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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 :).

Gavin - Milestones

Gavin can climb, walk, jump, dance whenever he hears music, run and harass the cats with decorative sticks he pulls out of the pot in the living room! He is very silly and laughs at things he deems to be funny.

Gavin can say "ki-dee" for kitty, "Da-Goon" for balloon, "goon" for moon, "soxxx" for socks, "shhhhh" for shoes, "yux" for yuck, "da" for ball, "da-dee" for daddy, "do-dee" for doggie, mo for "more" and "done" which he says perfectly.

He can sign about 10 signs and does a very good job of communicating what he wants.

He LOVES to play outside. He loves to play with the fake snake in the yard and drag it around and have maingy (one of our cats) chase it and drag it away. Gavin chases after Maingy, who is carrying the snake away. It is actually pretty funny to watch.

He loves going to the Little Gym. He goes Saturday mornings and he gets really excited when he is there. I think it has helped his motors skills, but I do rolls and tumbling with him at home, so mainly it is to help with the social skills he can't get from being at home all day. He interacts with other kids well.

Gavin loves to jump on mommy and give her lots of kisses. He gives kisses every time you tell him "no" he can't touch something or grab something. He is already manipulating us. He is a very sweet boy and generally is a happy kid as long as he isn't bored or hungry.

He loves to read books, practice new skills such as hitting a ball with a bat, which he can do pretty well already, throw and catch, dance, jump and imitate whatever dad is doing.

Happy Birthday Gavin

Gavin turned 1 on February 5th. I cannot believe he is ONE already. He is so fun now!

10 Month Milestones

Gavin is a little over 10 months now. Crazy how time goes by so fast. He can completey walk on his own, with no help. He can throw a ball, kick and dribble a ball and LOVES to watch the football spin on its end around and around, over and over.

Gavin loves to eat cheese, beans, chicken, corn and many other foods.

He can say kitty, dog, duck, dada, diaper, momma... but none really sound very much like the actual word. "keyd" for kitty and "dyedye" for diaper.

It has been pretty cold in Texas the last few weeks, sometimes even getting into the 40's.... all of you Nort Eastern people are probably laughing at that statement. We have a fire in our fireplace every single night.

We have our christmas tree up and ready for Santa to come down our chimney. We are going to have Christmas at our house in Texas on Saturday the 20th of December, since we'll be in NY for the actual holiday.

Gavin's 9 month milestones

Gavin is now over 9 months old and growing so fast!

He can walk completely on his own with no help, crazy I know!
He can say "Kitty" and some other words like "duck".

He loves being outside and playing in the grass. He loves trees and can say "aweee" which I think means tree. He is a very active boy and always wants to walk around and explore new things.

We had our family photographs taken by my friend Missy who is an architect and aspiring photographer. She is trying to rev up her portfolio to start up a business in photography. Besides a few issues with Gavin being unhappy at 8:30am in 45 degree weather and a really bright sun shine which made him squint, she got some pretty good pictures.

go to webshots.com/user/hollandfamily2008 to see the album.

We'll be coming home for Christmas on Dec 22nd and staying through Dec 31st.

Visiting and Visits From The Grandparents

Early in October, Grandma (Shelley) came down to visit Gavin. The weekend went well and we had a lot of fun. Gavin was happy to see his Grandma and wanted to play with her a lot. We went to the zoo and Gavin was very focused on the animals. He did take a little catnap half way through, but was very well behaved and happy at the zoo.

One week later, Gavin and Mommy went to visit Grandma and Grampa (Monroe) in Windsor, NY. We flew into Philadelphia and then drove 3 hours north to Windsor. It was a very stressful day in the airport with Gavin. They do not make airports friendly for moms and babies. We were there for a week, and were lucky with weather (relatively speaking). It was in the 50's most days and when we left it snowed, so we were lucky. Gavin loved playing in the front lawn, with the leaves, pumpkins and grass. I got to spend time with my good friend Stacy and she got to hang out with Gavin and he loved her, so it all worked out great. It made me miss having help, miss having Grandparents around, remember how much I hate the cold weather, remember how much my skin hates the weather, remember how much I love the colors changing, remember how closed in NY makes me feel, and remember how ugly the majority of people in Binghamton really are..haha, sad but true. Not everyone, but 90%. If I ever moved there, we would limit Gavin's pool of pretty girls significantly haha...

We are still up in the air about where to move. We always have a new plan so don't bother keeping up with it, it will most likely change. So far we have been through Greenville, SC, Pittsburgh, PA, Wake Forest, NC, Fishers, IN, Rochester, NY, Nashville, TN, Columbus, OH, and I am sure others... It is beautiful weather in Texas right now, so its not as urgent now :)

8 Months Old

Gavin is getting bigger every day!

Milestones this month:

- can crawl like crazy, anywhere and everywhere

- can pull himself up to stand on anything from a magazine to a radio to a wobbly laundry basket.

- can take 6-7 steps without falling down

- can recognize and retrieve a ball, book, duck, etc when asked

- can crawl through obstacles such as legs, crib, big garafe legs

- can say "momma" "Kitty" "Duckie" "Baba" "Daaa" "Heyyyy"

- can do the sign for more

Gavin isn't that great of an eater because he knows he gets a bath after he eats, so everytime he starts to eat he wants out so he can play in the bathtub.

Gavin loves to chase the cats around the house

Gavin LOVES his mommy and cries every time she leaves the room or does not pay attention to him.

Gavin took his first road trip last week from Texas to Memphis, TN and then up to Bloomington, IN. We was much better than I anticipated. Luckily we bought a DVD player for the trip and had him watch baby einstein learning videos to occupy his time. This probably saved us from self distruction. We visited Grandpa Scott in Memphis and then went to meet Gavin's cousin Lotte. This was their first encounter and they did pretty well. They had a few episodes of crying, but were very curious about eachother.
Part of our intention was to visit Fishers, Indiana, a potential location to live. We want Gavin to have some of the same outdoor living values we have and its hard to get that in Texas because there are so many fire ants, its so hot for so many months and then basically goes right into being cold all winter. The midwest is familiar to me and Ian would get to be in an area which was more woodsy. Also we would be close to Kris, Tiffany and Lotte and which would be nice.
We are currently looking into our options for selling our home. We are not sure if we have any equity at all because of the market, time lived in the house (almost 2 years), and time we want to wait for an offer. If we are able to sell we will probably sell as soon as we can and then figure out from there what to do. Either find a house quickly in Indiana without being there, or rent an apt for a few months and find something. We could also put a bid on a house with a contigency that we will sell our home.
Anyways I just wanted to give that update. I will be sad to leave all my friends I have made here, but I think we need to do what is best for Gavin and be within driving distance of the family, especially with plane ticket costs.

7 months old

Gavin can now do the following on his own:

Sit up, roll over, stand, pull himself up to standing, take 1-2 steps, crawl, feed himself, say "momamamama" and "babababa" and "heyyy", clap his hands, laugh, splash in the tub, give kisses (with a wide open mouth), and many many more things daily.

Personality:

He always wants his mommy. He gets stranger danger randomly with strange men. He loves parties and watching people. He screams at other babies when he sees them. He throws fits when you put him down and he wants to be held. He loves to move all the time. He is determined to do something new every day and is always trying to master something (pulling himself up, taking steps, pushing adult hands away to balance on his own). He loves to act silly and see if mommy or daddy is watching him.