Gavin James is 1 Year Old!

Our precious little pea, Gavin James, is turning 1 today!  And just as I did when I posted for Jack's first birthday, I took a trip down memory lane and looked at a bunch of photos and videos from this past year.  Gav is such a crazy little monkey now so it's hard to remember that he was just a little peanut in my arms one short year ago.  It was such a crazy time for us having just moved back to Cali and then having Gavin a month later - it's all a blur now.  Thank goodness for pictures and video because I fear I would forget it all.

I remember Christian and I wondering if we could ever love another child as much as we love Jack.  Having Gavin has proven that we can love as much, if not more.  I fell in love with his sweet face instantly! And in a wonderfully strange way, my heart grew and I fell even more in love with Jack.  That's something I never expected but I am so grateful for.  Seeing my two little boys together, interacting with each other, loving each other, seriously gives me goose bumps.  I love nothing more than hearing Jack make Gavin laugh.  I hope and pray they are close forever.

Gavin has been such a blessing to my family and to our extended families as well.  He's so happy, loving, silly, adventurous, inquisitive, tough and ridiculously adorable.  He's also stubborn, independent, wild and crazy!  But I'll take it all!  I love that I have been able to spend this year at home with him.  There are challenges every day but I honestly don't mind them.  The joys of being with him far outweigh those bad times.  I often remind myself that this is such a small window of time and one day they will no longer need me.  So I am savoring these precious baby days with both Gav and Jack.

I probably spend more time with Gavin than any other person on earth - he's seriously my best little buddy. We do everything together and I love it.  But I know soon enough he will become his own person and want to do things on his own.  So my hope is that as he gets older, he always knows how much we love him and that no matter what life brings we always have his back.  We just want to support him in whatever path he chooses. I cannot wait to see what kind of man he will become.  But for now I am enjoying the simple, everyday pleasures of being his mom.

Here's Gavin's 1st year in pictures...he's such a chameleon...

And I just couldn't resist adding Jack's one year picture for a little comparison...

My Superhero!

With Gavin's 1st Birthday coming up on Friday and the big party on Saturday, there will no doubt be tons of attention bestowed upon him....and lots of blogs written as well.  So I just wanted to give a little shout out to my other baby - my superhero - Jack!  I know it's not always easy to share the spotlight with his baby bro, but he's a trooper and handles it very well.  Mommy loves you buddy and I always feel safe when you are around to protect me!

 

My Little Gym Rats!

Keeping two rambunctious little boys entertained on a daily basis can be a tall order....especially now that the ease of summer activities are over and fall is upon us.  Luckily, there are no shortage of activities here in Irvine, the land of the nuclear family with helicopter parents and over-scheduled children.  My options included baby yoga, chess for kids, mandarin in 6-weeks and no-lose soccer.  And as interesting as those sounded, I ultimately decided that I just wanted the boys to have fun and simply get the wiggles out.  So I signed each of them up for separate gym-style classes.  Gav started Gymboree and Jack is going to My Gym, a kids fitness center.  Both boys absolutely LOVE their classes and I couldn't be happier watching them get to be silly little boys.

Gav has class on Wednesday afternoons.  His favorite thing to do is play with all the brightly colored and different sized balls.  He would pretty much do that the entire time if they let him.  But they encourage the kids to try out all the different activities and interact with the other kids.  I love watching how he plays with kis his age.  Since he's not in school this is really important for him...

Jack goes to My Gym on Thursday's with Mr. Neil...who is so fantastic with the kids.  He was meant for this job.  Jack absolutely adores him and literally cracks up at all his jokes and silly dances.  At My Gym, the kids get to run around, jump, tumble and try out all the cool acrobatic equipment.  Jack seems to have a little "extra energy" than most of the kids but they are so cool about it and just let him be himself.  Here's Jack in action...

 

 

Walking and Talking!

Gavin took his first real steps today!  He's been trying so hard to walk for the past few days but he would get shy and plop to the ground.  But today, for whatever reason, he just went for it and moved forward.  I love how babies struggle with something one day and then just do it the next.  So amazing!  I will say that his little walk looks more like a penguin waddle but we'll take it!  Now I just need to get him up and running by his first birthday next week.  Here's the video we took of his big moment.  Please excuse my loud and annoying voice...I was just so proud of the little guy...

And while we're on the subject of Gav's milestones....he's added a few more words to his vocabulary. He now says bird and dog, bringing his total to 7 words.  And I swear he says Mickey, but it sounds more like diddy.  Every time he sees Mickey Mouse he says diddy so I have to assume he's trying to say Mickey.  But most of the time Gavin just speaks his own little language.  He pretty much never stops talking.  And he'll talk to just about anything...the TV, the door, his toys, his books, the pantry....anything!  We have no idea what he's saying but to him its a real conversation.  It's hilarious.  Here's a little sample of our jabber-jaws...