Not Every Mom....

Not every mom gets to be interrupted in the shower by a JUICE EMERGENCY! After rinsing the shampoo out of my eyes and off my hands I was able to get the straw out of the little plastic wrapper and inserted carefully into the little silver circle on the cardboard apple juice box Gavin needed RIGHT NOW! Maybe every mom gets to be interrupted by almost 3 year old boys and their juice emergencies. Maybe they are just that lucky. My first thought was... 'how long is this going to go on? Maybe next year I'll get to shower in peace and shave both legs in the same session!' I would rather be interrupted by a healthy thirsty child then responding mid-rinse to screams and bangs when things have fallen or broken, though. I am so thankful for hot showers, juice boxes, and a healthy happy never thirsty boy. Such silliness! There is always something to make me grateful for the little patience I have and the giggles that never end!

Dinosaur Play

Um... ya - years and years ago this was an activity I loved.... some things never change? Well - Gavin was entertained.

Snow Play

The Northwest got some snow! At my mom's the official 3 day count was 23 inches. That's a lot of snow. Gavin and I have made good use of our snow gear. We made snow angels, cleared off the trampoline outside and rolled around in the snow, made a snow happy face, etc. Snow is beautiful. Thank goodness for 4 wheel drive - I was pretty mobile throughout the snowy week.

Christmasness

Pevey and Gavin got to play legos on Christmas Eve. They built a great pyramid and shot a man from a cannon. Very lovely. Santa found Jessica and Cody on Christmas morning. We all enjoyed opening stockings. We opened presents and enjoyed Grandma, Granddad, and everyone. It was a very Merry Christmas!

Trying to take a Christmas picture... trying... we'll go to JC Penny next week :)

Snow Days!

Two days now Gavin and I have had together at home due to snow. Hard to get a lot of work done - but my house is super clean again! I was able to vacuum every piece of carpet and put away things that have been piling up. We have gone on 2 walks in the snow and played football. Pretty fun. I LOVE SNOW! (not so much driving in it - just being in it)

Things I'm Thinking...

I have been having so many thoughts! I need to take a moment to share some greatness of Gavin.
I sneeze and he says, 'Bless you, Mommy.'
He sneezes and he says, 'Bless me.' and I laugh and say 'Bless you Gavin-son'
I am grateful for an independent child - even at 9:30 when he has decided he's not tired and will come read to me.
I am grateful for a thoughtful child that will let me tuck him in - then come tuck me in - then go back to bed. He's so silly.
I am lucky to have a boy that will remind me with every throw or swing to have my eye on the ball.
I am lucky to have so many rooms to have rules in! No Baseball in Mommy's Room!
I am lucky to have a boy that will say ok mommy room time and let us both enjoy our rooms alone.
Sometimes I have to work at remembering how great my almost 3-year-old is. Most days it's easy to see.

Weekend at Grandma's

While I was off on a great team retreat for work... Gavin got to spend some quality time with Grandma! They went to a farm where Gavin pet a brown goat and a black goat... rode a tire swing (I think his first tire swing ride)... played on stairs... and generally had an awesome time. Gavin loves his Grandma!
Overall things are the same generally good over here. I work a lot, we play a lot, we enjoy time with our friends and family, we try to keep up on housework, we miss the sun and warmth of San Diego, etc. Gavin is going potty all day every day at daycare... not so much at home. All of his friends go at daycare - and must be a great peer pressure.

This Week's Gavinisms

I'm sure eventually I'll forget all of these super things that Gavin is currently filling my life with...

5 Hugs Mom
Delaying bedtime, 'Need hug, Mom', delaying bedtime further, 'Need 5 hugs, Mom', delaying bedtime further and making a tired frustrated Mom laugh, "need 5 hugs other side"... Yes, we give five hugs on each side every night before bed. And sometimes 1 big squisherific hug!

You do YOURSELF Mom
'Gavin, would you like help picking up your toys?'
'No, Mom. You do YOURSELF.'
'Gavin, it's time to eat dinner.'
'No, Mom. You eat YOURSELF.'
I think it comes from the whole, do-it-yourselfness of a toddler - in reverse for when he doesn't want to do a darn thing.

go Sea HAWK
I hear it over and over and over yelled while I'm driving, when I'm cooking dinner and Gavin is jumping off the couch, when we're walking outside and someone with a football jersey is in sight,.... um every single day. I'm glad we have something in common I suppose :) It still sounds a little like 'go hee hawk' but I get what he's saying.

Gavin's also become great at ignoring (selective hearing) so I've had to taken up whispering in his ear when I want him to respond to things that I've said 5 times. So far seems to work.

Earlier I was rattling these weird things off - now I can only think of the 2. Oh well, must mean another boring post another day!

SEAHAWKS!

Seahawks with a toddler - includes looking at trains, airplanes, and drums... popcorn, and yelling 'GO SEAHAWKS' at the top of their small lungs. Gavin had a blast - and so did the fans around us enjoying him. Not the best game - but it was nice that Gavin got to see where mom goes when she goes to the Seahawk games!

Funny Gavin Story

OK, I have to archive this story - it has a 2nd part as of today.

A week or so ago Gavin and I were in the living room and he asked for Cocoa. I said sure, go get a cup. He went the dishwasher in the kitchen, I was at the dining room table, and yelled "Oh No, Mom, Oh No!" really loud and distressed. I said what? And he said it again pointing to the dishwasher and saying "Look!". Very funny - I guess he's never seen an empty dishwasher before! It's always full and 'icky' or full and clean. I scared him! After being directed to the drawer where his cups go - he was fine.

Tonight he asked for water so I said sure, go get a cup. He went into the kitchen and opened the dishwasher and yelled "Oh No, Mom, Oh No!" I shouted Oh No they're all gone!! Then he started laughing and said "Right here, Mom, Right here!" opening the drawer...he thought it was a really funny joke - he was giggling for awhile.

I'm getting better at keeping the kitchen clean regardless of whatever else is going on I guess.

This weekend... ZOO TRIP

We spend a lot of time at the zoo. I like to be able to just wander around. We always run into people we know too - good place to say hi! Every time we go there's one or two animals that are just outstanding. This day the Jaguar was amazing. Such big paws pacing around - VERY cool.

Back in Time... to the zoo

Woodland Park Zoo... Gavin loves the Hippos - I have way too many hippo pictures. This day he also decided to hug a goat. Nice boy!

Going Back In Time... or in the memory card...

We took a trip to Birch Bay - SO relaxing and wonderful.
We ate lunch on the beach - chips&salsa and grapes. We followed the animal prints around the beach, found dead fish, and went swimming in a heated pool. It was a GREAT trip.

The morning after....

Eye all swollen shut... poor guy

Big Owie

The Story and the Stitches

So, yes, there will have to be a 3 post series about the stitches - yes, it was that traumatic for the mom and son! I got a call from daycare (the fabulous Jill) that Gavin had hit his head and I left work pronto and drove to her house. I miss the Parity days in that I was about 6 minutes from there - now I'm 20-25 minutes away. Sad. I got there and she was sitting on the floor holding gavin with a washcloth to his face. she pulled it off to show me what looked like his insides - much bigger and worse then I thought - a huge laceration across his left eyebrow - with skin and fatty tissue flopping over his eye. um, gross - so mommy moved in what seemed to be slow motion to get a thing of gauze and a triangle bandage. I tied it to his head and we were off. He was sure to remind me to get his boots on the way to the car. Yes, I have a gash in my head and it hurts, but don't forget my boots. He and I think very differently. We went to my favorite Doctor Coffman who said she was looking at muscle tissue and that it's just not something they can do in a doctor's office or clinic - that we were going to the ER and she would call to see if we needed a surgeon or if the ER doctor was capable. It was Dr. Bennett - she said he would do great. So we went to the ER and Gavin was jumping around on the chairs while I was signing us in. Shocker, I had his social security card in my wallet - of all days - so cool! We eventually were taken back to the ER room and Gavin was given medicine to put him to sleep. um, over an hour later, he was very floppy and very awake. We did the 3 little pigs a gazillion times - i made pigs and a wolf on cups. We did 5 monkeys jumping on the bed - and this muscle sleeping boy was trying to jump on the bed - of course with me holding him upright and him thinking he was jumping... I can't describe it at all. His mind was completely awake - and his eyes were open - and his body was dead floppy weight. It was kind of hilarious. Except that they made me take the gauze and bandage off so he was oozing and dripping blood that I had to wipe up forever. So gross!! Eventually 4 nurses held him down and the doctor gave him a shot then stitched him up. He got a bunch of internal stitches because his under layer of skin was up in his forehead? Not sure how that really works but that's my interpretation of what they were saying. They 7 stitches across the eyebrow. The whole time he kept saying "Enough" "No more owie" "Muffin Now" Because I promised him a muffin when we were done. Poor kid. So they bring him out because I had taken a quick walk to get away from the screaming. The poor kid was awake the whole time! And he said again, No more owie mom, muffin now. He amazes me. Kids are so resilient, we here it all the time. And he is so much like me in some ways. Just pick up and move on. We went back to work and got my laptop so I could work tonight and tomorrow morning from here. His poor head. His eye is almost swollen shut. Sometimes I think it looks worse in person and sometimes it looks worse inthe pictures. Grandma brought over muffins and soup tonight. So Gavin got his muffins. I keep telling myself he's a boy and this is just the beginning. He's had more stitches at 2 then I've had in my whole life. Even as he was a cesarean baby - I got staples, not stitches.

That's my long story. Had to write it down so someday he will see it. Jill was very worried about him. So were all of is friends. It will be good to go show everyone his big owie! Just in time for Halloween. hmmm

Big Owie!

Well, Gavin fell and hit his head - whole story to follow. The boy is finally sleeping. His eye is almost swollen shut - he was a trooper, he is amazing.