The Royal Wedding

Today, the Royal Wedding of William and Catherine made news all over the country. Although it wasn't mentioned on CNN (yet--ha), our little family held a royal wedding of our own...Prince Gavin married his Doc Band today ;-)
We brought it home and decorated it to do our Prince justice. He has a stunt helmet theme going.... perfect for the baby of a family of three boys...don't you think?

Owen joined us early this morning. Dad and Liam came a bit later. All of the British guys in the house donned British flag shirts for both Royal Weddings today. The staff at Cranial Technologies, thought that was really cute.

Gavin with Dad after the final adjustments to his Doc Band were made.

Our version of "Beefeaters." Owen & Liam are ready to protect Prince Gavin!

Is Owen's face not hilarious? I would be scared for Liam if the swords weren't foam and if I didn't know how very much Owen loves his little bro.

After all the paint and Modge Podge dried, I did a photoshoot with the Baby of the Day to show off the work Owen and I put into the "hat." For any of you who don't know what the Doc Band is, Gavin needs it to help correct his headshape. Because of the torticollis (tight, short neck muscle on one side), he tilts his head instead of looking straight on AND he favors looking to the right. Because of the latter, he usually sleeps in one position at night. Because he is such an AWESOME sleeper, logging 11+ hours a night, his little head is slightly flat on one side, his ears aren't even, and his facial features aren't symmetrical. All slight. We still think he is perfect, but because it could get worse instead of better, opted to use the Doc Band for 5-8 weeks until his head is a bit more solid. Once the Band comes off, he will have a rounder head and be finished with his Physical Therapy, so the problem should resolve and he will be 100% again!

He wears his crown well!

Gavin's Physical Therapy Sessions

Gavin has been in PT for 2 weeks now. He really enjoys it! They stretch his neck, play with him to encourage him to look left, army crawl, and roll over, and they do various balancing activities to build strength in his left-neck muscle. The last thing on that list, is his favorite! He loves looking at himself in the mirror at the various angles. Ha! What a ham!

At his PT's recommendation, I took Gavin in for a Doc Band evaluation. He has moderate flattening and facial asymmetry....so, he's getting a band. He was photographed yesterday and a 3D computer image of his head was created from the pictures. They will make his "helmet" and he'll get it on next Friday. I was so upset by this at first, but, have come to terms with it and think he'll just Rock the Band!

Eggs-elent Weekend

We went to Target with Emma on Friday so that Val and I could get supplies for the kid's Easter party at preschool. Emma spied some Toy Story 3 themed egg-dye kits and Owen had to have it! He was so excited! We dyed the eggs yesterday. The kit came with 3D glasses and wrappers for the eggs. Owen was so cute trying to see the designs pop out at him! He got embarrased when he saw me take this photo ;-)

My oldest absolutely LOVES craft time. Liam wasn't digging it--he had his heart set on having a story read to him. So, I took a break to read to Liam and Gavin, and Owen just kept right on working.

He got to do a lot of eggs since Liam didn't participate!

Baby Gavin is just along for the ride! He appreciates any action!

This afternoon, we participated in Gymboree's Spring party. The party kicked-off with an egg hunt. Owen was one of the first in the door and he filled up half his bucket pretty quickly. Liam lagged behind. He only got 2 eggs, but he worked really hard for both of them and was quite content with having one for each hand ;-)

He had more fun doing this than his facial expression reflects ;-)

Owen was very serious about the hunting ;-)

Daddy Q and the baby.

Gavin LOVED the action. 20 kids and their parents and lots of bright colors....what more could a 4 month old ask for?

"Posing" for the group picture.

Owen, Liam, and Emma during a parachute activity.

Emma and Owen bunny hopping with Miss Linda.

Craft time!

Yup. We had an eggs-elent weekend!! Hope yours was good, too!

Perfectly IMperfect.

Things are so busy with me back at work. Everything is going well, for the most part, though. It's just busy. If we could get Liam to go to sleep quicker, happier, easier, all would be good. But, sometimes it takes about 3 hours to get him to sleep. He will move around, cry, play, talk, cry, move around, etc, etc, etc until 11 pm. Eventually, he just stops and goes to sleep. We don't believe in crying it out. So, we just lay with him in bed until he finally just falls asleep. I have no idea what else to do. We tried his old crib (we booted Gavin out). It worked well for one nap. But, short of that...some nights are just easier than others. No rhyme or reason. Oy. Anyway, I have to blame something for the lack of posting...so, we'll just blame sweet Liam ;-) He is in bed now--only took about 45 minutes tonight--so here's a post! Gavin is eating solid foods now. We started him on rice cereal (day 1) and then blew right on over to veggies. He is my 3rd baby...don't forget that. Rules schmools. So...he now eats green beans and peas, too!

Wouldn't you know that big bro Owen wanted in on the action! I think Liam would, too, but he is too busy eating his own dinner to worry much about Gavin at meal time!!

Tried to get a "perfect" picture of the three boys. Yeah right. It doesn't exist. Thought I got a few, though, that were so IMperfect that they were, in fact, perfect examples of our life right now. Can you see something wrong here? Gavin is such a good sport that I didn't notice until I was uploading the pictures that he was being held by his noggin. Poor fellow.

A shot of Liam and Gavin by Owen. I do think Owen might have some photography skills. Not bad!

Again, what's wrong here? How hard to you think Liam fears Owen's grip will get? He is poised and ready to remove Owen's hand as soon as the going gets tough.

Fun times with Buzz and Woody in the house.... I tried to get a simple picture of them standing next to each other.

That

didn't

happen.

Yes, life at our house is far from perfect these days. But, I wouldn't have it any other way. These boys bring such joy and fun to our lives, they are totally worth the chaos. The only thing I would change would be Liam's going to bed habits....any advice ;-)

Growing Gavin

It's official. Gavin is growing. A lot! He weighed in at his four month well-check at an impressive 15 pounds 2.5 ounces (50th%). He is 24 1/4" long (25th%). Hmmm.... I think those percentages indicate he is a little on the tubby side. Sweet little, Tubs.

Gavin is rolling over, sitting with a bit of support, gooing, gurggling, smiling, cooing, etc., etc. He is the happiest sweetest Quinlan baby yet! LOVE this fellow!

He was diagnosed with Torticolis today. Essentially, his neck muscles on the left side are too short and he will need physical therapy to stretch them out so he can achieve a full range of motion with his neck. I new this may be coming....since his 2 month well visit, we have been doing stretches at home with him. But, they aren't enough and he needs professional assistance with it. Sounds like he was just too cramped in the uterus and couldn't move much in there. Hopefully, we will see a lot of improvement in 6 weeks.

The doctor also said that his eye color is "his eye color"...it's permanent. Can't quite tell what color, exactly, that is. But, they are bright and gorgeous!!

I am so glad we have this sweet fella in our lives. He is a blessing and I love him more and more every single day!

Happy 4 months, Baby Gavin!!