First Steps

(These are his pediped shoes)

Gavin is walking!! When he wants to. Doesn't he do everything when he wants to?? He took about 10 steps yesterday but he wouldn't do it for daddy when he got home from work. I didn't have time to grab my camera. It was very, very cute and he was so proud of himself as he tiptoed around.

Keeping it Simple...well, trying to....

Keeping it Simple has been our motto for the past couple years. Lately, though, I've had to remind myself of that as I plan Gavin's birthday party and our daily schedule that includes running around, having friends over, going to playdates and getting involved in new (do we really have time to get involved?? of course, YES, because I have a really hard time saying NO) activities...plus whatever other 100 things we did last week that stole (albeit fun and willingly) our time. For instance, the last blog post was 9 days ago and honestly the past 9 days has seemed like a blur. We have been gone almost daily from the house and Gavin's nap times have mostly happened in the car. So, it's time for a "keep it simple" check up. When life is getting too hectic and chaotic here in BranFlakeville we take a step back and evaluate what we are doing and why we are doing it.
Blake recently told me of an article he read that said that people who spend 10 minutes a day meditating and visualizing their favorite vacation spot or the place they feel most at peace have a lower stress level. I haven't tried it yet (does daydreaming count when you are cooking or cleaning?!) but I'm going to! Not that I really have a lot of stress in my life right now (for once)but there seems to be just a lot of to-do. And that, my friends, goes against the family motto!
What do you do to de-stress?

As cliche as it sounds....

Motherhood has changed me. He makes me less self-centered. The problems I used to have no longer take over my life because he does.

Motherhood has made me sacrifice for the good of my family. The things that I may want are put on hold or altogether overruled by him.

Motherhood has brought out the best and worst in me. The best because my little guy has given my life joy that seems to permeate into everything I do. The worst comes out when I'm exhausted, stretched in every direction, and my communication fails when I feel that things are not perfect.

Motherhood has caused me to fall more in love with my husband and appreciate more what he does everyday for us. Not only does he have so much to give to Gavin, but he also shows me true love and patience when I have one of my psycho moments.

Motherhood makes me realize that nothing will ever be perfect, ever. Except when we're with Jesus. And that's good because I need to be reminded of that everyday.

Motherhood has given me more confidence. I don't know if I can pinpoint exactly why yet, or even if it is a combination of things, but I feel more confident now than I ever have.

How has it changed you?

That Blissful Quietus

It's nap time for Little Big Foot, so what does that mean? My house is silent except for the washing machine and the annoying yowl of Dash wanting attention. I can easily block out those sounds. The radio is playing in the background reminding me of the work in the kitchen that still needs to be done. There's a voice in my head that says, "What are you doing sitting with your feet propped up on the couch, writing for the blog? Get up and clean up the mess left over from Hurricane Gavin. You've got meat in the fridge that needs to be taken care of and veggies to chop and speaking of the fridge it needs to be cleaned. Get up and pick up. Oh, by the way, the bathroom's disgusting and there's an ant invasion in the kitchen again, and leftover breakfast on the floor, and have you noticed the flowerbeds??They've turned into flower jungles and LOOK you can't even see the dining room table--so get off you bootang and get it going because YOU ONLY HAVE AN HOUR FOR NAP TIME AND IT'S NOT EVEN GUARANTEED!!!!!!" With this last sentence I run screaming from the house never to return. Maybe this house isn't so silent after all.

Would I change a thing? Nope, not at all, I love it. I don't exactly like the feeling of not accomplishing my 100 things to do list everyday, but I'm working on that. It's easier to let it go than to stress about it.

I think I'm gonna go make some coffee.

Manners and How to Act in Public

This a letter to all those children whose dreadful parents did not teach them how manners, respect or how to act in public:

Dear little children,

I'm so sorry that your parents haven't taught you how to behave. I feel terrible for you because one day, you're going to grow up and have absolutely no idea how to act. Then, you will be in therapy for years because you haven't been taught the proper skills of acting like a normal human being. For instance, if you are on your bike and you run into someone and don't as much utter a proper, "excuse me" or, "are you ok" please don't be offended if I beat the fire out of you. Well, I probably wouldn't do that but I will say, "Hey kid, watch out!" while your braindead parent watches on and says nothing.

Sincerely and most sorry for your upbringing,

Someone that has manners and will be teaching my own child the simple thing known as respect.

Blogging/Internet/Technology Vacation and Regular Vacation!!

That's Gavin for ya

I want to do what I want to do and what I want to do is get down and play in the sand!!
See, now look how happy I am!



What is this stuff??



Dad at his office


Dad's office

Poe Springs--72 degree water!!! It was so refreshing--once you got used to it.


He did this hilarious floating thing. The current would take him and he would let his body float to the surface and just hang out.

Exhausted after the springs.

Gavin the destroyer.



He LOVED the blocks!!!


As you can tell it's been a long time since I posted. I needed a break from the internet. It had started to control my every movement! Well, not really, but I wasn't being as productive as I wanted to be and it was because I was spending too much time on that time waster called FACEBOOK. Seriously, my FB vacay was great because it reminded me what life was like before facebook. The downside was that I had to spend a lot of time catching up with people and I missed a bunch of good news and bad/sad news at the time. So, it's a hit and miss. I'm kind of an all or nothing type of person (which I'm working on!!) and so it's hard for me to really do anything moderately. Which brings me to my next point...

I want to start a new blog. I recently tried to do what I wanted in one day with my blog and it took a very long time and was almost impossible to do with a baby. I know this sounds vague, but I don't want my idea stolen, LOL! Anyway, at this point, all I'm trying to do is get my dang kitchen painted and so my several business ventures will have to wait.

On to the the good stuff:::::
Florida was a blast!! I wish we could have stayed longer. The weather was perfect, we had wonderful walks, amazing food, good talks with the parents, spent a couple days in Orlando (which seriously feels like a foreign country!) We went to an outlet mall there and I swear we were the only Americans. Which was awesome because I was like, oooooo listen to the Italians!! Oh, there's some Greek!
Gavin loved the beach. He LOVED it. I'm so happy because we love the beach and I really wanted him to, too. We didn't stay too long because I didn't want him to burn and the umbrella we rented wanted to fly away because of the hurricane off shore. There was no swimming because of the rip tide due to the hurricane. We visited Cocoa Beach which is where I used to go as a kid and we visited Ron Jon Surf Shop. Gavin got told he was "very purty" by this crazy lady in the bathroom and he even got us a free sticker because the guy at the welcome desk wanted to get him to smile. I don't think it worked because he stares at everyone like they are an alien life form (he is memorizing every part of their face, I'm sure :))
Blake and I went camping when we got back and we didn't want that to end either. It was so nice having him to ourselves for 11 days after not having him around much this summer. I wish that we could spend every day together as a family. (on vacation!)

I hope to get back to a regular posting schedule next week!

Smart Baby!

Gavin,
You are too smart for mommy right now. You shouldn't be able to figure out how to unlock the cabinets. But you did. You always know what I'm talking about when I say, "Go get your....truck, car, diaper". You put your toys in the box when I tell you to.
We are pretty sure you have said "yoda". You know how to say "hi, hey" When you see mama or dada you say "baba". You've figured out that if you bang on the bathroom door hard enough it will pop open. You learned that from Dash.
Today when we were on our way to your friend Charlie's 1st birthday party, you were saying da-da in the back seat. Then, at dinner you pointed at daddy and screamed da-da loud!! It was pretty funny and special.
We love you darling child!!!
Mama & Dada