Ryan's Not The Only Big Boy In The House

It’s hard to believe that Gavin is 2 months old already! The past couple of months have flown by, which is somewhat surprising given that we’re awake nearly 20 out of 24 hours. As you can see in the pictures posted below, he’s growing up so quickly (too quickly in our opinion).

Gavin is much more alert than he used to be. He wakes up much earlier (typically around 5:45 a.m.) and spends a greater portion of the day awake. He has also started to coo and recently discovered that his arms and legs are attached to him. When he gets really excited he flails his little arms and legs and drools, grunts, and pants. He even smiles every once in awhile - social smiles, not gas ones! His first official smile was on Sunday, August 16th. We were all seated at the kitchen table for dinner and Gavin was in his bouncy seat next to my chair. He was cooing and calling out for attention. When I looked down and acknowledged him, he unexpectedly flashed me a big, slobbery, gummy, toothless grin. At that moment, I forgot all about the sleepless nights, endless hours of inconsolable crying, and all the times he's spit up and pooped on me!

In addition to smiling, Gavin has reached another developmental milestone - he can roll over from his stomach to his back on both his left and his right side! One evening last week, we were all in Ryan's room reading bedtime stories when much to our surprise, Gavin rolled over. Gavin can also lift his head, but he has trouble holding it up for any extended period of time.

Yesterday Gavin had his 2-month well-baby visit with the pediatrician. During the visit, the pediatrician measured, weighed, and thoroughly examined him. We are happy to report Gavin is a healthy, well-fed, growing boy! He weighs 14 lbs, 15 oz which puts him in the 97th percentile for weight and he is 24 ¾” tall, which puts him in the 95th percentile for height. His head circumference measured 16" which puts him in the 60th percentile. To serve as a point of reference, at Ryan's 2-month checkup he weighed 13 lbs, 4 oz (90th percentile), was 23 ¾” tall (80th percentile), and his head measured 16 1/4” (75th percentile).

Gavin also received four vaccination shots at his appointment. He was such a little trouper; his bottom lip quivered a little and a few yelps and tears escaped, but thankfully there were no earsplitting screams (probably because his pudgy little thighs lessened the pain of the injections!).

Here are several recent photos of the boys. As you can see, Gavin is filling out nicely and has lost the shriveled-up newborn look and Ryan is clearly enamored with his little brother!

Ryan and Gavin lounge together on the couch while they watch Saturday morning cartoons.

The first documented case of Arby's mouth with Gavin. Usually he sleeps with his mouth gaping open and his tongue sticking out.

He looks so sweet and peaceful...now, if only he could sleep this soundly at night!

Gavin takes a break from trying to hold up his head during tummy time.

Now how can the ladies resist such a fine body like this? Luckily girls dig chubby babies! He's such a little chunker that it looks like he has rubber bands around his thighs and arms!

Funny how the 2-month old can smile and look at the camera, but the 2-year old can't! Ryan is entranced by a particularly compelling episode of Diego.

Gavin perfects his rollover technique. My guess is that he mastered that skill fairly early because fear can be a powerful motivator (Ryan often enthusiastically volunteers to "help" Gavin practice his tummy time).

Ryan offers Gavin companionship and support during one of his tummy time sessions.

It still catches him by surprise when he unexpectedly rolls over!

I know it's 3 o'clock in the morning, Mom, but I'm just not tired!

Look how cute I am!

When Pigs Fly

We started this site to celebrate the memorable moments in our lives, and what could be more memorable than my baby brother's engagement?! Congratulations to Scott and Kelsea on their recent engagement! Scott proposed to his long-time girlfriend on Saturday at sunset in Rehoboth Beach. He successfully surprised her with a well-orchestrated, romantic proposal that included tiki torches on the beach, Kelsea's favorite flowers and wine, and their special songs playing in the background. Who knew Scott could be such a thoughtful, sensitive romantic?!

To be honest, I had my doubts whether Scott would ever settle down and give up the bachelor lifestyle (hence the title of this blog post). I knew it would take a special lady to capture Scott's heart and convince him to give up beer and hot wings at Hooters with the guys every Tuesday night! Kelsea not only won over Scott, but also the rest of our family. While it's hard to imagine my little brother as a married man, I couldn't be happier or more excited to welcome Kelsea to the family.

Best of luck to the happy couple as they begin planning their future together. We're looking forward to the time when we can celebrate their engagement in person. Until then, we hope they enjoy this special time in their lives and we wish them a lifetime of happiness, love, and friendship.

Waste Management

Potty training has officially begun! This past Wednesday, Ryan agreed to wear "big boy pants" instead of his regular diapers. When I presented them to him as "underwear," he adamantly refused to put them on or participate in potty training. However, when I called them "special diapers" or "big boy pants" he enthusiastically agreed to give them a try.

Potty Training Plan: Shamelessly (and based on the advice of other moms who have gone before me), I have decided to pander to Ryan's sweet tooth to increase the chances of potty training success and to maintain his excitement and willingness to participate. A mom from one of the moms groups that I belong to recently potty trained her 3-year-old son and she shared some helpful tips and lessons learned from her experience. Following her suggestions, I check Ryan's training pants every 15-20 minutes during the day to see if he's gone to the bathroom. If is pants are dry, I reward him with a few M&Ms or miniature marshmallows. In addition, every time he goes to the bathroom on the potty - either at my urging or by his own request - he is also rewarded with a few M&Ms or marshmallows and stickers.

Progress to Date: The first day was a success - much to my surprise, Ryan pee-peed and poo-pooed on the potty! After each successful trip to the potty, we'd celebrate with the "Pee-pee on the potty" song, clapping, high-fives, lots of praise, stickers, and candy. With all the extra attention, I'm surprised Ryan doesn't insist on going to the bathroom every 5 minutes! Apparently, he's modest about his bathroom habits though because on the first day he demanded that I leave the bathroom and close the door behind me. He assured me that he'd call me when he was done. After a minute or two, I heard him yell, "Mommy, me done, come in here now." When I walked into the bathroom he was wiping himself with a wad of toilet paper that was at least half of the roll and he pointed excitedly into the toilet and exclaimed, "Look, Mommy, one long piece!" It's amazing the things we celebrate now that we're parents!

As to be expected, we've experienced a few set backs since our promising start. Several times now, Ryan has urgently informed me that he has to go to the potty. As we're making our panicked dash to the bathroom, I notice that the back of his shorts are already soaked. Since his training pants offer no absorbency, all accidents require a bath and a change of clothes. However, it was a conscious decision to use cotton training pants as opposed to diaper-like Pull-Ups so that Ryan would be better able to differentiate when he's dry versus dirty. Hopefully, he'll quickly realize how uncomfortable soiled training pants are and he'll learn to ask to go to the bathroom before accidents happen.

Here are a few photos of our potty training adventure!

Ryan shows off his big boy training pants! He's especially fond of the patterned ones with puppy dogs and choo-choo trains. Mom favors those as well since he's reluctant to pee-pee on the puppies!

Ryan is clearly proud of himself and enjoys the praise and attention he's received for his potty training efforts.

Ryan shows off his accomplishment (i.e. "the big long piece"). We preemptively positioned the wet-dry vac (seen on the left-hand side of the photo) in the bathroom for those times when Ryan misses or overshoots the toilet.