Meeting the rest of the boys

Many of you know - I have 3 best friends from college: Maria, Kathryn & Janet.

Maria & Kathryn live in the suburbs of Chicago and both have kids that unfortunately I don't get to see all the time since we don't live close by. So, we made a special trip to spend time all together. And, this was Gavin's first time meeting all the boys. From left to right: Logan (Kathryn's son), Nicholas (Maria's son), Gavin and then Michael (Maria's son). So ALL boys...

It always cracks me up when you try to take pictures of kids - they never look at the same time, are distracted (i.e. Gavin very intently looking at Nicholas) and also wonder what the heck they are doing sitting on the couch. It is just always entertaining.... but, we snapped a few photos (thanks Maria since I didn't have my camera) and enjoyed hanging out. Gavin loved meeting all of you and feels like just "one of the boys" now. He was so excited to see what he has too look forward to as he continues to grow up. Thanks for a fun night! Can't wait to hang out again soon....

Our Temporary Home at A. Mary Ann's

After visiting my parents in central Illinois (i.e. the big town of Hartsburg) we headed up to Chicago where Scott had a conference for work. Gavin's first trip to the big city (although it was pretty quick trip).

Then Gavin and I picked up my cousin, Andrea and drove out to my aunt's place in Naperville for the rest of the week. We had such a great time - great dinner on Sunday night (Gavin finally fell asleep in his carseat over dinner), early morning risers (5:30 a.m. central time - usually 6:30 eastern time) - with my 1 cup of coffee with this fabulous coffee maker. Mary Ann - how efficient and just perfect to have a cup of coffee each morning! It makes 1 cup at a time - love it!

Then - out to breakfast, a little shopping at Borders and then back in to watch Charlotte's Web (which by the way if you haven't seen it - definitely a must! - so cute). Gavin didn't make the movie premier though... he was pooped and already in bed.

Gavin got lots of quality time with both Andrea and Mary Ann - and we enjoyed every minute of it! I enjoyed all of our great talks and Gavin enjoyed ALL of the special attention of course.

Thanks for letting us call your place home for a few days - we just loved it. AND - after we dropped off Scott in the city I realized he had the camera - therefore, I was unable to take any good photos of us all together.... next time for sure!

Congrats to Andrea - as she graduates from college this weekend.... way to go!

My Grandpa turned 60!

This past weekend, the Gillard family headed to IL to see my family. And - Grandpa Cross turned the big 6-0 on Monday. So - we all enjoyed a very nice dinner together on Saturday night before heading out on Sunday.

We were so happy that we all could be together.... happy birthday Grandpa!

Laughing with Mommy

Great video of Mommy and Gavin having fun and laughing together while inside in Hilton Head.

Gavin's first time in the water

Here is video of Gavin's first time going in the water: at the pool in Hilton Head on vacation with the Gillards and Ciuffetellis.

Gavin can dunk!

Gavin got a new toy for Easter and right away was able to dunk on his new basketball hoop: with his head. You gotta watch this...

Easter Egg hunting

Time to catch up on some videos. Here is one of Gavin at his first easter egg hunt in our nice little village of Mariemont.

3-month photos

So - I'm a little late getting these up on the blog - but here are Gavin's 3-month photos! We had so much fun and he was all smiles! To see all of the photos - go to:

www.simplytimelessphotos.com

Enter site

Recent Sessions

Username - gillard

Password - photos

Go to the Second Shoot - and there are 3 Galleries (lots of photos)

Enjoy.... next month we will be getting 6 month photos taken... how fun!

Family Day at the Ballpark

L to R - Scott, Stacy & Gavin - Brad, Brigitte & Gabby - Joe, Melanie & Greta & Emily, Tony & Jackson (Janet, Brent & Ella and Sara, Mark & Graham joined us too - but headed out before the game was over) - thanks for coordinating Joe! We had a great day with all of you - and Gavin really enjoyed his first baseball game!

Watching the Game...

and he enjoyed watching all the people too.... lots going on at the ballpark.

My Talk with Greta

Hi Greta - I love your Reds outfit. You look very pretty.

Do you want to give me a hug?

I told you Gavin - not around our parents.

1st Reds Baseball Game

Gavin's 1st baseball game watching the Reds play in Cincinnati. Although we thought the weather "may" not be so great today- it ended up being perfect weather. And, we enjoyed it with several of our friends and their babies/kids too - family day at the ballpark. Gavin wore his new Cincinnati Reds t-shirt and the baseball hat from Grandma Janet- the perfect little fan. We hope you enjoyed your first baseball game (and thanks to the Baby Bjourn for a great trip too) Gavin - I have a feeling there will be many more to come... (possibly even a trip up to Detroit to see the Tigers play???).

First time at the Zoo

YEAH - our first trip to the zoo - and with Gavin's friends Ella & Greta (Gabby came later too). It was such a beautiful day to go and take a trip to the zoo - and right now there were tulips everywhere (known as Zoo Blooms) - so it was absolutely gorgeous. Yes - as parents we had such high hopes for our babies to thoroughly enjoy all the animals - but for the most part, they could have cared less. I think they had more fun checking each other out and their strollers. And, we had to snap a photo of all the babies in front of the tulips. Again - high hopes as parents and such a great photo opp - clearly, they were over it from the start. It was a domino effect of crying too - which was classic. Gotta love it.... thanks for such a fun day at the zoo. We can't wait to go again soon!

Playing Outside

Check out that grass - and oh yes, the family photo of half of mommy and daddy's head.....
nice work daddy!

Bottle holding "expert"

Because Gavin is mostly getting formula these days - he eats from a bottle almost all the time. Therefore, he has become quite the "expert" by holding the bottle himself... check that out!
(yeah - it only lasts for a few seconds... but still?!?!?!)

5 months today

Wow our little baby boy is starting to grow up right before our eyes....

5 months old today - we have been enjoying lots of time outside these past couple of weeks. Walks in our stroller - and today we played outside on a blanket in our backyard. Gavin - you continue to bring so much joy into our lives. Your personality is definitely starting to show these days - lots of smiles and laughter (yes, we are ticklish under our arms and on the sides of tummy; and sometimes on the bottom of our feet too). Just last week - Scott and I literally said - you look so much bigger! More hair, we think your head looks bigger and we swear that you've gotten taller too. We are starting to enjoy sitting up with a "little help" - not fully doing in on our own yet. But, when he sits up - he LOVES looking out and playing with toys. Probably our biggest change right now is that we have moved to eating formula about 80% now. I started producing less milk right after our vacation in Hilton Head and we were planning to start supplementing in a month - however, we just started that process a little sooner than expected. SO - Gavin definitely went through a couple weeks of getting adjusted to eating formula vs. breastmilk - but it seems to be going well now. (A little harder on mommy at the start - but she is much better now too). You have become quite "aggressive" in playing with your toys - love hitting, grabbing (including mommy/daddy's lips, face, ears, hair....). In fact, the parrot on your bouncy seat has gone through quite a beating lately (we laugh at how "excited" you get when playing with things). You have started taking naps on a more regular basis - so that has been good too. All and all - you continue to brighten our days with you smiles, laughs and our favorite time with you is right before bed. We love going up to your room after tubby and you just laugh and laugh as we change your clothes, put on a new diaper and play in your room. That time is just precious.... we love you so much! Happy 5 months to you!

Coach & Allison come to the Nati

Scott's Fraternity brother, Sean (better know as "Coach") and his girlfriend, Allison came to Cincinnati to hang out for the weekend. And - it was Gavin's 1st time meeting them too. As you can see - Gavin loved spending time with them both and loved talking with Allison too. Thank you for my awesome new toy - the Busy Ball Popper - I can't wait to try that out.

And, we had a fun night out for dinner and drinks on Saturday night (minus Gavin) - THANK YOU Sarah and Beth for babysitting Gavin too!

We always love spending time with Coach and Allison and can't wait to see you again soon!

Go Red Wings

So the NHL Playoffs started this past Thursday and of course, we had to bust out our Red Wings bib to root them on. They are up in the series 2-0. We think the bib may be good luck - GO RED WINGS!!!

Babysitting Ella

Gavin had his friend, Ella over on Friday night as her parents (Janet & Brent) had an evening out on the town. It was fun babysitting Ella and we of couse had to take a photo of them in their PJ's before they went to bed.

Uncle Sam's visit

Sam was in the area for work this past week and came over to visit for a couple of days. Gavin enjoyed showing Sam his new head-butting game and also his hugs too... always fun hanging out with Sam!
Thanks for making time to come over to the Nati... and great job on grilling those steaks on Friday night too.

Love "Eating" my Toes

Gavin has become quite flexible these days and in his spare time - especially getting ready for bed each night - he LOVES playing with his toes and putting them in his mouth.

I guess we really need to make sure we get the "toe jam" out of those toes... that probably wouldn't taste so great.

New Tubby

Gavin has moved up in the "tubby" world. His bathtub had a mesh type netting that as a little baby he would lay in for his tubbies... NOW we are getting bigger and can sit-up in the tubby all by ourselves. Hard to believe how he grows and now loves splashing his legs and hands in the water - pretty entertaining.