I'm a Big Kid Now!

Look at who's wearing big boy undies! yay!!! Liam was so excited to have his picture taken in his Lightening McQueen undies. He wore big boy britches all day today with only ONE accident! I am so proud of the little middle man! He was really excited, too! One step closer to being like his big bro, who he absolutely adores.

Playing in the front yard tonight, the boys were all crawling around with Gavin. As boys tend to do, they turned it into a competition. Liam won. Owen stayed back to cheer Gavin on. Gavin was the loser. Oh well. Gavin's only been crawling, really crawling, for 2 days. And Liam was always a crazy-fast crawler. To be expected.

Owen wanted to be Captain America in August. Now, he is a tad obsessed with SpiderMan. So, now we have a CaptainAmericaCladSpiderMan in the house ;-)

He through his web on the side of the house and swung down....it was impressive to all of us non-Superheros in the audience.

Had a fun, albeit long, day with the boys. Sure wish nap time could be relied on. Oh well.

Just Owen.

Owen is 3 going on 4. I can't believe he will be four years old in January. Seems like not too long ago when Gerard and I were waiting on him, our first born. Now, we have three kids. Crazy. But, if I had to pick one of them to be my firstborn, the biggest brother, I would have picked Owen. Funny how things like that work out. He is just a natural and he LOVES his role as biggest kid.

Owen's preschool teachers sent home a note about each of the kid's friendships being formed in the classroom. Some of the boys play in the dirt and dig for dino bones. My boy. Well....he likes to chase the girls. Yup. That's what they said about Owen. He has three little girls that he plays with. He pretends to be a monster and he chases the girls and puts them into jail. And then he turns into a good guy and saves them all. Oy. At a birthday party today, a mom of a little girl that was in Owen's class last year told me that her daughter always talked about Owen and how nice he was. She gave me the best compliment...said that she can tell he is a really good friend to all of the kids in class. LOVE that about him. He loves to talk about his class at school and all of his friends.

Owen has a kind, soft heart, but boy can he find mischief. Like today, for example. I fill up a bucket for him and Liam to use to put water in their water guns. Likity split, and Owen is naked and taking a bath in the bucket. Complete with bath toys and a little bath butler (aka Liam) helping to bathe him. What a mess. He can dress and undress himself (a great help, but also a factor in some crazy outfits). He can do tricks on his scooter. He can ride a bike without training wheels. He plays baseball. He buckles himself into the car.

He is my silly, independent, coordinated, fun-loving firstborn. LOVE him!

Just Liam.

Liam is 2 years and 3 months old. He is a silly little boy that enjoys a good laugh. He is quick to anger; but, forgives just as quickly and easily. He shares. He kisses owies. He hugs. He dances. He loves.

This little guy has really made two years old look like a breeze. He rarely gets in trouble as he almost always complies with requests. If he starts down a path of misbehaviour, just a reminder that he needs to use his listening ears often does the trick. Given how tough his baby-hood and toddler years were, I am amazed. He has gone from most difficult, to easiest in the last 3 months or so.

Liam adores his big brother Owen. Some of the funniest moments are when he tries to imitate Owen. He does this mostly with speech. With actions, he seems to know his limits and/or what he, Liam, likes to do, and he won't always follow Owen. But, verbally, he can tell a story just like Owen, but without the words. He just kinda goes through the syllables and the intonation and facial expressions. So, when Owen tells me about friends at school, Liam tells the same story about the same friends in fewer syllables. Hilarious. But, if Owen wants Liam to try to ride Owen's scooter---"no way" says Liam. He'll just ride his Tow Mater (pronounced "two beers" by Liam).

That's Liam in a nutshell. Super fun little middle guy. LOVE him.

Just Gavin.

Gavin makes me smile. Even at 4am, after I have drug (or dragged) myself out of my nice, warm bed, this baby makes me smile. When grocery shopping, I have never had less than 5 people stop me and comment on his sweet smile. At the pediatrician's office, even other mom's want to hold my baby. I get asked all of the time if he is really as sweet as he looks. Yes. Yes he is.

I cannot tell you how blessed we are to have Gavin in our lives. He just goes with the flow, no matter how crazy the flow may be. Just this morning, for example, he had found Owen's blanket laying on the wood floor. He cuddled up on it and was relaxing while I tried to get the other two boys dressed and in the car. As soon as he was spotted, he gets asked "Gabin, where go? To the bafroom? Otay." And, off he goes...no longer resting cozily on a warm blanket, but being drug across the floor by two preschoolers to the bathroom. Did he cry? No. This baby laughed and laughed and laughed.

Gavin's PT is still seeing him for his torticollis. He still has a slight tilt. He still has some muscle weakness in his arms and on his left side. He has started to crawl on hands and knees a little this week. He isn't too motivated to keep working on that, though, since he can get around just fine using his inch bug crawl. He uses furniture or the stairs to pull to stand; but, he's nervous to let go. Yesterday, though, he got a little ahead of himself and took one tiny step toward me. That was pretty fun.

His wispy hair is definitely blond with hints of red. It's growing just long enough now that it doesn't always stand up on the back of his head like a peacock's feathers. I will miss that. Not sure why, but I love how his hair stands up. He has big, bright blue eyes. And, the sweetest little chin dimple you can imagine.

That's my baby boy at 9 months old. Just Gavin. Love him.

Snippits

We've been busy. Here are a few snaps of what's been going on.

Lot's of together time....
Owen's first Blastball game. he looked so big walking out to the field.

Owen is the third from the left, the one who is "baseball ready." He didn't get a single ball in the field, but he had two really great, solid hits!! Proud of him! After his first time at bat, Liam greeted him in the dugout with a "Good job, Onan." Melt. My. Heart. When Owen went onto the field, Liam cried. He couldn't understand why he couldn't go, too. Soon enough, Middle Man, soon enough.

The Coach brough snacks. This made for some happy boys. Owen shared with Liam. Sweet.

We went to Grayson's 5th birthday party....KaChow. Gavin has started clapping--oh my sweetness. Owen and Liam played in the foam at the party--messy fun.

The boys met Lightning McQueen at the party. Don't tell Uncle Gerry that Owen stuck his foot up on the door to pose. I didn't notice in the moment. KaChow! Liam was in little boy heaven. In addition to Lightening McQueen, there was also a Yella Mator! Fun!

Owen & Liam started swim lessons. They both did so great!

That's all for now....

Batter up!

Owen watches little kids practice with their teams in the fields by the elementary school by our house. He has watched soccer, baseball, and football teams meet and play as we walk or drive by. All summer, he asked me when he could practice with his team. Well, today was his day. I researched fall sports in the area and found something called Blastball that the Plano Baseball Association does. Its like t-ball, but a little simpler and lower key. The bases squeak. The bats are foam. The ball is squashy. No gloves. No batting helmets. No throwing the ball. To get an "out" they field the ball and raise it over their head and yell "Blastball". Sounded cute to me and like something that could be right up my sweet little guys alley.

His first practice was today. All day he was excited. When we got there, the first thing he did was try out that squeaky base. I knew he would like that. LOL.

He did even better than I hoped. He met his teammates. Met his coach. And started practicing like such a big boy. I have to admit, I anticipated he may just sit with me on the sidelines. He didn't. I teared up.

The "batting coach" got him all situated and he hit a few balls. This, of course, is his favorite part!

After practice, the uniforms were handed out!! Yippee! If Owen was excited about practicing with his team, it was nothing compared to the thrill he got out of getting his "uniform"!

Owen picked number 3. He adjusted his hat. He squeaked the base a few more times. He is in little boy heaven.

After practice--a kitty showed up. 2/3rds of the players headed on over....

Just a reminder that they are, in fact, 3 year olds.

Owen loved the kitty almost as much as baseball practice.

We may have a shot at the World Series if kitty stays away from the field. LOL

Go Royal Blue Knights!!!

Baby Gavin is 9 Months Old

At nine months, baby boy weighs 19 lbs and 10 ounces (34th %) and is 28 inches long (40th %). He is 100% sweet, sweet, sweet!!

Gavin eats solid foods--he is "over" the baby stuff now. One day he still liked baby food, the next day, he did not! He "crawls" like an inchworm, he pulls up on stuff (sometimes), and he sings ;-)

And, he is very, very loved by two of the best big brothers on the planet. Sometimes, the love just knocks him off his feet--see below :-)

Love this happy boy and wish he would slow down on the growing thing.

Is it too much to ask that he stay little?