Our family has arrived!

Gavin and I spent the morning cleaning house and getting groceries so we were prepared this afternoon when the family arrived. They made it here around 3pm and we've had a blast since.

Nana showed up with Gavin's 1st Easter basket of the year.
We had to try out the new Easter bib... Ella wanted to help feed Gavin a late lunch!

a little messy, but she did pretty good :)

I had an activity ready for the kids when they arrived... I knew after a long day in the car they'd be ready for something to do, so we decorated Easter cookies! We'll try to make eggs later this week.

Next, we headed to a local park so everyone could run off energy before baths and bedtime. We'd have stayed longer, but sand gnats and rain sent us on our way home early.

Gavin had an entertaining bath tonight!

Could we fit any more toys in that tub?!!

Ella enjoyed rinsing Gavin's hair

I gave Reagan a mohawk and told him he looked like a stegosaurus.. so he made this face and growled at me. Too funny!

We had story time before bed. I don't think anyone listened to the story (they instead ran around the room and thought of 100 other things we should be doing!), but when I got to the loud part of 'Llama Llama Red Pajama' I at least got Gavin to look and smile!

Tomorrow we hope to make it to the beach, but the weather isn't looking too promising :(

Weekend Recap

Friday night we had our friends Andrew and Elizabeth over for dinner. Afterwards, Jason went out with the boys for a farewell for a friend, Mark. They had a great time.

Saturday we caught up on sleep and then headed to a friends lacrosse game. Afterwards we we out to dinner with them (the Mineo's) and had an exceptional time!
Gavin and Jason at the game... it was called off early because of bad weather (you can tell by the clouds!) It was warm out, but the sand gnats were so bad that we had to put Gavin's sweater on him.

There was a park right by the lacrosse field so I took Gavin down the slide before the rain poured down.

Sunday we got plenty of stuff done. Gavin and LT have a new ritual of sitting by the window after breakfast and just looking outside together. It's so cute. I love that the weather is so nice right now that I can have all the windows opened for most of the day.

We got many outside chores done on Sunday. Jason sprayed weed killer in the backyard and cleaned both of our vehicles. I went for a long run while Gavin napped and then had a picnic in our yard with Gavin when I got back. He had vegetable medley for lunch and then we played toys. LT was excited he got to play ball.

Here is Gavin with a vegetable medley face! He was watching LT play ball.

Jason's truck - all clean!

And my Yukon - all clean as well!

Thanks babe :)

I also caught up on some baby food making this weekend. Yellow Squash is too easy!

Sunday night we went to dinner at our friend, Andrew's. He cooked us an amazing feast. The best part was probably the dessert - homemade strawberry parfaits! I think I'm going to have to make these for my family when they are here this week. SOOO DELICIOUS!

Friday Morning Playdate

This morning I had a mini bravo company play date at our house. We had a great time! I made breakfast while the kids played so us mom's could sit and talk over a meal and let the kids have a good time. I'm thinking we should make this a Friday morning thing and just rotate houses! (hint, hint!)

Kristi feeds Gavin his breakfast... and Colton wonders where his is!?!
Gavin tried to wrestle Colton to the ground

Nico had breakfast with the grownups... With those eyes and that smile, Dani is in trouble!!

Gavin loves Mackenzie :)

We had to take this picture to show how much Colton has grown! They were both so ready for nap time, so there was no getting any smiles out of them. It's hard to believe they are three months apart. Melissa and I have been asked a couple times if they are twins! haha

Gavin is soooo smart. I put him down for his nap after everyone left. He scooted straight to his aquarium and turned it on. He's been doing this the last few mornings and then just looks up and watches it. Below is a video... sorry it's so dark!

Pork Chop Skillet Dinner

If you need a delicious meal for this week - try this recipe! I made it for dinner last night and it was so good. I don't like pork, but still thought this was amazing... try it out!

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. olive oil OR vegetable oil

4 bone-in pork chops, 3/4 in thick

1 medium onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)

1 cup uncooked regular long-grain white rice

1 can (10 1/2 ounces) Campbell's Condensed Chicken Broth

1 cup orange juice (*I used the new Trop50)

3 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

4 orange slices

Directions:

Heat the oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pork and cook until its well browned on both sides.

Add the onion and rice to the skillet and cook and stir until the rice is browned. Stir in the broth, orange juice, and 2 tablespoons parsley and heat to a boil. Reduce the heat to low. Cover and cook for 20 minutes or until the pork is cooked through and the rice is tender.

Top with the orange slices and sprinkle with the remaining parsley.

Serve with a tossed green salad and chunky applesauce for dessert.

Update

I've been slacking in my blogging lately... I'm finding that the older Gavin gets, the less time I find to sit and have "me" time (aka "computer time"). He's spending more and more time awake during the day and when he's awake he's so alert and into everything. He demands my attention, but I love almost every minute of it. This time is passing so fast. I feel like his brain is soaking in so much information about the world around him. He is so smart already.

Today he had his 6 month appointment. He weighs 19 pounds, 10 ounces (75-90th %ile) and is 27 1/4 inches long (75th %ile). I can't remember exactly what his head circumference was, but it was in the 75th %ile as well. I can't believe how big he's gotten. His eyes, ears, and nose were great. His heart sounded great as well. She did notice that his hips are really tight (they have been at every appointment, but this time they were worse). Because of this, she wrote us a consult to radiology to have his hips x-rayed. She was sure there probably wasn't anything medically wrong, but just wanted to double check. I'll take him in next week to have this done. His doctor did mention that if his hips stay tight we can get him in for some orthopedic physical therapy to help loosen them up really early on. With as much as Gavin constantly moves his legs, I don't see how there could be a real problem! Other then his hips, she said he's a perfect baby! She said for me to increase his solids. I was feeding him twice a day, and now we'll move to three times. Gavin has been sleeping through the night for months, but the last week or two he has been waking up once or twice. Hopefully giving him a few extra solids/calories during the day will eliminate this night waking. It may just be that he's teething though. His 2nd bottom tooth still hasn't come through.

Jason and I are great. We escaped Friday night for our first real date/evening away from Gavin. We survived and I'd say we did great. The Ranger ball was a blast. We stayed up hanging out with friends until 4am before we headed back to the hotel. It was so nice to have an evening of adult conversation, a great dinner, dancing, and a couple drinks! Gavin did really well without us too. He took his bottles with no problem and even slept through the night. (Why can't he do this when I'm home?!?!) Jason and I got up rather early the morning after the ball and walked around downtown hand in hand just the two of us. It was so nice. He took me for some Starbucks, which was definitely needed after only getting 2 1/2 hours of sleep! We were shocked at how long the line was for Paula Deen's Restaurant that early in the morning! After coffee, we headed home because we missed our little man so much! We all went to breakfast together and then headed back home for much needed naps.

That's it for now! I'll do my best to update the blog a little better this week.

Ranger Ball

Couponing!

Today I had my first attempt at shopping strictly with coupons! It was a success!! I got things completely free, and others for a great discounted price. The pink bag in the bottom of the picture is from Victoria's Secret. It's priced at $19.50 and I got it for FREE. The blue aerie bag has 2 pair of undies (valued at $7.50 each) and I got those for free also! The Mott's applesauce are valued at $1.69 each at Target. After coupons, they cost 11 cents. The Pledge cleaner is valued at $3.39 and my coupons were for $3 off, so it was only 39 cents. The 2 Aveeno products came out to about a dollar each after my coupons. My favorite purchase of the day was for the wipes. They are valued at $5.60 at the commissary and I had a $5 off coupon. So, a huge bag of wipes for only 60 cents. You can't beat these deals! Thanks to my friend, Dani, and my mom for getting me into this couponing thing! Today I purchased $53.61 worth of product for only $3.95 - AMAZING!

St. Patrick's Day

Gavin, me, Erica and Tyson, and Josceline waiting for the parade to start
A very green Wizard of Oz!

St. Joseph's/Candler float

(Where Gavin was born)

Georgia Pediatrics

Here come our Rangers!

Jason's Company... he's on the front row

Gavin watching the parade, looking for daddy

(It got so hot out that I had to take his pants off for some fresh air!)

The view from our seats

After the parade we walked to Forsyth Park to sit in the shade and wait for Jason. The fountain was green!

Gavin watching the fountain...

Once Jason arrived we grabbed lunch from a street vendor and met up with friends.

Beer Pong got a little serious

I ♥ him!

A view of River Street from above

Family photo on the River before we headed home

6 Months Old

Hard to believe Gavin is already 6 months old!!! He is in the beginning stages of being MOBILE! Below is a video of him starting to get up on his hands and knees, rocking back and forth. He's figured out how to use his arms to push himself backwards. Now he just has to figure out the forwards part! Yesterday his first tooth decided to pop through. There's no sign of the 2nd bottom tooth, it's taking its sweet time! Jason and I weighed Gavin on our home scale today (his 6 month apt isn't for another week and a half) and it says he weighs about 19.4 pounds. That's our porker! He's eating more and more foods and loves them. The only food he seems to not be a fan of is avocado, but we'll keep working on that one. I think I didn't mash it up good enough. He's a professional at sitting up now - he rarely falls over. He loves me to sit him up next to his basket of toys. He'll look in the basket and pull everything out around him then sit for awhile and just play by himself. Since he is teething now, everything goes into his mouth... as you can see in the picture of him sitting in the sink getting a bath. He puts the letters in his mouth and just gnawls on them the whole bath. It must feel really good on his gums. I still can't believe we are half way to Gavin's 1st birthday. I try to spend time everyday just taking in these little memories because it is going to fast.

Volunteer Recognition Ceremony

Tonight we had our annual Volunteer Recognition Ceremony/Dinner. It was a great event - dinner was wonderful! I definitely got up for seconds. Each volunteer received a framed certificate, Southern Living picture frame, wine glass (with scenes of Savannah), cookies, etc. Gavin was great and flirted the entire night.

Jason snapped a great photo of Gavin and I outside before the ceremony. He was so cute in his button up shirt.

I ♥ my little family!