Ian's trip to the ER

Last night, Ian was climbing into the chair for dinner and somehow biffed and smacked his lip on the chair.  He was bleeding pretty bad, so Bryan took him screaming to the ER.  He ended up with 3 stitches inside his upper lip and 4 prizes from the toybox there.  He also came home with 2 cartons of ice cream, and bags of gummy worms and circus peanuts (Bryan says that since they are soft, he can eat them while he is recouperating.

Here he is this morning.  I think it swelled up more overnight.  He looks pretty monstrous.  Poor guy!

Thankgiving Recap

We had Uncle Scott and Rachel here, Papa and Gaga, and Aunt Deb and Uncle Tom here for Thanksgiving.  There was lots of food, lots of drinking, and lots of games (and some injuries).

This is what Scott looked like after 3 nights of Maddex games.

Scott schools Rachel in several rounds of full contact SPOONS...Bryan was the ultimate winner, though.

Chase's favorite game to play with Gavin now is to give Gavin a bunch of toys and then take them away.

Chase didn't much like dinner, but he had awesome hair.

Proof that I was there.

Gaga's shoulder, Papa, Deb, Tom, Ian, Scott, and Rachel...before the meal commenced.

Ted the Turkey...roasted to perfection.  I used Alton Brown's brine recipe.  It turned out YUM.

Before dinner MarioKart tournament.

Ian drives better when he makes funny faces.

Even Papa played!

Good times :)

Gavin- 5 months!

In some ways, it feels like Gavin has been here forever, and in others it is hard to believe that it has officially been 5 months!  

At 5 months, you sit up in that Weeble-People way, no longer depending on the tripod stance, but holding onto toys while you sit.  Unfortunately, that also means that when you lose your balance, you fall all the way over :)

You eat lots of solids- carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, green beans, peas, bananas, avocadoes, peaches, and applesauce.  You hold your mouth open like a little bird at meal times, and sometimes cry if we don't shovel fast enough for you.

You still wake up twice a night, usually about an hour after I go to bed at night and an hour before I have to wake up in the morning.  Hope you appreciate that, because, frankly, that schedule is not convenient for me.

Your brothers ADORE you.  Chase loves to sit next to you and put his face close to yours, nose to nose, and talk at you.  Ian loves to nuzzle you and make you giggle.  You smile every time you see anyone, and your little dimples are absolutely the cutest.  

Your hair is still wild.  You definatey have a mullet and I am contemplating what I should do with that.  Although, here in NC, you kind of fit in :)

We love you so much, Guy Guy!  You light up our family!

Crunchy Mama

This is a public service announcement:

I am being green and crunchy over here.  I have made all of Gavin's baby food (carrots, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, bananas and avocadoes, green beans, and baby peas) and it is soooo freaking easy.  Why did I not do this before?!

I just cook everything (steam or bake it), whirl it around in the blender, then freeze it in ice cube trays.  Who knew?

This site also has really good (easy) recipes and ideas.  Check it out.

You can do it, too!  But wait until you have kids, because pureeing food when you don't is cause for concern.

Sex Ed.

ACK!  Help!!  

Every once in a while, Ian gets on a kick about wanting another sibling (today he wanted one so that we could 'fill up the van').  Some days he wants a sister, others he would "weally weally weally" like another brother.  Today in the car, he told me that he wanted a brother and could I "please think about having another baby so that he could name him Jackson William, or if it is a girl, she could be named Zoe?"

Several minutes into this conversation, it took a scary little turn, and all of a sudden I was dancing around a birds-and-bees conversation while doing 70mph in a packed minivan.   I tried to satisfy him with vague answers when he asked how the baby got into my belly.  "You need a mommy cell and a daddy cell", "When you are married you can decide to have babies", "When two people love each other very very much...".  But every time I tried one of those, he would answer back with, "But HOW do you get the cells together?"  I even tried the "Let's talk about this when you are a little older,"  but that just stirred up more interest ("Well, can't you just give me a hint...?")

So, my question is...when did you have the official real live talk with your kids about this?  I don't necessarily want to go into all of the details with him, because he is, well, FOUR, and also because he is a very inquisitive little boy.  I can just imagine the conversations he will have with all the little girls and boys at preschool when he is armed with this kind of information.

What do I do?  I ended tonight's conversation by throwing Bryan under the bus- I told him that it was something I'd have to talk to Daddy about, and we had to wait until he got home.  That buys me 24 hours.  Maybe he will just forget.  But if he doesn't...is there some book for 4 year olds that can explain baby-making in a simple, non-scarring way?  Oy.

Spotlight Stealer

I was trying to take a photo of Gavin in this outfit to show to my friend Jacki (hi Jacki!) who gave it to him.  But Chase had other plans.  He has just recently discovered that he LOVES the camera

 and has decided that no shot is complete without him.

I love Gavin's expression in the background- "What the WHAT?!  That was my frame!"

Gavin can't even be in the background, either, apparently.

Ho, hum.  It is tough being so fabulous.

Notice Chase's foot is in this one.  I guess it doesn't have to be his face in the picture, as long as there is some body part.

Little Guy is Growing Up

Guess who can tripod sit now?!  

This guy!  

BTW, have I mentioned Gavin's nickname yet?  Chase gave it to him.  He can't say Gavin yet, but he can say "Guy Guy!!" with much gusto and enthusiasm.  It is cute.  Very much so.