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! 

7 Months

My child cannot be seven months!  That is OVER the halfway point to being a year old!  Oh my goodness.  I wouldn't believe it if I couldn't see the calendar for myself!  We are now showing our eighth calendar pic- which means we only have five more to go before we book end our Octobers.  And here, ladies and gentlemen, is our Mr. May, 2011:

Gavin is now a chunky 17 pounds!  He loves his big boy food and is eating lots of fruits and veggies and those puffy little fingers snack thingies.  He's giving his two little pearly whites a workout!  One of our biggest developments since 6 months is that Gavin now has TWO big boy teeth.  And if you haven't seen them up close and personal, here they are:

So sweet!  Mr. Cox is also mobile and on-the-go...all the time. 

He's never not moving!  One of new big challenges is changing his diaper.  He LOVES to be on his tummy, so from he minute he hits his changing pad, Gavin wants to roll over onto his tummy.  Right now, we are trying to keep him occupied by having him hold his big lotion bottle.  It keeps him occupied for about 5 seconds..which mean mom and dad have to be FAST to get that new diaper on!  More times than not, he ends up rolling over and flashing us that cute little hiney.  Mommy doesn't mind nearly as much as Daddy does.  In fact, I think all of my hiney pinching is probably encouraging the tummy flip- so I'm trying to work on that! 

He still loves his voice and spends a lot of time singing, making his sweet "bababa" and "dadada" noises. We're working on "Mama, I love you."  Any day now, I'm sure.  He is starting to really like books and will focus on the pages a lot more...and he has started really enjoying playing the piano!  Tee hee- it's the cutest thing.  He will just bang his little heart out on the piano keys.  I think I can already tell that he's going to be a right hander- he holds his left hand down to sustain the noise and keeps his right hand moving all over those ivories.  He's a Mozart in the making! 

One more month in the books!  I can't wait to see what Month #8 has for us!

Around the house

So I did a post a while back about how our house has transformed since having a baby.  Now that Gavin has mastered the art of the army crawl, our house has tranformed again.  We have just arrived at the baby proofing stage.  In fact- that reminds me, we need to take a trip to Target this weekend!

This is how I get things done around the house: Build Gavin 180 degrees of activities and check in every 30 seconds.  This will keep him occupied for about a minute and a half..until he sees something like a remote or a cell phone or a pair of shoes- then he becomes a man on a mission.

Floor level shelves don't have a chance!  

Matthew and I are used to being able to leave Gavin in the living room for just a minute and coming back and he's usually in the same place that we left him.  Well, those days are over.  We turned our backs for just a second the other day and turned around to find an empty carpet spot- I actually said to Matthew "Where is Gavin?" And this is where he was:

Behind the entertainment unit and under his swing.  That kid.... And you can believe that whatever he find, he puts through quality control- which means it goes straight into his mouth.   

This is Gavin's new big accomplishment- climbing into the bottom of his exercauser.   

He LOVES it...and I think he's really proud of himself when he gets in there.  He hasn't quite figured out how to get out- which I kind of like :).  I imagine that he thinks it's a little fort.  What a boy! 

And he clearly feels just the same about being in the bottom portion of the Exercauser as he does the top part

I love Gavin's newfound curiosity and busy-ness.  It's a big world out there and he's discovering it one day at a time. 

Gavin takes on Tulsa!

Last Saturday night, the three Coxes decided to take on T-town!  On the agenda?  Dinner on cherry street and Mayfest!  Saturday nights have taken on an all new meaning since having a baby.  Not that we were ever party animals or anything like that, but now a night out tends to end around 8:45...Gavin's "last call".  And we tend to take a LOT more than we ever did before.  A three hour trip consists of- at the very least- a car seat, stroller, 3-5 toys, 1-3 burp clothes, diapers, wipes, a set of backup clothes and the camera- and that's just for Gavin!  Despite not being able to travel light and the early curfew we still manage to have a good time.  Although it would be nice to get a Matthew and Jordan date night sometime soon.

Mayfest was kind of a snooze...sorry- I guess I'm not as artsy fartsy as I'm supposed to be.  BUT we did make our own art by taking pics of Gavin throughout the streets and alley ways of downtown Tulsa.  We might not be photographers, but I don't think these are too bad if I do say so myself!

Who thinks that Gavin should be the spokesman for BOk?!  I mean how cute is this?!  

Gavin was chill at dinner and seemed to think he was very trendy sitting outside on Cherry street and eatting his cell phone.   

If they ever do a movie on Superman as a baby, this should be the movie poster!  I can see the tag line now- It's a bird, it's a plane...it's Superbaby!  Yeah, I'm cheesy.  I know. 

I love those cheeks!

All in all it was a good Saturday night...but any night with my two boys is a good one!