There is a First Time for Everything

And this week we had lots of firsts! The biggest accomplishment was our first road trip with Gavin. Chad had work to do with his National Guard unit which is in Austin so we drove down for five days. (Side note: isn't it insane that we are closer to Austin now that we have moved to Oklahoma than we were when we lived in Texas?? Craziness!) Anyhoo, Gavin did GREAT! He practically slept the entire drive down (and back home) and even managed to sleep pretty well through the first night in a hotel room. The next night, not so much. But that was due to what we call "poop cramps" so we can't blame that on the change of venue. Just mommy's menu choices apparently. He pretty much kept me up all night after that but it was because we took him out to downtown Austin where he slept the whole time we were out and didn't get back to the room until about 9:00 or 10:00 p.m. each night. So that was our own faults. I am so glad we are back home so I can get him back on a somewhat 'normal' schedule. Even as we speak it is almost 1:00 a.m. and he is wide awake. NOT cool! But all in all, he did really well sleeping in his pack n play and riding in the car for five to six hours. Chalk up another reason that my son is just awesome and perfect and there is nothing you can say to argue that fact!

Gavin's first time in Texas!

At a park in downtown Austin

Stevie Ray Vaughn statue

Very content in his pack n play!

Irish pub and a perfectly poured Guinness

As you can see, Gavin was completely bored with the Austin night life

He actually woke up for a few minutes at Whole Foods

Another first that we accomplished is finally realizing that having our diaper changed is not a life threatening event nor does it inflict any pain on us whatsoever so there is no need to scream throughout the whole process. For some reason it has finally clicked in his head. Before, we would lay him down on the changing table and he would immediately just start acting as if I told him he had to go get a job. (I would totally scream and kick and punch if someone told ME that! ;) But now he just lays there and takes in his surroundings and lets us do our thing. It has been a much more pleasurable experience for all that are involved. Minus, you know, the poop.

He is really starting to take a liking to this whole smiling thing. We took him to meet all the guys in Chad's guard unit and he just smiled at practically all of them. He even smiles at his grandparents when we are Skyping with them. This makes for some VERY happy grandparents! A few times he has smiled so hard I swore he was going to start busting out laughing. But I think that is an accomplishment for another week. He is still smiling at adamant objects like air vents and light switches but you know, whatever works. If he finds household fixtures funny, then by God they are hilarious to me! He had Chad and I wide awake at 3:00 a.m. one morning because he was just so happy to be with us. He was smiling so much and he didn't care it was a totally inconvenient time of day. We didn't either.

Gavin absolutely LOVES his play gym now. This is such a special thing for us. We got it as a gift and it was one of the first things we received. Chad set it up in our living room and would "get in it" and do his impression of what he thought Gavin would look like playing in there. He would kick his legs out and swing his arms around. We had so much fun laughing at this. We had no clue what Gavin looked like at the time and it is fun seeing him in there now, doing exactly what daddy thought he would look like. It would have been a huge disappointment to us if he had not liked it.

We love all the pretty colors and cute animals!!

He is rapidly approaching his two month mark. And we can certainly tell he is growing up with all of the many changes we see in him on a daily basis. I try to take it all in and remember each little moment. Just when I get used to one accomplishment, he is moving on to another one. My sweet, smart baby boy!!