Ranger 10K

The 1st Annual Ranger 10K (6.2 miles) was this morning... I'm proud to say we finished! It was a really fun event, as several of our friends participated as well. We're looking forward to next year. The weather ended up being perfect, and we were so thankful for that.

Jason, Gavin, and I hanging out before the race.
Gavin and Jason at the start line.

Melissa and I ready to start!

Erica, Andy, and Tyson

(Andy ran the race then caught up with Erica and Ty afterwards.)

Jason and Erik with their matching baby backpacks!!

Melissa, Sean, and Colton on the final stretch.

The men at the end of the race

Afterwards, we decided we deserved the best pizza ever - Vinnie's!

Gavin was too tired to stay awake.

Tonight we had a cookout at our house with Andrew, Andy, Erica, and Tyson.

Gavin and Tyson had a good time!

Sitting Up!

Little Buddy has all sorts of new accomplishments as of today. He woke up this morning and wanted to show us all of his skills. He's been sitting for several minutes at a time with now help. He also rolled from his stomach to his back for the first time today. He's been rolling all over the place every time we put him down to play today. We officially have to be on guard - he's mobile!!! Another thing he's working on is scooting. He can get up on his hands and knees and starts rocking back and forth. He's able to move backwards, but not forward just yet. It won't be long! I'm so amazed by our little man!

Sorry the video is sideways... I was so excited this morning that I forgot to make sure I was filming in the right direction!

Vaccines/Mom's Night Out

Today we took Gavin in for 2 more of his vaccinations. Our pediatricians office is great. They have no issues with me spacing out his shots and allow me to just walk in when I'm ready for him to get his next 2 shots. It's great not having to hassle with appointments. They got us back right away and the lady was so patient when I had a 100 different questions about future vaccines. Our pediatricians office is about a mile from post, so Jason was able to swing over an meet us.

Jason rubs Gavin's ear... I love it!

(Not sure if he was trying to comfort Gavin or himself more!)

Poor Gavin... one down, one to go!

Getting a band-aid

Tonight the wives had a coffee in the next neighborhood over. Jason had his first night of daddy duty without me. It was a nice break for me and I'm so thankful he was able to get off work in time to keep Gavin. He ended up loading Gavin up and heading to Fuddrucker's for dinner. Gavin took a bottle from him and ate all of his butternut squash. Jason was a good hubby and sent me 2 pictures of Gavin while I was at the coffee via text messaging. He knew I would miss him! I'm so proud of my boys. I'm feeling more and more at ease about leaving Gavin the night of the Ranger Ball. We just have to keep practicing with the bottle and he will be a pro by then.

Butternut Squash

Gavin had day #2 of butternut squash this morning... He absolutely loves it! (Jason and I tasted it as well, and were pretty impressed!) One more day of this and we will be able to move on to Acorn squash! I'm so thankful that I am able to make his meals at home. I have nothing against "gerber babies" - (I was one myself!) - but I find it so fulfilling to be able to cook his food myself and know everything that goes into his precious little body. Thanks, nana, for our Beaba Baby Cook!

All gone!!

Making Baby Food/Floor Play

Gavin and I headed out to Fresh Market today for Organic Butternut Squash and Acorn Squash. If you've never been to a Fresh Market - GO! Jason and I could spend all day in there. Due to the higher costs of foods, we don't shop there often, but we occasionally will pick up meat or fish there to grill out at home for a special occasion. We decided we were going to buy all Gavin's fruits and veggies there as well, because they have such a huge selection of organics and they have sigh a higher quality selection of food. Our pediatrician suggested that after rice cereal we start Gavin out on the "squash family" since they are hypoallergenic. When we got home I got to work with the Beaba Cook. I made 2 batches of each veggie and then used 2 different things to store them to see which I like best. For the butternut squash I used a Beaba BPA free Storage container from Williams-Sonoma. It stores the food in 2 oz servings. For the Acorn Squash I used regular $1 ice cube trays. The serving sizes are smaller (I'm estimating 1 oz each). I had no complaints with either.

I will freeze the containers overnight and put them in freezer bags in the morning.

Here are the frozen servings! Eventually we will have this top shelf of the freezer stocked up with a variety of organic homemade baby food. I LOVE IT! It's too easy... you just pull out a couple frozen cubes and thaw them out before meals. Too easy!

Sorry I get so detailed in my process of making baby food at home. Several of you have e-mailed/commented that you are interested in doing this as well, so I figure any information will help you make your decision. Let me know if you have any questions!

Gavin is getting so close to being able to roll from his back to his stomach. (He's been able to go from his stomach to his back for months now, but can't figure out how to get back over.) We had a "practice session" tonight and he did great! LT loves it when we get on the floor and play, so he always wants to be right there in the middle of the action.

He got so close many, many times, but that right arm just won't let him complete the roll-over!

After playing on the floor Jason let him "fly high" for a bit. Watching them do this always makes me think of my niece, Morgan. When she was smaller Jason would always do this to her and let her touch the ceiling. She says he's the strongest man in the world (besides God) because he can lift kids to the ceiling. Too cute!

Feb 22nd: Catching up with old friends

It was so nice to wake up this morning at the Taylor's home. Jason and I discuss over and over how much we miss them and wish they lived in our neighborhood again. The month before we moved from Bragg we literally spent every evening together, taking turns make dinner or going out. They are amazing people. Chad and Kelli are great role models for Jason and I. They are such strong christians and have no fear in being open about it. I strive to be more like Kelli everyday. They are a great husband and wife duo and are amazing parents to Jayda. Thanks for your friendship Chad and Kelli, and for being such great examples to us. Also, thanks for welcoming us into your home, only days after you moved in! (Pictured above is Jason officially introducing Jayda to LT... she was very shy at first, but got brave and decided to pet him!)

Gavin was thrilled to be out of the car for the morning. Chad and Kelli pulled out Jayda's old Baby Einstein Jumper and Gavin had a blast bouncing around and looking at himself in the mirror.

Here's Jason and Jayda in the kitchen waiting for breakfast. Kelli made an awesome meal: french toast, bacon, sausage, and eggs! We were so spoiled.

After a few hours of downtime at the Taylor's, we all headed to lunch at El Toucan to meet up with more friends before we got back on the road for the final 4 hours of our drive back to Savannah. We are pictured above with the Maki's: Kyle, Melody, and Elizabeth. They attended college with us at UTM. They married 2 months before us and Kyle and Jason also commissioned together! We are so excited to have stayed in touch with them and are thankful to be able to meet up with them at least once a year. (Last year they drove to Benning in March to help me throw a surprise birthday party for Jason while he was in ROP!)

Ieva and the newest baby, Jack (1 month old), also met us for lunch. I had to steal Jack for a quick snuggle - he is too cute. He slept almost the whole time! Ieva's husband was in the same platoon with Jason while we were stationed at Bragg, so Ieva and I really got to know one another during the deployment. Her other son, Ethan, claimed to be my boyfriend for awhile, but I think he found a new gal now that I'm gone!!

Above is Kyle trying to introduce Gavin to Elizabeth, but she wasn't too sure of him quite yet!

Jason and Elizabeth

Gavin and Kelli

After lunch we stopped by the hanger so Jason could see Kyle's aircraft.

(Kyle is an Apache pilot!)

Gavin and Elizabeth played on the hanger floor while the men played with the Apache! Gavin did really well sitting on his own. I think he was showing off for Elizabeth!

We enjoyed the break at Bragg so much.

The final leg of our drive wasn't bad at all. Jason and Gavin napped for about 2 hours of it, then Jason finished up the drive while I entertained Gavin.

Our trip was wonderful, but it's nice to be home!

Feb 20th: Arlington, VA

This morning we got on the road for a 7 1/2 hour drive to Arlington, VA. Due to weather, accidents, traffic, stopping to feed Gavin, etc. the drive took us 11 hours! It was an exhausting day of travel, but we finally made it to our hotel. Above is a picture of what it looked like as we drove through the "Tug Hill Region" of New York - a very dangerous area! The roads were so bad that we were re-routed off the interstate for about 2 hours and had to drive 20 MPH for quite awhile! At least the scenery was beautiful!

It was passed dinner time once we made it to our hotel, so we quickly unloaded our bags and headed to the restaurant on the first floor. It was a very fancy restaurant, but we opted for the not-so-fancy chicken caesar salad (me) and burger (Jason). Delicious! We took leftovers to our room for a midnight snack. Gavin thought the burger looked pretty tasty himself and tried to get a bite!

After dinner we changed and headed to the 16th floor (I still can't figure out how they built a pool so high up!) for some swimming. The water was chilly so we didn't last long!

A family photo

Gavin and daddy

Here's Gavin and I trying to warm up in our towels while we waiting on the elevator to go back to our room. When we got upstairs Jason filled up the tub and we took a family bath to warm up! All Gavin wanted to do was nurse, so he ended up falling asleep in the tub while he ate. It was pretty funny!

Tomorrow we have a big day ahead of us... we are going to the Arlington Cemetery then are going to drive around DC before we head to Fayetteville, NY to visit friends.

Feb 15th: Lake Placid, Here We Come!

What a day! Jason and David S. headed to the slopes after we all had a big breakfast together at the house. (Biscuits, gravy, fruit, eggs, etc... yumm). The girls stayed back for awhile since Starla had to run Lindsey down to the Syracuse airport to travel back to Martin for school. We miss her already. Once Starla got back we packed the car up and headed to Lake Placid to join up with the boys. Jason and David had a fun day of snowboarding together. David is new at snowboarding (but a pro at skiing!) so they took the day easy until he got the hang of it. By 4pm they headed to the hotel to check in and wait on us. We all were there ready for dinner by 6pm. Our plan was to go to the Adirondack Brewing Company for dinner, but it had a 2+ hour wait, so we ended up eating at the Northern Inn Restaurant. Not as tasty, but still really good and we had no wait. After dinner we headed to the hotel to take Gavin for his first swim.

Gavin enjoyed the pool so much! He kicked all over the place and even got brave enough to go under water once. When the pool closed at 9:30pm we headed up to the room to clean him up and get him ready for bed. We cuddled up on the bed for a few books and an ear rub for me and all got tired. We called it a night pretty early, as we knew tomorrow would be a busy day!!

Also, Gavin turned 5 months old today... :)

Feb. 14th: Happy Valentine's Day/Tubing

Happy Valentine's Day!

♥ The Smith's

Here's Gavin, opening a gift from Paula and David: 2 new books!
We all headed to my favorite breakfast restaurant in Sackets Harbor: Tin Pan Galley. It was a long wait, but well worth it. I got the french toast with a side of scrambled eggs - delicious!
Gavin and Auntie Lou Lou

A picture to send mom: me, Gavin, and David waiting for our meal! Gavin has on his Valentine's shirt that nana had made for him, too cute.

Jason and David S.

Next, we headed back to Ft. Drum for a VTC with Pop - we had Gavin sitting right by the screen so he was the first thing Pop saw! They were too cute talking and smiling at each other.

Another pic from the VTC...

To end the day, we headed to Dry Hill for some Tubing. Gammy stayed in the warm lodge with Gavin... thanks!

Coming in to warm up... (I promise the time stamp on these pictures is not right!)

Jason and Lindsey getting ready to go out for some more tubing

Paula and I on the hill... FREEZING

Paula, David, myself, and Jason