Gavin and Daddy having a rational conversation

The title really says it all.  Enjoy the video!

Coloring

Gavin got a ton of cool stuff for his birthday, and we have enjoyed playing with all of it.  He has so much new stuff that our guest room has turned into an upstairs toy room until we figure out a better place/way to play with all his bigger and better toys.

One of the toys that is now housed in the upstairs toy room is Gavin's new table and chairs.  Those little table and chairs remind me of two things: 1.  Eating at the "kids table" at family dinners, and 2.  coloring.  Ryan and I were both avid colorers back in our day, so we were excited to introduce Gavin to his first box of crayons.  This is embarrassing to admit, but I actually had my own box of 64 crayons sitting around (like I said, I was an avid colorer back in the day...and now ;p).  So we broke those out, along with a few pieces of printer paper and let Gavin create some art.

Choosing just the right color, or the right 17 colors.

Experimenting with techniques.

Having an artist's block.

The frustrated artitst!  (And no, Gav did not learn how to write his numbers already, that's all Daddy's doing.)

The love of coloring gene has been passed on!

Trying to create a new color by coloring the crayons with each other.

Gavin invites Maurice to join him...

...and shows him the joys of coloring the blinds.

Gavin is 1 year old!!

On August 16th and 17th, I spent a lot of time thinking about what was going on a year ago.  I say the 16th because for those of you that know your Gavin trivia, Gav was born at 12:13am on the 17th, so most of the "fun" happened on the 16th.  I remembered waking up at 5am and thinking, "oh, that's what a contraction feels like."  I remember waking Ryan up at 6am and telling him "I think its time to start timing these things!"  I remember walking the stroller around in circles in our then empty living room, because it helped during the contractions.  I remember demanding that Ryan take me to Quiznos to lunch for one last turkey and swiss, even though I had a contraction in the middle of ordering!  I remember trying to wait until our induction time to go to the hospital (yes, Gavin waited until the exact last minute to come on his own, that stinker!), and just barely making it.  I remember every bump and railroad track on the way to Lake Forest Hospital.  I remember having a moment of calm after we checked in and I got my epidural, when Ryan and I watched the season premiere of Mad Men.  And then I remember the best part of all...being overcome with emotion when our sweet "little" Gavin joined us at 12:13.  It's hard to believe that it was a year ago already!

I owe Gavin a 1 year letter, but I haven't gotten around to that yet.  I've also been in the process of updating his baby book and putting together a photo book commemorating his first year of life, as well as gearing up to go back to school.  But I've also decided to try to get back into the swing of blogging on a more regular basis.  I enjoy going back and reading old blogs.  There are SO many things that I would have forgotten about Gavin's first year if I hadn't written it in a blog.  So even though it may sometimes be time consuming and a little tedious, that's my resolution; hold me to it!

On Gav's actual birthday, Ryan took the day off work and we took Gavin to the zoo.  We did not realize that the 17th was also free kids day, so the rest of Chicagoland joined us in our zoo celebration.  Even with the free day, it still wasn't unbearably crowded.  And, because it was so crazy, we got to park in section Lion 1.  For those of you that don't know, thats THE best place to park in the zoo.  Needless to say, Ryan and I were thrilled with our VIP parking status :)

Before we left for the zoo, we took a pic of me holding Gav.  Hard to believe he used to be the tiny cutie in the pic below this one!

8-18-09: What a difference a year makes!

Daddy trying to convince Gavin that the dolphin show is fun (My favorite overheard conversation at the zoo was between a grandma and her 5 year old grandson: Gson: "Grandma, there is no such thing as a dolphin show!" GMa: "Fine. Then you'll stand outside while Grandpa and I watch the dolphins." Gson: stunned silence and jaw dropped open. :)

I am horrible at timing my pictures.  The only reason we get good pics of Gavin is because Ryan takes them.  Here is my attempt at catching the dolphins doing something cool.

Gavin approves.

Dolphin shows are exhausting!

Like usual, Gavin was thrilled in Tropic World, especially the gorilla part.

Observing the gorillas.

I made the boys do another cutout pic, this time with otters instead of dragonflys.  Another big difference for this pic: Gavin can stand on his own now, instead of getting dangled while Ryan tries to line up their faces!

That night, we felt it was only right to let Gavin have a celebratory cupcake.  It's funny how quickly he starts to do the more sign once frosting is involved.

No surprise here, Gav still loves baked goods with tons of sugary frosting on top!

Happy First Birthday Gavin!

Gavin's First Birthday Party!

Although Gavin doesn't officially turn one for two more days, we held his birthday party yesterday (I didn't think a Tuesday night party would go over very well!).  The party was a success!  A lot of our family and some of our friends were able to come and celebrate with the Gavster.

Since Gav loves monkeys, his birthday party had a monkey theme.  So here are the obligatory pics of the decorations (because darn it, I spent money and time putting these things up, so there will be evidence that they existed! :)

Gavin's personalized birthday banner...its amazing what you can do with the internet.  How did people survive before Google?!

I wish I could have taken a picture to capture the look on Gav's face when he saw this monkey balloon for the first time.  He absolutely loved it, and then started punching it in the face, which for Gavin seems to be a sign of affection!

Aunt Allison knew of Gavin's love for monkeys as well, and made these awesome monkey cupcakes!

Ok, on to the actual party.  I warn you, there are going to be a lot of pics in this post, so buckle up!  Here Gavin and his friend Olivia are working on opening the pile of presents.  Gavin helped with about the first 3 presents and then decided it would be a lot more fun to play with the opened presents than doing the work of unwrapping, that's what Mommy is for!

As with any child I've ever met, Gavin was more interested in ripping the paper into tiny bits than in actually playing with the present.

I'm not sure what he's excited about here, but I just thought it was a cute pic.  He looks so old here!

Gavin clapping for the wagon.  He really does love it, he already went on a ride with Grandma and Grandpa Gillespie this morning.

Time for some shirtless cake eating!

These days, kids get their own cake to go crazy on called a "smash cake."  Gavin is trying to figure out what's going on here...

...tasting the first dainty finger of frosting...

...and quickly deciding that fistfuls of cake (frosting, I think he might have accidentally ingested some actual cake) is much more effective.

A good pic of the destruction.

"Where has cake been all my life?"

A birthday shot with Mommy and Daddy.  This is before Ryan smeared cake on my face.

Overall, we had a great time and we hope Gavin and his guests did too!  Happy (almost) First Birthday Gav!

(Are Ry and I the only ones that think that 1 looks like a 2?!)

First Haircut!

Sigh...its the second week in August and my little boy is almost a year old!  This is about the time last year where I absolutely lost my mind while waiting for Gavin to arrive (Ryan can attest to this fact.  Going past your due date is just not pretty, and I did not handle it with grace.  I did handle it with lots of donuts and whining.)  At that time, Gavin turning a year old seemed like something that would never happen.  And yet, here we are.  I drove by the elementary school for our neighborhood today, and similarly thought that it just seems impossible that Gavin will ever go to school.  I'm a little scared to think about how quickly that day will come as well.

The fact that Gavin keeps blowing through milestones lately isn't helping me feel like my baby has suddenly turned into a toddler.  He is getting better at walking every day (video to come soon!).  I still wouldn't classify him as a walker, since he relies mainly on crawling and cruising to get anywhere.  But he can take a good 5 or 6 wobbly steps before he plops on his butt and continues on his way.

But the milestone I want to write (and show) about in this blog is Gavin's first official haircut.  I say "official" haircut because Ryan likes to lop off a chunk or two when I'm not looking.

Although he looked adorable, Gavin's hair was getting out of control.  It was hanging in his eyes and his ears, and just wouldn't be tamed anymore.  So despite Ryan's mom warning us that the haircut would turn him into a big boy, we finally gave in.  Ry and I took Gav to a place called Kid Snips, which is basically awesome.  I may start getting my haircut there.  Kids get to sit in a chair shaped like a car, they watch any DVD they like (or play Nintendo if they're old enough), and they get a balloon and a prize from the treasure chest when the haircut is over.  And if it's your first haircut, you get a certificate with a lock of your hair and a pic of your sweet new hairdo!

Gavin did a great job with his first haircut, mainly due to the Yo Gabba Gabba DVD we brought with us.  It actually worked a little too well when Gavin started "dancing" along to the opening song right when Ms. Kelly was about to make her first snip!  Below are some pics and two videos of the experience.

Before pic.

The first snip.  Yes, I teared up a little at this point, I'm such a mom.  But check out those cute smocks!

My new favorite picture of Gavin.  Such a cute half smile and accidental mo-hawk about halfway through the haircut.

Zoned out to Yo Gabba Gabba while Ms. Kelly used the clippers.

Success!  Where did that little boy from the before pic go?

Here is a video of the first snip!

Here's a video of Gav's reaction to the clippers.  I don't want to ruin it, but that face he makes...so cute!

The Shedd

A few weeks ago, the Gillespie clan went to the Cubs v Cards game in Chicago, so Allison, Gavin and I decided to head to the Shedd Aquarium! 

Gavin had a great time at the Shedd.  There are so many giant tanks that even little guys like Gavin can get up close and personal with.  Plus it was nice and cool in there, and it was about 100 degrees outside (as you can tell by how sweaty we all are in the first few pics), so Al and I were feeling lucky that we weren't at the Cards game.  (We felt even luckier when we found out the Cards got killed....that is no time to be hanging out with the Gillespie boys :)

Gavin checking out the scene.  This tank (I think it was the Caribbean Reef?) was my favorite as well.  It's a giant circular tank with a ton of cool marine life swimming around.

Just some of the fish that were capturing Gav's attention.

This is the first of a series of pictures where Gavin was way too interested in the fish to take a picture.  I'll take that as a complement for picking a cool activity for the day!

Picture #2 in the "Gavin could care less about the photo op" series.

Amazing view of the outdoor area at the Shedd.  And a great pic of Gavin's fake smile.

Gavin was much more excited to take this pic with Aunt Allison!

I know, I know.  Two pics in the same blog that don't even include Gavin?!  I just thought it was pretty :)

Gav checking out the shark tank.  I broke the rules and used my flash to get this pic. Yes, I'm such a risk taker.

Random Summer Stuff

We're back with some new posts!  Gavin has been up to quite a lot in the past month or so!  This past weekend we took Gavin to Chicago to spend some time with his Uncle Kyle and Aunt Allison while Ry and I enjoyed a dinner that did not involve applesauce in my hair or pasta flying through the air (video coming soon of Gavin's attempts at self-feeding.  Who knew applesauce was a finger food? Gavin did.)

Gavin and Uncle Kyle riding a truck at the park in Chicago.  This was after Gavin played in the spray park, hence the sweet 'do (although Gavin's idea of playing in the spray park was for me to hold him close to the water while he splashed me, that punk :)

A pic capturing the joy of swinging.  I did not, however, manage to get a pic of Gavin flirting with the girl next to him, which he was also enjoying. 

We also have two videos to share.  These are from earlier in the summer, although I don't quite remember when.  The first video is of Gavin making my favorite face.  I decided I had to get that face on video so that I can always remember it!  Apparently, I used to make the same face when I was a baby and my parents nicknamed it "the scrunch!"

The second video is of Gavin "dancing" to his favorite song on his toy toolbench.  Gavin is really working on his dance moves these days.  I guess he has to perfect them soon if he's going to keep flirting with the ladies!