Gavin and Declan: I cannot go to school today said little Peggy Ann Mckay

The title of this blog is the first line of a Shel Silverstein poem called "Sick" that I memorized in the third grade, and it aptly describes the last week here in the Gillespie household.

Last weekend, Gavin had a very exciting Saturday. He went with me to a friend's baby shower and got to hang out with his buddies Olivia and Jack, all while being told what a cutie he is by my coworkers. Then Daddy picked Gav up from the shower and drove him down to Uncle Kyle's for some boy bonding time. But by Sunday morning, Gavin was starting to get sick, with a runny nose and a yucky sounding cough. He still went to "school" on Monday, but when I went to pick him up that afternoon, he looked like he'd had a rough day, and sounded even worse. So Tuesday Gavin took his first day off of school to go to the doctor with Ryan. The doctor said its likely just a bad cold but decided to treat Gav as if he has bronchitis based on his breathing sounds and the fact that he hasn't had all his pneumonia shots yet.

The good news is, Gavin does seem to be getting better. The bad news is, Gavin is on day 5 of a 10 day medication that gives him quite the tummy troubles. After going through his original and back up outfits at school on Friday, Ryan had to bring over 2 more outfits to make sure he lasted through the day! Our washer and dryer are pretty much running non stop at this point, and winning the "not wiping" game is becoming more and more crucial. (I'll save the explanation of the "not wiping" game for another day, but I think you get the gist of it!)

So obviously our blog writing has suffered due to a very busy week filled with lots of sniffles and coughs, and much less sleep. But in spite of his cold, Gavin is for the most part a pretty happy baby. He has become an expert sitter and hardly ever tumbles over anymore. He loves to sit and play with his toys, as you'll see in the pics below.

Gavin has also become a sneaky roller. I think Gavin wants us to believe that he can't really roll over, so he only does it when we're not looking. You could watch this kid lay on his back for 20 minutes and nothing will happen, but look out the window for 5 seconds and when you look back, he'll be on his tummy, staring up at you with this look like, "what, I was like this when you set me down!"

But as skilled as Gavin is rolling from his back to his tummy, he's not so proficient when it comes to doing the other 180 flip. My theory is that he doesn't like flopping over like a sack of potatoes, because lets face it, rolling over when you're 6 months old and 20 pounds is not a graceful act. This means that the new reason Gavin is waking up in the morning at 5am is because he's rolled over onto his stomach, decided against that decision, and is then unable to roll the other way. I'm not sure if this is better or worse than last week's trick, when he would "Austin Powers" himself in his crib. Which is Ryan's way of describing how Gavin would manage to wedge himself horizontally in his crib so that there was no room to move anymore. Its awfully funny to watch Gav try to squrim his way out when he's wedged, but I don't know if there is anything more cute than seeing your son looking at your through the crib rails when you walk in the door.

The other new development in Gav's life this week is that his first tooth is starting to break through! I just noticed it this afternoon when we were playing and he was chomping on yet another toy. I'll be honest, I got a little teary eyed at the realization that my baby boy is becoming less of a baby very day. Teeth are for big kids and I don't know if I'm ready for that yet.

Well, I've rambled enough for one post. Hopefully life will be a little less eventful in the weeks to come and I can do a better job of blogging! Here are some great pics that we've taken in the last week or so. And Ryan's not here to make fun of me for posting a million pictures, so enjoy an unreasonable amount of Gavin cuteness :)

Here is Gavin showing off his prowess as a sitter. As you can see, he is also a viking when it comes to drooling.

Gavin is a very studious player. He likes to know every feature of a toy before really starting to play with it. Gavin also likes to be in control of his toys, so the fact that this ball moves around on its own is very intriguing to Gav.

I would say a third of the pictures I take these days look like this. I don't know how Gavin has outsmarted the delayed flash on my digital camera, but he now looks like a drunken sailor 33% of the time.

Gavin loves to be "naked," maybe just because its winter and being a summer baby, he doesn't really get the chance to rock his birthday suit very often. No matter the reason, he makes for quite a cute sumo wrestler.

I forgot Gavin even had this outfit until I desperately searched for clothes after Gav had pooped through 2 outfits before 10 am this morning. Who knew hoodies were so cute on babies?

This picture makes me want to find a way to squeeze his cheeks through the computer screen.

This picture would be about the time that Ryan would start harassing me for putting up so many pics, but I wanted to include this one because Gavin looks much less like a baby and a lot more like a little boy in this picture.

Daddy tickling the back of Gavin's neck. I have a hard time remembering that I can't tickle Gavin all day just so that I can hear his adorable little giggles.