A pig-horse? That's silly!

Confession: one of the reasons that Matthew and I had kids was so that we could get one of these for our house-

Apparently it's a law or part of the "Code for being a parent in North America" handbook.  EVERY parent that we know has this toy on their refrigerator.  And I LOVE it!  For those of you who don't have kids- or are living outside of the parent handbook law- this is how the toy works.  It's made up of 5 animals' heads and tails magnetic pieces: a horse, sheep, cow, chicken and pig.  You (or your child) puts the pieces that you desire into the farm house and press it.  If you get a match, the toy will sing this:

"You made a match, look what you did.."

BUT if you make a non- match...say perhaps that you put a duck head in with a cow tail, as Gavin has so keenly illustrated for us below:

the song will go something like this:

"You put a duck in front

You put a cow behind

Put them together and what do you find?

A duck cow?

That's silly!!"

For some reason, that song has brough me hours of enjoyment and I am gleeful at the idea of putting together a chickpig or a cowduck...really the possibilities are endless!!  Gavin is quite enjoying the toy as well, although the pieces have spent more time in his mouth then putting together duckpigs...but that's probably because the toy was intended for 12 months+, we're just starting him early, like a pre-AP Leap Frog kid!

I know, I know...that's silly!

A day in the life: big boy baths, minced meat and someone's first haircut

It's officially happened!  Our stinky little boy has gotten too stinky for his little baby bathtub!  Gavin, who I affectionately refer to as "Stinky" (it's okay, he doesn't mind) has graduated to the big boy bathtub!  Last Sunday night we tried it out and I do believe he's here to stay

Is this face stinky or what? 

   He started out mellow...but that lasted for about 30 seconds.  As soon as he realized that he had all that water to splash in, our boy was off and running...or I guess "off and crawling" would be more appropo.   

This kid has about 15 bath toys, but the two biggest hits of the evening- which I might add have remained big hits for all subsequent baths to date- are this pink sting ray plastic fish thingy...and the drain stop.  Oh yes- the drain stop.  In fact, Gavin grabbed ahold of the drain stop and could not stop laughing.  Apparently it's a pretty funny drain stop. 

And Sunday night was only the beginning of this week's adventures.  Monday night brought two new milestones: Gavin's first time to eat meat and his first hair cut!  I know, I know...how can you cram all of that action into one night? Well, we just did...

If someone had told me even a few months ago that someday I would be eagerly preparing ground turkey,  pureeing it and then mixing it with applesauce, I would have told you that you were nuts.  To go so far as to say that I would be taking pictures of it and considering it a milestone would just be...well, even nuttier I guess.  But that's exactly what we did on Monday night. 

Check out the luscious goodness of pureed ground turkey.  Mmm mmm good.  (There's a little bit of asparagus and rice on the spoon too- don't worry, our turkey isn't turning green).

I think Gavin's first taste of meat was a hit...it doesn't appear not to be anyways... 

And just when you thought our lives couldn't get any more exciting...Monday night held yet another surprise: Gavin's first haircut (if you didn't know that was coming, then you didn't read the title of my post!)

Gavin was a big fan of the robot cape.  We're going to have to keep to have to keep that in mind for his birthday!

My friend Leslie who also cuts my hair did the honors of giving Gavin his first hair cut.  She did a great job!

There was one slight challenge: Gavin wanted to watch the trimmers in action.  I don't think he quite got the concept of looking ahead while the stylist does her magic. 

 Nonetheless, Leslie was up for the challenge and Gavin got a great hair cut.  His sweet little face looks even chubbier..and it's nice to be able to see the tops of his ears again. 

And those were the adventures that ensued on our Sunday and Monday nights of this week. Don't be jealous of our wild and crazy lives, folks.  Not everyone can be this adventurous.

Outtakes

As you can probably tell, one of our new favorite passtimes from the past 8 months has become taking pictures of Gavin Cox...much to the detriment of our computer's memory space and those of you who read this blog that are nauseated by all of our picture taking (to which I might reply, "Why did you click on the link?")  What you might be surprised to find out is that Matthew and I are NOT professional photographers (gasp!) and Gavin is NOT a professional baby model (double gasp) which means that from time to time we have the occassional outtake photo that doesn't quite make it to the blog...but today it does becuase this blog post is called "outtakes!"  This post also includes helpful tips for when you want to get that perfect shot! Photographers, take heed.

Warning: the following photo is not meant for the weak stomach or the faint of heart.  What was meant to turn out like this:

Somehow turned out like this:  

I guess the moral of that story is not to do photo shoots on a full tummy.

j

Some other rules of thumb might include not doing photo shoots when you're sleepy

or sneezy

Or busy chewing on your jacket

Also- do not be surprised if occassionally a picture is taken with someone's arm down someone else's shirt.

That's completely normal.

j

Last but not least:

If you are in the picture with Gavin, your one mission, your task...your sacred duty...is this:

JUST  

KEEP  

SMILING 

No matter what Gavin does

Where he looks

or what face he makes 

just look ahead with a smile on your face.

You do NOT want to be the one that makes the picture an outtake when Gavin finally does decide to get the perfect shot. 

Because that's just embarrassing.

8 months

This is the month of the wiggle worm!  Oh my goodness.  This has been the most memorable of all of our calendar shoots because Mr. Cox would not stay still...and by Mr. Cox, I mean Gavin!  We managed to get a couple of good pics...but it was a challenge.

While it was quite a challenge to get Gavin to hold still, the bigger challenge was getting him to not play with the calendar.  Apparently he has taken quite an interest in poster board and big squares.   

Gavin is such a stud muffin as an 8 month old!  He's so friendly and has such a sweet little personality.  Matthew and I still can't figure out how we got such a good baby.  As you can see from my previous post Gavin is pulling up like a champ!  Nothing is pull up proof- he's even trying to pull up on the water spout in the bathtub.  This also means that Gavin has gotten his first bruises in the last month, but hey- no pain, no gain.  By his "get back on the horse" mentality, it's apparent that a bruise or two is worth all of the exploring he has to do. 

In other news, he is crawling like a crazy man and clapping his sweet little hands..which really means clapping his arms because it's a full arm motion activity right now.  He's still hanging onto to his two little teefers...only two for now.  We keep waiting for a top one to appear, but it's keeping a low profile for the time being.  He loves his food...and by his cute little tummy poking out of his pajama's it's pretty apparent that he doesn't miss too many meals.  He's eatting all kinds of yummy food...and has really gotten into puffs and cheerios...only about 20% actually make it into his mouth...but we're working on finger dexterity too.   

Acts 17:28 "In Him we live and move and have our being."

Overuse of the word cute

So yesterday I decided to take a little gander at my blog...you know, just to remember what Gavin looked like.  As I was very quickly perusing the pictures I realized that I tend to overuse the word "cute" when talking about my little Gavy Wavel.  So today's challenge and my commitment to you is to complete an entire blogpost without using the word cute C-word. 
Just look at this cute sweet little face!  This kid is cute precious! 

Gavin loves his toys!  Some of his favorites right now are his colored rings.  I LOVE this- the other night he played like this for about 15 minutes and was shocked when I finally pulled the green ring off of his arm.  It was almost like he was saying "oh THAT'S where that thing went!" It was so cute endearing.

Can you even believe how big this boy is getting?  He has now mastered the art of pulling up.  Anytime we set him down, you can just see his little wheels spinning trying to see where he can grab onto something to pull up...he's a little rock climber! Watching him stand up like that is so cute adorable! 

We did our first round of baby proofing on Saturday because our mammoth coffee table is Gavin's new favorite spot in the house.  I've been trying to find pulling up alternatives while we wait for Just Between Friends so I can buy him a music table.  Our little cubey, ottoman thing is working out quite well for right now.  Check out those chunky little thighs...aren't they cute delightful? 

I cannot even tell you how this melts my heart!  I love getting smiles out of this kid.  Just because it's easy to do doesn't mean that I don't enjoy it every single time. 

I don't care who you are, that's just plain cute. There, I said it. 

Shades of Blue

So I know I'm totally sappy...and our vacation is almost a week over...but I had to add just a couple more vacation pics...I mean how often to you get to show pictures of your baby on the beach?  So here, for your viewing pleasure, are just a couple more shots of our beach vacation! 

I am not lying- Gavin clapped for the very first time as we were snapping these pictures.  It's my new favorite milestone...and baby clapping is so much cuter than grown up clapping- he gets both of his whole arms into it.  He's ready for the State of the Union address...well maybe not for 2012, but eventually.

I love this one- if you look closely you can see the traces of sand from his afternoon snack.  Gavin loved eating the sand so he spent minimal time unmonitored while he was sitting on the beach. 

Gilligan

More toes in the sand... 

Gavin's first sand castle: 

I loved our first vacation as a family of three.  Gavin now has his first stamp in his passport and his mommy and daddy have memories for a lifetime.

Toes in the Sand

It took yours truly 21 years to see the ocean for the first time but it only took Gavin Cox 7 1/2 months!  This week finds the Gav on the beaches of sunny Mexico surrounded by his mama, daddy, Gigi and Papa Bear.  The beaches of Cancun have never been graced by such cute feet!

This is a fantastic week of firsts for our little traveler!  Yesterday we introduced him to his first plane ride, his first tram ride, his first car ride with no car seat and his first time out of the country.  Our Saturday was filled with four airports, three airplanes, two layovers, one trip through security, one trip through customs and only one trip past a fellow passenger who had tossed her cookies as a result of the plane ride- to clarify this passenger was no one that was traveling with the Cox group.  Gavin was a trooper!  He did great!!  I'm sure it helped to have these two along for the ride to keep him company.

This morning we awoke to sand, palm trees and the sound of the tide on the beach.  It was so exciting to introduce our little man to the ocean!  I think it was a hit!  

I love that the same God who created the ocean and all its beauty is the same God that created the little boy that I get to watch see it for the first time.   

I know people say that it's a waste to take a baby on a vacation- that it's a lot of hastle for something that they won't even remember.  And you know what?  He won't.  He won't remember his first sight of the ocean or dipping his toes into a (real) swimming pool for the first time or any of the other things that this week is bound to bring...but his mommy will and and his daddy will and so will his grandparents.  And you know what folks...that's good enough for me!