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.