Kai Gabriel Kirkpatrick

Tonight we got to visit the brand new son, Kai Gabriel, of Aaron and Lauren Kirkpatrick! 7.7 lbs and 20 1/2 inches. Gavin was the same minus 1 ounce, but Kai still seemed TINY! He is simply beautiful! A few weeks ago we went swimming with Aaron and Lauren and ever since I have been excited to get to hold a newborn before baby #2 arrives. I expected it to make me giddy and excited, but instead it gave me anxiety! I actually had to pause and take a few deep breathes in the hallway! The anxiety wasn't about the baby, but the labor and delivery. Lauren delivered Kai in the same hospital Gavin was born, so a flood of memories came back to us! We are so happy for them and can't wait to see Kai and our littlest one playing together soon!

Daddy wheeling his son to their new room. Gavin helped carry the luggage for them.
We got a glimpse of what Gavin will be like as a big brother tonight. He showed a little bit of jealously when Levi or I held Kai. He wanted to touch the baby sooo badly! Gavin just doesn't look old enough to be a big brother, does he?!?! I know he will be great at it though! Lots to look forward to!

Aaron and Levi with their boys.
Sweet baby Kai!

1st appointment

Gavin had his first appointment with Dr Watson, a children's eating specialist, this morning. First let me say, she was wonderful! I feel so lucky to have found 2 such caring doctors for Gavin.

We went to discuss Gavin's eating habits and his refusal to eat, strong gag reflex and reflux problems. We came up with a plan to slowly thicken the purees to prepare him for table food. She wants us to puree table foods because most babies refuse the bland taste of baby food by 18 months and if that happens with Gavin, we are in a world of trouble. She also suggested we put butter in his veggies for extra calories. I will admit my first thought was, I am not giving my child butter! I am still iffy about it, but I think I will grit my teeth and try it out.
Dr Watson is going to check with his peditrition to make sure we can spare the risk of cutting back on eating solids while a new routine is establishshed.

Only 5% of children continue to show signs of GERD past 8-10 months. Well Gavin is one of those 5%. She suspects that Gavin also has Esophagitis, which can be very painful. She gave very good comments on the Gastroenterologist we will be seeing next month. She however said the GI will most likely want to take a small sample of his stomach and esophagus when using the scope. For this Gavin will need to be anestisized. I am not going to lie and say that doesn't make me very nervous. I cannot remember which day next month his appointment is, but I will update you on that. I am not even sure what all will happen the first visit.

Oh and Gavin gained weight! He went from 18.10 lbs to 19.2 lbs in one month! We were hoping for 20 lbs so he could move into a big boy car seat, but any gain is great!!

We go back to Dr Watson September 25 at 8:30 a.m. and hopefully we will have made some progress. Dr Watson even met us at the front desk to assure me that Gavin will be just fine and I should leave all the worring to her. Not many doctors will do that!

*Just as I finished typing this Gavin woke up, so I brought him to the computer chair to lay in my lap for a while. His stomach was against mine. All of the sudden the baby moved all around and it tickled Gavin! He jerked up his head and started laughing! How Cute!!*

If you chance to meet a frown

As I have been reading up on newborns just to make sure I hadn't forgotten much, I always notice a common thread. Mothers all over complain of no sleep, endless crying, fussy babies and the like... This always leaves me in amazement at how lucky we have been with Gavin!! So in honor of my wonderful child I am going to do some bragging!

• From the night we brought Gavin home from the hospital I would have to set my alarm clock to wake me up for feedings. He slept like an angel!
• At 2 months he was sleeping 7 hours straight, not waking once
• He was 5 Months old the first time he woke me up with a cry. All I did was stick his paci back in and he was out like a light
• He puts himself on a routine for naps and eating. You can set your watch by him!
• He has yet to "throw a fit"
  
• So far he hasn't shown signs of being strong willed. (Is he really mine or was there a mix up at the hospital???)
• At around 7 months Levi heard a baby crying in another room. He had no idea if it was Gavin or not. That shows how little our child cries when his own parent doesn't recognize it!
• When he is ready for a nap, he simply crawls into my lap, gets comfy and falls right asleep!
• A simple "No No" is usually all it takes
• He prefers reading a book, stacking blocks, and being mentally stimulated rather than "running amok"
  

There are a million other things that will pop into my head and I will think, "oh I should have mentioned this" But all in all I just couldn't ask for anything better! Which also forces me to say on a regular basies.. I HOPE OUR NEXT LITTLE LOVE IS AS EASY AS HIM!!!

And since he rarely cried, I rarely got a fuss face to take a picture of. Here are the rare gems I have taken over the past year.

if you chance to meet a frown,
do not let it stay.
quickly turn it upside down,
and smile that frown away.

no one likes a frownie face,
change it to a smile.
make the world a better place
by smiling all the while.

Intelligender

UPDATE: Even though it instantly showed Boy, we had a beautiful baby GIRL!


Yesterday morning I woke up and took the IntelliGender test. After 10 minutes you check to see if the test is yellow/orange or has turned dark green.
Yellow/Orange = Girl
Dark Green = Boy

Almost instantly it turned green!

On box it claims to be 90% accurate but I read quite a few threads about it and in on-line polls of users, 84% of girl results were proven accurate, but only 50% of boy results. Apparently if you make any type of mistake whatsoever it will give you a boy result.

SO you can believe what it says or not believe it! My mom is sticking with her belief that we are having a girl. My sister thinks boy. My niece says girl, but if it is a boy we have to keep it at home and she won't help pick a name. Ha! Gavin is more than enough boy this family can handle in her opinion!

This was a fun little test to take. I only wish I had taken it a lot sooner. It says you can take it as early as 10 weeks. Next pregnancy I will order it probably at 11 weeks!

And just to note: Whether or not we tell the sex of the baby before it's arrival, we want everyone to know we are equally happy with either one! Both Levi and I want 2 boys and 1 girl, so we knew from day 1 we are getting exactly what we are hoping for!

Preggopotamus

I am now 30 weeks pregnant. Notice there is no exclamation mark.

I am sure everyone at some point in time has heard the saying that the only reason women decide to have another child is because they have suffered amnesia since their last pregnancy and delivery. Well amnesia didn't quite have time to kick in for me! 5 months just wasn't a long enough break!!!!

Don't get me wrong, I love this baby very much and am super excited about the day we get to meet face to face. Pregnancy is just taking its toll on me. Levi even told me last night that when he looks at me he doesn't see me as pregnant because it seems I have been pregnant for so long.

The baby is now high enough to take my breath away (painfully) when I yawn. I can't sit back and relax because then I can't breathe. When I stand up it feels like my abdomen is falling to the floor. *also painful* I had more than frequent reflux with Gavin, but this time is different. It isn't as often, but when it happens it HURTS! When I sit up from lying down my throat feels on fire. This makes me quite upset every time I wake up and have to make another trip to the bathroom or Gavin wakes during the night because I know the pain that is about to come!

Also my sleep situation is only getting worse. Last night at around 4:00 Gavin woke up. Since I had not yet fallen asleep for the night, I put him in bed with me and we both just laid there looking out the window. Finally at 4:50 we both headed downstairs and watched Full House. After a bowl of cereal for me and a bottle for him we headed back upstairs to lay looking out the window once more.

This pregnancy isn't a bad one. It is actually going far better than last time considering everything, but sometimes a girl just needs to complain!

Since my mom went back to work last week and Levi is still working full time and getting his Masters (only 4 more months!) I decided to get a fun gift for myself. Monday we ordered the gender predictor test I kept reading about in baby magazines. It says it is 90% accurate, but we just want to do it for fun. I will actually share the results with you all whether they come out right or wrong, so don't get your hopes up based on what you read! Don't worry though, I am confident before the next 10 weeks are up Levi will decide it is okay to share the news. And NOBODY is being left out more than others. Not one soul has been told.

And for the first time I will post a belly pic! Since Levi is not home I had to take it myself so its not so great, but it will have to do.
And here is the 1 yr old from earlier today. He thinks it is funny to get stuck behind things until he realizes he is actually stuck! And if you look close enough you can see his first upper tooth! His 4th tooth will be making its appearance any day now. This tooth came through just a couple of days after his birthday party. So yes on top of being sick he was teething. I feel bad that Levi's family didn't get to see our usually calm, content, and rare to fuss baby. Levi said over and over during their visit, "I have never seen him like this!" It is true that children will make liars out of you!

Splash Zone

Monday Levi and I were at a bank in Jacksonville which is about 40 minutes from our house. When leaving I made a wrong turn and ended up having to turn around. It was a lucky mistake because we noticed a little water park that looked perfect for little kids and its only $4.00 to get in! Levi got off work a little early today and since they are open until 7:00 p.m. we decided to pick Madi up from school and have a day of water! This place was so perfect for Gavin and Madi. They have an entire area that only goes to 2 1/2 feet deep. It has water squirting and falling everywhere and a slide area. There were lots of lifeguards and no big kids were allowed on the little kid toys. LOVED THAT!They have a swim area with diving boards and two giant slides for the big kids and adults. Levi wanted to take a few runs on the slide but we got a surprise. Gavin only wanted his daddy! He would SCREAM when Levi gave him to me. This is seriously a once in a blue moon occurrence so Levi ate it up and spent some daddy and son alone time. He usually wants Levi to hold him in my mom's pool so I guess daddy makes him feel safe in the water. We had to keep Gavin bundled up after getting out because the water was FREEZING!! I guess a few days below 100 degrees and a little rain makes a big difference! We are trying to spend as much time together as a family of 3 before our lives get busy and winter keeps us shut indoors. Oh.. and Madi made a little friend today who officially turned me into an old woman. He said, "Excuse me Ma'am" MA'AM! I am a ma'am??? Geez! --And OF COURSE I would get that the day before my birthday. What else!!!

Can't sleep so why not blog

Tonight Levi, Gavin and I went into LR to find Gavin a 3rd toy box. Our child has way too many toys! I don't have an interesting story to tell, but I did bring the camera along so I have a couple of pictures and videos to share.

On the way up Gavin kept making what I think is one of his cutest faces. He puffs out his lips and it makes his cheeks look too cute! This isn't the best picture of it but it is still cute! -- I am also jealous of my child's eye color. He is going to be quite the ladies man one day!Gavin also has a few new words. I managed to catch his newest on video! He had taken off his sock after walking around and went to stick it in his mouth. Levi and I both yelled YUCK! and he got excited and started saying it with us. I actually had the camera ready and you can hear it first thing in the video. In it I am also trying to get him to say "All Gone" That is his favorite new thing to say right now. He says "Gone Gone' in this little Chinese accent. It cracks me up!
I also haven't posted a video of him walking since his first steps. He was super excited to be outside running around because it was only 80 degrees today! I hope this weather lasts and lasts!
And of course after a long night out, he was fast asleep when we got him home. I love when he sleeps with his little hands like this! And for baby news... Baby is as active as ever and doing well. Gavin has been paying a lot of attention to my belly and belly button. My belly button isn't poking out or even flat, he just wants to press it like its a button and it hurts! He also did the funniest thing. I was lying on the floor and he was leaned up against my stomach. The baby kicked against his body. Gavin turned, lifted up my shirt and "slapped" my stomach. I guess that counts as their first sibling fight!
And of course about the sex of the baby. Levi is still wanting to keep it a secret. I don't mind not telling, but I just don't see how it is possible because I don't want to keep items hidden and get all the gifts in green and yellow. I will announce it in big bold letters as soon as Levi gives me the thumbs up!

Oh Mr Sandman...

To all you young mothers out there. I need help!! Hopefully one of you went through this and have some helpful advice.
I CAN'T SLEEP!
Here it is 2:00 a.m. and I am still up. I have been up at 2:00 a.m. night after night. I am not up because I woke up, I am up because I haven't been able to fall asleep.
I haven't been able to shake being tired during the day. Some days I lie on the couch and can barely do more than simply keep my eyes on Gavin. When I can, I take an afternoon nap when he naps, but it never seems long enough and I wake up just as tired. When it comes time to go to bed at night I am wide awake. When I do happen to fall asleep it isn't for long. Of course the pregnancy issues come up in the middle of the night... multiple visits to the bathroom only to have to go again 10 minutes later, limited sleep positions, (snoring husband.. advice welcome on that too!) etc...

I just need sleep! I am not anxious. My back doesn't hurt. I don't drink a lot of water or caffeine before bed. I just can't sleep.
The same thing happened when I was pregnant with Gavin and I never figured anything out.
Any suggestions???

2 years and counting

Two years ago today Levi and I were married. How can it only have been 2 years??

It felt like our first anniversary because last year we didn't do much celebrating. After Gavin was born I had 2 severe infections and didn't take care of myself due to the lack of alone time in our house. After visitors had gone, Levi, Gavin and I quickly moved into my mom's house for help. We decided to come back home on our anniversary, almost a week later. Levi had gone home first to make sure the house was perfect for us. I didn't get home until close to dark and neither Levi or I can recall what we did the rest of the night other than eat our wedding cake.

Levi had to work today so we celebrated yesterday. We went to Little Rock while mom watched Gavin. I believe this is the first time Levi and I have gone together outside of Searcy without Gavin. (Yes, I have separation anxiety far worse than Gavin probably does) We ate dinner at ShoGun, which was our favorite date spot before getting married, then went around to silly places we used to enjoy. We didn't do anything fancy, but it really was nice just being alone. I also didn't call to check up on Gavin one single time! That is progress for me!!

I don't have a wedding picture to post because I simply don't like recalling that day! ...long story and don't ask. :) But I do have the very first picture Levi and I ever took together. This was the first night I ever thought there might be more to Levi than just the guy who wouldn't quit coming over to my house! ha ... Happy Anniversary Levi! What we considered to be our little family before a ring or a baby entered the picture. ( I also don't know what on earth was going on with Levi's hair! ) Not long before our wedding... Only 11 months after saying I Do we turned into a true family! It was the most nerve wracking experience to decide to try for a baby only 2 months after getting married but the best decision I have ever made! 5 1/2 months after Gavin, God made the decision to add another baby into the mix and we are just as thrilled this time around! 2 years and 2 loves. What could be better?