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Crazy Tennessee Weather

Finally over the cold, cold winter in Tennessee and it has been beautiful and in the 80's for the past month or so. We had a devistating flood this past weekend that left many people without a home and completely devistated many businesses and lives. We were thankfully not effected by this, but its very sad for all of those in shelters and without flood insurance who are left with nothing right now.

On to a brighter note: Gavin has been wonderful lately. Very happy and always trying new sports and new games. He is very talkative and can articulate what he wants very well. He usually wears big boy underwear and I would say he is potty trained. He has some accidents, but for the most part he goes on the potty. He is very excited to become a big brother. He talks about it often and he says he wants a 'baby sister', but who knows.

Gavin has had so many different sitters and nannys for the past several months I am happy to finally feel like he has a little structure. He goes to someone else's house Monday and Wednesday where we gets to play all day with his friend Camden who is right about the same age, and then on Tuesday and Thursday he gets to play at our house with his sitter Haley who takes good care of him as well. He seems happy with this arrangement and if Gavin is happy, mommy is happy.

Gavin will be a big brother!

In case you didn't know, I am pregnant. I am due November 12th. I will know the sex sometime in June and can't wait to find out. We are very excited. I will start documenting my belly as I did the first time and I think I will do it in the same place I did my last blog, which is HollandBaby.blogspot.com

Update on The Holland's

Well we have been so busy trying to get everything in order that I have neglected blogging as usual. So I will update you all the best I can.

Gavin is now 22 months. He is talking a lot. He says 4 to 5 word sentences and can name colors and can count to 5 sometimes (1,2,5) lol.

He is very active and very happy usually, although he does throw many fits when he does not get his way.

Gavin is a very social child, he thrives off of attention, but does not like to share much with other kids at this point. He cries when other toddlers take whatever it is that he wanted at that moment.

We are trying to get ready for all of the family at christmas who are coming here to visit us. I have done some christmas shopping, although I still have more to do.

We are trying to settle in still, although we are still furnishing and putting up decorations around the house as needed. I really just need a little elf to clean up.

Gavin 20 months old. Settling in, in Tennessee

The last few months have been very busy for us. We moved in, traveled to New York, traveled to Indiana, and then started remodeling our home. Within the last 2 weeks we changed all the brass in our house to brushed nickel, including all the hinges on all the doors. We changed the showers, faucets, drains, light fixtures, hardware, you name it and we changed it. We even got granite counter tops and a new stainless steel sink. We have been very busy to say the least.

Gavin has been sick several times from his new preschool, however I have heard that it will build his immune system now instead of later. He had Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease, Step Throat and an ear infection at the same time, and several colds, all within a few months. Yuck!!

It is now fall and everything is cooling down. The only downfall is it has been raining a lot. Almost every day this fall.

Gavin's Milestones:

Gavin can now say 3 word sentences and is progressing very quickly. He knows his main colors, he can repeat any word you give him and he says things without being prompted such as "Where is daddy?" or "I want yogurt". He is very coordinated and climbs everything! He is still in his crib but we are thinking of moving him to a bed soon. He can name all main relatives from a picture without ever being reminded of who they are.

We have planned to go to the pumpkin patch several times but the weather keeps raining on us on the weekends.

Pure Chaos at the Holland House

So we moved into our new house June 29th and had my parents come down to help us and see the new place. It was a busy week of unpacking and Gavin getting use to his new surroundings. He wasn't very happy about it, at first but eventually he came around. Right after the family left we headed on a 2 week road trip to New York for Ian's high school BFF wedding he was in. We spent a lot of time with our families in Livonia and in Windsor. Gavin loved seeing his grandmothers and great grandmothers (and aunts, uncles and Lotte of course). Going home always helps me get closer to Ian, not sure why but I think family keeps us grounded and helps us to stay in check with who we are and where we came from. After our quick two weeks we came back home and realized we still have tons of work to do and unpacking to finish. Ughh.
We spent the weekend unpacking, figuring out the best daycare/home care for Gavin and shopping for things we need for the house. Ian left for a work trip on Monday. So nothing will get done this week. I put Gavin in a "Preperatory Preschool" however I don't really love it. I want him here, the house is lonely without him here during the day. Its sad :( Not sure how long this will last, I am not that thrilled about daycare.

We are trying to settle in, meet people, etc, but at this point we have not even had much time to sit around and have a glass of wine on the couch and relax.

Back to Blogging... Sorry for the long absence.

Well a lot has happened since February 09. After Gavin turned 1, we put our house on the market and decided to move. First to Keller, TX and then after a lot of thought, we determined Nashville, TN was a better option for us. We missed the north, the trees, the hills and the seasons. We didn't quite want the northern weather and taxes, so Nashville was the best decision for us to get the best of both worlds. We had our house on the market from February through May and finally had an offer. We took the offer and had 30 days to move. We got a POD and we packed up our cars, closed on our house and moved up to Nashville. We are currently in a hotel, waiting for to close on our new home on Monday. We are excited to start a new life in Tennessee. I was really sad to leave my friends that I have become close with in the last few years. I will always keep in touch with them and want to know what they are doing always. Thankfully for the internet, this is easily possible!

Gavin is trying to adjust to his new life. He is very scared right now. He will not leave mom leave the room. I can't go to the bathroom without him crying and yelling for mom. He has a lot of anxiety and thinks I am going to get packed up. He will adjust eventually, but for now we are doing what we can to ease the process for him.

He can say a lot of words now. Most of them start with some variation of a "D", but a few actually start with the correct letter. "Fish" "Missy" "Mom" "More" "Kitty" and several others are words besides things that start with D that he can say. He can say anything that starts with a D.

He can hold a baseball bat correctly and swings all the way through. He loves balls and throwing them at everything and anything. He is very active and happy as long as he is getting attention. He loves to say hi to strangers and flirts with girls/women/old ladies.

Everyone comments on his eyes and long eye lashes.

Someone told us he looks like a miniature "man", which I really don't think is a compliment lol. I personally don't think he looks like a man boy :).