Here Comes Santa Claus...

How cute is he??? While all the other kids were screaming and totally freaked out by the man in red, my little stinker went right to him and started messing with his beard! That's Gavin for ya.

This will be a very busy week. Gavin's grandma and grandpa (Chad's parents) are coming to visit from Missouri on Friday. We are going to celebrate Gavin's first birthday on Saturday and then we will have Christmas with his parents on Sunday before they return home.

We went to Missouri for Thanksgiving and Gavin rode the 4 wheeler with daddy. He giggled the entire time. He loved the loud noise and vibration. What a boy.

Well, I will post more after the birthday party!

A Family Picture

We are still waiting for our proofs to come back but our photographer sent us a sneek peek of what's to come...

Pumpkin Pick'n

Here are the pictures from Gentry's Farm this past weekend. He sure loves his pumpkin!

Happy Halloweeny!!

So another 6 months... I really stink at this posting thing. Anyway, so much has happened in the past 6 months. First of all, we moved. Praise God that our old house sold considering the slow market right now. We feel very blessed to be out of the old house and into the new... there are a lot of people out there who can't get their houses sold. The new house is great. It's going to take some time to get it settled but we are loving the yard. For those of you who don't know, we stayed in the same neighborhood but we built a house with a bigger yard for Gavin.

I earned my real estate license. I am very happy to have that done. I never realized how much studying it would take to pass the exam. I am working for Equus Land and Home. Check out their site. http://www.equuslandandhome.com/

Last night was Halloween. Although we aren't big Halloween people, we thought it would be fun to get Gavin dressed up for all the trick or treaters. He was a puppy dog. He actually likes kitties more but I thought it would be too girly to dress him as a cat.

Gavin is VERY sociable. His favorite thing to do is hollar out at people with a loud "Aahh?". That's his "Hi". I am trying to encourage him to use a sound that resembles "hi" but people always respond to him when he does his "aahh" so he figures why fix it if it ain't broke? right?

He's now 10 months old. He knows a few words but isn't talking. I KNOW he knows hi, bye, Gavin, doggy, kitty, shoes, feet, mommy, daddy, nanna, eat, milk, and gentle. He spends a lot of time working at his work bench. How funny is that? Such a daddy's boy. I will post a video of him at his work bench. He's not paying any attention to me.... yep... daddy's boy! ;-)

We took Gavin to Gentry's Farm last weekend to pick out his own pumpkin. He LOVES the pumpkin. He wanted to hold it the whole way home and smiled the entire time. Check out the pictures.

Keep your eyes open for our latest 9 month pics. We should be getting them from the photographer any day!

Guess Who's Six Months Old!!!

So I can't believe it has been 6 months since Gavin arrived in our lives! I also can't believe I haven't managed to post since then either. Not like we haven't been busy but seriously... this post is long overdue!

Life has been so wonderful! We have enjoyed every moment we have spent with our "Little G". (My dad is Big G) I have often said he is the EASIEST baby but apparently he's heard me say that too much lately. Today he decided he needed to give me a run for the money. I guess he wanted to stay up and party for his 6 month birthday! Anyway, I think he's teething. He sure drools a lot but so far I don't feel any teeth coming through.

Gavin is a little peanut. He's only in the 5th percentile for weight. His height is average but he's a slender little dude. I was reviewing his medical records and in the doctor's notations she wrote "skinny". Clearly he didn't inherit this gene from my side!!! Anyway, Chad was and still is a lean machine so that must be where he gets it from.

In the past 6 months, we have discovered that Gavin loves puppets, is allergic to milk, soy and corn, loves to sleep, thinks his kitty is the coolest, doesn't care about the dog and prefers to not be in a car seat. He hates restaurants... says they offer him nothing to eat. He thinks it's funny when he pees while changing his diaper and Daddy is his favorite toy in the whole world. I think Chad feels likewise!

We've taken so many videos and pictures over the past 6 months. It's sad that I haven't been adding them gradually but I guess I will post a few at a time. Our professional photographer is FABULOUS and we can't wait to do his 6 month pictures. I ordered all of the newborn and 3 month pictures. We'll post some eventually. In the meantime, you can watch the youtube video of Gavin's first haircut. We did this when he was about 1 month old. He's had 5 haircuts since! FYI, he now sees a stylist since my attempt in this video. The link is at the bottom of the blog but the video actually plays at the top of the blog so you will need to scroll back up to the top to view it.

But... as if having Gavin wasn't a big enough project for us, Chad talked me into moving AGAIN!! Amazing.... This last time I even spent $50 for a address embosser. I really thought we would stay for a little while longer. Alas, it's been 2 years so it's time to move. We are actually building in the same neighborhood that we are currently in. Not only do we LOVE LOVE LOVE being in Westhaven, we have come to realize what a blessing it is to have my parents just around the block.

I am earning my real estate license and will be doing the purchase on our new home. Our friend Margaret is handling the sale of our current house. We didn't want to deal with the emotional side of the transaction as well as arranging the showings. Margaret has done a lovely job of marketing the house! I will take some pictures of the new house soon and post them too!

Well, duties are calling. I will definitely post more frequently than every six months!

McGee...Party of 3

Reservations???? Waiting list??? What??? Apparently so! Yes folks, we are on a waiting list to have this baby! We were informed this week that I will have to deliver Gavin via C-section. Unfortunately, we are on a waiting list to get into an OR. I am 3rd in line for the 15th and 4th in line for the 19th. They say not to hold my breath on delivering either of those days. The only hope I have is to go into labor on my own, which they really don't want me to do since Gavin is breech. So, I don't know how to feel about this. We have another OB appointment tomorrow so we plan on asking Dr. Kyzer how we proceed from here.

On another note, I am officially a stay-at-home-mom-to-be. I never really had a "last day" at work because I was told last week by my OB not to go back due to her concern of my water breaking and going into labor so far away from the hospital (1 hour). I stopped in on Friday to turn over my keys and leave my materials for the new teacher. I am so sad to leave. I really love my job, my students, my boss and fellow teachers, but I know being home with Gavin is going to be wonderful too. I told Chad that I would like to go out to Creek Wood to sub a little next year just to feel connected still. Luckily, my wonderful county has granted me a year and a half worth of leave. After that time, I will need to decide if I'm going back or not.

Well, unless we find out something tomorrow, the next post should include a picture of a little boy named "Gavin". Please pray for a healthy delivery for both of us and safe travel for our families! God Bless!

And More...

Latest Nursery Pictures

5 Weeks and counting...

It's been awhile since our last post but life has been VERY busy! Chad is finally done with his nursery construction project and I am nearly done with my decorating! As soon as it's complete, we will be sure to post some pictures.

We have also been busy with our two baby showers. It was SO much fun to see so many of our friends. We can't express how grateful we are for their friendship and their generosity! I have attached a couple of photos of the November 4 shower. My friends Holly and Marcia were gracious enough to host it and it was BEAUTIFUL!! This past weekend, our dear friends Linda and Jimmy threw an awesome couple's shower and Chili dinner for us. It was also Chad's birthday so we had an extra special night to celebrate. Chad's mom and dad flew into town for the celebration which was wonderful!

On another note, I am spending some time off my feet for the next 2 weeks. My doctor put me on bed rest because I was contracting, dilating and 70% effaced this week. I am 34 1/2 weeks pregnant so she said that was just a little too early to be doing that. Once I reach 36 weeks I can go back to work but she told me she doesn't anticipate me making it to 40 weeks given that I'm contracting and dilating so early. Pray that little Gavin is just as developed and perfect as he can be when the time finally comes!

9 weeks to go!!

We're down to single digits!!! Nine weeks to go! I have included some pictures of me from last Saturday night. I am now in my 31st week. Things continue to go well. I feel basically the same but it's getting harder to put shoes on or bend over. I have a feeling it's not going to get any better in the weeks to come!

Chad has been working very hard on the nursery. It looks GREAT! I am so proud of him. He really is talented in his craftsmanship. His dad is a woodworker so Chad has definitely learned from the best. He hung "real" bead board (not paneling) which meant that each 4" slat had to be placed, glued and nailed by hand. He then routered the trim piece at the top of the bead board, put in new baseboards and hung crown molding. He's now in the process of repainting all of the trim in the room as well as the bead board. The filling and sanding alone has taken a better part of 20+ hours. Unfortunately, the original paint and trim color in the room just didn't go with the apple green paint. I can't wait to send updates in the days to come. We hope to be finished in the next couple of weeks.

You can click on any of the pictures to see it a little larger.