Gavin's One!!!

We made it!  The big one year mark, with our third child!!  Although the first six months of Gavin's life was probably the longest 6 months of my life, even I can't believe he is already a year old!  He is a brave, crazy, stubborn, loving, and hysterical little boy.  He is an insanely fast crawler, and relies on that as his main mode of transportation.  He is pulling up on everything and scaling around the furniture, so walking is probably in the near future.  While he is still a mama's boy when he needs or wants something, he has also become quite a daddy's boy.  As soon as he hears Dad's voice he races over to him, waves and bounces around until he is noticed and picked up.  He is a total mix of Ava and Ella in looks and personality.  He loves books and smiles so easily like Ava.  And he wants to do everything on his terms but loves to cuddle like Ella.  Gavin also had his one year checkup and he was 29.5 inches tall (50%) and weighed in at 20 lbs (10%).  His head is still huge...95th percentile.  For those who like to compare Ava was 29 inches and 19 lbs and Ella was 30 inches and 20 lbs.  It is so much fun to watch them grow up, but it's happening way too fast!

 When the actual birthday party started Gavin was sleeping.  When he woke up to a house full of people he wasn't sure what to think and seemed to still be half asleep.

 We thought we'd see if he wanted to hang out with London, but they weren't sure what to think about each other.

 After dinner we moved on to what I thought Gavin would love....Cake!

 At first he kept checking with me that I was actually OK with this crazy idea...

 he got a little more comfortable, making a bit of a mess...

 then he thought it was hilarious.

He kept smiling and laughing, at what...we're not sure, but he was having fun. 

 Then as quick as the excitement came on, it was gone.  He was done with the cake and hadn't even gotten past the icing.  He was stuffed and wanted out!

 After a quick bath he came back downstairs and started opening presents.  

Obviously, he had a lot of help.

 He enjoyed opening the gifts and thought his sisters and cousin Ashton were so funny.

 One of his gifts was a large dump truck, which came in an even larger box filled with bubble wrap.  Ava, Ella and Ashton were running around jumping and dropping on their bottoms (known as butt bombs) to pop the wrap.  This activity was probably Gavin's favorite part of the party.

 Then everyone ended up in the box. Gavin even went in head first at one point.

 By the time the gifts were done he was exhausted and it was close to bedtime, which brings us to our next event of the day.  The weather was so nice Dan decided to put up the tent and see if the girls wanted to have their first "camp out".

 At first their was a lot of excitement.  However, once it got dark and they headed down to the tent nerves set in.  Within about 2 minutes Ella was back at the house headed up to her room.  She said it was too dark, even with their flashlight and light up stars.  While Ava was nervous, she did make it all night and was very proud.

 It was a great party and we thank everyone who came to celebrate Gavin's 1st birthday.

The Monday after Gavin's birthday was Ava and Ella's first soccer practice.  They were very excited and I think they thought it would be just like playing soccer in the basement with Daddy.  We have since had our second practice and so far Ava says soccer is fun.  She seems to enjoy the first half which is practice time with their own team.  However, I don't think she enjoys the second half, which is a game against another team.  There is usually a herd of girls traveling around with the ball and then Ava just on the outskirts of that herd where it's safe against kicking and pushing.  We're hoping she gets a little more aggressive, but she's having fun and at this stage, that's all we care about.

This week at practice she showed her teammates how well she listens.  Ava and Ella practice at the same time, but on different fields. So during Ava's water break I told her I was going to check on Ella and to stay right there.  A few minutes later another mom came to find me and told me Ava was refusing to play or even move because I told her to stay right there.  They tried to explain to her I meant to stay with her team, but it didn't matter Ava wouldn't move till I came back.  The other parents thought this was hilarious!  I wish she always listened that well!!

 Ella was less thrilled with soccer.  She hated the team shirt, which as you can see was more of a dress.  She did stand out there on the field with her team, but was not ready to participate.

 After about 10-15 minutes and a little shirt adjustment, she started warming up.  She too said she had fun, but by the time the practice was over she was ready to go.  Like Ava she likes kicking the ball around and playing games, but she's not going to fight for possession.  Six more weeks to go, then we'll see who wants to sign back up for the next session.