Gavin and I had the life of Riley, and Riley had it good...

That's a quote from my grandpa Gallagher, and it fits my mood today pretty well.  Gavin and I enjoyed a lovely 11 weeks together, but now its time to go back to the real world of teaching and working.  I'll admit, in those first few sleepless weeks where Ryan and I had no idea what we were doing, I was ready to hand Gav off to anyone who would take him, and was counting the days til I went back to school so that I would have a break from this baby I didn't understand or know how to take care of. 

But now that Gavin, Ryan and I all function a little more smoothly as a family, I'm definitely bummed to have to give up the gift of being able to spend all day with him.  Sure, its still trying at times, and I am glad to go back to teaching so that I have a part of the day where I play a role other than "mom," but I will miss seeing this face all day:

haha, ok, maybe not that exact face, but for whatever reason, that picture makes me laugh every time I see it.  I always imagine Gavin saying something to the effect of "I do not approve of this degradation."  I'm of the opinion that Gavin has a very extensive vocabulary and just deems us not important enough to use it.

During our last week together, Gavin and I went on some more play dates, went to Andy & Shari's for Halloween brunch and the Iowa game, and handed out candy to the trick or treaters (we only had about 30 trick or treaters though...very strange.  I now have 6 giant bags of unopened candy.  That is not the post pregnancy diet I had planned)

Uncle Andy was starting to lose it, but given the way the Hawks played I don't blame him.

Gavin loves to stand, but hates tummy time (which helps him learn to roll over and crawl).  He thinks he should be able to walk already and gets annoyed when he can't do it.

Me and G.

This next picture is actually from last weekend but its so cute I had to post it.  My mom sent me this pic, which looks like Gavin is a drunk getting bounced out of the bar by Grandpa.

The other exciting thing that happened this week is that Gavin learned how to grab something he wants!  Gavin has been planning the attack on the toys hanging from his playmat for weeks now, and when they least expected it:

The Gav Man strikes!  Watch out brightly colored duck, you're next...