Summer Fun

Gavin is now 7 months old and crawling. We had a little photo shoot yesterday. I'm practicing for a couple weddings I'll be shooting this summer.

We got to play in the sprinklers next door the other day with Maggie and Gabriel. Gabe just got a new baby brother a couple days ago. Gabriel, Maggie and Vincent were all born within a few weeks of each other.

Gavin is still not too interested in food. The only thing he keeps in his mouth are Cheerrios, but he makes this funny face the whole time he's chewing.
Who's who?

My mom sent me the photo on the left from when I was little after she saw the one on the right of Vincent.

Father's Day

George took the boys to the park to fly a kite this Father's Day.

Crawling, Biking and Dressing

Gavin started crawling this week. For the first few days, he was doing the inch worm thing, but then he started going for it on his hands and knees. He's still slow, but he gets where he wants to go.
Gavin likes keeping his mouth open, it's open much of the time...except for meal times. Since his first meal that he chowed down, he hasn't taken a single good bite of anything. We've tried rice, oatmeal, pears, sweet potatoes, peas...he spits it all out, plus saliva, so we end up with more than we started. He actually starts spitting before any food even goes in, he sees the spoon coming and just starts spitting. The one thing he does eat is Cheerios, he has this funny, perplexed look on his face the whole time he chews them.

Vincent aka Goldilocks

Vincent was trying to put these awesome shoes on a couple mornings ago. Daniel helped him...he's a sweetheart (sometimes).

Daniel got this bike 2 years ago. He just learned how to peddle. Now his favorite thing is going on a bike ride. He begs for this throughout each day. He had his first crash today resulting in a nice skinned elbow.
This was our first bike ride. Daniel was off down the street with all of us trailing behind. Gavin was strapped to me, Vincent and Maggie road in the wagon. We went to the park and rode on the blacktop, then played on the playground. The ride home got interesting when there was a slight incline and Daniel just couldn't keep his momentum. The two year olds hopped out of the wagon and things started falling apart. Eventually we were able to tow the bike back to where Daniel could ride it again and the four kids and I all made it home in one piece. whew!
Daniel started getting dressed all by himself this week. Finally! It's been a struggle for the past many months and most days I just dress him myself because it's a fraction of the work. But all week he's been getting his own self done up. Seen here was the first ensemble he put together. Notice the cell phone from 1999 tucked into the back pocket in front of him.

No Vacancy

This is a picture of our cute little nursery the week before Daniel was born. Just 3 1/2 years later... this is what it looks like now. FILLED!
The boys are still a little too young for bunk beds, so we packed them in keeping the toddler beds for another couple years. Vincent likes to kick the crib so Gavin sometimes has difficulty sleeping through that. He does surprisingly well though with the noise. He still naps in our room frequently. We sort of need the crib right next to Vincent's bed because he fell out a few times without the extra support.
The other night I heard a strange noise in their room, so I went in to check it out. First I looked at Vincent (in the dark)...sleeping soundly. I walked over to look at Daniel and tripped over him, sitting up, sound asleep on the floor. He's hard to wake up in that state. Sometimes he has bad dreams and we come in to calm him from crying, but we can't wake him up, he talks and cries and even uses the potty, but he's still asleep. It's weird.

Vincent's 2nd Bday

Vincent celebrated his 2nd birthday yesterday. It was a fun day, lots of goodies and toys for everyone.

I don't think Vincent could have opened his mouth any wider to devour this cupcake

Gav & Dom got to play together for little bit. They always seem to be on opposite napping schedules.

Gavin grabbed himself some birthday cupcake while he was chillin with Great-Grandma Willie

Squirt guns were one of the things V got for his bday. Daniel had a blast with them and his cousins. After the party, Daniel and I had a great water gun fight. We ran around giggling and shooting until I was totally worn out. It's great having a water gun fight with a 3-year-old and a nice, mild water gun...not looking forward to super-soakers and good aim in a couple years.

Daniel got a laptop for Vincent's birthday...lucky kid. He LOVES it! He's very serious about it and says, "It's not a toy, it's a computer."
All the boys were busily working on their laptops that evening before bed. As soon as I put Vincent on the chair next to Daniel, Daniel looks at me and says, "mom, get the camera." Am I that predictable?

Aiden, Daniel and Vincent started the party off by eating ice chips

Gavin is now rocking back and forth on his hands and knees. He's good at rolling over to wherever the action is and playing with his bros on the floor.

Last day of one

This morning I told Vincent, as tears welled up in my eyes, that today was his last day of being one. I told him he was a really good 1 year old and I really enjoyed it. He smiled and turned to walk away. With his laptop in hand, he told me he was going to work and then said "bye."

When he falls down, he immediately says "I'm okay" which means, I hurt myself. He holds out his chubby little hand to get a kiss which makes it all better, and then one on the lips because he's so sweet. It's a wonderful thing to be able to heal the pain of my little children with a kiss. He sometimes says motorcycle instead of bakabakah now. He constantly tells me, "come on" while gesturing with his hand. He calls Auntie Jessica "tee tee Jekidah" and Auntie Tracy is "teetee TT". If Daniel hurts him and is told to apologize, usually Vincent beats him to the punch and says "sorry mincent" himself. A great deal of Vincent's sentences end in "mom"..as in "I did it, mom." or "look at dat, mom" or, "go, mom."All bugs, including flies and bees are "ladybuhgs."

Daniel has been asking to swing "superhigh" for the last few months. Now everytime Vincent gets on he asks for the same treatment.
Daniel does a good job of pushing Gavin on the swing. Gavin sinks lower and lower as the minutes wear on. There are only two swings and usually when one kid swings, the others want to as well. If Gavin's on there, Daniel and Vincent do the spider. They both giggle the whole time until Daniel's muscles get tired and they have to stop. It's so cute. I need to get a video of it.

Vincent's hair is pretty long when the curls are out of it. We tried to capture this, but you only get a partial idea from this picture.

TV!

Gavin and his cousin, Dominic are both getting good at sitting. Gavin's motivation for this new trick was the laptop.

Dominic is such a smiley little guy. So cute. He's one month younger than Gavin.

Vital Stats

Vincent is turning two on Saturday. That went fast. Seems like a couple days ago he was placed on my chest, all new and messy and beautiful. His thick head of dark hair has turned into blond locks that we just can't bring ourselves to cut off, even though he can't see through them. Vincent is a happy, mellow kid. He's gotten very talkative this past month. He just started talking, and hasn't stopped. He repeats everything. He loves to copy his big brother and tags right along with him whatever Daniel is doing. He also loves being a big brother himself and is so sweet with Gavin. He plays with him on the floor which always involves hair pulling. Vincent cries for moms helps to get released from the tiny fist and then tells me with a smile on his face, "Gabbin pulled hair" as though it were a hug.
For Vincent's 2-year check-up, we bumped into Isaiah at the doctor's office who was born down the hall from him the same night. Vincent is 34 1/4" tall (42%), 29 pounds (65%) and his head is 19 1/2" (74%). We're very thankful for his clean bill of health and we're so happy he's in our family.

Gavin is now 6 months old. He grabs everything in sight, mostly hair. But if I walk past anything within reach, like the jumper in the doorway, he grabs it with a strong fist. He wrestles me on the changing table and tries to roll off. I've discovered that those straps that come with the changing tables could actually be used, I used to think they were silly, but we've got a mover. He's a good combination of mellow/happy/strong/active. He's rolling all over the living room and into the dining room, so my floors will have to be cleaned more often again. He sits with help but not for long. He's very smiley and loves his big brothers. Gavin's down to two naps a day plus a quick power nap in the morning. Since his first solid meal, he hasn't wanted to touch any food. So he's still subsisting on mom's milk alone.
For his 6 months check up, Gavin weighed in at 16Lb 5oz (25%), 28 3/4" tall (62%) and his head is 17" (25%). So he's tall and skinny for his age. No teeth yet, but lots of drool.
These three rascals love jumping in the bouncy house in our garage. Lately there have been more incidents of head banging. It's hard to tell if this is accidental or on purpose. All three of these kids have knots on their foreheads from that mornings jumping session. We're happily killing off braincells by the day.