pureed peas? Oh wait, that is what's next... Oh, I just LOVE my baby... and his brother... and his father. I am SO blessed. Thanks be to God!!

Name Change

I have changed the name of the blog again... I think it's gonna stick this time. That's all... : )

State-tris

I found this really cool site from a little tid-bit in Parents magazine. It's like the game Tetris but it's for geography. You can do all the U.S. states or all the countries in Europe, Africa, etc. Tim and Ben have had fun in the last few days playing the game and it's really cute to hear Ben say "Botswana!" Anyway, here's the link: http://www.mapmsg.com/games/statetris/usa/

Also, I have changed the name of the Blog, let me know what you think. It's supposed to kind of sound like my name - get it Mommy Lane (mom-e-laine). Anyway, let me know if you like it b/c I am not completely sure.

Slide Show

I just figured out how to do a slide show for the blog and did one of Gavin from birth to now, just as an experiment. It is fun to see how he has changed. Enjoy!

Check out my Slide Show!

Thomas...The Legacy

So Ben has already influenced his brother by making him watch Thomas the Tank Engine and I had to get this shot of them "watching" together in our bedroom. Of course, Gavin doesn't really watch it because the rules say you cannot let children under 2 watch t.v. By the way, raise your hand if you have more than one child and the younger ones or one didn't "watch" any t.v. before the age of 2... Still, Gavin does not really sit in front of the television, this was just because I thought it was really cute to get both of the boys picture on the bed together. Long explanation, right?? Oh well... By the way Ben really IS watching and LOVES his Thomas. But you all knew that right?

Baby's Got a New Pair of Shoes!

Okay, so they're not new, just some that Ben had when he was a baby and... they are still too big but I just couldn't resist putting them on Gavin's feet this morning since they went with the outfit so well. Not to mention he seemed to love wearing them since he smiled for all the pictures I took. Maybe he'll be more of a shoe-lover than Ben, like his mother! HA!

We went to lunch today with Tim's Dad and his wife Diane since they were in town and it was their first time to meet Gavin. Tim had to get back to work so we didn't get to spend a lot of time together but we are actually going to New York to visit them in two weeks so they'll definitely get to know Gavin better then.

On the subject of Ben's P.T. (his stand's for "potty training") - I won't go into more details but let's just say we have won a few battles but certainly not the WAR! Do you get my meaning? Just pray for God to give me patience and I mean A LOT of it! Thanks! ; )

second attempt

Here I go again, trying to upload a video on my own... and this time...

IT WORKED! Yeah!! It's a short one of the boys this morning, playing peek-a-boo. It's a little dark, but you can kind of see Gavin smiling and Ben "hammin' it up" so it's still cute.

Yesterday morning I was outside looking at the flowers in the yard, etc. and I took this shot of some red Gerbera daisies that are in a pot by my front door. This plant was from the large basket of flowers that Tim's office sent when Gavin was born. My mother transplanted it while she was here helping us out that week. I am so excited that not only have I kept it alive but it's blooming again. I had a little help from Mother Nature too. So, once again, God Bless ALL the "Mothers" out there! HA!

Can you see that the larger flower has a spider on a petal on the left hand side? We have had SO many spiders this summer, I guess because of all the rain. I don't mind them, but I have walked into their webs many times and it gets a little annoying. But, we are all God's creatures, right?

I don't think that I put on here that we had another large limb fall off of our Bradford pear tree that's out front, last week. Most of you know that our tree history on this property has not been great. This is the third large limb to fall off of that tree since we've lived here. I hired a tree service this time to come and get rid of the limb and trim the tree back. It looks so much better and I am looking forward to having fewer leaves out there this fall since they loaded quite a bit of them into their trailer! I am thinking that the next house we buy some day may have a tree-less lot! I do love their beauty and shade but gimme a break already with them falling on or near my house!!

Gavin had P.T. yesterday for the first time in a month and shows improvement. I have been given more "moves" to do with him as he continues to hold his shoulders too high. His neck movement is good, it's really more the shoulder thing at this point. Anyway, we go back in another month and I hope he's even better by then. It's kind of hard for me to want to do some of the exercises with him since he cries pretty hard by the time I am done with some of them.

That's all for now...sorry if I was rambling... hope your week is going well!

Ben Has Harold...An do you know what that means?!

Ben is now in possession of Harold the Helicopter of the Thomas series, and do you know why? Drumroll please..... HE WENT POO POO IN THE POTTY! Yes, it should be on headline news tonight folks, it has been done! Okay, so it's not Britney Spears showing off her post-baby body and singing (oh wait, lip-syncing) and sort of trying to dance... but WE still think it's news worthy! Like I said earlier, I've got to shout it from the rooftops, right? Y'all should just be really glad I didn't take any pictures... HA!

Anyway, he finally did it today and there was a ton of excitement and high fives all around, etc, etc. We are so very proud of him and showering him with rewards (he is still expecting me to bake him a cake that I promised him earlier in the week as well). I am just so glad we finally got past this hurdle and things seem to be moving along in this area more and more everyday. Somewhere in the background I believe I hear the Hallelujah Chorus, can you hear it too?!

Another Week of Firsts

It's been another week of firsts in this family, some of them positive and one not so. Gavin got his first little cold and has just entered the "drippy" phase of it so now there is just one more part of his body I have to wipe! HA! : ) He has still slept fine every night so, fortunately it has not messed up that part of our lives! He also took his first trip to the Fort Worth Zoo (forgot my camera...). We went yesterday with the play group we have joined that my friend Claudia introduced us to. It was fun and of course Ben loved riding the train. I didn't have any other way to get both boys around besides pushing Ben in the stroller and walking with Gavin in the sling (no double stroller here) and we were ALL quite exhausted by the time we loaded up and went home. Another wonderful "first" was the fact that Ben wore underwear to the zoo, didn't have any accidents and went potty while we were there! His first time in a public place - oh the joy!! I know people are probably tired of hearing about potty training but it has stressed me out quite a bit so when something like this happens I just have to announce it to the world. Who knew that this task would be one of the hardest things I have ever had to do in my life. Oh the challenges of motherhood...

Gavin is 4 months old today (boy does time fly). Right now he loves to play on his toy mat on the floor, either on his tummy or back and he's really starting to play with the toys on the exer-saucer. He really notices Ben a lot now and will follow him around the room with his head and eyes. This morning he was on the floor and Ben was doing "patty-cake" with his hands - oh so sweet - and he was laughing and smiling at Ben. Gavin also REALLY likes peek-a-boo right now and laughs very hard when I do it and say it. Here is a shot of his 4-month-old selft laughing at me when I did it this morning...

Weekend Update

I have a little story that I find amusing and hope you do too... As you all know Ben is in potty training mode (thanks again for the advice to those of you who chimed in, some of it is already working better). Anyway, on to the little story. Since we are working so hard to use the potty everytime, etc. Ben has been "hanging out" (pun fully intended) around the house without anything on his bottom half. Pretty early on Saturday morning he was in the play room that is right by the front door and could see that someone was at the door and told me so. I kind of assumed it was our neighbor but instead it was a couple of sweet ladies distributing the religious pamphlet, The Watchtower. I know you have all had this experience and they are very nice but you just don't necessarily want to talk to them when they stop by. ; ) So, I opened the door (no hiding from them now like I might try to do...) and Ben was right there behind them. As we know, Ben will talk to anyone and proceeded to tell them that "we have trains." The older lady, who carried a cane and had a speech problem, started to ask me if I believed that the old testament still carried values for today's families. I acknowledged that it does and after that Ben proceeded to push himself infront of me (sans underwear or a pull up, remember?) and tells them that he doesn't get to watch his Thomas DVD until he goes poo poo on the potty. I am not sure that they understood what he said because they may not even know who Thomas is and he spoke really fast, but I am pretty sure that they noticed that he was half naked. Anyway, I just thought it was pretty funny that they were asking me about family morals while Ben was scantily clad! HA HA!

On a more proper note, I co-hosted a baby shower for my friend Jennifer this weekend. She is due in October and expecting a baby boy. Our theme was centered around rubber duckies and I made cupcakes to go along with that. Our friend Heather McCabe was nice enough to offer her lovely home (and serving dishes!) for the event.

Here's Wendy, Jen, Heather and Me (hostesses and expetant Mom)

Jen and I have been friends since college and we are so excited for her and her husband Lance to become parents! We pray that all goes well for them during labor and delivery and for a healthy baby. Here I am with my good friend. CONGRATULATIONS!!

A week of Firsts

So it was the first week of Ben's new school and my role as full time Mommy. It's gone pretty well (of course we still have tomorrow...). Ms. Monica is Ben's new teacher and like a complete slacker I did not get their picture together but it's not like it's kindergarten or something... geez... Anyway, on Tuesday as I was picking him up she said he had great verbal skills (a.k.a talks too much??) No, really, she said it in a positive way. And since he used the word "dramatically" around me the other day, I am going to believe that he used a few words around her that she's not used to hearing 3 year olds say. Today she said he was "a very neat kid" and that every know and again she has a student like him and she gave me a big grin. So, I think she likes him! Enough bragging...


Here's a picture of what will be going on while Ben is NOT at school and we are all home together. Between playing trains and cars, doing laundry and cleaning house, and jaunting about sometimes, my days will be oh so wonderfully full!! ; ) I don't miss my old job - I went to the office today to lend some of my maternity clothes to a former co-worker and I was so glad I got to leave whenever I wanted and that I didn't have to touch a computer there! HA! Anyway, here are my beautiful boys...

Gavin has taken to the "exer-saucer" thingy in the last week or so. He has better head control now (just in general) so he can sit in it pretty well and it's quite fun to see the boys sort of playing together.
We are doing our best to potty train whole-heartedly now and unfortunately Ben refuses to execute the ever elusive #2 in the potty! He's doing really well otherwise but says he's scared to go poo poo. Anyway, I won't go on, but I just pray that SOMETHING, ANYTHING will change his mind soon (so far subtracting television and desserts from his life has NOT worked). Good Luck to us!!

2 Little Fish

We went to Bedford Splash yesterday and it was Gavin's first time in the water. It was a good day to take the kids because it was a little overcast and we even had to take cover during a short rain storm. Here are a few pictures of the boys from our adventure. Gavin sporting his trunks and sandals

Both boys ready to go

Gavin hanging out in the water (with Daddy's help of course)Ben having fun in the water

Tim rented a life jacket for Ben because he usally has to hold him the entire time we are swimming but this time he was able to do more things on his own and I think it gave him more confidence in the water. He also rode several small slides on his own (although he did like to be caught at the bottom). Bedford Splash was really good for kids this age and only a short drive from our house so I am sure we will go back again next summer. It was kind of our last "hurrah" for the season as we came home and watched college football - a true sign that fall is on the way- and a joyous time for my husband who is most excited for the season to change and things to cool off.