Summertime!

It's summertime in the 'hood. It's been nastily hot around here, with record-breaking temperatures in the triple digits. The small people have been keeping cool by staying indoors. After a promising start with the garden, we pretty much have forgotten about it. I remember now why I opted to not keep a garden when Gabby was an infant; so much work when there's a baby around! Yesterday, we went swimming at Granny's new apartment building pool. Gabby loves the water; Gavin was a natural, instinctively kicking his feet as I guided him through the water.

School has been a lot of fun for Gabby and Gavin. Both are doing very well, and Gavin continues to grow by leaps and bounds. In the last week, the report was that he is trying to hold his bottle by himself but if anyone attempts to help him, their hands are swatted away. Another Mini-Me in the making! The staff at the center continually remark how much he is like his sister in attitude and looks, but fortunately not in temperament. That kid can turn on the waterworks at the drop of a hat. What is it about hearing your own child whine that is so neurologically piercing? Someone actually did a study on this; I need to dig it up.

Speaking of Gabby, she continues to take this Big Sister business seriously although she still has to work on the gentle part. She and Gavin have the most entertaining "conversations" where she tells him how cute he is and he babbles back to her. She can also capture his attention in a second, and no one can make him break out in a big gummy grin like Gabby.

We started Gavin on solid food within the last week. He has the same reaction that Gabby did: WOMAN, *WHY* did you wait so long to introduce me to this deliciousness? Very amusing! 

We're planning our trip to Trinidad so the other Gordons can meet Gavin. I hope they're ready for him!

Three Months Later...

I made Bill go to the kids' evaluations. Yep, you read that right: they *both* had evaluations!

Gavin is hitting all of his milestones. I found out this week that one of his teachers is so attached to him that she doesn't like to put him down. He was also attached to her very early on. But this was starting to have a negative impact at home as he would scream bloody murder (no tears) just to have someone always be there talking to him or holding him. So we nipped that one in the bud this week. He is also doing things a little ahead of schedule. This morning, Bill tried to take him from me and he actually turned his whole body away from him! It was pretty funny.

Gavin is also a big-time babbler. He talks to anything and anyone that falls into his line of vision. I suspect this means he will also start talking early. I'm unsurprised by this since Gabby is always talking to him, and while this may come as a big surprise to many of you, I'm a big talker as well. One thing that drives me bananas with his teachers though, and thank goodness they are more caregivers than teachers, is that they have terrible grammar. They use random apostrophes to indicate plurals when they are communicating with us by newsletter and in the evaluation as well. Good thing they won't be teaching him to read...

Gabby is doing things that signify she's ready for kindergarten, even though she's in pre-school. I checked the MD state guidelines for kindergarten readiness and she was doing most of the things on the list already. She is, of course, going to stay with her peers for now but it's refreshing to know that she's ready when the time comes.

Her teachers told Bill that they didn't want to play favorites in the classroom, but Gabby is one of their favorites. She is also the smartest one in the class, while being one of the youngest. This is totally awesome news to hear. As far as reading goes, she can not only recognize her own name when it is written, but also "Gavin", "Mommy", and "Daddy" along with a couple others. She can write her own name and most letters in the alphabet. She is very assertive and loves to make her own choices. Recently though, she has started showing more patience and a willingness to wait her turn. That comes in very handy when I'm alone with the both of them and she needs something but I'm tending to Gavin. She loves to draw and paint and I'm really glad of the investment we made for her Christmas gift of an easel with rolls of paper, paint, and paintbrushes. We also have lots of sidewalk chalk to decorate the back patio. She is learning more coordinated movements too, and likes to dance; unfortunately she has Bill's sense of rhythm. Hopefully we can work on that one.

Both kids love being outside. I've found the easiest way to get Gavin to sleep is to have him outside for a bit. Gabby... that child has an immeasurable store of energy! She can go crazy outside for hours and still not go to bed early. And does not love to nap at home.

Welcome Gavin Alexander!

The littlest Wilson made his appearance via scheduled C-Section on February 28. My original due date was March 4, but after a final ultrasound revealed him to be, at 36.5 weeks, already larger than Gabby had been at birth, I opted for the c-section instead of the VBAC for a variety of reasons.

Gavin was 8 pounds, 15 ounces, and 21 inches long. A casual survey among the Gordon aunties reveals him to have been the heaviest baby born to any of them or any of their children (my cousins). Big boy. Had I waited to go into labor, he surely would have come in at well over 9 pounds.

He is now three weeks old and doing well. Big sister Gabby loves to help, but does display some occasional jealousy, not toward him but jealousy that I am not able to give her as much attention as she would have received in the past. As I continue to heal from the C-section, this is not as easy to do as I had hoped, but she is content to have me put her to bed and read her stories, along with allowing her to change diapers and feed him the occasional bottle. Big Sister at her finest.

Operation Baby Brudder and Other Updates

Wow. This blog hasn't been updated since September? *slap on the wrist* Lots of things have been happening!

Firstly, pregnancy has been progressing well. We're almost to the end! 18 days to go until Peri the Parasite is evicted from his comfy surroundings. More on that later!!

I got laid off in November from Defenders, along with five of my coworkers. There were terms involved in the separation, but not being allowed to say anything disparaging, I will leave it at that. We were given two months of employment which served as severance, but I still have not been able to find a job. Legality aside, the belly cannot possibly have anything to do with that. Ha! But I'm taking a well-deserved break, collecting unemployment as I continue to send out applications for jobs. I have a couple of leads which will hopefully pan out in the Spring. The ultimate goal is to be back behind a desk in May or June! Peri has a spot in daycare; just need to be able to pay for it. ;)

Gabby continues to grow like a weed. It's hard to believe that the tiny little baby we brought home is going to be 3 in a week! Full of sass and vinegar, but I have no idea where she might have gotten those character traits from at all! She also has a very willing daddy wrapped firmly around all of her fingers, not just the little one. She has grown used to the idea that she is going to be a big sister and has even begun to designate toys and other stuff for "Baby brudder." It remains to be seen how she will actually react when he is here and distracting others from making her the center of the universe, but I think she can handle the sharing part just fine.

So, about this baby brother business! As of this writing, I am 37 weeks along. I am exhausted, so funemployment has been a mixed blessing. At my most recent ultrasound on Wednesday, my OB estimated that this baby is about 7 pound 7 ounces right now. With about two weeks and a half weeks and at least one more pound of growth left on the calendar, he's going to definitely outweigh Gabby, who clocked in at 7 pounds 12 ounces at birth. Peri will be delivered via scheduled C-section on February 28th. At 7:30 in the morning. *shudder* I don't do mornings; I hope anyone planning on visiting at the hospital waits until reasonable hours. Like when the sun is no longer in the sky. And they should bring food. Preferably pho or sushi.