Valentine's Day 2012

My wonderful husband sent me a dozen beautiful roses this Valentine's Day with a very sweet note.  Matt is not a particularly romantic guy, so I know that gestures like this require lots of thought and effort on his part, which makes me love him even more.  The fact that he took the time to think of such a genuinely sweet message for the card and send me beautiful roses makes me so grateful.  I adore my hubby and am looking forward to our years to come!

Gavin also worked on making a few Valentine's Day gifts of his own.  He started by making a card for Matt.

Then, he made gifts for his grandparents (with a little help from Mom).  Thanks to some adorable ideas from my new favorite website--Pinterest--we made personalized Hershey Kisses and put them in cute packages.  I love how easy they were and how incredibly cute they turned out!

Changes

Baby bump 16 weeks, 4 days:

With our little family expanding, we decided that it was time to make some changes.  We needed a more "family-friendly" vehicle, so it was goodbye Silverado and Mercedes...

Hello Tahoe!!  (So much more comfortable and nice for our little family of four!)

Baby #2

Baby bump at 13 weeks, 6 days:

34 Months Old

My sweet Gav,

You are now 34 months old and 3 is just around the corner!  You are such a sweet, intelligent, and wonderful child.  You are always the highlight of the day for Daddy and I and we cherish every moment with you.  We know that you are going to be a wonderful big brother and we look forward to seeing you in that role.  Here are some new things about you at 34 months:

• One night, we let you sleep in our bed with us and you said, "Let's all pray."  Then you put your little hands in ours and we all prayed together.  It was the sweetest thing!
• You are very independent and when Daddy turned the light on one night, you got upset because you had wanted to do it.  So you said to Daddy, "Why are you being so rude?!"  Ha!
• You love to help me in the kitchen.  I have never been one to cook, but lately I have been working on it since I know that it is the best and healthiest thing for you.  I love that you enjoy being in the kitchen and it makes it fun for me to cook meals with you!

Helping Mommy make French toast

• Although you like to help create meals, getting you to eat them is still a challenge.  Hopefully you will learn to appreciate new foods as we work together to cook them.

• You will still fall asleep anywhere if you are tired and most often will have your hand up your shirt because you still rub your nipples when you're falling asleep.  *Sigh*

• You love cars, hot rods, drag racing, tools, and probably know more about cars than I will ever know in my entire life.

• You still love books and have decided that you enjoy "reading" them as much as having them read to you.  The expression in your voice when you read is priceless!  (I think you got that from your goofy mom!)

Reading with crazy hair!!

• You love to help in any way you can, especially when it involves helping Daddy do "guy stuff." The two of you love to spend time together in the garage.

I love you so very much, Gav!  You are growing so quickly and you make us very proud of you because you are such a wonderful kid!  People are always impressed with your manners, intelligence, and how articulate you are for just 2 years old.

We love you to pieces, Gav!!

Christmas 2011

Since our family tradition is to open gifts on Christmas Eve, I spent a good portion of the day on December 23 wrapping gifts.  I ordinarily like to be done sooner, but since my Dad and I now go Christmas shopping together, it is difficult for us to get together and get it done until I am off work for winter break.  Therefore, we didn't even finish our shopping until the 22nd.  Phew!  Wrapping all these gifts in one sitting was exhausting (especially since I'm pregnant).

My family came over on Christmas Eve to open gifts and we had a wonderful holiday together.

My sister, Kristy

Our tree

Gavin in his Cars Santa hat

Kristy and her boyfriend, Mark

Gavin and his new tools

New socks

My sister, Evie

New Hot Rods

Cars toys

Leopard-print Band-Aids 

More Cars toys

HiHo Cherry-O!

HiHo Cherry-O!

McQueen lounge chair

My brother, Jason (on the right), and his boyfriend, Erick

My Dad and his girlfriend, Cyndi

Gavin and Matt

The next day, Gavin woke up to a new big wheel and some goodies in his stocking from Santa.  He was very excited to see that Santa even left him a message on the chimney!

Later, we went to Matt's parents' house for round two of gift-opening.

Gavin and his cousins, Adia and Madison

McQueen book

Dinosaurs

Train whistle

Slot car track

We had a wonderful Christmas!  And next year, we will have two little ones to enjoy for the holiday!

33 Months Old

My sweet boy,

You are growing up so fast!  Three is just a few months away!  You continue to amaze everyone with how smart you are and how incredible your speech is.  Daddy and I love every moment with you and cherish the time we get to spend together.  You have such a big heart and that makes us so very proud.  Here are some new things about you this month:

• One struggle that we still have with you is potty-training.  We don't want to push you into it, but with 3 just around the corner and a baby on the way, we want you to stop wearing diapers soon.  Well, one day, I referred to you as "baby" and you replied, "I'm not a baby!"  So, then I asked why you still wear diapers if you are not a baby and without hesitation, you said, "Because I don't want to be naked."  Oh, makes sense to me!  Ha ha!  Guess we need to explain that we would provide you with some other form of underwear if you no longer wear diapers.
• You continue to be a super picky eater, it amazes me that you even gain weight at all!

Feeding the ducks with Daddy

Mommy and you

• When you do something sweet, you tell me that you have made me feel "all fuzzy."  Close enough.
• You are excited about having a new baby sibling and one day you rubbed your little hand on my belly and said, "I wanna help the baby grow."  So sweet!!!!

After a bath 

• You always tell me, "I want Mommy, Daddy both home" in the saddest, sweetest little voice ever!  It absolutely melts my heart!  Oh, how I wish we could all just be home together all the time too.  Work really puts a damper on our family time.  Geesh!
• One morning, I woke up to a large bug in the kitchen area.  Being the incredibly big chicken I am, I just put a box over it, weighted it down, and put a note on top informing Daddy about the contents before I left for work.  I figured when you and Daddy woke up for the day, you guys would take care of it.  When I returned home that afternoon, you said, "Thanks for saving it for us in a box."  No problem, Gav.

Enjoying a Christmas treat

We love you so very much, Gav!  I know you are going to be a wonderful big brother!  You continue to make us such proud parents.  Thank you for being an incredibly great kid!

I love you, Gav!