Labor Day part 1: The Zoo

We had a wonderful Labor Day weekend.  It struck me when I was pushing Gavin on the swings at the park today that I now have memories of Gavin tied to every holiday and day of the year.  This time last year, Kyle and Allison were getting married (Happy Anniversary guys!), and our little family of 3 was in attendance (although the sleep deprivation caused by a 3 week old means I don't remember much about that wedding!).

It was about this time last year that I was sure that life would never be the same.  I was right, but not in the depressing way I had envisioned.  I was sure a year ago that I would never have a minute to myself again, that I would never sleep more than 2 hours at a time, and that there would always be dirty bottles in my sink (ok, I was right about that one!). 

But I'm happy to report to any new mom or pregnant girl that it really DOES get better (like everyone at Kyle and Allison's wedding told me as I sat bleary eyed with a crying newborn at 11pm!).  Life doesn't return to normal, but that would have been silly to expect, and boring now that I look back!  There are still challenging times, but Ryan and I are really enjoying this stage of Gavin's life.  He has just gotten a solid handle on walking, he's using his "words" (dada and uh oh) in the appropriate context more often, and he just loves to play and explore.  In short, it's pretty fun.  But as I've discussed with moms both new and experienced, raising a child is all about stages.  So in my short year of mommyhood, I think I've learned the lesson that I need to really LOVE the fun stages, and just grin and bear it though the tough stages.

We did a lot of fun stuff this weekend.  Some of that fun stuff involved simply laying around and enjoying 3 days off of work.  And some of the fun stuff involved actually leaving our house :)  The pics below are from our trip to the zoo with Grandma and Grandpa Gillespie and Uncle Kyle and Aunt Allison!

Gavin telling Grandpa all about the giraffes.  After all, this is his 4th trip to the zoo this summer!

Look at those grins...what are these two planning?

A family pic with our new walker!

Gavin loves to walk in public places.  He has not quite figured out how to avoid moving targets though. 

This is an incredibly rare occurence.  Gavin just simply does not show much affection, and certainly doesn't hug people and put his head on their shoulders.  But he has gotten a little better lately.  Ryan and I can get a kiss out of him every once in a while instead of a hand to the face.  And Grandpa rules all.  Grandpa is definitely first on the depth chart, with Mommy a close second. 

As always, the gorillas in Tropic World are a big hit.  However, this was our first trip to the zoo where I felt like Gavin was really noticing more of the animals.

The cut out picture is a tradition now, we've done it every time we've been to the zoo.  Although this time we switched it up and let Mommy get in the pic!