2 weeks with 2 little guys

Yesterday Declan turned 2 weeks old and had his 2 week doctor appointment.  A lot of Dec's first two weeks of life have reminded us of Gavin's first 2 weeks.  Much like his big brother, Declan lost a good amount of weight right after being born, but quickly made up for it!  At his appt yesterday, Dec weighed 9 lbs 10 oz, and grew to 21.75 inches, shooting up to the 80-90th percentile for height and weight.

So far we don't know a lot about Declan's personality.  We know he definitely does not like dirty diapers and will not tolerate a wet diaper for even a few minutes!  He also seems to be a baby of extremes; he can go from happy and chilled out to incredibly ticked off in 5 seconds or less.  But he is also a pretty great sleeper for only 2 weeks old.  He manages to sleep pretty well at night, and actually tolerates being put down to sleep (Gavin was not so nice, he demanded to be held at all times!).  Like his older brother, Dec does not like tummy time, but does like soft fuzzy blankets and the bears mobile on the pack and play.

The last 2 weeks have certainly been an adjustment for our family!  Now that we have 2 kids, we find it funny that we thought it was hard to take care of just one little guy!  However, we also know that these first few weeks and months are the hardest, and we're looking forward to a little ways down the road when Gavin and Declan can really interact.  Gavin is already a great big brother!  He loves to rock Declan in his bouncer (sometimes a little too enthusiastically!) and give Dec his pacifier.  Gav also makes sure that the music is always going on the bears mobile when Declan is in the pack and play.

In the last few weeks we have been lucky to have so much support from our families.  Many people came to stay with us, help us, or even cook Thanksgiving dinner for us (thanks Shari!!), and we are incredibly grateful!  You all made our lives much easier!  I'm already terrified to think about how crazy its going to be trying to take care of these 2 guys by myself when Ry has to work again in less than a week!

Below are a few cute pics from the last week or so:

Not even 2 weeks old and he already figured out how to suck his thumb AND be annoyed by his parents!

 Declan is doing a pretty great job of looking just like the puppy dog on his hat!

 Gavin is ready to provide bouncing assistance.

 Gav's reaction to us telling him to be gentle with his little bro.

 Dec has already learned the "I'm so cute" pose.

 The Mayner side of the family at our house for Thanksgiving.

Declan's first few minutes.

While Declan and Mommy get their rest, I thought I'd take over the blog and post a few pictures of two of my three favorite people.

Erin and I ready to do this... this was about an hour before we'd get to meet the Goober.

 Ninety seconds old and ready to tell the world what he thinks of it.

Mommy showing surprise that Deckers is opening his eyes so wide after only being born a few minutes before... Dec showing surprise that the person's belly he's been living in is so beautiful on the outside.

A real good looking pair.

"So sleepy Mom... nice work but lets chat in the morning."

Declan loving his fingers as he dozes off.

A big big boy.  8 pounds and 14 ounces.  We love you Declan!



Another fall bog visit

As has become our fall tradition, we paid another visit to the Volo Bog.  Each time we go, its interesting to see how Gavin will react, since different things seem to excite him each time.  This time he was most interested in the dock in the middle of the bog where you can see the most water and swampy-ness.  Gav kept telling me he saw frogs, but either he has much better eyes than I do, or it was just wishful thinking :)

Gavin and Daddy heading towards the bog trail, and Gav doing a little dance along the way.

 Picture on the boardwalk with Daddy.

 Mommy and Gav on the boardwalk.

 Those of you that knew Ryan when he was a kid will understand why I put this "Planters Peanuts" pose picture on here.  Like father, like son!

 Careful inspection of the bog.

Trying to make a break for it!

 Getting a good view of the bog.  This is where Gavin swears he saw all the frogs.

 Our first attempt at a family bog pic.

 Second attempt turns out a little better, even though we all have some pretty good fake smiles going on :)



Sonny Acres

This was Gavin's second visit to Sonny Acres, a pumpkin patch/fall harvest place located out where I grew up in the western burbs.  Like last year, I think this was my favorite fall excursion that we went on.  Maybe its because I get nostalgic about bringing Gavin to a place that I used to go to as a kid, but this place always has lots of fun things to do without being too crowded or crazy. 

Last year, Gav's favorite activites at Sonny Acres were the petting zoo and the pony rides.  This year he wanted no part of either of those activities, but he really loved the carnival rides!  My mom, Andy and Shari all came with us on our trip this year.

Riding the Choo Choo with Grandma.  I was very proud of Gavin for somehow knowing that the engine is the coolest place to sit :)

 Riding in the engine comes with the privilege of ringing the bell, which Gav and this little boy did quite often!

 This was by far Gavin's favorite ride.  It consisted of about 10 cars/trucks, and every seat had a wheel to turn, so there were no unhappy toddlers!  Adults were not allowed on this ride, so I was worried that Gavin wouldn't go for it, but he had a blast!

 Gavin picked the car himself, and I love that he color coordinated with his shirt!

 It thrilled Gavin to spot me, my mom, Andy or Shari has he went around and around.

 Just being cute!  We went to Sonny Acres on an absolutely gorgeous fall day, it was almost 80 degrees!

 Gavin quickly requested to go back on the car ride.  This time he selected to co-pilot the fire truck with a lady friend.

 Not overly thrilled about taking a picture in the pumpkins with Mommy.

 Shari makes funny faces off camera to get Gavin to smile for us.

 Gavin and Aunt Shari have a dance that only they do, this is a still picture version of it.  I decided not to post the picture of Shari doing the dance as well (you're welcome Shari :)

 A super cute picture of Aunt Shari, Gav and Uncle Andy.

 Riding the flying dragons and elephants with Uncle Andy.  This was Gavin's first "airborne" ride.

 I'm not sure who had more fun, Andy or Gavin?

 Post ride excitment, looks like the boys had a great time!

 Gav and I posing in one of the many cut-outs at Sonny Acres.  I really appreciated the pumpkins ability to hide my giant belly!



Royal Oaks Orchard

Back in early October (I think?) Gavin and I went with my parents to the Royal Oaks Orchard in Harvard, IL.  It was my first time at an orchard, and although we didn't actually go out and pick the apples ourselves, I really enjoyed our visit.  Their honeycrisp apples and donuts were amazing (or maybe I'm just pregnant :), and it had the right amount of things to do without being too over-commercialized and crowded.  I'd love to go back next year and actually pick the apples with the Gavvers.

Driving the red wooden train.  You can't really tell from this pic, but there was quite a line of kids waiting for their turn to drive.  I don't know what it is about steering wheels, but kids go crazy for them!

 Front view of our little engineer.

 Poor Gav took quite the tumble at the park right before this trip, so he has quite the bruised and scraped face in these pictures!

 Gav's favorite part of the orchard was this tiny carousel.  Grandma and Grandpa had to ride with Gav because they wouldn't let me ride since I'm pregnant!

 Gav and I are riding in the red caboose (I know, I can't ride the carousel, but the train is ok for preggos?!).  Its not a very close up pic of us, but I love how you can just see Gav's little eyes and nose peeking over the train window :)

 Goofy pose with Grandma and Grandpa.

 Another ride on the "horsies" with Grandma and Grandpa.

Random pics

I'm honestly not sure when all these different pics were taken, but there were only a few of each situation, so here are some random pics of Gav doing what he does best, being cute!

Hanging out in Daddy's office in the comfy brown chair.

 Gavin has taken a liking to standing on the furniture lately...

 ...or doing other gymnastic moves!

 Swinging on the tire swing at Apple Holler in Wisconsin.  I really wasn't that impressed with Apple Holler, so there aren't many pics from that visit.

 Gavin wanted to swing without me holding him, which caused me minor heart attacks, but he did great and loved every second of it!

 To truly appreciate why I put this pic on the blog, you might want to click on it to pull it up to full size.  Take a look at the kid's hair...oh yea, thats peanut butter all over his hair.  Gavin as enjoying a snack of apples and peanut butter, and apparently while Mommy was washing dishes, Gavin decided that he should wipe the peanut butter he got on his hands in his hair.  You can't even get mad about stuff like that!

 Play date lunch.

 I think toddlers sitting in grown up chairs is just so cute!

 A lot of our play date buddies have infant siblings now, which is who this gated area was for, but the big kids were the most interested in playing in here.  Gavin and Olivia kept calling it their "house."