Good Morning!

New words

Gavin has started saying:

• boat (bo)
• poop (poo)
• no (doh)
• book (boo)
• two
• three (tree)
• uh-oh (woo-hoo)

Of these, he says uh-oh the most. Anytime anyone drops something or something doesn't go according to planned we hear "woo-hoo!"

Gavin has had a few sessions of speech therapy so far. The problem we're focusing on right now is lip closure. Since Gavin smiles so much he almost never closes his lips properly to form words, talking with his mouth open instead. So to train his lips I bought him a recorder (horn) to blow, and we've been playing a lot with bubbles to get him to say "pop" correctly. If Gavin really wants something a lot I can get him to use his lips correctly in pronouncing words. The rest of the time his mouth is still open.

Gavin also likes to Zumba lately. There is an informercial selling DVDs of a Latin inspired dance workout called Zumba. It is almost always on one channel or another. Gavin loves to watch the video and do his zumba dance. He even asks for it by doing a little of dance and pointing at the tv.

To document for future reference

Today Gavin noticed Jake's tattoo for the first time (Jake has a purple gargoyle on his right shoulder - got the tattoo in Biloxi, MS while in tech school for the Air Force before we met). After I got off work this afternoon we all played in our inflatable pool in the backyard. At one point Gavin noticed the tattoo. He walked over to Jake, pointed at the tattoo, then went to look at Jake's other shoulder to see if there was another one over there. Then he pointed at his own shoulder. Jake asked, "do you want a tattoo on your shoulder?" Of course the response was "Yah!" Sigh.

Fun in the flowers

I looked out the window and what did I see?

A mama bird looking at me!

There are actually 2 eggs now.

The bird flies away when I water the flowers but stays nearby and comes back when I go inside. The pot on the left had the eggs in it but I switched it with the one on the right so when people come to look at our house (which is for sale again) they don't get attacked.

Airplane!

My dad used to do this with me when I was little, and Gavin loves it too.

Friends and family,


We have finished our adoption homestudy and are ready to find our next child, but we need your help! Many times people who adopt are placed with babies found through a friend or family member. Please refer anyone who may be able to help us find our next baby to our online profile:

https://www.itsaboutlove.org/ial/profiles/16731488/ourMessage.jsf

If for some reason this link doesn't work, go to www.itsaboutlove.org, click on "view adopting family profiles" on the left side of the screen, and search for us by the names "Jake" and "Kelly" at the bottom of the screen under "find a profile."

Thanks!

Memorial Day, 2010

Monday morning we went back to the fountains:

which happened to be located in a shopping center that claims to have the largest American flag in the state of Florida:

Sunday evening my Uncle Bill and Aunt Joy got into town from Missouri. Jake and I enjoyed spending some time with them on Monday, and then we all went to the bay on Monday evening. Well, all of us except my dad who is having severe back problems. We went to the bay so Gavin could play more in the water without the waves knocking him down. He also got to don his life jacket and "swim like the fish." Here he is playing with Aunt Joy's net. Note the water here is really only about 2 ft deep: 

Chasing a big bird:

The bay is the best place to find hermit crabs, and Aunt Joy is really good at it:

Cookies taste better at the beach:

Gavin was kinda unsure of the hermit crabs. Sometimes he liked them, and sometimes they scared him.

Uncle Bill and Gavin with his watergun:

Here Gavin was in motion answering the question "What does a pirate say?" He covers one eye with his hand and says "Arrgh!"

As I was writing this post my mom called and said she had spent the day at the beach yesterday and was heading back today, getting as much time in as she could before the oil reaches there. So sad. We hoped to spend our 10th anniversary in August back there but now will have to wait and see.

May 29-30, 2010

While we were in FL my parents were nice enough to watch Gavin for us each day so Jake and I could go have some fun on our own. Here he is playing with water balloons with Grandma:

Saturday evening playing in the fountains:

Back to beach on Sunday evening. This time we went to a public beach further down Okaloosa Island. There happened to be a sand alligator there, much to Gavin's delight. "Along came Mr. Alligator, quiet as

can be..."

                      

We decided this trip to just take Gavin to the beach in the evenings to avoid dealing with sunscreen and sunburns. Since he's not old enought to play in the waves yet that worked out just fine. I love evenings on the beach- it's cooler, there are less people, and it is a beautiful time of day:

May 28, 2010

We spent the evening at the beach at the Boardwalk. We were pleasantly suprised to find that the water was warmer than it usually is on Memorial Day weekend. Unfortunately there was also a lot of seaweed, but seeing as how we weren't planning on taking Gavin boogie boarding or anything it didn't effect us too much.

Beware of toddlers with shovels and plenty of sand:

This is about as much of my mom as she will allow me to show on here: