Gavin and Declan: 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.