Welcome to 2010, Gavin!
Sean and I had a quiet New Year’s – he was feeling sick with some sort of stomach bug and hardly ate all day. We didn’t go anywhere, we just had a light meal of shrimp and salad. We put champagne in the fridge, but we didn’t even open it. We both did stay awake until midnight though – and it’s been a few years since that last happened. We’re very exciting.
I woke up on New Year’s day feeling awful! I had apparently caught whatever stomach bug Sean had (and Gavin before him!). We had planned to go down to Sean’s grandparent’s house in Atwater on Saturday to see some of his relatives for the holidays (we missed the big family Christmas celebration because we were still sick. November and December weren’t good health months in our household!).
I felt better on Sunday though, so we packed up the baby and christmas gifts and all of the assorted baby gear needed to care for and entertain a baby away from home all day (and wow, is that a lot of stuff) and headed to Atwater. The day started poorly for Gavin, because he refused to take his morning nap. So he was awake for far, far longer than usual – and that led to him being a grumpy boy! We assumed he would sleep for the entire drive (about 2 hours), but he barely slept at all.
We got to Atwater in the early afternoon, but through some communication snafus, Sean’s grandparents weren’t entirely sure we were coming down. So Sean called his grandma while we were standing on her porch. “Hi Grandma, we’re here now!” “Here on your porch!” “Yeah, just outside!” We chatted with them for a few hours, and of course, Gavin charmed both grandparents by being his normal adorable self!
We remembered the camera, but forget the memory card that goes inside it, so these pictures were taken with Sean’s phone.
Gavin and Grandma Julie:
Grandma Julie and Gavin take a good look at each other, and like what they see!:
After being held, played with, and prompted to smile and laugh for a few hours, this little boy was all tired out:
After we left Atwater we went to Lodi to see Annie and Richard (Sean’s aunt and uncle) and Jessica and Jordan (Sean’s cousin and her son). We hung out at their house for a few hours (again, everyone loves Gavin!) and chatted for awhile. Jordan is soo cute, and we got to see how active a happy toddler boy can be! Annie made dinner for us, and we loved it – it also made us miss the day when we made meals composed of more than one or two items.
This last Saturday Gavin got to see two more grandmas! Conchita and Steve and Sean’s grandma, Biba, were camping kind of in the area for a long weekend, and came to spend a few hours with us and to see Gavin.
Biba and Gavin:
Biba and Gavin again:
Smiley baby, smiley grandma:
Steve and Gavin:
He loves this soccer ball – I think he really kept trying to somehow shove the whole thing into his mouth (with, obviously, limited success!):
Food! We’ve been starting Gavin on solid foods for the past few weeks. It’s been intermittent because he’s been sick so often since December, but now we’re finally making some good progress!
We started with avocado as his first food. We mashed it up and mixed it with formula to thin it out. It did not go well. And by “not well” I mean head shaking, lip pursing, back arching, crying unhappiness. We tried it three times, I think. He vomited two of them. (Incidentally, even if a baby likes being quickly moved side to side while you make vrrooom vrrrooom noises, it’s not a good thing to do when he’s just eaten, particularly something he doesn’t like.)
After the epic failure that was avocado, we decided to go with a more traditional first baby food: banana. And it was a huge hit! It took him a few times to get used to it, but by the third time we offered it to him he loved it. When I moved the spoon towards his mouth he would open it and move his head forward. When I would get distracted and look at Sean or talk to Sean Gavin would fuss and reach out for the bowl.
Next we tried sweet potato. We cooked it in our fancy Beaba Babycook machine, that cooks/reheats/and purees, all in one machine. Paloma got it for us as a baby shower gift (thank you, Paloma!!) and now we’re starting to use it! It worked out great. The first time I tried giving Gavin sweet potato I think he was expecting banana. He eagerly opened his mouth and moved his head foward as I moved the spoon towards him, and then grimaced and kept opening and closing his mouth after he realized it was a new flavor!
He’s gotten used to it now though, and I think he enjoys it. 
Sean got some pictures of me feeding Gavin yesterday.
Gavin opening wide! The only problem is that every time Sean raised the camera and the flash went off, Gavin turned to look at it:
Mmmmm…sweet potato!
Ok…now he’s done:
Yes, I have been feeding him on the couch. No, that’s not a good idea. We’ll start using the high chair soon!
