Borrring...but coming soon...

...is a baby! Why have I spent the time fighting with blogger (which is what I call uploading pictures that stop downloading in the middle and writing blogs that disappear so I rewrite 3 times)? Because I have been in the hospital since Thursday!!!

I had protein in the urine but blood pressure and baby and EVERYTHING else is fine! I am 37 weeks and 1 day. But, they wanted me to stick around...maybe for the good company??

As long as my blood pressure stays good, I get to hang out until Monday. I think at that point the docs want to possibly take him...

Until then, if you are bored, chances are, so am I. So come on by! (Saturday was awesome because Melissa and Katie and Judy came by to see me then Mike brought Zoe to visit.) Mike is having fun with Zoe at home...he is such a great daddy! But the hardest thing about being here is missing my baby (who is starting to walk while I'm here)!! She took 4 steps today in the hospital! Big changes for the Gavin family....stay tuned!!! Elliott Connolly Gavin will be here in the next few days!

Zoe's Birthday Party!

Zoe had her 1st Birthday Party on August 7th. It was a milk and cookies theme and it was great that we had so many people that were able to make it! Nana and Memaw and Papaw came in from Houston and Blake, Allison, Abbie, and Morgan drove in from Round Rock! Not to mention all the others that drove in from all around the metroplex.

Zoe did well but I will say that I had high hopes that she would stuff cake in her mouth like a champ for some great photos. I mean, she DOES love to eat! Asparagus, peas, turkey, and cheese are her favs but she'll pretty much eat anything. I think she got a little stage fright with all the people watching her because, though she tasted it, she was definitely not double fisting it into her mouth like some yummy soggy asparagus!

I'm One!

Boons (Balloons)!



I LOVE chocolate cupcakes! More please!

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

My daddy had been waiting for this day for a long time (my mommy, too) - my first Texas Rangers baseball game. Last night we headed to Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, and I knew something special was going on even before that because I ate a little earlier than normal (I guess in an effort to get out to the park early).



I took a short nap on the way out there, while Mommy and Daddy were searching for a space in the jam-packed lots. Apparently a bunch of people had come out early to watch the Third Day pre-game concert and/or grab their Elvis Andrus bobblehead. Unfortunately that meant that we didn't get an Elvis bobblehead, but there will be many more promotional items in the future (not to mention the Rangers night-light that Daddy scored for me last year).



I was strapped to the front of Daddy in the Baby Bjorn so I could look at everything as we walked into the park. My eyes were WIDE OPEN as I stared at the crowds of people--I had never seen so many! (Attendance was reported at more than 45,000.) I was kicking my legs as we walked around--I was very excited.



When we got inside, we went to the Rangers store to see if there were any Rangers duds I could wear to future games. Alas, everything was pretty expensive. The best stuff--like an authentic pink Rangers jersey--was more than $40!!! I'm a baby; I don't have that kind of cash! So, we walked out empty-handed this time, but we'll get more Rangers stuff sometime soon. (Also, Mommy was surprised to see that they didn't have a Neftali Feliz t-shirt--what's up with that?!?)



When we finally got up to the seats, I was ready to chill out, do some people watching, and chew on my rings. It was perfect. Of course I got many smiles and "she's so cute" comments from fellow fans--it must have been my great Rangers hat that Mommy and Daddy got for me just the other day!



I'll admit I didn't see much of the game, but I was especially rooting for Justin Smoak--a rookie like me--to get his first hit of his Major League career. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be. Mommy and Daddy said I was very well behaved at the game, though, and I had a lot of fun! In fact, when we left after 3 innings, the Rangers were ahead 4-3. Maybe if I'd stayed they would have won. Hey, there's always next time--my parents say they've already been to plenty of Rangers losses, but they've seen some very good games, too.



I'm ready to get back to the park soon--June 9 is scheduled to be my next game!

The Hunt Is Over / Crunchies & Ice Ice Baby

Here it is about a month since the last post, and, appropriately, we can give you a house-hunting update: we've found a home in Plano! This property is not too far from the one we placed an offer on in March--it's located south of Park between the Tollway and Preston for those with some knowledge of the east side of the Metroplex. Commute-wise, which is my (Mike's) big thing, it's good--probably about a half-hour to and from work, maybe less on good days. The interior of the home was completely remodeled by the seller, whom my dad happens to know through business. Consequently, the seller has been very good to deal with, and negotiations have gone as well as or better than expected. We're currently in the option period, so I suppose things could still go south, but I'm very confident that this will be the next Gavin house. Lisa claims to be more excited merely about ending the hunt for a house, but she also says she hopes the home will grow on her more (it was difficult to let go of the previous property we made an offer on--it was primo, too). We're set to move in over Memorial Day weekend. So, if you're an avid reader of this blog, hopefully we can have you over before 2010 comes to a close.

What's going on in Zoe's world? Well, it seems like she's finally kicked her cold that had been with her for over a month. Either a cold or allergies--her nose had been very runny, and she'd been congested. But she seems to be over that now. She's just about a week removed, however, from her second ear infection (right ear this time). We're still doing medicine for it, but we haven't seen any ear-tugging or excessive whining pretty much since she started the medicine mid-last week.

On the positive side, Zoe is an eater! She loves her baby food and "crunchies," as her mama calls them--the yogurt puffs and cereal bites and cheese puffs. In fact, today she happily munched on some Cheezits! She's beginning to drink from sippy cups, as well. Yesterday she was happy with formula but didn't care for water, but today she's even drinking water. Previously she'd just chewed on her sippy cup (and everything else in sight). Zoe's also getting better at feeding the crunchies to herself using her hands. Though she still doesn't hold her bottle on her own, it's nice to be able to throw some crunchies on her highchair tray and walk around doing other stuff without having to attend to her every moment at feeding times.

Zoe is very good at sitting on her own now, but she still isn't interested in crawling. Several of us now suspect she may go directly to walking. She very much enjoys standing on a lap, and we recently got a play table down from the attic for her that she can lean against and practice standing on her own, prior to taking those first steps.

She's also babbling a ton (and with consonants!) these days, which continues to make me smile. Also, she smiles whenever she sees me come in the door at night--I already know that her running into my arms when I come is going to be one of the best times of day someday soon.

Lisa and I went to Puerto Vallarta 4/9-4/13 with Mel, Derek, Katie, Neil, Allison, and Blake--as a 30th (32nd, 40th) birthday celebration for the whole group. We had a great time. Highlights included sunscreen doing its job for the most part (save my scalp, protected only by my thinning hair), massages at the Grand Velas (where Lisa and I have vacationed before), ziplining and repelling through the forest (only Mike, not pregnant Lisa), and a no-doubt embarassing karaoke performance of "Ice Ice Baby" on the night of Melissa's birthday. Thanks to all the grandparents who helped babysit while we were away!

Zoe's First Illness & Tales in House-Hunting

Dad hasn't posted to this blog in a while, so it's about time. Zoe (and her parents) has been experiencing her first cold for the past two-plus weeks. Throughout it, she's kept relatively good spirits about her. She's been sleeping a little more, and she's been fussy at times, but for the most part she's been our same ol' happy baby, save the snot we seem to continuously suck out of her poor little nose.

Last Saturday Lisa's maternal instinct told us to go to the doctor, where we found out that Zoe has an ear infection. So she's on amoxycilin--just like her mama and daddy used to take--and taking the bubble gum-flavored wonder-drug like a champ. Hopefully she kicks this cold, snotty nose, ear infection, and cough to the curb soon. Prayers welcome.

Developmentally, she's been sitting up on her own for about a month now. So that gives mama and daddy one more place we can put her (on a blanket on the floor with her toys surrounding her) with minimal supervision. That's been nice. And it's neat to see her becoming more independent, too. I still get a kick out of watching her put her pacifier in her mouth by herself--she knows how to turn it around if need be so that she gets the right end in her mouth.

The whole family has been searching like mad for a house for the past month, to no avail thus far. We found a terrific house in west Plano a couple weeks ago, put an offer on it, found ourselves in a multiple offer bidding war, lost said war, and went back to pounding the pavement. (As it turns out, God didn't want us to win the bidding war--we've subsequently learned that the sellers want to sell "whenever they please," which really doesn't suit most of the buyers out there.) We're searching in the west Plano, Coppell, Dallas, and Lake Highlands communities; if you have a friend who's looking to move out of their tastefully updated 4/3, let us know :-)

The surprise of the year!

Zoe is now 7 months and doing well. Mike started his job on January 19th. I reduced my days to 3/week and we are avidly shopping for a house. As if that weren't enough changes for 2010, we found out I AM PREGNANT!

That's right. Crazy. Miracle! We never in a million years thought we could make a baby like everyone else does it! It wasn't supposed to happen. We even had testing done a month after Zoe was born and it was still the same...bad. So, we were saving our pennies for a down payment on a house and in vitro round 2 from the beginning(since we weren't able to save any eggs from the first time).

We are THRILLED! We couldn't BELIEVE it! Since you will ask how I found out....

Lucky for me (sarcasm) I started my period 2 months after Zoe was born despite exclusively breastfeeding. I have always been like clockwork and the other day thought, "Hmmmmm...I wonder how long it has been?" I think I briefly looked and it had been about 29 days. I chuckled to myself that I must be late even though I never have been. I surely didn't even CONSIDER being pregnant. Over the next few weeks, I cried at every remotely sad commercial or story or situation that I saw or heard. Since I hardly ever cry, I thought I was going through a rough time...

At around 32 days late or something, I thought maybe I should investigate just in case I wanted to drink a bottle of wine or something. So in the biggest snowstorm in Dallas history, I told Mike I had to get my prenatal vitamins refilled (I was still taking them since I was still breastfeeding) and I had to have them right then. So I went and got those and a prego test. I took it that night since I was so curious.

Two lines!!! What? I had never seen this before! We had never even needed one of those silly pee tests! So on February 11th, when Mike had already crawled in bed (and surely fallen asleep since he can go into a deep sleep in T-10 seconds), I put the 2-lined pee stick in a gift sack and told Mike to get up because I wanted to give him his Valentine's Day present. He was so confused since it was 11pm on Feb 11th but I told him it was crucial for him to have. He sat up in bed and pulled it out. It took him a few seconds to realize what the thing was. Then he asked me if I was pregnant. I said "Yes! I think I'm going to have a heart attack!" We were both so excited!

What does this mean? I am almost 10 weeks along, nauseated, breastfeeding a 7 month old, and pretty tired and sluggish...put YEA!!!!

What else does this mean? Babies that are 13 1/2 months a part! Whoa! Nanny shopping, round 2......right after we find our new house (and pack and move pregnant and with a baby). No carting an infant and a bigger infant to daycare with all that crap in tow for me. Not to mention the fact that it is possible that Zoe won't even be walking yet!

Here is the first "belly picture." It's for the belly book but probably all you can see is that I never lost all the ghetto booty from the first baby (not to mention the cottage cheesy thighs and belly jelly roll).