Family Photos & First Steps!

A few weeks ago, we had our family photos taken, and they turned out great! We had a girl who is just starting her photography business do them, and she did a fabulous job. My only "complaint" is that we had them taken at the beach and the sun was in our eyes...so...darn? Gavin of course was too distracted to look at the camera, but regardless so got a couple good shots of him too!

The pictures were taken at the beach that we frequent here on base, Del Mar Resort.

Ryan went back to work on Monday, so it has been "a back to reality" week for us...boo hoo!!!! He took his Combat Leave, which is time set aside for them to take once they are home from a deployment. The main perk is that it is tax free vacation time, however, they have to use their own accrued vacation time for it. Ryan took ten days, and it has been ten days of bliss! We have just relaxed, lounged around, visited the beach...several times, and gone out and about. We were able to take Gavin to the zoo, which he loved (mostly for the tour buses and people...) and did a little shopping. It was perfect. Well, except for the fact that Gavin decided he doesn't want to sleep through the night anymore! ...We think it's separation anxiety and to his defense, it has been a very chaotic, change-filled couple months for him, so I will cut him a little slack for now I suppose.

We also got FIRST steps this past week!!!!!!!! Here is a link to a video I put together of the occassion:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZeIuFq8tGI

We are so proud of our little guy!!

Gavin's First Birthday, and more!

As far as updating this the past month or two, all I can say is, I am sorry! I am doing my best! I wish I could have been posting a little bit more often!

Gavin's birthday was a lot of fun! My parents were visiting for the occasion, and one of my very good friends, Sarah, was here with her husband (they usually are living here at Pendleton, however he is currently deployed, and he was home on his R&R). I made Gavin's cake, and it wasn't nearly as cool as I had hoped a few months ago when I was going to go all Pinterest mom and create a masterpiece super hero ten-layer cake, but it still turned out really cute, at least I think! And Ryan's been eating on it for a few days now, so I suppose that is testimony to how it tastes... :)

We set Gavin up in his high chair, and Ryan and I brought out the cake. He was intrigued by the candle but more intrigued by the fact that we were all singing to him and all staring at him, waiting for him to eat. He wasn't really sure what to do at first, but eventually he got really into shoving the cake into his face, and even a little ended up in his hair.

On top of all of the Christmas toys, Gavin also got some fun toys for his birthday. From his Grandparents he got some iconic toys, the Little Tikes red and yellow car and a Radio Flyer wagon. He got some music makers (thanks Wuerls!) and lots of cards and well-wishes! He is a VERY loved little boy.

Every single day I am blown away by how smart Gavin is. He is 100% boy, he loves his cars and trucks and will start making his car sounds when they are mentioned, and you should hear them when he is playing....uh...CUTE! Even more than that, he LOVES books. He is constantly wanting us to read him books, preferably Daddy at this point. He will crawl over to his books, grab one, and then slide it all the way over to wherever you are sitting, and hand it to you. It is amazing. I've never seen a twelve month old do that. He is soooo close to walking. If only he had the confidence in himself to take those steps! He is walking with us holding his hands, but really he is doing it all on his own. He has a couple little cart/push toys that he walks along with, no problem. It will be any day now, really...

We are taking Gavin in for his one year check-up, and vaccinations. Wish us luck!!!

Also-as a side note. Ryan is on leave right now, so we are enjoying some quality family time at home, and also we have TERRIBLE phone reception at our house...so if we have seemed a little MIA these past couple weeks, those are our current excuses :)

I am going to do my best to get some pictures uploaded! We have some beach pictures (we have been soaking it up as much as possible!!), and birthday/birthday weekend pics!

Gavin's Birthday Invitation + More

I know it's been a little while since my last post, but as you can imagine, it's been a little bit of a whirl wind around here!

We are slowly getting settled in to our house, and getting used to be together as a family again. I can tell you one thing, Gavin LOVES his Daddy and does not want to let him out of his sight. Getting Gavin settled into his new routine has been a bit difficult, but I think most of that is because he is also going through a growth spurt as well as teething. He has been waking up SUPER early, around 5:00am, which has been a little difficult on his Mommy & Daddy.

As I mentioned earlier, we are now living on base, and so far we are loving it! We get so much more space for basically the same price we were paying in Fallbrook. Ryan has discovered that the ride to work takes about the same amount of time, maybe even a little bit less and because it has less traffic, will end up being less fuel as well which is always nice!! Geographically we are less than two miles from the beach and some of the houses in this development have an ocean view. It takes about 5-7 minutes to actually get to the beach however because the road goes in a round about way...oh darn... :) We have already gone to show Gavin the ocean.

I cannot believe that Gavin's first birthday is coming up! It is 100% UNBELIEVABLE that an entire year has gone by already! I get emotional just thinking about that day a year ago, and how much joy he has brought into our lives. Ryan and I were talking the other night about how he is everything we ever talked about in how we wanted our kids to be. We are so blessed.

Here are a few photos from the past couple days and Gavin's birthday invitation (mostly for his memory book purpose as we live so far away from our family and friends).

(pics to come...to tired to upload them at the moment.... sorry!)

He is home!!

Ryan is finally home with us!

Currently, Gavin and Daddy are playing while watching Christmas movies in our living room. Life is good.

Ryan and the rest of the Marines got into Camp Pendleton on December 20th around 10:00pm. Jay, Kathy, Chris, Amber, Gavin and I were all there to welcome him home! We had our signs held high and seeing him was one of the best feelings in the world. Ryan said seeing Gavin was quite a shock as he has changed so much and pictures and video just doesn't do it justice. Gavin wanted up to him right away and I can already tell that Gavin is not going to want to let Daddy out of his sight anytime soon.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Quick Update

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7uBN4TT3rM&sns=em

That is a link to Gavin playing trucks! He is so cute. I can't believe he already has the sound effects down! He catches on to things so fast. I did my best to make sure he learned boy things since Ryan wasn't able to show him, haha.

In other news, I am about 90%all moved in! I just have a few things to sort through and then I think I might leave most of Ryan's stuff for him to decide why and where he wants to do with it.

I am going to attempt to upload some pictures, but I am doing this all from my cell phone so I might give up when it takes too long!

I took Gavin to see Santa today. We waited in line for about 2.5 hours...ugh! By the time it was our turn, Gavin was ready for a nap. I placed Gavin on Santas lap and it every split second Gavin got more and more afraid. He was so confused as to why I would put him in the lap of a stranger and think it was adorable. His confusion turned to panic and then all out fear. After the photos were taken, he was so scared that he wasn't even crying, it was just a scream that wouldn't come out. I felt so bad. But mostly I felt bad because I also thought it was freaking hilarious...it was silly and we got a good picture!

Ryan should be coming home VERY soon, and I will update you all as soon as I can! I am more than excited, I can't wait!!

Moving...#1937392937

Ok, just kidding, this is only move number four in the last TWO years...

My dad, Gavin and I are on our way, in fact we are 3/4 done with the drive! We are south of Stockton, with about 290 miles to LA and then another 70ish from there to Oceanside.

Gavin is doing amazing!! He has been such a champ!

Holiday Letter