Group Hug

This is a group hug...see the red in between Daniel and me? That's Vincent.

Gavin is now one month old. He's a great baby, sleeping well at night with one or two feedings then usually back to sleep...either that or his dad takes over. What a great dad! Little Gavin is about to get a new cousin today. We're looking forward to meeting him.

With Christmas upon us, Daniel has been learning a lot about the baby Jesus. It's confusing for a three year old, he keeps confusing baby Gavin for baby Jesus. Then there are the angels that appeared to the shepherds and Mary and Joseph. The angles usually tell people not to be afraid, but Daniel is now saying "Don't be afraid, God" We'll get it straight one of these days.

Naptime and Smiles

Gavin holds his own pacifier in

Grandpa was tucking Daniel in for a nap. They were taking a long time so I went in to see what they were doing. I found Daniel like this, smiling at his Grandpa who had fallen asleep. Tucking kids in is hard work.

New Christmas hats

I love swaddling my babies. This baby doesn't like being swaddled. It became apparent by Gavin's second day of life that we could not wrap his feet up, he kicked out of the swaddle and we kept finding him naked from the chest down since his clothes slipped off along with the blanket. So I've just been swaddling his arms and leaving his legs free. But he kept grunting and squirming so much when he woke up trying to suck on his hands, we finally gave up the swaddling altogether. He loves sleeping with his hands above his head. Gone are my days of swaddling.
Last night Gavin slept 6 hours between feedings. Then he went back to sleep all day, waking only to eat. Finally at 4pm he woke up for the day. He doesn't have the schedule like his older to brothers who would nap in between each feeding and also stay awake for a little while. This guy either sleeps for hours or stays awake for hours, usually 3 or 4.

Time Out

Daniel told Vincent he had a time out for something. So I explained to him that he can't give Vincent a time out, only daddy and mommy can give Vincent a time out. He looks at me very seriously and asks: "Because I'm not a grown up?"
"yes, because you're not a grown up" I say
Daniel: "but why not?" (his new favorite question)
me: "Well first you have to go to kindergarten, then junior high and college, then you'll be a grown up."
Daniel: "Then I can give him a time out?"

Brother's Love

Daniel is so excited about everything Christmas this year. Decorating the tree last night, he had the enthusiasm of a child actor, over acting the ooh's and ahh's of pretty ornaments and stars on top of the tree. He's been talking about this event for weeks. Vincent also likes the ornaments, he's a bit more destructive and lacking appreciation for their delicacy. Notice the location of decorations on our beloved tree.
If Gavin is left unattended for even a few seconds, this is where we find Vincent...giving kisses.




Sweet dreams
The big brothers were being really loud at the time of this picture. Gavin was in self preservation mode.

Rolling Over

2 Weeks

Gavin is now 2 weeks old. He's sleeping well at night and is much more alert during the day. He went to the Doctor at 11 days old and weighed 7lb, 11oz. He also rolled over at 11 days old from his back to his tummy, the next day he rolled from his tummy to his back.
After MOPS today, Auntie Megan asked Daniel what they did. He replied: "I ate a cupcake for God." They had a birthday party for Jesus in Moppets.

Irony:

I just finished wiping Daniel's bottom after going potty and he stands on his stool about to wash his hands with nothing but a shirt on declaring "I AM a grown up!"

Pumpkin Pie

Here is the kid's Thanksgiving table. We're running out of room at my parents house.

Daniel ate his pie out of the middle, like it was soup. Darian was only interested in the whipped cream.

Vincent, of course, devoured the whole piece in 3 seconds flat.


Gavin has good reflexes on those little toothpick legs.

Trade As One

Live Simply. Give Generously. Buy Ethically.

I copied this post from a friends blog. This organization is doing good things and here is my effort to support that.

Declaring War on Black Friday

This year you have two options.

1. You can be like 150 million other Americans, get up before it’s even light out to fight crowds all day and be a part of the consumerist machine that will spend around $500 Billion dollars on a single day. The vast majority of that $500B will be spent on products for which there is no transparency in the supply chain, and for all you know, the reason it’s so cheap is because someone is paid less than $1/day to make it.

2. You can be a part of the solution. You can join us at Trade as One in the fight against Black Friday and all that it represents.

Fair Trade is how we as consumers fight back.

Trade as One is proposing something beautifully simple this holiday season.

Live Simply. Give Generously. Buy Ethically.

These are the precepts we live by. We know it sounds crazy for a retail company to advocate living simply, but we don’t know any other way. We carry a variety of products most of which are practical things like olive oil, sugar, coffee, soccer balls, handbags and chocolate. And a lot more.

This year, on Black Friday, instead of getting up before dawn to brave the crowds, get up at a reasonable hour, spend some time with your family, and then go to www.tradeasone.com and buy Christmas gifts that come with stories of lives redeemed and hope restored. Buy Fair Trade and fight injustice.

Your purchases can bring hope and stability into some of the darkest corners of our world. In buying gifts from Trade as One, your supporting women rescued from human trafficking and the sex trade, those valiantly fighting HIV/AIDS, and people living on less than $1/day.

So here’s our goal. We want Black Friday 2008 to mark the beginning of a movement. We want to see Americans from all 50 states spending in solidarity with the poor.

Fifty on Friday. That’s what we want. So represent your state and shop at www.tradeasone.com on Black Friday. Know someone in another state? Forward them this link and give them the chance to be a part of the beginning of a movement.

We know we won’t fix this overnight, but this is the start of something big.

Make your voice heard at www.tradeasone.com.

Another good site to visit is my friend Amy's who is raising money to fight injustice. Visit www.callingforjustice.blogspot.com

Sweet and Stinky

Gavin is a week old now. He's eating great and sleeping like a champ. Last night he slept all night waking only to eat at 4 hour stretches, he would have slept longer but I woke him up to eat both times. What a great kid!


Daniel and Vincent have a new jungle gym. They love swinging on the treadmill...at least it's getting used for something. Notice the one sock on Vincent, this is a common occurance. Below he's wearing his favorite snowboots.

We were enjoying a wonderful dinner of Honeybaked ham the other night, compliments of George's parents. Towards the end of the meal, George and I saw Vincent scraping his tongue with his fingers, like he was trying to get the food off. We couldn't figure out what he was doing. Were his teeth bothering him? He seemed to like dinner okay. A few minutes later, George sees something he doesn't recognize from dinner on Vincent's tray. "Is it a mushroom?" I ask. He smells it. "It's poo." he says. I don't believe him. I smell it. It's poo. Our young son brought a little something extra to the table that night after a silent explosion down below. At least he didn't like the taste.

Both Daniel and Vincent have been very sweet with Gavin. Daniel asks to hold him and just admires how small and cute he is. Vincent likes to give him kisses and puts his face right up to Gavin's face to nuzzle him.

Gavin's Family

The New Guy

Gavin George was born 11-20-08 at 12:28pm. 7 lb, 12 oz. 20 1/2" long. He is a happy, healthy little boy, eating well and sleeping great...during the day, not so much at night.

Megan's Baby Shower

Megan's baby shower was this weekend. We had fun celebrating and getting her ready for the new little guy due Dec. 23.
Here we are- Megan's 34 weeks, I'm 37. It will be fun having a cousin growing up so close to the boys and so close in age. So far, Daniel and Vincent have 5 girl cousins, this will be the first boy...and my first nephew.






Daniel and Vincent were there at the beginning of the shower. They were eating lunch in the kitchen while I was in the other room. Robyn brought in Jody's 12-day-old baby, Andrew to show the boys and Daniel get's this surprised/serious/inquisitive look on his face and says "Did he come out?" Thinking that was his new little brother. I wish I saw it. I guess he knows what's coming.






This isn't the greatest photo, but I wanted to point out some things. Daniel and Vincent were playing in the garage the other day and having the greatest time. It's funny how they pick their favorite toys which sometimes aren't toys at all. Daniel has in his hand a flashlight which has turned out to be very popular this week, making for hours of entertainment. Vincent walks up and asks for this helmet to be put on his head constantly, or he puts it on himself (often sideways or backward which is even better.) In Vincent's hand is a tin that used to have mints in it. This is a favorite toy for both boys since the mint residue is still in the tin, they open it up, lick it, then close it again, over and over.
I'm very glad and thankful that the boys entertain themselves and each other with such simple things. It makes life much easier on this tired pregnant lady who can barely walk around the house these days.
Another favorite of Vincent's are these Spiderman snow boots. It doesn't really matter to him if he's got both on.

Our average wonderful days

We had a special treat for lunch today, Jordan and Maggie came over and we all had smoothies.


Daniel loves to color. Lately he's been experimenting with how to hold the pen. He's starting to color things in instead of just putting ink on the paper. It's so cool watching him develop these new skills.

Vincent loves to read. He'll sit there quietly looking at a book for 10 minutes at a time. He was growling like a lion while reading this one.

Daniel finished coloring, then ripped out a couple pages saying: "This one's for Auntie Jessica, she really likes my colorings." So we put them in the mail today and off to college they go. (Notice the shirt he's wearing, Jess.)
Speaking of shirts, Daniel got a lot of new clothes for his birthday, so in the mornings when I dress him he asks me with each new article of clothing: "who got this for me?" Then I tell him and he says: "That was nice of her."



Vincent loves anything with wheels. He is so close to riding this bike, his legs just aren't quite long enough to push the pedals all the way. So he stands up on the seat and rocks back and forth making the bike roll a bit.

Some of Vincent's new words include: motorcycle, Daniel, morning (good morning), cereal, & up. His first sentence was "I want that" which he uses a lot. He's trying out new words everyday, I'm sure we miss most of them, but it's so amazing hearing him try and say things like motorcycle and cereal.

Some of the cute things Daniel says:
- "we don't want to say 'I don't like you' because that hurts people's families"
- to Vincent: "Don't cry sweetheart"
- after puking: "I coughed in the toilet"
- "I love you, mommy. You're my family"
- to George at dinner: "So, how was your day Honey?"
- when stuck: "Unstuck me!"
- to mommy's tummy: "Hi baby, can you come out now."